Interview with Grayceon 2008

By Bradley Smith

There has been some notable growth between your self titled debut and the Grand Show.  The new one seems heavier and darker.  What sort of developments do you feel have happened to your compositions contrasting one album with the other?  Why do you think that this difference exists?

J: We are growing as a band, working out the writing kinks and just getting a better feel for what we are capable of musically. When our debut album came out we had only been playing and writing together for a year and a half. Creating new sounds and challenging ourselves is always a high priority for us, so we try to write things we haven’t done before. This Grand Show went the direction of doomy-ness and darkness, but that’s not to say the next album will be that way.

M: I don’t have much to add to Jackie’s answer. I think it just happened that way organically at that point of our writing. I don’t feel like it’s a new direction necessarily.

Z: This album was certainly written with heavy hearts, at least for Jackie, and for me there was a new appreciation to slower, intense doom music. It can be amazingly complicated to play slow music, at least as a drummer. 

I noticed Grayceon did some recent touring?  How did that go?  Have you noticed your audience changing in regards as to who shows up at your shows and of course what bands you tour with?  If so why?

J: Our audience has been growing, but the type of people at our shows hasn’t changed much. We did some shows in the Northwest recently with Agalloch and I think we shared pretty much the same crowd- people who listen to a lot of metal but are open minded and excited about the music that is found on the fringe of that genre. We continue to play with bands we love and want to see live every night ourselves.

M: That show and several of the other shows we have been excited about in the last 6 months were all-ages shows that were either in the Northwest or in nearby towns. I feel like we don’t get to play to all ages that often in San Francisco proper and I’m excited to see the enthusiasm of young people at these shows.

A new Mini-movie was created for Song For You.  Can you tell me about this project, who is involved and what it entails?  From what I read it is not for the squeamish.  What makes it so?

J: Grayceon was approached by filmmakers Daniel Hague and Corin O’Hara to do a music video. They were inspired by the work of director ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Michael Haneke and wanted to translate elements of his aesthetic into a shorter mini music film set to Grayceon’s music. So, after reading the script and seeing some of Haneke’s work we agreed to be a part of it. Coincidentally, the style of the film Dan and Corin wanted to make catered to some of our desire not to be filmed. All the band footage in the film is extremely close up and/or abstracted. Another filmmaker is preparing a script for a new video for us and coincidentally, again!, that script contains children performing as us, so… we may never actually ‘appear’ in a video.

I read that you swam to Alcatraz?  How did you get involved with that and why did you undertake such an arduous physical trial?  Who else was involved?

J: I did- and it only took me 61 minutes! I have always been a swimmer but in recent years I only workout in the pool for exercise and don’t really push myself physically. Last year I committed myself to take on one physical challenge a year and the swim from Alcatraz was my first one. I loved it! Doing stuff like that keeps me young.

Have you noticed a substantial Growth in popularity for Grayceon?  How do you deal with it?  Does it ever go to your head or are you still as humble now as you were on day one?  What sort of changes have you noticed in the attention Grayceon now receives from earlier in your career?

J: Haha, ‘substantial’ if you say so! People are becoming more aware of us as we keep releasing material and that is all we can hope for at this point. Vendlus Records is a small label and although I come from ten years of working in Amber Asylum as well as guest appearances on albums by Neurosis, Matmos, and others… those connections don’t really bring us any more notoriety.  I think we are just working with our heads down and not putting too much importance to what other people think. Our careers have not changed in the slightest- we’re still broke!

The US election is coming up fast.  Are you going to vote?  What do you think of the current state of American politics?  Is it really time for change or will the status quo rule the day?

J: Yes, I plan on voting. American politics are a joke. It is way beyond the time when change should have happened, but unfortunately the need for change does not deter the status quo ruling the day.

M: Yeah, I’m gonna vote. I think at this stage in the race it is unpredictable who is going to win. We definitely all lean toward the left as far as American politics go and it’s easy to be optimistic when living in a liberal bubble like San Francisco. I can’t help but wonder if a change in leadership will drastically alter the status quo as far as the daily life of the average citizen is concerned. It’s hard to tell.

Do you think there is an issue with artistic bands taking themselves too seriously?  I notice that Grayceon tends to have a sillier side.  But do you think this is something your peers lack when it comes to their art?

Z: Ah, the age old question posed by Frank Zappa, "does humour belong in music"? And I think that it certainly does. I'm not saying that the music itself needs to be always funny, but I think if you don't have a sense of humour the world is gonna be a lot tougher for you to deal with. The music that Grayceon makes is certainly lacking in the humour department, but the three of us are far from the "life is nothing but crippling pain" brand of folk. Especially in the music industry, some of the characters we meet and the surreal situations we get into force one to either laugh at it or get swallowed up by how insane it can be. Truth is stranger than fiction for sure...

I figure with Amber Asylum as with Grayceon now you have been able to see the world somewhat and get a different perspective on the world and America as well.  What things do you find you miss when you are away from America and what things do you like about the world?  What is your favourite place outside of the U.S. and why?

J: Believe it or not, neither Amber Asylum nor Grayceon has ever performed outside the US besides Canada! More than 50% of Amber Asylum’s fan base is in Europe and we still never had a decent enough offer to bring us over there and play. Grayceon is such a new band, we haven’t had such offers as well. I hope that one day we will go to Europe (or Australia, or Japan, or Iceland, or…) with our own money and set up somewhere- anywhere!- and just play so that we can say that we did it!

What are some of the upcoming Plans you have for Grayceon?  Any other music projects you will be getting involved with?  What about the thrash project Walken with Max and Zack?  What’s happening with that?

J: Well, we have already begun writing new material and our original idea was to make another 7” split, but all the bands we asked are hoarding their songs for their own upcoming full-length releases and I can’t blame them. So, not sure if that will happen. We have also received some light hearted threats from fans about touring, so hopefully a 7” split and some touring this next year? I can’t promise anything, but I will say that you can probably expect another full-length by early 2010 from Grayceon. In other music projects, I just finished recording an album with Giant Squid and a guest spot on the new Cattle Decapitation album. Next up for me are possibly another Amber Asylum and another Asunder recording.

M: Walken just finished a new record and hopefully it won’t sit in my dad’s garage like all the other recordings we have done.

I’ll leave you a chance to make any declarations or statements you so desire.

J: Thank you so much for having us- it was a pleasure to talk with you!  We greatly appreciate the support of Nocturnal Cult.  Until next time…