An Interview With Connie and Ethan Sgarbossa by Nick Novak

Hailing from San Diego, SeeYouSpaceCowboy... was birthed from the ashes of Rene Descartes and current members of Letters to Catalonia. Connie and Ethan have birthed numerous projects since Flowers Taped To Pens and with each release and new project you could feel the constant stream of time maturing their musical endeavors. Each project becoming more refined while also existing as standalone testaments to periods of growth, loss, and dysphoria. When I first listened to the demo they released in December of last year my first reaction to the whitebelt/emoviolence crossover was pure elation. Not only did it feel angrier than anything they have released before, but it sounded so natural and comfortable. From the anthemic gang vocals that open their demo to the sassy, grating diss tracks Connie releases in throat wrenching meter. From the dual swirling guitars that could be mistaken for a bee hive prodded too long, to the pulsing, shambling percussion that sounds like it will fall apart at any second. SYSC is bringing sass back with an almost OG metalcore flourish. Check out their single, "Pep Talk from a Nihilist", off their forthcoming EP, "Fashion Statements of the Socially Aware", for a taste of what's to come.

You've both been in many projects together but the other members seem to be as inconsistent with the style of their projects. Do you think SYSC is a culmination of your musical endeavors or should be viewed as a standalone project altogether?

CS: Personally I think it should be viewed as a stand alone, it's defiantly a lot different than the genres we have played in the past and honestly a nice palette cleanser for me personally. Approaching and executing different styles is very nice. It has a much different feel and flavor when it comes to constructing aspects of songs and expression and satisfies something that other bands weren't able to.

ES: I think its a standalone project for sure, and definitely one of my favorites. I think the people we have been in bands with are a product of location. All people that I have been in a band with are for the most part different people, other than Connie, but these people are in no case replaceable. These people are all people I became friends with and love very much. I can't even stress how thankful I am for all the friends I have made during these bands (I miss you Jonathan)

Sonically SYSC reminds me of groups like The Great Redneck Hope, CombatWoundedVeteran, etc. Who are your influences?

CS: I take influence vocally from bands like The Blood Brothers, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and the Red Light Sting. The band as a whole draws from Daughters, Norma Jean, Hayworth, Heavy Heavy Low Low, and some others that the other band members could probably name.

ES: Honestly, what the fuck is grind or whitebelt? All jokes aside, I take a lot of my influence from Loma Prieta's drummer Val in terms of specifically drums. I have never heard anyone blast as hard as Val does. Dance Gavin Dance for fucking sure is up there as well as Hail The Sun. I'm a sucker for that shit.

Who are some of your favorite artists in the San Diego music scene and who are some of your favorite bands outside of San Diego?

CS: In San Diego I am really into Letters To Catalonia, La Bella, Left Astray, Heritage Unit, Vessel, and Fuck White God. All over the world .gif from God, thecheeseburgerpicnic, Black Nail, Tweak, Coma Regalia, and Truman. There are honestly more but it would take me a while to list them out.

ES: The San Diego music scene is pretty small right now and I'm gonna have to say Letters to Catalonia. I don't even care that one of the members is in SYSC. That band fucking shreds and Jesse amazes me on guitar, Taylor shreds on drums, and Dom is fucking wild.

I've seen a lot of attention on SYSC on social media and, personally, I see Connie as a role model for queer youth. Does your identity have a presence in your art and music?

CS: With Rene Descartes it definitely influenced me a lot lyrically. For this band it comes into play differently, it definitely feels liberating to have a more femme influence in heavier music like this. Honestly sassing is the most rewarding and cathartic vocal style I have ever done.We also try to make sure our views are very prevalent when it comes to interacting with people who like our band. We really want to use our platform to speak out, raise awareness, and to make sure that people know what we are about. It also influences some of the more personal pieces (non-commissioned work) as I have.

ES: I have no identity and am invisible.

In regards to the sassiness that is prevalent in SYSC, how does it feel to be provocative on stage and showing more of your femme side?

CS: Oops, kinda addressed this with the other question, but to sum it up quickly it's fucking amazing and liberating.

ES: That's more for Connie. I have to focus on not fucking up the songs.

What are your favorite mediums for creating art and where do you draw your influences from?

CS: I really like working with multiple mediums in one piece to create more dynamic pieces, but I also am a fan of just sitting down with microns to do a heavy line work or stippling piece. In terms of artists, when I was younger I would draw influence from Ralph Steadman. Currently I don't really find myself drawing influence from existing pieces, but I am also extremely uneducated when it comes to art and artists haha.

ES: No comment

If I recall correctly, in past projects that you shared you weren't the percussionist, Ethan.

What is your live set up like? Do you think you've found a good fit as a percussionist?

ES: Nah, I have never played drums prior to this band. I was once again (like with Flowers Taped To Pens) thrown on an instrument that I had never played before, and yo this is the hardest most satisfying thing I've done in my life. I've been playing now for 8 months and its been really fun..... and hard. I've got a standard set up live. One ride, crash, hi hat, tom, floor tom, snare, and double bass pedal. I absolutely love it, this is definitely the instrument I will be sticking with for as long as I can tell.

Is there a formula for writing together that you two have developed over time? SYSC being a supergroup between your various projects and Letters to Catalonia, how is it to work with Jesse? How does Jesse's guitar work fit into the process with SYSC?

CS: Not really since there are shifting band members. You really have to just go into each band and figure out what works with that group of people. It's fantastic working with Jesse, This whole band is really great to work with Taylor and Timmy are some of the chillest and nicest people. It usually comes down to some us coming together to sit at a computer and demo out songs we write as a group.

ES: With me being a new drummer I have definitely not been writing my stuff quite yet. I leave that to Jesse who is also a fantastic drummer. Jesse is honestly so good at writing music. The work they have done in Letters to Catalonia and SYSC has been really tight. I'm just praying that Jesse takes it easy on the drums for the next album. But yo, Timmy and Taylor are fantastic musicians as well. This group of people is honestly so tight. Everyone is super talented and super sweet.

SYSC is a reference to Cowboy Bebop, correct? Are you both into anime? What are your personal favorites?

CS: Yep haha. I used to be very into anime but find myself having less and less time to pick up new shows. Some of my favs are Neon Genesis: Evangelion, Mirai Nikki, Akame Ga Kill, Serial Experiments Lain, Akira, and Perfect Blue.

ES: Neon Genesis. Princess Mononoke, and for my favorite rom-com, Toradora.

Does SYSC plan on touring in the future?

CS: We have a West Coast tour in July, and we are planning on getting together some tou

rs for 2018 as well.

ES: Def.

Can you give us a hint on when the full SYSC release will drop?

CS: I will just say sometime in June.

ES: I never know that kind of stuff. Connie does.

What was the most memorable show you two have played together?

CS: Definitely the last show Flowers Taped To Pens played before we went on hiatus and everyone moved away form each other. The show its self was good but right as we finished the set I looked over to see Ethan sobbing his eyes out over his amp. It was such a powerful moment for me because I hadn’t seen Ethan express so much emotion in such a powerful way and it really showed me that this music meant something to him and was truly a tool for catharsis.

ES: I try to block out all the FTTP shows because I can't consider myself even playing close to remotely well enough to consider myself a musician. I did cry at one show though. I was going through a tough time, I will always remember that. Maybe another one was a house show in Santa Rosa as Rene Descartes. Felt real screamo and dark and I felt good about my guitar playing at that point, somewhat.

What do ya gotta say to the haters?

CS: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ES: You are insignificant and worthless as I am. Lets drift into the void together.

*Edited by Gabe Page

An Interview With Nolan Arthur

1. What was your introduction to DIY and the extreme side of music?

Skateboarding was kind of the weapon that shot me into extreme music. I played a ton of Tony Hawk Pro Skater games growing up and there were always punk/metal bands in rotation. Then once I started buying skate videos, my favorite skaters had killer punk/metal tracks in their parts (I could list a bunch of them, but let's save that for another time haha) Also, observing and talking to other kids who were into punk/metal at the skatepark got me into bands. From there I kind of networked and found bands I liked. 

My introduction into DIY happened unknowingly for me. Everything that had to do with punk in Lansing was always DIY, so I just thought that's how all shows were done until I started going to shows at bars and small venues! I think it's funny looking back because I had no idea about DIY or anything like that. I was just interested in the music, not the politics.

2. Speaking about politics, you've done quite a bit for animal rights/environmental issues with both of your bands and your labels.  What is it about animal rights and protecting the environment that makes them both so important to you?

It'll take me days to explain my personal views regarding all the issues, so I'm going to summarize this the best I can. Humans, animals, and the environment are all interconnected. What each one of those things does, essentially effects the others. Sadly, it's us (humans) that do a majority of the damage. Since we did the damage, it's our responsibility to make things right. Sadly we don't always think that way when a majority of the human population participates in institutions/industries that wreak havoc by killing animals and pollute the environment. I personally believe in taking responsibility and try to do what's right for other species and the planet, whether that's living a vegan/eco-friendly lifestyle or informing people about these issues. These issues are important to me because I personally believe animals don't deserve to killed for food/clothing/entertainment, humans deserve to be free/have equal opportunities/not be oppressed because of who they are, and the environment in general is important needs preservation because without the Earth we're essentially dead. I'm a "tree hugger" at heart basically.

3. With politically charged music, do you think the music should take precedence or the message?

That's a good question. For me, I've found myself super jaded with music and my personal beliefs and politics have nothing to do with music or whatever subculture I'm grouped into. If I find a band that has something to say that I can get behind, there's more of a chance I'll give them an honest listen, regardless of genre or talent. If the artists/musicians actively participate in the movements behind their messages, that's a big bonus to me. That'll make me more interested in their music for sure. I believe if you're playing politically charged music, the message is more important. If you're a competent musician, that's even better!

4. When did you transition from going to shows and watching bands to putting on shows and playing in bands? What sparked the transition?

I think the transition happened when I was 16/17. I was able to drive and be involved with scenes, so from there I wanted to play in bands and book shows. When you're that age it's an exciting time. Everything is new and you find other people who are just like you and that jump starts some sort of passion for music and the culture that surrounds it.

5. Did you get into the more extreme genres such as" sass, grind, etc. right away or was that later on?

hahaha well, sass grind didn't exist until me and The Cambodian Homies coined it a few years ago. In all seriousness, After I dove into punk/metal when I was 13/14 that was when the extreme music was the goal. I was always looking for the fastest/heaviest/most pissed off music whether it was in the realm of punk or metal. I'm still that way today with death metal and tech grind. As for flamboyant grindcore bands, they were so accessible and integrated into large functions of music that they were everywhere. The Locust, Daughters, The #12, See You Next Tuesday were all household names when I was younger. That was a cool genre for a few years and then it died.

6. How do you feel about the recent resurgence of sass and sass influenced bands? Are you happy that the torch is being passed on or are you worried that the genre will become watered down and derivative?

It'll never be what it was back then, but it's alright. It sounds like The Cambodian Heat influenced a few of them, so that's cool. Like I enjoyed that style of music when I was younger and rehashing that style 10 years later with some friends was cool, but overall I have no opinion on where it's going. I'm not really concerned with it, you know? It's music. It'll do it's own thing.

7. Since you mentioned it, let's talk about The Cambodian Heat. Why after ten years did you and your friends decide to break out the white belts?

TCH never really set out to be anything specifically. My buddy Tim and I wanted to start a band and incorporate all our favorite genres, kind of like what the #12 did by taking influence from hardcore, melodic death metal, and grindcore, then mixing them together. If you go back and listen to the first demo, that's what we did. Then I made a line up change and asked Dylan Houpt (Anne Hero/The Lords Winning Team, now Gas Up Yr Hearse) to drum for TCH, then we did another demo that was much more chaotic/heavy, what the kids call whitebelt! Then we got Rod in the mix and the line up was solidified. In true whitebelt fashion, we had a short lived relationship with that sound and don't really have that kind of sound anymore.

8. Do you care to elaborate on the new direction and what pushed y'all in that direction?

Honestly, I became bored with the style and I started growing in a different direction musically. For me, I was also over the scene we were involved with. I wasn't listening to screamo or "whitebelt" music anymore and I separated myself from the people in that scene and I ended up being much happier. I was listening to more classic grind bands like Carcass, Napalm Death, and Assuck, then one day it hit me... Fuck whitebelt, let's just play some straight up grind and Rod was on board. Then we released our latest demo in the Fall of 16.

9. What was your reasoning behind starting Off Cloud Nine?

I wanted to to release older bands who had great releases, but never found their way onto vinyl and release my music and other bands I thought were cool.

10. Off Cloud Nine ended in 2016 and was followed by your new cassette label, Coercion Cassettes. Why did you decide to discontinue Off Cloud Nine and start a whole new label?

Like I mentioned early, I just wasn't into the music Off Cloud Nine was known for anymore. I was burned out on that scene and not listening to screamo anymore. I wanted to release music I was actually into and do fun/small releases, no huge commitments, so I started Coercion Cassettes while running OCN at the same time. I had plans to just run them both at the same time, but then a situation occurred that I nobody could or would be ready for. My mother passed away, then I realized I wouldn't have time to dedicate to both labels, so I ended OCN and continued on with Coercion.

11. Do you have anything interesting in the works that you would like to announce or discuss?

The Cambodian Heat will be playing Harshfest in Detroit this summer. We could be recording an actual EP as well. I'm trying to release more music under Bring Our Demise and do some spoken word/musical performances (similar to how I did them when I was playing music as The Truth About Dreaming). I'll be releasing more killer hardcore through Coercion Cassettes as well.

Coercion Cassettes: Bandcamp - Storenvy
Off Cloud Nine: Bandcamp - Storenvy
The Cambodian Heat
The Truth About Dreaming
Bring Our Demise

*Edited by Haley

An Interview With Adis of Ape Not Kill Ape

I was first made aware of Ape Not Kill Ape by my interview with An Atomic Whirl when they listed them as one of their favorite bands, and later when Val from Sojii shared them with me. I was first enticed by the lo-fi quality of their early recordings and their take on the noisy and artsy side of punk. The music had all of the emotion and anger of punk, but more variety, depth, and talent than most of the bands I've been listening to since starting this blog. But what really caught my attention, was the lyricism and manic delivery of frontman Adis Kaltak. After they dropped "Bushman", the first full length by the band, I was determined to find out what makes this band, and Adis, work.

1. What were the beginnings of ANKA and what inspired your unique and moody sound? It started for me around may of 2014. I started with jamming with people from college and I ended up playing some spoken word "songs" that I had written around that time. I enjoyed working with other people so I started looking for people to start a band with. ANKA went through several different lineups but the current one is definitely the most actualized form of the band. Inspiration is a tougher idea to pinpoint. For me personally, words have always thrilled me. Listening to Gil Scott Heron, Burroughs, & Nick Cave have opened me to some new ideas when it comes to sound. I just like to imagine it as human honesty across multiple mediums that work together. 2. Personally, I hear a lot of desolate and bleak undertones in a lot of ANKA's songs, both lyrically and instrumentally. Michigan is known for its harsh winters and post industrial landscape. Do you think living in Grand Rapids and being exposed to that sort of environment has influenced you as an artist? Somewhat I'm sure. I like to think that the person makes the environment. In some situations more than others. I just wanted to create the antithesis to the music that I was exposed to in GR & a healthy amount of music made by new bands. I don't know if we succeeded but the fact that we get to work together so much creates our own haven in this city.

3. Ya'll recently released your first full length: "Bushman" and three of the tracks: "Warm Dream/Warm Death", "My Own Hell", and "Into Dust", are singles that date back to 2014 and 2015. Is it safe to say that this album has been a long time in the making? What was the reasoning for including these older songs and how have things changed since you wrote them? Yeah we've been working on some of these songs for three years. It's mostly technical shit when it comes to why it took three years to release. We couldn't find a studio with someone that we trust mostly; there's a mixtape floating around America with 7 tracks that I recorded in my garage and room. That was supposed to be the album. At the end of it, we couldn't truly capture our sound until we met Tommy from Goon Lagoon. Each of the songs have their own respective beauty but we didn't really feel like they were "done" until we ended up recording at Goon Lagoon. "Warm Dream" has a more doomy theme now than the VU-like version that we had before. "Into Dust" has always been the same, Cam added a wonderful melody on the album version that wasn't on previous versions. "In My Own Hell" has more confidence in its suffering, not so pitiful, like the first version. 4. What made y'all decide that Goon Lagoon was the studio for you? Once you got in the studio, how was your experience there and how long did it take to complete the album? We loved the records that came out of there and Tommy was such a charmer. I don't know how anyone could say no to him. He knew the sound that we were going for & he didn't interfere most importantly. It took about three days to record and overdub everything. We knew the material so well at that point. 5. When it comes to writing material for ANKA, what is the band dynamic? How do you know when a song is "finished"? One of us just show up with a guitar line or bass riff and it just snowballs from there. It's finished when we make eye contact at the end of the song and we begin communicating telepathically.

6. ANKA did a Daytrotter session back in February. How did it feel to be asked to preform and record in a space where so many other amazing and influential artists have preformed? It's a nice studio with some great gear, but other than that it was a pretty straightforward experience. Drive five hours, play for two, eat Mexican food and drive back home. 7. You performed two new songs off of an upcoming album there. Can you tell us a bit about those songs and the direction the new album will be taking? "Project Diana" & "The Hunter" Cam came up with the bass line for "Project Diana" and "The Hunter" just emerged from a jam we had. I'm just providing vocals for those two thus far. As for direction, we just end up going where we feel is right. We're one unit now, we have our first album & we're ready to file the songs from Bushman as done & push into fresh territory. 8. Along with Daytrotter, you did some work with Orange Cap Pictures. How did this collaboration come about? I knew Andy from working with him on some Hailey & The Black Trash music videos. I loved his style, showed him our music & told him that we should work together once our album is done. He has three more videos for "Wilson", "Into Dust" & "Graveyard Dog". Those will be released every couple of weeks for the next few months. A video for every song.

9. I think the video for "Cops Kill" was very interesting and executed well. Where was this filmed at and who lead the artistic direction of this video? The opening spoken word is also very engaging. What was the inspiration and meaning behind this and more specifically, what did the lines "Where the retarded dogs chew on dreams, non truths, and bite at love. Aloof multicellular organisms with mutilated ideas for peace on earth," mean to you? It was juxtaposition between Goon Lagoon & our basement/house that Andy came up with. He wanted a spoken word thing to open it so I just sent him that old recording of me reciting that poem. It's mostly about child prostitution and how Grand Rapids is the USA's human trafficking capital, especially when artprize and these bigger events get going. It's to bring children in for these rich elites to sodomize and fill some bottomless pit of power. 10. When you write something like that poem with a very important and meaningful message, do you set out with the intention of spreading that message through your art or is your art just a vehicle for expressing the different thoughts and opinions you have? It's only for me to truly understand at the end of it. I enjoy the ideas that people explore through our art though. I don't really have a mission statement or a manifesto so to say. It's all human experience and I feel like it's relatable to most people.

11. "Wilson", the second track off of "Bushman", tells the tale of a disgruntled cashier with the power of magical cum. You represent some very real and everyday issues such as being overworked and under appreciated with lines like "Hoping his shit boss won't inject him with the rusty needle known as over time" and "Thanks boss; I respect every bone in your slug like being," but off set it with some more "comical" lyrical choices like, "He grabs his cock like a mother holding her child's hand across the street" and "But as he grabs the One Direction disk he busts his load." Was this choice to include some black comedy into to the song intentional and what inspired these lyrics? Also what the hell is the meaning behind this track? Hahaha, I wrote it while working as a cashier actually. I got a random boner while working one day and naturally I felt pretty weird about it. I started thinking of the various ways we're sexually repressed in society while at the same time we are subconsciously stimulated with sexuality everywhere we go. I began to imagine a "superhero" who is not bound by these rules of society, & that's how Wilson was born. The humor came (ha) partly from the way I was raised, Slavs have a very funny way of dealing with life's darkest issues so it came quite naturally. 12. This dynamic artists have between our work and our art is a strange one to say the least. What effect do you think being a working class musician has had on your art? Do you think that if you were still an artist, but never had to work, your art world be drastically different? Well if it wasn't for work I would have never met our drummer, Allen. I think shitty jobs/work are the backbone of honest art. Once that is gone I'm not sure how the medium will remain, in my case. It'll be different for sure, but maybe it's for the best. Nothing remains still, I hope we always surprise our audience. 13. "Risky" stands out on the record with its frequent build ups and driving instrumentation. The instruments build a creepy undertone for your vocals to haunt over. Lyrically, it sounds like you are playing with the themes of sexual repression in a sexual world and the danger women and children face in GR that you previously explored with "Wilson" and the poem before "Cops Kill". "Her sickness is showing/Over & over/She peers over shoulders /I wanna be free/God, hold me closer/Risky move, for a safe lady..." Where did this idea originate and what were you trying to express? I was driving around town with Mike, this guy who played guitar with us before Cam joined. This lady ran a red light so I said "risky move" which he replied "for a safe lady" I thought it was brilliant so I wrote it down and the lyrics just trickled down from that phrase.

The idea is about taking risks, playing with danger while trying to stay safe a the same time. A grand oxymoron. The idea I suppose was to create this eerie, sexual character that moved like the wind. She has supreme love for her powers but was living a lie "white girl in a white home...etc" so she broke through and made that "risky move"

14. Another song that was made into a video by Orange Cap Pictures was "Chain Gang Depression". I particularity enjoy the lyrics, "But here I am/Grasp the pickaxe & slam it down/With the force of everything you have ever loved/and I love the chain gang depression" and how you end it with building up "You think you're special?" Until you're screaming. Tell me about the story on this one and the story behind it. Another one I wrote at work. That cashier job provided me with quite a bit of down time. I just wrote it down as a poem at first, there were no plans to turn it into a song. I didn't think it would work as one. I just wanted something to wrap up my life so to say. I tried to keep it pretty vague, there's something quite misfortunate when it comes to dead on, personal lyrics I think. My family and I went through some interesting stuff you could say, coming here as refugees from a genocide. Like I mentioned earlier; I stray from writing about forward personal things in life. So this really put me in a strange place when performing it initially. Brett brought forward the melody and it was over right after that. I feel in love with it, it grooved right. I'm glad that something so personal can be absorbed by the people that listen to it and bring it up to their own light.

Also even though I slit my mother throat in the song we still cool in real life. People always seem to ask me about what my mom thinks about the song or why I wrote about killing her. Both of my parents are extremely supportive.

15.You mentioned that you came to the US as refugees from genocide. How old were you and where did you immigrate from? I was about 2 years old. So not really conscious of what was going on. We were staying in Slovenia, both of my parents were stationed there after being involved with the national army. We were by modern national identity "Bosnian Muslims" so there was no home to go to. We knew some people here in Chicago so we moved there & moved to Grand Rapids in 96'. Life wasn't so easy for us in Chicago & it was easier to find steady work here. 16. I'm sure this has affected your thoughts and opinions on American politics and culture quite a bit. On one hand, America was the country that "saved" you so to speak but on the other, it's a country rife with violent racial history and a more recent distrust for refugees and people related in any way to Islam. How did growing up as an immigrant in America mold you as a person and as an artist? What are your thoughts on the current state of American politics and attitude towards "outsiders"? I love this country, I'm glad that I was raised inside of it & got to experience the phenomena directly. But as a child there was always this separation between Bosnian Americans and Americans. I was living in two different cultural worlds. At home, it might as well been Bosnia. Yugoslav music was always playing in the living room. We spoke Serbo-Croatian at home; but as soon as I stepped out of my home I was in AMERICA. It must have taught me to create another dimension, so I could enjoy my existence within. I was always creating as a child, as well as living in fictional worlds. Video games, books, whatever I could find. I think without that experience it would have been impossible for me to find an honest medium for me to explode all of those yummy inner feelings into. I hate it currently, I always hated politics. It sucked in Europe and it sucks in America. The world is fucked and the most beautiful thing we can do is dance in the chaos

Bandcamp: https://apenotkillape1.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apenotkillape1/

Daytrotter: http://www.daytrotter.com/ape-not-kill-ape/horseshack-february-26-2017.html "Bushman" Album Review: http://snufffilmcollective.blogspot.com/2017/04/bushman-anka-album-review.html Edited by Haley Sczcepanski

An Interview With Yowie

Yowie is music to lose your mind to… or dance to… whichever you prefer. Far from your average extreme band, Yowie have put a lot of work into distancing themselves from the more conventional strands of extreme music. Their odd time signatures and complex rhythms push the boundaries of what can even be considered music, and their talent seemingly knows no bounds. When not outwardly defying straightforward categorization, Yowie nevertheless pushes themselves to do things most bands simply aren’t capable of accomplishing. Endlessly restless, they are never satisfied with the product they produce. Their desire to grow as a band shows in the improvements they have made with each album. Most admirably, all this pushing and prodding to create something terrifyingly complex and original is for no one’s benefit but their own. They are not out for recognition or success. They just want to make music that doesn’t bore them.

1. It's not uncommon to see bands last just a few years, but Yowie has managed to last almost two decades. What do you think is the glue that has kept the band together? Stubbornness. What we are doing takes more commitment than a lot of bands have- we constantly push ourselves to play things that are really counterintuitive, and that means we are always challenged, and so that stays rewarding. We are never bored. 2. What sparked your interest in extreme music? Why did you decide to push the limits of "extreme music" even further? I've always liked art that had some form of extremity. I liked punk and metal for a long time, and still do, when it's done well. I remember one time I went to this thing called Milwaukee Metalfest. It was some crazy number of bands, mostly death metal with some grindcore and thrash thrown in- started at like 9 a.m. and went until 2 a.m., I think. 2 stages- so someone was always playing. And at about hour 14 of that, I really came to realize that these cats were fast as hell, and brutal, but it can really turn into a type of folk music with very strict songwriting conventions. Even extreme music can get pretty predictable, and therefore, not all that extreme. So I started messing around with other compositional approaches that forced other boundaries to be crossed. A lot of the time, the listener doesn't even know what those boundaries are. It's just different in an indescribable way. If you're intrigued by that, you're our kind of person. If you wince and just notice how different, and therefore bad, it sounds, then move on. Nothing for you here. 3. Yowie has an almost written rule to throw all conventional music standards out the window. What is your definition of music? Hmmmm. Well if you mean what is our definition of our music, then we really basically started out as being a type of protest music, I think. Most rock based music, in particular, is pretty formulaic. There may be differences between genres, but within them, you can pretty quickly start to decipher what the norms are, and to me, I always found that conformity boring. I tend toward art that challenges, surprises, and evokes strong reactions. So at first, we basically tried to hermeneutically decipher the various rock rules that appeared to be in effect, and then adamantly refused to follow them. As time went on, our particular way of doing that turned into a sound and style that is, I think, and hope, distinctive.

4. What place do you think extreme music has in our society? Trends shift and change with the years, so do you think extreme music will ever hold a more "mainstream" position in society? Well if it becomes mainstream, then it needs to change. I think extreme art- in any modality- is an absolute necessity for any society. We need to question our assumptions, find the areas of our lives where we have become complacent or too comfortable, and then at the very least, have those challenged by art. If we don't, we stagnate. If one day, constantly shifting odd meter polymetric dissonant rock is the norm, well that will surprise me. If my music is being played in Taco Bells in 2030, then I have failed. 5. You discussed in a previous interview that your songs are a product of intense deliberation and time. How long does it typically take to finish a song and how do you decide when it is complete? It's tough to nail down specific time frames. Like in the 5 years or so working on this album (with 5 songs on it), we had a lot happen- some medical issues, financial issues, a guitarist lost a finger- there were multiple hospitalizations and all kinds of crap happening. And the songs don't usually happen in one burst. We oftentimes will work on something for a few months straight, get frustrated with it, and then set it aside work on a different one for a while. We had about a year of recording prep for this album. So once the compositions were complete, it took quite a while to get them flowing well enough that we could say we can sit and play them relatively flawlessly as a group in the studio. We usually decide it is complete when no one is complaining about any of the transitions or the flow anymore. There are different thresholds for each of us on that. I am confident the band would agree I have the highest, and Jeremiah has the lowest. 6. What fuels this, almost obsessive, passion for perfection? It's not that we are obsessive people; it's not our character. The music itself demands it, which is a hard thing to understand, I think. We are playing music that, for large chunks anyway, is either played flawlessly or it is garbage. That is not a product of a perfectionistic personality; it is a necessary ingredient in this style. So if you're in a blues band, or a punk band, and you come in a beat early on a measure, or you play the chorus a little too fast, you just catch back up and course correct. It's not a huge problem. The concept of the song remains intact. Someone dropped an E and no one notices or cares. It's still like 95% correct and still sounds like a punk song and everyone recognizes it for continuing to be that same punk song, because honestly, you sort of know how it is supposed to go even if you've never heard it before. But if you are playing a piece of music whose very essence is defined by the interplay of 5 different rhythms happening simultaneously, which creates this massive whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts, you are doing something different. If one of them is just slightly off, you are not at 95% correct and the part still holds together; you instead have an incoherent pile of garbage. There is very little tolerance for error in this music if the idea is going to get effectively conveyed. We have a lot of sections like that, where a slight fumble creates a wholesale structural collapse, and there is no redeeming it. It's horrifying when it happens. You know when that note gets dropped, there is no way it's getting picked back up- you just have to be ashamed. So it's different in some ways than traditional rock music. You don't look at a skyscraper and say "well one of those girders is 2% off plumb, but who cares- it's still a building." And you don't tell the engineer who insists it is corrected (s)he should chill and quit being a perfectionist. You thank that person because 2% off is a complete failure in this instance. It's not "close enough," and 98% building. It's a pile of rubble that has made a lot of money and energy lost.

7. With multiple years in between releases, do you ever struggle with changing tastes or interests?

Not really; Yowie is its own thing, and so no matter what else we may be into, it occupies its own space in our minds. We did change our approach a bit on this album, but even with a new guitarist, it is still unmistakably Yowie. 8. To say Yowie is unique is an understatement. Where do you find inspiration? I think each of us finds it in pushing boundaries. Just about everything we write, we can't play at first. We have to force ourselves to expand our abilities, to be more and more ambitious. For me, I seethe with a lot of rage about a lot of horrifying things I see happening in our society, and being able to separate from that and play very intellectually and technically challenging stuff seems to help balance things out. 9. For all the gear nerds out there, myself included, what are your setups and how has it evolved over the years? Do you feel that your rigs are crucial to your sound? We may be the least gear oriented band you have ever talked to; no, I really don't think the rigs are crucial. Chris plays through a nondescript amp. Jeremiah has an ampeg, although his guitar is sort of weird- it is a custom guitar someone just made for him because they liked our music. And it is strung/tuned rather uniquely. For me, I did get an acrylic set to record this album, because on past albums the clarity on my toms was sort of lacking, and when you can't hear a good chunk of what these interlocking rhythms are doing, well then you aren't really hearing the song at all. So I guess that sort of counts. I want all the drums I am playing to be audible, which seems like a no brainer but it is actually a bigger pain in the ass than you might think with music as dense as this. 10. Was the decision to be an instrumental band conscious? 

Well our music is typically pretty thick, and so I can't really imagine another player of any sort doing yet another layer on top of this without it turning into a mess. And honestly, if somehow there were vocals, comprised of words, I would feel like it would take away from the music. The band doesn't need vocals, in my opinion. It's got plenty going on. I can't imagine someone singing along to one of our songs. What words would they pick? There was some guy who kept writing us, insisting he was going to win us over and be the ultimate vocalist for us. Eventually we told him to knock himself out and send us a recording. Never happened. I assume he tried and gave up.

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Yowie-351414864229/

Bandcamp:

https://yowie.bandcamp.com/ Thank you to Haley for editing this and to Mark for rewriting the into paragraphs. Y'all save my illiterate ass.

An Interview With Remo Drive

Album art for "Greatest Hits"

One of the more "up beat" acts from Minnesota, Remo Drive, has taken great care to craft their signature brand of emo tinged pop punk into something they can all be proud of. Their newest album, "Greatest Hit's", boasts refined rhythms and tasty jams under Erik's well honed vocal skills. Lyrically, I think it's more "mature" than their past songs with songs like "I'm My Own Doctor" and "Yer Killin Me" deploying clever lines and tongue-in-cheek metaphors to convey a deeper and more serious meaning. "Name Brand" stands out to me with the lines "I piss away my money on this bourgeoisie coffee/I am a child who needs pleasing/Pacifier lost my mouth I’m screaming".

Instrumentally, they aren't breaking any boundaries, but that's not the point. Sam and Stephens rhythms perfectly complement each song while Erik's leads and hooks find the right times to shine. I don't think one member stands out more than another and that's one of my favorite things about this album. It stands as a cohesive work between talented musicians that have learned how best to work with each other to the benefit of the individual song. 

Overall, this record is the result of years of tweaking and learning what works best for the band and their creative process. They've come along way from their early days and this album is a testament to that journey. 

Photo Credit to @Trevor Sweeney Media

1. This is a run of the mill question, but one I feel should be asked. How did the band begin and what have you learned since you started? If you could go back and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

Erik: We began in the later part of 2013 after Stephen and I's first band had just broken up. There was a bit of a DIY pop punk/ Emo scene going on in Minneapolis so we tried to hop on some shows within that. Since then a lot has happened. If there was one thing I could tell myself, it would be "its okay to try new ideas". For a long time we tried to go about the band in a very straightforward way. I think once we started thinking about things in our own way it started to click a lot more.

2. Y'all have come a long way since the first time I saw you play in St. Louis. Erik, you where only 18 and Sam was still finishing up high school. Steven couldn't even legally drink yet. How does it feel to come so far, in terms of popularity and recognition, in such a short time and at such a young age?

Erik: It's really great to be picking up all this steam lately! We've been going at this for 4 years so it's cool to see such a great reception. We put a lot of time into this new batch of songs so it feels particularly good to see such a positive response!

3. While we're on the topic of your relatively young ages, what was your parents reception to you playing shows and going on tour while in school? Were they supportive from the start or did it take some persuading to get them to go along with it?

Erik: It took some persuading but after the first couple of weekenders they were down!

Photo by Snuff Film Collective

4. With 5 or 6 tours completed you have a taste for life on the road. How is the DIY community in Minneapolis compared to the places you've visited on tour? Whats your favorite thing about going on tour?

Erik: Minneapolis is a very interesting place. There's plenty of great bands and I'm sure we don't even know a fraction of them. There's so much culture here. In the DIY community the vibe is kinda the same everywhere (for better or for worse). It's cool seeing how the cities themselves vary! We've come to love a lot of places we would have never been able to visit otherwise.

5. You've released several videos recently, Art School, Yer Killin' Me, Eat Shit, and Crash Test Rating. What was your favorite one to work on? How has the feedback been since releasing them?

Erik: I liked working on them all! Yer Killin Me has done the best which makes me happy because it was so spontaneous. Art School is another favorite because of how visually pleasing it is. The feedback has gone above and beyond any of our expectations!

6. I saw where The Needle Drop shared your video for "Yer Killin Me". How did it feel to have "the Internets busiest music critic" take the time out to show some love for your music?

Erik: It felt amazing, I've been a viewer of his for 5 or so years so it was surreal to hear him singing some of our words on camera

Screen Cap from "Yr Killin Me"

7. Art School in particular was very unique and seemed like one hell of a good time to shoot. It also has been the most "technical" video you've done so far with the choreography and amount of props used. Where did the idea for this come from and what was it like to shoot this as compared to your other videos?

Sam: The idea came from us wanting to do some sort of dance video for a song. We thought Art School was a fun, upbeat song, so we decided to use the idea for that song. Then from there, I thought it would be fun to collaborate with people from my high school, since I went to a performing arts school. So I reached out to John Mark who was a dance teacher at my school and my show choir teacher, and talked to him about getting dancers and doing a video together. From there, John Mark really did all of the work with coming up with all the ideas and details with shots, he choreographed everything, and got all of the dancers, extras, and crew together to make what was a small idea into an amazing production and video. He did such an amazing job with everything and we'd love to work with him again in the future.

8. Erik mentioned on a Facebook post that you guys took your EP's off of the internet because "We were never completely satisfied with our performances on those songs and they feel like us trying to sound like other bands..." Do you feel like you have found "your sound" with Greatest Hits, or do you still feel there is room to hone and improve your art? How was the writing process compared to previous releases?

Erik: I think there will always be room for improvement but this is the first release of ours that feels true to who we really are. As far as writing process goes, I made the bricks and Sam/ Stephen built the house. I would typically come to practice with some ideas, we'd play through them and pick out which ones we liked enough to work on. From there on Sam and I would mold the songs into their respective arrangements. Stephen then came in and figured out bass parts and acted as the last wall of defense. Overall this was our most collaborative effort.

Photographer @brettballachino

9. When it comes to the song writing, what comes first, the lyrics or the instrumentation?

Erik: Always instrumentation! Sometimes I have an idea of what I'd like to write a song about but usually I cant write lyrics until there is something to write to.

10. Production wise, Greatest Hit's is your best sounding record yet. I'd go as far as to say it's one of the the best sounding records I've heard yet this year. I understand Erik has recorded Demo 2014 and Christmas Tune, along with Greatest Hits. How did the approach to recording Greatest Hits differ from your previous releases? What have you learned about recording that might be helpful to other people going the DIY route?

Erik: Previously we had worked with Andy Mathison who is very talented, we just wanted to have unlimited recording time for this record. I think the real kicker when it came to Greatest Hits sounding better was Jack Shirley's mixing and mastering. If you wanna record your own stuff, you gotta be your own producer. You are the only one there to make sure you give passionate takes. That's probably the trickiest part haha
11. Talking about DIY again, what does being a DIY band mean to you? Is there anything you think should change about the community?
I like to think of us an independent band. DIY is really cool but DIY feels really exclusive. Whenever there's a large community of people there are going to be bands that are favorites and ones that aren't. We have been in the latter until very recently.
12. Now that greatest hit's has been released, what are you plans for the immediate future? Where do you hope to see the band in a few years?
We are just rolling with what comes to us! I'd like to see us touring more regularly and hopefully having another record under our belt!

Photo Credit @Trevor Sweeney Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RemoDrive/

Bandcamp: https://remodrive.bandcamp.com/