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| Interview with Tim Gutierrez, guitarist for PROJECT: FAILING FLESH. Interview done 9-28-07 |
| CAN YOU GIVE A BIT OF THE BACKGROUND HISTORY OF THE BAND UP TO THIS POINT? The other 2 guys are Kevin 131 (instruments) & Eric Forrest (vocals). PROJECT: FAILING FLESH kind of came together when we hooked up with Eric, which was like five or six years ago. Kev & I have written & recorded a bunch of songs & couldn't seem to find a local singer that was working out. So at that dead end we decided to contact some guys whose vocals we were fans of & thought could possibly fit our stuff. Eric was at the top of the list & after a little bit of communication & sending him songs he was up for it & things took shape from there. So far we've released two albums, "A BEAUTIFUL SICKNESS" & recently "CONJOINED". ANY PREVIOUS BANDS MEMBERS WERE IN? ANY SIDE PROJECTS, PAST OR PRESENT? Eric currently plays in E-FORCE & was previously in VOIVOD. Not many would recognize the names of the ones Kev or I have been involved in. But we've been active in the Metal or Heavy music scene since the demo trading early to mid 80's. Some of the bands were WRECKAGE, THE AMAZING BONE, ALEIXA & THE HUMAN OBSCENE. WHY WAS THE NAME PROJECT: FAILING FLESH CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? Mostly because it sounded cool. But it does have meaning. We kind of say it represents the failing of man - physically, socially or mentally. Many of the song topics & artwork fall under that umbrella. |
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| WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF STYLES IN YOUR SOUND YOU MUST HAVE A BUNCH OF INFLUENCES. WHO OR WHAT HAS INFLUENCED YOU GUYS IN MUSIC & LIFE? It'd be way too many to list! We are total music junkies & listen to tons of stuff of all varieties. Probably at the top for influencing this stuff would be SLAYER, SWANS, VENOM, PRONG, VOIVOD, GODFLESH, COP SHOOT COP, CURVE, ENTOMBED, FEAR FACTORY, IMMORTAL, HIRAX, SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, FOETUS, KILLING JOKE, EMPEROR, ARCTURUS & many more. |
| AS MENTIONED THE VARIETY OF STYLES IN YOUR SOUND, HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE SOUNDS OF PROJECT: FAILING FLESH? A big mix of extreme styles with some experimentation & a bit of odd instrumentation on some songs. YOUR NEWEST RELEASE "THE CONJOINED" HAS BEEN OUT FOR A LITTLE WHILE NOW. HOW WELL HAS IT BEEN DOING FOR YOU GUYS? WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN LIKE? Yeah, it came out around April. We haven't really gotten any sales figures yet. But response has been really good. Mostly positive reviews & a good amount of people have written to us via email or myspace & say they dig it. BURNING STAR RECORDS RELEASED THIS ALBUM FOR YOU GUYS. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM? We hooked up with them after we decided to leave or prior label KARMAGEDDON & were looking for a new label. We had some dealings with a couple others that may have offered a bigger name & distro, but for reasons I won't go into neither seemed to be right. BURNING STAR seemed to be the coolest for what we were looking for & most in line with our attitude toward putting out music. So far they've been extremely easy to work with & have done what they said they would. Which is a much different experience than many label stories we hear out there or have personally experienced. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE COVER ARTWORK A BIT & IT'S MEANING? WHO DID IT? A guy named Martin Saavedra from a company in Uruguay called SPINA STUDIOS is responsible for the art. We just gave him some basic starting points & he came up with it. Basically his idea was cool from the start & we would just comment on details. As far as the meaning, I guess it can be interpreted however one likes. I can't comment for Martin or the other PROJECT: FAILING FLESH guys, but to me the human girl with the plastic baby could represent humanity vs. science. Or the plastic nature of the newest generations as opposed to earlier ones. Then above that the fly & torso skeleton could represent failing flesh. There's a few other things that I read into the imagery, but those are sort of the main ones & most obvious, I guess. If my explanations were even anywhere near clear! Haha! YOUR MUSIC HAS A VERY ORIGINAL SOUND & YOUR LYRICS FOLLOW THE SAME PATH. CAN YOU TELL US SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT IN YOUR SONGS? WHO WRITES THE LYRICS? All of us work on the lyrics together. The subjects are all over the place. Many of the actual lyrics are metaphors for other things. But kind of on the surface some have covered human abnormalities, crime, mental illness, death, mind control, overcoming struggles, assassination, fighting, plastic surgery, coma/body harvesting, snuff movies & a bunch of other happy-go-lucky subjects like that. Haha! |
