NILE Vocalist Says Group's New Album Was 'A Big Team Effort'

Prior to NILE's December 6 performance in Dallas, Texas, vocalist/guitarist Brian Kingsland spoke with Interview Under Fire. The full conversation can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On joining NILE:

Brian: "I was acquainted with Karl [Sanders, NILE's founding guitarist], but I was friends with Brad [Parris, bass], so whenever the time came for him to look for somebody, he just kind of hit me up and dropped the word in Karl's ear. I had met Karl briefly here and there, because I was a local guy and it's a small town, so you just kind of run into people here and there."

On how he's changed since joining the band:

Brian: "I think being thrown into the big leagues — now I'm on a bus instead of [in] a van — it's a lot different. There's a lot of new things to learn, but the [same] passion is still there... At the end of the day, we're entertainers playing music, and that's great, but it's a job, and what really matters are your friends and family. That's the important stuff."

On what he thinks he's brought to NILE:

Brian: "For years, I trained in classical guitar — traditional, with fingers and everything — so maybe a bit more of a classical harmonic sense, maybe. I don't really know how to word that, because it's like somebody asking, 'What's your style?' It's like, 'I don't know — I just do my thing.' And maybe the vocal range. Other than that, I don't really know how to answer that."

On the four-year gap between NILE's 2015 album, "What Should Not Be Unearthed", and the recently released "Vile Nilotic Rites":

Brian: "I think that replacing a longtime member has its obstacles, so the material had to be good. Really, I don't know how to answer that, because I wasn't around for the other records. I'm sure that it had something to do with it, and cutting all the fat off the steak so that you've just got a big, nice piece of filet mignon."

On making "Vile Nilotic Rites":

Brian: "All of us worked on it. Karl had five songs that he brought. I had four songs that I brought. George [Kollias, drums] had a song all to himself that he brought, and then Brad also had various riffs that contributed in one way or another. It's a big team effort. We went back and forth with demos so many times... [Karl] writes the lyrics, and he'll have three or four different songs, and he'll say, 'Well, I'm taking this one. If you have any music that might fit with this one or if you want to try this one, this subject, if you like it.' You snatch a piece of paper and go home and work with it, and that's kind of your template instead of writing the music as best you can and then trying to make the words fit, like if you're staring at a piece of paper that's already got the topic there, it kind of gives you an atmosphere to work with. Something [with] really frantic and violent lyrics needs frantic and violent riffing."

On whether he still gets nervous before performing live:

Brian: "I don't know if nervous is the right word. I still get butterflies, just because this music isn't the easiest thing to play out there. There's a confidence to it, too, because you practice so many years. I know I can get up there and do my job, but it's other things to think about, like, 'Am I going to hear everything from the monitor?' [or] 'Am I going to drop a pick?' But it's still rock n' roll, and it's meant to be a little dangerous."

On the South Carolina metal scene:

Brian: "It's not big. There's not too many venues in the upstate that cater to heavy metal in general. There is a local scene – there's a local scene everywhere. I think there have been some innovative things that came from there — NILE, of course, and LECHEROUS NOCTURNE is from there... It's not, like, a vibrant local scene because there's just not a whole lot of people like Atlanta or Tampa or L.A. or anything."

"Vile Nilotic Rites", NILE's first album with Kingsland (and ninth overall),was released on November 1 via Nuclear Blast.