### Martriden - Kyle Howard

#### 09/07/07 || Global Domination

This interview was conducted by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Doomsdayzach.

I was sent the Martriden EP not long ago by the fine folks at Candlelight here in the States. I was promptly blown away by the extremely competent songwriting. This is all too rare in the days where eyeliner is an acceptable fashion statement in metal. Fuck that steaming pile of bullmess. So at any rate, I promptly emailed their press agent and said I just had to interview these guys. I learned a valuable lesson: never come up with questions for an interview on your half hour lunch break. They spend about the same amount of time on the responses. Still, they’re young kids. They’ll learn the importance of press soon enough…

Global Domination: Congratulations! You have been chosen to do an exclusive interview with me, Zach Palmer of Global Domination! This must be very exciting for you, yes?

Kyle Howard: Extremely exciting. I was about to sacrifice my first born to you, but instead I’ll just do this interview. Besides, I have no children.

I’ll try to make this whole process as painless as possible, but the interview is probably going to be around 30 questions. You may want to grab a beer or something. I did. I got me some Heineken to get through this. What are you drinking?

Nothing at the moment, but a nice Gin or Bourbon sounds pretty good. But I’ll try to make it past noon for that.

Ok, on to the questions. First of all, how the shit does something like this come from Montana? I mean, Montana is basically fields and nothingness. The only place more un-metal than Montana is Utah. Does Montana have many Mormons?

I know a few Mormons.

So, what, did you guys just get tired of fly-fishing? Is that why you started this band?

We enjoy fly-fishing still, but it doesn’t really occupy our time 24/7. The band keeps us quite busy.

This EP totally fucking blew me away. I had no idea what to expect when putting it in, but there’s some fantastic stuff here. How long has this material been around? What do you have to follow it up with?

We recorded the EP almost a year ago now. We’re pre-producing new material to record in a few weeks. Yes… it’s better than the ep.

But seriously, when are you gonna move the fuck into civilization? I mean, Montana is a huge state and it’s got a population of all of… what… 38 people? It’s like the Canada of America without the free health care.

We like the isolation, it makes the bigger cities far more interesting. We’re quite fond of Denver and Seattle, we know our way around those places. So if we ever move it’d probably be to one of those places.

How many demos did you guys sell before getting signed to Candlelight? And how many of those were to folks other than your mothers and grandparents? Speaking of, does your grandmother approve of the music you play?

I think I sold around 200 of them, probably gave 100 away to family and friends.

How did you guys get hooked up with Candlelight anyway? Are they kicking ass for you?

Well, we were first referred to Candlelight’s offices by Secthdamon (Zyklon, Myrkskog, Emperor) and we signed to Candlelight’s Partner Label in the UK Siege of Amida, who gets distributed by Candlelight over here in the U.S. So that’s how that worked out. And yes, everyone is kicking lots of asses for us. It’s been really great.

Candlelight’s publicist said you guys are getting killer reviews. Awesome, right? Do you have a schedule for getting yer asses back in the studio to take advantage of the buzz?

Yup, we’ll be done recording in the middle of July. The reviews have been really quite amazing, very positive.

From what I understand, there’s quite an age range within the band. Is this true? If so, how does that work for you guys?

The ages don’t really affect us at all. We’re overall pretty young, only 2 of us over 21. Well 3, come July. The rest of the band is aged between 18 and 20.

Many bands who release debut EP’s that are absolutely ace seem to follow it up with a shit full length. Is this a concern for Martriden? I mean, part of the magic of an amazing EP is that it never drags on, yet a full length is hard to craft so it doesn’t drag on. Do you think you can do it?

Yeah, we can. All the material is already written, we have a new drummer for the recording and he is an absolute phenom. And the material has much more variety and stays more interesting, I think.

You just recently opened for Emperor. I tell you this in case you weren’t aware. What was it like? Were they rockstar assholes or were they cool?

They were very cool. They definitely set a standard for us in how a band should act on stage and behind the scenes. They were just great.

