“I just saw Ice T get off his bus, and that was awesome! I hope we hang out and we get to. He’s on our label too!,” said guitarist Marc Okubo, sharing an interesting moment on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival this past summer his band Veil of Maya experienced.
They spent much of this past summer on this festival tour, playing on the Sumerian Records side stage, in front of rabid fans eager to hear new bands.
But it didn’t take much prepping for them to getting acclimated towards this tour.
“We just got done doing a festival two weeks ago in Canada. That got us prepared for what was happening now. I could say everything went perfectly,” said Okubo.
Fans who are familiar with them know about their eclectic sound fusing progressive metal with technical riffing and creating their own unique sound. They helped shape a new sound dubbed ‘djent’, but they don’t let that limit their creativity.
“Whatever they want to label it is fine. The reason we were part of it is because as soon as we got known for being on Sumerian, we tried to find other bands we found to be interesting and give them the same spotlight we got. We tried to help out our friends we met along the way. The fact that everyone is doing so good is awesome. We’re stoked all of our friends got to be here with us and do stuff like this,” Okubo said.
There is much talk about the band name and its meaning behind it. Taken from the Hindu illusion, Maya, the meaning behind it still holds much meaning to the band.
“When we go into the real meaning of the name, it’s always as strong as it always has. It’s an undeniable fact of life, but we all have to do it. It always worked. People’s judgment on how we got the name is what’s confusing,” said Okubo.
Veil of Maya is signed to Sumerian Records, and have released four full length recordings through the label. Being one of the original bands signed to the label, they have grown with them plus also seen how much the label has changed since the early days.
“It’s been a pleasure watching them grow into what they are now. I’m definitely proud of all of that. They started from ground zero,” said Okubo.
“We would stay at their house for weeks recording at their house, way back in the day. To see how much it has grown, I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m really happy for them,” said vocalist Brandon Butler.
“Back then, what we were doing back then was obscure and not very popular, but it did create a movement in music. I’m so happy to be part of it,” added Okubo.
“Nobody was interested in Born of Osiris or us. They came in and took it to a new level,” concluded Butler.
As for their forthcoming record, Veil of Maya had been working on it and was reportedly finishing up their yet to be named fifth full length release. So what is the status?
“We’re still working on it but it will be coming out this year. I would say it’s about 90% done. We will be completely done after this tour is over. We were recording with Diego [Farias] from Volumes, and he had to mix and master Chelsea Grin’s album [Ashes To Ashes] and his own band’s album [No Sleep]. We were thrown in at the end of that. There just wasn’t enough time for us to get everything the way it should be done. We want to put out something we would be proud of. We wanted to take time and put it out later. We apologize to our fans for waiting for new material. We’re just as frustrated as everyone else,” said Okubo.
He also gave a sneak peak into the forthcoming release.
“It still sounds like us, but it’s a little more digestable to people who haven’t heard of us. I don’t think we will lose our main core fans because I don’t think we have changed. We’ve just grown to stand out.”
Veil of Maya on Facebook
REI NISHIMOTO
