Crepitus is an up and coming band that hails from Orange County, California. They are good friends of mine, but also a great fucking band that will be making quite a bit of noise in 2010. I sat down with Guitarist Ryan and Vocalist Nick for a talk about what is going on with these guys and see how the band is doing.
Interview By: Mike Abominator
Interview By: Mike Abominator
1. Hails Brothers in death! Tell me how are things for Crepitus these days? I hear you have a CD coming out? What are your plans with this release?
Ryan: Things are going really well so far for CREPITUS in 2010. Yes we have our first full length which will be entitles "Gates To Obscurity". It has eight songs on it. Two are older tunes and the rest are songs that we have written with the new lineup. All the songs are very dark and evil sounding. A lot of hard work has gone into it and I will be very excited to see how people people respond to it.
Nick: Hails Mike Abominator!!! Things in the Crepitus camp have been busy this past year and a half with recordings, shows, and lots of drunken fun with our friends and bands. With our promo and debut album being released, we will be promoting like crazy and spreading the death metal worldwide
2. Tell me about the formation of the band. Crepitus has been kicking around for quite a few years now right?
Ryan: Yes. I decided on the name back in 1994 when I was living in Utah. I figured it was the perfect name to go by so I started writing some songs. Then I moved to Cali, met up with the original lineup which was Geoff Nakahara, Luke Williams, Justin Pointer, and myself. We were all very young so the other guys had other things they wanted to do so they all went there seperate ways...so I played in that band Fate Turns Grey for a while...when that broke up or when I was kicked out (slaps Nick in the back of the head) I decided to really concentrate on writing my own stuff the way I thought it should be. So I wrote these songs and recorded a demo on my friends computer and from that I was able to get the new lineup interested in the project. So I got my long time friend Nick Jones (FTG) to be the vocalist, and Chris Chang and Dusty Sato Smith (Deception) and then from out of nowhere Jesse showed up and we had him do the bass. So we have been practicing and writing and recording ever since and now we have this new cd coming out and we are all stoked about that.
Nick: Crepitus was breifly formed in 1994 but saw the light of day finally in early 2008.
3. How is it being a death metal band in the Orange County Metal scene? The O.C. is not really a "hot bed" of older styles of death metal.
Ryan: For the most part Orange County tries to keep the metalheads down but there have been some really great bands that have come from here...Dystopia to name one off the top of my head. The one thing that really sucks lately is all the places that have metal shows have been closing down so we are now having to seek out different places to play where people will actually go.
Nick: you said it my friend... "The O.C." is not a hot bed for underground metal for sure!!!! With the exception of a handful of killer bands, the o.c. is designed for posers and mall core fags!!!!!
4. You guys have been playing live a bit recently. How has the response been so far to these live massacres?
Ryan: For being our first round of live shows I would say the response has been pretty good so far. The shows are kind of small because we are still trying to get our name out but I am sure they will get bigger and better as time goes on.
Nick: the response has been great within our circle of friends,family, and other metal bands but the the turn outs at these shows have been o.k. at best.. like mentioned before, o.c. is not the place to be playing underground death metal.
5. For those out there who have never heard Crepitus, what are the main influences of the band? Both musically, lyrically and in image/presentation.
Ryan: DEICIDE, CARCASS, EDGE OF SANITY, CRYPTOPSY, DEATH mixed scary Silent Hill type music. Thats what I think anyway. Mostly Edge of Sanity though we love their writing style.
Nick: Music wise, we hail the following bands as influences: deicide, edge of sanity, pestilence, bloodbath and vomitory to name a few.. Lyrically, we deal with death, mysticism, tormented thoughts, and battles between good and evil.. Image wise, we go for the traditional metal attire such as spikes, leather and assorted band tee shirts..
6. Tell me about growing up with heavy metal, your memories of coming up with metal and how did you guys get involved in the metal scene?
Ryan: I still remember the day my friend let me borrow DEICIDE's Legion and Deicide on tape. That was it for me. As far as memories, I just love seeing the shows, and meeting the bands. Too many good memories to go into them all but there was that one time riding in the back of the pickup truck with Dark Funeral drinkin and throwin our beer cans at passing cars. That was pretty fun. I always like kickin it with DEICIDE any chance I get. Oh and opening up for CARCASS and SUFFOCATION at the Cali Metalfest was something I will not soon forget.
Nick: My involvement in the metal underground began in 1991 and hasnt stopped since.. Death metal ruled my adolescence( and still does!!! hahaha)which consisted of writing to bands, tape trading, and going to every show possible.. My first band was spawned in 1994 and here we are in 2010 promoting my most current project!!!!! Hail the morbid metal of death forever!!!!
7. What would be the ultimate tour for you guys to play on? Pick 5 bands, ANY 5!
Ryan: DEICIDE, DEATH (if Chuck was still alive), Edge of Sanity (if they were still together) Dimmu Borgir (so we could ask if we could borrow their stage lights) and Wesley Willis.
Nick: my dream tour would be God Macabre, Bloodbath, Suffocation, Deceased, and finally the mighty Asphyx with Crepitus and Gravehill as openers.. hahaha skal!!!!
8. Let's talk about the writing process of Crepitus. How do you guys come up with the songs and who is involved?
Ryan: I (Ryan) will usually start by writing out the rythm guitar section all the way through. Then Dusty will come up with a drum beat he thinks will fit, then we get the bass lines down, then our lead guitarist Chris Chang will sit around all day writing a solo, then Nick comes in and writes all the lyrics. It works pretty good and everyone has a chance to put in their 2 cents.
Nick: the writing process for Crepitus so far has been mostly the work of our guitarist Ryan"Reaper" Colgan with Chris chang writing the solos.. the rest of the band
helps with arrangements and lyrics as well..
9. Tell me both of your top 5 favorite albums of all time? You get 5 each.
Ryan: 1 Bal Sagoth - The Power Cosmic, 2 Edge of Sanity - Crimson, 3 Deicide - Legion, Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, and finally Carcass - Necroticism Descanting the Insalubrious.
Nick: 1. Metallica- Master Of Puppets, 2. Iron Maiden- Somewhere in Time, 3. Slayer- Hell Awaits, 4. Sepultura- Morbid visions/bestial devastation, 5. Kreator- Endless pain
10. What do you maniacs do with the rest of your life outside of being in a heavy metal band?
Ryan: Well I have been working for he past 10 years or so getting my name out as a Death Metal artist. I have basically been helping bands I know with cd covers and that sort of thing. Currently I am working on some stuff for Scott Wily's (Vital Remains) other band Zircon, also someting for Mike Browning's band After Death. I am trying to follow in the footsteps of the great death metal artists such as Dan Seagrave, Wes Benscotter, Andreas Marschall (sp?) etc etc. Any bands in need of some artwork done hit me up!
Nick: outside of being in a death metal band i recently got engaged to the love of my life Nadima Gemayel, enjoying the ocean,drinking kind beers, working with electricity, and last but not least,smoking large amounts of marijuana.. (hehehe) 420 666 forever!!!
11. Any plans on hitting the road or playing some out of state gigs in 2010?
Ryan: I hope to do a tour with Gravehill and an old school band that is big...but nothing is planned as of yet.
Nick: As far as our touring plans for 2010 go, we will be focusing on playing as many shows(big and/or small) as possible. Playing out of state/country would be great for us so labels and booking agents get in touch asap!!!!!!
12. OK guys, thank you for your time! Any last words?
Ryan: Hooray for Satan!!! Buy our CD!!!
Nick: Thank you once again for the opportunity Mike Abominator for the interview and check us out on myspace,reverb nation, and mosh king.com Old school death metal lives forever!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment