Twelve years ago, Beasto Blanco was formed by longtime Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric and his close friend, guitarist Chris Latham. Add Alice Cooper’s daughter Calico to the mix and you have the key ingredients to one of rock’s rare finds, a band with raw intensity and an in-your-face theatrical show that also delivers a sonic feast to the ears.
Kinetica is the new release from this group of passionate rockers and creatives and ushers in the next stage of this musical evolution. Produced by Chris Harms of Hamburg Germany’s Lord of The Lost, the new album starts hard and fast with Garric’s growling vocals on “Run For Your Life” as fans of the band have come to expect, but make no mistake, this beast is growing.
I spoke with Chuck Garric recently about the new music and how the band has evolved over the last decade.
“Well, you know, we’re always creating. We’re always writing. I mean, the record itself, as far as the concept or the songs, has been about a year. I started working with Chris Harms about a year before it was released. And we just went to town. We just started writing together, Pro Tools sessions, and things like that. I knew right away he’d be the perfect producer for this album. We had some songs that we were working on during the pandemic that we threw into the mix. And one of those songs happens to be Lowlands.”
Lowlands features a gothic-themed video starring Calico Cooper and Jed Williams in a dramatic story about self-worth penned by Cooper. It has a swampy blues sound to it but also the production and musical talents of Chris Harms make it a unique track.
Garric explained, “If you like our cover of Feed My Frankenstein kind of has that blues vibe. Death Rattle, for sure is swampy blues. But the thing I love the most about Lowlands is it has that swamp blues, but it’s flavored with some cool electronics and a little bit of an industrial vibe to it.
So, it’s a great marriage.”
One of the key ingredients to this stage of evolution for Beasto Blanco has been the collaboration and work of producer Chris Harms of Hamburg’s Lord of The Lost.
“I never met him before. I knew of the band, but it was our publishing company that came and saw us perform in Germany and said, “I’ve got the perfect producer for you guys.” He introduced me to Chris Harms and thought it’d be a nice way for us to give the old American handshake if you will. He thought it’d be a good way for us to blend those two sounds, which I think we did really well on this Kinetica album.”
Another aspect of the growth of Beasto Blanco as a band has been the increased involvement of Calico Cooper as a songwriter and singer. Her contributions really shine on Kinetica.
“Yeah, she was involved in every song, and it was fun. We wanted her to get involved more. So, Lowlands and Unreal, Kill Us All with a Smile. And then, her and I together, both singing verses in Bad Thoughts and things like that.”
“I just think it’s a great combination and it’s very unique. Nobody’s doing what we’re doing out there right now and Chris Harms is such an expert with melodies. We’re proud of the record.”
The fourth track of the record, “Unreal” stands out for its vocals by Cooper and also the additional vocals of Harms.
“She crushed it on that particular song. When that song was sent over to us, we didn’t have a real solid vocal melody. We had just the chorus idea, which was Unreal, which Harms had sent us.
I immediately sent it to Calico and said, “We’ve got the song for you. This is right up your alley.”
“She whipped out the lyrics in just an hour or two, and then that was the song we decided would be great for Harms. We wanted a song where he was involved vocally on the record and he chose that particular song, which I think was very fitting. I think the two of them work well together.”
Another great track is the ballad “Kill Us Off With A Smile”
“One of my favourite off the record, I think. The one thing I love the most about that song is you can get really attached to the lyrics. Calico does a great job at singing the song, but also telling the story emotionally. That song’s getting a lot of attention right now and I’m just trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into our set list because it’s a song for everyone. It has your typical ballad type of arrangement, but I think the lyrics have a little bit of a nod to the danger that Beasto is.”
The danger that is Beasto is reflected in the first track “Run For Your Life” Beasto albums typically start with high-energy, in-your-face rock and roll. The new album sticks to that form.
“And yeah, that’s important. That was the reason why we released that one as a single, because I think we knew how different this record, was going to be.”
“We thought that would be a good song to come out of the gate with because it would get our older fans, our loyal beasts excited about what’s up, and the new sound, but it also captured some new followers as well.”
A hallmark of Beasto Blanco is the videos for the songs and having Calico Cooper in the band with her acting and theatre background is a huge asset.
“She’s a really talented writer and director, and she’s able to tell a story and get you involved in the characters in a three-and-a-half-minute video.
She’s great at getting to the point, plus, keeping the brand in mind, the image of Beasto and what we’re really about, making sure that that’s coming across as well. We work really well together as a band and as a business.”
