For 14 years, lead vocalist Cam Pipes carried the flag held high in the name of classic heavy metal. With one of the most powerful voices in metal music today, Cam lead his band of brothers 3 Inches of Blood into the good fight with songs like “Trial of Champions”, “Destroy the Orcs”, and “Dark Messenger” performing to legions of fans all over the world. Putting on some of the most amazingly intense live shows I have ever seen, 3 Inches of Blood was a band that I thought would surely take the world by storm and reign supreme but unfortunately that fate was not to be.
Earlier this year, 3 Inches of Blood announced that they would be calling it a day and going their separate ways. Fans were both shocked and saddened by this announcement. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to once again talk to Cam Pipes and we talked about the things that led up to the demise of 3 Inches of Blood, his outlook on the ever changing music industry, and the band’s upcoming final two shows in Vancouver on November 7th & 8th at the Commodore Ballroom. This was a bitter sweet interview for sure but a great one nonetheless. I hope you all enjoy this one!
Cam, thanks so much for talking to me this evening.
Hey, Don. No problem man.
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Like I’m sure all 3iOB fans, I was really shocked and sad to hear about you guys calling it a day. I’m not looking for any mudslinging or gossip or anything but what actually did lead to this decision?
Well, I’m not going to specify who but there is one guy who brought up the issue that he decided he didn’t want to do the band anymore. It wasn’t that he didn’t like playing with us but he said that he felt like he had reached his peak creatively with this band. He felt like he wasn’t sure that he could do much better with this band than what he had already done. Then another guy said, “Well if he’s not going to do it I don’t feel comfortable doing it without him.” After seeing that one guy doesn’t want to do it, then another guy doesn’t want to do it without him, it would be kind of weird in a lot of ways to keep going. It would almost seem like beating a dead horse at this point. We just said, “Why don’t we put some finality to it and wrap this thing up?”
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You guys took a pretty lengthy hiatus for a bit. Was the split something that came forward from that time you guys took off?
We had been on break for about a year or so. We didn’t make any kind of announcement that we were taking a break or anything. We just said, “Alright. We’re going on a break.” People were kind of curious about what was going on. We did play a couple of shows in there but touring was mostly out of the question for a while unless the right opportunity came up. We did have a few tour offers but it wasn’t anything that we wanted to stop our break for. Some of us also became disillusioned about how the music business was and was it really worth it for us to keep going on given the kind of opportunities that were presenting themselves? That could be just the way things are going but also a combination of the fact that we weren’t really making ourselves available or not putting ourselves out there so people just were like, “Well, this is the best we’ve got for you.” I don’t know. I believe somewhat that if we had not gone on break and that we had stayed active that the right opportunities would have come along. This day and age people are so fickle and their attention spans are so short that they kind of forget about you.
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So you guys have two farewell shows coming up?
Yeah. Initially we only had one but the first one sold out so quickly. I think the promoters were probably prepared for a 2nd show more than we were [laughs]. They held that 2nd date for us and as soon as that first show sold out they were like, “You guys want to do a 2nd show?”
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Are there any plans to capture these shows for a future release?
We’re still working on that. We want to document it somehow but not for like a DVD release or anything. We kind of went down that route trying to film a DVD and had some problems. A lot of shit went south production wise so we’re a little bit gun shy of that aspect of it. We feel like it should be documented in some way, shape, or form. It’ll be documented in some way but what level of production will go behind it remains to be seen. It may just be a couple of cameras set up but that’s purely for the sake of archiving it.
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So do you have a new band or project that is currently in the works?
I don’t really have any going on just yet but I do plan on doing something. I don’t want to really start figuring out what I’m going to do or who I’m going to play with until after these final 3 Inches of Blood shows are done. I kind of feel like I would just rather wait until that one chapter is closed and then start something fresh after that.
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When I saw Judas Priest this year taking out that horrible joke band Steel Panther it made me mad. All I could think of was how many great “real” metal bands that could’ve benefited from being on that bill to pass the torch to. Did you ever feel that way?
