Rock My Monkey: Hello, you are listening to the Rock My Monkey netcast on RockMyMonkey.com. Today we are speaking with Chris of the band Era Vulgaris. How are you doing today, Chris?
Chris Rob: I’m doing fine, thanks. Yeah. Not too bad.
Rock My Monkey: What song on this cd do you think has the chance of being your “Ace Of Spades”, the song fans demand for decades to come?
Chris Rob: Well, “Ace Of Spades”. (chuckles) It would be really nice to have a song that’s looked back on like that. I’d say it’d probably be “Harmonic Discontent”, as so far it gets the best fan reaction anyway. It’s gotten us further than any of the rest of the songs.
Rock My Monkey: What do you think makes “What Stirs Within” unique in the progressive metal scene, and what do you offer fans that no other progressive metal band does today?
Chris Rob: I think what we offer is that we’re sort of prog metal by default. We didn’t set out to do that, it’s just that’s what other people told us that we were. So we went with this. It’s all song based, and the progressive element is just things that come into it from classic rock or jazz or classical music or blues. So it’s not a contrived thing. It’s just really natural. It’s more rocky. We don’t have the operatic vocals like Dream Theater, or anything. It’s hard rock and progressive at the same time.
Rock My Monkey: What would you say is the most annoying cliché in progressive metal today?
Chris Rob: Speed. That’s is all about just who can play the fastest and the most technical, and it’s not really about being progressive anymore. It’s sort of slowly just becoming about virtuosity, which the original prog bands like Yes and King Crimson, it wasn’t about that. It was just being really good and loving the music that you’re doing. Not showing off.
Rock My Monkey: So many progressive metal bands choose to go the super wimpy route, almost to where it sounds like new age rock, but you guys almost border on death metal at times. What are your thoughts on the wimpy state of prog metal, and do you think it’s a mission of your guys’ to give prog a kick in the nuts?
Chris Rob: Yeah, well, like I’ve been listening to prog rock for years, and then I sort of heard about prog metal. Just the sound of it, prog metal. It’s going to be like prog rock, but metal. And then I heard it. And like you said, it was very sort of wimpy, very intellectual. Really, really bogged down in constructs, and this should be like this, and this should be like that. Whereas we’re first and foremost straight metal fans. We grew up with Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, then moved into Death and Morbid Angel. We wanted to bring all our influences in, so yeah, especially the band Death is a big influence vocally on those sort of more death metal vocals, and the style. But we didn’t want to limit ourselves. We wanted to just let every influence we had just sort of run wild, and then train them back in a bit into some presentable form.
Rock My Monkey: How did you get involved with the Thrash And Burn, An Irish Tribute To Thrash, and what made “Five Magics” by Megadeth your choice?
Chris Rob: We knew we’d definitely do a Megadeth tune for a thrash tribute like-I mean, Metallica, just because of how big they were, were the first that we all got into. But Megadeth would be far and above, like the early Megadeth, especially the album “Rust In Peace” is just a phenomenal mastermind. I mean it’s, to my mind, more progressive than a lot of prog metal is now, because it really broke boundaries with the song structure, and just these really, really just complex, unusual song structures. It wasn’t like verse, chorus, verse, chorus. It had all these other elements put in. Why we specifically chose “Five Magics”, it’s just a great, fast song, and pretty funny lyrics, really, I guess.
Rock My Monkey: Do you think there’s any chance that this could lead to you guys being on the next Gigantour?
Chris Rob: (laughs) Yeah, if they want to kick off Dream Theater and take us on as the prog metal band. And, yeah, that’d be nice. That’d be nice.
Rock My Monkey: Should Era Vulgaris fans start posting on the Gigantour forums now?
Chris Rob: Yeah, absolutely. (laughs) Get us over to America supporting Megadeth.
Rock My Monkey: Researching this interview was made a little difficult, because any search for the name of your band comes up with The Queens Of The Stone Age for some reason. How much of a hassle has this been, and has any good come of it?
Chris Rob: I’d say, to be honest, the hassle has been sort of balanced out by what good has come of it. Definitely a lot of people found us, especially through the networking sites, because they were looking for The Queens Of The Stone Age’s new album. And I guess more open minded Queens Of The Stone Age fans would be receptive to the kind of music that we’re doing. So we did find some new fans, and of course there was a lot of magazines from America to Germany picked up on the story about this little Irish prog metal band. Thankfully we actually had our album made in the U.K. so it was an official release before they came along. But yeah, when we chose the name, if you did a search for Era Vulgaris back in February, the first four or five pages would be stuff all about our band. Then suddenly in March they announced the name of theirs, and within two days the whole thing was just filled up. That is awkward.
Rock My Monkey: Have you ever even talked to Josh from Queens?
Chris Rob: There was a brief online back and forth. I did this sort of half tongue in cheek press release saying that their fans had been emailing asking me what the name meant. So I was saying to Josh, hey, educate your fans. I don’t want to be answering these emails all the time. He put back a response to me on this blog. But I thought maybe he would have phoned at least, or asked us to support them in Dublin. (both laugh)
Rock My Monkey: For the record, what is the meaning of the band name?
Chris Rob: For the record (chuckles), it does have a literal translation, which is ‘the common era.’ It’s Latin for ‘the common era.’ It’s been used by a lot of people from Aleister Crowley to ourselves. A lot of people think he came up with it, but it did exist before. As a band name it’s just, it’s sort of obscure, I guess. It’s nice because it doesn’t sound very heavy metal. It doesn’t sound death metal or thrash metal. It’s just sort of vague. To be honest, that’s the way we’d like people coming at the band, not really with any expectations ahead of them.
