BUTCHER BABIES Have Completed Work On Their 'Best Album To Date'

At last month's Bloodstock Open Air festival, BUTCHER BABIES vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey spoke to Oran O'Beirne of Bloodstock TV about the band's upcoming fourth studio album which was recently completed with producer Josh Schroeder (LORNA SHORE, KING 810) for a 2023 release.

Regarding the recording process, Carla said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was a really cool experience. We got to sit together for about six weeks in the middle of nowhere — a very, very small town in Michigan — and just create together. And we had an Airbnb with animal skulls all over the place. And we just sat there in the snow and created probably our best album to date. So it was a great bonding experience."

Heidi confirmed that a cover song that BUTCHER BABIES have been performing at some of their recent shows will be included on the band's new effort.

"We've been playing one of the songs on these [European] festivals," she said. "One of the songs that we've been playing on these festivals, it's called 'Best Friend' and it's a cover from the hip-hop artist Saweetie featuring Doja Cat. And for us, being best friends, we thought it would be the best way to do a cover — a hip-hop/metal cover — since we've been best friends for, man, nearly two decades."

When O'Beirne suggested that some BUTCHER BABIES fans might object to such a diverse combination of musical styles, Carla said: "We haven't changed at all, because some of our earliest songs were similar. We've always run the gamut throughout our music; we've never stayed with one style. Most people love about BUTCHER BABIES that we have a death metal song and a thrash metal song and then a poppy radio song, and whatever mood they're in, we've got a song for them."

Added Heidi: "What I love about being in a band like this and being around musicians that we all see eye to eye is that we can do different things; we're not pigeonholed to one certain sound. Sometimes we wanna get up and we wanna scream and we wanna be angry bitches, and then sometimes we wanna sing and we want people to hear what we feel from our hearts. And I think that that's important as an artist, to be able to do both."

Carla continued: "And judging by the audience reaction when we go from one very, very heavy song to one lighter song, they love it. They have literally the same energy for both kinds of music. They want it too. People want the freedom to be able to like different types of music."

According to Heidi, the new BUTCHER BABIES album will be released next year, "preceded by a bunch of singles." She added: "One thing that I'm very excited about, and I think we all are, is giving attention to our singles. One thing that I think we missed in the past is releasing an album and ignoring some of our very special songs that we've put our whole hearts and souls into, and they just become album tracks."

Carla concurred: "I think that with all of your favorite albums growing up, the song that you love is never the one that's on the radio or has the big video. And as a kid you're, like, 'Well, if I could do the video for that song, it would be just like this.' So we like to be able to give power to those songs that normally wouldn't have the video."

BUTCHER BABIES' latest album, 2017's "Lilith", was produced by Steve Evetts (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, SEPULTURA, SUICIDE SILENCE) and marked the band's recording debut with drummer Chase Brickenden, who replaced Chris Warner in 2016.

In July 2019, longtime BUTCHER BABIES bassist Jason Klein announced his departure from the band. He has since been replaced by Ricky Bonazza.

Last year, BUTCHER BABIES embarked on a headlining tour, "Butcher Babies Vs. Goliath", which saw the band performing its debut album, "Goliath" — released in 2013 via Century Media Records — in its entirety along with recent hit singles and new material.

Hailing from the City of Angels, BUTCHER BABIES have released two EPs and three albums to date, with "Lilith", debuting at #1 on iTunes Metal chart and #7 on iTunes Rock chart. The band kicked off 2021 by independently releasing a handful of newly energized singles produced and co-written by Matt Good (FROM FIRST TO LAST),including "Bottom Of A Bottle", "Sleeping With The Enemy", "Yorktown", "Last Dance" and "It's Killin' Time, Baby!" The latter was inspired by the DC Comics character Lobo, a heavy metal bounty hunter.