|
Past Issues:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
BACK
CEPHALIC
CARNAGE - Still Smokin'
By Adrian 'The Energizer' Bromley
Anyone
who knows Cephalic Carnage knows that this Colorado grind/death
metal act likes to 'smoke up' a lot. It has become a ritual for
them: get high and totally level the venue they are invading that
night.
But
aside from smoking joints or the grinding assault of their music,
a real sense of passion and brotherhood runs deep within the central
core of Cephalic Carnage. I was impressed having met singer Leonard
at the Milwaukee Metal Fest this year and later on at a tour stop
in Toronto, and to find out how down to earth and funny this guy
is. He loves his band, his family and hockey (Go Maple Leafs!).
His confessions almost brought a tear to my eye. Pass the…er…tissues.
"I'm
so proud that we are still together after ten years," starts
the singer down the phone line. "Zac (guitar) and I started
the band back in 1992. Not too many bands from where we come from
can say that and stand the test of time. With the new album Lucid
Interval (Relapse) we are trying to take death metal to the next
level. There are many other bands out there like Nile and Dying
Fetus that are taking death metal to a new level as well and we
want to be a part of that wave, but at the same time still maintaining
that Cephalic integrity.
"Being
in this band and make new music and progressing each album is very
stressful. I mean it is stressful, but at the same time we enjoy
what we do and love creating music. We tour a lot and we know what
is going on and we just want to be a part of a music scene that
is rich with diversity and by us bringing in our music we are helping
add something to the scene."
Do
you ever look back at what the band has done before to be inspired
or not?
"It is 50/50 really," he says. "I mean we know where
we have come from and we bring out the same riffs and modify them
a bit as the new ideas goes along, but sometimes Zac and Steve (guitarist)
will just bring in these new ideas and it will be spontaneous and
we'll just go with it. I work on the lyrics and fine tune them for
the studio and we are set to go.
"But
we also like to make shit up in the studio, very spontaneous stuff
to keep things fresh. We (the band is rounded out by drummer John
and vocalist/bassist Jawsh) don't always want to include songs that
are two years old and trying to breathe the same life into them
that we had when we first assembled them."
So
what about the abundance of pot smoking and partying-is that how
the band wants to be perceived or is there more to it than just
that?
"We
want fans to think of us a band that uses something to expand their
mind and do other things," says Leonard. "Everyone has
a vice whether it be chocolate or beer or whatever. We like to smoke
because it relaxes us and gets us into what we are doing. Before
we go onstage if we all smoke up it puts us all on the same mental
plain where it just clicks in for us and we go out and do what we
do.
"We
just want to be known as a band that likes to grind. We play death
metal, but when you just play death metal it really limits what
you can do, so bringing in a grindcore feel to the music it opens
up other avenues and what we can do. It isn't just a one bedroom
apartment that we want to be locked away in, we want to add more
rooms to this apartment and expand the sound of Cephalic Carnage
(Yes, Leonard was smoking pot prior to this interview - Adrian).
We need to expand and keep adding on sections of what we are doing
musically."
Commenting
about the new album, he says, "I hope all of our fans are really
into what we do. I mean, I think we put a lot of hard work into
this album. The album is a bit more technical, but at the same time
it is more simplistic. We left a lot of room for us to go with the
next album."
With
the release of each Cephalic Carnage record, it seems as though
the buzz and support for the band seems to grow. Are they aware
of that? Are things getting better for the band over the last few
years?
"It
seems like it can only get better for us," he says. "Our
dark days seem pretty much behind us,. This is very important for
us and we believe very much into it. We live for this and built
out lives around this.
He
ends off, "We all have families and it takes a lot of sacrifice
and but this is what we chose to do. You can't look at it half-heartedly.
We can only do so many things before it is time to stop and I think
we are trying to do as much as we can do, while we can and while
things are in our favour now."
URL: http://www.cephaliccarnage.com
|
