Interview

Black Tide's Gabriel Garcia Discusses Upcoming Second Album

Black Tide has been making waves in the heavy metal scene, both because of the young age and talent of the band's members. The group was famously promoted to the main stage during Ozzfest of 2007 after being deemed too young to perform on the Jagermeister stage, and then went on to release the debut album "Light From Above." Black Tide is now back with a new single, along with a second full-length to be released next year. At the Seattle stop of the band's current tour with Bullet For My Valentine, guitarist/vocalist Gabriel Garcia filled me in on the details of the upcoming second album and how growing up in the metal scene has changed the band's lyrical content and outlook.

xFiruath: Aren’t you guys on tour right now?

Gabriel: Yeah, we’re actually in Seattle right now. We’re on tour with Bullet For My Valentine and Escape the Fate.

xFiruath: How’s the tour going so far?

Gabriel: It’s been amazing. We’re playing three new songs on the set, so it’s rad for us. It’s something new. We haven’t had a tour in over a year.

xFiruath: You guys were in the recording studio not too long ago recording those new songs. Is that all finished or do you still have more studio time coming up?

Gabriel: No, we’ve been done with the record for a few months. We just released the EP and the actual recording isn’t coming out until February.

xFiruath: Have you picked a name for the new album yet?

Gabriel: Yes, we think it’s going to be self-titled. We had a couple of names, but we kind of decided we wanted it to be self-titled.

xFiruath: Tell me about the recording process. What studio were you in?

Gabriel: We recorded at Spin Studios in New York and we worked with Josh Wilbur.

xFiruath: Will there be a theme to the upcoming album or will all the songs deal with different subjects?

Gabriel: All the songs are about different things and there’s no theme. We decided to go self-titled because it’s kind of a new start for us. I don’t want to say we’re straying away completely from our first record, but it’s definitely a fresh start.

xFiruath: What’s the biggest difference between the first album and your new material?

Gabriel: To me, what I see is that the lyrical content on the new record, these songs actually have something to say. On our first record I was 13 and I really hadn’t experienced much and I just sang about things that I thought were cool. They didn’t really mean anything to me, but on this record everything is about real stuff. That’s really the biggest difference, and of course my voice has changed. I think I went from 13 when I recorded that record to 17 when we recorded this record. Your voice changes a lot.

xFiruath: Will there be any cover songs on the new album?

Gabriel: No, we wanted to stick to originals on this one. We’ve done a couple of covers before. We did “Prowler” and “Hit the Lights.” But we’re doing our own thing now.

xFiruath: Is the artwork done for the new album?

Gabriel: It actually isn’t. We’re talking about it now. We have a couple of ideas, but it’s not done. It should be done by December I think.

xFiruath: I saw that your “Warriors of Time” song ended up an NHL video game. Tell me about how that ended up happening.

Gabriel: Honestly, I’m not sure. Our publishers throw our songs to whoever they can, people working with video games and movies. They handle all that stuff, so I’m not sure how that came about. But it’s dope. A lot of people have heard us through the games. We’ve been on NHL, we’ve been on Skate 2 and Dirt 2. It gives us a lot of attention.

xFiruath: You guys are all pretty young guys as far as musicians go. What’s your personal history and music?

Gabriel: I started playing when I was 8. I wanted to pick up the guitar, because one of my cousins played. He would jam all the time and listen to all these metal bands, and that’s what made me want to pick it up. After that I just didn’t stop. My parents eventually saw that it meant that much to me and bought me a nicer guitar and I went from there.

xFiruath: What bands are you listening to lately?

Gabriel: Honestly, I don’t even really listen to metal anymore. I do it and live it and breathe it. I listen to more chill stuff like Incubus, Cold Play, or John Mayer. Whenever I have the chance to listen to music I don’t want to hear metal.

xFiruath: After this tour is over do you guys have any more tour dates lined up?

Gabriel: We actually have nothing as far as I know. Managers like to surprise us with years of tours, so I’m sure there’s something, I just don’t know what it is yet.

xFiruath: Anything else you wanted to say about the new album?

Gabriel: I just want everyone to check it out and give it a chance. Give it a real listen. Some people are just talking about the image and the way we’ve changed and just forget about that. Listen to the music and check it out for what it is. Obviously it’s different, we’ve grown up and that’s what happens.