Steel for Brains

Power Trip - Manifest Decimation

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:04:01 -0500

First things first. Thrash metal is not dead, nor is its validity contingent upon the throngs of tweeters and anonymous commenters who wave their post [insert any genre here] badge proudly. Thrash metal has given precisely zero fucks what the populace things, hence the very core of what makes thrash metal so perfect in a culture hellbent on tacking a cause onto every goddamn piece of art or trying to underscore an otherwise brilliant album with a laughably misguided attempt at social relevance. Greg Anderson of Southern Lord has made a successful business out of not giving a shit what critics and supposed trendsetters think. In turn, Southern Lord has continued to release some of the heaviest and genre defying heavy metal of the last decade. It’s been an exercise in risk, and the results have seen even Anderson’s most recent hardcore tangent take on a life of its own with a vengeance. Dallas thrash villains Power Trip are yet another incredibly impressive member of the Southern Lord family as their debut, Manifest Decimation is a welcome descent into the razored precision and lightning speed that only thrash metal at its very best can provide.

Manifest Decimation starts with a feedback drenched spiral into the Lemmy inspired vocals of Riley Gale. There’s no aping here, though. Just a kind of a vocal tip of the hat to thrash’s bewarted grandfather. One of the best things about this record is that instead of jam packing a couple of good songs at the beginning of the record, this one is progressively heavier, faster, and more relentless with each track. Tracks like “Heretic’s Fork” and “Conditioned to Death” showcase Power Trip’s impressive ability to groove step with the trash metal of their influences without mirroring them note for note. Any digressions into breakdowns or tempo breaks here are temporary and simply let the listener catch their breath before the next inevitable onslaught. “Murderer’s Row” may very easily end up being one of the best metal songs this year with its sans bullshit nods to thrash metal, speed metal, and punk all seamlessly put together in the course of less than four minutes.

Closing track “Hammer of Doubt” works almost like a wink to trash metal naysayers. It’s the longest track on the record at 6:26 and undoubtedly the most unabashedly brutal. The track serves as a summation of what the record up to that point has been – a searing auditory venture into insanity. The thing with Manifest Decimation as with so many of Southern Lord’s releases is that it shows a band unwilling to compromise the core of its sound in favor of something less risky. Power Trip are constantly referred to as crossover or speed or thrash metal, and it’s a solid fit. Genre defying is good. It makes for expanded sound and exciting forays into the unknown for a band. What’s harder than that, though, is bringing your own definition to a genre that’s been the home to some of metal’s most revered. Power Trip succeed on this level at every track, offering up a record that’s a nod to those who’ve come before and a headfirst leap into a dark new place. Thrash is alive and well, and it’s pulse can be found quite easily in the sonic mayhem of Power Trip’s Manifest Decimation. Manifest Decimation is available now courtesy of Southern Lord.

<a href=”http://powertripsl.bandcamp.com/album/manifest-decimation-2” data-mce-href=”http://powertripsl.bandcamp.com/album/manifest-decimation-2”>Manifest Decimation by Power Trip</a>

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Cruel Machinery - A Conversation With Author & Punisher

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:11:37 -0500

Tristan Shone, curator and brains behind Author & Punisher, creates music that is unforgiving and exact. His latest release, Women & Children finds him utilizing those self-made instruments that set him apart from so many other musicians and bands. To call Shone’s work innovative would be a fairly horrific understatement as Author & Punisher are a perfect example of the progression not just of heavy music but the way in which music as a whole is approached stylistically and compositionally. I had the opportunity to chat with Tristan recently about this as well as his own thoughts on heavy music.

What’s your approach to the writing process? What does that look like once you begin to create these songs?

These songs came out of so many different places for me, but I would think largely a lot of these songs come by accident when I’m not forcing myself to sit and write. The two piano-based songs were basically written for…I saw this Steinway piano in the library, and I was doing this art performance there with these masks that I made. I just said “Oh shit, let’s do something that’s made for piano.” I went home, took a piano out of my synth, and just started playing piano and coming up with some dark stuff that I liked. I haven’t done that since I was in high school. In actually working with that sound it totally opened up a whole new can of worms – different emotions.

That was something I hadn’t done for a long, long time, so those songs stand out in a different way. Two of the other songs, “Melee” and “Miles From Home,” were written while I had a two week residency at a friend’s house. I was just in somebody else’s house with some keyboards and samplers. I just sat there and drank beer, eating Mexican and listening to Mexican music, and I was just kind of writing these more dance beat tracks. Whereas with the Ursus album I was sitting on my machines writing stuff, these songs were just coming from a whole different place. A lot of times it was just me sitting on my couch with a laptop. There’s no solid answer for this [laughs]. It’s just like a big mess.

What’s brought you to the point where you are now as a musician? What’s that journey been like leading you to create your own instruments and essentially carve your own path in the world of heavy music?

I really feel like the music comes from the same place. I’ve been listening to the same bands. I listen to a lot more electronic stuff now, but I still have these sounds and emotions that I’m chasing all the time. The earlier albums, even though they might be a little cleaner or more hardcore based or something, they’re very much coming from the same place. I think being locked into a guitar and a sequence of drum beats or maybe even another person – that kind of helped me back a little bit, and I felt almost too quantized into different pitches and genre specific, whereas when I started building my own instruments I was basically…there were things that were out of key.

It didn’t have fixed pitches. All of a sudden it was really hard to keep my time. Just by putting my body in different positions with different pitches, not using guitars, all of a sudden I could approach that same emotion in my music. I just drive the conceptual idea I have in my head in a different way – from a different angle. Now, I’ve gotten to the point where I can kind of utilize…I’m better at harnessing those pitches and rhythms. The drum machine is a lot slower – kind of more dronish than when I first started things, so it’s a little bit more dynamic. Now I’m mixing it with other instruments. The next album is going to be completely new instruments – next year sometime.

What’s the process like for you in writing lyrics?

I think I had maybe ten words on the whole Ursus album. I think maybe this is a big change. I’d had some political stuff before, but I’ve moved away from that. It’s more of an apocalyptic, hopeless vibe now for me, but I’m a pretty happy person, actually [laughs]. I don’t have much hope for the future, so there’s some elements of that in there. Much like bands that I respect, I really don’t focus on it too much. I remember David Byrne said something once about using voice as an instrument and sometimes it’s just the words that are coming out are not necessarily – they don’t even need to be meaningful. They can be. A lot of times I’ll write stuff, and then I’ll find out what it means later. I’m not a poet. I’m happy with the stuff that I’ve written. A lot of it sounds like free association.

So no hope for the human race?

Yeah. I think it’s probably not so much people as it is like…a lot of metal people I know, they’re constantly complaining about people, but I think I’m pretty forgiving a lot of humans. The overall state of nature and the planet, though, I’m more pessimistic about. I really think people are intrinsically, more or less, good.

When you think about the evolution of the heavy music and where it stands now, or the direction it’s headed, I think Author & Punisher is a prime example of how the genre is progressing forward. Do you think the growing popularity for heavy music could be attributed to this progress? Is it a passing trend?

I think there’s two sides to that. The same thing happened with like metalcore in the early 2000s and maybe with stoner and doom now. If you’re in a stoner and doom band you gotta have long hair, tattoos, and a cutoff jean jacket. That’s a whole genre of fashion now. For me, it’s just like…a lot of people, when I show up to a show, and I’m dressed kind of normal, some people won’t even acknowledge that I’m there until after I play, and then they’re like “Oh, you’re Author & Punisher!” and I’m like “Oh, is it because I didn’t have tattoos and long hair that you didn’t say ‘Hi’ to me when I walked in the door?” The same thing happens when you’re in Brooklyn. It’s kind of like Oh…cool. So this is like a hipster thing now [laughs]. I’m not bitter about that happening. You are who you are. The people who write real music maybe they do look like that, but more times than not you can just tell by the way people talk that hey – this is a musician, whether they’re a metal person or not.

Then, you have the other side of it with bands like Sunn who are a little more conceptual metal and have broken through into some of the more poppy festivals like Prima Vera and things like that. I think that’s great. It crosses boundaries into something that’s more than metal, in my mind. It’s performance art. Whether it’s trendy or not, the actual metal underground scene is pretty narrow, so it’s opened up the genre a little bit. The stoner doom thing is typically a little bit more boring. Hopefully that’ll die a little bit. I can tell when the band comes in the door – how they’ve geared the way they dress and the equipment that they have – I can almost tell what they’re gonna sound like. It’s the same with electronic music. I can tell by which controllers somebody has – oh yeah, they’re gonna be a cheesy dubstep band or this kind of techno.

What do you see as the greatest challenge facing someone wanting to make viable heavy music in today’s culture?

I think it’s basically just working out financially how you’re going to get to that point where you…I mean, I’m not supporting myself on music. I’m getting to the point where I’m making more money, because I’m just one person, so I can make X amount of dollars, where a band that’s got five people, and they’ve got a merch person, and a roadie or whatever. Getting to that point, I don’t even really know if there should be a goal. If you play long enough, everyone else will just give up. If you’re really passionate about it, you just keep going, and something will work out for you. I think a lot of people are not really willing to, or can’t, or don’t have the means to find some sort of job which allows them to do the amount of touring that you really need to do to get your name out there. It’s just…it’s been since 2004 with Author & Punisher, and it’s just getting to the point where I got a call from Pitchfork to do an interview, you know? I meet a lot of young bands, and god bless them if they can get to the point where they can get some publicity very early on, but you just really have to learn it and not care about that stuff.

What is it about heavy music that keep drawing you back to create new things and expand your own sound?

If I go out at night, and I go to a club or a bar – I’m mostly listening to electronic stuff. I like the purity of the electronic sound. It’s a little less harsh. I can hang out, and it’s a little more fun? I don’t know [laughs]. Every once in a while I like to go out and hear a really heavy band in town. I kind of get that through my own playing, so that’s enough [laughs]. There’s a certain thing with heavy music, that I’ve always just attached to. I started listening to heavy stuff in the mid 90s, and I just have these sounds in my head, and these rhythms, and I’ll just be walking around during the day in my job and these sounds keep playing – like a grindy, heavy sound. I’m always replaying it, and I want to make that sound, or I want to build something I can move that would help me make that. It’s something that’s always there, and it’s never faded, so that’s a good thing. Then also, I love the whole process. Even though it’s a pain to build this stuff. When you’re touring, every element of the night – you get there, have a beer, set up your stuff, meet the people, play, hang out with the people after, drive to the next thing. This whole process – I’m just giddy the whole time. I’m tired from the Euro trip, but I’m already looking forward to the next time.

What are you typically doing when you’re not touring or writing?

I’m a huge soccer fan, and I play in an old guy men’s league. I watch a lot of other sports, too. I come from Boston, so I’m a fan of Boston when it comes to those things, but I’m really into the British, European, and American soccer stuff. I also have two dogs, and we hang out a lot, and when the weather’s warm, I’ll go surfing. But I’m not a very good surfer [laughs].

Thanks to Tristan for his time.

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Palms - Palms

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:15:45 -0500

It’s hard not to let the anticipation of an album eat away at the reality that ultimately hits once you hit play. In a year of some absolutely groundbreaking metal (see Deafheaven, Altar of Plagues, VHÖL, Inter Arma, etc.) the standards are incredibly high. The cringe-inducing term “supergroup” comes with either the listener’s notion of hopeful apprehension or immediate dismissal. What one group terms as a bloated vanity project, another will label a brilliant work of musicianship. Thankfully, the Chino Moreno (Deftones), Aaron Harris (ISIS), Jeff Caxide (ISIS), and Clifford Meyer (ISIS) combination better known as Palms, falls handily into the latter category with their debut self-titled release. Both meditative and quietly intense, Palms is a record that doesn’t distance itself from the members’ other bands so much as it allows them to compliment those styles in a new atmosphere.

First track “Future Warrior” starts off with a sound reminiscent of 80s era Depeche Mode intertwined with the overarching and always brilliant guitar/bass/synth mastership of Caxide and Meyer. The gorgeous layered production of the instrumentation here is contrasted against the immediately recognizable vocal style of Moreno whose clean vocals are as impressive as they’ve ever been here. Harris adds his percussive precision and affinity for subtle nuances behind the drums in a way that underscores the entire mood of the record. While Moreno commands the vocals, Harris drives the sound without being forceful. “Patagonia,” the first track released from the record, is stunningly gorgeous with Moreno’s vocals lilting dreamlike over Caxide’s ethereal bass work. Meyer is equally as complimentary with his guitar/synth work having sonic conversations to match the winding path set forth by Harris.

“Mission Sunset” stands out as both the longest track and one of the album’s highlights with its hiccupped rhythms and hazy atmospherics. Palms is a triumph of a record even without considering the pedigree of the musicians involved. Much like VHÖL’s debut this year, Palms shows a group of absolute masters of their craft refusing to let their previous bands determine the soundscapes created here. Moreno, Harris, Caxide, and Meyer make for such a good ensemble it’s a wonder they haven’t done something together long before now. The timing is perfect, however, as with their debut, Palms have crafted another pathway in the journey for each of its members. It’s one that while echoing some of the sentiments of Deftones and ISIS, is something else entirely with all members combining to create a record that’s startlingly beautiful and contemplative. Palms will be released June 25^th, courtesy of Ipecac Recordings. Listen to “Patagonia” here.

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Of Fallen Flesh - A Conversation with AngelFukk Witchhammer

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:23:00 -0500

I was taken aback only a few seconds into my conversation with AngelFukk Witchhammer (A.M.S.G./Ouroboros) as his calm and reflective tone completely contrasted the serrated vocals I’d heard just minutes before on A.M.S.G.’s fantastic and raw Anti Cosmic Tyranny. Witchhammer’s sincerity is unquestionable as is his unadorned approach to black metal. There’s a depth and integrity to the standard he holds with both his music and his personal life. I had the opportunity to speak with AngelFukk about authenticity in the metal world today as well as his stint in prison.

When you first started listen to music to the point where you are now, what’s your journey as a musician and fan looked like?

That was a long time ago. It’s hard to remember back in the day, but I grew up in the 80s, so…I remember listening to heavier types of music and stuff. It always drew me, because when I grew up it was in the 80s, so there was what like rock and disco [laughs]. Pretty much pop hits and disco. And then metal. Lucky for me I was drawn to the heavy shit, and it’s been kind of a rocky ride up until now, because being in Canada which is very less populated, it’s hard to get into the underground. It’s a lot harder for us up here, because of the lack of population. There’s less people into it. It’s more like a secret or esoteric thing almost. Like the Freemasonry club or something. You get into it when you’re younger, and you have no idea, and then you find some likeminded people. You become friends because of the music. You’d hook up after school and listen to metal, or one of your friends would just get a wicked LP, and you’d go over to his house and listen to it. Growing up like that…I liked that, because when you get older you get the fliers, you do writing bands, you tape trade – it’s almost like an art form.

Now, it’s a very different atmosphere. As an example, when I got out of prison last summer I went to go check out these new bands play. A couple of them were alright, and I went to go talk to one of the guys after, because he seemed cool. So I go over there, and I’m like “How’s it going, blah, blah, blah…,” and I introduced myself, and they did not understand black metal. I asked them all, “So you guys…what are some bands you like?” And they were like “Well, we listen mostly to our band on YouTube.” [Laughs] I didn’t even know how to respond to that. There’s a generation gap. I’m used to talking to people who used to write bands and work to get that LP. You see a flier, you send your $20 with a pre-stamped envelope for sure reply. You wait, and sometimes you never got the LP, or sometimes it would take months.

There was no YouTube. For me, it’s like the information is there, which is a good and a bad thing, because it does weed out the people who aren’t true to it. It allows a lot of people that are false to gather information right directly to them, and it’s easier for them to jump on the bandwagon. That’s what I find today. And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, because obviously I’ve had to go to that route too. I don’t understand it as a 90s kid growing up. I just find myself getting deeper and deeper into the underground, man. Turning myself away from the internet. I don’t even really go on the internet anymore unless it’s writing emails or something like that. As far as that goes, I still feel underground. I still write letters. I’m where I want to be, and where I should be, I think. I can only follow the road the best I can. It’s been an up and down journey. When I went to prison for that amount of time there was no music at all. Getting out, I had music in my head. Getting out was like a whole new scene almost. It changed.

From your own perspective have you seen that kind of immediacy and availability of information affect heavy metal?

I think it’s affected it in a bad way. It’s lost mysteriousness about it. The secrets and mystery behind it – the power is gone. When I’m on the internet, and I’m just scoping out blogs or whatever, and I see a harsh band and a picture, and they just look ridiculous on the internet. It makes their stuff almost jokeish. I remember back in the day getting a flier for the first Impiety seven inch. I was like “Holy fuck, these motherfuckers are harsh looking.” It was all photocopied, and they looked mysterious and harsh. You don’t have that. I’m going to pin this flier to my fucking wall. Now, it’s like who are these jokers? It just seems like the mystery and power…it’s like a normal person couldn’t go back and listen to the Impiety seven inch back then. They wouldn’t be getting these fliers. It was almost like you were part of a strict club of metal [laughs]. Just Satanic, evil, mysterious – your fucking grandparents don’t know about this shit. You found a secret outlet. Now with the internet it’s everywhere you go. Black metal has become so popular now that it’s lost something. I feel that it’s lost something. As a good example, the band Ghost. Now, I personally like Ghost, because I know what they’re trying to do. Their first album is a good Mercyful Fate tribute. I went to go see them here, and I was probably the only fucking metalhead. I was surrounded by all these hipsters, and Ghost are talking about human sacrifice in the ritual chamber, and all these people are singing along, and they think it’s a joke. They think these guys aren’t Satanic. If they were back in the 80s, Ghost would be how King Diamond was where it’s like holy fuck. Ghost wouldn’t be as popular as it is today, but they’d have the right popular.

You mentioned going to prison. What led up to that, and what was that experience like? Did the experience have influence over your approach to the latest A.M.S.G. material?

[Laughs] It was inevitable, I think. I refuse to conform to the slave Christian Democratic mindset that this country has put everyone through. The mass populated idea to be a slave, to pay your taxes, to worship god and everything will be okay, and if you don’t do that you go to hell. Going to prison, I guess I’m old school in that sense. Growing up, we were all like black metal. With the band Ouroboros, we were young. We were fucking fifteen at that time. We were whoremongers – just having a fire inside invoked that. We refused to live by those laws of man, because those aren’t the real laws of man. Fuck laws of man. We’re animals. In the Christian’s eyes, we’re terrorists, because we bring terror to them. Church burnings, beatings, walking down the street drunk with a big gang of us just fighting people – on that aspect it was inevitable. Looking the way we do, acting the way we do, it’s hard to get a normal job set, because we’re not your usual weekend warrior metalheads where we have a leather jacket that we put on and a bullet belt on the weekend. No, this is an every day lifestyle.

I remember waking up covered in blood and having blacked out eyes for weeks, because we were just living like that. So, for income wise, we had to resort to some criminal activity. I was putting all the money I was making into the band. Into distro stuff. Trading, trying to build stuff. I was just trying to do that in that aspect. We were building black metal on crime. It was almost like a criminal organization of music. We’d go out there and sell drugs and guns and I remember selling drugs and guns all day and then going to band practice. That was just normal. Eventually the shit’s gonna catch up to you, because the odds are against you. Doing crime is like going to a fucking casino. You can only win for so long until you get busted. The house always wins when you’re fighting an enemy bigger than you are. That’s pretty much what got us to jail.

Canadian prison is not like American prison. Your guys’ prison system is flooded. I think the amount of people you have in prison in the States is almost the population of Canada. It’s a very grim place here, though. You go in there and there’s actually respect between a bunch of criminals. It’s more like a real world than the one we live in. People are used to living behind their white picket fence in a bubble, but in there if someone doesn’t like you, you’re getting smashed out. The fighting is pretty savage, but it’s very real. Life is very cheap, and you realize that. It’s like living in Colombia or something, except there’s a steel fucking cage, and you’re not allowed out. I would never say that prison…I don’t want to go back, but I wouldn’t change that. I’m glad I went there. For a shorter time would have been nice, but whatever. I thrived there, because I was more in an element of just pure barbaric respect. Honor and respect, but it was pure warfare as well.

I watched ten people die in front of me, and some of them pretty violently. I saw people’s throats get slit. A guy boiled a pot of honey and threw it in this guy’s face who was right in front of me. Aspects like that…you’re sitting there, and that just happens, and you’re like holy fuck. Life is very delicate. They call walkout, and you go back to your cell, and what do you do when all you have is a wall? Prison is the perfect place to write music. It had an influence on me somewhat, but the album was always there. The darkness and atmosphere in prison helped and made it a bit sharper, but the whole album was already pretty much there.

Concerning the religious or anti religious aspects of your music, do you consider yourself a theistic Satanist or an atheistic Satanist, or a conglomeration of different occult beliefs?

I take things from every class, actually. My thoughts are crazy on the subject. I don’t think you have enough room on your site to write it. I walk my own path in a way. We have an order here. Me and some people that are with other organizations worldwide, and we follow not an atheist Luciferian order, but my sense is very…I don’t think that there’s a black cloaked, horned devil sitting in hellfire. Like an Anton LaVey Satanist, or even a Cathedral of the Black Goat type of organization that’s in America. Thinking of Satan as like a horned being or something…you’re just taking the Judea or Christian concept and just worshipping that. To me, my own path is righteous. It crushes the bible. My learnings – I try to take from all over the place, and make them my own. I agree with some stuff, and I don’t agree with some stuff. It’s helped me achieve maximum consciousness which I use in my beliefs. It takes years of practice and rituals to make it your own and better yourself. People just think “Oh, I’m gonna get into Satanism, or I like metal now.” Metal doesn’t make you a Satanist. They think if you go to church it’s going to be a quick fix. If you’re going to travel down this path it’ll take years. I’ll always be learning stuff. Luciferian philosophy takes years. So, to answer you…I’m neither and everything, I guess [laughs].

Thanks to AngelFukk for his time. Anti Cosmic Tyranny will be released courtesy of Profound Lore Records.

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Locrian - Return to Annihilation

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:57:31 -0500

It’s fascinating to watch the heavy music world turn inward in search for both music and lyrics that pose far more questions than answers. Introspection has garnered success for artists in every genre from the doubt masked with self-aggrandizement of Kanye West to the seething and pensive despair of a funeral doom metal band like Loss. Despite having more outlets than ever in human history to record and disseminate every menial detail of our lives, the concept of identity remains as enigmatic as it was at the beginning of human history. Perhaps more than any other artistic channel, music helps to bridge the gap between what our perceptions of reality and the grim and oftentimes brutal truth that sits at our doorstep. In my conversation with Terence Hannum of Locrian he mentioned that he was inspired by “how messed up we treat our own existence.” The scope and magnitude of human interaction and its collective reaction to both our environment and society weigh heavily on Locrian’s latest and easily their best release, Return to Annihilation.

Starting from an ethereal haze, Return to Annihilation is a gorgeous exercise in bleak atmospherics contrasted with massive undercurrents of synth, guitar, and drums. Not unlike watching the sky darken while the waters rise around you, Locrian’s music plays like the most dangerous of auditory elixirs – inviting and soothing in its execution but laying waste to any preconceptions by the record’s end. Second track “A Visitation From the Wrath of Heaven” begins similarly with electronic pulses ushering in something bigger and far more foreboding. Much of the brilliance of this album lies in its subtlety. Where much of heavy music, and music in general, may rely on the production of the music itself to swallow up the sonic nuances and ambient digressions, Locrian allows for those very elements to shoulder the burden of the sound itself. Tracks like “Two Moons” and “Exiting the Hall of Vapor and Light” further this notion expanding and retracting their slow build into something as meditative as it is malicious.

The deceptively quiet start of Return to Annihilation is buried somewhat with the title track’s foray into the familiarity of black metal. Instead of opting for formula, however, Locrian are just as quick to introduce the electronic and ambient components of their vast soundscape as they are tremolos. Each track here is an exploration of the end by way of looking at the present. The human condition personified by way of sound is an enormous challenge, yet Locrian seem right at home in the swarm of noise and introspection. With Return to Annihilation, Locrian have peeled back another layer of the human experience. Where apocalyptic visions and a bleak worldview have become the standard for much of metal, Locrian make the experience not so much about what happens to the individual but how the individual reacts. For Locrian, the potential end of our existence may very well hold the secrets to our beginnings – an ellipsis of the self looking inward to face the devastation of what occurs just at our fingertips. Return to Annihilation will be released June 25th, courtesy of Relapse.

<a href=”http://locrian.bandcamp.com/album/return-to-annihilation” data-mce-href=”http://locrian.bandcamp.com/album/return-to-annihilation”>Return To Annihilation by Locrian</a>

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Septic Tongues - A Conversation With The Black Dahlia Murder

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:19:04 -0500

The Black Dahlia Murder are a band I was introduced to by way of a student I taught a few years ago. I used to make it a point to be a complete ass to students who would wear band shirts. It wasn’t that I even disliked the band so much as it was the fact that I enjoyed being an ass. That being said, I actually was intrigued by the band name and decided to check them out. ”What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse” immediately hooked me. It wasn’t metalcore. It wasn’t death metal. I didn’t (and don’t) know what the fuck it is, but TBDM have made it a point to carve out their own specific and indelible sound. Their upcoming release, Everblack, is no different in that it shows a band continually progressing in sound and scope. I had the opportunity to chat with bassist Max Lavelle about this as well as toilet stories from the road.

My first question, Max, has to do with your personal path as a musician. What led you to where you are now with The Black Dahlia Murder?

Well, that’s a great question, because I’ve been doing this since I was fifteen years old. First band ever, and this is the same timeline for a lot of bands now that are in the industry. When I was like fourteen or fifteen, Alan Glassman from Job for a Cowboy is one of my best friends – we grew up together. Went to school together, went to high school together, went to tech school together – pretty much everything. So we had this garage band called Twisted Sacrifice that later turned into a goregrind band called Goratory. We put out three – uh, about four releases. We got three full lengths. And that’s the band that got us to sell for the first time. We were playing all these festivals in Eastern Europe. We headlined Fuck the Commerce in Germany. We were like seventeen or eighteen years old.

From then on, Alan and I joined this progressive metalcore band called Burn In Silence which was me, Al, and Darren Cesca who was also in Goratory, and that was on Prosthetic Records we did about one release, and then that disbanded, and me and Al went to Despised Icon and Darren went to Arsis. Me and Alan did DI for a while. He split and went to Job, and then from DI, I did a couple of tours with BDM. The last tour that that DI did in Europe was with BDM, and we shared a bus for a month. I got to know the guys from a few tours, and then about a year after DI disbanded after that tour, and that’s when I got a call from Brian to jump in. And that was from fifteen to now. Pretty much nonstop hitting it up to where I am now, man.

From the standpoint of being a musician and seeing yourself through those phases of your life, how have you seen your own craft evolve?

Well, at first I just kinda wanted to do it and just play and practice and just be in a band, and then as it progressed I just wanted…I found out that I wanted to do this for a living. And I tried to make every connection I could. I tried to write music that I liked that I wanted to put out there. I think it was just that I wanted it so bad from a young age that I just became more persistent and the more persistent I became the more focused I got. Almost like I kept zeroing in on things to the point now where I’m totally happy with how everything turned out.

It seems like with every release you guys are expanding your boundaries with regards to your sound without ever sacrificing the core element to what makes it The Black Dahlia Murder. How have you seen the band evolve as a whole?

Musically, the band has definitely matured. Just the way that the songwriting is done, and everyone is more focused. From Nocturnal to now, you can listen to how everything’s written. It’s a lot more put together and really well thought out. I think the band – it’s been through a lot of member changes and stuff, too. I think it’s just things that happen when you kind of progress and you get into a certain area. I think now is the best point that the band has ever been at. As far as players, songwriting, and everyone being on the same page – I mean, sometimes it takes time to get all the right pieces of the puzzle together. When you start out, you start out with what’s around you, and then as you keep progressing you attract the right pieces. I think right now we’ve got the formula down.

What was the thought process for you guys heading into the studio to make Everblack? Did you guys have a different approach for this record just as far as perspective?

The way that everything is composed is we do everything in pre-production. So all the songs are demoed and written by different members or together in our own home studios to get everything together. Everyone takes input and feedback. Everyone talks about everything. All the cards are on the table during this process, and then we go to track it. As far as composing stuff, a lot of the time the techniques and methods we use – a lot of the time you’re working with chord progression, key changes, etc. We try to make they’re correct, so they’re not hurting people’s ears subconsciously [laughs]. That’s another point of how the band’s progressed, too. Thinking about songwriting more and just doing things correctly.

