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Interviews

Band photo by Terje Visnes

It’s been eight years since I first interviewed Bent Sæther, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian act Motorpsycho. I remember being obsessed with rusbank.net their then-new album, Behind the Sun and wanting to find out more about the music, the band, their mindset and what not. Luckily, he answered many of my curiosities and shed some light upon their creative process as well. Since 2014, the group has been just as prolific as before, releasing a string of excellent albums that have become some of my favorites in their discography. Earlier this year, Ancient Astronauts was announced without much detail around it, so I reached out to Bent for another interview and I am happy he found the time to offer some updates on their latest records, including this brand new sonic journey out on August 19.

You entered this, let’s say in a broad term, progressive rock phase with 2010’s Heavy Metal Fruit. How do you feel Motorpsycho’s direction shifted since then, or if it’s easier, in the past 5 years, since we first listened to The Tower?

Oh, we’ve been called everything under the sun since always, but the ‘prog’ one was always there. I think we might even have called ourselves that way back in the earliest of days since it was so unhip in 1989!
While I like the idea of progressiveness in music, this labeling in reality just makes it…


 

During the early ‘10s I went through a phase of listening to a lot of tech-metal, but there was one band in particular that really apprehended my intrigue. That band was Cyclamen, masterminded by one man, Hayato Imanishi. What impressed me back then and even more to this day, is that he lives his life on pushing boundaries for both himself and the music he makes; for a guy that can shred on the guitar with ferocious virtuosity, it’s somewhat refreshing to hear him humbly talk about always improving. Between 2010 and 2015, Cyclamen became a driving force in the scene, with extensive touring and steadfast recorded output – all managed solely by Hayato while he organised events for bands like Dillinger Escape Plan in Japan. However, after Amida’s release in 2018, things got steadily quieter. This year Hayato announced that he was going to sell the ownership of all his works, including the much-revered Cyclamen tracks that have been released over the years.

After reading the post with a small amount of shock, I reached out for an interview, not just to get a better understanding of why he was selling the rights to his labours, but just on where the band is at this point, and where Hayato intends to go artistically moving forward. After kindly accepting, I caught up with him while he was back in Japan helping his sister, to talk about the music industry’s business model, getting a buzz from complete…

FOREWORD

Mason Maggio is a man of many talents. Currently he is the sole member of Souveneer, an indie-folk/rock project formed in 2016, but you might also know him as the lead singer from The Republic of Wolves and Tigers on Trains. I caught up with him recently on the progress of his new EP, the future of his other projects, and even his successful stint on Jeopardy.

In addition to the interview, Maggio has also granted Sputnikmusic exclusive early access to his upcoming song, “Evelyn”, which will be on his 2022 EP Sleep Study. “Evelyn” drops officially on Thursday, June 9th.

You can stream “Evelyn” below, as well as Sleep Study‘s two other already released tracks as you navigate through the interview.

Enjoy!


It’s been a while since we’ve caught up for an interview (2016, to be precise). A lot in the world has changed since then…how are you doing?

A very tough question to start things off! Overall I’ve been well. Without getting into major worldwide events, some of the main happenings in my life since 2016 have been moving from New York to LA, getting a dog, becoming obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons, winning on Jeopardy, meeting/collaborating with some amazing songwriters, and growing enough as a musician and artist to fully embrace my solo project.

There’s a big audience on Sputnikmusic for

It’s 4:30pm on a dull, grey Tuesday afternoon in Manchester. The band have just arrived at their next gig, The White House in Salford; a music venue arbitrarily situated in an industrial estate just on the outer rim of the city. It begins to rain as I stand in the doorway of the club, staring at the factory buildings in the distance as they pump out light hues of smoke from their tall chimneys – towering over mesh fences and brick walls laced in barbed wire, with broken glass scattered all over the dilapidated roads. I chuckle over how perfectly this environment encapsulates the band’s image. John Famiglietti approaches me with his typically jovial disposition and asks if I want a beer while they get ready for soundcheck. The band are slightly jetlagged from their flight a day or so ago, but they’re in good spirits as they titter and jest over various things whilst setting up their equipment. Shortly after, as with my own assessment of the area, the band’s guitarist and singer, Jake Duzsik, gleams “this place is so Manchester, I love it!” For those who have felt the post-punk undertones (Joy Division, New Order) in the band’s works, talking to Jake affirms that influence, as it’s clear he has a huge amount of reverence for this city – which is largely down to the pantheon of incredibly important bands who spearheaded the post-punk movement in the 80s. After a little small talk about how the tour…

Artist Bio:  Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity consists of two friends who met in September 2021 and began making music together with the goal of being adventurous and avoiding confinement to one genre or sound. Sometimes catchy and immediate, other times hypnotic and ethereal, there is always something unexpected around the corner. They are currently writing and recording their second full length album and a punk EP.

