Tom Martin stands outside, catching a breath of fresh air before a gig. He looks like an average joe waiting for the show to start. No one would realize at first glance that he is one of the main reasons people showed up that night. Martin is the founder and leader of the self-proclaimed “Greatest Thrash Metal Band Ever,” Lich King. Review Fix was able to grab a quick interview with this kooky character about touring, his career as a graphic designer and of course, the band.
Review Fix: How was Lich King formed?
Tom Martin: I started putting songs together on the computer when I figured out how to do that. Just as a gag, I put it up on myspace. Some people liked it and I got addicted to the feeling of people liking my stuff because I’m a narcissist, so I did it again and then it started rolling.
Review Fix: When did it go from being a hobby to something you could actually tour and do something with?
Martin: It is still a hobby. There is nowhere I can go with this and make it worth my time. Nobody here tonight is making as much as your average white collar office worker who’s just a shill selling things. I think it’s important to know that this is a hobby because if you think you’re gonna make money off of this and be rich there’s some hard shit to come up to.
Review Fix: You did a fundraiser via Kickstarter.com where fans donated money so you could get a van to tour in. How did you come up with that idea?
Martin: We ripped the idea off of Razormaze who did a $2,500 thing to fix their touring van and they got their money and that worked completely for them so we thought “what the hell†and we ripped the idea off from them, and because I’m also kind of a promotion guy, I came up with the idea of a bunch of incentives for people who donate. One of them was we would kill them in a song on the next album, one of the people being killed is here today actually.
Review Fix: How did it feel once the fans pulled through and gave you enough money to buy the van and do the tour?
Martin: It was surprising. It’s still very surprising in a way that you trust something that’s too good to be true and sometimes we walk onto the bus and we say “free bus.†So it feels good getting free stuff and there’s a weird psychological mind-fuck to it as well.
Review Fix: You were able to get Vindicator on the bill for most of that tour. How was that possible?
Martin: I’m always grab-assing with Vic (Stown) online, so were pretty good pals. I pitched it at him and I said we’re looking at a two or three week thing and he said okay.
Review Fix: No labels were involved?
Martin: Yeah, thank god. F*** Heavy Artillery. Ask any band on Heavy Artillery and they’ll tell you. They won’t say it on the record, but they’ll tell you that’s the s******** label going.
Review Fix: For the tour, the band contained half of the members of Mantic Ritual. How did you get in touch with them for that to be possible?
Martin: That was Vic again. We asked him to be our guitarist and he said ‘You might want to talk to Jeff Potts of Mantic Ritual who’s got nothing going right now.’ We talked to him and he was like ‘Sure I’ll do a tour now.’ We needed a bassist, so we got on the other guy from Mantic Ritual because these two guys know each other and they’re skilled and work really well together. It was great. It was damn good.
Review Fix: You did a tour diary blog documenting your adventures, why?
Martin: Just ’cause why not. It was our first tour and I was like ‘I’m gonna be like other bands. I’m gonna be a big boy and do a tour diary.’ It was only 16 days, so you don’t really need a tour diary for that, but it was fun to document everything.
Review Fix: Are there any favorite moments from the tour?
Martin: A specific moment would probably be Virginia Beach. We decided to go to the actual beach and we walked out onto the beach and it was amazing. We had our shoes off and I hadn’t been “beach people†in forever and we’re getting all kind of hippyish and wading in the water. This isn’t a very metal thing to say, but it was amazing. The fact that touring is a bunch of little stories weaved into a big story. You have your great moments and your perilous situations. There’s just a number of stories every single day and I guess thats why people call traveling an adventure.
Review Fix: You recently played the Montreal Thrash Inferno festival over the past summer. How was that show and how was the headliner, Piledriver?
Martin: I don’t really feel like I owe Piledriver anything because I didn’t think they were that good. I think the musicianship was good and the playing was good, but overall their stage presence wasn’t really there and they didn’t move around at all. The guy was just standing there and letting his hits do the talking for him. We had an altercation with someone who we later learned was his wife. I don’t know if that really was her, but whoever that was, she should really get her throat punched in. Montreal was great, but the show was laxed a little bit because we learned that people from Montreal won’t really move around in the crowd if they don’t know you. They kind of just watch and judge you, and by the end of your set they’ll see if they like you or not. Which is great, but it’s just that at the end of our set, we’re not gonna play anymore.
Review Fix: You recently started up a fan page to get you guys to play the Slaughter by the Water 3 festival. Why did you make the page when you clearly can get a good draw without it?
Martin: They said we have to do that. And I wrote to this and said “Hey we’d like to get on the show and blah blah blah†and they said “if you want to get on the show you have to get your fans to tell us.†So it’s kind of “do a shuck and jive dance†to do it and I don’t like doing that, but I’ll jump through hoops. I’ll eat a pile of s***, but don’t expect me to smile through it, y’know?
Review Fix: As an artist, who are your influences?
Martin: I don’t even know any names in graphic design. I follow brands and products and specific line looks. I like a lot of artists I can’t draw like. I like Dave Mazachelli, Drew Struzan, Kerry Nords. I like a lot of comic book artists.
Review Fix: What’s your favorite style of art to work in?
Martin: I work in digital. I used to do acrylics, but I started doing digital work and now I don’t do anything but digital work. I sit at a computer and color and draw everything there just like the old timers.
Review Fix: You recently put out the “Super Retro Thrash†album – a compilation of Lich King songs rendered to 8 bit tracks. What did you decide to do this?
Martin: Thats something a lot of reviewers said. “Why would they do this?†This was a confusing move. The only reason it exists is because I was doing it anyway for people to listen to because, what the hell? So, we realized we had enough to put on an album so we made that and put it up for a five dollar download and then Stormspell (records) said “Hey do you want to do a 300 print of this?†and we said okay because it’s a free album for us to sell. I know it looks like we made this weird move, but it’s just bonus stuff that was there anyway.
Review Fix: How did you first get in touch with your distribution label, Stormspell Records?
Martin: They wrote to me after I put out Necromantic Maelstrom in 1997 and said “It’s too bad you didn’t contact me because we could’ve done something†and I said why not do something now and they did a small print run and it just kept rolling.
Review Fix: Is there any details you’d like to give away for album four?
Martin: There’s a new character from the Lichiverse coming in if you’ve been following the story from the previous album.
Review Fix: Have you ever gotten any offers from any record labels?
Martin: Nope. Earache said we could be on “Thrashing Like a Maniac 2,†but that was a year and a half ago, and I’m pretty sure that projects dead. We haven’t gotten any offers from a label and that’s fine.
Review Fix: How does it feel knowing that you have the support of your fans enough to the point where you can tour and record albums and make shirts without the help of a label?
Martin: It feels pretty good. I’m telling bands now don’t just jump at the first label offer because if you have the tools you can do it yourself. Obviously you can’t do everything yourself because there’s certain levels you can’t get to by yourself. That was a bad answer. (laughs)
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