TOKYO GAS ATTACK - Creating a whole new Earache in Houston

It’s refreshing here in Houston to see a newer band playing grindcore the right way. You definitely remind me of early Napalm Death mixed with some Agathocles and Meat Shits. Give us your influences and explain how the band came together.

Well Nick, Max, Zach And myself, are into all sorts of music. We’re not closed minded at all. But for Tokyo Gas Attack, we all dove into our grindcore/powerviolence/crossover thrash roots. Napalm Death being a major one for myself, but we all dig Wormrot, Graf Orlock, Sex prisoner, Brutal Truth, Iron Reagan, Spazz, G.G.Allin, Pavel Checkov. On the next batch of songs we have written you will hear a big Japanese/ black metal noise influence as well, from the likes of Endon, Friendship, Merzbow, and also Full of Hell. Well the way the band was formed happened like all bands, me and Max had been jamming and originally we where gonna start another hardcore band but we also wanted to mix blast beats and we where having a hard time finding members. Then Max came across a post on Craigslist and it was Nick looking for a band to start or join. He was moving from Virginia back to Texas I believe. Well we set up a practice and jammed and the rest is history. We all cliqued and decided we worked better as a three piece. So that’s how we stayed until most recently with the addition of Zach on guitar. Unfortunately, recently Max played his last show with us a week ago. He moved back to his home town of Detroit. He went back for school and a great job opportunity. We wish him the best of luck and he will be missed. Nick and Max brought the noise and samples.

I absolutely love your band name. If I had never heard your band before, the name itself would definitely grab my interest. What’s the story behind it?

Max came up with the name. It's surrounded around the Japanese cult Aum shinriku. They were responsible for the Sarin Gas attack in the subways in Tokyo back in 95.

I like how the lyric topics are definitely all over the place. My favorite is the conjoined twin story in the song Dead Weight. Is the lyric writing done by one person or is it collaboration?

Nick pretty much handles the lyric writing but we discuss the direction of the content and music writing as a whole. We all have a say in what we release. It's funny cause we use alot of movie clips and samples in our songs and alot of our stuff revolves around gangsta movies. Like Blood in Blood out, American Me, Shot Caller, Boyz n the Hood, also serial killers like Richard Kuklinski The Iceman. We don't dive into politics or take ourselves too serious. We just like to have fun and write crazy shit.

The noise elements you added are fantastic, especially in the song “Email Shemale”. Are you influenced by any noise bands?

Yea we dig the Japanese noise scene. Bands like Endon, Friendship, Merzbow, Boris we also dig stuff like Painkiller, and John Zorn's Naked city, Mick Harris' bands scorn and again Full of hell.

According to your bandcamp page, the EP was self produced. I think the production works perfectly with the music. Give us a breakdown of your recording process.

Yes the e.p. was recorded by Max and Nick. We decided fuck paying 100's of dollars for an over polished e.p. Since Max and Nick had all the mics and the programs and shit we said Fuck it. All our favorite bands’ releases where raw in sound and our favorites so we said Fuck it. We're gonna record all our own releases from now on. Plus there's no point in having over produced songs ranging from 2 seconds to a minute and twenty seconds.

You have an upcoming show in Louisiana. Will this be your first time playing there? Do you plan doing some out of state touring?

For Tokyo Gas attack it's a first and we do plan on touring soon. We will be booking our own shows with like minded bands be it skate punk, punk, d beat, powerviolence, grindcore, noise, crust, sludge etc. Locally too. Tokyo Gas Attack will be in a city near you. #preparefortheattack

Fill free to add anything additional here.

Thanks again for the interview.

https://www.facebook.com/tokyogasattack/
https://tokyogasattack.bandcamp.com/

Bayou Vimana - Putting the ROCK back into Rock & Roll

Bayou Vimana definitely brings the ROCK back into rock & roll. The songs are catchy, yet still dirty enough to sound legitimate. When forming the band, what was your main goal? We just wanted to hang out and play rock n roll man. 

When listening to your music, I hear a variety of rock influences. What rock gods do you pray to?  Is this a rigged question? Naw man, we just love the basics of good rock n roll.

Your group is definitely not short of veteran musicians. Being that all the members have been in various bands, I would assume the chemistry is probably great. Can you give us a fly on the wall view of how a normal rehearsal takes place, everything from the writing process to band decision making? Nothing out of the ordinary with us at rehearsal. We all have equal input, all carry gear, all pay rent, and all bring beer.

I have the fantastic free CD-R you were giving out, but do you have any plans of doing an official release?  We released “Origin Sound-Southwing Audio Masters EP” in 2017. It is a 6 song EP that we began at Craig Douglas’ Origin Sound Studios until he flooded out and then moved us over to Gus and Chris Kritikos’ place, Southwing Audio. We have sold several hundred copies locally, so we are pretty happy with our first recording. We are looking to get back into the studio with Craig late in 2018 to work on our first full length. 

What’s your favorite venue to play in Houston? Also, have you played in any other cities? Nothing will ever replace our old home, Emo’s man. These days are very different. We enjoy playing Rudyard’s, Dan Electro’s and Concert Pub North. We have played up in Austin a couple of times, but have kept things close to home so far. 2018 looks like it will change all of that.

I have to ask, what is the story behind the band name? Something spoke to Arnett and I when we unknowingly were watching an episode of Ancient Aliens at the same time on Vimanas. Some metal band from Denver already had that name. So, being from the Bayou City, we naturally slapped “Bayou” in front of Vimana and that seemed to stick.  

Last words. Last words will be on our tombstones.

https://www.facebook.com/bayouvimana/