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Interview with Tim Gutierrez - Project: Failing Flesh
Well folks you are witnessing history here. This is my very first interview. I am proud to say that it is with Project: Failing Flesh. An awesome new band from Virginia. I went to pick up a copy of BW&BK recently and they had put a P:FF track on the Knuckletracks CD included with magazine. It was the Title track to their latest release " A Beautiful Sickness." It blew me away and I promptly shot them an e-mail and begged for a promo, which they begrudgingly sent me to review for them :) I was so blown away that I just had to get an interview from these guys. Much to their horror now, they agreed to let me send them some questions to answer. See what you think, but don't tell me what you think cause I'm afraid :)
David) Let's start at the beginning. How did Project: Failing Flesh come about?
TIM) Around 2002, We were wanting to write some heavy songs. There was no master plan for it to become a band but as we got more into the writing we felt the stuff was coming out pretty good and we should try to release it. We had a few local guys try to do vocals for it but they didn't work out and that got frustrating quick. So we threw around names of guys we'd love to do vocals with us and Eric was right at the top of the list. We contacted him and once he decided to be a part of it things got even cooler and we are very happy with the final result.
David) This album "A Beautiful Sickness" was produced, engineered and recorded by yourselves right?
TIM) Yeah, Kevin is responsible for most of that. He has his own studio here in VA and records bands for a living. So he has the technical know how plus a great ear to get us to where we want to sound.
David) How long did it take for you guys to make this album? It sounds as though you took your good sweet time and put a lot of hard work into it. The production is as good as any Studio Fredman output I have heard, if not better.
TIM) Kevin will be happy to hear you say that. Fredman has definitely turned out some great sounding stuff! The songs are written pretty quickly and the recording process goes at an average speed considering we really pick apart things. What totally slows us alot is we have to wait for days the studio is empty- which isn't that often. In a way it sucks but in a way it helps us have time to be a little more critical of what we are doing.
David) I am a musician myself and I can't get over how good the guitars sound in particular. Would you be willing to throw some tech info out to the axe slingers that may read this? Could you give us a clue on what kind of guitars you used and the pick-ups in them? Amp preference? Favorite music toys?
TIM) The guitars are pretty layered, we tried to get them tight and focused sounding but still with good crunch and heaviness. Most of the album was tracked using a Les Paul Classic with a stock 500 pickup in the bridge. Other parts we used a SG Standard w/a 496 bridge pickup or a Gibson Country Gentlemen hollow electric. These guitars were played through a variety of amps and gadgets to come up with proper tones and frequencies. Stuff we used was a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb, an old SansAmp pedal, a Yamaha G-50 amp, a Yamaha SE-70, and maybe one or two patches off amp farm. And, of course, that gear is then dialed in w/EQ and stompboxes.
David) There are purists out there who feel Digital equipment is inferior to Analog as well as those who feel that digital is a God send. Do you feel that both can coexist and produce quality work or are they mutually exclusive?
TIM) They can totally coexist. They are basically both just tools to help you reach the end result you're looking for. Both have pros + cons. Neither is better than the other really... it's all personal preference and what will work best for whatever you're doing. In the end the songs are more important than the gear they are created on I guess.
David) Did you guys write the lyrics and vocal melodies or was that all Eric's contribution?
TIM) Eric came up with alot of the melodies and phrasings. We kicked in a few ideas. There were also songs where Eric had more than one option for the same part so the three of us would sit and choose what we thought worked best. Lyrics were a group effort. I had a bunch of pages of lyrics and they had some stuff or would come up with words off the tops of their heads. We all sat in the studio together and fit what we had to the phrasings and melodies while still trying to have the lyrics work subject-wise over the feel of the music.
David) I actually wrote a song not too long ago that has the words "failing flesh" in it. They have a very strong meaning for me. They conjure thoughts about the death, of not only people, but of the Earth and it's creatures. Everything is dying and will eventually end. The words also make me think of sin and the weakness people display in hurting themselves and each other. Our flesh fails us in so many ways....physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. What does Failing Flesh mean to you guys? Why that name?
TIM) Yeah, that's strange. To me it's pretty much right along the lines of what you just said. The words sum up alot so it's a good band name that allows any kind of subject matter or imagery to fit in with what we are doing. The combination of words first stuck in my head from a SWANS or Michael Gira (leader of SWANS) writing or lyric. I'd wanted to use it for a band name for a long time but other guys I was in bands with didn't dig it as much. Mr. 131 came up with putting "Project:" before it which made it even cooler and almost added a bit of a sci-fi vibe to it.
David) The Title of the album is interesting as well. "A Beautiful Sickness" To most folks it would be an ironic term. But can't being sick or even dying be a beautiful thing? When someone is sick it is an opportunity to help someone in need and to give of yourself which can have the affect of making you feel alive. When I read the title of the album and the band name, it reminded me of something really cool that someone shared with me awhile back. You know how beautiful the leaves in Fall are right? I was told that those leaves are that color all year long, but you just can't see the colors because the chlorophyll the tree makes from the sun in Summer keeps the leaves green until Fall when the leaves begin to die. It's not until the leaves die that their full and glorious colors are revealed. I think that is an awesome picture of death in a positive light. I think that when we die to ourselves and put others first our colors really shine. It's a cool allegory.
