STABBING WESTWARD's CHRISTOPHER HALL: 'Nobody's Waiting For Us To Write A New Record'

In a recent interview with Shawn Ratches of Laughingmonkeymusic, STABBING WESTWARD vocalist Christopher Hall said that he and his bandmates are no longer "chasing new fans." He explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There's weird debates and conversations in the van about, 'Oh, what if we did this?' or things you could do to get a younger fanbase or get new fans and stuff. And I don't really think it's worth the effort. I think that you just put out good music for the people that know you, and if something organically happens where younger kids… Because we're playing a lot of festivals.

"We played a festival in Ohio where we got to play in front of BAD OMENS, which is a really big, kind of popular band at the moment," he continued. "And I think a lot of their fans got to see us play, and that's kind of cool because I think that there's some cross-generational similarities or whatnot. And opportunities like that arise when we play a lot of the bigger festivals, just a chance to get in front of other people's uh fans.

"In the early days of STABBING, you had to constantly sell yourself and try and build [a larger fanbase], because you're on a record label, and you have to get ready to play and you have MTV and you have to constantly be building. I don't really feel that pressure anymore. A lot of it's just because we do it for the love of it. It's not about the money anymore. I have money so I don't need to hustle every single day to try and pay the rent or whatever. So for me, it's more about us going out and playing shows 'cause we love to play, giving the fans kind of what they want.

"We've got the 30th anniversary of [STABBING WESTWARD's second album] 'Wither [Blister Burn & Peel]' coming up, I think, in 2026, so I'd like to focus on doing something really special for that, maybe doing the whole album with some cool production and doing a proper tour and maybe do some kind of a release based around that," he added.

Regarding the possibility of a follow-up to STABBING WESTWARD's 2022 album "Chasing Ghosts", Hall said: "We haven't really talked much about new music. I went through a pretty horrific couple of years [after being diagnosed with throat cancer in July 2022] and didn't even know if I was gonna be able to sing again. So the fact that we're just touring again and doing that feels really good to me. And the one thing I don't wanna do is write a record about going through cancer. I don't wanna be that guy. I wanna get to the point where I don't think about it all the time or care anymore, and then maybe I can write music. But for me, writing new songs is very personal and it has to be something that's inspired. I have to have something in my life that has triggered me, that has made me want to sit down and write something. I can't just say, 'Okay, it's time to write a new record. Let me self-evaluate and see if I can pick at any scabs and dig up some sort of intense thing to write about.' I kind of need to have something trigger me. And that did trigger me, but I don't know that there's any songs that I wanna write about it."

Elaborating on his lack of motivation to write new music, Hall said: "Honestly, nobody's waiting for us to write a new record. [Laughs] When we play shows, we hardly play anything off of 'Chasing Ghosts' because you can see the fans either haven't heard it or they don't know it well enough that it entertains them while they're at the show. And at end of the day, we're there to entertain the people who paid 25, 30 bucks to see us play. And I know when I see a band play, I wanna hear… If I were to go see Gary Numan play, I would wanna hear songs from 'Savage (Songs From A Broken World)', like 'My Name Is Ruin'. That's the album that I kind of got into during COVID. And I wouldn't necessarily wanna hear a bunch of songs off his newest album. I would wanna hear the hits of the songs that I've known through his career. I would listen to songs that he played off his new album, because I'm a big fan, but I would do it with less enthusiasm than I would than if he played the songs that I love dearly. If I'm going to see PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT, I wanna hear [songs from] JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER. I don't wanna hear Peter Hook's new songs. He doesn't play new songs. He knows that we don't care, and I appreciate that…

"We have to think that our fans are not 15-year-olds; they're 40- and 50-year-olds that want to hear the music they grew up with," Hall added. "And that's why when we play a show, we play 95 percent the it songs from the [first] four records. We add in 'Bizarre Love Triangle' [NEW ORDER cover], we add in the 'Burn' [THE CURE] cover, 'cause everyone likes to hear a song that they know, a different version of it, and we just try and make it as you walk away feeling like you got everything that you're hoping to hear. Now there's always gonna be the people that are, like, 'Oh, I wanted to hear the Japanese B-side [song], some weird obscure track. 'Oh, you once sang a Tori Amos song at a soundcheck. I wanna hear.' Well, don't count on that."

Blending the scathing electronics of underground industrial/rock with the emotive melodies of goth and a decidedly radio-friendly sensibility, STABBING WESTWARD rose to great heights in the mid-1990s alternative boom. Formed in 1986 by Hall and multi-instrumentalist Walter Flakus, the band went from underground cult sensation to the heights of critical and commercial success thanks to such songs as "Shame", "Save Yourself", "So Far Away" and "What Do I Have to Do?" To this day, these songs remain anthems of heartache, dejection, rage, betrayal and depression. With two gold albums and numerous hit singles, STABBING WESTWARD fell from grace with the 2001 self-titled album amid personal and professional turmoil, disbanding the following year and leaving a void in modern music that was somewhat filled by Hall's later work in THE DREAMING. However, it was the release of that band's "Rise Again" in 2015 that the seeds were sown for a reunion. That album saw Flakus once again making music with Hall, with STABBING WESTWARD guitarist Mark Eliopulos joining THE DREAMING onstage in Chicago for a set of past hits. In 2019, Hall and Flakus came together again to release the "Dead And Gone" EP, the first new STABBING WESTWARD material in 18 years. Written and produced by Flakus and Hall over the course of three years, and recorded in multiple states and time zones, these songs captured the very essence of the STABBING WESTWARD sound.

"Chasing Ghosts" was released in March 2022, marking the influential industrial rock band's first new LP in more than 20 years.

"Chasing Ghosts" was made available via COP International Records. It features 10 tracks that showcase the industrial rock band's characteristic sound with a modern sheen that picks up right where they left off with their last full-length in 2001. With the new tracks, STABBING WESTWARD has not only managed stay true to their original sound, but also expanded it to fit the frantic new reality of the 21st century.

"Chasing Ghosts" features brand-new songs as well as re-workings of the band's acclaimed 2020 reunion EP "Dead And Gone" that found original founding members Hall and Flakus honing in on the incredible partnership that once produced a string of hits that dominated alternative radio and film soundtracks, including "Shame", "Save Yourself" and "What Do I Have to Do?" — and resulted in two gold records.

To recreate that original chemistry, the band recruited the legendary producer John Fryer to again helm "Chasing Ghosts". Fryer, whose production credits include DEPECHE MODE, NINE INCH NAILS, 4AD, COCTEAU TWINS and LOVE AND ROCKETS, originally worked with STABBING WESTWARD on their best-selling early releases "Ungod" (1994) and "Wither Blister Burn + Peel" (1996). "Chasing Ghosts" was also mastered by Tom Baker who, like Fryer, worked with STABBING WESTWARD on their early releases and is part of the reassembled production team on the latest album.