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| WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COVER THE CELTIC FROST SONG "THE USURPER", BESIDES THE OBVIOUS? We enjoy doing covers & that was always a favorite song. We've forever screwed around with those drum & guitar part rhythms thru the years so figured we should finally do a proper version. Plus it's a cool way to pay respect to CELTIC FROST as we have especially been influenced by both their music & their approach. Also it seemed like one we could figure out (haha) & hopefully do justice to. |
| HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BAND HAS EVOLVED, IMPROVED OR CHANGED FROM YOUR LAST ALBUM "A BEAUTIFUL SICKNESS" TO THIS NEW RELEASE? No huge changes really. Maybe the songs this time around turned out a little more dense & require a few more listens to pick up some of the subtleties but they still seem related to the earlier stuff we'd done. Our working situation went easier as we had worked together on the first album & in the meantime had become better friends & knew each others working habits so we were able to get on the same page much quicker. I personally like the new one slightly better so I feel we improved. But that's up to each listener, I guess. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOURING PLANS FOR THIS ALBUM? WHO WILL YOU BE ON THE ROAD WITH & WHERE WILL IT TAKE YOU? Well, we really haven't done shows yet. We were basically concieved as a recording thing. But when this one came out we decided we were gonna try to expand to a live line up & hopefully do a few shows. So we're going to do something at some point, but no plans are in stone yet. Hopefully some fests & maybe a short string of dates if we could hook with a cool tour or something. Right now we're having a little trouble finding others to round out the line up. We've had some friends who got involved but then dropped out for different reasons. So we are kind of back at square one, but the plan is still to pursue it as we work on a new album. But at this time are just being relaxed about it & letting it happen in it's own time frame. ARE THERE ANY INTERESTING ROAD, LIVE OR OTHER BAND STORIES THAT STICK OUT THAT YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? Not many other than the regular Rock star antics like trashing hotel rooms, groupie adventures, excessive drug taking, near plane crashes, ant snorting, bat biting, piles of money earned & lost, run-ins & tour van chases with the law & that sort of thing. No, seriously...not much at all that exciting has happened. We are pretty laid back guys. maybe when we get out there playing a little we'll have some more interesting stories. ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU ARE CURRENTLY LISTENING TO? I mostly listen to heavy stuff but enjoy music from all genres. Outside of Metal I've lately been listening to INTERPOL, THE DONNAS, KELLY CLARKSON, ANGELS OF LIGHT, MUSE & a few others. |
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| WHAT IS ONE THING YOU'D THINK PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? That I love to watch teen dramas on TV. Gilmore Girls, Dawsons Creek, The OC, Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed, One Tree Hill, The Hills, etc. The lot of them haha. My viewing habits are of a sixteen year old mall girl. Haha! Embarrassing but true. WHAT DO YOU DO TO OCCUPY YOUR TIME WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? |
| Petty theft, drug smuggling, murderer for hire, pornographer. Sorry...those are all lies from my more degenerate, but exciting life. Actually simple stuff like messing around on the computer, reading, TV, movies, hanging with friends or playing with the cat. WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT FROM PROJECT: FAILING FLESH? We've got a good bit written for album #3 & will continue on that a little at a time until it's ready for release. Also, as mentioned before, we are trying to get a live line up together to hopefully play some shows. Plus look for our PROJECT: FAILING FLESH perfume line coming soon!!! WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S OVER? I was out hanging with a friend most of the day...hitting record stores, eating dinner & watching some DVD about THIN LIZZY. After finishing this up I will probably listen to a couple albums then crash out. THANX FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER THIS INTERVIEW? IF YOU'D LIKE TO ADD ANYTHING, FEEL FREE! Was a pleasure. Thank you for doing it with us! All the best to TREATS FROM THE UNDERGROUND. For your support of the scene for so long! If anyone is interested in our stuff they can find more information on our websites. Latest album "THE CONJOINED" out now on BURNING STAR RECORDS. Available thru THE END RECORDS & others in the states & PLASTICHEAD & a bunch of places overseas. Also watch for Eric's band E-FORCE & their new album "MODIFIED POISON" out soon. A cool thrashy album! The three of us also collaborated on a song for that too. Ok, that's it for the commercial. Thanks again! |
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| ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF PROJECT: FAILING FLESH INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |