Psycroptic interview

(Originally from 2/26/07)

We've had Cryptopsy interviewed on this site before, and now we have another great technical death metal band to add to our "roster" of interviews! The Tasmanian group Psycroptic has been gaining quite an international fanbase and reputation over the last few years, and now Joseph Haley (guitarist) takes us down memory lane, through their present day success and into the potential future of the band, along with some guitar tips and music suggestions!

To start off, can you give us a brief description of the band - for those who may not be familiar with Psycroptic's history or music?

Joseph Haley: Well, my brother Dave and I started a band way back around 1997 called Disseminate and played gigs locally in Hobart for a few years, and also managed to get a demo out as well which will never be found anywhere I have no doubt (and a good thing too). By about 98, Dave and myself were kind of wanting to head in a different direction than what we were doing in Disseminate. I actually remember playing an early Psycroptic song to the other guys in Disseminate ("Isle of Disenchantment" I think it was) and they hated it. That was when my brother and I decided that we’d start a new band. We wrote about 7 or 8 songs together in a sort of technical thrash/death style and got our high school mate Cam on bass and Chalky on vocals. We recorded The Isle of Disenchantment in ’99, before we had played any gigs, and once it was released in 2000 we tried to do as many gigs as possible to promote it and managed to make quite a name for ourselves in the local scene. With the release of The Scepter of the Ancients in 2003, we tried to extend ourselves even further by doing many national tours that in the end led to an international tour in 2004 with, who were soon to become good friends, Dismember. Unfortunately Matthew Chalk, our vocalist at the time, wasn't really committed to doing the tour and we were forced to replace him with long time friend Jason Peppiatt. Because of these touring problems with our original vocalist we were forced to let him go and replace him permanently with Jason. Things have just been heading up for us since then, as we try to tour as much as possible, and I think its helping to get our name out there a lot more. We released our third album Symbols of Failure early 2006 through Neurotic Records, and in that time have toured with bands such as Nile, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, etc.

I have not heard the new album yet, but how has the response been so far?

The response so far for Symbols of Failure has been really good – much better than the older albums considering the amount of time that the album has been released for. We were a little bit worried at first, having a different vocalist and all, because we knew that there were many fans of our old vocalist out there. But in the end Jason was very well received, especially as a front man for the band. I think our music on this album is finally starting to come together into the style that we have been progressing towards, and I think that the next album will be the sound that we have been after.

What kind of guitar/recording equipment was used for the record?

The guitar sound that I used, and what I also use for my live setup, was a Mesa-Boogie triaxis preamp, which I personally think is the best preamp out on the market. I also had that running through a TC-Electronic G-force effects processor, but all I used on that was the gates and a tiny bit of EQ. The rest was the triaxis. And I think I had all that running through a Marshall JCM2000 head and a 4x12. I have a very similar setup live, but I usually run it in stereo on stage, just to give it a bigger sound. The recording of the album was done very cheaply. We recorded the drums in the studio, and then did everything else on my computer at home. Also mixed it at home as well and then had it mastered by the great Tue Madsen.

Can you tell us who are some of the bands/musicians that have inspired you?

Well, I myself haven't really listened to a lot of metal for quite some time. Its usually the bands that we tour with that inspire me the most, with their stage shows and great attitudes. I always find myself listening to a lot of bands that we have toured with in the past. Guitar wise though, I try not to listen to too much metal because I don’t really want other metal players to influence me too much. I usually listen to different kind of guitarists, such as Guthrie Govan, Brett Garsed, Scott Henderson, Greg Howe, and im a really big fan of Devin Townsend’s work. Everything he does is genius.

Do you have a favorite Psycroptic song?

My favorite Psycroptic song is always the latest song that we have written, so my favorite Psycroptic song would be some of the new ones that my brother and I have been working on which isn’t on any albums. But I guess my favorite recorded Psycroptic song would have to be either "Cleansing a Misguided Path" or "Merchants of Deceit" as they were the last songs that were written for the last album.

Would you describe the songwriting process that occurs when Psycroptic comes up with new tunes?

These days, its mainly Dave and I that deal with most of the writing of new material. We tend to write the songs in sections. It usually starts with myself writing a section (or a group of riffs tied together). Then we’ll just jam on these sections, which would essentially be the beginnings of new songs, and keep jamming on them until we both naturally change into a similar idea at the end of them. Then I’d go off on my own and write another section based around that idea. Then we’d come back and do the same thing on that section. This keeps happening until we finally finish the song. Sometimes we’d have a section set aside for months at a time, after we’ve written several other songs, until we finally figure out what right kind of change suits that particular section. It’s probably a peculiar way of writing songs but we find it way more enjoyable to be jamming on the songs while we’re writing them, rather than just writing the whole song, and then jamming on it.

What specific techniques or practice routines do you personally use to improve your playing ability?

Well, I don’t really have any strict practice schedules that I follow or anything. I think that over time, playing this type of music, your technique seems to really improve itself. I think the only thing that I try to keep conscious about is trying to move my hands as little as possible. I spent a fair amount of time over the years trying to keep my fingers as close to the fret board as possible, and keeping my picking technique as efficient as possible. I think that is the key to having good technique, not only for death metal but the playing of all styles.

How's the death metal scene in Australia today? Do you have a good following in your home town?

We do have a really good following in our hometown, unfortunately we’re quite isolated in Tasmania and there is a fair lack of decent venues to play at. Because of this we don’t really do many gigs in Tasmania. But when we do, the shows are always really good for us. Most of the shows that we do in Australia are done over in Melbourne or Sydney, but we still try not to overplay. Don’t want people getting bored of us. We have a really good following in the rest of Australia also, but our main priority at the moment is trying to play overseas as much as we can. The overall metal scene in Australia is pretty good at the moment – a lot of variety. Heaps of Different styles, not just death metal. It makes the shows great, because fans of all styles of metal come out to see the shows since there are always bands of different styles playing.

Is there any advice you might give to aspiring musicians, bands or guitarists?

Just stick at it, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t feel like you have to play a certain way or sound a certain way just because everyone else does. I think that the more you don’t sound like anybody else, the further your music will take you.

And last of all, is there an interview question you've always wanted to answer, but that no one has ever asked?

Hmm, nah.

We'd like to extend a big thanks to Joseph Haley and the entire crew in Psycroptic for making this interview possible. Their new album Symbols of Failure is out now on Neurotic Records. You can visit their official website at www.psycroptic.com and their official MySpace page at www.myspace.com/psycroptic.