You know that feeling when your blood boils and the ringing in your ears starts? Everything feels a little smaller, time slows down and you can just see your breaking point beyond the horizon. So close you can taste the copper feeling as you scream and lose your shit.
Doom Beach’s “Burden” makes me feel all of these things. The title track to the Connecticut duo's forthcoming third album, its blown-out guitar tone clip the drums in a perfect manner. The vocals seem like the layer under a grenade going off next to my ear, almost like white noise. Five minutes is more than enough time to rip the head off the guy who cut me off in traffic yesterday, and this song will be that soundtrack.
I spoke with Doom Beach guitarist/vocalist James Wallace about the band to get No Echo readers acquainted.
Give us the history of Doom Beach. When did you start the band, any lineup changes worth noting?
The start date of Doom Beach is a little ambiguous. The two of us have been playing music together since we were in high school, but we formed this project sometime around 2017. I think for us the official start of the band would be in 2018 when we started writing our first release. The band has always just been the two of us. The closest thing we’ve had to new members is new amps and pedals.
Give us the rundown on this new album. What was writing and recording like?
We wrote the record like we would anything else; We write collaboratively, usually by improvising parts and stopping briefly to talk through structure and what parts to keep or scrap. I think the big difference with this album is we wanted to explore new sounds, and lean a little less on writing riffs.
While writing this record I couldn’t shake the feeling of an impending doom. Like something was cosmically bound to come down on us. I wanted to find a way to bottle up that kind of dread, and I think we got close.
Recording this record was also a little different than previous records. Dark Arts (2019) was recorded in Ryan’s basement. We did it ourselves and it was a mess. Copperhead (2022) was recorded with a good friend of ours in his studio. The three of us slept in the studio, a few feet away from all of our gear. The whole thing took a week. It was hell but in a fun way if that makes sense.
For this record, we went to Machines with Magnets and the process was awesome. We admire a lot of the work that has come out of that studio so it was special to work creatively in that space. Seth rules, he’s helpful and quick. I guess in a way he was a third member of the band for a little bit. In the past we kind of found the vibe for a record during the recording process, but Burden felt more intentional, and I hope it comes across on the record.
“Burden” is the longest song on the album, what made you choose that as the single?
The short answer is, “Seth said so.” But the longer answer is that we felt the song really represented the album. We had a real departure from our usual song writing in prior albums, and “Burden” was the biggest example of that.
I like the idea of the single working as an indication of what the album is like as a whole. Lyrically the song is about self-hatred and the paranoia that comes with it, which is at the core of the whole album.
How has the response been for your recent split release with Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop?
The reception has been amazing and we’re super grateful. We had been wanting to put this together with Chop for five years, so it feels incredible for it to finally come to fruition. We planned it with Chop after we played their first show with them.
We put it out through a local record store and label called Redscroll. Shout out to Rick and Josh. We were buying records there as teens, so having vinyl on their shelves is like a dream. Folks seem to dig the record, and we sold out the release show so we couldn’t be more stoked.
You were pretty quiet in 2023 as far as releases, how does it feel to release two things in less than six months in comparison?
It feels amazing. We spent 2023 writing and trying to figure out where we wanted to go next with the band. It’s a lot of hard work and time that’s paying off kind of all at once, and it feels great. The two of us really just dig making records, and we want to put out art that we’re proud of. We are really excited for everyone to hear this record.
Anyone you want to shout out?
A Paramount A Love Supreme
Marion
Intercourse
Tina Fey
Ron from Jean scene
Hal Capone
The Ghost is Clear Records
Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop
Rex Morris
Trophy Hunt
Space Camp
Fred Cracklin
The Knife Kickers
Griphook
Last word is yours.
Free Palestine.
Doom Beach’s new album, Burden, comes out May 5th.
Hit the Doom Beach Linktree to find their social media pages.
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