1. Attic was born in 2012, why did you decide to create the band? And why did you choose the name Attic?
This is Chris here, founding member and rhythm guitar player of attic. As far as why attic happened - it just did. I had gone through a quick but rough divorce, I luckily found a nice cottage just outside of town off the Rogue River for rent in front of what is said to be the 2nd oldest Oak Tree in North America. This was truly the first time I consistently fell into the electric guitar. When married, I had a room full of all the stuff and did nothing. Now, Just a small vox 5a practice amp, a ’72 reissue telecaster, some IPA and lots of time. One night at a friends house I met Otis, we were all jamming and afterwards we got to talking about meeting up. I told him i had some loose skeletons to show. So, we crammed into his parent’s garage and began work. The reason we went with attic as a name was because there was a bunch of ratty storage units next to my cottage, but their business sign and font choice just hooked us. Attic Storage was were we got the name. Few months later we heard of the German outfit named Attic, and said fuck it - we are lower case attic. Sleeper creeper style.
2. A couple of years after creating the band, the first album “Seasons” is released, a work that was described as technical and melodic death. How was the composition and recording process for this first album? And how would you define the sound of the album?
Composition from the string side of things fell right into place when we brought Nathan Tracey in. We generally do string nights outside of full band practice. Nathan and I were able to filter down a riff really easy, and immediately play it back for each other. Seasons had a lot of ping ponging back in forth between rhythm and lead, we both love bands that do that - and it is just so damn savagely fun to play live - I go, and then he goes, then we go! Just massive. So we definitely squeezed every bit of juice out of that trick. Lead would just depart and it felt so right. We never tabbed anything out, or wrote stuff prior to meeting up to try. We just went, and our individual filters were aligned right to just fluidly make decisions as we went. Following the heart more than head you know?.. Recording was pretty standard. Drums first, we tracked two takes of each guitar. I will say interestingly that I did use that vox practice amp for some takes. But a Marshall Mode 4 and a Carvin Legacy were also used.
3. Despite maintaining a fairly stable line-up in recent years, the truth is that Attic has not been lavish in terms of releases since from “Seasons” 2014 to its recent “Foster” 2020 a period of almost six years has elapsed, What is the reason for this long period of time between the two launches? Is Attic in this most recent era going through a period of restructuring in its ranks? If so. for what is this?
Sometimes you waste 90% of your energy for the last 5%. Sometimes you collide with the philosophy of: let’s do that on the next one vs. let’s get it done now. Sometimes you lose your lead guitar player and then awkwardly string your singer along to then awkwardly kick out. Bands can actually be the sloppiest of relationships. But it shouldn’t be sloppy, therefore we went back to basics and built up again. So with that we scrapped everything 4 years in when it had been done 18 months after Seasons was released, and started completely over. Foster was about a year after that adjustment. We also can’t pretend there weren’t Family adjustments too. Otis got married, and we both welcomed daughters into the realm. So, once the dust settled we brought Jonnie Saunders on vocals. We briefly tried the 3 piece thing with Jonnie singing and playing bass, but ultimately thought it was best to free him up - so we brought in Arin Chaddock on bass - and we couldn’t be happier with that decision. As of this moment we feel as solid as we ever have. We have fortunately been really productive during this lockdown. We have 6 songs finished for our next EP. It feels like this one is starting more raw, and angry. We are ok with that being 2020 and all…
4. The passage of these six years has played in favor of "Foster", offering a greater richness of sound and incorporating style such as progressive black in a more evident way, although for my part I also have to say that the intensity of punk plays a Supporting but no less important role in the sound of the new album, How would you define the sound of Foster? How has the sound of Attic evolved between your two albums? What are your musical influences?
Foster is just closer, all the songs were close for a really long time. Personally I was always impressed with Trent Reznor’s remix approach Broken vs Fixed, Downward Spiral vs Further Down the Spiral- or the idea that the song can always be carried on by others, or can be made different, tweaked, and/or added too. But, still be rooted the same, in an alternate universe still close to the one that caught your ear the first time you heard it kinda way… Poet Walt Whitman the same. 8 editions of Leaves of Grass, tweaked through out his entire life. Not another project, just one project forever worked. Forster plays with those ideas, there are some similar riffs reconstructed throughout. Musical influences: Enya, Agalloch, The Haunted, Helmet, LLNN, Death Engine, Numenorean.
5. How has your way of working on the new songs been? And the recording process, are you very meticulous? What brands of instruments do you use to compose and record?
Meticulous can be a moving target eh… We try… hard. Missed a couple things shhhhh. Fender Players HSH, Epiphone Casino LP w/ Seymour Duncan Sentient and Nazgul pickups. Randall Satan 150w Head, 2x12 Randall Cabinet w/ Vintage 30’s. Drum side ‘o things: Vintage Fibes acrylic kit, Sabian cymbals, Remo drumheads, Vic Firth American Classic Rock drumsticks. Bass: Squire Classic Vibe P-Bass and a Darkglass pedal.
