Picture courtesy of Road Eaters
Road Eaters dropped their new album, Opaque, on September 5 through Filth Cult Data. We caught up with Megan March (drummer/vocalist), John No (bass/vocals), and Joan Toledo (guitarist) to speak in regards to the album and their future plans.
What was the writing and recording course of for this album, and the way does it differ from earlier releases?
Joan: All of the sudden there have been three of them!
John: Yep, sonically this album represents the second wherein we fully-embrace guitar-ism and its embodiment in Joan—We went a strong decade of being a loud two-piece guitar-driven put up punk band with out an precise guitar, and this ups the ante considerably. In fact, this being Road Eaters, my bass tone continues to be distorted and overdriven AF, Megan continues to be hammering holes proper into each drum head she owns, and Joan’s Sovtek head is completely attuned to fill in all of the remaining openings in our saturated sound wall.
So far as the recording, it’s a mixture of Jack Shirley’s unmatched mixing expertise with some monitoring from our house studio and a few monitoring fully-recorded with Jack at Atomic Backyard. Usually, if the music has extra layered sonic structure and deep space-psych freak outs, we did the monitoring at house; the extra stripped-down rockers have been accomplished at AG.
There appear to be some heavy feminist themes on this document, in addition to disgust with society as an entire. How did it really feel to channel all that with this album, and what’s the major message you need to get throughout?
Megan: Sure, you heard accurately. Music and artwork are very cathartic for me, and I’ve at all times wanted to discover a solution to “work it out” or say what we really feel must be mentioned. This document immediately confronts programs of energy, which admittedly is a typical thread in our discography, however on OPAQUE, I took a extra private strategy by referencing private experiences as metaphors for abandonment, isolation, betrayal, and sure, a profound disgust with programs of energy.
Joan: Punk is inherently the music of disenfranchisement and disgust, of rebel and rage. Punk is assault music. At its greatest it confronts oppression both immediately or not directly, both at certainly one of its sources or the folks carrying it out. It feels inevitable that increasingly folks will really feel the violent weight of fascism because it continues to construct energy, and so it is just applicable that we use no matter strategies which are obtainable to us to discover and reject imposed hierarchies of energy.
Are there any plans coming as much as tour on the document or play reveals?
Megan: Sure. We simply received again from a stint of Southern California reveals, which have been wild. Subsequent up: an insane weekend on the east coast to play NYC, DC, and PHILLY, with a set on WFMU, then flying again to SF the following day to play our document launch with UNWOUND. I’ll sleep after I’m lifeless.
John: Engaged on some potentialities to move again to the Pacific NW this fall/winter as properly. Extra to return usually, for certain.
Regardless that it’s early days, are there any plans within the works for future music after this?
Megan: We have now a brand new batch of songs we’ve been demoing for a brand new full size, please keep tuned …
Joan: We’ve been jamming so much on new materials, and I do imply full on hippy jamming. We’ll improvise round musical concepts for 10-Quarter-hour at a time and maintain onto the extra attention-grabbing moments. And since there are the three of us, there’s a wider palette of sounds we’re pulling from. At the moment a few of our improvisational tendencies, which you’ll generally hear in between songs at reveals, incorporate noisier tendencies or discover pitches and tones which are nowhere to be present in a typical punk state of affairs.
John: In fact, what we name hippy would aurally traumatize an precise hippy except they have been a Fugs or Lemmy-era Hawkwind hippy. Truthfully, I believe we’re writing the perfect music this band ever has. Our three-way inventive course of is completely in synch and scratches all of the sonic itches. Road Eaters has at all times thought-about it essential to get extra musically-interesting and highly effective with each launch, by no means coasting off the previous, and each this album and the model new stuff (which you’ll hear at our reveals) are 100% the clearest demonstration of this dedication but.
Is there the rest you’d like so as to add?
Joan: It’s very easy for folks to consider that they’ve to attend for another person to begin one thing earlier than they’ll do it too. And lots of people don’t even consider they’ve the ability in any respect! You the reader are able to greater than what society or your boss or the federal government tells you. You can begin your individual band. You’ll be able to refuse energy. You’ll be able to scheme and collaborate with others. It takes on a regular basis folks to make a change.
