Interview to PRIMATE STRANGULATOR (USA)

1. Hello dear 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.

Exhominid: Hey, friend. Thanks so much for having us. We're great today. Right now we're sitting here in my living room with Khan, the other singer for the project.

2. So you play all the instruments and sing?  Where and how were you taught?

Exhominid: I write the instruments and vocals. I was taught to play guitar by a teacher and bass and how to write drums afterwards.

Khan: I'm self taught. I used to do a lot of things like nu metal, hair metal, grunge vocals when I was younger and as I got older my vocals matured I guess. Just self taught pretty much,

3. Death Metal as a genre is one of the most complex genres in music. In my mind. More generally, why you chose to have a Death Metal sound? It is part of yourself?

Exhominid: It definitely can be pretty tough, our music isn't too tough but it can get pretty fast. And playing repetitive stuff fast and over and over can get pretty difficult in the right circumstances. I chose death metal for this project idea because I think the subject matter can generate some pretty cool themes for super heavy tracks. I think the aesthetic fits the music pretty well. And I'd definitely say it's part of myself. It's a genre I'll always at least write stuff in.

Khan: I think it's really the scene that you got into. The community is great, the people are great and I met a lot of cool friends. The show is like nothing in the world.

4. Congrats on your debut EP “Killed by Fucking Gorilla". What effect has this release’s reception on you? How do you fell about it?

Exominid: Thanks for that. It's been really cool. We've received a lot of support and acknowledgement for the release, a lot more people than we thought we'd recieve at first so it's very fun knowing that people wanna listen to the music you're writing. It's made us want to drop a lot more for sure.

Khan: Definitely got me motivated for sure. It helped me find what I really wanted to do with music. I mean KBFG was like the EP that really got me to realize what I really love. what i really wanted to do and that was my style seeing everyone like it and enjoy it was inspiring.

5. You have an interesting sound, can you tell us the typical approach you take when composing a song?

Exhominid: Usually I write the riff first and then afterwards I'll usually figure out a drum beat, then bass, and vocals always come last. I spend quite a bit writing riffs so when I can snag a good one I usually make everything come together after that.

Khan: I would say for me writing songs or getting ideas I'll play drum loops from other sites and play along until I find something i'm interested in, then try to remake the drum beat and then write the riff afterwards because of copyright. but yeah pretty much the same process but usually i get my ideas from just freebasing.

6. How do you create the new songs? Is it predetermined process, or do you leave substantial space for improvisations?

Exhominid: It's usually yeah, a riff and then I'll leave room for maybe alternate versions of the riff and definitely a solo or two. And from there we just finish the song in a straightforward manner. I have a pretty defined workflow when it comes to the songs for Primate Strangulator.

Khan: Honestly I think it's usually a lot of it is improvised but you know we work on it over time and it sticks like coming back to it later on and working on things we didn't hear before.

7. Your lyrics are related to Animal attacks, Jungles, Primates...etc. Why did you select this topics for your songs? 

Exhominid: I chose it because it's not a super common theme in death metal. I grew up watching a lot of Animal Planet and reading a lot of dope books about dangerous animals like reptiles and dragons and things like that so that definitely was a part of it. Shows like "The Most Extreme" that we have in the US were a pretty big influence on the style. I think it's just a theme that is capable of being colorful and striking but brutal at the same time.

Khan: Cause fuckin' gorillas are awsome they fuck shit up you know and thats what people in the pit are like, they look like gorillas so I think it works out that way you know..

8. When you’re a band on demo level what ways are there to spread the word of the band?

Exhominid: At first there's not much. You just kinda have to yell to the wind and hopefully someone hears you and likes it. At first growth for the band was very slow and it picked up and we got a lot more listeners and followers. The best way at first is just to tell a friend to tell a friend but you always wanna make sure your band is findable and that the music is accessible to people who want to hear it. Later move to ads and shows and I guess more dedicated ways of marketing. We're still working on that I guess.

Khan: yeah i'd say the same you gotta let people know your friends let em know its you just gotta tell people you really gotta tell people. i'll tell people at my job and they'll listen to it and i'm like oh shit i didn't think you were gonna listen to that knowing people helps and knowing other musicians and people from other local shows or whatever helps too.

9. With so many death metal bands coming up these days, how do you manage to keep your material relevant? How challenging is it to come up with newer material?

Exhominid: I think it can be pretty hard especially when our influences are so clear. I think its important to distinguish your music from your influences as much as you can stomach and then just knowing when to stop.

