Interviews

Interviews: No Assembly Required

No Assembly Required have found themselves as the perennial underdogs in a Canadian independent scene that is far from nurturing and supportive. Over the course of several years NAR have continued to do things according to their own rules, not allowing themselves to bend to another's liking. They have amassed quite a faithful following in the United States through their determined DIY work ethic, and as 2002 rolls on, it has shaped up to be one of the group's most significant years ever. The band have replaced members, evolved their musical direction, and currently are hard at work laying down tracks for their very first full-length album, aptly titled Constructing the Machine. Smother's own LochNessPimPster had the pleasure to sit down with NAR's System 86 and discuss the future of NAR, what to expect from their new album, the hatred of their local scene and much more.

Smother: I interviewed Luca back in January and he had a lot to say concerning NAR's current direction. In the months between then and now, you have recorded a demo, played various shows and begun work on a brand new full-length. Would you consider 2002 to be a monumental year in NAR's existence?

System 86: For sure. So far 2002 has been a re building year for NAR. We changed a lot; I think we have gotten a lot better. We are tighter then we have ever been. We have been working on lots of new material. Its all part of why we picked the new album name to be "Constructing The Machine" because we feel all year we have been constructing one big project, which is this CD. I think this is a huge part of the beginning of NAR, so I feel this year is going to be the most important in our future.

Smother: The demo release showed NAR moving in a new direction musically, incorporating more melody while tightening the heavier aspects to make them even more brutal. With that being said, what can fans expect from the new album?

System 86: The 2002 demo we did was very different from our old CD "All The Bleeding". I guess it was a direction we always wanted to go. But to be honest the demo was really half assed. Which is why all 3 songs on the demo are being re recorded. The song Cold wont be on the CD though. I think the new album isn't going to sound anything like the demo. It will be a new fresh sound for NAR for sure; but it will be so much heavier. We still got melodies but our heavy parts are going to be brutal in a way people never heard from us. We take a lot of pride in being one of the heavier bands in the underground scene; and we dont want to lose that. We toss in softer songs once in a while but we really wanted stuff we can play that would go good with our live show. Stuff that can make people get up and go nuts. So Expect lots of screaming and typical angry NAR songs.

Smother: How come "Cold" is being held from the new album, although you are in fact recording a reworked version of it during your studio-time? It seemed to be highly praised throughout the internet crowd.

System 86: Cold did have our highest number of downloads. Cold is our softest song. I really like how the song shows melody and then heaviness out of nowhere. I just don't think that it would fit right now. Some old fans didn't like Cold to be honest. So this new heavier CD I don't really think has a place for Cold. But after it's all finished I might re consider. We also recorded a few other songs that won't be on the CD. We are holding back a few songs for a new demo to send to several people. So yeah as of now Cold will not be on the CD, but we always change our fuckin mind so who knows.

Smother: You commented on the album title earlier, Constructing the Machine, which leads into the next question..you recently ran a contest on your site for fans to vote on the title for your new album. How come you decided to reject the ideas given and instead create the title on your own?

System 86: The main reason was to get the fans involved. We like doing that, helps create interest and keeps what we are doing fresh. We did the same thing when we named "All The Bleeding" only that name was one of ours. Fans voted it best. With this one we thought we would take suggestions from fans because we couldn't decide on anything. We had a lot of ideas and no way to narrow it down. So fans sent in a lot of cool CD names, but in the end we just didn't feel like any of those names would fit. Then after thinking what the album is about and lots of thought "Constructing The Machine" just came into our head and it fit perfectly with no doubt in our mind.

Smother: The new album looks to have several older tracks "reborn"...will there be noticeable differences between these new versions and the original songs?

System 86: Yeah we are re-doing a few songs. They will be different in ways, we think for the better. We are bringing them back because of the new stuff we added to them and well this is our first full length CD so we kind of wanted this to be our big CD that everyone knows. We have really high expectations for this album so we kind of think of this as our "best of NAR" CD. Especially now we are getting a lot more recognition all over. When we did "All The Bleeding" it was mostly sold here in Toronto Canada. But with this CD we plan on having most our sales come from the USA. We aren't even done recording yet and we are already getting tons of pre orders from the USA. We didn't want all these new fans buying the CD and not hearing the old fans old favorites.

