Weep - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

Weep: The best description for Weep I can offer is if you crammed all the misery and sorrow of DSBM into the frenetic fast-paced melancholy of post-hardcore. My goal is always to craft songs that are dynamic and interesting, and I find that leaning on my love of post-hardcore has lent what can otherwise be a somewhat monotonous genre a unique character.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

Weep: I grew up around Chicago and was always a big metal-head. I was obsessed with bands like Sylosis and Sabaton all through high school. At university I finally met some metal-head friends and like all idiotic and untalented metalheads we started a shitty black metal band. That shitty black metal was called Crotaline and thankfully is somewhat less shitty now. Weep became an offshoot of Crotaline when I felt that my love for pensive doom and depressive black metal didn’t fit the rough and tumble punky attitude of Crotaline.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

Weep: I think one of my biggest inspirations as an artist has always been the many musical faces of Mr. Garry Brents. Cara Neir was one of the first bands that showed me just how much genre boundaries could be bent and the fact that he makes and produces all the music himself also gave me faith that a solo project could transcend the stereotypes of bedroom black metal artist. Other influences for Weep are bands like Katatonia and Ulver who use black and doom metal as a backdrop for strong emotion.

Outside of music I would say that watching David Lynch movies gave me the confidence to express myself even if the result was batshit insane.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

Weep: My goal first and foremost is to create art that connects people with themselves. The best art transcends the artist and becomes an ingrained part of your life and experiences. When the artist ceases to have ownership over the art, I think that’s when it becomes immortal. I want people to listen to my music and feel things, think about their life and experiences, and connect them with mine. Any material success is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

Weep: Although I was only filling in live, playing bass & doing vocals for Hypnopompia on tour in Ohio was the best couple weeks of my life. There’s nothing more exhilarating or satisfying than leaving it all out there on stage and losing yourself to the crowd and the music.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

Weep: Being frank, most bedroom musicians know that they’re never gonna be huge. Especially in a niche genre like black metal. We do it because we love music, and we all feel that compulsive need to create. As the owner of a label I’m a little more acquainted with promotion but you’ll never succeed as an artist in this realm if your goal is to be popular. The goal is to make good music, if people like listening to it that’s just the cherry on top.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

Weep: We try and do all our live stuff DIY. Weep is a solo project for now strictly so it won’t be playing live anytime soon. However my crust/sludge project Architeuthis is gearing up for some live shows. I fully expect them to take place in a basement somewhere and be thrown together 48 hours beforehand but that’s what we love and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll maybe remember to notify people on social media. Maybe.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

Weep: I think the ease of access to music we all have today is an amazing thing for musicians. I’ve discovered music I love and cherish through the internet that 30 years ago I wouldn’t have had a chance to hear. While I think the financials of streaming are a somewhat exploitative, I’m lucky to exist in a metal community which has never lost its affinity for physical media, and always supports artists to the best of its ability.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

Weep: I wish I wrote the song Ben’s My Friend by Sun Kil Moon for two reasons. The first is it would mean I had found a way to translate the numbing randomness of life into something almost resembling sensibility, and the second is that the song would no longer be written by a creepy sex predator and I would feel no ambivalence about enjoying it.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

Weep: I wish that people would stop using black metal as a space to push their gross bigotry. I think metal at its core has always been a refuge for the rejected and disenfranchised. It disgusts me to no end that people out there blatantly ignore this fact, and seek to turn it into a place defined by hatred and exclusion. If you’re a nazi you’re a poseur because there’s nothing more pathetic than using music to spread hate.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

Weep: Having just wrapped up the EP I’m currently sketching out tracks for a full length. Hopefully that will materialize within the next couple of years but inspiration is a fickle muse and who knows when I’ll finally be able to muster the creative energy to manifest it.

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

Weep: You can follow me on instagram @weep_dsbm. Otherwise all music and merch is available through my label Liminal Dread Productions. Visit our website or bandcamp to buy your Weep CD today!