Xaon Talks Black Metal Beginnings, Album Composition, Bjorn Strid Guest Spot and Band Recommends!

Swiss trio Xaon are about to release their debut EP very soon. Having played in a successful black metal act for over a decade, this represents a new direction and what I'd consider a revitalized sense of purpose in many ways. Utilizing elements of melodic death metal along with more depressive structures, there is certainly something interesting to note here! 

Interview with Flo (bass/lyrics)

Let’s start by introducing the band. Tell me a little bit about yourselves and how you came to be. You’re about to release your debut EP in just a few days. How excited are you?

Just before Xaon, I was with Vinc’ in band (a well-known swiss melodic black metal band that existed for around fifteen years). We released our very last album, then did some tours and a lot of shows with them, it was some pretty cool. There were some very intense and rewarding moments but and I still don’t know why Vinc’ (the former guitarist of this band) and me became very disconnected towards each other during the latter stages of the band.

Time flew like birds escaping face of the first symptom of plague and the other musicians seemed to be fine playing without any devotion, any utter passion and any interest. They became totally disconnected from metal and it's dark and profound energies. Thus, we decided to wait for the past band's very first hiatus in order to jump at the opportunity to create a new band, Xaon. A new band dedicated to playing devoted, heavy, powerful and melancholic songs under the radiant aegis of some great names like MY DYING BRIDE, KATATONIA, WINTER, the mighty PARADISE LOST, TYPE O NEGATIVE, the German VALBORG, AUSTERE, DAYLIGHT DIES, SATURNUS, ULVER and SOILWORK.

This band was for us like a psychic cork-remover. As a dries fountain, to have a new band with musicians only devoted to heavy and gloomy music was a pure act of resurrection. We wrote the lyrical contents and compositions over a six month period. It was  very intense and pleasant. During the recording of the lead vocal parts, we stood astonished and thrilled by the vocal skills, presence and charisma of the Franco-American singer Rob Carson and we packed him up with us as a permanent member.

We’re madly excited for the release of the album! It’s a big step for us and regardless of how it will be received, we are already very proud of these compositions but we don’t want to hurry because we’re still at the beginning line of this promotional journey. We warmly hope that every metalhead will be able to find in our musical streams something that resounds positively in their inner cloisters and bring some power, courage, strength for his everyday life.

We are just at the inception of our story...

Tell me a little bit about this EP. What was the writing and recording like? It seems that there’s a bit of folk flowing through this, reminding me a little bit of early Disillusion (GER) or Solefald, albeit having a rather crushing edge as well. Then again, there’s also some elctronics. It’s a playful mixed bag.

As I may have said, to have the opportunity to work only with Vinc’ for the musical sphere and myself for the lyrical, textual, conceptual spheres was a complete freedom and we really needed it! To work and play with some musical unbelievers is very tiring, exhausting and frustrating. We both realized that we could just work and follow our hearts and our musical tastes without having to confront ourselves with people that have lost faith in both metal and music in general. We felt it roaring in our guts and in our hearts.

The different melodies, the lyrics and the concept are like some disparate pieces which quietly sleep or stridently infect our minds. These disparate things were coming so quickly that we had to take time to drink some booze in order to talk a lot about how this new music could be or how this next EP would have to sound but every time, we would stay both very prudent and discreet. Vinc’ didn’t play with his face to me during a lot of parts that deserved to be recorded in this EP and I never read to him any pieces of the poems or lyrics that I had already written.

In Xaon, the creation of some of the new musical pieces came from sessions when we were both locked separately in our ways. We talked about the EP’s main direction but we let our imaginations flow as we worked to create the details regarding the album.

So I must temperate my answer, as only a few pieces have been in a kind of locker for a while but for example, a piece such as: The Soulcleaner is a fresh creation, inspired by some bitter and hurtful experiences face to blind vanity of the warm youth.

