New interview

TZ75 wrote:My mistake… (misinformation not intended). 

I’m not necessarily against a one guitar lineup… 
I couldn’t imagine Pantera or Black Sabbath with a second player!

I was just asking what you preferred. Since I was not in the band or present during band discussions, all I can do is assume or (thanks to this thread) get the truth directly from you here. But if I make a false assumption, it’s not intentional.

I didn't mean to make you feel singled out. Sorry.

TZ75 wrote:This isn’t a question. Just a comment…

I really like your cover of Dogman from King’s X.

Thanks. I was happy with how it turned out. Close enough to the original to be familiar, but with enough quirkiness and call backs to our stuff (especially "Crawl To China") to make it clear it was us.

The vocal tracking was a brutal day. We had limited time to get it done, and I wound up having to drive to LA in the middle of the week to do the vocal. Then, as now, I had a day job, and so I had to wrangle things to get the day, and I could only get the one day, so I was on the road by 5:30 or so that morning driving from SF to LA.Got there before noon, tracked the vocal, hung out long enough to hear the playback, and drove straight back so I could make it to work the next day.

You know who really doesn't like our version? Ty Tabor. I don't know him, so Ive never heard it directly from him, but when the song had been out a little bit we heard that Ty could not stand our version. Can't win 'em all...

No worries. Just wanted to clarify a bit. 




Thanks for all the inside info on the recording sessions etc…

Ty Tabor seems like the perfectionist of the group. Doug seems to be the more open-minded guy. He has done a vast array of different projects.

Hey Luke, I edited my post above. I added a comment about Ty Tabor.

The Galactic Cowboys are underrated. Do you like them at all?

TZ75 wrote:The Galactic Cowboys are underrated. Do you like them at all?

Love them. Especially the first two albums.

Luke Easter wrote:

TZ75 wrote:The Galactic Cowboys are underrated. Do you like them at all?

Love them. Especially the first two albums.

I’m with you on that! But I also like Machine Fish too!

This is a brilliant thread.  It's great to hear answers to so many different questions.  Thanks for doing this, Luke.

Outside of The Pop Disaster I love Crawl To China the most, when it comes to your vocals.  I know it's not the heaviest, and not the most well received Tourniquet album, but I quite often go back to it, and pop it in my CD player.

Is there any YouTube footage of your band before Tourniquet?  I've got a vague memory that I have heard a song, but that could just be me dreaming...

Fundy wrote:This is a brilliant thread.  It's great to hear answers to so many different questions.  Thanks for doing this, Luke.

I'm happy to do it. Like I said in a previous post, there's no me without all of you. Doesn't mean I'll answer every question, but so far no one's asked anything incendiary or inappropriate, so all is well.

Fundy wrote:Outside of The Pop Disaster I love Crawl To China the most, when it comes to your vocals.  I know it's not the heaviest, and not the most well received Tourniquet album, but I quite often go back to it, and pop it in my CD player.

Thanks! Kris and I worked really hard to make TPD the best we could. Crawl gets a bad rap from some, and I honestly don't understand why. Sure it may not have had blast beats and such, but it still has it's heavy moments as well as a lot of the quirkiness that we were known for. In a lot of ways, that album - from my perspective, anyway - was us at our least self-conscious in terms of chasing down ideas and being creative. The scene had shifted a little, and it was tough for a lot of heavy band (especially on the Christian side of the market) to cut through. We had the benefit of a solid fanbase, but we also had the benefit of being willing to try different things; to not just follow the formula, although I'd argue that became the MO later on. So we just did what we wanted, really. And aside from Carry The Wounded, its probably the only album where I got to be a little more myself, vocally. That's not to say I was not being genuine on some of the other stuff, but my sweet spot seems to be the poppier end of the hard rock spectrum. I'm comfortable there, and I think that come across in the performances. A song like "Proprioception" where I could channel a little of my inner Robin Zander on the choruses was a lot of fun, as was being a little more folksy and almost silly like on "Bats."

Fundy wrote:Is there any YouTube footage of your band before Tourniquet?  I've got a vague memory that I have heard a song, but that could just be me dreaming...

