Interview
Interview: Crypitus
October 10, 2019
Jarod
What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?
Pete: My parents used to play oldies for me like the Beatles and Motown stuff. I love any kind of music and I started playing piano from 5-10 years old. I switched to guitar because I wanted to play something more interesting than classical. If I didn’t get into music I’d probably be doing something with my hands like woodworking. Or just playing a lot more Magic the Gathering.
Zach: I’ve been into music my whole life. My father was a metalhead and I used to bang my head off of my car seat to the music. I also had a drum set made of phone books and kitchenware. If I never started playing music I’d probably be dead by now.
Joe: My parents got me into music when I was a kid. Probably wouldn’t be doing much if I wasn’t playing music.
Doug: I’ve always been a music lover, but I fell in love with playing guitar after watching my older brothers friend play guitar, he let me borrow one of his acoustics for a bit and I never put it down. If I didn’t have music I would be at a total loss, probably wandering through the woods aimlessly.
What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?
Pete: I love reading books and comics. I’m a huge DC fan and I love all of Tolkien’s work. That whole fantasyland stuff helps me visualize music in new ways.
Zach: I fish obsessively and hunt a lot too. I can’t say that it really influences my creativity but the inner peace I get from those activities really helps me not kill my bandmates.
Joe: I like to go for walks and hang with family and friends. It doesn’t really influence me much though.
Doug: I love hiking, exploring new places. I’m sure I’ve hummed a tune on a walk that got stuck in my head and got transposed into a metal song!
How long has your band been around?
Pete: We’re coming up on 4 years soon.
Zach: About 3.5 years now as we stand
Joe: I joined the band around 2 years ago or so.
Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?
Pete: We’re from Rutland and Mendon Vermont. There’s not a whole lot to do around here besides hike and fish and play music.
Zach: We are based out of Mendon VT. It’s not a very populated area, so we don’t have a lot of local musicians to draw influence from and I think that contributes to our unique sound.
Doug: We hail from Rutland Vermont. Well actually I’m originally from Satan’s Kingdom Vermont, yes it’s real. But growing up in the state has really shown me the importance of the organic world which is often overlooked, lyrically this has impacted me to write songs like “Thunder” a song about mother earth’s vengeance upon the civilized world.
How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you.
Pete: Doug had the name from a previous incarnation of the band. It means the sound of breaking bones.
Doug: The name came from a random band in my wilderness first aid class when we were learning about pulling traction on a fractured limb, my teacher turned to me and exclaimed “Do you know what a sick metal band name would be? Crepitus; it’s the sound of breaking bones” I was solid immediately. To me to be Crypitus means to be able to a noise to be heard, a bone-crushing riff crashing drums; Crypitus the noise – we make it
Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played.
Pete: The worst was at Metal Metropolis in Brattleboro, Vermont. I got too drunk and I sounded like shit. Our best is RPM fest in Massachusetts this year. We sounded awesome.
Zach: We’ve had some sick shows lately. We played at Promotorhead Entertainment’s RPM fest. We played a great set and the crowd was super responsive to it. The worst show we’ve ever had was in Brattleboro VT also with Promotorhead and we sucked out bad. I’d rather not talk about it.
Joe: For our best show I would have to say RPM fest. It had a nice crowd and played pretty good. The worst show would be in Montreal. We played horrible and Pete couldn’t go to Canada with us.
Doug: For me, one of the best shows still was the very first time we played in Maine, it was Lewiston at The Cage with Last Ones Alive and we had a response that Maine continues to replicate for us; amazing. One of the worst shows we played was in Lowell MA where the promoter was trying to pull a fast one and take money from all the bands, the stage was trash cymbal stands were falling over and drinks were $20….
Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you haven’t already?
Pete: My favorite is Herd Flock, a 3 day festival way up in Maine in the middle of the woods. I’d like to play some really big festivals someday like Reading in the UK.
Zach: That’s a hard one. I’d have to say my favorite venue that we’ve played is Higher Ground in Burlington VT. It was awesome all the way around. As far as a venue I want to play I’d have to say either the Royal Concert Hall in Boston or Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia.
Joe: Higher Ground in Burlington, VT is probably one of the best venues we played at and I’d like to play anywhere similar to that.
