SHELLAC of North America Interview (from the past)

In 2008, I wrote a weekly column for York University's student-run newspaper The Excalibur, titled "Amplifier Worship." I solicited an interview with Shellac before a rare tour stop in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

Below is the only question they answered, presented to you in verbatim,
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Shellac interview, July 2008.

On Interviews.
We don't normally do interviews while on tour. We prefer to concentrate on the shows and 
eating a nice meal. - Bob Weston


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Here's a video of Shellac playing at The Horseshoe on that exact tour:

LITURGY Interview, (from the past)

Lifetime Cutie-pie. 

In February of 2011, I was fortunate enough to interview Hunter Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy about...a lot of things. In the next few months, Hendrix would become the poster-boy for outcasts among outcasts when his essay titled, Transcendental Black Metal - A Vision of Apocalyptic Humanism sparked the dumbest disagreement between some band's perception of what Black Metal should be.

Oh, three months later they would release my favourite album of the year, Aesthetica. Thank you.

This interview was published in a zine, the name of which I cannot remember. Here it is, verbatim. No grammar clean-ups or cut-ups.
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Interview with Hunter Hunt-Hendrix of Liturgy, February 2011.

On Black Metal.
To me black metal isn't ultimately about light or dark, happy or sad, positive or negative.  It's about an authentic state of being, an awareness of the fundamental substrate of nonsense, of excess, of impossibility.  An awareness that is so intense that it is neither ecstatic nor terrifying, but some kind of divine fusion of the two, like an undifferentiated Emotion or Intensity.  Maybe this same emotional/mental state of intensity has something to do with the very fabric of becoming, the fundamental creative force that is constantly regenerating the world.  I see black metal generally as a sort of sonic funnel into this state, and my aim in Liturgy is to make black metal that in a way strips away all extraneous features other than this funneling aspect.  Yes, like you say, it comes down to staring at an eclipse - which is both possible and impossible to do.

On "Transcendental Black Metal."
 "Transcendental Black Metal" started out as a slogan that didn't have meaning.  It started out as an image, which became the back cover of the Immortal LIfe EP - a low-res shot of clouds through an airplane window from above, and black text: "Transcendental Black Metal".  I thought it was very beautiful.  Over time, more and more I see the term connecting with the tradition of Transcendentalism.  An American form of black metal has to be Transcendentalist.

On Liturgy's formation.
For a little while it was a two piece.  I wanted to be able to play the recorded songs live.  Bernard was a friend of a friend, and was interesting in learning the songs and playing them with me.  We did a few shows just as a guitar duo.  Greg was a friend from highschool - we played music together as teenagers.  He was willing to try to play the burst beat parts on the drums, and had a friend Tyler who could play bass.  And Greg and Tyler were friends from college with Bernard, and had all played in a band together before.  It fell together pretty easily.


On drum machines and The Burst Beat
I first developed the burst beat using the Korg ES-1.  It has a sort of unusual spinning disk as its master toggle knob.  When I originally began making black metal on a four track, I'd record all the guitars and bass and vocals first... then I programmed a "blast beat" on the ES-1 which was really  just all of the samples in the kit going off at the same time.  I was never really satisfied with it.  But then at some point I had the idea to do a black metal cover of the song "No More Sorry" by My Bloody Valentine.  The percussion in that song has a wierd thudding ebb and flow which I wanted to recreate.  I found that using the generic blastbeat I'd created but then mapping the toggle disc to tempo and spinning it freely creates these sorts of accelerations and decelerations that were really exhilirating.  So I called it the "burst beat" and recorded the Immortal Life EP with these sort of acceleration and deceleration events mapped onto points in the songs.  When Greg joined we worked from demos for Renihilation that had the drum machine swoops to transfer the concept to live drums, and it really turned into a different animal.

On the eve of Liturgy's Trans-Atlantic tour.  
We've never played in Europe before.  I've never even personally travelled to most of the countries we're going to.  So yeah we're all very stoked.  Particulary to play in Norway.

