Interview with Chris Pernia (drums)
Q>>
Hello guys! How are you doing?
A>> Pretty good. The truly stressful part (writing and recording) is over
and now we're just preparing to play out as much as possible in support of the
new disc.
Q>> I've
listened to your latest effort a couple of times by now and what remains in
my mind is not this or that particular riff; it's more like an ensemble of contrasts
between melody and aggressiveness that lingers on. Was that actually your goal
when writing the songs you recorded on "The Calculus Of Evil"?
A>> There really was no specific goal in writing "Calculus."
The only thing we really kept in mind was to not limit ourselves in any way.
Too many bands are out there now that are afraid to attempt something different
and we definitely didn't want that to be us. Too many Metal bands are satisfied
with just merely copying their favorite band. We're not scared to try and blend
various influences into the "Psychotogen sound."
Q>> Would
you describe your style as purely American or were you influenced by non-American
bands during the composing process? What actually are the bands you guys regularly
listen to?
A>> We were influenced by both. Although there are obviously signature
sounds that come out of some areas, such as "the Gothenburg sound"
or "Florida-style," we tend to look at Metal as being universal instead
of geographic. We've really got a wiiiide range of influences between the four
of us - everything from Slayer to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. As far as Metal
goes we dig SYL, Nevermore, Gorguts, Anacrusis, Death, Cynic, DEP, Opeth and
Sadus - bands that aren't afraid to color outside the lines from time to time.
Q>> Both
the vocals and the lyrical content breathe violence, each in their own way.
I guess it's all related to the topics you develop in your texts... right?
A>> Mike did one hell of a job with the lyrics/vocals, especially considering
that he only had about three weeks to write, arrange and record them! Our previous
vocalist from the first Psychotogen album was a forensic psychologist and would
draw inspiration from experiences relating to that. As for what inspires Mike
to write, I guess you would have to ask him, although whatever it is he draws
inspiration from must really piss him off as the lyrics he came up with are
pretty fuckin' angry!
Q>> Did Jeremy
write and play "The Poison Sleep" all by himself? It's a pretty impressive
one... Anyway, why did you put that track on the very first half of the album?
Bands usually put the "special" tunes near the end, even as ghost
tracks sometimes...
A>> Yep, Jeremy wrote and recorded that one. It is intended to be a companion
piece to "The Guilded Slave," they sorta tie in together. As for why
it's at the beginning of the album, we actually did a good bit of preproduction
on this one. We simply took the rough tracks and put them in the sequence that
we felt flowed the best and Poison Sleep just seemed to fit best as the third
song. As I mentioned earlier, we're not afraid to try something a little outside
the norm; outside the usual limitations set upon Death Metal bands. Putting
an all acoustic flamenco piece towards the beginning of a Death Metal release
is definitely an unusual choice.
Q>> What
about "Psychotogen II", it's a pretty weird one as well... Just curious;
how do people react when you play such songs live?
A>> With both "Psycho II & I," I came to the group with
a basic idea and we just spontaneously jammed on it in the studio. Neither song
was really intended to be played live, although that may happen sometime in
the future. Considering that our music is considered by some to be somewhat
self-indulgent, it may be unnecessary for us to include an instrumental track
in our set list.
Q>> Since
I never heard your music before, I can't tell much about your evolution. Can
you tell me something about that?
A>> Tony, our old vocalist Rob and I played on the first two Pessimist
releases. We all left Pessimist at various times over the last couple of years
and eventually regrouped in Psychotogen in 1999 (we were then called Excathedra)
along with Jeremy (who also jammed with Pessimist for a short period of time).
We put out our first full-length release in 2001, entitled "Perverse And
Unnatural Practices." Rob split from the group in early '03 and was replaced
by ex-Pessimist/ex-Misery Index vocalist Mike Harrison.
Q>> Now...
the "I'm a bloody sound-maniac" question ;-) I think sometimes your
sound should be a little warmer, maybe with a "wider" guitar sound,
I don't know exactly... To me, there's nothing wrong with your overall sound,
but still... don't you think there are improvements that could strengthen your
music a bit more?
A>> I agree that the sound is not 100% perfect. Unfortunately we didn't
have a huge budget to record with, so it's not like we could afford Andy Sneap
in some expensive studio for massive amounts of time. A band like Cannibal Corpse
would probably spend our entire recording budget just tracking the drums! But
what really makes recording difficult for us is trying to get Tony's bass sound
to come out evenly in the mix. For a bassist of Tony's caliber to play on a
Death Metal release is really unprecedented and to top it off he has a smooth
sounding Jaco Pastorius-like tone to his instrument instead of the usual D.D.
Verni-sounding bass usually heard in Death Metal. It's a real bitch for us to
get the bass to come through when it has two tracks of distorted guitars, blast
beats, double bass and screaming vocals to compete against. Ron Vento (Calculus
recording engineer) basically performed a miracle considering the time restraints
we had!
Q>> Asking
you why you covered "All Guns Blazing" would be stupid. So I'm not
gonna ask you... Instead, I'd like to know which other songs you'd like to cover
on a next album...
A>> We've tossed around a couple of ideas but we really haven't seriously
considered covering another song any time in the near future. I can guarantee
however, that if we do pick a song to cover, it's gonna be something completely
unexpected from a Death band.
Q>> Everything comes to an end... Say whatever you want before your computer explodes! :) A>> Thanks for the interview. Fans of bands such as Death and Gorguts, be sure to check out "The Calculus of Evil" now.
RNO