Firstly, i would like to thank the you and the band for taking the time to answer some questions. I found this record very enjoyable and a fine piece of work. Its very cool of you guys to take the time out of your schedule to do this. Much appreciated!
Jon Hammer
(Screams): Thanks for the kind words and doing the interview! We’re glad you
enjoy it – we love playing it live.
Drew Pinto
(Cleans, Guitar): No problem!
1) How about we
start with how you guys formed and came to be the nucleus of what Apoapsis is
today?
JH: Apoapsis
has always been a sort of “Frankenstein,” for lack of better terms. Drew Pinto
(Guitar, Vocals), Martin Jose (Guitar) and I have all been friends since high
school, but the band formed in 2011 when Drew Pinto and Martin Jose wrote
Standing Tide on Christmas Eve. They cycled through a few drummers, and at the
time I hadn’t even learned how to scream yet, and I was a guitarist for a few
metalcore and death metal bands. In July of 2012 I helped to co-write lyrics to
what would become Forward Motion, and I was originally going to be doing guest
vocals on the track, but they eventually asked me to be a full time vocalist.
From 2011 to 2014, since we were all in college, the Balance EP was written and
recorded at SUNY Purchase; we eventually found our drummer, Brendan Mangiafico,
through Craigslist in early 2014, and the match was perfect. After finishing
the Balance EP recording, we found our bassist, Peter Parkes, when he filled as
a temporary bass player for our first show in November of 2014 – so, overall
we’ve had a bit of an odd beginning, but we learned a lot from it. None of us
could see the band with anyone else in it now, and we’re happy with the way our
live performances and new material is coming along.
2) What is the
inspiration for your lyrical content?
JH: For the
Balance EP, Drew Pinto and I co-wrote the lyrics; I think the main difference
between our writing styles is that my lyrics more often than not have the “I”
speaker from my perspective, whereas Drew’s lyrics tell a story, and the “I” is
a narrator rather than personalized. My inspiration for the lyrics on Balance
came from my own struggles, or the struggles of people I see around me; as I
transitioned from high school to college, I started seeing people change based
on social situations and the influence of others, which was disheartening.
Songs like Forward Motion and Balance are about moving past people who drag you
down, for example; whereas, the parts of Don’t Hold Back that I worked on are a
bit more uplifting, hahaha – it depends on the context of each song.
DP: It’s
funny how it all came together from different angles. Jon writes very
meaningful concepts centered on personal matters - and then I chime in with
lyrics about living in the ocean. My viewpoint has always been that if you can
write lyrics about something, you should explore all avenues.
3) I saw that
you guys are influenced by bands like BTBAM. What other bands past or present
has been influential to your musical approach? Any particular songs that
changed the way you think about music?
JH:
Obviously, our band has a progressive background, and there are a lot of
technical parts; I think that’s really where the BTBAM/Periphery/etc. influence
comes through. From my perspective – someone who listens to Marilyn Manson,
This Good Robot, Lamb of God, Carnifex, Underoath and Motionless in White daily
– I always believe that simplicity is best, so I always try to provide a “simplistic”
view to the technical side of our music. In regards to vocals, I take a lot of
influence from Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and although it doesn’t shine
through much on the Balance EP, a lot of the techniques and pronunciations I
use come from him, or Marilyn Manson. Some songs that changed my music world
and let me pick up on some of the styles I use, or even the style of lyrics I
write, are Tourniquet (Marilyn Manson), Forty Six & Two (Tool), Shitstorm
(Strapping Young Lad), and Call the Police (This Good Robot).
DP: I would
say that most of our influences have related directly to hard rock or metal of
varying genres, but not all. We definitely draw influence from heavier bands
like Opeth, Misery Signals, Devin Townsend, Animals as Leaders, etc. but
different genres have always captured our attention. I personally like to
emulate techniques and motifs found in Jazz, Blues, Classical and Folk when
writing for the band. Songs that have changed my perception of music and
writing in general: “China White” by He Is Legend, “Fuel For the Feeding End”
by Coheed and Cambria, “Rainmaker” by Hiromi Uehara, “Serpentine Fire” by Earth
Wind and Fire and “Story Within The Story” by Pat Metheny.
4) To be
honest, most of the bands ive heard that use the combination of rough vs clean
vocals generally dont do it for me. However, you guys utilize the use of that
style perfectly without over doing it, making it sound manufactured, or playing
it safe. How did you approach your music when applying the vocals? Was there a
particular concept in mind when deciding to use both styles?
JH: Not
becoming a cliché, especially through vocals, is something that we try to aim
for, so thank you – when the band started, I had no idea how to sing, and Drew
didn’t know how to scream, though we’re both getting pretty good at what we
couldn’t do. Because of that initial lack of ability, I would write lyrics that
were meant to be sung that Drew would take and make his own, whereas Drew would
write screamed sections that I would take and mess with to make my own; in a
way, it worked as a compromise between creative abilities to make something
that we both liked and felt fit the song. If I had my say on all screamed
sections, they would probably be the most basic 4/4 patterns since that’s mostly
what I listen to, so Drew really helps me to mix up rhythms, whereas I’ll
typically select the style of scream, annunciation, and any other stylistic
choices.
DP:
We have always wanted to blend singing and screaming together in our writing.
We decided early on that we didn’t want cut-and-paste scream sections and
singing sections. In our lyric writing, we will often go through and decide
what needs to be screamed and what needs to be sung, based on either rhythmic motif or meaning. I’ve always thought of it as filling in the
words with different moods - sort of like coloring in a coloring book.
5) Have you
been on any tours recently that you were excited about? Which one stands out
the most for you thus far in your career? Any dream tour you would like to be a
part of? Being a huge Devin Townsend fan i would personally love to see you
guys tour with him at some point.
JH: Despite
the fact that we’ve been a band since 2011, we’ve only played a handful of
shows due to our situation; I’d absolutely love to go on tour and find
Progressive outlets. Devin Townsend would be a dream to tour with – I’d also
love to be tour with Veil of Maya one day. In regards to shows, we played one
show on April 11, 2015, and even though we were 3rd to last
performing, we were asked to do an encore; that really stood out to me, and was
definitely one of the moments in my life that reaffirmed that despite any
negative critiques we’ve received, people do enjoy our music. In general,
performing live is a completely different experience than our studio
performance, and I know the whole band is in agreeance that the Balance EP is
already outdated in regards to how we’ve progressed as musicians now – our more
recent live performances have been so much fun, and I hope when we hit a tour
the crowds are as receptive as they’ve been so far.
6) Because
bands in the last 15 or so years have been able to promote and release music
themselves it seems the metal scene has somewhat become saturated. What Steps
do you try to take to separate yourself from the pack when performing, writing,
or promoting your image?
JH: I think
the music industry as a whole has become saturated, which is both good and bad
– it allows for anyone to express themselves creatively, but it’s absolutely
destroyed any hopes of financially supporting yourself full time as a musician,
which is truly unfortunate, because I do believe artists should be paid for
their work. However, something we always strive for is professionalism and
performance; the main thing that we attempt to do as a band is work to promote
ourselves in ways that builds a brand and makes the audience member not only
feel like they’re a part of a show, but to be totally embraced by the music
while they’re at one of our shows, whether they’ve heard us before or not. In
terms of self-promoting, we write up marketing and promotional plans; I
personally send emails and make phone calls for PR, and we try to keep
everything as professionally in-house and free until we need to pay for
quality. Live, I can’t speak for the rest of the band, as I’m sure they have
many influences, but Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan from The
Dillinger Escape Plan is someone that I look up to as a frontman for his stage
presence, so I’m always hopping in the crowd and starting/joining pits, or
trying to crowd surf during intense parts of our songs. Anything to get the
crowd feeling what we’re feeling is the way we try to stand out, whether it’s
over the internet or in person.
7) I love
"Balance" but hate that its too short of a record. By the time im
done listening to it im dying for more. Is there more material in the works and
if so what can fans expect pushing forward?
JH: Hahaha,
funny you mention that; one of the main issues we dealt with is that by the
time we played our third show, we were getting asked to perform 1 hour sets
when we only have about 35 minutes of music recorded. We’ve worked on a few
covers – notably The Fight Song by Marilyn Manson and My Own Summer by The
Deftones – but we’re also taking a break from most shows right now in order to
continue writing new material. We have two more songs fully completed for our
next release, and we’re in the process of writing a few more. I can easily say
that, as much as I love the material on Balance, this new stuff makes me more
excited to hit the studio and play live than any other band I’ve been with in
my life. I don’t know when it will all be done, but it will be a much darker
and aggressive record by all means.
8) I have to
say i love the melody that Andrew and Martin incorporate in their riffs and
song arrangements. It meshes so perfectly with songs like "Dont Hold
Back". Overall the mix and production of the record is top notch. What
kind of gear does the band use to achieve their particular sound?
JH: I know
that both Drew and Martin use passive pickups; Martin rocks a Peavey 6505 and a
Schechter guitar. We used several basses on the recording, and the drums are
midi on the record through Kontakt 5, though we’re using better programs for
the future. I use an SM7b microphone in studio, because I’ve yet to find
anything that can handle screaming better; SM58s are great, but I find that
they can still clip, though they’re fantastic for live performances.
DP: Thank
you! For the recordings Martin and I actually shared his tube amp, a Peavey
6505+. For guitars, Martin used his Schecter C1 Standard, and I used my PRS Singlecut. Our live setup is a little
different now, as I’ve tacked on a Mesa Triple Rec and am now using a Dean EVO
Special. As far as tone, my EQ setup is slated in favor of mids with high gain
and presence, using a Jet City boost pedal, an Electro-Harmonix
compression and a Boss noise gate. Martin’s EQ is slated towards lower gain
with rolled back lows and high mids, using a Route 66 overdrive, Exotic FX comp
and ISP Decimator noise gate. We found our
respective tones through our writing sessions - basically through trial and
error to solidify tones that could stand alone but also compliment each other.
9) Try to
explain the writing process you guys use when coming up with your music. Any
particular place or vibe mentally you need to be in, in order to write? Are
than any other inspirations or influences the band uses outside of musical
ones? Art, books, philosophy, etc?
JH:
From a lyrical perspective, I’ve been reading a lot of Carl Jung and other
psychoanalytic works, as well as Kurt Vonnegut novels, Nietzschean philosophy,
and some historical accounts of Modernism, as well as Modernist poets. I’ve
also been reading Tarot Cards for about 2 years now, and I think Occult
concepts, especially in relation to Analytical Psychology (Jung’s works) fit
well, so there’s a lot I work with there. I’ve taken a huge Modernist influence
lately because their wordplay, especially with phonetics, is fantastic – a
great example of this in modern music is Marilyn Manson’s The Golden Age of
Grotesque, with
lines like “My (s)top hat’s/top hat(ed)” from Ka-Boom Ka-Boom among numerous
examples of ideas I’ve been influenced from. The next record’s lyrical concepts
are much more based on self-exploration, development, and overcoming; some
songs lean more heavily on one of the influences I’ve listed above than others,
but they all tie together through the theme of “finding one’s self.”
DP: Certain vibes are generally present at
our writing sessions. As I mentioned before, sometimes writing will bring us
up, and other times it will exhaust us. In this way it’s more of an undeniable
force in our lives, rather than an option; it’s something that WILL happen no
matter what, and our resulting moods and compositions come after. A lot of our
songs can actually be reminiscent of what was going on in our lives, both
lyrically and melodically. As far as inspiration, we’ve drawn from books,
movies, other songs, people that we know, pretty much anything.
10) What is the
band's opinion or stance on file sharing? This is always a hop topic depending
on the artist. Some bands think its fine while others oppose it pretty heavily.
Where do you guys stand on this controversial issue? Do you think it helps or
hinders artists or do you think it depends on the circumstances and
intent?
JH: I cannot
speak on behalf of the entire band, but I will say that regardless of one’s
opinion on filesharing, it’s here to stay and it won’t ever disappear; I don’t
see a point in trying to fight it. We offered the Balance EP for free on our
bandcamp as a way to get our name out there and also to spread our music,
though I do feel that for bands at our level, before they get known and people
illegally upload your material, this is the only time they can make money,
since people actually have to pay for their material. As I said earlier, I do
feel that artists deserve to be paid for their material – I think there are
multiple ways this can happen, specifically through live support, merch
purchases, and crowdfunding, but I definitely feel that if you support a band,
you should buy their CD releases the first week they come out. It’s a draconian
system, but record companies still base band success off fo first week record sales;
I remember when Scar The Martyr released their first album, they sold 3000
copies in the first week and ended up on the Billboard Charts in the mid-100s,
which goes to show how few CDs are purchased, since 3000 is not a big amount,
even though they had a pretty big success before they lost their vocalist.
11) Well, that is going to about do it for me. I
again want to thank the band for taking the time out to do this. Is there any
last words for the reading faithful?
JH:
Thanks for the interview, man! We really appreciate your support, and this was
a fun one; I’d like to say thank you to anyone who has read this interview or
checked out our band, as well as your blog and podcast. I think there’s a big
issue in metal with fragmentation – subgenres are what make metal amazing, but
sometimes that subgenre fragmentation can lead to elitism or fan fighting, and
because one band “sounds too ____” they get hate; that’s one of the main
reasons why I’m so thankful you’ve taken time out to do this interview, as well
as to give us a Feature on your podcast. In parting, I’d like to say that
keeping an open mind is key to enjoying and finding new and good music, and I
hope that anyone who listens to your podcast finds something new they enjoy!
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