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Interview with Ancestors
July 2008 by Metal Mark |
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Ancestors hail from southern California and play a style that
includes doom, stoner and various other sounds all swirled together.
I recently got to interview them to find out more.
First let me say that your Neptune With Fire album is just amazing.
So please introduce yourselves and tell what instrument you play.
Justin: I'm Justin and I play guitar and sing.
Nick: I'm Nick and I play bass.
Jason: I'm Jason and I play organ.
Chico: I’m Chico and I do noise and ambience as well as vocals.
Tell us a little about your band's history.
Justin: We initially formed as a three-piece: just bass, drums and
guitar. We played a few shows with very loosely written songs that
were mostly just "stoner rock" jams. We tired of it fairly quickly
and were eager for additional inspiration. We were looking for an
organ player, but during our |
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search Chico
fell into our laps and starting adding the soundscape type elements to the music.
Eventually Jason joined the band as our organ player and it just
took off from there.
Are you all from Southern California or are you originally from
other places?
Justin: I'm originally from Southern California.
Nick: I'm from Colorado but moved to Southern California when I was
19 with my band at the time.
Jason: Southern California.
Chico: I’m originally from London. I only moved to Los Angeles about
two years and a half ago.
Who are your musical influences?
Justin: Our influences are pretty diverse, but some are definitely
more prevalent than others. I'd say that Pink Floyd and King Crimson
are probably our biggest influences. As for others in the prog/psych
realm would have to include Nektar, Hawkwind, Agitation Free,
Arzachel, Amon Düül II, Rush, Gong, Ash Ra Tempel, etc. More
experimentally, and I know I can speak for both Chico and I when I
say, Lars Gunnar Bodin, Stockhausen, Luc Ferrari, John Cage,
Schaeffer and the whole musique concrète movement have been a big
influence on the more abstract and ambient aspects of our music. And
as far as the more modern influences, stuff like Neurosis, Sleep and
Kyuss are probably the most obvious choices.
Jason: I am a classical pianist and I like a lot of Russian
romantic/modern composers. I like a lot of heavy music and all the
stuff that Justin just said.
You have two songs on your album. How did the writing process go for
the album? Did you plan from the start on just doing two songs or
did you just work that out along the way?
Justin: We have a tendency to write long songs by nature. We have a
lot of ideas flowing out constantly and have never seen a reason to
cut off the ideas just because a song is getting long. A long song
only feels long if you let it get stale, and we're always trying our
best to keep the songs from getting stale. Initially we were just
writing songs to write songs, with no real thought as to what we
were going to do with them. As the concepts started to come together
we began to realize that a two song record would probably be ideal
and that it would give us a lot of breathing room within each song.
What are your songs about? Where do you get the inspirations for
your song topics?
Chico: The songs have so far been about endeavors within the human
condition, in particular the egocentric and the dumbfounded. Until
now, they have played upon the much expected platform of mythology,
which I'm avidly in favour of abandoning for the context of the next
record.How do you think that your band has progressed since you first
started out?
Justin: Our music has definitely gotten more progressive. We're less
focused on being heavy, which I think just comes naturally at this
point, and much more focused on making interesting and intricate
songs. The newer songs have more of an ebb and flow and moves a bit
more than the songs on Neptune. And as far as the music prior to
Neptune, it's much more cohesive. The jams became songs. That's not
to say that we no longer jam, but it's no longer the foundation of
our music.
Nick: I think we've always been in a good environment where we tend
to push each other to play better and take it to the next level.
It's completely natural. It's just the order of how the five of us
write together.
Jason: Everyone has gotten more used to each other but everyone has
also gotten a lot better as individual musicians recently.
In what areas do you think that you still need to improve?
Justin: I think we could always get tighter. And as we progress we
continue to develop what seems like our own sound, but we'll never
be truly satisfied until we get to the point where you could walk
into a room and hear an Ancestors song that you've never heard and
say "this is Ancestors." If you were to hear an AC/DC song you've
never heard, you would still know that it was AC/DC, despite the
fact that they're a rock and roll band and most rock and roll bands
sound relatively similar.
