interview with Bottomfeeder
How was the band formed? Our drummer Vince and our original guitarist Kevin used to be in a band called Dead And Buried. When they broke up they were sitting on 7 songs that were never completed and never played out live. Rather than waste those songs they decided to seek out new members and start off with the new songs they had written. They hit me up and we started practicing as a 3-piece to start. After about a month or two, our original bassist, Joe, said he would help us out but wasn't sure how much he could commit. Not until we recorded with Len did he join the band. We played one show with out him and then the original five members were the lineup for about 2 years and 2 releases.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Currently the band is myself, John Wren (vocals), Vince Seivert (drums), Justin Greczyn (bass), and Pat Henry and Len Carmichael (guitars). Our members span three states (Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey) but all live relatively close enough that we can make this band work.
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? I'm not exactly sure what the entire band's ambition was when we first started. I think we all might have had different big goals but I think the main focus was just to do what we love and that was to create music that we wanted to play. We have always maintained the mentality that the day it stops being fun, we'll stop doing the band.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? We play a metalcore sound that is similar to what was coming out of the late 90's. Heavier hardcore acts like All Out War, Turmoil, and Ringworm mixed with metal elements in vain of Bolt Thrower and some of the earache era Napalm Death round out our sound.
Where was your first gig? Our first gig was a bit of a nightmare to make happen. We were supposed to play somewhere in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania as part of some brand new fest but the week before the show there was a problem at the venue and the venue pulled the plug on the show all together. A promoter in Delaware, which was about 100 miles from the original venue location, did what he could to save the show and half the show moved to the new location. It was a relatively light turnout but we got to play with some friends and have some fun with it.
Where was the latest gig? Our last show was this past Saturday night in Secaucus, NJ. It was a benefit for Mario Comasanas. He was part of the hardcore scene in New Jersey in the late 90's/early 2000's and went onto become a DJ for Sirius XM's Liquid Metal. He passed away unexpectedly in 2011 and the family has been trying to raise money for a scholarship in his name since. We played with Homicidal, Bottomless Pit, and a few others. Small venue but a decent turnout especially with competing with a few other shows in the somewhat close distance.
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? We write songs as a band. Someone will come to practice with a riff or two and we'll run through ideas until the whole song comes together. Sometimes we can write an entire song in one practice, sometimes it takes a few practices to get one hammered out. For the first two releases, I was solely responsible for the lyrics but with the full length that we're about to release, Pat started to contribute ideas or full songs worth of lyrics.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? Len will admit that he is "No Fun Len" so he's out. Although Pat is quick with the tongue, I'll say Gretch has the best humor because he just doesn't give a shit. I love it.
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? I wouldn't necessarily say anything is bad with the band. We would like to play out more but we all have full time jobs and personal lives that don't allow us to do that. We are still having fun and writing the songs we want to write. Genre wise, I'd just say we're metalcore.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about?
The sound just kind of came out. IMetal and/or heavy hardcore is what the band grew up on so it just happened that way.
My lyrics tend to be all over the place. I have songs that are personal to me and my life like Deadbeat, Suburban Warzone, and Anonymous but because I am a metal fan I have some fictional material like The Slasher and new songs like Dead But No Longer Dreaming, which is about the HP Lovecraft character, The Cthulhu. I think it's good to not write serious songs all the time because life is too serious sometimes and having fun with fictional topics is a great release.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We have only played one cover live and that was All Out War's song Soaked In Torment. We haven't played that in a few years though. We did record a cover of For The Love Of's song Flatline for a cover comp that is to tribute New Jersey bands. I'm not exactly sure when that compilation is coming out but follow our facebook page and we'll surely post about it.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We currently have 2 records out on Get This Right Records. You can purchase them at coldcutsmerch.com. We also have a full length called Betrayals, that should be out sometime in October.
Do you have any clips on YouTube? There are a few live clips on youtube but unfortunately I don't know any of those links off the top of my head. Unfortunately if you search our name on youtube we get buried in videos of that BlessTheFall song with the same name. Oh well.
How old are you?/What got you started in music? I'm 32 years old. I personally started in music when I was in the 3rd grade and was singing in the choir of my elementary school. It progressed into messing with both bass and drums but I didn't start my first band until my senior year of high school. I did two other bands that did nothing after that and it was about 7 years between my last band and Bottomfeeder. Everyone else in the band has been in active bands for the better part of the last decade. Some of the bands were Dead And Buried, My Turn To Win, Breath Of Silence, and Pat and Justin are currently in Swashbuckle.
