The Famine | “Sometimes You Have To Paint An Ugly Picture To Appreciate The Frame”
Written By: Jeremy Seick

o often musicians strike gold, not when they are attempting to, but when the music is an honest, raw product of their passions and beliefs. I.e. The Famine. Don’t pick their new album The Architects Of Guilt up if you’re looking for some “feel-good jams.” Don’t pick it up if you still believe that “ignorance is bliss.” And don’t pick it up if you are not ready to take a hard look at our world and own up to your part in this problem that is seemingly crushing our generation. And in that case you probably won’t want to read any further either cause bassist turned frontman Nick Nowell’s tune isn’t changing. Nowell shares with us exactly what he was trying to convey when they recorded and released this intensely heavy and punishingly dark sophomore album. There is truth in these lines though, so if you are still with me, please soak this up. We are the architects of guilt.

I haven’t been this excited about an album in a long time. It is heavy and classic, and yet fresh and relevant. What did you hope for this album to be when you went into the recording process?

Nick Nowell: First of all, thank you.  That’s a really awesome thing to hear.  Being down here in Texas and having not been able to play locally for the first several years because of Chris being in New York really put a distance between us and everything else that has been going on in music.  It’s always great to find out that someone besides your grandmother is interested in what you do.  I think we knew that we had to prove ourselves coming in to this record.  At least, I know I did, stepping into a new role in the band.  I know Jon wanted to leave his mark, and Andy and Mark were determined to raise the bar from the last record.  The Raven and The Reaping is a record that we all love, but the four of us knew that we had it in us to blow it out of the water.  At least, I hope that’s what we did.  We wanted this record to shine in the areas where our first record didn’t necessarily.  The music had to be more dynamic, the parts more intricate, the performances more vivid.  Lyrically, I wanted to establish a precedent with these songs.  I wanted to use this opportunity to speak about something larger than myself; to instill outrage, to blur lines.  I wanted this record to have a feel and a direction, and have it be more of an album than a collection of songs, something that bears consuming in its entirety instead of in sound bites.

And during that process the studio you were working in burned down?! Is that correct? How much did you lose and how did that change the final product?

NN: Ahh, the infamous fire.  Everyone in the band got together to have dinner and laugh at a Pantera guitar instruction DVD last week and we all agreed that this fire seemed like it happened years ago.  2010 was a long, strange year for us.  The fire happened not too long after Chris left and I stepped in to his position.  Jon had been in the band probably less than a month.  Looking back, it would be easy to say that the fire was a cleansing experience, and a metaphor for the phoenix of this record, and so forth, but the truth of the matter is that it was an awful experience. It might not make sense, but that fire didn’t need to happen for us to write these songs, the fire needed to happen for us to make this record.  There is no witty metaphor in watching everything you’ve worked so hard for disappear in an instant.  In the same breath, it bears mentioning that we never wanted or intended to use our studio burning down as the world’s invitation to our pity party. As soon as the fire trucks left, we cleaned up.  After we got back from the dump, we started working on getting new gear.  A few days later, Mark left to tour Japan and Australia with Bleeding Through.  We did what we needed to do to move forward for this band.  It probably makes us more selfish or stupid than brave, but I don’t believe there was ever a doubt in our minds that we would make this album.

I have a feeling that you all didn’t just choose a name from a hat for this album, what is behind the title The Architects Of Guilt?

NN: Although the record isn’t a concept record, (we could never outdo Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater) there is definitely a consistent theme.  I knew from early on that every song was going to explore the concept of guilt in one way or another.  To me, “The Architects of Guilt” perfectly encapsulates the thesis of this record.  This album is about those who lower the bar for all of us and the people who actively or passively support it.  They are the architects of guilt, and there is no excuse for their actions.

The artwork on the album is incredibly dark and intriguing with the Catholic style headdress and the antlers… what can you tell us about it? What do you want it to represent? How does it reflect the theme of this album?

