Alaric interview is up (updated 9-16-2011)
1. So Tell us the tale of how Alaric Came
to be?
Well, Rick and Jason are childhood friends and they were in the Enemies together. They had the idea of starting a "Death Punk" band somewhere down the road so when Jason quit playing in Drain the Sky they started working on the songs that Rick had been writing. Shane was their first choice as a singer and he liked the idea behind the band and joined. They already had a good hand full of songs completed by the time Russ agreed to join after several failed auditions with other guitarists.
2. The sound to me is a mix of Killing Joke, The
Mission (UK), Cop shoot Cop and Grinch .. how would you explain it?
I describe it as Big, Dark Electric Music. We are clearly influenced heavily by many bands from the past but we are not coming from a place of nostalgia, we have our own musical vision. If one had to categorize our sound we are comfortable with being labeled Death Rock or Death Punk.
3. Being ex member of such bands a Noothgrush,
Dead and Gone and UK Subs this is so many musical elements How did
the Gloomy No wave Punk sound come out so strong?
This is exactly what we are trying to achieve. We all feel that some of the greatest music to evolve from the Punk Underground were from the No Wave scene and those Post Punk bands that really focused in on the darker and heavier.
4. Your working with 20 Buck Spin a very
impressive label in the underground Post Hardcore and Metal scene how
did you come to work with them?
Interestingly enough, Jason and Rick have known Dave from 20 Buck Spin since grade school! However that really has nothing to do with the working relationship between band and label. If Dave A. didn't like our music A LOT he would not consider releasing it regardless of who was on it. This is the case with all of his labels releases.
5. With Alaric be touring the US off
this album or is it more a project and not a full touring band?
We will support our releases with shows and some touring. Unfortunately at this time "real life" is cramping our ability to be total road dogs, but we will be out there.... just not for weeks and months at a time. I actually hope that we all LOSE our jobs soon and are forced to kiss the wives and kids goodbye for extended tours! "We shall see" said the blind man!
6. Is there a running them on the Self titled
album or just a collection of Dark Foreboding songs??
No theme, it is just the best of our first songs.
7. There is a very strong Goth element to the
guitars and bass tones was this just a natural progression?
Death Rock, I really do not like the term Goth because it implies things like keyboards, drum machines and Sisters of Mercy rip-off vocalists, etc. etc. Death Rock is rooted in Punk and the feel, texture and tones of this style are very specific. So naturally we use these "tools of the trade" so to speak. Heavily modulated guitars with lots of echo and reverb and much the same with the bass. I am going for a "sheets of electric rain" guitar sound.
8. Being Veterans of the Underground music
scenes. What the bands thoughts on the 21st century digital age ..
Does it hurt or help artists and labels?
Personally, I think that the sharing and availability of information, ANY honest, reliable information is a good thing. The digital age has literally kept my old band Noothgrush not only alive (to the world) but interest and the publics desire for our music has never been greater. Without the internet our music and work would have disappeared when we split up in 2001, fans would have no real way to communicate with each other, interested labels and promoters would never be able to reach us and we would have no idea that our work that we did so long ago now has actually reached a lot of people and it has affected their bands, their art and their lives. I know that this is the case for many other bands as well. We live in the digital age, we might as well utilize it as best we can.
9. The Artwork for the Album is so disturbing tell
us about it and how does it play into the theme of the album?
The cover art is a charcoal on paper illustration (actual size is like 3' by 5') done by artist Judd Hawk who plays guitar in the Oakland based Doom band Laudanum. We appreciate his work to put it mildly and when he agreed to do our album art we all went to his place which is filled with all manner of his amazing work. Beyond all of the human teeth, syringes, antique drug bottles and bones we saw this framed image on the wall and decided right there that this was a suitable if not perfect image and look for our record. Major Thanks to Judd Hawk for doing our album art!
10. I hate using the term Death Rock but do
you see this a new revival and many others are starting to bring back
that sound as well. Is there void missing on the late 80's Goth Rock
days?
I would say that there has been a void of GOOD bands working in this genre.... at least that I am aware of. I can say that there are some excellent bands happening Now who are injecting new life into it with a fresh, new take on it like Atriarch and Moral Hex both from Portland and Show Of Bedlam (Montreal) and Spectres (Vancouver). We apply all of the work and experience we collectively have in the past in a manner that is totally unique to this project. There is no hint of any of our past bands in our music. We are updating a sound that started in the late seventies and filtered through who we are and where we've been it has it's own individual sound.
11. Will be be seeing any videos or DVD from Alaric as this band would work so well with that video medium..
We have discussed this and it is something we would really like to do. We are musicians first and foremost so this would take the involvement of a committed team of people who do video for something like this to happen.
12. The Band being from San Fran area do you feel
kinship with The Neurot Recording/ Prank scene and labels from there
area the hardcore, punk, crust and metal scenes seem to all merge
there that was one cool thing I always saw?
Yes, of course we do. We are all long-time friends and associates. Jason and I did an Iron Maiden tribute band with Dave Ed called Iron Vegan, Dave Ed played bass in the Enemies after Rick left and all of our past bands were / are deeply involved with the S.F. Bay Area underground music scene which has been all-inclusive for a long time now.
13. Thank you for time any closing thoughts here..
Our self-titled LP / CD will be out on October 11th followed by a split 12" with Atriarch in January both on the incredible 20 Buck Spin label. We appreciate all of the positive comments and reviews we've gotten from everyone.... fans, 'zines. We're creating the kind of music that WE really want to hear and we are quite pleased and humbled by the response we've been getting. Thank You!
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