A certain variety of extreme has been gestating in the metal community since Calculating Infinity. This year marks a decade since The Dillinger Escape Plan’s masterpiece, and yet it would seem the strides taken by inspired artists in that disc’s fallout have kept oddly close to its original formula. Something big must be on the horizon. Something has to be. This year we have reviewed compelling releases by and interviewed the likes of Starring Janet Leigh, Augury, and Orgone, all of which seem to embody that kinetic grinding buzz of a not too distant future. Once again, it feels incredible to showcase the work of another band on that horizon; The Crinn. Having only released two EPs and preparing a new full-length Dreaming Saturn due out early next year, their hyper technical edge feels played, not produced. The arrangements feel written, not coded. This is a musician’s band, and passionately so. Bassist Chad White, guitarist Cole Leonard, and vocalist John Nelson have shared some insight on their latest dream project and the world it is being created in. Will Dreaming Saturn be a release that begs constant comparison from up and coming bands in 2019? The material released so far certainly has the potential. With that in mind, read on and remind yourself that this is where the next ten years all began.
First off, it is important to note that The Crinn has undergone various shifts regarding its core sound. Some newer fans of the Self Titled EP may be unaware of the strikingly different flavour to be found on 2006’s Kills Curiosity (especially with original vocalist Jon Peterson). Is the more aggressive and chaotic route you have taken what you wanted to tackle as a band from the start, or is there more to it?
Chad : “Since our inception, The Crinn has been about creating technical and innovative metal and jazz inspired music. It has taken us quite a few years to develop the sound and songwriting style that we have crafted with Dreaming Saturn. In all honesty, I believe that our primary vision was much more abstract in nature than it is with most bands. Our thoughts have always been more about the process than a solid vision of an end product. After releasing Kills Curiosity and touring behind it, we knew that personally and professionally we needed to make a more aggressive move and that came out in the self-titled EP.”
To put it bluntly, “technical” (as a prefix) is in. The heavy hitting record labels in modern metal are now quick to market bands with a more developed focus on technicality and even “progressive” songwriting. Where does The Crinn fit into this wave of popularity regarding chaotic structures and mathematic musicianship?
Chad : “To be blunt, I don’t know where we fit in. I believe we have a unique style that is technical in nature, often times abrasive, yet dynamic and moving in ways that will compel a listener. On Dreaming Saturn, we worked to develop a more stylistic approach and wrote longer songs that allow the riffs to breathe a bit. I don’t know if it is more approachable, but to me it is certainly more interesting and challenging.”
Following my last question, how do you respond to the school of thought that accuses this brand of metal of not being “musical” or even music at all?
Chad : “This is something that comes up in comments online all of the time. Everyone’s opinion of music, songwriting, pleasure and talent are all subjective. Some people are insightful and can find music in the most unlikely of places, Merzbow and Einsturzende Neubauten come to mind. These are the lucky people in life. When everyday experiences compel people to art, it is a gift. The short sighted style mongers have their work cut out for them in the pleasure department. Not to mention how tiresome being such a vigorous music critic must be. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and mine is that we make good music. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but we have never tried to make it that way either.”
You have a new full length (Dreaming Saturn) about to released this October on Nuclear Blast Records. If I recall, on your video update last summer, you mentioned that this was a singular work of music, a continuous song broken into tracks. Has this project changed in the writing since then? Are there are other details on the writing you wish to elaborate on? Specifically, the lyrical content and inspiration for the title?
Chad : “Our Nuclear Blast debut Dreaming Saturn release date has been pushed back to early 2010. We used the circular method of writing the album to help us become better songwriters. It forced us to think further into the future of our songs than we had before, which prevented us from doing as much riff hopping as we did on the previous EPs. We were able to develop parts over an elongated set of measures and revisit parts later, or earlier in the work to give the entire album more cohesion. The writing process didn’t really stray from that vision.”
John : “The title comes from many ideas that we sort of rolled into one, but mostly that the world is changing constantly at perpetual speeds, and if you and I don’t try to change with it, we will be left behind. Technology grows faster and more powerful everyday putting us both in a trance, and a trap. We have some pretty tough roads ahead of us, as a whole collection of Humans will attempt to have a free-for-all. Once technology has hit certain points into the future, there will be questions about morals and goals that humanity will have to answer, and with the complexities of life, it doesn’t seem real to me that life will ever reach its potential. Dreaming about Saturn as it sounds, seems like an awesome psychedelic time when you think about it, but actually in all truth, Saturn is made of mostly hydrogen that spins a couple thousand miles an hour, and there are probably infinite amounts of planets. So after quantifying it and realizing its real face, why would you want to dream about that? The reality defeats the dream. It’s a lot like dreaming about dying in lava or being eaten alive, but to me, its the frustration that dreams about the future will always become overrun by haunting reality.”
In its finished form, how do you feel Dreaming Saturn will affect the overall scene? Not that we expect you to embrace immodesty here, but a lot of us at Hearwax feel this album will certainly be a game changer in the convoluted tech scene of late.
