Dr Claire and Charlie caught up with Archspire guitarist, Tobi Morelli, as the Tech Trek Tour rolled into Bristol.
Interview
MoM: You’re set to play Relentless Mutation in its entirety on the European Tech Trek Tour but do you have any plans for new material?
Tobi: We’ve been working on the next record this past year, while still trying to tour a little bit to, y’know, be able to pay the bills. But we’re pretty much writing full time, Monday to Friday. We’re giving ourselves until Fall 2020 before heading to the studio, and the tentative plan is to have the record out in 2021. Still pushing the boundaries of speed - some of the new tracks we’re working on even exceed the last record. I’m starting to play with an 8-string, so that’s been a challenge. It’s an intense process.
MoM: Archspire take the genre of technical death metal to a whole new level - what makes you want to play so damn fast?
Tobi: Well, why not? Less isn’t more - more is more! The music we like to play is fast, technical, and brutal. We’re not just doing it for the sake of it. We always want to progress and challenge ourselves. How much faster could we go? How else can we push ourselves? Where is the breaking point?
MoM: Which bands are flying the flag for extreme metal right now?
Tobi: That’s a tough one. Actually, the older I get the less metal I’m listening to, which probably sounds like a lame thing to say. Collectively, one of our favourite bands is Soreption, they were on the bill with us and Revocation last year. They’re from Sweden and have a really modern tech death sound. Kinda like Decapitated and Cannibal Corpse.
MoM: If you could design your dream line-up, which bands would you take on tour with you?
Tobi: I mean, Cannibal Corpse would be sweet. Dying Fetus would be rad. I don’t think that would ever happen but they’d be two bands we’d love to tour with. Cattle Decapitation would be sick, they’re buddies of ours too. They would all open up for us, of course. Fastest band gets to headline!
MoM: How do you define achievement and what’s important to you as a band?
Tobi: It’s all about small stepping stones. Playing tech death was always the goal and to be a full-time touring band. That’s what we wanted to do with our lives. To put all our efforts into this art. Starting out small, we wanted to make an album so we needed to get the music written. Then, playing shows and branching out as quickly as possible. Being self-sufficient and not waiting for shit to happen. You just gotta meet people and start networking. We learned so much from just seeing what other bands were doing and taking notes, basically. Touring with Decapitated, Aborted, and Fleshgod Apocalypse in 2011 was a huge learning experience.Getting to see what professional bands do. That was a big boost for us in terms of what we needed to do. The opportunity came up and we knew we needed to do it. Just get on that tour bus! You’ve got to take any opportunity you can get. Do something that makes you stand out and makes people notice; like our merch. We learned a lot from Aborted, who also work with Coki Greenway; they have people lining up as soon as the doors open. Huge prints, lots of colour. Most of the ideas come from brain storming around Oli’s lyrics. We didn’t originally want to do all the gore but it sells – you guys love brutal, gory shirts!
MoM: What have been your career highlights so far?
Tobi: I’d say being in a touring tech death band is pretty niche, and being able to do that for a living for the last two years. We also got nominated for a Juno award, which is like a Canadian Grammy, for Relentless Mutation back in 2018, which was an awesome recognition.
MoM: Having a PhD in Neuroscience, you’re more likely to find me giving lectures than interviewing bands. Flipping things around, if you were going to study for a PhD, what subject would you choose?
Tobi: If it can still be music related, it’d be cool to be a film composer. Making music for films is definitely something I’d go back to school for. A buddy I grew up with did his PhD in Music Theory, and wrote his thesis on Meshuggah’s I. Now, he teaches a class on extreme music in Montreal. It sounds like it’s totally made up but he’s teaching kids about death metal.
Review
Opening proceedings were Inferi (8); a State-side, tech-death band on their UK debut. A band destined for success, they held the audience captive from the start to the finish of their intricate and dynamic set. Somewhat out of place on such a tech-driven line-up, South African Slam-Gods Vulvodynia(3) divided the audience. They got the die-hard fans of the genre moving but failed to engage the majority with their stomping riffs . We were expecting big things from Beneath The Massacre’s (6) return but were sadly disappointed by their lacklustre and visually uninspiring performance. Solid material with a few tech-gems but all few and far between. On the contrary, Archspire (9) greeted us with all the energy you’d expect from the Canadian speed demons; executing the Relentless Mutation album with flawless precision, plus Rapid Elemental Dissolve, Lucid Collective Somnambulation, and Scream Feeding from their earlier records. The between-song banter with the crowd was also on-point, showing just how animated and engaging the band are. Our only criticism was the length of the set, which with no encore, left us wanting more.
