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Recent discussions
Interviews
T3h Shred Boiz - Dylan McElvania
07/12/07 || The Duff
I was beginning to think that I was cursed in the interview field,
having received some answers from Origin’s Paul Ryan that were very
rude and just plain being flat out ignored by Necrophagist frontman
Muhammed Suicmez (after his having agreed to it in person, I might add;
so I took six months with the questions…?) (Note by The Lord:
That fucken Muhawhatever guy can seriously go fuck himself, he’s not
making any friends on GD for alot of reasons, and that’s why the
nothing-but-praise review I did for their “Epitaph” album is now deleted
from the site. Fuck you, loser-boy!), and so I decided to try
my luck with the “little-knowns” (y’know, the grateful type), hoping
that an eagerness to be recognized would outshine any shit questions I
would so happen to fire their way. T3h Shred Boiz was a band I
discovered at random on some metal forum by a stroke of good fortune,
and I reckoned I got on with the guy promoting its music (Dylan
McElvania, one of the bandmembers) sufficiently well for me not to fear
for my life and the lives of my immediate family were I to ask him the
temperature at which he considers a blueberry pie to be cooked
throughout and worth placing on the window ledge to cool afore the
children come home from school. This guy got one up on me a number of
times in this interview, so a big thank you goes out to Dylan for
knowing what’s what here at GD and not having two tonnes of gravel up
his urethra.
GD: Can you tell us about the two separate bands you’re in, which of them are still running, and what kind of music each one comprises? How long has each one been about, and how many members in each line-up?
Dylan: Right now I guess I’m in two bands. T3h Shred Boiz and Ghost Snorter. Both of them are still active, but T3h Shred Boiz are more or less in a stand still since the other member lives in another country. Since T3h Shred Boiz transcend time and space it’s hard to say when they were started, but most scholars think summer of 2006 is the best estimate. Ghost Snorter has only been around a few months. There are two members in T3h Shred Boiz who take care of everything. Right now I’m the only person in Ghost Snorter, but I’m trying to find decent musicians to join the band. Simply put, both bands are metal bands.
Which
bands inspired you the most in writing, and which bands made you start
T3h Shred Boiz and Ghost Snorter, respectively? The latter is a much
cooler name for a serious band; was this a conscious decision, deciding
to take your music in a less humoristic direction? Any chance of you
throwing in some drone, sludge, doom or post-rock into your new album?
I’m inspired by all sorts of bands from all kinds of different genres. The band that has had the biggest influence on my writing is In Flames probably. They were probably my only real influence when I wrote the songs on the Ghost Snorter demo so long ago. Since then I’ve gotten into more and more stuff that tends to show through in all T3h Shred Boiz material and the new stuff I’ve been working on. I don’t know if any band made me start either of those bands, but I can definitely say bands like Orthrelm, Meshuggah, Sleep Terror, and Cryptopsy were of large influence while I wrote the wtf cd from T3h Shred Boiz. Yea, I think the name is a reflection to a more “serious” approach with Ghost Snorter. Snorting ghosts is serious business. As far as new directions on upcoming Ghost Snorter stuff I can say that there will be many. I’ve lost interest for the most part in the songs on the Ghost Snorter demo, so my new stuff will hardly resemble those songs stylistically at all.
Haha, noticed the two tracks off “WTF” went from being named things like “Rasputin’s Magical Penis Goes on a Picnic” to “Spring” and “Summer” – pretentious fuck. How are you going to tackle the new album? There aren’t ten seasons in a year, you know. Are any songs off the demo going to make the final-cut for the full-length effort? Any more tracks from “WTF” going to shift on over to Ghost Snorter? Congrats on “Freeze into Fire” – one of the catchiest black metal riffs I’ve ever heard.
Thanks. There might not be 10 seasons in a year, but there are 12 months and a seemingly endless amount of seconds in each day, so I won’t be running out of song titles any time soon. There won’t be any songs off of the demo making it to the next release since I despise them for the most part. There won’t be any more song switching between the bands either. Maybe live with Ghost Snorter I’ll play some T3h Shred Boiz songs, but they will remain T3h Shred Boiz material. The only reason I took two songs from T3h Shred Boiz wtf cd and put them on the Ghost Snorter demo was so I would actually have something to put out with Ghost Snorter for now.
Are there any chances of you recruiting more bandmembers for Ghost Snorter? It’s only two now, right? You and the drummer? That guy is very talented – how’d you both end up meeting and forming a tech death/power/math and then some band?
Right now I’m the only person in the band. The drummer is a robot that I program. I met him through a friend who bought him off a shelf at Sam Ash. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him make a mistake. I want to have a real drummer, vocalist, and bassist for the band, but I can’t find anyone…
Metal
is an easy genre to parody, yet the music on your albums can be
associated with some of the best tech stuff out there – why aren’t you
signed yet? Are you likely to make either project a full-time deal when
it comes to promoting, touring etc.?
I’m probably not signed because no one knows about me and because
the songs suck. I want to pursue Ghost Snorter full time and hopefully
get signed with them, but I can’t really do anything
right now since I’m finishing up college and can’t find any members…
Are there going to be vocals on a future T3h Shred Boiz album, or on the first Ghost Snorter full-length? If so, do you reckon you’ll write funny lyrics, or stick to politics and global issues, or something of an equally stern nature? If there are vocals, what kind will they be? Will you attempt to vary them alongside the music? I mean, not many could tolerate your Dragonforce worship.
