New Skeletal Faces have been making waves in and around the Los Angeles area since they came together in 2017, combining a range of elements, from black to eighties metal, to arrive at
a sound that stands out amongst their peers. In that time they’ve built a loyal following, with several releases all leading up to their latest album, Until The Night, which is out now through legendary UK label Peaceville Records.

I have on my Zoomatron Mac screen, drummer Don Void, coming at me from a room literally littered with guitars-mostly made by BC Rich-and singer/guitarist Errol Fritz in a room so dark I can just about make out a pair of big sunglasses and a faint visage. So all the elements are in place…

“Where you coming at us from man?” asks Don. Sydney Australia, I answer. “I spent a little time in Perth some years ago, but I never made it over to the east coast”. What were you doing in Perth?
“I have some friends there…but I was drinkin’ a whole bunch of Victoria Bitter is what I was doin’”.

Next time we’ll have to get you onto the Coopers. “I had a Coopers, yeah I had a Coopers! I wanna say I was there in April? The time I spent on the golden West Coast was unhinged and I’d really love to return and up the ante next time around”.

Make time for some more Coopers! Errol: “Nick Cave and The Church… people love Nick Cave over here”.  Don: “You guys have the Bee Gees too right? When you talk about bands we get high on, the Bee Gees are high on the list!”

So, you’ve just released Until The Night – cool record. “Thanks man!”

The sound reminds me a little of Christian Death in some ways, which is cool considering a lot of stuff is a little generic these days. Don: “Yeah, I appreciate you sayin’ that. We’ve actually played with both incarnations of Christian Death that exist to this day”.

You’ve done a deal with the UK based Peaceville Records (Mayhem, Pentagram, Candlemass)… Don: “Yeah that’s correct. Initially we’d been talkin’ to a lot of labels, basically every label
imaginable and it just so happened Peaceville was always one of the ones at the top of our list, and when it became certain that it was a possibility, that’s kind of the route we pursued. And a guy
named Pellet (Sean Pelletier)- he’s the manager of the band Pentagram and he was a big part of getting us and Peaceville talking”.

So, you formed in 2017-how did that happen? Errol: “Yeah, formed in 2017, it was basically me and the bass player (KRO).  Did any of you guys play together previously? “No, we weren’t in any bands together before this, no”. Same lineup throughout? “Well…yeah”… Don: “Same three on every record”.

Which includes the EP Sextinction, and Celestial Disease? Don: “Yeah. Celestial Disease was our debut album, which came out in 2019 and Sextinction was, what, 2021 I think? I don’t remember!
Those two releases we self released so the band recorded mixed and mastered them and produced the records ourselves”.

What were the influences that lead you guys to where you are? Errol: “Ever since the beginning when I first started writing music I never really wanted to, y’know, fit certain trends. I just wanted to play like, what was me y’know? So I wasn’t like, trying to fit into a clique or whatever like a lot of bands try and do now- I was like, what if I just express what my authentic feeling or whatever is-I don’t know, I didn’t care if it sounded weird or not, so…yeah there’s a lot of that in my music and stuff like that so…yeah” .
Don: “The Monkees y’know…” (laughter) Errol: “The Monkees was my first favourite band” (more laughter).

Nothing wrong with that dude…until I was eighteen I thought all bands lived together and were best friends because of the Monkees! Don: (Laughing) “I hope they do! Errol-tell us your influences. Let’s hear it!” Errol: “Ahhh shit…it’s like…I like a lot of bands. I don’t really have any bands that like, influenced me. (Laughs) To be honest with you, I listen to bands and like, I dunno, there was not one time in my life were I heard a band and I was like ‘Oh I wanna be that’, like, honestly, there never was a time I was kinda like, I like bands and stuff but I do my own thing. I don’t know, fuck, I grew up listening to like, Metallica and Black Sabbath and stuff and then I started listening to more goth, shit like The Cure… you know, so you kinda like, evolve in that kinda way from hard rock, as a kid, y’know, and kinda discovering more goth and new wave, so it was probably like a lot of that. You just hear it naturally in my playing”. Don: “And you actually realised it was Kiss all along”. Errol: “I got into Kiss later, actually”.

Don: “For me, yeah, there were like…the first CD I ever bought was Slayer‘s South Of Heaven, and in my teenage years things like – still one of my favourite bands to this day would be like, Bathory. So there’s a lot of influence there, also yeah, your 45 Grave and Siouxie And The Banshees, Sisters Of Mercy. I mean, really what I find the most interesting is that period kinda between 1982 and ’86-’87, when all the dark genres were really kind of exploding and overlapping, those were the times Mötley Crüe formed, W.A.S.P. formed, but also Bathory formed and death and black metal began, it all started around that same time and what was interesting is everyone was listening to everything then.

New Skeletal Faces seems to be more from that time than now in some ways. Don: “It’s interesting that you bring that up ‘coz I kinda feel like the deathrock sound has become real homogeneous, and also too, metal has become very homogeneous and we’re kind of right in between both but we’re not really following… that”. Errol: (jumping in) “either of them”.

Lots of same software guitar drum and vocal sound settings are being used by everyone as well as following  general trends. Don: “Yeah! We’re not playing’ to the grid and making these like, cookie cutter records as I think a lot of people kinda are. It’s also one of the reasons why we were really excited to work with (producer) Bill Metoyer – he produced and engineered Until The Night and he did the first four Slayer records, W.AS.P. and DRI. He basically invented the Los Angeles heavy metal sound. He pioneered it. And I’ll tell you- he did not do OUR record in those ways, it was very old fashioned, the approach we took. Long takes, and ‘getting it in mic’ is crucial, minimal punch ins, minimal post work. Really taking the time to y’know, get the guitar, or get all the sounds coming in mic ninety per cent where you want them to be”.

Are you guys touring the album now? I know you just played some shows with Pentagram. Don: “Yeah we did, just now”. Errol: “Hell yeah, it was fun”… Don: “Yeah. Errol and Bobby (Liebling, legendary Pentagram throatsmith) hit it off and maybe…almost got into a little bit of trouble…but that’s the name of the game. I can tell you this-we’ve certainly forged a bit of a relationship with
Pentagram that I would expect is gonna be continuing”.

I wanna know about the ‘little bit of trouble’! Don:(Laughing) “Don’t we all”! Errol: (Laughing) “Classified information!” Don: “I’ll tell you this: Bobby Liebling hasn’t slowed down a day in his life”.

OK. I’ll wait for the book. (All laugh) And touring? Don: “Last year we headlined a festival in Mexico City, which we returned to this March and there are some definite plans in motion to get to some other continents but primarily we’ve just been playing the US and then Mexico. But Europe, I think, and I’d love to get back down there (Australia) and do a, I think they call it an ANZAC tour…like Australia, New Zealand. Also, our manager is the singer from Cattle Decapitation and they just did Japan/Australia/New Zealand and he said it was one of the most fun tours he’s ever done”.

Any artists you’ve played with where you’ve thought it was an achievement, personal or otherwise? Don: “Yeah, we certainly have and honestly. I think we’ve been kinda lucky in this regard- we’ve
played a lot of stuff, we’ve done punk shows, we’ve done full on black or death metal shows and goth shows and we’ve always had a pretty good turn out or response but it’s been interesting and
cool that we’ve played with a lot of bands that have been a bit influential to the genre and ourselves like Community FK, both versions of Christian Death, Pink Turns Blue– there’s been a lot
over the years. A lot of cool ones. But there’s still many more to come y’know…”

Errol: “We’re DOWN to fuckin’ play DOWNUNDER!”

Until The Night is out now.