Interview with RESOUND

by Christian McKenna

Since you guys are fairly new to the Resound readers, would you mind telling us how you decided to release "pretest" on Relapse?

KH: After self-releasing our first two recordings [2000's "Contradiction" and 2001's "no interference"] we knew that for the third record we didn't want to do it ourselves again. It was time to find someone
who could support us, give us some financial backing, proper promotion, and distribution. There wasn't much label interest until after our show with The Dillinger Escape Plan in Dec 2001 at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. Afterwards, Matt J. approached us about releasing a split Cd, which then turned into talk of releasing multiple recordings. I felt good about going with Relapse because I already knew some of the folks who worked there, three of whom had been coming to our shows for years. We also wanted a label that didn't specialize in one "kind" of music, so to speak. We didn't want to be on a prog rock label, for instance, because they would only market it to the prog crowd, a very select audience, and I think we have an appeal beyond that. Yes, Relapse is mainly known as a grindcore/death metal label, but that perception has been changing in the past few years with bands like Mastodon, High On Fire, Alabama Thunderpussy, Halo, 27, and ourselves, etc. being welcomed to the fold.

My favorite track on the record is without a doubt "And Just Go " Describe the process behind this one and how you connected the song title to it?

KH: Thank you. I like that track a lot too. It's kind of bittersweet and sounds like you're being taken on a trip. It's a "travel song", that's how the titlecame to me. It's not as abrasive and ugly as some of the other tracks. It also features the only guitar solo on the whole record..haha. I struggled with that solo, to play something that i liked. I fuckin' hate guitar solos, but I think that one came out OK.

"Pretest" was recorded with Steve Albini (Nirvana, Neurosis, P. J. Harvey). I always love the way Steve gets the records to sound like you are in the room with the artist and you guys are no exception. What was it like and where did you record?

KH: Recording with Steve was almost surreal, but you can't get all hero-worship on him or else he'll tell you "You're laying a creep on me...". We just went in there and busted out the songs live like we've
always done, but this time the sound of our instruments and the energy of the performances were more accurately captured. Everything was done the old fashioned way, straight to 16 track analog tape. All the edits were done by hand, cutting and splicing the tape together. Little eq or compression was used.
We recorded in Studio B, which is the smaller and cheaper of the two studios [Studio A being the other one]. The drums were recorded in a large warehouse-type room and the guitar and bass were recorded in an isolation room directly across. We kept the sliding glass door between both areas open, so it was almost like we were all in the same room.

The name Dysrhythmia is interesting. It really fits well with the music. How did the name come about?

KH: The name came to me when I was watching the news and a nurse was talking about a patient suffering from dysrhythmia. I thought the name sounded perfect for what we were doing.

I'm sure many people are dumbfounded when they hear and see how intricate and passionate your live performances are.

KH: Our live performances have been steadily improving over time. I have a videotape of our first show ever and it's so funny because we're all just standing there, not really moving, and looking timid. Of course, the more you do anything, the better you get, and we've done a lot of shows since we've started. At this point the songs are so under our fingers that we can just run with the energy without having to stare at our hands. There's more freedom to just enjoy ourselves. I also think the newer material is more intense. It feels more intense to play. I guess it's intense to watch too and folks connect to that. People usually like us more after they see us live. The music just  comes across better that way, I believe.

Were there any intentions as a band to make music like this? Did you always intend on being an instrumental band?

KH: When we started Dysrhythmia I wanted to keep it strictly instrumental, that was the only limitation I placed on us. I wanted to just focus on the music and conveying emotions through sound, without words.

Some of the performances at the Relapse Contamination Festival were amazing! How was your experience at the after show?

KH: The Contamination Festival was a blast! I thought we performed well and the crowd has us pumped that night! I'm glad it was filmed. I'm looking forward to the DVD that is being released of the entire event.

If your music was a house, what kind of house would it be?

KH: A hizz-ouse!!!