If there is, I'm not aware of it. Nor am I going to go looking for it. I have a lot of fond memories from that time, and I'm still friends with the guys from that band. I learned how to be in a band, how to write songs, and a lot of how performing and stuff works playing with those guys, and I will forever be thankful for that time. With that said, we really weren't very good, so I'm fine with letting that material recede into the mists of time.

About live performances:

Could you tell us about the show with no bass player? What happened that day?

Do you have a memorable show?

What was the criterion to choose songs for a live performance? I guess you did not have to much time to rehearse.

Luke Easter wrote:

TZ75 wrote:Even though you joined after Erik left, there was a certain dynamic with two guitars that you lose when you only have one. Like dual harmonies and the loss of rhythm during a solo section.

By the way, your statement that I joined the band after Erik left, that exactly the sort of inaccurate misinformation I was referring to earlier in this thread. I joined the band in June 1993 for the Pathogenic tour. The lineup was Gary, Ted, Victor, Mendez, and me. Mendez left at the end of that tour. I was actually the first to know; I drove him home when we got back to LA, and he told me he was done.

Here's a show that had both you and Erik:




There are at least three versions from three different angles of this show on Youtube. This one has the best sound.

I love this show! Very high energy and Luke does some stage diving too. The first happens at around 16:40 (I love the reaction by someone close to the camera  yeah-haaaaa! ) and the other at around 17:07.

Fantastic show!

I wanted to ask Ted this question, but it’s impossible now…
So I’m hoping you might know.

Given his stance on animal rights, was there ever any discussion of covering the song Countdown to Extinction? The lyrical content is almost uncannily similar to what Ted would write. And it’s no secret that he was a big Megadeth fan.

Tourniguy wrote:About live performances:

Could you tell us about the show with no bass player? What happened that day?

 
Which time? The first time, Andino just didn't show up. He didn't return calls, and we were a little nervous that he wasn't going to show up. And he didn't. We got to Germany to play, and he just never showed up. We scrambled to find someone, but as our stuff is a bit technical in parts, we couldnt just find a ringer who could ride the root note. So we wound up a man down. So we proceeded to tear the roof off of the venue. I think it was honestly the most ferocious performance we ever gave. I was tasked with calling Andino when we got home, and I don't remember what his excuse was; just that it was nonsense. Needless to say, that was the end of that.

The other time was the airline's fault. Gaines was playing with us at the time. There was weather flying out of Nashville, and initially he was delayed. He tried everything to get to Europe, but the earliest he could get there was a day or two after the show. So we sucked it up and played without a bass player. Again. The worst part is that Tim's bass actually made it onto a flight, but since he didn't it wound up sitting in baggage claim, unclaimed. The airline finally got it back to him, but in the interim TSA had basically disassembled the bass and just tossed all the pieces back in the case. Because national security. Thank you, Department of Homeland Absurdity... 

Tourniguy wrote:Do you have a memorable show?

There were a lot of memorable shows. The first one. The first European one. Mainstage at Cornerstone. The Ice Pick in Michigan.The rabbit in the pit at Sonshine. Our first time at Flevo when it looked like the crowd was not pleased we didn't get an encore. Our second time there when we played for the biggest crowd we ever played for in our entire career. A lot of cool shows over the years.

Tourniguy wrote:What was the criterion to choose songs for a live performance? I guess you did not have to much time to rehearse.

Ted usually picked. A lot of the time it came down to time - ho long was the set time. THen there were the songs we had no choice but to play; like "The Test For Leprosy," "Ark of Suffereing." Songs like. I dont recall having an actual, proper rehearsal since 1997 when we were headed to Europe for the first handful of dates we did supporting Crawl. After that it was generall running through the set at low volume in a hotel room or backstage just before a show. Hence a lot of the aggression/ferocity/rawness when we played. We knew the songs, and we all woodshedded our parts, but it was still always a little loose.

Airola wrote:Here's a show that had both you and Erik:




There are at least three versions from three different angles of this show on Youtube. This one has the best sound.

