With their new self-titled album Megasus travels down the well laid out path by bands like High On Fire and Electric Wizard, be it with a slightly more heavy metal approach and the use of death metal riffing. The most noticeable thing about this seven track debut is the drumming, which is just staggering and stunningly rolling on and on like a thunderbolt! The guitars add a crunchy bite to the deep singing and high screams. It is therefore hard to believe that the same guys who are responsible for this audio violence also are in league with Playstation 3 games like ‘Guitar Hero’. And still they are. Guitarist Ryan Lesser explains how this is possible.
I do like the drum work on your new release. They just go on and on and have a heavy groove going on! Brian, how does it feel to hit the skins in Megasus and not play the bass? And is it true that ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Rock Band’, two immense popular computer games, brought you guys together? And when and why did you decide to play together? Two songs of you are featured in those games, right? Long before the debut came out? No, we were playing in an early form before ‘Red Lottery’ was ever released on ‘Guitar Hero 2’. We played in weird, random variations for a while with lots of cohorts from Providence like Dale from Astoveboat and Dare from Made In Mexico. If I remember correctly, we played a bunch with random guys on drums and then we wanted to record ‘Red Lottery’, our earliest song and eventually enter that into the running as one of the extra songs on that game. Dare is an old friend and bandmate and he sat in on drums during that recording session. I think we wrote the drum parts right there in the session. I still totally dig the weird metal/disco beats that Dare put on that version.
How come there is so little other heavy shit to play on those games by the way? Couldn't the same be asked of pretty much everything?
Which other bands have you guys played in? I was in Laurels and Haymaker (strangely enough, both with Dare). Brian is in Lightning Bolt and Wizardzz. Jason was in The Royal Crowns and Paul was in the Scared Stiffs.
You released the debut first by yourselves on vinyl on a very limited run. Why was that? We wanted to release this album in exactly the format that we wished and wanted to do everything by ourselves. We wrote, recorded, designed, painted and released it all. There were lots of things that we wanted to be very specific about and knew it was going to cost way more than any sane record label would want to spend on a relatively new band. We pressed that 1st pressing on 180g two-coloured vinyl with a foil embossed gatefold, sticker, patch, giant poster and download card. The shipping cartons that usually hold 75-100 LPs only held 30 or so Megasus LPs.
20 Buck Spin picked you guys up. How did that come about? Was a CD not cheaper or more accessible? What else does 20 Buck Spin has to offer? Are you happy with the deal you have with them? We originally said we would not release this on CD even though it is WAY cheaper. We all grew up with vinyl and the thought of putting our stuff out without the classic Heavy Metal 12 inch art and vinyl sound didn't seem right. After a little while, Dave at 20 Buck Spin contacted us and we spoke about how we could basically reproduce the LP in a sort of mini-LP format. The packaging is well printed and has a metallic gold finish, and included a small version of the poster just like the LP. Dave explained that he thought there were lots of people out there that would dig the record but are not into vinyl so we gave it a shot. 20 Buck Spin has been totally great so far.
How does it feel to have the CD out now? Was it a difficult process? How did the recording in itself go? When and where did you record? We recorded during most of 2008 in the ‘Lair Of The Megasus‘. our own recording/practice space. It is a modest setup but does the job. At the time it was a eight-track studio but has now expanded to sixteen tracks. I suppose I was the Recording Engineer/Producer or whatever. The process was a little rough since we are all crazy busy and the efforts were sort of spread out. When we were actually in a session though, it went really well. When in Laurels, I recorded an album with Steve Albini and while I am no where near as capable as he is I do feel like I learned some basics there that were really helpful. We did not want the album to sound super polished and tight like many modern metal bands. We wanted the room to show through and the rough energy of our live shows captured. I went way more saturated than I think many would. All of the guys in the band have pretty decent ears so all of the mixing was a group effort. I also mastered the thing myself... which we all know is a mistake, hahaha!
How does Megasus write their songs? Is it a group effort or is it the expression of just one person? Things are evolving. For the first record, most of the songs started with riffs that I would bring to practice, like ‘Red Lottery’ or ‘10 Kingdoms’. Brian and Paul would write their parts or help make mine better and Jason would add his vocal later. Occasionally we would get stuff from playing together, like ‘Swords’. Lately though, Paul, Brian and I all bring things to practice or we develop songs out of just playing together. We are working on the follow up to ‘Megasus’ right now.
Which bands inspired you to play the music you do play? And if you had to sell your own music to someone, who would you compare your style with to get the message through? Gah, we would all have random and different answers. I have thousands of albums so it is hard to say who specifically inspired me. Certainly the heavy inspiration came from obvious bands. Sabbath, Zeppelin, Slayer, Melvins, Celtic Frost, Sleep and maybe less obvious like SOD, Voivod, Captain Beefheart, Chrome, Mudhoney, Overkill, Exodus. For me, I feel like I learned different things from different bands. My guitar sound, playing style, the idea of a "concept album", the albums entire mix, 40 minutes or less, this all comes from different roots. Mash that in with the other guy's inspiration and you have yourself a combinatorial morass.
And who does the lyrics? Is there a red line that connects the songs? What does inspire you to write lyrics about? Jason writes just about all of the lyrics. Like with the music, we collaborate a bit together to think of themes and imagery. Many times, the themes come from a vibe of the music. If there is a song that is galloping we start thinking of hoof falls and a chase and start weaving a theme around that. The LP ‘Megasus’ is, in fact, a concept album. There is a story being told that starts with the album cover, progresses to the inner cover and culminates in the playing of the record and the reading of the lyrics.
How are the reactions to the debut record up till now? We just hit #1 on American Top 40. Not!
How is Megasus live? Have you played live already? And when are the new dates? Will you tour Europe as well? Well, being in the band that is pretty hard to say. I am mostly looking at crowd or Brian. Brian is pretty fun to watch. We have not done any touring or anything yet, but we do play in Providence and Boston. We try not to play too often around town but have had the pleasure of playing some great shows with Witch, Earthless, Black Cobra, Weedeater, Stinking Lizaveta and more. We are playing with Doomriders this month and Skeletonwitch next month. We would love to tour Europe, but currently have no plans. I am a huge fan of Scandinavia and everyplace I have been to is rad. Sweden, Denmark, Iceland...awesome. It would rule to play some shows out there.
How does Megasus write their songs? Is it a group effort or is it the expression of just one person?
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