During the recording process, everything was quiet. There was  some tiny tension between me and Vinc but it seemed normal to us because we deeply love the musical material that we handle. When me or Vinc started to make an incomprehensible manipulation on a musical detail that we already deeply liked in a certain shape, it gave birth to some tensions but I really like working with him.

It was a little bit tormenting when we were faced with the possibility of working with Rob. Like every human, we anxiously shiver facing the unknown, facing this kind of a leap of faith. It was a disagreeable and tormenting moment but by luck, very temporary (and the discomfort wasn’t given by Rob or his performance on our songs but simply as I already said, by our fear facing this decision and its fallout that it could be decisive for Xaon’s future).

Thanks for noticing the similarities between Disillusion (I’m a huge fan of the '04 album: Back to Times of Splendor. It’s a pure ears-crusher, a gleaming jewel) (It's also one of my favorite albums of all time - The Grim Lord) and the all-mighty Solefald (I’m a big fan of every album that they released. As you said, our music is a bit more “crushing” but they know how to make a guitar sound mystical and how to build superb melodies that carry our souls very far away, near the cold cosmic void!)

What was it like working with Bjorn Strid on “Discrowned?” That track really slays and seems to carry melodeath in a new direction. I’m a bit reminded of Blood Stain Child in some sections. 

We weren't thinking about BLOOD STAIN CHILD with this song, but we thank you for the compliment. We've always liked SOILWORK’s music and the powerful aura given by Björn’s voice. Just before meeting Rob, Vinc and me talked a lot about to have a very particular kind of voice on this song (of course, we especially didn’t want to use a golden, well-known name in order to promote our music. I always think that this kind of maneuver is fundamentally childish, pitiful and deserves a vehement, severe and viscid sputum straight to the face! For us, a guest-musician on a track could be only admissible when the band and the guest are some kind of friends (for example, look at the guest performances from Chris Barnes on the GORGUTS album Considered Dead on the tracks "Rottenatomy", "Bodily Corrupted" and "Hematological Allergy." Chris and Luc Lemay are some friends and I suppose this collaboration was friendly teamwork between two friends from two different bands) or if the band aren’t able to produce the effect or the sound that they’re searching and the only way to produce a decent result is to ask for help outside of the band. The case regarding the song "Discrowned" was the latter.

This song was the first that we wrote for this EP and I don’t know why we were very angry and corrupted by some intense feelings of malaise, powerlessness and solitude. We hardly wished to have a powerful and very versatile vocal line on this track. Nothing afflicted or sad or a kind of “boo-hoo” kind of feeling. It was supposed to be just pure violence, a feeling of useless revolt or a heavy and bitter weight on our mind and shoulders. We hadn’t met Rob yet and nobody in our close musical friends were able to give us what we desperately wanted then, so we thought about asking a professional musician to fill this position. (But I don’t remember clearly if it was said more with a half-smile instead of a serious visage).

A few weeks after that, Vinc went to a SOILWORK gig and crossed Speed’s path in an empty corridor. He didn’t hesitate to ask him if he want to scream some sentences in one of our songs and one or two months after, we received the song “Discrowned” not with just a chorus sung by Björn “Speed” Strid, or just a mere verse but the entire song!  He did such wonderful and amazing work with it! Every time I hear this track, I feel extremely honored to have these kinds of vocals on the song.

So have you been working on a full-length as well, or are you planning on playing a few shows first to see how well the material does in front of a live crowd? 

Actually, we’re working on some new stuff, as you can guess. So, Yeah, the next release from Xaon will be a complete album and we have already finished all of the compositions. We’re swimming into our stream of thoughts regarding the arrangement’s possibilities and the capability to maximize the dumping and the implosion of feeling with the adding of some unusual instrument in the realm of Rock’N Roll music.

