Metaphorically speaking, there is a band out there that is a virual metal recipe straight out of Hell’s Kitchen, that Chef Gordon Ramsey only wished he could be so masterful to put together. You take one part folklore, add one part Louisiana swamp land, add the fading art of storytelling through music and throw in four talented metal guys from California who know how to tie all of those elements together effectively. You slow cook it at the maximum temperature allowed, paying dues along the way and you have a dish that’s best served loud called All Hell The Yeti.
The band’s gone through some personnel changes since their inception in 2006. They released their self-titled debut album 2012 and began an almost non-stop road warrior crusade to take their music to as many places and people as they could reach. Over the course of that time, they have made believers out of doubters and welcomed new fans into the fold.
I caught up with lead singer Connor Garritty on a cold day in North Carolina during a stop on Hellpop Tour II with In This Moment, Butcher babies, Devour The Day and Before The Mourning.
JP: Hey Connor, it greats to finally catch up with you man. You guys have been on the entire Hellpop Tour, both legs. Are there any major difference s in the two legs that you’ve noticed?
Connor: This leg has definitely been colder (laughs). You know, both of the legs have had their positives and 
their negatives, but we’ve definitely noticed an increase in the amount of people eat the shows on this leg. I don’t know if it’s because Butcher Babies draw more than Motionless In White or if it’s the entire package in general.
This tour has been selling out venues left and right. There has to be some moments that really stand out for you?
Honestly, one of the highlights for me was playing The Fillmore in Denver, Colorado which sold-out in advance with around 3700 people. We played first on that night because Pop Evil was on the bill, so we didn’t play to a full house, but it was pretty cool to experience that many people. We’ve done it before with Hollywood Undead and it seems like the mid-west seems to be the best for us with merch sales and crowd response. Bogart’s in Cincinnati was really cool and they crowd seemed to really enjoy us and get into it. It’s really hard to say, you know it’s easier to pick out the ones that aren’t as good because they really seem to stick out to me. You wonder what you did wrong or if it’s your fault or maybe it’s just the crowd and they’re just there to see the headliner and that’s it. You know, it’s been really good just about every night, so I really can’t really complain too much.
Is there something about the mid-west that you may have tapped into? Why do you think the response has been so good in that area? Are they just hungrier for a rock show?
I think that must be what it is. In my opinion, maybe it’s just less bands coming through and a lot of these cities that we’ve been doing are considered “B” markets in the industry. So, yeah, I don’t know honestly, maybe it’s just that our music goes over better there. In New York or LA or Toronto, it seems to be really tough. I attribute it to them being like “eh, we get a show every other night of the week”, so they’re just going to stand there. Yet, in places like Kansas City or Cincinnati or Fort Wayne or Chicago, those were all really good and they seemed to appreciate it a lot more.
Your self-titled debut album has been out for quite a while now. Are you guys looking ahead to after Hellpop to 
maybe start work on its follow-up?
We released the album in September 2012 and we had a late start touring, like in late 2012, and we were pretty much on the road for all of 2013 and so far in 2014. We’ve demoed about five songs and have ten written. We’re shooting to have 20-25 and we’ll pick the best from that. We may release a couple of them to kind of give the fans a taste of what’s coming. Our last record was pretty much 12 of the first 15 songs that we ever wrote. They were written with other people and past members, so this time around it’s going to be the core of the band: me, Craw and Nick writing the songs and we’re excited.
You mentioned the core of the band; will you approach the writing any differently this time as opposed to in the past?
I think we’ve learned a lot by the way we did the first record. This time, we start off with just some riffs and some ideas or that little skeleton of the song. The drums always come after, but once you have that riff; it’s usually pretty easy to put drums to it. We try to get as many of those as possible and then work them out in a room as a whole band.
So, do the lyrics come first or vice versa and who comes up with them? Is there a method to the madness?
I write most of the lyrics, but Nick did help out with some stuff on the first record. We really don’t have a set plan and sometimes I may have some ideas written and then we may think, ‘ok this will work for this song.’ We never approach it like we have to write a riff to go with a specific vocal part, but who knows what we will do this time around. There really isn’t a plan this time; we’ll just let whatever happens happen because that seems to work best for us.
