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First of all, I\u2019d like to thank everyone for referencing my top 10 of 2014 list<\/a> on a daily basis. I know that it gives you the sort of pep you need each morning. Surely you must have ritualistically chanted the name of my number three pick, Schizoid Lloyd, <\/strong>thousands of times by now. If you\u2019re currently peering out of the grill of a locker (NERD) and need to catch up on this magical band that combines far-flung progressive elements into a mash of Frank Zappa, Rush, Queen, <\/strong>and King Crimson <\/strong>(*immediately takes back NERD insult, shoves self into locker*), then you\u2019re in luck. The fine fellas of Schizoid Lloyd agreed to give me a glimpse into the grand mechanics of their strange world, and I learned many new things about their process, their humor, 7^{th<\/sup> dimensional goats, and the origin of the universe.<\/p>\n}

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I should start off by saying that The Last Note in God\u2019s Magnum Opus<\/em> is no easy pill to swallow. Anyone with an appreciation for the eccentric can dig a couple tracks, but fully digesting the massive scope of the album as a whole takes a dedicated, discerning listener. But man, the payout is spectacular, and you get +20 snooty points. And those can be redeemed for, like, a hundred monocles. Mmm, yes, quite.<\/p>\n

I assumed that the band that produced such a fascinating, eclectic album would have the interesting history to match, but another interview revealed that their genesis as a band was pretty run-of-the-mill; previous bands didn\u2019t work out, some members recruited a couple new people, you know the drill. That simply would not do. So I asked them to lie to me and fabricate a massively overblown, highly dramatic tale that tells the legend of Schizoid Lloyd.<\/p>\n

Ruben: <\/strong>Some believe that before the universe there was nothing. They\u2019re wrong. There was darkness and it has survived.
\n<\/strong>*Epic wardrums of the Golgari Grave Trolls<\/em>*
\n<\/strong>How can we fight this soullessness, this evil? How to kill something that can\u2019t be killed, how to kill something that has never been alive? One cannot shut down nor fill an infinite abyss completely. So how to battle the Void? The answer is life itself. Infinite life. Infinite sacrifice. Infinite expansion, infinite recycling. This is the story of the Schizoid Lloyd.
\n<\/strong>*Battle horns\u00a0of the Gatekeepers of Malakir*
\n<\/em><\/strong>Before time began to run its course, the Void sent out two demons on a mission to guard the perfect balance, to smother all that crossed its path. It was this very act that triggered the unbalance, and it was a\u00a0disastrous\u00a0one, fucked up beyond all recognition; the universe\u00a0was born.<\/span>
\n The two Demons began to clean up the mess. One of them was called \u2018Leroy\u2019, Leroy tried to use lies to let nothing become aware of existence.\u00a0 He failed miserably. \u201cYou are alive,\u201d he lied. Then he failed further. \u201cLife is meaningful,\u201d he lied. And further. \u201cCogito ergo sum,\u201d he lied.<\/span>
\n \u2018Muriel\u2019, the other demon, tried a different approach. She used the truth as a means to let awareness realize its lifelessness, but this instantly killed herself.
\n<\/strong>*Epic brass of the Failure Trumpet, woah woah woah woahwoahwoah<\/em><\/strong>*
\n<\/strong>The Void, disappointed in their failure, then incarnated itself into a third Demon, ‘Lloyd’.<\/span>
\n Lloyd was this totally\u00a0apathetic\u00a0dude, letting things run their course, convinced of the fact that someday\u00a0things would have to return to normal once they would be out of energy. He was all like \u201cbe cool man,\u201d and \u201cchill out bro,\u201d and \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter…whatever…things…\u201d sucking all life out of stuff.<\/span>
\n So Leroy lied and lied and lied and Lloyd was like \u201csucky sucky five dolla.\u201d This led to a situation where truth was dead, lies were everywhere, and everybody was totally\u00a0apathetic\u00a0towards\u00a0everything. A zombie apocalypse followed and the Void was about to accomplish its goal.<\/span>
\n But then something seemingly unexpected happened. It was long forgotten, but when Muriel was still alive, she and Leroy were totally in love, fucking like rabbits, and Muriel laid six eggs. As the prophecy goes, those eggs would hatch just before the end of the world, in a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago. The chosen ones would form a brotherhood, a band, named after the Third Demon, as to expose him, show the world his name and true nature, to keep the Void at bay with as much lies and truths they inherited from their parents. Schizoid Lloyd was born….<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026to be continued.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s much better, and much more believable. Even though Ruben later tells me that the name Schizoid Lloyd came from the song \u201c21^{st<\/sup> Century Schizoid Man\u201d by King Crimson, I choose to believe the lie I asked him to tell me. Now with their origins as a band confirmed, I wanted to know more about the members\u2019 histories. When a band has an eclectic artfulness or sophistication to their sound, it\u2019s very interesting to learn of the musical backgrounds within the band. Brothers Ruben (vocals and keys) and Remo (guitar), the main creative forces of the band, grew up in a musical household. With a mother that played Spanish guitar \u201clike, all the freaking time\u201d and a father with an eclectic array of self-taught musical skills such as \u201ckeyboards, harmonica, even a bit of transverse flute and rhythmically hitting bongos or whatever when on vacation in France. Bunch of goddamn hippies,\u201d it seems natural that the brothers would soon be busy with their own ideas. Ruben continues:
\nRuben:<\/strong> My three-year-old brother Remo played classical guitar since he was six years old, and switched to electric around the time I started to play the drums when I was 13. We both learned the keyboard ourselves through compositions Remo made and I was always \u2018assisting.\u2019 I made electronic music on the computer too with these Magix Dance Maker samplesoundpacks. Oh the nostalgia. I guess we learned to compose by always being busy making our own music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n}