I love this show! Very high energy and Luke does some stage diving too. The first happens at around 16:40 (I love the reaction by someone close to the camera  yeah-haaaaa! ) and the other at around 17:07.

Fantastic show!

Thanks!

TZ75 wrote:I wanted to ask Ted this question, but it’s impossible now…
So I’m hoping you might know.

Given his stance on animal rights, was there ever any discussion of covering the song Countdown to Extinction? The lyrical content is almost uncannily similar to what Ted would write. And it’s no secret that he was a big Megadeth fan.

I wouldn't say he was a big Megadeth fan. He liked some of their songs, but he was primarily a Marty fan. Aaron and I were the Megadeth fans, especially Guerra. That said, I don't recall there eve being a cover of "Countdown..." being a possibility. One reason for that is exactly what you pointed out: it was similar in tone and content to what Ted might write. Given that there were already songs that had the same message, covering someone else's would have mad a lot of sense.

Yeah I know he was a Marty fan. Do you know if he liked Nick Menza?

Goes to show that a lot of impressions I had of Tourniquet were only half true at best. Geez

Maybe I should never describe someone as a “big” fan just in case. LOL

Will the "lost" Tourniquet album you guys recorded in 2006 (w/ Joshua Perahia and Erik Jan James) ever be released?



What was the deal with Vince Dennis from Steel Prophet? Why didn't he stay in the band?

In an interview in the As The Story Grows show Erik Mendez mentioned Ted had asked him to play some guest lead guitars in one of your albums? I recall he didn't say what it was. I think it was Where Moth and Rust Destroy, but it could've been "Antiseptic Bloodbath" too, back when you were first supposed to make the follow up to Moth.

I recall the follow up could've been done around 2006-2008 or so but you couldn't find a label that would've let you do the album without demoing it first, or something like that - I remember there was supposed to be an online fan chat around that time too, which ended up failing because too many people online crashed the chat room. For some reason I recall one of the subject matters to talk about in that chat would've been the next album.

Anyway, do you remember if it was Moth or the follow up when Ted was briefly in talks with Erik? Or if that happened at all? Or if you just didn't know about that.

TZ75 wrote:Yeah I know he was a Marty fan. Do you know if he liked Nick Menza?

I don't know.

TZ75 wrote:Goes to show that a lot of impressions I had of Tourniquet were only half true at best. Geez

Maybe I should never describe someone as a “big” fan just in case. LOL

LOL

MagnusPrime wrote:Will the "lost" Tourniquet album you guys recorded in 2006 (w/ Joshua Perahia and Erik Jan James) ever be released?



What was the deal with Vince Dennis from Steel Prophet? Why didn't he stay in the band?

Vince was a hired gun. I loved playing with him. He brought a lot to the live show. Killer performer. But he had other things going on like Steel Prophet, I think he was involved with Prong at one point, and he always had ties to Body Count, so he was and is a busy guy. 

Airola wrote:In an interview in the As The Story Grows show Erik Mendez mentioned Ted had asked him to play some guest lead guitars in one of your albums? I recall he didn't say what it was. I think it was Where Moth and Rust Destroy, but it could've been "Antiseptic Bloodbath" too, back when you were first supposed to make the follow up to Moth.

Ted had expressed interest in Mendez playing on what eventually became Antiseptic Bloodbath. We had no idea, or really any way of knowing, that there would be so long a stretch of time between albums after WMARD dropped. In the meantime, and I honestly don't remember how, but Ted had reconnected with Erik and the possibility of him playing a lead or leads on the next record came up.

Airola wrote:I recall the follow up could've been done around 2006-2008 or so but you couldn't find a label that would've let you do the album without demoing it first, or something like that - I remember there was supposed to be an online fan chat around that time too, which ended up failing because too many people online crashed the chat room. For some reason I recall one of the subject matters to talk about in that chat would've been the next album.

Anyway, do you remember if it was Moth or the follow up when Ted was briefly in talks with Erik? Or if that happened at all? Or if you just didn't know about that.

