©Wyatt T. Photography
METAL PULP AND PAPER: Hello Annie. So glad to be catching up with you again. It’s always a pleasure. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us here at Metal Pulp And Paper again. We appreciate it.
How are you doing?
ANNIE (WAY): Hey, guys! Very happy and pleased to interact with you again. It's been a while since our last chat, so much has happened! Now I'm meeting so many very special people on the internet who inspire me and I'm looking forward too many nice things we have planned for this Autumn and 2020.
MPAP: Now give us a little run down about Blind Ivy and what we need to know, and especially tell us if you have any new music coming out soon.
ANNIE: Oh, yeaaa! Right now, we are composing new album in full force, so we can't tell you yet when exactly we are going release it but be sure you will hear some ear-smashing singles and maybe will see a new video before we will drop the full album. The main goal of this one is to be on a couple of heads higher than previous one technically, more personal, much deeper and full of surprises.
MPAP: We’re going to change up this interview and do something different. I’m going to pull some recent headlines from the Metal Injection website and get your reactions and comments on them. Here we go:
1. Celtic Frost Frontman Wishes Metallica Had Left 'Their Millionaire Fingers' Off His Song
MPAP: So, at a recent Metallica show in Switzerland, Kirk and Rob played one of Celtic Frost’s song "The Usurper" during a break in the show. According to Tom Warrior, vocalist for Celtic Frost, the two of them butchered it. He said, 'Maybe I should go onstage and do a really miserable version of [Metallica’s] "Hit the Lights" with, like, 200 mistakes to set the balance.' What do you think about this? If someone was going to cover one of your songs, do you think it should be done in good taste and without any mistakes, or it’s Metallica, and they can do whatever they want, it's no big deal?
ANNIE: Ahaha. What the fuck, seriously? Yeah, I know in World tours Metallica play covers of famous songs in each country, and they did the same in Russia. It doesn't matter how many mistakes there was, the whole act deserves huge respect! I would say if Metallica would play one of our songs, even being totally smashed, it would be fantastic. None of the Blind Ivy guys would ever be such dickheads to say bullshit about those legends. By the way, I’ve already received a few vox covers of our songs from teenager girls, and you know what, it feels absolutely tremendous. Do I care about how close it sounds to original when I’m watching the vids, fuck no!
2. A Fan Died In The Slipknot Mosh Pit This Weekend
MPAP: Very sad. So, apparently, a 62-year-old Slipknot fan died while in the mosh pit at a Chicago show here in the United States. Corey Taylor had recently stopped a previous show because he saw the mosh pit was getting too violent. Accidents do happen, but do you think mosh pits at metal shows are becoming more dangerous?
ANNIE: Fuck, it’s hard to even type after news like this. Feel horrible about that. I would say yes, I’ve noticed that mosh pits have become unnecessarily savage sometimes and get out of the control. When we are playing concerts in our hometown, there’s always a mosh crew who knows the rules, the culture of mosh, and they never go too far with this. That’s why I feel calm to let my younger bro, who is 16 years old, go there and have fun. But I’ve seen broken jaws and arms in other places, so I would ask him to stay away from mosh pits if I don’t know what to expect from the crowd there. In my opinion mosh pits, slam, wall of death, etc., should stay a culture which shares only enough aggression that it does not go beyond the limit to hospitalization.
3. Slayer Pulled As Primary Sponsor Of NASCAR Due To Complaints From Other Sponsors
MPAP: Really? C’mon., it’s just a band name. It’s not like Satan himself will be driving the car, right?
ANNIE: I would be interested to watch Tom Araya or Kerry King racing the cars in a music video, maybe even in Blind Ivy's music video, hehe.
4. Maynard Got Death Threats Over How Long The Tool Album Took
MPAP: Talk about some diehard fans. I think that is going a bit too far, even if you’ve been waiting 13 years, right?
ANNIE: It’s just funny to read some comments about this situation, because it feels like some people are sure that Tool have been working on this album every day during the 13 years to impress the world, but it’s not like this. Any band has the right to release the album when they fucking want, whether it’s a big or small band. People kill everything with their expectations. After I heard the full album, I might suggest that it’s so good that I would wait even longer.