Genres: Experimental, indie folk, electronic, ambient

Band Lineup: Nicholas L. and Jeff M. (Everything, except drums which are performed by Jeff)

Website: https://linktr.ee/n.and.j.discoverinfinity

Most Recent Release: A single called “Let’s Never Time Warp Again” from their second full length album, only on Bandcamp.

Sputnik User: Deathconscious


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Deathconscious about his musical project Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity: from the meaning of the band’s name and its origins to where they see their pursuit of infinity taking them.

The name of your band seems to perfectly encapsulate what the music entails. There’s a sense of raw exploration in your songs, and while one can’t always be sure of where they’ll arrive, they typically – at the very least – make for an interesting journey. What inspired your no-limits approach to making music? Was there anything specific (a novel, movie, etc) or are you both just dreamers? Also, are there any musical acts that influence/play a role in shaping your art?

When we got together we didn’t even really…

Artist Bio:  Stray ghost mutt making strange noises. Gameboy music meets your favourite David Lynch film and gives birth to broken dreams. Digital ghost guitar screams. Cute/

Genres: Electronic/noise rock/shoegaze/fake OST/real OST

Band Lineup: Johnny Kwaitaminutenow

Website: https://nightmarepuppy.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Nara Nara Voltsong For Shower (LP, February 2020)

Sputnik User: JohnnyoftheWell


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Johnny about his musical project Nightmare Puppy, from its formation to what he sees in its future.

Nightmare Puppy image

Hugh Puddles circa 2017. Image has been blurred to protect his identity from Brazilian LDR stans.

I’m looking at the artist pic on your bandcamp page right now. Is that the elusive and ever-sought-after Hugh Puddles? Also, how long did it take you to grow that hair out? Is that a pornstache or just a shadow?

Hello heh, yes that was me five years ago. Can’t confirm how long the hair took because I was a hippy flake and never cut it, like, ever. Times have changed and I look like a moody square now, but it was fun while it lasted. The pornstache was and is real. It comes with a beard and lots of good intentions.

 

Tell us a little bit about how Nightmare Puppy formed. What sparked your desire to make music? What cumulative influences (artist, video game, or otherwise) led to the sounds that we hear on your latest endeavor, Nara Nara Voltsong For Shower?

Yikes, um, when I was 15ish, I had…

Artist Bio:  Allelic is a vessel of creation of atmospheric and melodically inclined black/folk metal through fictive yet deeply personal conceptual records for the band’s Principal Investigator. The project was born in 2017 in Montréal and is now based in Sherbrooke.

Genres: Black/folk metal

Band Lineup: Principal Investigator (Everything)

Website: allelic.bandcamp.com

Most Recent Release: LP: À Contre Vent (2020) // EP: Les Berges de Minuit (2021)

Sputnik User: lalchimiste

 


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic member lalchimiste about Allelic, their influences, the latest single, and future plans.

While you’re certainly not the first artist to blend elements of folk and black metal, Allelic  still manages to sound very unique/distinguishable compared to bands of a similar ilk. I  think user reviewer DungeonBoy expressed it best when he wrote, as part of a review for  your 2018 debut EP Reverberations, “To label it ‘black metal’ or ‘folk’ would be  misleading as the two elements are more intertwined than fused.” How do you view this  balance in your music, and is there a specific focus on your part to ensure that both  genres/styles get equal representation? 

I have always had a strong connection with acoustic guitar and recurringly used instruments in  certain folk music be it flute, violin, percussions used as genuine tools for creating an atmosphere  and not as a gimmick. Same goes for BM…

By now you guys have probably read dmat’s review for the new Lack The Low album, God-Carrier (and if you haven’t you really ought to go do that…right now yeah?). And while Mathias’ review pushed my own precarious dib aside like an uncle’s least favourite, annoying nephew…his review really hits the nail on the head. Kind of like Lack The Low’s God-Carrier. Anyhow… I got to chatting to the mastermind behind the tunes, multi-instrumentalist and Melbourne-based pop mastermind, Kat Hunter.

lack the low banner

How do you think your music should be described. Baroque? Avant Garde? Pop? Pop-adjacent? What is Kat Hunter’s go-to style?

