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The Art Of Sonic Seduction With CARINA ROUND And MAT MITCHELL From PUSCIFER · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: We are Matt and Karina of Pussifa and we just
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  Speaker 1: put an album called Normal Isn't and we are bringing
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  Speaker 1: it to Australia in December to do some shows for you.
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic, thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having us.
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  Speaker 2: My pleasure. So Pustopher returned to Australia for the first
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  Speaker 2: time since twenty seventeen this December for a run of show,
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  Speaker 2: starting in Adelaide on December fourth and hitting Melbourne, at
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  Speaker 2: Brisbane and Sydney and finishing in Augland on December the thirteenth. So,
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  Speaker 2: I guess the big question is why have you neglected
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  Speaker 2: this for so long? That's almost ten years?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, A good question. Well it's fucking expensive, that's inn
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  Speaker 1: and it's not that we haven't wanted to, but now
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  Speaker 1: we are.
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  Speaker 2: That has summed it up beautifully. So it's been nearly
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  Speaker 2: ten years. So what's changed with the band since you're
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  Speaker 2: out here?
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  Speaker 1: As it seems like everything and nothing?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, everything and nothing exactly. I mean two records since then,
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  Speaker 3: because that was on Money Shot, so Existential Reckoning and
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  Speaker 3: cod COVID and Normal Isn't. Yeah, Yeah, a lot's changed
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  Speaker 3: and then yeah, and then it feels like it was
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  Speaker 3: just yesterday at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Plus if there's always been an immersive and
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  Speaker 2: visual band, especially on stage. So are you going to
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  Speaker 2: be bringing the full production with you or is it
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  Speaker 2: just not not feasible?
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  Speaker 3: Uh, it'll be full production, you know.
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  Speaker 1: We we.
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  Speaker 3: I think that it's it's as important as hearing the
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  Speaker 3: songs is hearing is the experience of what we do.
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  Speaker 3: So we try to, you know, bring everything and and
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  Speaker 3: give everyone the best place of our show we can.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not really stripped down version of what we do.
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  Speaker 1: It's all part of the It's all one big vehicle
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  Speaker 1: for the story. And if there is something, if something
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  Speaker 1: gets taken away, then it takes away part of the story.
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  Speaker 1: So it's always going to be bullshe Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Cool and your special guests a perfect circle. So aside
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  Speaker 2: from the obvious connection with Maynard, Like, what makes the
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  Speaker 2: two of you bands good touring partners?
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's it's really like family. I mean, we're
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  Speaker 3: all so intertwined, and these are people that we've known
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  Speaker 3: and been around and had dinner with and hung out
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  Speaker 3: with their kids, and you know, these are these are
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  Speaker 3: these are our friends for twenty years. So it feels
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  Speaker 3: like a like more of an extended family.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, your music has a plethora of blades and elements
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  Speaker 2: to it. So how do you feel can it be
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  Speaker 2: for you to actually bring to live things that you
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  Speaker 2: do in the studio, like you just have to plan in
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  Speaker 2: the future when you're writing songs or does it sort
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  Speaker 2: of come after.
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  Speaker 3: We try not to plan when we're writing. We try
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  Speaker 3: to just let let the songs kind of go where
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  Speaker 3: they need to go to tell the story. And then
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  Speaker 3: and then you know, before we go into rehearsals, we
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  Speaker 3: we usually Koreina and I sit and figure out we
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  Speaker 3: scratch our heads and figure out which which things are
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  Speaker 3: super important and which things we can we can you know,
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  Speaker 3: do without and and try to refine it into into
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  Speaker 3: a into the something that we can do live where
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't feel like we're all you know, symbols between
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  Speaker 3: our knees and drums on our back and where we
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  Speaker 3: all have to be one man bands, you know. So
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  Speaker 3: it's it's finding that balance, Yeah, work.
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  Speaker 1: It's the message across without you know, without taking away
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  Speaker 1: from the performance experience.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of those lines mat like as chief
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  Speaker 4: producer and multi instrumentalists, like how do you balance things
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  Speaker 4: like the treated electronics compartents to the live show with
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  Speaker 4: actually performing so that it has still stays sort of
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  Speaker 4: vibrant and in the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Uh well, I mean for the drum side of things,
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  Speaker 3: we're still we use both. You know, Gunner has both
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  Speaker 3: electronic pads and also electronics on his acoustics, so we
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  Speaker 3: can blend. If there's super important or what we feel
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  Speaker 3: are super important elements of a snare sound, we can
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  Speaker 3: blend those things. You know. We have keyboards out with us,
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  Speaker 3: so we can do a lot with the keyboards, and
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  Speaker 3: then you know, and then there's a lot of automation
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  Speaker 3: and just kind of using technology to help us, you know,
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  Speaker 3: have all the different movements that you hear in a
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  Speaker 3: song happen without you know, and still be a performance
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  Speaker 3: a performance.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you make it sound so easy, but I'm guessing
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  Speaker 2: that it's not.