At a young age, Remo was already transcending the normal temporal limits of age. They were clearly destined for greatness. In addition to the aforementioned prog influences, there is a definite presence of metal in the mix. Heavy riffage and occasional harsh yells dot the landscape, and the song \u201cAvalanche Riders\u201d (which, by the way, starts out with one of the grooviest riffs out there) contains a brief, surprising section with some excellent death growling. Since I\u2019m supposed to talk about metal on a metal blog, I guess, I wanted to know the roots of these influences as well. Guitarist and growler Thom spoke up, explaining that he began with Metallica<\/strong> at a very young age, then eventually branched out to \u201cKayo Dot, Sikth, Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad\/Devin Townsend, Conan, Bloodbath, Ihsahn, Textures, Gojira, Deathspell Omega, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Baroness, Gorguts<\/strong>, and so on.\u201d That\u2019s a mighty fine looking list, if I\u2019ve ever seen one. On top of prog and metal, they mentioned in another interview<\/a> that their more eccentric influences include \u201ccrazy Arabic black avant-gardish speedcore tango crap,\u201d but didn\u2019t list specific bands or artists as an example. I desperately hoped they were serious and could point me in the right direction, and Thom came to the rescue again and suggested Secret Chiefs 3<\/strong>, Estradasphere<\/strong>,\u00a0a.P.A.t.T.<\/strong>, and Diablo Swing Orchestra <\/strong>(of which many of us are already fans).<\/p>\n

But enough about all that. While background is interesting, a band needs to be more than the sum of their inspirations. Schizoid Lloyd manages to weave their own creative voice into their tapestry of influences, and I was very interested to learn about the band\u2019s creative process. I thought for eight sleepless days about how to ask this question, but only came up with \u201cU DO THING GOOD, HOW DO THING.\u201d I kept listening to the first track, \u201cSuicide Penguin,\u201d and wondering how all those bizarre transitions, eclectic vocal styles, and seemingly disparate ideas flowed so well. Finally, I just decided to ask them to walk me through the creative process for that song in detail.<\/p>\n