Q&A with Rob Walsh

Bitter Resolve is one of a handful of metal bands in the Triangle gaining steam on the local scene. Its slow but powerful tunes burn slowly and hit hard all at once. Frontman, guitarist and vocalist Robert Walsh talked Triangle metal and more with Assistant Diversions Editor Allison Hussey.

Diversions: How did Bitter Resolve first start?

Rob Walsh: I used to play in a band called The Dirty Little Heaters, and the singer for that band, Reese (McHenry), got pretty sick, so I started jamming with my friend Corey, who was a guitar player. He already had Bitter Resolve going. It was a side project, kind of … for me, anyway.

And then The Dirty Little Heaters kind of went on an indefinite hiatus, so Bitter Resolve kind of took over, became the band that I was playing in now. We’ve been together, the three of us, for a little over a year now, because Lauren Fitzpatrick joined our band. She was only going to play on the record, but she ended up wanting to stay on and play with us, which was really cool.

Dive: How did Lauren join the band?

RW: She and I are both from Syracuse, N.Y. and years ago we used to be kind of pals. She played in a band here, and just by coincidence lives in Chapel Hill. She played in a band for a long time here called The Curtains of Night, they were a two-piece female metal band.

They had broken up, and we had a drummer in our band that really kind of sucked, and I asked her if she would just play on the record. And she ended up staying on for the whole thing, she wanted to stay with the band.

Dive: What can someone expect when they see Bitter Resolve live?

RW: Well, it’s real energetic on the other side of the stage. Between the drums and guitar, there’s a lot of energy. I’m a pretty stoic dude. But it’s real undulating kind of music. It’s not fast or anything, and it’s not heavy. It’s heavy, but it’s not heavy in sheer volume. We actually try to make a point not to be crushingly loud. But I don’t know, it’s like spaced-out music. Hopefully people will come away from it feeling spaced-out.

Dive: What, to you, are some of the best things about metal in the Triangle?

RW: There’s a really good, strong community. A lot of the bands like MAKE and Systems and Grohg. Grohg is kind of a new band on the scene. It just seems like … Hog, that band rules … we all play together. Church of Wolves. We all do shows together.

When we go and play … like, we’re playing with bands that play with all the other Triangle metal bands. So it’s kind of like an extended family almost, because they’re like, “Oh, you’re bros with these guys, and we know those guys.”

It’s cool. We have a pretty tightly-knit scene. There’s just so many bands that are doing so well. They’re all really good. It’s awesome to be able to play with dudes that you like, people that you like.

Dive: What’s something you think you do well as a band?

RW: I know we play our songs pretty good. We play those songs well. It’s a real laid-back approach to things. And not laid-back in a stoned way or laid-back in a lethargic way, but it’s just laid-back. There’s a real hopeful message in a lot of it. There’s a lot of hope in a lot of the words.

Everybody wants to concentrate on what’s terrible with the world, it’s good to try to think of something good that’s going to come out of the terribleness.

Dive: That’s a really interesting approach. I don’t think a lot of people really associate “hope” with metal music.

RW: Yeah, I know, right. We made these t-shirts one time, and we used to have a song about pink unicorns. We made these t-shirts with, like, a My Little Pony pink unicorn on it.

We took kind of a lot of flak about it. The song was about some heavy s—t, but you’ve got to be able to have some levity. You’ve got to see the light through the dark, I think.