Oh God [laughs]. I’m so glad that someone else was thinking that because. As soon as I saw that I was like, “What the hell are they doing?” It’s not that they need to have someone with that kind of draw to be their opening band. I mean, come on, it’s Judas Priest but who was making that call? Who is picking Steel Panther? Sorry but what a fucking joke. A lot of people are afraid to say it and will say, “Oh, but they’re a good band.” Yeah? But they’re a fucking joke.
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Well, I get it. It offends me because they burning 45 minutes up with their comedy routine when a band like 3iOB or Holy Grail or Lucifer or some real band could have been showing 10,000 people the real future of metal and that it can still be great.
It offends me especially because 3 Inches of Blood got dogged on and perceived as being a parody or a joke band and it was totally baseless. When a band like Steel Panther comes out that is openly a joke and they’re embraced. That really pisses me off. Steel Panther’s very existence offends me.
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Do you feel that a move like that, ignoring real metal bands, could potentially lead to this same kind of reaction from other bands?
I think so and Holy Grail is a good example. Holy Grail are real good friends with 3 Inches of Blood since we first met them in 2009 and they’re doing the same thing we were. They’re flying the flag of that true, old school traditional metal sound but they’re not really getting appreciated as much as they should. I think if they toured Europe more they would probably get a lot more fans but maybe they just haven’t got that exposure. Maybe they haven’t gotten that push from the whatever label they’re on but they are out there and I hope things pick up for them. There are people over here that like the classics but yet anyone new trying to do that same kind of thing, people don’t seem to latch on to it too much. It just seems that whatever’s new and popular is totally questionable in my opinion [laughs].
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Do you think we will ever see a metal band reach the heights that a band like Priest or Maiden got to or do you think that it will just be an underground cult thing from here on out?
I think there will always be the bands that are at that arena status and for the most part they’ll be the legends. Unfortunately I think any newer bands that will get to that level are going to be that more modern metal core thing. They’ll have to have some sort of angle or some sort of gimmick like Slipknot for example. They have their costumes and they have 100 people in the band banging on beer kegs and what not [laughs]. Whether you like it or not that has some sort of appeal to younger kids. That really seems to be what it’s all about; getting that younger demographic. Maiden and Priest have experienced a resurgence with younger crowds getting into them and they even seem to bigger than they were back in their supposed heyday.
Who do you think is going to lead the way for metal?
I don’t really know who’s leading the way of the next generation of metal bands out there. Somehow metalcore has endured a lot longer than I thought it would and that still seems to bring in the kids. I mean, how many time can you rip off At The Gates? Apparently a lot and kids still love it [laughs].
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I just keep hearing these new, young bands coming out like Enforcer, Skull Fist, and Striker and I just keep hoping that maybe even one of them may have some level of success and open up the doors to this kind of music but I just feel that maybe this music will always be the underdog.
Yeah, possibly. I mean, you make a great point mentioning bands like Striker, Enforcer, and Skull Fist. I think, and it’s probably an unfortunate thought, but they’ll probably just end up in a more niche category of fans or with a cult fan as a lot of bands that I like have. They won’t ascend to the levels of some bands that I think are really garbage who are really popular.
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I also just can’t help but feel that these bands should be all rallying together to create something for themselves that isn’t being created for them. Create their own niche; their own cult fan base. Maybe they could all start their own festivals or their own package tours. Something to let people know what’s going on and to bring them in.
Yeah, it’s probably going that way eventually because labels are becoming more obsolete day by day. Eventually it will be so much easier for bands to distribute their music. The only reason labels are around is to facilitate the physical distribution of units more widely than you could do selling them at shows and what not. It’s just so easy to put it up on line and sell it yourself as long as you’ve got the capital to fund your own recording. You should be able to get it to lots of people without getting a record label involved. Then it just comes down to promoting it.
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So many people would think, or at least did think, that being signed meant big money but that’s definitely not the case.