Doug: I love playing at Cherry Street Stations in Wallingford CT, great crowds, great staff, great local acts. I would love to do a show at Brighton Music Hall in Allston MA, I’ve seen some great shit there.
If you could play any show with any lineup who would be on the ticket?
Pete: Between the Buried and Me and Dweezil Zappa.
Zach: Between the Buried and Me, definitely. I’ve been told that we’d fit on a Voivod bill too.
Joe: Primus, not that we would fit in with them.
Doug: Voivod & Death Angel lets goooo
What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band?
Pete: Don’t give up when things get difficult. Even after 16 years of playing guitar I still hit plateaus that I struggle to get over.
Zach: Practice until you are sick of it and then practice some more. Learn theory.
Joe: Practice makes perfect.
Doug: Practice Practice Practice Practice
If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?
Pete: Learn scales and theory more. I played from tablature and jumped right into learning my favorite bands’ music first, which was helpful for technique, but I’ve had to teach myself a lot of stuff beyond that since then.
Zach: I’d get my ass to take drum lessons earlier in life. I got kind of a late start.
Joe: Learn more theory.
Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?
Pete: Breakdown is one of the first ones we all played together and it was the first one where I started harmonizing with our other guitar player more.
Zach: Hmmmm. I’d have to say United Divide. It’s just fun to play and really makes my brain work.
Joe: Breakdown because it’s a good warm up song and probably the first one I learned.
Doug: Symphony #1 because it’s the oldest song that we play, I wrote it at age 15.
Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?
Pete: My favorites are this new one called Brunswick and Thunder. Brunswick gets very proggy and it always keeps my fingers from getting bored. Thunder just kicks ass and doesn’t let up from the first note. We get requests for one called Tundra but we don’t really play that one anymore.
Zach: As previously stated I like United Divide a lot. I really like playing Out of Line too. It’s just proggy enough for me.
Ironically enough our most requested song is off of our demo, Exhibit 1 Prelude to the Dead World, it’s called Tundra and we don’t really play it anymore.
Joe: Out of Line is cool. Tundra gets requested the most.
Doug: Our new material is really fun, I really like playing Maniac Highway or as our Maine friends call it Manakaway. Tundra is the most requested and we love teasing our fans.
What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?
Pete: We start with a riff and just jam to it from there.
Zach: The guitarists vomit awesomeness from their instruments and I lay down some slams till we get it together. That’s about it.
Joe: I just go with the flow
Doug: We stick with an organic writing process where one idea leads to another and boom music.
What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?
Pete: Our album is called Ill World (That’s What You Get) and it’s about the world kind of falling apart right now.
Doug: I hope to invoke thought and recognition of some of the ailments we face today, whether the issue is global climate change from wrongful actions of humans, political issues resulting in war and submission based on threats of nuclear warfare or the internal conflicts we face day to day, it’s an Ill World and we need to recognize that in order to rectify.
Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?
Pete: Oh yeah we do. We just sit down and talk about what’s going on like adults and get through stuff.
Zach: All the time. Usually over stupid stuff like what were having for dinner or someone throws a chunk of firewood and hits someone in the face, but we are really good at sitting down, talking about it and moving forward.
Joe: I don’t usually have disagreements very often but we are all friends and can sit and talk about it and move on.
Doug: If any bands don’t have disagreements they probably aren’t a band or something, we argue from time to time yes. Shit happens we talk about it and we move on.
What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that’s coming up?
Pete: We’re always writing new music and playing more shows. We’re playing with Exmortus in December which is going to be amazing. They’re one of my favorite bands so I’m really excited and nervous for it. Our first album just dropped too so check that out.
Zach: Plans for the future include a lot of Shenanigans and tomfoolery and maybe world domination.
Doug: Theses are the places you will catch us in 2019; 10.13.19 Winooski VT 11.1.19 Mendon VT 11.18.19 Wallingford CT 12.2.19 Waterford NY 12.13.19 Sherbrooke QC 12.14.19 Jewett City CT
Plus our new albums live and available for purchase here:
https://crypitus.bandcamp.com/album/ill-world-thats-what-you-get