As the lyricist and the bassist, I dream of a much heavier and  depressing, far darker music with gloomier panoramas conducted by the acoustic instruments (like we did with the cello) but –and it’s very important- without falling on the “gothic” or the “symphonic” style of music. We wish to stay heavy, mean, groovy and brutal as a metal band but with less catchier parts and more darker, complex and suffocating parts. Nevertheless, keep in mind that it’s only a personal wish. Xaon is a trio. When we will work on the draft's new material, we will find some agreement and a fair consensus between all composers. We will probably begin recording this new album around the beginning of 2017. If we –as persons- are still alive.

What are some bands that you guys are digging right now? Any artists you’d recommend we check out? (Besides yourselves, of course.)

Ah! A question about bands. I really like these kind of questions. If you don’t know about these bands just take a look and I promise you won’t be frustrated!

PAYSAGE D’HIVER: A famous Swiss black metal band. Murky, ghastly and cold music. Perfect tunes to die frozen, the eyes bathed by the lofty, white and powerful mountains.

CIRITH UNGOL: Heavy-doom horrific band with a mad and talented bassist and a devilish voice. The ol’ school band of my selection! Take a look (and let’s prefer the opus called: King of the Dead and One Foot in Hell)!

DUX: The French band of this selection. The last opus, Carnations was a huge and massive blast for my ears. A power trio black metal band. It's potent, melodic, tormented and wise music for the listeners that like the tasteful tunes.

FUNERAL FOG: The Canadian-one! You won’t be submerged by the disdain facing these tunes. You will float under what I will present as a profound devotion!

THERGOTHON: Perhaps the Finnish pioneer for funeral doom metal. Only one demo and one full-length, a complete fulfilment and a strangling voyage through obscurity.

A good selection can’t be called as good as it wishes to be if there aren't bands like: PLAGA, SVARTIDAUðI, DARVAZA, BEHERIT, DEATHSPELL OMEGA, HESYCHAST, MGLA and more!

What are some of the things that you guys do when you’re not playing music? Are there any other acts that you play in?

My life is structured by my love for music and my professional activities are near this interest but I like to wander through nature, to write some little stories, to read books about astronomy, mythology, the history of religions, philosophy, medical science, the history of art and I definitely enjoy reading some good novels or stories from writers like Edgar A. Poe, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Victor Hugo, H.P. Lovecraft, Goethe, Theophile Gautier and Gerard de Nerval.

To answer your next question, we do have some other bands that we still play in. If you like to hear good stuff in the melodic death metal sphere, don’t hesitate to take a look on the French band: BLOODSTORM where our singer Rob does the main vocal lines (http://www.bloodstormofficial.com/), if you like black metal stuff our second guitar player, Guillaume is your man. Don’t hesitate to check: ENOID (https://enoid.bandcamp.com/) and SERPENS LUMINIS (where I’m the lead singer with Guillaume behind his six-strings: https://www.facebook.com/SerpensLuminis/?fref=ts). If you like some rough stuff, I mainly sing in some swiss band: CALCINED (www.calcined.ch) and ERZEBETH DANE (https://www.facebook.com/erzebethdane/?fref=ts)

This is a very promising record and I’m now seeming to recall it after the first time I heard it a little while back. I wish you guys the best of luck, as I really think there’s a potential to go far and further carry the banner for Swedish melodic death metal into a new age!

Thanks a lot for these interesting questions and this interview! Never give up!  Stay totally proud and strong about what you are and became!

Long live Metal!

http://www.xaonmusic.com/

Mechanik War III Talk Influences, Robot Rebellions and Transhumanism!

Interview with Massaker (Vocals) 

Mechanik War III are originally from Europe, but have since migrated to the states and now play a brand of blackened industrial metal in Los Angeles. If you enjoy Gothic acts like Deathstars, mid-era Septic Flesh and Moonspell, as well as hard-hitting industrial metal acts like Fear Factory, Ministry and Front Line Assembly then you might find something here. 

You mention that you had originally come from Europe before you moved to the states and began forming this band. What had you done in Europe prior to this act?

