Sound Colour Vibration (Music | Art | Film | Technology | Science | Culture)

New York four piece Batillus have been releasing some of the best doom metal albums since 2010 and are slowly becoming another prominent fixture in the genres evolution. With a penchant for prolonged melodic sequences of darkness, their ability to surface out of these states for something more sublime is unparalleled. The guys in the group are very intelligent people and their music reflects this introspective wisdom and knowledge contained within their ranks. With a very huge and dynamic sound that builds off slower tempos, deranged angular lines and fields of texture dive into surrealistic forms and break away from the usual approaches of heavy music. It’s refreshing and exhilarating to hear a band like Batillus in the 21st century.

The group has become one of our favorite bands this year with their latest and most sonically adventurous album Concrete Sustain. The new album is already out in Europe on the imprint Vendetta Records with the US release date set for March 19th on Seventh Rule Recordings. Diving into the minds and perspectives of the creative peoples work that we enjoy the most is one of our biggest goals with SCV. Interviewing this band has become something that I have learned a lot from and sheds another important light into the world that is Batillus.

http://www.batillusdoom.com/

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Q&A with Batillus of Seventh Rule Recordings
Conducted by Erik Otis
March 2013

Erik: Hello, I have already become a big fan of your music after being sent Concrete Sustain. It’s something that has raised the bar for all harder based music and has dynamics in a way that I absolutely love. We hope you guys a lot of success in the near future and are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the world responds to Concrete Sustain.Your sound is thick, saturated and humid. I’d like to call it the most beautiful dark thing I have heard in many years. What type of gear and recording set up did you guys use for the Concrete Sustain LP? Anything that was very critical for the crunchy and submerged sound you guys achieved gear or engineering wise?

GS: I always record with Noble & Cooley CD Maple drums. N&C is a small drum company based, I believe, in Massachusetts and I’ve never found anything that compares with the quality of their drums. In addition, I used a variety of snare drums with different tunings to fit each song, including but not limited to a killer solid brass GMS drum that my uncle (also a drummer) sold me years ago.

WS: Sanford suggested that we record the bass direct, and then reamp the signal. This allowed me to fine-tune the tone for each individual song.

FK: I used more Moog synths , and I programmed percussion on this record , something that was not present on our last recordings

Erik: I love the album art for the new record, really goes along with the sound on the LP. Did you guys have different concepts for covers or was this photo something that you guys knew you wanted to use for the album? What do you feel the cover gives to the album?

GP: We were having a hard time agreeing on what the cover image should be, but at the same time we knew the type of aesthetic we were going for. We like messed up photographs, and the cover of ‘Furnace’ was a photo that Fade had taken, and I liked the idea of keeping the source of the cover image ‘in the family,’ if you will. So I took a look through some photos that I’d taken, and everybody else liked the one from our first tour in 2009, taken as we were approaching New Orleans. Something about the way the road dips down makes the perspective a little disorienting, and I think that’s a nice parallel to the stylistic shifts in these new songs.

FK : I think the photo captures the albums vibe in a kind of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” feel.

Erik: You have been getting a lot of press on the new record already, something I feel is rightfully deserved. Congratulations on that, I feel it’s really important your sound has affected so many journalists. Do you guys check out the press or do you try to navigate around it? Where do you guys stand with modern journalism?

GS: I know I probably should ignore the press, but I used to be a music publicist and writer myself so I can’t seem to let the stuff go by unnoticed. The Internet is sort of a double edged sword when it comes to music journalism: on the one hand, it’s so much easier now than in the pre-Internet days to spread the word about something and it’s easy for anyone with an Internet connection, enthusiasm for music, and a basic (or sometimes not) command of language to have a music blog. On the other hand, you end up with a quantity-over-quality situation (that also parallels the situation with bands in the age of cheap recording) where for every one writer with the language, journalism, and music background necessary to accurately and effectively review a record you have dozens more who really just have no idea what they’re doing. You have to appreciate their enthusiasm, but a lot of times poor grammar or way-off-target points of reference result in a face palm moment for the educated reader.

Erik: Do you have one song writer or does the band create collectively? Is material created when everyone is around or does the material stem from the outside and you all individually bring it to the band?

