See a Grown Man Cry: an Interview with Pat Vigil of Watch Them Die

Oakland Thrashers Watch Them Die are one of the most underrated bands on the Century Media Records roster. Unleashing a beast of a new album, following up their self-titled debut album, the group reflects the strong influences of old-school metal, including Metallica and Megadeth, as well as Exodus. I had the chance to talk to vocalist PV Vigil back when the group opened for GWAR at In the Venue, and after talking to him I was instantly sold on the band. Bearing a strong work ethic and a drive to put forth their best effort shows a dedication to and love for metal. Watch Them Die will be visiting Salt Lake City on Oct. 29 at Club Vegas, opening for Exodus, Crisis, and 3 Inches of Blood. How metal can you get? Fortunately, I got the chance to talk to PV again while he was onset of shooting a music video for the new album Bastard Son.

SLUG: So I understand you are shooting a video at the moment; how is that going? Any insight you can give fans on the video?
Pat Vigil: It’s just us jamming in the basement of a fucked-up warehouse; we’re not trying to put in a storyline or anything, it’s just really straight-forward. We’re just trying to capture the violence that we project when we play live.

SLUG: I remember you hitting yourself when you played with GWAR.
PV: Yeah, besides the actual physical violence, there is an emanating violence that the band projects; just energy, raw energy.

SLUG: Not to diss on the first record, but I think Bastard Son, your new album, is a lot better in many ways.
PV: No doubt. No diss at all, that is awesome to hear. That is definitely one of our goals, and a goal of a lot of other bands; to always surpass your last record, to make a better record. So I’m glad you enjoyed it. You’re interviewing me, but are there any songs that stand out? I’m just trying to get some feedback.

SLUG: The title track, “Throne of Lies,” and “Early Mourning.” I like the acoustics and clean singing. So how did you hook up with Tue Madsen of Heaven Shall Burn, Himsa and The Haunted fame?
PV: He was introduced to us by Century Media. We never met him on our own. We just recorded the record and the band sat on it for a week. We all agreed that there was something missing, so we asked if we could re-mix it and the label was like, yeah, let’s definitely do it. Then the label started recommending people, including Tue, and I asked what Tue did? And they said, well, Tue just did the last Haunted record, I was like, oh my God, the whole band loves that record. So, we put it on his plate and let him mess around with it, and he totally captured what we were trying to get out.

SLUG: When I talked to you before, I remember you saying you were in a punk band called Grimple. Stylistically how does it differ from Watch Them Die?
PV: Grimple was evolving all the time; we would have probably played metal from the very beginning, but we just weren’t talented enough to do that. We were raised on old black-metal and thrash-metal; stuff like that. Like I said we weren’t talented enough to do that so we started a punk band. If you look at Grimple, it started out very punk, almost pop-punk, and little by little, metal aspects came out. By the last thing that we recorded, it was pretty much metal with tinges of hardcore. That finished, we took some time off and then created this band and we just went for it; let’s not hold back, let’s write a metal record. That’s how it evolved.

SLUG: Again, since I talked to you last what have you guys been doing, other than recording a new record in between the first record until now?
PV: Well our guitar player Greg Valencia, he had back surgery; his back was really fucked up. It was an intense back surgery, I mean, they put cadaver bones in him and titanium rods and screws and all that, so he had a long downtime. I said in an interview earlier to give him recognition; he was the foundation of the new record because of his downtime. He sat down and wrote most of this record, 90 fucking percent of it. That is what happened with a lot of that downtime, just creating and writing a new record. Last year, we were out about seven months of the year, then we took off five months to make the album after that we committed to five months to touring right off the bat. We just did a Soilent Green tour, did 70 dates with them; fucking amazing band, good people, good friends.

SLUG: 70 days?
PV: Well, the tour was booked 70 days, but we had to call it off early at the very end because New Orleans kind of got fucking flushed, and Soilent Green are from New Orleans. They were just going to keep touring because they didn’t have anything to go home to. But then the government said they were shutting down New Orleans on the 8th of September or something, and if you want anything you have to come get it. So we called off the tour early, they grabbed some shotguns, went in and grabbed their shit, and they got out. And we ended the tour that way.

SLUG: So you actually played in New Orleans?
PV: We played in New Orleans about a week-and-a-half, two weeks before the hurricane. Great show; we all love New Orleans.

SLUG: They had to get shotguns to get their stuff?
PV: Well, they stopped at Wal-Mart, grabbed a couple of shotguns before they went in, and parked their gear on the outskirts of the city. If you saw what was going on- everybody was looting, carjacking, people took anything, so what’s to stop them?

SLUG: That is insane.
PV: Yeah, they just wanted to protect themselves, and they did. They got in there, got their family and belongings and got out. Right now I believe everybody is safe, they’re scattered all over, but they’re safe. Right now we’re embarking on another tour, we have a week-and-a-half off, and then we embark on the Exodus tour. We’re blessed; I mean, we were basically raised by Exodus. It’s not the original line-up, but were stoked to be even asked to do this tour.