Massaker: Yes, the band started in Europe under a different name. We released two CD’s. I would say they were more like demos. We toured a lot all over Europe. When I moved to the states, I decided to restart the band under a different name. I wanted to add some new elements to the music. I was looking for more black metal atmospheres and heaviness compared to what we used to be.

From listening to the record, I hear a lot of influences from bands like The Kovenant, Ministry and the Deathstars among others. What are some of the bands that you’d consider most inspirational to the music that you’ve written here?

Massaker: I know of those three bands that you mentioned, I was mostly a fan of Ministry back in the day. I would not name those bands as influence in my music, but I can see why some people would think that and that’s cool, those bands are great. For example, when it comes to my dark Gothic voice, it's more inspired by the early albums of Moonspell and some Laibach records. If I had to mention some bands that were a source of inspiration, I would say; Frontline Assembly, Marduk, Dimmu Borgir and Septic Flesh.

Describe the writing and recording process for Xtermination. You mention that this is essentially a demo recording, yet I feel that much of the music here sounds good enough to stand out on it’s own.

Massaker: I also think that this record stands on its own. (Laughs) Because this is the record, the previous was a demo. So it’s good to hear that it sounds like it stands on its own from you, The Grim Lord! The recording process took quite a while because we took a different artistic direction in the middle of the recording. If you listen to anything we did in the past, my voice is completely different. My screams now are more black metallish, but so is everything else on the record. The guitars are heavier, the drums are heavier and the whole experience is just darker, harder and more brutal, incorporating other metal genre influences. The mixing and mastering process took longer than expected, but those are the kinds of problems that you deal with when you are still in the underground and doing everything yourself.

Much of the material seems to be based upon a post-apocalyptic futureworld, perhaps something like that of Fallout or Shadowrun. Where do your lyrics come from, and would you consider some of them to be veiled commentaries on society?

Massaker: Most of my lyrics are inspired from what's going on in my head. Sometimes from the graphic design that I do for the band, I will create an illustration and write a song around that. It is a very uncommon writing process. But there is always a connection between this imaginary world and reality, things that are happening now in this world or could eventually happen in the future.

Yes,“Cyber Chemical Warfare” is definitely about that subject, as well as “Flesh Reich”. But “Cyber” is definitely more related to the matter and yes of course, it's a literal possibility. It happens when we never learn from our mistakes done in the past. History keeps repeating itself when it comes to religion, politics and war. Just take a look at what's going on in America right now. We might have a dictator in disguise running the country within the next few months.

There’s an interesting track at the very end of the disc called “In Memoriam.” It has a much different tone than the rest of the album and is quite melancholic and very melodic. It doesn’t even sound like the same band. Tell me a little bit about this track.

Massaker: I agree with you. “In Memoriam” is a very particular song and it sounds like a whole different band. I wrote this song in memory of my grandmother. I grew up with her and she was to me, like a mother. Since this band was the only band that I had at that time, this song could only be on a Mechanik War III record. Originally it was supposed to be an instrumental. One day I started to sing on top of it and it sounded pretty good, so it ended up being what you hear on the record.

Since we’re talking about the future here, there are about three things I can see a possibility. The first one in nuclear war, which I believe could occur depending on the right situations. Some might say that our failed peace talks in Russia is a major red flag. Obviously there’s a song called “Cyber Chemical Warfare” where the sub-chorus is “We surivive in the underground.” Do you see that as a literal possibility?

Massaker: Well, mankind is already addicted to technology. Now the possibility of the man creating the machine and at some point the machine dominating the man could be a possibility. At this point it's still a theory, but companies are making huge advancements in AI (artificial intelligence). Which of course, points to movies like The Terminator. The time travel aspect may be still out of reach, but machines dominating the human race is not too far-fetched.

The second one I see is robots built to serve mankind. There’s already a lot of discourse regarding the issue, with some experts believing that people might literally become addicted to sexual intercourse with robotic lifeforms. An article just came out yesterday regarding that. The flipside of this, is of course the possibility of a robot rebellion? Should we exercise a bit of caution in regards to artificial intelligence and humanity? Why or why not?

