Interview: Battlecross

Interview – Hiran and Tony, guitarists from Battlecross



Battlecross was the first band I ever bought a demo out of the trunk of a car from. It was 2006 outside of a Trivium show. They came with a recommendation from my hetero lifemate d00shc00gr. That was when I knew the man had taste.

Now, four years later, that band has self-released a debut containing songs from that demo that still kick like mules but sound very different. They are a talented and amazing band whose merits I have already sung over at NoCleanSinging[http://www.nocleansinging.com/2011/01/28/think-local-sound-global-battlecross/], but now it’s time to get in depth with the band and the process of them re-creating their debut, Push, Pull, Destroy.

While you read the interview please listen to Battlecross’s re-recorded songs:



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Overall how are things in the Battlecross campground?

H- Everything’s really good, man. Right now we’re trying to play out a lot more. We have a re-recording happening of the original album we put out—Push, Pull, Destroy. You’ve heard the three tracks we already re-recorded with our new vocalist. We’re gearing up to re-release that with our current vocalist.

Let’s talk about the new vocalist. Online it says his name is… Gumby?

T-His name is Kyle, but his nickname is Gumby. He’s had the nickname since High School.

I assume, but I need to make sure… He’s not made of green clay and he doesn’t jump in and out of books… right?

H- That’s still up for debate.

[laughs]

How’d he get the nickname?

H- The guys on his basketball team would make fun of him because he’s really skinny.

T- And tall.

H- Yeah, and tall. Skinny, lanky and tall.

T- The name just kinda stuck with him.

I’ve seen you guys a few times, so I’m wondering if I’ve seen him. How long have you been with Gumby?

H- He joined the band last summer and before then he did a couple fill-in shows for us early last year.

I saw you guys open for The Planetary Brutality tour with Dying Fetus and The Faceless, was he at that show?

H- That was at Blondie’s. That was our old vocalist.

That’s what I thought, but I had to make sure. So how did you find Gumby? Having listened to the new tracks and the old version of the record—not to harsh on Marshall if he reads this—Gumby adds a lot of range and meat to the sound.

H- For sure. WE found him because he sings for a band in Flint called I Decay, who have been around for at least five years. We got hooked up through our managers who also manage them—so we’re like brother bands.

I haven’t heard I Decay in like two years. I didn’t put that together—I’m being a bad journalist right now. Is he still with them?

H-He’s still with them. They haven’t been so active recently—they’ve been through a lot of member changes. They’re going to release this recording that they did this past summer. Expect to see that in the next few months, but from what he tells us it’s just that the band is not too active right now. He is not putting it to rest, he still does shows with them, but his main focus is with us.

So he lives in Flint. Does that make it difficult to rehearse or are you one of these new age bands where the ‘band’ will rehearse and then send the singer a tape and he practices separately, and you just hope it meshes live?

H- It’s a combination of that. Right now we all practice together three times a week, but Gumby is there on Fridays, just so we know that we’re tight so when he comes in everything is where it should be at.

T- It depends on the singer’s style. Sometimes if it’s just a rehearsal he doesn’t have to be there, but it’s important that he’s practicing on his own and keeping up with it.

H- Right, and he does practice to the album itself. He listens to it and will go over it. Obviously he is practicing on his own time.



Let’s talk about "Push, Pull, Destroy. Right now I’m tentatively calling myself a fan—I want to hear how the new one sounds. Is it going to be completely re-recorded or just re-mastered with new vocal tracks?

H- It’s new vocals with Gumby, but also completely re-mixed and re-mastered.

T- It will sound a lot better.

I think the first time I heard you was four years ago or so, and some of those songs are on the album. Is Push, Pull, Destroy the culmination of four years of straight work in Battlecross?

H- Yeah. Well this lineup started coming together in 2007. Tony had been with some former members. At that time it was a four-piece and sounded quite different. After that we got Mike on the drums, Marshall singing, and had a different bass player. The songwriting process for us is very slow, just because we’re very particular about parts and sometimes we will jam on a part and come back to it much later to change it. Sometimes not. “Leech” is one of the songs that has been around for a while and stayed the same, but some of the other songs have slowly been molded into what we want. It was a matter of getting the time, the money and so forth. Like you said some of these songs are very old, but they’ve been changing and accumulating until we finally hit ten and then it was like we’ve got to make and album, get these recorded, put something out there.’