Lyrically speaking, I assume Trevor handles all of that.

Yeah, Trevor and Brian take care of that. Trevor’s the main lyricist. The stuff he writes – I love reading Trevor’s lyrics. It’s really in depth and well thought out. I think he really respects his craft, and I think that’s why they come out as well as they do. He really likes what he’s doing. He puts his whole heart into his artform.

credit: Mateusz Kluba

What’s been your proudest moment with the band so far, and what’s been your strangest experience, Max?

Best experience would just be like – when I got into the band officially. On the tour the guys were great to hang out with. Everyone’s just great friends, so that was a great experience for me to get into that officially. Craziest? Oh, man [laughs]. I’d forgotten about this. We were playing somewhere in Southeast Asia, and I remember there was no bathroom. We were playing in a field in a tent. There was like sideways monsoon rain every fifteen minutes, because the climate was so crazy. People wanted to go to the bathroom, and there wasn’t one around there, so they take us to their like barbaric excuse of a bathroom. There’s a hole in the ground to shit in. It’s like in the floor or something, but there’s no toilet paper. There’s a bucket of water that you’re supposed to wipe yourself with. You’ve got to stick your shitty hand into the shit water to wipe yourself. That was pretty atrocious, man [laughs]. Dude. I’ve also – and this was a long time ago – but Despised had a trailer, and we’d stopped at some gas station in France by the ferry. A family of women and children gypsies had broken into our trailer and stayed in there. We didn’t find out until the next gas station when we opened it and there was like a ton of people piling out of it.

You’ve been playing music long enough, and I’m sure you’ve seen the upward trend in heavy music’s popularity over the last five to ten years. What are your thoughts on that progression?

I have lot of thoughts on it, actually [laughs]. I talk about this type of thing with my friends all the time. It’s like – I love that metal music has become popular. It’s great. It’s awesome. But, I used to go to shows – I’ve been going to shows since I was like fourteen or fifteen. Going to death metal shows and there’s nobody there. No girls there. It’s like this underground thing where only the people who actually like the music will go. The thing now is that it’s so popular there’s so much – there’s like that whole fashion metal death metal thing going on, so there’s tons of chicks at the show. Which is cool, but it’s just kind of – I don’t know – some of it seems kind of fake where people that are going really aren’t into it. They just kind of going there and being something because they think it’s cool or they want to look a certain way. I think it’s great that it’s popular and it’s relevant. That’s cool. I’m glad that we can still be relevant with everyone, but it is what it is.

Do you think the popularity has caused people with genuine intentions to create their own bands? Is the market more saturated than it’s ever been?

Oh yeah. There’s more availability. Even if it’s a trend, people are gonna take what they want out of it and do what they want with it. Even if it’s a stupid fad they’re still gonna take something from it. It’s like with anything.

What do you feel is the number one obstacle facing a heavy metal band right now?

You gotta stand out in the mass, man. There’s so much competition now. It’s one thing to be good. With all the availability now and the stuff out there it’s like you’ve really gotta appeal to people enough to stand out. There’s a billion bands out there. There’s a ton of great bands out there that won’t even get looked at. You’ve really got to stand out. Persistence and consistency is probably the best thing to overcome that obstacle.

What was and is it about heavy music that drew you in initially as a fan and keeps you there now, Max? What’s the draw?

I’m just fascinated by – I love the music, but I just felt like I needed to do it, you know? I don’t want to call it a calling, but when you get that feeling like there’s something that feels really good, and when you do it you feel like you’re doing the right thing. That’s how I feel about music, and that’s pretty much the driving force that’s brought me where I am now.

What lies ahead for the band? What’s the next step?

We’ve got Warped Tour festival coming up in about – it’s gonna start actually – the first date is on Wednesday, I believe. So that’ll start next week and last eight weeks. That’s gonna be a little different for us, but I can’t wait to get on that. That’s gonna be a great step for us, I think.

What do you typically like to do in your spare time, man?

I’m a huge fitness advocate. I almost became a trainer a couple of times. I’m huge into training, kickboxing. My father was a pro fighter, and I’ve got a couple of other pro fighters in the family, so that’s a huge thing. I own a creative company at home that does web development and graphic design and stuff like that. I like to spend time with my family and go to shows that I want to go to which are usually at small crowded dive bars. I try to just manage fitness and work and just check out bands I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to yet.

Thanks to Max for his time. Everblack will be released June 11th, courtesy of Metal Blade Records.

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Paths of Unrighteousness - A Conversation With Alraune

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:49:32 -0500

I came to Alraune’s music by way of my friend Chandlar who said they were easily one of the best new black metal bands working today. I made it a point to listen to them as soon as I could and alongside the endorsement of Mike Meacham from Loss, Alraune has quickly become one of the most compelling bands I’ve heard in some time. This might not be an impressive feat were it not for the fact that the band currently has only a two-track demo to purchase/listen to. Two fucking tracks and this band has created an insatiable craving for more of their gritty blacker than black metal. I’ll be posting a review of those two tracks later, but I had the opportunity to ask guitarist/vocalist Z. Allen a few questions regarding the band’s inception and the role that the occult plays in their amazing music.

What is it about heavy music that you feel encapsulates the art you create?

The urgency. The very wholesome catharsis it provides. Alchemy was urgent. Alchemy was raw and untethered, and changed the chemical structure of man’s willingness/ability to think….. ‘beyond’ themselves. Following their unconscious. Most people have a sense of this (whether they realize it or not), needing to manifest itself somehow; whether by drugs, art, books, sex, cutting themselves, etc. Intense music fulfills intense thoughts quite well, i feel like. This could translate just as easy to describe a creepy Bach organ piece….. Totally immersive.

What’s been your personal journey as a musician? What books, music, or other artforms worked as catalysts for you to begin your own journey as a musician?

Personally (not on behalf of ALRAUNE), many things have brought me to where i am. I won’t go into musical influences here, as Alraune (the band) has many - from all over the place. Regarding my own life’s path, I was always drawn to scary, macabre shit when i was a kid, and had a dark side that was more shrouded; more cthontic. I wasn’t in touch with it, and through things like heavy drinking I was led more and more towards self sabotage. Self-fulfilling-suicide-curse. Early in my 20’s I started reading Carl Jung, which sort of opened me up to my own darkness - which slowly removed the ‘shroud’, per se. Understanding my own unconscious more, I was able to get away from things like drinking and become the person I was really meant to be. It led me towards the creation of my own occult proverb, that I follow intensely -

“When I fell upon unconscious ways, my mind bent back like a light in a cave -
When I gazed upon familiar eyes, i saw them smile and believe the lies.”

Bands became my focus then, making very untethered, unconscious music. Darkness with a purpose, and not just for the sake thereof. Since then i opened myself to things beyond the soft-occult studies, which have also helped a good deal.

How big of a role does the occult play in Alraune’s music?

Alraune IS the occult. Haha…… Moreso in the sense of creating the music from a very arcane, and un-contrived place. Creating a song is much like composing it’s own begotten sigil….. Everything gets added, tweaked, adjusted, chipped away until it just BECOMES the manifestation of an idea. Wholesomely ‘magick-al’ in that sense, yes. Its name comes from german folklore, based on the mandrake myth. The whole “seed from a hanged man” becoming ALRAUNE speaks of a very personal, self-made demon. Parallels to Jung’s Anima concept could be easily made, which speaks closely to our own studies into Psychology, Art, and the Occult.

Does the band invoke certain rituals in the compositional process? What does the compositional process look like both musically and lyrically?

Personally, yes. But no collective doctrine is made across the board towards our whole collective experience. Each of us have our own rituals, our own ‘state’, trance, to get in that ‘place’ the music comes from. Everyone had their own unique way of doing such, and we all meet in the same place to strangle the emotions of whoever’s listening.

credit: Kathryn McCrunkless

What things contribute to the lyrical process? Literature? Meditation?

Plenty. But most generally - PSYCHOLOGY and OCCULT. Surely poetic-myth plays in as well, considering our name itself takes quite a bit of it’s significance from literature….. for those curious enough to look it up, i encourage it.

As heavy music continues to expand its horizons and reach a wider audience, how do you view the current state of what’s considered heavy metal? What are some challenges you see personally in the genre, and what are some progressions?

Pretty much how I’ve always felt; there’s a decent amount of good stuff, and a whole lot of stuff which is more contrived, trying to become an imprint of the more innovative bands. Plenty of homogeneity and fodder out there, but still plenty of explosive shit lurking underneath the surface. We know what we like, but can’t really predict how ALRAUNE will be taken by a mass audience…. It’s not cookie-cutter contrived shit, and that’s the only place we care to stand on. We’re not in any scene with this music, we just play it from our own tastes and musical discretion.

What was the inception of Alraune like? How did the band form, and what’s the origination of the name?

This was touched on briefly in a previous question, but the name comes from a book written by Hanns Heinz Ewers in the early 1900’s. He wrote it based on medieval Germanic folklore relating to the Mandrake myth - a being created from the seed of a hanged man. Final essence, final strength. Urgency. Unsavory/Unholy final effort. All of these symbols, along with Ewers own literary manifestation spoke to us about the personal psychology of will; how and where to find it’s power. Internal distractions, internal demons. Struggle.

Jordan and I started writing for this in late 2010, and we got together with Jesse and Tyler in early 2011. A great match of musicians, made up of members from Nashville’s local punk/hardcore/experimental scene. Everyone took to it really well, and we’re trying to get it out there the best way we can - with urgency.

What lies ahead for Alraune regarding a tour, the full length debut, etc.?

Looking to record in early July. Then a possible short tour in the fall. We’ll keep you posted - ALRAUNE will be updating Facebook quite regularly with new developments, and possibly a two-song tape release with material not featured on the upcoming full-length. There’s been a great response, even with what little we’ve put forth thus far, to which we are eternally thankful.

What do the band members like to do in their spare time when not recording, writing, etc.?

I dunno, animals maybe….. I know Tyler has a cat. And Jordan. Everyone likes girlfriends it seems. Jesse has a wife that’s pretty cool. I mix and master bands by trade. Nobody is a heavy-drinker or drug user, so we’re pretty dull in that regard (I’m dead sober). Pretty typical metal/music nerd type shit - playing in lots of different bands, reading/studying “things”. Eating.

Thanks to Z. for his time.

<a href=”http://alraune.bandcamp.com/track/exordium” data-mce-href=”http://alraune.bandcamp.com/track/exordium”>Exordium by ALRAUNE</a>

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Deafheaven - Sunbather

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:00:05 -0500

When Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke discussed his writing process for Steel for Brains earlier this year I’d not yet heard Sunbather. The dialogue between both Clarke and his own consciousness seemed to be one hinged upon the precipice of want and desire mired in the melancholy of an oftentimes grim reality. It wasn’t long before I was able to hear the opening track “Dream House” when NPR streamed the track alongside an excellent dissection from Lars Gotrich. It’s hard not to elevate one’s expectations when the hype is insurmountable. Human nature dictates the inevitable letdown when actuality overshadows hope. Deafheaven’s Sunbather, however, is not simply a step forward for the San Francisco band whose debut Roads to Judah sparked rightly deserved acclaim but a marked progression for the realm of music itself. Clarke’s glimpse into his own consciousness fosters a kind of fragility on Sunbather that’s as provocative as it is endearing in its familiarity with anyone longing to escape the banality of their own existence.

Where “Dream House” unfolds rapidly into a blend of delay pedal melody and tremolo beauty courtesy of Kerry McCoy’s seamless guitar work. The title track serves almost as a continuation of “Dream House” – at least musically. The song continues along the path of anthemic guitar work and unrelenting precision courtesy of drummer Daniel Tracy. Tracy’s addition to the band here is perfectly matched to the inimitable synchronicity of Clarke and McCoy. “Vertigo” is an eerie foray into the blazing speed and composition that underscored much of Roads to Judah. At just under fifteen minutes, the track crescendos and quiets at a symphonic pace showcasing McCoy’s incredible musicianship and understanding of melodic shifts. “Windows” is a stunning instrumental that couples the audio recording of a drug purchase alongside the apocalyptic revelations of an evangelist. The preacher is speaking of the end and the hell that inevitably awaits the unbeliever. There are two sermons occurring here. One in which an imagined reality is being sold mass market to a desperate crowd and the other involving the actuality of needing to numb the pain of reality.

Every note here is an affront to those archaic notions of what is considered “metal.” Sunbather is a triumph in that it captures haunting melodic emotion alongside unforgiving black metal soundscapes. The record is as gorgeous as it is brutal. It’s a rarity that heavy metal, much less black metal, is introspective and so unabashedly self reflective. Brooklyn’s Woe managed to capture this concept with deadly precision on Withdrawal. One mistake made regarding Deafheaven’s music and the band itself is the utterly misguided notion that the band do not embody the aesthetic of “black metal” or whatever the fuck that is. This strict marginalization of music is the very constraint completely undone within the first five minutes of Sunbather. Music is the antithesis of stasis, and Deafheaven are the definition of movement and evolution toward something that challenges and provokes conversation not simply about the metal genre but the ever shifting landscape of music in general. Sunbather is a game changer not because the record will undoubtedly illicit endless conversations about heavy music, but because the record itself is a brilliant and devastating conversation between art and artist – a compellingly accurate portrayal of what the unconscious sees when it looks in the mirror.

Sunbatherwill be released June 11th, courtesy of Deathwish. You can order your copy here.

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Unholy Tribe - A Conversation With Indian

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:03:00 -0500

The first song I heard from Chicago’s Indian was “No Grace” from their stunning release, Guiltless. It was a record containing some of the most fierce and relentless songs I’d ever heard. “Heavy” doesn’t really serve Indian justice as the band has made it a point of process to unleash desolation and the most unforgiving doom metal. Whereas much of doom or stoner metal is understandably immersed in a hazy trudge, Indian’s music feels like a razorblade thunderstorm - at once precise and spiraling into screaming oblivion. I had the opportunity to talk with guitarist/vocalist Will Lindsay about the band’s progression as well as the recent completion of their newest record.

What was the thought process behind the last album, Guiltless? Was there a frame of reference you guys were working with?

