A Storm Of Light

Josh Graham: Pro-demise of humanity. [Laughs]
BF: Everything is pretty destructive…it seems to talk about how humanity is destroying itself.
Josh: More about destroying the Earth, and the various wildlife and ecosystems…
BF: Does that differ from your previous bands?
Josh: I don’t know, not for me I guess, but…
Domenic Seita: My past band, I guess, was just as dark.
Andrea Black: Yeah, my past bands have also been…dark. Maybe not that subject matter, but…
BF: Sure. What was the recording process like for that record?
Josh: Pretty standard recording. We recorded with Joel Hamilton at Studio G in New York…other than like…our records feature different guests for each of them, so, those always happen out of our recording process, but the actual band core just records as typical, and then we send out stuff at various stages for people to collaborate or contribute.
BF: Is the material arranged before you record it?
Josh: Yeah. We do minor arrangement editing but, for the most part, it’s pretty well thought out. Well, it’s planned out. Maybe not totally rehearsed as well as it will be in the future, but…
Billy Graves: “Destroyer” became something totally different in the studio from what we originally played.
Josh: Oh, yeah.

Josh: We’re going to start writing again in the fall. I don’t know about guests on the next one. I think, with the last one, I had been working with Soundgarden for a while. We didn’t necessarily think of having Kim [Thayil] play. On the previous records it probably wouldn’t have made sense, but this record was already taking on more of a rock vibe, I guess, so that became an idea, because then it would actually fit. I think once we come up with a gist of what the body of the record is going to be, then we start thinking of who might contribute to it.
BF: What pulled you towards that rock-oriented sound?
Josh: Yeah. The first few records, as concepts, felt good, but it felt like it started compromising the record itself, where the story was very linear, which meant the sequencing had to be linear, and we just wanted to get away from— we just wanted to open it up more to be a band as opposed to sacrificing that.
BF: Did you ever have to discard songs that don’t fit with the concept?
Billy: I guess it’s just that there’s no segue way tracks on this one.
Josh: Yeah.
Billy: It’s all just straight…nine solid songs.
Josh: Yeah. We had a lot of demos of other stuff, and stuff kept getting re-worked.
BF: Is that stuff you’re going to use for the next record?
Josh: We’ll see.

Domenic: It’s a little hard here. I mean, Austin is one of our better…when we get to Austin, it’s amazing. I feel like any of the other stops in Texas are kind of hit or miss. But I feel like we always come through right before the weekend, so it always gets a little weird.
BF: It seems like you always come through here with really great bands. Is there anyone you want to tour with that you haven’t yet?
Josh: There’s a massive list.
Andrea: It could go on and on…
Billy: Some realistic, some not.
Domenic: Melvins would be good.