band - Emaciation 2.5.07 interview w/Lord Kirby Ray
Listen to Emaciation's "It Called to Me"
BP: What's up bro? Thanks for the interview, I've always been a big fan of Emac.
Kirby Ray: Hello and thank you so much for taking time to speak to me about
Emaciation. Our lead guitarist, D.W.Iron Aden and bassist, Magnum Brandor will
also answer a few questions here also. We thank everyone at Banned Promotions
for your hard work on bringing music to the fans here in our area and all around the
globe. Thanks for your kind words about the band.
BP: No problem, glad to have you! First off, tell me how you got started with music
growing up. Was it a father, mother, or uncle who bought you that first guitar? Was it
seeing a certain band perform? Or was it more of an inner desire to do something
other than sports and schoolwork?
Kirby Ray: Yes to all of the above! It was my mother and father who first got me into
music. My first record player, very early 70's, and dad's records. My mom's brother,
Uncle Ronnie, had all the hard rock albums in the mid 70's and I got right into the
bands; Scorpions, Sabbath, AC/DC, Black Oak Arkansas, etc. Mom plays violin -
grandmothers both play piano and keys. I first played trombone in the late 70's, as
well as drums, then a Lotus acoustic guitar my dad and grandmother bought me in
about '79 or '80. I played it 'til about '84, when my dad got me a late 60's model Gibson SG (which I begged to get). I saw a band in Perryville, MO in the early 80's called "Tyrant ", who wore leather and spikes and played hard metal. From around 1980 on, I started seeking the hardest metal available; Celtic Frost, Venom, Slayer, Motorhead, etc. It was a huge influence on me. So was Brant Hutchcraft's metal group "Enchanter" from Dexter.
BP: Well, you've been a fixture in the Cape Girardeau music scene for a long time now Kirby. Tell us a short history of the acts you've been apart of.
Kirby Ray: I started my first (metal) group, "Sinister", based in Cape Girardeau, MO around 1984. It lasted 'til 1986. Sinister played, literally, every weekend at tons of house party shows, Halloween shows in basements, even several birthday parties! I would guess Sinister played hundreds of times in the short period of time we were together with several member changes. The Sinister logo was done by Melissa Dooley of the "On Broadway" store back in the 80's in Cape. Some people from that band were Harrison Davis, Buddy Lufcy, Jason Palmer, J.L Harris, Miles Walker - many, many others stood in, such as Chris Ford, Jason Priest, Steve Faris and many others. We played Cape and Perryville shows. The Nude House of Wacky People in 1987, which featured members Craig Prost, Jason Copsy and Josh Mertz, The Honey Offering, which featured members Jason Priest, Jon Thrower, Stu Faris, Steve Faris, Pat Stephens from 1988 to 1995, Gikk from 1993 to currently, The Grimshaws featuring Jason Riley (from the Dirty 30's) from 1992 to 1997, and Emaciation 1996 to current line up. Over the years, it's been great to have played with members of bands like The Dirty 30', Steerjockey, Doom in the A.M., Polyduster, Lazy I, Lead Circus, M.S.I., Fill, Mass Diffusion, Aminion, Stage Crew, Chemical Billy ("http://www.myspace.com/chemicalbilly"), Forn, The Underground Lovesound, Chupacabra, Lungbutter, Cop See, The Grimshaws, Blunt Force Trama, Paper Clip Nun, Ducks in the Desert, Frogsweat, and more I wish I could remember.
BP: You've also been involved with alot of other projects in and around the Cape Girardeau area, namely the City of Roses Music Festival. Do you feel a responsibility to be involved with other musical endeavours, or is it simply something you enjoy doing?
Kirby Ray: For the last few years I have been asked to be involved with booking some of the rock/metal bands from the area at the fest. I also worked to make sure all types of music are given a chance to play the fest. Everything from industrial, DJs, rap, blues, classical, christian, pop, emo, acoustic, hardcore, metal, and anything available. Other projects I've worked on are shows since the late 80's, here in our town and surrounding towns. Cape has so many places for bands to play now that were not available here in the early to late 80's. I have always done anything I could to contribute to making the local scene the best we can with what we have and better. I enjoy doing it and feel the more people who do the same, really does help.