It’s kind of complex, because I’m not a founding member of the band. Guiltless was actually the first album I played on. I was playing in another band, and I lived out in Washington at the time, and I spent a couple of years out there playing with them. I was really unhappy, and it was a bad time for me mentally and emotionally. I was coming out to Chicago, and I had a big fucking chip on my shoulder, man [laughs]. I was a really unhappy person, and I wanted to make a really unhappy record. The record certainly wasn’t fully my creation by any means. Just speaking for myself, personally. I joined the band, and I kind of wanted to make a statement with the album, and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done. I’m really happy with the way it came out. For a year leading up to recording the album, I’d been listening to a lot of noise and power electronics, and I honestly just wanted it to be as unpleasant as possible.

So with the new album you guys just wrapped up recording. What was the direction this go round?

When we were writing Guiltless, I was still in Wolves in the Throne Room, so I was pretty busy. I was coming out to Chicago to do stuff with Indian in between doing stuff with Wolves. We recorded over half the album between Wolves tours, really. With the new album it wasn’t really an easy record to do. It was a really difficult writing process this time, actually. There was personal problems with one of the guys in the band who’s no longer in the band anymore. Leading up to and parting ways with the guy was difficult, but it was hampering things as far as creativity goes.

Was a lot of that angst and frustration poured into the writing process for this newest album?

Yeah, man. It’s a pretty fucked up record [laughs]. When we sent it to Relapse not too long ago, the three main guys that we talked to from the label all wrote us and said it was a challenging listen, so [laughs]. Only a few people have heard it, but the few people who have are saying it’s a really dark ugly fucked up record. No doubt about it.

When’s the expected release date?

We don’t have a date yet. We still have to submit the artwork which we’re going to be submitting – I just saw the proofs for it, actually. At a rough guess, I’d say sometime in the fall. The original talk was August or September, but we didn’t expect everything to take this long to get together.

Any touring plans in the works?

We’ve been talking about it, but we haven’t gotten anything too solid yet. We’re gonna wait and find out the release date and start going from there. Hopefully we can make it out to Europe next year.

When you see a band like Indian getting press from outlets traditionally dedicated to non-metal genres, what are your thoughts? There seems to be a pretty frequent discussion of “hipster metal” and other nonsense. What’s your take?

I know NPR streams metal albums and things like that. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it. On the other side of the token, I’ve seen articles written about bands I know personally, and there’s the whole “Hey look, I’m valid, because NPR or MSNBC or whoever the fuck is covering my band.” People want to embrace the fact that they’re being covered by these traditional press outlets and then feel like they’re suddenly “real” or something. I just don’t understand why people feel like that commentary from that specific place is any more valid than someone doing a blog or something like that. I mean if you make The New York Times’ end-of-the-year list that’s cool, but I don’t think it makes the music more valid. It doesn’t need any validation. I’m not an elitist or a snob or anything where I don’t want certain people listening to my music or whatever. I want anyone to listen to my music and find out what it is. People can like it and be into whatever scene or any of that.

As far as someone whose career hinges on being known and heard, what are your feelings on the need for reliance on social networking for musicians today?

I don’t know. I guess it’s some good and some bad. It’s leveled the playing field in a lot of ways, which is a good thing. Kids in Indonesia and Russia and far flung places where a band’s not going to go, and where they don’t really have a record store there can discover all these different things, and I think that’s pretty neat. It’s a good thing. By the same token, though, it’s made it really easy for people to not have to put a lot of work into what they’re doing. There’s bands that have gained pretty much all their popularity through internet forums. I don’t know if that’s bad or not necessarily, but I think that’s pretty pathetic. It’s a lot easier to book a tour now. I started playing in bands and touring and putting out records in the mid 90s. There wasn’t cellphones or internet. It was a very different thing then, and there wasn’t nearly the number of people doing it, because you had to work a lot harder to do it. My laptop and GPS back then going on tour was a prepaid phone card, a phone booth, a map, and a notebook. Every time a band would come stay at the house or you’d stay at their place, you’d sit down and copy all the contents of their notebook of contacts. I mean, what ten years ago I’d check my email once a week, and now I have like six fucking email accounts I carry around in my pocket.

Obviously technology and our way of communication has evolved, but how do you see the evolution of the metal genre itself, Will?

I can kind of generalize, but I’ve never really kept up specifically with the metal genre. There was a period in the 90s where I felt like the hardcore scene had a lot more to offer me personally, emotionally, and intellectually than metal did. I’ve been listening to metal for a little over twenty years now, and I really feel like it’s evolved up to the point where it’s become a little more DIY. I’ve only been on labels or in contracts for the last half of the last five years, but I really feel like some of the labels now are putting out viable music and adopting the same kind of mindset, at least, of what a punk label would. There’s four or five guys at the most running it – they don’t have like a huge fucking office with thirty interns.

What do you enjoy reading when you have the time?

I always make time to read. Reading is probably the most important thing in my life. I read a lot of World War II history. That’s been a thing for me the last couple of years. Most recently, I’ve been reading a couple of books Gitta Sereny wrote – one of which is called Into That Darkness. It’s based on the interviews she did with Franz Stangl who was the commandant of one of the extermination camps. If you ever read one book about the holocaust, I’d say that’s the one. You won’t get the full story of it, by any means, but just understanding it from a moral level – you won’t find anything better than that book. She did another one that’s really amazing. It’s the best biography I’ve ever. It’s Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth. She spent several weeks at a time with him interviewing him. It’s a powerful read. It takes some time to read, but it will reward you in the end. Like I said, it’s the best biography I’ve ever read. Kind of on the lighter side, I just read A Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken. The man’s got a gift for language.

What’s some music you’ve been listening to lately?

My favorite band playing music right now is this band called The Devil Makes Three. They’re kind of a country band, I guess. They’re good friends of mine. There’s a local band here in town called Anatomy of Habit that I’m quite fond of. There’s this industrial-sounding band out of Germany called Genocide Organ which I like quite a bit. Waylon Jennings is always an old standby. Hank Jr., Johnny Paycheck, Dave Dudley. Primitive Man’s new one I absolutely love. It’s a great record. I just got the new Body record a few days ago. I love it.

Thanks to Will for his time. Look for Indian’s newest release sometime later this year, courtesy of Relapse Records.

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Sanctuary in Sound - A Conversation With J. R. Robinson of Wrekmeister Harmonies

Fri, 31 May 2013 08:55:18 -0500

Video and installation artist, J. R. Robinson, has recently managed to contain his monolithic Wrekmeister Harmonies project into an actual recording. You’ve Always Meant So Much To Meis a powerful display from some of the most brilliant minds in heavy metal today. Consisting of one track, the record features contributions from Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium), Jef Whitehead/Wrest (Leviathan), Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit), and many more. The record/track itself is a journey from auditory subtlety to bombastic doom of the heaviest variety. You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me is nothing short of a vast sonic landscape from the bleakest stretches of ambiance to the highest peaks of gorgeously challenging heavy music. Robinson’s ability to capture these massive sounds and aesthetics on record is an incredible feat worthy of note. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions regarding the project.

What is it about heavy music that you feel encapsulates the art you create?

I don’t feel that utilizing heavy music encapsulates my work. It’s a component of the work and a very effective way to communicate a certain set of emotions that are being set up by the other elements in the piece. And by utilizing some of the best people who create this type of music (Whitehead, Parker, Lamont and Solotroff, Markuszewski) I’m giving myself a decent chance of communicating those emotions effectively.

What’s been your personal journey as a musician? What books, music, or other artforms worked as catalysts for you to begin your own journey as a musician?

I lived for a period of time in the desert, it was very remote and I worked a night job at a gas station where no one stopped in. I would stay up all night on a very modest amount of cocaine listening to cassettes and weird radio, reading books and magazines. Also I kept the place spotless which made the owner very happy when he arrived in the morning. I remember it as being a very pleasant, productive and educational experience.

What was the specific process of bringing together the Wrekmeister Harmonies project?

Each project is different. For You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me I wanted to use a very large group and record the piece in a live setting with no overdubs. Other recordings are done with only a few collaborators. Some are solo pieces.

How big of a role does spiritualism/humanism/naturalism play in your compositional process? Do you generally have an idea in mind before composing, or is it more of an organic concept?

I know what I want to hear before recording. Parts are written out but I find it works best to verbally communicate what I want to hear. I don’t like to waste anyones time creating a piece on the fly.

As heavy music continues to expand its horizons and reach a wider audience, how do you view the current state of experimental and/or heavy music? What are its main detractions and conversely, what are its main advantages at this point?

I become aware of these things much like anyone else would who pays attention to art. I don’t see any disadvantage in reaching a wider audience at all.

What do you believe to be the greatest obstacle facing an artist or musician in 2013?

A closed mind.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time when you’re not composing?

If you knew you would collapse and die of boredom.

Watch the time lapse video for You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me here, courtesy of Stereogum. You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me is available June 11th, courtesy of Thrill Jockey.

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Lust Lists - Steve Brooks of Torche/Floor

Thu, 30 May 2013 12:22:10 -0500

Like any good lover of music, I appreciate the completely arbitrary list and ensuing arguments that occur thanks to their existence. There’s something about loving to hate or hating to love a numerated categorization of the things you appreciate for the simple reason of just having something to argue about.

With that in mind, I asked Steve Brooks (Torche/Floor) to give me his top ten frontpeople in all of rock n’ roll. The idea was spawned from Steve’s own obsession with and appreciation for the great and incomparable David Lee Roth. Steve took no time in sending over his list and, of course, Diamond Dave is included…

1. Freddie Mercury

2. David Lee Roth

3. Perry Farrell

4. Robert Pollard

5. Wendy O. Williams

6. Wayne Coyne

7. Iggy Pop

8. H. R.

9. Bruce Dickinson

10. Arthur Brown

Thanks to Steve for the list. Let the arguing commence.

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This Party is a Bore - A Conversation with The Dillinger Escape Plan

Wed, 29 May 2013 09:57:30 -0500

Watching The Dillinger Escape Plan live is an experience not unlike being thrown into a dryer alongside a rabid dog and a bucket full of searing hot nails. Vocalist, Greg Puciato, employs a sort of chaos choreography racing from one place to another - screaming ferociously at one point and then singing at others. Guitarist Ben Weinman is equally as unpredictable whether jumping into the clusterfuck of a crowd or onto the amps - all without missing a note. It’d be easy to assume that the pure unrelenting energy of the band would overflow into a conversation, but in speaking with both Greg and Ben I discovered two incredibly thoughtful and insightful musicians - both of whom revealed their own thoughts on music and our culture today.

What was the process like for you guys with One of Us is the Killer? Was it a different approach than with your previous records?

Ben: Pretty much we outsourced everything to songwriters on this one.

[Laughs].

Ben: Yeah, we used Diane Warren…

Michael McDonald?

Greg: Oh yeah.

Ben: His version of “One of Us is the Killer” is the best. I mean, he writes the best ballads.

Greg: I’d love to hear him sing that song, actually. That’d be really good.

Ben: How would it sound, Greg?

Greg: Is this gonna be translated to print [laughs]?

It’ll be translated to print. No worries. [Laughs]

Greg: I’m trying to think of he’d do it… [singing]: In the air we tried to be…

You know, either that or Aaron Neville might be the best vocal interpretation.

Greg: Oh, man…his voice is amazing. We have some friends that can really do Aaron Neville great.

Ben: [Laughs] As far as your question, though, there’s slight differences on every one, but basically we don’t really limit ourselves. We’ll take any source of inspiration, or any kind of thing that will trigger an idea. Usually people ask like how long did it take to write the record, and it’s really difficult, because it might have started three years ago in the back of the bus. I might have just tapped a rhythm on my leg and Billy put the phone up to it, and that’s probably on the record now. There’s one riff I know in particular, years ago, we were in Europe, and I was punishing these guys in the back lounge writing it, blasting it through the stereo on the bus and Greg’s like “Shut the fuck up!”

Greg: I remember that. It was so loud.

Ben: Now I can be like, “See this riff? That’s the ‘shut the fuck up’ riff.” It was so long ago, it’s kind of interesting. I guess the difference was, though, we built in my basement a full soundproof studio around our practice area, and that enabled us to track constantly any idea and put it down, listen back and get a real objective opinion. Sometimes you don’t realize until you listen back how it’s really hitting you. Ultimately, regardless of how we do it – whether it starts with the piano, guitar, fucking drums, a lap, or a knee or something, if it doesn’t move us emotionally or feel like something we can play live and mean it – it doesn’t matter how clever it is, or how we got there, or what the story behind it is, it’s nothing if it doesn’t feel like energy. At the end of the day that’s always the barometer. Do we feel this? Do we feel real about it?

credit: @_howardparr

From the lyrical standpoint, Greg, how do you approach your writing? What things work as catalysts for you when writing?

Greg: I kind of feel like the writing process starts the day you stop writing for the previous record. As far as lyrics go, you start absorbing whatever it is that you’re gonna output later on. I don’t write lyrics and then pull from them later. Like I don’t have a bunch of stuff that I pull sentences out of, so I pretty much write all of our lyrics really quickly to record them. I don’t really think about what I’m going to write about. I just kind of do a lot automatic writing – just try to make it as subconscious as possible. I’ll hone in on one song at a time, so Ben will send me songs, and I’ll have a few at a time, and when everyone seems like it’s starting to move the fastest as far as I’ll play it all the time, and then phrasings will start to emerge like what I’m going to do over this part. I’ve heard it like a thousand times and the same thing keeps happening every time I listen to it now.

That’s obviously what’s going to go on there phrasing-wise. Once I have the phrasings in my head about seventy percent of the way I’ll sit down and just start writing on a piece of paper and keep blurting out until I hit a wall. The second I hit a wall I stop. I look back at it, and see what it is that I was writing about subconsciously and try to figure out exactly what a lot of the gibberish means and then start refining it into phrasings. So, a lot of the times I actually don’t know what I’m writing about until I look back at it, and then I’m like oh…this is clearly what I’m dealing with here. This is obviously where this is coming from. It’s not very topical with me. It’s just trying to pull things out of my subconscious that I’ve been delaying and dealing with them. I read Faulkner’s The Sound and the Furyin high school and didn’t really fully absorb it until I read it later, but that’s pretty much how my writing process - just laying it all out in a stream of consciousness.

Ben: That’s one of the things I appreciate, actually. I came up in the underground hardcore and punk scene, and right around the time I started getting really active in it there was this era of pretentious lyric writing and things like that where it’s like “How can I fit this vocabulary word in” or stuff like that. If Greg were to write a book it’d be very different than how he writes lyrics. It’s about exercising those demons not impressing an English teacher [laughs].

