Still Razing Along – Mike Fleischmann of Vision of Disorder

Posted on December 17, 2015 by newsteam

Spawning out a Long Island music scene that introduced a number of cutting edged bands at the time, Vision of Disorder was part of an era that introduced a modernized version of hardcore and heavy metal that helped shape a sound that eventually morphed into what is now known as the metalcore genre.

Raze To The Ground is the band’s latest album (out now via Candlelight Records) and following the release of their 2012 comeback record, The Cursed Remains Cursed, the band channeled their energies into crafting a record that brings out the aggression and heaviness longtime fans have followed over the years.

Bassist Mike Fleischmann explains how this record came together and whether any new methods were input towards creating the songs.

“We did the same thing we always do, which is we lock ourselves in a dungeon like studio and everyone brings in ideas for a song and work on it. Usually the music’s first and then Tim [Williams] comes down and sees what he can do on it. If it sounds good, we keep it. If it’s not going anywhere, we toss it. That’s how it’s been since the beginning. That’s the way we work on songs.”

Pure angst has played a huge role in their sound over the years, and Raze To The Ground is no different than past material. Channeling their inner aggression, the band has stuck to a formula as on past recordings and is felt throughout the album and rarely letting down along the way.

“Right now we all live boring lives. It’s about bringing excitement to our lives and playing music. We’re all similarly taking our frustrations out on our instruments. Tim channels that energy into his lyrics and frustrations pent up stuff. I think that’s our thing. That’s how it comes out. We don’t purposely set out to write any kind of style. It’s just the music that comes out when we all get together.”

vision of disorder tim williams in studio

With Williams being the lyricist in the group, they chose the album title based on the state of the world and the negativity surrounding it all. Fleischmann explained how all of that factored into how the album came out.

“Tim does all of the album naming and the song naming, and it has to do with the title track, which he felt summed up the inspiration for this album. They took a lot of inspiration from recent news and the turmoil going on, which is still going on unfortunately! The past couple of years you see the news is flooded with civil unrest and rioting. I think he felt that summed up the feel of the record and a lot of the lyrical content.”

Aside from the music, Vision of Disorder did face a lineup change with longtime guitarist Matt Baumbach bowing out of the band. While over the past few years he was missing from some of their live shows, the band decided to move forward to record the album without him.

“This time Matt our longtime guitar player – he doesn’t want to do it anymore. We were making another record and we moved on without him,” he explained about the departure of Baumbach.

“We weren’t really sure whether he was going to be there. He was in and out. When you’ve been in the band this long, you can always come back at any time. After 20 years, if you’re having a bad year then you might as well have a year off. Until we were making the album and he wasn’t there we were like already he’s really not doing it.”

While the band recorded Raze To The Ground as a four piece, they employed Josh DeMarco for live shows. A familiar face within their scene, he became an obvious choice for Vision of Disorder and filled the shoes nicely.

“We didn’t have anyone replace him on the album. Live we’ve been playing with this guy Josh DeMarco who’s in a couple of other bands and he used to play in adayinthelife in the 90s. We toured the US with them and he’s also in a Long Island hardcore band called Mind Over Matter. He’s a very skilled guitar player. We were lucky he was available and he used to help us out sometimes roadie wise. I used to play in a band with him back in high school so I go back 20 plus years with him as well. We’re lucky to have a guy on deck that’s still a good guy that we all get along with and can step right in.”

Photo Credit: Jeff Crespi

Prior to the release of the new album, their 1995 EP Still was reissued by Dignified Bastard, and for Fleischmann, he is still surprised how much their fans have loved a recording that marked the early era of the band.

“It’s crazy that people care about a little seven inch that came out in ’95. People still talk to us about it so we knew some people would be happy that it came back. We pretty much have kept a lot of those songs in the set over the years so we know people are familiar with it over the years. It’s still crazy. That’s what we did before we got signed – before anything we did that Still seven inch. That was one of the first things that put us on the map. The first time we played in New York City the shows we played was based around that.”

He shared his memories of that era of Vision of Disorder and what that time period meant to him. Being that the Still EP was their first attempt at recording songs towards an actual recording, hard music fans from that era became hooked over a raw sound that helped shape a generation of hardcore metal.

“We did our first attempt at touring. We bought our first van and it broke down on the road – so many memories from back then. The New York City shows playing at Coney Island High and Wetlands, and playing with bands like Crown of Thornz and 25 Ta Life, and doing a lot of tri-state area shows and VFW Halls and skate parks. We weren’t playing real venues then. They were all makeshift Sunday matinees shows. It was totally different then what we ended up doing just a couple of years later.”

Vision of Disorder was one of the bands who took part on Ozzfest in 1997, in support of their self titled full length album. While this became a high profile exposure for the band at the time, Fleischmann had mixed memories about that experience.

“Unfortunately the first memory that always jumps out is the very first day of the Ozzfest we got kicked off the tour,” he said, with a laugh. “Our manager at the time rented us this RV, which wasn’t ready to go until the morning of the show. At that time in ’97, the side stage bands played twice a day. You could play two 20-minute sets. You’d play once at 11 am and then once at 3 or 4 o’clock would be your set time.”

“So we picked up our RV and raced down to Washington DC, where the tour started. We were the first band to play on the first day and missed it, so Sharon [Osbourne] kicked us off. We did a lot of crying and begging and they let us back on.”

Aside from the rough start, he recalled some other surreal stories about bonding with a variety of musicians he never imagined to be bonding with during a tour. The Ozzfest experience became a life changing moment for the band.

“That tour was crazy. We were hanging out every day with Neurosis, Pantera and Downset. We were all friends with them. Every day was crazy. We were watching Black Sabbath play every night. It was surreal. It was like a heavy metal summer camp.”

“Every day we’re walking through the cafeteria and we would see guys like Pete Steele or Vinnie Paul eating lunch and we’d feel like ‘what are we doing here?’ We were all 20 years old. It was crazy.”

Photo Credit: Kurt Christensen Photography

While his stories about Ozzfest sounded positive, he recalled some of the troubles the band encountered at the same time, including communication issues with their record label and management. Despite those flaws, they survived it and lived to share these stories.

“We had problems from the get go with our first album. We really didn’t like how it sounded and we still aren’t happy with how it sounds and how it came out. From the very beginning of the Ozzfest, the day before, we couldn’t have even been there that first morning. They met the day before. They had a whole soundcheck and a whole meet and greet our manager didn’t even tell us about. We went on Ozzfest without a sound man, which was insane. We were already making mistakes.”

“We were on the Ozzfest and Tim is hooking up this microphone directly into the delay pedal and the speakers are feeding back. So we got no help from anyone. Everyone was holding their ears,” he said, with a chuckle.

Photo Credit: Kurt Christensen Photography

Over 20 years have passed since the EP was released and the band has come full circle since then. Some of their peers from their era are still going strong and some others have returned after time away from the scene, but Fleischmann was happy where Vision of Disorder stands within the current scene.

“It’s great for a lot of the bands that we played with are still around, like Earth Crisis and Candiria is making another record. [They were] a lot of the bands we cut our teeth with are still around. It’s great.”

“We went to Australia a few years ago. We did the Soundwave Tour and we got to play with Madball and Sick Of It All, and we did side dates with them too. It was like on our off days we were in hotels and in planes with Madball and Sick Of It All.”

As for current live dates, Vision of Disorder try to play out live as much as they can. Due to personal lives and job reasons, they have a brief Southwestern US run in February and an appearance at Hellfest 2016 in Clisson, France scheduled at this time.

“We really don’t play very often. We all work full time and we have family stuff. It’s hard to get away. I would say it’s more of an older crowd. I don’t think there’s too many younger kids. We don’t play with too many bands that would draw them in either. I think we’re playing for our longtime fans. There are definitely some new people in there but I would say these days we are more playing for our fans that have been around for a long time. I think the percentage of people discovering it now is pretty low. I mean of course we’d appreciate it but we don’t really do the things that would take to get discovered by new people like hitting the road. It’s tough for us,” said Flesichmann, about the realities of balancing music and real life.

“We’ll try to do what we can do with that. It’s got to be worthwhile. We try to do weekends and try to do some international stuff. For five guys with different schedules all to get time off of work at the same time for the same amount of time, it’s tough. It’s harder than we thought it would be for it to get things together.”