Massaker: This is a very good and interesting question and at the same time very hard to answer. Fear Factory would probably do a better job answering that one!  (Laughs) Seriously though, no matter what good creations come of technology, there will always be an equal or greater negative side as well. A robot rebellion is not so much science fiction as it was only ten years ago. Mankind has always had this “God” complex. This will inevitably be its undoing. It’s unstoppable. The only question really, is how much time do we have until the ManGod’s destroy us all?

The final point I see is transhumanism, which is becoming literally “one with a machine.” I always found it a bit frightening, because what will one do as soon as the lights go out? All that data simply freezes or ceases to exist. Should we upload our minds into machines or a server so that we could live forever?

Massaker: I would imagine something like we could transfer the data that we have in our brain to a different body. By doing that over and over, we could be living forever in different bodies with the same mind and memories. At this point we are not even close to that, but it could be something totally normal in a hundred years from now. To a lesser extent, transhumanism already exists today in artificial hearts and limbs. Electronic brain, ear and eye implants, etc. We are already going in that direction. It’s just a matter of time.

Originally having been European, what do you guys think of the states? Are there things about Europe that you miss compared to living here? What are some of the great things about the states?

Massaker: When it comes to Europe, at least the part of Europe where I lived, I don't miss it that much. I do miss the good food and the architecture of the cities. It’s a beautiful place. Now if I compare the main American cities to the main European cities, I would say that the lifestyle is definitely better here in the States and the people seem to be way more open-minded.

When you’re not writing music, what sort of leisurely activities do you enjoy? Do you have day jobs outside of Mechanic War III?

Massaker: Well as you probably already know, the only bands that can survive with music are the bands that made it twenty years ago. Any band from this new generation will never be able to live off of their music, unless you chose to play radio music, so of course we all have jobs besides the band. In my case, I'm a music teacher and I also mix music for other local artists and sometimes I do recording sessions too. Those are the moments when it becomes handy to be able to play several instruments.

Thanks for answering my questions, and I wish you the best of luck with this extremely proficient recording. It’s definitely one of the best debuts I’ve ever heard.

Massaker: Thank you so much for doing this interview with us.

The Reticent Talks Most Emotionally Intense Album They Have Ever Recorded, Thoughts on Religion, Politics and Mainstream Appeal!

Interview With Chris Hathcock

North Carolina's The Reticent have always a been a bit of a cutting edge progressive metal act, but On The Eve Of A Goodbye sees them at the heaviest they've ever been, both musically and lyrically. This suicide based concept album can be very difficult to hear at times, especially since it is based on a dear close friend of group mastermind Chris Hathcock. That's right, all of the pain and misery here is authentic, which makes it a sprawling wave of emotion unlike any other I've heard this year. 

I always start these interviews at the beginning, at what I mean by that, is I’d like you to talk a little about the band and how you came to be. Not mentioning the recent unexpected departure of your drummer, how do you feel about the lineup of The Reticent at present? 

The original intent of the The Reticent was to be a conduit through which I could funnel a lot of the more quiet and morose songs/ideas I had while playing in some different black and death metal bands.  I was writing the more personal and often despondent tunes consisting usually of just my voice and an acoustic guitar.  It wasn’t something that really fit with the hyper-aggressive music I was already playing but was something I needed to write to fill that void.  As such, the first two records (the demo “Hymns for the Dejected” and “Amor Mortem Mei Erit”) were almost entirely acoustic.  After the other bands I was in had come to an end, The Reticent became my sole outlet and so many of my other compositional ideas (many sprung from metal of all types) became a part of the sound.  This is probably clear in hearing the evolution from “Le Temps Detruit Tout” (the last record) to “On The Eve Of A Goodbye”.  The band has seen its share of line up changes in terms of the live performing members.  The core group that I have right now is extremely solid and committed to the vision I have for the band which is very important.  We’ll most likely be adding a member or two soon but either way we’re gearing up to get back out doing shows again presently.

