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by Lo Walker
[Interview conducted July 2004]
After a multitude of lineup changes, Himsa’s continuous
progression over the years is truly impressive. Their persistence and passion
for creating and playing music is simply amazing. Prosthetic Records releases
proof of their unrelenting intensity in June 2003 in a tight package titled
Courting Tragedy and Disaster. The band is currently touring with Shadows
Fall, As I Lay Dying and Remembering Never. I was fortunate enough to catch an
interview with vocalist Johnny Pettibone during the Aggressive Festival in
Glen Falls, NY.
Right, now you have an album out on Prosthetic Records,
Courting Tragedy and Disaster.
That’s correct.
Could you talk a little about that?
It’s been out about a little over a year now. It took about a year to write,
and it’s basically where the band's progressed to what we are now. How the
band started is almost completely different than what it is now - the ideas
behind it, the kind of morals, the whole background and what not. It’s still
based a lot in the same roots, but like every band it's so hard to find people
on the same page and trying to do the same thing. That's why there have been
so many continuous changes. But with this record there's almost like a
completely new line up than the last record we had. The only original member
is Derrick, the bass player. Me and Kirby have been in it with Derrick for the
past four and half years, so I think people now think of how we are now than
what it was before. Once in a while, we’ll get “Oh, why didn’t you play one of
the old songs?” Well, one, I didn’t sing on those records, and those guys
didn’t play on them, so we’re not gonna play those songs. A little background
about it, it is basically just the torment of where we come from. I mean we
are from Seattle. It s a very dreary, depressing city. It‘s very grey, very,
very high suicide rate. I think that reflects on the album. Of our upbringing
and how things are there, it's like Seattle’s the sore thumb up in the corner
of the northwest. Not many bands get up there. We’re in a constant search of
new flavors, of what we want, and what we take as influences. Things like that
I think it reflects on the record of not only our hardcore roots, because we
all come from the hardcore scene, but we’re also huge, huge metal fans too.
When we were thirteen and growing up hardcore was our life, but metal was our
dream. The musicianship has stepped up so much higher. I’ve known these guys
for twelve, thirteen years. From where they started, the band they began in to
what they do now is a hundred times different. So the certain topics on the
record just deal with the kind of heartache that everybody goes through. It’s
a record that everyone can relate too, but it’s all personal reflection of
what I’ve gone through in my life, whether it be family, relationships,
friends death, what not, and there’s some songs that are just random
oversights that I come across in my day to day life back home. I find some
weird weird things that go on, and there’s kind of some hidden meaning going
on.
Awesome, very cool. Seattle. Are you familiar with
Twin Peaks?
Yeah, I actually grew up in the town it was filmed in. I’m in the very first
episode.
Oh really.
Yeah. In the very beginning when the student comes and tells the teacher that
Laura Palmer is dead. I’m sitting in a classroom with my head down and a
hoodie over my head.
That’s awesome.
Yeah, I got fifty bucks for it.
Very nice. What are some of your influences?
On the whole band or personally...
Let’s start with you personally.
Definitely some of my biggest influences are Dwid from Integrity, Human
Furnace from Ringworm, just early, early hardcore bands, as far as vocalist
Tim Singer from No Escape and Dead Guy, even Thomas Lindberg from At The
Gates. It’s funny because a lot of metal bands will say Thomas and you can see
that reflected. I was just fortunate enough to see him once when he came over
and I was just blown away. There were ten people at the show and you see a 100
percent in it and I took so much from that. I think as far as the hardcore
band that’s been the influence of what I wanted to adapt to and do with this
band. As far as the band goes Slayer, of course, Maiden, Haunted, Testament,
Judas Priest, even some Boston rock.
That’s a good mix.
Yeah, you know we want to take it all across the board, and do as much as we
can. Try and create something unique.
How is the tour going so far?