Lastly, Fleischmann and Williams launched a podcast called Dead Bloated Morrison in 2013, where the two of them attempted to delve into talking about all things music. While they temporarily set aside this during the writing and recording of the new album, Fleischmann said they may try to do new episodes in the near future.

“We’ll probably end up doing it again. When we got serious about writing the record, we did that when we were bored in between. So when we got serious about writing, we had to use a lot of our free time on VOD. The podcast ends up being work. We’ll get together, schedule people for interviews, do some research…we had to figure out our priorities and do the band at the time. We’ll end up doing it again I’m sure. I’m sure when we go away and do some shows on tour we’ll get some good stories to include them.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Slaves Beyond Metal – Jamie Byrum and Neil McAdams of Black Breath

Posted on December 17, 2015 by newsteam

Black Breath, photo credit- Invisible Hour

“We did pass up a truck in Utah carrying a load of uranium hexafluoride, which is physical radioactive material. Pretty sure when we passed him he was playing on his phone while driving. So that was inspiring. Other than that, everything else has been normal,” said vocalist Neil McAdams, sharing an interesting story about his band Black Breath’s recent tour supporting Goatwhore this past summer.

Since this tour, the band has dropped their latest album Slaves Beyond Death and have been touring in support of this. While the band is no stranger to touring, they have found themselves sharing stages with a wide variety of bands and ready to take on any challenge. Their next venture will take them on a support slot with Decapitated across the US.

Drummer Jamie Byrum shared his thoughts on their touring history:

“[We are] all over the map. In Europe we feel we’ve played with more metal bands. Over here we’ve played with more bands that come from a DIY background. We’ll play with anybody,” he said.

“We like to keep things within a community of people that we know,” said McAdams.

“We’re not exclusive to playing with metal or hardcore bands. We’d prefer to play with bands with diverse lineups, especially on tour when you have to listen to it every day,” concluded Byrum.

He shared some of their early shows where they were paired up with some unlikely bands.

“I think early on shit was weirder. We’d play at hardcore festivals and we’d play with straight up hardcore bills with youth crew bands or positive clean-cut hardcore bands, and we’re trouble dirtbags getting drunk in the parking lot. We definitely weirded out people at those kinds of shows, but we don’t really do those kinds of shows any more. All of those kids who were creeped out by it are alcoholics now.”

Coming out of the Seattle area, the members cut their teeth musically surrounding themselves around a wide array of bands of all genres. They described their upbringing and how an open minded scene helped bring together their peers to create a unique group of people.

“We grew up in communities where there’s a real diverse music scene. When the whole huge grunge movement died in the mid 90s, we were in high school and there were all of these bands. There were all of these metal bands playing. We grew up with all of these old school thrash metal dudes and they would be playing. We would be hanging out with them. We would go to these hippie jam concerts. Indie got huge so you would see a lot of that shit,” explained McAdams.

“Everyone garage and punk and indie band was playing in basements. Everyone was getting drunk. It’s very DIY,” said Byrum.

“It’s a whole shit mix of stuff. To me it’s never been a huge division between hardcore and punk and metal and all of that shit. You’re all pissed off about god and fuck the police and the state and shit…I don’t know why you can’t all get on the same team,” added McAdams.

The band is signed to Southern Lord, a label better known for its eclectic roster but more for its extensive doom and stoner rock acts. While they are one of the few death metal oriented acts on their roster, Byrum found that it worked to their advantage to push their name out even more and did not feel like an oddity within a roster like theirs.

“There are a lot of bands on there that doesn’t sound like anything [like what’s usually on Southern Lord]. I don’t think it’s that weird. I just like the idea of being on a label run by somebody with a similar background as a friend. We are friends with bands he chooses to sign so that helps,” Byrum said.

Photo Credit: Eric Wallace

In recent times, the Northwest area has become a hotbed for musical acts once again and a string of new bands have been making noise throughout the scene. While many of those bands fall upon the rock side of the heavy music genre, bands like Black Breath have helped to revitalize a scene that has quietly produced some good bands over the years.

Seattle is an area better known for the grunge scene in the late 80s into the early 90s, producing iconic names such as Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, along with heavier names such as Queensryche and Sanctuary. So how much has changed since that era?

”It’s not very big. There’s a lot of people that are into metal but there aren’t that many good bands. I don’t know if there’s ever been that many good metal bands from Seattle, compared to Los Angeles or San Francisco. There’s Metal Church and The Accused and the classic bands. I guess there are a lot of metal bands,” said drummer Jamie Byrum, about their current Seattle metal scene.

“There’s a good core community of people there who are dedicated to doing it but it’s still a small thing,” said vocalist Neil McAdams.

“There are good metal bands but there’s not a shitload of them. There’s never been a shitload of them,” added Byrum.

Being a band that incorporated healthy parts of metal, hardcore and punk, Black Breath came up playing a wide variety of shows locally, including the Rain Fest, and eventually expanded into touring across the country. Their time spent on the road helped them spread their name and their music to newer fans along the way.

Since their start in 2005, Black Breath have crafted their sound around a variety of extreme sounds such as thrash, black and death metal with punk and hardcore influences rubbing off on them as well.

“When we started out, we were playing hardcore so that’s where I came from. As we got better on our instruments, we started playing more metal,” explained Byrum.

One of the aspects of their sound that often comes up is the comparisons to the early 1990s Swedish death thrash sounds that Black Breath employed into their music through their first couple of albums (2010’s Heavy Breathing and 2012’s Sentenced to Life). While he admits to liking some of those bands over the years, he also says there was more to that than just modeling themselves around that specific sound.

“We’d think anybody who’d like those bands – I mean we like those bands so I don’t think it’s so weird for someone to compare it to it, or it’s not a bad thing. I don’t necessarily think we sound like those bands particularly, but there are some similarities and we’re definitely influenced by them by those bands.”

Another obvious element in Black Breath’s sound is the downtuned guitars that play a big role in shaping the way they create their music. They said that their interests in punk/metal crossover sound played a key role in bringing that into their music, and they continue to build upon that onto their newer songs.

“At first it was more hardcore hard rock. We were heavily influenced by Poison Idea and bands like that. But then, I guess from the get go we were always like how can we be more intense for every writing session, so naturally it rose to that. That’s when we became a crossover band,” said Byrum.

“Just keep pushing the envelope and trying new things. I don’t think it’s that interesting to keep putting out the same record over and over again,” added McAdams.

Leading into the writing and recording of Slaves Beyond Death, they talked about their sound has grown since the first two albums and bringing in new ideas has helped mold their sound.

“The vocals are different. They’re not hardcore vocals. That’s a big one,” said Byrum.

“It’s just a different kind of record so we needed a different kind of approach,” said McAdams.

“There’s way more guitar. The guitar playing is way more rooted in old school heavy metal and hard rock than in death metal, whereas early on it was just fast power chords [versus] now it’s most just riffs all the time. That’s a noticeable difference,” added McAdams.

Lastly while the band name was taken from a Repulsion song and also a reference from JRR Tolkien’s works, they shared a story from their earlier years where they attempted to work in satire into their music. While this was a one time show in the beginning of the band’s history, McAdams clarified that Tolkien’s stories has no influence within Black Breath’s music or lyrics.

“This was a long time ago when we were still doing our hardcore demo stuff that we had put out. We did a show at the bar where I worked at. It’s a real tiny place and I retooled the titles for the songs. I didn’t change the lyrics but when I was introducing the songs I changed them as much as I possibly could to be some sort of Lords of the Rings reference. But that was one time eight years ago. So I would say no. As much as I appreciate Tolkien that’s not a direction I’d want to go.”

By Rei Nishimoto

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The Master’s Voice – Neill Jameson of Krieg

Posted on December 17, 2015 by News Team

Krieg, by Hillarie Jason

Neill Jameson of Krieg is one of the more fascinating people you will ever come across. Outspoken, articulate, philosophical, funny, and mild-mannered could all describe the man based on meeting him say, if you bumped into him at the bookstore or record shop. However, anyone witnessing him perform or create music, has a very different image in their mind. As one of the most important figures in the USBM scene, he clearly is more about “the work” and not about the accolades. In an exclusive interview with Ghost Cult’s Hillarie Jason, Neill discusses some changes going on in his life, the next Krieg album due in 2016, his thoughts on coping with mental illness, and other topics.

Neill recently moved to Virginia from southern New Jersey, and we opened things up by discussing how that is affecting the creation of a next Krieg album.

“Virginia is a nice change from Jersey in a lot of ways but mostly it’s just been a much needed change in my life that I’m hoping continues to stay positive. Plus I’m fortunate to live in a city that has a good music scene so there’s always something to look forward to.”

“Having a different place to work through ideas always helps. I have a lot of different places I haven’t explored yet but I’m able to take long walks that ease my mind and let me think through the ideas I want to convey with this next record, both sonically and lyrically.”

Krieg, by Hillarie Jason

The forthcoming new Krieg album, entitled Guilt is due in 2016. It promises the progression of Krieg’s growth from Transient (Candlelight), which was definitely a different animal sonically than Isolationist (also Candlelight) was. So should we assume that Guilt will be just as different? “Yeah, we’re going to get together to start putting it together after the new year. There’s been less time between the two so I imagine there’s going to be more similarities between those two than there was between Isolationist and Transient. But I’m more inspired this time around by hardcore and crust than even the last one so there’s probably going to be a strong emphasis on that, without the shitty tough guy posturing.”

Speaking of shitty tough guys, Neill has commentated on the foibles of such men in the metal scene in his occasional op-ed series for Decibel Magazine. He was equally praised and condemned by keyboard warriors regarding his past observations on bigotry, chauvinism, and elitism in metal. We asked how he dealt with the praise and backlash:

“I’m happy to have some kind of platform to speak out about stupidity in general, be it about stupid shit like horse masks and chicken costumes or the heavier stuff I’ve dealt with the last few columns. I’m also very used to people talking shit about me on the internet so this isn’t anything new nor will it be something that goes away. So I don’t particularly care one way or the other. I’m not interested in being a social justice warrior nor do I think censorship in case someone’s fucking feelings get hurt is a good idea. I’m all in favor of freedom of speech and expression but I’m also aware those come with consequences, an idea not a lot of these dry dicks hollering at me while their mothers are upstairs drinking away the memory of having a failure of a child can seem to grasp. But I’ve spent long enough being a shithead myself so now’s my chance to atone a bit I guess.”

Neill has been candid about his struggles with mental illness publicly and in past interviews. So much so that it may have paved the way for a public discussion in the music community on these topics, since a lot of heavy music imagery and lyrics focuses on madness. We asked what, if anything if the underground music community can do to break the stigmas attached to mental illness, bipolar disorder, etc.?

“Odd you bring that up right now. Yesterday I made the decision after five years off to go back on meds to treat my bi-polar depression and anxiety. I was going to try to use my writing to document the experience and try to follow in a lot of people’s footsteps and keep the dialogue about mental illness in music and art in general open and flowing. There’s less of a stigma to it now than ten years ago, but also everyone’s doctor has them on something for shit they probably don’t even need treatment for and that’s what kept me from being on them for so long, it had stopped making a difference and I felt the whole thing was a fucking sham, I still do for the most part, but I’m also at a place in my life where I know I need help otherwise I’m going to fucking ruin things for myself which I almost did when I did Blue Miasma and again after The Isolationist and I want to see if exploring this will somehow be beneficial to myself and maybe others through sharing the experience.”

Neil is well known for a slew of collaborative projects and split releases. We wondered if it’s easier to run your own band with no interference: “I don’t just have myself to think about anymore, that’s a big part of it. A lot of people who suffer from these conditions aren’t aware how it affects those close to them, I have been aware for a long time and that’s where the “guilt complex” comes in but it’s been recently that I’ve decided it’s not a cycle I want to keep reliving. It doesn’t add to my “creativity” or anything positive.”

“The collaborations I do have each been so entirely different that I focus on them more as a way to learn new methods and techniques from other artists and how to incorporate them into my own music. So they’re entirely different experiences to me so I can’t say if one is necessarily easier than the other.”

Krieg, by Hillarie Jason

On working with working with Thurston Moore (in Twilight):

“One of the most valuable learning experiences I’ve ever had. Plus he’s such an open and excited collaborator that it made what we were doing all the more vivid and dynamic. I would love for the chance to work with him again on something.”

“As opposed to other previous Twilight members, two in particular, who just dialed it in and sat back to collect praise and whatever money was available.”

Krieg, by Hillarie Jason

Krieg recently left Candlelight Records and signed with Profound Lore Records: “Jef Whitehead brought up that we were about to be released from our Candlelight contract to Chris Bruni and it went from there. I’ve had contact with Chris since he wrote for Metal Maniacs and I’m a big fan of some of the bands on his label, and also just how he has built an empire with his own two hands in the image of exactly how he wants it to go. I look forward to causing the label to lose a lot of money and respect worldwide with this next record.”

In general Neill has had a fairly prolific couple of years. What is his regular creative process like or does he prefer to work project to project?

“It’s sporadic. For most of this year I barely picked up a guitar or wrote any lyrics. Other times it’s like I can’t turn it off. I don’t know what causes this to happen, it’s like the seasons change. It’s always been like this.”

“I could sit and force it but you can tell when I do that. I’d rather just let it come naturally.”

Commenting further on the release date: “Sometime next year. Same with the split with Integrity.
The split’s been recorded for about a year and is the best song we’ve ever recorded and the general basis for the next record so they tie in nicely with each other.”

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON

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Earth Crisis On Standing Strong In The Music Scene

Posted on December 16, 2015 by newsteam

Veteran Syracuse metallic hardcore outfit Earth Crisis have been championing that sound since the early 1990s while tackling subjects such as animal rights, veganism and fighting environmental issues within their songs. Their hard hitting sound paved the way for the early versions of what was known as metalcore began to influence those who fused hardcore and heavy metal into a brand new sound.

Their moment came full circle as they took part on this year’s Knotfest in Devore, CA and nearly 20 years ago they also played on the first Ozzfest at the very same venue.

“We’ve been up to California quite a bit for the past few years. We were out here with Terror and Sworn Enemy. We played with One Choice and Cavalera Conspiracy,” said band vocalist Karl Buechner, about their recent treks out west.

Playing the second stage of the fest, they got to take part on one of the larger hard music fests in the United States. Landing a mid day slot on Day One, they were greeted by a packed crowd who were also eager to see other bands such as At The Gates who were on directly after them.

Earth Crisis with At The Gates at Knotfest 2015.

“Thank you to Slipknot for hand picking us for the festival and putting us on, and to all of the great bands we got to play with today. It was awesome to see At The Gates. We’re looking forward to seeing Slipknot of course and Judas Priest. It’s a stacked bill. Thanks to all of our fans in California who come out to the shows and supporting Neutralize the Threat and Salvation,” commented Buechner.

Since their return to the music scene, following a brief hiatus between 2001 and 2007, they have continued to wave the flag for the sound they championed for over two decades. Guitarist Scott Crouse and drummer Dennis Merrick explained about returning from their hiatus, following the release of their 2001 record Slither.

“We’ve been doing it since 2007 in a more laid back fashion than we used to,” said Crouse.

“We’ve put out three records since then – three full lengths and this year we’ve put out a four song EP – re-recorded two songs from Destroy The Machines and two previously unreleased tracks with Josh Grobelle of Bullet Tooth. We’re still doing stuff. Still playing shows,” said Merrick.

2015 was the 20 year anniversary of the band’s 1995 debut release Destroy The Machines, and the record that introduced a new generation of heavy music fans to a new metallic driven heavy metal sound.

While much of the year was focused around the anniversary set plus the release of their new EP The Discipline, they are concluding that leg with their rescheduled California dates in February 2016.

“We’re pretty much done with that. We had a show booked at Chain Reaction in Anaheim we had to make up. So that will be the last Destroy the Machines show in its entirety show,” said guitarist Scott Crouse.

“So far this year, we’ve played the Black N Blue Bowl, Southeast Beast, a festival in Detroit, Carry the Weight Fest VI and a headliner in Sheffield are where we exclusively did the Destroy The Machines set,” added Buechner.

Would they look into doing other albums in its entirety? Crouse mentioned the next in line was their 1996 album Gomorrah’s Season Ends. “It’s a lot of re-learning,” he said.

“It would be cool to combine some songs from Gomorrah’s [Season Ends] and Breed [The Killers]. Maybe do a combo set,” said Buechner, thinking aloud.

Being that Earth Crisis has celebrated 24 years of existence total, their message behind their songs has not changed much over the years. Themes such as animal rights, environmental issues and veganism are still a central part of the band’s message, which is now adapted towards what is happening in modern times.

