The Metal Crypt - Elevator 22 Interview

Interviews

Interview with Curt Smythe (guitar) and Bart Maslikowski (bass/vocals)
Interview conducted by Scott Murray

Date online: April 1, 2003

Greetings and congratulations on the pure metal glory that is Elevator 22! Tell me what’s going on with the band right now in terms of recording and live shows.

Bart: Thanks for the compliments! Shows are pretty steady right now. We’re playing more or less every weekend these days, which is both good and bad. It’s nice to get the exposure, but we don’t want to get overexposed. We’ve got some shows lined up in London and Hamilton over the next little bit. As for recording, we’re dealing with some pre-production details right now.

What can fans expect from the forthcoming EP?

Bart: More of the same but a little more streamlined. The last recording was done pretty hastily in an effort to have something to ‘shop around’ and to get feedback and to facilitate scoring gigs. Hopefully, this EP will be a little more polished. The songs are more refined in the sense that they all sound as though they’re all Elevator 22. Last time it was more like, ‘this is the thrash song, this is the black metal song, this is the death metal song, etc.’ Also, I’ve been involved more in the song writing, whereas on the demo, two of the three songs were written prior to my joining the band. We’ve also got some good ideas for vocal layering. Both Curt and Casey (guitar) are itching to do some back-up vocals. Casey has a killer shriek that we’d love to catch on tape!

Curt: The track listing will be: Boreallis, Mindless Wonder, Mind Trap, B.B.B., and Hallowed. I don’t even know what to expect from this recording. Our sound has evolved so much since the last recording.

Is the next CD going to be recorded in the same studio as Hammertown Heavy was?

Bart: It’ll be at Fly Studio (Oakville) again. The engineer/producer is a really talented guy who’s honing his craft. He recently renovated and he’s invested a tonne of cash into the studio, so things should be better this time around. Also, we were his first metal band, and he now knows what to expect. In the meantime he’s done some other metal acts, so things can only be better.

What was the recording of the first demo like?

Bart: It was sort of déjà vu for me. I’ve done a handful of recordings with my former band, and it was all pretty weird recording with a new band. Seeing how everyone reacts was probably the biggest adjustment. The studio does weird things to people. But it was nice to establish a good rapport with Tim Wayland (engineer/producer). As a recording experience goes, this was my best one.

Curt: Hectic, very very hectic, We had huge problems with Mike's drums sounding like complete ass. We ended up triggering his bass drums and snare; we kinda rushed things toward the ends of the recording.

Was this your first recording studio experience?

Curt: As for Casey and I, it was our first time in a studio. Mike did some recording with previous bands, and Bart did some with Humus.

Bart: I recorded two full lengths and a couple of demos with my old band Humus.

Why was the name Elevator 22 chosen?

Bart: When I was doing my Master’s, there was a particular hospital elevator that I used periodically to get to a certain restricted facility. The elevator also serviced the Pathology department and the morgue. On occasion you’d be riding the elevator with a corpse - a little macabre. Since elevators don’t have names (that would be silly), it was numbered ‘22’, and was referred to as such by staff. I thought it was a suitable name for a metal band and had a reasonably cool story behind it, so I proposed it to the band and it stuck.

Before joining Elevator 22, how much experience did you have as a metal musician/performer and what have you learned in the short time the band has existed?

Bart: I’ve been in one band or another since I was fifteen. My first metal recording was a demo I made when I was sixteen where I performed guitar and backing vocals. I’ve gigged a lot since then, performing guitar and both back-up and lead vocals. Since I’m naturally introverted, the first couple of years as front man were tough. I still need a couple of drinks before going on stage. But most of the bugs were worked out before I joined this band.

Curt: Before E22 Casey, Mike and I played 2 shows together as a "metal band", which were really bad. I haven’t really learned much, so far. We haven’t really played that many shows.

How did living in the Hamilton area influence your music and attitudes towards the business?

Bart: Have you ever been to the East End? It’s a veritable industrial wasteland! There’s a lot of inspiration for a metal musician in Hamilton. Everyone has a story in the Hammer, and it’s usually heartbreak and hard times. Perfect metal fodder. As to the industry…we’re not affiliated to the industry as such, but everyone tends to support everyone else. There’s also a strong independent record company presence with the likes of Sonic Unyon and Goodfella Records, which is generally positive.

Curt: Hamilton has a huge lack of metal bands, with the exception of a few. (Hallows Eve and Vertigo) The scene here is mostly punk, emo and hardcore.

What song or band got you hooked on heavy metal music?

