Agora o negócio fica perigoso no TBTCI, hora de You´re Smiling Now Bu We´ll All Turn Into Demons, The Demons pros mais chegados. Psych pesado, beirando o stoner, coisa do mal mesmo hahahahahaha, só pra mentes perturbadas e iniciados, apesar de todo peso e da altura sonora, os Demons tem na vocalização um ponto fundamental que ameniza um pouco a peliculosidade do som.
Contact High chega a nós via Cardinal Fuzz e chega chegando pra dissimular tudo e todos. Um grande detalhe é que recentemente o mestre Damon Suzuki, sim o gênio do Can fez parte da banda por um dia, só isso já serve pra ilustrar que com os Demons não se brinca.
Música pra se ouvir alto, bem alto....
***** Interview with You´re Smiling Now But We´ll All Turn Into Demons *****
Q. When did You´re Smiling Now But We´ll All Turn Into Demons starts, tell us about the history...
Ryan: I first met Tom and Richie 12 years ago at a gig in a comedy club of all places. They approached me selling copies of their Evil Powers Of RockNRoll fanzine, and as the bands were so bad that night, we completely lost interest of what was happening on stage and chatted at length about our shared love of the Melvins and bands with long names. YSNBWATID was sort of already up and running by that point, so I was the last person to get involved in the band in its current form. It’s been emotional.
Thomas: I was set to join Richie and Steve's band Evil Pantano, learned most of their songs, then the drummer quit five minutes before my first gig with them. We decided to carry on under a different, longer, stupider name. We'd seen Ryan playing locally and kind of stole him away from his band of the time, his drumming was just too powerful for those guys.
Richie: We all played in bands around Portsmouth as teenagers and had played in some different groups together before Demons started. Tom and I had briefly played together in a hardcore band and Steve and I had played in Evil Pantano for a couple of years. Tom had been jamming with us and we used to see Ryan drum in his previous band whenever they were playing and he was suggested to us as the ideal man to fill the gap in the new group.
We played our first gig in July 2002 and the first set of songs we put together was a CD-R album Jesus Loves The Demons in 2003. We had a split with our friends Escanna around the same time. By 2005 we’d written and made lots of recordings so we put out a handmade triple album box set with Black Demon Time / The Freewheelin’ Demons / Q. Are We Not Men? A. We Are Demons! The last album we put out was Contact High in 2009 – which has just been reissued on vinyl by Cardinal Fuzz. Over the years we’ve been lucky to play with lots of great bands including some of our favourite artists like the MC5, Dead Meadow, Wooden Shjips and The Icarus Line, and one time with Damo Suzuki as part of his backing group.
Steve: My formative years in bands were fun but musically limited. It wasn't until I met Richie at college in 1999/2000 that I took a step away from indie and explored different genres. We formed Evil Pantano which was rooted in noisy art punk, drawing influences from bands like Fugazi, Q And Not U, Les Savy Fav and also heavy riffs from Kyuss / Queens... and other stoner bands. Tom came on board and once Ryan was recruited it felt like we ready to create some cool tunes.
Q: Who are your influences?
Ryan: It’s varied throughout the years, and we’re still discovering music (new and old) that shapes what we do. There’s definitely a ‘sound’ that guides us though, which, in my opinion, is basically loud, heavy doom-laden psychedelic rock with a multitude of twists.
Thomas: It's varied over the years depending on what we're listening to. All our album titles have referenced our influences as well.
Richie: From when we first started we shared an idea of the sort of sounds we wanted to create, and for what works when we play together and that has developed over time. We’ve never really stuck to a formula or a certain style, and we just like to see what comes out and push ourselves to improve on what we have done before when we are working on new ideas.
Steve: I think there are core genres or influences that we all love but it constantly evolves and changes. We're always bringing new music to each other's attention.
Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Ryan: In no particular order (these albums are some of my notable favourites, and possibly not my top five albums of all time): Nirvana ‘In Utero’, Black Sabbath ‘Paranoid’, Swans ‘The Seer’, The Icarus Line ‘Penance Soiree’ and Sonic Youth ‘Sonic Nurse’.
