Eyehategod’s Mike Williams: Being optimistic is a part of survival at this point There are lots of reasons why I want to stay alive now Kerrang! -…

I was agoner, says Mike IX Williams with adisarming sense of nonchalance. Talking to us from the kitchen of his New Orleans home, the Eyehategod singer is casting his mind back to the fateful morning October 10, 2016 the day he found himself coughing up blood and in abjectpain.

Two years earlier while on tour, he had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and told that he had 12 months to live. Regardless, he carried on drinking what he estimates was at least abottle of vodka aday. Rushed to acritical care unit on that October morning, the singer was placed on alife support machine and told he needed anew liver in order to survive. As aman who had enjoyed what he calls hard life lived, he resigned himself to hisfate.

Im quite pragmatic so Ijust said to myself, This could be it. Icould be gone soon. Iwasnt really scared at all, he says. I just thought, If Igo, Igo, and if Istay, Istay. And Iwas great with staying, youknow!

For Mike and his wife Michelle, the wait to find asuitable donor was long and expensive. An intensely private man, at first he refused to inform the wider world that hed been hospitalised. In August of 2016 hed missed two shows with Eyehategod due to his faltering health his friend Phil Anselmo had stepped in to replace him. Hed also been absent for another U.S. run of shows in October with UK punks Discharge where another friend, Lamb Of Gods Randy Blythe, assumed vocal duties. While fans knew he was ill, no-one other than his bandmates, close friends, and family knew just how unwell he actuallywas.

As the medical bills increased and Mikes insurance tripled, Michelle was forced to set up acrowd-funding campaign to cover the spiralling costs. We cant do this anymore. The expenses are astronomical and overwhelming, she wrote on her YouCaring page. The response to the campaign was instant, the pair reaching their target of $50,000 dollars in mere days. But the bills continued to mount and they needed more money. The crowd-funding continued, famous friends rallied, and benefit gigs were also organised as Mike grew ever weaker and awaited atransplant.

I didnt actually die because Im still here talking to you. But when Isay Iwas gone, Iwas right up to the edge, he continues without flinching. Your liver is connected to everything, so when your liver goes, everything else goes too. Iwas sinking lower and lower, but with the help of science and some of the best doctors in the country New Orleans has some of the best doctors when it comes to liver disease and transplants they put me back together again. Ive felt 20years younger since it happened, to be honest withyou.

Mike received his new liver in December 2016. Once he was discharged, amonth of convalescing at ahospital-approved apartment followed before the singer was finally allowed to go home. In the statement that accompanied his release, he declared: This miracle of the modern medical process has literally bought me asecond chance at living! For aman armed with areputation as one of metals great nihilists, this was aremarkably un-Mike-like expression ofjoy.

It was an emotional moment for me! he laughs. The 90s were one thing where we lived for the day and didnt care what happened. You saw us then, so you know how that was. But then you finally get older and you reach that day where you realise, Wow! This may actually be killing me. It made me think. After three months in there it was quite ashock to be out of hospital. There were still alot of steps for me to take so it wasnt like an immediate thing where Iwas back out on the street jumping up and down. Having said that, four months after the surgery we were backonstage.

Mike is the first to admit he has led alife of extreme excess. Alongside his alcohol abuse, he has found himself dependent on drugs and opiates, their impact evident on landmark Eyehategod albums like Take As Needed For Pain (1993 and the promo film of the same year, Peace Through Addiction) and Dopesick (1996). In 2005 he found himself jailed for possession and was bailed by Phil Anselmo who also offered him aplace to live. I stayed in his guest house above his studio for like 10years, Mikesays.

For all of his past misdemeanours, the man we meet today is clear-headed and full of humour, his face animated by amischievous smile. He is also brutally honest about his own life and hiscareer.

Theres alot of rumours about our band and most of them are true, he shrugs, discussing Eyehategods heavy-duty reputation and his own addictive tendencies. People do like to have their fantasies about us. They want to think were living out in the swamp, shooting drugs all day. Some of thats true, you know. Not the swamp part. But people have to have to realise that were just normal people too. Anybody thats met us knows that we like to have fun. Thats why were still doing this band. Its still fun after all theseyears.

Fun is not aword often associated with Eyehategod nor with Mike himself, whose bleak worldview and propensity to write about the darkest subject matter has defined so much of the bands music. Despite his misanthropic outlook, he admits he would feel lost without Eyehategod, and that his need to continue playing was key to his successfulconvalescence.

