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1)Try to introduce your band.
1 - Well we have about a six year history now and myself, "Mad Matt" on bass, vocals and beat programming and our guitarist Jeremy were the two
founding members. At the time of recording our 99Demo we were joined by vocalist Justin and the line-up has remained the same since. In late 2002 we released our debut full length "Life imitates art" and since then we've been promoting it worldwide as much as our modest incomes will allow. Musically for the uninitiated our style is a fusion of many, including death, grind, funk, rock, dub reggae, hardcore and more. There is not really another band I could think to accurately compare us to, we aim to be original.
2)What's happening in the band at the moment?
2 - It's all promoting this cd and preparing for the next. I have a follow up 90% composed and we will lay it all down in the studio starting march next year. Some of it is pretty fucking challenging to play so this is why we are waiting some months before we commit it. It will be the logical progression from the first album in that it will in turn be both faster and slower, more brutal and more subtle, and even more diverse. I think our fans will be pleased.
3)What's the actual brutal band which do you prefear?
3 - There are so many of them it's hard to decide. I guess some long term favourites would be Repulsion, I just bought the relapse re-issue of
Horrified with a disc full of their demos which is just an essential package for any true grind fan. I love General surgery and cant wait to hear their new one, talk about a long wait. There's this old American band called DVC that no-one down here has ever heard but their album Descendant upheaval is an underground classic. Human remains are a big favourite and relapse have done a great repackaging for them too. There's this crazy German band called Die apokaliptischen reiter that I worship. CSSO from japan blow me away but there stuff is so hard to find. This list could go on and on.
4)What do you mean "be extreme"?
4 - For my music specifically, extremity is largely about contrasts and how far I can push them. For example we have on the album Thoughts lost to time, which is a largely extremely mellow, ambient groove designed to relax and entrance the listener. As it fades into its quietest moment, when the listener is completely lulled, we snap into One chance which is 270bpm grinding hardcore and can be a fucking rude shock. This effect means that both songs are exaggerated in their extremity. Thoughts lost... makes One chance sound even more flat out than it maybe is and the same in reverse. This is one of the most extreme examples of this on the disc but we do it in different ways all throughout.The songs are all designed to set each other off, I mean if you have an album , say like Krisiun do where the whole disc is at the same level of intensity, then the extremity will wear off on most listeners after a few minutes as there is only so long most people can tolerate this intensity before they are numbed to it. It's almost like the band is wasting their energy beyond the first two songs as the extremity is no longer shocking and there are no surprises for the rest of the album.
Don't get me wrong, I like Krisiun and those sort of bands, but I like to have dips and peaks, different sounds, rythms and dynamics to consistently catch the ear of the listener and I like to push those dips and peaks in different directions to were most other bands do. ONE STEP BEYOND is many kinds of extreme.
5)Are you in live acting?
5 - Yeah, we play whenever, whereever. We don't restrict the band to just metal shows. At this stage we just get up and play really, we don't have the money to put on any great show. We seem to hold peoples attention regardless.
6)What is the positive and negative shows which you can still remember in these yars?
6 - We've had some really cool giggs. We have alot of friends in the local scene so for me a gig is just like a party. People locally have been
gradually converted to our style, so most of our shows are decently attended, bt when we started out the scene was in a transitional phase and
we'd be playing to literally ten people, which gets depressing after a while. Regardless, I enjoy all our shows as long as the mixer is on top of things.
7)How would describe your music?
7 - I'm not really sure about that one. We've been called so many things but no phrase has really stuck yet. I guess something like progressive grind or crossover. Maybe Grind, funk, rock, death, dub, jazz, reggaecore?
8)what do you mean "innovation"?
8 - To do something new. I want to take extreme metal and music in general to new places. To show people that death and grind have no limits and smash peoples perceptions of the genre. So few metal bands take any chances in their music.
9)What's bands are big influences for ONE STEP BEYOND ?
