
When did Krush
actually start and how did the band develop through the years until now?
The band was
started by Lou Tamagni back in 1997 and it went through line up changes for a while. When
the band finally had a good group of guys, we made our first CD, Welcome To Paradise.
I remember reading
of your music being used in a movie. On your website I couldn't find any data about it, so
why don't you give me some background information?
A producer friend
of ours made a parable film based on a screen play he wrote. The film was so good it was
nominated for 'Best Picture' at the 2000 Parable Film Festival in Hollywood. We were on
the soundtrack with Van Morrison. Krush continues to get contracts for movie soundtracks.
Sindrome is the
new album, the follow-up to Welcome To Paradise. What do you think of the outcome?
Sindrome is a
brave step for Krush. It's not whats currently on radio, it's what we want to hear
and play. We wrote Sindrome to amuse ourselves at first, then we realized it was sounding
real good and the people who were hearing the early demos, were addicted to it. We decided
to release it under our new label and see what happened.
Just like last
album, Sindrome is released through your own record label. However, the band did do a
showcase for different labels in 2000. Evidently you didn't get signed to any of these.
Still a wish you hope to be fulfilled?
NO! We dont
want any part of any record label deal. We shopped our stuff to run the band
through our own little market survey. It helped us find our own way, on our
terms, not some rip off record label who will take our music, sell it and never pay us.
While listening to
the music, I had a hard time labeling it. Can you describe your music so that anyone who
isn't very keen on different styles will get a good idea of Sindrome?
Well, thats
a tough one. We set out to create rhythms, and grooves that left the listener wanting to
hear the song again. We wanted to have a very strong message included that was relevant to
the times in which we live. I think of it as hard-edged commercial metal. It's not glam,
it's not a blast from the past like Welcome To Paradise was, it's just energy on a CD with
real big guitars and real, melody driven vocals.
On the website I
read that you recorded this in your own studio, the Armageddon Studio. As I understand it,
the disc was recorded in an unusual kind of fashion. Can you tell about the backgrounds of
recording Sindrome?
Well this is where
we went off the deep end. We were so tired of paying thousands of dollars for
demo-quality stuff, we sat one night after rehearsal and asked ourselves,
could we do this by ourselves? We decided to try it. We tried all the desktop
stuff and computer programs-they were all cheap and sounded bad. We hired a guy named
Terry Stewart out of Los Angeles to consult with us on how to build industry standard
stuff. The results were awesome. We tracked on ADAT with pure analog platforms. We then
transferred the 20 bit ADAT's to 24 bit Pro Tools Mix 3. We edited all the tracks and spit
it back out through an analog board and eventually to CD. The outcome for our first try
was awesome. Armageddon Studios is now a state of the art recording facility in San Diego.
The products we are touring out now are far greater than the Krush stuff. The world will
start to hear this studio in March of 2003 when Tmag Records debuts Carol Castillo.
The album contains
a few songs that were on Welcome To Paradise as well. Cool songs, yet redoing old songs
might look like warming up a left over table scrap. So, what's the idea of doing so?
Yeah, we agree,
that was not a good idea. They sound cool, but it had been done before.
The fire ordeal
for the new album was your appearance on Extreme Mardi Gras. How was that event and what
songs got the best feedback?
Mardi Gras was
great. We waited a long time to play, but the band ripped hard and most in the audience
left the show asking where we had come from. The best part was when Robert Sweet of
Stryper approached us after the set and proclaimed he had not seen such a good band in
years. It was hard for us to keep a straight face, because we all grew up listening to
them. He was beside himself.
Speaking of live
shows, I noticed that the bands hopes to do a tour through Eastern Europe. I've
always learned that the US is so big you can tour there for the rest of your life.
So, how did that idea come up?
Well, touring has
kind of slowed to a trickle industry-wide. There is just no market for bands anymore
unless you hook up with major secular sponsorships. One of the biggest misunderstandings
in music is that touring is profitable. I've been in Christian music for nearly 20 years
and I know no one who has made a dime at it. I suppose if you're 16 and on summer break
from high school with a total overhead cost of $136, you might be able to make a buck or
two doing the club circuit. In reality though, Krush is blessed with big time careers and
we have houses, families, and bla, bla, bla. We would have to make roughly $2500 a night
just to break even. Thats not possible. We know this and we have retreated back to
the studio to make music for other people and release the stuff on our label. It has been
incredibly rewarding to record almost everyday on many different projects. I mean owning a
full-blown recording studio, which we control 100% of, is very, very cool. Youll
hear a ton more from Krush in the future. It might not be called Krush, but we will have
played on it, recorded it, or produced it. Check out our studio at
www.armageddonstudios.com |