When putting together
2013’s year end list, inexplicably I included two bands who would go on be
signed to STB Records. The commonality between the two is simple; they play
fuzz laden stoner doom. Their music immediately
resonated with me, indeed those records ‘Psychache’ and ‘777’ were of such high
quality, I would go on to place them equally at no.3 in my list.
Whilst in the bigger
scheme of things, my opinion matters not a jot in the multiverse of internet
music journalism, however what is
important, is The Sludgelord’s support of bands doing it DIY. Indeed the ethos of the site is the same; we
do this shit because we have a passion for music.
The two bands in
question, Curse The Son and Goya were two great examples of bands self
releasing music via bandcamp in 2013 and we can expect vinyl releases from both
via STB Records over the coming weeks and months. With that in mind, I am going to be focusing
my attention on the first of them, Curse The Son. To set the scene, I originally contact Ron
Vanacore (Guitar/Vocals) to suggest an interview during the latter part of
2013, however following the announcement of a deal with STB Records in
September, I thought it would be prudent to bide my time and wait to discuss
not only the heritage of Curse The Son but also their debut vinyl release
too.
Fast forward to July
2014, and Ron was gracious enough to talk to me. So kick back, swig a cold one and enjoy the
interview. The complaints department is
closed.
SL) Ron, welcome to The
Sludgelord, good to talk to you.
RV)
It is good to be back with you. I always
look forward to a visit with the premiere stoner/doom site on the web. You guys have always been a great supporter
of Curse the Son and I want to thank you for that!
SL)
We first
talked about an interview following the release of Psychache but postponed it a
little to coincide with the vinyl release.
Fast forward 12 months and here we are!! How are things at CtS HQ?
Summarize 2014 so far and your immediate plans for the rest of the year?
RV)
Things are good with the band. We prefer to not oversaturate the market with
shows. For us it is better to play a few
HUGE shows that are going to make a statement than play every weekend just for
the sake of doing it. We played a great
show in January at Toads Place New Haven , Connecticut Connecticut
We
also played Eyes Of The Stoned Goat in Worcester
SL) Before we get onto
the good stuff (imminent vinyl release), Can you perhaps give us an idea of the
roots behind the band? Who you are that kind of thing? It is your opportunity
to tell the world about yourself.
RV)
I started Curse the Son in 2008 as a “solo project”. My previous band Sufferghost had just gone on
indefinite hiatus due to our guitar player Tony Buhagiar’s unfortunate health
problems. I wrote and recorded 4 songs
on my own in the spring/summer of ’08. I
needed something to use to recruit members to create an actual band. This recording turned out to be the ‘Globus
Hystericus’ EP that was released in the fall of ’08.
Cheech
Weeden (Bass) and I have played together for many years in many different bands
including Sufferghost. He and I played
with a myriad of drummers over the course of the next couple years. We recorded the ‘Klonopain’ record with
drummer Rich Lemley in the spring of 2010.
That was met with a great response from the stoner/doom community and we
were on our way from there.
Michael
Petrucci (Drums) joined us in June 2011.
We spent that entire summer just writing songs. Mike completely reenergized us and helped
take our writing to another level. Those
songs turned out to be the ‘Psychache’ record that was officially released in
January 2013. It is impossible to
explain how awesome it felt when the reviews started to come in for ‘Psychache’! It seemed that everyone who was anyone was
blown away by what we had created. I was
afraid that we wouldn’t be able to top “Klonopain”, but most told us that
“Psychache” was on a completely different level! It is so exciting and humbling when your
peers have such high praise towards a piece of art that we worked so hard to
create. Very overwhelming.
SL) Steve and I would
talk about his desire to sign you for the vinyl release for months prior to the
eventual announcement and he steers a great ship at STB Records. So, here we
are, when did you guys first hook up with STB Records and how did it come
about? His passion for vinyl is infectious, right?
RV)
Absolutely! Steve LOVES vinyl…STB
Records is his passion and it shows.
It’s funny because ‘Psychache’ has had many releases. The first was an unofficial release at SHOD
2012 where we handed out advanced copies of the record. Then we had an official CD release on January
1, 2013. From January to June 2013 we
were still holding back on an online release because we were in talks with
various record labels and didn’t want to jump the gun. As July 2013 approached we grew weary of
playing the waiting game. I knew that ‘Psychache’
was a great record and needed to be heard worldwide. We decided to put the record up on Bandcamp.com
as a “pay what you want” download. In
the first 2 days alone we had over 400 downloads/sales! Not bad for a band with no label, no
PR…nothing.
Steve
was one of the first people to contact me the night ‘Psychache’ went live
online. He was really into the record
and felt that it was something special.
We had many more conversations over the next couple weeks and we signed
the contract in September. He really
cares about the records he releases and each one has it’s own unique touch.
SL) With the release
perhaps only weeks away, what can you tell us about the release and what are
your overall thoughts about your debut vinyl release, its fan boy stuff
right? You must be stoked?
RV)
Completely stoked! All of my life it has
been a dream of mine to have my very own record! When I was a kid, I used to
sit in my room with my records and stare at the artwork, memorize the lyrics
and listen to the vinyl over and over again.
Once CD’s became the norm, I figured that my dream was dead, but with
the resurgence of vinyl it is once again a great reality. It really is awesome.
SL). Taking the release as a whole, how much involvement did you have in terms of overall package? Do you feel added pressure considering previous STB releases have sold out, haha (It’s inevitable it will, of course)
RV)
My wife and I put in a lot of work to make the artwork killer. She is a graphic designer who has worked on
many albums before. We knew what we
wanted to do concept wise from the get-go, and we made it happen. Steve is
completely in charge of the Die-Hard editions of the records that he puts out,
so I had very little to do with that. Judging
from the past Die-Hard editions he’s done I’m very excited to see what he has
created.
As
far as pressure, I put myself under vast amounts of undue pressure every minute
of the day. I am a huge ball of fucking
stress and anxiety unfortunately.
SL) As a music fan yourself and given that music seems to be so disposal at times, is it important to offer a great package to your fans, but at the same time not alienate them by producing something which is not affordable. Did you approach the vinyl release with trepidation or were you confident that STB Records would produce a product you could be proud of?
RV)
Offering a great package was a HUGELY important to us. That is why working with Steve has been such
a pleasure. The dude truly gives a shit,
and sinks a lot of time and effort into putting out the absolute best product
possible. Our working relationship has
been a very positive and productive one that I don’t usually encounter with
people in this business.
It
means so much to me personally that Steve believes in Curse the Son and ‘Psychache’
so much. I have been trying to be on an
actual record label my whole life and now it is a reality. To have someone believe in you completely, put
their wallet and reputation on the line for you is not something to be taken
lightly.
SL) Taking the vinyl release out of the equation for a moment, what are your thoughts about Psychache now, given that the record was released in Jan ‘13. It is very strong vocally and laden with riffs, is Psychache representative of the direction your music is headed in the future?
RV)
I think ‘Psychache’ holds up very well.
Like I mentioned earlier, those songs were written almost 3 years ago
and I still really enjoy listening to them.
The music has such sonic weight to it.
Heavy in every sense of the word and it takes the listener on a real trip!
You
can never make the same album twice, nor should you. The newer stuff we have been working on does
have the same key elements, as I feel that we are really starting to find “our”
sound. With that said ‘Psychache’ was a
different record than ‘Klonopain’, and the new one will be just the next
natural progression for us.
SL)
What would be the ‘goal’ for CtS as a band and thoughts on the emergence of
retro type bands such as Orchid and its increasing popularity? Bigger labels seem to picking up bands too,
more recently Brimstone Coven. Is that something that is attractive to you as a
band?