It’s great we’re in it about a week we just did a couple shows in Canada. It
was awesome. We love the Shadows Fall guys and As I Lay Dying guys. They have
taken us out before, and they treat us really, really well. It’s great to look
up to bands, and then get a chance to tour with them and become friends. It’s
just a dream come true for me. I never thought that I would get to a level
like this. We’re a small band, and every day is a new adventure.
You guys sounded really good tonight.
Thank you very much. I think that is the biggest stage we have ever played on.
That is a huge stage.
It is big. I got to run around a lot and make up space. It was good times.
What’s it like touring the US and then other countries?
It’s about the same. There are a good mix of hardcore kids and metal kids just
going there to have a good time, dance and support the bands, and even check
small bands like us out and give us their support. It’s the world. We’ve been
to Europe a few times. It’s the same thing. It’s pretty much the same - using
the term - scene. It all has kind of its same morality with it, how things
work and how things are. It's grown a lot past that DIY ethic of it and I do
miss that. It's just weird when business comes into it, management and booking
agents. It’s such a foreign world to us. We’re learning as we go.
What are your plans after this tour?
Hopefully doing a west coast tour end of September. Just a headline thing by
ourselves for two weeks. We want to take some bands from Seattle, like a band
called Hell Promise, which is two ex-members of us and a great up and coming
band. So do that, and if we don’t get a good opening support act for a tour in
October, I think, we’ll probably take some time off. Start writing a new
record. We have two finished and two kind of in the back that we’re still
working on, so just go from there and try to get in the studio by January.
Other ex-members of Himsa formed a band called...
Hauler, is it?
Yeah, Hauler. That’s Erin Edge. He actually does all of our merch designs too.
He has a company called Odium. He does band t-shirts and websites and stuff
like that, but it’s still very low key. He just likes working with bands,
because that’s where he comes from.
So you guys are still very close.
Yeah, very close. He usually comes on road with us. He couldn’t come this
time, because Hauler was doing a tour. He’s always busy with bands.
Cool. What would be your dream tour?
For me personally, it would be weird, but it would be Ian Curtis, dug up, Joy
Division, the original line-up of the Misfits, well not the original, but
Dole, Danzig, Jerry, and probably Robo. I like to see that in their prime, and
I’ll throw in Cro-Mags. It would be an interesting tour, but fun for me. The
band, I know it would be Maiden headlining, Slayer, and Jezoit.
Cool. Okay, I’m going to wrap this up. This is my first
interview, so it’s a learning experience for me as well. Are there any
important questions or topics that you would like to discuss when doing
interviews?
I don’t mind the interviews. Most of the time they're the same. That’s what
people read, if they don’t catch it in this zine they will read it some where
else, so they know what the band is about. The dream tour things, I like it
when people ask that. It’s just funny for me, because I’m the outcast of the
band as far as music - what I like and what I’ve grown up on, but I have
similarities to what the band likes too.
You bring a new element to the band.
Exactly. You could ask what’s playing in the CD player right now, or what you
listen to on the drives.
Okay. What would that be?
In my cd player right now is LIVE DVD of the Smiths from the one time I saw
them in1986, Queen is Dead tour. I found it from this guy. He had all these
bootlegs of live Smiths CD’s, and that was favorite band of all time. I was
like “I was at that fucking concert! I need it!” I was thirteen years old, and
I was so excited. So I listened to it, and there was a riot that happened with
security, and it’s all taped on there. So it’s great. In the van we listen to
a lot of comedy, like David Cross, Bill Hicks, and what not. We have satellite
radio, so we listen to Heartattack all the time, and just the metal stations
and comedy stations. There’s an Elvis 24-7 station that I constantly listen to
when I drive. Everybody puts their headphones on. We all have personal DVD
players. I just watched Braveheart for probably the hundredth time. I
love movies.
Awesome. That’s a long one too, probably helps break up
the long drives.
It is a long DVD. It’s like 3 hours, but yeah, I love it. I’m Wallace Clan
descent, Scottish, so it’s rad to see my ancestry conquer England. (laughs)
Very nice.
Yeah.
Well, thank you very much for the great interview.
Thank you.
http://www.himsa.org
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