1. Hey BD thanks for doing this interview, so please give us a brief
history of the band and the current line up. Neil of Plerosis and
ex-Dyscrasia joined the band right as well as Rob of Butchered Bitch and
Dessicate? How did you guys come up with the band's name Infectious Hymens
is there any meaning behind it?
-Thank you for the interview bro! There is little real history at this
point, I started Infectious Hymens as a solo project in about mid 2006,
I had some things written but my guitar skills aren't were I want them
to be so I went looking for a full band. Rob first joined on guitar and
also vocals in late December 2006, we've been jamming since. Neil
joined in January of 2007 on bass and vocals also, I was in Plerosis with
him in it's beginnings and we have very similar tastes so it was an easy
fit for this project.
2. Describe the bands music for us and what bands influence you? How
has the sound changed since neil joined the band?
-Describe? Everyone knows there are a million sub-genres. I'll just say
brutal death grind. Due to Rob and myselfs age difference of over 10
years, we're blending the old school with the new, I'd like to think. We
are heavily influenced by bands like Disavowed, Emnity, Deeds of Flesh,
Cephalotripsy, Sikfuk, Vital Remains, Krisiun...pretty much everything
we listen to influences us.
-How has the sound changed? It's not a dual vocal onslaught which I
absolutely love, and now the funk chunk of Neil's bass can be heard, haha!
3. Neil and Rob do all the vocals right? Describe them for us and what
kinds of vocals are used.
-Right. They will both do live vocals, I'll throw in my two cents on
our recording because I am also a vocalist. But, I really like the
contrast between the two styles. Rob does all inhales and creates some sick
sick tones, while Neil's vocals are exhales. Most people know what Neil
sounds like from the Dyscrasia disc, so the difference really makes a
good dynamic.
4. Describe your drumming for us, who influences your drumming style?
-Oh wow. For this project I'm using a lot of various blast paces, fast
double bass grooves to get ya' head bangin' and sit back and slam once
in a while. My main forte is basically this 'metal' oriented style of
drumming.
-Influences. Nicolas Barker, Kjetil-Vidar Haralstad(FROST), Jon Engman,
George Kollias, Chad Walls, Ricky Meyers, Mike Hamilton, Kevin Talley,
Mike Fitzgerald, Jon Gilbert, Dave Weckl, Mike Mangini.....man,
basically every drummer of every band I like haha!
5. You are in some other styled bands including black metal and etc so
how does the styles differ in terms of your drum playing and does your
other bands drum styles influence what you do in Infectious?
-That's a great fuckin' question. I am in a black metal band Tyrant
Obliviot, also on myspace. The styles can be somewhat identical at times,
blast beats, double bass, the style of fills. Tyrant Obliviot is very
diverse though, so I play a lot more one-footed blast beats, a lot more
ambient slow parts also. But still plenty of fast grinds!! I think it
helps me in IH because it just allows me to play more and continue to
improve.
6. Describe Neil and and Rob's playing styles and who influences them.
-That's a tough one. Rob's old school as is gets, so his list of
influences is endless. His playing style is very fast pace oriented, lots of
finger work without being a technical soloist, he keeps it brutal.
-Neil's style is straight up grind and chunk, grind and chunk. His
influences? I know one of his fav's is Alex Webster from Cannibal. I hope
that does these two justice, that's a question they'd have to answer
more in-depth.
7. How do you guys come up with your style and what are you particular
about when creating music? You guys love heavy chunkey slamming parts
and breakdowns??
-We set out wanting to grind, groove, and slam. So when we create it,
it comes pretty naturally because we are writing brutal material in
general. We do absolutely love chunky slam parts, but we don't want to use
them too excessivly and be known as a 'slam band'. But you can
definately expect some heavy slams and breakdowns that'll break yer fuckin'
face!
8. What kind of gear do you guys use?
-I play Sonor drums, Axis Longboard pedals and Zildjian cymbals and use
an Alesis DM5 for my trigger module. Rob and Neil both use B.C. Rich
guitars and basses for this project, they both have many others also. Amp
wise I have no idea, I'm a drummer haha!
9. What kind of releases are you gonna have in the future? Maybe you'll
have some merch?
-Absolutely. Within two months I'm sure we'll have atleast 3 song demo
to give out and then we'll continue writing. I'm hoping to get on a
split with another sick band for our first release. And merch will depend
on everyone's response to the music and if people are liking us, then
absolutely! There's already secret Infectious Hymens merch here in
Madison, WI where we live but shhhh....
10. Thanks again for the interview, so before we finish tell us your
plans for the future and any last words you want to add?
-I should be thanking you bro! You always are up to date interviewing
and reviewing the sickest band in the underground! Our plans are to
write, play shows, get drunk, smoke dank ass chronic, write, write, write,
play shows, play shows, play shows!!! SUPPORT SEIJI, HE'S THE MAN!