GP: It’s a collective process. The riff ideas usually come first, during brainstorming/boozing sessions between Willi and I. But at least one of these new songs started with a rhythm pattern that Fade created on a drum machine, and Geoff will occasionally have a sweet idea for a guitar or bass part. Once we have a couple of riff ideas that seem to work together, we spend quite awhile collectively working on the arrangement, which is the fun part, with everybody sharing ideas about everyone else’s parts– we try to be as democratic as possible, and if even just one person feels strongly about something, we’ll investigate it.

Erik: I feel like in every experience through life, there is something to learn about yourself. What did you learn about yourself when making and recording Concrete Sustain?

FK: Personally , I pushed myself to try things I haven’t in the past , like with the song “Thorns” , I’ve never attempted to sing like that previously. I think when you get out of your comfort zone interesting things can happen creatively.

Erik: New York has been a haven for a plethora of hardcore bands and with you guys have a very different approach to metal,we were wondering what led you guys in the direction you have? Who were some of your first comrades within the New York music community that helped nurture your vision?

WS: We owe a lot to people like Fred Pessaro, Kim Kelly and Brandon Stosuy, who’ve been in our corner from the beginning, as well as the Acheron and St. Vitus for giving us places to play. Now that the old places in Manhattan are gone, they’ve stepped up and really helped bands like us out by fostering the scene in Brooklyn.

Erik: I must say that your sound is a really different thing than anything else I have heard. In trying to make comparisons I am lead nowhere and I absolutely love that about Concrete Sustain. What other bands do you feel your sound has the most in common with, if any? What communities in the context of cities and different areas of the world have responded positively to your sound the most?

GS: Our goal is to write songs that are both heavy and memorable. The hook, whether it’s a riff or a drum beat or a vocal cadence or a synth melody, is the most important factor for us during the songwriting process, followed closely by the attempt to structure songs in a logical and concise way and, of course, the desire to make the music sound heavy. Heavy for the sake of heavy is cool, but there are enough bands covering that territory already. We’re trying to be heavy and memorable simultaneously, but ultimately it’s up to the listener to decide whether we’ve succeeded or not.

FK: we have our influences each individually, the four of us come from different musical backgrounds and I think that works to our advantage, and it comes useful when we edit each other in the writing process because we are each listening with different ears.

Erik: With your songs having such a demanding sense of energy being drawn from the weight of the music and many of your songs being much more lengthy than your average band, how do you guys prepare in physical and mental terms in nailing the music live and for the studio recordings?

FK: Touring can be rough, I have to take care of my voice. After about a week on the road you get into the groove, it’s like working out when you first start it sucks, your tired and sore, but then you get into it and you’re like a machine.

GS: For me, at the slow tempo we play, physical exertion is not the challenge so much as patience and timing. Most of our new material is performed to a click track too, which is a big change from the stuff on the Whitehorse split and Furnace. I’ve found that when playing to a click, the challenge is in being accurate in terms of timing and rhythms without sounding stiff or square.

Erik: With 6 songs gracing the full length Concrete Sustain, do you remember what songs were created first and last? Was there specific tracks that took more timing getting everyone locked in?

GS: The oldest song is “Beset,” and I think that song connects the rest of the material on the record nicely back to the Furnace days. The last song we finished was “Thorns.” There was a period of time when we didn’t think that song would make the cut for the record, but I’m sure glad it did because it’s come to be my favorite of the six.

Erik: What type of atmosphere was present when creating the LP? Were sessions closed off to outsiders or do you bring in other people for second opinions? Anything that set the mood in the recording room that only bands like yours can do?

WS: We worked pretty quickly during this session. By the time we were set to record, the songs were structurally complete, so only stylistic decisions were left. We trusted Sanford’s ear to guide us when direction was needed, and kept it at that.

FK: I recorded the vocals myself in late night sessions at our rehearsal space for this record, I felt I could be more focused with out any outside distractions.

Erik: For our last question, we wanted to know what records you are listening to right now and whose some of the best live bands to see right now?

GS: I just keep listening to the same Levon Helm, Low, and Depeche Mode records over and over again. I’ve become a little complacent in my listening habits of late. Any suggestions for me?

FK: Lately the best shows I’ve seen are Chelsea Wolfe, Inquisition, Swans & Kontavoid.

Erik: I will send some recommendations your way this weekend, thanks for your time again, means a lot.