“Our message is the same. We believe in kindness towards animals. I think one of the reasons we grew up with those thoughts that are in the forethoughts in our minds was because in Syracuse the city is on the shores of one of the most polluted lakes in North America are on Lake Onondaga [and] have all sorts of toxic poisons in it with factories and clouds of pollution going into the sky – something that would settle around us. A little bit to the north were the dead lakes in the Adirondacks. There was acid rain coming in from Canada, carrying all of the poisons from the factories, and all of the fish and vegetation were dying.”

“When Dennis and I were teenagers, Chernobyl happened. It definitely felt like things were being destroyed around us. So that’s why we took it so seriously,” said Buechner.

“I think now too, veganism for diet has been more of a mainstream thing. The plight of animals is still there. In a way it’s gotten to be more at a critical point. Factory farming has gotten so huge. People are still consuming insane amounts of meat, even though veganism is getting more mainstream.”

“There’s still tons of animals dying and being tortured in laboratories. A lot of organizations end up still doing things, like that No New Animals Lab organization from Seattle trying to stop the killing in underground animal laboratories. The Sheff campaign was a real successful campaign trying to stop animal testing. There’s still very good reasons why we’re doing what we do. The last record Salvation is focused on animal testing more than it was on the meat industry,” added Merrick.

One hotly contested subject that could appear on their future albums is Monsanto, the controversial sustainable agricultural company who has been linked with dumping poisonous chemicals into commonly eaten foods and their ties within the food industry. The band has referenced them, alongside subjects such as genetic engineering and modifying plants for human use on their two recent albums, To the Death and Neutralize the Threat, which adds to their arsenal of hot topics worked into their songs.

“The more you dig into that the more diabolical it is. Their new game – what they’re doing is buying up natural companies and then they use them to stop bills that are labeling genetically modifying ingredients.”

“What they’re for – they’re against labeling, which really Monsanto owns. A lot of these mainstream health products you see in all of the stores, Monsanto has their hands [on them]. They have their hands on their enemies to try to sway the public,” said Crouse, about the controversial company.

“I’m not sure if this is a proven fact or not, but one of the rumors is that in Monsanto or one of the places where the scientists design these things. They have organic food in their cafeteria.”

“We’ve never put that much emphasis on the health benefits of veganism. We’ve always tried to come from the animal liberation side of things to get people to understand what was going on in the laboratories and factory farms and the slaughter houses and the ranches and the Japanese whaling fleets and everything else that’s going on. The oceans are dying,” added Buechner.

Earth Crisis was well recognized for including the veganism subject within many of their songs. While this was one of many subjects the band was well known for, the general attitude towards the band and the subjects they based their songs around had greatly changed over the years. Veganism was no longer a taboo subject, and something the public became a bit more open towards.

“In a way back then when we started people didn’t know what veganism was in the mainstream but there was definitely a lot of underground support for it,” explained Merrick. “In the punk and hardcore community there were a lot of kids that were vegan and that’s kind of shifted. I think veganism for health reasons in a lot of ways have been co-opted by the mainstream and less popular in the underground punk scene. It’s counter culture because it’s not considered a mainstream thing.”

“It’s not a struggle as much. Maybe the counterculture kids steer away from it because their mom or their mom’s friend might be vegan,” said Crouse.

“In some ways it was a good it was co-opted by the mainstream for vegans, whether it was for animal rights or health or environmental issues. It’s for the animals and the environment anyways,” added Merrick.

While Earth Crisis is running once again, the various members have their other musical ventures happening at the same time. Buechner gave the status of his other band Freya, who had been working on their new album, and how the two bands’ schedules balance out.

“We actually had the drummer from Soilwork (Dirk Verbeuren) play on our new record. It’s done and my guitar player (Brendan Flynn) is doing all of the artwork and the layout,” he said.

Hello everyone! We have both good and bad news to share with you today. We have parted ways with our bass player Bill…

Posted by Freya on Tuesday, February 17, 2015

“It actually has worked out very well balancing things between the two bands. Freya’s actually played more countries in Europe than Earth Crisis has at this point. We were further into the east last time we went over. We stayed for two months. So it’s great. We work on Earth Crisis and then when people want to focus on other things….I mean all of these guys do other bands as well. Scott’s working on a band with Jimmy [Chang] from Gut Feeling and the singer of Cursed, and Andy [Hurley] of Fall Out Boy. I’m working on Freya.”

By Rei Nishimoto

The Kyngs of LA – Tony Castaneda of Kyng

Posted on December 14, 2015 by newsteam

Rock music is deeply rooted with the Los Angeles music scene and has produced a number of acts who have helped shape a section of music history. One of the city’s rising stars is East LA natives Kyng, who have made a name for themselves over the past few years with their back to the roots heavy rock sounds with heavy grooves and melodic overtones.

Veterans of the LA music scene, the three members of the band (vocalist/guitarist Eddie Veliz, bassist Tony Castaneda and drummer Pepe Clarke Magana) created a powerful yet hard-hitting sound that fans discovered on their latest album Burn The Serum (out now via Razor and Tie), and their recent journey found themselves on Knotfest 2015, becoming extra special for them being this was in their backyard in Southern California.

Castaneda shared his thoughts about the show and playing at San Manuel Amphitheatre, the Devore, CA based venue which held events such as Ozzfest and Rockstar Mayhem Fest in the past. “The main difference is this is in our backyard. We’re from Los Angeles and this is a hometown show for us, and it’s always nice to go home after the night and sleep in your own bed. That’s not to say the other festivals aren’t awesome.”

“This is definitely a venue that individually we’ve played here in the past. To be here with Kyng is definitely awesome. We love this place. There’s definitely a lot of history here, as you know Ozzfest and I’ve seen Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. I’ve played Ozzfest back in 2007 with Pepe in another band we were in.”

He shared his thoughts about playing Knotfest and taking part on a much talked about event. Being asked to participate on a festival run by one of the biggest acts in heavy music is an honor for most bands, but Castaneda chose to take in as much of the event as he could, aside from himself playing on it.

“Not falling on my ass from all of the dust on stage and wearing my Vans, and having more canvas underneath them!,” he said, with a laugh. “The highlights for me are yet to come. There’s a lot of friends here. Devour The Day’s here, Suicidal Tendencies…which I’ll be catching. After I’m done [here], I’ll be catching Cannibal Corpse. Clutch…so many bands. I missed yesterday’s set [but] I’m excited for what’s to come.”

Photo Credit: Alyson Coletta Photography

Their journey has taken them on tour with a variety of audiences, from Corrosion of Conformity and Clutch, to Seether and then even Megadeth. They discovered along the way how they have managed to work their sound towards that respective audience and winning them over along the way.

“We discovered that we can be as heavy as we want to be and still be melodic. That’s what separates us from all of the other bands. We have a drummer like Pepe that’s a beast and can basically play in a heavy, heavy metal band and plays in a rock band like us. We do both and I feel we do it well as it works for us and we’re going to continue to do.”

Kyng Album cover

Coming out of an area such as East Los Angeles and often overshadowed by the bands coming out of West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip area makes their story even sweeter. Having flown under the radar and slowly building an audience at every

“It means a lot because not too many bands come from East LA. A lot of band would be Hollywood bands, but you do have your bands from Los Angeles like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There’s a lot of bands. I guess for a band of this genre, there’s not too many of them from LA. It means a lot especially being from East LA and myself, growing up in a predominant Latin community, I’m proud of that all of us are Latinos and that’s something that’s cool to us. We’re very thankful that we can be in this genre and making our stamp and let it be known.“

Photo Credit: Rob Fenn

One of their biggest supporters from the early days was Jose Mangin of Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal, who befriended the band and helped spread their name around the scene. Castaneda acknowledged how his influence greatly helped them towards bigger things such as Metallica’s Orion Festival.

“He’s the biggest supporter since day one. He is the reason why we have gotten a lot of attention. He’s the type of guy everybody knows. Everybody in the industry knows that guy knows his shit and he vouched for us since day one and everybody jumped on board that was a friend of his and believes in it as much as he does. For that we’re grateful and will be forever grateful,” he said.

On the subject of a new Kyng record, the band teased the Knotfest crowd with a brand new, yet untitled tune. “We played a new song today. I’m not sure if it’s a working title at the moment. We only played one new one but the rest were some from the first album and some from the second.”

Photo Credit: Shawn Evans/Sonic Visions Photography

While specifics on when a new record is coming are yet to be determined, Castaneda gave an update on the status on their third album, which they are currently working on.

