Can you tell us about the band's genesis? How did you guys meet? Were you in others bands before?

Kevin Hufnagel: The band started with myself and our ex-bassist Clayton Ingerson in 1998. We put out ads for drummers and played with a few people but no one was working out. Months later a friend of mine gave me Jeff Eber's phone number and told me I should call him. I never did. Weeks later I had a dream about my friend asking if I had called Jeff yet. When I woke up I realized I never did call him. I rang him up the next day and we all met and that was it. Jeff fit right in. Now we have Colin Marston as our new bassist and we first met him in 1999 when one of his old bands played with Dysrhythmia, and we'd been good friends ever since. So when Clayton departed, he was a natural fit. I was in a few bands before Dysrhythmia but none that ever amounted to much. One of them was called Grey Division Blue. Our demo was traded around a bit in the metal underground back in the mid 90's, even though our music was instrumental and acoustic-based.

Do you remember what you wanted to do in the 1st place, I mean did you have a precise idea of what direction the project had to take, what 'influences'/elements/moods did you want to bring about together?

KH: Yes, I felt like right away I knew what I wanted the band to be. As time goes on new influences find their way into our sound and we grow as players and writers and know what works and what doesn't. It's been a constant process of refinement but I feel like just now with the new record "Barriers and Passages" have we finally gotten to the plateau I had originally been striving for and it makes me very excited about the future.

How did you end up on Relapse?

KH: We played with The Dillinger Escape Plan in Philadelphia and everyone from Relapse was at that show. Being that the label and our band were basically based in the same city, they had heard our name being talked about for awhile before seeing us live and knew we did a lot of work on our own. So I think our work ethic and our performance that night won them over. I definitely wasn't expecting it.

In your bio we could read : "The goal of the band from the very beginning has been to write music that is strictly instrumental, yet high in both emotional and cerebral impact." What do you mean by "Cerebral impact"?

KH: I want our band's music to be something that people can feel an emotional connection with whether that be excitement or frustration or introspection. I don't want it to be something that only musicians admire just because we're using some odd time signatures or something, YET obviously I want to try and push the boundaries of what we can do compositionally and keep it interesting and unpredictable to the listener, so it's a fine balance to try and keep up. So to really answer your question, by "cerebral impact" I'm saying I want it to stimulating on a musically intellectual level as well.

Metal Hammer Magazine naming "Pretest" one of the "Top 10 Essential Mathcore Albums of All Time". Revolver Magazine named 'Pretest' one of the "Top 20 Albums of 2003" Do you feel proud of that?

KH: It's nice to get recognition for your efforts. Yeah, I was proud. But you can't believe your own hype. I always know we can do better.

What was it like working with Steve Albini on "Pretest" ?

KH: A lot of fun. It was probably the most relaxed recording process I'd ever been a part of. He's interesting to talk to and a master of his craft. And he plays in some kick ass bands too you know...

Why did you choose Martin Bisi this time ?

KH: Originally, we were thinking we would go back to Albini again but we wanted to have more time than we were allowed for the last record. Then we found out his rates went up and this would've allowed us even less time than "Pretest". So that wasn't going to work. Colin mentioned Martin Bisi, who I wasn't familiar with by name but then when I saw what he had recorded in the past, I realized I had half his discography in my CD collection! Like Albini, Martin also works strictly in analog recording and has a similar sort of studio set up with huge drum rooms. Yet he was much more affordable and also right here in Brooklyn where we live now. It worked out fantastically. We were very happy to get to work with Martin on this record. He did an excellent job!

Tell us more about the recording of the new album. In your opinion what's Colin bring into the Dysrhythmia sound ?

KH: We did the basic tracks for all the songs in 3 days and played them live as a band. Then we spent another 7 or 8 days doing a few fixes, overdubs, and mixing. Some of those days were half days though. The mixing process was a lot more detailed this time. Martin has a very critical ear for mixing instruments, which at first was driving me crazy [laughs] 'cause I felt like we were spending too much time nitpicking things, but when it was finished I realized it was totally worth it. Colin's brought his own unique approach to writing to this band as well as a more bottom-heavy, yet clear bass sound.

