Such heavy hitters are no stranger to the Chill House stage - but it's always a treat being able to see new and exciting bands carrying the torch and continuing to provide harsh sounds to the audience that the venue draws in. This show is sure to be another massive spectacle, and it's one you won't want to miss out on.
The band has been growing a steady audience since their recent beginnings, and it's clear to see that the party is just getting started for them. Their unique and deeply heavy sound is something sure to resonate with audiences, and they're making sure to bring the heat to open up for the headliners of the night.
You won't want to miss out on getting to know the band before the show kicks off tonight, and there's no better way to get your information than from the band itself. Don't miss out on reading the exclusive Broken Crow interview below the cut, as it will teach you everything you need to know before you make the plunge to see the band on stage.
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1. First, introduce yourself/yourselves for those who may not know you. What is your role in the band?
Conner: My name is Conner and I play guitar and do vocals in Broken Crow
Hunter: I'm Hunter and I play the drums
Ronan: Hi! I'm Ronan and I play bass in Broken Crow.
Travis: Hey, I'm Travis! I play guitar and do backing vocals in Broken Crow, and currently I'm the producer of our next album.
2. What are some of your influences with the band? Where does that heavy sound come from in terms of inspiration?
Conner: My biggest influences for songwriting are Children of Bodom, Avenged Sevenfold, Periphery, Wintersun, and Metallica. As far as guitar itself, my influences are Alexi Laiha, Synyster Gates, Jari Maenpaa, Buckethead, Mark Tremonti, and probably countless other amazing players!
Hunter: My biggest influence is probably Gene Hoglan, mainly his work on the symbolic album by Death. That's what originally inspired me to play with 2 ride cymbals. My other main influences are Nick Menza from Megadeth, Igor Cavalera from Sepultura, Joey Jordison from Slipknot, and Rick Allen from Def Leppard.
Ronan: The most straightforward answer I can give is that I'm influenced by all my musician friends. There's nothing that inspires me more than having a friend open up to me about what inspires them and how they approach music and how it reflects on their own style. Other than that I don't have any particular influences. I always try and keep a track of bits and pieces of music that piques my interest. In terms of my instrument, watching Colin Marston's bass playthroughs of his work with Gorguts changed my life.
Travis: When it comes to influences, I love a lot of different things. When it comes to metal, I got into it with bands like Trivium, Protest the Hero, Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica, and a lot of others, but then got into heavier and also more progressive stuff like Periphery, Between the Buried and Me, Arsonists Get All the Girls, Betraying the Martyrs... honestly too many to list lol. I also grew up playing a lot of video games, and video game music has always been a big influence to me, especially boss battle and fight music. Some soundtracks I adored were Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Hollowknight, Nier Automata, the first couple generations of Pokémon games, and Banjo Kazooie.
3. How does creating music with the band come about? Tell us about that process.
Conner: Usually I bring songs to the guys and we all start to flesh them fully into completed works. As time has gone on we've started to write songs together more and will more than likely continue this trend. Lyric wise, I do all of the writing on that end so far, but in the future that might change.
Hunter: Well I haven't been in the band too long so basically all of our new songs were mostly fleshed out already. But for the drums I would come up with my parts and then bring them into the studio, whatever the guys like and don't like we change according to what sounds good.
Ronan: I'm the newest member in the band so by the time I joined, most our songs were already more or less structured and whatnot. The songs do change as we jam them out and we all put our own spin on them. I do my best to do the songs justice and make sure the low end doesn't drop out.
Travis: When it comes to making music with the band, most of the music has been, or is written by Connor. On the new album, only one song wasn't written by him prior to the rest of us being in the band, and it was a song I had partially figured out back in 2017.
Connor and I finished it together after a couple jam sessions putting ideas into it.
Going forward, we're looking to incorporate more ideas from everyone, and getting a more collaborative flow to it, now that we've all been around for a while.
4. What makes music worthwhile for you?
Conner: Everything about it! Music is what I love and it gives me such deep feelings of satisfaction, love, energy, and stability. If I didn't do music, I'd do nothing. I think my identity is tied to music and I will be playing and creating until the day I'm under.
Hunter: My passion for hitting my drums like they owe me money. And of course meeting all of the kind souls within the scene.
Ronan: The only 2 things that make music worthwhile for me is firstly, the music itself. You gotta love the music, otherwise why are you even doing it? Secondly, the people. I've met almost all of my best friends either at shows or through our shared passion of music.
