interview with Unit 731
What is the name of your band? Unit 731. It was the name of a secret Japanese human experiment operation during World War 2. A lot of our lyrics deal with atrocities similar to that, and other problems we see in the world, so we chose the name in defiance of such problems.
Name of the band-members?
Eric Schaeffer – vocals
Chris Wiker – guitar
Dan McGhee - guitar
Jeremy Jacobs – drums
We have a hard time keeping a bass player, but right now our friend Travis Bennington, who plays in Eternal Sleep, is filling in for us.
Where did you grow up?
Mostly in the Pittsburgh, PA area. Eric, Chris and Jeremy have lived in the area their whole lives. I (Dan) grew up near State College, PA and moved to Pittsburgh in 2005
How old are you?
Eric& Chris – 25
Dan& Jeremy – 27
Who started the band? Eric, Chris, Jim Sandherr and I think Rob Breen was the first drummer. Jeremy joined after the 2006 Demo was released and I joined right as they finished recording “A Plague Upon Humanity.”
Where have you played 2012/2013? Besides a few Pittsburgh shows, we've played in Chicago, NW Indiana state, Erie, Altoona etc. We also have a Baltimore show lined up this winter.
Where can people see you? We play at a variety of places, the best places to keep informed are our various social media outlets.
Do you have a web-site? We have a number of places to check us out and keep up to date on info.
All of those are pages that we run directly and post our latest info on shows and everything we are up to as a band.
What is the name of your best song? I think we all have different opinions on what our “best” song is, but a few band favorites are Blind Obedience, False Idols and Champions of Hypocrisy.
Who plays what? Answered in the names of the members.
What kind of music are you into? A variety. We all like hardcore bands such as Nasty, Built Upon Frustration, Irate, some metal bands like Dying Fetus and Behemoth but we all also have a spot for music like Grandaddy, Copeland, Saves The Day etc. Chris and I also like country music which upsets everyone else in the band haha.
Have you been on tour this summer? This summer hasn't been very active for us since we have been working on finishing writing, and now recording, our upcoming EP. We played a local show with our friends in Eternal Sleep and Breach to support Discourse from South Carolina and we also played in Erie and Altoona both with CDC and Nasty, who you may know from Belgium. Great guys!
Do you have a planed tour anytime soon? We are working on a few east coast dates this winter, but probably only a weekends worth of shows. We are saving up our funds and vacation time for something coming up next summer...
Who writes the songs? It's a collective effort. A lot of times Jeremy will have an idea for a drum or guitar part, and we will start with that and progress off of it. Chris and I work together on writing guitar parts, although he probably writes a little more than I do. As far as lyrics, our album “Res Ipsa Loquitur,” has songs written by each one of us, but for the upcoming EP it has been mostly Eric. Then will edit them as a band and put finishing
Do you play the same songs each performance? Yes and no. It depends what kind of mood we are in. Sometimes we want to play what people will go off to. Sometimes we rediscover a song we really like and add it in to a setlist. Sometimes we create a setlist that may not be everyone's favorite songs but that we really enjoy to play.
Have you released an album or single? We released Res Ipsa Loquitur in 2010, and are now in the process of recording our upcoming, 7 track EP. We are nearly finished and hope to have it out late 2013/early 2014. We are really excited about what we've done, and hope other people feel the same way once it's released.
Are you working on any new songs? Other than the 7 we just recorded, no. Not yet anyway. We've been focusing our time on perfecting them.