5. Controversial Video Shows Rob Zombie Grabbing A Female Fan By The Hair After Being Groped
MPAP: His shirt was pulled, but, nevertheless. I guess during a show Rob went out into the crowd, and an enthusastic fan reached out and pulled on his shirt. After this headline was posted, quite a few bands like Shinedown, All That Remains, and Bad Wolves defended Rob’s actions. What are your thoughts, do fans need to keep their hands to themselves?
ANNIE: I haven’t seen this video, and can’t tell 100% who was wrong or right, but there definitely should be a line in-between, and both sides should stay respectful to each other. So far, our fans are pretty chill, only a couple of times in small clubs drunk guys accidentally fall on guitar equipment, but thank god didn’t break anything. And a few times fans have been pulling me a little bit which is distracting enough for me to forget the words or start laughing, or say something about it, but never smack people back... maybe later.. backstage.
6. Behemoth Frontman Confronted At YMCA For Wearing Darkthrone Shirt & Kicked Out Not Believing In Jesus
MPAP: It was just a shirt, and he was going there to workout. It wasn’t like he was going to sacrifice some virgins and spill blood everywhere. What do you think?
ANNIE: Hahah that’s right. If people want to find something to be offended by, they will find it even in a pitch-black t-shirt without any words or art on it. Go to Russia, you will see a lot of people there who don't even know that they are wearing a t-shirt which is worshiping Ed Sheeran’s nipples, or a broken bible quote just because they don't know English, but like the design, haha. During a 2018 tour we had a situation when the owner of the bar asked our sound engineer to change his t-shirt because it had a band whose drummer apparently had said something racist, and he had no idea about it, he just liked their music. So, then he changed his t-shirt to one with a girl in jeans and bra, which then the owner called sexist. So, then finally a third Tshirt which was plain black, with a red line. It finally didn’t offend him. I would say there always will be someone who will not like something, so fuck it, you can wear whatever you want.
7. Former Weedeater Drummer Arrested For Allegedly Spiking Wife’s Drink With Meth
MPAP: Umm, this doesn’t look like they have a very good marriage going on for this to have happened. Do you think they need some marriage counseling or what?
ANNIE: Haha, yo I have no idea what she did to deserve this. Probably marriage counseling is not enough. First, he needs a psychiatrist, and then maybe some BDSM in a slave role of course.
8. Walmart Shoppers Call The Cops On Metal Band for… Sitting In A Van Parking Lot
MPAP: This happened right after the tragic Dayton, Ohio shooting where ten people were killed, including the shooter, and 27 others were injured. The gunman just happened to be a metalhead because he was wearing a The Acacia Strain hoodie. It’s good that people report things, but this could turn out that every traveling metal band that’s parked in a Walmart parking lot are going to get reported now. What do you think?
ANNIE: I think that had the gunman been wearing a Mickey Mouse hoodie, every travelling metal band parked in Walmart's parking lot would still get reported. You know what I’m saying?
9. People Are Going Wild For This Rant Tommy Lee Shared Against Donald Trump
MPAP: The rant/tweet is quite a bit long, so I'm not going to torture you to read it, but I will say this: should musicians talk or write about politics? In a way, it’s like their forcing their beliefs down our throats. What are your thoughts?
ANNIE: We are being fed shit from every direction. Better is to reduce the attention given to the people outside you and believe in yourself more for what you can influence with full clarity and power. But yeah, metal is freedom and we should speak about things some people afraid to speak about or want to speak about it in more brutal ways.
10. James Hetfield Calls Woman Who Used Metallica’s Music To Fend Off Cougar
MPAP: A young lady, was out walking her dog when off in the distance a cougar began to stalk her. She eventually played a Metallica song on her phone to scare it away, and it worked. She definitely had luck and the power of music on her side, right? What song of yours do you think would scare off a hungry cougar?
ANNIE: Hahaha any of our songs, especially after the cougar discovers that this is a small Russian girl behind the mic. At least it will confuse him for 30 seconds.
