Psychedelic Living: The Black Angels interview

As The Black Angels prepare to headline the Liverpool Psych Fest in September, we speak to guitarist Christian Bland about their latest record Death Song and the merits of living the psychedelic life

Feature by Claire Francis | 19 Jul 2017

As the guitarist and founding member of Austin psych-rock outfit The Black Angels, you would imagine that Christian Bland has had his fair share of psychedelic experiences. We ask him about his most mind-altering moment of this year so far, however, and the question has him stumped. "Of this year?" Bland responds. "Gosh… that’s a hard one. I’d really have to ponder that for a little bit.” After a few moments of musing, he finally replies, "the most psychedelic moment is probably when Trump took office," adding with a laugh, "that was pretty mind-blowing!"

The US election has also filtered into The Black Angels' latest record, Death Song. Their sixth album was released in April and is being hailed by many critics as their finest effort to date. Bland explains that Trump's campaign and last year's election result wasn't the initial motivation behind Death Song, but that it inevitably influenced the mood of the new album. “[It's] probably the most political since Passover,” he affirms.

“We were recording it during that process of the election, but we were writing it since 2014." He continues, "So the election, that’s not necessarily where the lyrics and ideas came from, but I guess because of everything that was going on, when the record came out it’s easy to label it as that because of the situation going on in the world. Which I think is a cool thing, because it means that we were writing in kind of a timeless manner. That’s what we always try to do, and hope that in 2117 this record will still mean the same thing.”

Much has also been made about the album title, Death Song, which completes the title of The Velvet Underground song – The Black Angel's Death Song – from which the band took their name. Recounting the process of naming the record, Bland reveals that it actually materialised in a roundabout way. “That wasn’t going to be the original title [and it] didn’t dawn on me until I was in the middle of designing the record – I was working on the inside credits and our publishing company is called Death Song Publishing Company. And I thought, ‘well that’d be cool, The Black Angels – Death Song’, because you know, we’ve been together since 2004 yet still people ask, ‘where’d you get your name from?’" he laughs. "That question no longer needs to be asked!

"But it means more than just The Black Angel's Death Song for me," he continues. "Each song [on the album] talks about kind of a different problem in life. Thinking back to the book 1984 by Orwell, how they spoke in doublespeak, that was kind of an idea for Death Song. The last song on the record is called Life Song because I wanted the entire album to end on a somewhat positive note. I mean, I don’t think that death’s negative, necessarily... if you reflect on death and you realise that it’s inevitable, then I think you’ll try to live life more fully."

Bland also confirms that taking a lengthy break in between the release of The Black Angels' last record, 2013's Indigo Meadow, and Death Song enabled the band to reinvigorate their songwriting process. "It allowed us to follow the song instead of us pushing the song along a path. I’ve always had this notion, that I like a lot of bands’ first albums the best.

"I can say that about Pink Floyd – Piper at the Gates of Dawn – and I prefer Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s first record. I think it’s hard to do what you did on first records, because that’s, you know, from the time that you’re born to the time that that record comes out, that’s your whole life up to that point. And then your next record comes out one or two years later, and it’s definitely not as much time [as went into] the first one!"

With The Black Angels' upcoming headline show at Liverpool Psych Fest in mind, which Bland enthuses he's "really excited" to be playing at – "my other band The Revelators got to play there in 2014," he exclaims – the conversation turns to the ongoing global renaissance of psychedelic music. 

"I think it’s the backlash against what’s going on [in the world],” Bland says of the genre's popularity. “I mean, I think psychedelia is about breaking out of how we’re being programmed. And it’s people whose eyes are open, and their ears are hearing, and they’re aware of what’s going on. At the core of psychedelic music – not just psychedelic rock'n'roll – is that idea of de-programming and getting away from what the media is forcing you to think about.”

As for whether or not he takes a psychedelic approach to his own lifestyle, Bland sounds amused as he says: "I try to live by what we put in our album. On every album since [their 2008 release] Directions to See a Ghost we’ve had the quote that says ‘Question your preconceived notions, question authority, and seek alternative methods for surviving in this world.'" And with a laugh he concludes, "And I do believe that I’m doin’ that every day."


Death Song is out now via Partisan Records

The Black Angels play Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, 22-23 Sep

http://theblackangels.com/