Dystopiate interview with Cody.Unrelenting Raw and awesome D-Beat raw Punk brilliance!!!



Easily one of my fave releases of last year, Terminal Dissonance by Dystopiate was utterly bullshit free and punishing D-Beat/Crust awesomeness. So I was stoked to chat with Cody about the band, their history and the wild album. Suss the band out and blast their shit loudly.



INTERVIEW WITH DYSTOPIATE


You have just dropped a sensational release by the name of Terminal Dissonance , tell us
how this came about and the differences between this and your previous releases (if you
have these)?

Cody-
Well, yes, we have indeed released our debut studio album, called "Terminal Dissonance." This came about at a cathartic moment for the band when we were planning to enter the studio anyway, and our drummer suddenly quit. We didn't know what to do or whether the album was going to come out, but I asked my buddy Jeff who also runs Witch House Studio over here, to play the drums on the recording as well as record it and he said yes. So we practiced a few times with him and definitely got that stuff down well when the studio time came. It's different from our previous releases as the drumming is "less D-Beat" and is recorded in an actual studio except for myself, doing everything, recording it all and releasing it. I've released 6 albums under the name Dystopiate before the band version started in 2021.



To someone that has never heard you before how the hell would you describe your sound?
And what bands have influenced you the most?
How important were these key bands to you, how important is political lyrics and intent from
bands?


Cody-
Well to someone who never has heard us I would tell them we're fast, heavy and raw punk rock...Think Discharge meets Slayer. That's how I would describe us. Real simple and easy to understand. Obviously, DISCHARGE and SLAYER are our two top influences, but we throw black metal music stylings in there as well to give the music another dimension. Also worth mentioning as influences are MEANWHILE, POISON IDEA, SS DECONTROL, SLAPSHOT, CIRCLE JERKS, VOIVOD and also bands like THORNS and MANES.. These key influential bands were extremely important shaping the sound of Dystopiate. I feel there are elements of all these in Dystopiate. Intent is very important to us, but then again we don't have a problem with a band who's doing it for fun. I mean, we have intent, very sure intent, but we have a lot of FUN doing what we are doing. Politics has changed so fast it seems urgent to write about them and your thoughts about happenings in society. I think with this type of music, with the intensity it brings, i think political content as well as life content is going to flow out of you. As the lyricist of the band, it's based on my own thoughts on life itself, that happens to include politics. It's important to bring things to light.

How do you seeing your music being an intersection with art, be it album or merch art, music
videos etc.?

Cody-
The art is intended to match and reflect the music and mood. So for example, the great Terminal DIssonance picture taken by our great friend Alana Vacca. We would love to see that as a big art print in some building or gallery hahaha tearing it up. Also, would be perfect for T-Shirts, Pins, Buttons, Embroidered Patches, etc. Videos are also based on the lyrics...



What is the lyrical focus of the band? Is there any particular meaning or message?


Cody-
The lyrical focus of the band is whatever is going on inside my head at the moment or in general. Some political issues, some mental issues, struggling with addiction type stuff. I can't say i'm the worst guy on earth at all, but i certainly have my issues like most others and this band is the best way to deal with them.


What is current state of your local and national music community or scene?
What do you think you can achieve creatively in live spaces that you can’t in your recordings
and vice versa?

Cody-
We have good bands, and we have really bad bands. There's not really much of a scene around here anymore. If you're good you're good and if you're not well.....good luck. 20 years ago our scene was thriving with truly great bands that were all tight knit. This is not the case anymore.
Creatively, performing live you have the spontaneity of it all, so you basically fly off the handle for a minute and a half or something like that, and if it works out, great. If it doesn't well....hope you didn't notice! hahah actually we could care less about if a minor fuckup comes into play. It's just the type of band we are, we like to play. a lot. and this music is bound for a fuckup to happen somewhere. In the studio we get to craft the songs a bit more, but basically we know what we want and if we play it right, it's a done deal.. We recorded this album in one session, about 6 hours time. Just the songs are so straightforward and to the point.


Your live performances are raw and brutal. How have you cultivated your physical presence
during performance? What do you feel like you embody as a performer when you’re on
stage?

Cody-
Well thanks! So basically we haven't cutivated anything as far as a physical presence on stage, we just get up there and play. I don't even MOVE on stage. I mean how many people are going to feel anything off that? The other guys are rip-roaring into it but me? I can't move. So maybe the other guys have cultivated a good stage presence which is great haha. My non-moving self gets the point across as well. What do I embody as a performer.....i'm just having fun up there doing my thing, but I have to say that maybe it's the embodiment of the most true version of myself in musical form. No lies, no put-ons.





How do you feel that changing economic structure impacts creativity?
Does your creativity help you connect to and navigate or deal with the world?

Cody-
YES! i DO think CHANGING ECONOMIC STRUCTURE affects creativity. You can do two things with it. You can dive straight in and see what happens, maybe something good, or bad, but see what happens, Or you can do nothing. I mean either way, it's ok. If you are creative because of it, that's great and definitely get what you have to say about it out there. But if you're not, that's totally cool. I know many musicians who had to take extended breaks because of the changing economic structure. It's upsetting but I understand it fully at the same time. You gotta deal with it in your own way.
and yes to the second part of the question! It's definitely gotten me more involved with the world in general, strange but true, and helps me deal with the frustrations I'm having about it. But when it comes down to it really, creativity is about having a great time making music, or whatever you do. And damn it, like your own music, it helps. Nothing wrong with finishing up a song of a couple riffs you've thrown together and it sounds completely badass and saying "FUCK YEAH"


What are some of your highlights of your career so far? And what is happening next?

Cody-
Well, we're not a big band, but i can say the highlight of our career so far was playing live with legendary punk/grind maniacs PSYCHO, GOON PLATOON!,and HORRIBLE EARTH. These local bands are among the few that have been awesome, and i mean come on, who doesn't know Psycho (aka BULGE, who played with GG Allin on the "freaks...." album.)
That was a very uplifting, amazing, exhilarating live experience.
Next up for the band are new songs which we're working on as we speak, recording a new album and getting it out there.

 


Any bands or releases you can recommend at the moment?

Cody-
Sure. These are in no particular order and just reflect our listening as of lately.


1. Psycho - "Vulture Church"
2. Fear Factory - "Soul of a New Machine"
3. Meanwhile - "Same Shit New Millenium" & "Reality or Nothing"
4. Slayer - Divine Intervention, sometimes all.
5. Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works Vol. II"
6. Righteous Pigs "Live and Learn" & "Stress Related"
7. Napalm Death "Fear. Emptiness.Despair." yes....that one.
8. Battlelust - "Of Battles and Ancient Warcraft"
9. Voivod - "Nothingface" preproduction recordings
10. Umoral "Der Sola Aldri Skinner"


and a final word. Check us out at dystopiateboston.bandcamp.com and fishprintsinc.bandcamp.com. We hope you like what you hear and get yourself to one of our gigs! It's a great time.

Thank you Mark for the interview!!!!
Cheers












Comments