AN INTERVIEW WITH INFERNAL DIATRIBE
3-16-26
PHOTO CREDIT: SHAWN ROBBINS
1. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Before we dive in, if you wouldn’t mind introducing yourself and what you do in the band, that would be great!
Yeah, no doubt. Thanks for reaching out! I’m Cam and I do vocals.
2. I am so stoked on how many bands from my home state of Maine are making waves these days! Where in Maine are you guys based, and could you give us a little backstory on the band: when you formed, how you knew each other, what the vision was for the band, etc.?
We’re based in Portland, Maine. This question is always a loaded one for us, and it’s a long winded answer but we experienced a lot of changes in a short amount of time as a band a few years ago, so it’s complicated. Infernal Diatribe existed in other forms for many years before that but essentially, in 2023 some of the core members were planning on leaving the band to focus on other things so there was a need for a few new members as it was down to just two of us, myself and Matt (who had joined during the recording process of the first LP “Asylum of Pain”). We eventually started with asking our friend Chris to fill in on drums for a show or two which then evolved to us asking him to just do it full time. Chris was down, but only under the stipulation that we had a sort of hard reset as a band. There was a shared feeling that some of the older material wasn’t the kind of music we wanted to be writing and exploring, and we all collectively agreed on taking things in a sort of metallic and evil direction, as those were the parts of old Diatribe songs that spoke to us the most, while some of the other elements felt disjointed. Pretty much at the same time Chris had joined, Brandon joined on second guitar and then after a longer process of finding a bass player, we finalized the lineup with Peach joining on bass.
We started writing with the intention of having enough new material to push out all the old songs so our sets were fresh and exciting and completely representative of the direction we all wanted to go. This resulted in the writing and release of “Surging Violence” in 2023. We all felt like this was the moment Infernal Diatribe became its own entity, a sort of “rebirth,” and we just kept leaning into that over the years and we’re very stoked on where everything ended up. We also made a very conscious decision to remove all of the old stuff off the internet to solidify everything. It just didn’t make sense to have any of that old stuff representing us when we worked so hard to move away from it, so it was necessary. Ultimately, we just wanted to focus on playing metallic HC that was scary and compelled people to mosh really hard, so we’ve been pushing for that ever since.
3. Who are some of the band’s primary influences?
A lot of heavy, metallic HC. Some big influences are Turmoil, Buried Alive, Disembodied, All Out War.
4. You’ve got two releases under your belt at his point. How do you feel you evolved between one and two? Is there any new material you’re working on, and if so, what can you tell us about it?
I think between “Surging Violence” and “A Yearning Serenade / Ascending to Bliss,” we’ve been able to find the foundation of what we want our sound to represent and then build and shape that as we see fit, which is creating something truly evil and chaotic. We’ve been in the writing process for a while now with some songs done and more to come as we prepare for our next release. We are very happy with how everything is coming together and we feel like this new material perfectly defines what we want to be creating and introducing to the world.
5. You guys are on Cheap Life Records now, right? How did that relationship come about?
We’ve all been attending shows in Maine for a long time so we all knew Chris Linkovich or knew of him in some capacity from either seeing Cruel Hand live or just seeing him around at local shows. He started Cheap Life Records a few years back which serves as a kind of collective for both booking shows and as a label to release music through. Through Cheap Life, Chris has really pushed to put Maine Hardcore back on the map. We’ve been lucky enough to be asked to be a part of a number of his shows since he started so our relationship has really bloomed naturally through that process. We eventually had a couple of newer tracks that we intended to release together as a standalone single and we were weighing our options for releasing and Chris had only done a couple of things through the label portion of Cheap Life, so it was kind of a no brainer to hit him up to see if he wanted to work together to release the single and he was instantly down which was awesome. He was really trying to put a spotlight on Maine bands so it just made so much sense to do it with him. I can say with confidence that the scene in Maine would be in a very different place overall if we didn’t have people like Chris at the frontlines pushing to help the scene thrive, and Maine Hardcore is truly the best it’s probably ever been right now because of him and many others.
