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Interview with METAL CONVULSED (Spain) How would you introduce the band to the people that doesn't know you yet? KH: DYSRHYTHMIA is:
Although you now
have some few albums released during these years, KH: Unfortunately, age does seem to be an important factor in the pop music world. Every major label seems to be looking for the youngest act they can swoop up, exploit, and use to replace the washed up 20-something group they just signed 4 years ago. Fortunately, we are not part of the pop music world, so it doesn't matter. Dysrhythmia is giving
a new way of melting Metal with other different music KH: This "fusion" of genres people talk about when they hear our music is not a contrived effort to combine different styles just to be "eclectic". The sound of our band basically comes from the fact that all three of us have different influences and backgrounds. It pretty cool that way. It's exciting for me to know that when I write a riff, what Clayton or Jeff come up with will be totally different than what I was expecting and visa versa. It's what gives us our "sound". You tell your inspiration
is drawn from metal, punk, progressive rock, KH: It's up to the listener to say if we combine all our influences successfully. The way we write at rehearsals varies. Some songs are written almost in full by either myself or Clayton, but most of the time they are born through just improvising on an idea/riff. It is common for us to write songs out of nowhere, when we aren't even trying. When a good idea strikes, we run for the tape recorder and let it go. Later we pick out the sections we like and begin to arrange and expand on them. Some songs take months, some only take days. We aren't concerned with our songs being "technical". We do what feels natural. You know this is
a non-commercial music style that few people listen to. KH: People tell us not having a vocalist limits our audience, but it's no more limiting then having a vocalist who growls the whole time or screams as high as he can, etc. How many times do you heard someone say "I like the music but the vocalist sucks!" Sometimes the style of a singer can pigeonhole you into a genre. With our music, I feel like we have the potential to reach people of vastly different musical interests. I notice it already at our shows with the diverse types of people who come see us and enjoy our music. It's a good feeling. Do you agree the "Tech Metal" label as a description for your band? KH: I hate that label. It's silly. People get too concerned about what's "tech" and what's not "tech enough". It's so geeky. If you don't mind,
I would like you to talk us a little bit more about each KH: "Contradiction" was our first album. It's more like a glorified demo really. We were only a band for 9 months when we recorded it. Jeff had no input in the writing of the music really. He was still new to the band and playing with us, whereas Clayton and myself had been playing together for years in various other bands. "Contradiction" sounds a lot rawer and a little meandering to me compared to "no interference". "Contradiction" is now out of print. Good luck trying to find a copy. Perhaps someday it will be re-released. There's actually a track we recorded during that session called "Work" that was never used. I'd like to include that song, if and when we re-issue it. People seem to especially
like your first "No Interference" song called "Body KH: I don't think that song is "about" anything in particular. The title is one of Clayton's, but I wrote the music. I thought the title fit well because the song is taxing to play [body destroyed] and cerebral [brain intact]. "Craving for Transformation"
has a very big influence from Sonic Youth and a KH: Our influences cover the map. Main influences change though out time. We're always discovering new bands and music to enjoy. Some of our current and old favorites include Voivod, Sonny Sharrock, Circle, Sonic Youth, Shellac, Magma, Botch...the list goes on.... Why is the track
number 3 the one that titles your album? What does it make
KH: No particular reason why the album is named after that song. I was weary of doing that in the first place because I didn't want to bring attention to any one particular song by naming the record after it. Funny that you ask what the most difficult song was to record when talking about that song because "no interference" was the hardest song to track. I believe we did that song 13 times in a row. We did the whole record live as a three piece. Obviously when you listen back you can hear that I double a lot of the guitar parts and there are a few overdubs, but most of it is completely live. It's how we work best in the studio. "Circulatory system
overhaul" strange tune... it remembers me a little bit KH: Once again, to me "Circulatory..." is not "about" anything in particular. That whole song was just based on the that opening groovy riff and then it takes you to all these other places. The song has a nice pulse to it, like a heartbeat, hence the use of "circulatory system" in the title. "Let you fall" is
the longest piece of the album. Very slow... melodic, KH: "Let you fall" is one of my faves, but we rarely perform it live. That song was born from the opening slow-moving bass line. The guitar melody just came to me automatically. At the time we wrote that song, I was pretty in love with someone and I was thinking about how our time together seemed limited in a way and I would have to just try to forget about her at a certain point. "Orbiting" rare
tune too. Which is your main influence for this one? That KH: I always thought of "Orbiting" as the "dub song". It has that influence in it. That's a fun one to listen to 'cause there's some "ear candy" in there, like the processing on the drums and the lush acoustic guitar/e bow guitar line part in the middle. It's not as "cut and dry" as most of the rest of the record. There's more going on texturally, rather than just instrumentally. "Nutritional facelift"
is one of your most heavy and fast songs, reminds me KH: Haha...I still love that opening chunky riff. It kind of a wacky song. It sounds like Prong meets the Beach Boys, with the twangy, surf rock guitar tone I use in certain parts of the song. The title came to me while I was watching the news and they were talking about a new diet that would make people look younger or something, and I could've sworn they called it "the nutritional facelift". Of course I thought "hey, great title!" "Slumlord" has an
excellent start that loops all along the song. Why this? KH: That song I wrote very quickly one day after being completely fed-up with my landlord and shitty living conditions. I was living in an apartment where I didn't have water for the entire month of January and they still wanted me to pay a full months rent! There was a lot of other shit too, and I was at constant battle with him. That song was just me trying to make creative use of my anger towards this scum bag. "We lead the way"
