Progressive death metal act The Archivist formed in 2010 began playing shows in 2011 going on to release their debut EP and continued playing shows and touring about. By 2013 the touring and show playing continued on and since the band has taken some time off to focus on the new debut album due out soon! Frontman vocalist Grant discussed the process of the new release and some input on the band's past, present, and future activity.
1. Introduce yourself, tell me who does what in The Archivist.
Grant: I'm Grant our vocalist, James is the guitarist and Joe plays drums. Our bassist Daniel recently moved overseas so we are currently on the search.
2. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Grant: We formed in late 2010 with James, Joe and our former guitarist Ayden jamming some new material. In early 2011 we held auditions for vocals and found myself, and then a few months later held bass auditions and grabbed Daniel. We started playing shows in late 2011, released our EP, and began touring. We parted ways with our guitarist Ayden in early 2013 and continued touring undermanned to keep momentum.
We have since taken a break from shows to focus on writing for our debut album.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Grant: Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane has some kickass bands in their chosen genres but unfortunately venues are closing down quite frequently over the past 2 years. Recently there has been 1 or 2 venues spring up though, so we are hoping things start looking up. Check out The Schoenberg Automaton, Humality, Disentomb, Down Royale and Brazen Bull.
4. How did you guys come up with your band name?
Grant: Our guitarist James came up with the name randomly early on in the piece and we eventually decided on it.
5. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Grant: I would describe our style as technical death metal with progressive influences and atmospheric moments. Some of our biggest influences are Psycroptic, Necrophagist, BTBAM, Fallujah and Meshuggah.
6. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
Grant: Our lyrical theme is more positive than your average Death Metal bands, speaking a lot about personal experience; beliefs and learning lessons. I try to tell more of a story in our songs and aim to leave some of the content up to personal interpretation. I want listeners to feel the intensity of the music along with a positive way to view issues they may be experiencing.
7. What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Grant: We have released a 3 track self-titled EP in 2011 and a demo single in 2013. We have heard positive reviews from our releases so far, both from Australian sources and abroad. We are pretty stoked with the feedback so far.
8. Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Grant: Because we are a technical death metal band that also have some deep influences from many other sub-genres of metal, and we are quite dapper when you get to know us.
9. What do you have on the horizon as far as music do you have an EP, full-length what's in the works as of right now?
Grant: We are currently writing for our debut album, along with releasing a single and film clip which will hopefully be released in the next couple of months. The album will most likely be released either late 2014 or early 2015.
10. Do you play live as well? How's your live activity been so far?
Grant: Yes we do. So far we have only toured in Australia but have kept a steady touring schedule. Only recently have we stopped playing live to focus our attention on finishing this album.
11. Has The Archivist ever played in the States or plan to do so in the future?
Grant: No we haven't but would love to in the future! No plans yet but hopefully we'll be able to make it there some day.
12. What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Grant: We are a unique heavy band with a tight live show. We are also easy on the eyes and love auto-tuned pop choruses, so basically we can sellout at a moments notice. Just say the word.
14. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Grant: We have all of our music on our Bandcamp and Facebook page, and also have merch on our Bigcartel site.
15. What is it you'd like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Grant: I'd like the listener to remember hearing a unique sound filled with aggression, technicality and melody.
16. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Grant: Our plans predominantly revolve around writing and recording our album, and touring off the back of it. Finding new members is also in the near future.
17. Any final words of wisdom?
Grant: Big Bang Theory is terrible.
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