Psychostick

Interviews — 04 March 2010
“Like all long-term projects, Psychostick has evolved into its current form through many years and members to get where it is today. Not unlike Godzilla and other Japanese monsters from the 1950′s, it didn’t just appear one day to try and take over the world. It took lots of mutation and toxic waste… for Godzilla anyway. Psychostick didn’t exactly become what it is from radiation and living underground, but close enough.” – extract compliments of www.psychostick.com



Between rocking out on stage with arbitrary clothing items, bringing down Christmas and making fans collide and ricochet off walls with their latest album, Sandwich, Psychostick have found the time to humor the world with some answers…

Band members:
Shmalex – Drummer, crazy bird sounds
Joshy – Guitarist, Ninja, ENGINEEER!
Rawrb! – Vocalist, Beef Injector, webmashter
Jakermeister – Guitarist, Chugster, Glue Consumist
Matt Kyzmeck – Touring Bassist
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Marco: Not everyone has read the biography on your website, so let’s warm up the interview by asking a question those lazy people keep asking: How’d the band form and what inspired the mix of comedy and hard-rocking metal?

Josh: Rob and myself (Josh) have always had a ridiculous sense of humor, as well as a love for heavier music. Adding our sense of humor into our music actually comes as no surprise to anybody who has known us for a long time. That’s just who we are.

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Marco: A lot of the time bands, once they’ve started getting attention, will get obsessed with a ‘professional’ dress sense. Whether that means wearing doctor’s coats, a dead animal or basically a band ‘uniform’ of some sort on stage instead of dressing like an everyday ugly person. However, you guys have gone in a fairly opposite direction. Your dress sense would almost seem a mockery to bands who think they look professional, given that Rob (as a mindless example) will wear a jester’s hat. What inspired this? Is there any kind of a storyreason behind this idea or any of the chosen items for the members?

Josh: In a live setting, it’s sometimes hard to understand lyrics, and we wanted there to be no mistake about what we do. People wouldn’t get the jokes unless they are paying attention. So we wanted to look as far from a typical metal band as we could. What we wear is just kindof what we came up with.


Marco: This next question is rather clichéd, washed out and dried out to such an extent that even fish moths no longer have an interest in the material it’s made of, but curiosity has the better of me so I must inquire. What are Psychostick’s favorite bandsinspirations?

Josh: We listen to tons of different music, but relevant influences of Psychostick are Pantera, Sevendust, Machine Head, Primus, Weird Al, The Aquabats, and Hatebreed to name a few. [HATEBREED! m/ - Ed Scream]


Marco: If Psychostick were to fly down to South Africa, are there any bands you’d like to bring with you or would you rather play with the locals to see what this country has to offer the world? (No need to worry about the lions and wildlife, they get caged up when tourists come so we can try convince the world that they don’t actually roam our streetsbackyardstoilets.)

Josh: Why not split the difference? We bring a band or two (Screaming Mechanical Brain from Minneapolis and Maggot Twat from Chicago come to mind) and have one or tour of the locals to open up the show?


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Marco: Out of all the bands you’ve played with in your career thus far, who would you say has been the greatest fun to rock out with and really get one’s neck ripped asunder?

Josh: That would be Indorphine from Florida.


Marco: I see that Psychostick is about to start touring with Green Jelly and Nashville Pussy. Name a few of the statestowns you plan on visiting? Is there any chance of this tour leaving America?

Josh: We’re playing all over the US…. unfortunately it’s not leaving the country, not that we wouldn’t like to. We’d love to get this tour out of the US, but the business end has to work first, ya know? We actually have the tour dates posted now if you go here: http://psychostick.com/tour


Marco: After all these years of gigs, binge drinking and yelling at Alex to play slower beats for slower songs I’m sure you guys have built up quite a repertoire of classic stories. Would you mind sharing one or two of them with us?

Josh: We were at a party one time in San Antonio where a very honest guy (otherwise we would have accused him of making this up) said a drunk fat chick walked in on him while he was peeing in the bathroom, started giving him a blowjob WHILE HE WAS STILL PEEING (he said he peed in her mouth a little), and then later on that night another unknowing dude at the party was seen making out with her.