Now all that to get to this question. What brought out the title " A Beautiful Sickness" to your mind?
TIM) Those are good analogies. "A.B.S." just seemed to work on a bunch of different levels and most importantly it sounded cool. It's actually a term to describe boxing... like you'll hear it called "the sweet science"- sometimes it's called "a beautiful sickness." We just thought that was a great title and brought to mind alot of meanings in addition to it's boxing reference.
David) Isn't music fun?
TIM) Yep, it's one of the most fun things ever!
David) Is P:FF a studio band only or will there be touring in the future?
TIM) No plans to tour right now. If there was ever a demand and it was the right situation it would be fun to play shows though. So it's never ruled out. We'd have to get a few people to round out the line-up.
David) Not if, but when you get signed, will you produce it again yourselves or do you desire to hand that over to someone else on the next one?
TIM) Great of you to have that confidence in us! Thanks. Actually, we are on the verge of signing right now. Just negotiating some stuff so hopefully we will be able to make an announcement soon. We will probably produce ourselves. Kevin is pretty on top of the studio thing as he owns, operates, and makes a living off his studio so we're pretty lucky to have kind of our own "sound guru" within the band. Plus, the three of us have had enough experience playing, recording, and writing to feel pretty comfortable that we can get things to come out somewhat close to what we are aiming for.
David) Another debate amongst musicians is the idea that lessons are essential to learning an instrument, yet so many successful musicians don't know a stitch of Music Theory. How do you feel about that statement and are you guys trained or self taught?
TIM) No, lessons aren't essential at all. Sure, they can help but if you can do what you want (or need to do) on your instrument that's all that matters. That's what's cool about music in the first place. There are no rules. We are pretty much self-taught. We just try to go on what sounds cool to us without worrying if it's "musically correct."
David) I hear a lot of different styles of metal in your album. The dreaded classification question has surely come up. I want to know how you would describe your metal to the world?
TIM) There's alot of different stuff in there. Some of it's not even from the metal world. It's like death/thrash influenced with keys and some programming and some other goodies thrown in. I guess you could call it extreme metal of some form. That's where the bulk of influences are coming from.
David) Ford or Chevy?
TIM) Toyota ha, ha. Rice burners unite!!
David) Gibson or Fender?
TIM) Gibson. No contest.
David) Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Dale Earnhardt Sr.? Hank Williams Jr. or Hank Williams Sr.?
TIM) I want to say Sterling Marlin and Johnny Cash. Between your choices I will pick the seniors. Gotta fear the Earnhardt mustache! Kick it old school. Here I've got a few for you...
TIM) Pasty Cline or Dolly Parton?
David) Well there are two very big reasons I would say Dolly Parton, but Patsy is classic so I would have to go old school on that one.
TIM) Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?
David) Maiden all the way man.....Priest is cool but I really never got into them much....little too cheeky for me.....kind of a joke image of metal that I never liked. Please no hate mail for that comment....PLEASE! It's just an opinion and opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one and they usually stink.....like mine!
TIM) Traci Lords or Jenna Jameson?
David) Who?.....uhhh what? I don't know what you're talking about!
David) Life after death? (do you think there is.....)
TIM) Yeah, that's a great IRON MAIDEN live album!
David) He avoided the question folks
David) I really liked the way you listed yourselves on the album. Only Eric is given a specific description of what he did on the album: Vocals. The rest of P:FF is listed as being players of "Instruments". This adds a nice mystery to your band! Was this intentional? Will we ever know who played what? Does Batman have a strange attraction to Robin?
TIM) No, we will never reveal these ancient secrets! All we can reveal is that Eric played all the kazoo sections and Mr. 131 played all the pan flute parts. He studied under YANNI. Yeah, Batman + Robin do have a fetishistic (is that a word?) and disturbing relationship don't they?! Although, I think most readers/viewers would be more interested in a Catwoman/Batgirl theme.
David) Yes I know I would and yes fetishistic is a word (according to my spellchecker anyway)
David) And finally.....what IS the meaning of life?
TIM) Ugh... no idea yet. The thing is you have to die to possibly find out. Just like the Tootsie Pop the answer remains a mystery.
David) Thanks for your time Tim. You have a great future ahead of you in music and my life is much richer for having had the opportunity to talk with you and listen to an awesome album. Please feel free at this point to say hi to anyone out there you want to or make any parting comments you'd like to. Until the next one! God Bless.
TIM) David, thanks alot for the cool interview and all your support. Thanks to RevelationZ. Any interested readers can look for "A Beautiful Sickness" coming out on a cool label TBA soon or can order an advance copy from our website. Also, look for Eric's band E-FORCE on Season of Mist sometime this fall.
Read the review here along with info on how to get their album!
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Written by David - 8/14/2003 |
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