High on Fire's Matt Pike discusses group's latest album

The members of heavy metal band High on Fire are experiencing something of a high point in their careers. Their latest album, "Snakes for the Divine," which was released in February to great critical acclaim and is their highest-charting album to date, debuted at No. 62 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart — quite a feat for a metal band that isn't Metallica. Currently on a headlining tour of the United States, High on Fire performed last Wednesday at the Middle East club in Cambridge. Daily staff writer Ryan Zuckman caught up with frontman Matt Pike before the show to discuss the album and music in general.

Ryan Zuckman:  What's the inspiration behind the album?

Matt Pike: It's based off the David Icke theory that Adam and Eve weren't the first human beings, that they accepted the alien Reptoid DNA, so I just started going off on that theme a lot on this album. A lot of it has to do with reptoids and snakes and creepy-ass things.

RZ: Everyone's raving about it.

MP: I know, and I expected to get a bunch of s--t because we used a big producer, you know? But not so much — Greg Fidelman's kind of a badass.

RZ: The production is cleaner than in the past, and the vocals are more upfront. Is that his idea or yours?

MP: Kind of both of ours. I wanted the vocals to be out front. He really pushed me to write more. [He said,] ‘There's something there, it's missing something …' and I'm like ‘You motherf--ker, you're making me f--kin' sing more ... this is going to suck playing live, dude.' But I'd do it anyway, and sure enough he'd be right about it. It's rough on my voice … five days in and I'm already f--kin' f--ked.
RZ: Is there more of a focus on the lyrics on this album than in past ones, because there's more singing?

MP: Yeah, there's more focus on the amount of singing, I suppose. But yeah, we just did more of everything. We tried to soup up the last bit we did, "Death Is This Communion" [2007]. That one we were f--king with, being a little bit more of a roller coaster, a little more psychedelic with the heaviness.

RZ: Was it a conscious decision? Or did it flow naturally in the studio?

MP: Albums come in and just write themselves out for awhile. You just start picking and choosing. You have a lot of material to sort though, which is the opposite of having writer's block. We had over-writer's block. Can't decide on anything.

RZ: High on Fire is a pretty distinct name. Where did it come from?

MP: An [Electric Light Orchestra] song, "Fire On High" [1975]. We f--kin' flipped it around and kind of stole it. And it looked good on a flier.

RZ: When did you start playing guitar?

MP: When I was about eight or nine — I was kind of born into it. My grandfather and my uncle used to play for me when I was a baby, and I got the shapes in my head, like I was a sponge, I just already knew how to play. So I started picking it up because I had a good idea of the fundamentals and it stuck with me.

RZ: Self-taught?

MP: For the most part. I went to school for jazz at a community college, for a little while, just to learn theory and a little piano and figure out what the f--k I was doing, which did help me a lot with arrangements and improvisation.

RZ: Why do you play music?

MP: Because I breathe it. I live with it. I bleed it. I love it. I've been doing it since I was a kid.

RZ: And if you weren't playing music...?

MP: I'd shoot you. [laughs] I don't know, probably be in porn. Nah, I'd probably be a luthier, or something to do with guitars. Or I'd be the same as I am now, a really super good, functional alcoholic. I don't know. I've worked construction half my life, so I know what I'm doing there.

RZ: Why does the world need High on Fire?

MP: What would you do without it? I'm counting on High on Fire to f--kin' save metal from itself.