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TRENDCRUSHER RADIO INNER SURGE INTERVIEW

TRENDCRUSHER RADIO INTERVIEWS INNER SURGE:
http://trendcrusher.googlepages.com

Inner Surge are a Calgary-based hardcore band.I got in touch with them via Myspace and 2 weeks later i had their cd "Signals Scremaing"with me.I was very impressed with what i heard,especially as i had never heard of them when i was in Canada.I spoke with the band recently about their new album "Signals Screaming",the scene in Calgary and a lot more.


Hails how are things in Calgary?



STEVE (vocals): Things are moving along for us mostly because of things happening outside of Calgary. The local scene is more black and white style-wise than what we're trying to do. Things in general are going well, though.



BRYAN(drums): The scene itself is pretty dry. I'm not sure if it's hopeless but I've almost given up on the live scene in Calgary.



You recently released you album "Signals Screaming" tell me about your album.



STEVE: "Signals Screaming" was released this year. We recorded it with Casey Lewis of Echo Base Studios and worked as hard as we could in the time we gave ourselves. We feel it's a strong entry for us and it gives people an idea of what we're about. Some of the inspiration for the album came from Romeo Dallaire's account of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, as well as from books such as Naomi Klein's "No Logo" and Koigi Wa Wamwere's "I Refuse to Die". What we were learning and going through at the time came out naturally through the music.



BRYAN: I think the album was a growing process for the four of us and it helped us integrate the sound and ideals everyone wanted to put across.



SCOTT(guitars): This album was the process of us compromising and deciding what we wanted to accomplish as a band. Steve was listening to a lot of Refused, while me and Bryan had been taking in some progressive influences, and everything meshed well.

I was very impressed with the production of the album. How long did it take to record?

Did you do any pre-production or demo before going to record the album?



STEVE: We spent only 6 days in the studio. We were very pleased with the production, and that was mainly the result of the professionalism and creativity of Casey Lewis and the way he approaches recording. He's a great musician himself, and knew what we were going for so he put a lot of work into helping us with that. We plan to work with him on our next album and spend more time at Echo Base this time around.



SCOTT: No pre-production, just straight to the task. It was rushed but we'll be taking more time next album. Casey was great to work with.



How does "Signals Screaming" compare to your previous album "Matrika"?



STEVE: "Signals Screaming" is much more aggressive. The production is more crisp. It also has more of a political tone to it. The musicianship is much better as well. The next album should continue this trend, although there will be a lot more progressive influences coming out.



BRYAN: For the first time, Inner Surge was writing as a unit rather than the ideas dominantly coming from one person, and I think without that dynamic the music couldn't have been as strong.



How does someone reading this interview get hold of your albums? Do you have any merchandise for sale?



STEVE: To order our albums, you can go to www.innersurge.com and check out the "shop" section. They are also available for download through iTunes, where you can download the tracks individually.



For those not familiar with the band give us a Brief history of the band.



STEVE: I started writing for this project in 2001 and recorded the first demo "Solus Verum" solo. That was enough to get things going and meet the musicians who would help me record "Matrika", which was released in 2004. After a hiatus, I met the musicians who helped me re-create Inner Surge in 2005 - Bryan Sandau, Scott Taylor and Jim Fernandes. Everyone co-wrote "Signals Screaming" together and are now working on new things. We have 3 albums and are writing a 4th. We're working on our 2nd music video as well.

It's clear from your influences and also your music that you are a political band; do you express your views through any other mediums other than music?



STEVE: Yes, we express it through working with various international organizations and charities, by writing, reading and discussing ideas with people we respect...And just like a lot of people, we're sometimes frustrated and don't know what could be the best approach to get something done. Some organizations who we've contacted have had a wall of bureaucracy for us to contend with (I won't name names). I have found organization's like Amnesty International to be very good and also open to help from anyone, which is great to see. I also feel that it's good to study as much as you can before jumping into something, because if you don't you could very easily help the wrong people. That's why we read all the time.



BRYAN: At this point I'm educating myself and when I get to a point where I feel that I have a clear understanding then I will pursue other mediums.



SCOTT: I enjoy writing myself, but my political world is my band. A lot of what I learn is from our discussions.



Do you have Allegiance to any Canadian political party?



STEVE: No. I think that anyone focused on human rights cannot possibly ally themselves 100 percent with any political party or group. There are simply different motivations there.



BRYAN: There really aren't enough options. I would equate it to choosing between the best of two evils. All of their platforms will basically lead us to the same place. None of the parties seem to approach environmental issues, violent crime or human rights with much of a sense of urgency.



What are your thoughts on the Political situation in Canada?



BRYAN: I think before we address Canada we need to address the world as a whole, and of course that inevitably leads to the U.S of A and their stance on international law and cooperation.



SCOTT: I agree. I feel you need to really learn about the world as a whole before you can understand your own country, because people here think the same things as everywhere else, only in smaller numbers perhaps. Racism is an issue here just like it is everywhere else. Nationalism tends to lead to segregation and in turn to racism. If Canada was one of seven dwarves it would probably be "Sleepy". We need more action on the part of our government.



STEVE: It's complicated. There are many Canadians who are progressive thinkers and this keeps the controversy on religious issues such as gay marriage and abortion rights at a lower level than in the U.S. It's good that we can sometimes laugh (sometimes with horror) at some of the things people make a fuss about elsewhere.

