Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking antics: Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today we welcome the most expensive cocoa in the Staff chocolate cupboard. He is a gentlemen among warthogs. He prances heavenwards while the rest of us wipe our noses with our unpaid utility bills. He knows how to write, he’s the essence of charm and dignity when on duty, and he’s too nice to do much more than ignore the hell out of your sorry arse if you’re not up to standard. Believe you me, that’s the treatment most of us deserve and (oh fuckin’ yes) receive. Give it up for the one, the only… Pon! 

Pon. Hi.

Henlo!

What is your alignment?

Based on others’ assessments of me I’m either lawful or chaotic neutral. So I guess I’m completely self-serving and my methods depend on the situation.

Why are you named after a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu song?

“Pone” gave way to “Pön”, which resulted in an attempt to have my Sput name changed to the latter. Regrettably, because Sput’s code is as old as the internet itself, the accented character broke the site…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of Staff past and present and hopefully present-and-future by way of deep-diving casual-reading power-lifting interview posi-sharking, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Steel yourself as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you wish you’d had the courage or attention span to acknowledge surpass your wildest expectations.

Today’s hot bod in the hot seat is a dreamer of dreams, an upside-down-er of opportunities, a cipher of ciphers, an animal for unexpected hype, and an unmasker of hidden faces in places you never knew faces were to be found. He has facets also. Please give it up for: Winesburgohio! 

Who the hell are you?

I feel like this should clear things up. Otherwise! Eyes: Poo-brown. Hair: Balding remains of once leonine and voluptuous locks :O. Sex: if you insist! etc.

How did you originally arrive on this website, and what convinced you to stick around?

O.K. bear with me: I must have stumbled on this website in my teen years – surely one couldn’t have loved Circle Takes the Square and Kayo Dot in the ‘00s and not have cursorily browsed spitnuk at least once – but I was actually put onto it by Zach Savage, a man who I have never met and will never meet. I friended him on facebook because we were the only two people who had the wit to add “allocating resources” to our “likes”; he recommended sput and the rest was history! I’ve formed really strong friendships with…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current (and past) Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.

Today’s willing participant missed the Pokemon hype train, but is more than happy to help, guide or just speak to anyone that wants to do so… oh and has also found the time to write 594 reviews (So Far). Please welcome Sputnik Music’s nicest moderator, SowingSeason — in we go!

SowingSeason: Ready to Bare his Soul

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Good day, Mr. Sowing. How is your day?

It’s good! I’m settled in with a coffee and ready to bare my soul to sputnikmusic.com.

Nice, nice. What Pokemon would you be if you were a…Pokemon?

This may be heresy to some people, but I totally missed the Pokemon hype train. I remember it being huge when I was a kid – my friends all had Pokemon cards – but for whatever reason I simply didn’t care. Pikachu, I guess? That response is sort of “by default” because it’s the only one I know off the top of my head (thanks Mario Smash Bros.!)

[response lol!] And yet, you are not a Pokemon, you are a Moderator! Disregarding the vast amount of largely unseen administrative work that this role entails for one moment, could you comment on the following community…

An interview with Joseph Rabjohns & Lachlan R. Dale…

Hey guys and thanks for taking time out of your day to have a little chat. Although given the weather currently hitting Australia’s East Coast there’s a chance I’m just saving you from a family Monopoly game or that novel you keep putting off?

Lachlan: Man… we only just got out of a COVID lockdown of almost 4 months, so I’ve already taken the opportunity to finally read both Tolstoy’s War & Peace, and Dostoyevski’s Crime & Punishment (which was the last of his great novels I had left). I guess now I’m just practicing for my solo album launch, and for Hashshashin’s recording session just before Christmas.

Joe: We’ve been lucky here with minimal lockdowns and not many cases. I’m not much of a reader, I’m still going on the Hobbit from year 10 on high school. I’ve just finished teaching guitar at school for the year and am now practicing and transcribing string arrangements for my solo album launch, and writing with my other musical projects.