BP: And for those who might not know, you're also somewhat of a local celebrity (besides being in Emac). You're voice reaches the masses in a different way, as a DJ with a popular radio station in Cape Girardeau. How does working at a radio station influence your own music? Or does it at all? (Seeing as though they rarely play the type of music Emac plays).
Kirby Ray: Yes, I've been on Real Rock 99.3 for ten years now and I love the work. There's nothing like playing the music people want to hear and giving out news and historic info as well as getting feedback from listeners. Working there has allowed me to promote local charity and public service events as well as many shows in our area. To me, this is greatly rewarding. As far as metal type music on our station we do play quite a range of bands in that genre such as Maiden, Motorhead, Lacuna Coil, & Eddie Trunk Rocks Saturday nights 9pm to 12am, a very cool metal specialty show that carries everyone from Mercyful Fate to Slayer. I never so much expected Emac to be on a mainstream rock station, but it's happened for us in other cities on metal specialty shows. I am pleased to hear that.
BP: As for the band, one of the main reasons that I've always liked you guys, is the visual aspect. Your waist-length hair, spiked bracelets, full face paint....not something you see in your average local Missouri band. What originally inspired you to do something different with the band?
Kirby Ray: I and band co-founder, Stu Faris, always liked the bands who had an extreme image with onstage theatrics and the stage presence that comes with it. I feel that when people come to see a show they want to "see" something more than a few guys in flannel shirts playing bongos in the corner. They want to be picked up by the neck and rattled 'til they leave! That's what I want at least ,it's not so much to ask. Live, you'll see the theatrical experience of the show, menacing stage presence, corpse paint, spikes, leather, and swords. Beyond the shows, it presents the band well in images to people who give it a glance around the globe. In the 70's and 80's you would buy a record or cassette from the artwork and band images alot of times before you ever had "heard" the music. There was music sampling like there is today with mp3 and the internet. I still believe the concept of the band image and art for cds helps represent and promote what we do.
BP: Well, you're definitely one of the most entertaining bands I've seen from the area. The performance is always intense, and you guys have performed all over the country. What would you say, has been your personal favorite gig of all time?
Kirby Ray: Probably 2004's "Tour of the Wretched" with Cannibal Corpse, Hypocrisy, Emaciation, Vile at Pop's in Sauget IL. A great show for our area to open for and the crowd was amazing.
Magnum Brandor: That would be Milwaukee Metalfest 2004, with The Misfits and Death Angel. Out of over 100 bands, our group brought out a large crowd being one of the only groups there with the euro thrash metal style and facepaint besides the Misfits.
BP: Sweet...Cannibal Corpse and Misits, that's awesome. Tell us about the music of Emaciation. Not your typical black/thrash/metal band?
Kirby Ray: We try to bring any type of intense music into the mix. Power, classical, old school metal, death, thrash, black, glam rock, ambient, gothic, and rock are all influences of the band. Emac prefers to be classified as thrash glam metal. We don't promote negativity or hate, and we like to make that clear. We do promote being positive as well as respectful.
BP: Weren't you guys talking to a few record labels at one point? Can you tell us what happened?
Kirby Ray: I am still in contact with friends at Century Media Records. I have been friends with guys at the label since around it's birth as a label. I have been talking to them recently about distribution of our music and we will be working on that possibility.
BP: That's awesome, good luck with that. Alright, here's a question that's been on the back of my mind... I know you guys have had alot of lineup changes in the past. Why is that?
Kirby Ray: The Emac former and current member total up over 25 people. Of course, there has been very little, if any, bad blood ever between anyone in this band. Most have left for personal reasons and have come back to practice with us at times. This band was created to be able to take on these types of changes. Several of the members were in as musicians, who were very decent players from other styles of music, were students in Cape who we knew would move on after graduating. The core of the band is intact with lifetime members Lord Kirby Ray and D.W.I.ron Aden. Magnum Brandor has almost earned his lifetime member spot having written material for the band as well as being one of the longest running members.
BP: Emaciation members are given a surname, based on seniority (for example, Lord Kirby Ray). What made you guys decide to do that?
Kirby Ray: It's just part of the surreality of the band being bigger than life onstage, nothing more. Most times, a member's name has something to do with their personality. Some of my favorite Emac member names were and are; Immortal Stu, Magnum Brandor, D.W. Iron Aden, Countess Jessuka, Beer Purg, Hellfingers Big Ben, Sophia Siren, and Alex-Caliber.
