Interview: Stylus (Fall 2001)

by Rob Vaarmeyer

Here's the Stylus interview we did in the fall of 2001. Stylus printed an edited version that made no fucking sense when read. They also cut out a lot of the slagging we did. We cut down all the cool bands and talked shit about everyone in winnipeg. You know where to reach us if you want to make a complaint.

Rob/Stylus: We spoke a little bit on the phone about the tour you just finished, you mentioned it went well and it sounds like you guys had a good time-

Travis: Yeah, I would say it was the best one so far. The majority of them were in the US, we sort of circled North America, did a few shows in Western Canada, we spent a couple of weeks in the US, then back in Ontario for about a week, then a few more shows in the States then back home.

One of the things that I was interested in going back and listening to all the Malefaction stuff that I could find is the progression of where the sound is going. The way I look at a band is you have a certain number of choices about how you do what you do. There's definitely a social commentary and a political message to what you're saying , does that reflect the intensity and the way you write your songs musically? Is there a concept?

Mike: I think they're separate.

What comes first?

M: Music comes first.
T: Usually it's just an idea and if I have some lyrics written I'll try them out with some of the songs. Sometimes the music inspires a certain topic.

I'm not sure I understand the way you guys write, to have a track that's 45 seconds long, so intense and short and you have so much to put into it.

Clint: When we put Ôem together it seems like there's a lot of stuff in there, we put it together and its like holy shit, then we play it and its like 45 seconds long...
Cory: It takes a while to write a song...
M: They're really full...
Cl: It's not like they're haphazardly put together, they just kind of turn out that way.

So it's not a conscious choice?

M: no. that's just how they turn out
Cl: When mike and I are writing the music, I think that the songs just kind of end, like it all flows really nicely and it turns out to be short
M: When we're writing we know where it starts, where's the middle and when it's done. When you jam it out, then you cut something and its eh, and it sounds like your beating a dead horse so you chop it off.
Cl: I think we try to be very self critical.
Co: If we're the least bit not sure of something...
M: You know when you jam it out if it works, it just clicks, if it rocks you just know.

So if it rocks is the deciding factor?

T: It's gotta rip , or its gotta rock.

now you're signed to G7 records. There's a lot of really political bands on that label, some very different bands. It's interesting to hear that the music comes first. Do you feel that the label gives you more power to say what you want to say?

Cl: Maybe its a little more that you know that the fruits of your labor, like writing all the songs and playing that something's actually being done with it, that will hopefully reach more people than we have before and maybe that's inspired us a little more, pushed us a little more.

Is it important to you that people hear the message?

M: Yeah that's cool. But if they don't get the message, don't care about it, whatever, that's up to them. But if they dig the music and they're all into metal or grind, if they get something out of the lyrics at some point that's cool. We're not there to shove it down their throats.
Co: It can be kind of irritating. Travis was telling me about this friend of ours who works at a (record) store and he was trying to sell some metalhead our CD but he wouldn't buy it because of the lyrics.
Cl: Because we're not singing about demons.

It seems to me that there are more bands becoming clearly political, and particularly G7, there's something political about every one of them.

M: Well, those bands were around before, and this is like a forum to get together and be released.

Maybe that's the interesting thing about G7...

M: yeah well now they have a focal point, all the bands on this label all have a similar output.

And very different music too. I guess the politics is how they market it. its really the drawing factor.

Co: Which is fine for us, as long as people know what we're gonna sound like.

Where do you think the scene is going?

M: Winnipeg has a really great extreme music scene. We've been all over North America.
T: The scene itself has evolved. Everybody knows each other. We're always hanging out and it's like an actual family. When Arsonfest happened at the end of the month there were all these bands from out of town were just fucking floored the way this scene runs itself, like Chupacabra said the scene here just floors the scene in Calgary.
M: there's a lot more people I've never seen before at shows. For the longest time it was the same people, which is great, but now at shows we're getting upwards of 100 plus people a show and that's amazing for extreme music anywhere. In the underground music that we play and on tour , and for people we play with most shows are maybe 50 people and that's a really good turn out. Here we average about 100 people per show.
Co: Here at home everyone's friends. So when we play live we get a good amount of healthy heckling back and forth on stage.
T: On the last tour, we played these two shows that were not our fucking scene. It was the straight-edge mosh crowd. After the other band was finished about 100 people got up and walked out of the show. there was about 30 people left. I guess there's a sense of pride in us weeding out the weak at that show.
M: But those 30 people stayed. They watched and came and said really nice stuff afterwards.
Co: that whole mosh-metal scene, it looks staged, fake. Especially the people who listen to it. These idiots are fucking Kung Fu dancing and they're not even really listening to the music. They're just doing it to look tough and its the most ridiculous fucking thing.
M: It's just full of the fucking self.
T: These bands don't try anything new, the blueprint is already been set for them. they stick to it. that sells There's no experimentation They don't try to bring anything else in to try and further yourself as a band, as a musician, as an individual.

It lacks creativity, it lacks sincerity...

Co: Especially the sincerity part.
T: How about Page 99 for sincerity.
M: Talk about flavor of the week...
T: Even stuff like The Locust from San Diego. The have the sound, but they also have this look. Its this emo look. You know the fucking Romulan died black hair cuts and super tight jeans, floods and the shoes, fucking wallet chain. Why would you wanna do that? I don't understand. I can see drawing influence, but these fucking wieners from San Diego are dressed like that, so I guess (the kids) do that to be cool. It's just conforming to something else.

The last time I saw you guys was at the last Propaghandi CD release. that must have been a big, varied audience for you...

T: We were on the rock stage, All of our friends from our scene were up front. It was fun.
Co: We went over pretty well.
M: You always have the usual heckling that you expect.
T: What the pop-punk kids who were there to see Propaghandi thought was probably...
M: this is noise, probably. Metal shit.

That was an interesting show, with Fermented Reptile, you guys and Sixty Stories. It was an interesting bill, It drew a wide variety of people. I'm sure it pissed some people off.

M: What do they care. If they get pissed off because they have wait to see Propaghandi...
T: They're thinking they have to sit through this shitty Malefaction...
M: They can just go outside and skateboard.