Utter Trash--Goat Horn

Canadian Steel

An Interview with Jason Decay of Goat Horn

By Bob Ignizio

L to R: Steelrider, Jason Decay, and Brandon Wars

Goat Horn is a Canadian band that plays straight up heavy metal without the need for any other adjectives to describe them. They recently released their second album, ‘Storming the Gates’, on October 32^nd Records and were kind enough to send me a copy. I liked it and decided to write the band and ask a few questions. Lead vocalist/bass player Jason Decay provided me with the answers.

Utter Trash: Who is everyone in Goat Horn and what do they do? When and how did the band get together?
Jason Decay: Brandon Wars - Guitar Trooping & String Shooting, Steelrider - Crash/Bang/Wallop, Jason Decay - Lead Vocal Recruiting & Bass Saluting. We got together sometime in 1999 - well, we've been hanging out in different bands n stuff in Pembroke going back as far as 1995 or so, but Goat Horn didn't become a band until the fall of 1999. Brandon Wars and I started our first band together (Forcefed/Loudmouth) with drummer Chris Scantron (now in CheerLeader) back in '95. We dished out some heaping spoonfulls of manic speed/thrash/grind, but as that started to dissolve, some very doomy jams began to crawl out of our basement with our friend Guts - Jason Steel Riding Mellish. We'd been hanging out with Steelrider pretty much just as long - he also played in a band from our neighborhood who we played shows with. We basically got together to jam some Venom and Priest tunes, and a couple of our own doomaholic tunes started to take form.

UT: What bands or artists influenced and inspired you? How would you describe Goat Horn's particular style of metal?
JD: Heavy or course. We're influenced by what is REAL metal to us, the good stuff we've been listening to since we were young. Some of the bands that we really admire are/were stuff like Sacrifce, Venom, Cathedral, VoiVod, Carcass, Sabbath, Dio, Helloween, Thor, Lizzy Borden etc. So I'd say its right heavy Metal.

UT: When I was just getting into metal and punk in the mid to late eighties, Canada had a ton of cool bands like Voi Vod, Exciter, Dayglo Abortins, Nomeansno, Dead Brain Cells, etc. The coolest thing about them is that all of those bands had unique sounds that set them apart from all the sound alike thrash and punk bands, and I think you guys carry on that tradition. Is there something special about Canada's music scene that helps foster uniqueness, or do those of us in the States just get the cream of the crop and there's really just as many lame bands in Canada as there are here?
JD: Yes yes, Voivod, Exciter, Dayglo's all for sure, and don't forget Anvil! I don't know what it is about Canada, but I know what you mean. I guess we have our fair share of shit bands as well, but there are definitely some very sacred unheard of gems around too. Check out CheerLeader (cheerleader666.com) - they're one of the gems, like a GNR Crue!

UT: More traditional metal is a bit of a tough sell here in the US. How are things up north?
JD: Oh, probably not much better. We tend to think that we're ahead of our time in the sense that something old is something new. I can't think of a band that does exactly what we do. Most of our favorite bands and albums were born in the 80's, and that's the stuff we're influenced by. We're not trying to re-live any one band or era; we just feed off of the best elements of the bands that we worship. If we are considered traditional - fine, but to us, noting has surpassed the songwriting and production values known 15 years ago; if anything, it’s gotten worse.

UT: What sorts of things inspire your lyrics?
JD: The lyrics on the first album were more about not being able to make what you want out of life. You know, being trapped, as fate would have it. Also incorporating a lot of booze with those dreams, cause that's what you do to make it seem more real up in the Ottawa Valley. I guess the lyrics are inspired by my thoughts, observations, and dreams. The lyrics on the new album are about breaking through the barrier that keeps you from what you're after in life. The concept of the new album is that we're “Storming the Gates of Oppression” which are in the way of achieving our dreams and goals. It's about doing whatever it takes from us to give our best shot, and no matter what fate's outcome is, at least we'll know we made the best of our lives and that fate's sentence was fair.

UT: Do you do any touring? Any plans to make it to the U.S. in the near future?
JD: That's what we want to do, tour around and play live because that's where we feel we really come across. We haven't made it too far into the states yet at this point, as that part seems to be about money and connections.

UT: Are you at all worried about people getting your band confused with Goat Whore or Goat Lord?
JD: Well, we wouldn't want them to, but we don't worry about it either. We actually hate 'Goat' names, but we feel we're stuck with ours. The name Goat Horn was based on an inside joke. At the time we were not planning on becoming a serious band and we just needed a name for ourselves, and since Goat Horn was the joke of the week - thar she became. We thought about changing our name later so it would suit the band more, but then we figured we'd just leave it. Names don't matter much anyway; I listen to lots of band with unsuitable names. Goat Horn came naturally, and people kinda got to know the name, so we just figured we'd leave it.

UT: In your liner notes it says you play "real storming true heavy metal for Christians". Is that sarcastic, or did I miss something in the lyrics?
JD: Thanks for reading the liner notes. We just put that there because couldn't think of anything else to fill in the blank, and we figured people would read it and just be right thrown off. Or they might assume that we're a Christian band and leave it at that, or they may ask us about it like you did.

UT: You make a point of saying your CD was recorded on analog equipment. What about analog do you think is better than digital?
JD: Well, definitely not the cost. It's a lot harder to cheat your ears when you record on tape. We also simply like the real life and pulsating sound of analogue, like the tape rolling and the heavy warm hiss. Plus most of our favorite albums are analogue, and if we compare them to digital, we like the tape sound a lot more.

UT: Anything else you want to mention that I didn't ask about but should have?
JD: Yes - if you like real Metal, get ‘Storming the Gates’. To us, we created the album that we wanted to hear that no one else would make. We're so proud of ‘Storming the Gates’ that we started eliminating stuff worse than it from our music collections. It’s tough when your favorite bands turn to shit, so you have to make the album they should have made. Beers and Cheers.