Reuben: Do you have a list of prepared questions that went through our PR department? Because we never saw a list.
John: No. I�m just gonna make it up as I go along. Is it okay if I ask you about the abortion?
Reuben: Yes.
John: How was it?
Reuben: It was great. It was awesome.
John: So how long have you guys been together?
Reuben: We started a long time ago, but we never really got it together. When did we start? 2001, maybe. It was John and I and Will from Ogre, and a couple of other guys came and went. And we just never got it together. And then John and I about a year and a half ago talked about getting it back together and doing it, and so I guess technically a year and a half.
John: So that last EP you did came together pretty quickly.
Reuben: Yeah. Basically we wrote those songs and went right to the studio. We actually had that EP out before we played our first show.
John: How about the new album?
Erik: What about it?
Reuben: Yeah, what about it?
John: Tell me all about it. This is your time to fucking shine, boy-o.
Erik: Do it. Shine.
John: You recorded that with Sanford, but then had to have it re-recorded.
Reuben: We went to Chicago just about a year ago. We had a pretty bad tour on the way out there, pretty draining.
John: Was it the pre-Emissions?
Reuben: No, it was the year before that. There was some pretty bad shows and car trouble. And our drummer at the time wasn�t really cut out for the road I don�t think. Although he�s a hell of a guy, don�t get me wrong. So anyway, we laid out the stuff with Sanford in two days. I think we rushed it and weren�t really feeling it. So then we were going back and forth about trying to mix it, and it just was the distance was hard to overcome. We could never be there in the studio. I think he did a great job, he does great work.
John: Because he�s going to read this.
Reuben: (laughs) I know. I think he did a great job, but we just weren�t happy with it. It wasn�t what we wanted to put out.
John: So what did you do afterwards? Did you get the tapes back and remaster it or re-record the whole thing?
Reuben: We got the session on disc and we started working with Marc and tried to just remix it. But the stuff he had on the tape we just couldn�t get what we wanted without practically re-recording it anyway, doing overdubs and all that. So we just said, �Fuck it,� and we just re-recorded it. We just did all pretty much live at Bandsaw Recording in Portland, Maine, with our friend Marc Bartholomew. He�s an awesome engineer and a friend of ours, so really easy to work with.
John: So how was the Premature Emissions Fest?
Reuben: I don�t remember. It was free beer. A lot of free beer. And free grass.
Erik: Yeah, it was good. Dove, Test-Site, and Solace. Those guys are awesome. We played a couple of shows with those guys.
Reuben: Traveling with Solace was fucking awesome. Those guys are heroes.
John: They�re a bunch of fucking drunks.
Reuben: They enjoy drinking.
Erik: Yeah, we had a blast terrorizing the city. Did you tell him when Will left and I joined?
Reuben: Back to the record. November 1 it�ll be available everywhere on Important Records. Its got really good distro, so you can order it anywhere.
John: And the art�s pissah. It�s fucking mint, guy.
JL: Dude.
Reuben: The art is nice. That was another reason why we wanted to re-record. After we got back, Will quit. He quit like three seconds after we played the last show on that tour. Literally three seconds. So the record was kind of at that point the least thing. We had to find a drummer, blah blah blah, and we went a couple months without a drummer and trying out people. And Erik contacted us, said he was interested. I think we had a tour already booked.
Erik: Yeah, pretty much.
Reuben: And we needed a fuckin� drummer, so I was like, �Yeah, show up. Basically, you got job before you showed up. Hopefully you can fuckin� play.�
John: Did you do anything band-wise before this?
Erik: Yeah, I played in a band called Adamo. I played with a band called Castle Bravo. Played in a band called Fumari.
John: What type of bands were those?
Erik: Adamo I played drums in. That was like instrumental, math rock type of shit. That was like six, seven years ago. Castle Bravo was more of a post-punk, three piece, Shellacy sort of thing. I was actually playing guitar in that band. And Fumari was � I don�t even know how to describe that. I didn�t play with them for very long. Luckily when I got out of that, these guys needed a drummer.
John: And you wanted to play real slow.
Erik: (laughs) Yeah. I just wanted to play with people who wanted to do something, because everything I�ve worked on, people have just flaked out. These guys actually want to make stuff happen.
John: (to Candy) Reuben and John started the band; when did you roll in?
Candy: I rolled in about right before they made the demo.
Reuben: It was actually the first time that we rejoined. Because one of the biggest problems was that we didn�t want a front man so much as we wanted a guy who could play and sing and do both relatively well.
John: Were you expecting to have someone doing scissor kicks and shit?
Reuben: No, but we didn�t want a dude just fucking standing there while we go into a ten minute long drunk part with no vocals. I don�t want a dude playing air guitar.
Erik: What if he read on stage?
Candy: I do that anyway.
Erik: That�d be awesome. Just stands up when he sings, and then sits back down.
John: And he�s got a pipe.
Erik: And wearing a bathrobe.
Reuben: So John was� You guys were working together.
Candy: I was working with John.
Reuben: And John�s like, �I know this dude who wants to try out,� and then that was it.
Candy: We were doing another of my CDs.
Erik: Bloody Nuts.
Reuben: Yeah, Bloody Nuts. Another band he was in. And we heard it and were, �Yeah, man.�
Candy: I was really scared to sing for them for a long time. I didn�t know how I was going to do it. So I�d just sit there and learn the guitar parts. It was probably a couple of months before I actually got in front of a mic. It just worked out really well.
John: So how tough is it to sing that way?
Candy: It�s pretty exhausting. Tours are hard. The throat gets a little worn out. Smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey all the time. These guys turned me into an alcoholic. I don�t really appreciate that.
John: We all need a hobby.
Candy: Yeah. I need to fit in.
John: What did you think of the Maine Stonerfest?
Reuben: I thought it was a long day. I thought it was pretty good. I knew it wouldn�t be hugely attended. I knew we weren�t going to break any records, but I was pleasantly surprised by the solid turnout. And I was really impressed with the amount of people who stuck it out all day. Tony�s a good friend of mine, and he set it up, and I think next year he�s going to split it up over two days or something. Next year will be better. I was upset that nobody bought any of the awesome t-shirts (a Hanes t-shirt with some Sharpie scrawl on it).
(Russ Boudreau from We�re All Gonna Die shows up.)
John: (to Russ): What do you think of Ocean?
Russ: I think they�re fucking great.
Reuben: See, he�s a professional.
John: So where�s your best show?
Reuben: We had a pretty good show in Philadelphia, with Otesanek and Face Down in Shit. That was last spring.
Candy: Baltimore was good.
Reuben: We had a fun show in Baltimore. The Doom and Grind Festival was pretty great too. That was awesome.
John: How�s the scene overall in Portland?
Reuben: It�s great. I mean, like any other scene, it has it�s petty squabbling, but that happens everywhere. The more places we travel, and we go to some cities, and it�s just a great scene. And then we go to other places, and there�s lots of great bands, but it doesn�t seem like there�s much of an overall scene. I think we�re pretty lucky. We�re all friends. There�s a lot of bands, and most of them are really original, so there�s not a whole lot of stepping on each other�s toes.
John: You guys are pretty much the only doom band in Portland.
Reuben: The only doom band doing our style. I mean, Ogre could be considered a doom band.
Candy: Trad doom.
Reuben: They do traditional doom.
Candy: I�ve been reading up.
Reuben: One of the greatest things about people that we�ve met on the road that have heard us and like us. A couple of guys in a few towns that have been like, �I�ve been waiting so long for you guys to come,� and they�re like the only dude at the show. Obviously, none of these people have friends.
Erik: People who like Ocean don�t have friends. We figured that out.
Reuben: There was one show in Cincinnati� that guy actually came to Maine to hang out and see a show and shit. He�s awesome. He had a friend with him, though, when he came to Maine.
Erik: They went fishing.
Reuben: They were up in Maine doing other shit, and it happened that we were playing and contacted us.
Candy: Great guys, by the way.
John: That�s gotta be pretty cool, the fact that you�ve been together for a year and a half, and already there are lonely men in Cincinnati waiting for you.
Reuben: It�s true. He was pissed when he found out we weren�t going back there this time around.
Erik: Him and his friend were going to go.
Reuben: There was another guy in Philly, and the chick who set up the show � she works at the Relapse store, and we�ve been selling demos down there � was like, �That guy�s been coming in every day, wondering when we�re gonna get more demos.� He spent the whole night sitting by himself. In a corner.
Erik: He bought everything we had.
Reuben: We were like, �Dude, awesome.�
Erik: �Hey dude, need a drink?�
Reuben: He bought all kinds of merch.
Erik: And then disappeared right after we played.
Reuben: He was like (in a low voice), �That was great!� and disappeared.
Reuben: This one dude, this old hippie dude, was meditating when we were playing.
Erik: He had his legs crossed in a chair, totally meditating.
John: You should get that dude to sing.
Reuben: He came up after we played and bowed to us and bought some shit. It was awesome.
|