Greg: That’s the thing. I can sit down and write you an essay, and you’d never believe it was the same person stylistically. I realized a long time ago that lyric writing, for me, has a more selfish motivation behind it than trying to be like “Look how well I can write.” A lot of people write lyrics as if people are going to read them, and they write it like it’s poetry, but it’s not poetry. A lyric is a completely different thing than poetry. Poetry is meant to be written and read. Lyrics are meant to be heard. They’re made to impact you not just when you read them but phonetically with the sound and phrasing and things like that. When we wrote Miss Machine, I spent so much time trying to fit things that I’d already written and sounded really good and eloquent – I tried to fit them into these songs, and one or two things would happen. I’d either have to butcher the original writing so much that it wouldn’t even resemble the original thing, because I’d have to cut it and hack it, and the original was always better, so it would always annoy me that the original poem I wrote was better than the two lines I managed to chop out of it to get it to fit. And I’d end up with all these little fragments of different things that I’d stuck in the same song.

Ben: They didn’t mean anything to you by that point.

Greg: Yeah, I ended up having to wipe it all out and being like alright…I just need to write really quickly and to the point with each song, so I can at least isolate and have an emotional attachment to each one when I go into the studio and sing it. I have relevance to it, and it’s not just some piece of something.

Ben: And when he started doing that, you could hear the difference in his voice too.

Greg: Because I could mean it more. Yeah.

You guys have an inside track on music and the industry today, I’m curious as to what you feel is the number one obstacle facing a heavy music band or artist in 2013.

Ben: Just the fact that there’s so much formula available for people even within the genre of heavy metal. To me, a genre is based off of an ethic. The guidelines aren’t necessarily what it ends up sounding like or looking like. It’s the ethic or purpose behind it. Art is about purpose and not craft or technique. Sometimes they go together but they’re not necessarily bound to that. For me, it’s difficult because our ethic is more metal than most of the metal out there right now, but most metalheads are pretty closed minded to what we’re doing, ironically. Because it doesn’t sound traditional, and ironically traditional metal now is pretty formulaic. It’s typical and bands like Slipknot have sold millions of records. The breakdowns. Double bass is not weird anymore. Blistering fast double bass does not mean extreme, necessarily.

Greg: Yeah, that’s a very standard thing now.

Ben: It’s just another idea you can throw into the palette, which is great, but it’s what you do with those ideas which makes something have that ethic of those original bands. When I first started listening to death metal it was the most extreme thing I’d ever heard. It wasn’t something you could find on the radio. It wasn’t something most people knew. You didn’t see some jock wearing a Slayer shirt or something like that. He didn’t know what that was at all. It was for the guys who didn’t get along with those guys. The people who were searching for something more. I think when we started this band we were just looking to create the same experience that we’d had that we loved so much for people who are maybe desensitized to the typical metal attributes. I think that’s a big reason for why we sound the way we do, yet we still concern ourselves with what the older bands did whether it’s Black Flag or Deicide which when I first heard them it was so extreme to me. Now, it’s not even like a Slipknot song that’s on the radio.

I just think the hardest thing for new bands now, and it’s not their fault, is everywhere they look there’s a blueprint for how you’re supposed to do it. It’s really hard to create paradigm shifts in art and music when there’s all these instructions around you. David Bowie never knew how to be an eccentric artist. If he’d had a Facebook he may not be the same artist – he may have not looked the way he looked, he may have not written music the way he did. He was just an eccentric person who happened to express himself through music, and it ended up being that weird creation of an interesting and unique individual. He didn’t have the ability to go on the internet and see “Well, what am I supposed to sound like if I want to sell records? What kind of production should it have? What software should I buy to create this thing that guy created? How much marketing should I spend for?” I’m not negating the benefits of some of that stuff, I’m just saying the benefits are oftentimes the obstacle.

credit: @fm_junkie

You guys have been around long enough to see trends come and go, and I’m wondering how you feel about the rising popularity of heavy music. It’s interesting to me that a genre founded on the concept of being an outsider is now a trend. What are your thoughts?

Greg: I have a theory that people are extremely desensitized to stimulus, and they’re also very deprived of human connections. They have tons of stimulus around them whether it’s from constant media like an iPhone or something like that, but there’s always input happening, but it’s also limiting human connections. So they spend more time than ever talking to people – texting, Facebooking, Tweeting, more connected than ever – but they’re spending less time actually feeling human, moving, so the experience is that they’re gravitating towards more extreme music and more extreme things. Drug use is way higher than it used to be. Drugs that used to be considered harder are way more accessible to young people now. It’s way more accepted.

Young people are more into extreme music than they used to be whether it’s extreme underground electronic music that would have been in rave warehouses fifteen years ago, or whether it’s music that would have sounded like grindcore in a VFW hall fifteen years ago. All these things are way more popular now than they used to be, and I really think it’s because technological advancement has made people more connected but deprived, and they’re just naturally gravitating towards the most extreme connections they can get.

Ben: At the same time, it’s natural too. Elvis was like grindcore when he came out. It’s just the nature of human beings. I read somewhere that basically the human being we are now pretty much unchanged without evolution – we get like a thousand times more stimulus in one day than we were getting in an entire year. Our bodies and our brains, the way we’re wired, are going through an extreme amount of stress and stimulus that we don’t even realize.

Greg: Even if you look at movies. Like horror movies now. You can watch Saw when you’re ten years old, and that’s completely normal. A video game where you’re mutilating people with a fucking chainsaw.

Ben: We’re not wired to be able to get stimulus constantly through a phone or through a TV or through this or that. It’s a combination of the information and the stimulus, but it’s also a combination of the amount of it. The accessibility of it, and all of these things. We’re just going through a lot of stress – our bodies – that we’re not designed to go through. We’re using up brain power in one day that we were meant to use in a year as far as how much we’re taking in.

Greg: All these people that have stress related breakdown…

Ben: Our bodies, still, when you get stressed out you build fat in your belly, because we’re wired to be able to get through a famine, because we were stressed over not being able to kill a fucking wooly mammoth. Now you have to store fat to survive. We’re still responding to those kinds of development. We’re not that unchanged. I don’t think anyone knows how much we’ll be affected long term from all of it. Who knows.

What is it about heavy music for you guys that drew you in to make you want to create the art that you do?

Ben: I loved experiencing something and seeing something that was just so extreme and pushed boundaries so far that I didn’t really know what to do with it. It wasn’t easy to take in. It wasn’t on the radio where it was obvious where you know when the chorus will kick in. I like that stuff, too, but it didn’t push me into a different direction and have me think. Having your elders not understand or accept it was always good. I had my Slayer CD taken from me just because of the cover. I think life is all about challenging yourself and questioning yourself constantly. That kind of extremity in art and in music is what pushes you to do that which trains you not to accept the norm. Especially growing up in a suburb where everything’s kind of the same. Every house looks the same and everyone does the same thing. You’re either a cheerleader or a football player, etc. This kind of music was my catalyst for expanding my parameters, really. If we can do that for someone else then that’s great.

Greg: I don’t even know, man. I was like seven years old when I started listening to Metallica and that sort of stuff. I really can’t remember even starting. It’s just always been there. I was always around the rock music that my parents listened to. Guns N’ Roses came out, and I found them and Metallica like a few months apart around my seventh or eighth birthday. I was just hooked. By the time I was nine or ten, I was just trying to find everything I could from my friends’ older brothers’ record collections. Death metal, thrash, anything I could find that was more extreme than the thing before it. I don’t really know why. It just never stopped. I don’t really listen to it that much anymore, but I still get so much out of playing it. People always see us from the outside and are like “Those people need therapy.” But we don’t need therapy, because we do this.

Was there a moment where you knew you wanted to do this for a living?

Greg: From the time I was nine years old. I started playing guitar when I was nine and tried to play Slayer songs and Metallica songs. A friend of mine started to play drums at the same time, and we just started writing crappy songs together [laughs]. I couldn’t sing and play at the same time. I just could not do it. A friend of ours could also play guitar, so he started playing guitar, and then I just started trying to sing. A lot of people around me were like “You’re better at singing than you are at playing the guitar,” and I really resisted it at first. Then I started seeing bands like Faith No More and Bad Brains where the singers weren’t…every band I listened to except for Guns N’ Roses, the singer also played guitar, and I couldn’t do that…and then I saw H.R. and Patton and how they performed, and how they did what they did with their voices onstage, and it was a completely different thing than what I was used to hearing over heavy music, and that just took me in a completely different direction. I started taking singing more seriously. I got better at that so much more rapidly than I was at guitar, so I just had to admit to myself this was where my natural skillset was.

Thanks to Ben and Greg for their time.

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Kylesa - Ultraviolet

Tue, 28 May 2013 10:54:58 -0500

The progression of Savannah’s Kylesa is one immersed in the sludge and doom the band has continually reinvented and reimagined with every release all the way up to 2010’s excellent Spiral Shadow. While much of vocalist/guitarist Phillip Cope’s work with Damad had primarily focused on the straightforward sludge, the formation of Kylesa in 2001 introduced a sound that was as heavy as it was in constant lockstep with the psychedelic touches of 1970s stoner rock. Kylesa’s latest release, Ultraviolet finds the band foregoing much of the sludge and doom that’s been their hallmark in favor of the psychedelic sonic ventures that had perhaps been the undercurrent of their influences all along. Even with their heaviest and most “metal” songs, Kylesa have always seemed to elicit those aesthetics that could easily be as much Siouxsie and the Banshees as it was Melvins.

Ultraviolet begins with the familiar and hook-filled “Exhale” showcasing Cope and vocalist/guitarist Laura Pleasants in their immediately recognizable screaming duet. Both Cope and Pleasants have the innate (and rare) ability of blending their shouts to an almost melodic threshold with Pleasants eerily lilting her singing vocals over the haze. “Unspoken” is a track that allows Pleasants to manifest her vocal chops in an incredible way. Channeling equal parts Patti Smith and Grace Slick, Pleasants’ vocals are full of intensity without seeming forced or contrived. Cope’s songwriting skills here finds both he and the rest of the band in a place of absolute sonic agility and comfort. Nothing on Ultraviolet plays like the endeavor of a band whose twelve plus years have given way to experimentation, yet the record is an absolute directional shift.

“We’re Taking This” plays like a sneer to the establishment to the very critics who may very well balk at the change in sound for Kylesa. That presents zero problem with the band, however, as Kylesa have made it their point since their beginning to play and destroy by their own rules. While the sludge sounds of their previous releases may have taken a backseat to the spiraling psychedelic churns of Ultraviolet, the heaviness still creeps underneath every track, underscoring those elements which make Kylesa’s music so absolutely challenging and immediately rewarding. Kylesa shows with Ultraviolet that they’re more than willing to evolve their sound without sacrificing one iota of the integrity that’s carried them since 2001. What’s more, Ultraviolet shows a band who’s in the prime of their career sounding like the journey is just beginning. Get your copy of Ultraviolet courtesy of Season of Mist.

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Dissonance Redemption - A Conversation With Locrian

Mon, 27 May 2013 12:31:13 -0500

Creating music that’s impactful is hard enough. Creating music that carves its way into your very consciousness and compels you to question your own perspective on art and sound as a whole? That’s a completely different animal altogether. Chicago’s Locrian have in only a relatively short period of existence honed their incredibly visceral sound into something that’s as terrifying as it is beautiful. Blending elements of black metal, noise, and the avant garde, the band’s upcoming release, Return to Annihilation, finds the band expanding their sound even further and is without a doubt the finest point of their musical output thus far. I had the opportunity to talk with multi-instrumentalist and founding member Terence Hannum about the record and his own views of heavy music.

Tell me about your journey as a musician from the point where you first wanted to create music to where you are now. What does that look like?

It’s weird. It’s a weird journey. I was pretty fortunate. My parents were encouraging. I took piano lessons, and my dad played the trumpet in a soul band in the 60s. I really wanted to play guitar, which is ironic, because I don’t really play guitar that much anymore, but that was the first instrument that I really tried to take a little bit more seriously. I started taking lessons and reading guitar magazines and all that. But I kind of always went back to the piano, because my brain kind of worked that way. I always liked weird synthesizer stuff like whether it was Yes or Boston. I don’t know, I was young [laughs]. I just thought it was neat how they did that, and I started to try and learn. I kind of got into playing guitar and trying to figure out songs and getting into heavier and heavier metal and learning the extremities of what was happening in the late 80s and early 90s, and I kind of realized I couldn’t play like that on the guitar. I wasn’t gonna be Kerry King or anybody [laughs].

I think I gravitated more towards hardcore and punk and played with my friends in Southwest Florida and played in hardcore bands. I always had more of a penchant for noise and experimental and avant garde stuff. I felt that I was being pushed by a lot of different genres, and I was trying to meet that, and then I think I started taking it more seriously. About ten years ago I really got into playing synthesizers and learning more about what I was doing – just trying to be a little more serious about it and learn more of the history of it and what I could do with it. When Locrian started in 2005 or so, I had some old analog synthesizers I really liked and didn’t know what to do with them, and that’s where I kind of started to use them and bring them in. Andre and I started working together. We wanted to start Locrian. It kind of made sense.

As far as heavy music, what was it about the sound that drew you in and continues to compel you to create the music you do?

I think it pushed me when I was younger. I think there was a distinct time – I remember getting into Metallica and then Megadeth, and then you got into Slayer, and then you were into death metal and black metal. It felt like an infinite pool of just people challenging themselves, challenging their ideas, and that, to me, feeling like there was something difficult. To me, that’s kind of why I returned back to metal and heavy music. There’s this approach where you can deal with certain content and a certain kind of sonic intensity that with other forms you just can’t. I also feel it’s your obligation, in some ways, to challenge your listener. I want people to be as challenged as I felt when I was getting into this music. I hope that by incorporating certain elements it isn’t as clean a transition or expected. I think that’s what excited me when I was young. I was listening to Nocturnus – that record, The Key? Totally a weird death metal record – it’s kind of obscure, but I remember that and being like “Whoa! What are they doing? What’s this keyboard doing?” It was interesting, and it was engaging, because it was different.

When you think about our culture of immediacy, Terrence, what do you feel is the greatest challenge facing an artist or musician in 2013?

