Adelaide alternative metal outfit The Mark of Cain have launched a new series of insights to mark the 25th anniversary of their landmark record, Ill at Ease.
Released in 1995, Ill at Ease was the group’s third record, and came more than a decade into their career. Recorded with Henry Rollins, the album served as their commercial breakthrough, and though it didn’t translate to widespread fame and fortune, it grew their profile and managed to top the independent chart that year.
In 2019, The Mark of Cain embarked upon a 30th anniversary tour for their debut album Battlesick, which also included a remastered edition of the record on vinyl. At the conclusion of their tour, the band alerted fans to the fact that their somewhat reclusive streak would be broken in 2020 with the anniversary of Ill at Ease set to bring about similar celebrations.
Unfortunately, with touring off the cards for the foreseeable future, the band have gone online, with frontman John Scott launching a series of recording insights on their website to commemorate the record’s release.
The first of these insights – published over the weekend – sees Scott recalling the inspiration and recording of album opener, “Interloper”, and how it began life in a Port Adelaide rehearsal room back in the early-to-mid Nineties.
“I am really fond of Westerns,” he explained. “I’m still a sucker for them – anyway – one of the main descriptions you’d often read in Western movie summaries was ‘An interloper rides into town…’ so I often had this “who made you the interloper” thing in my head – like, who the fuck are you to get involved in my business, stay the fuck away! Ironically the anti-hero was often the interloper, so I’m echoing the town villain sentiments to some extent here…so maybe sometimes I wear the black hat…
“So, it was all a bit organic to be honest and came together quickly once I had Kim playing the bass line and then it devolved to a G to A riff. That opens into the guitar just playing E over that bass line with ‘You ought to know what a liar I am, I laid my cards on the table’ which explores the idea that I thought you accepted me faults and all, and of course that includes lying, so why are you complaining now and getting in my space! By the way, it’s not about me ok!?”
While the exact plans that The Mark of Cain have for the 25th anniversary of Ill at Ease are unclear, they plan to share a series of these insights across the coming weeks on their website. You can view the full text of the write-up for “Interloper” now.