Tell us a bit about the collaborative album. How and why did you guys decide to do a split like this? I understand you guys were doing some shows for Kodiak Empire and Hashshashin around 2016?

Lachlan: Split releases were a big part of me growing up in the extreme metal and hardcore punk scenes. I hadn’t realised that outside of those genres a split record is an anomaly.

Truthfully, I didn’t…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current (and past) Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.

Today’s willing participant hates writing reviews but has written 256 of them. Please welcome Sputnik Music’s three-time Emeritus-awarded writer, Xenophanes — in we go!

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Good day, Xenophanes. Who are you and what is your story?

Hello! I’m a 32 year old guy living in the Midwest. I’m a mid-level corporate hack by day and artist by night.

I started lurking around Sputnik around 2008. A girl I was interested in had a Dir En Grey tattoo (red flag emoji) so through research I found my way here.

Flash forward to now and I have a husband and hate Dir En Grey.

You share your username with an ancient Greek philosopher – what about the original Xenophanes inspired you so?

I was sitting in a classics class circa 2009 and whatever my original original name was wasn’t jiving with me any longer. I think I remember digging his views on religion which seems so cring-y and basic to me now but oh well.

I read your username as xe-no-thanes as in Skyrim and the OG as xe-no-phan-ees as in ancient Greek. Is this okay?

No, but…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.

Today’s willing participant is our reformed meanie-head and connoisseur of podcasts, Trebor. Please give him a hero’s welcome; in we go!

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Good afternoon, Trebor. How is your day?

Every day I have to find the motivation to keep going and that usually takes about an hour or so, so I’ll let you know in an hour.

Literally everyone knows who you are, but you’re gonna have to reintroduce yourself to save me writing a bad mini-bio.

I’ve only been banned once, I’ve almost always had a Redlettermedia avatar, I used to be a meaniehead to a lot of newer users, and 90% of my friends no longer use the site.

Red Letter Media. Click the photo for videos.

What kind of role does music play in your life compared to when you first started on Sputnik?

When I first started posting I had a broken knee and foot and couldn’t walk or do much of anything for a month, so I mostly just listened to new albums I found on Sputnik all day and posted about them. Now I can walk and go on hikes so I don’t need…

Photo by Andy Ford: http://andyfordphotography.co.uk/

Author’s note: This interview was conducted in April; however, due to personal reasons, it fell by the wayside until now. Because of this, a few questions and answers may be slightly outdated.

Please enjoy the interview.

UK upstarts Pupil Slicer are one of the most promising acts in modern mathcore. They may have only released one studio album so far, but that record has already received a great deal of critical praise and a rapidly growing fanbase. In this interview, I sat down with vocalist/guitarist Katie Davies and bassist/backing vocalist Luke Fabian to discuss everything from the creation of their debut album Mirrors, to how they signed with Prosthetic Records, to their future touring and recording plans, and much more.

Regarding the reception of Mirrors: this thing has been blowing up! How’s it felt for you? I couldn’t imagine how overwhelming that would be.

Katie: Yeah, definitely! We never could have expected this. We’ve even had people saying “I don’t really like metal but I really like this album”!

Luke: To give you an example: literally about five minutes ago, I just looked on the Bandcamp page to see the sales of the second pressing of the album, of which we had 100 copies. And we had ten left… and we put those up yesterday! In Gojira numbers it’s not that much, but it’s still pretty mindblowing.

How did you come in…

Hello and welcome back to our ongoing sexification of current Staff by way of deep-diving casual-reading interview razzle, Sputnik’s very own Meet the Spartans. Allow your jaw to drop as impossible questions are posed and the Staffers you never acknowledged surpass your wildest expectations.

Today’s willing participant is our dusky-winged angel of dark feels and industrial bops, DrGonzo1937. Please give him a hero’s welcome; in we go!

Hi Sir Gonz! Who are you? 

A 34-year-old Brit that still loves The Backstreet Boys. 

