Hello Friends,How many of you are familiar with "string metal"? If the answer is "not many", I wasn't either until I was introduced to a band called Judgment Day. The band consists of a drummer, violinist, and cello player; and despite these typically soft spoken instruments the music is so hard it has been coined "string metal". I first saw the band about a year ago and was blown away. When I heard the band was rolling into New York again, I set up an interview with violinist Anton Patzner and attended the show yesterday at Union Pool. Now, for your literary pleasure, here is the transcript from my discussion with Anton and a review of last night's concert. First, the interview:
Me: I am here with Anton, the violinist for the band Judgment Day. Anton, how and when did you guys all start playing together?
Anton: Well… Lewis (our cello player) and I are brothers but we didn’t really start playing together, other than at Christmas parties and stuff, until 2002. Then we started playing together on the street of Berkeley, and basically one thing led to another. We started off playing on the street, didn’t have any songs, just played loud and fast and people would give us money. People kept coming up to us asking if they could listen to our band so we thought “Oh! We should make this into a real band”. So we got John to play drums, basically he was like… the toughest drummer in Santa Cruz, where I was living at the time. We thought it would be a good contrast to have really heavy drums with violin and cello and… that’s how Judgment Day was born.
Me: So when did the idea to play “metal”, to start a string metal band, come to fruition?
Anton: Well the truth is we didn’t really plan for it to be metal, we just played loud and fast and that was kinda what made us tips on the street. We started writing songs like that and I was like, “Alright, well I guess this kind of sounds like metal”. So we just called it metal.
Me: I assume as string players you and Lewis have some classical training?
Anton: Yeah, that’s right. Both our parents are classical musicians and they were really good about getting us private lessons growing up, and making sure we practiced every day. And making sure we did it right. We definitely had really good classical training.
Me: Did either of you study at a conservatory?
Anton: Lewis did. Between when our first record came out and our new record (coming out this year), Lewis completed a four-year degree at the Peabody Conservatory.
Me: Ah, very cool. I’ve never really heard anybody who plays the way you guys do on violin and cello. Had you ever heard anybody like that in the past or was this style pretty much your idea?
Anton: There’s actually a really big alternative string movement happening right now, and we’re just one part of it. The first band that really did it was Apocalyptica, a cello group who cover Metallica songs. And Rasputina. And now there are lots of other bands out there; we were out at South by Southwest and we had a giant cello jam with a member of Rasputina and another kind of cello metal band called Break of Reality. So there definitely are quite a few bands that do it but I like to think that we're taking it in a different direction, maybe more of an experimental direction, and maybe more of a rock direction then a lot of the alternative strings bands. I think that alot of the alternative string bands from that scene play with more of the classical style. I think our style is way more raw and you know... imperfect. It's rock... I wouldn't say that our style is very classical.
Me: No, I wouldn't say so either. So when you first formed this band and started playing out, how were you originally received?
Anton: We were received well! I mean people were definitely always impressed. I can't remember a time when people were not impressed by us. Even when, in my opinion now looking back at us, I think we kinda sucked in the beginning. But people always really dug the violin and the cello playing metalish stuff so no matter what people have been impressed. But I think we've gotten so much better, and we continue to impress, so now I feel that more than just being an impressive act, we're something that people find musically interesting.
Me: Very cool. Want to tell us a bit about the musical themes for the new album?
Anton: Sure. The record is called Peacocks/Pink Monsters; the title is taken from a painting, which is the album cover. The painting is an improvised collaboration by three different artists. We just had them paint for two hours and then whatever it was at the ending, that's what we ended up using. It kind of ties into a lot of the themes of the record, there's a lot of improvisation on this record. We wrote about half of it, and then went in the studio and improvised and experimented and it kind of took its own direction, took its own life. There's a lot of spontaneity on the record. Actually, one track is completely improvised. At the end of every day in the studio we would just hit record and jam together; this one track came out so good we didn't even edit it, just mixed it, put it on the record. Yeah so, I think that's one of the big things here; it ties in with the artwork. There's actually a video of the artwork being done on the website; we videotaped the whole thing, an improvised collaboration of over two hours.
Me: Awesome. So what groups do you guys listen to?
Anton: Well, we kind of have a variety of tastes in our band. Personally, my favorite rock band is Radiohead. I love Led Zeppelin and alot of that 20th century rock music. Our drummer listens to a lot more metal than I do, but I can get into the metal stuff too. We have a drum tech on tour with us right now, and he has 500 hours of metal on his ipod. We've been given an education about metal on this trip.
Me: Any last things you want people to know about Judgment Day?
Anton: Yeah, one thing I would have to say is it's not just about music for us. We're also really into making videos, putting out videos. I write a lot on our blog at stringmetal.com . And people should check that out too... in addition to the music and the live shows, check out the videos and the website. We work hard on that also.
... And there you have it. Late last night I trekked out to Williamsburg with my roommate Andrew to see the band perform at Union Pool. The crowd of 30-40 people fit perfectly around the small stage, an ideal venue for a band with a small but loyal New York following. For an 11 PM show on a weeknight, it was an impressive crowd. The show itself was short but very sweet. The band had clearly matured since I had last seen them; the first time the experience was in large part visceral and "in your face". This show the band maintained that hard edge but the musicianship was what shined, as they produced a sound that combined art with violence. The forty minute concert was packed with numerous time and mood changes, and songs of astonishing complexity.
Some aspects of the show were imperfect, as the instrumental mix was not ideal. The drums were too pronounced, while the volume of the strings could have been louder. The sound was very crisp though, so these weren't major issues. The drummer was probably the weak link of the band, excelling in songs that required multiple tempo changes, but his beats were fairly boring and predictable when the tempo remained constant. However, the connection between the two brothers made up for any of the bands' minor shortcomings. The brothers' Patzner seemed to have a psychic ability to know what the other would play next, even during improvised sections. Lewis's cello playing oscillated from mournful to menacing, setting the mood at each turn, while Anton coerced the violin into producing sounds its creators could never have imagined, performing with fervor and passion. There was a brooding, tenuous darkness within each song, which sooner or later inevitably exploded into frantic, hard rock. Overall, it was a really enjoyable show by a truly unique, talented band. I'm excited to see how they continue to progress musically, and hope you decide check them out yourselves.
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