Wait a damn Cryogen Second... ES2:Chicago Interview with Eric Sochocki

Another ES:2 Interview, this time with the man behind Cryogen Second's - Eric Sochocki

Rusty: I'm going to be completely honest with you here, I haven't listened to anything that Cryogen Second has done. Period. Why, I'm a slacker and I want to hear it live. Give me a little bit of background on the band for the kids out there in internet land.
(I'm going to download and listen to the album WHILE we're doing this)

Eric: So, I started playing live/actually working on this band thing in 2005ish. I had been dicking around with programming for about 5 years beforehand, and never got the right combination of people to work with (I had originally wanted a female lead singer, wanted another person to program with, etc.). In 2005, after much prodding by my wife, I just decided to start doing it myself. I originally started this as a more futurepop type outfit, but the lyrics and music progressively got darker/more screamy/less about personal bullshit.

Also, tell those kids that my lawn is still off limits.

Rusty: Noted. I've been listening to Anthem for the Great Self Destruct while waiting for your answer. I am digging it. So if you did this all yourself, what are we to expect from a live setup? Is there a live band?

Eric: Glad you like it, man! Live is rather different from this record. I like the idea of adding in elements to a live show that aren't present on an album, so I have Kevin Edlin, a Nashville producer and engineer, playing the guitars and Asli (my wife) on live synth. Really, it's all about energy. I came into industrial from the Connecticut punk scene in the mid/late 90's, where kids would never release an album, only knew three chords, but got up on stage, and ruined themselves for thirty minutes, all for the entertainment of a handful of people who really got into it.

Rusty: For me, that's the thing. Energy is huge when you're on stage. Give it your all, or go the fuck home.

So, you said you came from Connecticut, where do you hail from now and has the response in your area been a good one for Cryogen Second?

Eric: Yeah! There was this whole... thing... that happened for a while in our scene where people either didn't realize or didn't care that while there is some importance to image and presentation, but unless you have something substantial live to back yourself up, you're just a dude in a costume, wandering listlessly around on stage, looking like a dickhead. Fortunately, I've seen more and more bands that have been coming up that are amazing performers and incredible musicians as well. It's a really exciting time to be in this scene, for all the jaded "I HATE INDUSTRIAL" shit that seems to be happening now.
To answer your question, I'm in Nashville, and have been, since 2003. It's been interesting. Nashville isn't a big scene, but we have had great response from the local markets around here in the past year or two, and we've been fortunate to have an amazing local promoter who actually cares about the local bands.

Rusty: I just drove through there TWICE over the last couple of weeks for my trip to Florida. The things I should know ahead of time before travelling. It's not too far away, so maybe we can get a show down there with you guys some time.

So, lets get to the reason we're all in Chicago on Saturday. Electronic Saviors 2. You have two tracks on there, one a remix for Inure and the other one of your own. How did you get involved in this project?

Eric: YES. LET US PLAY SHOW TOGETHER. I promise that I will only call you Busty when I introduce you to people.
I'm trying to find a way to answer this question without sounding ENTIRELY TOO serious or overly wordy, might take a minute.

Rusty: Take your time... show's saturday...

Eric: The remix was a no-brainer. I love working with Adam's music, so when he approached me to remix him, I jumped on it. I'm actually in the middle of mixing a track that we did along with another amazing artist that's going on his next single that's gonna be epic.
The other track (thirty eight) was a bit more of a labor of love, I lost a good friend under really shitty circumstances to a ridiculously rare form of blood cancer ten years ago. The people that worked with me on that track (Kevin on guitar and Sarah from Synapse on vocal) were amazing to deal with, and it served as a way to actually get closure about not being able to say proper goodbyes. I guess that was my main motivation for doing this. Watching people fight that shit and lose is horrifying. You hear stories about what people go through, but it's a lot different when you SEE it, you know?

Either way, when I learned about what was going on, we jumped at the ability to contribute and play. Life's too fucking short to be waylaid by the depressing shit, Jim putting out this comp (and by proxy the shows that have been going on around them) are a great way to make something great out of one of the worlds bigger dick moves.

