Photo by: Joshua Thompson
This piece was originally featured in AM02 — Issue Two of Ascribe. Click here to read it alongside the rest of the issue.
Your latest single “Primitive Urge” came out in November. What was the writing and recording process like?
So for “Primitive Urge,” we actually locked ourselves away in a house for like, a week and a half to record our new album. I think it was the second song that we wrote, and we wanted to write something that was a lot faster and heavier. So we were like, “cool, let’s take a little bit of like deathcore influence and a little bit of our older Left To Suffer influence and just throw it all into a pot and just see how it comes out.” “Primitive Urge” just kind of happened super organically, because we wanted to write something that was a little bit more deathcore, you know? True to our sound, besides the metalcore stuff that we usually do.
Joe from Fit For An Autopsy is featured on it. How did that come to be?
That’s like, one of my best friends. I literally was just like, “yo man, you wanna be on this song?” And he was like, “absolutely,” and he cranked it out in three days; it happened very fast. We finished the whole album, like writing it, and we were recording and we got it all done, and we were like, “alright, well who do we want to feature on it?” And I was like, “dude, let me get Joe Bad[olato] on it.” And he was like, “yeah, I’ll do it, for sure.” It just happened super organically, ‘cause we’re homies. That’s like one of my boys, dude, that’s my friend for years now.
That’s so cool. Lyrically it seems to be about mental anguish and personal suffering. What does that mean to you?
So, a lot of the things that I write about are overcoming mental obstacles, mental illness, depression, and how to try to deal with the consistent suffering that a lot of people have inside of their heads. So I try to, you know, just release things that I feel on a daily basis in my music. It feels more cathartic to me and not like I’m just writing for a band, and through that process trying to help other people on the backend. When they listen to it, feeling like they’re seen, you know what I mean? Like, I want people who are suffering and not having a good time being depressed and being upset about things … I want them to feel like there’s someone out there that understands them and that no one’s alone. I try to make it as much of a community as possible.
I love that. Are the themes in this one a concept that will be explored further with future music?
Oh, yeah. I mean, most of our music is about mental health awareness and things of that nature. It’s just something that I’ve dealt with for a long time, so it feels more organic and true to write about things that I’ve actually personally been through.
How does this song differ from the songs on your latest EP, And Dying Forever?
“Primitive Urge,” I mean, it’s very different. We took it to Matt Thomas at Ashton Audio and he just kind of took all of our music to a new level. It’s still tried and true Left To Suffer, but it’s not as groovy, per se. It’s more deathcore, with the blast beats and the orchestral stuff. We wanted to kind of just differentiate, and not sound like we just released the same EP twice, you know? We really explored different corners of our sound.
Speaking of that EP, it was your major 2022 release. How was the reception?
It was sick. I mean, everyone seemed to like it. Before we released it we already had our next album done, so I was kind of already over it.
That’s fair.
Yeah. But I love seeing people connect to the songs. “Fatal Attraction” and “Rest Your Head” off And Dying Forever are two of my favorite songs we’ve ever written. So I’m stoked that those are out. I feel like being a musician, it’s hard to be extra stoked on things that you’re releasing because you’re already working on the next project before the previous one is released. So you’re already moved past it emotionally. I put my emotions into one release right in the moment, and then we’ll sit on it for like a couple months until it’s released. And then by that time I had already poured my feelings out and I’ve gotten, you know, onto the next thing. But everyone seemed to like it, which I was very stoked about, so that’s nice.
Your EPs have been full-on concepts with intricate storylines and lots of thought out details, And Dying Forever is no exception. Can you tell us the story surrounding this EP?
So, And Dying Forever is a continuation off of our previous EP, which was called On Death. And the storyline basically is, this woman is dealing with a lot of night terrors and she does these things in her sleep that she can’t remember when she wakes up. Her husband was gone on a business trip, he comes home early, and she wakes up to him being dead. She’s just freaking out trying to figure out what’s going on. She finally comes to the realization that she’s the one who killed him in her sleep while she’s doing these sleepwalking things while she’s like, in her mania and she goes [on] this whole spiraling, guilt or grieving process and she like buries him in the backyard and tries to like cover it up. Then she ends up hanging herself above his grave in the backyard, underneath the tree. And Dying Forever is — that whole thing, it’s so convoluted — that whole previous EP was literally just a dream and she wakes up.
The next EP, [she’s] hooked up to all of these machines because she’s doing a sleep study. So all of these doctors are like, “what the fuck?” And they’re like watching her dreams through a screen. So they’re watching her unfold this whole thing, and she wakes up and now she’s questioning reality and trying to figure out who she is as a person and what’s going on.
So that whole next EP is basically just self-realization. It’s trying to understand who you are, why you think the way you do, why you do the things that you do. It’s super convoluted, kind of a crazy storyline. But it was fun to write about it. I got to put myself in a character for a minute, so I felt like I was acting, you know what I mean?
Yeah. That’s so cool. Wow.
True emotions wrapped into an insane story. That’s pretty much all those two EPs were about.
What was your reason behind making the choice to tell a narrative story instead of just sticking with one topic for each song?
