Interviews: The Mass
Few bands come across as raw and powerful on recording as The Mass do on their first full-length, City of Dis. Their sound hurries you through so many musical influences (punk, metal, etc, etc.) in a short time that it’s hard for the human brain to properly translate what is going on, then suddenly things slow down and you get…jazz? Welcome to The Mass.
Smother: Let's start with the basics. Where are you guys from and how did The Mass form?
Tyler: 3/4 of us live in Oakland, and we rehearse there too. So we're an Oakland band. I grew up in the Bay Area. The rest of the guys all migrated here at about the same time, from various places. Tom is from Dekalb, IL. Matt Waters is from Colorado Springs. Matthew's from Omaha.
In 2000, I had just returned home from living in South America and I wanted to start a band. I answered an ad that Tom had posted on craigslist. He had just moved out here from the midwest. We wrote songs on drums/guitar for about 5-6 months before deciding to add bass and sax players. Again, we posted ads on craigslist and those guys ended up joining the band in early 2001. Thankfully it turned out Matt can sing too.
A lot has happened since then but it's only now, four years later, that we are starting to get our music out there for people to hear, and get on the road. The sound of the band has changed dramatically in that time as well. Interesting enough, a couple of those old songs that Tom and I wrote are still floating around in our repertoire.
Smother: Reading through reviews of The Mass is interesting. They all (including myself) seem to have trouble describing your music. How would you actually describe yourselves to someone who has never heard The Mass?
Tyler: It's hard. I try to convey the idea that our sound is very heavy, with a lot of metal, punk and jazz influence, but it is none of the above in a purist sense. I encourage people to see us live because then they'll have the best chance of getting it.
Smother: A lot of bands, in interviews, talk about how they experiment with different styles and approaches to their music, but when you listen to it...it's really no where NEAR as complex as they make it sound. However, you definitely have some genuine experimentation going on. Is the mix of different styles an intentional thing or is it something that comes more naturally?
Tyler: Totally natural. We never set out to genre-hop or mix this-and-that styles. It's just that all of us have very broad musical tastes, and when we come together we do not have any rules about how a song should be put together, or what the band should "sound like". I do like a lot of bands that have "one" sound, but we are definitely not one of those bands. A lot of this is because of the way we write.
Smother: With such a wide spectrum of sounds in The Mass, I'd guess that you guys draw influences from a lot of different music and bands?
Tyler: Yeah we all like different stuff. Everything from early hardcore to thrash metal to old country, avant jazz, noise, death metal, black metal, 80s cock rock. Lately Tom's been listening to a lot of Death, Pantera and Johnny Cash. I've been digging Meshuggah, King Diamond, Melvins. Matthew's really into Swedish death metal and 3 Inches of Blood. I dunno what Matt Waters has been digging lately, cuz I never see him, but I know he's always game for shit like Mingus, Brubeck, Tim Berne. Acid Bath. Minor Threat. Matt and I actually have very similar musical tastes and backgrounds.
Also, I have to say we are very fortunate to live and play out where we do. I think people take it for granted but there are so many killer bands around here. 400 Blows, Saros, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the Fucking Champs, Neurosis. I could go on, but the point is we live in a heavy-music MECCA. It's very inspiring and it pushes bands to improve quickly, I think.
Smother: Is the songwriting process pretty democratic or is there, more or less, a primary writer in the band or someone who typically brings initial ideas to the table?
Tyler: Generally what happens is Matthew or Tom will bring in some riffs or a general structure consisting of a few riffs. Then we all start making suggestions and hammering on it. We twist it until it ends up being completely different from what we started with. So it's very democratic, we all have a lot of ideas all the time. Nobody takes offense if we decide to fuck-up or re-arrange their original idea.
Smother: What kind of a musical background do the members come from? Past bands, other styles, etc.
Tyler: Everyone played in bands growing up. Let's see. Matthew used to play guitar in some midwest bands called Streganona and Trophy Wives. Now he also plays guitar in From Monument to Masses, who have been around about as long as us. They play mostly-instrumental indie/math rock, which is night and day from what The Mass are doing. Tom played guitar in a bunch of bands around Chicago. From what I can tell it was some pretty weird shit. He's got a bunch of recordings of all kinds of stuff floating around. Maybe one day he'll put some of it out for peole to hear. Matt sang and played sax for some bands in Colorado. One of them was called "Rubber Jugs," ha ha. I used to play guitar in various bands but nothing really took off until The Mass. This is also the first band I played drums in.
Smother: Obviously, besides the experimental aspect of The Mass, one of the main things that stands out is the saxophone playing. Is that something that was a part of the band from the beginning or was that element brought in later on?
Tyler: Yeah it's been around the whole time. At least since we decided to add bass and make it a full band instead of another goddamn drum/guitar duo. Matt contributes a lot to the music in terms of the sax. Usually though, we don't get to hear all the nuance of what he's doing until we get into the studio, which is always surprising in a funny kind of way.
Smother: One of the things I really respect about you guys are the fact that when you through in a jazz part it actually IS a jazz part...not just a 30 sec. blurb of jazz "structure" as opposed to jazz "playing." It doesn't seem contrived but really natural and flowing.
Tyler: At this point I see jazz as more of an influence than an element. We try to use shit like Mingus as a compositional influence. The way he'd let a composition go in 100 directions without ever getting too far away from the theme. That shit blows me away. We're getting away from an earlier tendency we had to throw a "jazz" part in the middle of a metal song or whatever. Now we use the overtones, melodies and harmonies that might be found in jazz across the whole composition, or movements within it. It's a more subtle and patient approach than before, where we used to just throw some jazz shit in the middle of a bunch of metal riffs. You'll really have to check out the new record to hear what I'm talking about.
Smother: More and more underground bands are popping up with brass instruments in their sound...Black Eyes had sax, as did Sweep The Leg Johnny. Wolf Eyes have used them. Why do you think bands are incorporating instruments like these that are, in a sense, atypical of the norm?
Tyler: Well I think bands have always done this... I would hope so anyway. What I don't understand is why anybody would want to purely emulate what's been done before, you know? I really like what bands like Neurosis and Melvins have done, as far as the anything-goes approach to heavy music. Add any instrument that sounds right to you. Write 13 minute songs. Leave the guitar out of a section, if that sounds good. Be open to anything. We brought back our old Yamaha analog synth for the new album. It sounds killer. In the future I'd like to use more instruments like piano, trumpet, cello. Anything that adds to the song. The sax is a huge part of our sound now, it sounds very "natural" to us. Not out of place or "experimental" at all.
Smother: Crucial Blast are proving to be an amazing label for unique, heavy bands. How did The Mass get involved with CB?
Tyler: I agree about Crucial Blast. Great label, we are so happy to be working with them. So, I played drums last year for another Oakland band called Totimoshi, whose 2nd album "Mysterioso?" was released on Crucial Blast. They referred us to the label, who really liked us and ended up releasing the album. They'll be putting out the next one as well.
Smother: What are the band's plans for the rest of the year? I hear there's a new album in the works. What can we expect?
Tyler: We just recorded our new album, which should be out in September 2005. We're really fucking stoked about it. We're doing a southwest/midwest tour in April. Some of those dates are with the Fucking Champs. Check our website for dates: www.themass.us The next album will be released in September on Crucial Blast (N. America) and Monotreme (UK/Europe). We'll be doing full US/European tours in Fall 2005 to support it. Lots to look forward to! Hopefully everyone who reads this will come out and check out our live show.
Links:
Official Site
Crucial Blast Records