“It’s a little bit of the first album and a little bit of the second album intertwined. There’s gonna be a few new things we may or may not try. Generally it’s definitely a Kyng album. It’s heavy music, melodic with harmonized vocals here and there, [with] singing. So that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.”

Lastly, he shared his goals for the next record. While the members of Kyng have accomplished many personal goals within their first two albums, he admits he is working on a new bucket list as they are entering a new album cycle real soon.

“I think every year there’s a new bucket list, as you mark things off of your list, you want to stay hungry and find new stuff. We got to play with Metallica so it would be nice to tour with them. We’d like to tour with Megadeth again – that’s definitely on the top of the list. It would be cool to play with bands that are not just heavy metal. We’ve done tours with bands like Seether. We would like to do something Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age. I think we can adapt to the different types of fans within the genre. That’s definitely something on my list.”

“We actually went from Seether, which we finished that tour and then went straight into Megadeth. It’s two different worlds. So it worked. It’s weird because we get concerned sometimes when we do tours like that. With Seether, a lot of the times with fans like theirs, we’re a little too heavy for them. Then when we jump onto a tour like Megadeth, we’re like ‘well I wonder if we’re heavy enough…’ Like I said, we pride ourselves on being able to do stuff like that. That’s something unique that we have.”

By Rei Nishimoto

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A Shift In Change – Phil Labonte of All That Remains

Posted on December 14, 2015 by newsteam

Building a core but steady fanbase out of their roots within the New England metalcore scene, All That Remains have moved forward by revamping their sound and winning over new audiences. They found themselves performing at Knotfest 2015 in Devore, CA and Aftershock 2015 in Sacramento, CA where they were promoting their latest album The Order Of Things (out now via Razor and Tie).

Frontman Phil Labonte shared his thoughts on their weekend:

“It was great. It was really, really cool. Playing a fest like this with all of these heavy bands, we haven’t played a show that consisted of mostly heavy bands in a long time. So we took our set list and adjusted it. We brought back some of the older, heavy ones and stuck them in there. It’s nice to be able to do that.”

“Yesterday we played Aftershock. Shinedown was playing so it was more of a rock…they had heavy bands without question but it was really more of a rock kind of thing and we adjusted the set for that. Today we’re playing with more heavy bands so we were set for that. It’s cool to have that kind of versatility.”

All That Remains, by Melina D Photography

What was the highlight of playing Knotfest? “Playing the show was the best thing. Playing in front of that many people and having the kind of reaction that we had. Kids are singing along and going crazy. It doesn’t get any better than that. That’s the reason we do this.”

He also shared his thoughts on Aftershock. “Same thing – very similar. A lot of the same bands are playing today that were playing yesterday. Bring Me The Horizon is playing. Slipknot played last night. They’re playing here tonight. [It is] a lot of the same vibe.“

Following this weekend, All That Remains has been a regular playing the growing American festival circuit, and had previously hit some of the European festivals in the past. While the European ones have a storied past, he compared the two and how it affected the band.

“We’re a much bigger band in the US than in Europe. We don’t really have a label still after all these years in Europe. We get a lot more press coverage and a much better slot on the bill and people know our stuff better in the US. So for us, it’s much more enjoyable and it’s much better to play the US shows.”

Is there any weirdness playing more melodic tunes after their focus was on the heavy side for so long? “Nowadays no because we’ve been doing stuff that’s played on rock radio since 2008,” he said, on the subject of their stylistic shift. “Right now we’ve had a number one on ‘A War You Cannot Win’ and a number two on ‘A War You Cannot Win.’ We had multiple top fives and multiple top tens so we’ve had a real history at rock radio, so it doesn’t feel odd or weird. We’ve lived in both worlds for a long time now.”

He shared his thoughts on whether he noticed if their audience has attracted more from their recent success at rock radio.

“There’s a significant amount of our fans that come from rock radio. Metal fans are kind of finicky and even though they don’t like to admit it, they do follow trends. There’s a lot of bands that came out when we came out that really aren’t bands any more. It’s because the trend that we got caught up in or were part of, it ended. If there is a trend, there’s only a couple of bands that make it out alive.”

“Essentially you’ve got Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and you’ve got us. It’s really about it for all of the bands that came out at that time in the early part of the 2000s. We’re the only bands that are left. The fact that we managed to get out of the trend and have our own sound and have our own career independent of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, that’s cool.”

All That Remains, by Meg Loyal Photography

Over their past few albums, the band has visibly shifted away from their heavier metallic sounds in favor of incorporating clean singing and stronger harmonies. Labonte was quite open about his dislike of their previous album, 2012’s A War You Cannot Win, and felt working with producer Josh Wilbur helped bring out more of their strong points of their sound. Through that, he felt that helped attract a bigger audience for them plus allowing them to transcend their metalcore origins.

“It was more of a challenge to come up with stuff that I was satisfied with. I was fairly dissatisfied with the last record that we did. There was a lot of stuff I had to criticize about it. So it was a lot more work with me and Josh [Wilbur], working on the vocal melodies, making sure that the stuff we were going to put down was really what we wanted to do and not forcing stuff in. If it seemed like it wasn’t working, then we’d change the style.”

“There’s a song on the record called “No Knock” that’s all screaming all the way through. We were trying to come up with an idea that was kind of Alice In Chains-y because the riff has a bent and a swing to it, but we could get something that we liked. We were like scream through the whole thing. That kind of versatility and having that ability is something that we really utilized a lot on this record. It worked out pretty well for the singing stuff that we came up with was really strong.”

All That Remains, by Melina D Photography

One visible change within All That Remains is the loss of longtime bassist Jeanne Sagan, who left the band in September. Former Devildriver bassist Aaron “Bubble” Patrick came in and filled the role immediately.

“We’ve been touring with him for a long time. The first tour we ever did with him was when he was in a band called Bury Your Dead. That was in 2006. We’ve known him for a long time. We have a lot of the same friends. He’s working with a lot of bands that we know. He started being our tour manager and working for us last year in June. He tour managed us for a year and some change and then Jeanne decided that she wanted to leave. It was a real easy fit.”

“We were supposed to play Japan. If you get someone that quits…getting into Japan you have to have a visa in advance so fortunately because we decided to go with our tour manager as our bass player, we didn’t have to cancel the show.”

Former bassist Jeanne Sagan

While they parted on amicable terms, Labonte clarified the reasons behind Sagan’s departure from the band. “She’s engaged. She met a guy and they’re getting married. She joined his band and wanted to focus on him and working on his band. We’re like…it’s cool. Totally amicable and I know what it’s like to be separated. I’ve been married for a couple of years now so I know what it’s like to miss home.”

While All That Remains has made significant progress in the US, their overseas progression has been steadily growing but not quite the way they would like it to go.

“We’ve been to Europe…maybe ten times? We just came back. We were there this summer and it was I think our eleventh trip. We do go over periodically but unless we get our label to get some heat over there, there’s not a whole lot we can do.”

Lastly, Labonte has drawn much attention for his overageous non band related comments in the press and on social media over many political issues, and has drawn public outrage along the way. He shares some of his favorite internet rumors he has learned about himself and his thoughts on fuelling the controversy.

“I heard I did cocaine…a lot….and which I don’t. Every stereotype that people throw at people in bands they’ve thrown at me. Every stereotype you can throw at someone who has unpopular opinions, they’ve thrown at me. It doesn’t matter. My response is do more.”

“There’s this guy named Milo Yiannopoulos. He’s a brilliant guy. I heard something he said and I’ll get the quote wrong – ‘when you’re dealing with people who are outraged at everything, the only option you have being more outraged.’ If people get all kinds of upset because you had the audacity to think a thought, or say something on the internet or type that into your status line, they get really upset about that. The only option you have to say things to make them even more upset. [It’s] because they’re literally upset about nothing. They’re upset because someone might have a different idea in their brain than they do. They think ‘well…I have to let the world know that this person is, in my opinion is wrong. Your opinion of that person being wrong is no more valuable than the other opinion you’re upset about. So get fucked!”

“Once you’ve said something that’s offended them, then it’s easy to keep them wound up. That’s the fun part.”

Being a Libertarian and often siding on viewpoints unpopular within the American public, Labonte claims his views often gets twisted and becomes the subject of web news everywhere. Considering how outrageous some of his comments is shared, he was not surprised by any of this.

