On December 6, 2019, 36 Crazyfists played their final show. Celebrating their 25th anniversary as a band, they’d booked a gig at local bar Chilkoot Charlie’s in their native Anchorage. Stepping onstage, they were greeted by a packed room filled with friendly, familiar faces. In many ways, it was the best send-off they could’ve hoped for – even if they didn’t know it at the time.
“It was time for me to do something different,” admits vocalist Brock Lindow today. “I’m burned out from touring. I love all those [36CF] guys and have nothing but wonderful memories of seeing the world together, and they’re incredible people. But there’s no great story beyond that. I just didn’t plan on making music anymore.”
Although 36 Crazyfists had reduced their touring in 2019, doing a short run in Australia earlier that year, time spent on the road was time Brock was losing with his daughter, with precious milestones missed while he was playing in different cities.
“The pandemic had a way of making you step back and reassess,” Brock says. “The road was always like this fantasy world. Getting the chance to play music outside of Alaska wasn’t something I thought was even possible in the early days. So to be there, 25 years later, having seen most of the world because of my band, was something that blew my mind. I’m extremely grateful for it, but I wanted to be more of a dad for my daughter.”
Word of 36 Crazyfists’ split broke in 2021. For a while, rumours persisted that the band would continue with a new vocalist – until December 2023, when guitarist Steve Holt posted on a Reddit thread where people were speculating about the status of the band: “At this point, nothing going on in the band now or future […] Never say never. Fists never die!”
Either way, Brock was out. Between his co-host spot on Alaskan rock radio station KWHL’s Bob And Brock show, and dad duties that saw him going to watch hockey with his daughter and driving her to her own games, his time was well accounted for. That is, until he received a text from Killswitch Engage guitarist Joel Stroetzel asking if he would like to contribute to a new album.
“He told me that his younger brother was putting out a record and wanted to get a bunch of his favourite singers for each song,” Brock recalls. “I’d do anything for Joel, so I agreed.”
Just like that, Brock was back in the game. Becoming friends with Tyler Stroetzel over the coming weeks, the pair found there was undeniable musical chemistry.
“It kind of just fell in my lap,” Brock admits. “I hadn’t planned for it – I’ve been playing with the same guys since I was 17 years old, pretty much. So doing something else wasn’t something I was interested in.”
Building a new band from the ground up, Tyler brought in past and present members of Diecast, a metalcore group he played guitar in from 2013 to 2021, in the form of guitarist Jon Kita and bassist Brad Horion. On drums, they recruited Ryan Manning (Pentagram, Blitzkid). After Brock flew out to Massachusetts to hang out with his new bandmates, the songs were soon flowing and Paradise Slaves was born.
“I forgot how much I need writing music in my life,” Brock admits. “I’ve been writing journal entries and poetry as long as I can remember, but it was definitely a good time to be writing lyrics.”
Bringing in producer Jim Fogarty – who’s worked with the likes of Killswitch Engage, All That Remains and Shadows Fall – Paradise Slaves assembled their debut, With Hell In His Eyes.
“We all grew up on the same stuff,” Brock explains. “The New England music, we love all of that – Killswitch, Shadows Fall, Unearth, All That Remains. But I also think there’s a lot more hard rock, trying to scream less and be more melodic.”
That said, given Brock has one of metalcore’s most unique voices – almost the missing link between Chino Moreno and Jesse Leach – it’s hardly surprising that Paradise Slaves would sound a lot like 36CF.
“There was definitely a mindset to try and not repeat myself,” he says with a chuckle. “I wanted it to be outside of the stuff I’d been doing for so long. But I can’t escape me – it’s gonna be me, and emotionally charged towards something that’s affected my life, because I’ve never really written from a wordly, generalised perspective. I needed to find that fire, something that still makes sense to myself.”
Among the more personal compositions on With Hell In His Eyes is Dreamers. Inspired by the difficulties he and wife Jade faced when she emigrated from her native South Africa to join him in Anchorage, Dreamers is a thumping, emotionally charged anthem in the vein of Slit Wrist Theory or Time And Trauma. It’s also a handy reminder that Brock has long since mastered the art of writing absolute bangers.
“The rules about not being able to leave while documents are processing meant she couldn’t see her family for five years,” Brock says. “Alaska and South Africa couldn’t be further apart, and I felt really bad about that, especially because her parents got sick during Covid. Thank God they were OK in the end! It was a huge hurdle for us.”
Although he’s got a new band and a debut album out in the world, Brock isn’t falling back into old habits. Paradise Slaves’ live engagements are deliberately being kept sparse, and they’re cherry-picking opportunities such as sharing a bill with Killswitch Engage and Fit For An Autopsy, and playing dates with Three Days Grace and Five Finger Death Punch.
“There’s a rule in the band: I’m not gonna do months-long tours,” Brock says. “We’d do, like, one tour a year or even just one during a record cycle. I’m happy that way. We’ve all breathed a new life into each other’s lives.”
As for whether 36 Crazyfists are completely done-done, or just Slayer-done, Brock remains pensive. “I’ve no plans,” he says, before adding, “But never say never.”
With Hell In His Eyes is out now via Spinefarm
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