Asheville, North Carolina's Sanctity has exploded onto the metal scene. The quartet has toured with one of the most popular power metal bands in the world, Dragonforce. While playing a show with Dragonforce, none other than Dave Mustaine of Megadeth approached the band about being part of his vaulted summer festival, Gigantour. Sanctity accepted, of course. Such high profile tours are extremely rare for such a young band, and uncanny for a group without a release on a major label. Sanctity released their debut album for Roadrunner Records ("The Road to Bloodshed") this past April and has continued to awe crowds with their energetic blend of classic thrash and modern metal. Although the group is currently touring the United States as support for Symphony X, front man and rhythm guitarist Jared MacEachern was cordial enough to set aside a few minutes for Metal Mayhem readers.
Metal Mayhem: If I'm right, your latest album "The Road to Bloodshed" is your debut on Roadrunner Records. How do you feel about this effort and being on such a legendary label?
Jared MacEachern: It's pretty sweet. It's still kind of settling in. At first, when we decided we wanted to start shopping for labels we never really imagined Roadrunner. We thought that was a little out of our league, but we were ecstatic as soon as we signed with them. We are still ecstatic to be among a roster of such legendary bands. So it's really cool.
MM: Your bio mentions Matt Heafy of Trivium helped get you signed. Can you give our readers your version of this story?
JM: We played a show with Trivium at a venue that we play at quit a bit. We knew the owner and we found out that Trivium was coming through with Fear Factory. At first, we were gonna go to the show and watch, but then we talked to the owner of the club and he actually let us on the show. We made it a point to try to meet those guys because we're big fans since "Embers to Inferno." We met them and we said, "If you guys got time, come down and watch us and give us a critique." They came down and watched the show and were really into it. Matt took our very, very rough demo at the time and pass it straight up to Roadrunner. It took a little while between then and the time we got signed because we had to do a couple of demos up to Roadrunner's standards, but eventually the label signed us.
MM: Not only did Heafy help you get signed to Roadrunner, he also hooked you up with his producer Jason Suecof. What did Suecof do to improve the quality of "The Road to Bloodshed?"
JM: Just the recording, the equipment was better than anything we had ever worked with. The very, very rough mix coming straight off the board was better than anything we had ever done. That was mostly what we were looking for, a really good, quality recording. As a producer he helped to streamline some of our songs. Some of the songs were old songs we had written quite a while ago, that were kind of rehashed. Some were new songs. So, like I said, he streamlined the songs and helped make it as good as it could be.
MM: You have stated that the recording process is a collaborative effort. You help shape the music and lend your voice to each track. How exactly do you help shape the music?
JM: We all do. In terms of writing, we all come up with guitar riffs, drum riffs, vocal lines and melodies and lyrics - we all do that. There are times when our lead guitar player, Zeff or our drummer Jeremy writes most of a song, and then I'll come in and throw a couple of my ideas in there. Or sometimes me and our bass player, Derek will write most of a song and the other members will throw in their idea. We all work on a song, but there are a couple of times when one or two of us will write a little more of a song. Plus, we all have different tastes as far as stuff you like to hear, but it seems to come together really, really well.
MM: At a young age, you sang in your church choir. Are you still in contact with people of your church? What do they think of you now?
JM: No, I haven't really done that since I was thirteen. It was something I started at a young age. My mom got me into it because she had been singing for a long time. Then I started getting more into playing instruments and making my own music. So around age thirteen, I quite doing the choir and started playing in bands.
MM: Do you think that the experience of singing in a church choir helped you in any ways?
JM: Yeah, I think it really helped train my ear and to understand melodies, harmonies and arrangements. I think it also helped give me a basis in my classical training, as far as classical music goes. I still listen to classical music. If we are in the van on a long drive, I'll put it on the public radio station and listen to classical music for quite a while because I still like to listen to classical music. But yeah, it helped me early on to develop my musical skills.
MM: Sanctity has experienced many changes in your line up and logged thousands of tour miles. Do you feel these two factors have instilled maturity and durability into your band?
JM: Absolutely! Now, as far as members go we are the point where we are not going to play with anybody else. We're all of the same mind. It's the four of us and that's what makes Sanctity, Sanctity. It's not just the music; it's our personal attitude and our take on what we do. We're at the point now that we've been through so much that I don't really think (laughs) that we could play with anybody else. And it's all the touring…we like playing shows, and we try to play shows as much as possible. I think that really helps develop the four of us, together as a band. We have developed our live show over a long period of time, and it's still developing. Those things have definitely been a factor in where we are now.
MM: Zeff Childress (lead guitar) and Jeremy London have been friends since first grade. How does this close-knit relationship between the two help keep your group cohesive?
JM: I think they really understand how each other works, not just as band members, but as friends. That's part of it, we are all friends, especially those two. They just know each other so well. It all goes back to us being able to work together. To tell you the truth, if anybody else had to play with Zeff, I don't think they could do it. Zeff has a bit of a temper sometimes, but we've just gotten used to him. We just know how he works. We all know how each other works. Their friendship definitely helps bring a strong force to within our group.