A few of my friends attended the Los Angeles show and said you guys looked a bit uncomfortable on stage. Do you think that for such a new band that this was too big of a step to open for such a high profile band? How much live experience do you actually have as a band?

Well, to be honest, we probably seemed like that because we were having some problems during the set. Our now ex-drummer was not playing what we expected, not sure why, but it bought him a ticket out of the band. We were quite displeased while we were playing and were franticly just trying to hold the song together. He is a great and enthusiastic guy but we just can’t work in the same way that he does. But other than that, no, I don’t think it was too big of a step. And our next shows will be much improved. Live experience, we have plenty, though these shows were our first outside of Montana. We know how we want to sound and what we want to do, but when we’re being distracted by our newest member it’s going to be compromised.

Do you have any current tour plans for some live stuff? Perhaps some shows in the Seattle area? Hint hint…

Nothing is planned out at the moment, if we don’t do some shows the end of this summer we will definitely be out there next summer. Winter months don’t work for us, as we are all involved in school, studying or teaching (me). At least for another year.

I bet you’re going to hate this question, but tough shit. Do you consider yourselves death metal or black metal? Not that I care, just seems like a good filler question. Personally I’d consider you guys a pretty decent mix of both.

I’d have to agree with you there, we try to blend them together as much as possible. I’d probably say our strongest influence is black metal, but we take those influences and apply them to the death metal genre. It seems to work alright for us.

All the songs on the EP are solid. Which one do you think people most need to listen to for a really good picture of what the band is all about?

That’s a tough one. “Blank Eye Stare” is the oldest song we wrote that made it on the album. If you want a full spectrum of what we’re really about, probably “Art of Death Infernal” AND “Set a Fire in Our Flesh” are closest.

Hey, say something about Blabbermouth. Something about the site, how much it’s turned to shit or how great it is, something about the fucken assholes who post on it… anything. Anytime an interview mentions Blabbermouth, it seems to end up on Blabbermouth. Good promotion for both of us, eh?

Well, I check Blabbermouth about 2 times a day. I read some of the comments, most of them are pretty asinine, but they’re good for a laugh usually. I do like Blabbermouth though, otherwise I wouldn’t know what the hell is going on in the metal scene at all.

So tell me about the artwork. Travis Smith did it right? Was this something he had lying around or did he do it specifically for you guys?

He sure did. We paid the money and he came up with some ideas with us. Turned out pretty good.

Other than the fact that there are probably more cows than people in Montana, what does the cover really have to do with the ep?

It’s based loosely on a few lyrics on the ep.

Thanks for going into detail there! That’s the interesting stuff that our readers look for in our interviews. Now, be honest here… Can you in good conscience recommend that anyone visits Montana ever?

Yup, visit Glacier National Park. It’s pretty amazing there. Eastern Montana is shit though.

Ok, so what’s up with the name Martriden? Who came up with it? Is it better than your previous band name(s)? It’s not a bad name or anything, I just guess I don’t understand and would like it explained. At least it’s not gay like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (a real band, in case you weren’t aware).

The name, yeah it’s better than our previous name, which was being used by a bunch of other bands around the country. Martriden is essentially a messed up version of a wraith that is supposed to be the cause of nightmares in Norse mythology. So I guess the name is half made up and half Norse myth.

Holy shit, we’re over halfway done and I still have time on my lunch break to write more questions. Fuck yes! Let’s take a break. Are you drunk yet? In relation to the last question, who has the worst band name in all of metal? Be courageous here, stand up and be proud. For example, I think Dew Scented is the, hands down, worst name for a band ever, even though they are cool guys and their music isn’t bad. And they slay live. But that name sucks. Ok, go.

Well, there are a lot of really bad metal band names out there. Anything that’s a full sentence seems pretty lousy to me. I can’t really pick one out though, I just don’t think about it enough.