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Marco: Just like “We Couldn’t Think of a Title”, “The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride” and the EPs between them, “Sandwich” was another great success as to be expected of the band, but have any more recordings been done since the latest album, Sandwich? The fans are always insatiable for Psychostick’s work and will always be awaiting new releases.

Josh: We’re working on a 3 song digital-only release right now. Think of it as a little snack between albums.


Marco: Describe briefly how the band would go about writing a new track. Who writes the songs? Where do you find inspiration?

Josh: There are many ways it happens, depending on who is involved with the song. Alex write fulls songs by himself. I have written a large chunk of songs myself. Sometimes we get together and write. But regardless of who writes, here’s the full process from writing to learning:
1. Come up with song idea at random time. And mean at ANY time. It usually starts with, “DUDE! I got a great song idea.” or “That would make a great song!”
2. Someone sits down and actually writes the full song to completion. This happens way less often than step #1.
3. I demo out the song. I use a sampled drum kit and write out simple drum parts in Cakewalk Sonar, then put guitars on top of them using Line 6 Pod or Amplitube or something.
4. Rework the demo (optional). After listening to the song, we usually hate certain parts or notice something lacking. Things get changed.
5. Listen to demo, learn song. Using the demo as a guide, learning time for the song speeds up drastically.

Marco: What would you say is a few of the greatest and worst things about being in a touring band?

Josh: Greatest things:
-Seeing the country
-Playing a city somewhere far from your home town and watching people go off, or even better, know your music.
-Getting to play and write music for a living


Worst things:
-Not enough time to do all the things you see. Like a sampler platter of the country that leaves you wanting more. There’s like 30 places I want to spend a couple of weeks at now… New Orleans. River rafting in Idaho. Hiking in Montana. Waterparks in Wisconsin Dells. The strip of fisherman pubs along the pier in Portland, Maine. etc, etc, etc…
-Lack of sleep, lack of reasonable sleeping options every night.
-Drama that happens when cash is running low


Marco: What are some of your favorites songs to perform live which the fans will be able to look forward to hearing in your next tour?

Josh: Obviously there’s the Beer song. I know you’re supposed to hate your single, but that song is really easy and fun to play live, STILL. ABCDEath is another on of my favorites. We’re going to see if we can’t work up “Largiloquent Dithyramb” off of our first album for the next tour. It’s a surprisingly good live song, despite that fact that it’s all instrumental.


Marco: Although you guys incorporate comedy into your music, primarily, is it still possible that some songs have some deep, brooding meaning within their depths? If so, is there a song which means a lot to the band as a whole and would you care to explainsummarize that meaning for me, please?

Josh: Well, if you want me to get deep, I guess I can say all our songs are really about, “When life gets tough, try laughing once in a while.”


Marco: What’s a typical rehearsal like for the band? Is it pretty much the same every time or is it utter chaos and completely unpredictable?

Josh: Rehearsal is very focused. Everything is about making the music better, making the show better. We come up with a lot of ideas for on stage or for albums while rehearsing.


Marco: When you guys played that first gig as a full band on that one Valentine’s Day where you opened with “Throwin’ Down” (Which I find absolutely classic) did you guys ever think you’d make it as far as you have?

Josh: Not really. I mean, we saw potential in what we were doing, but we also knew that the odds were stacked against us. We all feel very lucky that we ever got out of our hometown at all, let alone tour the country and release multiple cds.


Marco: To end off, I’d just like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me, Marco da Fonseca, from HeadbangToday and ask if you have any last words for the readers? Any words of inspiration for up-and-coming musicians? Or even the first thought that pops into your head when you read the following word, “Moo”.

Josh: Thanks for the interview, and for asking so many awesome questions! Finishing thoughts… um, take control of your destiny. You always know when you are in control of your life or when life has control of you. Get good at spotting the difference and take back the wheel when you do.
“Moo”- an alien zombie cow.

- This is not an interview, it’s a Sandwich
Marco da Fonseca (HeadbangToday, Matricide, Save The Ears For Breakfast, Stages of Brutality)

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Scream

Instigator of the Headbang Army. Scream's potty mouthed behaviorism often and undeniably gets overlooked thanks to his prodigal taste in heavy metal. A Screamgazm is something Scream only experiences when epic screams and deep growls are present.