11. While She Sleeps Release Free T-Shirt Design To Clue Fans Into How Much Streaming Doesn’t Pay
MPAP: This is what the design said: One T-shirt is the equivalent to 5000 streams on Spotify. 76% of all music is streamed and not bought physically or digitally. Band merchandise is the most direct way of supporting a band. Sadly, buying music isn’t the same anymore. Back in the day, it used to be fun to buy an actual album or CD, don’t you think?
ANNIE: Fuck yeah, let’s bring CDs back. Those were the best days to save the money my parents gave me for some ice cream and buy CDs instead. A short term sacrifice watching other kids enjoying their ice cream while I'll soon be listening to the new Limp Bizkit CD.
12. David Hasselhoff Teams Up With Ministry Frontman For "Sweet Caroline" Cover
MPAP: All I can say is, this should be interesting. Hopefully, it’s not a train wreck for the Hoff. It's worth a listen to when it comes out though. What do you think of this collaboration?
ANNIE: I think David Hasselhoff is cool as fuck, and he could make something special.
MPAP: What tv/movie actor would you like to cover a song with someday?
ANNIE: Mmmm... Keanu Reeves, Jonny Depp, Adrien Brody, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Morgan Freeman, Jaimie Fox. Those would be really interesting collaborations.
MPAP: On behalf of Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you, Annie, for taking the time to answer these headline questions. We look forward to what Blind Ivy does to finish out 2019 and beyond.
ANNIE: Thank you, bros. Always happy to answer your questions.
MPAP: Any last words for all your fans out there?
ANNIE: In a few days we are going to announce the countries and dates of EU 2019 tour, and we will be happy to give a hug and talk to everyone who will arrive to smash the venues with us! Working hard to reach US, UK, Argentina, Australia, Mexico and more countries with our metal shows! New album is in process! Our merch Shop will start to work this week already! Thank you for being such a great fans for us, guys, I’m always saying-your supporting is priceless. Just stay who you are, each of you is unique and amazing. Listen to good music, watch good films, bring something good to this world, develop your skills and call to your mom today. Don't fuck your brains and stay healthy.
How are you doing?
ANNIE (WAY): Hey, guys! Very happy and pleased to interact with you again. It's been a while since our last chat, so much has happened! Now I'm meeting so many very special people on the internet who inspire me and I'm looking forward too many nice things we have planned for this Autumn and 2020.
MPAP: Now give us a little run down about Blind Ivy and what we need to know, and especially tell us if you have any new music coming out soon.
ANNIE: Oh, yeaaa! Right now, we are composing new album in full force, so we can't tell you yet when exactly we are going release it but be sure you will hear some ear-smashing singles and maybe will see a new video before we will drop the full album. The main goal of this one is to be on a couple of heads higher than previous one technically, more personal, much deeper and full of surprises.
MPAP: We’re going to change up this interview and do something different. I’m going to pull some recent headlines from the Metal Injection website and get your reactions and comments on them. Here we go:
1. Celtic Frost Frontman Wishes Metallica Had Left 'Their Millionaire Fingers' Off His Song
MPAP: So, at a recent Metallica show in Switzerland, Kirk and Rob played one of Celtic Frost’s song "The Usurper" during a break in the show. According to Tom Warrior, vocalist for Celtic Frost, the two of them butchered it. He said, 'Maybe I should go onstage and do a really miserable version of [Metallica’s] "Hit the Lights" with, like, 200 mistakes to set the balance.' What do you think about this? If someone was going to cover one of your songs, do you think it should be done in good taste and without any mistakes, or it’s Metallica, and they can do whatever they want, it's no big deal?
ANNIE: Ahaha. What the fuck, seriously? Yeah, I know in World tours Metallica play covers of famous songs in each country, and they did the same in Russia. It doesn't matter how many mistakes there was, the whole act deserves huge respect! I would say if Metallica would play one of our songs, even being totally smashed, it would be fantastic. None of the Blind Ivy guys would ever be such dickheads to say bullshit about those legends. By the way, I’ve already received a few vox covers of our songs from teenager girls, and you know what, it feels absolutely tremendous. Do I care about how close it sounds to original when I’m watching the vids, fuck no!
