- Archaic North Entertainment Official Domain -

-AVAILABLE MARCH 1st 2009-

ANE02 - Empyrean Plague - Ancestral Embers Shall Burn

- INTERVIEWS -

- L -

- LAPIDATE -

Live interview with Erich Kennedy and Gord Brown by Mark Howitt

Mark Howitt - To get things started, could you introduce Lapidate by giving us a brief history of the band?

Erich Kennedy - We started out in late 01/02 as a really shitty band (laughs). It was a different line up at that time. Darryl Kelly used to play guitar for us, and the rest was the same.

Gord Brown - And then our old bassist got kicked out cause we thought he was a dumb ass, his name was Luc. Darryl plays the bass now. We had split with him earlier for job reasons, but he came back in and we've been clicking ever since. We've been a four piece since about August now.

MH - Do you guys find that as time goes by you've evolved into something you always wanted?

EK - Me and Gord had ideas to start a band now for about 3 years. Basically I started playing drums with Gord. We always basically played what we could.

GB - We went from not being able to play Metallica covers to playing this stuff.

EK - Yeah, we always listened to heavier stuff but could never pull it off.

MH - You have definatly gotten heavy, in a good way. What kind of stuff do you guys listen to? I kind of hear a Dying Fetus influence in there somewhere?

EK - Grind! Like Ohio brutal death shit. Hemdale, Waco Jesus, the American Disgorged. We like to stick to the chunky, heavy shit. The sort of grindier stuff.

GB - Yeah, like Gutted and Hemdale, Anal Blast.

EK - We have mixed influences. Nothing like Limp Bizkit, Disturbed or anything like that though. (laughs)

MH - Being a newer band, how many songs have you written so far?

GB - What we played tonight. (laughs)

EK - No, we have about 15 originals, but we only play some of them.

MH - I really liked that White Stripes cover you guys played. It was some fucking sick ass shit.

EK - That was an idea we came up with 2 days ago. We were gonna play New Kids on the Block's the right stuff.

GB - (laughs) Yeah that was the other idea.

MH - So you guys have been playing shows for about 2 years now?

EK - Well, as what we are now about a year. Before that it was all shitty covers and we did'nt know how to play.

GB - It's slowly been evolving though.

EK - We used to be called another name and it was basically like Obituary covers and shit like that.

GB - We've been slowly evolving though. As we progress we kind of throw out the older stuff and do'nt play them anymore. It's the best way to do it. Any riffs from the old songs you like, you just take them and throw them into new and better songs.

MH - You guys are from Ajax? Can you describe it's scene?

EK - One word. Shit. Pure shit. It's a Sum 41 town, so it's really lame. It's all nu-metal crap, pop punk...all crap. About 99% of Ajax are Eminem wanna be's. It fucking sucks.

GB - The four of us is about all that listens to good heavy shit. The closest cool place for us to play is Oshawa. They've got a few good bands like Everest and Wetwork.

MH - Do you guys think that there are enough good metal bands in Ontario to make a really huge scene?

EK - Oh definatly. It's growing for sure. The black metal scene here is definatly getting up there, but our music is starting too. Our scene and the type of music we play is getting alot better. When we first started this, we said that we were'nt going to be a band who plays for people because they like it. We thought nobody would like it, but as it turns out people are getting into it, so that's cool.

GB - Like with Eclipse Eternal. They have a huge following. They came out with a great cd and that helped pull together the black metal side of things.

MH - It's all about playing what you want.

EK - Exactly. We're not going to play Korn just to make people happy. That just aint going to happen.

MH - What sort of stuff do you guys write about?

EK - I'd say about 40% of our stuff is about eating shit, shitting on someone, or anything to do with shit. We're very into Scheister. Just kidding. (laughs) And gore all the way. It's all about the gore, beer and shit.

GB - Yeah, were into the Italian gore flicks as well. Its all about Fulci, Romero and all those Italian movies.

MH - So you found out about noon today that Deicide was'nt playing, and you were opening for Hate Eternal and Krisiun?

EK - Yeah. I was at school.GB - Lori emailed me last night saying that if Deicide did'nt show up, we could play. We were'nt going to give up that opportunity. I got the call at about noon, so I ran over to Erich's school and said get your drums, we're going downtown.

MH - I saw the crowds reaction. Most were pretty impressed.

EK - We were very happy about the crowds reaction. The Toronto scene has gotten so much bigger and better in the last year or so. it's bigger than I've ever seen. It seems everybody's coming out to the shows and stuff.

MH - How many times have you played in Toronto?

GB - We play here alot actually. We've opened for Neuraxis before. The Toronto scene has really grown for local bands. We've got all sorts of young bands coming out now.

EK - Yeah, we play alot of little shows here. We played with Brodequin as well. That was our big show. But like we were saying before, we were'nt expecting anything because of what we play, but now everybody's just so open to it. If were going to give credit to anyone in the scene, it's gotta be the promoters. It's the promoters who get the scene constant and growing.

GB - Like the Toronto Undead has done alot, and Inertia Entertainment. They're bringing out alot of new bands.

EK - We respect them alot. Toronto Undead has just opened up, but they're giving bands shows. If you're in a metal band in Toronto and you call them, they hook you up with shows. That's why there's alot more bands playing here now.

GB - It's also good because the only way your going to grow as a band is to play live. You can play a million times in your garage or whatever, but you dont know how it's going to be when you hit the stage.

MH - Is there any Lapidate shows in the near future?

GB - Yes. We're playing the 2004 Northern Lighs metal fest on June 26th, and that's through Unrestrained magazine.

MH - Well thanks for your time, stay brutal. Any final thoughts?

EK - Cheers to everyone who supports us. You fucking rule.