In the early 2000s, futuristic science-fiction and fantasy were extremely popular within alternative culture, likely in great part due to the film, The Matrix. Bands like Stabbing Westward, Orgy, Deadsy, and Filter were producing industrial-inspired alternative metal, which was often too sonically complex to capture within one genre. The futuristic elements in the music were captivating, particularly in an era of nu-metal that relied heavily on drop-D tuning and driving distortion pedals. The new wave of alternative metal was one ripe for the birth of a band that would borrow elements of futurism, a large dose of fantasy, and a bit of creepiness for added effect. That band — The Birthday Massacre.
During the 2000s, MySpace was a primary medium for discovering new bands pre-Spotify. Stumbling on a band like The Birthday Massacre was not a quick glance-and-scroll as is often the case in our present Instagram world. Instead, you stopped, you listened, and you were hooked. Chibi, the lead vocalist of the band, has a beautiful voice that befits the fantastical atmosphere set by fellow founders, Michael Rainbow, Michael Falcore, Owen Mackinder, Philip Elliott, and Brett Carruthers.
We spoke with Chibi about the band’s newest album, the current tour, and what lies ahead for The Birthday Massacre.
It’s such an honor to be speaking with you, particularly as I am a huge fan of the band. I think the first time I heard about The Birthday Massacre was through MySpace in the mid-2000s. When I heard the song “Video Kid,” I was blown away by the different elements in the music. I love bands like Depeche Mode and Orgy, which you totally reminded me of when I first heard you.
Yeah, thanks for having me! You know, we love Orgy and Depeche Mode too, so we love those comparisons.
Strangely enough, I saw you are currently touring with Ryan Shuck and Julien-K (former members of Orgy). How is it touring with them?
Dude, so cool. He [Ryan] and Amir basically are Orgy, you know what I mean? So, to be friends with them, I almost fainted. They’re so good.
You have known Julien-K for a while now, correct?
We have! We’ve known them as friends for about 13 years. We first played with them about 13 years ago, which is crazy. This is like the third time we’ve done a run with them. Coming out of the pandemic with the first tour that we’ve done in three years, it’s so nice to do it with a band that you’re friends with. It just makes it so much easier to get back into the swing of things when everybody is like a big family on the road.
After a three-year hiatus, how has the transition to touring been so far?
Well, that was the fear, not doing it for three years. We did a bunch of rehearsals. We were like, “OK, we know that we can sound good,” but the idea of living on a bus with each other for 6 weeks was very alien. But it was amazing how quickly it all comes back. Just like, “Oh yeah! This is what it is.” Here we all are, and everything that can go wrong is going to go wrong, and you just adapt to it. But it actually has been really, really good, and really fun and stressful. It is strange; it’s kind of like there was not a three-year gap.
The current tour is wrapping up in a few weeks. Do you have plans to set more dates in the near future?
We do! Around Christmas time, our manager passed away. He was in the middle of doing a lot of organizational things for the year ahead, so we’re kind of now having to tie those ends together ourselves. So, everything is kind of up in the air, but the priority right now is touring and getting back to that, because we’ve put out a few albums here, and it would be nice to tour on those albums, you know?
From the heartfelt messages on social media, it’s clear that the band and Terry had a very close relationship. What emotions have you experienced not having him along for this tour?
It was absolutely devastating, as I’m sure you could imagine. We were family with him. We’re a very close band; we’re very close with everyone we work with. He was our manager for almost 20 years, so not only was it losing a big part of the business side of everything, but it was also losing a family member. So yeah, it’s been really, really hard. Even on this tour, there are moments that I’ll sit down with Rainbow, and there will be tears. It was a huge loss. This is the first tour that we’ve done in years where we didn’t get the “OK guys, go out there and kill it! I’m thinking about ya!” We miss him every day. It’s really, really strange.
I know it’s a difficult season of loss for the band, so I hope you don’t mind talking about him.
I don’t mind talking about Terry at all. I do want people to know what a lovely man he was and how much he loved us, so it’s actually really positive while being really sad, if that makes sense.
Definitely. You recently released the newest album titled Fascination. As a long-time fan, it may seem a bold statement, but this is actually my favorite record you’ve released. There seems to be a heavier presence of synth-based atmosphere that I absolutely love. How would you describe it in your own words?
None of our albums have been like, “Here we go again.” You know what I mean? I feel like every album feels somehow like we’re still able to write music that’s not only interesting to people who listen to it but to us as well. We had just released Diamonds before everything locked down, so when we were all in the lockdown and being kind of isolated and not seeing each other, the idea of doing another album did seem kind of confusing to me at first. We didn’t tour on Diamond, and we had just kind of poured our hearts into the album, so it was like, “OK, we’re going to do another one.” Rainbow and Mike were really like, “Let’s do this.”
As things started lifting and it was time that we could all get back together in the studio, I was so desperate to get back to normal and to write with the guys again. I almost felt this frenzy of emotions. My apprehension about doing another album when we had just released Diamonds just sort of dissipated once I realized how hungry I was to get back in and work with the guys.
I can really only speak for the lyrical side. In terms of music, it’s Mike and Rainbow who puts those elements together. So, in terms of where the musical influence came from, I really can’t speak to that. I just know we were all really excited to work together and be together again. I think there’s a lot of emotion in this album for me that was just relieved and excited and probably super emotional.
What inspired you in the lyrical content of Fascination?
