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.
I'm proud to announce that ShatteredKnee #1 is now available. This zine is 32 pages; ideal reading material for those ultra stubborn bowel movements. It features interviews with:
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