When Iwas in the hospital Itried to keep apositive mindset and Itold myself that one day wed be back onstage playing, he says. In fact, against all odds, he returned to the stage on 14 April 2017 alongside his long-serving bandmates of Jimmy Bower and Brian Patton (guitars), Gary Mader (bass) and Aaron Hill (drums) as Eyehategod headlined the Bezerker festival at The Crofoot in Pontiac,Michigan.

That show was pretty emotional, he beams. It was also my birthday so it was doubly emotional. Everything was fine until Igot back onstage and Igot alittle teary-eyed. The kids started screaming Eyehategod! and [the band] ended up bringing acake out for me, so it was really emotional but it was great to see all the love. Imean, were called Eyehategod, and that stirs up alot of negative things which we want but on the other side, its really good too see the love that weget.

Mikes return to live performance marked the start of ashort run of shows that also took in gigs in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. As always, the singer was determined to give it his all, his performance based around acts of sheer abandonment and aferocious vocal style which, on occasion, appear to move beyond wordsthemselves.

I was alittle unsteady, Iguess you would say, he recalls. I wasnt 100 per cent there but we still put our all into it because its all about that energy. It took me afew shows and some travelling to get fullyback.

Being on the road came with its own set of challenges, specifically around Mikes propensity to head off the rails and drink. Whereas self-destruction had previously been the order of the day, now temperance wasrequired.

Well, Istill have aglass of wine, he confesses, discussing his pre-show routine. The doctors are fine with that and thats not going to kill me, but the hard stuff is pretty much gone. Im only speaking for myself here, of course, but its all about fighting that temptation, and everybody is abit different these days. Jimmys got kids, you know. Brian Patton whos not in the band right now he has kids, too. As you get older, these things happen so before the show things are abit more mellow withus.

After that initial clutch of shows, Eyehategod found themselves almost permanently back on the road and travelling to places that theyd never played before including South Korea, Vietnam and Tasmania. Despite their increasingly exotic and never-ending tour schedule, the band had also worked up some new material during Mikes enforced absence in abid to follow-up their 2014 self-titled effort, the demos being cut while he was inhospital.

We pretty much stayed on tour from 2017 up until the start of 2020. Brian had decided that he couldnt do that much touring and he left [in 2019] to take care of his family which is anoble thing, Ithink. So Jimmy said, Brians gone, youre out of the hospital, so lets re-do all those songs and add certain elements and sections. So we re-worked stuff around 2018, and then Irecorded my vocals last July in Chicago. That became the newrecord.

A History Of Nomadic Behavior is Eyehategods sixth album since they formed back in 1988. Prolific they are not. I always saw us aweird slow punk band and our evolution has been pretty slow too, reflects Mike, contemplating one of the most extreme catalogues in modern music. But Ithink we haveevolved.

In fact, the bands latest album is proof of that evolution. Jimmy Bowers riffs which have always boasted ablues-edge alongside the bands punk blast are no less hulking but they are more defined. Mike too has developed his vocal style far beyond his initial chewed-glassinvective.

I heard recently that people were talking about the new album and saying, Eyehategod sold out! You can hear what Mikes saying now! You cant win! You cant make everybody happy so we dont care. Weve never cared, he chuckles. Its been seven years since the last album and this time Idid pronounce my lyrics alittle more. Theyre not as drunkenly slurred as the old stuff! But its just the normal, nihilist Eyehategod outlook. That seems to always be there. Ive always got that kind of outlook even during the most positivetimes.

If Mike is achanged man in terms of his own circumstances, he admits that his lyrics on AHistory Of Nomadic Behavior atitle that could easily relate to his itinerant experiences as ayoung man have been shaped by recent events. Opener Built Beneath The Lies and the blasting Fake Whats Yours are examples of tunes that, while remaining oblique, are clearly loaded with Trumpian imagery. High Risk Trigger, meanwhile, sounds like ablaster for COVIDtimes.

I dont write stories. Itend to pull lyrics from all over the place. Ialso write the songs out almost as poetry, Isuppose youd say, before the words get pulled into the songs, he says. Mostly, my lyrics about the desperation of life as awhole, but Iguess some stuff did creep in terms of what weve all been through. It wasunavoidable.