9 - Fuck, there are so many! Here's a list of some of the main ones from many different styles.: Macabre, Frank Zappa, Napalm death, Living colour, Miles Davis, Suffocation, Public enemy, Fishbone, Suicidal tendencies, Infectious grooves, Human remains, Bill Laswell, Black sabbath, Eric B and Rakim, Scorn, Korpse.......
10)What does inspire your music? (satan,horror/porno-movies.)
10 - I'm not much into satan as I despise any manifestation of christianity, be it god or the devil. Films are generally a big influence, alot of ONE STEP BEYOND riffs came about while I was strumming along during a video. I like all types of movies from gore, samurai, westerns, comedy, drama, war, period, martial arts or whatever and I like films from Asia, Europe, Australia and America. Just being alive inspires the fuck out of me. Just dealing with people, good or bad, gives me enough energy to be creative.
11)why the exigency to use a drum machine?
11 - A couple of reasons. One is that I'm a control freak in this band and I know exactly how I want the beats to be and two is because there are fuck all good drummers down here, especially ones good enough to play all the styles we would demand of them. The beats I program are all designed to sound like a live drummer and are all possible with four limbs and a moderately sized kit. We've fooled quite a few people, without even trying into thinking it was a real drummer so it must be working.
12)Tell me about the extreme scene of your country.
12 - There are alot of bands down here and a couple have managed to take extreme metal somewhere new. Probably Bloodduster and Alchemist would be most noteable for this. Other bands from Australia with releases you need to hear include Raven black night, Stargazer, Miserys omen, Gospel of the horn, Virgin Black, Darklord, Captain cleenoff, Stone wings, Mournful congregation and Abramelin. In adelaide we get anywhere from 30 - 120 people to a local show and up to 300 for bands like Opeth and The Haunted. This is pretty similar to other major cities around the country.
13)Do you know the present extreme scene in italy?
13 - Man I am embarressed to say that I am very ignorant of the Italian metal scene. I would love to be educated about it as I find Italian metal heads to be among the most open minded there are, so I'm sure there are some pretty original bands there. Actually we are on a compilation for Neoblast records which features a very cool and original track from an Italian band called KARNAK who I'd like to hear more of. I'd love for some bands to get in touch with trades in mind, or even for someone to give me some names to check out. I don't like to be ignorant of such things.
14)what do you think about mp3 and internet?
14 - I think it's fucking great! It's an invaluable rescource for bands to get their music heard and promoted. It is crucial for a band like ONE STEP BEYOND and I would obviously not be doing this interview without it. I am not at all opposed to the whole free mp3 trade because as a musician I just want to share my music with people and mp3s are great for this. Assholes like Metallica can suck my dick in regards to this shit. They are fucked, greedy people who need to remember the simple fact that the more people who hear their albums equals the more people who buy their albums. Big deal if Napster was giving their shit away for free, if people like what they hear on Naapster they will buy the product, simple as that!
15)What would the O.S.B. have done in their life if they hadn't themselves?
15 - I think without music Justin and Jeremy would both would be working during the day and playing video games, smoking ,maybe family thing one day?
I'm not the sort of person that likes to work too much for somebody else, so I'd be doing anything I could to get out of that. Probably something creative like painting, writing or directing, something were I was accountable to myself and not stuck in a monotonous routine. I value my freedom more than I value money!
16)Besides treating the our ears brutally, what do the O.S.B. do too ?
16 - Drink, smoke, fuck.....I'm just being silly there. We're all in other bands so the music thing takes up alot of our time. I know the other two are big video gamers in their spare time. Justin and I are big movie collectors with several hundred films each. Jeremy and I are both sports fans and play indoor cricket weekly. Really most of my time is music and friends.
17)ok guys,any final comment..
17 - Cheers Giuseppe and Stillborn for your work to help out the global underground. Peace to music lovers everywhere! Get off your butts and write.
Post: O.S.B., Pobox40, Marden SA 5070, Australia
email: gligster666@hotmail.com
web: www.geocities.com/onestepweb |