I think it’s pretty hard to describe even for me! I normally say avant-pop, but honestly the music just makes itself, and the classification comes later.

In regards to the album imagery? Are you bending over backwards to please a select few, or is there a deeper meaning to the arched back-ism, dark palette and the pillar which carries the weight of one (or many)?

The picture on the cover was taken by photographer Jeff Andersen Jr. When we were getting together to discuss my music and figure out ways of conveying it in photography, he came up with the idea of making some photos in the style of a Caravaggio painting. It was totally all Jeff’s idea and his ability to pull it off, but that’s where a lot of the ideas around dark shading and posture came from.

God-Carrier is relatively short. Do you think about length when composing? Did you have

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!


BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Methadone Skies is an independent psychedelic rock group from Timisoara, Romania. Active since 2009, the instrumental quartet has released 5 full length records so far. Each LP shares its own musical direction, often leaning into stoner, post-rock and doom metal territories. There were never any boundaries set, so each affair is the sum of various influences and constant sonic exploration. Retrofuture Caveman is the latest album, released in May 2021. The LP mainly blends post-rock with stoner alongside doom metal touches. It is perhaps one of the most calibrated and cohesive efforts so far. Although we are not a heavy touring band, we managed to play over 100 gigs in our country and Central-Eastern Europe over the past decade. We shared the stage with multiple bands in the genre such as Yawning Man, Samsara Blues Experiment, Motorpsycho, My Sleeping Karma, Stoned Jesus, Acid Mothers Temple, Toner Low, Stonebride, 1000MODS and Zaum among others.

Genres: Stoner Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive

Band Lineup: Alexandru Wehry (guitar), Raul Stanciu (guitar, E-Bow), Mihai Guta (bass), Flavius Retea (drums, percussion, keyboards)

Website: https://methadoneskies.bandcamp.com

Most Recent Release: Retrofuture Caveman (LP, May 2021)

Sputnik User: insomniac15


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Raul Stanciu (insomniac15) about Methadone Skies’ latest LP

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 speak to a mav, a gonz, a true salt, a vagrant wordsmith. He will scratch your back, make you hungry, cook you dinner, steal all your houseplants, and win a big rusty bronze prize for it because he is just that good. He has never been sober. He will never drop the ball. He has the flow; everything is flowing. Is he a true disciple of Heraclitus, or the Dionysian we’ve all dreamed we could be? Don’t ask him – he don’t fuckin know! What do we know?

Yes this is MiloRuggles!

Get lit(erary): Why writing drunk could save your grade

Milo.

J-Johnny? Is that you?

Hi.

Where are we? Can you loosen these straps on my wrists?

You tell me. This is an interview. You have the answers. Give them to me. But first, Sowing gave me a stop-and-search warrant: I’m going to need to see your three most recent jams and last meal itinerary before we can go any further.

You’ve caught me at a hell of a time. I might even seem cool! Check these out:

1) Gal Gosta – Não identificado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6khZzKCSomE

Look at this! This was recommended to me on our very own website…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!


BACKGROUND

Artist Bio:  Spaghetti western/Americana black metal from Missouri

Genres: Black Metal / Americana / Spaghetti Western

Band Lineup: Hodag (Brett Tharp), Parker Maertz

Website: https://darkwatcher.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Hymns of a Godless Land (EP, April 2021)

Sputnik User: Gameofmetal


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Brett Tharp (Gameofmetal) about blending black metal with spaghetti western, Dark Watcher’s 2 EPs, collaborating with Allelic, and more.

 

Give us the story behind Dark Watcher. How and when did the project start? What obstacles were encountered? At what point did you know it was definitely something you wanted to pursue?

Dark Watcher came about sometime around the beginning of 2019. I was living in Arkansas and going to college. Music had been on the wayside for a while, it had been difficult to continue practicing regularly within a schedule that busy and my creative focus had been turning towards writing in recent years, still doing some reviews and testing the waters on a few short stories. As silly as it sounds, the renewed interest in music coincided with the release of the game Red Dead Redemption 2, which had a really fantastic and often unorthodox score. I think one day I…

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!


BACKGROUND

Artist Bio:  O’summer Vacation is a guitarless, bass-heavy noise punk/mathy new wave band from Kobe, Japan.