6. The texts of "Foster" revolve around nature and environmentalism, the destruction and the scourge of the human being for the Earth, why do you deal with these themes in your lyrics? Do you consider that a black / death band should to open up its theme and move away from typical Satanism?
Foster was a snapshot of all we were seeing in those 5 years. As far as the second part, fear is powerful tool. Knowing that fear can be used for control can also be liberating when you can call it, and are right. Santa Claus, The Big Bad Wolf, and Satan; satanic themes are sometimes a vehicle to understanding fear, not embracing evil. Satan may not be real, but environmental threat is. Maybe we should put energy into something right in front of our face, instead of the dark shadows that scare us. Art lurks in the shadows though, so tough mission/choice yo.
7. The emergence of Covid-19 has been a serious setback for the bands that performed concerts, but I'm wrong Attic had performed a live performance of his previous album, however for “Foster” I don't know if you had something planned, how Has the pandemic affected you in terms of sales and concerts?
We were able to get out a bit for Foster. We were just about to pull the trigger on a merch order when Covid hit. Fortunately, we only had to cancel a few shows. Could have been worse, it is worse for others.
8. The cover of "Foster" is a tree mutilated by the hand of man, why did you decide to use this drawing to illustrate the album?
We love what you see in the cover. That is actually a photograph of that great Oak Tree I mentioned earlier.
9. The album was recorded by Rich Psonak at 10 Dimension Sound and mixed and mastered by Ken Sorceron at Avant-Audio, why did you decide to work with them for this album? Are you satisfied with the final result obtained?
Rich Psonak introduced me to Otis, and has been close to the needle for most of our history. We were thrilled to hear he had a studio set up next to a swamp with a angry Goose. Ken Sorceron (Abigail Williams) has always inspired from afar. Everything he touches is good. Those were both very easy choices.
10. “Foster” has been released in digital format, why do you opt for desktop publishing? Was there no record label interested in making a physical edition of the album?
We have Tapes and CD’s too for sale on our Bandcamp page. It is all about to change. It already had when we decided to guard percentages in exchange for exposure. When all is said and done - and we are no longer here - it is the catalogue that we leave that matters.
11. How were your beginnings in music: first albums that you bought, first concerts that you attended? What happened in your lives made you want to be musicians?
All of my friends knew I would be a musician before I did. Learned a lot from that. Basically that voice and urge to pluck around on 6 strings wouldn’t stop, neither would the results that would help feed back into that urge. My brain would have to vent off through playing or I would be scattered and foggy. We all just have so much fun with it, we love music, we love playing music. If there are no shows, we would still just hang out and play really loud together and something tangible would always come from that. First Tape: Billy Idol Rebel Yell. First CD: NIN - Downward Spiral. First Concert: Sammy Hagar next to shirtless dude who pulled his dentures out to scream: “Fuck Van Halen”.
12. Which album represents the essence of black metal for you? What was the last album you bought? And what album can't you stop listening to?
Ever changing with this one. Abigail Williams Becoming is a full fledged masterpiece start to finish in every way. Numenorean Home is a constant support as well - easily one of the best executed concept albums I can think of in recent years. Couple recent album purchases: Death Engine Place Noire, Wolf King Loyal to the Soil.
13. Precedents of Grants Pass, which reaches thirty-five thousand inhabitants, how did an extreme metal band emerge in such a small town? What can you tell us about the metal scene in your area?
We have such a diverse range of great bands in our valley. The 90’s hit us in a very special and primitive way. So much so that we have had some “legendary” shows by our standards that ripple to this day. Nirvana played Medford a couple months before Kurt was murdered - rumor has it they mixed up zip codes with Portland, and that is why they stopped in Medford. Randy Blythe of Lamb of God got pissed because a couple drunk dudes screamed at a couple of other drunk dudes to shut the fuck up during a moment of silence AFTER playing As the Palaces Burn and not before the set… Randy said he would never play Medford again - shit like that adds up around here. Moreover, Helmet came from here. I swear, or at least I tell myself they used to rehearse in the old IGA Market in Phoenix that was boarded up after Ray’s bought em. We have some resentment here as well - we are called the “Deadzone” halfway between San Francisco and Portland. The place were no one stops - but when they do, we remember - and we convert that too. Each one of us can point to some magic like that around here, Mastodon playing Musichead Record Store before it closed. Best part is many bands around here use that as fuel. Some other notable acts catching some traction are Steaksauce Mustache, Insanity’s Reign, Aitherios.
14. What upcoming events await Attic fans, in terms of upcoming releases, concerts, reissues, line-up?
We are playing Jonnie’s Wedding in October. We are currently working on a new album titled Remnant. Trying out a couple lead players too. And yeah, reissues! Great idea floated around because Seasons never got a physical release. Something like that should happen after that 3rd album hits, we will keep you posted.
15. Thank you very much for taking the time to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for the followers of Attic this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.
Thank you to your team as well. What great questions. And every bit of this helps THIS go on. The scene finds a way, there is a calling - there always will be - that will never stop. The energies are there to reach you. Thanks to everyone of you that holds that up in a vessel, each of us a different type of vessel. Legitimize what is yours and ours. We can’t wait to hug you in the pit!
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