What year was the band started? Bottomfeeder started in August of 2010.
Best/worst gig you've played?
Two shows stick out as the best we've played. East Coast Tsunami Fest was our biggest show we played and we had a really positive reaction. We played 6th the day we played and a lot of people credited us for really getting the day started. The other really great show we played was the Animalhaus record release show. We played about dead in the middle of the 10 band lineup and, personally, I feel like we stole the show. It was wall to wall chaos from start to finish for our set.
The worst gig we played was a few months ago. We didn't actually get to play the show. We drove the 5 hours up to small town in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts to play a show that had 8 bands on the bill. Every band took a long time to set up and not one band used a tuner. The promoter insisted on us playing last even though we had asked to not headline. The band that was scheduled before us broke half the stage equipment and effectively got the show shut down before we could play. It was a mess from start to finish. The only benefit was we did get paid for our time but ultimately it was a huge waste of a weekend.
What places will you be playing in in the immediate future? We cannot announce the upcoming shows because they aren't finalized but we have a few that should be announced in the near future.
Where have you played from then till now? Because of our full time jobs we have to keep a lot of our shows close to home but we have played Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Trenton, Wilmington, Brockton, Atlantic City, to name a few areas. A lot of small suburb towns in between those cities.
Which band is the best you´ve seen?
That we've played with or that I have seen ever? The best band we've played with..hmmm that's a tough one. The band might disagree but I'll say Strength For A Reason. They are definitely my favorite band to play with. I can't recall the last time I've seen them play a bad set. They've been doing it longer than most bands and they still bring it.
Best band I've seen live ever is probably All Out War. Even when they play sloppy as hell they still have one of the most energetic shows ever. If they don't headline they steal the thunder off the headliner. I would go see them play every day of the week.
Is it always the same songs live? If we have a lot of shows stacked on top of eachother we'll play the same setlist for all those shows but we have enough songs now that we can mix and match the setlist as we feel. Some nights we want to play certain songs and sometimes we don't. We have however retired the songs Church Of Sin and Anonymous live though. You'll probably never hear them live again.
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? With the exception of ever travelling over seas, we'll probably never do a full tour. Back to those full time jobs, they prevent us from doing one. If we went over seas though, like Europe, it would be worth our money to do a full tour.
How big crowds do you usually play for? Crowds range. We have played house shows to 15 people up to fests in front of 500 people.
What are the plans for the rest of the year? We are going to finally release our full length and play a handful of shows to support it.
Where do you usually play? As long as it's feasible for the band, we'll play almost anywhere we're asked. We tend to stick to the northeast United States though.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? I am always excited to play a show so getting psyched isn't really an issue. I just go up on stage and do my thing.
What are your goals with your music? We just want to write songs that we are proud of, everything else is a bonus. Our big goal would be to bring our music overseas, whether to Japan or Europe, but that comes down to being able to afford it.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? We tend to draw our inspiration from older bands. It's what we grew up on and what we've been listening to for years so naturally we gravitate towards that.
What are your sources of inspiration? All Out War, Turmoil, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, Pantera, Ringworm, 100 Demons.
What's the first step when making a new song? First step is someone coming to practice with a new riff. Depending upon what that sounds like will determine where we go with it, if we even use it. Sometimes the part we started out with gets thrown out half way through the writing process and we end up with something way different than we started. There is no direct formula but lyrics are always last.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? It's a double edged sword. On one hand it's a great tool for unknown bands to get their music out to the masses but on the other hand, every download is an album the band didn't sell. So many small bands break up early in their career because they are losing way more money than they are putting into it and it no longer makes sense for them to continue. For us Bottomfeeder is essentially a hobby so we're not overly worried about people downloading our stuff. We'd just ask that if they dig what they hear, they come out and see us live or buy a piece of merch off us to make up for it.
What would be your dreams for the band? Dream? Well I guess I can say anything here then. I'd love to play the main stage at one of those big Euro fest like Wacken or Hellfest.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I listen to whatever sounds good. I am a fan of music in general. Most of the time I'm listen to death metal or hardcore but I also love hiphop and EDM. Right now I've been listening to a lot of bands like Nails, Behemoth, and Cannibal Corpse but I've also been listening to a ton of DJ stuff like Diplo and Dillon Francis. I'm weird but I can typically find something I like in every genre, except country and gospel. They can fuck off.
