Wailin Storms Sings of Snakes and Spells With “Rattle” (premiere)

“Rattle” is the new video from Wailin Storms. The group’s LP, Rattle, arrives on 15 May in North America via Gilead Media and in Europe via Antena Krzyku. A delicious amalgam of doom and classic metal, “Rattle” recalls the blues-inflected days of early Soundgarden when that legendary band were filled with humor and possessed fire in their belly. Wailin Storms are more than their influences, though, and first-time listeners will find plenty to embrace with this collective.

Guitarist and lead vocalist Justin Storms recalls the writing of the tune, saying that it started in a dream. “I had it one night after a long day of hiking in the woods and seeing snakes and swimming in the river. When I woke up and tried to write down what I dreamt about, and the following things came out: “Please stop eating me you goddamn rattlesnake and let me sleep. I’ll burn you up with gasoline and matches.”

He continues, “The stuff I remember from this dream revolved around a rattlesnake swimming around in my guts and lungs, biting parts of my body and tickling me with their rattle. In the dream, I remember having a cup of gasoline next to my bed and thought this was the way to get the snake out of my body because dreams are always logical, right?

“But then (being a smoker at the time) I had the bright idea of drinking the flammable liquid and then lighting my tongue on fire, which in my mind would definitely do the trick. So I drank that cup of gasoline and lit my tongue on fire. The flames raced down my body down to the stomach and made that rattlesnake writhe like a fireman’s hose on the loose. That thing came slithering out mouth on fire and ran off under my bed to put the flames out. After the snake was expelled, I ran to the bathroom to drink some water but then started wheezing from all the smoke trapped inside my body. The smoke kept pouring out of my mouth and nose like a bucket of dry ice on Halloween burning my eyes and filling the room up. I woke up gasping for air and thought that burned up snake was under my bed.”

The video has what some might consider a more unusual origin. Storms notes, “This idea for this video was influenced by someone who cast a love spell on me when I was 19. It probably wasn’t necessary since I was head over heels for her, but one day after giving me a haircut, they decided to keep some of my hair for this spell. That night they performed a ritual using my hair where they lit candles, said certain phrases over and over, and then placed the lock of hair in a box and set that beneath the bed we shared. They also burned some of the hair and smeared the ashes on their head. After they wanted the love spell to end, they dug a hole in their yard and burned the remainder of the hair in the box that was used for the spell. Once that was done, they buried all the contents in the ground, and we stopped seeing each other as much.”