3 INCHES OF BLOOD's CAM PIPES: 'We're Gonna Start Trickling Out Some New Music' In 2027

At this year's Hell's Heroes festival in Houston, Texas, vocalist Cam Pipes of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based metallers 3 INCHES OF BLOOD was asked by Loud & Clear With Belgian Jasper if there are any plans for the reunited band to write and record new music. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There is a plan to write some songs. We are working on new stuff. When it will actually be unleashed on people's ears is another thing. But we're not gonna rush it. But there's lots of ideas in our camp with songwriting. So, the plan is spend most of this year kind of working those songs out and getting them good. 'Cause show-wise, we're not gonna be super busy this year — Hell's Heroes is one of our only shows we're doing this year — 2027 we're planning on being a lot busier. And then that's when we're gonna start trickling out some new music."

3 INCHES OF BLOOD effectively called it quits in 2015 after a five-album run. Nearly a decade later, the band played a hometown show in January 2024 as the first part of its "full-circle return." Additional reunion shows were later announced to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 3 INCHES OF BLOOD's second album, "Advance And Vanquish".

Asked by Loud & Clear With Belgian Jasper if there were any doubts about 3 INCHES OF BLOOD's decision to come back more than two years ago and how much that has changed now that he has seen the response of the people, Cam said: "I don't think we've doubted the motivation that we had necessarily. But we just kind of took our time discussing it, making sure we all sort of were on the same page with how we wanted to do it. And I think enough time had gone by that eventually someone proposed the question, 'Yeah, let's get the band back together,' that old cliché or whatever. But I think we were pretty confident that it would be well received. And we've been delighted by the response, even though… The reaction's been even better than we could have anticipated, so, obviously, we're elated about that. And we're just having fun with it, keeping our shared sort of plan with how we wanted to keep the band going at this rate and do what we wanna do but also give the people what they want, I guess."

At last year's Aftershock festival in Sacramento California, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD guitarist Shane Clark told Rock News Weekly about the possibility of new material from him and his bandmates: "We're gonna keep playing some fly-in gigs, but for the rest of the year we're just gonna write songs and kind of approach it the same way we approached getting back together. And that's just write some songs, see if it works. We're not gonna release stuff that we don't think is up to snuff. So we're just gonna sort of take our time with it, not rush it. — not be, like, 'Oh my God. We've gotta keep this momentum going.'"

Asked if 3 INCHES OF BLOOD is still signed to Roadrunner, Shane said: "No… After 'Fire Up The Blades' — so this is, I wanna say, 2008 — they wanted to re-negotiate our contract into a deal we were not into at all. Basically, long story short, we asked them, like, 'If we don't take this new contract, what's the deal?' They're, like, 'Well, we're gonna have to drop you.' And we were, like, 'Fucking right. Let's say no. Then we'll get dropped.' And then we had a really successful year being label-less. We toured Europe with EXODUS that year and had a really good, lucrative year. And then we got signed to Century Media. Century Media was really good, and we're technically still on Century Media. So whatever we decide to do, they have the option to release it for us."

As for how 3 INCHES OF BLOOD is planning on making new music available, Shane said: "We don't know if we're gonna do an album or a couple of singles. The landscape's different… It's super up in the air. I'm 50 years old, so I remember when you're budgeted for one CD every two weeks on a paycheck, and it's, like, you listen to the whole damn thing, even if you don't really like it. I don't know a whole lot of young people, but I'm not convinced that people listen to the back end of a record anymore — unless you're a diehard. If it's OBITUARY or — name your favorite band here — of course I'm gonna listen to the whole damn thing. But when you're garnering new fans, the musical landscape, how people consume music, it's singles. It's kind of back to the '50s. I think it's THE BEATLES that started releasing [full-length] records."

3 INCHES OF BLOOD announced its split in June 2015, sixteen years after the band's formation, writing in a social media statement: "Naturally, people will have questions as to why we have collectively made this decision. While our reasons are personal, just know we are all still good friends, but it is just time to move on."

Prior to January 2024, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD's last performance took place on November 7, 2015 at the Commodore Ballroom.

Formed in 1999, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD released five studio albums — 2002's "Battlecry Under A Wintersun", 2004's "Advance And Vanquish", 2007's "Fire Up The Blades", 2009's "Here Waits Thy Doom" and 2012's "Long Live Heavy Metal". They also issued three EPs — 2001's "Sect Of The White Worm", 2007's "Trial Of Champions" and 2011's "Anthems For The Victorious".