Thursday, April 24, 2014

Mother Brain Interview – April 2014


On The Rise And Grind; that describes Long Island, NY's Mother Brain.  With origins in Death Metal, Mother Brain have evolved their writing and progressed their sound to solidify themselves as a premier East Coast Grindcore band.  Recently, Dan Hernandez from Mother Brain generously took time out to answer some questions for ShatteredKnee.

"From day 1 we've always wanted to have our music out there for free download...Our theory is, check it out for free and if you really dig it and wanna support it, pick up a vinyl."


For anyone unfamiliar, can you tell us who’s in Mother Brain, where you’re from, any other projects you’re involved with, and a history of the band?

Mother Brain is a 2-piece based out of Long Island, NY (Suffolk County). We've been around since around July/Aug of 2010. Matt came home from school and we started jamming a little at his house. The band I was actively in was actually "inactive" at the time, so I invited Joe along to jam with us. The original intention was just to play wherever, whenever to whoever. We didn't try to fit into one category. We spent the first year playing anywhere from 3-4 times a month around local places with random metal/hardcore bands, hip hop acts, rock n roll bands...it was a little ridiculous, but I think it was essential to the development of our live show. We really just proved to ourselves that it didn't matter who we played with or where it was.

We still have the same attitude towards it, but we're a little busier than we used to be, so we haven't been spreading ourselves as thin anymore. It's always been hard work between budgeting a 24/7 studio room, getting quality recordings and touring only to put our music out for free. I practically give away vinyls to all of our good friends and long time supporters. I don't think there's any plan on changing that routine anytime soon.

You guys blend together a few different styles.  It’s definitely grindcore, but there’s a sludge element in there as well.  Stylistically, what are some of your influences and how do you characterize your sound?

Our general influence growing up was more Death Metal oriented. I (Dan) used to play with both Matt (Drums) and Joe(Vocals) in two separate DM bands before we started up Mother Brain. I feel like that was our first impression even though we attempted to start playing grindcore. You can hear the character in our sound from the first EP to now; it sounds a lot clearer and uniform. I think we've carried over what we've learned from playing death metal and tried to rework it into a more condensed chaotic form. I personally grab influence from all the live bands we play with.


You guys recorded an EP in 2010, came strong with the “Straight To Business” 7” in 2012, a split with Spirit Of Saint Louis and now the “Rise And Grind” 7” dropped a few months ago. Everything in your catalog is strong but the progression is pretty evident. I thought the EP sounded a little more death metal-ish, “Straight To Business” seemed like really raw (in a good way) grindcore and “Rise And Grind” seems a little more refined.  How do you compare those 3 efforts and what kind of progression is evident to you between them?

The EP's we did in the beginning and the last two 7"s were both recorded in two different places. Our good friend Joe Cincotta (Suffocation, This Is Hell, Incendiary, See You Next Tuesday) has always recorded us in our previous Death Metal bands. EP 1 was our first attempt at playing grindcore and we went back around a year later to record EP 2 (which included EP 1 tracks). Within 2010-2011 you could say we started getting a feel for playing grind and the songs began to deviate from the original 4 songs we started with. With that, we decided we'd try recording somewhere new just to see how it was.

We wound up going to record at Developing Nations Studio in Baltimore, MD with Kevin Bernsten. It was within a reasonable drive for us and we'd heard some great stuff come out of there. It was a whim, but there was an apparent difference in Kevin's recording approach to what we were used to. We tracked out drums first and I used my live setup for the STB 7" + one track with a JCM800. Then we finished up with the vocals. The tonal difference on that record solidified that we'd be coming back again in the future. He really just understood how to translate our sound by keeping it as raw as possible.

On our Rise and Grind 7" we pretty much stuck with the same crew for recording and mastering. The process was generally the same except I tracked twice with my live setup and then had another guitar track on top of that. Within that year I'm sure I tweaked the tone a little, but we did record at a super high volume this time around. I think the low end is the most apparent difference since there was an extra "bass" track in comparison to the STB 7". It was recorded loud and I think the true sound comes through when you listen to it at a high volume. On both records, James Plotkin (Khanate) did an awesome job on the mastering. He was really able to fill up the sound beyond what we had already given him for raw tracks.

This experience really taught us how the engineer plays a role on the overall character of a band's sound. I have been pretty happy with our development thus far. Now I'm interested to see how things turn out with just Matt and I doing vocals.

In true DIY fashion, you put out the “Straight To Business” 7”.  Describe that process.  Were you trying to find a label, or was putting out your own record something you wanted to do.  Also, any chance of that seeing the light of day again for people like me that missed it the first time?

Originally, I don't think we had any connections to release STB. After the recording was all said and done, we focused on getting artwork for it. I had seen some work from a Colorado artist named Ken Sarafin (Sarafin Concepts). Most of his art was really detailed and so textured, but I was curious to see what his sketching was like, but even he said he went overboard with the artwork. It literally looks like a super clean comic piece. We got the jackets made through Jakprints with a nice cardstock and the vinyl's were printed up through United Records. We spent a shitload on it, but the whole goal was just to have a piece of fresh printed material. I reached out here and there seeing if people would want to purchase them wholesale for their distro otherwise we sold them exclusively at our shows.

From day 1 we've always wanted to have our music out there for free download. It's inevitably going to be pirated somehow if the individual really wants it. Our theory is, check it out for free and if you really dig it and wanna support it, pick up a vinyl. We don't really do CD's either for the same reason we put digital media out for free. It could easily be burned onto a CD or vice versa. The vinyl will also possess a quality that digital won't. With that, we said, "fuck it, let's do it ourselves".

Our first print featured 200 black and 100 translucent-red (hand numbered). We literally just sold out the last copy on our recent Euro tour. We do have the plates as well, but we have talked about a 2nd edition release for sometime this year. It'll be back again for sure.

The new “Rise And Grind” 7” is an absolute monster.  The artwork is killer, the production is tight, and the packaging from Mannequin Rein is tops.  How do you feel it turned out?  How has the reception been for it?

I am happy with the way it came out. I believe it’s shown progression in our style of writing and sound compared to the last record. I stumbled across an artist name Arnaud DeVallois by browsing through Stephen Gammell artwork. My message to him went straight to spam and I hadn't heard from him in 3 months until he got back to me haha. It wound up working out though.

We spent almost a year between finishing the recording process and actually having the finished product. Each half was originally supposed to be a part of two different splits. One with Implosive Disgorgence and one with Water Torture. Both bands we're pretty much busy with their own personal things, so we decided to go ahead and do it ourselves again. I had made friends with Max over at Mannequin Rein with the intent to release the splits through MRR, but he was cool enough to support us on the solo release. Max is always super busy between playing for multiple bands and trying to release records. Once we got things going at the plant, they actually broke the B side plate. It took about an additional month to get that sorted out and we literally got the finished product the day we left for our Euro tour.

Overall, I think it's gotten a positive response from artwork to recording and we've had more exposure thanks to Max. I was able to fit 30 of them in my guitar case when we went to Europe and they were all gone by day 10; it was nuts. I do feel this album has definitely solidified us as an East Coast grind band. There are three different colors out there. Black and limited clear vinyl through MRR and a translucent green which are exclusive to us that you can buy at shows. We like to know our colored records out there were distributed from us directly.

You guys have a lot of songs for just having a digital EP, a split, and two 7”’s.  What’s the song writing process like for Mother Brain?  Are you constantly writing new songs, or is it something you have to sit down and map out?

That Spirt of St Louis split is just a cassette split of the STB 7" with our buddies from Long Island. Unfortunately they don't play anymore, but I just wanted to clarify that in case anyone was looking too hard into it haha.

At first, the writing process was ongoing until we recorded, then continued to prepare new stuff right after that. I think we spent most of 2013 playing shows and doing some touring so that took away from a lot of writing time. We didn't wanna jump into writing newer stuff without releasing our RnG 7" otherwise we would've thrown new songs into our set ASAP (that's just the way it works with us). I'll usually dabble with some drum programs and try and come up with a song or majority of it before presenting it to Matt. I'll go over it with him and we'll refine it 'til it has a comfortable flow for both of us. Lastly, the vocals would get sorted out.

Since we parted with our vocalist around October '13 we've pretty much been focusing on learning how to play and sing without compromising any of our sound. I think that Euro tour definitely boosted our confidence. We have three gigs this coming may in NJ, MA and NY with Maruta (FL). After that, we will be taking a little break to focus on writing. I'm curious to see how it will turn out, but I'm sure it will be a nice dynamic from what our previous releases were like. The sound and music character won't differ much, but we gotta find out what will complement our style of vocals.

Mother Brain recently toured Europe with French grinders Department of Correction (killer band).  How did that come about?  I’ve seen Department of Correction on a bunch of East Coast show fliers over the last few years, what’s the connection with those guys?

This tour was setup through a European booking agency called Doomstar Bookings. We dealt with a gentleman named Luc from the Netherlands. There was an offer to play Obscene Extreme America in 2013 and tour Mexico with Malignancy. Obviously we jumped aboard and had the opportunity to meet Luc at OEF America that year. We spoke a little and I think that setting showed we were able to handle an international tour. He also does booking for good friends of ours in Pyrexia, so there were already a few coincidental connections there. We simply asked and he got back to us in a week with an offer to play with the dudes in D.O.C. We played a gig with D.O.C. once when they came through with Strong Intention, but I don't think we spoke to each other.

We got along so great with these guys and couldn't have asked for a better time. They're just non-stop attack, speed and super tight. They're also really talented with their instruments, so it was a plus to be able to watch them play every night for 16 days. They'll be coming back to the states in August with Budd Dwyer to do a run from the East to West coast. Get on board with them if you haven't. Proper French.

Having experienced Europe now, what are the comparisons between Mother Brain shows in the US and Europe?  How were you received over there?  How do the venues/crowds differ?  Any specific European tour experience(s) which stood out that you’re willing to share?

Hahaha, let's just say you get treated like royalty in comparison with the states. It's a custom for promoters to have food/beer for you, they will either find a place for you to stay or put you up in a hostel/hotel and sometimes they'd ask if we'd wanna square up before or after the show. The hospitality difference was a huge one.