We originally had planned to put lyrics on T3h Shred Boiz wtf album but while we were recording them they weren’t turning out like we wanted so we scrapped them. I want lyrics for Ghost Snorter definitely. As far as lyrical content I’m down for pretty much anything. I love deep lyrics, but I also love weirder/funny lyrics. I want to have a vocalist that can scream in pretty much every extreme metal style but also be able to sing clean with a range comparable to Mikael Åkerfeldt or Mike Scalzi. If people can tolerate your face than surely they can tolerate this imaginary Dragonforce worship from me that you’ve created.
When is the new full-length Ghost Snorter album due out? How does it compare to “WTF”? Will there be less musical diversity, more, or about the same? You need another track like “Chugronomicon” – that’s like a heavy rendition of “Spheres of Madness”, and also shows Meshuggah how this polyrhythm malarkey is supposed to run. Do you not sometimes think you’re better than the bands you listen to?
I don’t think the stuff I write even compares to the bands I like.
Right now I don’t have plans for a full length Ghost Snorter release
anytime soon. I’ve been working on some new song ideas, and I guess you
could say they are taking on a more T3h Shred Boiz approach… whatever
that means. The main project I’ve been working on lately is a movie
soundtrack I’ve been
asked to do with Ghost Snorter.
How
do you record your music? The production seems like seriously
professional work on either effort, yet both bands are unsigned. What
equipment do you use, and have any members of either band studied sound
engineering? Otherwise, how do you get such excellent sound to your
albums?
I recorded all of T3h Shred Boiz/Ghost Snorter songs using a friends equipment/help at his house. We recorded the guitars with a PODXT. That’s really about it. I’ve never studied sound engineering, and I don’t think Gr1m Shadow (other T3h Shred Boiz member) has either. He studies death.
Rate these albums on a scale of 1-10, give us one word that would explain its contribution to the advancement of metal, then let us know how you think they fare in comparison to their respective predecessors:
Decapitated – Organic Hallucinosis
Morbid Angel – Heretic
Origin – Echoes of Decimation
Nile – Ithyphallic
The Project Hate – In Hora Mortis Nostrae
Mastodon – Blood Mountain
Behemoth – The Apostasy
Err… I don’t really like any of those.
Decapitated – Organic Hallucinosis 3/10
Word to describe: Moonwalk
I think I like one song on this cd. Very disappointing. They definitely took a step backwards.
Morbid Angel – Heretic 2/10
Word to describe: meh
I really couldn’t care less about this cd. It does nothing for me.
Origin – Echoes of Decimation 3/10
Word to describe: lolololo
Pretty boring to me. I remember liking a few notes off of it though…
Nile – Ithyphallic 1/10
Word to describe: earrape
Can’t stand it. I hate Nile so much I almost explode when I think of them.
The Project Hate – In Hora Mortis Nostrae 2/10
Word to describe: dunno
I heard one song off this cd from their myspace, and that was all I needed. No thank you.
Mastodon – Blood Mountain never listened to it
Behemoth – The Apostasy 2/10
Word to describe: bunk
The only good Behemoth cd continues to be “Satanica” for me.
What kind of gear do you use? Which guitars are your favorite brands, and why? How many years have you been playing for and which one guitar-player do you think this world could do without – which one musician do you think is so far unbelievably over-rated?
My main guitar is an Ibanez Iceman IC300. I haven’t played that many different brands, but I’m pretty happy with Ibanez because of their necks. I’ve played for about 7 1/2 years. I suck pretty bad, so I’m going to say the world could do without me.
From
experience, does playing really good tech death get you laid? What
would you play when wanting to make the sweet love to a lady who might
not know any death metal, but who is willing to try out new things?
Would you just say “fucken no chance!” and break out the S.E.A.L. album
(y’know, his one good effort)?
You can be the first Ghost Snorter sex victim if you like. T3h Shred Boiz get tons of ass but they’re necrophiliacs, so it’s kind of a different situation with them.
Put these Schwarzenegger films in descending order, from best to worst, and give us one word to describe Arnie’s performance:
1) Predator
2) Conan the Barbarian
3) Twins
4) Junior
5) Eraser
6) Commando
7) True Lies
1) Conan the Barbarian – pwnage
2) Predator – foreign
3) Eraser – dancingqueen
4) Commando – meh
5) True Lies – gtfo
6) Junior – lawl
7) Twins – omfgwtf
Did you see “Alien vs. Predator”? What did you think? Have you seen the trailer for the sequel, and if so, what do you think? Which do you think is the better franchise? Does film ever inspire you to write music, and give us some examples as to which ones and how they do it.
The suck level of that movie affected me so deeply that ever since my viewing of it I have felt detached from the natural world. Thankfully I’ve never seen the trailer for the sequel. I think if I even see the trailer I’ll die. I don’t care about the franchise really. I hope Predator wins and then a meteor falls on him. I like a lot of film music. One that stands out right now is the music in From Hell. Epic.
Anything you’d like to close on?
Thanks for the interview and interest in the band!
