Any doubts naysayers may have had about 3 Inches of Blood’s sincerity early in their career (more that later) has been quelled by the band’s relentless touring drive and stubborn will to continue despite line-up shifts and the loss of original screamer Jamie Hooper due to throat damage. Falsetto banshee/frontman/warrior Cam Pipes has taken over the full reign of the vocals (despite some back up hollers from colleagues) for the newest Jack Endino (Mudhoney, Nirvana, High On Fire, The Gits) produced Here Waits Thy Doom, out now on Century Media Records. Pipes has the “pipes” to more than adequately carry the full brunt of the vocals. 3 Inches Of Blood sound charged up and downright hungry for blood on new songs like “Battles And Brotherhood” and “Call Of The Hammer.” There is no resisting a band with a song called “Execution Tank”. This group defies sterile musicianship and the band’s feel is great. The battle bleeds from the speakers!

“Yeah, that’s definitely something we wanted to go for when it came to the production,” says Pipes via phone from L.A., the night after playing Hollywood’s Knitting Factory. “We wanted it to sound more natural and not overly polished. We appreciate that kind of aesthetic of music from the ‘70s and ‘80s where you’re trying to emulate the feel of the live show. That’s where we are gonna be most of the time, on stage, as opposed to the studio. We just wanted to sound a little more real so it would translate better to the stage. We don’t use triggered drums or super compressed guitar effects live, so why do that on a record?”

“Live is definitely more fun. The studio is somewhat of a grind and if you’re recording in another city, which we usually are, as vocalist I am recording last after all the other instruments are done. You’re stuck there a good two to three weeks before you sing. This time around we recorded in Seattle and it’s not that far away. There wasn’t much pre-production time. We wrote and arranged ourselves and sent Jack, the producer, little rehearsal recordings. We’d change little things that needed to be changed and then the guys went down and did drums and guitars and then I went down. I got to at least be at home a little while rather than watch them do drums over and over. Once I was in there I felt real comfortable and morale was high.”

Like Mercyful Fate’s early records (to name drop another high octave, take no prisoners group), the dynamic between the musicians is the focus of Here Waits Thy Doom. Obviously, 3 Inches of Blood have endured the aforementioned line up changes but the band still are growing more “veteran” and cohesive with every performance and album.

“Yeah, people come and go, but the strong survive. I’m looking forward to getting out there and winning more people over live who haven’t seen us before,” says Pipes.

Being a conspiracy theorist, I mention to him that I recently discovered that Japan’s famed Sapporo beer is not strictly brewed in Japan. Sapporo sold in North America is brewed at the Sleeman Brewery in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. I know the Japanese are a prideful people, and suggest that perhaps the potency of “Quest For The Manticore”, a Japan only bonus track from 3 Inches Of Blood’s Advance And Vanquish nevertheless convinced them to allow the Canadian’s a chance to make the beer even more majestic. Pipes isn’t sure it was because of them, but relates an anecdote about how Anheuser Busch has bought out many smaller companies.

“Stuff will happen. One of the guys in the band, his grandfather loved Rickard’s Red, this beer. He was a big fan and a bigger brewery bought the brand out or whatever,” Pipes relates. “As soon as the parent company bought it his grandpa tried it and spit it out and was like “What is this crap! This is not Rickard’s Red!” The recipe had obviously changed.”

Jamie Hooper, his former cohort/screamer at the mic, was recently on Bison B.C.’s debut, but not on Here Waits Thy Doom.

“He did the one little guest spot. He can sing and it still bugs him, but he’s not gonna be able to go on tour. We did a couple shows with him while he was on hiatus while his voice was recovering, to see how it was doing. He told us he could sing, but it really hurt. He can maybe do a show or two every couple months but we are touring heavily and his voice won’t hold up,” Pipes says. “Justin has taken over doing most of Jamie’s parts when he first went on hiatus. He’s played guitar and sung in other bands so it wasn’t a huge stress. We’re happy because we didn’t want to find another dude to bring in to sing like Jamie, ‘cuz nobody sings like Jamie. Justin doesn’t sound like Jamie, but at least it is an internal affair.”

The last time around the block 3 Inches of Blood worked with Slipknot’s Joey Jordison for the previous effort, Fire Up The Blades. It was a solid release, but with Here Waits Thy Doom the live power is translating into the recordings more and more.

“The production is quite a bit different compared to the last couple plus Jamie’s no longer around,” offers Pipes.” Other than that, I think the prime, core spirit of this band is as intact as it ever was. It’s not like we have a mission statement we’re trying to drive home but this is something we love to do. We like the idea that we have some kind of our own sound. That makes it easier when writing because anything we do, we’re gonna try and be original with each release and song, but it’ll maintain that intense quality that’ll make it recognizable as us.”

Elements from other eras like the NWOBHM and even the hard rockin’ ‘70s sounds of Thin Lizzy have always been present in 3 Inches of Blood’s sound, topped with Pipes stratospheric war cry. As a Manowar fan, I was first suspicious when I heard Pipes singing about the cause of metal, but was won over by how awesome “Deadly Sinners” was and soon had become a full-fledged fan of the band a number of years ago.

“We’re not trying to copy anybody. Our influences definitely show through on the earlier records, which is fine. Early on we got that stigma of being a joke band. I think it had a lot to do with the way we looked. We didn’t all have long hair,” admits Pipes, a bit sullen remembering.

A rockin’ band comes along writing good songs and having fun, so why did people get their panties in a twist? People aren’t as hard on a younger thrash band like Warbringer. Obviously older styles are gonna translate to younger bands sometimes who can’t help but like it. Better than the alternative!

“I think given our age, by no means were we the hotshot young teenage band or anything, but how relatively new we were to the scene playing such retro sounding music, people thought we must be making fun of it. The UK was like, “Oh, they’re taking a piss”. That got really, really annoying,” Pipes says. “We’ve been around awhile and people have come around. We don’t get the joke band thing so much anymore.”

Nobody is going to be joking when 3 Inches Of Blood rips their faces off on stage along with bands like the mighty In Flames and The Black Dahlia Murder in upcoming touring cycles. “We’ve paid a good chunk of our dues,” Pipes says.

The ominous cover art for Here Waits Thy Doom evokes fleeing in terror from denizens of Lord Of The Rings or Robert Jordan’s fierce Trollocs. It is less cartoony than past album covers, however.

“We wanted to try out the route of incorporating photography instead of getting a fantasy artist,” says Pipes. “We had a hard time coming to a consensus on what type of art to have. We went through a whole list of artists and looked at samples, but we could never agree unanimously. We tried different photographers and how they could interpret the title and we expanded on it.”

Growing up did he ever think he’d be touring this much or that his future would be so awesome, singing about smoke filled horizons, large beasts and larger breasts?

“No, I never imagined when I joined this band that we’d take it this far, let alone tour our hometown!” Cam laughs. “It was a fun thing to do, so I said I’d join. I was living in Victoria, B.C. at the time. The other guys were in Vancouver. I was looking for an excuse to get out of Victoria. I was bored of it. I was working at a video store, which was fine, but it’s not playing metal. So…I had the aspiration to play music as a career at a young age, but I was always realistic and thought it unlikely it would happen. Even when I joined at the start I thought it was fun, but look where it is now!”