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  Speaker 3: No, it's just you know, we we've just been doing
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  Speaker 3: it a long time and we've kind of roll with
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  Speaker 3: technology and roll with you know, not not really, Matt.
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  Speaker 1: Matt is like on top of new technology and new
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  Speaker 1: ways of doing things and like making electronic things performance
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  Speaker 1: instruments as opposed to everything just being on tracks. How
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  Speaker 1: do you make it a performance, but you still get
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  Speaker 1: the sounds that you have in the studio and the
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  Speaker 1: sounds that you want without simply just using a drum pad,
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  Speaker 1: which also happens. But you know, yeah, I think you're
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  Speaker 1: just talking down your expertise and ability here, But he's.
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  Speaker 3: Like, it's just doing it a long time and being
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  Speaker 3: around others that are masters at the same thing, and
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  Speaker 3: kind of learning from people and and developing our own,
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  Speaker 3: you know.
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  Speaker 1: And having a crew that's really open minded, are willing
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  Speaker 1: to just move with technology to and try new things.
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  Speaker 1: Like there's stuff that we were trying on the tour
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  Speaker 1: that it's not it's still in beta.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, there's certain pieces of equipment that that don't
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  Speaker 3: exist in the public or didn't at least when we
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  Speaker 3: went on tour that that yeah, we're we're we're not
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  Speaker 3: afraid to kind of ride that that bleeding.
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  Speaker 1: Edge, Yeah, what's that.
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  Speaker 2: The Love shows are also deeply theatrical, with distinct characters
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  Speaker 2: and storylines and how difficult it's still a touch on
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  Speaker 2: it before, but how difficult is it to come up
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  Speaker 2: with the cohesive and flying set list musically when that's
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  Speaker 2: to go along with the sort of narrative and the
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  Speaker 2: story killing dr an extent.
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  Speaker 1: I think the narrative and the story comes like is
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  Speaker 1: worn and triggered through the lyrics. So everything is just
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  Speaker 1: naturally happens from that, you know, there's no well, this
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  Speaker 1: is a story and we're going to write the songs
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  Speaker 1: about this, and then this is what the video is
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  Speaker 1: going to be, and blah blah blah. Everything naturally evolves
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  Speaker 1: into what it is. You know. Obviously Matt's mind is
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  Speaker 1: always working for like the show and how it's built,
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  Speaker 1: and Mainner's mind is always working on how he is
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  Speaker 1: going to or how we are going to present the story,
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  Speaker 1: how what kind of transport we're going to have for that,
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  Speaker 1: what vehicle it is?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and naturally we have an emotion. You know, it's
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  Speaker 3: kind of like, you know, we want it to feel
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  Speaker 3: like like like a journey. So how do we want
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  Speaker 3: to start it? Do we want to start it soft?
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  Speaker 3: Do we want to start it intense? And then where
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  Speaker 3: do we want it to pull back? Where we want
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  Speaker 3: it to push forward? Know, so some of that stuff
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  Speaker 3: is just kind of defined on creating the arc of
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  Speaker 3: a show and kind of the the you know, we
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  Speaker 3: think about it kind of abstract like that of like
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  Speaker 3: the feel of the show. And then and then once
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  Speaker 3: we start playing, we might be like we need to
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  Speaker 3: pull one of these out of here, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: we'll make some changes.
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  Speaker 1: But well, there's one thing I've noticed throughout the history
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  Speaker 1: of my involvement is that there's a distinct lack of
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  Speaker 1: preciousness also about like certain ideas. So I think that
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  Speaker 1: whilst things move very fast and there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: ideas and there's a lot of like technological possibilities, there's
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  Speaker 1: also a very open mind about how it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be done. And you know, one idea, it's not like
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  Speaker 1: this is the idea and it has to be this
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  Speaker 1: and we're going to manipulate everything to make this work.
