Interview with vocalist Phil Rind | By Theron Moore
Honesty is a flame that burns white hot. The sparks from that fire are truth, and the truth can either heal or hurt, like cauterizing a wound. Enter vocalist Phil Rind of Sacred Reich fame. When he speaks, the room catches fire, burning away debris, cleansing everything within earshot.
Sacred Reich formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1985 and gained a small but devoted following. “It’s just the way it was, we weren’t that good apparently,” Rind says of never being able to rise above cult status. “I mean, I don’t chalk it up to anything more than that. In the end, whatever we do, it’s always on us. We’re the ones that did it or didn’t do it—or maybe we just weren’t good enough. Look, man, there’s a lot of bands I like that weren’t super popular and a lot of bands I didn’t think were very good that got incredibly popular. Why is it? It’s just how it is.”
After releasing four full-lengths, numerous singles and EPs, and a live album, Sacred Reich temporarily disbanded in 2000. “We started playing again in 2007, so it’s been 10 years of playing Europe; we just haven’t pursued the U.S.,” Rind says. “We started playing again in Europe when we put out a reissue of the first two records, because they were out of print and I’d see them selling for, like, 40 bucks, and I thought, ‘What a rip-off.’ So, I talked to Metal Blade to see if we could get the stuff out there so, if people want it, out of respect for the fans who have been there for us, they could buy it.”
“When we got together and started doing Sacred Reich stuff, it was kind of fun again,” he continues. “I thought maybe it would be fun to do some shows, [but] would anyone care? So, I got in touch with some people [in Europe], got an agent, and started booking shows. They have all these huge festivals there, and we got invited to them. I had no idea how big they were, like Wacken Open Air [in Germany], it was 50,000 people. So, now we’re back, and we’re talking about doing the 30th anniversary of our [1987] Ignorance [debut] record and wondered if it might be cool if maybe we put out an anniversary version of that record for the folks.”
Of course, reissuing out-of-print records isn’t as easy as it may seem. “We have a bunch of legal entanglements we’re trying to extricate ourselves from that have been going on forever, like we could only reissue in Europe,” Rind explains. “Hopefully we see the light at the end of the tunnel and we’ll be able to do that.” In the meantime, the band are celebrating the last three decades by embarking on their 30 Years of Ignorance tour, which they kick off in Europe—July 26 through Aug. 22—before coming to North America in September and October with their Metal Blade labelmates, Byzantine.
Are there any new releases on the horizon? “I’ve always been kind of opposed to [making] new music, but I’m not opposed to it anymore, so we’ll see what happens,” Rind says. “When the time is right, it’ll happen. For a long time, I fought it. I mean, we obviously weren’t in the right place to do it, mentally. It’s important to do things for all the right reasons, let things happen naturally; if you force it, it’s just going to suck, and at this point, it’s better to do nothing than to have shit suck.”
When pressed about whether Sacred Reich do things differently today than they have in the past, Rind states, “I would describe it like this: when we were younger, [the band] was easily the most important thing in the world, it was everything. Now, it’s just another part of who we are. I think we play better; we’ve been at it a long time, we’re pretty good at what we do. We’re more relaxed, and we don’t walk around with a chip on our shoulder like we have something to prove. I think we appreciate things more now. We know it’s fleeting, we know everything is temporary—we have a little better perspective on everything.”
w/ Byzantine:
9/14/2017 The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA w/ Hirax, Yidhra
9/15/2017 The Roxy Theatre – Los Angeles, CA w/ Hirax, Yidhra
9/16/2017 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA w/ Yidhra
9/18/2017 Marquis Theater – Denver, CO
9/20/2017 Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
9/21/2017 Opera House – Toronto, ON
9/22/2017 Les Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC
9/23/2017 Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
9/24/2017 Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
9/25/2017 Voltage – Philadelphia, PA
9/27/2017 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
9/28/2017 Southport Hall – New Orleans, LA
9/29/2017 Trees – Dallas, TX
9/30/2017 Scout Bar – Houston, TX w/ Slim
10/01/2017 Rock Box – San Antonio, TX
10/02/2017 Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX *
10/07/2017 Club Red – Phoenix, AZ *
* no Byzantine
