Interviews: Cthulhu Dreamt

This is a new interview with the Death Metal/Metalcore/Metal band Cthulhu Dreamt. Check out the interview and follow the band on his FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or came out just like that?

The name came as a result of a discussion with the band. We knew the concept was built around a Cthulhuian mythos, and ‘Cthulhu Dreamt’ was a winner as it encapsulates the popular phrase - ‘In His House at R’lyeh Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming, yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth.’

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

With metal as a ‘first among equals in our writing, it allowed us to create music in a style that connected all of us in one way or another. Because we all make contributions to the writing, you can hear that genres are pretty fluid throughout all the music we create, whether that’s different genres of metal, or even completely unrelated styles of music: trap, orchestral, bluegrass. We’ve allowed ourselves the freedom of creation, which may be a turn-off for purists, but makes us happy.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

When I (Reed) created the project, I did it with a friend (Jeremy Myslinski) I had met on Twitter. He brought one of his family members (Jake Myslinski) along, and then we added Nate, a longtime friend of my brother’s. Ben has been a writing partner since we went to university together, and Chris is another straggler from Twitter we picked up on the journey, who worked on album two (Liminality).

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Such a tough question to answer, cause my favorites shift frequently. Currently, for me (Reed) I’d have to say Gojira. I just saw their tour with the Deftones and they were mind-bogglingly awesome! For Nate, one band that is consistently among his favorites is Lamb of God. For Jake, Opeth would be his pick if you forced him to make a choice. Chris would say, “maybe Rammstein for having seen them recently, and because if I don't know what else to listen to I usually go to them.” Ben’s favorite for a while has been Rival Sons.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Writing music is part of my (Reed) daily routine, and I work on many projects constantly, from film and media to other band projects. When I come back around and get to keep working on stuff for Cthulhu Dreamt, it’s really nice for me because of how personal the project is for me. I started Cthulhu Dreamt as a means to write about and deal with having lost a daughter, so the entire project is pretty meaningful to me.

6. Where was your last gig?

What may be interesting about Cthulhu Dreamt is that, to date, we’ve been a purely studio band, and the first time most of us have been together is when we filmed the music video for “Change of Scenery”.

7. Where would you like to act?

I think if the opportunity presents itself, and we’re all able to work out our schedules, we’d love to play shows wherever wouldn’t even have to be a tour, could be a show local to any of us, though if we played each of our home towns, it’d be a world tour as Chris lives in England.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Well, how can one answer this question without listing our heroes? Mastodon, Gojira, TesseracT, Igorrr, Rammstein, Lamb of God, Opeth, Tool, Rivers of Nihill… As I’m based in Minnesota, playing with any of the acts here would be a dream, and one I think attainable.

9. Whom not?

Any bands that subscribe to white power or nazism.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Most of us have performed in some regard with different bands or groups and I’m sure have faced stage fright at some point. For me, the fact that I’m on stage with others has been my crutch to overcome performance anxiety. Like, we’re all there doing the same thing together. We’re sharing in this for good or bad.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

The bands that got me into metal were early Metallica, Megadeth, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, and Entombed. The bands that keep inspiring me today are Opeth, Gojira, Archspire, Igorrr, Mastodon, and so many non-metal things like John Powell, Hans Zimmer, Starset, Lonely Island, Atmosphere, Coheed, and Cambria… I could list influences forever, so I'll stop there.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Never had an incident where a fan asked for something weird. It has all been pretty above-board… so far.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Love is the first thing that comes to mind when considering people who dig what we create. If this project speaks to them in any way, that’s a massive win. And if it helps them in any way beyond that, then it’s more successful than we could have ever anticipated.

14. What do you think of our site?

I like the variety of content that exposes me to so many different bands around the world, plus the mediums through which it’s shared are nice and digestible.

15. Something to add?

I started Cthulhu Dreamt as a way to help tell a story, and the universe is expanding. In the second half of 2022 we’ll be partnering with a game development company to build and release a tabletop role-playing game based in the world of Cthulhu Dreamt. It’ll include a bunch of great stuff besides the game; a novel, great art, and a completely original soundtrack by us full of songs, film score, and other flavors.