Interview with Charlie Sad Eyes from Crawl Below

 

Crawl Below's upcoming album, "9 Mile Square," is a fascinating release that gives listeners a glimpse into the rich history and local legends surrounding Norwich, Connecticut. This one-man project from Connecticut conjures up a doomy sounding world shrouded in a veil of harmonious sounding darkness. The artist behind this project, Charlie Sad Eyes, definitely knows how to write a strong and creative release from beginning to end. Honestly, this is an album you do not want to pass up! I decided to ask him a little more about the album as well as some other topics of interest. Check out the full interview below...

Hello Charlie, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions! Crawl Below’s new album, “9 Mile Square,” is out February 12 and I wanted to get your thoughts on the upcoming release. What can listeners expect to hear on this new album and how does it compared to your previous releases?

Thanks for the interview. Listeners can expect to hear a bunch of doomy melodic power ballads sung by a third-rate Peter Steele wannabe. I have to admit, back in the 80s I liked hair metal power ballads and wondered what it would be like if the whole album was like that. Then I just downtuned it and heavied it up a bit. And my friends say I sing like a sad Dracula.

Compared to previous releases... CB is a side project and a chance for me to try different sub-genres. The first Crawl Below release was D- beat black metal. The second was Lovecraftian acoustic pub songs (ironically, the best selling and well-received). 9 Mile Square is melodic doomgaze or whatever. The next one, already recorded, is death doom. After that, I don’t know. K-pop, maybe? 

Before we get more into the album I just wanted to get some background info and talk about some of your musical influences. What bands did you listen to growing up that may have helped shaped you as a musician? Also, are you involved in any other musical projects besides Crawl Below?

Going back to the hair metal thing, my first favorite band was Def Leppard. As I got older, I got into punk, hardcore, and black metal and I think you can sort of hear that stuff in this album. My biggest influence is Social Distortion and I can’t seem to write anything that doesn’t owe something to Mike Ness. I’d say Alcest had an influence on this release also, particularly "Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde”, the one he doesn’t scream on. Also, my singing gets compared to Peter Steele a lot but educated listeners will notice I’m really just (badly) ripping off early Life Of Agony. River Runs Red is a classic.

As far as other projects, oh boy. I play bass in When The Deadbolt Breaks. Guitar and vocals in Sentinel Hill. Vocals in Holding On To Nothing and Low Moments. Bass in Banth. I do all the instruments in Animal Schoolbus, a grindcore band my nine-year-old daughter sings for. Our next CD is coming out in April. And everything in Good Morning Eastern Connecticut, a project in which I make fun of Connecticut metal people.

All the songs on “9 Mile Square” have something to do with Norwich, Connecticut and the vivid lyrical themes are definitely something I find that listeners will gravitate towards when listening to this album. What made you want to write a concept album about Norwich? As a lyricist what helps you find inspiration during the writing process?

New England has a ton of cool legends, my town included. Pretty inspiring in its own right, so it just made sense as subject matter. My own life is pretty boring, so I don’t have a lot of personal stuff to sing about. I hate writing lyrics but found it a lot easier basing it on local history.

Looking at all the songs on “9 Mile Square,” I wanted to know if there is one track that really stands out, or one that you feel most proud of when hearing it back? When I reviewed the album, I had a difficult time selecting a favorite, because the album really flows with such tremendous synergy.

Not really. It’s pretty samey all the way through, not very dynamic. I’ve probably gotten the most positive feedback about “Tarnished The Name” which is about the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold, who grew up about two miles from my house. I also kind of like how the chorus came out on “Feed The Towers” which is about the two massive casinos nearby and their effect on the region.

Now I know you have two music videos out already for a couple tracks off of the album, “Kingdom of the Ruined” and “Monument.” What made you pick those two songs to create videos for, and can we expect more videos to come in the near future?

For those two videos, visuals were easy. Kingdom Of The Ruined is about the Norwich State Hospital, which housed thousands of mental patients until it was shut down in the early 90s. Since then it has fallen apart and been largely demolished, but the buildings were architecturally amazing. My friend Bill Bates from Black North filmed that one. Monument is about a legendary Indian battle that happened here in the mid-1600s. The legend is that one tribe was chased to the edge of the cliff you see in the video. Some surrendered and some jumped. When you see this spot, the idea of jumping is absolutely insane. The chief of the retreating tribe, Miantonomo, jumped and broke his leg. He was caught, tried by a court of settlers, and executed. The “monument” at the end is his resting place. I might do a video for Tarnished The Name because it seems popular, we’ll see.

I was interested to know a bit more abut the recording process for this album, because I read on your bandcamp that you had written the album back in 2013 and then re-recorded it in April of 2020. What were some of the challenges you faced during the recording process? How pleased are you with the album’s overall production?

Yeah, I wrote these songs in 2013, originally with death and black metal vocals. I’ve been going through all my old music and re-recording it, and decided melodic singing would work better. I recorded everything at my house (programmed drums) and sent it to Studio Wormwood, an up-and-coming studio here in eastern CT. Dave Kaminsky, who worked at Morrisound in Florida, re-amped it and gave it a much bigger feel. He’s awesome and is working with a ton of great bands.

I’m not a good enough musician to record in actual studios, I’m finding out. It’s much more cost-effective if I do it at home and send it for mixing. There is, of course, a loss in quality but it doesn’t bother me. Lo-Fi Till I Die.

The only challenges were waiting for my wife and daughter to be out of the house so they didn’t have to hear Sad Dracula singing about casinos in the side bedroom.

Before the pandemic, what was the live music scene like in your area? Did you have many venues available for you to perform live?

Oh man, the eastern CT metal scene was super active for years before Covid. We’re the quieter, poorer end of the state but metal was killing it here for a long time, due to clubs like Altones, 33 Golden, and Strange Brew, and primarily Dwayne Eldredge from the band Mourn The Light. He was booking 3-4 shows a month as well as the New England Stoner & Doom Fest. The scene is kind of small but really tight-knit. I can’t wait until things get back to “normal” and really hope all those clubs will continue to exist. Luckily, in the downtime, most of us local bands have been writing and recording.

Do you have any other new projects in the works, or is there another Crawl Below release on the horizon? Also, will there be a physical release of “9 Mile Square” in the near future? CD? Vinyl? 8-track?

The 9 Mile Square CDs are in, limited to 25. That’s the only physical I’m doing unless there’s a need for more. If I do, it will indeed be 8- track. I have a bunch of stuff coming up. Animal Schoolbus (elementary school grindcore) album 4/1/21. When The Deadbolt Breaks (psychedelic doom) LP spring 2021. Charlie Sad Eyes & The Diminishing Returns (rock) full-length, summer. Crawl Below (death doom) full-length, summer. Low Moments (heavy pop-punk, even worse than it sounds) full-length some time in 2021. Sentinel Hill (heavy rock) full-length maybe by fall. An as-yet-unnamed raw black metal EP at some point this year. And I’m starting my own label, Lawnmowerjetpack Records, to put out all my side projects (including Crawl Below). 

Charlie, I just wanted to thank you once again for taking the time to answer these questions and also congratulations on the new album.

Thanks a lot for the interview and I’m glad you liked 9 Mile Square enough to listen and post about it. Great questions. For those interested, the next CB will be entirely different. Big thanks to Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Zone!

Check out the video for the song "Monument" below:

Crawl Below Bandcamp:

https://crawlbelow.bandcamp.com/album/9-mile-square

Crawl Below Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/crawlbelow