Having woven itself tightly into the national metal scene with an an intensely aggressive sound complemented by the alternating roars and purrs of front woman Alexis Brown, Tennessee’s Straight Line Stitch continues to lacerate listeners with a rigorous tour schedule in support of last year’s The Fight of our Lives. And with a steady stream of dates through July followed by another round of dates in late August, SLS doesn’t plan on letting up anytime soon. Having already begun writing for the next album, Brown takes a moment amidst her hectic schedule to chat briefly with Wrestling with Pop Culture about what the band has planned for the rest of the year.
It looks like you’ll be touring all summer, with a short break in July before hitting the road again in August. Are you touring with other bands or just doing your own thing?
We’ve been on the road since April 24 and we’re touring through July 9. We pick up with a band called Blameshift June 5. But we’ve been out by ourselves and we pick up with a band and do some shows, then we just continue out by ourselves.
You’re being joined on this tour by former Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris, who also played with Straight Line Stitch briefly a couple of years ago. Is he officially in the band or just filling in for this tour?
Yes, Kris has been out with us and has been helping out with the tour. Then we have Andrew Mikhail, who used to be in a band called Oceano, picking up the rest of the dates with us starting June 5.
Photo courtesy Adrenaline PR and Straight Line Stitch
You’re still touring behind 2011’s The Fight of Our Lives, which has been the band’s most successful album in many ways. When can we expect a new album from Straight Line Stitch?
Right now we’re writing on the road like we always do, and just recording ideas. When we get off the road, we’ll probably take three weeks off before we start working on songs and stuff. We hope to be in the studio by the end of the year.
What can you tell me about the new songs thus far? How do they compare to The Fight of our Lives?
I feel like we’ve definitely matured in our writing. With this album and our previous album, I think it was more hands on. The band did most of the pre-production stuff and it was more so our album. We had more of a say in what was going on and what we wanted to do, whereas when we did our first album it was like people were holding our hands and telling us what to do and how we should do it. I just felt like The Fight of Our Lives was more us taking a stand as a band.
How has that experience carried over to the stuff you’re working on now?
With the new stuff we’re going to experiment, which I’m excited about. We’re just going to let it develop itself and see where it takes us. Now we have new members in the mix, so that’s definitely going to change our sound a little bit. But we’re pretty much just going to see what happens with the new members, as far as changes to our writing process.
You’re known for your intensity, both on the albums and at live shows. How have these shows been going and how would you say they compare to what you’ve done on previous tours?
It’s always a priority to have energy and make sure the fans get what they pay for. The goal is still the same and we’re just trying to keep busier than before. And the tour’s been going really well.
It seems as if female-fronted metal bands and bands with female members are becoming more and more common. You’ve been doing it for a few years, but why do you think there’s been a bit of an emergence of more female metal singers and bands?
I think it’s just been really popular, especially with people making such a big deal about it. People are actually starting to pay attention. With us, we just want to make music. It’s not about being a female fronting a band. We just want to make this music and tour. It doesn’t matter what gender you are, we just want to go out and make the music.