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Interview with PITFATHER (Netherlands) 1.
Can you introduce yourself to the Pitfather readers?
KH: Hello readers, we are just three nerdy, musical-misfits who have been fortunate enough to have found each other in this life and create the music we want to hear. My name is Kevin. I play guitar, not just one guitar, but 4 guitars! I have them each set up for different tunings, depending on the song. Clayton plays bass. He is vegan. So, no dairy for him! Jeff plays drums. He's the youngest of the three of us. Though we think he is a great drummer, he is clumsy and often drops things or spills his drinks. Dysrhythmia has been together for a little over four years now. Clayton and I go all the way back to high school where we played in various other bands. Jeff we met though a mutual friend. Things have been moving along nicely ever since. 2. I have to be honest;
"Pretest" was the first time I've heard KH: "Pretest" is the most accurately recorded album of ours thus far. It is the first record that actually captured what we really sound like as a band. "No Interference" sounds a lot different. A little more cold and thin. We aren't as happy with that one nowadays, sound-wise, but I still enjoy the music on it. "Contradiction" was the rough beginning. It's OK for what it was but we feel we've progressed a lot since then. A lot of the songs on that one go on too long. It's all a learning experience. 3. When I visit your website
and read something about your musical KH: Sometimes this is not easy, but at the same time I think it's what gives us our own unique sound. If we were all into the same bands and music, we would sound too much like those particular bands [whoever they may be]. 4. Why did you choose not to use vocals in your music? KH: Two reasons mainly. First because I wanted to have a band that conveyed emotions strictly though sound and not words. It's a little more ambiguous that way. People can draw many different things from it. Sometimes the song titles might clue you in on what the song is "about" or inspired by. We put a lot of thought into our song titles. We really want them to fit the music. The second reason for being instrumental was that I was sick of hearing bad vocalists ruin good music. Most of the time I just want singers to shut up when I'm listening to a band, especially heavier music. 5. Have you ever had negative
experiences in the music industry by KH: At first I think it hurt us. We never really submitted our recordings/music to any labels before Relapse came along, but I had friends in other signed bands play our music for their labels and they would all say "Tell them to get back to me when they get a singer!" But we stayed true to ourselves and our music and it seems to be working in our favor now. It might turn people off at first, before they hear it, but after they listen to the record or see us live, we've pretty much won them over. 6. How does a song come
about? I can imagine you all jamming together KH: Some songs are written in full by either myself or Clayton, others are born from just improvising together in rehearsal. We all have a say in the arrangements, regardless of who writes the song. Sometimes a song will change drastically from what it originally started out as. We know a song is finished when we all feel satisfied with it. 7. Does every song has
a story behind it? Do you know when you play a KH: Yes, I'll give you some examples from "Pretest"... "Bastard" was given that title because I hated the song at first, I was frustrated with it. Writing the guitar parts to Clayton's bass lines wasn't easy for me. So there's the story behind one. "Catalog of Personal Faults" is very tense. Just think of all the people who piss you off or things you don't like about yourself and you will get the story behind that one. 8. What's the story behind
Annihilation II and Annihilation I ? KH: Originally they were one long song with the slow, hypnotic build up section ["Annihilation II"] as the middle part of the track. After listening to how that sounded, we decided it would be best to have them as two separate tracks, but they are still part of a whole. "Annihilation I" is aggressive and destructive-sounding and "Annihilation II" is sort of the aftermath. It has a very dark and desolate mood and feel. 9. I've read in another
interview Clayton Ingerson wanted to be in KH: Clayton and Jeff play in another band called Readyset. Clayton sings in that band and does not play bass. Jeff plays drums 'cause that's all he's good at. They are more in the vein of a D.C., Discord Records [Fugazi, Hoover, etc.] type style. It's hard for them to find time to do that band as much as they want to, with Dysrhythmia being so busy. Hopefully during some Dysrhythmia downtime, they can get a recording together. They are an intense live band! I play a lot of acoustic guitar on the side. I released a 3 song cassette of some of my instrumental guitar music years ago. Those are long gone now but I would like to record more material like that when I have the time and inspiration. I would also love to find a vocalist and do a real stripped-down, more song-oriented band, very acoustic-based, maybe similar to Nick Drake, Anja Garbarek, Stina Nordenstam [if you're familiar with them...] 10. Are you gonna play
any of the festivals this summer? Maybe play KH: Sure, that sounds great but I guess we have to see how well our record sells in your part of the world. I'm really hoping someone will bring us over because I want to play for everyone that appreciates our music and I love to travel. It would be a dream come true. Let's see what happens. 11. How would you describe
a Dysrhythmia live show? Is there a lot of KH: Dysrhythmia live is a very intense experience. The songs are structured and arranged but live there is room for improvising, especially in the drums. Jeff never plays the same fill twice, which is a good and bad thing. It keeps me on my toes. I think it makes it more exciting for us and the audience. The crowd reactions have been incredible. I'm really happy people can get so much from watching us perform. I'm always blown away by the different types of people I meet at our shows who are fans of our work. Everyone from scary death-metal dudes, hardcore kids, prog-rock geeks, indie rockers, stoners, crusty-punks, cute girls...haha. 12. Anything else you wanna say to the Pitfather readers? KH: Thank you so much for your interest in our little band. I hope to have the chance to play for you all soon. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! Linda Gosevoort |