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Brighton based prog-doom crew King Goat released one of the best heavy albums of 2016, Conduit. Their songs marry the crushing, dour riffs of deepest doom with the soaring grace of prog, and vocalist Anthony ‘Trim’ Trimming’s breathtaking performance sits at the heart of it all. We borrowed some of his time and chatted about his lyric writing process and inspirations.
MOSH: How does the lyric writing process begin for you – Does the music come first, or the lyrics? Do you sit down with a goal of writing out a full song, or collect fragments and ideas when inspiration strikes?
TT: Generally, we work on the music to an entire song to completion before I start the lyrics. More often than not, I find that writing the vocal melodies to a song first tends to inform my writing of the lyrics. Whether they come as a fully formed idea or whether they come in fragments varies, but I always re-visit sections before settling on the final finished article.
MOSH: Is this process always straightforward for you? Have you ever struggled with writer’s block?
TT: Writer’s block is something that, in my estimation, every lyricist will come up against at some point. However, further to that, sometimes I will write a set of lyrics for a song, come back to it and decide I don’t like them and start all over again. Never let it be said that vocalists aren’t awkward bastards.
MOSH: Are there any bands or artists that have impressed or inspired you lyrically? Do you seek to emulate any other lyricists in particular?
TT: My favourite lyricist is actually a long time friend. Although probably best known for his stint fronting British black metal band Code, Wacian first made an impression on me years ago fronting his long running original band Alternative Carpark. I heartily suggest picking up their most recent album Dripping Breaks The Stone. In my opinion, he paints pictures with his lyrics that few can emulate and this, coupled with his unique delivery, makes him one of my favourite frontmen to have encountered.
MOSH: Do you draw lyrical inspiration from outside of music?
TT: I do indeed. For example, the opening track of our album Conduit, ‘Flight of the Deviants’, is inspired by the events from John Wyndham’s book The Chrysalids. Also, our self titled EP contains ‘Melian’s Trance’, inspired by events in J.R.R Tolkein’s The Silmarillion. As a general rule, though, I prefer to write original pieces, as there is greater scope for thematic ambiguity when you are not adhering to someone else’s source material.
MOSH: Is there a specific space that you have to occupy in order to get ‘in the zone’ or can you write anywhere at any time?
TT: Not as such. I find that if I sit down with the purpose of writing a complete set of lyrics, I mostly end up being disappointed with the results. I find that a piecemeal approach, working when a theme occurs to me, yields better results. Especially as or songs are all quite long.
MOSH: Do you choose to publish your lyrics or keep them personal? Is it important that fans be able to access this lyrical content?
TT: When I was growing up, I would always read the lyrics booklet if there was one. Sometimes before I’d had an opportunity to listen to the CD! This is why I, still, try to pick up as many physical copies of music that speaks to me. With the proliferation of streaming services, I find that I miss being able to easily access the lyrics of an album.
MOSH: Can you remember when you began writing lyrics?
TT: I used to sit in classes that I didn’t enjoy at school (before I was ever in a band as a vocalist) writing lyrics to songs that I would never write music to. In a way, I’m glad that those notebooks are lost as I’d probably be embarrassed by their contents nowadays.
MOSH: What is your favourite lyric and why?
TT: Tough question. Off the top of my head, and because I’ve been listening to it a lot recently, I’d have to come back to Alternative Carpark’s Dripping Breaks the Stone. If I could nominate the whole album I probably would but for the purpose of brevity I’ll narrow things down to the last song on the album, ‘A Jilted Hymn’;
“Maybe you’re leaving the house/Maybe you’re driving the car/And you paddle the brakes/Maybe I’ve been there before/And you’ll remember my face/As I’m raising a glass to you.”
MOSH: Is there anything you actively try and avoid when writing lyrics? Any topics or themes you think are overdone or cliché?
TT: Not consciously. I was previously in a power metal band for some years, and although it was immense fun while it lasted, I found myself tiring of writing about fire and wizards and steel. So nowadays, I tend to consciously try and avoid some of those more “metal” tropes.
MOSH: Is it important to you that lyrics always tell a story or have meaning?
TT: My lyrics do usually contain a narrative. While I try to impart a certain level of ambiguity to whatever I’m writing, my style usually graduated to a more story based approach. Though, more recently, I’ve become more aware of this and am experimenting with different methods.
MOSH: Does your knowledge of your vocal delivery have any impact on how you write lyrics? Do you write to fit your style?
TT: This really depends on the song as a whole. On rare occasions I will consciously try and fit lyrics to the theme of the music, but this is usually more incidental than deliberate.
