St. Vincent Wants to Make an ‘Angry’ Metal Album That Says ‘F**k You!’
St. Vincent wants to record a heavy metal album — no surprise based on her love for acts such as Metallica, Tool and Nine Inch Nails — and she wants it to be angry.
Why? "Because I'm angry again!" St. Vincent, the singer-songwriter whose real name is Annie Clark, told the NME on Wednesday (July 7). "I want to make that record. There's a season for all of it. There's a season for warmth, and then there's a season for 'fuck you!'"
The performer, who's already well made her mark in indie pop and art rock, has pointed toward a more aggressive project for months. In March, Clark said she had planned to make an album that sounds like Tool. But it wasn't until last month that she put her metal fandom on display in a way she never had before — St. Vincent covered Metallica's classic "Sad But True," among several other artists' re-readings of the tune, as part of the upcoming Black Album anniversary reissue.
"Metallica to me are a bit more of a nostalgic love," Clark shared this week while recalling her garage band youth. "I played bass in a metal band when I was 13 and always wanted to be the guitar player! Bass was the only position that no one wanted. They have a very specific personality type. If you need a friend, then a bass player is always solid. You can't really fuck around with drummers and lead guitars, but it's in a bassist's personality type to be deeply supportive."
Mixing some Nine Inch Nails love in with her Metallica fandom, the singer continued from that digression, "Anyway, we played those songs at junior high talent shows. It was fun to get under the hood. You think you know a song, then you really play it and it's so interesting. I really found that with [NIN's] 'Piggy.'"
To wit, Clark's appreciation for Nine Inch Nails may even meet or exceed that of her admiration for Metallica and Tool, judging by her enthusiastic thoughts on the topic.
"If you're talking about great songs, epic production and perfect fucking shows — there are only a few names and Trent Reznor is always in there!" she enthused. "You will never go to a Nails show and be disappointed."
Clark added, "I was playing Roskilde a few years ago, got changed out of my latex stage gear and into more sensible festival clothing, went out and watched Nine Inch Nails from the crowd. This really sweet kid came up and told me he was a fan and we had a nice talk, then 'March of the Pigs' came on and me this kid just started really raging and going for it! It's inescapable; you can't not be physically moved by Nine Inch Nails. Trent's a genius and how many of those do we get?"
Later this summer, St. Vincent sets out on a United States tour supporting the album Daddy's Home, the loungey, funky and softly nostalgic pop-rock collection Clark released in May. Get tickets and info here.