Chad : “I believe that Dreaming Saturn is going to surprise a lot of people. The production on the album is phenomenal. Adam Tucker, Zack Ohren and Alan Douches all did amazing work. So in sound quality, listenability, and dynamically I feel that Dreaming Saturn is a success. Musically, this album is quite a departure from both of the EPs. The style and musicianship are both more mature and compels, and the interplay between the bass and guitar give the album a more voluminous feel than we got with the self-titled EP. Percussively, Chris did an amazing job making everything cohesive, and John’s vocal performance on this album is nothing short of amazing in my opinion. I’m very proud of the work as a whole and I think it will turn some heads. I’m not sure in what direction, but it will make some noise. We’ll see how the critics feel in a few months.”
A question about the dynamic between bass (Chad White) and six string guitar (Cole Leonard); there is certainly more interplay between both to be found on your discs compared to other bands. Care to discuss that dynamic and the individual goals both musicians have when writing and performing?
Chad : “I answered this a bit in the last question, but I can expand on it. When Dreaming Saturn comes out, listeners will notice quite a different feel when it comes to the guitar and bass interplay. My focus on this album was to write parts that were more rhythmic and contrasting to Cole’s guitar work. Where I feel that we followed each other much more on the EPs, on the full length, we go our own way quite a bit. I also used Chris’ drum parts to shape and refine my rhythms as well, which isn’t something I did much of previous to Dreaming Saturn.”
Cole : “I think a lot of the bass and guitar dynamics comes from the absence of a second guitarist. This lets our individual instruments cut through and enables us to experiment more with different rhythms, effects and tones to fill out our sound. Some of my aspirations when writing the new album was to give the guitar work a more psychedelic vibe while keeping it heavy and technical. I also did quite a bit more synth and programming work to add to overall spacey feel of the album.”
Drummer Chris Zugschwert joined the roster recently after the band put out the Self Titled. How has his inclusion influenced the creative direction of the band over the past year(s)?
Chad : “Chris’ drum parts have had an immense impact on our sounds. His drumming is a bit more down to earth than Corey’s which allowed us to really expand the dynamic between the guitar and the “rhythm section”. This made for more explosive riffs and a slower sounding record in general, but he still gets very insane with his patterns. The technicality is certainly there.”
With such a flurry of off kilter riffs and rhythm, how does a vocalist (in this case John Nelson) create identifiable rhythms, and consistent vocal patterns amidst the ever changing sonic landscape of these songs?
John : “Basically just memorizing each individual phrase and drum pattern, at first it seems like a daunting task but memorizing is instinct and I like to make beats in my head, I’m always tapping my foot to something. Normally I just sit down on my computer and write the lyrics while the music replays in my head, over, and over, and over again. I’m not sure that it goes too much deeper, for me, as far as rhythms and structure go. I watch Chris a lot at practice and that seems to help. The sonic landscape of these songs are definitely always changing, and so I sort of assume that I will have to change with it to keep it interesting. Mostly I just like to think of myself as another instrument in the band.”
Where does this band hope the future of aggressive music settles? Does increased technicality and speed push these genres further into new territory or does it require a different approach? The reason I ask is, based on the footage released of Dreaming Saturn so far, there appears to be emphasis placed on slowing things down, blurring the distinction between what is “destructive” and what is “accessible”.
Chad : “I honestly hope that the future of aggressive music continues to expand. As you said the line between destructive and accessible is becoming more and more blurry. Many metal bands are able to break into the billboard charts and sell some records, but it is staying power in music that pays the bills. I hope that heavy bands are able to evolve and challenge themselves and their fans to constantly redefine metal as a genre. It is this freedom and this artistry that forces me to gravitate to metal as a base for my creativity. I can only hope the future is more of the same, only for a broader base of open minded people.”
For the aspiring musicians and writers who derive inspiration from the more than competent performance of The Crinn, what are techniques, methods and practices that allowed you to play the way you do today?
Chad : “This is a tough one, as all of us are self taught musicians. John has taken vocal classes and the like, but I believe he is the only one, and short of high school band, we are going by feel. Besides being influenced by tall of the wide variety of styles that we listen to, just putting in the time and playing the instrument is the biggest impacting factor on our abilities.”
And finally, to end on where things often begin, what are the bands and musical movements that have shaped The Crinn’s sound, including childhood favorite albums or even recent discoveries?
Chad : “Our influences are quite wide and extremely varied. From Sigur Ros to Slayer to The Mars Volta, to Behold. . .The Arctopus, to The Fall of Troy, to Pig Destroyer, to Johnny Cash, to The Dillinger Escape Plan, to Herbie Hancock, to Neurosis. Good music is good music. Everything we hear shapes our future thoughts and seeps into our musical ‘style’. I’m sure growing up on Pantera and Megadeth didn’t hurt us either.”
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