ENTERPRISE EARTH have been making the German stages unsafe over the past few weeks to present their new album „Death: An Anthology“ live. In between, guitarist Gabe Mangold found time to answer our questions about the content of the album, life on tour, personal role models and the influence of social media.
Thank you very much for taking some time to answer my questions. How are you today? Where are you answering the questions from?
Doing well, thanks! We’re currently in Hamburg and were in Copenhagen last night. It was the best show of tour, so far.
You toured the EU at the beginning of 2023, America at the end of 2023, and now the next series of concerts within the EU is coming up this month together with Suffocation. How do you recharge your batteries so that you don’t drown in the stresses and strains of touring?
It definitely can be difficult finding a balance between home life and road life. As someone who very much values his home life, I do my best to enjoy the most out of that time while still staying busy. Being in a full time band is a 24/7/365 job, it never ends.
What rituals do you have before you go on stage? Are you together beforehand or does everyone enjoy the calm before the storm on their own?
I’ll just stretch and warmup, as do most of us usually. We’re always together before walking on stage and will usually be casually talking or joking around.
How has touring changed in recent years? What developments do you see critically?
It has gotten more and more expensive, as have most things in life over the last few years. Otherwise, it’s business as usual now thankfully.
Regular touring requires an understanding employer. How do you combine touring and working life?
I’m fortunate in that music is my full time job now. Between tours I do studio work and my bands keep me quite busy as well. The other guys do have other gig work at home. It’s hard to find a job that understands and accepts a touring musicians schedule!
The new album has been on the market since the beginning of February and the first reviews are online. How important are they to you? Do you read what the press reviews say, or aren’t they important for you?
While I do my best to read and keep up with as much as I can, I do my best to not let it affect me for better or for worse as we’re creating honest art here and at the end of the day, I’m just happy to anyone is enjoying it. That being said, the vast majority of all of the reviews and comments I’ve seen have been overwhelmingly positive which makes my heart very happy. I think we truly made something special.
Before the release of “Death: An Anthology”, you released three singles last year, all of which received a video, but didn’t end up on the album, not even in the form of a deluxe edition. Will you still make it possible for your fans to put the songs on their shelves in the form of an EP, for example?
We’ve received a lot of requests to do the singles in a physical format so I think we’ll make it happen. We want to give the people what they want!
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Please explain to our readers the concept behind your new album. The predominant theme on it is death. What was the impetus behind dedicating the album to this melancholy subject?
Travis approached death from many perspectives. Some personal, some external, some fantastical. The death of relationships, the death of one’s self, physical death and fear, etc. The anthology title is very fitting for the music and the lyrics.
With this album you have moved away from classic deathcore towards a mixture of heavy metal, tech death and prog metal with a good dose of deathcore. How do you explain the fact that the album has become so cross-genre?
We all have such a wide array of influences that and we don’t like to restrain what we write and pull from. So, we let it all shine through in the most coherent format that we could. While it may be all over the place, I do feel like exploring many genres of metal is one of our greatest strengths.
You have various collaborations on the new album. How did the individual collaborations come about, over a beer together or did you just get in touch? What collaborations can we look forward to in the future?
Ben and Darius we have known for years and are good friends. Wes and Heafy we’ve gotten to know in recent years and are also fortunate to call them friends. They’re all such wonderful people and AMAZING musicians and each of their parts leveled up their respective songs so much. We hope to do more awesome collabs in the future!
ENTERPRISE EARTH has had many line-up changes in the past. Hopefully we can get used to the current constellation. How has your band structure changed with Travis on board?
Since the addition of Travis and Dakota 2-2.5 years ago we’ve noticed a great increase in strength and unity in the band, not to mention an explosion in creativity. I’ve been in the band the longest and have gone through all of the shit and I can say with full conviction that this is the best version of ENTERPRISE EARTH to date. I can’t wait to continue making awesome music with my boys.
What personal milestone have you reached with ENTERPRISE EARTH? Is it playing in a foreign country, several records sold or touring with a band you are a fan of?
All of the above! On „Death: An Anthology” we did secure the #1 spot on the iTunes Metal charts for a few days which was a first for us.
What is the biggest compliment you can be given as a musician? And who or what was the biggest influence on you to start making music?
When I see someone’s face light up at a show when we’re playing. Bringing joy into people’s lives gives me life, it’s such a cool feeling. My influences are too far and wide to name in a sentence, but if I had to pick one it would be my father. He’s also a musician and instilled that spark in me from a very young age.
With social media in the form of Reels, Shorts and Posts, you can quickly reach fans and those who might become fans. Do you feel the encouragement you get online in the form of Hearts and Likes also on stage? Is the fanbase as strong as social media suggests?
It’s interesting because while social media engagement is a barometer of a band’s size, it’s not a direct correlation. For example, a hype online band may get lots of likes but that doesn’t translate to a show. Where a hardcore band doesn’t much engagement but EVERYONE liking their posts is at the show, so their shows do better than the hype band. I think ours is a good balance between likes and show attendance and energy.
I would like to end the interview with the traditional Metal1.info-brainstorming. What comes to your mind first while reading the following terms:
favorite food outside your home country: Ramen/sushi
Books or Netflix: Both
Festivals or concerts: Both but usually concerts
Last album you bought: honestly can’t remember
Song you prefer to play live: „The Reaper’s Servant“
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! The last word is yours. What else would you like to say to our readers?
Thanks for jamming „Death: An Anthology“ and always keep an eye out for more ENTERPRISE EARTH!
13. März 2024 Sarah Punke
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