RV)
Listen, all I want is for our music to reach as many people as possible. Whatever vehicle will help us to gain that
exposure is what I am for. I believe the
key is not so much the label, but the distribution and advertising. If you can get your music into the eyes and
ears of the public, good things are going to happen.
I
still believe that the labels are missing out by not giving us our shot. Between the awesome reviews from within our
genre, and the word from the folks who buy and download our music, I truly
believe that we deserve our shot. I hope
that with this vinyl release and the upcoming release of the third record we
will be finally recognized as a band to reckon with.
SL) Tell us some of your
influences/heroes both musically and artistically, both metal and non-metal?
Was there a specific band or artist turned you onto music and specifically
introduced you to Heavy Metal/Rock and wanting to form a band?
RV)
Ozzy Osbourne was the one who really did it for me. I remember when ‘Diary Of A Madman’ came out
I was so blown away by the whole thing.
I was a young kid then, so naturally I bought into the myth that Ozzy
was the main talent behind the music. He
had it all…the look, the stage show, the antics and Randy Rhoads of
course. My vocal style was built off of
two singers really, Ozzy and Zeeb Parkes from Witchfinder General.
Honestly,
I don’t really listen to much new music.
Currently I am on a mid to late period Zeppelin kick: ‘Houses Of The
Holy’, ‘Physical Graffiti’ and ‘Presence’.
‘Presence is really a great album that tends to get overlooked when
thinking of Zeppelin. ‘Houses Of The
Holy’ has the best drum sound and includes the incomparable ‘No Quarter’. I really only listen to metal and hard rock
so there really wouldn’t be many surprises if you saw my music collection.
SL) Using
those influences as a reference point, did they form the basis of the direction
where you wanted to take the band and how you approached writing for CtS?
In
2005 I formed the band Sufferghost with Tony Buhagiar and Cheech Weeden. Sufferghost was a stoner/doom band and I was
singing and playing drums. We made some
killer fucking music in that band! Unfortunately in 2007, our record was
completed and we were getting ready to play, Tony suffered an Aortic Dissection…
essentially his heart burst. Thankfully
he lived, but he was left paraplegic and returned to his hometown of Hayward , California
This
awesome band never did see the stage, which is really unfortunate. I took some time off and contemplated if I
wanted to continue playing music anymore, as I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be in
a band without Tony. He encouraged me to
begin again and that is where Curse the Son was born. I always said that Curse the Son was a branch
off of the Sufferghost tree. Sufferghost
was more stoner than doom. I took CtS
into a doomier direction. Curse the Son
has always been my dedication to Tony and the memory of Sufferghost.
If
anyone is interested in hearing the Sufferghost album ‘Thaw’ it will be up on
Bandcamp.com by the time this interview is printed. It is a really great record that deserves to
be heard. http://sufferghost.bandcamp.com Tony is rocking again out in California
playing in the band Tuco Ramirez, they play great up-tempo hard rock.
SL)
What attracted you to ‘doom’ music per se and that particular style of music
with reference to your own sound? In short, what is it about the doom sound
that made CtS perhaps want to emulate that?
RV)
It’s funny I was just thinking about this story the other day. Back in mid-80’s, my first band Black Wytche
was a thrash metal band. Every time a new band came out the music seemed to get
faster and faster. This was around the
time that Kreator released ‘Pleasure to Kill’.
We were going to open for them and Voivod here in Connecticut
I
was already really into Witchfinder General and Cirith Ungol, but they had been
broken up for a couple years by this point, I knew of Trouble and had heard of
St. Vitus. Candlemass came out, and then
it was Cathedral. By ’88 I was listening
to all of my old Sabbath records again.
Masters Of Reality hit, and then of course I first heard Sleep and
Monster Magnet on a local college radio station.