The album isnt directly about 2020. But these issues have been going on for along time these issues of corruption, government abuse, police brutality. It all kinda came to head and Ithought that maybe Iwould add some of the buzzwords if you want to call them that and add some of the tension from 2020in there. Ithink it wouldve been there no matter what because thats how we are, but this album does seem as if it was made for2021.

Throughout their 33-year career, Eyehategod have always maintained that they are not apolitical band per se. Instead, Mike has focused on delivering fragmented lyrical blasts that deal with existentialism, aslew of taboo subjects, and the reality of Americas underclass. Looking at the country as awhole now, however, he admits he finds it hard to recognise what hesees.

I dont know how to view it, to be honest. Its horrendous, he sighs. All these people appear to have an umbrella under which theyre protected and where they can say all these racist things, all these sexist things and homophobic things. Its become that now. It was an underlying right-wing current before, especially under Reagan and Bush, but it really came to ahead under this last guy. Its shocking that it happened toAmerica.

Its divided the country and made it unbearable. But you have to deal with it day-by-day. Thats the only way you can do it. We cant change it over night. Its going to take time. Theres alittle hope with the new president but, at the end of the day, theyre all politicians, so does that even really matter? Idefinitely feel as nihilistic as ever. Maybe even moreso.

As the self-appointed leader of the Southern Nihilism Front aname he uses as his Instagram handle, his website and assorted other musical projects where does Mikes enduring sense of nihilism comefrom?

Youd have to ask apsychiatrist, he smiles. It has something to do with the series of events in my life. That feeling has always been there. Ithink thats what attracted me to this type of music in the first place Idont know how you even describe the music Ilike. Extreme, Iguess. Its always going to be there for me. Its just the way Ithink. Ifeel more positive now but Igot anew liver, Ididnt get anew brain. My brain is the same as it always has been. Its about not falling into super-negative holes and into acycle of drugs or alcohol. Its just amatter of staying afloat and taking it day-by-day. Idont worry about things now. Theres no point to worry because worrying just wastes moretime.

Mikes emotional identification with music lies at the heart of what he does and how he performs. Music, he admits, is the defining force in his life and he is constantly working on new ideas and collaborations. In the summer of 2020, just as he was finishing up AHistory Of Nomadic Behavior, his collaboration with hip-hop hardcore punks Ho99o9 emerged, with Mike guesting on Firefly Family, the closing track on their most recent mixtape,Blurr.

Theyre agreat band and great guys and that was fun to do. Theyre one of the only new things Ive gotten into recently because mostly Ilisten to old stuff. But theyre really original in what they do, says Mike. I also did this thing with Nick Oliveri and Steven Hanford Thee Slayer Hippie. He passed away before we even put the recordout.

Steven, the former Poison Idea drummer and well-loved pillar of the U.S. punk community, assembled the project under the name of Dead End America along with guitarist Tony Avila (of World Of Lies and Aborted Cop fame) before enlisting Mike, ex-QOTSA man Nick Oliveri, Blaine Cook (The Accsed A.D/the Fartz) and Ian Watts (Ape Machine). Stevens sudden passing in May 2020 from aheart attack at the age of 50 saw the band release Crush The Machine, afour-track a7inch single, through Southern Lord in October as atribute to their fallenfriend.

I found out he passed away one morning very suddenly, remembers Mike. That was abummer, and Im still bummedout

In the last five years Mike, now 53, has had plenty of time to contemplate his own mortality. Hes also had time to face his own emotions and examine how he really feels. So, when all is said and done, what does he think hes learnt abouthimself?

I dont know if Ive learnt much, but Ithink Ive become amore caring person maybe? he says with slight hesitation. I think Ive gotten to be more of an optimist. Being more optimistic is also apart of survival at this point. Its going to help me get through whatever obstacles Iface instead of the way Iwas in the 90s, where Iwanted to basically die and didnt really care about anything. There are lots of reasons why Iwant to stay alive now. Icant really explain it but its just about the world in itself. Theres lots of things Istill want to do and were not done with annoying people justyet.

A History Of Nomadic Behavior is out now via Century MediaRecords

Posted on March 26th 2021, 3:00p.m.

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Eyehategod's Mike Williams: Being optimistic is a part of survival at this point There are lots of reasons why I want to stay alive now Kerrang! -...