Danny (Baptists): Žádná kanadská kapela se nikdy ani nepřiblíží Cursed

DANNY (BAPTISTS): No canadian band will ever come close to Cursed

One of the best hardcore bands from Canada nowadays. No doubts. The best drummer in the world. No bullshit. These are BAPTISTS! In February 2020 they are coming to Europe for 3 exclusive shows only – Berlin, Leipzig and Brno. Pretty good reason for a talk with Danny (guitar).

You are about to play just 3 exclusive shows in Europe. I guess you are not able to come for a longer time, right? Then what keeps Baptists alive?

Well, we were actually going to come out just for Pushteek Fest in Brno!  Tomas invited us over for the fest, and then to make the trip more feasible he helped us add a couple of extra shows, cause he is the absolute best.

It is kind of tricky to keep Baptists alive these days, but spending time together and playing this music is what keeps it alive.  If it wasn’t fun there would be no reason to keep going.  Interest from people like Tomas inviting us to do cool shit like this has definitely helped over the last couple of years, as well.  Somebody gives a shit about our music???  Sick!!!

It gets more challenging to do stuff as we get older, have kids, have other commitments, etc.  We all live in different cities, too, so that’s annoying… but that’s pretty common these days, I think.

Any new recording or projects on the way?

I’ve got a batch of new songs together – trying to decide whether to do an EP with a few songs or hold out and push towards a full-length.

What’s the story of Baptists? I read some stories Southern Lord got in touch with you thank to songs on MySpace… is that true?

Andrew, Sean and I had a different band going and our drummer was taking off to travel indefinitely, and I personally was out of ideas and wasn’t crazy about the songs anymore, so we ended the band.  I was actually looking forward to not writing any music, and didn’t really feel like playing guitar – just wanted to play other stuff and drum in other people’s bands or something.  Andrew was pretty juiced to keep playing, and had suggested a drummer or two in Vancouver that I wasn’t crazy about playing that kind of music with.  Then he brought up Nick, who he had known for a long time – they grew up in the same town.  I had seen him play a bunch and knew he was insane, but didn’t really think he’d be interested in more straight forward stuff.   I kind of laughed it off and was like, „sure, man – if you can get NICK to play, I’ll write songs“.   He texted me that same day and said Nick was in.  Apparently Nick was going to message us and ask if we needed a new drummer for our other band, but Andrew beat him to it.  It’s pretty cute, actually.  haha.

We recorded our first four songs over a couple of nights after we’d jammed a few times, because Nick was going on tour for a couple of months and we didn’t want to forget them, and they turned out okay so we put them on Myspace.  Then, yeah – Southern Lord got at us after hearing those songs and those became our S/T 7″.  We were psyched.

You are not such an active band. Why did you choose Godcity to record? Was a matter of deal with Southern Lord? I mean, I hardly can imagine myself being in a band that plays from time to time and going to the best studio ever to record.

Haha – nobody forced us to!  We had recorded our first full length for Southern Lord with a friend of ours in Vancouver, and due to some unforeseen circumstances it didn’t turn out how we’d imagined – not really a fault of anyone’s, it just didn’t work.  Greg at Southern Lord was fine to release it as it was if that’s what we wanted, but he asked if we’d be cool with him sending it Kurt to try re-mixing it.  I guess Kurt said he would, but it would take about the same time to just re-track, so Greg offered to up our budget to accommodate some travel costs to go out to GodCity and re-do it.  We obviously said, „FUCK, YES!“.

I mean, would we have paid our own way over there if it weren’t for Southern Lord?  No – definitely not, but we also wouldn’t have even thought it was an option.   When Greg asked if we’d be into him talking to Kurt about mixing it, we couldn’t believe it.  I thought Kurt would just say, „What is this knock-off bullshit?  Fuck these guys!“, and maybe he did… who knows, but he aggredd to do it!  Kurt’s music and production has been a huge influence since I was a teenager, and the other guys felt the same, so it was a no-brainer.  We went out there for a few days and recorded and mixed Bushcraft, and had a lot of fun working with Kurt.  It was so rad that Greg put in that extra effort for those songs and that Kurt was willing to work with us, not knowing us from a hole in the wall.  So cool of both of them.

Oh, and GodCity is the same cost as any other studio, really.

How was the recording with Kurt. Did he affect songs somehow?

It was great – fast and easy.  We get along with him well, which is crucial – we wouldn’t want to go there if we didn’t!  Each of our first two records were tracked and mixed in 6 days or less, with a couple more for the last record, so it’s pretty in and out.  We don’t really have enough time for Kurt to „produce“ us in terms of songs, and to be honest, our songs are done by the time we get there.  There’s not really any big decisions to be made by in terms of parts and structure when we’re recording.  He has a sonic influence, for sure, but even then – we know what we’re going for, he knows what we’re going for… it’s really fast and easy to get going.  I think that’s why he’s agreed to keep working with us – it’s fast, fun, and pretty easy for all parties.  Oh, and it’s his job.  haha

What was  some other milestones in history of Baptists? Do you have maybe a record that is super special for you?

The whole process of Bushcraft was really fun and exciting, but they’ve all been great to work on.  And, because we don;t do all that much, every recording trip or small tour is a fun milestone.  The novelty hasn’t worn off.  We’re still amazed that we get to do any of it.

Your drummer Nick was even praised by Dave Grohl. Did it make any kind of help to Baptists?

Yeah, I think so.  I mean, fuck – the drummer from NIRVANA digs our drummer and has listened to our band?  I think that’s really cool.

I bet you have to hear a lot of superlatives about Nick. Isn’t that a bit annoying, haha?

Nahhhh, it’s not annoying because he’s so deserving of all the praise that he gets.  He is the best drummer, and that aside, I challenge anyone to find a more stoked, grateful and enthusiastic person out there.

You are pretty busy with some other projects. Could you name those bands and describe them a bit? I am a fan of Erosion btw…

Haha – thanks!  Erosion is super fun – Nick, Andrew and I all play different instruments in it than we do in Baptists, so that’s fun.  It’s kind of a heavy d-beat kind of thing – it’s Nick’s baby, his songwriting.  Sumac is obviously the big one… world’s best band.   I’ve got a smaller project called Total Isolation going – it’s a dunk band (death punk).  I don’t know if anything else is really actively happening on a regular basis these days, but I’m probably missing some!

Canadian hardcore used to be a big thing back in the day. Huge inspiration for me. What about nowadays? Any bands to recommend? Also, my top scene was connected with Hamilton and Toronto. What’s currently happening in Vancouver and area?

I don’t know.  I feel like regional scenes aren’t very prevalent in Canada.  Are they anywhere anymore?  In my mind no canadian band will ever come close to Cursed.  Vancouver has some good punk bands – Mass Grave rips, Woolworm is a great punk band disguised as a rock band, our friends in Waingro are awesome.  Bootlicker, Outpatient… There are lots of cool Vancouver bands, I guess!  I’m the wrong guy to ask about this… I live about 5 hours from Vancouver in a town that doesn;t really „do“ music.  ha.

What 5 record do you listen to recently?

I’ve been absorbing that Spectral Voice album „Eroded Corridors of Unbeing“, Woolworm „Awe“, lots of „Left Hand Path“ and „Clandestine“… lots of Impalers always.  I don’t know what else.  Classic rock radio, for the most part… haha.