“When she came up with the idea that she wanted to do a video for every song, we’re like, let’s do it. So, we were filming for a couple of days straight and got so much material. We still have an hour’s worth of material out there that we’re going to release as soon as all these videos come out.”
“All of them are made. Some are getting edited as we speak. We’re still adding to some of them, some will be full length, and some will maybe just be a minute long. Kinetica has turned out to be a wonderful way to tell the story behind Beasto Blanco and we have about an hour twenty of a movie basically that we’ve shot.”
Despite the movie-type theme and storytelling of the videos for the songs on Kinetica, Garric says this wasn’t planned as a concept record.
“Not at all. It just ended up that way when we just started listening to the record in no particular order. We ended up realizing, wow, we’re onto something here. To me, the record vibrates this Mickey and Mallory kind of sci-fi spy novel that just has this amazing story, and you don’t know whether we’re villains or heroes.”
One of the more stunning videos visually was the one for Lowlands. I asked about the locations for filming.
“The video was filmed in Los Angeles. There are a lot of locations that we went to on that particular one. As a matter of fact, all of our videos were filmed on location in Southern California. It was an actual location where we shot that. It was, (tongue firmly in cheek), filmed in our lair.”
Five Questions for Chuck
What is your favorite Alice song to play as a bassist?
Oh, I would have to say Go to Hell. I love the song. I love the lyrics. I love the bass line. Just as a whole, it’s a great song. If you don’t know the song, you’ll know it after the first verse.
Are there any songs you haven’t played live that you wish you could?
Unfinished Suite. We haven’t had a chance to play that live, but I would love to see what we could do with that one.
Your favorite bassist past or present?
“Believe it or not, I was heavily influenced by Bob Daisley of Ozzy Osbourne and Uriah Heap and John Deacon of Queen. I didn’t even realize it was Bob Daisley on some of those early Ozzy records, but I learned every note and realized it was Bob Daisley later on in life.”
“I love Lemmy for his straight-up just rock and roll attitude, lyrics, and overall legend that that guy has left us. I even loved Dee Dee Ramone, because, for me, I thought that being a bass player was cool, and guys that just kind of fit into this lifestyle, and you didn’t need to know what they sounded like.”
“You knew just by looking at a picture of Dee Dee what the band would sound like, or how his bass playing would be, same with Lemmy. Cliff Williams from ACDC was also a massive influence on me.”
Beatles or Stones?
“Man, I can’t pick. For me, I love the Stones just for the pure rawness that the Stones gave us. I love hearing mistakes on records, or not necessarily mistakes, but things they left in because they were imperfections.”
“But you can never deny the Beatles’ songwriting, how they changed music, the harmonies, lyrics. I think just because they came out at the same time, people like to compare them, but for me, I think they’re two different bands. There was more of a polished element to the Beatles than there was to the Stones. I always like a little bit of the imperfections.”
If you weren’t a professional musician, what do you think you would be doing right now?
“Yeah, it’s funny, because I do think about it quite a bit. Somewhere, somehow, I would figure out a way to become a mentor, or directing children that are wayward into a lifestyle that fits their creativity. I would find myself in some sort of counselor or mentor position. I think that was something that was important to me as a kid.”
“Just recently in my life, when I was building motorcycles, I found a mentor. I do think there are important people out there that you can find as a mentor, or a big brother, or somebody like that, that can give you the confidence or the knowledge to move forward in something you’re doing.”
I’ve been following that a little bit. Have you always been a rider?
“Always, yeah, but never a builder. So, this last year or two was my first attempt at real mechanics, ripping apart an entire engine, rebuilding it, and understanding how it all works. Learning how to weld, use a lathe, making parts, everything that’s on my motorcycle. All the parts that we could make, I made by hand on a lathe, or with a hammer and some metal. So, I really love that.”
“I love working with my hands. I think there’s something really important about that. And there’s not a part on that bike that I didn’t touch or fabricate. I know how everything works. It makes it a lot more fun to ride, knowing that if it does break down, I hopefully can fix it.”
I think fans would love to see Beasto Blanco perform as part of an Alice Cooper show lineup.
“I’m up for anything, you know, it has been discussed. And, you know, it’s one of those things where so many of us in Alice’s band are involved in so many different projects. I think the really cool thing would be to have all of us open up for Alice, make it into one big old festival.”
Do you think you’ll be coming back to Canada anytime soon?
“We hope so. We’re starting our summer tour in September with Lords of the Lost in the States. And the closest we get to Canada is Minnesota. Then we’re back to Europe again in November. So, I know that more dates are coming, and I sure hope Canada is on the itinerary”