I think it can be control. I think that making sure what you want to say whether it’s with a record or paintings or an installation or whatever – that the setting is correct. Just how the album is presented, the artwork, or the timeline, or if the lyrics are included or not. In 2013, those are unique scenarios where musicians can become known not for any music that they make, but because of some statement they make via a Tweet or something like that – and all of that before they’ve even released an album or whatever. It’s weird. They’ve not contributed one note to anything, but everybody’s discussing them and their music or their art or whatever because of this meta-conversation. In the end it’s about how you tighten that up, or how do you operate honestly and sincerely as an artist and be kind of comfortable with where things are. I think that’s the biggest challenge, because things can get really out of control really fast. There’s people who obviously have a stake in that kind of blowing up something or squashing it out beforehand.

A potential impediment can be feeling like you’re able to present this idea and keep it all together. It can just get really spread out and suddenly a lot of the content can be lost. I’m sure there’s an argument that can be made that it’s music, and music can stand on it’s own and that’s that. For me, though, I think of the whole package. Those are things that I invest in. I stay up thinking about paperstock [laughs] or whatever it is. That’s who I am. My expectation is to take it seriously and present this idea. You want people to assess it on the grounds that you’ve laid out. I think that can get really hard, because there’s a lot of compromises that can be made. Social media spreading it out, and its impact and whatever – there’s obviously great things that happen with that as people get excited about things, but I think there’s a lot of that control aspect as well.

It’s fascinating to me how we acquire information now and whether or not the oversaturation affects creativity. Obviously it’s a double-edged sword as social media provides infinite exposure, but at the same time the information overload at least has the potential to dilute the creative process.

I still remember waiting for my friends to get their death metal records, because they got them, and I couldn’t find them [laughs]. I think it’s great in some ways, because you can find these people out there that are really excited about whatever it is – psychedelic music from Thailand in 1965. You can find that blog, and find those 45s and find other people who are really excited about it. To me, that’s awesome. One of my favorite blogs is this one called Awesome Tapes from Africa. It’s all these great, weird – some of it’s religious music, and some of it’s party music, and it’s just really interesting. I love going there, and just hitting play and just enjoying something new. Different scales and different approaches to music. Some of the tracks will be really long and super repetitive and really droney, and I definitely like that.

I’m always looking for something interesting, and where would I have stumbled upon or heard about this awesome music if it weren’t for social media or the internet. I think that there’s a lot of benefit to this kind of enthusiasm for this music that you’re going to be exposed to. I think that’s good. At the same time, I think there can be a lot of detriment to that too – where that kind of care that went into making that zine by hand, stealing the copies [laughs] – it kind of gets lost in the ether a little bit. I think a blog or a zine can be a great way to promote these bands who are doing interesting things and just on the road trying to break even.

Speaking specifically of Locrian, what was the process for you guys with Return to Annihilation? Was it a different approach than what the band had taken with previous releases?

Definitely. We don’t live in the city anymore, so that was a unique challenge. We had completed two collaborations before Return to Annihilation – a collaboration with Mammifer and a collaboration with Christoph Heeman, so we had worked out a good way to send tracks and ideas. We decided to use some of that as we began the record. We started really with a big concept. We knew that we really wanted to try and approach it like a grand prog-rock record with multi-part songs. We wanted this overarching theme, and one of the records we kept talking about was Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. There’s a story and a narrative throughout the whole thing, and we knew we wanted to approach it that way. And then it kind of helped determine some of the sounds like we really wanted to have a lot of analog delays. When we recorded at Electrical Audio I knew they had this great mellotron, and I really wanted to go for that kind of King Crimson kind of sound. We really just kind of came up with this different approach to it, and then we actually started writing it [laughs].

The big difference, probably, was a lot of things we’d do in the studio would be because of what would happen live. We’d have these little improvisational moments and try to remember them and reproduce them in the studio. This time everyone was recording ideas and emailing them, and when we met in Chicago to record them and had some practice time we just tried to flesh out the ideas and build them up and discuss where the transitions were going to happen. It was definitely different, and it was definitely a challenge. It was great. There was a lot of growth for all of us to just try this different way. We feel really pleased with the end result.

As far as the actual compositional process for you, what are some things in your life that work as catalysts both lyrically and musically?

Lyrically, I tend to look towards different environmental disasters [laughs]. That’s really bad, but that’s what I look at. A lot of the previous records – like The Clearing was actually inspired by the Deep Water Horizon off the Gulf Coast. When that was happening and all of these images were coming back – I remember being in the studio recording it and just watching that camera that was on them trying to plug the hole, and this oil was just shooting out. I just thought I was disgusting and beautiful and horrible and terrifying that this could even happen. Now that we know all of the stuff like how BP is trying to cover up how much oil actually leaked and things like that – it’s this huge dilemma, and I kind of get inspire by that. How messed up we treat our own existence. I came into this record in a different way. Maybe not looking towards a specific disaster, but what if maybe the Earth was just kind of done with us.

There’s this great science fiction novel by Samuel Delany Dhalgren – it’s like the Ulysses of science fiction. It’s really challenging and really interesting. It’s full of political commentary and was written in the 60s. It’s so strange, and you never know what happens, because he doesn’t tell you. You have no idea why things are happening, but weird stuff is happening. It makes it so interesting. That was definitely a big influence – just how he stops and starts. The beginning of the book is actually the end of the book, and it’s a sort of circular novel. It begins again. I thought that that was kind of great idea – just the repetition and the mirroring. What if the end of the world was sort of reflected and never stopped? That was kind of the writing process for this.

Musically, I kind of just start hearing something in my head, and then I write it down. I’ll find it on my synthesizer and try to remember it. I’ll have these different riffs or ideas, and then I’ll start recording them before I bring them to the guys. We improvise a lot. That really is a big part of who we are. When we play live it’s never the same set twice even if we’re playing the same songs in the same order. We kind of extend different parts or we’ll shorten certain parts, or we’ll write new improvisations at the beginning or the end. We’ve been playing together for a while, so it works out. When we’re all together and we can sort of improvise and build something together and talk about the dynamic. We can expand or contract that space.

It gets hard in the studio, because you’re recording for posterity [laughs], and you’re trying to trim it down or whatever. I think this time – we weren’t on the road, and we just had our ideas and sketches, and we just came together and were able to practice and go through them. When we finally got in the studio, we had a good amount of time to just go through our options and settle on where this was really going and think about that theme again and narrative push of where the record was going.

I think it’s a testament to what you guys create that there is that sense of progression. For me, much of what debilitates heavy music is that sense of mimicry or of being derivative.

You’ll always have an audience with nostalgia. It’s easy to go back with whatever you want to do. There’s always going to be an audience who wants to listen to something that sounds like Black Sabbath. There’s nothing wrong with that, and there’s great bands that sound like that. No one wants to sound like Technical Ecstasy for some reason [laughs]. I recently saw Suffocation, and I was like “Man, these guys are great!” And there’s like ten bands that sound just like them. None of them are good. Suffocation is good for a reason. That’s what they started. They write new stuff, and that’s Suffocation. It’s the essence of who they are. All the people who want to go back to that era or whatever – it’s strange to me. Obviously it’s a question of are you influenced, or is this pastiche or parody? I think that’s always what I think. What are you doing here? Why are you playing this very rigid thrash? You sound just like a Whitehouse record. What could you bring to this, because Whitehouse didn’t stay in place. Their last record was amazing – Racket. It’s one of my favorite noise records. I think it’s a legitimate question to ask when you expect the music to move forward.

Thanks to Terence for his time. Return to Annihilation comes out June 25th, courtesy of Relapse.

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Author & Punisher - Women & Children

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:22:23 -0500

I recently engaged in a friendly conversation with a few people regarding the merits of industrial music as heavy metal and vice versa. Bands like Godflesh and Skinny Puppy were mentioned, tongue-in-cheek jabs were made, but the topic of discussion was fascinating to me if for no other reason than the fact that after much pontification I sure as shit didn’t have an answer. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. Industrial music may or may not be “heavy metal,” but it’s a sure bet that it bears the attitude of its metal counterpart. San Diego’s Author & Punisher sounds like the masterwork of at least a few musicians all collaborating as a unified front of buzzed out industrial doom, but it’s amazingly the brilliance of one man – Tristan Shone. Shone has a penchant for auditory decomposition by way of his complexity in composition. The music here is a gradual staggered pulse into the realm of equal parts metal and industrial with neither gaining a sure foothold thanks to Shone’s dedication to discomfort.

Opener “Women & Children” lurches with a reptilian pace with Shone’s robotic voice echoing like some sermon from the underworld. One of the most fascinating elements of Women & Children is Shone’s distinct negation of vocals. It’s not that the vocals are muted here in any way it’s simply that Shone utilizes his technology savvy to make his voice become the music itself weaving in and out in an unsettling and equally captivating way. “In Remorse” makes judicious use of dissonance laced with the sounds that call to memory the Streetcleaner days of industrial, yet it never pushes itself into the realm of the derivative. “Melee” is a near eight minute foray into the cavernous space that is Shone’s consciousness both as a musician and writer. “Tame as a Lion” is perhaps the finest example here Author & Punisher’s definitive sound with its muted intro with only Shone’s voice cascading over an eerie piano line – a journey that quickly devolves into the maddening thuds that define the record.

It’s the kind of music that renders the listener helpless but to listen again and again. The machinery of Author & Punisher is one far less definitive than the confines of any subgenre of music, and that alone is a testament to what Shone has created here. If music is meant to challenge us alongside the complex relationship of being entertaining in tandem, then Shone has masterfully accomplished both here. Women & Children is beautiful in that it collapses the central notion of beauty into a singular beat slithering its way into songs that are haunting and unforgiving. While much of industrial resorts to the pedantic safeguards of what’s been done already, Shone seems less interested in repeating history so much as he’s interested in burying it beneath a sound that’s familiar but strangely and beautifully new. Women & Childrenwill be released courtesy of Seventh Rule Recordings.

<a href=”http://releases.seventhrule.com/album/women-children” data-mce-href=”http://releases.seventhrule.com/album/women-children”>Women & Children by Author & Punisher</a>

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Born in Flames - A Conversation With Enslaved

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:28:00 -0500

Since 1991, Enslaved have been forging their own specific path in the metal realm. Blending equal parts black and progressive metal, their influence is vast and undeniable. Perhaps their greatest ally has been time as Enslaved have evolved to extraordinary degrees with each release, delving deeper into the consciousness of metal and its infinite possibilities. I had the opportunity to ask guitarist and founding member, Ivar Bjørnson, a few questions.

What’s been your personal journey as a musician? That is, what essentially drew you to the music that you create?

It’s been a long and most wonderful journey. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what led up to it all; but I was lucky to be exposed to music at a very young age – from several angels. I had some great music loving adults in my life – both in family and in school, and they all picked up on my interest. My grandfather gave me, by accident I guess, a Kiss cassette when I was five or six years old – my theory is that that tape more or less unleashed the whole thing. I never became a big Kiss fan, but there was something in there that made me look further. Basically I found my entire life in music!

How have you seen your perspectives on your own art change throughout the years since Enslaved first formed?

Yes, I think I first and foremost developed a more conscious and aware relationship to my music – now I am more aware of how to make visions and ideas into concrete and tangible things; music, artwork, visuals and so on. Then, on the other hand; I’ve tried to not analyze this too deeply – part of the magick is to let things happen as they happen; to let the inspiration flow freely without too much conscious effort to control or understand anything.

credit: Łukasz Woźny

What’s the creative process for Enslaved when you guys walk into the studio to record material? Do you find that that process has changed over the years?

The basics of the process remain the same, but the process and surrounding technologies are getting more “refined”. It’s always been me writing the music and making demos for the others to get an impression of what the song is – in the early days I would record on a cassette recorder, eventually multi-trackers, then computers. Then there’s Grutle and Herbrand (our two singers) analyzing the song from the singers’ perspective. Once in a full moon they will want a cosmetic change to the song with more or less of something to accommodate their wishes for the amount (or absence) of singing. If we agree, I’ll go back and make changes and eventually the basic sketch is done. That’s when the practical work starts in the rehearsal room: the core of that work is basically done by myself, Grutle and Cato – and sometimes with Ice Dale; Herbrand is more fond of working on his own in the last minutes before going into the studio – his integration into the songs normally happens more after the album has been released. A bit weird perhaps, but for now it works!

I’m curious as to how the band comes up with the lyrical content for the songs. What things work as catalysts for Enslaved when writing the lyrics?

Again, we found a method many years ago that still works, so we stick to that. When there’s been a musical beginning taking place (first song, first riffs etc), me and Grutle meet over some beers and discuss where we want to go with the album in terms of concept and lyrics – sometimes there won’t be a concept album, and then we’ll discuss more on a lyric-by-lyric level. As lyricists I guess we work differently – my impression is that Grutle uses more research and references from mythology, books on history etc, while I prefer to abstract my topics somewhat more and rather chew up the references and spit them out again through my own psycho-metaphysical filters [laughs].

Much of what draws fans to heavy metal is the aggression and raw emotional output. I’m curious as to how a band like Enslaved, who are undeniably influential on so much of heavy metal today, thinks about the state of the genre as it stands today. Do you feel the genre is better than it’s ever been, or is it simply gaining more exposure?

It is definitely at its height in terms of professionalism, commercial success (which isn’t a bad thing, don’t get me wrong) and exposure – but in terms of creativity and actual artistic and “spiritual” content I think we are approaching rock bottom at warp speed hehe. There used to be a time when no one knew or cared about anything but the music and lyrics; what it represented. Now it’s the “interesting persona” (real or constructed) that precedes the music and lyrics. There’s a bigger chance for a person with a vast network and ridiculously poor musical and lyrical skills to succeed than a brilliant mind with no network.

It’s all about who and how, not the what. The upside is the stubbornness it inspires for true artists to focus harder on music and let showbiz be showbiz. Whether this last fashion-catwalk that Metal has become is sustainable or will go down in flames like Metal did in the late 80s last is an open question – and quite frankly I don’t care too much: both scenarios has good and bad sides – we emerged from a dying Metal scene ourselves in the early 90s on one hand, and if the Metal scene goes bust we’ll probably go down with it hehe. So in short; I think it is pretty shitty and at the same time I think it is pretty great also. If it survives in this form eternally; great – if not; even better – something new will emerge from it, certainly!

What’s been the biggest obstacle or challenge for Enslaved throughout the years, and how did the band overcome that?

