Motionless In White’s sophomore album, Infamous turned 10 this year and we have commentary from vocalist Chris "Motionless" Cerulli. Check it out below and let us know your thoughts on the record!

First of all, how does it feel knowing Infamous turned 10 this year?

I don’t think it hits as hard as it did when our album Creatures turned 10 in 2020. That was our first album 10 year anniversary, and that was such a huge deal to us, so I think Infamous is just more of a cool moment to look back on and think about what’s happened in the last 10 years. Maybe it would be different if this album wasn’t the most agonizing album to make in our career and had a better fate than it did in the early days of its release. 

How did you feel when the album came out?

Unfortunately, nothing positive. As mentioned above, it was incredibly complicated to write and record. I absolutely despised the mix/master on the record. And then all for it to be leaked a month early and have 85% of our fans hate it and abandon the band was not a positive time in our lives. Definitely my least favorite year of being in the band. Thankfully, I can look back now and find a ton of silver linings, and that’s what I like most about it. The aftermath of the aftermath ended up being really positive. 

Where do you think the album fits in the band's legacy?

I think it’s the moment in which the band truly said “fuck you” to having to cater to genre norms or what the fans and label wanted us to do. Although I don’t think we executed it the way we wanted to, I think it still took a lot of balls to take the risks we did and establish ourselves as a band who refused to stick to one thing. Infamous crawled so our future albums could run. No one bats an eye at the diversity of our records now, and that's thanks to Infamous setting that tone for us. 

How did the band approach writing? What inspired the lyrics?

Half of the music was written as a band, and the other half was written with us in the studio with producers Tim Skold, Jason Suecof, Drew Fulk (WzrdBld), and Mick Kenney. Despite my differences at the time with one of them, in the end, they all really helped us in a time where we were trying to take on wayyyy more than we were ready to and we owe a lot of that record to them for helping to wrangle it all together. 

As for the lyrics… This time period is where I think I was at my most hateful and angry in my life, so a lot of that poured out into the lyrics. I was mad at myself, my ex relationship, the people who talked shit on our band, and the world in general, so I just took all of that hatred and wrote a record around it. I enjoyed being hated because it fueled the fire in me to prove everyone wrong. 

Do any of the themes touched on the album still hold relevant for you?

Interestingly enough.. in my opinion, our newest album STEOTW is the most closely relatable to Infamous lyrics of any album of ours since 2012, so I guess that answers that question. I am still fucking angry and music is still my outlet to express that. It’s just unfortunate that the world has seemingly gotten worse and I have a whole new set of grievances to write about haha. There are essentially 2 songs on the new record that are sequels to songs from Infamous. I guess that's a cool way to look at it. 

What were your hopes and expectations for the record during the writing and recording process?

We had a band meeting one day in a hotel room where we discussed where we wanted to take the band. It was one of the most crucial days in MIW history. We decided that day that we were going to just do whatever the fuck we wanted. We wanted to showcase a much wider range of music that we all loved, and didn’t want to get trapped in the metalcore box exclusively.

We still loved and wanted to write metalcore songs, but that wasn’t the entirety of what we wanted to do. I think the biggest hope in all of that was to find a sound that people could identify as Motionless In White. Something I don’t think we accomplished fully until the following record, Reincarnate. 

When was the last time you listened to the record? Are there memories and emotions that come back?

Whenever we play a song from it that I have to brush up on, I usually go back and listen. I guess the cool thing is that I never intentionally mean to listen to the album, but I get sucked in. It’s a solid canvas of “fuck why did I think this part was a good idea?” Or “That’s the dumbest fucking line I’ve ever written”, mixed with “I’m so grateful for this song” or “Wow, this is some of the heaviest shit we’ve ever written”

What do you remember most about making the album?

I’m not going to talk shit about anyone in particular, because I don’t talk shit. But unfortunately, one of the people we worked with did not have even close to the same work ethic or mentality as I did, and I found that to be so difficult to deal with that I just ended up so constantly enraged that it took the fun out of creating music. I hate that that’s the primary association I have with the album, but it was seriously one of the most furious and least fun few months of my life.

I work my fucking ass off for this band, and trying to get an album done with someone that I felt like I had to beg to work on it was destroying my soul. Unfortunately, we weren’t in the position we are in now where I could have just walked away and continued on with someone else. If I had to pick something positive… it’s that the vocalist of my favorite band “Bleeding Through” ended up doing guest vocals on one of the songs, and that was a huge moment for me. 

Were there any bands in particular you enjoyed playing with while touring for the record?

The biggest tour that stands out is the Mayhem Fest Tour in 2013. We toured with Rob Zombie every night and it was one of the coolest, most fun tours we’ve ever done. It was a great summer and the moment things started to feel a little less stressful. 

How did things change for the band after the album came out?

Well… we lost a massive chunk of our fans initially, but the huge silver lining is that somehow we ended up gaining the same amount that left x2 or more within a year after it came out. I think we owe everything to the songs Devil’s Night and AMERICA, because without those singles and the music videos we were able to get out of them.. we would not have a career today. That’s my honest truth.

We had one of my favorite people we’ve ever worked with named Jenny Reader from Fearless who went to bat for us and fought so hard to get us the money to do these massive music videos for those 2 songs, and to get America some radio play, and it really helped us reach a lot of new fans to help the support of the fans that stuck with us from the Creatures era. 

Do you remember what you were listening to at the time?

Nothing specifically different than just all the bands we loved and listened to all the time. 

Do you think of the album any differently now than you did when you recorded it?

I honestly wish I had another shot at completely re-recording it. I would love to hear a lot of those songs done the way I wish we could have done them. I forced the label into us doing the deluxe edition with some stuff redone, but at that point it was like trying to put a band aid on a bullet wound. I want a true second shot at it so bad just for my own personal satisfaction of feeling like I saw it through the right way. The closure I never got haha. 

I am thankful now for the album and what it represents that I mentioned earlier. I love that there were lyrics that I can always look back on as a reference point for where I was at in my life and compare and contrast. I love that I found out what I am capable of when pushed to the absolute brink of pressure. And most of all.. I’m happy for the longtime friends and collaborators that I ended up meeting in the process of making it that I still work with now 10 years later and will work with forever. That is my favorite take away of all of them. 

Did you ever expect the album to have the influence it did?

Not a fucking chance. I don’t write music with the intention of being an influencer or an icon. I write what’s in my heart and soul, and I write as a means to express all sides of myself from serious to humorous.