Adam has informed me that I should not use the word "epic" when describing anything relating to him.

So, you know... leave that in, Highlight and bold it, and whenever those kids that were on my lawn ask about him, Make sure to use nothing but that word to describe him.

Rusty: Shit, I don't edit anything, this whole thread is going in there.

I'm trying to get a couple of these done today, so I apologize for making this a short interview. That means we're in for my ever famous "Lightning Round". 5 quick questions that could be word association as well and 5 quick answers. Ready? Alright, let's do this thing.

1) Jim Semonik
2) Beyond Therapy Records
3) Your take on the current state of industrial
4) Dave Shock
5) Beer or the hard stuff? (I gotta know what you drink for Saturday)

Eric: 1. Hopefully not an alien from another planet. I've never met him and only talked in a few short emails. Or maybe hopefully he is. Who knows.
2. Great starting point for smaller artists. Nothing but love for them.
3. Still lots of work to get out of the rut, but getting great again.
4. Probably a Gynecologist.
5. Me: A shot of Jaeger and a Jack and Coke.
Kevin: anything alcohol related
Asli: If you can get her to drink ANYTHING alcoholic you win everything.

Rusty: Fantastic. Alrighty, I'm wrapping things up here. Thank you for your time today. I'll see you on Saturday in Chicago for the awesome!

Eric: yessir! Have a good day, Senor Trombón

Holy Shit! I interviewed darkNES (He's played Kinetik... I know that doesn't rhyme) - ES2 Chicago Interview

Today, I get to banter with Brian Graupner of The Gothsicles! Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Rusty: Alright, Brian, I know this is a little late in the game to do an interview. We have a show on Saturday and we want all those kids in Chicagoland to get their collective asses to the show.

Let's do this. We'll have a little back and forth here. I ask a question, you answer, I ask another one. Sometimes your answers will lead to me asking different questions.

I've been a fan for a while, I have seen the shows, but I am not sure I have ever sat down with you and asked this question. What's the deal with the old school 8-bit obsession?
Brian: "Write what you know", man. I've never been in a cyborg war or drank vampire blood, but I definitely wasted a whole summer trying to beat Castlevania II.

Rusty: I've been there too, I jumped over the 8-bit stuff due to having my 2600 and Colecovision for years and went right in to the 16-bit wars. Sorry to say I was on the Sega (not Andrew) side of the fence for that one. I'm a video game nut, so I totally get it.

There's been a little bit of a lineup change recently, you've got Mike on keys now. How has that added to the live performance and is he adding anything to future recordings?

Brian: Holy smokes on high, the live show is so much better now. It was Mike's idea to go the keytar route and it was a total home run from space. We've gotten into this pattern of feeding off of each other on stage and the result has been like this upward spiraling feedback loop of positivity. It's just awesome.

Mike's also working a lot on the new album, which is new for me because recordings have classically just been Dan Clark and myself. The stuff he's sent me sounds great, though, plus he just picked up a Moog about which he's crazy excited, so hopefully that will make it on to the new disc (or whatever).

Sega had a lot of quality titles.

Rusty: A keytar, that's something you just don't see too often anymore. I know that they seem to be making a bit of a comeback. But, I thought it was just for 80's cover bands and Johnny V's wet dream of an Am.Psych lineup.

It sounds like you've got a new lease on life with Mike in there now. I can't wait to see the show and feel the energy. I saw that you guys were at Kinetic again. How were things up in Montreal? It's been a couple years since the last time you were up there.

Brian: Right, we were there in 2010 and that was effin' great, but 2012 was completely the shit. It's so crazy to just casually hang out backstage with dudes like Beborn Beton and Haujobb and then have them tell you that you played a great set. The crowd was really fantastic as well, and that festival is so professionally run, it's crazy. Thanks times infinity to J-F for having us.

Who the fuck is Am.Psych?

