Metallic Industrial Noise Powerhouse Lament Cityscape Interview is up ..
1. Tell my readers how you would explain Lament Cityscape sound to someone listening to the band for the first time?
-I don't know, man. Mostly ugly but not always. Mostly noisy and heavy, but not always. Sometimes we are more subtle than other times. It might not be for you, but maybe it is?
2. How does "The New Wet" differ from your other releases?
-There are way more fucking layers on each song. On "The Torn" I would consider how to perform the songs live in the writing process. On "Soft Tissue" I didn't consider it because Theologian is from New York and I didn't know if there would be shows that include those songs. There are so many more things going on in these new songs that I have no idea how we are going to pull them off live. We'll see. The older songs were a lot more minimal, and I'm currently trying to jam everything I can into these songs, I guess. Stripping all of the bullshit away from them might reveal that they are perhaps more musical or catchier or subtle than in the past, but good luck finding the subtleties. They might be buried in distortion.
3. You did a collab with Theologian "Soft Tissue" how did that come about and how do you think it helped expose Lament Cityscape?
-That album was a huge progression for this project and it let me play around in a realm that was new to me. Collaborating with someone I'd never met yet (who later became what I feel is a lifelong friend - we mostly text each other about The Greasy Strangler and obscure songs we should cover together) was something I didn't think I'd be doing. At the time we were on Battleground Records and David Rodgers (head of Battleground) hit me up seeing if I'd be interested in doing something with Theologian because our PR guy at the time had recently joined them. I had already been into them a little because Writhing Corpus Landscape off of "Some Things Have To Be Endured" is a fucking fantastic song and always gets me in the heart. So we started talking about doing something together. It was going to be a split until we just kind of felt it should be a full album of collaboration. As for exposure, we were told that collaborations rarely get reviewed, or really promoted, and they were correct. So exposure wasn't really a concern for us.
4. Why just three tracks for "The New Wet"?
-There were eleven songs recorded for this album, but the more I thought about it the more it felt that two didn't really fit, and then it felt like it was clearly three sections of three tracks. "The Torn" felt like four sections of two tracks. It seemed to feel right when separated into three EPs. The message and vibe was clearer that way. There is a lot of rebirth and replication and growth on these EPs.
5. Do you prefer the D.I.Y. way to release music just with good PR and distro or rather find a long term label home? I know you were working with Battleground records before they closed.
-For the business garbage of this music thing I'd really prefer someone else to do it. I do it out of necessity. I tend to have dumb ideas that won't sell but cost a lot of money, and labels aren't really attracted to those things. So we'll do those dumb things ourselves. I'd love to just be able to focus on writing and recording but being a pain in the ass while not being very marketable aren't ingredients that are going to get us signed to a label that can help us.
6. Industrial, metal, Noise Rock all seem brothers in the same sonic temple. Where do you feel like a band like Lament Cityscape belongs?
-Those seem fine. I don't know. I never write anything with a genre or scene or whatever in mind. I definitely connect more with mood and vibe so I know we are on the darker side of music, but that can change at any time. I veer towards heavy sounds and percussive sounds, but again, I feel that this project can get away with whatever the fuck we want to because I don't want a discography of repeating some formula because it sold records... I know that that is easy to say since we haven't sold any records. But until then it sure feels good doing whatever feels right.
7. What bands are impressing Lament Cityscape currently?
-Lead Into Gold did some wonderful shit a couple years ago and I'm still addicted to it. Modern Mirror and The Demonstration by Drab Majesty were both some of the best albums of the years they came out. Of course Author & Punisher is amazing. Vous Autres put out a rad album about a year ago. KANGA is killing it. So Sensitive released a wonderful debut recently. I'm stoked to hear what C R O W N releases this year. They already have a killer couple of albums. SRSQ is so goddamn good. Echo Beds is exciting and interesting as hell. I'm always listening to Gary Numan. Always.
8. The band has been around for a bit of time. How has the indie music landscape changed for you. Is it for the better or worse with things like Bandcamp, Podcasts, Youtube etc?
-I think having formats that make it easier to connect with people is great. Without these formats we were at the mercy of bigger labels. It obviously saturates everyone with connectivity so it's easy to find music but harder find specific art. If you want to be fed new music without doing the work, that's fine, it's there for you. If you want to find someone or something that connects with you on many levels it's there if you look for it. The underground is always there. The format for finding it is always changing.
9. Studio or live. What bring the strongest passion to the band?
-Definitely studio. I love playing live music but that just gives you the instant gratification of the release and transference of energy. It's the drug. When finishing new music I get the feeling of genuine reward, even before it reaches others. The studio version of this project is why I do this. The live version is almost the reward.
10. You made a video for "Running out of Decay" are you happy with the outcome and why that track?
-That song feels most like where we are currently as a project. It felt like it had the most magic as an introduction to this EP, and what might be looked at as a more layered sound for us.
11. What is the Oakland CA underground music scene like right now I know Post Metal, Sludge, Crust and Doom has been big over the years there.
-I don't think that I have any idea of what's going on locally right now. Every time I poke my head out of hibernation, to see what's happening locally, I only get Black Sabbath style riffs or black metal or grind or whatever-the-fuck so I look elsewhere for music to connect with. I'm not a good representation of anything local I guess. I know there is more out there but I'm less interested in connecting locally.
12. Question for Mike... is Lament Cityscape your project and then you just have a band now for "The New Wet" or has it been a full band all along?
-I've always looked at the project as it being two different bands. There is the studio version and the live version. The studio version was originally me alone in a room, and for the most part it is still kind of that way, although "The New Wet" and the upcoming EPs have a lot of inclusion with others than anything in the past. Seánan joined Lament in 2015 and has played most of the live drums on the records and have played all of the shows since then. The live version is pretty fluid, but is closer to a regular band. If you've ever played in Lament you're really part of the family and will always have an invitation to play again. Some people can't do specific tours or shows and that's okay. We'll get creative with how to perform things.
13. Is there a theme or story behind the name Lament Cityscape?
-Nah. [nail polish emoji]
14. Do members of Lament Cityscape have other projects you like to tell us about?
-Dave Small has a gorgeous project called Cutworm. He's also in Glacial Tomb and Saeva. He's played guitar and bass live in Lament. He contributed a bunch of stuff to "The New Wet" and the upcoming EPs. Peter Layman is in Flood Peak. I recently finished mixing their new EP. It's really a great release. They are really a damn good band. We are always working on each other's projects but we haven't played on stage together since 2006. He is joining Lament on guitar for a little tour we are setting up for May. His voice and percussion work is also all over the upcoming EPs. Seánan McCullough has a project called Uhluhn. He has been the constant in Lament for half a decade. Jim Willig is joining us on bass for the tour and he has a band called Venetian Veil. I've been a big fan of theirs since I played with them in 2015.
15. Thanks for the time any closing thoughts here.
-Thanks for the kind words and for caring enough to reach out, Clint. I appreciate it.
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