Dead Rhetoric: With the political aspect with new material – is that due to the brewing cesspool of an election that we have at the moment?
McNamee: I could honestly talk about that for days on end, but what I will say: in a nutshell, not really. It’s going to play more of a role, without giving too much away, that I’ll be using politics for a metaphor for unrelated things, but they work well together. As far as the election goes, I’m a few pegs shy from an anarchist. With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton being the likely major party candidates, it’s been depressing to say the least, because the two of them have no concept of restraint in politics. With The Donald in particular, I’m not sure if he has the concept of the word restraint in general. It’s been super depressing and I’ve been trying to block it out as much as possible. But when you have two candidates as polarizing as they are, it’s hard not to pay attention and hard not to get sick to your stomach.
Dead Rhetoric: In terms of starting to think about new material and knowing the people that you have working with you – is this more of a studio only type of band or do you have some plan to at least do a few shows?
McNamee: As of right now, it’s looks studio only. Nick has his hands full with Black Crown Initiate and is trying to take on some more studio work, so he is going to be busy. Jerry is pursuing a career in psychology, which is taking up a lot of his time. For myself, I am going into the business world in September. It looks like we are going to be pretty busy over the next few years. That being said, I am trying to talk to a few local musicians to try to see if we can get the material together for a few live dates. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but with everyone involved, we are all pursuing goals that would make it difficult later on down the road, but it is something we are working on. Hopefully in the next few months, we can put something together so we can at least play out a few times and give people a chance to experience the material in a live setting.
Dead Rhetoric: Going back when you were playing more technical material with the science-y lyrics, do you feel that atmospheric vibe is more relatable, so to speak?
McNamee: The atmosphere and relatability of it are two things that I really wanted to emphasis when I was making this album. A lot of what I was playing before was strictly heavy the entire time. There are a few songs on the record that follow that template. I’m a pretty soft guy in general, so I wanted the music to reflect that a little bit. From a lyrical perspective, I think people, as a general demographic, tend to connect more with the vulnerable lyrical content. In general, when you are talking about how people interact with each other in person, you connect more when you share those moments of weakness and vulnerability. That was my ultimate goal with why I made the lyrics as personal as they are. They touch on the best and worst moments of my life over the last few years, and that’s something I wanted to expose as much as possible. As far as the style of music, it came down to incorporating a lot more clean parts. I also started listening to more styles of music over the course of making the record. When I was in high school, I was on a strict diet of tech death and black metal, and you can hear all of that. But in college I started listening to more pop music and post rock that I think also shows through in a couple of those songs.
Dead Rhetoric: In regards to what you said about Black Crown Initiate and Fallujah earlier, do you think that emotional connection is why that more atmospheric sound in death metal is currently gaining more traction as opposed to the more cosmos/space oriented material?
McNamee: I think that’s part of it. I know there are a lot of bands that are still doing that style of metal and I love a bunch of them. It’s certainly not to bash those bands, but the style of music that comes along with bands like Black Crown or Fallujah, or even Rivers of Nihil – they incorporate a more proggy, atmosphere-thing into their music. I think that connects with people a lot. There are also a lot of metal fans that don’t pay that much attention to the lyrics, so I’m not sure how much of a role that has in why that style has become more popular. I think people are hearing the more dynamic style, and the clean passages/vocals, and I think that is more what is driving it, but who knows, honestly.
Dead Rhetoric: As a fresh band starting out, do you find it hard to get your name out there, even though you have some pretty nice selling points?
McNamee: It’s sort of a loaded question, because on the one hand, it has been harder than I anticipated as far as name recognition. But on the other hand, I’ve already gotten more than I was anticipating ever getting, so it’s kind of a weird paradox. I’m not sure how to answer it, just because Jerry and I are pursuing careers outside of music, and Nick has already established his own name in the metal world. I don’t think any of us were really planning on it getting the level of attention that it has. From my own perspective, I have been working on these songs for as long as I remember. It was really important for me, before I dove headfirst into the corporate world, that I had an opportunity to get this out there and see what would happen with it. The fact that people are enjoying what we have put out there so far, it’s astounding to me really.
Dead Rhetoric: I saw on the Bandcamp site that the album is digital only. Are there any plans to do a limited release run of a CD or something like that?
McNamee: The simple version is that if the demand is there I will absolutely do it. But again, thinking only for myself, I am up to my nose in student loans, so that will be my first priority as far as the finances are concerned. But if people are interested in getting a physical copy in their hands and I think that there is enough demand to support it, then absolutely. It would be another benchmark that I never really expected to hit.
Dead Rhetoric: The album comes out at the end of May. You have new material that you are working on. Is that the extent of the foreseeable future?
McNamee: I think that for now, that is where we are headed with it. I have the concept at least, for where I want the next record to go. At the very least, people can expect another EP or a full-length for the future. As far as taking it further than that, it sort of remains to be seen. We are all going in different directions, career-wise. I definitely hope that we will have the opportunity to turn this into something more than it is. People can expect some cool, studio-project death metal, and hopefully in the future, something will materialize so we can turn it into something more.