T- This was literally years in the making

I think you can hear that. I heard it right away. When I first heard “Leech,” it must have been 2006. In 2006 I got it on a demo from my best friend [d00shc00gr], it had “Leech,” another song I don’t recall, and “Breaking You” on it. Do you remember that demo?

H- Yep!

T- Yes.

I listened to that demo and thought ‘ah! This is really something,’ but at the same time… That same friend has a saying about Slayer. He says ‘it’s the best straight line you’ll ever see drawn.’ It’s really powerful but not so deep. It’s just the one thing, and I thought that about Battlecross. Now, I listen to the album and maybe it’s the bass, or the guitar interplay, but it’s a deeper sound and it’s more technical. Was that a conscious decision or just the result of everyone coming together?

H- Are you referring to those three songs versus the rest or those three songs then and now?

-Then and now.

H-A lot of it has to do with our newest bass player. At that time we were jamming with a guy named Mike Heugel. Still talk to him. Great guy. He left the band and then Don Slater joined, and Don is the best bassist I have ever seen in metal. He really added another dimension. In the studio we could really hear what he was doing which added a lot. Since the old demos we’ve added a few fills and things—we try to keep in the same, but we keep our freedom to change.

T- As far as the writing style, we want to write things that are fun to play but also challenging. We don’t set out to be the most showy, the most ‘oh look what I can do,’ just stuff that is different, unique and challenging in our eyes. As for solos—we like doing solos but we’re not going to use one in every song just because every song must have one. If the song needs one it can have it, and that’s our approach to writing. We just want something that catches our ear. It’s not write it in a day and then it’s over. The first draft is just something we build off.



So you guys are from Detroit. The Narrows.

H- We’re sort of scattered all around. The band formed in Canton and we practice in Warren but we’re based in Detroit.

But you’re trying to get out of Detroit.

H- Absolutely.

You and everyone else brother!

[laughs]

H- It’s not that we don’t like Detroit, it’s just that if you’re in a band and you want to do something you need to get out and tour and play shows elsewhere. Spread the word and play in front of as many people as possible. That’s what we want to do. The next step is to get on a tour or set one up ourselves. It’s difficult to connect with people out of state, but that’s what we’re trying to do. We definitely want to get out.

What is your take on what it’s like to be an extreme metal band from Detroit, Michigan?

H- Detroit is overlooked sometimes. We do have The Black Dahlia Murder, but there’s not a whole lot being recognized. You can’t take that and say ‘we’re being overlooked! We’ll never go anywhere.’ You have to go out there and show people what you’re all about. You need to go out and say ‘this is what a Detroit band does.’ But it’s not like LA. There aren’t any connections. What is there in Detroit that’s ever really been recognized? Nothing.

Unless you’re an Electronica band.

[laughs]

H- Well if you want to incorporate that! But this isn’t exactly the land of opportunity. You get what you put in… I’m not sure what the saying really is. You just have to keep going and it might not be what someone else has, but… you can keep going.

Detroit’s become sort of this signifier of urban decay recently, especially post auto industry. Does that have an effect on the music?

H- I think you’re on to something. Definitely the environment around us has an impact. Not necessarily the auto industry, but related things. This has not been a fun summer day. You see what else is out there, these other bands getting signed and know you could do the same thing. It makes you push harder. You want to show what Detroit is about—we get this reputation as such a horrible city, but something good does come out of here. We’re going to show you that good does come out of here, it’s not just this horrible place you see in the media… It’s not that this is some pretty place where it’s fine and dandy with no crime. Obviously it’s not, but… In a way it makes you want to… I’m not sure how to put it.

T-When people just ignore you for no reason it makes you want the attention more. It makes you say ‘come on, I can do this!’ Metal is just like that in general. There’s something about the bands and the kids that listen to it that makes you somewhat of an outcast. Detroit is kind of the outcast of the United States in some ways. It makes us say fuck you; we’re going to still do our thing.

H- I’m proud to say we’re from Detroit

Thank you for saying that.

H- No matter what anybody thinks.

So what about the Michigan scene in general? You’re not alone in your quest to say ‘fuck you, we’re from Detroit; fuck you we’re from Michigan.’ I’ve spoken with a band called Dagon from Lansing who I think sound like you at times. I know you’ve run in the same circles as the Lansing scene.