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? The only thing I fear is that absolutely no one in the audience gives a shit about us. So far we've been fortunate enough to never play a show that we haven't gotten atleast one compliment but I will be bummed if we ever play a gig that literally no one likes us.
What albums and what years were they released? The demo was release in 2011 and our EP called "II" was released in 2012.
Have you been part of any other projects? Bands that I did over 10 years ago were called To The Grave, Before The Burial, and Between A Blink And A Tear. Only To The Grave recorded a demo tape and as far as I know, I'm the only person from that band that has a copy. Len was Breath Of Silence with Pat and they currently have a side project that also includes Justin called Big Rig. Pat and Justin are in Swashbuckle. Vince was in Dead and Buried and Knuckle City.
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Outside of music and bottomfeeder, I'm into fitness. I'm always running marathons and half marathons or obstacle races like Spartan Race or Tough Mudder. The rest of the band thinks I'm crazy for choosing that as my hobby of choice.
What would you do if there was no music? Life would be sad if there was no music.
How important are your fans? Fans are definitely important. Without them there is no demand to see us live anymore and playing shows.
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? We played a show in Atlantic City a few years ago that a couple came up to me and said they drove 3 hours just to see us play. We played 3rd that show and they ended up having to leave right after us because they had to be up early for work the next day. To drive 3 hours just to see us play for 20-25 minutes is truly flattering.
How often do you rehearse? We practice on the weekends. Not every weekend but most of them.
Where do you rehearse? We practice either in my basement or Len's basement/recording studio.
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Fall Of The Tyrant will probably always be my favorite song we ever wrote but Gods Of Carnage is probably currently my favorite song to play out. Unfortunately most people haven't heard that song yet because it's on the full length that hasn't come out.
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Ha. Well we're certainly not making a living off this but I would have to believe that it's a pure love of making music that drives a band to continue if they want to do this full time but aren't bringing in the money to support it.
Do you have any webpages?
www.stereokiller.com/bottomfeeder
www.facebook.com/bottomfeederhxc
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? I would suggest start out with the mentality of making it fun. Setting out to conquer the world right from the beginning might only bring you a huge disappointment. If you want to make this a full time gig, you need to make sure you are enjoying it first. Let the success and everything else come naturally if it was meant to be. At the end of the day be proud of the product.
Describe your show, visually and musically We're pretty standard. We just get up there and do our thing. We feed off the crowd. If the crowd is going crazy, it will show in our stage presence. If the crowd isn't feeling it, well, we still give it to them and hopefully we'll win them over by the end. As Madball said it "we don't practice moves or wear certain outfits. We just go out there and play"
How do you view the music industry of today? I think it's a bit of a mess right now and the amount of kickstarter albums and illegal downloading is proof of that. The big labels are only worried about a package and how to make the most money off it rather than helping the entire music community by forcing the bands to write legit good albums instead of making an entire thing off a single song or bands image. I think DIY labels still have the right idea but unfortunately they tend to lose steam rather fast these days because of the lack of funds.
What advice would you like to give other bands? Write for yourselves. Write what you would want to hear. If you start to write specifically with other people in mind, you will start to resent your craft. Don't do that to yourself.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence Everything thing that you would have owned on cassette in 1998 played by dudes that did in fact own that stuff on cassette in 1998.
What is your favorite crappy instrument? Crappy instrument. What a weird question. I'll go with the Fiddle Dee Doo. It's an actual thing. Look it up. What in god's name would you use that for? But it looks interesting as fuck.
What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? The only quarrel we ever had was coming to a decision to part ways with an old member of the band. The band has always been a collection of friends so deciding to tell a friend they were no longer welcomed to participate was difficult and unfortunately cost a friendship in the end. Since then though it has been pretty easy.
Whats your Pre-show ritual? There are no real pre-show rituals other than deciding what the set-list will be but if we travel many miles to play a show, we have a post-show ritual of finding a Waffle House to eat at and play the Raisin Toast song on the jukebox 10 times in a row. We're weird.
Do you have anything to add? Nothing other than thanking you for you interest. I'm flattered everytime someone from overseas expresses interest in my band. I never thought I'd make that sort of an impact and it's still surreal to me.