MM: Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica are all cited as your influences. How do you incorporate elements of these groups into your own ideas?
JM: One thing that I personally love about those groups is the energy. That is something we really try to bring across with our music, as well. We like lots of energy. We like it to be intense. Those are all great bands, not just thrash bands but great metal bands. Hopefully, we can live up the likes of them.
MM: The Sanctity MySpace page contains two videos "Zeppo" and "Beneath the Machine." Tell me about the making of those videos.
JM: The "Zeppo" video was before we got signed. It was one of those suggestions…a video could be something we could use to show the label our personalities, not just hear us, but see us as well. Our bass player at the time knew a film student who knew of a film studio. We just talked to him. He had done a couple of his own homemade zombie movies, actually. They were actually really good. They way they were done and the film quality was really intriguing to us. So we talked to him and asked, "Hey, would you be interested in shooting a music video?" We told him we need a music video, and if it worked out really well, we could probably use him for future projects or for Roadrunner. He said yeah, and we all got really excited about it. A couple hours from where we live, we rented some property. It was an old jail that was built in the thirties. We went in there and shot all day. It was the first time for all of us, so we were kind of open to all kinds of ideas. We played around with it, had some fun. That was the final product for that. When we shot "Beneath the Machine" we decided to actually go more with a literal meaning of the song. It was about tattoos and stuff like that, so we decided to go with a little meaning for the video. Everybody except for Zeff has gotten tattoos, and there are a number of tattoo shops in Asheville (North Carolina) where we live. We knew some guy at a shop called Empire Tattoo. We were rally cool with the owner, so we borrowed his shop for about thirty-six hours. He was really down. We paid him for however much business he would normally do on a Sunday, which is when we shot the video. We made sure to get the name of his shop in our video. He was totally cool. He thought it was totally neat that we wanted to use his shop, so he was down with it. We shot for thirty-six hours straight with four hours of sleep in between. Again, we played around with some ideas. I think both videos came out great! Our director Ramon Boutviseth is a really talent director and we enjoyed working with him. Both videos turned out well.
MM: Is "Beneath the Machine" on The Headbangers Ball?
JM: Yes, it has, a few times, actually. It's not every week, but it's been on maybe three or four times, so far.
MM: Earlier in the interview I mentioned how Sanctity has completed some high-profile tours. One of those tours saw you on Dave Mustaine's Gigantour. What was it like playing arenas, opening for a group you idolize?
JM: Oh man, it was fantastic! We had so much fun on that tour! We really did. That was only our second real tour. The one before that, we did the Dragonforce tour. It was their first U.S. tour, which was good for us. Those were still large venues, large opera house-style venues, so that was exciting. But when we did Gigantour, we were blown away! It was a totally different type of tour for us. It was a much larger bill with more bands, a festival atmosphere. We only got to play twenty minutes. Still, we got to play twenty minutes at big venues on big stages in front of lots of people. We were the second band on the bill, so we were done at around 4:30 in the afternoon.
We got to watch the rest of the bands all day long. It was great! I mean, not just Megadeth, there was Overkill, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Lamb of God. Oh my god, dude we buddied up with those guys and Megadeth too. Everybody in the band was nice. We would all each lunch and dinner together. It wasn't like everybody was in their own little world; we all had contact with each other. It was a really great experience for us!
MM: Did Mustaine ever give you any personal advice regarding this business that you took to heart?
JM: Yeah, but at the time I was so bewildered that he was talking to me, I don't know if I held onto it (laughs). Just his whole attitude toward the whole thing, he makes music because he loves it. That's the reason we do it as well. We make music because it's fun and we get a lot of satisfaction out of it. Dave has been through a lot, and we could all learn from all of his experiences. He would always ask us if we ever needed anything. He provided very well for us on that tour and we are very grateful.
MM: Are you currently touring? Tell me about this tour.
JM: We're on tour with Symphony X. It's been really great. We've been watching those guys. They are phenomenal. I'm into the prog metal, the power metal. Who doesn't like Dream Theater? Symphony X has got it going on! I've only seen Dream Theater once, it was at Download, so it might not be the correct instance to judge their show, but Symphony X is phenomenal, excellent musicians all around. They have great songs, heavy progressive metal that is amazing to watch. All the guys in the band are cool. We are cooking out almost everyday. Unfortunately, we are driving ourselves so we can't afford to stay and hang out because we have to get to the next venue. When we get a chance, we all hang out, have a couple beers, char the flesh of animals we have a good time.
MM: What comes next after this tour?
JM: We got a little bit of time off. We can relax a little and start writing some new material, as well. Then, we are heading out on the read with Machine Head, Arch Enemy, and Throwdown in September and October. We are working on some other stuff right after that tour, but it's not confirmed. As soon as it is, I'll make sure to let everyone know about it when it is confirmed.