A lot of people say that your music is best experienced alive. Is that the reason why you records your albums alive in studio ?

KH: Yes, the goal every time is to try and capture the live feeling and spontaneity of our performance on record. It's almost impossible but there are still things that happen, little mistakes or some sloppiness that can really make a song that much more exciting to listen to for me. I like there to still be a human element to all of it.

How was the tour with Isis?

KH: Great! It was one of the better crowd reactions we'd received opening for another band. I hope we can do it again sometime.

Don Caballero is now one of your labelmates. Is this band an influence for you?

KH: Yeah, definitely. When I first started the band I wasn't familiar with them but then I started to notice them being mentioned in magazines as a heavy instrumental band and I picked up their "Singles Breaking Up" album [which is still my favorite by them] and was pretty excited by what I heard. So yeah, Don Cab has been an inspiration.

Have you the feeling that your fans came from very different horizons?

KH: I don't know where they come from. I'm just glad we have fans at all.

There's a growing interest in instrumental rock band these time with the success of bands such as Pelican, Red Sparowes, Mogwai and a lot of good instrumental or mainly instrumental bands around there: Oxes, The Fucking Champs, Lightning Bolt. Any comments on that?

KH: It's great to see it's more accepted now and that a lot of these instrumental bands are taking their own approach to it. I just hope that people aren't starting instrumental bands now because they don't want to bother getting a singer and think that their music will stand on its own without one. It's hard to keep most people's attention with instrumental rock music.

What' new in the Byla camp? A new album is on the way with Jarboe on vocals, could you tell us more?

KH: We began writing the album earlier this year and Jarboe came up in late March to record her vocals. We had sent her a few tracks in advance so she could get an idea of the direction but it's been a very experimental process. We had no idea what she was going to do with the material when she arrived. Once she began, we were both amazed. This will be a very intense record. One thing she doesn't want to happen are the vocals to overpower the guitars, so they will be mixed in as additional texture to the guitars, but still pronounced enough to be heard and felt.

Is Jarboe's singing an exception on the next album or have you decide to include singing on all the material this time?

KH: Who knows. We have absolutely no idea what we will do after we finish this one.

Jarboe told us that she felt surprised when she heard the material you sent her because she said that to her, the guitars were sounding very "death metal". Has your sound evolved a lot or again is this track an exception on the album?

KH: It's definitely a different direction for us while still keeping with the "ambient" aesthetic. When she said "death metal" she probably meant that the guitars are very distored and playing very fast huge chords.. but it's so fast it's like ambient music, because there are no drums or bass lines or anything, and there won't be. There will also be acoustic guitars and more elements of the last album as well but overall this is something else entirely. It would be too easy to make the same record again.

Relapse is not interested in signing Byla?

KH: I passed the last record around to them but they weren't interested at the time. That's fine though, Translation Loss Records is doing a terrific job with it. As long as it's getting out there and people can access it, I don't care who puts it out.

What's next for Dysrhythmia in 2006/2007?

KH: We have a full US tour with Behold... the Arctopus, and Yakuza that begins May 25 and last through June 28. Then there is the possibility of going on a very large tour package, but I can't say anything else about it at this time. Otherwise we will continue to tour here and there for the rest of the year [hopefully getting to Europe!], continue writing the next record, and try to live "normal" lives in between.

Have You other musical projects/side projects?

KH: Beside Byla, I just write some solo acoustic stuff. Colin plays in Behold... the Arctopus, and Jeff plays out with his cousin around NYC doing jazz gigs.

What's in your CD player right now?

KH: Scott Walker "The Drift". Fucking stunning! I hope I'm writing music this unconventional and confrontational when I'm 63 years old.

Is there a question that you would like to answer and that nobody ask you?

KH: Hey, that's your job, buddy! Thanks for the interview!