interview with Rift

Have any of you played in other bands? Nate has a solo darknoise project called Laterdiver where he has done soundtracks for some indie horror movies. We have both played in other groups but nothing very relevant

How is it that you started playing music? Both of us have been playing music for most of our lives.  Nate was trained more classically starting with Piano, Jon is a self taught guitar player.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Nathan Christensen <drums> / Jon Baumann <Guitar>  Both of us are in our early 30s

Have you had other previous members? Before emulating the bass, we have worked with some guest bassists for various recording projects and live performances, but the official lineup has always been a 2 piece.

Did you make music even when you were young? Yes.  Nate was in a band in the late 90s that had some regional success.  This disbanded around 2000 due to creative difference.

Where are you from? We are both from the midwestern United States.  We are located on the Eastern half of Nebraska.

What year did the band form? We have been playing together since 2010, but the band has only been playing live regularly since about 2013 as we were originally setting out to find additional members

What's your style of genre? You could describe us as doom metal, but we are a 2 piece instrumental group and so we are able to do a lot of live improvisation.  

What inspires you? Musically, we have a lot of different influences (blues, classical, metal, punk are most prominent in this group). 

How often and where do you reherse? Because we perform so much improv, we don't rehearse very often.  A lot of what we do happens on the stage.  When we do rehearse, it's either in Jon's living room w the recording set up, or outdoors at nate's home in the country.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

An excellent question.  When we started playing together, we did not set out to be a certain genre or to follow any specific influences.  We found right away that we were both very versatile and we didn't want to put any artificial limitations on our sound.  So the only rule we really made for ourselves is that we wouldn't ever force anything to fit.  What ended up coming out of those early sessions was an interesting blues/metal hybrid that neither of us was really expecting.  And not being able to find a bassist who we did not have to "force" to fit, meant that my drumming started to change to fill in the low end while Jon would play lead parts.  

So as I started to play around the kit in order to fill the sonic spaces with more tom fills, Jon also started to play less lead.  Lead guitar became less integral to our sound and it distanced us from that original blues sound.  This changed some of the gear choices we were making for live performance because some things just weren't necessary anymore without the lead heavy blues jams in our setlist.  This continued to change Jon's playing style and his guitar tone into what it is now.  And in order to compliment that change, I found myself playing more and more wide open.  Just a big drum sound.  And so that's how we essentially ended up in more of a doom metal genre.  It's difficult for people to place us, but to me, being in a band that sounds like itself and not like some other artist we are trying to emulate is extremely valuable, even if it means we alienate some audience members who do not understand what they are seeing and even if it means we aren't easily associated with other genres when venues are assigning local support to touring bands and national acts.  Being true to ourselves is worth the uphill climb to getting a fan base.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? To be a working musician this day and age really requires a broad skill set.  So from recording, working with other musicians in the studio, creating artwork, t shirts etc we've always got our hands full with projects that compliment the band itself.  Additionally, Nate helps run the Nebraska Stoner Sludge and Doom metal association page on facebook.  This is a group aimed at promoting local bands and shows in the doom scene, as well as to help regional touring doom metal bands find a local audience and to help them book shows in the area.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? I think a booking agent can be a valuable asset, especially if you are playing away from home, but more often than not, I have found that agents and promoters are titles people put on themselves to attempt to legitimize what is essentially taking credit for someone else's work and expecting payment.  Bands are better off setting up and promoting their own shows, meeting other bands and organizing tours on their own.  It's not to say that there aren't good agents and promoters out there, but no one would deny that there are a lot of fakes and crooks out there.  

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? I feel exactly the same about record companies as I do about promoters.  The model is broken and there are more people out there trying to make the bands their revenue streams instead of fans and record/ticket sales.  Its not to say I wouldn't consider the right business offers, but the likely hood that i will ever sit across the table from a good contract is pretty slim haha.  Bands are better off with the DIY approach that was so big in the late 1980s Punk Rock scene.  Print your own stuff, do your own artwork, get your materials through any means necessary and get your work out in front of people.  Don't wait for someone else to front you the cash and then own your intellectual property.  It's a sham and it always has been.

What made you decide to make this music? I was drawn to music at a very early age.  Its really the language I am most fluent in.  It is where I feel comfortable.  It is how I commune with the world around me.  I think Jon feels the same way.  We both need this in our lives.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? While we both write our own parts, I would say that Jon truly is the architect when it comes to building the songs.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? We are completely instrumental.  What we usually do to write music, is to take that same blues jam method and apply it to metal music.  We hit record, we just riff off of eachother and when we find things that we especially like, we take those recordings and build songs around the ideas that came out in the improv sessions.

Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Rehearsals are almost always closed.  We occasionally let other musicians come over to play with us but that changes the tone of the rehearsal quite a bit.  Other than the fact that they are usually recorded and it is usually only Jon and I at rehearsals, I would say that there aren't any specifics to our practice environment.  We've written with both of us on acoustic guitars, we've written away from home with an electric guitar and a floor tom haha.  The only important part is that we are both in the correct mental state for creating new tracks.

Have you done any covers live? Very rarely.  When we are playing shows we might bring another bands singer on stage to hack our way through a black sabbath song or something if we are closing a show.  Usually our set is all original and very focused.

What language do you sing in? I like to consider that music in itself is a language, and by having no vocalist means that we can reach a global audience.  In that respect, our craft resembles more of a visual art like a painting or a sculpture.  You do not need to understand us as individuals to examine or appreciate our sound.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Another excellent question haha.  I would say 0 is the least.  When we were first getting started and no one knew who we were, we had to take whatever we could get for gigs.  And that meant we'd get on a lineup where we really didn't belong and so the crowd (and even the other bands) just couldn't handle the volume.  

