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FLYING SNAKES:
'Introducing the Harsh Sounds of
Tampa Bay's Finest.'
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The
sudden impact received upon the first spin of Bludgeoning
Frequency, the fist offering from Flying Snakes, made me
think that maybe, only maybe, all not is either old as fuck or
dead as shit in beautiful St. Petersburg, FL. The harsh sounds,
the rough arrangements, the blunt, in your face angular force
with which is all delivered has definitely little to do with the
sounds that identify the Tampa Bay Area. So I contacted the
Flying Snakes to find out what they are about. Answering kindly
are drummer Aaron and bassist/vocalist Cletis. Read on and
spread the word…
- You guys hail from the Tampa Bay area. To say that this part
of the world has spawned some influential bands is an
understatement. Beside the obvious well-known bands, is there a
current underground scene? Any other bands you’d recommend?
Aaron - There
are some good bands here, but it's not much of a scene. There’s
only a couple of places to play in Tampa and nowhere to play in
St. Pete, where we’re from. It definitely gets old playing the
same places all the time, but I guess it could be a lot worse.
I would highly recommend checking out Cellgraft, they fucking
kill it.
- To get some background about the band. How long ago did Flying
Snakes form? How hard was it to find like-minded musicians?
Aaron - Jon and
I have been good friends for about 12 years now. We first
started jamming song ideas for what would eventually become
Flying Snakes back in 2004. We wrote a few songs but didn't
like the direction we were heading so we decided to start over
and write slower, sludgier stuff. For a while, our friend Leroi
was doing vocals. During that time we were desperately trying
to find a bass player, which proved to be really difficult, to
say the least. After a few disappointing ‘auditions’
with
would be bass players we finally hooked up with Cletis in early
2005. Jon had met him through a mutual friend at a party and
asked him to come check out the shit we were doing. From the
first time we jammed with Clete, it was pretty obvious that he
was the guy we had been looking for. A few months later Leroi
left the band and the true, final incarnation of Flying Snakes
was officially born.
Cletis - St.
Pete has to be hardest place besides maybe Antarctica to find
people who ‘get it’ to start a band with.
- Do you have a goal for the band? Is there a mission?
Cletis - Ride
the heavy metal gravy train to fame and fortune, of course.
Aaron - We just
want to keep writing heavy music and playing shows for like
minded people.
- When Flying Snakes formed, what sound were you trying to
create? Was it more of
‘whatever
comes out’ or you had a sound set in your minds?
Cletis - I
would say that from day one we've never had any intention of
sounding a certain way. We all are into a wide variety of
music. Each of us brings a different element to the band. I
guess it's just easiest to say that we all have a very common
idea of what we don't want to sound like.
Aaron - We
wanted it to be crushing.
- Bludgeoning Frequency is a pretty solid recording. I dig the rawness of the sound, but at the
same time, there is sophistication when you consider all the
changes within the songs. What’s the songwriting process like?
Cletis - Jon
and I write the guitar riffs and all three of us are responsible
for the lyrics. We'll usually jam through the new riffs with
Aaron until they take on a totally different form. His drumming
often changes our riffs completely. We typically get the
different rhythms in our music naturally from Jon and I having
polarized guitar ideas stacked onto each other in the same song.
Jon – It’s like
10 monkeys in a room with five typewriters- utter chaos.
- Please tell me a little bit about the recording. How long was
the recording? Where was it recorded and who acted as a
producer/engineer?
Aaron - It took
us a really long time to finish this record. There were times
when it felt like it would never end. We recorded with our
friend Dan Byers at his studio, Rock Garden Recording in
Clearwater, Florida. He deserves a fucking award for dealing
with our shit. There were times during the recording process
when we wouldn’t make it in to the studio for weeks, or even
months at a time. By the time we finished the recording, it had
been close to a year since we had started and it still needed to
be mixed. At some point, I think it started to become clear that
we needed to get someone else to do the final mix for us...
someone who hadn’t been emotionally involved with the recording
for the past year… someone with fresh ears. We ended up taking
it to Mark Nikolich at Atomic Audio for the final mix and
mastering. He did a phenomenal job.
- How happy are you with the results? Is Bludgeoning
Frequency what you had in mind?
Aaron - I think
it turned out awesome.
Cletis - We always wanted the finished product to have a sense
of clarity while retaining a very particular kind of blown-out
low end. I think the result was exactly what we imagined it to
be.
- Now that Bludgeoning Frequency is out, what steps are
you taking to promote it? What’s next for the band?
Cletis -
Getting out of town more often. We're trying to get out on
weekends as much as possible until the beginning of next year
when we hopefully get a tour put together. There's talk of a
seven inch soon. We're really focusing on writing right now.
Aaron -
Financial Ruin Records is doing a limited cassette tape release
of the record. Although we released the CD ourselves, Dan at
Financial Ruin has helped us out quite a bit with certain
aspects of the release.
- Everyone gets annoyed by labels, but let’s say for a second
that they are absolutely necessary. Your music is metal, but it
has other elements too. How would you describe the sound of
Flying Snakes to someone who hasn't heard the music yet?
Cletis - Loud!
Actually that is something we've been asking ourselves since the
inception of our band. I have a really tough time describing
our band to people who haven't heard us. I really like the part
in your review of the record where you mention picturing cavemen
playing these songs. I don't think I could say it any better.
Aaron
–
I have the worst time trying to describe our music. I think
it’s similar to a lot of things, but it’s impossible to pigeon
hole into a certain genre. Someone I know recently described it
as ‘the bastard child of early-Baroness, Napalm Death, and
His Hero Is Gone’. I thought that was pretty fucking
awesome.
- Talking about the sound of the band. It's really crude and
blunt. It's gritty. The lack of solos adds to the primitivity of
it. Was this a conscious decision? In a way that distances the
band from the pure
metal
camp. What can you say about this?
Cletis - There
is nothing heavy about guitar solos.
- My favorite song is “Dead Rabbits”. Can you please say
something about the creation of this particular track?
Cletis - I came
to practice one night with a handful of almost metalcore
sounding riffs that I wasn't happy with. In typical Flying
Snakes fashion we jammed on them until they turned into
something else and later came up with that spaced out intro for
it. I would say it was the quickest song we've put together to
date.
- Please list a few albums that inspired you to get into music.
Cletis - I got
a copy of Brother Inferior's Anthems '94-'97 at an early
age and knew from then on that I wanted to play aggressive music
forever. Also, Dystopia's Human= Garbage and HHIG's
Monuments To Thieves were a big part of me getting into
writing heavy, bass driven music.
Aaron - I think
my main inspiration for playing music was being surrounded by
friends that played bands. I didn't really start playing the
drums until I was about 23. I remember getting Alabama
Thunderpussy’s River City Revival from Jon and realizing
that I wanted to play slower and heavy music.
- What are you listening to right now?
Cletis -
Nuclear Death Terror s/t
Stormcrow/Laudanum split
Swarm of the Lotus When White Becomes Black
Aaron -
Grief
Turbulent Times
Floor s/t
Fall of Efrafa Elil
Coffins Buried Death
Cellgraft demo
Kylesa
Static Tensions
Weedeater God Luck and Good Speed
MySpace
Read the Deaf Sparrow
review of Bludgeoning Frequency here…
Photos by Kassi
Kelley
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