2. A Fan Died In The Slipknot Mosh Pit This Weekend
MPAP: Very sad. So, apparently, a 62-year-old Slipknot fan died while in the mosh pit at a Chicago show here in the United States. Corey Taylor had recently stopped a previous show because he saw the mosh pit was getting too violent. Accidents do happen, but do you think mosh pits at metal shows are becoming more dangerous?
ANNIE: Fuck, it’s hard to even type after news like this. Feel horrible about that. I would say yes, I’ve noticed that mosh pits have become unnecessarily savage sometimes and get out of the control. When we are playing concerts in our hometown, there’s always a mosh crew who knows the rules, the culture of mosh, and they never go too far with this. That’s why I feel calm to let my younger bro, who is 16 years old, go there and have fun. But I’ve seen broken jaws and arms in other places, so I would ask him to stay away from mosh pits if I don’t know what to expect from the crowd there. In my opinion mosh pits, slam, wall of death, etc., should stay a culture which shares only enough aggression that it does not go beyond the limit to hospitalization.
3. Slayer Pulled As Primary Sponsor Of NASCAR Due To Complaints From Other Sponsors
MPAP: Really? C’mon., it’s just a band name. It’s not like Satan himself will be driving the car, right?
ANNIE: I would be interested to watch Tom Araya or Kerry King racing the cars in a music video, maybe even in Blind Ivy's music video, hehe.
4. Maynard Got Death Threats Over How Long The Tool Album Took
MPAP: Talk about some diehard fans. I think that is going a bit too far, even if you’ve been waiting 13 years, right?
ANNIE: It’s just funny to read some comments about this situation, because it feels like some people are sure that Tool have been working on this album every day during the 13 years to impress the world, but it’s not like this. Any band has the right to release the album when they fucking want, whether it’s a big or small band. People kill everything with their expectations. After I heard the full album, I might suggest that it’s so good that I would wait even longer.
5. Controversial Video Shows Rob Zombie Grabbing A Female Fan By The Hair After Being Groped
MPAP: His shirt was pulled, but, nevertheless. I guess during a show Rob went out into the crowd, and an enthusastic fan reached out and pulled on his shirt. After this headline was posted, quite a few bands like Shinedown, All That Remains, and Bad Wolves defended Rob’s actions. What are your thoughts, do fans need to keep their hands to themselves?
ANNIE: I haven’t seen this video, and can’t tell 100% who was wrong or right, but there definitely should be a line in-between, and both sides should stay respectful to each other. So far, our fans are pretty chill, only a couple of times in small clubs drunk guys accidentally fall on guitar equipment, but thank god didn’t break anything. And a few times fans have been pulling me a little bit which is distracting enough for me to forget the words or start laughing, or say something about it, but never smack people back... maybe later.. backstage.
6. Behemoth Frontman Confronted At YMCA For Wearing Darkthrone Shirt & Kicked Out Not Believing In Jesus
MPAP: It was just a shirt, and he was going there to workout. It wasn’t like he was going to sacrifice some virgins and spill blood everywhere. What do you think?
ANNIE: Hahah that’s right. If people want to find something to be offended by, they will find it even in a pitch-black t-shirt without any words or art on it. Go to Russia, you will see a lot of people there who don't even know that they are wearing a t-shirt which is worshiping Ed Sheeran’s nipples, or a broken bible quote just because they don't know English, but like the design, haha. During a 2018 tour we had a situation when the owner of the bar asked our sound engineer to change his t-shirt because it had a band whose drummer apparently had said something racist, and he had no idea about it, he just liked their music. So, then he changed his t-shirt to one with a girl in jeans and bra, which then the owner called sexist. So, then finally a third Tshirt which was plain black, with a red line. It finally didn’t offend him. I would say there always will be someone who will not like something, so fuck it, you can wear whatever you want.