“Everything gets twisted. Any chance that someone can twist something around to make a headline on a blog they’ll twist it as much as they can just to get the click. The click is what they want. You click on the link, that goes to their views and that could sell their ads for more money. The more outrageous the headline is the better. But I’ve heard everything from I’m a racist to I’m a bigot to I’m a misogynist…every slanderous thing you could come up with.”

“I’m a Libertarian and I don’t think the government should be involved in people’s lives excessively. Maybe the government shouldn’t be taking care of the roads…you don’t want roads. No I didn’t say I don’t want roads. Maybe government shouldn’t be involved in education. You don’t want kids to be educated. No I didn’t say I didn’t want kids to be educated. So as soon as you say maybe the government shouldn’t be doing this or maybe this shouldn’t be something we should leave up the bureaucracy of whatever, then automatically you don’t want that. Maybe the government shouldn’t be paying for people’s healthcare – you want people to get sick and die. People always do that and twist it around to make it sound shocking.”

By Rei Nishimoto

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Back For Another Round- Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman of COC

Posted on December 9, 2015 by newsteam

Corrosion of Conformity, by Evil Robb Photography

The news of returning vocalist and guitarist Pepper Keenan to Corrosion of Conformity made waves across the heavy music world over a year ago. Keenan spent his time playing guitar in Down, while guitarist Woodroe “Woody” Weatherman and bassist Mike Dean reunited with drummer Reed Mullin in 2010 (the Animosity lineup) to record 2012’s Corrosion of Conformity and 2014’s II, and the 2012 free EP Megalodon via Scion AV.

This version found themselves touring and reacquainting with longtime fans, which took them through Knotfest. Following this appearance, the band is feeling good and gave longtime Southern California fans their first look at this lineup since their hiatus in 2006.

“That was totally Slipknot who that hooked us up on this. It came straight from the fucking band,” said Keenan, talking about getting onto the festival.

“They wanted COC, and which was an awesome thing. I’ve known those guys and the fact that they asked us weirdo rednecks to do this…it’s great. That carries a lot of weight. We’ve had a lot of friends support this thing. It’s been awesome.”

Having Keenan on stage with them did bring back old memories from the Deliverance and Wiseblood eras, and helped stimulate the energy on stage. Longtime fans were reunited with songs from that time period that were not played for some time.

“I think people are stoked to hear those songs they need to hear. I fucking love playing them. All of those classic tunes, from the Blind album and Deliverance all the way up,” said Weatherman.

“We’re in a weird situation because we haven’t played together in so long. What band gets that opportunity to get back out there and get so much help from fans and other bands hooking us up. So it’s really fucking cool. The songs still work. They work fucking great.”

“We’re on tour with Clutch right now. We’re using this time to get our heads together and [figure out] where do we go from here,” added Keenan.

COC-3

Were there any songs from that era that they rediscovered from that era that they hadn’t performed as much? “I’ve got all the demos. There’s a song off from the Deliverance era that’s pretty strong. We probably won’t do them but the energy is there. It’s a good thing. You have to progress a little bit. I don’t go backwards,” said Keenan.

“We don’t go backwards but we still have riffs around. Shit we’ve had for a long time like ‘fuck! Why didn’t we use that? I don’t know…’,” added Weatherman.

Photo Credit: Evil Robb Photography

Keenan said the four members were in touch during the time apart, even though each were doing their own respective things. “Yeah. It was a long time coming. We kept it on a lo-key thing and waited until the moment was right. We went to Europe this summer, not knowing what to expect. We went back a few times.”

So did the time apart make their bond stronger? “I think the one locking element was the songs. Playing the songs, done them, and do them again the next day. It’s all good. We’re having a good time.”

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Since his time in Down, Keenan had not sang a note with a band in some time. Getting reacquainted with that role, he talked about how he worked himself back into that position.

“I hadn’t sang in 15 years. Literally. I had to fall back into it. Remember the words and write them down and then go from there.”

“Double up the Coors Light!,” joked Weatherman, with a huge laugh.

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Plus with Dean handling vocals for the trio version of COC, would they somehow work the two members in to both doing vocals on future material?

“It’s possible,” said Keenan.

“When we did it in the past, it was on Deliverance – the title track on that. We all join in. We fill in where we can,” added Weatherman.

Photo Credit: Evil Robb Photography

Even Mullin, where he shared his vocal skills on the Teenage Time Killers album, may make an appearance behind the mic. “He sings every night a little bit,” said Weatherman.

Speaking of Mullin, the appearance also marked his return, and had not performed with this incarnation since 2001. Having him back in the fold also added a spark that fans often missed throughout that era. Weatherman shared his thoughts on him.

“Yeah this is really…Pepper’s talking 15 years – that’s how long it’s been since all four of us – this four piece has been since ’01 or 2000-whatever it was because Reed split for a while. So it’s nice. It’s the real deal and we’re back up.”

Corrosion of Conformity, by Melina D Photography

Weatherman talked about how doing the trio brought out the punk rock side of COC, and finding a side of their sound that was overshadowed by their melodic riff driven sounds of the recent years.

“We knew all along that sooner or later we’d be back with [Pepper] Keenan doing his shit. So we’re doing a little punk rock here and there and playing some old shit,” he said.

“I’ll be honest…I want to combine some of those elements now because we’re there, where playing wise we’re going into manic crazy shit or whatever. I like the energy of whatever they did and the last album, In The Arms of God was a pretty strong record. That’s a catalyst for us,” added Keenan, praising the energy created by the trio during his time away, and possibly hinting where the new material could head towards.

Corrosion of Conformity, by Evil Robb Photography

As for a new record, the band has signed a new recording deal with Nuclear Blast and talks about a new album began to surface. Keenan gave their status on this and how far along they were on when such a thing would see the light of day.

“The main thing is gelling and playing together. It’s a different situation and now the riffs will start to come out. We’ll start to get organized. It’s a tall order there. It ain’t gonna be no half assed bullshit.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Self Driven Punk Rock – The Dollyrots

Posted on December 9, 2015 by newsteam

“No all of it. The whole thing. You have to get the whole thing in there. It’s good for your stomach. Especially if you have a sour stomach, which is weird if you think it would make it more sour. Eat the whole slice – rind and all,” yells bassist and lead vocalist Kelly Ogden of LA pop punkers The Dollyrots, to her drummer for the evening Rikki Styxx (also of LA based The Two Tens), over a discussion about how to drink water.

“Whenever it’s in my water – you’ve gotta get your Vitamin C or [you’ll get] scurvy! We’re rock pirates but we won’t go that far!,” she says, with a smile.

The band has been successfully supporting their latest album titled Pregnant and Barefoot, where they had just completed a national tour supporting Bowling For Soup this past summer, and previously doing a West Coast run with Black Flag and a UK run with the Buzzcocks.

This was all done following the birth of Ogden and guitarist Luis Cabezas’ son River, and balancing their home life with promoting their new album in 2013.

“I love it! In so many ways it’s easier and some weird ways it’s harder. People are like ‘how do you bring a baby on tour?’ That’s the easiest part. I think my enemy is boredom. The kid is super smart and so aware of everything. We want him to have the best childhood ever. After childhood, everything is downhill. He might as well live it up and have the best experience possible. We’ll put on our happy faces no matter what. Just have the best life he could have,” said Ogden, about becoming a punk rock mother and raising their son within a rock n roll environment.

Would she do it again? “I might do it again if the cards align someday soon. We’ll see. Not right now,” she says, with a smile.

Styxx became the latest drummer to perform with the Dollyrots, and since the band’s start in 2000 back in their home state of Florida, they have encountered a Spinal Tap esque situation with drummers (except without the explosions).

With a little help with Cabezas, Ogden named off the alumni of drummers who had fulfilled their tour of duty with them.

“I totally remember all of their names. It started with Mike Benbow, then Frank Beasley, Josh Valenti, Amy Wood…Joaquin was in there for a week…one show,” she said.

“Chris Black, Rick Welta, Alicia Warrington, James Carman, Aixa Vilar, Reed Crier…,” said Cabezas.

“There’s one time we played in Massachusetts and we had 12 different drummers because Chris had to fly home for a wedding. Every kid in that city learned a song. It was cool in theory but it was the most excruciating show I’ve ever played in my life,” she then said.

“These weird yetis would show up and they looked like punk rocker drummers. We thought ‘oh they’re going to be awesome!’ and then you’d have these dorky high school kids come and they’d kill it!,” he said.

