Gnaw Interview is up 5/4/2009
http://www.myspace.com/gnaw666
1. For those of us new to Gnaw can you tell us a bit about the band?
GNAW is made up of myself formerly of Khanate, OLD / Jamie Sykes ex-Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer / Jun Mizumachi who had a stint in 80's NYC industrial icons Ike Yard / Carter Thornton who also plays in many avant projects such as Enos Slaughter and Izititz / Brian Beatrice who, like Jun, is a film & tv sound designer and mixer by day / Eric Neuser percussive freak number two. I had the idea for GNAW in 2006 while the final KHANATE album was being mixed. KHANATE was on hiatus at the time and I figured it would be a good time to collaborate with some musician friends with whom I've been discussing doing some projects with for a while. We all wear many hats in the band (not literally except for Jun. Jun wears some crazy fuckin' hats) and just like the actual music, our roles are always morphing. The only notion we had going in was to basically go "ape shit". Create and give birth to sound elements and music, blend them together until we liked what it became without regard to genre, pre-conceived ideas of traditional structure (although anything goes) and without regard to what anybody else thinks of it. I think the debut sounds like a fucking sick mixture of each of our musical personalities from Carter's passion for lo-fi recording and birthing noise methods to Jun's electronic fuzz and scratch recordings to Jamie's crazy metal drumming and my dismal story-lines and delivery.
2. Alan, now that it looks like Khanate is over, is Gnaw your main project?
GNAW is really the only thing I'm concentrating on musically at the moment. I'm doing some small collabs here and there but I only have time for one band at a time due to the extensive hours that I have put in as a film/tv editor. KHANATE is indeed over but our final opus Clean Hands Go Foul was just released.
3. You’re working with Conspiracy Records - how did you start working with them?
Besides being a killer record label, Conspiracy is also a Euro tour agency. I met those dudes a few years ago when they booked KHANATE in Europe. I stayed in touch with and when GNAW had a few demo recordings assembled I sent them over. We only sent the recording out to a few labels and Conspiracy was enthusiastic from the beginning. There is definitely a mutual respect and they've done a killer job.
4. Your sound is such an interesting mix of Noise rock and Post Hardcore - is it hard to perform live?
It is hard to perform but fun at the same time. Right now we're working on the skeletal aspects of the songs in the traditional sense. So far it's been Carter and Brian both switching off guitar and bass. I've been doing vocals and Eric (2nd percussionist/local) has been pounding the drums. We're about to introduce the sonic noise chaos into the mix over the next few weeks with the addition of samples, triggers and sheet metal (oh and Jun making sonics as well). We're also going to have scenarios where both Jamie and Eric are bashing out percussion together. We're planning on starting our live shows this summer sometime in July or August and then hopefully we can set up some small tours towards the end of the year.
5. Would Gnaw have any interest working with label in the US like Hydra Head or Southern Lord to get a bit more exposure here?
We're open to any offers. I've had great past experiences with HH & SL but we've been treated fucking great by Conspiracy thus far. GNAW isn't that concerned with labels, popularity and the like as we're really making this stuff for ourselves. If other humans like it then that's great, if other humans hate it then fuck 'em. We'd be doing it if nobody wanted to put it out.
6. " This Face" is one of the most angst filled releases I've heard in some time at time its almost unmusical was this done on purpose?
Yes and no. Yes - because it’s a lot more powerful for us to write songs about the despair of filthy humans rather than partying, politics or sluts. No - due to the fact that there really wasn’t a blueprint for what the songs should be when we started to write them. As far as being unmusical goes, even white noise is music to us.
7. Do the members of Gnaw feel the new Digital music/ Media age helps the indie artist or does it expose them to the world too fast now?
The digital media age does a few things. First off, it’s nearly impossible for an indie band to make any kind of living off of CD/vinyl sales due to file sharing shenanigans. The passion for new releases within each genre has dwindled as well. Releases are illegally downloaded in a shitty mp3 format without anything tangible attached to it such as artwork, lyrics etc. The music is just clicked on, listened to quickly and added to some little punk’s hard drive sounding like shit. Chain wallet douche fucks. No passion, no joy, big twinkie eating man tit downloaders.
8. Will there be much performing live or is this more a studio creation?
Yes, we will be playing live. We’ve been getting it together and hope to have our first set of shows towards the latter half of the summer. We’re planning on doing multiple small tours throughout the year as well revolving around our schedules.
9. What is the end goal for Gnaw with its band members?’
The goal for GNAW is to give birth to sonic creations without regard to genre, traditional musical expectations or what anyone else thinks and to basically go fuckin’ ballistic during the process.
10. This there a running theme for " This Face".
There is no specific running story throughout “This Face” but the songs are all tied together within a dreary and harsh spirit. The story lines and visuals created by the lyrics combined with the ferocity and demeanor of the music can fuck up the listener victim if they choose that path.
11. How as the album recorded as its not a traditional sounding band. Do you go in a record a group or is it layer by layer?
The first few songs that we created did start out as layers. Sound-beds were created by scratch first by Jun and Carter. I added some sonics into the mix then Boggy recorded all his drums down in Memphis and sent us the split tracks. We all had a hand in the arranging of the songs separately and eventually we all came together in the studio and built upon each others’ tunage. The lyrics were written and the vox recorded one song at a time as each of the music tracks were finished. The songs were sometimes deconstructed and rebuilt again in the studio and all of us kept adding until mix master Beatrice was done tweaking and we agreed they were done.
12. I know its early but are there any thoughts on future material as I hope this isn't a short-term project?
Right now we’re working on our live setup so we can start ruining people’s nights in a live a setting. We’re also working on the next GNAW album already. Most recently we finished an unnamed piece as of yet that reminds me of a psycho electro Hellhammer hybrid. Weird. It is not in our plans for this to be a short-term project.
13. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here...
Thanks for the killer interview Clint!!!! Only vinyl is true!!!! Our debut “This Face” sounds best on vinyl. Kick an old lady neck and boycott digital downloads.
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