Name three things that spark joy in you.

Cats, music, and reading books.

New music vs. old music: discuss. Which occupies more of your time, and why?

I’d say it’s a healthy 50% 50% split. I feel like new music doesn’t get the credit it deserves; there’s plenty of derivative stuff out there (metal is the worst for that these days), but there’s still a lot of really innovative music out there that needs support, so I’m constantly on the lookout for that new music and talent, and I try my best to support it in any way I can.

Conversely, there’s still a lot of old music out there that I haven’t listened to yet, things which could shape my tastes for the better, so I keep my eye out for it and look to recommendations from users on Sputnikmusic.

What review are you most and least proud of from within the last year?

I’m terribly self-deprecating about my own work, so it’s hard…

Hello and welcome to our brand new hyperexciting interview series examining the nectarine banter and uncontrollable good looks of the Sputnik Staff roster.

For too long, you have watched from a distance as these Apolline sex paladins slave away on review quotas for okay-ish albums that none of you remember within a week. No more! It’s time to show Sputnik Staff at their true potential!  Let your mind blow as impossible questions are posed and Staffers you were too intimidated to remember the existence of surpass your wildest expectations.

Our first entrant is a lazy place to start because he’s the One that all of you, tyrannous majority, have already acknowledged! Give it up for Staff writer and March Madness Champion, Dewinged!

Hi Dewi. Introduce yourself!

Hi, I’m Dewi.

Why are you always so nice about music?

Well, I’m nice about everything else too, haha! (laughs alone, in the middle of the office) Aaaahhh…. I don’t know, really, it’s in my character I guess. I’ve been exposed to music since a very early age, my father was a complete maniac, he had thousands of LPs at home. Then later I started playing drums at 13, and being in bands since then, recording music yourself, it all gives you a slightly different perspective about what you’re hearing. I enjoy a lot of different genres, and I feel blessed about it.

You seem to spend roughly equal time keeping up with new music and combing through older material – an altogether too…

On 6^th March 2020, Honey Harper released his barnstorming celestial-country debut album, Starmaker, which was nothing short of being breathtaking. However, shortly after the release of this glorious triumph, just days before Will and Alana were set to promote the record, the infamous pandemic took a hold of the world and destroyed – a long with many other artists’ new records – Starmaker’s insurmountable potential. Just over eighteen months later, I managed to catch up with Will and Alana over breakfast to discuss their thoughts on Starmaker, the damage Covid-19 had on Honey’s incredible debut record, and what they have in store for Honey Harper in the future.
 

 
Will: So, we checked out Sputnikmusic and there’s lots of love, which is really great! I’m humbled.

Oh man, yeah. There’s a lot of people that aren’t really into country music on there – I think the guy that wrote the review [Sowing] for Starmaker, he wasn’t really into country – but Starmaker feels like a really good Gateway album to get you into that sort of thing. It’s super accessible because it does so many other things as well. So, yeah, there’s a lot of people who love it; you’ve got a lot of people that gush over it.

Will: I was kind of blown away. I felt very loved, it was pretty great, yeah.

Alana: I think it’s nice that…

Revisit: Interview: Musk Ox Pt.1 – Premonition

Pt.2 – Hindsight

With a lot of the seminal black-metal-folk-y albums like Agalloch and Ulver, their artwork is intrinsic to – like you said before Nathanael, when you were walking through the city listening to The Mantle, how the sky sort of connected with you while you were listening to the music – the overall feel of the music, and the album cover represents a lot of that perfectly as well. Listening to Inheritance, I think the cover perfectly encapsulates what you’re going to be hearing. Was there a conscious effort to find the best artwork that represents the songs or was it just by chance?