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  Speaker 1: It's like this is the starting idea, the kernel. How
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  Speaker 1: is that going to involve naturally with everything that we have,
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  Speaker 1: you know? And I don't know. I just think it's
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  Speaker 1: it's a very natural process.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And like the distinct characters and storylines that you
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  Speaker 2: have in your show, like how do you how do
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  Speaker 2: you get yourselves in character before you go out on stage,
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  Speaker 2: Like you've got to set routine to get yourself in
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  Speaker 2: that because you're not just going out there and playing,
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  Speaker 2: you're actually performing, So is there a difference.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for us, you know, there's a as
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  Speaker 1: a period before. I can only speak for me. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: you have a different one, but I have a ritual
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  Speaker 1: of getting ready, So there's the makeup and wig in
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  Speaker 1: the dress and like form like that character appearing visually.
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  Speaker 1: So for me and my brain, that's really helpful. And
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  Speaker 1: then after that we have a dance party, and then
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  Speaker 1: for five minutes before the show, Maynard and I are
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  Speaker 1: backstage doing our things that you know, certain movements, exercises, repetition,
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  Speaker 1: things that breathing warm ups or whatever that get us
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  Speaker 1: into that headspace.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm sure, yeah, yeah, Well, we all have our
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  Speaker 3: ritual that starts either an hour for some of us
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  Speaker 3: and two hours for others of us that we kind
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  Speaker 3: of and those rituals are pretty consistent from day to day.
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  Speaker 3: And then when we get the five minute call, then
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  Speaker 3: we all go and we're in the dark, and we
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  Speaker 3: do those last minute rituals every day, Like I go
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  Speaker 3: behind the curtain and work on my scales and do
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  Speaker 3: my stretches, and you know, like we all have our
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  Speaker 3: our things that are pretty consistent from night to night
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  Speaker 3: to kind of get us where we need to be.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it becomes ritualistic too, So as soon as you
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  Speaker 1: start the process, your brain automatically knows that that's the
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  Speaker 1: direction that you're going. So you just end up there
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  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden you're on stage and the
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  Speaker 1: show's over.
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  Speaker 4: Tell us more about the dance party that sounds interesting
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  Speaker 4: Before you go onstage.
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  Speaker 1: We have these little cool speakers, and then I know
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  Speaker 1: how it started. I think it started when Matt got
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  Speaker 1: a shaker and I don't mean the musical kind, and
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  Speaker 1: put a bunch of ice in it and then build
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  Speaker 1: it to the top with tequila and then shook it
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  Speaker 1: for probably three minutes NonStop, and then drank it he
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  Speaker 1: and Gunner, and then all of a sudden there was
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  Speaker 1: like dance party.
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  Speaker 2: That sounds awesome. Cony your vocal harm It is made
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  Speaker 2: not an important part of the life experience. So do
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  Speaker 2: you have to rehearse much for him to deliver that
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  Speaker 2: night afternight? Or is it more natural?
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  Speaker 5: No, I mean we have rehearsals as a full band,
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  Speaker 5: but you know I write my parts most of the
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  Speaker 5: time to his parts, so his parts are done, or
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  Speaker 5: at least the melody is done, and I.
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  Speaker 1: Write my parts, and then sometimes his part changes slowly,
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  Speaker 1: but for the most part, it's already there, so I've
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  Speaker 1: already I've already created my landscape around what he has
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  Speaker 1: there and what it has. So when we finally come together,
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  Speaker 1: so much of the pre production is already done in
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  Speaker 1: terms of effects and everything. He has to sing his
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  Speaker 1: part and I have to sing my part, and much
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  Speaker 1: of the the melding and working together is actually energetic.
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  Speaker 1: It's not really much to do with the vocal parts.
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  Speaker 3: It seems like when there when there is a discussion,
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  Speaker 3: it's usually when there's choosing harmonies if there's three or four,
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  Speaker 3: or it's choosing because you know, we we kind of
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  Speaker 3: guess the best guess on what he's going to do,
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  Speaker 3: but sometimes he might change, which then will change what
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  Speaker 3: you do.
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  Speaker 1: That's true.
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  Speaker 3: There's you know, sometimes there's some of that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of times because I can't help myself.
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  Speaker 1: There's like three parts or two parts or four parts
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  Speaker 1: or whatever, maybe in the area where he's not singing
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  Speaker 1: on the record, so we'll pick a harmony that he
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  Speaker 1: sings based on his range. So those things get talked about.
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  Speaker 1: If he's like, I will sing this part or whatever
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  Speaker 1: we switch off.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for you John guys, but the thought. We'll be
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  Speaker 2: in Australia this December for a series of shows, so
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to seeing it. Until then, take care, I
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  Speaker 2: think he's got a lot on Say take care of yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Say thank you, Thanks R.