There’s a tattoo of deceased Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley on Wes Huntsinger’s left hand. It makes sense. Huntsinger sings for PanaCea, a Spartanburg metal band whose 2008 LP “Chamber of Devils” features “Alter State,” a Sabbath-by-way-of-Seattle bruiser.
Huntsinger delivers his vocals in a Chris Cornell-esque yowl. No death growl here. “I really hate the new school, screamo stuff,” says Huntsinger, 39. “Nobody sings anymore. I grew up listening to Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. All the singers…”
“Chamber of Devils” also contains steel-plated prog (“Floodgate”) and starship spires (“Shifter”). “I’ve been playing this kind of music for a long time and I’m lucky to have found these guys,” Huntsinger says. Guitarists Joel Cook and Ricky Allison balance sludge and texture, while drummer Wes Birch and bassist James Ashby supply iron-worm rhythms.
What music has your band introduced each other to? The other guys were really influenced by bands like Tool. When we first started playing together I introduced them to stuff like Clutch and Mastodon.
You don’t finalize lyrics until a song is recorded. Why? I think it’s constraining. If we write a song today and record six-months from now, there’s no way I’m going to feel the same way then. It keeps it honest. If we play a new song out live, nine times out of 10, I freestyle. Maybe that’s a mistake, but it’s always worked out good for me.
You mentioned Thin Lizzy earlier. Sometimes they get overlooked within the hard rock pantheon. I think (Thin Lizzy singer/bassist) Phil Lynott brought some soul to hard rock that was kind of missing. I don’t think I heard soul like that again until the third Soundgarden album.
How did the band change between the 2006 EP and 2008 record? Grew up, man. There was so much stuff going on: Ricky had a kid, I lost my dad. We got our original drummer Wes back and it opened up so much. It was like going from having a good rock drummer to getting Neil Peart back in the band.
On PanaCea’s MySpace page, the influences section lists “the decline of Western civilization.” What do you see as a sign of that decline? The popularity of emo music; it really blows my mind. Our band makes music we like, and if other people like it too that’s a huge plus. Even if I wasn’t in this band I’d buy the CD.
PanaCea performs June 26 at Ground Zero in Spartanburg with Ghost In The Machine and St. Diablo.
For more on PanaCea, visit www.myspace.com/panaceaband.