Rusty: Am.Psych? Some band from Wisconsin. I think they play about an hour before you on Saturday. Anyway, I have not been witness to the full audio/visual setup for the Gothsicles as of yet. Last year at the WTII minifest, there was a technical issue, and the one other time I was at a show, I am not sure if I just blanked out or what. I have seen videos online of this spectacle though. Who does all that work for you? Is this something you have done yourself?

Brian: I've been outsourcing video more lately, such as with Adam Alvarez's work on the "Save Dat Mermaid" video and Steven Cheek's work on the new Kinetik comp track "This Year's Password is 'Party'", but yeah, everything else is me. It's a huge asspain to come up with a video concept for every track, but it's also a really great avenue for jokes.

Rusty: Well, not only that but getting everything synced up together, get the quality of the videos where you want them to be, hope your machine doesn't lag when you play them back. I can see it being a daunting task.

So, new album? I'm a big fan of the latest, and Save Dat Mermaid is a personal favorite of mine. When can we expect the new one out?

Brian: Hard to say. We're working hard on it, but have a ton of upcoming shows and whatnot, and that takes time, so I'm not sure. I'll say "before the end of the year", just to keep myself motivated.

Rusty: I'll try to hold you to it! So, I'm going to go back to some 8-bit fun here. Konami Code. I have this feeling it holds a special spot in your heart. For a lot of us it's the first cheat we remember. What about it is so special for you that you've got a great song written about it?

Brian: It's a super old track that was initially written with a friend back in 1998 when music about video games was still kind of a novel idea. There's something so indelible about that code to the 8-bit culture that when deciding to first write about that sort of thing, the Konami Code becomes an obvious choice. Maybe to a fault, actually. I've gotten a lot more obscure with references over the years.

Sidenote, this interview has inspired me to do some Sega Genesis sampling in between questions.

Rusty: Awesome. So, Saturday is the Electronic Saviors 2 show in Chicago. You have been on both compilations so far with "Jim, Let me know when you can drink again" on the first, and now "Who wants to join our superhero team (Right now, it's just Me & Jim).

I'm a proud member of the superhero team now, thanks to you. What does being on these compilations mean to you?

Brian: Well, cancer's terrible, obviously, so being able to contribute to something that helps fund it's treatment means a lot to me, especially when it's a friend and fellow industrial guy that's affected.

On a different note, though, it's an effin' spectacular comp to be on! The new one is fantastic!

Rusty: Alright, B. I am making these a bit shorter as the show is this Saturday.

We head off to "The Lightning Round". 5 simple question and answer. Some may be word association, some may require a rather lengthy answer. Here we go.

1) Sex or Video games?
2) Superman or Batman?
3) Song you have the most fun performing is?
4) Synthsizers: virtual or analogue?
5) If I could be any video game character in real life, it would be:

Brian: 1) One time I dressed up as Princess Peach for Halloween so I wouldn't have to choose.
2) Moon Knight
3) "This Year's Password is 'Party'"
4) I used the analog outs on my Virus TI for the whole "analog warmth" thing for while, but recording via usb is a grillion times easier, so Imma go virtual, at least for that machine.
5) My first thought was Mega Man because I like stealing people's powers after I murder them, but if I was Bionic Commando, I wouldn't have to get up to grab a beer.

Rusty: Awesome, Thank you again for doing this on spur of the moment notice today. We will see you on Saturday for the show!

ES2: Chicago interview with Gooby and The Goddamn Batman of Ego Likeness

I probably should have let Ego Likeness know how I operate when it comes to doing interviews.  I work my interviews like a conversation. One question at a time this way people can get responses out and it actually flows. I'm not sure why, but I've been told this interview would only be done if I referred to myself as "Busty" and in the middle of the interview Steven decided he was "The Goddamn Batman" and after it was all done, Donna said something about "Gooby" so that is now going to be her pet name in this interview.. Now that we all have our alter egos ready for this interview... here we go.