Smother: It's rare to see an independent band accepting pre-orders for an album, especially then it can be considered their first full-length. Is this proving to be a worthwhile option, has it helped create interest when fans can buy the album ahead of time, knowing it will be on their doorstep ASAP? Are you planning to include any *special* things for the fans who preorder the disc, like an extra cd with bonus tracks or something of that nature?

System 86: Yeah we haven't seen too many independent bands do this. We thought it would help us out, so we did it. A lot of our street teamers and fans are helping out so much. We appreciate all the support. Fans seem to like the idea they can get the CD at their doorstep. Some might even get the CD before it's actually released. We hope to have it out August 18th and available online around September 1st.

I would like to do something special for the fans that pre order CD's. Some are pre ordering a box of 50. For people who order that many CDs, I'd like to send them a burnt copy of the bonus songs that we didn't release. Which should be about 3 tracks.

Smother: How did it come about to have Scratching Post's frontwoman, Nicole, work on your album?

System 86: I don't even know. Um I guess it started because we wanted to do something that people didn't think we would do. So we wanted female vocals. I've talked to Nicole a few times, so I just asked her. She was really into it. She wanted to do a song where she could yell so we think the song will fit on the CD nicely. I like her vocals a lot too, I think between her and Luca it will be an interesting combination. She will be doing vocals on the track titled "Eyeliner".

Smother: This is a new area for NAR, experimenting with female vocals, is it something you'd wish to do in the future, or just a one-time thing with a close friend?

System 86: If the opportunity came up again and we wanted to we would do it. We aren't going to hold back because we did it once before. With Nicole it kind of happened because I thought of having female vocals and then I thought to myself who would fit in, and she came to my mind right away. But yeah we would for sure like to have a few more guest vocalists in the future. Male or Female.

Smother: NAR have gone through several line-up changes in the past year. Do you feel NAR is currently the strongest you have ever been, and what do the new members bring to the table?

System 86: Luca and me have always been the two running things. We have had members come and go. But we feel we never miss a beat. Only get better. We got T-rod and Dmyze back in January of this year. And things have never been better. We feel like family. We have from day one. It's kind of weird. But we are all close like brothers, and musically we connect really well. This is by far the best line-up NAR has ever had, and it will show in this new CD. Weather people like us and our music or not, the one thing everyone will be able to see and appreciate is how tight this CD is going to be and how well we sound together. We have been working months to get our sound perfect together so we cant wait till our next show to show people we are back and ready to fuck shit up.

Smother: Speaking of shows, do you have anything special planned for your cd-release party? What can people expect when they go to a live No Assembly Required show...will it be different then performances in the past?

System 86: Well here in Toronto we run a show called "Kill Pop! Long Live METAL!!!" we have #5 coming up August 18th. That is where our CD will be released. For all who have seen us at shows like Kill Pop #3 or #4 they know we always do something to stand out and put on a good show. We have brought up 20 people on stage to sing "11 cent solution" with us; Luca picks on the fans, lots of craziness. I don't want to ruin any surprises so I will not say what kind of stuff we got planned for this show but be sure it will be nuts.

People can expect whenever they see us live a very energetic, loud, crazy band. We like to go all out at our shows. There are shows where Luca goes insane and then he can't move his neck the next day. Shows where he has busted his head open, shows where he got all cut up with broken glass. When we are onstage we think about making that show entertaining and not future shows. Which is bad in ways. But you can be sure we wont hold shit back at any show; we like to put out everything we got. It's hard at times because we can only put out so much depending on how much the crowd gives us back. Playing a venue having 200 people sitting in chairs is kind of shitty, it's hard to go nuts and look like you are having fun when no one is doing shit. But Kill Pop shows are usually intense; the fans we bring out are amazing so those tend to be our biggest shows.