Genres: Punk, Hardcore, Math Rock, New Wave

Band Lineup: mikiiiiii (Bass), Ami (Vox), Manu (Drums)

Website: https://osummervacation.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Wicked Heart (LP, June 2021 [Re-release on Damnably Records along with vinyl edition])

Sputnik User: Dewinged


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Sputnikmusic staff member Dewinged about how his band O’Summer Vacation formed and what touring is like right now, all before receiving some very important nuggets of De-wisdom.

Tell us a little bit about how o’summer vacation formed. Is there a story behind the band name? When did you join the group, and what sparked your interest in making noise/math punk?

o’summer vacation goes way back to that time in 2009 when our band’s dear leader mikiiiiii didn’t have money for a guitar, so he bought a cheap bass instead and started jamming with a couple of friends. He was a big fan of the Touch and Go label bands and early 00s math rock by then. For some reason, probably just laziness, the band never got a guitar player, so they started playing gigs as a trio of bass, drums and vocals. I’ve heard the

Are you a member of Sputnik? Are you also a musician? Drop a message here for a chance to get your name out there to the community!


BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: A one man ambient/experimental outfit from British Columbia.

Genres: Ambient/Dark Ambient/Noise

Band Lineup: Scott Krasman

Website: https://kannatama.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Hell Debris (LP, February 2022)

Sputnik User(s): Scoot


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Scott Krasman to discuss his ambient project Kannatama, and his debut LP “Hell Debris”.

You’ve been involved in a number of projects, from Dropped Flyer (Trip Hop) and Consumer Death Proposal (Hardcore/Thrash) now to Kannatama (Ambient). What is it like moving between genres with such widely varying aesthetics, and what ultimately led you to your most current project, Kannatama? Do you see one genre as more “you”, are you still searching for your preferred style, or are you just a musician who enjoys dabbling in as many musical landscapes as possible?

I’ve been officially making music since 2011, when Dropped Flyer grew from the influences of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. Those EPs were largely created using Audacity and some simple reversing/editing techniques – looking back now, a lot of it comes off as unpolished but ambitious. Some of the tracks on Lowlife are a glimpse into what Kannatama eventually became, especially the opening…

Earlier this week and much of last week I had the opportunity to do something I’ve not done before (yay!). I reviewed Skin Tension’s latest…um, full length, which has a pretty daunting runtime of twenty-seven hours. You can read the review here. On the back of that I caught up with half of the duo responsible, (which naturally got me the whole lineup) to chat about the new album, the band’s influences and what’s next.


Hi guys, thanks for putting up with me this weird and wonderful afternoon, or is it a balmy breakfast time in Nashville?

Josh: Totally, kind of chilly here.
 
 
Cool. Cool. More to the point…who are you and what are your roles in Skin Tension?

Josh: I’m Josh Byrd, I play drums
Edward: I’m Edward Longo, I do guitar, vox, and keys.
Josh: Sometimes all three at once, no joke
 
 
Right. To the elephant in the room then. Or something just as big. Why an album with a runtime of 27 hours?

Josh: It’s a bit of a long story, fitting I guess.
 
 
We’ve got the time.

I bought a cheap mixer in September of 2020 to try out some no-input mixing and solo noise stuff, just for fun. I started recording it as an archival sort of thing at first, and after one month, I had about 30 hours of noise recorded. Around this…

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BACKGROUND

Artist Bio: Telescopium is a prog rock/prog metal outfit currently based in New York.

Genres: Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal

Band Lineup: Parthan Shiv (Guitars/Vocals), Michael Liberatore (Drums), Lenny Trinceri (Bass)

Website: https://telescopium.bandcamp.com/

Most Recent Release: Signs of Life (EP, November 2019)

Sputnik User(s): SitarHero


INTERVIEW

I caught up with Parthan Shiv (SitarHero) about what makes good prog, Top Gun, and the impact of COVID-19.

 

Telescopium is a pretty interesting band name. Before I researched it and discovered that it is the name for a constellation, I thought it had something to do with telescopes (insert facepalm emoji). How did you come up with that name, and does it mean anything to you beyond providing a sweet moniker for your music?

Ha! We like to joke about how we can tell a whole lot about someone from what they take away from the name; whether it’s the “telescope” part (insert nerdy emoji), or the “opium” part (insert stoner emoji), or whether it’s just confusion at a bloody silly moniker that’s hard to spell and even harder to remember (confusion emoji?).

But we chose the name because

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