Kevin Hufnagel: There wasn't even much thought or consideration put into it. I've played in a few other instrumental bands before Dysrhythmia and was writing solo guitar stuff on my own, so it just made sense to me. I wanted to keep it restrained to the trio format, with a stripped down sound where everyone was of equal importance at all times and complimenting each other's parts. I started to realize later that it was making us stand out a little in the grand scheme of things, especially now with being on a more "heavy music"-based record label and playing a lot of shows with those kinds of bands.

Yet all your compositions are titled somehow. So you express certain matters (emotions, states of mind etc.) through music only, don’t you? Isn’t it the principle of suggestion that you follow consciously? Well, let me explain myself properly. Suggestion (hint could serve as a synonym in this case) is rooted into poetry. In literature the stylistic device was substantially developed by Edgar Allan Poe (‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, ‘Black Cat’, ‘The Mask of the Red Death’). When you suggest this you don’t state the matter directly but make it through with the help of hints. The reader/listener is involved in the kind of labyrinth. Please, don’t consider me arrogant person, a sort of Mr-know-all, in any case. I just want to clear the situation for the subject is extremely interesting for me, and I hope for you and our readers (at least some of them) as well, ok?

KH: Yeah, I think that is what we do with song titles too. They hint at something that might've inspired the song, or a feeling we're hoping to get across with the sounds we're creating. We definitely put a lot of thought into our titles. I think with instrumental music a lot of times it's easy to slap some silly title on it 'cause it doesn't have to mean anything in particular or because there are no lyrics clueing you in to what the song might be about. We don't take that approach in this band.

Another question concerning that highly emotional impact your stuff produces. Black Sabbath used tritone, interval strictly forbidden in the Middle Ages for it was thought to have satanic origin (diabolus in musica). Well, this thing sounds very depressive, you know that. Are there any musical ‘devices’ you provide to influence the listeners in a certain way?

KH: There is a lot of dissonance in our music. It creates a great deal of tension and a sense of chaos or restlessness. I think it's a very beautiful sound. Too much of it can become tiresome so it usually feels natural to balance it out with some sort of release. Hopefully it just keeps people involved and interested when they're listening to us.

What specter of ideas (social life, policy, personal experience, philosophy etc.) you’re striving to express through your music?

KH: This is tough question to answer being that we're an instrumental band. Our music is open to much interpretation and can be heard many different ways. There's no vocalist out in front shouting at you about living your life this way or that, or to go burn down your local church or what-have-you. We have no agenda, no message to shove down anyone's throat... the music is there for people to derive their own satisfaction and meaning from.

Besides, certain meaning must be put into your album covers. Take your latest studio recording ‘Pretest’. What sense has its cover got?

KH: The title "pretest", which means to test a product out on the public first to gage it's reaction, just seemed to fit since it was our first record to receive proper distribution and promotion. We were somewhat of an odd signing for Relapse, so even though both sides were excited about it, neither one knew how the record would go over or what kind of reaction it would get from people. The cold, sterile look of the cover fits in with medical implications of the word "pretest" and contrasts with the "warm" sound of the actual recording.
I like the fact that the cover contains actual body samples from each of the three members of the band, in the petri dishes. I cut a chunk of my hair off, Clayton pricked his thumb to get the blood, and Jeff sweat profusely and then collected it off his body into a jar [disgusting I know... you should have smelled it! Ha!].

Are there any sources of inspiration for you to create your great stuff? Perhaps, literature, movies.

KH: Literature and films don't really inspire me when writing for this band, speaking for myself. Most sources of inspiration come more from life experiences and living in a city like Philadelphia. Like just this evening I was on the underground subway and this woman next to me started shouting for the whole duration of my ride about houses burning down and oxygen masks and basically just ranting and raving and frightening everyone around her. These are the kind of things that inspire me. Real life.

I know your music is best experienced alive. Is that the reason for you to have recorded all your albums in the same way (alive in studio I mean), not as usually: drums first, then bass and guitars at last.

KH: Yeah, I was having a discussion yesterday with someone about bands that write in the studio... like they have no songs ready when it's time for them to make an album. They will come up with ideas in the studio and record and paste them together in a computer, write the lyrics right before they record the vocals and call it done. I can't really imagine working that way with this band. That's awesome if it works for other bands. Usually it just feels better to record our songs as a full band. We strive to capture that energy and rawness and those "happy accidents" that can only happen when you're playing together live. I've found it impossible to truly capture the energy of a "real" Dysrhythmia live performance in the studio, simply because we are confined to wearing headphones and playing to a brick wall. That's not very exciting... but we do our best and I know we can always do better. It's what keeps us going.

Which way do listeners behave at your gigs: headwalking, stagediving or standing and listening attentively?

KH: The reactions are different depending on the location.. most of the time people are standing and watching closely. I always prefer to see people moving though. Our audiences are definitely rowdier and more "vocal" in the south, which I really enjoy. Also, we encourage heckling. Please feel free to give us a hard time, all the time.

In general, do you enjoy touring? How often do you yourselves attend gigs of other bands?