I love listening to the crowd at one of your shows as they look at your stage and try and figure out why there are skulls and stuff up there. Did all of you have input on your stage set-up?
Craw is from Louisiana and his wife is an artist and she does set design and wardrobe stuff for a lot of people out in Los Angeles. Craw was the first one and he had a gator head and wanted to do something cool for his mic stand. I had wanted to do something on the stage with props and fake trees and have something to look at other than just the band. You know, not so much a gimmick, but something that reflects the mood and the vibe of the band. I collect taxidermy and dead animals and that kind of shit. I also use a riser on stage, although some people call it an ego riser. I prefer, and I’m more comfortable if I put my foot up on something and I’d rather not put it on somebody else’s monitor. I wanted to hide it, so I used a timber wolf skull and some jaw bones. Nick’s is more of a Native American kind of look and mine is like a satanic-shaman look.
I’ve talked with some of the other singers on this tour and I’ll ask you as well. How’s the weather been on your voice? You definitely went from one extreme to another weather wise since the beginning of this.
It hasn’t been too bad. It’s cold, don’t get me wrong because it sucks, but I do try to take care of myself the best that I can. When you’ve been touring as long as we have, your voice kind of conditions itself to that grind. The first couple of days were rough because we hadn’t been touring, but then two or three days into it, I was back to normal. You learn to take care of yourself with vitamins and lots of water and lots of Jack Daniels.
Nice, just what the doctor ordered!
That’s exactly right (laughs).
The last track on the album, “Judas Cradle,” really intrigued me as it seems to go on forever and clocks in at over 20 minutes. Is there a story behind that or did it happen by accident?
All the tracks on the album, at least most of them, have some sort of an interlude between them. The album’s 
meant to be listened to from start to finish. When I was growing up and listening to music as a teenager, that’s how I did it. You had to wait forever for a new record and I wanted to experience the entire thing. I wanted to listen to the entire album, read the liner notes and immerse myself into the whole album, so that’s how I got into that. You get to the end of “Judas Cradle” and it’s almost as if you’ve been assaulted by all these different types of sounds, song-breaks, interludes and talking. “Judas Cradle” then just finishes with that chaotic ending that just drops down.
I’ll be honest with you dude, after the song ended and the track kept going on, it did make me stop and think about what I had just heard.
Exactly! You can process it and think about it all. Again, it was never anything that was super planned out like we wanted to fuck with people or something. It’s gotten us a lot of really weird reviews because people tend to focus on that so much like it’s such a big deal, but it’s not. I mean, just don’t fucking listen to it, you know, after it goes on for about three minutes or so just cut it off or fast forward to the end. It just offsets the whole album because it starts off so chaotic and takes you on this ride which just sort of lets you decompress.
Well, I know things are running a little behind, so I don’t want to take up too much more of your time. I always save the toughest questions for last. If the band broke up tonight and you were immediately signed to the WWE, what would your wrestling name be?
Snake Moccasin.
If you could have one super power or be any super hero, what or who would you choose?
That’s a hard one, but I think I’d have to go with time travel. There’s a lot of stuff that I never got to see that I’d like to go back and visit.
Last question: Best and worst food on the road?
The best would be House of Blues catering and the worst would have to be Popeye’s. For me, it’s absolutely the most disgusting shit that I’ve ever eaten in my life. I ate it one time on the last tour and it was a bad decision, so I will never eat it again. I’d rather eat McDonald’s or truck stop food.
Yeah, like those hotdogs spinning around on those wheels.
I don’t mind those at all. I like a good hotdog or a cheddarwurst or something like that, but fuck Popeye’s, and you can print that!
ALL HAIL THE YETI is: Connor Garritty (vocals), Nicholas Diltz (bass), Craw NeQuent (guitar)
Check out ALL HAIL THE YETI on April 5, 2014 at The Viper Room in LA with KILL DEVIL HILL!
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By: Johnny Price, Senior Managing Journalist
Photographs by: Thomas Woroniak taken at Hellpop II Kansas City, MO.
Main Photograph by: Johnny Price
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