Interviews: Pupil Slicer

In this new occassion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Mathcore/Powerviolence band Pupil Slicer from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their  FACEBOOK PAGE. 

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

Kate: I was once thinking up joke band names, and I came up with "Pupil Slicer" as the silliest goregrind name I could. A member of a project I was in at the time, then had an idea for a death metal riff so we got together and wrote a couple songs one weekend and ended up using the moniker for this new project.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Kate: Originally we were planning to just have the EP songs be everything we'd do in the vein of jokey Carcass style Deathgrind with a few mathy elements coming from my end since I am a huge fan of Mathcore. After we finished the EP, the other member I was writing with quit and I was able to start writing stuff that was a lot more in the vein of the music I personally enjoy.

Luke: Just to Kate's point. Carcass-style deathgrind is the best! I joined the band on the premise of playing the aforementioned Deathgrind, but since, we have since morphed into a much different beast. So initially, I was drawn by the want to play messy crust music, but have since stayed for the technical and complex math-based direction of the new material. Its a headfuck.

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

Kate: Me and Josh played together in another band prior to this. We got Luke in through an online ad asking for any bassists in the area.

Luke: I am rather fickle, so was drawn by the abrasive name of the band. I didn't know my fellow Slicers beforehand.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Kate: It's a hard pick between Converge or The Dillinger Escape Plan for me.

Luke: I'm not cool - Iron Maiden. Like many a metal bassist, Steve Harris made me want to play bass.

Josh: The Smiths and Bladee are my go to for music atm but Rolo Tomassi inspired me to play this kind of music

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Kate: I'll usually just get really into a song I'm listening to, then pick up my guitar, and try to find a way to emulate the same emotion and effect that song was having on me, whilst trying to keep an original sound. Lyrically I haven't written anything that we have released so far, except Crusher, which was written in 10 minutes on the way to rehearsal, to fit the style of the older lyrics. For the LP I tried to find phrases that can mean something to me, then expand upon them and try to craft a story around them.

Josh: From a drum perspective I really like Elliot Hoffman (Car Bomb) and Paul Seidel (War From A Harlots Mouth). Very different styles but they both mix things up a lot to create an interesting layer to the music.

6. Where was your last gig?

Kate: We played at a battle of the bands competition in London and won the event to get through to the next stage. We'll be performing at the Quarter finals of the competition next week, so we're hoping to up our game to make it through that.

7. Where would you like to act?

Luke: Eastern Europe and / or Russia - so I can get blind drunk and eat Slavic food everyday. Or in South America, or you now more locally, even up in Northern England. A particular venue in London, would be the Brixton Academy or Hammersmith Apollo. They are both really iconic, established venues, rich with history.

Kate: I'd like to play more festivals so we could meet a lot of other bands and get exposed to people who might not otherwise hear our music in a live context.

Josh: The Electric Factory in Philadelphia, looks really fun from videos.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Luke: Leeched or Lotus Eater, both in the UK. But in pure dreamland - Mastodon.

Kate: If you mean to play alongside: Realistically - Employed to Serve, Ithaca and Conjurer. Unrealistically - Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. If we were talking about the realms of collaborating alongside bands then Full of Hell would be really cool to work alongside.

Josh: It would be really fantastic to collaborate with Boris or The Melvins on a project together.

9. Whom not?

Luke: Butt-rock bands, and Motley Crue wannabes.

Kate: There isn't really anyone I would be against playing with as long as the audience can have a good time listening to us.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

Josh: The best way I've found, personally, is to learn all of your material to a high standard and play the best you can. Even if you make a few little mistakes it doesn't matter as long as you give it your all.

Luke: Practice so the songs are on the inside of your brain. Then you can concentrate on performing, rather than remembering the songs. Unfortunately, I don't always act on this advice, and come somewhere in the middle.

Kate: It's awful advice but what I did at our first shows was get drunk before every set then once I'd done a few I didn't need to drink to be confident anymore. (Don't do this, the others gave much better advice.)

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Kate: With the current material we're recording I'd say the answer would be Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Inside the Beehive.

Luke: Listening to all the great and innovative tech-death that is pushing technical metal to the limit at the moment is awe-inspiring. More so, than it actually inspiring me, to spend 35 hours learning and memorizing an extreme tech death song. Still incredible though, and I really dig it! All the first wave of Djent bands, really made me want to explore others types of non traditional metal (i.e. thrash - which I do love though), particularly the rhythmic element, which at the time, felt like a natural progression to incorporate into my bass playing style of slapping the fuck out of metal riffs, in my blatant Flea and Fieldy worship.   

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

Kate: We haven't had any specific instances of anything weird being asked. Overall the London metal community has been very friendly and supportive of us as a band and we get a lot of great feedback from them.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Kate: Our fans are fantastic and I thank them very much for putting up and somehow enjoying the horribly noise we create.

14. What do you think of our site?

Luke: The catalogue of genres and bands from all over the world is staggering, and testament to the dedicated and open nature of Breathing The Core. What a great a platform for every congregation in the broad church of metal. Amen.

15. Something add?

Kate: I think I'd like to say that if anyone has a passion about the music they enjoy and wants to pursue creating their own then they should go ahead and try. I thought I was too old to get into playing music myself when I started playing guitar 3 years ago, I couldn't imagine how far I would have gotten in such a short time. It's never too late to pick up an instrument and try.