SOURCE – How do you feel things went with the Lux album, looking back five years later?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – I’m still proud of it. I like the material we wrote and consider it to be some of our strongest work. My only real regret with that record is that we never got the chance to tour it properly. It came out in the middle of all the COVID-19 shutdowns, and we had to cancel what would have been our first East Coast tour of the U.S. We were able to do a couple of smaller regional tours in the years that followed, but we never got to do a full, proper tour for that one.
SOURCE – A Crack in Everything is the latest In the Company of Serpents studio release. How do you see this set of material fitting into the band’s catalog in terms of songwriting and performance?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – It feels like an extension of where we were already headed musically. There are riffs on this that would’ve fit right in on Lux, and we’ve continued to incorporate the so-called “Western” elements that people have come to associate with us. There’s lap steel guitar throughout the record, but that’s been present since our second album, Of the Flock. That element really began to develop when Ben Pitts joined on bass and lap steel, as he could explore fully fleshed-out parts that go beyond what we’d previously done only in the studio. Lux was our first record as a three-piece, so that sound remains present. Beyond that, there are also parts that include 12-string guitars, baritone acoustics, and even a banjo, so those elements all contribute some twang to the sound.
Songwriting-wise, this album is different in that, lyrically, it’s far less esoteric than our previous work and more directly about my lived experience. There are still elements of esotericism, but first and foremost, this is a record that explores my experience of addiction.
SOURCE – With how the music industry has changed, how do you now set expectations for a new album?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – Plan for the worst, and be pleasantly surprised when reality exceeds your expectations! We remain a fairly underground band and have always taken the DIY route for pressing our music. With that in mind, we’ve never pressed more than 500 copies of anything upon release. This doesn’t include represses, but generally, everything we release is fairly limited, and that allows us not to worry too much about whether or not we’ll sell through everything we make. We’re happy to have the opportunity to tour and support it this time around, and hopefully that will help it reach some new ears.
SOURCE – How has the streaming model changed your approach to the financial side of album releases? With lower per-stream royalties, how do you supplement your income while staying focused on the creative process?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – We are nowhere near the scale of a band where this makes much of a difference. I get a check for digital royalties about twice a year, and it’s usually around fifty bucks. We want people to be able to listen to our music wherever possible, so we play ball with the major streaming services, but we try to encourage folks to go through our Bandcamp page when they can. Bandcamp isn’t perfect, but it’s a far more direct way of supporting artists you enjoy than any of the streaming platforms. It also doesn’t hurt that (as far as I know) Bandcamp’s CEO isn’t putting their profits into the war machine, as Spotify has done. Spotify makes millions off artists without contributing a single creative impulse of their own, pays the actual creators a fraction of a cent per stream, and then turns around and pours that money into AI war drones. It’s disgusting.
SOURCE – Music videos have become a vital part of album promotion. How do you view their role in supporting this new release?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – This is the first time we’ve actually made a video, so this question is well-timed! Our friend Jake Mulhern (a.k.a. Mothpowder Light Show) had done live visuals for us a number of times, and had also recently directed a video for Ben’s other band, Nightwraith, so he seemed like an obvious choice to work with. We ended up doing a video for the song A Patchwork Art, and he came up with a great concept that matched some of the lyrical themes nicely. People had approached us a number of times over the years offering to make videos, and I never went for it. I was always concerned the result would come off as cheesy. People hear the more cinematic elements in our music and often want to cast us in some kind of mini-western. I’m sure that could work in the right hands, but there’s a very wide margin for failure, so I never took the plunge until now.
I’m very happy with how this one turned out, so maybe those fears were unfounded. You can check it out here:
SOURCE – Social media has become a crucial tool for artists. How have you used these platforms to promote the album before and after its release?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – Begrudgingly. Social media has become our main means of promotion, and I don’t care for it. I hate the idea that everyone has to be a “content creator,” constantly churning out nonsense that’s only tangentially related to their actual creative work, just to appease the almighty algorithm. We’d all be better off if artists could spend that time focusing on their real work.
SOURCE – In the Company of Serpents is a trio of musicians with occasional guest appearances, yet your sound is much bigger than just the three of you. Have you ever considered bringing in other musicians as full-time members?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – I would never be opposed to it, but it would need to add something to the overall sound that we can’t currently achieve. I don’t know exactly what that would be, but I could see adding another multi-instrumentalist to handle keys or some more experimental percussion elements. It could also be cool to take a page from Neurosis and bring a visual artist into the band as a full-time member for live performances.
SOURCE – With making a living from music becoming increasingly difficult, what steps do you believe should be taken to improve financial conditions for musicians?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – The biggest hurdle is that no one buys music directly from artists anymore, and the streaming services provide virtually no compensation for your work. I feel like that Pandora’s box is already wide open, and there likely won’t be much change unless artists abandon those platforms en masse. For fans, I’d just emphasize that seeing bands live and buying merch from them has the most direct positive impact. Someone could set up a computer to stream our new record on repeat for a year on Spotify, and we’d still make more money if they just bought a shirt from us instead.
SOURCE – Do you feel that being an independent artist, as opposed to being signed to a label, affects how you approach album promotion? If so, how do you manage the challenges of self-promotion and marketing?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – We don’t have anywhere near the budget a label could provide for promotion, so our visibility is definitely limited. Labels also offer physical distribution—which, while increasingly less relevant, would still be helpful. They also provide better touring opportunities, which bands like ours don’t usually get. So, while there are many pros to going the DIY route, a label can still be valuable. The economic reality, however, is that very few labels have the resources to back bands at our scale, so their support typically goes to bands that can tour nine months out of the year.
SOURCE – What are your plans following the release of A Crack in Everything?
Grant Netzorg (vocals, guitars) – We’re heading out on a Midwest tour (see attached flyer) starting July 15, and after that, we have our record release show in Denver on August 9 at the Bluebird Theater, with Palehorse/Palerider, Church Fire, and Cronos Compulsion. We’re stoked about how that lineup turned out—each band is unique and interesting in its own way, and no one sounds remotely like anyone else on the bill, so it should be an exciting show. After that, we’re scheduled for a West Coast tour this October with our old friends in Goya, who just released the excellent In the Dawn of November. Jeff, their singer/guitarist, also appears on our new track Endless Well, so we’re excited to perform it live with him on that run.
Photo Credit: Kate Rose
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