PHOTO BY DAN BALL
INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST CHARLIE WILLIAMS, GUITARIST/VOCALIST GARED O’DONNELL, AND DRUMMER PATRICK COST BY DEREK NIELSEN
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all of Light started 2020 “I mean, they haven’t officially invited on an upswing. Still a trio me into the band, but I am on the sevwhen they released Flux en-inch,� O'Donnell clarifies. “But, I last year, the Cincinnati would love to do so much. I adore metal band’s debut LP was heavy what these guys do. It reminds me enough to catch the attention of very much of why I still do what Planes Mistaken For Stars frontman I do, why I started doing what I Gared O’Donnell. do, and why I want to continue to do what I do. But, it’s nice to not “We were opening for Weedeater, be the one steering the ship. Not and we were at the club really early,� to complain about what I do in describes drummer Patrick Cost. “I Planes or [Hawks and Doves], but was looking at my phone, and Gared it’s nice to just be like, ‘Alright I'm randomly hit me up about Flux. He was gonna stand in the corner and do like ‘Hey, I've been listening to this a this weird, creepy thing, and you'll
Yup, everything was looking rad for about the first song, ‘Under Red Ball of Light—and then, of course, Skies’; the riff has kind of a Discharge COVID took the piss a few months feel. But Discharge was never like later. But, aside from having their ‘Fucking Gorbachev!’ [laughs]. It’s not tour schedule cleared out indef- talking about specific people or speinitely, Ball of Light—along with cific things, but the forces that are at O’Donnel—remains intent on press- work behind them. COVID is—knock ing forward. After all, the current on wood—going to go away; Trump state of the world has presented is going to go away. But the situations are going to pop up over and over. If plenty of artistic fodder. you write about the feeling, that will Rest assured, the band’s new materi- last forever.� al will tap into the river of discontent that all of us are currently experi- “For me, the idea of writing songs about encing (after all, they are a metal the world right now sounds nightmar-
lot. I'm not blowing smoke up your ass; I really like this.’ That’s kinda how the conversation started.�
find out about it later.’ It’s their baby, but I don’t mind changing its diaper! [laughs]�
After a brief courtship with the boisterous frontman, things got serious, and the band recruited O’Donnell into their ranks as second guitarist and backup vocalist. Eager to test the waters, Ball of Light entered the studio in January with producer Jeffrey Dean to record their self-titled EP, which dropped last month on Rad Girlfriend Records.
The new songs have an eerie and sinister thread woven through the driving riffs and punishing rhythm section, with O’Donnell’s haunting backup “If someone happens to listen to it vocals adding new dimension to 10 years down the road, they’re not Charlie William’s guttural screams. gonna be like, ‘I don’t know what the In many ways, the EP is reminiscent fuck they’re talking about,� Williams of when Mike Patton joined Dillinger elaborates. “I want you to be able to Escape Plan. relate to it in a way. Gared was talking
24 NEW NOISE
band—it can’t all be high fives and bong rips). But Ball of Light are less interested in whining about quarantine and more in unearthing the roots of all this unhappiness. Isn’t that what being an artist is all about?
ish,â€? confesses O’Donnell. “The English Beat had this song called ‘Stand Down Margaret’ about Margaret Thatcher. My 13-year-old loves the English Beat, but he’s like, ‘What the fuck are they talking about? Margaret? Is she a music teacher?’ I get tackling things topically. But, at the same time, you want to make art that will last. The best sci-fi books are 100 fucking years old. But they land in whatever time they’re in. H.G. Wells, you can read fucking The Time Machine, and it’s literally a time machine!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł
