Hey Alex! Nah, we don't write anything, we just start recording and see what happens, and we try to avoid anything that sounds like an actual riff. We try to keep our shit as primitive as we can!
First of all, I'd like to point out the fact that, despite being a young band, you've started to record your first album. Looks like you didn't want to delay the full-size release and rather to save some energy on splits, am I right?
We were surprised when we got the LP offer. We definitely weren't seeking it out, and it even sounded like it might be a terrible idea at first. It would be really easy for a 33 minute album of bass + drums noisegrind shit to get monotonous and boring, so Jake came up with the idea that, as we were recording, we'd stop every few minutes to manipulate the bass and drum sounds for some variation, and we also had friends from other bands do guest vocals to keep it from getting too "same-y." We want to keep the vibe disorienting and off-kilter, so that its not a situation where, after five minutes into the album, you've already heard it all.
As I see it, the Reeking Cross is more like an off-site project. Since you all reside in different countries and cities. How does it affect the band? How do you arrange rehearsals - in-person, virtually, .. ?
We rehearse via holograms. Expensive, but worth it to not have to smell Paul! Actually, Jake & I live just a few minutes apart. Paul/WADGE lives in Canada, but he's taking a break right now to concentrate on other shit, so Jake and I are doing vocals, along with Kevin from TRIAC and a bunch of other guest vocalists to try and keep things interesting. We don't rehearse, so it's not an issue anyway. We miss Tikilord Paulo, though - hopefully he'll come back to us eventually!
Mason, you've been playing in different bands for more than a decade. Tell us more about the bands you and other RC members used to play in.
Jake plays drums in TRIAC, an excellent grind band from Baltimore. You should definitely check them out! He also does JESUS OF NAZARETH, which is difficult to describe, but he has two CDs out and several comp tracks.
Some of my own former projects/bands were BLOWER, ENEMY SOIL, AUTOEROTICHRIST, LYSERGIC RITES OF SADOPRIEST, SHIT ON COMMAND, EXPLODING METH LAB, and THE INDEX, which is how I met Jake. Hard to believe that was about 17 years ago - he was only 16 years old at the time! He's a fucking incredible drummer and I'm psyched that we're getting to make noisy shit together after so many years.
I’m very curious why did you decide to play noise grind? What exactly do you find appealing in all this noise? What inspires you now? Do you have any influences that led you to now?
Jake & I had talked about just doing a raw, primitive noisegrind project literally for years now - if I wasn't so goddamn lazy, we probably would've started this a long time ago. The idea stemmed from listening to bands like ARSEDESTROYER, SEVEN MINUTES OF NAUSEA, DxIxEx, BIZARRE X, NECROSE, VIOLENT NOISE ATTACK, TUMOR, GBN, SUPPRESSION, AUNT MARY, GENITAL MASTICATOR, INDUSTRIAL HOLOCAUST, and RABIA, as well as filthy grind/death mutations such as BLOOD, NUCLEAR DEATH, SPLATTEREAH, ZOMBIFIED PREACHERS OF GORE, old XYSMA, PAINEATER, IMPETIGO, etc!
I’ve always wondered how you do the recording. Do each of you put the recording individually and then merge it all together? Or possibly get together, have a beer and then go to the studio?
Kevin from TRIAC has a great studio space in Baltimore. Jake and I go and record our shit together, typically we do a couple hours at a time, then we take it home and figure out what we can use and what is total garbage, then I write lyrics and send the shit to guest vocalists, or we do them ourselves.
How about the live show? Any plans to do live shows?
We weren't planning on doing any shows, but recently a chance came along to play with SEDEM MINUT STRACHU in September in D.C. We just did a split tape with 7M$ on Grindfather Productions, so we had to say yes to getting to play and hang out with those guys! We've been talking to Rado about possibly trying to do a short tour in Eastern Europe together next year, hopefully that'll happen. He's a great guy and has been very supportive of our filth!
What is the biggest challenge currently facing your band?
I enjoy writing the lyrics for RC, and I'm very influenced by bands like NUCLEAR DEATH and RUDIMENTARY PENI where the lyrics and artwork are almost as vital to the band's vibe as the actual music, but when you have 93 songs on an LP to write lyrics for, it's difficult to come up with that much material without over-using certain words, imagery and ideas. I realize that a lot of people who listen to us probably don't give a shit about our lyrics and will never read them, but its important to me that they express something. Otherwise, this is the easiest band you could possibly imagine being in. Jake and I are pretty much always on the same page, it's always fun and no bullshit involved!
First RC release was a self-release. You just couldn't be bothered finding the label or what? Are there gonna be another releases by your own hands?
The original idea for Reeking Cross was just to release a few tapes by ourselves, totally DIY, no labels. I remember how awesome it was when I first started playing in bands to go through that whole process of recording shit, coming up with the artwork, designing and cutting out the J-cards, sending tapes out to friends and to distros... I wanted to experience that again, one last time. I wanted to do the artwork, write lyrics, dub a shitload tapes and all that, instead of sending a WAV file off to some label where someone you barely know will decide how it ultimately looks and sounds, and maybe your record comes out a year later or whatever, and you don't really have any say in how it's presented. I've had that experience a few times and it can be weird and impersonal. It's sort of antithetical to what I liked about punk and grindcore in the first place. What I didn't realize is that international shipping is fucking absurdly expensive these days - I mean, my first trip to the post office to send the "Cloaked in Vermin" tapes off was definitely eye-opening... I dropped $330 just sending out tapes internationally. For just one of those packages alone, it was literally $65 to send 10 fuckin' tapes to Japan! I was totally ignorant and had no idea how expensive that shit was gonna turn out to be. I ended up losing so much money just sending that tape and our first batch of shirts around internationally that it was time to rethink the plan. I'm still really glad we did it ourselves, it was fun, I just wish I'd done a better job of planning things out. Luckily, we started getting offers for releases, and a few of them actually came from friends and acquaintances that we know and trust, so it seemed like a good idea. Jacek from GRINDFATHER is great, and we're lucky to work with him. I'm putting out a 4-way split tape this summer, but I'm probably done releasing anything for awhile after that.
A couple more questions regarding your future plans...Rumor has it that there's gonna be a split with Deboned. Is it true? Is there anything special planned as well?
Yeah, Alex from DEBONED set that up, we're excited about it - it'll be a split 12" on Bringer of Gore Records. It sounds like it'll be at least 2017 before that happens, though. Those DEBONED guys stay busy! We're also really excited do to a split tape with SENSORY DEPRIVATION, which is killer WARSORE-like grind from the SOIL OF IGNORANCE guys, who are great, too. I think GRINDFATHER is putting that one out, too. Right now, we're about to release that 4-way-split tape with NAPALM DEATH IS DEAD, CAPTAIN THREE LEG and KUSARI GAMA KILL. We have a bunch of awesome guest vocals on that - Jason/SUPPRESSION, Jean/SOIL OF IGNORANCE, Manuel from GENITAL MASTICATOR/ENERGUMENO, and several more. And then we have the full LP coming up later this year.
And what's the character printed on your new shirt? Is it a reference to the Street Trash movie?)
Yeah, Jake came up with that one, it's an image from STREET TRASH. Don't drink the Viper!
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to interview with me. I really appreciate it! Any last words from you?)
Thanks for the interview and for the support, Alex!!!
