| POISON THE WELL / who doesn't love a good dismemberment? |
| Written by Luke Oram |
| Sunday, 23 August 2009 18:21 |
 The rock & roll dream was conceived and born screaming like a banshee, in the back of a beat-up van. At least that’s the impression you get from Ryan Primack’s weary voice channelled down the phone from Transit, Chicago. As a founding member of Miami post-hardcore giants POISON THE WELL, Primack’s spent more hours on the road than off it, carving a niche for the band’s alternative take on the metal genre. With over ten years behind them, the behemoth that is Poison The Well have experienced their share of humps in the road, including a string of former members as long as Route 69 (8 guitarists, 11 bass players)... and a well-publicised split with Atlantic Records in 2006, which Primack likes to refer to as “The Major Label Situation". “It’s always the same thing with them. People want to make money. For us, it usually ends up badly because we don’t ever think about that. Ever.”
COUP DE MAIN: Tell me about the new album; 'The Tropic Rot'? How do you think it stacks up against your other albums? POISON THE WELL - RYAN PRIMACK: I’m very proud of it. I think it’s a little bit more focused than the last record, 'cuz 'Versions' was kinda all over the place. Even though I like that, but I think this time around it's more focused. You know, heavier. CDM: There’s a bit of prog-rock going on there... RP: Rush is my favourite band, so it happened by accident. CDM: The first Poison The Well album I ever heard was 'You Come Before You', which was pretty balls-to-the-wall brutal. How would you describe the evolution of your sound since then? RP: I think we just keep trying to push what we do. Some records are a little heavier, some records are less heavy. It kinda just sits with the mood we’re in and the place we’re at, at that time. We’re never really worried about what people want to hear, we just honestly play what comes to us and then pick up the pieces afterwards. CDM: Has there been a good reception to the album? RP: Critically, so far yes. It always takes kids about 4-5 months to get where we’re coming from, but so far it’s been a good thing. CDM: This is your second album with Ferret Records. Obviously you guys have moved around a bit, label-wise; do you think you’ve found what you’re looking for with them? RP: Yeah, it’s really cool. They know what to expect from us. They know we just do things our way. That’s really important; they just let us do what we do. They’re really behind us and what we did. CDM: Has maintaining creative control been a struggle for you guys? RP: After that ‘major label’ situation, yeah. CDM: Do we not talk about the 'major label situation'? RP: It’s always the same thing. People want to make money, that’s what they do. For us, it usually ends up bad because we don’t ever think about that. Ever. What we think about, is making something honest and something that means something to us and hoping that people can see that. As far as what anyone else thinks, we don’t give a shit.  CDM: That’s obviously paid off with the fans. You guys have a very loyal fan-base. RP: Yeah, I mean; people appreciate that we don’t just do whatever’s gonna be popular. We do what we really wanna do. So people know what we do is honest. CDM: It seems that fans in the extreme end of music are much more loyal. Have you found that? RP: Yes and no. A lot of people who were very loyal as the band has changed, have gotten angry. But the people who have stuck with us have been very supportive, which is nice. CDM: You spoke about Rush being one of your main influences. As a guitarist, what bands got you into this style of music? RP: Number one are the Bad Brains. Dr. NO is one of the biggest influences I ever had. They’re a cool band in that they do the most out there hardcore punk and then they go; “oh now we have a dub song”. I always really respected that. I always respected the fact that they worked two schools, and they worked them really well CDM: So are we looking out for the next dub record from you guys? RP: I wish. CDM: Do you write music yourself, outside of Poison The Well? RP: Yeah I do write a bunch of stuff. It mostly sounds like really bad George Thorogood and the Destroyers, though. CDM: That’s not a bad thing. What are some of your favourite records right now? RP: That reggae record – 'The Harder They Come'. Especially the Toots and Maytals stuff. Any Ennio Morricone soundtrack. CDM: Some people say the Morricone influence was evident on 'Versions'. RP: Yeah, absolutely. That’s when I was just starting to get into that stuff. It’s very apparent on that record. I hadn’t really found a way to assimilate those likes and influences in a cohesive manner, so the songs kinda skip around. ...And so the great American metal train continues through Chicago. From Primack’s spaghetti-western-infused 'Versions' to a more cohesive collective in 'The Tropic Rot', it’s evident that Poison The Well are happy to keep gun-slinging for now; creating eclectic hardcore in the pursuit of another honest record. Before Primack signed off, he participated in an obligatory nod to the land down-under, dropping heavy-handed hints at a PTW excursion to New Zealand before the end of the year, which gives us all a few more months to wait for the tropic rot to set in.  |
