History in Their Words:
My old band Versoma had just broken up and I had a bunch of song fragments that didn't quite fit so I enlisted Justin Ennis from The Heuristic. I released a record by them a year prior and he was available so we started working together. Our first bassist was Domenic Seita. He recorded the first ep with us, but due to creative differences we split. He went on to form Storm of Light with Josh Graham. Our current bassist, Carson James was just this dude that liked the same music as us and wanted to be in the band. He's one of those "Natural Musicians" so so far everything has been smooth.
To make a long story short, let's just say that Justin was more interested in maintaining a party lifestyle than being part of a band; even signing to Relapse Records couldn't straighten him out. All of this came to a head right before our first European tour. He told us that he couldn't do the tour about nine days before we were supposed to board a plane so I turned to my long-time friend Andrew Hernandez who, at the time was playing in ASRA. Andrew learned our set and did the tour; he's been our full-time drummer ever since.
THE INQUISITION:
1. Why are you in a band?
Playing in a band is only thing that I've ever done with any consistency for my entire life. Jobs, relationships, etc all come and go but I've always played in bands and toured.
2. Do you consider your band successful?
That's an interesting question. I consider us successful in the spiritual sense that we are able to continue writing music that we all enjoy playing and are able to record and tour. That has to come first. Are we successful in the financial sense? No.
3. What are you currently listening to?
A lot of black metal: Leviathan, Gorgoroth, Aura Noir, Behexen, oldDarkthrone, Woe, Black Anvil. I've also been listening to the first Brujeria record quite a bit.
4. Who are your primary musical influences and do you think they are obvious?
My main influences are guys like Greg Ginn, Chuck Dukowski and the early SST crew. After that it's Joy Division, Swans, My Bloody Valentine and a lot of Black Metal. At different times it can be obvious. I think the SST/Black Flag influences are more obvious when we play live.
5. What other band(s) are out there that we should be listening to?
Ahh man; there are so many killer bands. Here are a few: Defeatist, The Wayward, ASRA, Black Anvil, Woe, Bastard Sapling, Engineer, Deathcycle. There's also the more obvious ones like Coliseum, Young Widows Genghis Tron...but if you're reading this site, you're probably in the know already.
6. As a band, what was your best show/experience yet?
Personally, I really loved playing Heart of Winter Fest down in Richmond. We played well, the show was run really well, all of the bands were killer and just being in Richmond is a good time. We have a lot of close friends down there. Also, the fest was totally run with a D.I.Y. vibe. everyone involved was a hardcore/metal/punk/black metal whatever enthusiast, there was a home-made vegan meal available and everyone was well taken care of.
7. What was your worst show/experience?
That would have to be getting shocked at the mic every night on the UK leg of our last tour. That was pretty much a drag.
8. What's your writing process like?
Well, typically, I come to practice with the the main riffs for the song. We run the parts and develop the rhythm sections. Usually, we write the bridges in rehearsal and hammer out the arrangements. The most painful part is the lyric writing which usually takes months to finalize. All the while we're playing the songs live and I try out different sets of lyrics. It's a real chore because whenever I feel like I'm making headway I read the lines and I get that really uncomfortable feeling that some people refer to as "douche chills."
9. Do you see yourselves still doing this in 10 years? Why?
Yes. It may not be the same band, but I can't imagine not playing music, I'm a "lifer."
10. Are there any shows or releases you want to pimp?
February 17, our LP "Winter Hours" is being released on Relapse Records. The repress of the TOMBS / PLANKS Split will be coming out in January on my label Black Box Recordings. We'll be hitting the road with Dysrhythmia in February and in May there's a US Tour with Intronaut, Bison B.C. and Giant. Also, if you're in the NYC are, we're playing a really cool set of shows on Saturday Feb. 21. First, we're playing a matinee at ABC NO RIO with Black Anvil, Woe and Bastard Sapling and then at night we're doing a show at Death By Audio in Brooklyn with Defeatist, Engineer and The Wayward. I'm really stoked about these shows because all of the bands are friends and we all go way back.
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