Psycroptic
Wywiad przeprowadził Andrzej Papież
Psycroptic comes from Tasmania. It`s unusual death metal band mixing pure sound sickness with amazing technical parts. Some of you might know them, since Psycroptic released their second outfit "The scepter of the ancients" on Unique leader records. I talked with David Haley, band`s drummer. Enjoy sickos and support Tasmanian devils!!Hi! You guys just have finished Australian tour with Deeds of flesh... How did you like it?
"The tour with Deeds of flesh was killer! They are an amazing band, and great people, so it was an excellent tour for us. I hope we can tour with them in the future, because they have become great friends."
How did Deeds of flesh members like your world region? Wasn`t it a little bit strange place for them? They`re from America, you know ;-)
"Well, most of the cities in Australia just look like cities from anywhere else around the world - heaps of big buildings, and lots of people. Since it was such a tight touring schedual, they didn`t get to see much of the country side, but they did see a kangaroo, so they were happy (haha). They said they had a great time, and Erik said he wanted to bring his wife out overhere for a holiday next year."
Do you have many opportunities to play in your region? I`m not so familiar with your (Tasmanian) scene but... are there any other metal bands except yours?
"We do have opportunities to play, but only if we organise the show ourselves...which has its good and bad points. But, yeah, at least we can play shows in our own state. There is quite a good scene down here, with bands such as Intense Hammer Rage, Ruins and Born Headless just to name a couple. The scene is good and we`re all good friends."
You released your both albums by yourselves first... What was so interesting in Psycroptic music that made Unique leader boss to sign a deal with you? Do you know?
"Erik (Unique Leader) said that Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession were 2 of his favourite bands in the past couple of years, so I guess its safe to say that`s why he signed us. He emailed us as soon as he recieved the promo and asked if we wanted to sign. After a couple of emails back and forth it was done, and we became part of the Unique Leader family... which we are very happy to be a part of. The label has some of my favorite bands on the roster, so it`s an honor to be on the same label."
Psycroptic is a definitely technical death metal band. How do you compose your music? Haven`t you ever wanted to play simpler tracks? With 3 or 4 riffs in it?
"Well, we just write the music that we love to play, so we don`t really think about how technical the songs are. It`s not a matter of seeing how many riffs we can play or anything like that. To us its about writing songs. Its also a challenge for us to get the songs as tight as possible and not sound "sloppy". I cannot really see us playing simpler tracks, as we don`t really enjoy writing this style of music. Its cool to listen to, but not for us to play."
Yor`re talented musicians for sure. You even replaced Kyle of Incantation on their Australian show. How does it happend? And how it was to play with the legend?
"Thank you! Yeah, i did fill in for Kyle at a show out here because he was injured in a car accident the day before. I learned 3 songs with them, and Gryphon from Astriaal learned 1 so they were able to play a 4 song set at a festival that they were headlining out here. It was a bit nerve racking playing the set with them, because I`d only learned the songs during the day of the show, and only had time to have 1 jam with them...but we managed to pull it off."
Do you remember even single bad review of "The scepter of the ancients"? Ithink that with this album you`ve reached lots of respect from death metal fans! Did you became recognizable in your hometown? ;-)
"The reactions have been great - far beyond our expectations. It`s been killer to receive so much positive feedback from both the media and fellow metal heads. We play what we love to play, and for people to get into it so much is great!! And, no we don`t get recognized in our city... haha - we`re friends with most of the metalheads anyway, so they already know us!!
"The scepter of the ancients" is more brutal, more intensive, more technical and still has the same great level of aggression as on "The Isle of Disenchantment". Have you got a vision of the future face of Psycroptic? Arethere any new songs ready at the moment?
"Yeah, we have 2 full songs, and 3 half songs at the moment. We`ve got a bit of time now to write, so I`m hoping that we get a full new set done by the end of the year. The songs are in the Psycroptic style, but different again. Bascially everything we write is a progression, and we`re not scared to try new stuff... not as is `new` shit like electronics or anything, just new ways of approaching a song. It`s still metal, and still brutal, but hopefully its fresh."
I`ve heard something about new ep coming from Psycroptic camp...
"That was the plan, but now I`m not really sure. I think it might be best for us and the listeners if we just do another full length album. We`ve got 2 finished songs, and 3 half finished songs, so we might just keep going until we have an albums worth of material. It would probably be the better option."
What is the meaning of the bands name? I couldn`t find this word in the dictionary...
"The band name doesn`t mean anything - its a fictional name that was made up by an old friend of our singer. We`ve not seen the guy in years... he went a bit crazy and moved away."
What do you do in your normal life except playing in extreme metal band? Are kids affraid of you?! ;-)
"I`ve just finished university, but I don`t want to go and get a `real` job just yet. I work in a store for about 20 hours a week, and the rest of the time I fill in with other shit that has to be done. No, kids aren`t affraid of me...I`m fucken affraid of them! They are crazy."
Tasmania is mainly known from the Tasmanian Devil... I never had an opportunity to see one... did you? What this animal is like? I know it`s stupid, but maybe you should use it as a trademark of Psycroptic? It would become memorable...
"Yes, I`ve seen Tasmanian devils before. I used to live out in the bush when I was a kid, so occasionally you would see them. They are quite shy around humans, but they are carnivores so if one came across your dead body, it would most likley eat it. They are about the size of a medium sized dog, and they have the most crazy growl you`ll ever hear - much similar to a black metal scream. It`s fucken cool."
By the way... do you like animals? German Cock and ball torture like`em a lot, mainly Austalian ones... They even recorded songs with titles like "Panda penis or "Coala cunt"... Did you know that?
"I don`t mind animals - I`ve not got any but my girlfriend has 2 cats. I get along with them...but I prefer dogs. I didn`t know CBT liked animals...I thought they just were into S&M 24 hours a day (hahaha)."
Hmm... how do you party in Tasmania? Drinking vodka or beer? Polish strongest beer has over 12% of alcohol in it... Have you ever tried to drink something like that? Are you familiar with polish drinks?
"We mainly drink beer, but I don`t mind the odd vodka. The venue we play here in Hobart is actually a Polish Club, so yes I`ve tried a few Polish beers - they are great! Umm, I`m not sure of the spelling, but I like Okochem (?), and one that is called something like Zyviek (??). They are both really good. The beers we mainly drink are from our local brewery, Cascade - they are great. I would like to try some of your stronger beers though...that would be cool."
I think you talk about might Żywiec and Okocim... And what Tasmanian girls are like?
"Cool....but I`d have to say that the girls from Queensland are better (sorry Tasmanians)."
What about the nearest plans of Psycroptic apart from being more and more devilish each day?
"We want to tour Europe later this year, the US next year and get a new album out. Just keep doing what we are doing bascially, but get out of Australia and do some shows."
Ok, thanx a lot for the interview. Keep the scene alive, all the best with Psycroptic. Hope you`ll play in Poland someday...
"Thanks very much for the interview! It was great. I hope to see you and all the polish metallers one day very soon!!"
www.psycroptic.com