I
was in this band in the mid-90’s and people kept telling us how we reminded
them of Kyuss. At that point I did not
know who Kyuss was at all, so it was completely coincidental. The folks around here used to say we played
Swamp Metal! The doom element has always
been a part of me as well as all of my bands over my years…. whether it was
obvious or not.
SL) How is the ‘heavy’ scene in Connecticut
RV)
It is mostly dominated by death metal and metalcore bands. Thankfully like I previously mentioned there
has been an influx of bands who share the same influences and vibes that we
do. Sea of Bones
SL) I’m assuming all musicians like to talk about the gear they use. With that in mind, what do you use in terms of guitars, amps and why? Also what tuning do you use?
RV)
I am a proud endorser of Dunwich Amplification.
The owner, Nicholas Williams is a very good friend of mine and he loves
Curse the Son. We actually met on
MySpace way back when I first got CtS going.
He was the first dude in Connecticut
I
use 2 DA-120’s, which are similar to the old Matamp GT-120’s, but he tailored
the sound to my tastes. I also use a
Dunwich Pyramid Fuzz that is beyond fucking brutal. I use Mesa
SL) Has their been much
opportunity for CtS to do live shows? Is playing live important to CtS, because
touring can depend upon work commitments etc?
RV)
We love to play out live, but finding the right gigs is a different story. Touring is something that is a bit difficult
for me at this point because I am in Graduate
School Europe and beyond. I don’t know what the future holds. I would love to get a chance to tour at least
once.
SL) How
valuable are blogs and social media?
RV)
Invaluable. It really has levelled the
playing field for everyone. We have fans
from all over the world and that is amazing.
With the click of a button you can listen to our music, buy it; see what
we are about live via YouTube. Bandcamp
is THE best site out there, bar none. Both
‘Psychache’ and ‘Klonopain’ have gone well over 2000 each for downloads and
sales. Again, not bad for a band that
doesn’t tour, has no label and no PR firm pushing our name. Imagine what we could accomplish with someone
backing us?
It
is an amazing tool, but I do feel that it has caused music to become more of a
commodity than an experience like it used to be. For me, music was a religion unto
itself. There was a mystery about it
that doesn’t exist anymore. When I was a
kid you had your record, some posters, magazine articles and maybe a video of
your favourite band if you were lucky…that was it! If you went to see a band live, you had no
idea what the set list was, or what the stage show was like…it was all fresh
and new. You had to have patience and
wait until your favourite bands came through town. I miss that about music now and I feel sorry
for the generations who will never know what that was like.
SL) Quick
fire question, what’s your preference? Cassette, CD, Digital Download or Vinyl?
And why?
RV)
I would have to choose CD’s for clarity but Vinyl for the warmth, vibe and the
artwork.
SL)
Thanks for answering my questions, but one final question. Do you have anything
you’d like to say to your fans and what can we expect from CtS in the future,
new record? Tours
RV)
Thank you so much for your support and belief in us! Whether you downloaded for free or paid, sent
us messages on Facebook or emailed us personally we recognize each and every
one of you and we love you.
We
will begin recording the 3rd record at some point in the fall and we
hope to have it available by January 1st 2015. There are no song titles or even an album
title yet, but I can promise that it will be another dark acid trip filled with
smoked up riffs and desperate words.
Here’s hoping that one of the ‘big-boy’ labels will give this one a shot
and help us to reach the next level.
Thanks
to The Sludgelord and all of the online zines and blogs, Steve at STB Records
and most importantly you, the fans.
Doom
on brothers and sisters~
A
huge thank you to Ron for taking the time to talk to me, if you haven’t
downloaded ‘Psychache’, you can do so here. The vinyl will be available to buy soon via
STB Records here and keep your eyes open for a
forthcoming review. Thanks as ever to
you guys for reading. Support DIY and
support heavy music. Doom on. Photographs courtesy of R. Vanacore and in turn, DeMusis, Franzman and Amber (C)
Words &
Interview by: Aaron Pickford
For
more information:
