Interview — This Caustic Autumn

Skratch Magazine

This Caustic Autumn is more than metal. “We can get pretty heavy and sludgy, but I wouldn't say we're a metal band,” say Rains Fice (guitar/vocals/bass/keys percussion) and Josh Bruzzese (drums/bass/keys/guitar) “Our sound is pretty dirge laden. There's a real psychedelic element, and a doomy, 'post-rock' thing going on as well.” The self-proclaimed post-hastecore band from Canada had some more insights for Skratch Magazine.
Skratch: How did you become interested in music?
Josh: I went to a concert with a bunch of indie bands when I was like 13, and there was a band called Phat Q. It was just 2 dudes, a drummer and a guitar player, and they had a really original, thrashy metal sound. Just watching the 2 of them work their chemistry together, I decided that I wanted to do that. I don't know how good they really were. I was kind of drunk, but it was that moment and that band that did it for me.
Rain: I can't remember ever not being into music. It took of when I was in high school though; going to concerts and reading biographies and stuff. Hearing bands talk about making music really moved me, but I don't know if there was a specific moment for me where I went "That's what I want to do."

Skratch: What is your song writing process like?
CA: It differs from song to song. A lot of songs on this album were written as they were recorded. Sometimes it starts with a drum beat or a bass line; maybe a guitar part. Who knows? There are a lot of long, late jams, where we go through a pack of smokes and a few pots of coffee. The song "Novella Minor" came about in no time. It basically wrote itself. We laid the drum track down the day we wrote it, and ended up using that take on the album. The track "An Ode to Holes in Pretty Things" was just the opposite. We probably worked on it over 3 or 4 sessions before we started any recording.

Skratch: What artists or musicians inspire you?
CA: Oh man, so many bands, all over the board. Nirvana, The Mars Volta, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Portishead, City of Caterpillar, Gojira, Incubus, Liquid Tension Experiment, Tub Ring, Curl Up And Die, Deftones, Circle Jerks, Dog Fashion Disco, Glenn Miller, Blood Has Been Shed, Tool, Patsy Cline, Meshuggah, Pantera, Beethoven, The Fall of Troy, Leonard Cohen, Nothingface, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Sepultura, Norma Jean, The Doors, Wishbone Ash... on and on and on.

Skratch: Where do you take musical inspiration from? Your environment? People? Explain.
Rain: Definitely, the music comes from real life situations. I'm not much of a storyteller, lyrically. I don't write songs about a character with a name who goes here and meets this person and they rob a bank and ride off into the sunset. I write more atmospherically and abstractly. Love and death are reoccurring topics. My brother died a few years ago. He and Josh were good friends too, so that's a big connection between Josh and I, and an understanding between us that, however subconsciously, sets the mood for a lot of songs, even if they're not about that specifically, it's there underneath.

Skratch: What is your musical background?
CA: We've both been playing for most of our lives, and were in a bunch of bands before this, different styles, solo acoustic stuff too...

Skratch: Tell us about how you got started as a band.
Rain: I'd been living in the city, just outside Toronto, for a few years, and after I moved back to where I grew up I got in touch with Josh to see what he was up to, band-wise. At that point it was me on guitar, Josh on bass, and another friend of ours on drums. After a few months though, it wasn't working out. Our drummer fired himself as tensions built, and then Josh moved from bass to drums. Since then we've gone through a couple other bass players. We were playing a lot of shows last summer, and won a few competitions and stuff, but we couldn't find a bass player who could stick with it and put music before drinking and playing video games, so in our frustration we decided to skip looking for a bass player and focus on writing and recording. A few months later we had an album finished, and here we are; peddling our wares, looking for the missing link so we can get back to the live side of things again.

Skratch: What is the most rewarding part of playing in a band?
CA: The music itself. When you talk to someone who's heard your band and they've found something in it that moves them the same way it moves you, when somebody gets it, that's it right there. There's a feeling of doing what you're supposed to be doing that doesn't come from anywhere else.

Skratch: What challenges have you faced as musicians?
CA: Relying on other musicians is definitely the biggest challenge we've faced. The chemistry in this band as it stands is awesome, and all of the efforts put into getting our music out there and into people's ears is expected and inevitable. But finding other musicians with the same values and integrity is the hard part. People don't want to make the personal sacrifices you need to make to get a band off the ground. Sometimes you can't go to your cousin's neighbor’s niece's birthday party because you're in the middle of recording an album. Sometimes you have to buy guitar strings instead of beer. I don't understand why so many people spend years and years getting good at their instruments, but don't want to go the last few steps to do something with it, you know?

Skratch: What would you say is your best song to date? Why?
CA: Tough question. Between the time we put this band together and when we started working on recording an album, our style and writing evolved a lot. Our songs became more intricate and involved to play, and we grew more willing to wander and play with different styles. I think the song "An Ode to Holes in Pretty Things" might be a good one to name. It's pretty dynamic, and I think it covers most of what we do on other songs, which is why we wanted to include it on the sampler CD.

Skratch: Do you remember the first album you ever bought? What was it?
Rain: No, I don't remember. I can't remember ever not acquiring new music. I do remember my dad giving me Pink Floyd's "Relics," and Iron Butterfly's "Metamorphosis" when I was 4 or 5. That's where it started for me. Josh: Cannibal Corpse, "Tomb of the Mutilated."

Skratch: Where do you see your band in five years?
CA: I think we'll be on album 3 or 4 by then, playing shows on a regular basis, probably still DIYing as much of it as we can. I don't think we ever see ourselves as a major label act. Indie label distribution, touring around in a broke ass van. That's the life, right there.

Skratch: Would you say your goals as a band are long term, or short term? What do you ultimately hope to achieve? Explain.
CA: We definitely have a long term vision of this band. For now, we're just focusing on getting the band back in shape to play live again. Most of our future goals are hinged on that. Being picked up by a really cool independent label would be ideal. Vinyl re-issues. Matte posters. 2000 seat venues.

Skratch: How has your band evolved since when you first formed?
CA: Aside from the obvious personnel changes and gaps, our overall sound has changed from being basically a progressive-grunge thing, into something much more 3 dimensional and precise.

Skratch: How often do you practice? What is your rehearsal time like?
CA: We usually practice 2 or 3 times a week, and a practice can easily end up being an 8 or 10 hour session where we'll play half the songs we know, and then come up with something new and spend the rest of the night working on that.

Skratch: What would you say is your band’s motto? Explain.
Rain: "Uh... I don't know that we have one. Um... "Keep it street, son!" Ya. That's what we always say, right?.
Josh: Ya, we say that.

Skratch: What shows/album releases/plans do you currently have set up? Tell us about them.
CA: We don't have any plans for releases or shows in the immediate future. Our album is pretty fresh, so we're still pusing that. We have a potential guitar player lined up, so if everything works out with that, we should be back to playing live by summer 2010. We'll probably start recording the second album in a while and put it out late 2010, early 2011?

Skratch: Where have your performed? Tell us about the experience.
CA:We played countless small shows around here, and a handful of shows in and around Toronto and Durham Region. The most exciting show was probably at The Opera House, in Toronto. It's such an excellent venue, and pretty much any band either of us are into have played there, so it was cool thinking about that while we were on stage.

Skratch: What sets your stage show a part from all the other bands making the rounds at venues?
CA: Our live show is something we're still working on and developing. There's definitely no bullshit though. You know when you go see a new band and the singer is talking to the crowd like he's in their favorite band? I know it's important to get the crowd into what you're doing, but it seems really phony when someone is up there telling jokes, and spends 10 minutes out of a 40 minute set talking. I want to hear your music. So as far as that goes, we don't have a gimmick or anything, we just play and try to get people involved by putting on the best show we can.

Skratch: Anything else you think we should know about the band?
CA: We're working on designing and producing merchandise; shirts and posters and stuff, which should be available on myspace sooner than later. At this point we're 100% independent. Everything with this band's name on it came from our own hands and imaginations. We take our time working on stuff, but when we turn it out, you know it's exactly how we wanted it.

Want more on This Caustic Autumn? Then go to http://www.myspace.com/thiscausticautumn

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