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Sons of Tonatiuh Interview with Dan Caycedo: Running Red on White Walls

Though they’ve been around in one incarnation or another since 2008, you could probably argue that Atlanta sludge metallers Sons of Tonatiuh are still feeling out their mechanics if not their aesthetics. They have two albums out — a 2010 self-titled debut (review here) and 2012’s rousing, Kyle Spence-recorded follow-up, Parade of Sorrow (released on Hydro-Phonic Records) — and over the course of both have shown a propensity for intense pummeling that at times borders on post-metal churn, but through a balance of screams and cleaner vocals establishes an identity of its own. The only holdup for guitarist/vocalist Dan Caycedo has been sorting a lineup with which to deliver said fare.

Over the course of five years, Caycedo has been through three entire rhythm sections — three bassists, three drummers — and a second guitarist. Given that, it’s a wonder Sons of Tonatiuh have been able to get anything out at all. You have to figure it makes sense; sludge doesn’t pay the bills and Caycedo wants to tour as much as his bandmates will allow. It’s a situation that seems to be geared for conflict, but if Caycedo is discouraged, you wouldn’t know it from the hopeful tone in which he speaks of the current incarnation of the band, in which he’s joined by bassist Twitch and drummer Josh. Maybe having the outlet of a song like “Colors Run Red” from Parade of Sorrow is enough to balance it out.

Through it all, Sons of Tonatiuh have managed to keep together a pretty rigorous touring schedule, and as Caycedo continues to settle into working with Twitch and Josh, the band are also putting together a tour for the fall, and recently played with U.S. Christmas and Generation of Vipers in their hometown at 529. That seemed like a good place to start. In the interview that follows, Caycedo gives his impressions of that gig, recounts his hopefully-finished lineup woes, talks about his songwriting process and recording with Spence, who doubles as the drummer in Harvey Milk, being constantly compared to Eyehategod and much more.

The complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

How was the gig with U.S. Christmas and Generation of Vipers on July 19?

It was pretty fucking sweet. Big fan of USX and Generation blew me away too. They both share the same drummer and the guitarist, Josh [Holt] of Generation is also the bass player of USX. Their gear is quite mouthwatering as well. Stuff that’s really hard to come by. Custom made guitars and bass. Model T head, Emperor cabs, etc…

The turnout was shit as expected for ATL but we had a good time and playing and 529 in East Atlanta has some of the best sound in town as well.

Take me back to 2008 when you guys were first getting together. Did you have an idea of what you wanted the band to sound like? How did everything first get going?

Yeah, it started off with a couple of riffs I was jamming on in the beginning that were more or less geared towards a southern sludge sound but I wanted to incorporate the whole idea of ancient civilizations. Not necessarily tribal sounds but its something I keep up with in what I read so a lot of the lyrical content is based off of that. I’ve always gravitated towards heavy music so it was pretty natural for me to just start writing heavy riffs again.

I initially met up with a couple of drummers, blew out the shit combo amp I was using at the time, bought a Laney 100 watt tube head and a cab off of another bass player who ended up playing bass for Sons for a total of three practices, got Jeff [Juszkiewicz] from Let the Night Roar to play bass for us for the first six-to-eight months while I looked for a full-time bass player, then found Mike Tunno through some half-ass metal blog which worked out well for a couple of years. Ironically that Laney head came full circle from the Leechmilk days. It used to be owned by Chris of LM, who sold it to someone else back in 2002, then they sold it (I’m assuming) to the first bass player who we jammed with and in turn I bought it. Small world, or should I say, small scene…

So three drummers, three bass players, and an axed second guitar player later, here I am with a new solid lineup.

What happened with the lineup changes earlier this year? Is there any change in sound with Twitch and Josh in the rhythm section in the new material you’re writing?

Well… we went out west for two weeks back in October of 2012, came back and Mike told me he was more or less burned out on touring and Tim [Genius, drums] had a full-time gig already where he really couldn’t tour with us any longer. Plus he got married not too long ago, so he was trying to be responsible and keep it local, so we basically parted ways since I had no interest in playing locally all the time.

The sound overall has changed considerably in my opinion, though others may not hear it right off the bat. Twitch has a pretty nice setup as far as his rig and bass goes and Josh comes more from a black metal background so the dynamics are entirely different. My writing is leaning more towards experimental stuff, more delay, smoother transitions and cleaner vocals but still keeping the punk influence imbedded in the new material. I’m taking a big risk with the sound but I guess that’s the point.

How does your writing process work? How is material fleshed out and how important is it for you to work songs out on stage? Do you have a set notion of what Sons of Tonatiuh sounds like?

I usually work on my own with riffs and song structure, present it to the group, experiment, discard it, start over and wait for the goose bumps. Twitch and I get together sometimes at his place and just hash songs out as well. We’ll go through a few ideas as a group before something really takes hold that we feel is worth working towards.

I’m not a big fan of “working songs out on stage” even-though we probably tweak a few things here and there after something is written.

I have no idea really what Sons sounds like but I know that I’m never content with the sound. I just don’t want us to be labeled as “Eyehategod enthusiasts” or whatever they come up with. I get that a lot of our first album has that similar feel but it’s definitely not the same in my opinion. Through in time I suppose we may carve our own niche or so I hope.

You’ve put in a significant amount of road time over the last couple years. Has that been part of the issue in  finding the right people to tour with who can actually get the time to go out?

Partially. As they say, being in a band is like being in a relationship without the sex. We have to try and get along, sleep in cramped quarters, hear the same shit over and over again about why so and so is such asshole, who shat where, where all the money went, dealing with bad personal hygiene and the biggest complaint — “Why don’t you ever listen to me!” Hahaha…

Being that this is really my baby and I guess I can push people pretty hard with tour schedules and I understand why some people can’t deal. But the reality is I really have nothing better to do with my life and neither do they. And now I feel like Twitch and Josh are the missing links to SOT and fully understand the “going the distance” statement.

Tell me about recording Parade of Sorrow? How was it working with Kyle Spence? How long were you in the studio?

Kyle was really great to work with. He truly understood what we were trying to do and in a way, helped produced the Parade album with really good ideas. We did basically five days in his home studio in Athens, GA. I didn’t want to half-ass it like we did with first album where we only had three days to work with. Yet I feel like our next album will be spent with at least a week and half of recording and mixing.

Will you go back to Spence for the third album? Are there any plans set for a time yet?

I’ve given thought to this, but I’m really not sure. I kind of like the idea of changing recording engineers every album and looking for some new input and direction. Ideally I would like to go to the next step and get Billy Anderson on board with us, but that may be a stretch. Not sure if this is something he would want to get involved in or not. About everything Billy has ever done is golden in my ears.

Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

Music is a really big part of my life. My daughter being number one and touring being a way of life. Europe is our next destination after our Midwest tour in September. My vision for Sons of Tonatiuh is a monolith of sound in a van with a maxed out gas card. Expect something really big with our next album but don’t expect it to be the last…

Thank you for listening.

Sons of Tonatiuh, Parade of Sorrow (2012)

Sons of Tonatiuh on Thee Facebooks

Sons of Tonatiuh on Bandcamp

Hydro-Phonic Records

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