For the longest time, the hustle for Periphery guitarists Mark Holcomb and Misha Mansoor had been constant. They'd toured the world, recorded hundreds of songs, and even received their first GRAMMY nomination. So, when the coronavirus pandemic slashed what would've been their 2020 tour, they simply found themselves stuck at home.
Being in statis was new to them. It was strange, maybe even alien, to find themselves with so much free time on their hands. While a break from their busy lives could be seen as a breather, it was more frustrating than anything to have the future of the music industry in a complete blur.
With all the frantic, anxious energy he'd pent up inside, Holcomb then began to write new music for their extreme prog metal project Haunted Shores. "I felt this balance of excitement and anxiety when I began the initial writing, and then when Misha and I started fleshing the songs out together, it became super fun and organic," he says.
Bandwagon caught up with Haunted Shores' Mark Holcomb to talk about the duo's upcoming sophomore album Void, finding inspiration in video games, what it was like collaborating with painter Paolo Girardi, and more.
We're so excited for the release of Void! Could you tell us about how you guys decided to pursue this album and why now?
Thank you. I had wanted to do another Haunted Shores record with Misha since our last one, Viscera, which came out back in 2015—but between Periphery's intensive touring and recording schedule and both of our busy personal lives, life tends to get in the way and it becomes nearly impossible to dedicate the time we want to side projects. When the pandemic wiped out Periphery's 2020 touring, it presented a golden opportunity for us to focus entirely on Haunted Shores.
What inspired the creation of Void?
I began writing the first demos for it in early 2020, right when Periphery's touring schedule was cancelled. On one hand, I was disappointed, anxious and stressed because I had no clue how severe the impact would be on the industry and our livelihood, but on the other hand, I viewed this sudden abundance of free time as a chance to do nothing but write. What else could I do? But I think you hear a lot of the frantic, anxious energy in the music—that's something that I don't think is there by accident. I felt this balance of excitement and anxiety when I began the initial writing, and then when Misha and I started fleshing the songs out together, it became super fun and organic, much like a Periphery record.
What kind of vision did you have for Void while you were writing? Is there an overall theme?
There's not really a pervasive theme across Void, but vision-wise, it draws pretty heavily from some dark places. I wanted it to be a bit of tribute to some of my favorite extreme metal bands: Emperor, Strapping Young Lad, Opeth, Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Ihsahn, and so on. I grew up on that genre of music and I've always wanted to have a band where blast beats made up most of the music, haha.
There are lighter, more melodic moments on the record, but on the whole, it's going for this more negative, nihilistic sound. I had also been playing a lot of Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne around then so I was also influenced by some of the darker thematic content in those videogames.
How much do you feel you've grown creatively since releasing Viscera?
I have no idea to be honest! I'd like to think I'm always getting better, but it's such a tough thing to quantify, and I'm far from unbiased, so who knows? I can actually tell you I've gotten better at recording and demo'ing songs myself, sort of being more self-sufficient as a songwriter and engineer. Watching other guys in Periphery, like Misha, Jake [Bowen], and Spencer [Sotelo]—it's tough not to absorb a lot of their expertise on that front.
I believe I've become pickier in the last seven years too, a bit more of a critic when it comes to both Haunted Shores and Periphery. At the end of the day, I just want every song and every album to be better than the last.
How do you know when material you write is for Haunted Shores, Periphery, or other music projects you have?
Usually, it's very obvious right off the bat. Haunted Shores has this really fast, evil, and borderline-unplayable quality on guitar that is easily definable. It rarely ever strays from that sound. Periphery is all over the map. It can be progressive, dark, bubbly, groovy, melodic, technical, whatever we want it to be, really.
When I sit down to write and I come up with riffs and ideas, it's almost always pretty clear which project it's for. There have been rare exceptions where ideas get passed from project to project, but those are more happy accidents than anything. The beautiful thing about Haunted Shores is none of it ever needs to be played live, so we can write literally anything we want. With Periphery, there's always a thought of "how is this going to work in our live set"?
Any exciting collabs on the album fans can look forward to? Did you work with anyone else on it?
We had our friend Jørgen Munkeby (from Shining) lend us a saxophone solo on 'Nocturnal Hours'—that came out really wild. Other than that, it was just Misha and I doing everything. We programmed the bass, the drums, played all the guitars, and Misha handled all of the synth and orchestral work, as he does. We co-produced it and he mixed it.
You worked with Paolo Girardi for the super spooky cover art. How did this collaboration come about and what is it about his work/style that felt like the perfect fit for Void?
Misha randomly found him via a recommendation from a friend of his, and we were both just blown away. I found him on Instagram, sent him a couple messages, and we went from there. Like I said, I had been on a huge Souls-borne kick, so I felt we needed to go with a sinister and surreal look that came close to matching those games, specifically Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, and Dark Souls 3.
I asked him to formulate some depiction of a massive eye, confronted with a small man in the foreground, defiantly waving a torch in the beast's face, and he not only ran with it, but went so above and beyond what I could've hoped for. Paolo hand-painted the album cover over the course of a month and it was an absolute breeze to work with him.
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What are your plans as Haunted Shores for the year?
Void comes out 11 March on 3DOT Recordings. You can expect some videos, playthroughs, and things along those lines. Haunted Shores doesn't tour so you'll unfortunately never be able to see us live. Periphery's new album is in full-swing though, so you'll be hearing from us soon!
What music have you been listening to these days? Any Asian acts in particular?
I've been revisiting some nostalgic metal albums for some reason. Some records by Hypocrisy, Satyricon, Morbid Angel, Dimmu Borgir, Vader—heavier music that I tend to associate with colder weather here in the US maybe. Devin Townsend has two new albums out that are phenomenal as well. In terms of Asian acts, I always go back to a couple of my favorites, a metal band from Taiwan called Chthonic, and a Japanese indie rock band called toe. Total opposite sides of the spectrum but equally awesome.
Haunted Shores' second studio albumVoid is scheduled for release on 11 March via 3DOT Recordings. While waiting for its release, stream Haunted Shores' Viscera below.
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