6. You’ve played with some heavy hitters! What have been some of your show/touring highlights to date?
We got to open up the Mindforce, Restraining Order, Simulakra, and Scarab gig that came through Portland back in 2023, which was straight up amazing. I think anyone that’s into HC today would look at that lineup today or any time over the past few years and say “yeah that’s a perfect show.” That gig was a great representation of the kind of current wave of hardcore and to be a part of it was such an honor.
Another one that instantly comes to mind was opening up for Bane in the fall of 2024. That was just a surreal one because every member of this band grew up listening to and seeing Bane, that’s a band that has impacted us and so many others in a very profound way at some point in our lives and to be able to share the stage with such a long standing and iconic band was pretty insane.
Lastly, we’ll mention a more recent one. We played the first of two benefit shows for our friend and Maine HC legend, Ryan Eyestone, back in November in Old Town, Maine. The shows were booked to help Ryan in his battle with cancer and both were wildly successful, each of them selling out in under a day. This was pretty insane for shows solely comprised of Maine bands, past and present. Between the ticket sales for the two shows, raffle items, and many other generous contributions, the scene ended up raising over $20,000 towards Ryan’s battle. I’ve never been more proud of Maine HC and the outpouring of support through it all is one of the greatest testaments to the power of community within hardcore that I’ve ever witnessed. Unfortunately, the heartbreaking news broke at the beginning of February that Ryan had succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was an iconic artist, photographer, and one of the kindest people you would ever talk to. We are grateful that his work and his art are immortalized within hardcore (and beyond) and we will miss him very, very much. Rest In Peace, Eyestone.
7. What have you got on the docket this year as far as shows?
We’ve got a few shows here and there for the beginning of 2026, but we are currently in the middle of booking a tour for the summer with another Maine band who we love dearly. It’s still in the early stages so we won’t say much more than that but we have the intention to play and get out more this year.
8. What drew you to heavy music in the first place? Take us down the iceberg.
I think a few different factors played a part in this. My parents were big into rock and heavy metal so I was completely enveloped in that realm at a young age, basically as soon as I could register what music even was because it was in my ears most of the time. I was also a very shy child and kept to myself a lot. That combined with getting bullied throughout elementary and middle school left me with a lot of anger and bottled up emotions, so heavy music and the lyrics that come with it really resonated with me and helped me to deal with feeling like an outcast. Heavy music in a way kind of helped to offset the feeling of what came from the chaos that was happening around me.
9. Do you ever find it surreal going from being that kid in the crowd to being the one on stage?
I’m not sure if surreal is the right word. I guess maybe to a degree. I never really thought too much into it. It kind of just happened and it felt very natural. I got into hardcore at 14 and it’s been the most consistent thing in my life ever since, whether it’s going to shows or playing music. I’m just happy I’m still able to contribute to it whether it’s playing in bands, helping to book shows, or to support the younger blood.
10. Okay, last question: who are the bands, people, venues in Maine (and beyond if you like) who are really doing it right? Who should we be paying attention to and supporting?
Some bands you should be paying attention to right now: ZINC, Corrective Measure, Retract, Satiate, Mortar, Stab, Half Step, Gasoline Dream, Qualms, Fake Smile, Free to Think, Last Embrace, Peace Breaker, Combatant, the list goes on…. [ed. note: bands I’ve previously interviewed have been hyperlinked]
People: Shout out all the folks responsible for putting on shows in Maine (and surrounding areas) such as Cheap Life Records (Thank you for everything, Chris and Corey), SVU Booking [ed. note: you can view my interview with Ethan from SVU here], Ben from Breakaway, Really Chaotic Productions (Love you, Kathy and Adam), Ballistic Booking, and Rulers of the Spear
Venues: Rumors (Shout out SVU), Blue Portland Maine, The Apohadion Theater, Geno’s Rock Club, Kittery Dance Hall, Eliot Grange
PHOTO CREDIT: SHAWN ROBBINS