Interviewee: Mike Russo
Year: 2008
Website: www.canobliss.com
MySpace: myspace.com/canobliss
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive... So far!
Following my addiction to their album, "Psychothermia", I had the incredible urge to catch up with Canobliss and ask them a few questions...
Lou: Hi guys, thanks for agreeing to this interview. How did Canobliss form?
Mike: Well, Canobliss was originally founded by good friends Samson Pedroza (guitar) and Chenzo Vidalez (bass) in 1997. After releasing the album Wicked Necessary in 1998 there were a few turbulent years with multiple lineup changes. The band ended up needing a drummer and placed an ad in the San Diego Reader. Jon Russo (guitar) saw the ad and while not a drummer himself had been jamming with his younger brother Mike Russo (drums) for years and thought it would be worthwhile to pursue the ad for both of them. While coming from greatly different backgrounds, the musical chemistry between the brothers and Sam & Chenzo was undeniable. Both Russo brothers joined the band in early 2004. Canobliss then released their second album Demon Angel later that year. Unsatisfied with their singer at the time, Canobliss let him go and began the long search for a new front-man. After 16 months and hundreds of mostly disappointing auditions from people all over North America and beyond, Canobliss finally found a gem in the rough with singer Johan Maldonado (vocals). We couldn't imagine a better fit, and while it took us about a month to officially add him to the band the machine-shop worker from Oceanside turned out to be exactly what we needed. Johan joined the band in the summer of 2006, and in the two years since then we have released the albums Liberation of Dissonance and Psychothermia. That is how the Canobliss you know today formed.
Lou: The music you create is quite different from most of the stuff available at the moment. How would you describe it?
Mike: One of the unique and defining characteristics of our band is that we have a very diverse group of members. We range in age from 24 to 36, we have greatly varying social backgrounds, our personal influences are just that, and we have two Mexicans, two white brothers, and a Puerto Rican! The one thing we all have in common is that we love metal! So I would describe our music as being a blend of old-school with new-school, and toss in a hint of each of our individual personalities. We have a lot of dynamics and heavy riffs with double-kick drumming and vocals that range from soft and melodic to in your face and aggressive. We receive a lot of positive feedback on that fact that Johan's vocals are always understandable. We have never really fit into any of the standard metal sub-genres, so I guess by definition that makes us Alternative Metal.
Lou: What kind of subjects do you like to write about?
Mike: Johan has been through some serious hardships in his life, and much of what he writes about expresses the inner struggles he has faced while coping with them. His songs cover issues ranging from relationship problems and drug use, to feeling like a failed father. A couple good examples of this would be the songs "D.I.Y.E." and "Psychothermia". Sometimes we will also get political when we see something going on that gets us fired up. You can hear that side of us in songs like "Worldwide Criminal Affair" and "Adios" which talk about lying, over-controlling governments, and being forced to give up and leave your homeland and roots.
Lou: What has been the biggest achievement for Canobliss so far?
Mike: I just think the most impressive thing is that Canobliss has been through so many ups and downs, and yet continues to thrive and grow. We have established a very solid following in a city that is not renowned for its metal scene. If I had to pick a single achievement, I would pick the nomination of Liberation of Dissonance for the Best Hard Rock Album at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards.
Lou: If someone had yet to hear Canobliss, which song would you recommend they listen to first? And why?
Mike: I would have to recommend either "Riot" or "Psychothermia". "Riot" was one of the first songs we wrote with Johan, and it just seems to capture the raw energy that we felt early on as a band. We almost always open our sets with it because it has never failed us as a great song to get the crowd into a show. "Psychothermia" however is one of our more unique and catchy tracks and is a great example of the direction our writing is headed.
Lou: What has the general reaction to "Psychothermia" been like so far?
Mike: It has been amazing! We have been receiving some of the best reviews of our lives with Psychothermia, and people across the board from indie rockers to thrash metal-heads seem to be accepting the album with equal enthusiasm. You can read the full reviews from our website www.canobliss.com. We are very excited about the album, and are just trying to do whatever we can to get it heard!
Lou: Which track from "Psychothermia" seems to be the most popular with your fans?
Mike: Overall the title track "Psychothermia" has been getting the most compliments from our fans. However, we have had almost every track mentioned as someone's favorite. "Slingshot" and "Convicted Again" are popular with the heavy crowd while "Take Vics" and "Adios" have been favorites with those preferring a more melodic approach. Surprisingly, "Adios" has been the most popular song among many reviewers in Europe... my theory is that the Latin vibe mixed with metal is rather new and exotic to the European crowd compared with here in San Diego.
Lou: How does "Psychothermia" compare to your previous release, "Liberation of Dissonance"?
Mike: The whole series of events leading up to Liberation of Dissonance is crazy. We had only recently released our previous singer when we began writing new tunes. Some of the first ones we wrote were "Riot", "Independence", and "Automation", but we wrote for 16 months without a singer and basically had the entire album written by the time we found Johan. Once Johan was on board he wrote the vocals, we fine-tuned the formats, and it was done... two years in the making! With Psychothermia we actually had a full band, and we were more familiar with each others playing styles... so the songs just started flowing. We soon felt like we could pull off the release within a year, so we set that as a goal and made it! I would say that while L.O.D. captured the raw power and excitement of our band at the time, Psychothermia is a more refined example of our sound. L.O.D. got some really good reviews, but Psychothermia has taken it to a new level.