is an incredibly song. I really like it too ;-) [ya are KH: I got to play a Gretch guitar for this song! That was cool. It just a simple, rockin' little tune. The title is supposed to be ironic since it ends with us all falling apart, the song just sort of crumbles with no real ending. "Psychic Desolation"
is the most soft song of all the album. Cool but maybe KH: No one ever talks about this song, which I find very interesting...It definitely stands out on the record because it is so quiet and only guitar and bass, no drums. The mood is very dark and mysterious. When I listen to it I envision walking into a room and finding a dead body on the ground, or wandering down a dark alley on a rainy night in the city. "four, five, six
minutes late" is a very short and fast tune... why is it KH: It just a nice way to end. It's like we're running to the finish line. The version on the record was the first take. You have hit the
road with "successful" bands such as "Dillinger Escape Plan"
KH: We just returned from tour with fellow label mates Burnt by the Sun. It was a great time! Those guys are swell to travel with and I enjoyed watching them perform every night. It was our most "successful" tour thus far of the 7 we've done. The reception we received night after night was very encouraging. The Dillinger Escape Plan we've only really done one show with. That was here in Philly in the basement of a church. That was the show that got us signed to Relapse. There was a huge crowd of around 400+ kids there for DEP and we went over great with them, so I guess they [Relapse] were like "hmmm...who's this band?" How has the Relapse
Records label affected your music career? Are you happy KH: Being on Relapse has helped us tremendously so far. It is giving us opportunities we would have never had before, doing it ourselves. They have great distribution and promotion. Two very important things you want to have in a label. Working with Steve Albini was a trip. "Pretest" is the first Dysrhythmia recording to accurately capture what we really sound like as a band. It was recorded the old fashioned way, straight to 16 track analog tape. All the edits were done by cutting and pasting the tape by hand. Practically no eq or compression was used in the mixing process. Those kind of things were added later in the mastering process, but it still sounds extremely organic and live. I'm happy with it, but I'm not one to ever be completely satisfied. You always think you can do better but sometimes you just have to leave things as they are or you'll drive yourself insane. It is scheduled for release in the US on May 13, and in Europe May 19, I believe... This is very difficult
to get a record deal with a strange music style as KH: All I can say is I feel very fortunate that our hard work and consistency is paying off. A lot of bands defeat themselves before they even play a show, thinking "our music is too weird or complex for people to understand..." Fuck that! Just do it! It's the only way to get people's attention and sell records. So playing live, touring as much as possible, is what I recommend to all bands doing something unique, something people aren't used to hearing. Because even though shit music like Limp Bizkit or whatever, sells millions, it's because people don't know any better. They take what's fed to them and shoved in their faces. Believe it or not, I think people are tired of 8,000 bands that all sound the same, and are looking for something different, but you have to bring it to them and open their eyes. I take great pleasure when someone comes up to me at a show and tells me they would've never listened to our "kind" of music before, but after seeing it live they become fans and it's opened their minds a little. Just keep at it. Don't give up! Talking about the
plans with Ron Jarzombek's Spastic Ink, he talks about you
KH: A friend of Ron's contacted me about having Jeff play on a Spastic Ink track after listening to our band on mp3.com. I have been a Watchtower fan since I was in 8th grade. I told Jeff he had to do it! I think he had a good time working on it. None of us have actually heard the completed song yet because the tracks Jeff recorded to were midi "scratch" tracks. I have no idea when this will come out. Ron came and saw us in Austin, TX a year ago. It was the first time I had ever met him. I have to say he was a bit mellower than I was expecting. Sometimes you listen to someone's music and you expect them to act like their music sounds...haha! We get that a lot too though...people think we all do drugs because our music is "out there" or whatever...Anyway, I'm getting off the subject. Ron is a nice guy and supports us as a band. That's pretty fuckin' cool in my book. Have you ever considered
touring into Europe or playing in any festivals KH: Yes! I want to tour Europe, we all do! It will happen at some point. I'm not too up on the European progressive metal scene. My interest in prog metal isn't what it used to be. I still like to listen to my old favorites though. As far as our music selling more in Europe than the US, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. There are some new
bands that follow a similar music style like yours such KH: "Math rock/metal" bands like Don Caballero and The Fucking Champs have sort of paved the way slightly for instrumental rock bands to be accepted and noticed. There aren't too many bands doing what we're doing, which I think is good. As for metal in the new millennium...again, there isn't much catching my attention. I thought the Gorguts album "Obscura" was a unique direction for death metal to go in. With their use of "no-wave"-influenced guitar techniques and atypical [for death metal] distorted guitar sounds. There was a lot of innovative metal records coming out in the early 90's by bands like Anacrusis, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, Believer, Thought Industry, but those bands have all pretty much passed on. I just picked up OSI which features members of Fates Warning, Chroma Key, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, and Gordian Knot. I think that record is really cool and interesting. It's more of a moody, dark, textured, listening experience. I can dig it. Any final words dedicated to your fans here in Spain and Europe? KH: Be patient, we will play for you soon! Ok, that's all I
think... thank you very much for your attention and answers
KH: Thank You very much Daniel. This was a lot of fun! Daniel Rubio López
(Metal Convulsed's Progressive Disease Section) |