Interview
MoM: You’re set to play Relentless Mutation in its entirety on the European Tech Trek Tour but do you have any plans for new material?
Tobi: We’ve been working on the next record this past year, while still trying to tour a little bit to, y’know, be able to pay the bills. But we’re pretty much writing full time, Monday to Friday. We’re giving ourselves until Fall 2020 before heading to the studio, and the tentative plan is to have the record out in 2021. Still pushing the boundaries of speed - some of the new tracks we’re working on even exceed the last record. I’m starting to play with an 8-string, so that’s been a challenge. It’s an intense process.
MoM: Archspire take the genre of technical death metal to a whole new level - what makes you want to play so damn fast?
Tobi: Well, why not? Less isn’t more - more is more! The music we like to play is fast, technical, and brutal. We’re not just doing it for the sake of it. We always want to progress and challenge ourselves. How much faster could we go? How else can we push ourselves? Where is the breaking point?
MoM: Which bands are flying the flag for extreme metal right now?
Tobi: That’s a tough one. Actually, the older I get the less metal I’m listening to, which probably sounds like a lame thing to say. Collectively, one of our favourite bands is Soreption, they were on the bill with us and Revocation last year. They’re from Sweden and have a really modern tech death sound. Kinda like Decapitated and Cannibal Corpse.
MoM: If you could design your dream line-up, which bands would you take on tour with you?
Tobi: I mean, Cannibal Corpse would be sweet. Dying Fetus would be rad. I don’t think that would ever happen but they’d be two bands we’d love to tour with. Cattle Decapitation would be sick, they’re buddies of ours too. They would all open up for us, of course. Fastest band gets to headline!
MoM: How do you define achievement and what’s important to you as a band?
Tobi: It’s all about small stepping stones. Playing tech death was always the goal and to be a full-time touring band. That’s what we wanted to do with our lives. To put all our efforts into this art. Starting out small, we wanted to make an album so we needed to get the music written. Then, playing shows and branching out as quickly as possible. Being self-sufficient and not waiting for shit to happen. You just gotta meet people and start networking. We learned so much from just seeing what other bands were doing and taking notes, basically. Touring with Decapitated, Aborted, and Fleshgod Apocalypse in 2011 was a huge learning experience.Getting to see what professional bands do. That was a big boost for us in terms of what we needed to do. The opportunity came up and we knew we needed to do it. Just get on that tour bus! You’ve got to take any opportunity you can get. Do something that makes you stand out and makes people notice; like our merch. We learned a lot from Aborted, who also work with Coki Greenway; they have people lining up as soon as the doors open. Huge prints, lots of colour. Most of the ideas come from brain storming around Oli’s lyrics. We didn’t originally want to do all the gore but it sells – you guys love brutal, gory shirts!
MoM: What have been your career highlights so far?
Tobi: I’d say being in a touring tech death band is pretty niche, and being able to do that for a living for the last two years. We also got nominated for a Juno award, which is like a Canadian Grammy, for Relentless Mutation back in 2018, which was an awesome recognition.
MoM: Having a PhD in Neuroscience, you’re more likely to find me giving lectures than interviewing bands. Flipping things around, if you were going to study for a PhD, what subject would you choose?
Tobi: If it can still be music related, it’d be cool to be a film composer. Making music for films is definitely something I’d go back to school for. A buddy I grew up with did his PhD in Music Theory, and wrote his thesis on Meshuggah’s I. Now, he teaches a class on extreme music in Montreal. It sounds like it’s totally made up but he’s teaching kids about death metal.
Review
Tech Trek Europe - Archspire, Beneath The Massacre, Vulvodynia & Inferni, Exchange, Bristol
Opening proceedings were Inferi (8); a State-side, tech-death band on their UK debut. A band destined for success, they held the audience captive from the start to the finish of their intricate and dynamic set. Somewhat out of place on such a tech-driven line-up, South African Slam-Gods Vulvodynia(3) divided the audience. They got the die-hard fans of the genre moving but failed to engage the majority with their stomping riffs . We were expecting big things from Beneath The Massacre’s (6) return but were sadly disappointed by their lacklustre and visually uninspiring performance. Solid material with a few tech-gems but all few and far between. On the contrary, Archspire (9) greeted us with all the energy you’d expect from the Canadian speed demons; executing the Relentless Mutation album with flawless precision, plus Rapid Elemental Dissolve, Lucid Collective Somnambulation, and Scream Feeding from their earlier records. The between-song banter with the crowd was also on-point, showing just how animated and engaging the band are. Our only criticism was the length of the set, which with no encore, left us wanting more.