Lou: The artwork on your CDs is really impressive. Who designed it? Was it the same artist for both CDs?
Mike: It was not the same artist for both covers, though we did find them both in the same place. There is a website called DeviantArt.com where independent artists can set up online profiles and upload their own art. For both albums, we scoured this site and found extremely talented but relatively unknown artists. The cover for L.O.D. was created by a man from the Dominican Republic named Hipocrates Rodriguez, and the cover for Psychothermia was created by a young man from Canada named Vitaly S Alexius.
Lou: What has been the most positive thing you've read about the band, and what has been the most negative? Have these things ever affected the band in anyway - for good or bad?
Mike: We recently got a review from Steve Green of Live4Metal.com and in it he goes off on a rant about how he can't believe that no label has picked us up yet, and he goes on to call us "one of the best bands to come out of the US in the past few years." That review made us feel really fucking good!! You can never expect to please everybody, but it is so awesome when somebody completely "gets" what you are trying to do. Of course we have received some poor reviews (though with Psychothermia it has been fairly positive across the board). We have had people call us knock-offs of System of a Down and Metallica, or say that our music isn't accessible. When people talk shit about us we generally ignore it, but when a review contains constructive criticism we always take it to heart.
Lou: Who would you say were your biggest influences?
Mike: You will get five different answers if you ask the five band members! Overall I think it would be safe to say that some of our biggest influences are Metallica, Deftones, System of a Down, Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine, and Tool.
Lou: Which bands have you toured with? Any that you'd recommend to Loucifer Speaks' readers?
Mike: Our broke-asses haven't had the pleasure of going on any real tour yet... just mini-tours out to Arizona and Nevada that we did on our own. We have had the opportunity to open for some bigger bands including American Head Charge, Ankla, Godhead, Mower, The Iron Maidens, and Sprung Monkey.
Lou: What has been your favourite venue to play in so far?
Mike: There is a club in San Diego called Cane's Bar & Grill. It is a big venue with a killer stage and sound system, it is right by the beach, and people love going there. We always have a great time whenever we play there! Hopefully one day we will move on to bigger and better places, but so far that is our favorite.
Lou: Do you have any plans to play some shows in England?
Mike: Unfortunately, we don't have any plans to head overseas at this point. We are a completely independent band, and right now we can't even afford a tour in the US! We are always open to new opportunities and would love to play everywhere.
Lou: What is a Canobliss show like?
Mike: It's like getting kicked in the face, but then having your dream girl kiss it better! Haha, we always come out with a very high-energy performance that gets the pit going, but then try to get the crowd hooked and singing along with Johan's melodies. We may be an unsigned band, but we have some of the sickest fans you could imagine! Come see us live in San Diego and you will see what Canobliss is all about.
Lou: Do you work any cover versions into your shows?
Mike: There is one cover that we occasionally play, and it is Metallica's "Seek & Destroy". We found that a good way to break the ice in front of a crowd that is unfamiliar with your music is to play a song they all know!! For this reason, we almost always bust out the cover when we play out of town. We picked that song because it is well-known and keeps the energy up. We make two significant changes on the original: we shorten the song, and drop it down to B-tuning.
Lou: Which bands would play at your ideal festival and where would it be?
Mike: It would be right here in sunny San Diego!! The lineup would have to include Metallica (because they are legends), Slipknot (because they absolutely tear it up live), Tool (because they are Tool), and this little band called Canobliss!!
Lou: Which song (by another band!) do you wished you written and why?
Mike: I don't know if I speak for the whole band, but personally I would have to say "One" by Metallica. That song is basically what inspired me to start playing the drums, and I would love to write a song that is capable of inspiring someone to change their life.
Lou: Have you recorded any videos? If so, where can we watch them? If not, do you have any plans to?
Mike: We don't have an actual music video, but we do have videos of some live shows. You can check them out at www.canobliss.com or www.youtube.com/canobliss. As with several other things we'd like to do, the main thing holding us back from making a true music video is budget.
Lou: What's next for Canobliss?
Mike: We just released our second album with this lineup, we are about to start a national college radio campaign to promote it, then we are going to start contacting music gear companies to try for some endorsements, and then we will contact some management companies and record labels to see if anyone bites. Other than that, we will keep on writing new tunes and doing whatever we can to get ourselves heard!!!
Psychothermia is currently on sale for only $5, our previous album Liberation of Dissonance can be picked up for $8, or you can get both for just $10! To order, please go to www.MetalMunchies.com, or www.CDBaby.com.
Thanks for taking the time to find out a little more about Canobliss!!
Contact:
info@canobliss.com
Band Websites:
www.canobliss.com
www.myspace.com/canobliss
www.metalmunchies.com
www.youtube.com/canobliss