Interview with New Cathedral

Interview by Brayden Bagnall

Tampa, Florida rockers, New Cathedral, will almost certainly deny their post hardcore/emo roots in favour of their self coined term 'rotrock', but the four piece do indeed play a polarizing blend of the aforementioned genres and alternative rock. I sat down with (well actually I sent emails back an forth) with the band to talk about their new album 'Ghosts' and sexual relations with punk singers.

FBN: Hello there! So first of all tell us who you are and where you're from

Chris: We are New Cathedral from Tampa, Florida

Ricky: That's it?

Ryan: What? Well... I'm Ryan and I'm from Tampa. There are Scott and Chris...

Scott: We're both from Tampa.

Ricky: Alright then, we are New Cathedral and we're from Tampa, Florida.

FBN: If you had three words to describe your band, what would they be?

Ryan: Angry, Bearded, Rot-rock

Everyone Else: "I'm actually okay with that".

(We're trying really hard to make rot-rock a genre, haha)

FBN: What are some of the band's influences, musical and otherwise?

Chris: Thrice. I don't really have any for "otherwise"...

Ryan: Philly cheese steaks

Scott: Satan, whiskey

Ryan: Vietnam war...  losing a leg in 'nam- that's what drove me to do what I do today.

Ricky: But wouldn't someone else have to drive you? With you losing that leg and all...

Ryan: Yeah, someone else drove me.

Ricky: Alright so on a serious note... Musically I think we are all really influenced by Thrice especially because of all the ways they changed over the years. I know that Scott and Chris are really influenced by U2 because they grew up on it- and that's probably why they play music today. Kersey and I have known one another since like middle school and I think we've always just had a passion for loud music... it's one of the reasons we became friends. 

FBN: What's the local scene like? Have you found it to be supportive?

Ricky: The Tampa scene is really hit or miss and it depends on what kind of music you play.

Chris: Just put "what Ricky said" for all of us.

You've just released your new album, Ghost. Can you tell us a little about the writing and recording process? 

Scott: 4 dudes in a cramped lanai putting their heart into..

Ryan: Wait is that a lanai? I thought a lanai was screened in. That's more of a sun room. You should tell them we were in a mud hut. 4 guys in a mud hut makin' rot-rock.

Scott: The writing process went like this: Ricky would play a riff and we would all jam on top of it and I would yell "wait wait wait! Do that again!"

Ricky: Yeah and we're all like "What, all 14 minutes of it?"

Scott: We write about a 15 minute song and try to condense it to 3 minutes. 

Ricky: We usually just bring a riff and build on top of it until we get a general skeleton. Then Scott and I demo it on my home studio to turn it into the skeleton of a real song and figure out how it should actually sound. We recorded with Dany Byers of Rock Garden Recording and we record all of our music live. We all set up our gear and play the songs at the same time and try to get the best take we can. All of our songs are a compilation of like two takes and then we throw vocals on top. We want to put out albums that actually sound like we would if you came to see us at a show. 

FBN: What are your plans for touring this album? What can we expect from New Cathedral in 2k14?

We are just now getting into booking more. We are playing a big show with He Is Legend on March 6th 2014 at Tampa's The Orpheum and we are releasing our album, physically, that night. Once that show is over we will focus more on getting out of Tampa for the summer.

We're writing a new album and are going to try to head back into the studio probably at the end of April or beginning of May to put out a new EP. We've decided that our next releases will just be a series of four song EP's because we're very DIY and it will take less time and money to get each release out that way.

FBN: Formalities out of the way - Henry Rollins, Glenn Danzig, Jello Biafra - Fuck, Marry, Kill. Go.

Scott: In that order!

Chris: I would kill...

Scott: Wait, wait! I'm going to change mine. I'd actually marry Rollins because he seems like he would be a good father figure.

Ricky: but you're two dudes... where are the babies going to come from? Adoption?

Chris: I'd support that- I'd probably marry Rollins too.

Scott: So Danzig, Rollins, Jello

Chris: I guess... I think I'm in the same boat with Scott.

Ryan: I would fuck Jello, marry Rollins, and kill Danzig. I think Danzig would appreciate getting killed more than the other two.

Ricky: I second what Kersey (Ryan) just said!

FBN: You're on a desert island and you have three albums with you. What are they?

Assuming we're all on the island together then we aren't going to let any albums overlap!

Scott: U2 Achtung Baby, He Is Legend It Hates You, Misfits Collection 2

Ryan: MeWithoutYou Brother:Sister, Thrice Artist In The Ambulance, Glassjaw Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Silence

Ricky: Further Seems Forever How To Start A Fire, Coheed & Cambria The Year Of The Black Rainbow, Beloved (US) Failure On

Chris: Thrice Anthology and I'll give you some more later? I'll take MeWithoutYou A:B Life if you guys want to listen to it... Oh! Brand New The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Of Me.

FBN: Finally, any shout outs, thank  (or fuck yous) or words of wisdom you want to share with the blog-o-sphere?

Hmm I guess a "thank you" is in order to Dan Byers of Rock Garden Recording for recording our album. He is going to do our next one too. Maybe to Jim Morris of Morrisound Studios as well because he mastered it. Thanks to Brian Morgante of Deadhorse and Flesh & Bone Design for our shirt/sticker/button designs.

New Cathedral currently giving their single "Stealing Mirrors" away for free on their Bandcamp page and the album itself is available for purchase. Check it out at http://newcathedral.bandcamp.com/track/stealing-mirrors