Metal Inside(r) Home Quarantine is Metal Insider’s new column during this time of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked artists five questions on what’s been keeping them busy ranging from their favorite movies, food they’ve been eating, music they’ve been listening to and more. We caught up with Sadistic Embodiment bassist/vocalist Curtis Vieville as he’s been spending this time working on the Sadistic Embodiment album production. 

What have you been doing to pass time during Quarantine?

My quarantine lasted roughly 7 weeks. During that time I didn’t have any work, but that being said I kept myself busy wood woodworking, working out, cooking, and a whole lot of Sadistic Embodiment album production and social media. Prior to the lockdown, I had been working for three months straight out of town. The break was long but at least I didn’t feel bad about it. We finished recording our new album Blood Spell as well. Find it after September 18th here.

Have you been listening to any music or have any playlists worth checking out?

Oh Odin! Yes, so much music. And podcasts. I basically tried to drown out all reality by filling my ears with distraction. Not all metal, by any means. . . well actually, mostly metal. But when I would do my woodworking I turned on CBC Radio 2 and listened to the day time classical music, jazz, or whatever normal people listen to just to cleanse the pallet and stimulate my creativity. Then there was the news every hour, which defeated the purpose of shutting out the world. One of my favorite bands is Hypocrisy. That explains a lot. I subscribe to Spotify. Their algorithms are really impressive. And they have a great depth of underground(ish) bands on there. Spotify has gotten to know me very well in the last four years. I recommend the Spotify curated playlist “Death Metal & Beyond.” I also suggest looking up Ulcerate, Departe, Dodecahedron and see what Spotify curates for you based on that algorithm. And yes, I still buy CDs. Only from the little guys on our record label. I’ve purchased about 12 CDs from CDN Records this summer and you can see my reviews on our Instagram videos (IG: sadisticembodimentofficial).

A lot of people have been spending this time cooking including making their own bread, what food have you been prepping during this time?

I LOVE BREAD . . . from the store mostly. I do in fact have a no knead recipe. Here is the link (No Knead Bread: so easy a 4-yr old can make it!). Literally a 4-yr old can make this bread, which is why I do so well with it. 

I have of course modified that base recipe by adding in a portion of rye or whole wheat flour, caraway seed, hemp hearts, flax, bran, 2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar and etc. Other times I throw in saskatoon berries and a bit more sugar (which reminds me I need to pick some berries soon).

To make it worth your time I recommend making a double batch and freezing the second loaf. You can bake it in a normal bread tray just fine. Pro-tip: I don’t have a dutch oven as the recipe requests, but I do have a crock pot ceramic bowl that fits in the round electronic part of the crockpot. It’s a makeshift dutch oven with a glass lid. 

. . . I am single and live alone ladies, just FYI.

In terms of entertainment, what movies, TV shows, books, or games have been keeping you busy?

I got back into games for about two weeks out of the 7 or 8-week lockdown, then quickly fell out of it. Games are an excellent way of escaping obviously. But the problem with that is I can’t multitask when running around with a machine gun and getting wasted by 6-year-olds, who were making no knead bread on the side as well. 

I usually have issues sitting still for more than 5 minutes. Watching Scandinavian shows on Netflix is one of my favorite things, but the issue for many of those is I have to pay attention to the subtitles, which requires me to sit still and lock on like Call of Duty! 

I know that I watched a ton of TV this spring during the lockdown, but I honestly can’t remember a damn thing. That should say something about how much digital entertainment fills our minds with distraction but still often lacks substance, challenge, or significance. On the other side of the coin, I recall all the brutal home workouts I did (not all of them, but you know what I mean), the artistic wood projects I made, the writing of lyrics, recording vocals for this album, and how I didn’t read my dusty old book at all, sadly. 

What advice do you have for your fans in isolation during this time?

Compartmentalize outside influences and inner feelings. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt and strip away all the fear-mongering. Focus on what you feel are the few main facts of what is going on and what realities apply to you and your loved ones. Compartmentalize how you feel separately from what is going on out there. Just like I mentioned earlier, distract yourself with as many meaningful things you can. 

Monitor yourself very closely and be self-aware for your own well being and that of your partner or child for example. Think and act rationally. Think of all the other crazy things we’ve been through as citizens like witnessing the Russian invasions only 6 years ago, fear of the EU collapsing, ISIS marching down the streets with giant black missiles and flags, pedestrians run over by terrorists in trucks in our own cities where we enjoy a hotdog or crepe, Fukushima and so on.

We constantly see these scary things, then poof! On to the next thing three months later. I am not saying that this pandemic will be over in three months or this year even, but I am telling you we as people adapt and get on with the next thing all the time. Embrace the crap, find gratitude in the basic necessities, and be nice. 

Cheers!

Curtis Vieville

Bassist/Vocalist