Chris Motionless - Motionless In White 'Settling Scores with the World'
Almost exactly three years to the date, we are about to hear Motionless in White follow up their fan fav 2019 release Disguise with the hard-hitting and thought-provoking new album Scoring The End of The World (our review here), which was conceived during the dizzying heights of the global pandemic - something you'd think a band like Motionless in White would thrive upon.
Knowing the band's history and the way they find inspiration and creativity in the madness around us, I had to once again sit down with frontman Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli to find out how the boys fared over the past two years, and how the craziness in the world around them played a part in the making of an album that will serve as a reminder of these times for years to come.
On his own personal experience (of losing everything he had worked hard for in his career), Chris shared:
"Yeah, it has been a very bizarre experience for us and I'm sure all bands and live events alike. Of course, everybody, but you know, since we're specifically focusing on music here, it's been such a tough thing to navigate because nobody had any idea [what to do or expect], all while knowing that we were going to be the last type of industry to return, like live events of any magnitude. [It was a] very weird scenario to be in that felt like the most uncertain part of period of my whole life, which certainly led to some pretty wild mental trials and interesting things."
But once the dust had started to settle and the band could focus their time and energy into something productive, it turns out the lockdowns and pandemic had a silver lining set up for Motionless in White:
"Well, it didn't start out pretty but when we realized that this is our reality right now for X amount of time that no one knows, it was pretty much like a panic button. Like, 'what do we do? What's going to happen?' And then I think it right away started to show itself like, well, sounds like it's time to work on either cool music things that we wanted to do, or a new record or something..."
"While nothing is perfect, and still a work in progress, it started out pretty hectic, but then showed to be more beneficial. And I think for us we got a really cool record out of it that."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbVXWcB5xAg
Scoring The End Of The World is a cathartic journey, depicting the world turning to crap and reflects on the dreaded 'Us vs. Them' mentality which was experienced all across the globe when the leaders - who were in power and supposed to guide us through the chaos - all turned their backs on us, leaving us to fend for ourselves while they sat high and dry amongst their own.
The band touch on this subject manner in their single 'Slaughterhouse' which also features a very impressively heavy cameo from Knocked Loose frontman Bryan Garris. Arguably one of the best releases from the album (so far), I questioned whether its purpose was to become an anthem to bring us all together to fight back against out oppressors, to which Chris explained:
"Yeah, this the song is very much targeting any type of system based form of oppression towards the well being of humankind. That could be many of the things that go on in America, that we obviously are in the mixture of, and anything around the world that maybe we're more distant from, but still affects everybody else around the world... I like equating that scenario to that, we're the product in the slaughterhouse that's been our suffering, and our pain is being packaged and sold to make rich people richer, to make people in power more powerful. And it's such a global injustice that everyone is dealing with."
I feel like we have the power to overturn that. But there's a lot of fear behind, you know, what happens when you try to do that. Undertandably, but the song is definitely targeting so many forms of the destruction of progression.
On top of the new (or reoccurring) subject manner on Scoring The End Of The World, eagle-eyed fans will notice yet another song has been given the sequel treatment on this new album. For the ill-informed, Motionless in White are no strangers to revisiting old tracks and giving them an updated/continuing story arc on future releases, and when I asked Chris why this song, in particular, was picked for a follow-up he explained:
“People love when we do sequels. [I was thinking] what song do I want to do. I looked back in our catalogue and I was like ‘What song is most relevant emotionally to where I’m feeling right now?’ And Burned At Both Ends is absolutely something that felt like, this, at the time, really speaks to what I’m experiencing now, [so] let’s do a sequel and expand that story and expand that world that very fortunately our cult fans are really into that song and I love the song so it felt like a special moment."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AskQfb2a-uY
Now one question that's always floating around my head is, would bands ever play these sequel songs simultaneously at shows? For example, could we see Motionless In White play 'Burned At Both Ends' and follow it up with 'Burned At Both Ends II' at their upcoming SOLD OUT Australian Tour alongside I Prevail and Windwaker? Turns out, the idea is a lot harder than just adding it to the setlist:
"[Laughs] I always joke whenever I get a question about playing Burned at Both Ends (the first one), I always joke and tell fans ask Ricky and Ryan, they're the ones that don't want to play it. It's by far the hardest song to perform for them and understandably so. But I would love to, I don't know about on that tour because our set time it's probably going to be reasonably short and we want to play a couple of the new songs that fans are interested in, like the new singles, and then some hits you know."
Considering the fact the band didn't get to make it to Australia in support of their last album Disguise, I'll put aside my personal request in favour of hearing some of those tracks, alongside the new belters on Scoring The End Of The World.
Now before wrapping up the interview, I had to revisit the last time Chris Motionless and I had a chat where we discussed our love for horror movies and I asked him if he could relate/compare Disguise to any horror movie, what would it most be like? His reply was outstanding with The Lost Boys best representing the album at the time.
So, three years on, what movie would he associate this new release with?
"It's so funny because I associate it more with like a Terminator or some apocalyptic type movie. To me, Mad Max I would say is the is the true definite answer I would give. I don't know, I can't think of like what villain or what story resonates with with this?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmjQVRtxS4E
His finger was on the pulse with what I personally had written down. Alongside Terminator I also noted the industrial grittiness and 'them vs. us' mentality seen throughout the Saw franchise across the nine movies (including spinoffs Jigsaw and Spiral). Chris seemed stoked on the idea too:
"That's a movie night I want to have asap. Terminator into Saw into Mad Max. Let's f*cking go. I'm in!"
Whether you prefer delightful breakdowns or you desperately need a heavy soundtrack for the madness in your life, go no further than Motionless In White's new release, out Friday June 10th, 2022.
Interview by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown (@brownypaul)
Scoring The End Of The World is out Friday.
Pre-order/save here
Motionless in White – Scoring The End Of The World tracklisting
1. Meltdown
2. Sign Of Life
3. Werewolf
4. Porcelain
5. Slaughterhouse (feat. Bryan Garris of Knocked Loose)
6. Masterpiece
7. Cause Of Death
8. We Become The Night
9. Burned At Both Ends II
10. B.F.B.T.G.: Corpse Nation
11. Cyberhex (feat. Lindsay Schoolcraft)
12. Red, White & Boom (feat. Caleb Shomo of Beartooth)
13. Scoring The End Of The World (feat. Mick Gordon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moDIh9h5pEQ
