1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
A: Thank you for having us! We are all in Rhode Island freezing our asses off due to early winter temperatures. At the moment we are in our rehearsal space staying a little bit warmer.
2. This is a new band and a debut record, so let's start at the beginning. Thrashcult is based out of Rhode Island, USA. Were the four of you friends or colleagues growing up in the same town? Had you known each other prior to band´s formation?
A: This project has actually been writing musically for about 4 years. Taylor (guitar) , Bryan (bass) and Matt (drums) all grew up together in a small town in Rhode Island. The three have known each other for the better part of 20 years and have been playing music together on and off for the better part of 15 years. Matt has actually switched from playing guitar to playing drums in order to make this current project solid.
Bryan, Matt and Taylor played in a band about 15 years ago that disbanded and they all went their separate ways, whether it was family, career or other musical ventures. They reunited about 4-5 years ago and just started jamming again. When they had some songs complete it was time to find a singer. The band went through a few different tryouts and ended up finding Bryce who has been with them for about 2-3 years now.
Matt and Taylor were working on a project a couple years before Thrashcult, where both were playing guitar and they discovered Bryce who wanted to to do vocals. That project ended up falling apart and years later when Thrashcult needed someone for vocals Taylor reached out to Bryce and sent him some demos of the material the band was working on. He jumped right in and it’s been working ever since.
3. Growing up and beginning to listen to metal, what were the bands and albums that really influenced you the most?
A: We all have very different approaches to this question so we will all answer individually.
Taylor: I was really into punk and hardcore when I was a young teen. Then I was introduced to metal. Slayer, As I Lay Dying, Cannibal Corpse, Bleeding Through, End This Day. Poison The Well, Himsa, Black Dahlia Murder, At The Gates. These are all the bands I was introduced to that got me into the “death metal” or “metal core” genres.
Matt: I would have to say the first metal album I ever bought was Slayers “Seasons in the abyss”, but also, Hypocrisy’s “The arrival,”Soilworks “Natural born chaos”, and of course Stratovarius’s “visions.” Actually strat would probably be my number 1.
Bryan: Six feet under’s “Maximum violence” is what got me into metal. From there I was introduced to bands like As I lay Dying, The Black Dahlia Murder and At the Gates. All of those bands are still an influence to me today.
Bryce: Growing up my musical tastes were all over the place, i attended an Ozzfest one year and ever since then I started following a lot more heavy music. Bands like Deftones, Mudvayne, Mr. Bungle, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Katatonia, Snot, Misery Signals, System of a Down, Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me and Every Time I Die.
4. Let´s talk about your debut EP. Musically, this 4 songs are packed with monster riffs, incredible drum work and some very melodic guitar lines. How do you go about picking and creating the guitar parts for each song?
A: So as mentioned before, Matt, Bryan and Taylor played together in a band many moons ago. Taylor was young and eager to play metal and Matt decided to have Taylor join his band as second guitar player. Matt is heavily influenced by the Gothenburg metal scene, bands like Soilwork, Dark Tranquility, Stratovarious, God Dethroned etc. When Taylor joined that band they were able to blend Taylor’s passion for American thrash and death metal with Matts’s passion for that Gothenburg melo-death sound and we loved it. So now in Thrashcult, as the only guitar player Taylor tries to bring that same blend of styles together in his writing.
(Taylor) : And if I’m being completely honest, I do a majority of my writing just noodling around on my guitar while I’m watching tv. I’ll be sitting there, going through scales and different power chords until I find something different that I think sounds cool. When I have a couple different riffs that flow well together I present them to the guys at rehearsal and ask them what they think. Sometimes, they say, “that’s no good” or “eh, it’s ok..but it could be better”. However when I play something that everyone says, “that riff is a keeper” we will build off of that as a group and structure the song based off of that. We like everything to flow nicely. Whatever feels right in the groove we stick with. Later down the road we will pick it apart and start to structure it better. IE: shortening or lengthening parts, cutting parts or even creating new parts until we are all happy with the song as a whole.
5. What is the theme of the songs you would say? What is your favorite song off the EP and why?
A: We didn’t really go into recording this EP with a theme in mind, but rather a group of songs that built us as a band. These songs were some of the first we wrote as a group. The song “Dimmed” was the only one of our new songs we added to the EP to showcase our growth musically. I think we all agree “Shadowshift” was the strongest song on the album. It’s right in your face.
6. How do you guys go about writing your music, who is responsible for what and can you describe how you get new material out in the starting period of the band)?
A: Taylor has brought some fully written songs to the table that we tweaked to our liking but really it’s just four guys having fun playing music and our ability to feed off of one another and come up with something we all say “that’s our favorite song we have ever written”. Then when we leave practice and the new riff is stuck in all of our heads.
7. What is your favorite part of writing and performing music? What are some of the challenges you face as a musician?
A: That’s about it, writing and performing our music, having fun as friends and creating something we all take a lot of pride in. Our challenges are probably that we are all living busy lives, between having kids, houses, and full time jobs.
8. Your music is more of a thrash/metal core hybrid, but nowadays there are about a million bands playing this style of thrash. What do you think of this movement and why do you think it’s so big?
A: We really never could put a label on our style but went with a band name that would prepare you for what you were about to see. As stated before we try to combine all of our different musical influences into our own kind of style. Now whether or not we come off as original sounding or if we would like more of the same doesn’t matter much to us. We write music to have fun with each other and we play music that makes us happy. Anyone who wants to join us for the fun is more than welcome to come headbang with us. If there is truly a movement, we want to be a part of it!! There are a lot of older metal heads out there who grew up with that oldschool style of thrash and I think that’s why it’s still a big thing. And of course that new modern style of metal has had a major impact because it’s so brutal and heavy. Melting those styles together just makes sense. It’s a style that was loved, it was fun, and why not bring that back or keep it going for as long as possible?
9. What era of the thrash metal age do you feel has been the greatest?
A: Thrash metal itself has changed a lot over the years. But we wouldn’t have bands like Havok and Revocation or Warbringer today if it wasn’t for the ones who started it all. The 80 and 90s paved the way for bands like us. Bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Testament, Anthrax, Death, Obituary, Pantera, Sepultura. These bands pioneered the way to all the new thrash/death metal that we all know and love today.
10. How much of a live band are you? How important is playing live and how is the scene in your area and what kind of respect do you get from your local scene?
A: Playing live is very important for us. It’s a chance for us to create exposure and build our fanbase. It’s an opportunity to make money from merchandise so we have the funds to record more kick ass albums for everyone to enjoy. Not only that but we love playing live. Its probably where you would get the full experience from our music. The scene is scattered a bit around us. Lots of new bands starting off with lots of potential, and great attitudes all around.
11. What sorts of things do you gentlemen enjoy outside of the musical realm? What are some things about you that we would never guess otherwise?
A: Taylor loves doing stand up comedy and does some killer art pieces, Bryan restores old mansions in Newport RI, Bryce loves cruising on his Harley Davidson, and Matt spends all his free time being a great father, but he can also shred the guitar.
12. That's all the questions I have for you man. . Is there anything you would like to add that I forgot to ask?
A: Awesome questions, thanks again for having us be a part of this, all I can add is Check us out on all streaming services and a big heartfelt thank you to everyone who has listened, joined us at shows, bought our record, and supported us through this adventure. This is us doing what we love and we love that other people are noticing it too. Thank you!
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