Nobody was extra shocked by Deafheaven’s first Grammy nomination than George Clarke. “I was in Charlotte on a layover quite early and I was texted congratulations,” the frontman for the L.A.-based steel band says. “I had no idea what they were referring to.”
Deafheaven’s track “Honeycomb,” from their fourth album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, is up for Best Metal Performance on the 2019 ceremony, competing in opposition to tracks by Between the Buried and Me, High on Fire, Trivium, and Underoath for the award. (We’ll discover out the winner on February 10.) A 12-minute-long black steel/ shoegaze/alt-rock epic, it isn’t precisely your typical Grammy fare. Nor are Deafheaven, a band that has been wreaking lovely destruction by the underground for nearly a decade, the form of individuals you sometimes see dressed up in tuxes at awards reveals.
On Friday, December 7, only a few hours after the 2019 nominations have been introduced, Clarke hopped on the cellphone with Pitchfork.
Pitchfork: How are you feeling concerning the nomination?
George Clarke: It’s very cool. It’s surreal to have a band like ours making the music that we make be acknowledged on that form of a stage. We recognize it lots.
Pitchfork: Do you watch the Grammys?
GC: No, no I don’t. I imply with our world, the issues that we contain ourselves in for essentially the most half are form of not related to that world. I do not discover myself paying a lot consideration to it. I believe that traditionally for the steel class, it has been fairly shooed-in, you realize? But it looks as if the previous couple years, they have been paying extra consideration and we’re completely happy to be part of that new pondering, I suppose.
Pitchfork: In some methods, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is Deafheaven’s most subdued file. How does it really feel to be nominated within the steel class?
George: We are a steel band. We incorporate totally different concepts and sure, the brand new file had a unique affect on it. But I nonetheless really feel like we’re a steel band.
Pitchfork: Did you realize the nomination was in any respect a risk?
GC: Absolutely not. Actually I spoke to a few the fellows on the cellphone earlier, and we’re all laughing as a result of that is form of an ongoing joke for the previous two years. Like, somebody comes up with an excellent riff and it is like, “oh, there’s our Grammy winner,” that form of factor.
I don’t know how [the nomination process] works. I do not know who’s listening to it and figuring out this stuff. But I can say that we put a variety of effort into the file. I believe that each one the components are very thought out. I believe that we took our time with it and hopefully from that made some good songs and so they simply acknowledged it. Your guess is pretty much as good as mine. But we have been placing in quite a lot of work of for lots of years now. I can not actually say.
Pitchfork: It does look like the dialog about steel, particularly on the mainstream stage of the Grammys, is altering. Like, final 12 months, Code Orange have been nominated.
GC: Exactly. I believe for the better neighborhood, that is the largest victory out of all of this. I believe that positively having Code Orange final 12 months and having Mastodon, who gained final 12 months, included amongst the nominees after which furthering that this 12 months with bands like us and High on Fire and Trivium, and many others. is cool. I believe that the truth that they’re paying extra consideration is a optimistic factor. I want to see extra inclusion of extra aggressive types of music, or no less than only a recognizing that there is a world of very hardworking musicians who additionally prefer to be seen and deserve it.
Pitchfork: So there’s the inclusion of opening up this world to new bands after which there’s the dialog concerning the Grammys’ longstanding lack of range. While many of the categories this year are more diverse, steel is among the genres that continues to be overwhelmingly white and male. What are your ideas on that?
GC: Well, I imply from my perspective, paying extra consideration in something is gonna be useful when there may be numerous girls and numerous individuals colour creating fascinating music and being inventive artists. I believe that ought to at all times be paid consideration to. I might say that the one factor I might hope for is that it wasn’t purely reactionary and that it isn’t– I do not need to say a development, however that is simply the phrase that is coming to my thoughts. I hope that it is not like they only acquired slapped on the wrist and now this 12 months features a totally different set of nominees. I hope that it continues on this extra inclusive approach.
And so far as that in steel, I may say the identical factor. I believe that for me it is at all times been a extra the merrier sort of scenario. I believe that the underground must let totally different voices in. I believe the underground must let different individuals’s views and tales be advised, and I hope that each within the mainstream and in our world or the world that Deafheaven operates in, each see extra of that sooner or later.
Read 5 Takeaways From the 2019 Grammy Nominations on the Pitch
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