Ever since I first laid ears on Canada’s 3 Inches of Blood, I was so pumped to have found one of my new favorite bands. Since then, I have had the pleasure of seeing these guys live three times and each time they just killed it a bit more than the previous. When the band released their latest metal masterpiece Long Live Heavy Metal, I knew that these guys were in it to win it. Carrying the torch and flag for heavy metal, 3 Inches of Blood, in my opinion, is leading the horde into battle and they will not accept defeat no matter what cost.
Leading this pack of rabid metal warriors is lead vocalist Cam Pipes. Sounding like the bastard child of Rob Halford and King Diamond (spare the jokes please), Cam quickly became without a doubt one of my favorite metal vocalists. When 3 Inches of Blood pulled into Atlanta for the 3rd leg of their Long Live Heavy Metal tour, Cam was gracious enough to talk to me right outside of the venue before load in. Cam was a really awesome guy and it felt more like talking to a brother than anything else. We talked about his humble beginnings playing church youth group assemblies, how Iron Maiden’s Powerslave changed his life, and how he deals with the rabid fan base of 3 Inches of Blood, even when they creep him out a little bit.
Cam, you finally made it back to Atlanta. Thanks for taking some time out to talk today.
Sure man. No problem. Didn’t you interview Shane before?
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Yeah, I sure did. You’ve got a tough act to follow dude.
Not really. [laughs]
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Cam, you do a lot of interviews. What is the one question that you get asked so much that it makes you want to eat glass?
[laughs] Probably, “So… how did you come up with the band name?” I probably hate that question the most. It’s especially annoying because the way we got our band name is not a very interesting story so I just tend to make shit up if I don’t feel like explaining how it really happened [laughs]. Another one for me is when they ask, “So how do you hit those high notes?” [laughs] Again, I could never explain it. I’ve never taken lessons or anything. I mean, I don’t want to be rude about it but how do you explain that?
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It’s like, “Dude, how do you talk?”
[laughs] Exactly.
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Cool. Well, neither of those questions is on my list so we should be good.
[laughs] Alright. Cool.
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3 Inches of Blood has been out behind “Long Live Heavy Metal” for a good while now. 
How do you feel the new material has meshed with the previous material in the live shows?
Really well I think. After a year of touring this record we’ve found that certain songs are working really well in the set so they’ll stay in there but we swap them out a lot too. On this tour, we’re changing it up a lot. Some night Goatwhore is playing last and other nights we’re playing last. If we’re playing last we’re playing a slightly longer set so that will give us a chance to throw in maybe one or two different songs. There are some from this new record that we haven’t even played live yet. We’re all music fans in general. We’re all about deep cuts so we want to try and get those in somewhere. We also like to revisit stuff that we haven’t played in a little while; songs that might be considered real “fan” songs.
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What songs from the new album do you feel are the best representation of where 3 Inches of Blood is now?
That’s a tough one. Fuck, I don’t know [laughs]. I’d probably say “Leather Lord.” It’s something we’re playing on a nightly basis and it was our first “single” from this album. It’s pretty straight forward but I think it’s also pretty dynamic as well. I think that represents a broad spectrum of what we can do.
Um, maybe. If people want to think that then sure. It’s not like we’re consciously trying to silence any haters or those who doubt us. People who dog by saying things like, “Oh they’ve lost another bass player. The end is near.” Things like that, people leaving the band for whatever reason has never brought me down. Looking back, I just thought, “Well, there’s another one who couldn’t handle it so it’s better that they’re gone.” Even though we’re on good terms with most of the former members of this band, pretty much all of them except maybe one. It’s a personal thing. We’ve never had to kick anyone out except for one guy but they made their choice and decided it wasn’t for them. It was a bummer because maybe it was a little bit of an inconvenience at the time depending on what the situation was. We’ve always been able to scramble and think on our feet.
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3 Inches of Blood is one of the leaders of preserving this classic style of heavy metal. This kind of metal seems to be taking over more and more. What do you think it is about this kind of classic sound that is appealing to the masses?
I think the classic sound that we all grew up on is something that everyone is influenced by even if you don’t hear it right away. That will always stick around. There’s a reason classical music is called classical music; because it’s timeless. There’s a virtuosity about it that is so compelling and that translates into heavy metal as well. I mean, heavy metal has it’s trendy sub-genres and things like that but I think heavy metal overall is just kind of naturally resistant to trends. A real metal band with staying power isn’t going shoot to success all the time and necessarily stay there. I think you’re better off getting that kind of steady build because you don’t want to fizzle out too quickly. I see it happen all the time. These bands come out, they get some popularity with the kids for a couple of years, and then they fizzle out.
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Look at all the greats like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, all those guys. Took them 2, 3, and some 4 or 5 albums before they truly caught on and achieved some success.