Thomas: Gong 'Flying Teapot', Richard & Linda Thompson 'Pour Down Like Silver', The Howling Hex 'All Night Fox', The Band 'Music From The Big Pink', Bert Jansch 'L.A. Turnaround'.
Richie: ‘Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger’, Ornette Coleman ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come’, The Monks ‘Black Time’, Oneida ‘Come On Everybody Let’s Rock’, White Magic ‘Dat Rosa Mel Apibus’.
Steve: That's tough and I would probably spend all day mulling it over. Current favourites that get a whirl are Caribou ‘Swim’, Comets on Fire ‘Blue Cathedral’, Hot Snakes ‘Suicide Invoice’ and anything by Madlib or J Dilla.
Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Ryan: I usually feel pretty good. It’s difficult to explain the feeling of playing live as there’s little to compare it to. I generally zone out for 30-45 mins, so I guess it’s like being on drugs for that short space of time.
Thomas: I love it, it's my favourite part of being in the band.
Richie: If the preparation is relaxed that’s great for getting into the right headspace for playing and locking in together, to get a little lost, and hopefully anyone watching can feel that too. If it’s a rush that can create a different sort of energy, and that is fun too.
Steve: I like the tension just before we start, the anticipation of what will happen and how the crowd will react. After 12 years we know our sound and we know each other well so I think we are confident in the delivery. When we first started our sets were quite a visceral, primal experience. Now we control the shapes and sounds we want to portray and I like to see the effect it has on people, good or bad.
Q. How do you describe You´re Smiling Now But We´ll All Turn Into Demons´s sounds?
Ryan: Loud (could be louder though).
Thomas: Many riffs and top-shelf drumming.
Richie: Escape… from all of that.
Steve: Trippy tops and heavy bottoms
Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Ryan: It’s usually a lot quicker and simpler than I imagine it to be. The whole process of writing/recording music with YSNBWATID is pretty organic because I think we have a really good understanding of each other as musicians and we’ve always just clicked as a group.
Thomas: We bring ideas and work on them in practice, once there's a few new songs we start thinking about how they could fit together. The recording has got to be quick as possible so we usually draw up a running order and rehearse the tracks hard. Two days is the longest we've spent recording an album.
Richie: For our last few releases the recording process has been different and with different results. We’ve recorded with friends straight onto a computer when jamming and we’ve also used a digital system and laid down drum and bass followed by guitars and overdubs separately. Our most recent recordings were all done live and analogue, in the room and onto tape in a few hours, with the rest of the time spent adding layers of extra noise/percussion/whatever we felt the tracks needed.
Steve: As Tom said, recording is pretty quick due to financial constraints. Our songs are written in an organic way, jamming out what works and doesn't. If we had the cash I would like to write in the studio, to capture the moment on tape when an idea first comes to fruition.
Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Ryan: I don’t know how long they’ve been around for, but Widdershins from Switzerland and Black Bombaim are worth checking out.
Thomas: Bands we've played with recently who've been exciting and amazing: Sly & The Family Drone, The Cosmic Dead, Workin' Man Noise Unit, Jungfrau.
Richie: All of the above, plus Kogumaza, Dead Sea Apes, Fuzz Orchestra, Bo Ningen.
Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Ryan: Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Thomas: We've been involved with a Black Sabbath tribute band called War Pigs for a few years now, it's great fun. I'd like Demons to have a crack at 'St Vitus Dance' from Volume 4.
Q: What´s the plans for future....
Thomas: The plan is write more music, play more gigs, record new songs, continue! We never really plan anything though.
Richie: Earlier this year we recorded a new album at Chuckalumba studio in the New Forest. It’s taken a while, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with people – hopefully later this year.
Steve: I'm looking forward to getting the record out and playing shows. I'd like to play some festivals next year....
Q: Any parting words?
Ryan: Don’t cross the streams.
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Thanks Guys