As far as turnout, we had 2 pretty weak nights, but every other we played a nice crowded or packed out room. The people come to the show to have fun and not just come see a band they wanted to see. It could've been the factor that we were from the US, but we did the best we could to deliver and I think the crowd generally accepted us. By our 10th-11th gig in Spain we had gotten rid of almost 70 of our records and about 40/50 shirts gone. This has never happened in the history of Mother Brain, so I can't explain how or why it happened, but I can say they are into supporting the bands.

There was one negative that really irked me for a few days. While crossing into the UK, we had border patrol question us for over 3 hours just to make sure we weren't making any money (otherwise we'd be taxed as musicians). Maybe it's because this was the first time we'd been through something like that. It's really shitty that any country stands to profit on exchange of musical culture. If you're a multi-million dollar artist, that's understandable, but it's really a dumb excuse for a country to make money or reject a band.

As for a really cool positive, we played/visited a few squats, but these aren't like the squats you'd see in the US. They would be made up of a small community of people who like to contribute to their community or friends. After the shows, a couple of people would chip in, clean up together and make sure the place didn't fall to shit. It seemed that some places in Europe, they really focus on the message of what you're bringing.

I’m a big fan of the 7” format for grindcore, it’s seems the perfect amount of time for that style.  However, the Sixbrewbantha s/t LP sold me on the full length.  What are your thoughts on that?  Any thoughts of a Mother Brain full length?

I absolutely love that record by the way. We've only done two 7" so far, but in a strictly practical sense they hold just enough material for us to fill it up. The only downside is that you have to get up and flip the record in what feels like no time at all. Some bands like to etch art into one side and utilize the other end for music, which is cool too.

I've really wanted to do an LP for a while just because I think it's aesthetically pleasing to have a nice big print of the artwork. However, it's super important that both sides have substance and memorability. Having a listener engage themselves for over 20+ minutes of speed and noise is no easy task because the monotony can sometimes make you forget what you're listening to.

We haven't been a 2-piece for long, so the first thing on the agenda is getting a knack for writing lyrics and rediscovering our sound a little more. Not sure if blasting out a 12" is the right approach for it, so we are probably gonna focus on some more 7" releases 'til we feel we're comfortable enough to do an LP. It could happen though.

Since returning from Europe, you’ve had some shows back in the Northeast, the Despise You show jumps out.  Who are some bands up your way laying it down that we should know about down here in the Midwest?  What are some of the more memorable shows that you’ve played in the US?

Our local home boys in The Communion, Forced and Bleach Eater are my favorite locals (they rule). They're different in style from MB, but the energy is there and unique to each band. I've really only been listening to a lot of funk and scattered music from the 70's and 80's. Lot of Curtis Mayfield and James Brown lately.

As for US shows, I'd say the Pig Destroyer gig we did back in January was kind of a new step for us and also our first real promoted show as a 2-piece. It was risky to try, but we got a pretty good response from it. Also, we played a wild gig in Cincinnati, OH. We were on tour through the Midwest in September with Bible Thumper (NJ) and we played a rehearsal studio from the guys in Forced Opinion. There's a video online, but I was thrown into my amp at least 6 times and the crowd was definitely feeling it.

You also have some major shows coming up, Obnoxious Noise Fest and the Maruta show in particular.  What else is on the horizon for Mother Brain?  Any chance of some Midwest dates in the future?

We're actually doing 3 gigs with Maruta while they're up in the New England area. We'll be doing NJ, MA and NY together. Really couldn't pass up an offer to play with those guys and we have lots of mutual friends around the globe, so I'm sure it'll be a good time. We also confirmed ONF 'cause the dude booking it has been a real loyal supporter of ours from the get-go. Not to mention it has both bands we did our Mexico tour and Euro tour (Malignancy and D.O.C.). Pretty coincidental, but awesome.

At the moment, we're just preparing to do the dates with Maruta and then we're gonna be taking a little break to get our shit together. Not sure how long that'll be, but other than ONF we don't have any set gigs or tours lined up. I think putting out newer material will come before any sort of touring. We've talked about doing a live recording/filming of our set just so people can get an idea of our new sound. Otherwise, we'll be quieting down a little bit for part of 2014. Would love to go back out to the Midwest though. You guys definitely know how to party.


I can’t thank you enough for doing this interview, I’m a big fan and hope to hear/see more from you guys down the road.  Feel free to give some last words and tell everyone how they can get a hold of you for bookings/merch.  Cheers.

At the moment our primary source of contact is Facebook. E-mailing us works just as well though. We don't have an online store or anything set up, but feel free to shoot us a message if you're interested in picking up some merch. You can pick up our new record @ http://www.mrrdistro.com. All of our music is available for FREE digital download @ www.grindcorekaraoke.com.

Some helpful advice to any grind band trying to do their thing out there: Push your limits and play for yourself before anyone else. In an underground scene, the music will speak for itself. I think playing your music with conviction stands out most to any crowd. A good underground audience will almost always stand behind a band that can deliver their message with confidence. 


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