Interviews: Purgatory Line

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Metal/Grunge band Purgatory Line from the USA. Check out the interview and enjoy the band!

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

The band name came from a Drive By Truckers song that we both liked. The song is about having to "wait in line" while loved ones have passed on. It felt like a good over-arching theme for a lot of our tracks. Jim Marcus of Go Fight! / Die Warzau did the logo.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

We had some pretty clear ideas around the genre and sound of Back to Here early on. Purgatory Line is heavily influenced by 90's grunge sounds (Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, etc). For both Matt and I these are sounds that we grew up on and really shaped what we've done since. When we set out to make this EP, the challenge was to do this in a way that had a modern flare and shed any notions of feeling like dad rock (we're both dads so this is an inherent challenge). So we enlisted Dan Milligan of the Joy Thieves to produce and play drums and I think he did a fantastic job of giving the songs a modern feel.

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

Oh yeah! Matt and I go back 25 years. We'd been in bands in the early aughts together and then I moved to Chicago. We kind of came together over the pandemic and just recorded stuff back and forth. We put out an EP a few years ago, mainly just for our friends but we've kept batting back and forth over the past few years. We'd amassed maybe 40 demos before we settled in on the tracks that became the EP. Outside of Purgatory Line Matt and I also operate a school in Haiti that feeds roughly 60 Haitian children and staff 3 meals a day and provides an education for K-12. It's a really difficult thing to manage right now because of how tough the political situation is but we're making it work!

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Well, I'm all over the place on genres. My band Derision Cult, which is very industrial metal draws from a whole other well of music than Purgatory Line. But for this sort of meat-and-potatoes rock-out stuff, I'm always inspired by Alice In Chains/Jerry Cantrell, Corrosion of Conformity, Soundgarden as well as 90's era Metallica, Guns N Roses etc. I really sort of transferred myself back to high school and what I liked in the 90's. Matt is very much the same, although he has a wider vocabulary for this genre than I do. By the mid-90s I was very far down the industrial rabbit hole!

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

For me, I just amass riffs. Different guitars inspire different riffs for me. I've been through the guitar-a-holic phase like most players. I've probably got around 40 guitars around the house. If I pick up an SG (which is what I did most of the Back to Here tracks with) it'll elicit certain ideas that are different from an explorer or a V. Just the feel of the instrument and how it makes you play. For Matt, a lot of his lyrics draw on universal themes of being human and the struggles we go through. One of my favorite lyrical tracks on the EP Is the title track. It's sort of an anthem for guys our age who've kind of gone through the grind of life, had the careers, and have families and accepted that there isn't a place to just sit and rest...that grind goes on forever. I think it's something we all feel or go through.

6. Where was your last gig?

For me, it was Tech Noir which was Glitchmode's showcase. My band Derision Cult is on that label. We had Joe Bob Briggs come out and introduce all the bands which was a real thrill. Joe Bob looms large in the Glitchmode studio! Seems like Last Drive-In is always on in the background! We did it at a cool spot in Chicago- it was actually Al Capone's old private club.

7. Where would you like to act?

I'd want to be in a Western!

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

I hear there's a third Young Guns installment coming (although I think they have to drop the "young" part out of the title since they're all in their 60s now). I'd love to be an extra in that!

9. Whom not?

Oh man, I'd be down for being with whoever!

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

I did early on. I don't recommend what I did for beginners-- I just drank till I didn't feel feelings and let 'r rip. That isn't a very good long-term solution which I learned the hard way on a few gigs that went sideways. I don't drink at all now. I think the big thing is to A. learn to accept the imperfections-- monitors won't be exactly how you want them, and you may not get the pop you expected on certain songs, if you accept those things to be part of the equation I think its a lot easier to play through them. Nerves seem like they creep up when you put undue expectations on the show. Go out and rock with the expectation that the show itself may not have all the perfect conditions.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

As people Metallica-- I feel like that band has aged quite gracefully. Especially considering things they've gone through- like fatal bus accidents, substance abuse, fan backlash, etc. They aren't pretending to be something they're not but they're proving you can still be intense and rock hard as life goes on. Like I think it'd. looks a little stupid to be guys their age up there with their status singing songs like So What. And they don't have to because they've been able to move past that and they brought their fans with them. I think that's really inspiring for a lot of people. Not just musically but in life. Musically, I'm gearing up to work on a project called Sys Machine which is sort of my electronic/chill project. So I've been really listening to a lot of the more mellow 16 Volt stuff and Front Line Assembly's Echogenetic album. Those two make up a lot of what's been inspiring me lately.

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

That's a tough one! I've never had anybody ask for anything weird per say. Years and years ago I was in a band that was on the road in Wisconsin and we met a coven of witches who happened to be at a show and we got invited to go back to their place after the show and do a seance with them. They had food and we were basically broke pirates so we did it! Turns out that's basically just an exercise in doing psychedelics and chanting gobbledygook till the sun comes up. It wasn't like the devil popped up from out of the fireplace or something.

13. What do you think of your fans?

So far the reaction has been great! I love that Back to Here gets regularly played on our hometown radio station. It's just sort of a cool full-circle thing that I listened to that station to hear all the bands that inspired this album and now it's being played there. It seems like Purgatory Line Fans are people who are sort of our age, in our place in life, and it's cool to see how the tracks find their way to like-minded humans.

14. What do you think of our site?

Love it! Thanks for always supporting indie music!