Nathanael: Yeah, it was sort of both. Obviously, with Musk Ox we don’t have any lyrics, so the artwork is very important in the way that it’s going to give people the visual representation that adds to the music. It was intentional, but also by chance, because we never really discussed it. I had an idea, and I took this photographer to a place literally 5 minutes from my house where there’s this railroad – like, it’s not a Photoshop thing, it’s literally just over here and we took these photos of it and it worked with the concept. At the time, I looked at one of the photos and thought “yeah, this is definitely it!” and then Raph was like, “actually I like this one” and Evan agreed with…

Read on: Interview: Musk Ox Pt.2 Hindsight

Pt.1 – Premonition

Musk Ox are the real deal. Yet, only one month ago I had no prior knowledge of their existence. It was only through Sputnikmusic’s Album of the Month feature that I came to hear of this Canadian trio – their latest album Inheritance had won best album for July which encouraged me to check it out. In short, Inheritance is a truly spellbinding peregrination; a creation that feels perfectly attuned to nature. It’s an idiosyncratic ambient experience that has some of the most rewarding songwriting heard thus far in 2021. Palpable, lucid songwriting that carves impeccable detail into Inheritance’s tracks. Vivid soundscapes, gigantic crescendos, and a perfect harmony with beauty and melancholy. As such, it left a lasting impression on me. I approached the band’s guitarist, Nathanael, for an interview. The result is a two-part epic detailing a lot of what makes Musk Ox’s members the inimitable pioneers they are today – as we talk about the importance of production, what it’s like being in a band in Canada, Tool, their artwork and influences, and what the future holds for Musk Ox. It goes without saying that you should check out their latest triumph, but if nothing else, this is a good place to start and get to know the band.

For those who don’t know, could you give us a bit of background on the band and how it all came…

I want to talk about Isgherurd Morth foremost and specifically. Mostly, the naming of the band, because I’m not a Siberian national, nor am I French. How does a group of musicians dream up a name like this, especially after forming groups like “Stench Price” which would make slightly more sense to those more English only readers? 

The more bizarre and weirder the name is, the more true black metal it will be! I’m kidding, of course! My idea was to indicate our origins in the possibly strangest way. Considering the large amount of new and existing black metal bands with names difficult to pronounce, I got an idea to play with the native language and found a solution in the Tatar language. Our native Russian language is replete with many words from Tatar dialects. So, ISGHERURD MORTH pronounces as |<Iz-ge-rur Mort>|.

We, the Siberians are descendants of ancient tribes also in our veins is the blood of Tatar Hordes. So we have the real Tatar name “Iske-ur”, which is the olden name of our hometown – “Krasnoyarsk” and re-arranged in a distinctive way with authentic linguistic hissing consonants. “Morth” is “dead”. Thus, the literal name of the project is “Krasnoyarsk is Dead”. The title of the album – “Hellrduk” means “Hell” with the same twist in Tatar-like pronunciation. Therefore the same vibe connects to the song titles.

Stench Pride is definitely a different animal to Isgherurd Morth. What drove the change from the more grinding ferocity, into the…

First up, what’s the weather like in New Zealand at the moment? You guys had a bit of an earthquake/tsunami incident a couple weeks back, how did you and your fellow Christchurch-ian’s hold up?

The weather is fine, thank you. Christchurch is the most southern large city in New Zealand and subsequently we managed to avoid the tsunami warning that the northern island was given. That said, we are no stranger to earth quakes and tsunami warnings. 

Tell us how New Zealanders, particularly the music scene is holding up. The world has seen its share of adversity lately (there’s some virus floating around apparently – it’s been just over a year now) Are live shows coming back? Any talk of touring – maybe an East Coast of Australia “across the ditch” list of dates?

The music scene, and specifically the metal scene, in New Zealand is healthy and thriving. The Pandemic brought a stand still to live music last year, but due to New Zealand’s approach to lockdowns and border security, we currently have no community cases of Covid, and so live shows and festivals can continue without restriction. We feel very fortunate for this and are not taking it for granted, so we are in the process of piecing together our national tour. If the borders open to Australia and beyond, that will be our our focus for touring next year.

We’re a little over a week away from the release of your third album. How has the…