Before we get into the extreme lyrical nature of On The Eve Of A Goodbye, let us talk about the disc musically. I’ve noticed much of Tool as on prior records, but also a great deal of Opeth influence. It sounds almost as if you’ve been studying a lot of those earlier Opeth albums here. What were some of the records that you feel personally may have helped to inspire sections of this piece?

You know, the funny thing is I haven’t listened all that much to Opeth since they released “Watershed”.  I know our styles are similar but maybe that’s why I don’t listen as much to them as I once did.  All during the writing of this album I was listening to a wide array of music as the songs on this album span several years of writing.  Some are 9 years old and some were only months old when I recorded them.  So with something that has been in my mind slowly coming together for a long time, it would be very difficult to pinpoint any albums in particular that had a direct influence.  I can say that the albums I most was moved to write by during this period were:  “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis, “Souls At Zero” by Neurosis, “Symphony No. 7” by Ludwig Van Beethoven, “Option Paralysis” by The Dillinger Escape Plan, “Sideshow Symphonies” by Arcturus, and “Anthropocentric” by Ocean.  I’d have to say my biggest influence overall is probably Neurosis, though.  I know that my music sounds nothing like them but then no one can sound like them.  I am more influenced by their approach and the depth they put into their music, rather than trying to emulate their style.

Lyrically, the record deals with the suicide and the aftermath of the suicide. But before you go into discussing the concept, tell me a little about the writing process for those lyrics. Obviously it was a very difficult process. Were there a couple of songs that you didn’t use the lyrics for, or that you had to re-write a little entirely? I’ve heard that “Funeral For A Firefly” was hard for you to sing. 

Writing lyrics for something like this is a rather difficult journey.  Rewrites upon rewrites upon rewrites.  I’d try to walk the line between being poetic versus literal because though it is my story I would like for it to have enough room for others to be able to put themselves into this as well.  Suicide is not something that is a small time issue.  In the US it is the 10th most frequent cause of death.  Many people have been affected by it either explicitly or implicitly so my hope was that by telling my story in the right way I could purge myself while giving a voice to someone else.  “Funeral For A Firefly” was the most difficult recording/performing experience I’ve ever had.  To this day, I have sung that all the way through only one time - that performance is what you hear on the record (mistakes and all).  I had underestimated how hard it would hit me to be in the dimly lit vocal booth and actually say these things that I had wanted to say for years.  The first attempt at recording it, I got two lines in before I burst into tears.  And I mean sobbing.  I thought - well, actually I even told Jamie (my producer/engineer) that there was no way I was going to make it.  The song was that close to being left off because I couldn’t make it.  But Jamie convinced me to try just one more time and what ended up on the record is the result.  By the time I got to the shrieking ending, it felt like my heart was being torn apart.

Tell me about the lyrical concept behind the record and what is happening within each scene of the piece. It seems to slowly countdown from 24 hours until the time of the event, as well as the aftermath. 

I added interludes through the album that are counting down while simultaneously giving the listener a perspective from one of three vantage points:  my perspective, Eve’s perspective, and an omniscient storyteller's.  The songs progress through the day before and events leading up to Eve’s suicide and then the fallout afterward.  Some songs are very clear in what they are in terms of the overall structure of the story.  For instance, “The Girl Broken” introduces Eve but through my eyes, “The Confrontation” and “The Apology” has to do with an argument and subsequent make up the day before, etc.  Others are perhaps more purposefully vague in terms of whose perspective we’ve taken or the significance - like “The Hypocrite”.  The song “The Postcript” if you were to read the lyrics you would find it was composed of mostly sentence fragments and the music is unlike the rest of the record being far more disjointed and odd - this is because the song is meant to be Eve’s thought process while attempting and ultimately failing to write a suicide note.  The final piece “For Eve” is something specifically written for her - my way I of saying to her “I hope you have found peace.”

