INTERVIEW VIA MYSPACE.COM WITH
A BLACK ROSE BURIAL
1.) who is who, and who does what....?
Chris Carey - Guitarist/Manager
Joel Ferry - Vocals/Keyboards
David Enriquez - Bass/Sampling
George Enriquez - Drums
(The Enriquez brothers are Twins. Very "One King Down" of us, huh?)
2.) where does the name come from?
Keeping it short and simple, it's in reference to the black plague.
3.) what got ya into metal/hardcore/grind/etc.?
I (Chris) personally started off with Earth Crisis, Vision of Disorder, Training For Utopia, Adamantium, and Zao. I had met the Twins in high school and introduced them to it all and that's how it pretty much started.
4.) what movies did you get the samples from?
On "An Awakening of Revenants," we use excerpts from "The Devils Rejects," "Dawn of the Dead" (1978), "Dawn of the Dead" (2004), "Stir of Echoes," "One Night in Paris" (Yes, Paris Hilton's porn), and an excerpt from the Howard Stern show. Live, we use more. Off the top of my head, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Last House on the Left," "Night of the Creeps," and a bunch of other movies. Mainly underground horror/zombie movies.
5.) what the **** is an 808 technoboost????
Haha... That's just what i was calling them in the studio. You hear them throughout the CD. It emphasizes the breakdowns. Lots of bands do it. Through the Eyes of the Dead, Ion Dissonance, A Life Once Lost, etc... Sounds damn good in surround sound or a good car stereo. It's bass you can feel.
6.) now you guys sound like a mix of older bands like As The Sun Sets, Dead Blue Sky, and a lil of Candiria (for the jazzier parts)...how did you find a sound that was wht you were going for? In keeping with that, how was it that you were able to keep from sounding like so many other bands these days? like actually bringing somthing fresh to the table? and did bands like that, were they influences themselves?
Well, the formula we tend to use for writing is we want to mix a little of everything we like into one song. We want a tech part. A melodic part. A keyboard part. A possible breakdown. And a metal part. We usually start with one element, and then once that one is established, we try to blend it into the next style. If our most recently created song started out tech, we might start our next song melodic, and save the tech part for later in the song. We kinda wanted to please everyone. Some people don't like techmetal, so there's stuff in there for them as well, and vice versa. As far as not sounding like other bands, i think that just kinda happened on it's own. It came easy and natural to us to write and sound like this. I'm surprised not more bands find it so easy, and rather tend to copy one style and stick with just that. I can't imagine doing that... And yes, As the Sun Sets was an influence on us. We're big fans. The media they incorporated throughout their albums. It was unique in itself and it's flattering that you compare us. That's a big compliment to us. As far as the jazzy stuff, none of us listen to any modern aged jazz. If anything, it's actual JAZZ. The Twins Dad always has that stuff playing at their house and they kinda grew up on that. Jazz, and oldies in general.
8.) PLAYLIST TIME....what ya listenin to??
The discs i have laying around my stereo right now is: She Wants Revenge, Parkway Drive, As Hope Dies, Job For a Cowboy, Dredg, Muse, and Panic! At the Disco. The Twins tend to like their hip hop and oldies. Joel and i tend to see eye to eye on most of the above mentioned and bands in general.
9.) Last good book read and why?
Last thing i read was "Lust For Life" which is about the life and times of Vincent Van Gogh. Honestly, i felt as if i realted to him, slowly watching him turn insane from people not being able to understand him and accept him. Kind of like John Nash. The mathematician that ended up going nuts due to his intellect and people not being able to comprehend him or his way of thinking. My IQ is above normal, and classified me as a "visual mathematician," so i kinda relate to all that. My mind does get the best of me and i spend probably 95% of my time alone trying to learn more and in the end, i tend to get panic attacks cause of it at times. That's when most of the music is written, actually. 3am in my room when my mind is racing a mile a minute. I think that's when most of Van Gogh's paintings would have been done as well. Any book you can relate to yourself tends to be good in general cause it helps you to understand yourself and why things are the way they are.
10.) Last good movie and Why?
Last movie that i bought that i really enjoyed was "The Devil's Rejects." "American History X" is probably one of my all time favorites. "Requiem For a Dream" is really good too, but it's hard for me to watch that movie without it messing with me. All of us tend to like the same movies, and most of which are horror movies. That's obvious.
11.) If you guys did porn, what would your porn names be?
If we're goind the middle name/street name game, mine would be Paul Postwood. Can't get much better than that, right? George's middle name is David, and David's middle name is George, so they'rd end up being George and David Doxey. Yeah, there's nothing on that one. Joel, i wouldn't know his middle name. Knowing him, it's probably something like cheesy like Pendelton.
12.) if you had superpowers, what would they be and why?
Well, this isn't so much a superpower, but i think too many good people get shitted on, and too many assholes get the glory. I'd want people to get what they deserve. I don't like seeing some of my friends suffer for being good people, and i don't like seeing some people i despise getting away with some of the things in life that they do. I wouldn't mind being able to flip that around.
13.) Pancakes, YAY or NAY, and why?
Yay, but waffles are just as good. Either way, thats a lot of carbs. I tend to be anal about that kind of stuff these days.
14.) Cats, Dogs, or something else?
I'm a cat person. Joel is a cat person. The Twins are dog people, but every dog they've had killed itself, literally, or ran away.
15.) After listenin to the whole record several times, it seems to have not only stellar production, but also stellar orchestration between tracks, how did you plan for the writing of this record?
I'm glad people like the production. It was recorded with Zach Ohren, who did the recordings for Animosity, Embrace the End, Light This City, As Cities Burn, etc. All of his creations are amazing, and he's so easy to work with and knows precisely what he's doing. he made it way easier than we thought it'd be. We knew what tracks we wanted on the album, and we had 4 full band songs, and 3 media oriented songs, so we first decided which media track we wanted to open and close the disc with, and the other would be an intermission styled song. Then 2 of the tracks we knew we wanted to fade out, so those were the tracks that would be before the intermission and closing media songs. Makes sense. It ended up flowing pretty well we thought. The transition from track 1 to 2, we kinds wanted it to scare people. It works. Track one fades out and then if your volume is up too loud and you don't expect it, it blasts in to track 2. It's a pretty loud recording, and the drums hit you pretty damn hard. Zach had said he mastered it at a little higher of a volume than most of his creations. I think it just made it sound more full.
16.) Favorite TV shows now, and when you were a kid?
Now, for me, i love Family Guy. I'm not a huge TV person. More often than not, i watch the History Channel. I know the Twins like The Shield, and Nip/Tuck and stuff like that. Joel i would imagine just watches cartoons all the time. I can't imagine him watching anything else. haha. When i was a kid, i was all about Transformers, He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Seasame Street, Reading Rainbow. haha. Levar Burton. Talk about the darkest white guy. He's up there with Wayne Brady.
17.) what is your bands gear set up? (this is for the tech dorks)
George recently started to use a jazz kit, like what Jesse Smith of Zao used to use. Those things pack a major punch. That small kick drum is louder than any full size kick. We recently just got some really nice new media toys. As far as me, i use a Peavey 5150II head. And a 1970's Fender bass cab for my guitar setup, believe it or not. I had spoken to Zack a week before we entered the studio, and he was iffy about that and didn't think he'd like it. In the end, her preferred it over his Mesa cab. It's two 15's. It handles the low end really well. In the studio, i recorded with my head, and then the second guitar track was with another head. I used Zach's ENGL, which is a European head, and we tried it on both my cab and the Mesa, and again, to his surprise, he preferred my cab. I tend to use some unorthodox tunnings, so i needed a cab that would still sound tight for when im tuned fairly low. I used to max out my guitar cab back in the day. And as far as Joel and David, well, they use a bass and a mic.
18.) Lets talk about horror movies, what movies today are good examples of horror movies? Which are better as far as gore and violence versus that of psychological thrillers and such?
Well obviously today's horror movies aren't half as decent as the ones from the 70's/80's. It's safe to agree that we all favor the old George Romero movies (Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead). They're remaking "Day of the Dead" right now actually. Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" is great. Return of the Living Dead. There's an Australian one called "Undead" the David has had for a couple years now that was imported, and apparently they are releasing it in the US in theaters soon. That one is zombies that are created by aliens. Tobe Hooper who did the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is making a movie called "Tobe Hooper's Zombies." They're remaking "Night of the Living Dead" again, which if i remember right, is supposed to be 3-D. I have a porn styled zombie movie from the 70's called "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead" which is pretty funny. We tend to own a ton of DVD's, and imported stuff that people never heard of. We're nerds when it comes to horror movies, and zombie movies in particular. It's hard to say what's the most gorey movie. It tends to be the B-rated zombie movies from back in the day when they could get away with putting that stuff out there.
19.) Along the lines of horror movies, do you think that any of them reflect society, and how?
Haha. No, i personally don't think so. I mean, zombies are zombies, and now that Hollywood is all about that, they're a little far-fetched. "Land of the Dead" was a little Hollywood. "28 Days Later" and the 2004 version of "Dawn of the Dead," with their fast moving zombies was really a bit much. Not many movies these days are based on things that can really happen. Stuff that involves real life people doing things to others that aren't conprehendable tend to be the things most horrific cause it's possible, and there have been people out there like that which will eat someone else and do some sickening shit to a human.
20.) Being from CA, is it harder for bands like ABRB to get recognized for an area whose history is more rooted in the 80's and early 90's punk bands? Or has it moved to a more progessive type of scene (which art-punk, and metalcore, and other bands that have too many subgenres to name to describe them or their sound) these days?
Honestly, CA isn't that bad of a place for a band of our genre to start up. The East Coast and West Coast tend to get the most attention. I mean, if you live in Utah or North Dakota, i'd think then you might have more of a problem getting established. Especially these days, the Bay Area of CA is getting more notoriety as far as it's "core" bands. With Animosity being signed to Black Market Activities now, and The Taste of Blood getting up there, and All Shall Perish, i think the Bay is becoming known for it's brutality. Kind of like how SoCal tends to be more "metalcore." I think os As I Lay Dying, As Hope Dies, and Bleeding Through when i think of SoCal, but not so much bands that are considered to be so "brutal." All in all, i think CA in general spawns some amazing bands though, needless to say.
21.) When do you think hardcore, punk, metal, etc. actually broke out and became more of a driving force in the overall spectrum of music?
Definately the internet (MySpace), MTV2, and ungodly places like Hot Topic. Seeing Avenged Sevenfold on TRL's top 10 is quite odd.
22.) Tell me something that makes you intrigued with people, society, humanity?
I'm not so much intrigued by people, im more so curious as to why it seems like 90% of the human species is so unintelligent and blind and unaware of their surroundings. I can only tolerate so many people TyPiNg LiKe tHiS on MySpace. People don't know how to spell and punctuate for the life of them anymore these days. Get up, get out, go learn something for yourself rather than having it fed to you online or on a computer. Have some human contact.
23.) Tell me about your first shows that you went to, not ones in ABRB, but your first experiences going to shows, and how it felt. Do you feel the same now?
I vaguely remember my early shows. I remember seeing Earth Crisis early on. I wasn't too into shows back in the day. Even these days, i don't make it out to shows too often. I do occasionally. Last show i saw was Evergreen Terrace & The Chariot. I just went for the heck of it. It was free and close to home. I think spending a lot of time at our own shows, i get burned out on being at venues in general. I feel it most if we play the show, and some of our favourite bands are performing afterwards. It's an honor and seems more gratifying being there.
24.) If you could replace any actor in a movie that you love, what movie, what character and why?
Haha. Hmm. Christian Bale in "American Psycho" maybe. I wouldn't mind taking my problems out on a few people. I've always wanted to go on a zombie killing spree. Maybe Shaun in "Shaun of the Dead" would be a fun character.
25.) Are we miserable b/c people listen to pop music, or does pop music make us miserable? A better way of asking this is; are we miserable b/c music dictates us to feel miserable for the things we dont have and "should have"? And is it possible to say that music should not dictate every aspect of our lives? (IE living as an image of something) ....Your thoughts..
We're only miserable if we let it get to us. No one tells us to listen to that radio station, and turn on MTV. We know damn well what we're gonna be hearing. I personally stay away from both, therefore i rarely have to hear that noise. One thing that kinda irritates me is the fact that a guy can make words rhyme with one another and make up words to rhyme with a word that he can't think up a better word for, and he'll make way more money than any person that spent the last 15 years of their life learning and bettering themself at an instrument. I think it's backwards. I think talented musicians should have all the bling and bitches. Some do, but in general i think other genres are way overrated.
26.) Are there any meanings to the songs on An Awakening of Revenants you think may need any explanation to the general public?
As far as song titles, they're either relative to the "horror" gimmick, or just meant to be silly. Joel tends to write a lot about the undead and gore stuff in general. Maybe you could call us "Gorecore." I don't know. People e-mailing us and telling us that it's funny that our influences are "horror movies" because our music alone without even saying we're influenced by horror is reminiscent of sounding like it would be horror associated in the first place, is flattering. I hope that made sense. It did in my head. We'd like to think that if George Romero wanted to sponsor a band, it'd be us.
27.) SHOUT OUT TIME.
Hmm. Ok. As far as people, bands, and sponsors that have put in at least a little help, or droping our name, or specifically requesting us for a show... Brandon & Bleeding Through, Summers End, Robbie & From a Second Story Window, Chris & PsyOpus, Himsa, Not Waving But Drowning (RIP), Johnny Cupcakes, xAlex is Legendx, Zach Ohren, AJ (RIP) & Insipid Productions, State of Grace Tattoo, 45's Forever, The CA Hells Angels.
After all that, im tired. Can i take a nap now?
check these guys out at
www.myspace.com/ablackroseburial
PS – question 7 was omitted do the fact the interviewer (that’s me) is mildly retarded….don’t worry, it wasn’t that good anyways….ALS
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Interview with A BLACK ROSE BURIAL
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