Music
Interview With Ceremony’s Frontman Ross Farrar
Ceremony is a rare breed for music these days. They are going to be a huge part of the hardcore/punk scene and are a band you shouldn’t ignore. To me they sound dangerous and I love it. I recently had the honor catching up with frontman Ross Farrar about the direction of their new album “Rohnert Park” as well as the Giants and some of his favorite horror movies. Oh and guitarist “Toast” chimes in on some of his favorites too. Enjoy.
SuperRadMike: So “Rohnert Park” is pretty close to being released, how pumped are you guys to finally get it out?
Ross Farrar: We’re excited to see what people think of it. It’s totally different from our other releases and to be honest I don’t think people in the hardcore/punk community are going to accept it, like it, whatever. We came at this record in a different way, absolute confusion.
SuperRadMike: What was the recording like for this album, did you guys do things differently this time or did you stick with what you know?
Ross Farrar: Many changes. We did gang vocals for the first time, a new wave song/70’s era punk song, homemade samples from a tape recorder, bottle tapping, etc. weird science.
SuperRadMike: What can we expect from this album, is it going to be in the same fashion as “Still Nothing Moves You” or can we expect something totally different?
Ross Farrar: It is the exact opposite of “Still Nothing Moves You” or “Snemy” as I call it. The songs are more verse/chorus and not as aggressive as “Still Nothing Moves You”. We didn’t do anything fast and when I say fast I mean thrashy or blasty or going further with the hands.
SuperRadMike: What were some influences of the influences you had for this record, I can assume this is album hits close to home considering the title of your album is where you guys are from.
Ross Farrar: The things we get inspiration from are all different. All of us are so different and we’re all living lives farther and farther from each other. Anthony lives with his girlfriend in Oakland (in the same apartment building as Toast) and JD I see once every six months (he’s clapped up in his apartment doing technical math) and Jake is around (we watched some basketball yesterday) and the fucking Giants lost to the Dodgers yesterday, which pissed me off because this season is important to me. I really am into the Giants this year and I need them to win. If they don’t I get a little depressed and it effects the rest of my day. Musically, we aren’t as inspired as you’d think. Much of what we listen to is old and as far as new stuff I can’t say for the rest of the band, I never talk to them about music. New bands that I like are pop/indie kinds. I’ve been listening to Sunny Day Real Estate and The Morning Benders lately.
SuperRadMike Since your last release and even a little before that you guys have toured with some legends such as Converge and AFI, what can we look forward to this year as far as touring goes?
Ross Farrar: We’re going to Japan in the middle of May with Bane and Cruel Hand. We’re doing a weekend in LA after that with local bands and playing a show with 7 Seconds, Circle Jerks and Municipal Waste. After that we’re doing a US tour with who knows and hopefully going to Australia or Europe in the fall.
SuperRadMike: I was curious if you would be kind enough to maybe share some of your favorite horror flicks or maybe some ones you might be looking forward to this year.
Ross Farar: My favorite of all time – I don’t know if this can be classified as horror, but The Shinning is my favorite type of horror, suspense, etc. Besides that Texas Chainsaw, Friday the 13th, Fright Night, Funny Games and Night Of The Living Dead.
Toast: Trying to avoid the obvious ones here…
-Zombie (for the Zombie vs. Shark scene)
-Final Destination, all of them
-May
-Dead Alive
-Re-Animator
Looking forward to:
-Piranhas 3D
-Hatchet 2
-Anything that isn’t The Black Waters Of Echos Pond
Ceremony will release “Rohnert Park” on June 8, 2010 and pre-order info will be coming soon. But until then you can pre-order their EP “Rohner Park EP: Sick” which comes out May 4th. Pre-order HERE
It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.
Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.
Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.
“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.
“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”
You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…
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