Suffocation @ Fuel TV

Photos and text by Cosmo Lee

Yesterday Suffocation played on The Daily Habit, a show on Fuel TV. (The episode will air in a few weeks.) I went to the studios to watch. They played two songs from their latest album. Three celebrity types introduced the band. I didn’t recognize any of them. The main guy kept screwing up. He mixed up the album and song titles, which caused the production to grind to a halt for a while.

The band screwed up twice, too. They’re just starting a tour alongside DevilDriver and Goatwhore (dates here). Obviously some kinks still need to be worked out. The second screwup was pretty funny. There was some confusion over whether the band would play the video version or the original version of the song. It was weird to hear the band discuss that.

It was also weird to see a makeup girl running around between takes. That never happens at Suffocation shows. She didn’t do the band, just the celebrity types. In take after take, they kept repeating the same canned banter. I guess that’s what acting is about.

Terrance Hobbs

Luckily, the band didn’t have to act. They seemed to be into it. Frank was on point with his death metal spirit fingers. The band’s tour manager calls it “the chop,” which is probably more accurate. Frank also has another move, “the machine gun,” that he pulls out during blastbeat sections. He forms his hands into pistols and blasts away at the audience. It’s actually pretty cool.

The band sounded great. Seeing Suffocation up close in a sterile setting actually made me appreciate them more. Without the distractions of a typical show, I could zero in on what the band was doing. Terrance Hobbs is one of the most underrated guitarists ever. He doesn’t just play rhythm guitar; he grabs notes and throws them outwards. It’s a very physical way of playing. He also has this sick technique where, instead of sweep picking, he rakes his non-pick fingers across the strings. Classical guitarists do this, but I’ve never seen anyone integrate that with pick playing.

Homemade Suffo shoes

I asked Derek Boyer why he holds his bass so vertically (like Fieldy and Robert Trujillo). He said that it’s more comfortable. Holding it horizontally involves twisting the wrists, whereas holding it vertically involves no wrist twisting. Maybe that’s why the classical guys do it. Boyer modified the position of his strap lock so his bass would fall downwards naturally. Sometimes he sets his bass on the ground like a cello, and plays it that way.

I asked Mike Smith what was going on with his hip-hop project. Evidently he has a new album in the can. He was happy to talk about it. He was also happy to show off his homemade Suffocation shoes. (He just put patches on the back.) Someone should make an official shoe for Suffocation. I’d buy it in a second.