[avatar =”James” size=”50″ align=”left” /]
Just under 3 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to chat to the vocalist from the ‘technical death metal’ band Origin. What ensued was one of the funniest interviews I’ve done in a while. We chatted about the most recent album, how he got involved with Psycroptic, his advice for new bands and the famed ‘pillow mosh-pits’.
Huge thanks to Bartek at Agonia for organising and Jason for his time :)
You’re currently on tour with Marduk, Immolation and Bio-Cancer. How’s it been going so far?
It’s been going great! It’s a great diverse lineup with the thrash, the ‘technical death metal’, the old school death metal and the ripping black metal. We’ve got everything everybody needs so everyone should be here! And usually they are so it’s not that bad.
The most recent Origin album came out in 2014. What’s it been like playing the new songs in the live shows and how have the fans been reacting?
I think we’ve been lucky in that we’ve perfectly honed out set to a live setting in that every song has its place. We play 4 tracks off Omnipresent every night and ittedly the album has a slightly different feel than the previous ones. So when it first got released people were slightly confused but after seeing them live, people are really digging it. People were initially talking shit on the ‘d-beat’ song but it gets the biggest circle pits now and folk are digging it now.
Would I be correct in saying that you helped in ‘popularising’ the “pillow mosh-pit”?
That’s an old story….
That all started with the 70,000 tons of Metal Cruise. That cruise is something that’s really cool! It’s mainly for people who have ‘real jobs’ and take one holiday a year but are still metal. There are also people that are lifers that go every year and they are cool guys, I know a bunch of them.
But anyway, a number of years ago there was an impromptu pillow mosh-pit to the band Raven. They didn’t think it was cute and really didn’t like it. The people that were doing were the lifers and they did the next year and the following year and then it sort of died down.
When it came time for us to play the boat, they asked us if we wanted to host the official ‘Pillow Mosh-pits’. They sort of knew out reputation for doing stupid shit and immediately we said “Of Course we would!”. We had special limited edition Origin pillowcases that we did as kind of a goof and I didn’t even know if they would sell so we only did 50. They sold out in 5 minutes! And they were ridiculously overpriced so if anyway is reading this that bought one, I’m sorry! They said “All Things Bed” as well on them that was so cool.
There’s also more to it as well. The 70,000 tons guy were like: “You can pump it on your page and run with it but we’ll organise all the pillows”. So we showed up on the boat and we signed and they said “Everything will organised and we’ll have them for you before the show”. It was their idea and we were just rolling with it. About 2 minutes before we are meant to go on stage, the stage manager came up to me and said, “I have bad news. Nobody bought the pillows and you can’t use the pillows from the rooms.” So I was immediately like “You’re going to fuck me right now and I’m going to look like an asshole?!?”. Thankfully, everyone fucked the rules and immediately grabbed all the pillows and just enough people did it so that it was pretty awesome.
Now the band is known for playing rather difficult music. Is there any song that you find difficult to sing?
Well I was previously in a band called Skinless, which was significantly easier! There was one part in one song which every night I was like “Ugh I dread this part. It’s too fast.” So to answer your question that’s every part in and Origin song every single night. But by now I’m used to and it’s challenging sometimes but I enjoy it. I also try and challenge myself in writing stuff for the other guys so that we’re not just doing old stuff. I’d say the end of “Expulsion of Fury” is probably one of the toughest as it’s just non-stop vocals.
Also, “Thrall: Fulcrum: Apex.” That song is a bitch to do as there are literally no breaks. I make a very distinct attempt to annunciate but it’s still really tough.
As we said earlier, you were with Psycroptic on the recent Gorguts tour. How did you end up working with them?
Psycroptic have been great friends of ours for a number of years. We toured with them in Europe in February 2012 and they are from Australia and Tasmania so they can’t get their over easily. Their bassist can’t tour with them any more as he has a legit Job and their singer can only go half the time. So when they needed some help I offered to step in as live vocalist. I love touring with those guys and that tour was good. We sadly didn’t get up to Glasgow as Manchester is full of hooligans and they punched out our bus window.
This may seem like a strange question, but what Mic do you use for the live shows?
I have my own cordless mic that I use. I get bummed when my cordless shits the bed every now and again and I have to use the stage mic. It’s not that I don’t’ like the stage mic much, It’s because of the wire being attached. Some people like that as they need something to do with their second hand but that’s not for me. I use a SM58 beta I think at this point. Mine is very tour worn and I love the sound of it. Before the last US tour I did, I bought a new one that was a slightly more expensive one and I returned it almost immediately as it was too clean. For death metal, you want a bit of balls to the sound and if it sounds too clean then that to me just sounds weird.
Getting onto the setlist for tonight, is it varied or is it mainly focused on the new albums?
Tonight we’re actually really constrained on time and we’re only playing a 35 minute set. We’re playing 4 from the new album along with some from Antithesis and Entity. Even with the ones we have to cut from the regular set, the set is still honed and has a purpose form beginning to end. We’ve been playing the same set for the past 4 years now but that will change soon as we’re going to be starting to work on new material soon.
My final question for you now, what advice would you give a new band?
I would say, don’t come into expecting that just because you’re making music, people should listen to you. I’ve seen it hundreds of times already and bands suddenly exist and open the show and expect people to mosh for them and get pissy if people don’t mosh.
So yeah, stay as humble as possible and don’t burn bridges. Be cool and make friends with bands at bigger shows but never think you deserve anything just because you are making music. And don’t be afraid to be your own worst critic mostly because of the over-saturation. I’m starting to notice that now and there’s going to be a tipping point and only the strongest bands will survive because everyone else will realise that there’s too much. So yeah, just be humble and cool.