“I guess we don’t know all of their names for that one show,” she added. “Oh…there’s Mel. Fink. Mel Funk. I always mix up that.”

Since 2011, the band chose to release their own music without the help of a record label and handle their own affairs. Their self titled album was the first release on their own and through the help of crowdfunding via PledgeMusic, they found the help of their longtime fans to get their music out to the world.

“I mean it’s based on the fact that we’ve put out enough records to have really awesome fans. So once you tour enough and put out enough music, then there’s people that will love you band no matter what you do. So the way we do it now through crowd sourcing, we feel like we really owe it to our fans to give them a really good album,” she explains.

Ogden elaborates further about how being a DIY artist has changed their approach at how they reach fans without the help of a record label or a marketing company.

“We push ourselves even harder than when we were on a record label. We’re really lucky to have [these fans]. The thing is, we’d be making a record in little bubbles and we wouldn’t have a lot of feedback except from the labels. We wanted them to like it. It wasn’t for so much for our fans. It was kind of weird because we make music for the people who listen to your music.”

“It feels so much clearer now. It’s like we’re making music for these people and we’re going to put it in an envelope and send it to them ourselves. It feels the way it should be. It’s cool because we get to be close to them and they get to see a lot more of our life and we get to be back during the writing process. It just seems…for our band at least – the whole growing up in the 90s was like…aww…you get to be in a band and we get to be mysterious. Nobody really knows things about you. That’s just not how our band works, which is a little surprising. Listen, I probably seem very outgoing but to be honest if we were to go to your house for a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon, I would have diarrhea because I would be so nervous about having to interact with people. We’re actually socially awkward. It’s funny but within the band thing it works. It’s cool doing this with our fans.”

Aside from the crowdfunding and touring, the Dollyrots have constantly promoted their music through social media and kept their name out in the public. They have regularly released free songs (usually cover songs and holiday related tunes), and have used StageIt to attract their fans to watch their show streamed online.

It’s here! Our annual Holiday Merch Explosion! Head to http://www.thedollyrots.com & hook it up… brand new hoodies, bundles, & an ugly Xmas sweater!

Posted by The Dollyrots on Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Ogden talked about how much work went into running their crowdfunding campaign.

“The bands that do PledgeMusic now – we were just talking about it – Sum 41 just did their new record. Weezer did one. Freakin’ Smashing Pumpkins did one….Soul Asylum….it just makes so much more sense now.”

“But those bands – I don’t know if they do it the way we do it with lots of personal stuff, which makes it a lot more fun for us. They do a preorder and then they have a merch company ship everybody their stuff.”

“Sum 41’s not sitting there personalizing all 40,000 CDs! Once you go over a certain quantity it’s not feasible,” says Cabezas, cutting into the conversation.

“I didn’t bake cookies this time but I’ve been feeling the guilt working in. I’m considering making the cookies a super prime item. I’ll send you a dozen cookies…but it’s going to cost like $80 because last time I had to make 37 dozen cookies….in a one bedroom apartment with one oven and one rack! It took me four days. It was kind of awful. The thing is…it’s that many days of my life that I can’t do anything but bake the cookies,” added Ogden, about one of her ideas that became a bit challenging.

Through the PledgeMusic campaign, they reached fans from all over the globe. She shared some of the more unusual spots they received pledges from. “Obviously we have a lot of fans in the UK. There’s this island…some part of France…Revere Islands and it was some French island and the post office couldn’t even figure it out. It’s some weird French island the US owns.”

Then she talked about the biggest challenges behind doing the pledge campaigns. Being that the Dollyrots have to run their own campaigns, the work involved is not always for everyone, but the band still chose to tackle the challenge head first.

“Fulfillment. I think some people that are new to the method don’t understand that if they get a song and if 25 other people get a song that’s written for them, it may take us a year. We’ve honestly I would say 99 percent of the time people have been really cool about it. But I feel like there may be other people that are disappointed that we don’t hear from, and that sucks when it’s just the band. We don’t hire a merch company. It takes up our lives until we do it again and then it takes up our whole lives.”

“I know the ins and outs of the US Postal System. I have my own postal scale. We do every single bit of it. It’s kind of crazy. We get a discount in doing it online.”

“The Koreatown post office – the Dosan Ahn Chang on 6th Street is the one that me and Luis would take everything to before we got our own scale. They would see the two of us walk in and I would be holding the baby…I think we started before he was born. We started shipping before he was born. We would see us walk in with these huge boxes and they would all shake their heads and look down. People in line behind us – I would feel this stabby stab in my back when I’m at the window. It would take us about three hours at the window.”

“We’re there so long. We know their names. We know where they go on vacation and where they grew up. It was really funny. After a few times, they would be funny when they’d get us because we can just hang out and chat for a while. The managers at the post office were not happy.”

While they are still promoting Barefoot and Pregnant, they have proceeded with working on their Family Vacation: Live In Los Angeles CD and DVD, recorded and filmed on tour this past summer. Ogden explained the story behind the release.

“So we just finished and got the mastered audio back. So the audio part is done. The live video we filmed stuff all along the last couple of tours, starting in June until now. So we did the East Coast, Texas and the West Coast. So we did a lot of tour diaries.”

“The main shows, because hiring a camera crew is real expensive, so we only really filmed New York and LA, and we used LA pretty much for the show. It’s just a live show experience because it’s different touring for us now. We only do a week and a half because we have to fly in. We have a baby and a nanny and the three of us. It’s complicated and with the economy the way it is, it doesn’t make sense for us to be on tour for eight weeks at a time. So we find the places where we can afford to go and then book short little tours around that. It’s awesome.”

[Teaser] A few more seconds of our upcoming live DVD!! #TheDollyrotsFamilyVacationPre-order: http://bit.ly/DRpledgeLIVE

Posted by The Dollyrots on Saturday, November 21, 2015

By Rei Nishimoto

Gus Rios of Gruesome Talks Death Trivia

Posted on December 9, 2015 by newsteam

Gruesome made a lot of inroads with the release of their debut album Savage Land (out now via Relapse Records). Being that the members of the band are obviously huge fans of all things Chuck Schuldiner related, they also learned a number of secrets about their death metal hero while writing and recording their album.

Drummer Gus Rios elaborated on the subject:

“One of the things why, and I’m not giving away any of the trade secrets – a lot of what made Death what it was – I didn’t realize until I did this record. The way he put riffs one after another was very, very, very particular to Chuck. He had a very specific way that he arranges his songs and it wasn’t until I started recording that I was like – so that’s why this sounds so much like Death.”

“Matt [Harvey] unlocked the code. Technically Dan’s [Gonzalez] the better guitar player, but Matt is a musical genius. He knows a lot about songwriting and I actually called him and had a conversation about it. I’ve been listening to Death…what, almost 30 years now? It never dawned on me that Chuck used certain musical devices repeatedly. He wrote very specific riff stylings and again, it wasn’t until I did this that I [realized why] this shit was so good. That’s why this stuff sounds so much like that.”

While recording Savage Land, they recruited one time Death guitarist James Murphy to do a guest solo on a song. Being a friend of the band already, Rios felt having him participating on the Gruesome album and him giving them the ultimate thumbs up helped their credibility behind making such an album of music.

“One of the turning points of the band was when we were making the demos, I called James Murphy. I’ve been buddies with him forever. Death metal is a small genre. That’s the thing. If anybody’s a rock star in a death metal band, then you’re a fucking asshole. Nobody’s a rockstar.”

“Go across the street to that restaurant and ask anyone ‘do you know who Chuck Schuldiner is?’ They’re gonna go ‘who?’ Death metal’s a small little genre. So no one’s a rockstar. It’s a tight knit, everybody knows everyone, especially in Florida.”

“I called James and said ‘this is what I’m doing. It would be super cool if you could do a solo on it.’ Then he goes ‘alright. Send me the shit. Let me check it out.’ “

“Now it switched from James, my buddy to this is James fucking Murphy. This is the dude who was in Death. End period we’re trying to emulate. If he called me back and was like ‘this sucks’…abandon ship. It isn’t going to work.”

“Normally James texts me, but when my phone rings and I saw that it’s him – I hope he has something good to say. I answer it and he’s like ‘dude this is fucking killer!’ “

James Murphy

Having Murphy guesting on Savage Land was a huge honor for the Gruesome members. What meants a lot was also having the surviving members of Death also giving their blessing to them, which meant a lot to Rios.

