Interview with The Sign Of The Southern Cross vocalist Seth Uldricks

The Sign Of The Southern Cross released their debut CD, on September 22nd through Seasons Of Mist Recordings. This CD is an inexorably heavy, straight forward, no holds barred metal record with a southern fried flair that is really a good listen and what I feel is a phenomenal first offering from a band we are sure to be hearing more from in the near future. Vocalist and guitarist Seth Uldricks chatted at great length with me about the band and their debut, …Of Mountains And Moonshine.

Can you tell us where the name The Sign Of The Southern Cross comes from?
Seth: There are actually two places of origin. The first being a reference to the Black Sabbath song. That is a small, albeit obvious, aspect of our name. However, the emphasis is on the Southern Cross part. This is another name for the rebel flag. The Sabbath part of it is just our way of paying homage to the mighty Black Sabbath. But the true meaning of our name represents our firm statement that wherever you see us, you’ll find our Southern pride.

Your brand new CD, …Of Mountains And Moonshine, was released on September 22nd. Now that it is complete how do you feel about it? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Seth: Music from the South goes hand in hand with its culture and land. It’s thick and rich like mist through the pines. The Sign of the Southern Cross tunes are steady like a mountain ridge and sharp like the burn of moonshine. Our sound is thick like the blue haze put off by the Great Smokey Mountains and epic like the lore which resides in them. The pace takes its time like our people and the riffs twang like our accents. It’s a beautiful thing my friend. In summation: I love the album like I love my land. And like my land, it’s given birth to the beginnings of my legacy.

The band keeps things interesting thematically. Can you talk about some of the subjects you tackle on this record?
Seth: Interestingly enough, despite our name and obvious Southern pride there are only two songs on the whole album that even speak about the South. The rest are about personal life lessons and experiences. We don’t aim to beat you over the head with the Southern thing. It’s more of an underlying theme, and certainly not a preachy gimmick. That being said, it must be understood that the song “The South is Rising” is a firm statement of frustration, chronicling our distaste for many of the southern stereotypes that make reverse discrimination against us prevalent in our society today. When I say, “The South is Rising,” I mean that we are rising above the stereotypes and growing as a people while maintaining a beautiful and unique culture. The overall message conveyed by the album’s lyrics is not the same old tune over and over again. The lyrics convey the life and thoughts of a mountain trudging and hard working man, myself, through deeply thought out poetry and prose. In a word – honesty. A very dynamic flavor of honesty and at times, a cryptic honesty to leave the interpretation up to the reader if they chose to do so.

While I really like to use mythology in my lyrics as metaphors, “Eating the Sun” (as cliché as this may sound) was actually written as a very therapeutic release for me while a relationship of mine was crashing and going down hard. The chorus was basically a cryptic and poetic way of saying that despite my best efforts with this young lady, the inevitable doom of it all was mind numbingly frustrating and it was sending me through the roof. I was thirsting for peace so badly that it felt like my tongue had tasted the sun. Bone dry and burnt. And in the end, the thing that finally released me from this futile enterprise was a crappy realization that I just didn’t care any more. Despite how beautiful she was and how much I wanted to make things better, I was just done with it all. And through that realization I could accept my part of the failure as well. The droning organ during the verses was designed to put you in a kind of trance. I would listen to it so it would just relax me while the message would remind me to keep on walkin’ away. I wanted to take a familiar concept of that kind of frustration and turn it into something epic instead of something whiney and pathetic. Ultimately, it’s about learning to let go of harmful things.

“Unwelcome In That House” does have some religious undertone, but the parts that have this aren’t so much about religion itself – they’re more about individuals who abuse it and lord it over you. The first verse is about the mother of a friend of mine who actually “banished” me from her house because I didn’t prescribe to her exact psycho-Baptist rhetoric. She then did everything she could to destroy the friendship. Now, I have no problem with Baptists or any other kind of religion – but this woman was delusional, unyielding, rude, and intolerant of other people’s beliefs. It burned her ass that I knew more about the Bible than she did which ultimately led to her trying even harder to attack me. That being said, the entirety of the song is an anthem for anyone who has ever felt unwelcome in any house, whether it is a community, a home, a church – whatever. I think that’s something we can all relate to. And when I say, “So now, in turn, you’re unwelcome in my house,”

I’m not suggesting tit for tat justice. I’m saying that their brand of hospitality and close mindedness will not be welcome in my house or in my world. And then I express worry that my perceived sins will fall on my future children’s head and they will be unwelcome in that (whatever “that” may be) house – despite their individual beliefs, morals, successes, or actions. This is why I say, “The left hand path holds the highest appeal when the right hand’s wrath hath blown its windbag sails up from the ass.” Basically, if what is perceived to be right in that kind of expulsion is actually right, then I would rather be wrong because that way of thinking is absurdly destructive. Regardless, my lyrics are open to interpretation. I not only enjoy word play and know exactly what I mean when I say it, but if it happens to mean something else to somebody and they can make a personal connection to it – I encourage that.