Magnum Brandor: It sounds cool, better than my real name (sorry Mom, love you though)!
BP: The group has worked with legendary local artist Brant Hutchcraft, whom you mentioned before, on many projects. The guy does killer work. Tell us about your relationship with him, and how he has helped the band over the years.
Kirby Ray: I have personally know Brant since the early 80's and he was a huge influence on myself and the group Emaciation. I loved his projects since Enchanter all the way up to today with the band, Brant. Our new CD artwork and photos will be by Brant Hutchcraft. Brant has done photos for us for years and has always been there to lend a hand when he was asked, in any aspect. It would be impossible to find a better friend to our band. The band will be recording a version of one of Brant's Enchanter songs, Cyborg, which originally appeared on his Enchanter demo Setting Out To Conquer 1988. The track will be appearing on the forthcoming Emaciation CD, due out later this year with Brant doing the lead vocals for the song. To help promote the song, Brant will be doing a short film featuring his Doktor Modus character and the band Emaciation will be appearing in the film film as well. The film entitled, Doktor Modus: Lord Of The Zombies, will star Brant as Doktor Rust Modus who will unleash cyberized dead people in an experiment promoting cell regeneration. The experiment creates an army of zombies. The film will be a prelude to the music video for the song Cyborg and will feature the band Emaciation fronted by Brant. I wanted to mention it was great to see Brant honored as one of the area's top 10 legends at the Banned Promotions website!
BP: .....and rightfully so. So there's a new album in the works for Emaciation right? Tell us about that, and when we can expect a release date.
Kirby Ray: Our forthcoming studio cd, "Earth Odyssey" will be recorded very soon as we polish up the material for the cd, by Summer 2007. "Earth Odyssey" is the working title of the CD. Some new songs to expect are; "Warrior, Sadness, Voices, Bathe Her ( & Bring Her To Me ), Against the Storm, Turns To Gold, Death Rattle, The Badger & the Bear, and In Blood We Lust". "Blasted-Sighting of an Ectoplasm, Analyzed Remains, and Aeons Alone" are early Emac visions to be recaptured on this CD. We feel good about the music on the cd and feel free to sample live tracks of these songs on video at youtube.com and myspace.com. Also expect a re-release of "Toils Of Earth".
Magnum Brandor: An Emaciation Documentary is in progress now and will be released shortly. We are excited to be working on this project about the history and vision of the group.
BP: Alright, plug time! Where do we go to learn more about Emaciation, buy the music, etc?
Kirby Ray: Myspace site is www.myspace.com/emaciation, 15 Emaciation Videos online at youtube.com (youtube.com/results?search_query=emaciation). Official Band Website is www.emaciation.tk, Merch - CD's - Shirts at www.cafepress.com/emaciation.
BP: Ok, thanks so much for the interview bro. Good luck in '07 and I can't wait to hear the new cd.
Kirby Ray: Thank you once again for inviting us for the interview, good to speak with you about the history and news of the group! Thanks for your hard work and interest Banned Promotions!
-Randy Mallett, BANNEDPROMOTIONS.com
( www.BANNEDPROMOTIONS.com/EMACinterview )
Lord Kirby Ray
Vocals, guitar
Banned Promotions
Band Promotions
Bands
Music
Roadrunner Records
Metal Blade Records
Rock n Roll
Alternative Rock
Hard Rock
Heavy Metal
Rock
Punk
Death Metal
Stoner Metal
Speed Metal
Grunge
Megadeth
Avenged Sevenfold
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Alice in Chains
Anthrax
Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Motörhead
Megadeth
Venom
Death
Ozzy Osbourne
Queensrcyhe
1Dream Theater
Celtic Frost
Manowar
Dio
Mercyful Fate
Helloween
Bathory
Napalm Death
Carcass
Sepultura
Scorpions
Morbid Angel
Tool
Mayhem
Black Label Society
Chimaira
Coheed and Cambria
Disturbed
Down
Job For A Cowboy
Killswitch Engage
Korn
Marilyn Manson
Meshuggah
Metallica
Motley Crue
Pantera
Queens of the Stone Age
Rob Zombie
Shadows Fall
Slipknot
Slayer
Soundgarden
Static-X
The Sword
Suicide Silence
Trivium
Tool