I checked out your forum a while back and I remember a little bitchfight between someone in the band (hopefully you, the one I’m interviewing because otherwise this question doesn’t work) and Gavin from Battleheart. That shit was hilarious because he was giving you guys a hard time saying that Battleheart has a free ep and they have all these fucken fans, but then you guys come out with getting signed to Candlelight and they’re still just some band with a bunch of fans that are happy to take free music from them. Did it feel good to one-up them by getting signed to a respectable label?

Yeah, I recall that. He was giving us grief for exclaiming our dissatisfaction with our EP leaking on the p2p programs. We already at the time had known we were going to sign with some label, wasn’t 100% sure exactly who at the time but we were entertaining a couple of offers. So it was amusing at the very least.

You probably don’t want to say too much bad stuff about them (feel free though). However, I don’t care. Sure, they get to be the kings of their own little kingdom on Ultimate Metal, but really their forum is nothing but the new COB-OT forum. By the way, if Gavin reads this, I post under the same username on Ultimate Metal as I do while writing this interview. Hi. Anyway, it’s getting tough to come up with questions. You guys have 4 songs out and I need 30 goddamned questions. That’s 7.5 questions per song on the album. Eh… what did you watch on TV today? Also, thoughts on pirates?

Well, I just got up, but I’m thinking about watching “Night of the Living Dead” later today.

Was the EP remastered or anything at all before being released by Candlelight? It sounds fucken badass. Who produced the disc?

Dave Otero recorded, mixed and mastered the EP. Only took 2 weeks to do the whole thing. Never re-mastered anything before the official release. You can find Dave’s site here. He works in Denver, CO. Most well known for his work with Cephalic Carnage.

What do you think of the current state of the metal scene? What bands have really captured your attention as of late? Anything you think people should really know about?

The black metal coming out of the US lately has been pretty damn good. Leviathan, Xasthur, Weakling and Wolves in the Throne Room are all great. There’s some other good death metal styled bands around now too that is a lot more tolerable than the metalcore shit that was being pumped out in droves 2 or 3 years ago.

What’s the most embarrassing cd in your collection? Or if you’re like me and not embarrassed about owning Journey cd’s, what would surprise people the most?

I’ve owned some pretty crappy cd’s in my time. Right now, hmmm… probably that copy of Big Tymerz is pretty embarrassing.

I think we’re close to the end. I bet you’re pretty relieved huh? Thanks for hanging in there, it’s been a marathon. So how about we play this game… say a few things about each band and give them a rating out of 26 points. 1 should probably be the shit end because it’s lower, and we aren’t going by golf rules.

- Sigh: 20, I don’t really know much of their stuff, but what I heard wasn’t bad.

- Haggard: 15, reminds me of Therion, its good but I tend to get bored after a while.

- Emperor: 26, every song is excellent. There’s a reason they’re so revered.

- Symphony X: 5, blegh.

- Finntroll: 4, cheese.

- Iced Earth (Barlow era): 20, I listened to them quite a lot when Barlow was singing, powerful voice. Riffs get pretty repetitive though. On to Ripper….

- Iced Earth (Ripper era): 5, can’t stand’em.

- Pain of Salvation: don’t think I’ve heard an entire song yet. Been meaning to check’em out though.

- Marduk: 20, pretty badass. Don’t have a lot of their music, but it is pretty intense. I enjoy it.

- Nick Cave: Don’t know his music.

- Nevermore: 26, amazing riffs, amazing songs, amazing solos… tastefully technical.

- Abysmal Dawn: 20, cool guys… they remind me of Hypocrisy, that’s a good thing.

- David Hasselhoff: That hamburger video makes me hungry every time I see it.

Fuck this, I’m just going to wrap this up a few questions early. I have to get back to work anyway. Thanks so much though for sticking this through. I wish you guys the best of luck to go far and kick as much ass as possible. In closing, please say a few words and let everyone know what kind of cell phone you have (assuming cell phones work in the middle of fucking nowhere). I have a Razr. Trendy :)

Well, when I have service I bust out a Razr as well. Thanks for the interview, and hopefully we’ll see everybody on the road sometime before the next century.