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Six Dumb Questions with Beastmaker

beastmaker-photo-ken-trousdell

Since the release in May of Fresno, California-based three-piece Beastmaker‘s second album, Inside the Skull (review here), the dark-rocking classic metal/heavy rock outfit has embarked on a cross-country tour with Zakk Sabbath and announced a return trip to Europe for this Fall alongside Ukrainian heavyweights Stoned Jesus. This more or less continues a campaign with a mind toward sonic dominance that began when Rise Above issued their 2016 debut, Lusus Naturae (review here), and helped to set forth a momentum that seems to still be building in force.

With the stated intention of an overall increase in tonal heft and percussive impact, Inside the Skull finds the self-recording trio led by guitarist/vocalist Trevor William Church (also of Haunt) straddling several genre lines atop a solidified core of aesthetic and songcraft. Cuts like opener “Evil One,” the doomly “Of God’s Creation,” the swinging “Psychic Visions” and the bruisingly distorted “Night Bird” excel in bringing forth structural and stylistic nuance while remaining memorable. Are they cult rock? Garage doom? Classic metal? Bleak heavy rock? Beastmaker — Church, bassist John Tucker and drummer Andres Alejandro Saldate — pull elements from all of the above and set them to work in a context of crisp, efficient execution. Inside the Skull has its twists and turns, but what it doesn’t have is a wasted moment.

In light of where they’ve been, what they’ve been able to accomplish in a relatively short three-year tenure, the fact that they built their own studio to record Inside the Skull and have already started work on their next full-length, it seemed a perfect time to hit up Church to talk about where Beastmaker are headed and what the future might bring. The run with Zakk Sabbath had brought them to the biggest stages of their career so far, so that future, despite their overarching darkness, never seemed so bright.

Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

beastmaker inside the skull

Six Dumb Questions with Beastmaker

Tell me about writing Inside the Skull. When did the songs start to come together? Was there anything in particular you wanted to accomplish in songwriting? Anything you wanted to change or do differently from the first album?

I started writing Inside the Skull during the recording of our debut album, Lusus Naturae. I was really inspired at the time and songs and lyrical ideas were flowing. I had the idea of in order to live forever you had to live it alone and we just thought that would be a fitting title for the new album. We wanted to accomplish a heavier sound for Skull. When I’m writing songs I just let them happen. It has to be very organic for me, meaning I sit in my studio and roll up a joint and just start playing. I don’t know any other way at this point. Once Andy and John come in and play the song we know if it’s a keeper or not. We tested the songs on our tour with Blood Ceremony in Europe. As far as changes from Lusus Naturae, we just wanted a heavier production. We did Lusus Naturae with a minimal production approach. We wanted to keep it rough. This time around we wanted to do the same approach but give it a much heavier mastering treatment.

What was it like to build your own studio? Tell me about the recording process. What were the lessons you were able to take from Lusus Naturae and how do you feel about the results? Are you someone who can listen to his own record?

Well in building a studio it’s more about acquiring the equipment. With Lusus, we didn’t have as much gear. Our microphone collection wasn’t what it is now. Oddly we settled on using a Gretsch Jazz kit for the recording of Lusus, which in turn we decided never to do that again. It really amazes me we achieved the sounds we got with an 18” kick drum. But with how people reacted to the You Must Sin EP, we just wanted to keep moving with that sound at the time. So first thing we did for Inside the Skull was we bought a different drum set for the recording. We are pleased with how much heavier the drums came out. I love recording – it’s my favorite part of being a musician. The creation. So yeah I listen to my own music constantly. It’s the only way to improve on your songs and find little discoveries on how to improve the song you are working on. In retrospect now after its release we’ve already mapped out all the changes for album three.

You did plenty of time on the road for Lusus Naturae and your schedule has already been and looks packed in the months to come for Inside the Skull. How important was it for you to road-test your material before the album came out? Is how a song will translate live a factor when you’re writing?

We try and throw new material in the mix as soon as we can. We just got off the road with Zakk Sabbath and there where songs we had never played live before on that tour. So we always have to see what songs the crowed responds to the most and play it by ear. Again, we like a natural approach to things. Whatever is feeling right at the moment.

What was it like being on tour with Zakk Sabbath? How was that experience for you as a band? What were the shows like, how was the audience response, and how did that compare to some of the other touring you’ve done so far?

Going on tour with Zakk was like going to college. I think I can speak for the whole band when I say we learned a lot on where our weaknesses were and how to improve. The venues were the largest we had ever played and on a bigger stage you have to relearn how you play live. Being an opener is always a challenge. Most of the people there had never heard us before so we had to give them a good first impression. But when you look out in the crowd and you are wondering, “are people into this?” and by the end of the set they are screaming for you, I think we did our job. In comparison to other tours this was a very organized tour. We went on stage at 9PM sharp, set was over 9:40 sharp every night. It actually was really nice because on some other tours some of the shows have little to no organization and you can get in to your hotel or floor space quite late. We got into our hotels no later than 1AM every night. That was nice because generally it’s more like 2:30 or 3AM.

You’ve done videos already for “Evil One” and “Nature of the Damned.” How did you select those songs? How important do you feel it is to convey a visual representation of the band? Will you do more clips for Inside the Skull going forward?

This was actually Andy’s department. I had a really hard time communicating with what my own vision was. So, it was the first time I really let something leave my hands. Andy chose the tracks we would use and he oversaw it and got the job done. I think on the video side of things we have a lot of work to get what we really want and it’s very important to try and connect the dots. You might see some more videos for Skull. You might not. Hard to say at this point, really.

You head to Europe this Fall with Stoned Jesus. What are you most looking forward to about touring abroad again? Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

I’m looking forward to seeing all the people we met last year and to show them Inside the Skull in its live format. Also, just like our last European tour they will be hearing brand new songs for album three. So that is exciting for us. It may only be one song but maybe that one song will rotate with the 20 we’ve been learning at the moment. We want to thank all of our fans and people that have bought our records posted pictures on Instagram, etc. Also we want to thank Rise Above Records for putting out our music. Cheers.

Beastmaker, “Evil One” official video

Beastmaker, “Nature of the Damned” official video

Beastmaker on Thee Facebooks

Beastmaker on Bandcamp

Rise Above Records website

Rise Above Records on Thee Facebooks

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