Deafheaven’s George Clarke Talks Grammy Nomination, Inclusivity in Metal
Nobody was more surprised by Deafheaven’s first Grammy nomination than George Clarke. “I was in Charlotte on a layover quite early and I was texted congratulations,” the frontman for the L.A.-based metal band says. “I had no idea what they were referring to.”
Deafheaven’s song “Honeycomb,” from their fourth album Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, is up for Best Metal Performance at the 2019 ceremony, competing against tracks by Between the Buried and Me, High on Fire, Trivium, and Underoath for the award. (We’ll find out the winner on February 10.) A 12-minute-long black metal/ shoegaze/alt-rock epic, it isn’t exactly your typical Grammy fare. Nor are Deafheaven, a band that has been wreaking beautiful destruction through the underground for almost a decade, the kind of people you typically see dressed up in tuxes at awards shows.
On Friday, December 7, just a few hours after the 2019 nominations were announced, Clarke hopped on the phone with Pitchfork.
Pitchfork: How are you feeling about the nomination?
George Clarke: It's very cool. It's surreal to have a band like ours making the music that we make be recognized on that kind of a level. We appreciate it a lot.
Pitchfork: Do you watch the Grammys?
GC: No, no I don’t. I mean with our world, the things that we involve ourselves in for the most part are kind of not associated with that world. I don't find myself paying much attention to it. I think that historically for the metal category, it's been pretty shooed-in, you know? But it seems like the past couple years, they've been paying more attention and we're happy to be a part of that new thinking, I suppose.
Pitchfork: In some ways, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is Deafheaven's most subdued record. How does it feel to be nominated in the metal category?
George: We are a metal band. We incorporate different ideas and yes, the new record had a different influence on it. But I still feel like we're a metal band.
Pitchfork: Did you know the nomination was at all a possibility?
GC: Absolutely not. Actually I spoke to a couple of the guys on the phone earlier, and we're all laughing because this is kind of an ongoing joke for the past two years. Like, someone comes up with a good riff and it's like, “oh, there's our Grammy winner,” that kind of thing.
I have no idea how [the nomination process] works. I don't know who is listening to it and determining these things. But I can say that we put a lot of effort into the record. I think that all the parts are very thought out. I think that we took our time with it and hopefully from that made some good songs and they just recognized it. Your guess is as good as mine. But we've been putting in a great deal of work of for a lot of years now. I can't really say.
Pitchfork: It does seem like the conversation about metal, especially at the mainstream level of the Grammys, is changing. Like, last year, Code Orange were nominated.
GC: Exactly. I think for the greater community, that's the biggest victory out of all of this. I think that definitely having Code Orange last year and having Mastodon, who won last year, included amongst the nominees and then furthering that this year with bands like us and High on Fire and Trivium, etc. is cool. I think that the fact that they're paying more attention is a positive thing. I would like to see more inclusion of more aggressive styles of music, or at least just a recognizing that there's a world of very hardworking musicians who also like to be seen and deserve it.
Pitchfork: So there’s the inclusion of opening up this world to new bands and then there’s the conversation about the Grammys’ longstanding lack of diversity. While many of the categories this year are more diverse, metal is one of the genres that remains overwhelmingly white and male. What are your thoughts on that?
GC: Well, I mean from my perspective, paying more attention in anything is gonna be beneficial when there is a large number of women and a large number of people color creating interesting music and being creative artists. I think that should always be paid attention to. I would say that the only thing I would hope for is that it wasn't purely reactionary and that it isn’t– I don't want to say a trend, but that's just the word that's coming to my mind. I hope that it's not like they just got slapped on the wrist and now this year includes a different set of nominees. I hope that it continues in this more inclusive way.
And as far as that in metal, I could say the same thing. I think that for me it's always been a more the merrier type of situation. I think that the underground needs to let different voices in. I think the underground needs to let other people's perspectives and stories be told, and I hope that both in the mainstream and in our world or the world that Deafheaven operates in, both see more of that in the future.
Read 5 Takeaways From the 2019 Grammy Nominations on the Pitch