"Busty": A lot of people reading this may not be too familiar with Ego Likeness, I myself don't want to butcher any back story. Donna, why don't you give us a little history lesson. (Side note, I have complied with all demands on how I am to conduct myself and address myself... let's do this thing.)

Gooby: Well, Busty, Steven and I got together, started dating, and started a goth band sometime around 1997 or 98. It was pretty straightforward goth, and we found ourselves wanting to do something that incorporated our other influences, (and so help me, if you ask me what our influences are -as every single interviewer EVER has done- I'll cut you) so we started Ego Likeness. The goth band broke up and then we got married in 1999. We released our first full length EL album in 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember) with the help of a friend at the time, then did the next two albums with Dancing Ferret. We signed with Metropolis for 'Breedless' in 2010, and will be releasing the next full length at the beginning of next year. So in the past 12 years, there have been numerous members, numerous shows and tours, a couple of nervous breakdowns, and many, many miles put on our van.

"Busty": I will have to admit, I didn't know a whole lot about Ego Likeness untill the WTII Minifest last year. That was my first opportunity to hear you and see the live show. I was blown away. I love the stage presence and your voice with the music matches up perfectly. I know a lot of this scene seems to have a lot of acts that don't have women as the vocalist or the main focal point of the band. Have you found this a challenge at all to get people to notice Ego Likeness? (Don't worry, Steven... I have questions for you too...)

Gooby and The Goddamn Batman: Goat hunting

"Gooby": Thanks. We've been at this a long time, and I do often think about why we haven't made more of an impact, considering we sell well, get good reviews, people enjoy the shows, we get to open for some of the biggest acts around, etc... You may well have hit the nail on the head. It seems that in this scene female fronted bands don't get taken as seriously, though I can't put my finger on why. I think sometimes there is this attitude of "Oh, that's one of those bands where the guy does all the work and the girl -usually his girlfriend- is just there as eye candy." It is still a bit of a boys club out there. More than once before a performance, people have assumed that I was either the merch girl, or at best, the keyboard player. To be fair, though, with some pretty major and awesome exceptions, (Ayria, I:Scintilla, Sensuous Enemy, Hansel und Gretyl, to name a few who are ) some of the female singers for darkwave/ industrial bands I've seen could stand to step up their game a little. Confidence and a strong stage presence go a long way.

"Busty": Well, from the show I saw last year, you have the confidence. So do the other bands you mentioned as well.

Merch is an interesting transitional topic for me with your band. Ego Likeness had one of the most awesome merch tables I have ever seen. Why? Most of it wasn't "band" merch. There was art. Some crazy creepy stuff blended in with skulls and bones and they were turned in to necklaces and pendants, things of that nature. How did that all start? Is this something that was done by necessity to "change it up" a little bit and stand out?

"Gooby" : Well, you see, Busty...we are starving artists. We have no real skills beyond making things, so we've had to survive on what we know. Steven -who, incidentally, requested we refer to him from here on out as "The Goddamn Batman"- is an artist, and we are both writers, in addition to being musicians, and really- it's all tied together for us. When we started touring, we realized pretty quickly that CD and Tshirt sales alone weren't going to cut it - gas, food, van repairs, supplies, places to sleep - it adds up fast. Sometimes, some of those things are covered, but you're not going to get a swank room at the Super 8 every night, you know. Having all of the art and books and jewelry makes a huge difference in our income. And, as you said, I think it does help us stand out a bit. Nothing sadder than a nearly empty merch table.

"Busty": (Jesus, "The Goddamn Batman" needs to stop making so many demands. Anyway...) I tend to keep my interviews short (minus that Caustic one cause Matt and I talk like little girls when you get us together). I want your music and your live performance to speak for itself. If you've never read any of my other interviews, I have a staple in them. I watched a lot of game shows as a kid. So... it's time for...

The Lightning round! Five quick questions or statements, and five quick or wordy answers to them. It's going to be a little different this time because of who I'm interviewing and the fact that "The Goddamn Batman" should probably respond to at least one of these questions. So, questions 4 and 5 are specifically meant for him.