NN: It pretty much comes down to Ryan Clark being the coolest dude around.  I spoke with him about the lyrical and musical content of this album being uncomfortable and slightly off-putting, and I wanted that to come across with the cover.  I knew we wanted to stay away from illustration, since our last cover was illustrated.  We discussed having the cover come across as more of an art installation piece than an album cover.  I wanted it to be something influenced by David Lynch, but also by even less approachable films and filmmakers like Stan Brakhage and Elias Merhige.  I wanted the album cover version of the film “Salo.”  See it if you haven’t, but put the kids to bed first.  Anyway, Ryan and I were operating on the same wavelength, and he really took the concept and ran with it.  We tried to stay away from symmetry as much as possible.  My hope is that we ended up with a cover that is indicative of the album content; it makes you uncomfortable, but you aren’t quite sure why.  To me, that is a much deeper sensation than seeing gore or pentagrams.  We are so desensitized; everything is so over the top.  It’s much more disturbing these days to see a crystal clear image of a finger being broken than it is to see someone blown to bits.  It flies in the face of logic, but it has become a part of the human experience.

The lyrics to The Architects Of Guilt are as bold as your artwork. I love it! In “Ad Mortem” you say, “There is a special place in Hell for people like you.” Can you expand more on this idea?

NN: Sure.  I really wanted to establish a lyrical precedent for us with this record.  I wanted it to be clear that the outrage on this record is not manufactured.  Let me be very clear: I am disgusted on an almost daily basis by what I accept from myself and from others.  “Ad Mortem” is a song about using addictions to avoid looking in the mirror.  I don’t care if your addiction is heroin, whisky, women, canasta, or Jesus, if that is what is standing between you and conquering your demons, it bears evaluation.  People may not want to hear this, but we all know someone who traded meth for Christ-we imprison them for one and we praise the virtues of the other.  The truth of the matter is that this person is an addict and now religion is their drug.  They never dealt with their problems; they found a prettier rug under which to shove them.  Let’s stop pretending this is acceptable, “Without hope, the worldview of this record is irreparably bleak.  My greatest desire is that the underpinnings of this record point us to the fact that we can change this charted course by acting out of love instead of hatred, out of information instead of ignorance, out of peace instead of violence, out of hope instead of fear.”and let’s see it for what it is: a sham that requires our love and attention, not prison time and hymns.

I see a theme throughout this album of this sort of Hell that we have built here on earth, the lies that we are living and allowing to be lived out through us… am I making that up? What do you want listeners to take away from this album?

NN: I think you pretty much nailed it on the head.  This record is uncompromisingly dark for a reason.  Lest I be accused of finger-pointing, I include myself in the list of people laying brick and mortar for hell on earth.  I’m pretty sure hell can’t be any worse than the last 20 minutes of Emmett Till’s life, but we don’t talk about things like that because they make us uncomfortable and unsure.  Here’s the thing, though.  What’s the solution?  Without hope, the worldview of this record is irreparably bleak.  My greatest desire is that the underpinnings of this record point us to the fact that we can change this charted course by acting out of love instead of hatred, out of information instead of ignorance, out of peace instead of violence, out of hope instead of fear.  Work towards stopping the racism, sexism, and homophobia that is a part of our daily lives, and has become so ingrained in our culture that it is almost state sponsored.  Hold people accountable for their actions.  So yeah, the lyrics on this record are overwhelmingly negative, but sometimes you have to paint an ugly picture to appreciate the frame.

What has been the feedback so far from critics on this album?

NN: It’s been overwhelmingly positive so far, almost to the point that it worries me.  We got rated a ten out of ten by Indie Vision Music, which blows my mind.  I mean, “Dear You” by Jawbreaker wasn’t even a ten.  The whole experience of having your album reviewed can be pretty demoralizing, just ask David Bazan.  This record is extreme in many ways, and to have people appreciate it and praise it for exactly what it is has been humbling and incredible for us.  Of course, we are getting criticism for silly things like being not Christian enough, or for being too Christian, or for me not being Chris, or for Jon being Jewish, or for us not having an orchestra or operatic vocals, but the people offering that criticism are generally children playing house with a keyboard and a dial up modem.  Just about everything I’ve seen has been very encouraging, and we are all shocked, appreciative, and absolutely flattered that anyone has anything nice to say about what we do.

Was there anything else you wanted to use this platform to say?

NN: I’d like to encourage your readers to visit wm3.ORG and learn a little bit about the absolute miscarriage of justice that is taking place in our own back yards.  It isn’t too late to help these three men, and their freedom lies in our awareness.  Thank you very much.