Well, I think there’s a lot of relationship-y stuff. Is that a word? It is now [laughs]. I live by myself, so I think it’s almost about spending so much time with yourself, examining yourself and who you are fundamentally at the end of the day. The relationship themes on this album, seem to be almost like you’re singing to yourself. You’re looking at your own reflection in the mirror. You’re analyzing who you are as a person. I’ve spent a lot of time by myself over the last two years [laughs], and sometimes you love what you see and sometimes you really don’t love what you see. And it can be some hard truths. Those elements came into it for me lyrically on Fascination.
“You can probably count on one hand the number of people you will meet in your life who you will actually bond with and people who will become your chosen family. I’ve always been very grateful to have that.”
As an individual, who are you spiritually and philosophically?
That’s a really good question. You’d think after spending two years staring at myself in the mirror, I’d have more of an answer for you [laughs]. I feel like I still don’t even really know. I think I’m a person who tries to be very self-aware. I try to not get carried away with things; I try to keep my feet on the ground; and I try to surround myself with people who like me and who I genuinely like. Maybe that stuff sounds kind of redundant and obvious.
You know, we’ve been in the band for a really long time, and we’re actually really lucky to have been in the band with mostly the same people. I’ve been working with the same people for years and I’ve come to realize just how if you can meet people that you trust, just how valuable that is. You can probably count on one hand the number of people you will meet in your life who you will actually bond with and people who will become your chosen family. I’ve always been very grateful to have that. I’ve realized how important this whole thing is to me: the music and these people, despite the ups and downs. Just going back to the fact that we lost Terry, just thinking, “Time passes. Am I appreciating all of this? Am I treating everyone around me well?” Because you can lose people really quickly. I think Terry was the first loss in this way that I’ve ever felt. My family is all still here, you know? I think everything can be very fleeting, and I want to make sure I’m doing my best and I’m showing the people around me how much I love them.
Do you consider yourself much of a spiritual person?
I was raised religiously. My parents have faith and I appreciate that. I appreciate the elements that religion can bring into people’s lives. I’ve never really subscribed to religion, although I do like the idea of it, because I think it can provide comfort and answers. I don’t have any answers and I wish I did. I think about stuff like that a lot, but I don’t know what direction I move in with it.
For the majority of the band’s existence, there has been this enduring rabbit theme. I’ve always wanted to know: why a rabbit? What’s the significance there?
OK, so this goes back to right around MySpace or maybe even just as MySpace was… Remember the old days when bands had websites [laughs]? You had to memorize the URL and stuff; it wasn’t just all social media. So yeah, we had a website called nothingandnowhere.com. It was like a Flash-based website meant to move through these different environments that were kind of creepy and mysterious with animations and trying to set an atmosphere. To navigate between the pages, the loading screen was this rabbit icon which we had chosen as sort of a “follow the rabbit” kind of thing — the rabbit being sort of the messenger of the underground.
You had to be very creative back in those days; it wasn’t just like, “Here’s our Instagram.” So, the rabbit just became a transition on our website. And then, as we were playing shows, we started noticing people who were coming to shows had really latched onto the rabbit idea. They’d come out and wear rabbit ears, and they still do! Honestly, it really just happened. I think the audience really latched onto it and we ran with it. It fits somehow.
I was wondering if it had to do with the concept of Neverland, as well as the film, Donnie Darko.
This is going to sound made-up to you, but I’m sitting in a parking lot behind this venue and there are these storage containers that are sitting by our bus. I remember the last time we played here there were rabbits living in the storage containers, and I literally just saw a rabbit.
Like right now?
Just now on the phone with you. The Rabbit is always around. I think the last time we actually saw a rabbit was probably at this venue three years ago [laughs]. There are rabbits everywhere; you just have to look for them, right?
I think we just determined your real spiritual roots.
It’s a rabbit, yeah [laughs].
As a vocalist, who has inspired you in your career?
My favorite band of all time is Concrete Blonde. The big song they did was called “Joey.” Her [Johnette Napolitano] voice — I absolutely adore her voice. It’s very deep and it’s very beautiful to me, and I only wish I could sound like her. I always loved the way she looked; I loved the music in the band. She was a massive inspiration to me, not trying to say that I sound like her, because it’s impossible to. She’s so good.
I really like Chino from Deftones. Again, I don’t sound like him, but he’s one of my favorite vocalists, as well. You know, there are different types of singing, like the soprano, the alto, and the tenor. When I was really little, you always want to be the soprano, right? You always want to be that high, pretty aria and then you realize you’re not [laughs], because not everyone can do that. I like finding more, especially female vocalists like Johnette, who aren’t sopranos, who have this dark, mysterious richness to their voices, I just love that.
I was born in 1983, so I love nostalgic 80s films. One of the best creepy 80s movies is The Neverending Story. When you did the cover of the theme song, I absolutely loved it. Who is responsible for making that happen?
That was Rainbow’s baby. We’ve always loved that song. That’s why we re-released it because we loved that movie as kids. He and Mike are obsessed with film soundtracks and those old synth songs that would go into those movies. It’s such a beautiful song, isn’t it?
Completely. It brings back so many memories. Of course, another creepy 80s kid’s movie was The Dark Crystal.
Oh yeah, and Labyrinth. Remember that? A little David Bowie running around with his tight pants. They don’t make movies like that anymore.
In closing, considering the past few years and the devastation it has had on the music industry, how can fans best support you?
Coming to shows. Buy merchandise, buy the album. It sounds so awful to say financial support, but I mean, it’s essential. A lot of venues have closed, so when you’re booking a tour nowadays, it can be hard to find a suitable size venue to play; sometimes you play places that are a little too big. It’s terrible but showing up and buying some stuff – it’s really the only way.
You can follow The Birthday Massacre on Bandcamp, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Photos by: Andrea Hunter