1) Band you can't miss at the ES2 show in Chicago:

2) Best book you've read in the last six months:

3) Your favorite meme:

4) Electronic Saviors and Jim Semonik:

5) Goat:

"Gooby" : 

1) Gothsicles

2)  "Gooby": JG Ballard "Myths of the Near Future"
TGDBM: Peter Watts "Blindsight

3)  "Gooby" : Dolan Duck (it's sooo dumb, but all I have to do is think "Gooby plz" and I crack up)
TGDBM: Insanity Wolf

4) He's one of our heroes, though he's still not going to make 'Yak' happen.

5) They have horizontal pupils and FUCK YEAH GOATS.

Also, thanks! You're a good sport, Busty! xx

"Busty": No, Thank you. I have fun doing this. I'll see you at the end of the month for the show.

"Gooby": We're so excited! ; )

Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party Interview with Jim Semonik

Electronic Saviors 2

Once again I bring you a round of interviews from the world of Industrial music. This time we focus our attention on the Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party that is being held down in Chicago at the LiveWire Lounge on June 30th.

What follows is my "interview" conducted with Jim via email the last couple of days.

...Feuer Frei!

I've been waiting for this show for since 1998. The last time I got to see them was when they toured on the first Family Values tour. I was a doing street work promotion for TVT Records at the time and they had me handing out cassettes with the latest songs from Sevendust, Gravity Kills and others on there. As a thank you for doing that bit of work, they gave me two tickets to the Family Values show here in my town and I took one of my good friends to the show.  He'll be there with his wife and our former room mate as well (he didn't get to see them last time).

...I got to sleep in my own bed.

I stayed at a hotel down in Chicago this weekend, I'm not going to say which one. But the bed that was there really beat me up. It was way too soft, no support for my body and when I woke up it felt like someone stepped on my head or repeatedly kicked me in the upper back all night.

I go to sleep in my bed last night though, that has really worked out a lot of the pain that I had from that.

So, with that being said, Chicago was a blast this past weekend. The lady and I went down just to get away for the weekend. We had a deal that we bought online a while ago and we needed to use it. This was the ONLY weekend we could. So, we went down there, got settled in at the hotel and just bummed around for a while. Then we wanted to eat. Eventually we ended up at Chicago Diner. As always, awesome food! The Karma Burger is fantastic. Love that place. The chili almost killed me though. Super spicy, couldn't finish the damn thing.

When we got back, we just kicked back and watched Airplane 2 through the wonders of using my phone as a wifi hotspot and connecting my computer to the hotel's TV. I'm way happy it worked. I didn't think it was going to.

The next morning, we woke up late, had to rush out the door and get our stuff to the car so we could head down Michigan Ave. and do some window shopping. I actually ended up getting a couple shirts for work, and the lady, well.... she didn't buy anything. She really wanted to though.

Side note, we were looking for a place to eat, and started going down Rush St. We're walking by this Italian place across from Giordano's and she goes "heh, Rod Stewart"... I stopped, looked at her and said "No, honey, that IS Rod Stewart." Sure as shit, there he was with his woman and what could only be their baby and some other younger girl. It was kinda funny.

After that, we went to the Sushi bar just past there called "Friends Sushi". It's a really nice place. Very clean looking, custom wood chop sticks. Very nice decor. I really like that place. They make their sushi differently than I am used to (they GRILL they asparagus for the asparagus rolls!) but it was all very well done. The presentation was nice and the staff was quite kind.

After shopping a little bit more, we started to make our way back to the car. It was at this time I was suckered in to a shoe shine. It just all happened so fast. The guy was lucky that I had cash on me. I didn't want to be that guy who gets pulled in to something like that and then not be able to pay. But, my shoes look better now than they did when I bought them.

Once we got back we cooked a simple dinner, I did some homework, and we started our venture back in to the Matrix.

But, the highlight was that I got to sleep in my bed last night and wake up in it with my lady again.