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Interview with ROCK ON (Greece) 1.
Because it's one of your first interviews for the Greek music press, could
KH: I started the band in August 1998 with Clayton [bass]. It took us 6 months to find our drummer Jeff. In July 1999 we played our first show in Philly with Ruins, and Discordance Axis. In Jan. 2000 we recorded out first CD 'Contradiction'. We played a lot locally for the next year to about the same 5 people. In Jan. 2001 we recorded our 2nd CD 'no interference'. After that we began touring a lot more. The following few years also brought 2 split vinyl releases, a split 10" with xthoughtstreamsx, and a split 7" with Technician. In January 2003 [we must like the month of January] we recorded 'Pretest'. 2. Personally I wanted
to buy your previous albums but I can't find them here KH: The first record 'Contradiction' is no longer in print. We pressed 550 copies and they've all sold out. I'm not sure when more will be made, if ever. So it is a rare item nowadays. 'no interference' is still available through a few online distributors [including Relapse] but those copies are running low as well. As of right now there are no plans to re-release either of those on Relapse. 3. How did you sign with Relapse records? KH: We played with The Dillinger Escape Plan in our hometown in Dec. 2001. The whole Relapse crew was there for the show and ended up checking us out. I guess they were impressed and began talking to us a few months later. We had employees at Relapse coming to see us for a few years before that too. I never thought they would be interested in signing us though. It came up at a good time though as we were beginning to think about approaching labels for our next record. 4.What's your opinion
about other Relapse bands like DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, KH: I like a lot of stuff on Relapse, all the way back to Disembowlment's "Transcendence into the Peripheral". I'm also a big fan of a lot of the music they've put out on their sister label Release Records like Amoeba, 27, Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich, etc. Dillinger is awesome, Mastodon is doing something great, Today is the Day we've been playing a lot of shows with lately, they are an intense bunch. 5. Listening to the new
album, I noticed that your songs they have a jam KH: Well, there is a certain amount of "looseness" is our songs at times, but it's not really "jamming". The songs are very worked out and structured. There is room for improv in the drums and whatnot, Jeff never likes to play the same fill twice, but it's all planned out. Some of the songs originate for jamming though, you would be correct about that. 6. Which is the traditional DYSRHYTHMIA way of writing/composing a song? KH: Either by getting together and just improving on a riff and seeing where it goes, or one of us will bring an idea, sometimes a whole song, to rehearsal and we'll listen to it a few times and begin writing our own parts to it and structuring it. 7. How did you decided to work with Steve Albini? KH: We're all fans of his work with both his own bands and the bands he's recorded. We hear many times from people that our live show is better than our recordings. We wanted this record to capture our live sound as accurately as possible. That is what Albini is known for. The choice seemed obvious. It was great working with him and we are happy with the outcome. 8. I know that you Jeff,
played at Ron Jarzombek's SPASTIC INK album. How KH: A friend of Ron's came across Dysrhythmia on mp3.com and recommended Jeff for the Spastic Ink track Ron still needed drums for. I am a big Watchtower fan from back in the day so I told Jeff he should definitely give it a try. He had a few months to work with it and recorded it all in one day. Hopefully it will be released sometime not too long from now. 9. Do you like technical
bands like ATHEIST, CYNIC, MESHUGGAH or progressive KH: Yes, I grew up listening to all those bands you mentioned. I'm probably the only one in Dysrhythmia that still listens to any of those bands. The early nineties when Atheist and Cynic were still around was such a great time for creative metal bands. 10. A lot of people say
that bands like the above, including you, focused on KH: This is true for a lot of bands. Thankfully, it seems people tend to not say that much about our music, at least after they see us live. Bands like Meshuggah can be quite cold and "unfeeling" but I think a band like Cynic had tons of emotion in it, even though the music was very involved. 11. When I listened for
a first time your new album, the first bands that KH: We get those comparisons a lot from the prog crowd. I can see why, but there's a lot of influences you're not hearing as well. Influences from D.C. hardcore bands, surf rock, Sonic Youth, ethnic music, heavy-drone bands like Isis, Godflesh. 12.Which are your favorite bands and influences? KH: Some of my faves include Voivod, Anacrusis [anyone remember them?], Nomeansno, Yellow 6, PJ Harvey, Slowdive, Dead Can Dance, Stina Nordenstam, New Model Army, Nick Drake, Cranes, Sonny Sharrock, Talk Talk. I'll stop there because it will go on forever. Clayton loves stuff like Fugazi, Black Flag, Hoover, Bad Brains, Naked Raygun, Botch, and a lot of avant-jazz, and classical music. Jeff listens to a lot of jazz, and he's become quite the Shellac, and Jesus Lizard fan lately. Jeff's also into a lot of exotic percussion music. 13. Will you tour for your new album? KH: We've toured for 2 1/2 months since it's come out 4 months ago. There will be more touring to follow. 14. Is there a possibility to have vocals to a future release of yours? KH: Not likely, however, there are many vocalist I admire greatly like PJ Harvey, Bjork, or Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. If there ever expressed interest than I might have to reconsider..haha! 15. Time for the stupid
question! If you were a fly on the wall where you KH: I would get stuck in the flypaper before I made it to the wall. |