As teased in mid-March, our Eerie, PA friends from HUMAN ANIMAL are back with a new album “False Realities“, out today on Surprise Attack Records, and to celebrate, we’re thrilled to give you the band’s new music video for the song “Hellfire”, along with insightful commentary from the band! Watch the video, pla the full record and check out lots of interesting insights and background from the band’s own EMS (Eric Michael Schauffele, also from Surprise Attack, Smoke & Mirrors, and of course Brother’s Keeper).
The seeds were planted for this song after the attacks at the Paris, France – Eagles of Death Metal concert happened (as well as other global occurrences at that time). Then the event that really inspired this song was the Orlando, FL nightclub shooting that took place. I seriously was distraught after this one. The idea I was trying to capture of this song was by putting myself in the shoes of someone who was there. Someone who just went out to enjoy their evening surrounded by friends and loved ones. A person just out to have a great night by enjoying life, and it turning into a total nightmare of death and destruction. The feeling of just not being able to make sense of any of it amidst all of the chaos and confusion.
“False Realities” is a brand new 10 song CD / LP / Digital release. It took us a few years to make this come to fruition but we are finally putting it out into the world. It’s a heavy record with an underlying dose of optimism. I’m on a constant quest for growth on a personal and global / social level. I want this world to be a better place & celebrate the best in people.
Our drummer recorded everything at his Under the Radar Studios. We sent it off to Andy Nelson at Chicago’s Bricktop Studio to mix it. He was awesome to work with and listened to any good (or bad) idea we threw at him. Then we had Brad Boatright at Audiosiege master it. Pretty awesome team we had on it and I think it came out huge sounding. We decided to self release it just to be in the drivers seat for everything. I chose to resurrect my old label Surprise Attack records aka SA Mob. It was really cool because I got to work with my older step brother Trev Stair who handled all of the artwork / layouts and one of the guys, Thorns that works at my tattoo shop did all of the hand lettering for the song titles, and a bunch of killer local photographers helped out with the live and group shots.
We launched preorders on Friday March 13th. Basically the weekend that the USA started planning for the shutdown unbeknownst to us.
What a horrible time to release a record.
But we spent a few years working on this and had everything in hand so we felt there was no reason to hold off on moving forward with it. Music can be an incredibly cathartic thing during good times, and bad times. So maybe just listening to a hardcore punk record might make someone’s day go by a little bit better or be a nice distraction. It’s pretty insignificant during all of this craziness so we urge people that if they don’t have the money to just stream it on one of the many platfoms. The pre-orders have been very good and I’ve been packing orders for 3-4 hours every night for a week straight and got them all out in the mail before our target date.
Continued below…
I’m also self employed so this is stressful in those regards as far as not bringing in any money for my family and out of work for who knows how long. The other guys are all out of work / school as well but I think some of them will be eligible for unemployment hopefully. Luckily I keep my life pretty simple and my only debt is my mortgage. I thought a lot of the impending doom was a bit hysterical at first but as time has gone on and numbers have increased I’ve realized this is no joke. Once you start hearing about friends of the family and direct friends who have tested positive it kind of knocks you out of your comfort zone. I have no clue where this is all headed and the thought of trying to find some sort of job even if just temporary is weighing on me until I can open my business back up.
Touring
We were hoping to do a few local record release shows but for now everything is just put on hold. I was really hoping this new record would get some traction and help us get on some more out of town shows. I have no predictions for what is in store for the world currently. Things are pretty bleak right now but we’re in the middle of a hurricane. And with all storms they eventually will pass. So we just need to stay the course and take care of ourselves and those around us. I would love to partner with a European label for an overseas release of this. I’ve shipped a small handful over there but we know the rates can be brutal for postage. We talk all of the time about wanting to tour Europe in this band.
Eerie and Pennsylvania hardcore scene
Erie was HUGE way back in the day, like 500 kids at every show, sometimes 1,000. Things are on a way smaller scale currently and not many national bands come through our city sadly. But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t still super fun. The local scene is very supportive of each other. There is a good core group of individuals creating tons of music and art in our city. We’ve got a wide range of metallic hardcore, to mosh, to stoner rock, to blistering punk, to rocking indie stuff. I love it all and honestly the support everyone has been giving each other these days is inspiring.
Some bands worth checking out: Save Yourself, Shattered Utopia, Archway, Subdue, Bushido Code, Maniacal Device, Half Glass, No Comply, Fog Giant, and I’m sure there’s more I’m missing.
Other bands worth a check
I’ve been listening to a ton of Fotocrime, Mutually Assured Destruction, Billy Bio, Wisdom in Chains, Steel Nation, Fiddlehead, Ceremony, The Take, Agnostic Front, the latest Bad Religion. I know some of the other guys have been rocking the new Higher Power, Pinegrove, Angeldust, Take Offense put out a great one last year. I’m excited for that new Rotting Out. I pre-order A LOT of music when I can and I’m constantly trying to check out new bands as well. There’s still a ton of older bands putting out great new music, I get bummed when friends just sit on an artists old records and don’t keep following their path. You’re doing yourself a disservice many times with that.
Hellfire lyrics:
All I wanted was a special night,
filled with positive vibes.
Hope to make some friends,
and share some smiles.
I feel the love, it’s growing inside.The spirit of youth in an ageless time.
I look around & I soak it all in.
We’re surrounded by those filled with life,
I want more and I want to absorb…Everything this night has in store,
but little did we know, little did we think
our worlds were gonna crumble…
nothing will be the same ever again.Do you feel it?
The chills down my spine… hellfire,
it burns us all tonight.
Do you feel it coming down
all around us again?
All I want was to share this
love… love… love.So many lives had their time cut short.
You filled this room with horrors.
Hate… hate.
So filled with hate, filled with rage but not me.
You filled this room with horrors.Where did I go wrong, and what did I do
to draw such malice from inside of you?
Do my ways really matter so much
to your out of touch ideals?Feed your demons, outta control.
Self centered plans, while others pay the toll.
The arrogance, malevolence.
Is it worth the cost? You have no soul.Do you feel it?
The chills down my spine… hellfire,
it burns us all tonight.
Do you feel it coming down
all around us again?
All I want was to share this
love… love… love.So many lives had their time cut short.
You filled this room with horrors.
Hate… hate.
So filled with hate, filled with rage but not me.
You filled this room with horrors.
