Nov. 20th: Montreal metalheads Dopethrone come to rip it up at Jewel

MANCHESTER, NH – There are a few bands that meld so many styles together within their music that they come up with their own word to describe their sound. It’s a unique and cohesive blend in simultaneous fashion, with a dedicated fan base usually giving it some legitimacy. With Dopethrone from Montreal, they combine sludge, stoner, thrash and death metal to create a style they like to refer to as “slutch”. On November 20 at Jewel in Manchester, metalheads and people who enjoy loud music will be coming to see them perform. The show is being presented by Intrinsic Events with Temple of the Fuzz Witch and Hobo Wizard rounding out the bill starting at 7 p.m.

I had a talk with vocalist and guitarist Vincent Houde about Dopethrone’s latest album, a cocktail he makes to coat his throat before performing and looking forward to touring around the United States after a series of mishaps over the years that prevented the band from doing so.

Website: Jewel Music Center

69 Canal St, Manchester, NH

Tickets

Rob Duguay: Back in May, Dopethrone released a new album titled “Broke Sabbath”, so what was the experience like making the album and did you guys aim to do anything differently this time around than with your previous releases?

Vincent Houde: We don’t want to be that band who always does the same thing, so we always try out different ideas both songwise and with the recording equipment that we use. During the writing, it was a very different process. I wouldn’t say it was tense, but with the way people were feeling with the COVID situation and everything that happened along with what was going on in each other’s lives, so we kind of approached it differently. We wanted to sound like us, we didn’t want to sound like another band, but we wanted to push it in a more angry way.

RD: I totally get that from listening to the record. What was the idea for the voice clips that are present throughout the album? Did you get those through public domain sites or was that naturally happening during the recording sessions?

VH: The samples and stuff?

RD: Yeah.

VH: What is really funny about a lot of our samples is that online, all these people will comment about it but it’s just us f***in’ around with recordings. Some of it is from movies, but when I used something from a movie in a recording, I usually mix it with something else. I’ll take a clip, then I’ll use weird sonic sounds and I’ll mix it all up, so a lot of times you’ll hear samples of a bunch of stuff that I’ve put together. When they pop up during songs, it’s on purpose. Normally I want it to sound like a meat grinder, but a lot of people don’t know about the samples. One of them, which is in the single “Life Kills You” that’s off of the album, the sampling for that one is basically my buddy who was wasted and left me this voice message and he was out of it while saying “f*** this and f*** that”.

I thought it was hilarious, so I sent the clip to my sound guy right away, had him do his magic and clean it up a bit, and that was that. On our album “Transcanadian Anger” for example, one of my buddies who is a biker, he didn’t really vaporize a goat, but he couldn’t stop and he crashed into one because he was going too fast. At the beginning of the song “Wrong Sabbath”, it’s my buddy all drugged out telling this story, and I didn’t tell him that I was recording what he was saying on my phone. Afterwards, I did tell him that I recorded him telling that story, and I asked him if I could include it in the song and he said “Yeah, do it.” With “Life Kills You”, I didn’t tell the guy.

I wanted to surprise him, so I went to his house asking if he wanted to listen to the new album before everybody else did. We were just hanging out with some friends shootin’ the s***, and I just played the song. He went, “Wait a minute, is that me?” and he lost it, he thought it was hilarious.

RD: That’s awesome, those are two good stories. The way you sing is very guttural and fierce, so how do you prepare before a show so you don’t blow your vocal chords out? Do you do a lot of harmonizing, do you drink a lot of water or do you take lozenges?

VH: Jägermeister, mostly. Actually, what I like to do is something that isn’t too hot. One time I tried drinking tea before a show, but it didn’t help. It made my voice kind of dry, so I make something that coats my throat and I take some Jäger and mix it with water so it’s not super strong. Then I’ll put honey on top of it, put it all in a bottle and shake it up. I’ll drink that, it kind of helps and it coats it, I guess.

RD: Yeah, I can see that with the honey.

VH: It does work and it does depend on the intensity and stuff, but it’s never really been a problem. When we’re doing 40 something shows on the road without a day off, I sometimes won’t sing directly into the mic because I sound like I ate an ashtray for breakfast or something. I’m never going to be that guy who warms up backstage or whatever, I just don’t do that.

RD: I totally get that, but it’s cool that you were able to come up with the concoction of the honey and the Jägermeister to coat your throat. With Dopethrone being a trio, what are some of the advantages that you feel you guys have when it comes to songwriting and performing compared to quartets and quintets, and what do you think or the limitations of your current lineup in this structure?

VH: Most bands I’ve been in, they’ve usually been a trio. Dopethrone has always been a trio, even though at one point we had a guest vocalist that I invited to be part of the band. With four or five people, sometimes there’s too many cooks, so I’ve always liked it better as a trio. It’s more simple and we get more beers backstage, which is good. When it comes to writing too, the process is seamless, I guess I would say. I prefer being in a trio, I’ve always liked it that way.

RD: What are your thoughts on kicking off Dopethrone’s East Coast tour in Manchester?

VH: We’ve played shows in the U.S. before with our first one being in Palm Beach, Florida a few years ago and we’ve played Massachusetts before as well. We were invited twice to Psycho Las Vegas and both times we were able to make it because the first time I fractured my leg in three places, it was very bad.

RD: Oh, wow.

VH: Yeah, it looked like one of those nasty UFC injuries and it wasn’t pretty, so we had to cancel some of the dates around that, which sucked. We couldn’t fly anywhere for a while due to some pressure thing that the doctor mentioned about my leg, but as soon as he said I could travel, we did all the shows with me wearing a big ol’ boot. Then the other time we were about to go to the States, there were visa issues, so we got screwed there. We’re finally going to tour the States this time around, so I’m pretty excited about it and I’ve heard great things about Jewel, I’ve never been so I’m stoked.