We weren’t getting massive advances or anything but we would get a little bit to live on while we finished writing and recording the record and a little bit for tour support. It was never in our heads that we were going to get tour busses and crazy rock tours. At that point things were already going the way of downloading affecting record sales and what not. That just compounded year by year and by the time we signed with Century Media we were resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to get the money we were getting with Roadrunner but in a way that was good.
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People also may not realize that the money labels give you isn’t free. You eventually have to pay that back before you make a cent.
Exactly. We never thought we would recoup on our advances from those recordings but the likelihood of recouping once we signed to Century Media was better because our budgets were smaller. When it really came down do it, it was more about how much they spent after the fact on marketing and distribution that would lead to how much we would end up needing to recoup before we made even a dime off of record sales. We were more than likely going to make our money back in publishing which we eventually did. We’re still recouping our publishing advance from Roadrunner but we’ve long since recouped on our Century Media publishing. I hope this makes sense to anyone who is reading this [laughs].
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14 years of 3 Inches of Blood. Looking back, is there anything that you would’ve done differently?
Oh sure. There are a lot of things that I would’ve done differently. A lot of the time I will listen back to a record we did and I’ll think that I would’ve sung something differently or mixed something differently in the studio. There’s always certain things like that but you can’t have too many regrets. It was what it was and a lot it turned out to be appreciated by our fans so I don’t really look back on most of it and think, “That was unfortunate.” There’s very little of that.
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Looking back on your time with 3 Inches of Blood, what are the most proud of?
I’m proud of the fact that we got to tour much of the world. I’m proud that we got that opportunity to get out of our home town and eventually branch out into different countries. We got to meet people in those countries who heard our music and liked it before we’d even been there. That was always pretty awesome. I’m really proud of some of the shows we played and the bands we got to tour with. It’s all been pretty amazing looking back. We never really started the band thinking we were going to make a go of it as a career but we did and I think we got more out if than we ever expected.
I have to ask you about this story that I read on a website called Over The Top where they stated that you were actually the voice behind King Diamond. What did you think about that?
[laughs] I just chuckled and showed my wife. That was pretty funny. I saw the headline and the first thing I did was look at what website it was from. Once I saw what it was called I just laughed and said, “Ok, that’s awesome.” I obviously knew it was a joke. At first I was like, “Is this Metal Sucks doing this?” because they do some goofy shit. Then I said, “Oh, ok. Over the Top Metal News. That’s funny.” It’s great. It’s like The Onion for metal.
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What kind of lessons will you take with you into your future endeavors that you learned while in 3 Inches of Blood?
Well, I guess I’m a lot more business savvy about the music business than I was going into it. I’ll just take a lot of those experiences with me. Even knowing what I know and having learned the lessons that I did there’s still going to be a lot of stuff that I might not necessarily be prepared for because things are changing constantly in the music business.
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What kind of advice would you offer to any young, up and coming bands?
I think gradually bands are having to become more self sufficient and that’s how they are going to make a career or make a living being in a band. I wouldn’t expect a lot of bands who are up and coming to expect to be huge rock stars or anything. You shouldn’t be going into it with that thought anyway. Being humble is really important. In the end, you’ve got to do things for yourself because no matter how many label people say that they’ve got your back. You’ll get lost in the mix if you expect them to guide your career too much. Less reliance on labels is the future.
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Last but not least, any message to the 3 Inches of Blood fans out there?
As cliché as it may sound, thank you for all the support. We hope you got to see us live at least once. There’s a lot of people out there who didn’t and that’s unfortunate because I thought we were a good live band [laughs]. We’re grateful for the opportunities that we had. We always tried to take the position that we were always paying our dues and in some ways we always were. But yeah, we hope you enjoy what we’ve recorded.
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Cam, thanks again for taking the time to do this man. It’s always a pleasure to talk to you and best of luck in the future.
Yeah, no problem, Don. Thanks a lot.
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