FALSE GODS is an american sludge band with post punk and hardcore influences I discovered recently. A quite unusual atmosphere comes out from their music, and I find the band should be more renowned. Since they released a new album recently I took the opportunity to send them a few questions.
1. Hello, what's up with the band recently?
Hey dude. Just settling in on some down time and putting some penguins in order so we can hit the road at the tail end of the year.
2. How do you describe the music of the band to someone who isn't familiar with it?
Do you try not to be frightening? Or you just send the big package? ("Scorching ugly sludge core from the basement"? Ahah)
Haha I'd probably describe it as a hybrid of post sludge street doom with a dash of conan soundtrack hc… And I consistently fail at being frightening because I can't stop talking about comic books and movies.
3. Your third album "Lost in Darkness and Distance" was released recently on BRC-30 Productions. It contains 7 songs for 46:50 minutes of music and it sounds solid and quite refreshing! I guess you're still happy with the recording? How would you compare this album to your previous recordings? Why a label from Belgium?
We are absolutely happy with the recording… We have like a symbiotic relationship with the dudes at westfall studios… They get our schtick if you will haha. I have a soft spot for every one of our records, but I will say this is probably our most personal and grim. As far as Brc-30 they dug our stuff and we dug their style, so it worked out rather well…. Plus David Geffen wasn’t returning my calls.
4. Can you choose a couple of words from this list, that would fit best to describe your sound? Depressed, distressed, aerial, crushing, crushed, foggy, dark, obscure, deception... Maybe you'd like to add a few other words instead?
Honest, disappointed, hurt, scared, jaded.
5. You have some great "aerial" guitars, sometimes if reminds me of KILLING JOKE, sometimes of old GODFLESH (Maybe "Selfless”). Are post punk and industrial a part of your music tastes?
Of course… Industrial, doom, sludge, hc, post punk, movie soundtracks…. Everything… We try and avoid any labels but we wear our influences on our sleeves.
6. The cover artwork of this album shows someone that seems prostrated due to suffering, and some big eyes behind seems to behold this suffering... That's a quite intense an eye catching picture. Can you tell us more about the person who did this?
Vakastiga on Instagram… We were looking for someone who fit what we were going for and it was kismet.
7. Why did you choose FALSE GODS as a band name, are you somewhat anti-religious, agnostic or simply atheists? Or perhaps the name refers to the pagan deities that existed before Christianity, and were seen as "false gods" in the beginning of the Christian era?
i have a natural predilection for deep cynicism and apprehension to believe anything anyone says, so the entire idea of sucking the dick of a mythological skyman is a joke to me…. Everyone acting on fucking pretend bullshit… It's astounding. Take from that what you will haha
8. I checked some video interviews you answered on Youtube, I noticed all the musicians of the band do not live very close to each others and you had to communicate and collaborate online for the composition of the new songs. It seems it wasn't very easy... Are you able to rehearse online in the modern days, or it was more like each guys bringing ideas one after another? Can you explain a bit how you occurred to do so? Are you the main music composer as a guitarist, or it's more a collaborative effort?
Greg and Mikey (me) are like kinda the think tank, but to be honest, it has grown into more of a collaborative effort between everyone. Even though miles separate us when we gotta get moving and write\chill\tour it settles into comfort immediately.
9. What are the musicians of the band doing on a daily basis? Are you working in the music world, perhaps like roadies, sounds guys, or do you have very different jobs?
Yeah, the only one who is kind of in music is Greg… He works on a music store and teaches drums. Josh is an appliance repair man. I actually do construction and dabble in other ventures…. Devin is an international man of mystery and adventurer.
10. Is your hometown Patchogue a cool place to live? Would you say the weather is too hot or too cold? Would you say the local employment situation is Ok, or not that good? Would you say the local music scene is quite cool, or not so cool?
I am actually not from patchogue but from like two towns over, but tomato\tomato. It's crazy expensive here on Long Island and the traffic sucks but it has its charms. Music scenes are really the same everywhere… The younger you are the sicker it is… Once you get old the complaint switch turns on and you watch bands with your arms crossed complaining to yourself about beer prices haha
11. Here we don't like cover bands very much, because they take too much of space in local bars, they take the place of "real bands", and it seems to be the easy way to gain some crowd and cheap success... But this is still cool when a "real band" plays a few cover songs live at the end of the set... So do you happen to play some cover songs live or during rehearsals? Is the problem with cover bands also present is Usa?
Cover bands are cool for Def leppard moms but they ain’t my thing really. They will never be stopped though… People love familiar shit and nostalgia.
12. I could have asked about your current playlist... But I will just ask about some bands that might have something in common with False Gods: Do you know some of these bands and enjoy their music? ANANDA, BOTCH, SLUDGE (Switzerland), HELMET, HANDSOME, HEAD OF DAVID, HIS HERO IS GONE...
Not familiar with Head of david or Sludge, but the other bands are obviously killers… Even though Handsome's entire catalogue is only the one record. Starring c.thomas Howell as the soul man…. Tangerine dream shit
13. Tell us about your future projects with the band, thanks for the answers!
We are gonna keep this ball rolling til the wheels fall off brother… Nothing quite as satisfying as making art and traveling acting the fool with your bros….
https://falsegods1.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/falsegods1
