Interview with Brian Patton of Soilent Green (for a piece about them playing Vegas)
By Andrew Fersch
It’s logical that you toured with Pantera, do you feel there are many bands with that sort of unbridled hatred that you and Pantera have?
With Pantera it’s just true music. We do what we do - we have no idea and no explanation, we just do what comes natural, and there are moments when we try to get across how pissed we are. I wouldn’t compare us to [Pantera] but the feeling to the music, there’s an aggression that is equal. When you are playing this type of music that’s the entire point. As angrily distorted and noisy as possible, we like to take it to number ten, it’s a natural thing. And we’ve been doing it for 20 years now.
What sort of music are you into?
I enjoy all styles of music; I try to incorporate them into extreme music. We did it on this record at a couple points. I have entire songs written like that and I plan on releasing them eventually. Jazz, blues, country, soul, r & b, [there are] tons of musical genres that are amazing. I play whatever I wanna play at the moment. We’ve recorded things here and there experimenting. If it was up to me the next Soilent Green record would be completely mellow, people wouldn’t endure that too much. There are definitely times when I try to separate myself from what’s going on in the metal industry, so much is being rehashed. I’ve never been a big fan when bands completely change - you disappoint a lot of people. I’ve been disappointed myself quite a few times by bands like Celtic Frost who do a one hundred eighty degree turn. The New Orleans scene is jam packed with musicians so I would do it separate from what we are doing.
Two Vegas shows in two weeks, Jillian’s and the House of Blues, why two and how will they be different?
We try to change the set up when we go through the same area a few times in a few weeks. It’s just how it is [the two shows are on different tours]….we’re actually able get through the same area, it’s kinda hard when you are opening - when you are playing a full set when you have only a half hour. It’s nice [to play twice]. We’ve never really played Vegas.
Ever been to Vegas?
Been once before and it was one of the most depressing experiences in my whole life. There are pawn shops next to casinos, a bunch of drunken women from out of town looking to get laid. It was 103 degrees at midnight when we rolled in, hot and miserable. Makes people even more pissed off.
Rolling Stone was totally on your jock back in the day, having lumped you in with Pantera and Black Sabbath, what did that mean to you?
It was an honor; it’s nice to get praise no matter what, if you’re getting some sort of positive response from a friend or press. The Rolling Stone thing was an honor. That’s the kind of shit that keeps us going. It means everything in the world.
Why should folks bother to go to your show?
If you enjoy what we do on CD we’ve always considered ourselves a live band, we try to capture what we do live in the studio. We’re a happy bunch of fellows, we get drunk, we get stoned and we go fucking crazy. If you like rock and you like metal hopefully you’ll like us, if you haven’t [heard us], by all means check us out. Live is way better than the studio for us.