H- Absolutely. Dagon is awesome. Actually the studio we recorded Push, Pull, Destroy at was Random Awesome Studios, which is where Dagon recorded their album [Terraphobic]. We heard about it from them, when we heard their recording. We recorded with Josh Schroeder.

T- Michigan as a whole, there are a lot of great metal bands, I could think of a dozen, but it’s not common to hear that anyone can get very far. They last a couple years and then what happened? Only a handful stick around.

H- It’s also not just Michigan as a whole. Like you said there is a distinct Lansing scene, a Detroit scene, a Traverse City scene. It’s kind of spread out in that sense but we all stick together. Who else will back you up? You have to; you need these other bands for support to tour and book shows. I’m all about the local scene—I believe in that. I try to go to shows and support the bands we play with.

T- We’re all about that. We’re about to go see our buddy’s band after this.

What’s the band?

T- They’re called Kaleima. They’ve been around for a while. They just got a new singer and guitar player. Josh is a really good friend of ours.

H- They used to be a two piece.

Rare to see a two piece in metal. Is there anyone else you want to shout out? Now’s your chance!

H- We’re just proud of the Michigan metal scene in general. Genocya. Bury the Silence. There’s so many bands.

T- We want to shout out the people that support us. Our fans who come to our shows and buy our shirts. People like you that just take an interest and try to support us.

H- We’re so appreciative of that. We have a guy called Dennis Adams who started a street team page. When we see that we’re so appreciative because people take notice of what we’re doing. People wanting to see you succeed is the greatest thing you could ask for.

Thank you guys. I got a Corona in my hand and I will drink to that.

H&T- Cheers brother.



The thing to me was, I felt since I started going to concerts that I have this little private Sweden in my backyard, with all these great bands from Michigan and Ohio that nobody else is listening to. I’m not greedy. I don’t want to be one of those little black metal kids in my room.

[laughs]

H- There’s nothing wrong with black metal.

I love black metal. I just saw Watain. I just want to spread the love is all.

H- Absolutely. We know some Ohio bands as well. Woe of Tyrants is great, I’m not sure if you know them.

I saw them in Grand Rapids on the Metal As Art tour.

H- They’re great. There’s also a band that played Ogrefest, a great band from Ohio—Locusta.

Yep, Locusta from Columbus.

H- And do you know Hammerhorde?

Hammerhorde are from my home town. I’ve been seeing them in various bands since I was like fifteen.

H- Right on. They played Ogrefest as well, I think.

They did. I was there. I was that one asshole in the pit that kept moshing.

[laughs]

T- Awesome.

H- That’s fucking great.

Me and my two buddies, the only people with Ogrefest shirts from the previous year. We were the pit.

H- Right on dude.

Are you guys playing Ogrefest this year?

T- We’re not allowed to.

What?

H- No, no, It’s just that we haven’t been asked yet. Dave [guitarist from Lansing DM band Satyrasis and organizer/promoter of Ogrefest] hasn’t said anything.

T- I don’t know if Dave was joking or not, but after the last Ogrefest he came up to me and said ‘I’ve had you guys three years in a row and I can’t ask you back for a fourth,’ and I was like ‘really? Aw man…’

[laughs]

H- Dave is just trying to change it up. I respect that. We love Dave. We love Satyrasis, and we’d play Ogrefest again anytime. I’ll be there this year.



See you guys there. So when does the re-release of Push, Pull, Destroy come out?

H- We’re not sure yet. We’re trying to negotiate with a label to put it out for us instead of just releasing it ourselves.

T- To reach a broader audience.

H- Yeah. I can’t really tell you who it’s going to be, but I can say we are in negotiations with someone. We don’t know if it will work out. Nothing is confirmed.

Have you considered doing the internet approach, like a BandCamp release? There is a one-man-band from Ohio called Cloudkicker—djent band—he’s done only BandCamp releases and is getting a lot of critical acclaim. What about the no label needed approach?

T- That is actually what we were doing originally.

H- All along we’ve been throwing a line out there to see who would bite, All along in the back of our minds has been the idea that this is all on us, no matter what we do, whether we have distribution or not, we sort of stand alone. It definitely started on that road but now that we know we could get some help it’s worth looking into—although I can’t say we will take that road for sure. I definitely think what you’re saying could be the wave of the future. Who knows?

Satan only knows.

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