Answered by: Eric Lauder.
1. Hey man, this is Edu from Perú. I am starting all my interviews with the same question. Given the current COVID-19 outbreak, how are you confronting the home confinement these days?
When it first happened I really took advantge of the time to be with my family. Once I started realizing this was going to be much longer then a month I started working on new music for Plague Years and a new Death Metal project I'm doing. I've always been a loner so when I was told I'd have to stay home and not come out I was like okay... so normal life for me haha.
2. Thinking back at your career with Plague Years, do any memories or experiences stick out as particularly memorable, something you remember clearly to this day?
The most memorable thing for me is when our manager Mike called me saying that he had a meeting eOne and he was going to show us to them. I'm a positive person but I like to stay neutral with certain things to not get my hopes up or something. We had been getting looked at from a few different labels as well. We played a local show that night that was absolutely wild and right after it ended I got a call from Mike saying eOne was interested and wanted to bring us on board. The amount of happiness I felt after hanging up that call is something I have never felt before. I've been doing music for about 15 years and it finally felt like it was all for something.
3. Let us start with the most exciting news! Your second full studio album “Circle Of Darkness” is coming out in a few days! Try to enlighten this material to us. How long time it took to record it and in what manner you wrote ideas for this material?
Well Unholy Infestation is really an EP it just happens to be long, haha. After we got signed in April 2019 we decided we wanted to have a record out by next year. I was feeling extremely motivated and inspired and just started working relentlessly on new music. It honestly just started pouring out of me. My mind was completely consumed with riffs and song ideas non stop no matter what I was doing. It took about 3 weeks of me just demoing non stop on my computer to finish all the music. During that time I was listening to the same records I always do to get inspired. Lots of Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, and Cannibal Corpse. I think that definitely shows in the music. The lyrics take longer for me. They were written through the months of May-Oct.
4. Was there anything unique about the songwriting process compared to your previous album “Unholy Infestation”?
Yes, this time around I utilized just demoing everything out on my computer with fake drums. It helped out a lot, especially with just getting out my ideas and how the flow in the song. That way when we went to practice everyone already had a good idea of the song and then we could tweak it from there. We also kind of transitioned our writing from EP to LP, whereas before we wanted to give 6 songs to show who we are, and this LP is more about what we can do.
5. What's driving force behind Plague Years and your most important influence while creating music? Could you reveal something more what´s hidden behind your lyrics?
The driving force is really just the love of writing music. At the end of the day we really do this for ourselves cause it's what we love to do and We feel very honored that people also love what we do too. I don't know if theres anything truly hidden in the lyrics cause my writing style is very direct, but the songs are all a mix of real life situations and fantasy. Witness Hell is about a guy who keeps someone locked up and tortures him everyday, but never plans to kill him. Paradox of Death is about killing a snitch. Loyalty is something we pride ourselves on, and there should be no mercy for snitching. NRFTL or No Respect For The Law is about the Justice and Prison system. I tried to give a the best description of how it works in the song with the little time I had, but its just extremely fucked up and something I feel very strongly about.
6. One of the most significant elements of your sound is the ability to write actual songs that are catchy and memorable. Achieving a perfect balance between death metal and crossover. How have you developed a sound that is all yours?
It first started to become developed when I first heard Iron Age. I became obsessed with them, along with our drummer Mike. Once the Sleeping Eye dropped I knew I wanted to get back into doing metal again. That's what really kick started the band that was 10 years ago. Mike and I have been writing songs for this project from that time then til now. We just started really honing it in the last few years and incorporating other influences like Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, and Cannibal Corpse. Those bands have always been able to have choruses and be catchy while still being authentic and that's what we wanted to do too.
7. As a musician, how mandatory is the process of coming up with new ideas or incorporating new influences as opposed to staying within the style you are known for or that you are most familiar with?
It's definitely mandatory. I find new ideas from things most people wouldn't expect. The big reason we have so much bounce or groove in our heavy parts has a lot to do with my love for rap music. I look at my heavy parts kind of like a rap beats and want them to hit just as hard. I also get a lot of influence from rap lyrically and the flows used. There's a lot of rap inspired stuff that most people wouldn't pick up on unless I broke it all down.
8. Being from the Detroit area, can you talk about some local bands you think we should check out?
Manic Outburst, Throne, Recorrupter, Cold as Life, Temple of Void, MRSA, and Boreworm. That's a good start but there are so many to check out.
9. If you were to choose one album that had a huge impact in you, which album would that be and why?
I would have to say Metallica - Ride the Lightning. It has all the elements that I try to have in Plague Years. It stays authentic as a thrash record, but there's some pop-like structure in the songs with verse/chorus, its extremely catchy, heavy, and just memorable. Ride the Lightning might be one of the best songs of all time, in my opinion. The record has just enough of what you would expect but also going further.
10. So, what’s coming out next? Anything you want to divulge from the vault of your future plans?
Well we've definitely been writing new music. We are locking in a venue for a live stream in celebration of our release. Other than that we are just waiting on the edge of our seat to get out and play shows. As soon as its safe we will be out and going everywhere.
11. Hey guys, thanks for agreeing to do an interview with me!...thanks very much. Our readers are waiting for your last comments
Go grab our new record Circle of Darkness where you can grab and follow us on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @plagueyearsmi. We love talking to our fans so hit us up! Thanks for having us.
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