“I remember we had a conversation about it and he was stoked. He was like ‘I loved the part you wanted me to solo. It’s perfect for what I wanted to do.’ I immediately called Matt and went ‘it’s on.’ James Murphy thinks we’re unsung good. If he thinks it’s good, dude it’s probably good. So that was a big turning point.”

“For guys like Terry [Butler] loves the band. For guys like that who were in the band and to be like ‘this shit is really good’…for us that’s like the seal of approval. Eric Greif – same thing. The guy managed Death forever and still manages all things Death and DTA. He was like ‘you guys are doing something good here. This is solid. I know you’re doing this from the right place and I know you guys love Chuck.’ It seems like all of the ducks are in a row. We’re all in this together. We all love Death. We sound enough like them obviously to love this. I love this.”

“We already have sort of the next three albums talked about and I guarantee you no one record will sound like the next.”

Lastly, he spoke about the Slayer cover of “Black Magic” found on the deluxe edition of Savage Land.

“The reason we did that was because Matt saw Death live in ’89 and they did that. Apparently that was one of Chuck’s favorite songs so that’s the back story on that. It was like ‘we should do some bonus tracks.’ We purposely did eight songs because Leprosy had eight songs. Spiritual Healing had eight songs.”

“There’s nothing that we did that Death did that we didn’t know very well. I produced the record and my motto was if it didn’t happen in ’88 then it ain’t gonna happen today. So aside from the two inch tape machine I couldn’t afford, I didn’t use a computer to edit drums. I used a microphone on a real guitar amp and played the songs all the way through. For the most part, I didn’t use a computer plug in to simulate a guitar. Some of those songs on the drums were one take all the way through. There are some parts that aren’t super perfect. I liked the whole performance. I feel good about it.”

“I remember when I first met Sean [Reinert] back in ’96. I started taking lessons with him. I’m worshipping him for Human and he’s like ‘that album’s riddled with fuck ups.’ I’m like I don’t hear any and he puts a CD in and goes ‘boom…boom…’ “

“Back in those days there was no computers. That’s the point. In those days you had to play your instrument. There was no getting around it. You had to play your shit. Sean was my teacher for about a year and a half before I moved here to LA. He’s changed so much the way I play drums, and we remain pretty much best friends to this day. To have him here tonight…it’s pretty cool.”

“He literally walked up and he was like ‘I’m here….this is your fault!’ The other night we played with Obituary and Don comes up to me and says ‘killer show. I made the old ladies jump.’ I said ‘I learned by watching you!’ It’s all full circle.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Mikey Doling of Snot – Getting Some More

Posted on December 8, 2015 by newsteam

It has been over a decade since Southern California alt-punk-metallers Snot made noise within the heavy music world with their highly energetic punk driven alt metal sound and caught the LA scene by storm. Led by their charismatic frontman Lynn Strait, the world got their first taste of their music through their 1997 debut Get Some and they charged towards the world head on and made a name for them immediately.

Knotfest 2015 was the band’s first high profile show since several attempts at restarting the band in 2008 and again in 2014 since the tragic 1998 death of Strait in an auto accident. This time with new vocalist Carl Bensley, the band played their hearts out in front of their semi-hometown crowd and paying tribute to Strait, who was tragically killed in an auto accident in 1998.

Guitarist Mikey Doling shared his thoughts on their set. “Intense set. My guitar rig wasn’t working for a lot of the show. I played half the set. I figured I would play it out and then smash the guitar at the end and threw it away.”

So did he enjoy Knotfest? “This reminds me exactly of what we were doing. This is Ozzfest. This is the same thing. It feels exactly the same. It’s really fun.”

He also talked about their return and how much the band has changed since those days.

“Back in the day we were so young. We were so reckless. We were playing music just to have a good time and party [with] girls and drugs. Nowadays we play because we really love playing music together. I love playing music with Jamie Miller and John [Fahnestock] aka Tumor. Mike Smith is great. Sometimes Sonny [Mayo] is around. You know what I mean? We’re all family. That’s what’s different is that we appreciate it so much.”

Being away from the scene, the members of Snot spent time in other bands over the years to hone their craft and tour the globe. He also shared how different the band’s mentality was back then as well.

“Snot back then? We were young music fans. We loved punk rock music. We loved funk. I loved heavy metal. We were fans and we all picked up initially and mushed it all together and made Snot. It turned out we were good at it. Good enough to have a career. It turned into a passion. That’s it. It still is that way. It’s 20 year now. We’re still just as aggressive about touring and playing music as ever.”

Speaking of Mayo, he clarified his status in the fold, and where he stands within the band today.

“He has a non-profit thing for sobriety style rehab. He’s real busy with that and he doesn’t really tour as much. Mike Smith did a lot of touring with us back in the day. He wants to tour so whoever’s available…let’s go.”

Doling recalled the old days and leading up to the making of Get Some. Fans from that era were drawn to the record through songs such as “Snooze Button,” “Joyride” and “I Jus Lie.” While much of their songs gave listeners a taste of their chaotic lifestyle, he admitted that a lot of that reflected on the way they wrote their songs.

“Shit dude it was so fun. When we were writing it in our rehearsal space, it was right next door to a strip club. We all lived in the same house together right up the street. We’d right music, take strippers back to our house, party with them, bang them and that leaked into our music, which turned into our record Get Some. You can listen to that record and literally hear it – strippers and rock n roll and drugs. That’s what it was like making that record. We were just wild! It was fun.”

Was he surprised the record got done with all of the debauchery happening around them?

“Not really because we were very serious about writing. I like the way the record came out,” said Doling.

The shows they are doing now pay tribute to their fallen singer. Doling talked about Strait and the kind of person he was, considering many people discovering the band now never had a chance to see him person live or even meet him in person.

“I’m proud to say Lynn was my best friend. We were roommates. Lynn had a ton of charisma. If you ever watched Happy Days, he was the Fonz. That’s all I could say. I’ve never met anybody like him….James Dean you know. He was a cool motherfucker – that’s all I could say. I’ve never saw him get turned down by one girl. He was like ‘I’m gonna pick up that chick…’ and he did.”

“As an artist, he was always writing. He always had his book with him and his pen. He’s a unique, badass rockstar.”

In 2000, a record called Strait Up was released, based on incomplete songs originally aimed to become their never completed second album. What was released were songs with guest vocals by a number of their peers from the scene at the time, including Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust, Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber and Devildriver.

While the record was well received at the time, Doling had different feelings about the release since then and was never in favor of including those tunes in the current set list.

“Not really. I produced that record and honestly, if I could do it again I wouldn’t do it. At the time I thought I was doing something cool for Lynn. It turned into some bullshit record company thing. I don’t know. I think it lost its focus. Yeah it was about Lynn and it’s cool but I don’t think it was a necessity. I think we vented on that and…I don’t know…I wouldn’t do it again if I had a chance. With all due respect to Lynn, of course, but it turned into something I didn’t want it to be,” he said.

In terms of a much spoken about new Snot album, Doling admitted to writing new songs towards their upcoming second album. While material was written back in 2008 with then-vocalist Tommy Vext, he said those songs would not be included because they are not where the band stands today.

“We didn’t really attempt to write a record with Tommy. We just wanted to record a couple of songs. Those songs don’t count. We weren’t happy with those songs. I’m still not happy with those songs. Tommy did a great job but as the band Snot, I think we lost our identity at that point. I think we know where we’re at now.”

“I don’t think we didn’t know what we’re doing. Now I know. The record we’re going to write – it’s going to be funky, it’s going to be punk rock. I think we lost that edge when we tried to record before. We kind of got sucked into the whole, almost metalcore thing. I don’t know why we’re doing it [or] what was influencing us. We lost the recipe for what Snot does and we took a hard look at ourselves and know what we need to do now to sound like Snot.”

Aside from Snot, the various members of Snot had kept busy with various projects and Doling had kept himself busy also playing guitar with Belgian metallers Channel Zero and producing other bands.

“Producing records is going well. I just did a record with a band called Sunflower Dead. It’s getting really strong reviews. It’s getting a lot of radio play. I did the new Hemlock record. I’m getting ready to do a band from Japan called Gunship 666. I’m busy with that. That is fun. I love being in the studio.”

By Rei Nishimoto

Ghost Cult Magazine

Music News, Interviews and Reviews that matter.

Category Archives: Ghost Cult Exclusives

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