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.
Right now I'm sitting In my room, at the basement floor of my house. It snowed pretty heavily outside today so I'm mostly just trying to keep warm.
2. As I can see, all of you are pretty young guys, can you name some of the bands who you first really admired and helped shape your future in music?
Yeah, our ages range from 18 to 20, and we all have our own preferences as far as music goes. I can only speak in depth about my own personal heroes, because I know it's different for each of us. As a guitarist, the dudes I really look up to would be Randy Rhoads (RIP), Tony Iommi, Buzz Osbourne, and Chuck Schuldiner (RIP). Each of them brings something totally unique and personal to their riffs and solos, and I think that they really embody the idea of creating something only they could. I still can't listen to the Randy Rhoads tribute album without getting goosebumps.
3. Being from Utah, United States, how has your geographical location influenced your music and overall artistic direction as a band?
I think the biggest impact our geological location has made upon us is socially and politically. Being in Utah, we are trapped inside a sea of Mormons. Being surrounded by very oppressive conservative religious/political views, definitely makes me frustrated. Seeing so many people being lied to on such a large scale always baffles me. The current political climate of the United States is also very influential on us and our music, I believe in freedom and equality for everyone, and it seems like each year our country pushes itself further and further towards fascism, which disgusts me. It's depressing and it definitely makes its way into our music. We just wrote a song called, "If The Armband Fits" which is about our hatred for nazis.
4. Your debut demo, “Raw, Unmixed and Evil” deliver a powerful, aggressive, and raw sound. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind these 4 songs and how it felt to release your music to the world?
The inspiration behind these songs was largely just a need in all of us to make loud, extreme music. We are very keen on not confining ourselves to one subgenre like "Death Metal" or "Black Metal", we want to take elements from everywhere and create our own type of extreme metal, music that reflects our own unique inspirations and style.
5. Tell us about the recording sessions, how did it go? Was it your first time in the studio? How long did it take you to finish everything?
So to record the demo, I actually just borrowed a handheld recorder from my friend (thanks Michael). I brought it over to our rehearsal space, Grady's garage, set it in front of us and hit record. I thought it was gonna sound like shit, but to all of our surprise, the recordings actually turned out pretty good for only having one microphone. It was a very pleasant surprise.
6. Do you ever feel any kind of pressure or lack of creating new riffs when writing new material? Does everything happen more in the flow way? Do you have to be in a certain mood?
I've found that our best material usually comes out while we're jamming in-between rehearsing songs. Usually I'll be messing around on the fretboard and Grady will say "What's that?" and I'll say, "It's not anything yet," and we go from there. Other times I have ideas that I flesh out by myself and bring to rehearsal, but it's always a collaborative process. There is at least one song that was mostly written by each of us in our catalog.
7. Can you briefly inform us about the overall lyrical theme of the songs? What would you say inspires your songwriting, as in topics or emotions?
Angie and I write most of our lyrics, but like I said everything we do is collaborative. Desolation Of Self was the first song we ever wrote, and lyrically I was inspired by this new depression medication I was taking. The title was originally "Degradation Of Self", and the song is about how my medication can make me feel like I'm not really alive.
Cathedral Of Corpses is about the idea of a greedy god who enjoys watching people die for him (a critique of Christianity).
Intestinal Woods is a song in the vein of Autopsy lyrically. It's about an area in the woods where people have been mutilated and hung up on branches in a grotesque display.
Worship The Blood was mostly inspired by the movie Dracula with Cristopher Lee.
The newer songs we have been writing have been dealing with anti-fascism and social commentary with a good amount of blasphemy and bloodshed thrown in.
8. You´ve already played some gigs, how has the reception been for your music so far? Have there been any standout moments or memorable experiences you'd like to share?
So far, the reception of our music has been really positive. My favorite moment I've experienced so far, was after we finished playing our last show, Trevor, the vocalist for one of the opening bands, Mortus, (go check them out they're awesome) came up to me and said, "What the fuck was that man? Grindcore? Was that Black Metal? I've never heard anything like that!" It felt super gratifying to know that we were able to create a sound that someone thought was unique.
9. How much time do you spend on the band both physically but also mentally each day? Is it worth all the time and effort in the end?
Each week we have one or two rehearsals that usually last around four hours. The band never leaves my mind though, I'm always walking around thinking about new ideas that would be interesting to write about, or trying to come up with new, strange riffs. Personally, I cannot live without music. Even if we were just practicing in Grady's garage forever, I would still be happy. I don't think I could live without being able to play music with my friends.
10. What is music for you? Does it bring you some new emotions or it helps you to get ride of some negative emotions?
Music, to me, does a a little bit of both and I think that's why it's is incredible. Music helps me feel understood when I am in a bad place, "a shared suffering is half the suffering", or whatever the quote is.
11. What ways has been the best for you in order to promote the band? What do you do to reach as many interest as possible?
The best way I've found to promote us is word of mouth. You can advertise all you want on social media, but people see so much that they forget (guilty) so when I'm able to actually have a conversation with someone about our music, or if they see us at a show, they remember that interaction, which I think is more effective than the internet. However, with the internet we can reach so many more people that we couldn't before. I think it's all about knowing how to use the tools at your disposal.
12. How do you define “underground” and where do you see yourself and your band in it?
I think "underground" music or art is personal expression that takes the world for what it is an unapologetically speaks on it. It is art that is loud, extreme, dense, and often times disgusting. Underground speaks to people on an intimate level that most art can't. I like to think that we are part of the underground, we make a hell of a racket and most people would call it noise. I want to make people question what they are seeing and hearing, instead of mindlessly consuming.
13. So, what’s coming out next? Anything you want to divulge from the vault of your future plans?
We've been writing a bunch of new material and next up, I think we're gonna try and tackle a full length album. We are having kind of a slow time right now, trying to get more material down and dealing with some personnel changes.
14. 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?
Thank you! it's been an honor to be a part of this. I'd like to mention that we just had a live record come out which has three new songs on it, it's called LIVE AT SMOKING NUN. I also want to thank anyone who has given our music a chance.
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