Greetings Unsettled Souls...I bid thee welcome. Thank you very much for taking the time to come and dwell in the pages of my bands site. I truly am honored to have you here. If you are new to the site then you need to understand that we post these randomly as they happen, and while I do always try to keep my writings interesting, I do not try and write concise "articles" here. While I am very good at that, I do not feel like you are readers..you are guests. Therefore, I shall talk to you, not write to you. So kick your shoes off, and feel free to put your feet on the table. Here we go...
So, what did you do last Easter of 2005? Egg hunt? Feasting? Worship? Well if you know someone as crazy as our "do everything person" Mike, then your answer to that question would be "I went from Canton Ohio to New York City to see Cattle Decapitation, Skinless, and Cryptopsy in Times Square!" You see, Mike does not like death metal, he absolutely LOVES death metal. He does everything my band Passing Time asks him to do and it is all we can do to pay him anything; still he is ever loyal. Carry heavy shit? Mike's got an end of it. Need extra sound help? Mike's got it. Get screwed by a club and not make anything? Mike laughs and packs a bowl...ah of cereal...yeah thats it. Anyway, wouldn't you think such a friend is asking very little to see his favorite band? Yet he asked me to take him to Skinless about three years ago when I gave him a promo CD and between driving a taxi (PLEASE somebody sign me so I don't have to do this anymore), going to school for music and IMT production, martial arts, and general poverty (see above cab job) I was never able to get him there. So when he told me that one of my most adored cities, THE BIG FREAKING APPLE, was about to be invaded by none other than Skinless in March -keep in mind it was only August at the time that he informed me of this- I told him I was going to go so long as God left air in my lungs. What he did NOT say was that March 27 was Easter! Oh I found out, on March 20th, but by that time the trip was planned. My Muse Daphne, Mike, DJ Arum, Dan Billy D Reese, the worlds best 20yr old driver Jaycie, and myself filled the tank with over priced gas and didn't look back.
Skinless erupted onto the stage with new singer (this was his 5th show)Jason who replaced longtime original vocalist Sherwood who has been in the band since founder Noah Carpenter started the project back in 1992. According to Noah, the original members were not the Jagermeister swiggers we saw onstage this fine Easter Day. "We were pretty straight edge",he admits. "Songs like 'Pool of Stool' that were written about piss and shit were done not as a conscience effort or as a result of drugs. It was that we did not have anything better to write about being that young."
This statement may sound rather funny, but this is a real look into the mind of one of modern death metals leading forces. It is an understatement to say that death metal often suffers from the reverse problem that Christian bands have and that is that all they ever pen songs about are the devil.It goes without saying then, that when bands focus on the gore/horror side of the music such as Skinless does, then shows a bit of humor (yes, humor in death metal) with the nights highlight "Tampon Lollipop", you can rest assure that you are not about to get a long boring sermon about Satanism. And while Noah points out that there are not as many "funny" songs these days, it is still refreshing to hear some diversity in this regard
The music itself is still however where this band shines the brightest. The complex counter guitar lines blaze, mind bogglingly fast chords progressions have to almost be seen to be comprehended in total, and the drumming has to be tighter than a virgin on each and every blistering measure. It would have been remiss than had I not asked al east a few basic questions on what inspires those amazing chops.
"Technical Questions", asks bassist Joe Keyser.with a smile. "We tend to 'borrow' allot from Cannibal Corpse and Bolt Thrower. Nothing is in drop D really, we tend to hang around B and often move in 3 steps"
Then came the nights most interesting revelation. "Noah, what is your favorite guitar solo?"
"Lionel Ritchie, 'Hello'", he answers. The bitch of it is, I downloaded the song (NO, I did not own it, I missed that one) and it is a sweet little solo. Plus, that by far and away wins the "answer of the year award" to ANY question I have asked ANY of the bands on this page, so I was done with tech questions.
With the New York crowd apparently VERY pleased with the band, I asked where the band members liked to tour the most. New York was the obvious first res ponce of course, since they hail from Albany. The band as a whole also listed San Diego, The Czech Republic, Denmark (no surprise to fans of the genre, ay?), Mexico, and...Rhode Island? Yes, Rhode Island, way to go! Welcome to the site, curiously of Skinless.
"I was poisoned in France" mentions Joe Keyser.
I thought he was kidding. "Really???"
"Poison fish," he said and I could not help thinking what a wonderful band name that would make.
As the interview progressed, the nights headliner Cryptopsy was loading gear in the hallway area where we were standing, so I wanted to be sure I covered all the bases in terms of interests since these posts tend to get a lot of you here on our page, so I decided to ask Noah some questions pertaining to getting the band signed. "Kick ass shows and T-shirts", he replies. "Get those T-shirts out there and people are like walking billboards" Then he and who I think was their tour manager added that..."they need not be super expensive in quality so long as they are decent, and they do not have to be really complicated in design. That gets expensive, and it is better to loose money on some shirts if they look good and people are wearing them. Soon, labels that would not even listen to your music to tell if they liked it or not will be more likely to do so. But it all starts with the shows, some of which should be over seas. Even if you have to pay for it yourself, do it! Play overseas."
"Lastly," I ask, "with all the line up changes, will there be a new DVD?"
"There may be another one, "Noah said. "This one is doing well, so if it keeps up, maybe there will be another one."
After that, we headed out of the hallway, and into the mosh again for Cryptopsy. For those of you into the aggression venting like I am and are inclined to the mosh, I noticed an interesting fact that I shall share with you. NYC would have the most Earth shattering, bone crushing, mind bending mosh pits right? I mean, East Coast Metal is Brutal Metal and all that, right? It was really not that bad. What was good to see was it was also not a "grab this girls tit and tackle like football jock" mosh pits either. This I had discovered while watching Skinless, so by this time I was ready to end the night right if you know what I mean. I was pleased with Cryptopsy as a whole, having not before heard their music. The true highlight was guitar breaks that were so clean and flurried that you did not want them to end, and their AMAZING drummer Flo Mounier. THIS MAN IS STUNNING!!! I am talking about balls to wall, Neil Pert fucked Lars Urich out of the realm of words stunning! You really want to catch these guys live to witness this band in full. They did not benefit from the varied topics of content that Skinless did, but again as stated above, not a lot of them still do.
Well boys and girls, that's it. I hope you liked the post. E-mail me and let me know. A BIG thanks to DJ Arum and Daphne for doing this interview with me, and a massive word of thanks to the B B King Nightclub for allowing us backstage to contact the interview as well. Skinless are some really down to Earth musicians, and they are very thankful and friendly to the fans they attract. DJ Arum and I missed Cattle Decapitation, so my apologies to them, but if you e-mail Daphne , you can most likely bug her into doing a show posting. Peace, love, and pitbulls- until next time, heres your fountain of random what nots signing off...