In the disparate and often fractious world of metal, 3 Inches of Blood seem like the one band that can unite them all. Playing nefarious blend of black, death, power and thrash metal, the Canadian quintet have slain the masses with their Iron Maiden style storytelling and Accept-like vocal attack. It’s even earned them a slot as a support for the former, making lesser bands smash their guitars in envy. I caught up with guitarist Justin Hagberg as he was roaming the streets of his native Toronto on a rather idiosyncratic fine day for this time of year.

Please note that some questions have been omitted due to telecommunication problems.

So let’s get stuck into it, Justin! You’re going to be at the No Sleep ‘Til festival in December – how do you feel about coming down to Australia for the first time to play in a touring festival?

Whoa man, I’m totally stoked. You have no idea how stoked I am – myself and everyone in the band is. It’s been a long time coming for us to play in Australia so for us to get this chance is fucking kick-ass you know. We’re just super pumped and totally stoked.

It’s the first time for us going there, it’s going to be a new thing and we’re really looking forward to it. The whole experience.

It’s going to be a very interesting experience for metalheads – because I’m a metalhead, just putting that one out there – since it’s a predominantly punk oriented festival. Do you think punk and metal are kindred spirits or do you think there’s a bit of rivalry there?

Well, just for me personally I think there are similarities with both. I mean, you just look at Motorhead for example which appeals to – rather, greatly appeals – to everybody in metal and everybody in punk. It’s where the two styles of music unite. (I love that fucking band.) 

I look at this festival  cool to have one of those opportunities for a band like us to introduce ourselves to people that may not be aware of heavy metal so much. Who knows exactly what the reaction’s gonna be when we play but its cool to have the chance to introduce our music to a crowd who might not be aware of us and hopefully…we can turn them to the dark side (laughs)

You guys were at the US Mayhem Festival this year…

…yes, we were.

How did that go?

It was a really good time. That tour was fun, it took years off our lives from just all the, you know, tour antics and what not. It was fuckin’ great. It was a good time. We stood out a little bit more than usual [Korn and Rob Zombie headlined along with a predominantly metalcore lineup] but it was still cool. Five Cups of Fruit Punch or Five Dollar Footlong [Five Finger Death Punch] or whatever they were called were good. (laughs)
 

(laughs) You guys released a new video for Silent Killer recently, tell us how that went.

The guy who directed its name is Rick Podd, he’s a Vancouver boy just like us. He did our Brotherhood video before and we’d pretty much been working with him on other films and stuff such as DVD footage for an upcoming DVD release. He has some real killer ideas. The Silent Killer was great; he’s all about violence and chicks with big tits so it’s fun working with the guy. He rules; he’s a total bro.

You’ve said in the past that to write music all you need is ‘PBR [cheap beer], bong hits and black metal in the dark.’ Is that true?

(chuckles) That’s a quote from Jamie Hooper! That’s true on his end, anyway. But for me, I’m all about drinking beers and great tunes and going to the jamspace. Going to the jamspace getting loaded and picking up a guitar, writing riffs and playing shit, you know? Everyone’s got their own way of doing it. For me, it’s just about letting loose and writing heavy metal and getting wasted. I mean, it’s for productive purposes.

At least you get paid to drink beer, right?

Yeah! It’s one of the perks of being in a band – you get paid in beer a lot of the time.

Talking to other Canadian bands in my travels, it seems that rock music and in particular, heavy metal is a bit marginalized by the Canadian media – especially if you’re trying to aim for fun and not something completely cerebral – is this true?

Well, I have no idea, dude. I don’t really read press…

Dude, you’re breaking my heart…

(laughs) I mean, I don’t want to sound ignorant and that I’m not going to read this interview by you, but [overall] that’s not what I’m interested in. I like listening to music and having a good time and checking out bands all the time. I don’t really give a shit about what the press has to say – it’s all their personal opinion. I mean everyone’s got a job to do – if they want to praise a band or slam a band, that’s cool, it’s their job. All the good music that I discover is through my friends or discovered on my own.

Press isn’t something that I check out on a day-to-day basis.

You guys supported Iron Maiden a couple of years ago – was that when you figured you “made it” in the metal scene?

Definitely, for us, that was like, ‘holy fuck.’ Still to this day, it blows my mind even just talking about it. We had that opportunity to open for them and we couldn’t believe it. We were literally on stage and a couple of the guys from Iron Maiden were walking around and saying ‘Hey, have a good show’ and it’s like holy fuck! Can you believe this? This is so fucking amazing. That’s just one of the things that go down in history for me – but yeah, you’re right – it was like the greatest moment of my life. 

Being so well connected now, do you still consider yourself a fan of other bands and how do you connect with your own fans?

I can still understand the fan thing because I’m still totally a fan. I met Trey from Morbid Angel when I was eighteen years old and it blew my mind – I was a super-fan. I love music altogether so I love letting bands know that I appreciate the show and their music and it’s really cool when people tell me they like 3 Inches of Blood. I don’t take that for granted and I don’t believe a band has to be a dick to their fans; I think that’s fuckin’ bullshit. The bands gotta be super-thankful for all the support that they get.

There’s been a renewed interest in zombie and slasher films of late – even a new zombie TV show called

The Walking Dead

is airing at the moment – do you think you’ve seen the same interest being shown for metal, considering it is also the “scary” music genre? Do you think the two are linked?

That’s a really interesting question.
(pauses)
I’m a fan of horror movies myself – super-blood guts slasher films, you know and a fan of heavy metal I guess. Compared to mainstream type stuff, horror films are definitely more underground like metal and have the same kind of die hard fans. People who I know that are into the cult underground movies know a lot about them – they study them, they have a lot of passion for it. The same people who like that really like underground metal as well. 

So yeah, there might very well be linked somehow. It makes sense because if someone was to go see a rom-com with that chick from Sex and the City or something you don’t expect them to know much about underground horror/slasher films. They’re the kind of people who would like whatever’s hot on the radio. 

People who take pride in their horror films tend to do the same for their music as well. 

…and then we lost the connection.
3 Inches of Blood
can be seen on tour around the nation on the No Sleep 'Til Festival in December.