Yeah, exactly. Priest put out their first album in like what, 1974? It wasn’t until like ’82 or so that they really kind of hit it. I mean, they really hit their peak commercially in ’86 with Turbo. Some people consider that their worst album but I love that record. Bands like Iron Maiden, Priest, and even bands like Cannibal Corpse all seem to be more popular now than they were back in the supposed heyday of metal in the 80’s. This whole new generation of fans is growing up with them and the fans that were with them back then are still there.
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Yeah and guys like us are now in our 30’s, we have a little bit of money, and we can go to the shows and buy the merch and what not.
And take our kids if that’s what the case may be. I don’t have kids but I got my dog a fucking Kiss dog shirt and Rush dog shirt [laughs]. I have a little French bulldog and my dog has to have a Kiss shirt and a Rush shirt [laughs].
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Alright Cam let’s get to know you a little better. When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
Probably when I was like 14 or 15. I played piano and my parents brought me up on classical music at a very early age. I didn’t really appreciate music in general until I was in junior high school. I met some friends who liked the same kind of music. I was into punk rock and I met dudes who could play guitar and I was all about having them play certain riffs by different bands. Hearing that guy play through an amp made want to quit playing piano and want to play guitar. My buddy goes, “Well, I already play guitar and I know a drummer. Why don’t you learn how to play the bass?” I was like, “OK. I’ll learn.” [laughs]
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Man, that’s how all bassists are born pretty much.
[laughs] Right. So I told my folks that I didn’t want to play piano anymore and that I really wanted to get a bass guitar and start a band. They were really supportive of it because they wanted me to have some sort of musical appreciation so they were at least satisfied that I was still playing music. I was just swapping out instruments. I don’t play bass in a band anymore but I still have my bass at home and I love my bass. I became a singer because back then I ended up falling into the vocalist position in whatever band I was in with my buddy just because nobody else would do it. We couldn’t get the drummer to sing and the guitar player didn’t want to sing so I just did it. It was just punk rock and we were 14 or 15 and we were just winging it. It just kind of went from there and eventually I only sang in metal bands and punk bands. I gradually figured I could do a decent King Diamond imitation and then joined this band somehow [laughs].
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You have such a strong voice and it sounds like it can take a beating. How do you take care of your voice so that you don’t blow it out night after night?
I think it comes with just doing it for a long time. The first tour where I did a bunch of shows in a row without any days off kind of helped me to build resistance. I lost my voice a little bit and really suffered when we did a tour where we did 11 shows in a row. I’d never done that before and I’d only been in the band for maybe a couple of years. It was really disheartening but since then I’ve learned a few tricks here and there. I haven’t had many problems since except for the odd bad PA night and not being able to hear myself or being sick. Otherwise, just playing every night seems to keep my voice warmed up. It’s nice to have a sound check to get the cobwebs out during the day but I don’t really do any warm-ups to speak of. I like to have a bottle of water and just gargle with it like it’s mouthwash to just get any phlegm out that’s kicking around [laughs].
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Do you remember your first ever live performance?
Yeah [laughs]. I was probably 15. Me and my best friend’s parents were church goers. We went to Youth Group on Sunday evenings and we got a gig playing at our Youth Group in the little gymnasium that was attached to the church. Our drummer told us at the last minute that he got grounded and that he couldn’t do the show. I think he was just nervous [laughs]. His drums were at my buddy’s house and we called another friend of ours to help us out and he said he would. Well, that guy didn’t make it [laughs]. There was this other guy in our Youth Group who was also a metal guy and he was like, “Yeah, I kinda know how to play drums.” [laughs] We did a couple of Sex Pistols songs and what not and during the course of the show you could tell he was getting really nervous. He didn’t know any of these songs and mid way through the set he freaked out. We just said, “Does anyone out there know how to play drums?” [laughs] This one guys goes, “I do!” He actually got up and was a competent drummer and we finished the set. We jammed with him for a while after that until we eventually had to kick him out for being a goof.
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Did you guys have a name?
We were called Thumper [laughs]. We changed names almost daily but eventually morphed into Pilot Light. Pilot Light ended up becoming a bigger entity and did a lot of shows around our hometown. We ended up getting a second guitar player and a better drummer. That band was around for a few years and we ended up getting better. It was a crazy time and when I went into high school I was all about playing music and smoking pot [laughs].
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European fans (and fans in general) are known for giving bands really insane gifts. What’s the craziest thing a fan has given you as a gift?