KH: I do enjoy touring. I wish we toured even more than we do. It's hard for a band like us to make a living doing this so we all have to take other jobs when not on the road. Touring can be very stressful at times and trying on your personal relationships, but it's beats sitting at a desk everyday. I go see other bands pretty regularly even when we're not on tour. Living in Philadelphia and close to NYC, a lot of good music comes through.

Why did Clayton leave the formation after 2004 tour with your labelmates High On Fire and Zeke?

KH: I really can't speak for Clayton but from my perspective he had grown tired of the touring lifestyle and everything associated with it. He was also undergoing a transformation in his beliefs and his goals in life. They didn't seem to include music anymore, which is kind of shocking to those who know him. It was sort of a steady decline. We could see his attitude changing. It was becoming very stressful, so the split was amicable. He is now studying to become a Buddhist monk. That was the last I heard...

What is your relatives’ attitude to you seriously engaged with the band?

KH: They are very supportive, occasionally coming to see us perform or giving me feedback on what they think of our records. My mother worries about me, which is just typical of her nature, but I can understand why. We are out there traveling the country in this shitty van, sleep-deprived, playing strange places and you never know what can happen. Only one of us has health insurance and we've all taken trips to the hospital before on tour for various stitches, broken teeth, blackouts, etc... lucky nothing too life-threating or serious. So, you gotta be careful. Overall, I think they're happy I have a direction in my life and have been pursuing it 100%.

Do you take part in any side-projects?

KH: Yes, the main one is Byla, which is myself and our new bassist Colin. It started back in the summer of 2003 before he joined Dysrhythmia. We had been wanting to explore recording some experimental, ambient guitar music for years and Dys had some down time so we went for it. It's a lot of fun. Our record should be coming out in Spring 2005 on Translation Loss Records. I've also started writing songs with my friend Christian McKenna who is a vocalist. It's kind of too early to tell where that will go but it's very different from the other two bands I do. Colin has his other band Behold.. the Arctopus in which he plays the Warr guitar, a sort of bastardized version of the Chapman Stick... basically a guitar and bass all on one neck. Their music is just totally over-the-top instrumental tech-metal, with a lot more solo sections and metal influence than Dysrhythmia. People should check them out if they haven't already! Colin also has Infidel?/Castro!, which is his long running collaboration with his friend George Korein. It's very abstract ambient, harsh industrial, nightmare soundscape collages. Very awesome stuff. Jeff does some live sit-in gigs here and there for other people, mostly jazz sessions. He doesn't have any other regular side-projects, though he contributed drums to a track on the newest Spastic Ink CD.

Is there any difference between your local metal scene, that of Philadelphia, and the ones in other cities? What bands would you like to mention here?

KH: I know of some Philadelphia-based metal bands like Total Fucking Destruction and Stinking Lizaveta [amazing instrumental stoner-jazz metal] but I'm not too involved in the scene. We haven't even played with a local metal band here in years. If you're asking about the local music scene in general here, as compared to other places, I can tell you that Philadelphia has a very diverse music scene but tends to be cliquey. It'd be fun to see more eclectic bills. Some places we've played in the South like Little Rock, AR or Lafayette, LA seem to have strong or at least supportive local scenes.

What kind of music do YOU prefer? I guess not only heavy styles, or perhaps no heavy styles at all?

KH: I will say first and foremost that I grew up a "metalhead". It was my first musical love [besides some old classical music I would hear around the house as a child]. Still, I've always been open-minded to other forms of music, even from a young age. I'm just a music fanatic. I don't really like to talk in terms of genres 'cause there's excellence and complete garbage in every style, but if you were to browse my CD collection you'd find metal, folk, country, punk, jazz, classical, ambient, industrial, rock 'n roll, blues, noise, old funk music, just everything..except for maybe this terrible teeny-bopper pop-punk crap like Good Charlotte and the like.. I don't think I can see myself ever enjoying that.

How did you get engaged in music? Was it long ago or not?

KH: My mother had an acoustic guitar lying around the house that I used to bang on as a little tyke and I finally got my own for Christmas when I was 12. I pretty much knew right away this was going to be my life.

The 1st and the last recordings you bought.

KH: First recording... I can't remember exactly but was it probably a Twisted Sister or Judas Priest cassette. Last recording I bought was Sixteen Horsepower's "Sackcloth 'n Ashes".

Do you work anywhere, or you manage enough with the music?

Recently George Bush was elected for the 2nd term. Are you satisfied with that? By the way, what is your attitude to politics?

KH: Ok, I will be honest with you here...I've never given a damn about politics in my life up until this past election. I am certainly not representing the rest of the band when I say that...the other two are much more involved and opinionated about it than I am. Lately, it's definitely of a concern for me and I've become more involved everyday in educating myself. I will say that I am sickened by how concerned America is with Christian morals, bullshit "family values", and the hypocrisy behind it all. I'm not even gonna get into this "war on terror"... I don't know anybody that is satisfied with Bush as our president, but then again I live in a more free-thinking city. Obviously since he won again [barely], there's more of "them" than "us".

Could you tell us some funny story that happened to you when touring, or in your life in general?