Rock My Monkey: So are you really going to call your next album Queens Of The Common Age, or was that just a joke?
Chris Rob: (laughs) That was possibly a joke. But we’re definitely, for the record anyway, it will be a concept album about prehistoric monasteries. Prehistoric monarchies. (laughs)
Rock My Monkey: So there actually is some truth to that, then? You actually might call the next album that?
Chris Rob: Yeah, like I said, prehistoric monarchies is the concept for the next one, yeah. We’ve been inspired by Josh. (laughs)
Rock My Monkey: What is Open Your Ears, and how did you hook up with them?
Chris Rob: That’s actually our own label. We started that label to release the album on. The album is actually self-released by us. It’s just that we set up a company so that we could process everything properly. And also so we didn’t have to call ourselves an unsigned band. And I think that really helped us open doors to getting distribution with The End Records in the U.S., and Plastic Head in the U.K. I think if we didn’t have that written down that we were on a company, then I think we would have found it a lot more difficult to get where we’re going.
Rock My Monkey: The only version of the cd that I can find is on Amazon is an import. Will full American distribution happen anytime soon?
Chris Rob: Full American distribution has started. I don’t think Amazon has picked up on it yet, but if you go to Omega Records, which is The End Records online, online ordering website, I think they have it for thirteen dollars fifty. So it is available, it’s just waiting for Amazon to pick up. It’s only been out like two weeks in the U.S.
Rock My Monkey: Is there any plans for a video single for this release?
Chris Rob: I don’t think for this one. We’re sort of fairly quickly moving on to start writing. This album we used to build our name and get us known, but we’re definitely more sort of psyched about what we’re doing for the second one, and that’s really where all our concentration is going now.
Rock My Monkey: Is there anything about this album that you wish you could have changed or added?
Chris Rob: When I listen to it I know that there’s, being the musicians inside, you can hear things that most people probably wouldn’t. But I have to say I always found it kind of annoying, I remember hearing in interviews, hearing people from Lars Ulrich and people from other bands putting down older albums of theirs that I really liked. It’s almost insulting to the fans of your music to say you wish you could have changed something. If your fans liked it, then you should move on and you should be happy for that reason. So no, in short I wouldn’t change anything. (laughs)
Rock My Monkey: What are the chances of the band doing a full coast to coast tour of the U.S. anytime soon at all?
Chris Rob: As soon as an opportunity came up we would. I mean, we’re building a European tour for 2008, a U.K. tour. I’d say it would be at the earliest the end of next year. But that would just be great, the stuff of dreams, like you said, coast to coast.
Rock My Monkey: This is the time of the interview I like to call The Lightening Round. Now you’re actually, for the record, we’re actually talking to you from Ireland, correct?
Chris Rob: That’s right. From Dublin.
Rock My Monkey: Basically The Lightening Round is where I name something in popular news, popular culture here in America, and you sum up your thoughts in one short sentence.
Chris Rob: (chuckles) American stories. Okay.
Rock My Monkey: Well, it could be stuff that maybe you might be familiar with.
Chris Rob: Stuff that’s hitting the news in America?
Rock My Monkey: Well, I think you might actually be familiar with most of these things. These are actually pretty world wide news stories as well.
Chris Rob: Okay.
Rock My Monkey: First off, Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Chris Rob: Yeah, he’s that guy. I actually saw the ad he did today where it’s like Founding Fathers, and he’s saying all these things that the Founding Fathers said which everyone’s going against. Yeah, I’m kind of for him. Vote for Ron Paul.
Rock My Monkey: The NBC show Heroes.
Chris Rob: Hayden ‘Panties In The Air’. That’s what we call her over here. (laughs) ‘Save the cheerleader. Save the world.’ It’s okay. It’s only okay. (laughs)
Rock My Monkey: The iPhone.
Chris Rob: Yeah. Hack it. Everyone, you should be allowed to hack it. Fuck the man.
Rock My Monkey: President Bush.
Chris Rob: I don’t want to make people angry by talking about him. (both laugh)
Rock My Monkey: Fox News.
Chris Rob: Crap. Watch the BBC.
Rock My Monkey: (laughs) Recording Industry Association Of America.
Chris Rob: (laughs) Oh god. I’m so glad I don’t live in America. More than anything else, that group of people make me glad that I don’t live in America. I can’t believe what they do.
Rock My Monkey: I do have one final question. Every year we do choose one final question that we ask every single band from classic rock legends to the most extreme death metal bands at the end of every interview, partially to stump people, but also to see who wimps out and won’t answer. This year I’m asking people to look into their crystal ball and predict what political figure, world leader, musician, celebrity, anybody well known, anybody world wide famous, who do you think might die before the end of the year?
Chris Rob: (laughs) Before the end of 2007?
Rock My Monkey: Yes.
Chris Rob: Victoria Beckham.
Rock My Monkey: Victoria Beckham. Alright. Interesting answer.
Chris Rob: I’m going to try to make that happen. (both laugh)
Rock My Monkey: I thank you very much for doing the interview. Anybody that’s listening to the audio version can go to RockMyMonkey.com for the full featured version with clickable links, readable text, and many more wonderful features. I’m asking people to click on the album cover above and below this interview to purchase “What Stirs Within” from Era Vulgaris. And I do hope to see you guys up on tour in the Northwest, hopefully sometime in 2008. Thank you very much for your time.