I had the idea to write about the grieving process for so long. So, I came up with this whole storyline because I wanted to write about the emotions that I went through [during a] grieving process that I had to go through that was [a] really dark time for me, but I didn’t wanna write it about myself, you know what I mean? I tried to just create a different story, but put the same emotions into it. I’m pretty much just mirroring myself, but like in a different light. So I created this whole storyline and just projected my emotions into it, pretty much.
That seems like a healthy outlet.
Yeah, I mean I use music as an outlet for myself. ‘Cause like I was growing up, I was very subdued. musically. Like my parents hated what I listened to. I felt like I was not getting out, like the rage that I needed. I played football, which was a good way to like, hit people and get it [out]. But uh, yeah, writing music now …I take all of the things that I get upset about and I write every day now, so I feel a lot happier. I just go and I scream it out and then I’m a 10 times better person afterwards.
Do you have plans for different stories you’d like to incorporate?
I’m a big storyteller guy. I like weaving things into music that keep people captivated instead of just writing about how angry I am all the time. Like I said, the whole mental health awareness thing, a lot of people are struggling with it now and I just like to make them feel seen. I wanna portray those [themes] into different stories, and make people feel more inclined to follow along, get more invested, you know?
What was recording it like?
Recording was awesome because Matt was just super. We flew out, or we drove out to Sacramento and we recorded there for two weeks and we recorded eight songs, which is our next album. The recording process was hella easy, because he was just super cool. Developing the songs into something that’s like, you know, way cooler brought him in. And I think that being in a studio, somebody who knows what’s going on is very healthy for us. Before, we were just doing everything inhouse and we were recording everything ourselves, and then we would just send it to Josh Travis to mix it. Now, having somebody who’s there in front of you that’s helping develop these songs into something more is just a lot cooler.
How does being from Atlanta influence your sound?
I mean, a lot. I think actually being from Atlanta, like most of us grew up on hip hop, so a lot of the culture here is very hip hop oriented. A lot of my patterns vocally and things that we’re interested in are a little bit more hip hop infused, which makes our nu-metal sound a little bit more nu-metal. A lot of nu-metal is hip hop oriented, so. We’re writing a mix tape where we’re gonna have rappers on the songs, you know what I mean? We’re doing this different kind of thing where we wanna expand ourselves to embrace Atlanta culture a little bit more, instead of just kind of touching on it every once in a while. Still keeping the heavy, still not losing any of like who we are at the core. We just wanna lean into our influences a little bit more, and I think that Atlanta plays a very big part in how we view [ourselves] as a unit, for sure.
What are some local inspirations that keep you guys going?
Norma Jean’s from here. We love Norma Jean. We love Mastodon, from Atlanta. I’m a big Ludacris, T.I, Lil John fan. That was a whole thing. They’re all over the radio. They’re all over my social feed. A big thing that started us and that keeps us going is our older influences, like the old rappers that are in Atlanta, and then like bands like Norma Jean — Norma Jean was actually called Ludicrous before they were Norma Jean, which is a weird thing.
You guys seem to love featuring other artists on your songs. Where did these collaborations come from? You did mention Joe — he’s one of your closest friends.
Will Ramos and Ricky Hoover are both very good friends of mine, so that was another thing that was very organic and I just hit them up. I just called them. I was like, “yo, dude, like you wanna do this?” They were like, “fuck yeah.” Lochie from Alpha Wolf, also a friend of mine. Rio from Crystal Lake, we weren’t friends at the time, but we went through a feature deck to get him and now we’re friends. Kamiyada+ — me and our manager found that guy on the internet, and he’s like a trap metal artist. We were like, “okay, cool, let’s have him on the hook.” And everyone likes “Fixated” now, ‘cause it’s one of our more popular songs because there’s a rapper on the hook and people just don’t ever hear that shit. We just gotta do whatever we want, you know what I mean? If we like an artist, we’ll shoot our shot, and if it works, it works. And if not, then whatever. We just move on.
Do you have a favorite collaboration you’ve done so far?
I definitely can’t say that because I’m friends with so many of them. I feel like it would be, it would be shitty if I was like, “yeah, this guy’s my favorite.” I mean, I think, I think if I had to pick a favorite, I like Lochie’s verse on “Bargaining” a lot, ‘cause Alpha Wolf is one of my favorite bands and those are like, my boys. I love them so much, and Lochie crushed that verse. It’s just so sick. And his cadence and flow on it just makes me fucking rock out every time I hear it.
Do you guys have a dream artist or band you’d like to feature on one of your songs?
Limp Bizkit and Fred Durst. Those are the two main ones for sure. I think for us, that would be so sick.
What are your plans for new music?
We have an album coming out in May. We’re about to start rolling it out probably in the next month or two, and then we’re gonna go on the road in April. So we’re just gonna be touring it, and then releasing the album right after the next tour. You know, having singles being released before and on the tour. We’re gonna be hitting it pretty hard here, shortly. And we have another crazy collab that’s about to come out too with Kim Dracula.
Does the musical or lyrical direction differ from what we heard on “Primitive Urge?”
No, it’s pretty much the same. The album isn’t storyline based. It’s more like, speaking on emotive terms, you know what I mean? It’s not like, “hey, this is exactly what’s going on.” It’s pretty much just up for interpretation, and I wrote from the heart, that’s pretty much all it was. A little bit more angry.