Nick: We're constantly learning how to balance our own critiques of
our music and see clearly what works and what doesn't. It's a
balancing act that only experience can teach.
Jason: Levels are tough to balance when your band is ungodly loud.
What are you doing that sets you apart from other bands going today?
Justin: I would like to think that we have our own way of
approaching the style that we play, whatever you want to call it. A
lot of bands have similar influences, but I think that we implement
them in our own way and that hopefully sets us apart. There is an
ever growing
"stoner rock" and "doom metal" scene and we're growing increasingly
more tired of the idea of being just a "doom metal" band. I hope
that people will see us as more than that. But in the end, we're
making music to please ourselves so that's all that really matters
in the grand scheme. |
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Is the only band that all of you are in or are any of you in any
side projects as well?
Justin: Brandon and I are in a rock and roll band called Night Horse
with the former vocalist from Bluebird.
Nick: I have a one man drone project called Bruinen.
Jason: When I get home I play jazz piano in my underwear to my cat.
I know you have a few dates coming up in your area. Any plans for
more in the near future? Are gas prices forcing you to think about
where you can really afford to travel to play at?
Justin: Gas prices have definitely put a damper on potential tour
plans, though we do hope to get on the road a bit this winter. Until
then we'll probably continue our sporadic Los Angeles shows and
occasionally take a weekend to go out of town for a couple of shows
here and there.
Who have you opened for? What have been some of your more memorable
shows so far?
Justin: We've played a lot of great shows. We've opened for a lot of
incredible bands like Earthless, High on Fire, Today Is the Day,
Saviours, Witch, DMBQ, Black Cobra, Lesbian, etc. Our most memorable
shows |
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tend to be the
shows we play at The Smell. They're always a great time and we
always play with really great bands like Jesus Makes the Shotgun
Sound and Tweak Bird.
Nick: The Smell is great, we fit perfectly in that place. It's also
much more loose as far as set times etc.. it's not a "Rush your ass
off to set up, or cut into your own set time." Type thing, like
Hollywood venues we've played.
Jason: I was pretty excited to play with Today Is the Day. They had
been one of my favorite bands since high school, they were totally
brutal.
What other interests do you have besides music?
Justin: I'm in law school and I work, so I don't really have time
for other interests with two bands. I like movies.
Nick: I like to party.
Jason: I don’t get out much.
Pick the band from each of the following pair that you prefer and
tell why you picked them.
Captain Beyond or Sir Lord Baltimore
Justin: Fuck that's hard...I'm not sure I could pick which one I
like more, so I'm just going to go with Sir Lord Baltimore because I
get all pumped up when I listen to them.
Nick: I'd have to go with Captain Beyond, because their rhythms and
song structures are a little more complex than Sir Lord Baltimore.
Though both bands are excellent.
King Crimson or Pink Floyd
Justin: That's even harder. I'm not even going to answer that one
because it would change depending on my mood. They're even in my
book as two of my all-time favorite bands.
Nick: That is really difficult. Especially considering both bands
have had such a significant impact on our music. I think I'd have to
go with Crimson in terms of experimentation.
Electric Wizard or Sleep
Justin: Sleep, hands down. I like Electric Wizard, but Sleep
introduced me to the whole stoner rock thing and introduced the
world to Matt Pike and that guy is a monster on guitar (aside from
Asbestosdeath, but whatever).
Nick: Sleep!
Black Sabbath or Hawkwind
Justin: I love Hawkwind, but Black Sabbath is more timeless, so I
definitely have to choose them.
Nick: Black Sabbath. They defined heavy.
Is there anything else you would like to say about your band or your
music?
Justin: Not really, thanks for listening and taking the time to
interview us.
Nick: I'm good. Thanks again.
www.myspace.com/fleshintostone |
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