Smother: To go back to discussing the new album for a minute, What does the new album deal with lyrically..what drives the album forward?

System 86: There isn't one main theme for the record. It all has a very real, truthful emotional kind of angry feel to it all. The CD deals a lot with personal issues. Deals with being looked down upon by several people, we feel in our 4 years as a band we had to work very hard to get to where we are. We feel a lot of people in our hometown look down on us. Which is fine, not many bands like us around here. We just find it amazing how people in the USA are so helpful and willing to support yet people in our own hometown rather help out their friends band instead of a band that has been busting ass for years. And we refuse to suck up to people to benefit our self. We have too much pride to treat some people like royalty just to help us. Its not like they will anyways. 95% of everything we accomplished in our own town here was all because of our self. No one booked us for shows, no one supported. We created our own shows, and built our name our self. And now the same people who try to hold us down or claim to be our friends yet trash us behind our back try to follow us now and do what we are doing, they go to our link section on our page and try to make the same contacts as us. It's kind of sad. Now people who have bashed us want to be our best friend. We don't like that shit; so yeah sorry to trail off, but situations like this is something we are writing about. A lot of real things that happen to us. We are an angry bunch of people so this CD will be filled with a lot of anger, emotion, and realness. Lyrically this will be the best stuff we have ever done. All around this will be the best stuff we have ever done.

Smother: It is known that NAR have a strong work ethic when it comes to recording. I know this is not a 2 hour type of deal with you, it is much more expansive and time-consuming. Describe your typical day in the studio.

System 86: Typical day… Hmmm. Well for the first few weeks we were doing drum tracks, working on making that perfect. Then we will spend a few days on bass, some on electronics, keyboards, then I will spend lots of time on my guitar work. Then vocals. There is never a typical day. Everyday something different is done. Only thing that stays typical is us beating up each other in the studio. We always record with out sleep. Like we go record after not sleeping for like 2 or 3 days. Makes it more fun.

Smother: Do you feel a band has to continually evolve and mature to stay relevant in this music scene where so many bands are "here today..gone tomorrow"? How do you think NAR have evolved since the group first took shape?

System 86: I don't think we have to evolve. A lot of people seem to love when bands show no creativity and stay the same for years. I think we will evolve though. We have to keep it fresh for our self. We have changed a lot though over the years. Like we use to really suck. But that was back in 1999. Things were more for fun then. Now its still fun, just more of a life decision as well. Over the years we get heavier though, that's one thing fans have seemed to like. Most bands get softer. If we ever did a song that was softer we would be sure to match it up with an insanely brutal song just to show how we are being diverse and not changing our sound to "sell out" or something like that. Anything we ever will do is purely for our own entertainment.

Smother: NAR have gotten their share of flack from the scene for being so outspoken and honest. What are your thoughts on people who only want to hold NAR back from your true potential?

System 86: We are outspoken because that's who we are. If people want to talk shit and try and hold us down let them. But don't be surprised if NAR winds up in your face wanting to kick your teeth down your throat. We found most of what people say they never back up to our face. That pisses me off. I don't know if it's out of jealousy or what but people like to try and hold us down. We have had people try to do things under our name and screw it up just to make us look bad. Like book a show under our name or go post shit in other bands guest book saying they are from NAR. Pretty sad. I don't see why people can be jealous though. All the success we are having we worked overly hard for it. Even now we try and try so hard to get minimal respect. It's cool though we have the drive to keep pushing and make it to the top. We wont ever stop. Just a lot of bands had it easier. Coming from Canada we had to work extra hard. A lot of bands get support because they are friends with some guy who knows people or runs a site devoted to music. We never had any friends help us we kind of had to make friends and do it all on our own. To sum up my words for the people who try and hold us back:
"fuck you and die" -
No Assembly Required - Sheep To The Masses

Smother: Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap this up?

System 86: Thanks for the interview, http://www.narmusic.com. Check us out. Look for new mp3z up mid august. Pick up our new CD when it comes out. ESP Guitars, I would like an endorsement.

Related Links:
Official Site