That timeframe sounds about right. Remember, Moth was Ted and me with Marty and Bruce playing leads. Aaron was out of the picture for awhile at that time, and we were looking for a guitar player so we could play live. Aaron wound up returning, and we carried on from there. When he came back, we played shows to support Moth, which had been out a little bit by that point. Of course, the talk eventually turned to doing the followup, and we began pursuing making that happen.

Side note: this was around the time I initially floated the idea of doing a side project. We'd played Sonshine - i think that was 2004 0r so - and we were all staying at Ted's before we flew home. Ted and I were both up a little early, I told him I wanted to do a solo record, and that it wouldn't be metal. He said he hoped it wouldn't be something that would tarnish the brand, and I assured him that was not something I'd ever do. He didn't ask me to not do it, but he wasnt super enthusiastic. he did ask that I hold off until we did the next band album. I agreed, not knowing that wouldn't happen until 2011.

As to the demo thing, us doing demos was not the issue. By that point we were a known entity, and any label that might have been interested in working with us would have had a clear picture of the range of possibilities, stylistically and sonically, that an album by us would include. The issue was lack of touring. Everyone we spoke to wanted ticket sale information, and a commitment to X number of dates if they were going to sign us. We'd never been road dogs, and by that time none of us was in a position to drop everything and hit the road, so we hit a brick wall in terms of a label. Which eventually took us to Kickstarter, and yadda yadda yadda...

The chat room crash was way before that, I think. I think that was closer to when Aaron first returned. But I do remember logging on, saying hello, and the whole thing crashing. Good times.

But back to Erik; yes there was talk, but I don't know what happened. I just know that Ted changed his mind and Erik didn't play.

Warning… silly question. 


Have you ever been approached at a festival like Cornerstone and been mistaken for a member of a different band? For example: Stavesacre. LOL

TZ75 wrote:Warning… silly question. 


Have you ever been approached at a festival like Cornerstone and been mistaken for a member of a different band? For example: Stavesacre. LOL

Ha! I have never been mistaken for someone else, but I've been told that the first time I played Milwaukee Metal Fest, where Cannibal Corpse was also on the bill, Chris Barnes kept getting asked if he was me. And I hear he wasn't pleased about it.

^This is one of the most fantastic things I have ever read. (Although it doesn't make a lot of sense, dudes don't really look at all similar? Maybe at the time, idk.)

Grindboy wrote:^This is one of the most fantastic things I have ever read. (Although it doesn't make a lot of sense, dudes don't really look at all similar? Maybe at the time, idk.)

I think it's because we both had long curly hair at the time. We look nothing alike, but he didn't have the dreads at the time, I don't think, so we were two tall white dudes all in black with long curly hair. And I was the new shiny thing that year, both at MMF and Cstone. I cant even say its true for sure, but it is something I heard from more than one person at Metal Blade.

Grindboy wrote:^This is one of the most fantastic things I have ever read. (Although it doesn't make a lot of sense, dudes don't really look at all similar? Maybe at the time, idk.)

It had to be their hair. Before Barnes had the dreadlocks, his hair was somewhat like Luke’s circa 1994.


*edit*

Luke basically said the same thing I did. He beat me to it! LOL

From a distance, I do think Luke resembles Mark Salomon from The Crucified/Stavesacre. This time it’s his bald head (rather than the Chris Barnes hair). LOL

Carl Grimmark is doing the bald look too... (I've personally been rocking it for over 12 years now too)

I was thinking the same thing about Mark Solomon or Eric Clayton too....

FUNNY story about Chris Barnes and Cannibal.... glad Luke shared it

there's a bunch of dudes in the mainstream "secular" scene doing it too..... Venom Inc. for instance....

jaydeecrawson wrote:Carl Grimmark is doing the bald look too... (I've personally been rocking it for over 12 years now too)

I was thinking the same thing about Mark Solomon or Eric Clayton too....

FUNNY story about Chris Barnes and Cannibal.... glad Luke shared it

there's a bunch of dudes in the mainstream "secular" scene doing it too..... Venom Inc. for instance....

Kerry King, Scott Ian and Rob Halford have been bald for decades. I think they do it because of natural balding. Phil Anselmo does it by choice.