7. Former Weedeater Drummer Arrested For Allegedly Spiking Wife’s Drink With Meth
MPAP: Umm, this doesn’t look like they have a very good marriage going on for this to have happened. Do you think they need some marriage counseling or what?
ANNIE: Haha, yo I have no idea what she did to deserve this. Probably marriage counseling is not enough. First, he needs a psychiatrist, and then maybe some BDSM in a slave role of course.
8. Walmart Shoppers Call The Cops On Metal Band for… Sitting In A Van Parking Lot
MPAP: This happened right after the tragic Dayton, Ohio shooting where ten people were killed, including the shooter, and 27 others were injured. The gunman just happened to be a metalhead because he was wearing a The Acacia Strain hoodie. It’s good that people report things, but this could turn out that every traveling metal band that’s parked in a Walmart parking lot are going to get reported now. What do you think?
ANNIE: I think that had the gunman been wearing a Mickey Mouse hoodie, every travelling metal band parked in Walmart's parking lot would still get reported. You know what I’m saying?
9. People Are Going Wild For This Rant Tommy Lee Shared Against Donald Trump
MPAP: The rant/tweet is quite a bit long, so I'm not going to torture you to read it, but I will say this: should musicians talk or write about politics? In a way, it’s like their forcing their beliefs down our throats. What are your thoughts?
ANNIE: We are being fed shit from every direction. Better is to reduce the attention given to the people outside you and believe in yourself more for what you can influence with full clarity and power. But yeah, metal is freedom and we should speak about things some people afraid to speak about or want to speak about it in more brutal ways.
10. James Hetfield Calls Woman Who Used Metallica’s Music To Fend Off Cougar
MPAP: A young lady, was out walking her dog when off in the distance a cougar began to stalk her. She eventually played a Metallica song on her phone to scare it away, and it worked. She definitely had luck and the power of music on her side, right? What song of yours do you think would scare off a hungry cougar?
ANNIE: Hahaha any of our songs, especially after the cougar discovers that this is a small Russian girl behind the mic. At least it will confuse him for 30 seconds.
11. While She Sleeps Release Free T-Shirt Design To Clue Fans Into How Much Streaming Doesn’t Pay
MPAP: This is what the design said: One T-shirt is the equivalent to 5000 streams on Spotify. 76% of all music is streamed and not bought physically or digitally. Band merchandise is the most direct way of supporting a band. Sadly, buying music isn’t the same anymore. Back in the day, it used to be fun to buy an actual album or CD, don’t you think?
ANNIE: Fuck yeah, let’s bring CDs back. Those were the best days to save the money my parents gave me for some ice cream and buy CDs instead. A short term sacrifice watching other kids enjoying their ice cream while I'll soon be listening to the new Limp Bizkit CD.
12. David Hasselhoff Teams Up With Ministry Frontman For "Sweet Caroline" Cover
MPAP: All I can say is, this should be interesting. Hopefully, it’s not a train wreck for the Hoff. It's worth a listen to when it comes out though. What do you think of this collaboration?
ANNIE: I think David Hasselhoff is cool as fuck, and he could make something special.
MPAP: What tv/movie actor would you like to cover a song with someday?
ANNIE: Mmmm... Keanu Reeves, Jonny Depp, Adrien Brody, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Morgan Freeman, Jaimie Fox. Those would be really interesting collaborations.
MPAP: On behalf of Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you, Annie, for taking the time to answer these headline questions. We look forward to what Blind Ivy does to finish out 2019 and beyond.
ANNIE: Thank you, bros. Always happy to answer your questions.
MPAP: Any last words for all your fans out there?
ANNIE: In a few days we are going to announce the countries and dates of EU 2019 tour, and we will be happy to give a hug and talk to everyone who will arrive to smash the venues with us! Working hard to reach US, UK, Argentina, Australia, Mexico and more countries with our metal shows! New album is in process! Our merch Shop will start to work this week already! Thank you for being such a great fans for us, guys, I’m always saying-your supporting is priceless. Just stay who you are, each of you is unique and amazing. Listen to good music, watch good films, bring something good to this world, develop your skills and call to your mom today. Don't fuck your brains and stay healthy.