The Metal Crypt - Coherent Liquid Form Interview

Interviews

Interview with Corey Jones (drums) and Matt Anderson (guitar/vocals)
Interview conducted by Scott Murray

Date online: February 27, 2003

Hails from the Crypt! First off, I’ve gotta say I’m still loving New Existence, it is such a unique experience to listen through. Generally, how has Coherent Liquid Form been received by the public and media up until this point in your career, including the album?

Corey: It's really cool that you dig it. So far the response has been surprising good. When you put so much hard work into something it's rewarding to hear that folks enjoy it. We’ve gotten some great reviews and everyone that has a copy seems to really like it.

How does the latest material differ from the band at its early stages and the two previous demo releases?

Corey: The new stuff is a lot more varied and has more individuality to it. Of course, we're all better musicians now and we have better gear so that helps to facilitate any ideas that we may have. The stuff on our first demo (Cryptic Embrace) was pretty primitive. We still play a couple of the songs but they've been improved upon. It was more straightforward. Melody was present then although not nearly as important to our sound as it is now. We could barely play on that demo. Our next demo was better we recorded on a 4-track in our rehearsal space in a day. 3 out of the 4 songs are on New Existence, because of the production and the fact that all the songs on there are pretty fast a lot of people thought we were a "cult" or "necro" black metal band. So the new stuff is more advanced and makes more sense.

According to your website, before C.L.F. Matt had "no real metal experience." Does this mean you started playing and doing vocals once the band was formed, or that you just hadn’t played in a band before?

Matt: That is kinda a joke. I like to take myself seriously but not too seriously. I have played guitar for 14 years, and have been in other bands. My previous band I also did the vocals and played guitar. But this is the first band that has gotten any exposure outside of our home scene, so it kind of relates to that in a sense.

Tell me about the shows you have played so far, including the first show in 1998.

Corey: Our first show was cool. We played at an all day event in Minneapolis with 2 or 3 dozen bands and 2 stages. We played pretty late after all the underage kids got kicked out so we weren't expecting much of a crowd. But we got a surprisingly good response, despite our total unprofessionalism. It was my first performance as a drummer so it was weird. And the sound on stage sucked. We played our 4 tunes to much fanfare and got the hell off the stage. I think the reason we were well liked was several bands preceding us were lame and generic or jump metal or bar band quality hard rock. We’ve mostly played with other unsigned bands in the area; some out of town shows but not many. The all ages shows are usually pretty crazy, especially at the d.i.y. Venues where 15 year olds can get drunk. Our 21+ show our usually cool. I think the only band of significance that we played with was origin a year or so ago. That was cool.

When the band was originally formed in 1997, had you guys known each other for long?

Corey: Yeah, Matt and I used to do a zine called Re-tic back in '95/'96. Fred (guitar) and I got fired from the same job although we didn't actually work there at the same time but my friends that still worked there introduced us. And Chris (bass) is friends with some guys in my other band (Demonicon). I was a guitar player originally and in '97 I bought a shitty drum set and figured if I started playing drums in a band I would get improve faster. So Matt and Chris weren't doing anything and we started C.L.F. up. And a couple months later I ran into Fred again and agreed to join. Now look at us.

Matt: Way back when Corey was with Necromis, when I knew Corey and Chris, but didn’t really know Fred, and Fred knew Corey but not me and Chris, we all ended up jamming at Corey’s rehearsal space one night, and actually wrote a tune. So I think that was the beginning of C.L.F., about 2+ years before it actually began.

Where did the name Coherent Liquid Form come from and how is it significant?

Corey: I got the idea some years ago of a fluid based entity that was intelligent, for a song, and I liked the way words sounded together so I thought it would be cool to have a name that was original and that no one else would coincidentally have. Nobody objected and that was that. Additionally, having a name that doesn't pin us down to a specific metal sub-genre (i.e. gore-this, death-that, sorrow-whatever, etc.) would leave us plenty of room to experiment.

What would you say are the biggest influences behind your music and desire to create and play?

Corey: Well... I’ve been into music as far back as I can remember. Listening to my dad's old Beatles albums when I was like 5 and I recall wanting to play music back then. Then in the early 80's I started getting into metal. So I was basically able to follow the evolution of underground metal from almost from its inception. Early metal influences were Kreator, voivod, Sacrifice, Venom... I could go on forever. My desire to create and perform music has been with me forever, it seems. I’ve always been consumed by music and I suppose it's only natural that I would want to make my contribution.

Could you name the one metal band or song that got you hooked?

Corey: Thinking back the song that locked it was Judas priest's "Love Bites". I was into metal for a few months but when I heard that song there was no turning back. I still love that song. And Nevermore's version is just as awesome.

Matt: For me it is more of a band. I can remember sitting in my room listening to my dad's Alice Cooper records, which got me interested in metal. Then one day (I think I was in 6th grade) a friend at school gave a bunch of testament songs dubbed onto a tape. And that was it. I still love Testament today.

What can you tell me about the Archives Music Label in terms of bands being signed and the compilation that is in the works?

Matt: The compilation is pretty simple, if you’re in a band send in your CD, demo, etc. I was going to try and have 8-12 bands with one song apiece, but response has been pretty slow. The label is paying for the whole thing, so it is free to the bands that participate. Plus if your band makes the disc, you will get 20 of the comps do do as you wish with. As far as the label, I am going to take that is far as it can go, the distro has been running strong for 3+ years, so this is just like an upgrade. As far as signing bands, again send in your demo, all will get listened too. If we are interested we will contact you. Cash is a little on the slim side right now but we hope to sign at least two more bands by year’s end. I have just made a verbal agreement with my favorite local band in this area to do a CD for them. I am pretty excited about that. But I can’t say much more about it right now until the paperwork is complete. Hopefully everybody will hear about them soon.

Who are your current favourite bands?

Corey: I'm really into Martyr (Canada), Gorguts (last 2 CDs are brilliant), Human remains (that double CD is incredible), most of the bands that really impress me tend to be really original and display a decent amount of technicality and are really aggressive, but not mindlessly so.

Matt: I am more into melodic metal. Bands like In Flames (although I was a little disappointed my their latest), Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates, some other bands like Children of Bodom, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir I really like. And of course, Testament.

How about top five recent releases (2002/2003)?

Corey: Human Remains - Where Were You When, Manowar - Warriors of the World, um...that last Pungent Stench was really cool, I usually get releases well after they come out for some reason. I rarely buy anything that's just out.

Matt: I don’t really get a chance to hear stuff either until well after it is released. I did buy the new Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, and Lacuna Coil albums right when they were released, and all three of those are pretty much top 5. First Strike Still Deadly from Testament rules. But most everything I hear comes in used thru the distro well after it has been released.

Will C.L.F. be touring anytime soon or working on new material?

Corey: We're working on new material now. We have, like, 4 or 5 songs for a new album and hopefully we'll be going in the studio again by late '03/early '04. Don’t count on us doing any actual touring any time soon. Maybe a couple of out of town shows on the weekends but that would be about it.

Name two or three bands (indie or major) who you would love to hit the road with.

Corey: I don't know how to answer that. We tend to be kind of insecure about our performances that if were to play with any band we admire we'd probably get embarrassed. But I think, as a band, we'd like to tour with Opeth, At The Gates (if they were still around), maybe Testament, we all really like them. But we'd be happy to play with any band that was cool as people, whether we liked their music or not.

That’s all for today I suppose. Thanks for your time and good luck!

Matt: Thanks Scott, we really appreciate the interview and the support!

Other information about Coherent Liquid Form on this site

Review: New Existence