Travis: Y'know, sometimes I ask myself that too! Hahaha but then you finish making a song and it's like you sit there just... giddy. It's great, because you made something, and it's completely catered to your own tastes. I just get this sense of accomplishment and pride from being able to listen to something, enjoy it, and think of all the years as a kid I wished I could do what I'm doing now.
5. If you could describe your sound and style in just ONE word, what might that word be?
Conner: CHAOS
Hunter: Chaotic
Ronan: Intense
Travis: Attitude
6. What are your plans for the future of the band?
Conner: To just keep doing what we do, and always be striving to achieve goals and dreams, and one up ourselves every time! More shows, more songs, more fun, and more life lived!
Hunter: Make more music, meet more people, play more shows and have fun.
Ronan: Right now, we wanna finish working on the album and then tour around Canada and hopefully abroad. That's the plan.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Travis: Finish our album, play shows, make more music, repeat! That's what it's all about
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7. What can fans and newcomers expect from your performance at the Chill House on July 11th?
Conner: You can expect to see 4 guys up there just having the time of their lives, doing what they love.
Hunter: They can expect to see 4 dumbasses having a great time doing their best to entertain you while playing Melodeath
Ronan: Lots of energy! That's the entire point of our band. Play fast. Play loud. Give the people a good time!
Travis: They can expect me to have not lost the weight I said I would by this Summer... oh and us to play music, of course.
8. What do you bring to the stage when performing?
Conner: Lots of shreds, lots of notes, and attempted vocals. Also I jump around a lot and give myself whiplash nightly from headbanging.
Hunter: Hard hitting fast drumming and beautiful stupidity
Ronan: My job is to make sure that the low end weight of our sound doesn't drop out. Be so locked in that my bandmates can focus on what they're doing. All that and also try to look like I'm having fun haha
Travis: I bring the long hair that everyone else cut off last year, and a pretty alright beard. Oh and I do gang shouts sometimes!
9. What makes Broken Crow unique from other bands in the local scene?
Conner: We have a style that not many others in the local scene have. Melodeath is not a common genre these days. With heavy usage of keyboards, clean and screamed vocals, odd time signatures, unconventional song structures, and different variety genre bending moments, we try to wear our influences on our sleeves while also just being ourselves.
Hunter: Most of the other bands in our local scene aren't very melodic from what I hear. We have a lot of death metal and punk, and thrash, but not a lot of people around hear tap into that melodic side too much.
Ronan: I would say our genre and our use of keys and synths is pretty unique to us. You don't see a lot of bands do that anymore especially in metal. That and also the sheer amount of shred we have in our songs. Make the guitar solo cool again!
Travis: I think Broken Crow is unique in our local metal scene as we're not afraid to go outside of death or thrash metal with what we do. We've covered alt-rock, metalcore, and punk songs live, we have a lot of synths/keyboards in our music, and neither Connor or I are shy about doing clean-singing either.
10. Lastly, what is one piece of advice you would give to any aspiring artists out there?
Conner: Just don't quit. Never. If you get knocked down, you get back up. Setbacks, failures, frustrations, heartache, pain, losses. They're all apart of this thing we do. Never let them get to you. Keep trying again, and again, and over and over again. Cause it will be worth it in the end. Do things with all your heart, with passion, with determination with strength, with love, and they will get done. Oh yeah, and practice to a damn metronome ;).
Hunter: Keep playing and keep practicing. When you don't wanna practice, keep practicing. Doing the things you don't wanna do is what's gonna make you a better and better player with any instrument
Ronan: Only make music that you want to make and this one is super important, be best friends with your bandmates. Keep these two things in check and you'll be bulletproof to whatever comes your way! Don't forget to have fun either Imaoo it's music bro
Travis: Don't use Al, kids. Everything about my answer for "what makes music worth it to you" is exactly what you won't get if you use Al. Do it because you love it, do it because you want to improve yourself, and do it to a metronome.
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Don't miss out on your chance to see this melodic four-piece take the stage in a couple hours at the Chill House! This show is sure to be a night to remember - and you'll want to be able to say that you made it there to watch it all unfold.
Thank you so much to Broken Crow for taking the time to take part in this interview! It was a real honour to be the first person to interview the band, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for their sound and stylistic progression over time.
Make sure to stay tuned and check back frequently for constant updates and new content uploaded directly to Lexi's Projections! You won't find exclusive content like this anywhere else - and you'll want to be one of the first to hear when a post is live.
Broken crow sounds like a very intense interesting band...great Q/A in interview!
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