Not to go too deep into the personal matter behind the tragedy which inspired this masterpiece of human emotion put into the musical medium, but how do you feel regarding the situation now? It seemed towards the end of this performance, that your heart was literally being ripped out of your chest. 

Well, to be honest, it got much harder for a while after I recorded everything.  Finally putting this all together and on tape had suddenly brought so much to the surface.  There were many things I did not deal with when it happened.  I didn’t even speak to anyone for two months after it happened.  I just shut down.  I believe a lot got buried over the years and came out in other ways.  I think you are exactly right to use the apt phrase that it was like my “heart was literally being ripped out of my chest”.  The album was recorded in album order to allow me to go on the journey and for that to come through to the listener (you can hear the deterioration of my voice as we progress through the record). I am better now than I was.  Unfortunately, suicide remains something that comes up now and again so I don’t know that the wound will ever fully heal.  As I said, my hope is that this record will connect with someone that needs it - not that they need my crappy music in particular but need to know that someone else feels this.  Be it the loss or be it suicidal thoughts, I wanted to give voice to the whole horrid experience.  If I in any way can help someone, then I’d definitely say that will help me a great deal in that something good at all came from this tragedy.

Considering all this, it has to make you think possibly a little more about the afterlife. Would you consider yourself a religious or spiritual man? Do you believe in an afterlife? If so, do you feel that there’s a chance (and I apologize for this one, if it’s bit too much to answer) that perhaps the person that the record was based on might have actually heard it or had been there during the performances? Do you feel that she’s still there in spirit? Or do you feel otherwise? 

I’m not a religious man.  And though I would love to imagine that Eve was there and heard me, I’m afraid she’s just gone.  That’s the tragic part for me.  One shot and she vanished into nothingness.  At the same time, that is what I did on the album.  I talked to her, cried with her, screamed for her.  I think it is summed up in the line from “The Day After” about mid way through the song: “There’s no more you now it’s just me talking to ghosts who give no reply.”

Changing the subject, some of these tracks like “The Comprehension” for example, are quite radio friendly. Would you ever see The Reticent as a radio-friendly act or do you consider yourself more a part of the underground music scene?

I count myself extremely fortunate that anyone at all likes my music so the idea of anything of mine being on the radio seems extremely far-fetched.  I don’t know that mass markets really want something that encourages reflection or introspection, though.  I may be wrong - I mean, what do I know?  I’m not a TRUE UNDERGROUND KVLT kind of guy either.  I don’t really fit in anywhere haha.  If The Reticent found its way on to the radio, I think that’d be great but I can’t write with that kind of end in mind, you know?

Considering this rough election season, do you hold a vested interest in any of the candidates, or do you just wish that everyone would stop talking about it?

I am so very, very much the latter.  I believe that the United States has picked perhaps the two worst candidates I have seen in my lifetime.  This is so emblematic of all the inherent flaws in a two-party system to me.  Nevermind the number of people using bullying tactics to push theirs views and cherry picking facts to push narratives and agendas - and I mean on both sides.  The whole thing has me so very, very sad.  Whereas music may be at its best and most primal when it is fueled exclusively by raw emotion, politics and government are quite the opposite.  Objectivity, patience, impartiality, logic, these are the things that are needed and are absent.  The candidates who were disciples of such things have been pushed out of the way to make way for more rhetoric, emotionally galvanizing chatter, and a population seemingly content to just argue instead of discuss.  I don’t know.  I’m fearful, of that I am sure.

Thanks for answering my questions, and I apologize if some of them were a bit difficult to answer. On The Eve Of A Goodbye was a very difficult record for me to listen to as well, because I feel that the way this subject matter is portrayed is very close to heart. The disc left me speechless for a few minutes after it ended, to be honest. I didn’t expect that. That being said, it’s also one of the best albums I’ve heard all year and without a doubt, the single best recording that you’ve ever made. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to ask them and I am deeply honored by your very kind words.  Thank you for listening to my work.