An Interview With ERIMHA

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ERIMHA, (pronounced (er-ee-mah) is a death metal band from the Montreal area. Formed in 2010 and consists of members:  Gore-vocals,  Kthien- lead guitar, Kronik-guitar, and  Ksaos-drums. Erimha just released their latest album and are about to embark on a tour in Canada.  I was able have a phone interview with Kthien and was surprised that Gore and Ksaos were able to join us.

Side Stage: So we have almost everybody here with us today?

Kthien: Exactly

Side Stage: That’s good, but not normal is it? You guys aren’t on tour yet?

Kthien: No, not yet, but we are mostly always together.

Gore: I see the band as more of a brotherhood were often together and often working and progressing constantly.

Let’s talk about your new album Thesis Ov Warfare that was released October 30th.  How as the response been?

Kthien: Really good, the feedback from the album is starting to come in slowly but surely. People are pleasantly surprised of the new sound that we are going towards. We decided to work a little more on our progressions into the songs. We had a little more aspect and we had the Kronik which is our new guitar player. That added a whole different volume to the writing process. Right now I think people aren’t in shock, but they are pleasantly surprised by the sound that we’ve taken.

Did you use the same producers as the last albums?

Gore: No, we had a completely new producer this time. We decided to go into a studio that was based on analog gear and not digital gear. It’s a really well known studio known for really famous Quebec artists, pop artists, they weren’t really known for recording metal.

Kthien: We tried a lot of different approaches to the recording where we mostly recorded all the instruments playing at the same time in the studio room. I think that was a big change for us though. Instead of sitting in front of a computer with a guy telling you to repeat whatever part you are recording. This time around we were just playing thru the song as much as we could, just getting the natural vibe of us playing.  So to us I think that was a big change on this album recording wise.  This album is 98% analog. We have maybe a reverb that is being used on a single part that ended up being from Pro Tools but the rest was all physical gear.  Up to now we were curious to see how people would hear the sound of this album production wise because everything is so over produced over the past couple years.  We were curious to see how the reaction would be towards having a more natural sound and up to now it’s been pretty good.  I mean we recorded the album in 5 days and we mixed it in 4 days. All together we spent 9 days working on this album, what you hear, is what it is.  To us that was a crazy rush but I think that the energy that we put in is being supped when you listen to it.

Who does most of the writing?

Kthien: It’s a group effort. This time around it was a little different because we based a lot of the song on guitar parts. Mostly in the past we worked around lyric and vocal patterns. A lot of the drumming too this time around it was a lot more based on the guitar aspect of the song.  It brought different volumes to the whole album.

So I see you are touring Canada this time around any plans on coming back to the US?

Gore: we are just waiting for the perfect opportunity and something that makes sense. It’s more and more complicated to get into the US. We want to make sure things are done properly. It needs to make sense that we are on this tour. It’s in the talks but there is nothing official.

Kthien: The fun part for us is that this is the first time that we are actually doing a full on tour we have done 7 dates max before in continuation in Canada. We have never done a full on east coast tour. We have done weekend shows and we have hit all the territories that we are going at.  They were separated; they were never at the same time so that is pretty cool.

What has the biggest accomplishment been for the band to date?

Kthien: Signing with the label for us. There was actually a process for us, we had to go to showcase in Chicago Illinois. Two weeks before none of us had passports or the tools to actually go.  It was two weeks of rushing and finding the three best songs to play for them in the showcase.  That all led to us getting a contract with Victory. Most people don’t realize how much work it takes releasing an album or promoting bands. They are there at the office before we get up and still there late at night.  They almost do it seven days a week. A lot of people don’t see the behind the scenes how much people are behind a certain project to make things work.

Are you still touring in the van or a bus now?  

Kthien: Always a van, as long as we can. Financially it’s never really one of the things to do, get a tour bus. You know you have your driver, your warmth, your bed and everything. We try as hard as possible to make it work.  We are going to stick with a van as long as we can.

What essentials do you take on the road with you? What do you need to have to keep sane?

Kthien: Basically our instruments.

Gore: Gear and your state of mind.

Kthien: We are not the kind of people who bring laptops, or gaming devices or anything like that.  Once we hit the road to us it’s always a journey, so to have distractions and stuff like that we try to eliminate as much as we can once we hit the road.  The most important part is that we have the van, the trailer and the gear then it doesn’t matter what happens.

If you could play with another person in the band, living or dead who would it be?

Gore: Maybe not my dream person, but lately I have been really inspired by Devin Thompson’s work. I think that guy is just really fucking unique doing what he does vocally. For me personally, that would be having him as a guest appearance on one of our songs. Or having him producing a song for us, something like that.

Kthien: I think that is a really good choice.   For the rest of us it’s a really hard choice.  We don’t idolize a lot of people. I think it’s hard for us to pinpoint a person who could bring something because we are not people who are based a lot on cover songs.  To have someone join us on this project, I think, comes to a whole different part.  This is so personal to us, no matter who it would be, to have them step inside. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done or where you’ve been.  It’s if we can deal with you for 12 hours in a room.  That is what’s more important than who you are or what you’ve done.

What is your favorite thing that fans bring to shows for you guys?

Gore: We have a friend of ours who is a fantastic artist. He always draws really great fucking stuff. He actually made action figures for us out of scratch. They were us.  I think that is the coolest thing we have ever got. Everyone has one now.  Every time we go play shows in that area he always comes around with artwork that he has done. He does things for a bunch of other bands too.  That is the coolest thing that we have had.  Every time he comes out it’s either a new drawing, or he shows us what he has done for other bands. What is cool too is that he has bands sign things. Instead of doing what a lot of people would do, which is try to sell them, he will give them out to other bands that like that band.

Anything you want to say to your fans?

Kthien: If you are going to listen to this album listen to it as a whole. Go through the lyrics and if they speak to you most likely you will enjoy this album.

Look for Erimha  with The Apex and Killitorous on their upcoming Canadian tour:

Nov.18th London,ON at The Grinning Gator
Nov.19th Windsor,ON at The Music hall
Nov.20th Guelph,ON at The District
Nov.21th Hamilton,ON at The Underground
Nov.22nd Toronto,ON at Nocturne
Nov.24th Belleville ,ON at The Bellepub
Nov.25th Oshawa,ON at The Atria
Nov.26th Ottawa, ON at House of Targ
Nov.27th Montreal,QC at Katacombes
Nov.28th Drummondville,QC at Pub Heriot
Nov.29th Trois-Riviere,QC at Rock cafe le stage
Dec.2nd Quebec,QC at L’anti Bar
Dec.4th Halifax,NS at Gus’pub & Grill
Dec.5th Moncton,NB at Esquire Tavern
Dec.7th Fredericton,NB at Capital Complex

 

Erimha’s Facebook page

follow Erimha on Twitter

https://www.youtube.com/user/ErimhaVEVO

Victory Records

 

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