Khan: That's a tough question, a good one. and that's a tough thing to do. i think sometimes you just don't think about that dont let them stress you out.If you like it, there's so many other people that will like it. at least one other person. I think it's very important like you said try not to copy bands that you look up to just to not risk imitation but um at the same time when you're making music you like you're not really paying attention to that just so you can stay focused, you know on the art. But I think that's all I can say about that

10. What is the thought process when writing new Primate Strangulator songs? 

Exhominid: After the instrumental is done, vocals are thrown on top and then finally comes the title of the song. The artwork is usually something I came up with in photoshop months before the song came out as our art style is a bit specific and thrown together.

Khan: I guess like I'll kinda just mumble random shit. I don't really think about lyrics until after I'm improvising my vocals so i can make the song better and conduct the song the way I want to. That's a good way to work on the song right there. Usually, I'll record the mumble and I'll listen to it while I'm mumbling over the instrumental and I will kinda just fill in those places that I don't have lyrics for and right them down there. Whatever I think is best. Sometimes I gotta go back and change it a bit so I can match the theme of the song. And then from there ill record.

11. How do you define “underground” and where do you see yourself and your band in it?

Exhominid: Underground to me just means an artist whose music hasn't become popular. There's underground everything but I think there's different sizes and meanings for that in every genre. 10k followers in metal might not be underground but 10k followers for a pop or rap singer might be still underground. Like a lot of things it's about context.

Khan: underground is you know, people coming up, but also people within the community that are playing these more itm shows i notice those ten to have a more... like a more intimate crowd if that makes sense. it's usually more local those like you said those are people coming up. Those are the best. you gotta catch em before they get big it's not that they change its the crowd. not that it's bad but there's a change in the crowd there compared to when they come up.

12. Who are your greatest heroes in the field of Death Metal?

Exhominid: We're obviously super influenced by Dying Fetus, Deceased, Deicide shit like that. Probably the first death metal band I found was Deicide when I was 11. Blew me away when I first found it in a ringtone store. Then at 12 I found Immolation's "Dawn of Possession" and was obsessed. I'm Mexican so its obligatory to show love for Transmetal.

Khan: I would say DF for sure, I did enjoy growing up listening to a lot of 90s groove metal like Machine Head and Pantera. That was a major influence in my vocal style. Definitely Deicide and of course 200 Stab Wounds. i've been seeing a lot of our buddies playing shows and we get to see that shit playing shows and it's inspiring.

13. Do you support your death metal scene and where would you like death metal to go in the future? How can you, as a band, help in moving the scene forward?

Exhominid: Yeah definitely. Atlanta has an awesome extreme metal scene. I'd like to see more bands come out of Atlanta and the area and for the area to get the notoriety it deserves. We hope to get the word out about the scene more to other parts of the country.

Khan: yeah creating a permanent culture i like the way it is very fun very open great community. coolest people around so i hope it doesn't change i hope it stays alive. I hope it stays like that forever. It'd be cool to see it get bigger. definitely support local bands and diy venues cause they got the best shows.

14. What is the heavy music scene like in Atlanta, Georgia?  What are some other bands from your area that we should be paying attention to?

Exhominid: It's not huge but by no means non-existent. Lots of dope bands from the area. Cemetery Filth, Dungeon Filth, Gornormity, Nambil Mas, are some of the dope bands from the area.Sewage Bath is incredible live.

Khan: First thing that comes to my mind is bands like Krypt and Gornormity. IT the diy venues a lot of motherfuckers having shows at the house. they dont give fuck if you break . youre crampd n there sometimes shit breaks but no one gives a fuck its a very justt its a sick scene. sick scene here. This is something we're known for, it's cool as shit.

15. I want to thank you, sincerely, for your time. Before we end our conversation, is there anything else in particular you’d like to share? 

Exhominid: We have a new EP coming out. It just doesn't have a name yet. So be on the lookout for that. We have a song with Sanguisugabogg in the works too so look out for that too.

Khan: Definitely check out the new EP we been working on it for a while, we're very excited we've had so many ideas and we really lived with this band for a min so we kinda have a better idea of what we wanna do it and definitely support your local bands keep tryna promote your community s music get that shit out there. Check my other new band the Huns, we got something in the works. We're gonna have a few songs in spring so keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the opportunity we're very grateful for this reach. We're very excited to spread pS and our music and other projects out there in other continents and other countries outside the US which are sick. Thanks man.