On Hendrix's musical past.
I used to play in two different hardcore bands.  One was called the Holy Wars.  We recorded an EP that was never officially released by anyone.  This was with Greg from Liturgy during our teenage years, along with two other people who now play in Zs and Extra Life, two of my favorite bands in Brooklyn.  I later played in a band called Birthday Boyz (with a different person also named Greg on drums).  We released a 1-sided 12" EP.  Birthday Boyz is still quasi-intact, though it's just 3/4 of the band, now we're called Survival, and we rarely play live.   Holy Wars was essentially Converge worship and Birthday Boyz was essentially Saetia worship or something like that.  For people who aren't very interested in the philosophical bullshit (which is most people!), it's not so hard to see Liturgy's sound as a collision between Norwegian black metal and the different strains of manic intensity that characterize metal-tinged hardcord and screamo.

On other metal bands from Brooklyn.
I think the most like minded band in Brooklyn is Extra Life, though they are not a black metal band.

METZ INTERVIEW (from the past)

METZ, Some Time, AD. 

In July of 2010, right before the release of their third 7-inch, I asked METZ some questions. They weren`t very good questions, but the band took them super seriously, and I thank them for that. The interview got published in a zine that I can`t quite remember the name of. 

Now, about a month after the release of their self-titled gem on Sub Pop, I`m making this interview available online for anyone interested in reading it. 

Note: The published piece was edited slightly for grammar and space constraints. This interview is presented on Heavy Empire verbatim. 
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METZ Interview, July 2009.

On keeping the on-stage gear to a minimum, high volume.
The simplicity of our setup, and lately, our song writing is something we try keep in mind. we are always open to new things, and we don't have anything planned out so to speak, but we just try to keep in mind that less is more. If every instrument can stand on their own as well as contribute to what else is going on in the song, then that's where we want to be.  It also allows us to be a little more free when playing live, and go with the flow of the show without making the songs or energy level suffer.  Volume level isn't something we ever really talk about. whatever sounds the best at the time is what we go with. we don't try to be loud. 


On 7-inches vs. LPs.
The decision to release 3 7 inches in a row was a way that we could release things quicker and have fun with them.  We got to play around with vinyl colors and artwork as well as not commit to an entire LP right away. things change so quickly sometimes, that to lay down a full length's worth of songs to have to commit to playing for a while, or be defined by wasn't really appealing to us. we like to write constantly. sometimes is a really fast process, and other times really slow, so the sequence of 7 inch formats was the best fit for that. 

On, ``Will there ever be an full-length?"
We are working on a full length LP right now. no deadline yet, but We should be ready to start recording it by late fall.  who fucking knows.

On what METZ sings about.
Alex doesn't have a lyrical theme. he writes about whatever is on his mind. usually outer space.

On what METZ are reading.
Alex is reading war and peace for about the 6th time and chris and I are collectively trying to get the the newest MAD magazine.

On recording.
We try to record constantly. at practice we record live stuff and little bits that we want to remember.  when we record for a release its pretty similar,. but have no rules about it. we want to try new things in the studio every time.whether its just mic placement, or a whole new approach. the studio sessions for us is about having fun and keeping things interesting.  whatever gets interesting sounds and has the right match for the song is what we try to achieve. 


On working with Matt Deline ( of Shotmaker, The Grey)
Working with Matt was fun. I played with him in three penny opera and the grey.  both were fun bands to be in and i looked up to matt.  in the end of things it became difficullt to balance his family life and band goals, but such is life.  everything has an expiry date, so we made the best of it. i think we all benefitted from it for sure. we got to work and hang out with someone who had toured a lot and had been enthusiastic about music for years, and he got to play with some people who had fresh ideas and a new type of enthusiasm. 

On being labeled, "grunge."
Describing us as a grunge band is fine with us.  we don't try to deny that we all grew up in the 90's and loved a lot of music that cam from that era. we don't try to wear our influences on our sleeves to heavily, but we aren't trying to reinvent the wheel either. we look look to influences all over the place and try to make them fit what we are doing.  its exciting to try and work in things that may not seem like they would make sense for our band, and have them morph into something that we can call our own.  we are probably influenced just as often from old doo - wop and soul records as we are from 90's noise grunge.