{"id":55832,"date":"2016-09-21T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=55832"},"modified":"2016-09-21T17:34:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T22:34:25","slug":"death-and-the-miser-an-interview-with-sarcoptes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/death-and-the-miser-an-interview-with-sarcoptes\/","title":{"rendered":"Death and the Miser: An Interview with Sarcoptes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In which we discuss the inherent evil of cats with Sarcoptes.<\/p>\n

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I admit I’m a pretty jaded guy when it comes to thrash metal. With it being the first “real” genre of metal I explored, I quickly explored almost all of the greats, only to discover that the genre had more or less stagnated quite a long time ago. It was with great pleasure, then, that I stumbled upon California’s\u00a0Sarcoptes<\/strong>, a pair of most excellent thrashers blending the very best of their home genre with the stunning grandeur of black metal to create something that feels just as fresh and exciting as it does stately and classic. Sean Zimmerman (guitar, bass, keyboards) and Garrett Garvey (drums, vocals) were kind enough to let me pick their brains about art, STIs, and playing with your heart.<\/p>\n

Thanks for agreeing to this interview. I know it took me a little while to finish the questions, but I promise I was super eager to interview you. Songs and Dances of Death<\/em> blew me (and a lot of our readers) away when I first heard it. How has the reception been to your album? Did you expect this much acclaim for a debut record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sean: Overall it has received very positive reviews. Honestly I was surprised. Not that I ever doubted the quality of the material. We both knew it was excellent. But rather we had spent years grinding away at these songs in rehearsals and virtually no one cared when we played for them. Even when we released the EP only a few people really seemed impressed. To get such a positive response from people all around the world was amazing.<\/p>\n

Gar: It\u2019s no problem dude. We sincerely appreciate you taking an interest. I am extremely pleased to hear of the positive reception of the album. Having spent the amount of time we have going back and forth on this project, to have it come to form and be heard is inspiring and validating. The reception has been majorly positive. There have been a few criticisms, and one or two fully tanked it, but by and large the reaction was positive and excited. It sounds like many people heard what we were hoping to put down, which was a new interpretation of long-standing sounds from within the metal genre. As far as expecting acclaim, I think we were pretty content with just the mere completion of the album. Having other people enjoy it and want to share that feeling is a great and unexpected bonus. For this album to have the weight it does, having been made while we were stretched so thin, I am more than satisfied.<\/p>\n

Garrett and Sean, you’ve said the biggest difference between the Thanatos<\/em> EP and Songs and Dances of Death<\/em> is that the production is better, namely in terms of the drums and keyboards. I definitely think the full-length shows a lot of growth and maturity, but it seems that stems from more than just production. Do you think the songwriting improved as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sean: No, the songwriting didn\u2019t improve at all because all the songs on this album were already written by the time we recorded the EP. My initial plan was to record 3 different EPs with all 6 songs spread out over them and then re-record them all as a full-length. After we finished the first EP I said \u201cwhy don\u2019t we just record the whole album now?\u201d So that\u2019s what we did.<\/p>\n

Gar: Sean had completely written all of Songs\u2026<\/em> before Thanatos<\/em> was ever recorded. We had more experience left to gain on the recording side of things before we were ready to make this CD. My second time around in the studio on the drum kit for Sarcoptes was much better, and much closer to my ideal sound for this band. I would say I had begun to gain a tighter grip on what translates best from drum kit performance to a song. It is humbling to record yourself, and sometimes requires the maturity to go \u201cwow, I sound like sh*t!!\u201d It has been rewarding to watch both Sean and myself continue to open our eyes to the difficulty and possibilities behind production. No doubt it took everything we had at the time to get what we put down, and it is fair to say Songs\u2026<\/em> was an absolute best effort of the time.<\/p>\n