Today on Sludgelord I am interviewing the brilliant Sludge/Punk/Stoner Rock beast that is C.F.A. Aka Cody Foster Army
C.F.A. is a hard rocking Stoner Rock band mixing elements of Hardcore Punk and Sludge Metal to their music. But they add a great social conscience to the mix as times as well.
Their excellent début album Managed By The Devil, Brought To You By The Grace Of God was one I reviewed earlier this year. I originally said this about their new album.
“If C.F.A were around in the 70s they would have been considered one of the defining Punk Rock/Hard Rock bands of the era. But they are a band very much in our time frame. And one I hope will get a lot more exposure.
They have the talent and songs to kick-start a revolution of their very own for world domination
Hopefully this album will propel them that little bit closer to the big time as everybody should check out this band right now. A true talent has arrived and they are here to stay.”
I am pleased to say that they have kindly agreed to do an interview with me.
Q1 – Hi Guys, Thanks for doing this. How are things with you guys Today.
Great just tryin to keep up with what we want to do.
Q2 – For people not in the know can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about.
In 2008 Cody decided he wanted to play music again. It had been 2 years since he played with his last band, Poppa Wheelie. He tried within those 2 years to do stuff with Reno. Unfortunately nothing really stuck. Reno suggested Takata, which Cody initially rejected because of Mr. Takata's bad drinking habits (apparently too much was never for Takata), but better heads prevailed and low and behold the birth of the musical juggernaut you see before you.
Q3 – How would you describe your sound.
They have the talent and songs to kick-start a revolution of their very own for world domination
Hopefully this album will propel them that little bit closer to the big time as everybody should check out this band right now. A true talent has arrived and they are here to stay.”
I am pleased to say that they have kindly agreed to do an interview with me.
Q1 – Hi Guys, Thanks for doing this. How are things with you guys Today.
Great just tryin to keep up with what we want to do.
Q2 – For people not in the know can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about.
In 2008 Cody decided he wanted to play music again. It had been 2 years since he played with his last band, Poppa Wheelie. He tried within those 2 years to do stuff with Reno. Unfortunately nothing really stuck. Reno suggested Takata, which Cody initially rejected because of Mr. Takata's bad drinking habits (apparently too much was never for Takata), but better heads prevailed and low and behold the birth of the musical juggernaut you see before you.
Q3 – How would you describe your sound.
Missing Link. Neanderthal meets Steve Miller.
Q4 – Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians.
Cody loves Swingin Utters and ZZ top
Q4 – Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians.
Cody loves Swingin Utters and ZZ top
Reno has always been an OLD Metallica fan, maybe some Duran Duran.
Takata lists Scott Ian, Jim Martin, Lemmy, and Iron Maiden as his influences.
Q5 – Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills.
Cody is an independent contractor, Reno is a doorman at a local club, and Takata is a warehouseman.
Q6 – Are your family and friends supportive of your music.
Fuck Family! Just kidding, Cody's dad would drive Cody and his bands around to shows when he was just 13. Currently his wife and daughters love their rock father. CFA is part of each others family. We all see love and hang with each others families as much as possible. Ripple is part of our family now along with Mos and every other band and rock fan.
Q7 – What is the song-writing process in the band. Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual.
Both. We all write music and bring it to the group. We then as a group make it ours. We tend to try anything but only keep what seems natural. I would like to point out I(Cody) just realized we have used every song we have brought to each other.
Q8 – Your music has a social conscience to it but with a great action packed edge to it. What that always the plan for C.F.A. To educate people but also to entertain them at the same time.
Q7 – What is the song-writing process in the band. Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual.
Both. We all write music and bring it to the group. We then as a group make it ours. We tend to try anything but only keep what seems natural. I would like to point out I(Cody) just realized we have used every song we have brought to each other.
Q8 – Your music has a social conscience to it but with a great action packed edge to it. What that always the plan for C.F.A. To educate people but also to entertain them at the same time.
Takata: First and foremost I have to say from my standpoint, music is a good way to make people AWARE of certain social and political issues, whether they be local or on a national level. As far as the bands goal to be educators, No. We just write what we see. Whether the events we witness and write about are personal or otherwise.
That is our subject matter of our songs, everday events, good or bad. We're entertainers for Pete's sake, we're not running for office or anything. If you want to change the world for the better because you heard our songs, great! Do that shit. But, please don't look to this band for answers, because as many of you know, musicians can't be trusted to do jack shit correctly. I think if there is a message we want to send it is this: have fun, don't be a burden on your fellow man, try not to piss too many people off, and try to better yourself, if you can.
Cody: We love to laugh and entertain. At the end of the day our lyrics are us being happy or pissed about injustice against humans. It really is that simple.
Q9 – Are you pleased with the reception you have received from fans and critics regarding your music.
Takata: I think if one person likes the crap that I loosely dub music, then that's half the battle won. So, to get the reception we've received from fans and critics is a reaffirmation of the work that I'm doing is good. It's all worth it when a complete stranger can admire something you do and make it a part of their lives as well. (Cody agrees!)
Q10 – How did you manage to hook up with the legendary Tony Reed to produce your album.
Reno Dave (Drummer for CFA) was a fan of Tony's work. CFA was ready to record and said Tony is the man. Reno knows his shit so we said, make it so!
Q11 -You are signed to one of the best labels out there. Ripple Music. How did that come about. Great guys who truly care about the music they put on their label.
Picture if you will, Tony Dallas Muthah Fuckin Reed standing in front of you dressed all in black wearing a Black Sabbath cross holdin a Gold plated 12 gauge shot gun. Classic Shotgun wedding. (Tony says)CFA you are to marry Ripple Music, Ripple Music, say I do. That is how we see it. This is how it happened.
Tony records us, Ripple gets better distribution(NAIL). Which means Tony's label (music abuse records) now has better distro. He called Cody and said he wanted to put out our record because CFA is a band that punks like, metal heads like and even nostalgic heavy rockers like. But you have ten songs about 27 minutes and we need at least 40 min. So CFA took 6 months wrote 5 more songs and played them live. Then recorded them. At this point Tony was getting slammed with work. He then says I am going to pass you straight up to Ripple, they will release It, It will be good for them they don't have any thing like CFA in their catalogue. So we proceeded. Turns out CFA and Ripple never communicated once before the recordings were being sent off to production. Ripple trusted Tony but had previously asked Tony to send them a couple of songs. Ripple is getting phone calls asking for catalogue numbers and still hadn't received a sample of the music!
Takata: In all honesty, I thought we got the deal because of my pictorial in the December issue of Inches magazine. I could be wrong though.....
Cody: We love to laugh and entertain. At the end of the day our lyrics are us being happy or pissed about injustice against humans. It really is that simple.
Q9 – Are you pleased with the reception you have received from fans and critics regarding your music.
Takata: I think if one person likes the crap that I loosely dub music, then that's half the battle won. So, to get the reception we've received from fans and critics is a reaffirmation of the work that I'm doing is good. It's all worth it when a complete stranger can admire something you do and make it a part of their lives as well. (Cody agrees!)
Q10 – How did you manage to hook up with the legendary Tony Reed to produce your album.
Reno Dave (Drummer for CFA) was a fan of Tony's work. CFA was ready to record and said Tony is the man. Reno knows his shit so we said, make it so!
Q11 -You are signed to one of the best labels out there. Ripple Music. How did that come about. Great guys who truly care about the music they put on their label.
Picture if you will, Tony Dallas Muthah Fuckin Reed standing in front of you dressed all in black wearing a Black Sabbath cross holdin a Gold plated 12 gauge shot gun. Classic Shotgun wedding. (Tony says)CFA you are to marry Ripple Music, Ripple Music, say I do. That is how we see it. This is how it happened.
Tony records us, Ripple gets better distribution(NAIL). Which means Tony's label (music abuse records) now has better distro. He called Cody and said he wanted to put out our record because CFA is a band that punks like, metal heads like and even nostalgic heavy rockers like. But you have ten songs about 27 minutes and we need at least 40 min. So CFA took 6 months wrote 5 more songs and played them live. Then recorded them. At this point Tony was getting slammed with work. He then says I am going to pass you straight up to Ripple, they will release It, It will be good for them they don't have any thing like CFA in their catalogue. So we proceeded. Turns out CFA and Ripple never communicated once before the recordings were being sent off to production. Ripple trusted Tony but had previously asked Tony to send them a couple of songs. Ripple is getting phone calls asking for catalogue numbers and still hadn't received a sample of the music!