What can metal fans expect when they pick up a copy of …Of Mountains And Moonshine?
Seth: Let me start off by saying that this album is definitely not offering one or two radio length appropriate, catchy canned songs with eight or nine filler tracks to back up its monotony and mediocrity. Each riff, lyric, and cadence you hear is designed to serve the song and the entirety of the song alone. It is indeed a beefy record. I think we’re extremely blessed to have Season of Mist, who let us be us, backing our debut. Moreover, in this day and age where money is tight for most people, if we are blessed enough to get someone to buy our record, then they are going to get their money’s worth. They’re gonna get a hearty meal. We actually had to cut a couple of songs because we were risking pushing it to a double disk. Even when we had the record mapped out, just before we did the final edits we were dangerously close to exceeding the industry capacity of your standard compact disc. But I digress. When putting this beast together, it was decided that our strongest material from our two previous demos should at least be a part of the full-length album – and that ended up being about half of the record. Being our debut and taking the music to this level (which is a big foot in the door for any underground band) there was no reason to let that stuff just sit. The other half was last minute inspiration. I wrote the rest of the songs in my dorm room within six months of our first studio session. Thirteen tracks wasn’t the goal, it just turned out that way. My vision for this band is that each TSOTSC album will be a healthy size with a wide range of style and intent.

How is the current economic slump affecting your band?
Seth: None of us have ever lived high on the hog. Hell, during the recording of the record I was homeless and going three or more days with out eating just to be able to have the money to haul my ass over the mountain to the studio. We all work other jobs. We’re just trying to make our way and turn what we love into a real career. That’s all you can ever ask of a man. Speaking for myself, I need this music more than ever. Because it saves me; keeps me from going crazy. And I think the world needs this music. Honest, blue collar, hard working, down-and-out, yet triumphant and epic music. Unless you’re a child everyone knows this world is fucked up. The difference between us and a lot of other people is that we don’t think our knowledge of this affords us a higher plain of existence and a license for apathy. Nor does it make us soldiers for the cause. We just do what we do, and hope that we can leave a positive mark on this world when all else is dust and air.

How much roadwork do you expect to be doing this 2010?
Seth: As much as possible, and then some. With the aforementioned economic skull fuck we’re all going through, it’s been tough to hop on board with anything – especially considering that we’re brand new on this level of notoriety, so all we need is a chance, and we’ll take it.

Are you looking at any particular bands you will be touring with?
Seth: I would love to tour with Lamb of God. Not only because of their incredible music, but also because of the badass fans they bring with ‘em. Going toe to toe with those boys every night would not only be educational but inspiring and challenging.

Do you prefer the studio or the live setting?
Seth: They are definitely two different animals, but I don’t see them as separate. The process is linear. It is like building a house for yourself. The studio is the construction phase. Touring is living in it and raising a family. The quality of the latter is the result of the quality of the former. The stability of the latter depends on the stability of the former. And every new house you build, you try to get to know every neighbor you possibly can to fortify your community. Both the studio and touring are equally hard but overwhelmingly satisfying.

What kind of preparation goes into your live show?
Seth: Other than making sure the performance of the music is tight and executed to the best of our abilities before we go on stage, I would imagine it’s different for all of us in some small ways. Mostly mental preparations I would assume. But you see, there are no lights and explosions at our shows – just the music and us. It’s not that this is the way it should be, it’s just that this is the way it should be for us. It’s about pouring every ounce of ourselves out onto that stage and walking off with only enough to carry us to our beds.

Along those same lines, all of that passion that you play with must be tough on you physically. How do you prepare for the physical demands of a tour?
Seth: Personally, while I should be doing much, much more, I just try to keep my breath about me. A lot of endurance training goes into it. I could try and build my body to lift a car, but what good would that do me if I couldn’t breathe after I put it down. That’s the most important thing to me – stamina.

When you are on the road for a while I am sure you see and experience many different things you might not even have known existed. Are there any stories that stand out in your mind as being exceptionally strange or odd?
Seth: We had the National Guard called on us once. It sounds a lot more grandiose than it was, but it was still crazy. We were playing with Hawg Jaw, Haarp, and The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea down in New Orleans when the Guard was still around to help police the city after Katrina. I guess the bartenders were new and not use to that kind of crowd and music, so when things got a little crazy they called the cops, and we had uniformed military personnel at the front door in full regalia – Humvees and all. And they broke up the show and sent us all on our way. Even if that sounds tame to some, it’s not so tame when you’re drunk and have a machine gun in your face.

What does the future hold for you guys as a band?
Seth: As much as we’re willing to work for. And that, my friend, is a whole hell of a lot. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me and helping us spread the word. All Hail The South!  [ END ]