VOT-After this tour will you be going else where, or have you toured prior to this US tour?
KARYN-We did two short tours, one with PRO-PAIN in the Spring time over a couple of months, and we did a two week tour with VOI VOD in the Summer. We’re hoping to go to Europe right after the new year and see what happens.
fore the show you were getting ready, physically and mentally. How do you exactly get ready for a show?
KARYN-We all do it different ways. For me I try to focus all my energy into the show, before hand I work out and focus things in my head. That’s kind of my own little preparation.
GIA-I just try to relax my whole body, especially my arm. Mentally I just hang out at the club, walk around, feel the vibe of the people.
AFZAAL-I don’t have a set routine,but generally I go with the energy of the club. If I really hate the place I get really drunk! No, just kidding. I sort of relax, if the show is pretty intense I work towards the intensity of the crowd. But relaxing is the most important thing. Another is the electricity that goes through all four of us out to the audience.

VOT-When you talk about energy, you make it sound as if it’s a spiritual release.....
KARYN-I guess it’s a combination of several things. For me it’s something I actually feel physically, not so much as an adrenalin rush but I feel a connection and when the music starts it actually brings me to a place I consider home. I’m pretty sensitive to peoples energies anyway. So I can feed off the crowd. I can actually feel some kind of physical energy with the whole band and I feel whatever I’m feeling inside of myself, whether I’m right on the money or whether I’m off in some other place there’s a lot of energy that is apart of it, which is pretty interesting, because playing live is where the actual creation process happens for the band. When there is a creation of anything, especially sound, there’s going to be energy. Being that there’s more then one person doing it, there’s that energy, then there’s the people in the audience with different energies. It’s spiritual in a way and other ways it’s different.

VOT-How did you come into bisness with Metal Blade Records?
AFZAAL-Metal Blade followed the development of the band for a year and a half, almost two years. Marco Barb....., the guy who was working at Metal Blade, now at Century Media, he was the guy who was really rooting to get us signed. He worked and worked with in the label to convince everyone else at the label that this was a band that they should sign. It took a while but Marco succeeded, unfortunately he left the label right after we got signed. It was a lot of hard work, there’s a lot of bands out there and there’s not a lot of opportunities to put out records. Metal Blade hasn’t really signed a new band in a while. They saw the progress and they kept hearing good things about us and eventually they offered us a contract. They also heard that we were going to sign to another label, so they put in their bid and we liked what they offered, so we signed.

VOT-So how did Deathshed Extermination go while recording?
AFZAAL-With Deathshed Extermination we had more money then we ever had before to record. we diecided to go to a cheap studio so we could spend the maximum amout of time recording the record. We spent a month and a half recording this. We feel very good about the production of it. It’s the closes we’ve come to try and capturing our live energy. I’ve also wanted to produce a record where each component in the band was heard. This is a record where you can hear the bass, you can hear the guitars, you can hear the drums, and you can hear the vocals. Each element works independantly but yet forms a whole.

VOT-What’s been the response of the release?
KARYN-It’s been great, it’s been really positive. We get fan mail every week, like twenty letters and upward. we’ve gotten our share of bad reviews, people that don’t like it, it’s too extreme, or they don’t like the vocal style. But it’s been positive, especially when we play live, we really win over a lot of people, since they see what were all about and maybe understand more then what they get out of a CD. It’s been absolutely amazing, everywhere we played there have been people there who have hunted for our record or have known something about us and are really excitied on us showing up.

VOT-Yeah, one of my friends, Noelle, really loves you guys, she freaked when she heard you were coming, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to come to the show, since she’s only fifteen and her parents are kinda strict. She’s totally in love with your vocals and your music.
KARYN-Oh, that’s too bad, tell her hi and tell her we thank her for enjoying our music.
 
VOT-Ok, about your vocal style, it’s pretty unique, how did it originate?
KARYN-It wasn’t something I came up with, it just happened. I grew up playing instruments, like the piano, violen, and such, I eventually got into German Industrial music and I started making my own music and I just used my voice as another instrument, for another textured layer. Eventually I met Afzaal through a common friend and he played me some of the rehearsal tapes of CRISIS, and that was exactly what I was looking for in terms of heavy music that I’ve been searching for.

VOT-Yeah, tell us how CRISIS formed.
AFZAAL-Our old drummer, Fred, and I were in an Industrial band before CRISIS. that band was around for four years, after that broke up Fred was working on another project with Gia. Fred always wanted to get Gia and me to jam together. Eventually we jammed and then the following week I bummed into Karyn through a mutual friend. The next rehersal we had, Karyn came. Everything came together in a matter of two weeks.

VOT-After this tour and another possible one over seas, what’s next for CRISIS?
KARYN-Well, when we get back we wanna start work on the new album for sure. We did one brand new one tonight and we startedd working on new material before the tour, but our drummer Fred quit two weeks before the tour happened. So our new drummer, Scot Bates, only played six shows with us, so obviously we’ve played with him and connected, but when we get back we have to start jamming with him and see how new material goes.

VOT-Anything else?
AFZAAL-I think we would at least like to let people know that there are real alternatives out there. I see CRISIS as a real alternative as opposed to the concept of alternative that the media offers. We’re not going away, we’re the sort of band out to prove a point and it’s going to take years. And that’s what we’re going to do.

VOT-Well, thanks guys for the interview.
KARYN-Thanks very much for yur support. All write us at CRISIS, P.O. Box 21, Cathedral Station, New York, NY, 10025, USA.

All photos taken by Mark G. VOID OF TOLERANCE zine copyright 1997
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