I'd like to see more progress made in regards to the First Nations Peoples here. A second look at the Kelowna Accord or the drafting of a similar agreement would be significant in this regard. We should have an interest in a consociational agreement that works for everyone, not just the oil industry or the business community. The environment is another issue that needs more attention - genuine attention as opposed to lengthy misguided conversations.

I don't think patriotism is an overly positive thing, but it's great to see so many Canadians eager to help out in other areas of the world, whether by volunteering or financially. The more this government can tune into and follow the people's will and example, the better. You just have to ask the right questions in the right way to get an accurate view on what people are looking for.



Due to a surplus in the Alberta budget all it citizens received a certain amount of money (Can't remember now), how did you spend the money you received?



STEVE: We put it towards the band actually. We thought that would be the best thing.

BRYAN: Drums.

I first heard about your label, Cyclone Records when I got a compilation they put out of Calgary bands titled "The Greatest Underground show on Earth". How did your deal with them come about?



STEVE: The album was being finished and the cover art was in progress, and Brad from Cyclone Records approached us about releasing the CD through them. It has turned out to be mutually beneficial, and we look forward to dealing more with Cyclone Records in the future.



Your band has been interviewed/reviewed by quite a few zines and also featured on quite a few radio shows/podcast. Do you have a PR agency/management company taking care of that or is it handled by the band members?



STEVE: This is mainly handled by myself and the band. It's all about getting the ball to roll down the hill. You have to push and contact magazines, radio shows and podcasts in order to have new people hear about you. What we're finding now is that we're getting on a lot of radio playlists and websites without contacting anyone. They're just finding our name somewhere and checking us out. It would be nice to leave that to a PR agency though, and that's something we're looking into.



Your band was mentioned in a book by Garry Sharpe-Young titled" New Wave of American Heavy Metal". How did that happen?



STEVE: Interestingly enough, we were not contacted in regards to that book, so we were flattered to be included with such great bands.



Tell us about the hardcore/metal scene in Calgary.



BRYAN: We're outcasts and we're happy about that fact. For whatever reason we've faced a lot of naysayers and closed doors so we've forged our own path and focused our attention internationally.



STEVE: Tough question. We're not really part of any scene locally. We don't fit the mold. When we do shows it's mainly to play new material we've written or to play with another band we respect. We appreciate the people who come out. We've enjoyed sharing the stage with bands like Passado, Creature Republic, Caveat, the Failure, Johnny Incognito and a bunch of others. Other than those good points though, you're either hardcore or you're metal. It's a black and white scene and everyone seems to want to join a club. There's a lot of bands who just want to be metal, which would be fine if that was anything new or exciting. I enjoy bands with something of value to project.



SCOTT: I'm into some local bands and we've made some good friends, but there's really not much to it other than that.



Which are the bands in Calgary that we should know about?



STEVE: You should know about the Failure(our producer Casey Lewis is in the Failure). You should know about our labelmates Creature Republic and Caveat. You should also know about Passado, Ahnabith Gish, Johnny Incognito and Studded for Pleasure. They're all friends of ours and are all creative bands.



SCOTT: I'm a big fan of Ahnabith Gish and Creature Republic. Both bands are melodic and sound great musically.



Have you toured other parts of Canada?



SCOTT: We're planning that out right now, as our cross-Canada tour for this year with Paul Di'Anno was cancelled.



How was it playing at the Warped tour?



BRYAN: To be honest I'm not a huge fan of most of the bands but I love the energy and the idea of people getting together and sharing creative energy.



STEVE: The best part of Warped Tour was meeting Helmet, who happen to be one of our favorite bands. Being in that environment is something we could get used to. There are a lot of trendy bands there and because of that, a lot of the kids are used to hearing 'cute' music. That can work in our favor though because we seem to get more people stopping and listening when we're onstage at an event like that. We just play harder.



It gets really cold in Calgary (sometimes going down to -40 c brrrrr) how do you keep warm?? Do you use any substances like drugs/alcohol?



STEVE: None of us are overly indulgent but we're up for the discussion to be open in regards to the legalization of consensual crimes. "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do" by Peter McWilliams is an excellent introduction to the topic.



You songs "AzurA" and "The Outcome" are included on the upcoming film soundtrack for the Macabro Films psychological thriller "Amok!" How did that come about?



BRYAN: We started talking with them when we heard they were looking for heavy bands for their soundtrack. Luckily they were interested in 2 of our tracks and we may work with them on other projects as well.



And also recently selected for the soundtrack of the Paladin Pictures film "Rebellion of Thought", which songs will feature on that soundtrack?? Also how did this come about?



STEVE: I contacted them because it looked like they were putting a lot of thought into their concepts. They chose "AzurA" for inclusion on the film score.



Future plans for the band?



SCOTT: Definately to drop our next album by mid-2007 and to tour at the same time. We'd like to get more involved with charity work as well such as benefit shows.



STEVE: We have big future plans. We're working on our music video for "Wolves" at the moment with Shaun Friesen of Free Zen Design (www.freezen.ca). "Wolves" will also be our next single, and we'll be promoting the single/video come early 2007. A CD Extra/DVD will also be released in limited supply early 2007. We're about halfway into the writing of our next album as well. More music videos as well are on the way. To keep posted visit www.innersurge.com.



Any goals you would like to achieve?



STEVE: We'd like to write the best, most powerful music we possibly can and reach as many people as we possibly can. Everything else will fall in place as long as we work hard on those things.



Thank you for answering all my questions. Any final words and comments?



STEVE: I appreciate the interview. Thanks for the conversation. Cheers,