The difference in ambition and dedication between members is something a band can not survive for long – so it needs to be sorted. Around the turn of the millennium we found Enslaved to be suffering from a band that did not pull in the same direction at all. Finally we had to “reset” the band and start from the beginning almost. Those years before we turned the tide was the toughest for me; I felt quite alone in my wishes for change – but it all worked out for the better!

credit: Mirjam Vikingstad

What’s been the band’s proudest moment since its inception?

Luckily it is really hard to choose one moment! Maybe a split decision between getting the first test print from “Hordanes Land” in 1993 on one side, and on the other side last summer when me and Grutle heard the first mix of Riitiirin the Swedish woods where we stayed when mixing the album.

What do you guys typically enjoy doing when you’re not touring, recording, or writing?

Myself I enjoy spending time with my family – there’s not much time left when all music related activity is done… IF there’s any spare minutes I love being outside in nature – not necessarily doing anything, just being on the water, in the forest, on the mountain, outside our house… And if there’s any time left at that moment when nothing demands my attention: books! Some day I’ll find the time to read a lot more!

Thanks to Ivar for his time.

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Lychgate - Lychgate

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:17:38 -0500

Much of what draws me to the metal genre is the topic of decay. There’s a fine line of distinction between those musicians and bands fully capable of conveying a respectful sense of wonder at the process of decomposition and those who simply feign interest in the hopes of appearing intimidating or frightening. Those artists and musicians who truly desire to venture outside the confines of what is considered “dark” tend to avoid the clichéd sentiments of purely “evil” or “foreboding” lyrics, instead focusing on the life cycle itself – the equilibrium of the conscious and unconscious. While much of popular music may take a surface level perspective on death and loss, the metal genre has made it a distinctive characteristic to burrow deep into the heart of every aspect of existence and not simply those that conjure up feelings of positivity.

England’s Lychgate are one of many bands whose aesthetic is one reliant far more on the space of sound rather than gimmicky undertones of supposed evil or dread. Just glossing over the band’s Bio or Facebook profile, and you’ll learn their interests are far reaching. Listen to their recently released S/T debut, and that understanding is amplified to a stunning degree. Much like the other bands of its members (including Esoteric and Omega Centauri), Lychgate is as decadent in sound as it is in the subject matter of each song. G.A. Chandler’s vocals work a buzzsaw instrumentation around the blood curdling accuracy of Vortigern (guitars), Aran (bass), and T. J. F. Vallely (drums). Encapsulating the divinity of decay, the album displays the life cycle from the birth of the first track with its Bach-by-way-of-hell pipe organ to the hauntingly gorgeous ending track, “When Scorn Can Scourge No More.”

The use of keyboards/synthesizers in black metal is oftentimes (and rightfully so) looked at with a sort of ambivalence by fans and critics alike. It’s not that the use of them is something inherently bad. It’s simply that their use is somewhat of a decorative piece that’s almost always forgettable. With Lychgate, their usage is paramount to the overall atmosphere of the album. Second track “Resentment” begins with an ominous dirge heralding into a maddening blend of avant-garde black metal and post-metal soundscapes. “Against the Paradoxical Guild” is an absolutely unrelenting composition filling all six minutes and nineteen seconds with the kind of music that bears repeat listens to fully absorb its mastery. Lychgate is that metal album whose atmospheric beauty is teethed with the conception of decay and the inevitability of death. Lychgate was released in April courtesy of Gilead Media and Mordgrimm.

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Enter the Gate - A Conversation With Melechesh

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:03:20 -0500

Born from the mind of frontman Ashmedi, Melechesh has been defining the metal realm in its own terms since 1993. Having originations in the very heart of the Middle East, their music has been the subject of controversy and acclaim. As the band turns twenty this year, their grasp on Assyrian black metal remains firm and finds the band exploring the depths of their own consciousness in composition. I had the opportunity to ask Ashmedi a few questions about the band itself and its volatile cultural surroundings.

What’s been your journey as a musician? Starting from when you first felt compelled to be a musician to where you are now, what’s led you to this point?

Well passion for music is one of them. Maybe this is a cliché but I felt music was the right outlet for me. Maybe due to the societal setting I was exposed to I turned to music. Heavy Metal in particular was the ideal outlet for my state of mind or personal experiences. At one point I got the urge to play so after saving up I bought a crappy electric guitar and started playing, teaching myself and eventually composing. I was met with ridicule by my family and school and many said you can’t even play, how on earth do you think you will ever release any albums let alone release albums while living in Jerusalem? It did not faze me. I did not think about it too much. Just played.

What is it about the metal genre that drew you in to create music yourself?

I was always into extreme things from BMX to skateboards, anything with an edge I was into it. In hindsight, living in Jerusalem exposed me to certain demographics and tensions there, plus my own family setting perhaps made me appreciate the sound of metal more. The guitar and drum correlation, angry vocals etc… it was ideal for me. At the time I knew nothing of the herd mentalities in metal and conservatism and so on. I just liked the music so it was ideal. Naturally at this time I see the ups and downs . Anything public in the hands of people ( esp over-empowered persons with a sense of self entitlement may offer also a down side ) But the music was ideal for me I wanted to add a different touch or spice to it , maybe contribute a leaf if not a branch to the tree of heavy metal if there is a such a thing .

As the metal genre evolves, it seems that fans’ response to it evolves as well. For you, what seems to be the main difference between American reception of heavy/experimental music and the myriad of other cultures’ reception to it? What do you feel is the main causality for this difference in reception across cultures?

America is a large place so not one answer or perception is accurate. There are multiple truths. I feel there are a lot of conservatives , it is not a bad thing they preserve the essence of Metal and they’re the ones that appreciate the boundaries being pushed . Both are necessary for a healthy scene. I believe metal music does transcend cultures because it is a subculture on its own, so you would notice pretty much similar receptions worldwide provided they are exposed to same level of information . I see a global picture rather than a regional one.

When you go into your head space to compose a song, what’s your process like both when it comes to the musical composition and to the lyrics?

It is quite an abstract process, I am not sure how it happens, at times I feel frustrated and at times it is like a moment of zen the music flows and the music creates images like a film trailer or such from there I keep developing it . I later add the exact wording, the lyrics. Sometimes I start with a verse some inspiring lines then add music to it so there isn’t a blue print or a formula, it’s a mix of order and chaos I guess

You’ve been performing as Melechesh since 1993. How have you personally seen the band as a whole evolve since then? What are some lessons you’ve learned along the way?

Well the band grew and became a credible musical entity. I never planned for this I just wanted to make music that I felt was good. Biggest challenge is human element. Imagine pirates trying to run an organization like company or school… it is not easy. You meet many great people but also many insecure and frustrated characters with giant egos it is hard to deal with them. So I learned to just do what is right to the music or the Melechesh banner we carry and not play into people’s dark side of their minds. I try to avoid that.

What do you see as the greatest detriment to heavy/experimental music in the 21^st century? Conversely, what do you see as its greatest asset in the age of immediacy?

The detriment would be shallow music and shallow consumers, who alternatively seek to get music for free claim to be rebels but bow in awe to well off corporations such as Sony and Apple, yet still have no issue in hurting the musicians. This is a generalization though. One of the greatest assets in this age of immediacy is technology. With one click the world can find out when a band tours and where. Can see the merchandise and news and hear musical samples. It is good. Technology is like fire and can be used in a positive or negative sense. Also in this age the real music lover is exposed to more music that perhaps normally they would not have been exposed to. So as you see with my answer I do see the pros and cons. This is life.

When you’re not writing or touring with the band, what do you like to do in your leisure time? Any books you find yourself engrossed in? Please elaborate.

The band does consume most of my time when I am not touring or writing I am managing and baby sitting . For leisure I like to escape it all and travel to sunny places, because I live in Amsterdam and I miss the sun there. I like to cook or go and dine out. As for reading I like to read a lot about current issues in the world be it political, social or economic. I also always try to find time to read archaeological anthropological and mystical readings if I find the right and interesting subjects.

Thanks to Ashmedi for his time.

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In the Face of Devastation - A Conversation With KEN Mode

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:13:53 -0500

credit: Scott Kinkade

It makes sense that a band would continue to get better and better with each album. Just because it makes sense doesn’t make it a reality, however. Many bands are satisfied in stagnation never realizing their full potential. KEN Mode are a band whose constant evolution is a testament to the work ethic of its three members. Their latest release, Entrench, is a force to be reckoned with on all fronts of the heavy music scene with its damn near perfect blend of freneticism and melody. I had the opportunity to chat with vocalist/guitarist Jesse Matthewson before the band’s set opening for Torche this last Saturday at the Bottletree Cafe.

As far as the making of Entrench, what was kind of the perspective of the band this time? What there a different approach with this record?

I think every album we seem to take a different approach. This one we wrote it in two concentrated bursts – both week and a half sessions. One in December, 2011 and another one in May, 2012. Since Andrew is an American citizen, and lives down here, we had to fly him up to Winnipeg to do that, so we just wrote all day every day for those two sessions. That’s basically how we came up with the bulk of the new material that became the new record. I came up with the vocal arrangements and the lyrics and all that shite in between those, because it takes me forever to work on those, but yeah. In terms of recording it, we flew Matt Bayles up to Winnipeg last September cranked that stuff out, worked on it about a month straight, and we had a new record.

From a creative perspective, when you guys went into make the album was there a different mindset or theme you were going for?

We kind of start fresh every record. We let our creative juices flow a little bit for the first couple of songs – see what comes of it – and from there we try to figure out what kind of things need to be explored to make it a proper album feel where it has the ebbs and flows and different dynamics – stuff like that. I don’t like to right off the hop be like “This album has to be THIS!” All of the process, for me, is the free form nature of it, and the almost stream of consciousness approach to writing the riffs themselves. I never come into things like this is the mindset or I need this to sound like this. I just start playing and whatever comes out – if that sounds cool then awesome.

Are you the main lyricist?

I’m the only lyricist. I don’t let anyone else do it. Depending on the band, obviously, some bands can make it work when they have multiple writers. Others could make it sound mildly schizophrenic with two different voices. With us, it’s just always been the way it’s been, and I don’t wanna give that up. This is mine [laughs].

As far as the lyrics go, what things work as influences or catalysts for you in that process?

Largely whatever’s going on in my life at the time. If it’s bad things then it’s bad things that go into the lyrics. If it’s good – that’ll shine through. A lot of it’s just therapy. It’s me working through my own shit with words. And hopefully words that sound cool enough together where it’s not boring.

Has your approach to writing lyrics evolved since you guys first formed as a band?

Yeah, I think so, because when we first started out I was literally still a kid.

How old were you when you guys started out?

We formed when I was seventeen and Shane was fifteen. Basically, we’ve been putting out albums all through college for me and now I’m turning 32 this year, so we’ve been around [laughs].

You guys are on Season of Mist now. Has the change been different?

I don’t know. It’s kind of yet to be said. The media attention we got for this record – I really have no idea. It’s kind of a whole bunch of things building on themselves. I mean, obviously we built our profile quite a bit on our previous record winning a Juno and all the touring we did. I think regardless we would have gotten a decent amount of attention, but Season of Mist seems to be working quite hard, and they have a very good international presence, and that’s one of the reasons we wanted to work with them.

We really wanted to tackle the European market. Also, we’re working with a different label in Canada too just because with some of the granting agencies you need to have the record released by a Canadian company and controlled by a Canadian company in Canada to be eligible for certain marketing programs and junk like that. We’re actually working with a label called New Damage out of Tornto, Ontario, up there which is kind of weird to have different companies working in different territories. I’m glad Season of Mist has their shit together everywhere else, though, because they’re a European label, actually. They’ve been building their US presence a lot over the last few years.

Talk to me a little about this article which mentioned KEN Mode specifically with regards to hipster metal.

[Laughs]. Oh, the Brooklynization of Metal…we’re a Canadian band.

I’m sure you’ve read other articles, comments, etc. basically talking about the trendiness of metal or about metal being hip. What are your thoughts on all of that?

I’m not even sure what I think on that, because the people that I end up hanging out with and even “hipster metal people” like they’re still the same metal nerds who were listening to this stuff when they were kids. The rejects in high school. I guess now they just have jobs in media. They’re like the cool kids even though it’s still subversive music being done by people in the counter culture who have always lived within those realms only now they’re cool or something.

It’s definitely interesting, to me at least, to see that dynamic shift, though. Having listened to heavy music my entire life and see it being embraced by more and more people is incredibly exciting for me.

I think a lot of that is just fashion changes and styles change. Everything changes. The way I dress now compared to the baggy pants, frizzy-haired little freak from thirteen years ago – everyone changes [laughs]. It’s just funny how as metalheads evolved and progressed it’s largely people who are trying to latch onto the past who are the ones bitching the most about it. They don’t want people who are more fashionable listening to metal that’s mixed with other types of music. They want their thrash or their old school metal. They don’t want any of that lame artsy fartsy stuff. Fuck off. Artists are gonna do what they want regardless. It’s funny how people want to shit on stuff, but what are the metal bands that sell the most records? They’re usually the more “true” metal and all of that bullshit like the old school bands. It’s not like stuff like Krallice is selling 150,000 copies. Hipster metal, but where are all these hipsters buying records? They’re still only selling like 5,000 copies maybe. I thought hipsters were supposed to be everywhere ruining metal.

Speaking of fandom and heavy music, specifically, what was it for you when you initially began creating music that was the draw with heavy music?

I don’t even really know. I was twelve and it was just bands like Nirvana and then the Melvins. They just – something just clicked. I never cared about music before that, and it just seemed – and this is the funny thing just building off the whole hipster issue, but back then they were not – granted Nirvana was popular – but I started digging into the underground and it’s like those bands were mine. They weren’t something that any of my classmates were into.

They wouldn’t get into it, because you had to actually do research to learn about this stuff, and it was something personal. It was mine. This was my music. Maybe it had something to do with that. Why it just struck a chord with me, I don’t know. Maybe I was dropped as a baby? My dad got me a Nirvana tape, because he wanted to listen to it, and he thought he was too old to buy stuff like that – that it would look weird. So he got myself and my brother Shane a Nirvana and a Pearl Jam tape, and from there that record In Utero just destroyed my brain. From there, I read about Nirvana, and I learned about all the bands that Kurt used to listen to, and that got me into Black Flag, the Melvins, Jesus Lizard – it ruined my fucking life.

The passion for it definitely existed in the pre-social media days, because you had to be invested in what you were listening to, and you had to work to discover new music.

And you take risks [laughs].

Absolutely, because then you get the tape or vinyl you paid for, and you realize it fucking sucks.

Or you just didn’t care about it, and then fifteen years later you suddenly care about it. I remember the first Black Flag CD I got was The First Four Years, and I hated it. It was not – I’d heard Black Flag – and I wanted the My War shit, and when I got The First Four Years it was like “What is the punk garbage?” Granted, I still prefer the Rollins years, but I can appreciate that record now.

When you’re not touring or writing, what do you typically like to do? Obviously you guys are right at the beginning of this tour, so free time I’m sure is a rare commodity. How many dates for this tour?

I think 32, and we’re still expecting more. We’re trying to fill gaps. When we have spare time, at least when we’re on touring cycles, I come home, and I try to train Muay Thai and Jujitsu a bit if I can. Relax a lot. Hopefully [laughs]. Try to write a little bit. When we have large gaps, and we’re actually having to work again – Shane’s a chartered accountant in Canada which is a CPA in the US. I’ve done a lot of accounting work, but I also do a lot of marketing and grant writing and stuff like that, but we’re hopefully not gonna have many gaps this year, because we’re gonna be touring for most of it. Right now the tentative plan is it’s getting booked. We’re doing this one, then we’re going home for three weeks, then we’re going back out around Pitchfork Fest, then we’re going home for two weeks, then we’re going to Europe, and then we’re going home for about five days, and then it’s a full on Canadian tour, and by that time it’s November, so we’ll probably take the rest of the year off.

Thanks to Jesse for his time and to KEN Mode and Torche for a fantastic show. The rest of the tour dates can be found here.

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We're Already Dead - A Conversation With Valient Thorr

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:58:25 -0500

credit: Gary Copeland

Giving ample offerings of the finest in rock n’ roll with shades of metal and punk, Valient Thorr have been obliterating the heavy music landscape since their arrival on the Earth metal scene in 2003. A decade later finds the band upping the ante with every release with their newest, Our Own Masters, set to be released next month. I had the opportunity to chat with mastermind and throat for Valient Thorr, Valient HImself, who was ready to get down to business and talk about shooting a video for one of the new tracks.

And what song is the video for?

Well, we are…I’ll tell you first – I’ve told no one else – it’s all completely different, each song. Every one of us has a favorite couple of songs [from the new album]. So we couldn’t agree…so we just asked…basically, we let our buddies help us decide, and they chose “Torn Apart,” so we’re doing a video for “Torn Apart,” but the first song we’re releasing is gonna be released next week. We’re gonna let people hear a couple of different things, and not focus on one single. It’s so diverse, so just let people hear different things.

Everyone knows you guys are from Venus. I’m curious as to what your Earth journey has been like in regards to you being a musician, Valient? What brought you to the point where you are now with Valient Thorr?

Well, I mean…on Earth – once we decided that rock n’ roll would be the best way to get our messages out, it was a long process. We started playing…I mean, it could be something that’s a unique story, and it could be something that’s not at all. If you want to look at it like an alien who’s here…I always think about that for a long time – I don’t want to say it was a crutch to speak about us being from another planet. We didn’t have it tough. It was just something we decided to do when we were all in art school together. No matter what path we chose, we knew we had to get this message out to people everywhere. So, we were in this skate park and hanging out, and we had other projects that turned into this project, and we had other gigs that turned into this one. There were a couple of things that came together, and you know – this is pre-MySpace and pre-cellphones – right on the cusp – I mean, you’re talking ’98 or ’99. This is pre-Google. I mean, looking up things on the internet, looking up cities like Mobile or Birmingham and putting “rock club” or “rock bar” into Lycos [laughs] as a search engine and trying to piece together things for a tour.

We’re really lucky in that we had a ton of bands coming through in this skate shop that we all hung out at. We kept as many addresses and phone numbers of buddies that worked there as we could. And then we basically cashed in our favors. Say we let you crash, and then we piece together a 52-city tour, and literally anybody can do that now. I encourage people to do it now, but back then it was a pretty big feat to do a 52-city tour in 60 days. Nobody was doing that shit. I have magazine articles that we would laugh at and read from like Spin or Alt Press where they’re talking about these bands who were being compared to MC5 at the time like At the Drive-In and You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead…, and they’re like “Oh, you gotta see this band live!” And these bands were like “Man, we just did a two week tour across America.” A two week tour? Are you kidding?! C’mon, man. That’s not that impressive. The same thing happened when we were out…like it was literally three years from the end of 2004 all the way through 2007. These bands were like “Oh man, we just did a grueling two-month trek,” and we’re like “We live on the road now.” It’s just so funny how it happens. I guess before all that, before moving and all of that, we decided we had to get out of this small town and be able to get the message out. Better bands come through Chapel Hill and Raleigh than they do in Greenville, so we’ll move this band here. So we moved the band over.

I haven’t really told a lot of this stuff, because we kept it a secret for such a long time. We didn’t want people to know. Everybody knows we’re from Venus now, though. The key to us figuring it out…it wasn’t like moving to a smart town and getting along with some band that had tons of tours that came through there. It was giving up everything and getting on the road and getting out there. And that was the beginning of our arch up. Once we gave up everything, and we started doing those 52-date tours, and once we figured out we had this chance, we just got rid of all our shit, we put our comics in storage and our records, and we got the fuck out of there. We actually just stopped for the first time. None of us had houses since 2004 until October. Basically all of us have places to live now, and it’s spread out all over the place, because we didn’t slow down for so long that we didn’t have to deal with any kind of family stuff. And then Earth father passed away, an Earth child was born, and all these crazy kinds of things happened. It kind of…we needed to stop and do some adjustments and then get ready for the next phase of the band.

credit: Will Dozier

Do you find the audience here on Earth is more receptive to rock n’ roll and heavy music than the Venus audience?

Well, we didn’t do music on Venus. On Venus, we were meteorologists. We had a totally different education, a completely different skillset, and a completely different mindset. Once we got here we had to figure out…the whole thing was we were in space for years. For eons. We were doing the same thing, and it became a grind. I used to say “It’s really complicated,” and it is unless you put it in the context where someone can understand it. I could talk all day about timelines and how confusing they are – wormholes and the infinite grid that the universe is on, and that can be really confusing, but if you just look at it, man, we were just doing a job much like a meter reader is. If you just pretend like, “Hey, we had to stop at all these houses,” which is basically all these points on a timeline. We had to stop at all these points and places and check the meter. We had to make sure that things were going right in these timelines for this species of Venusians – which are basically like the human Earthlings now. I mean, all Earthlings are descendants of Venusians.

You know it’s funny, because there’s a new Superman movie coming out. I was always kind of describe the history of the Earth as a Superman story. The Earthlings were seeded here, you know? And then the first ones – the reason there’s a Thorr god is because at some point one of the meteorologists – one of the checkers – or meter readers that we kind of were, stopped along a certain point and everybody had the same last name – Thorr. That’s where the whole Thorr mythology came from. Somebody came from the sky, and that’s how all that worked out.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the trend in popularity that heavy music on Earth is taking, Valient. What are your thoughts on that growth?

Well, I mean…I don’t know that. I can see things happening. I can things from a very weird perspective that things are happening, but I’m in the middle of it. All the time that these things are going on, I’ve spent being inside of it. And I’ve seen things going on. I’ve seen things happening. But what I really see, and it’s kind of what I’ve seen all along, is we know we’re a certain – I can only speak for the things that I’ve seen. The things that you see and the things you experience make up who you are. I’m led by my habits, beliefs, and desires. That’s where I find significance. There’s two ways I feel like you can look at things. You can look at it as things happening on some sort of autonomous universal transcendent wavelength, or that things happen because of your own habits, beliefs, and desires. Those are the things that you’re drawn to, and those are things that bring you to that. So, being inside of it and understand what’s happening…I can only get reminded of it when I come back home to where I live in North Carolina or hang out with old friends that I’ve known for so long. They see it in a different way. They see it outside of where we see it. They’re outside of it looking in.

From outside, they see it bigger than what it is, because they see us doing all these things. That kind of reminds us, “Oh wow, we are doing kind of wild ass things,” but when you’re inside of it you don’t think of it that way. You’re inside of it, and you think “I’m doing what I have to do.” I have to drive six or twelve hours. I have to unload. I have to rock. I have to packup, and then I have to go to sleep, and get up in the morning and do it again. I can be in a really good mood or a shitty mood, but hopefully all those moods link up [laughs]. You keep doing it. Sometimes you play things that are huge and wild experiences happen. But they happen so fast – you have to leave and go the next place so fast. You quickly forget about all of the wild things unless you have some kind of reminders like mentions on Twitter or Facebook, so you can go back and remember. Someone tells you a story, and you forget half of it. I’m really glad to get reminded of these things, and like I said, my perspective is skewed, because I’m inside it. I don’t experience it the same – like underground music growing and blowing up. I can tell that underground music that I’ve always loved and cared about in the US is way bigger in Europe than it’s ever been in the US. I pay attention to histories, and I think at a certain point in the US rock n’ roll fell off.

You know in the 80s with hair metal, a lot of dudes starting listening to something that was more innovative at the time like hip hop. Now you have hip hop, RNB, and alt-country that have ruled those charts since that point. I see it getting bigger over there. Now, I see a lot more fans here. I see bands we take out on tour with us, and they become bigger than us [laughs]. I don’t want to become Montrose – let’s just say that [laughs]. I don’t want to have all the bands that are awesome just pass us by. I’m not in charge, so I don’t know what’ll happen. There are some awesome bands that are huge now that opened for us, and if we went back on together right now we’d probably be opening for them.

As far as the creative process for you guys, Valient, what kind of things work as influences when you’re writing?

Well, always for me – it’s been current events. I like to stay abreast of what’s happening in the world. I think it fuels my desire to write. I don’t think you can ever be bored or get writer’s block. If you can take a look around at what’s going on, and it doesn’t make you furious then you’re asleep, basically. So I always use that as fuel. The other dudes are different. It’s not always the case with everybody else. And now more and more I’d say each album that we’ve made – this is our sixth one – each one we’ve made has been less one person doing this and one person doing that and more of a collaboration in the fullest sense. Stranger was that way where I was first getting songs from different people – lyrical ideas and stuff – but I was just listening to the record on the way down. I try to listen to it and put it away, so it seems fresh every time, but it’s so funny I listen to it and I think of each line and who brought that line to the song. Each song and every line has a different person who’s brought that to it.

I had 85 demos for this new record. Insane. I don’t think we’ve ever done more than twenty for a record. 85. These songs have transformed over and over and over. The choruses – I was thinking about all the different version of choruses and different things that they could have been or would have been. There were critical decision made on this record that were like so thought out on so many different ways that it could be. And it was everybody. Lucian the drummer wrote bass parts, and guitar parts, and he wrote lyrics. There’s a song where almost all of the lyrics are written entirely by Nightwolf, the bass player. All of us helped with everything this time. This one is completely – it’s nuts because every song sounds different. I used to say that we all had different influences, and that’s what brought it. Now I think it’s the way we’re writing is we’re all taking it upon ourselves to write whatever and fix it and try it. Some of it is bizarre [laughs]. I think this is probably our most bizarre record. I encourage everybody to listen to the whole thing, because a lot of the times – and I’m guilty of this – I’ll hear a new album by somebody, and if it doesn’t get me by three songs I’m over it. You get deadened to things. I know what this is like. I know what this is gonna sound like, but you won’t be able to tell what our whole album’s about by listening to one track. There’s no way.

I feel like our society is so – my analogy for it is if you put something out there these days – no matter what forum: Twitter, Facebook, whatever kind of thing you use – anything you put out in the social sphere, though – you give it five minutes, and it’s completely covered up. And probably in some cases it’s not seen again, because information’s so fast these days you really have to hammer it home and hope that people don’t hate your guts for it, or you have to make something that immediately hits with everybody, because it’s really hard to keep people’s attention anymore. It either gets covered up, or they’re so numb and so ready for something new we don’t digest things anymore. I made a joke a long time ago that the world of music in the early 00s – especially in hip hop – people who are buying the records are just eating it up and shitting it out. Now people don’t even swallow it. They take a bite, they chew on it, and then they spit it out. It’s not even going through their system.

What do you think is the greatest challenge facing anyone who wants to make viable art in 2013?

Besides the plethora of problems that we already have faced as artists over the however many years it’s taken us to get to this point, because everything is moving and speeding up. Whatever amount of people that were on the Earth in 1970, they finally reached one billion, and then less than forty years later there’s seven billion people on the Earth. It took all of the whole time humans were on the Earth to reach one billion people, and then now we have seven billion people. That’s how fast things move. Not only do you have all those problems up until then, now you have problems coming that you don’t even have time to think about. I get caught up sometimes. Number one, you want somebody to listen to something. You want somebody to see something as an artist. Then you have to deal with their reaction to it. What are they gonna think about it? The thing about it is you have the people who don’t give a shit at all, and you try to get people to give a shit. You have people who give a shit, but they’re so overly opinionated about it that they feel like they’re the critics now. We live in a comment society.

It doesn’t matter what a review says or what an interview says. Now, you live in a society that’s ruled by trolls. If you’re not praised, they jump on the bandwagon of “Yeah! That’s terrible.” If you are praised then they jump on the bandwagon of “Man, that’s bullshit,” [laughs]. I was mentioned on this website called Metalsucks, and I was voted the number two man in metal which is a whole lot of problems for a whole lot of people. There’s like thousands of comments. I myself would have never put myself at number two. Number three was Bruce Dickinson! He’s like my hero. So, it’s a little skewed in the first place, but there’s all these people who were like “I’ve never even heard of this asshole!” “Who gives a shit?”

It’s funny, because we’re not even metal – I don’t think. We play heavy music. We play rock n’ roll. Who cares? We play a crossover kind of music that puts us in two camps, basically. We’ve never been reviewed at all on Pitchfork, which I think is for pop music or dance type bands. I just found out it’s gonna be reviewed on there. Now we’ll have these guys that are like “Oh, those are the hipster metal guys.” I don’t even know what the fuck that means. We try to make smart music. That’s what it is. I want to make something that’s gonna live on beyond my own death. A piece of art that’s gonna make somebody think if they actually pay attention to it. That’s all we’ve ever set out to do. I’m always happy when someone gets it in their hands and pays attention to it. The Thorriors know what we’re doing. They get it.

Thanks to Valient for his time. Our Own Masters will be released June 18th, courtesy of Volcom Entertainment.

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