Takata: In all honesty, I thought we got the deal because of my pictorial in the December issue of Inches magazine. I could be wrong though.....
Q12 – Is there a scene for Sludge/Doom/Stoner bands to perform in your home town on a regular basis. Or do you have to travel further afield to perform on a regular basis.
Takata: Here's the funny thing about living in a small city like Tacoma. We don't have a sludge scene, a stoner scene, an indy scene, or what have you. We have a music scene. So whatever band books a show at the handful of clubs we have, people will go, or sometimes they don't. I guess it all depends on the band. But I actually like leaving Tacoma to play other cities because I think it's more of a challenge to win people over in other towns. That to me is great. It motivates you to work even harder at your craft. I'm not saying Tacoma isn't fun, because it IS fun. It's harder to impress people you know because they know what to expect from you. I just want to make sure that when people see us they have a good time.
Q13 – Do you have any interesting and exciting stories from tour. Have you toured with anyone famous. If so who have been your fave band to perform for/with?
CFA has yet to tour. We all have toured in other bands.
Q14 – What is the live C.F.A. Experience like. Looks insane from your YouTube Videos. You guys really put a lot of soul and energy into your performances. Especially the 3 Prong Star Wars Battle Video I recently discovered. That is fucking brilliant and insane at the same time. LOL
Takata: We've been described as The 3 Stooges of rock. I take that as a compliment. It's like surf and turf. “Wow! I get to have steak AND lobster?! AWESOME!” CFA is like that. “WOW! I get to laugh AND get my face melted off?! AWESOME!”
Q15 – What are your favourite bands around at the moment. Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal.
Takata: To be honest, I've been listening to A LOT of Guns N' Roses, The Hellacopters, Zeke, and Kate Bush.
Cody: I have been listening to the Filthy Thieving Bastards ,Sleeper Cell and the Plastards.
Q16 – What are your views of blogs such as Sludgelord featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines? Has your music reached the mainstream mags, at home or around the world?
Well we have NWCZ internet Radio here in Tacoma and get a lot of help and support from them. They were the 1st online experience I had been involved in. Ripple has been sending our stuff out to get reviewed all over the world. This has made us aware of all these other sites we had never heard of. Besides Pitchfork of course. We are greatly appreciative of any response to our record. Awesomely most of the reviews are better than I ever thought possible. Great overseas reviews, Great Canadian reviews. Even in the U.S. Pleasantly surprised good or bad review the record is being entirely listened to by the the sites. We thank all of you reviewers for that!
Q17 - What are your future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so. Anything we should be excited about.
CFA and the SMELTERS CURSE the comic book (7 photos)
AVAILABLE NOW! The long awaited, much anticipated debut comic from Pacific Northwest rockers and Ripple Music recording artists, C.F.A.! "Cody Foster Army and the Smelter's Curse" is a full color, 42 page, independantly released comic book.
Chronicling the band's super hero alter ego and their exploits in the City of Destiny. The book was written and illustrated by Tacoma artist and author, Potter, who has plans on at least 2 more stories to come in the series. The book is a fun tongue in cheek story of destruction, bravery and overcoming selfishness in an unforgiving world. This comedic sci-fi superhero adventure is light-hearted entertainment the whole family can enjoy whether you have a familiarity for the band or not!
You can purchase a digital copy for Andorid & iPad from Indy Planet
Or order a print copy directly from Indy Planet.
We are also filming for a rock n roll mochumentary and a music video.
Q18 - Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans
Free your mind; Listen to CFA ,we are a SOUND investment in an ever changing time. Stick around, have fun. That's what we are going to do!
Takata: To quote a very important figure in society, I'd like to add, “Drink your milk, don't do drugs, stay in school!” -Mr. T.
Cody: listen to Dee Schnider, STAY HUNGERY!
Well guys thanks for doing this interview. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord. Massive fan of your music. Cheers. Steve.
Thank you Steve The review you gave us in Sludgelord was F'n awesome! After playing music for 27 years its great to hear from others they dig what we have going on. I(Cody)love this band of cast aways.
There you have it folks. One of the best Sludge Rock Bands currently out there doing their own thing and having fun at the same time. Awesome.
Check This Great Band Below.
Official