Bart: The first metal I was listening to was Motorhead, Metallica and Maiden (all M bands…hmm) back in the late eighties. Soon after I got turned on to Slayer and Megadeth and then shortly after onto Sepultura’s Schizophrenia and Death’s Leprosy.

Curt: Casey got me hooked on metal. I've known him since grade 5. I remember in like grade 6 or 7 he lent me the Suffocation album Pierced From Within and I was hooked!

What bands would you say are the most prominent inspirations behind your music?

Bart: That’s a tough question. I’ll probably forget a pile of bands, but certainly Devin Townsend (especially SYL), Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Disincarnate and Death. I’m also pretty heavy into Yngwie Malmsteen, James Murphy, Judas Priest and Iced Earth though you likely won’t hear too much of that in Elevator 22! Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Origin, Old Man’s Child and Children of Bodom.

Curt: Me personally, Strapping Young Lad (or any thing Devin Townsend has released, I’m a huge fan!), Hypocrisy, Death, Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Cryptopsy, to name a few...

I’ve gotta ask about the nicknames of each band member. Is there any special significance behind them?

Curt: I don’t know about the nicknames, that was just something Bart started. Being called the Fornicator has gotten me quite the rep. don’t take it too seriously.

Bart: First, I have to state that everyone in the band loves metal, but it seems a lot of bands really take themselves too seriously. It’s just music. It’s not going to cure cancer, or disarm North Korea. Having said this, we do take the band seriously, just not ourselves. Pseudonyms are fun, when we’re on stage we feel like different people and we need different names. Casey’s last name is Reaper, so ‘Reaper’ was just a gimme. Curt is a sex-crazed little munchkin and he became the ‘Fornicator’. The name Mr. Sexxxy for Mike comes from an inside joke. As for Perriwinkle The Monstrous, it’s sort of two fold. I am on the large side and not especially pretty so ‘Monstrous’ isn’t a stretch. I just added something that’s completely incongruous to add humour. I mean seriously, some of these guys out there have names like ’Vlad the Impaler’. Is you name Vlad? Have you impaled anyone? Some bands can get away with it. Others, not so much. We can’t get away with it. Unfortunately not everyone seems to ‘get it’.

What kind of feedback have you been receiving from the public in regards to the Hammertown Heavy disc and your live shows?

Bart: No one has told us to our faces that we suck. We’ve certainly had our share of positive reviews. Turnouts at shows are decent, but I’m sure not everyone enjoys the music. We have had one prominent negative press review, but others seem generally positive.

Curt: good and bad, Every one seems to love the live shows, even if they don’t like the music they are always entertained. Most people love the CD too; we only have like 23 copy left out of 350!

Your webmaster Osiris recently posted a couple of reviews on the website with this statement: "…neither compare them to tinfoil on a cheese grater, or some fucking thing." Is it safe to say you’ve gotten some negative/uninformed feedback from writers who wouldn’t know metal if Euronymous came back from the dead and bit their balls off?

Bart: We’ve had a negative review from a prominent magazine. I feel we were slighted. The review seemed to focus on the aesthetics of the CD layout and the pseudonyms we chose to use and not on the music. The only critique of the music was of production aspects that were more or less out of our control. We weren’t recording in Armory studios and we didn’t have an unlimited budget after all. However, it was his opinion and he’s entitled to it.

Curt: We're all goofs at heart, sometimes people take things too seriously. He compared us to "tinfoil on a cheese greater...in a bad way."

Who are some of your favourite independent metal bands who you could see making it big someday?

Curt: Sylis from Keswick Ontario (www.sylis.ca) I love those guys, they put on such a good show, and At the Mercy of Inspiration, from Toronto I think, they kick ass too!

Bart: We recently played with a band called Wetwork from Ajax or someplace, who will definitely make it. There’s also a band from Oakville called Roses Dead who kick some serious arse even though they are a hardcore band! There was also a band we played with on several occasions called The End of Eternity who were quite killer, though they seem to have disbanded.

This Nanook the Nude dude you have profiled on your website, what’s his story?

Bart: Umm…drugs and alcohol? Ask Curt!

Curt: He's a good friend of ours. The first show we played he streaked through the moshpit. He has been doing it ever since! Some people love it, some hate it! It’s just funny! He always comes out naked when we play Burn the Heretic.

How far can you see the career of Elevator 22 going? On the same note, how far are you willing to go with this group?

Curt: I am willing to go as far as possible, this is what I love doing, I'll do it until I die!

Bart: We’ll see where it takes us, but things appear to be on the up-and-up.

In conclusion, good luck with what should be a highly successful year for Elevator 22! I’m really looking forward to the next CD!

Other information about Elevator 22 on this site

Review: Hammertown Heavy

Review: Manifest Destiny