Arise in Chaos was formed in the spring of 2010 by founding members Dustin Griboski (vocals) Jeremy Matheson (drums), and Cameron Burris (guitar). Later adding the talents of Ryan Orr on guitar and John Vickers on bass, Arise in Chaos was ready to deliver punishing shows and record their first album, “CIVILIZATION DECAY” released Dec. 2012. Cameron left the band in late 2012 and was replaced with Nick Bechir on guitar. The members of Arise in Chaos gained experience in metal bands such as; Downtied, Only Chaos, Pariah, Wading Through Corpses and the metal flamenco acoustic duo Guitarasaurus & Chordzilla. The band is excited about their current line up and for their future in metal. The chaos is coming! Bassist John Vickers discusses their debut and new music!
1. What type of band are you?
John: American Heavy Metal.
2. Tell us the brief history of your band.
John: Originally founded by/with Dustin, Jeramy, and former guitarist Cameron Burris. They recruited Ryan soon after, and Ryan recruited me a while later. Cameron had to leave the band to take care of his growing family, which was unfortunate as he was a big part of the writing of "Civilization Decay" Nick was recruited to fill the void, and we are super excited to have him as part of the band. He is an accomplished guitarist and is already contributing greatly to writing new material.
3. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
John: The songs have thus far been mostly about facing the evils and adversities of this day and age, and trying not to be overwhelmed and destroyed by them. Psychological pressures, environmental disasters, emotional traumas, governmental corruption, the rotten core of modern society. The belief that in spite of it all, we will Arise. We will not be broken by the insanity of civilization's downward spiral.
4. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
John: "Civilization Decay" was written almost entirely by the time I joined the band. It was done mostly by individuals coming up with ideas and bringing them to the table once they had a solid riff. Collect enough riffs, you have a song. A large percentage of the lyrics came from Jeramy, though always via working with Dustin on song concepts. We are writing now, and the new material will done much more as a group, obviously individuals still come up with each riff, but it is done by jamming as a group and recording the sessions, picking out riffs from each recording and refining them. The new material will be much more cohesive and a better representation of the group working as a whole.
5. Who are your musical influences?
John: Too many to count, but the easy ones to remember are: Fear Factory, Lamb of God, Chimera, Meshuggah, Dream Theater. As I said , there are too many more to list.
6. Tell me about "Civilization Decay".
John: "Civilization Decay" is our first album as a band, and it was done with our badass friend Ahrue Luster at Illustrious Productions. He really did an amazing job for us. The overall sound came out great - super heavy and really bringing the sound of this group to life. We were particularly pleased with the way the vocals came out. Dustin really came into his own as a vocalist recording this album (originally he is a bassist/guitarist). The artwork for "Civilization Deacy" was done by Mister Sam Shearon, a great artist from the U.K. It depicts a number of scenes involving wholesale destruction and collapse via various disasters. Its super badass an we were lucky to have him do it for us. There is a famous quote on the tray of the album beneath the CD, it was Sam's idea, and we loved it because it really seems to encapsulate the album's concept - "... We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself, the means and inspiration for survival." - Sir Winston Churchill.
7. How would you describe the overall sound of this album?
John: Relentless. There is no give in this album. It drives the listener forward into the heart of Chaos, and only for one minute are they in the calm eye of the storm, only to be sucked into the maelstrom again and hurtled towards the epic doom that is the end. The power of the vocals are right up there with the greats, there's enough technical guitar work to keep any shredder happy, enough gut punching riffage to snap the neck of the staunchest headbanger, and the whole while Jeramy's drums are pounding out beats that blow the mind with their precision and technical skill.
8. What would you say is your favorite track off it?
John: Everyone in the band has their own favorite for their own reasons. Mine is track 7 - Violent Colors. An Album reviewer said that was his favorite as well, and I think its mine because it is the eye of the storm on this album. With a calm one minute clean intro it is by far the quietest starting song on the album, but it builds incredibly quickly after the intro, and the end is a pure raging tempest: guitars blazing fast, vocals bellowing pride and defiance, drums thundering over it all with total power. Its the most uplifting lyrically too. Saying: "you've failed to take our pride away", "no one can break this", and "stand up, raise violent colors" really captures the "Arise" part of our name. I love it.
9. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?
John: We wanted to create something that metalheads from all of the sub-genres could appreciate and enjoy. Metal is so divided now that it is very hard to create something that people agree on universally. Especially guitars and vocals. We mix enough styles and the vocals are so well done that I believe we hit the mark.
10. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?
John: Recording "Civilization Decay" was a first for many things for us as a band working together. However, the instruments and equipment we used have been our primary instrument for a long time, with the exception
of Dustin making his first ever attempt at recording vocals. It was a huge learning, experience for all of us but especially him. Ahrue helped teach Dustin a lot, and Dustin is super talented at everything he does, so it came out awesome. We are looking at doing some acoustic guitar work potentially on some new songs, we haven't done that before. Nick has a background in classical guitar so we figure it would be a good asset to utilize in the new material. But right now is an experimental phase for us to see what we want on the next
recording. There is always some new piece of equipment to be tried out. Right now Nick is looking into a new Engl or marshall amp, Jeramy is looking into switching to bass drum triggers instead of mics. A new
bass is on my list but may not happen just yet. Nothing has been definitively picked for the next recording yet.
11. Can you go into one or two tracks on the album? If so, can you give us the track title and brief description of how the track sounds and how it came about?
John: Track 3 - Process of Knowing. Process has a very unique feel to it among all the songs. Ryan had a lot to do with that because its one of the songs he had more of a hand in writing as opposed to some of the
others where large portions of the riffs were written by Cameron and Dustin when the band first formed. It starts with a wah-wah pedal intro and then comes in with a synchronized series of hits from all instruments. From there it takes on a life of its own with chaotic hammer-on pull-off notes that leads in to the more melodic chorus. That then descends into an all out rhythm juggernaut which brings the song full circle to the hammer-on's again. On the second time through there is a melodic trade off part with the guitar from either side playing a riff one then the other and so on. The ending is super heavy and brutal. And the Lyrics are devastatingly harsh ending with "weighing me down, constricting, violently choking me". The lyrics were actually written entirely about a very painful relationship Dustin went through, 'nuff said.
12. Do you guys have any new music in the works?
John: We have about 4 songs that are well along in the writing process, as well as a large number of ideas still forming. We are currently deciding if we will record and release either a teaser track or EP, or if we should keep pushing for another full length album this year.
13. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?John: We have music online everywhere: Facebook, iTunes, Spotify, Reverbnation, Bandcamp, Amazon, Muvemusic, etc. Pretty much if its a music site, we are there, or soon will be. Our merch store is available through Facebook, Bandcamp, and of course at shows.
14. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
John: We want to release more music this year (though as I said it is up in the air if it will be an EP or a full length) and we are currently investigating possible tours. Right now, we will continue to write new material, and as always to play awesome shows in Colorado and the surrounding states, and hopefully before long, Arise In Chaos will be traveling the country, even the world! (we are discussing a European tour with some friends for early 2014!) We can't wait to hit the road and show the world the power of Arise In Chaos!
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