Actually, there’s this fan from Las Vegas who’s been coming out to our shows for the last couple of years and she always brings us stuff. She’ll do drawings, like portraits for us. She made us these little bracelets with our goat head logo on them. She made me a denim jacket that she painted my name on the back and then painted art from our previous records on it. Just really cool stuff like that. The coolest of all was that she painted me a portrait of my dog. My wife and I always post pictures of our pets on Facebook so she got this canvas and painted a portrait of my dog. It was really the sweetest thing. She’s just this 17 year old girl from Las Vegas who always brings us really cool stuff. It’s really nice and really neat. She never expects anything in return but of course we’ll give her a bunch of shirts [laughs].
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It seems like an ongoing trend these days for bands to charge their fans to meet them. What’s your opinion on this?
Well, in general, paying money just to meet a person? I’m not really into that. I really think it comes down to if the band is not cool to hang out and talk to their fans outside of that, then that’s really where the problem would be. In this day and age with the internet and all that, you’re already that accessible if you’re on top of your social media which I like to feel like we are. The fans almost demand that personal access to you anyway. It’s not like we’re playing arenas or stadiums. We can’t really hide away from the fans but it’s not like we really want to. It’s boring sitting backstage all day. You kind of want to get out there and explore the town you’re in if you can or walk around the venue and see what’s going on when you’re not playing. Most of this tour I’ve been selling our merch so I’m there all night. If people notice that I’m out there, we’ll just chat.
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3 Inches of Blood has some pretty intense fans. Do they ever kind of creep you out at all?
Most people are cool and occasionally you get someone who’s really annoying and gives you a rash but you just kind of do the best you can [laughs]. You don’t tell them you’re annoyed with them. You never know who’s going to be the next fucking guy in Columbus jumping on stage with a fucking gun. You’ve got to be careful. Sometimes you get those dudes that are so into it and they’re looking up at you on stage and it’s almost like they’re demanding that you pay attention to them for the whole set. You can see it in their face that they’re getting pissed off if you’re not giving them enough eye contact. That happens every now and then and it starts to freak me out. It doesn’t happen that often but every now and then.
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How do you keep from going into a mode of absolute paranoia or fear about shit like that happening?
Man, you just kind of go with it and you always keep the sketchy people in the corner of your eye. Make sure you’re always aware of where they are. I’m already on the lookout for people who are jumping on stage and hanging out too long up there but then you have to think of the whole Randy Blythe (Lamb of God front man). You can’t forcibly push them off the stage too hard because you don’t want to hurt them. Ever since that Randy Blythe thing, I just have to be a little more careful.
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Cam, if you could sing for any band, of any era for just one night, who would it be and why?
Man, I’m just happy playing with friends ya know? Me, Shane, and Ash and another buddy of ours are doing a Rush tribute band in the next little while. We’ve had one jam and it was so much fun. It was so different from our regular 3 Inches of Blood even though it was us [laughs]. It’s us just jamming and having fun. That’s why I started playing music in the first place; because it was fun. We’re going to play some shows around Vancouver.
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In your opinion, what is the ultimate metal album that nobody should be without?
Powerslave. That is the album that launched me right into heavy metal. Everything about that album. The cover was so cool that it almost scared me [laughs].
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I remember looking at that cover for hours.
[laughs] I remember being an 8 year old kid seeing that for the first time and thinking, “Holy fuck that is so cool.” Then I heard the record and I just went from there. I always go back to that record. That’s probably my favorite metal record.
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Have you ever thought about having a scream off with Nitro singer Jim Gillette?
I don’t know if I would. Lead singers have a bad rap with having the egos and what not. You know, lead singer’s disease [laughs]. I’m trying to break the stereo type of the lead singer by not showboating or being an egomaniac dickhead. Dude, I actually load gear. I’ve heard people say, “Whoa. The singer’s loading gear [laughs]. That’s just how I am. I almost feel that having a “sing off” or something would be perceived as trying to satisfy my own ego about my ability. I’m confident in what I do. I know that a “sing off” or something would be perceived as trying to satisfy my own ego about my ability. I’m confident in what I do. I know there are a lot of other great singers out there and I’m never going to claim to be the best of them.
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Finally, finish this sentence: If I wasn’t a musician I would be ___________________.
I would be working some shitty job that I’d probably hate [laughs]. It’s hard to imagine life not being a musician. I’ve only been a musician and not had any other work for the better part of 10 years. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. When I’m at home, I work at a local pub when we have breaks. I figured rather than sit around for two months I might as well do something.
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That’s cool. At least it gets you out of the house.
Exactly. And I also work the same hours as my wife. We both work nights.
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What’s next for 3 Inches of Blood?
We’re going to be off for most of the summer but then we’ll be back at it for most of August. We’ll be doing some shows in our neck of the woods in BC. We’re going to Europe to do a couple of festivals and then we’ll probably start writing in the fall.
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Thanks so much for taking the time out to do this. Now go load your gear in!
[laughs] Hey no problem Don. Thank you man.
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