The Black Dahlia Murder is a death metal band that will grace Revolution Live tonight with its dark presence. The band is named after one of the most infamous unsolved cases in California history and one of the most gruesome mysteries of all time. The Black Dahlia case took place in the 1940s, its victim being 22-year-old Elizabeth Short who was bisected and displayed naked in a vacant parking lot. It's all pretty horrifying.
With this in mind and just in time for Halloween season, we spoke with lead singer of the band, Trevor Strnad, right before its show in Boston. He brought up "dead baby jokes" and described death metal as a "killer" genre.
New Times: Is your name a play off of the Black Dahlia case and why?
Trevor: We were looking for a death metal band name, something that would shock the people a lot.
Being somebody that grew up on death metal, it takes a lot to shock me. I'm desensitized to death metal and dead baby jokes, but something about the case shocked me and I said, "Wow, that's powerful."
What I learned about the case and all the weirdness and confessions around it scared me.
[I said] If It scared the crap out of me, it would be a good one [name].
Define death metal.
Musically, it is an extension of thrash metal, and it's a niche type of music for a small group of people to appreciate it because of the themes and nature of it ... I think it's a technical music. It's a musician's music. It can be appreciated by guitarists and drummers because it's very technical.
Any new music in the works since Everblack?
There's a few riffs we are kicking around, but for the most part, there is not a lot in existence yet. We have the studio time booked, and after this tour we'll get to work.
What is the metal lifestyle to you?
Let's see. I think it's a hidden world, I guess it has foreign music aspects, I would say.
The elements have violent scenes, lyrics from the negative perspective, and the horror kind of thing. It's all tongue and cheek. It's like watching a horror movie. I think the metalhead is someone independent and has some sort of strength and identity from the music.
If it gets people together for a common cause, it's a positive thing.
What is the most "metal" thing you have ever done?
Playing for a Euro metal fest [Wacken]. The first time we played, it was in front of tens of thousands of people and I remember being so scared before going up.
What is the most morbid metal lyric you've ever heard or written?
The band Grave influenced me the most. They had a album called Hating Life that had a lot of lyrics about necrophilia and love beyond the grave. It helped pave the way for what I would do lyrically for this band.
7 p.m., Black Dahlia Murder with Suicide Silence, Monday, October 13, at Revolution Live, 100 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Visit jointherevolution.net.
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