It's important though that artists and musicians don't pander to an audience.  If you craft your music around what you think people want to hear, all you are really doing is sticking to specific influences, and writing predictable watered down versions of someone else's music.  So yeah, it's a hit to the ego when you don't draw, but there is way more to this than notoriety for us. As far as the biggest crowd, I am not sure.  Probably a few hundred people.  What's important to us is that we are always bringing the same level of performance to the stage for every single show. 

What ages are most of your concert attendants? We mostly play in live music clubs and bars so the typical show is 21+.  Our demographic is actually pretty diverse.  I think that being instrumental helps with that.  We've got fans in their early teens and we've got fans in their 60s and 70s.  Most of our concert attendees are the same ages as we are though.  late 20s-30s types who are into live music.  A lot of our fans are musicians themselves.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We rarely play the same setlist, and we rarely block them out in advance.  It might be a quick discussion a few minutes before we hit the stage but it's very organic and improvisational once we are up there.  The songs we play won't even stay the same 100% from one show to the next as we might work out something new right in the middle of a set.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? So much of our local scene has changed over the last few years w venues closing or changing ownership.  We have bands we play with regularly, but no specific place to call home.

What was your first gig like? What I would call our first gig was a pretty interesting one.  Basically Jon and I were struggling to find other members, but we both really wanted to take our material to the stage.  So after awhile, we decided just to book a show as a 2 piece in hopes that we might find more musicians.  We had so much material, we just took the entire night.  We played 3-4 hours of originals for our very first show.  We didn't even have a band name haha.

What was your latest gig? We played about 4 hours away from home in North Platte NE with a couple of other local bands.  That was a nice relaxed atmosphere.  I do like getting on the road and playing away from home.  Especially when the other bands are such good hosts.  It's nice to be able to focus on performing instead of all the other logistics that go into putting on a concert. We're playing with 2 touring bands in Omaha NE on August 3rd.

Have you had to cancel a gig? We have had to turn down good opportunities before due to work and financial restraints but to date we have never backed off of a show that we were booked to play.  Rain or shine or personal injury aside!

Where have you played live this year? We have been all over our state of Nebraska.  We typically play a few times a month.  So we've probably payed 20 shows so far this year.  I lose track!

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? As we continue to make new friends as we book shows with and host touring bands, we are working on short tour legs around the US.  We won't be ready for anything really major, but we'll be starting short touring legs in different directions hopefully over the next year.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We've always kept the merch pretty simple.  We started selling around 2013 with a simple run of shirts. That's grown into stickers, digital downloads, hoodies and more styles of T-shirts.  

Where can people buy your merchandise? Right now we are only selling merch at our shows.  We are working on setting up an online store in the next few months.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? One one hand, I love how online music has given artists the chance to reach a wider audience and I also appreciate how fans can all discover independent artists so easily, but at the same time, it has flooded the market in a way that keeps a lot of truly deserving talent from being discovered.  The internet has also shaped a lot of our entertainment by promoting artists with gimmicks and humor.  The need to pander to an audience to find success by "going viral" has really hurt the songwriting process and the meaning of music to the masses has eroded significantly. 

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I think it has forced prices down across the board and that's not necessarily a good thing.  Independent artists, recording studios, touring bands are all less able to ask a fair market price for their work.  We still stick to keeping our shows as cheap as possible, we price our merch where there's just enough profit to afford to reprint new stuff before selling completely out of the old stuff.  It makes travelling, promoting and printing merch/flyers etc a lot more risky because we are running a razor thin margin all the time.  Musicians have to stay lean or they will be paying in to keep their bands afloat.  I have no doubt the world has lost some amazing musicians because they couldn't afford to create.

Do you have any role models or idols? Henry Rollins

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? I would say that I am inspired by the other musicians I get to share the stage with, but not really any of the mainstream music.  I take my inspiration from older musicians.  I like to look to the people who influenced the musicians I grew up listening to.

What have been your biggest obstacles? I think our biggest obstacle is also our biggest strength as a band.  Playing in a group that defies the "traditional" lineup and song writing style means that we have an honest and unique sound, but it also means a lot of the potential audience just sees us as "not a real band".  It's more work to get people to understand what we are doing than if we had a singer shouting the same old bullshit about drugs and ex lovers.

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Sound like yourself.  Don't try to be a certain type of band when you start playing.  Each ensemble of musicians can bring out something completely different if you don't try to force things into a direction.

How do you get psyched for a gig? Preparing to travel is a sort of methodical ritual where I spend a few minutes with my equipment, making sure it is ready for a performance, but most of the energy for me goes into the few minutes before I take the stage.  I will find somewhere to stretch, do some breathing exercises, and I might even warm up a bit by sprinting up and down the block.  Once I'm feeling physically ready to play, I will find somewhere out of the way and sit quietly and reflect on life.  I think about the reasons I play and the reasons I feel so angry.  I think about gratitude towards the members in the audience no matter how small and how I am going to pour everything I have into the next hour of performing.

Do you have any new material? We are always writing.  Our last release was a live set and we are planning to take a few of those tracks as well as some new material we are playing live into the studio soon.

What are your web sites?

You can stream our records here and download them if you wish to support us- https://riftband.bandcamp.com/

You can follow our projects and concert updates primarily on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RiftBand

We're on a lot of other sites as well such as reverbnation, instagram, twitter, youtube, soundcloud as well

How can people reach you? You can message us directly at the facebook page or you can write to me at [email protected]

What are your plans for the future? every single day we push more and more to write, perform and promote our music to new people.  We'll do this until we can't anymore.

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