Today on Sludgelord I am interviewing Ethan from ace Canadian Sludge Rockers - Collider. The excellent Sludge Metal band who I featured last year.
Their debut release was posted on all the top blogs back in 2011. I am big fan of this great band.
Well the guys have kindly agreed to an interview with me.
Q1 - For People not in the know - Can you tell them how the band came about, When you formed etc...
The band formed in the fall of 2010. Three of the four of us had all played in a local Ottawa band previous to Collider. When that band broke up, the three of us decided that we needed to still write together...and here we are.
Q2 - How would yourselves describe your sound.
This is always a hard question. At the very least we sound like a metal band! I'd like to think that the general consensus is that we sound sludgy. We definitely take songs into a few different feels but usually with a sludge twist on them.
Q3 - Which bands influence you on your music.
I think it's safe to say that we wear our influences on our sleeve. Mastodon, High on Fire, Baroness, and Kylesa are the obvious ones. Individually, we all listen to and are influenced by a lot of different music. The thing that never changes is that we are all drawn to heavy ass music!
Q4 - How has your music been received by fans and critics. Has it all been positive.
It still surprises me to this day how well our music has been received. All the reviews we've gotten have been nothing but highly positive. Any feedback we've gotten from people at shows has always been great. So no complaints here.
Q5 - Is Collider a Full Time Project or do you have normal jobs to do as well to support the band.
We all have full time jobs in various lines of work. It would be nice to only have to focus on the band but the reality is that we need money to support ourselves. If the day comes where we can quit our jobs and support ourselves with our music, I don't think it would take us long to figure out what we would do...quit the jobs!
Q6 - Are you families supportive of your band and music.
We all have been very lucky to have families that have been nothing but positive and supportive with our music and our band. A lot of our initial fans and support came from our families and friends.
Q7 - What is the song-writing process like in the band. Is it a whole band collective or individuals that write the music.
Our song writing process varies. Typically ideas will come out of a full band jam and everyone works on the ideas on their own time. The following jam we will see what everyone has come up with and bounce ideas off each other, eliminate what's not working, and hopefully come up with a good flowing structure. With that being said every once and awhile someone will come in with a complete song and we all learn our individual parts.
Q8 - For your debut EP you got one of my fave musicians Topon Das (Fuck The Facts) to mix and master your music. How did that come about.
Yeah, we really lucked out to have him on board for the EP because he is a very talented and busy guy! We've known him for awhile, from his band and just being a part of the metal scene. We asked if he was interested in mixing and mastering our EP and the rest is history
Q9 - Did Topon offer any cool/great advice to your guys.
By the time Topon was in the picture for the EP, everything had been recorded so there wasn't much that could be done on the tracks. But he has definitely given us a lot of insight on being in a touring band, which he has a lot of experience with.
Q10 - What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band.
Honestly, so far it's been nothing but rewarding. Playing in a band with your best friends, writing original music that you are really into, playing fun shows with other great bands, recording and working with amazing people....it's all good times! We don't take anything for granted and always consider ourselves lucky to be in this position with the band.
Q11 - What is the gig scene like in your home town. Do you get a chance to do a lot of local shows or do you have to travel further away from home to get your music across.
The metal scene in Ottawa is pretty decent. There are a handful of venues and a couple of good promoters who really help out the scene by putting on good shows. We've been really lucky and never had a problem finding local shows to play...if anything we make a point of not over playing our city. Our biggest focus these days is to hit the road and play as many out of town shows as we can.
Q12 - You got any interesting stories from your tours?
Tour stories eh? I'd have to say any good ones have been forgotten due to alcohol consumption! But for the interviews sake here's one. We just finished our set and some of us went outside for a smoke. When we walked back into the bar we could see a crowd gathering at the back. Pushing through the crowd I find our singer, who had taken his shirt off, to the dismay of most people, and was screaming at the top of his lungs...also all while covering himself with stick on tattoos...why? We will never know. Loser drunk? Very.
Q13 - What is your view of bands and blogs giving away music for free. Lot of bands and people have different perspectives. I know your EP was featured this way. Did this help at all.
I think that no matter what, anyone's music is always going to be available for free somewhere!
Our band's decision, as a new band with out a cd release, was to make the EP available as "pay what you want". We figured that it would be heard and downloaded by a lot more people than if we charged a certain amount of dollars for it. It has worked in our favour and we actually do get a large percentage of people paying for the download, which is awesome.
Q14 - Finally what are the future plans for the band.
Currently, we are writing new music as much as possible. That's been our main focus for the last 4 months, so we'll be hitting the studio for our next release in the near future. We're also working on hitting the road a lot more this upcoming year.
Well guys thanks for answering these questions. I look forward to your future releases. All the best from all of us at Sludgelord. Thanks. Steve.
BandCamp
