Engineer Interview

Few bands come close to twisting sound in such heavy fashions as Engineer does. The band Melds that sonic devastating open sound with heavy music to form something people are quick to throw labels on. Engineer evade such labeling by accomplish heaviness in this way, a form a heavy music that is organic and moves with emotion in the rawest form. Quick to be called many things, your own judgment will be what decides what is going on with this band but let the name calling go and listen hard because Engineer is the talent that is being generated for the next wave of listeners ready to explore other approaches to abrasive music.

The band's first full length "Reproach" fulfills all of these new heavy ideals and more. It is a release to be reckoned with and as you will surely hear blatant influence, the inspiration is merely another mode of churning out the band’s own amalgamation of music. Whatever you wish to call it, it is anything but weak. Engineer spoke with The HXC.com about their vision that they convey through music that requires one to think while delivering an intensity most enjoyable.

The HXC: When did Engineer form? From what other bands did Engineer form out of?

Engineer: Engineer formed in the summer of 2003. It began with me (ryan) filling in on guitar when a band called Forever Yours needed a replacement guitarist for a couple shows. So after learning their songs and playing the remaining shows, we decided to start over and write all new material under the name Engineer. It wasn't hard for me to take the place as the guitarist since 2/3 of the other members are my brothers.

The HXC: Do you guys find people trying to throw labels on the band often, that always happens of course but what are some that you would say are more accurate in describing Engineer?

With reviewing our records or our band in general, people always try and pin our sound down with the likes of Coalesce, Anodyne, Deadguy, Botch, and even Isis. I realize that sometimes this has to be done so other people can get a sense of what we're doing, but it's always interesting to read the comparisons people make to Engineer. Every band has influences, but what makes the difference in songwriting is how you apply the music you listen to, to the music you write. There's good ways to do it and there's bad ways to do it. I could go on forever about both ways, but what i guess it comes down to is the musicians preference. There's easy ways out for everything in life, but with Engineer, we choose not to take that approach. I think the best description of us so far was just "heavy". All the rest you can decide for yourself.

The HXC: Engineer is a large sound within all it's heaviness, what kind of various influences surround the band?

Engineer: Everything from Slayer to Explosions in the Sky. We all have different tastes in music and i think that's why we work so well together. If we all listened to the same music, i don't think we would be able to come up with as many variations and ideas in our songwriting. Lately Cursed "II", Deftones s/t, Examination of the. . . "whitest of elephants", Torche s/t, and every Harkonen record have been in heavy rotation in my cd player.

The HXC: What's next in the world of Engineer? Any tours coming up supporting "Reproach"?

Engineer: We have a bunch of weekends coming up all throughout May/June/July. Some with The Minor Times, The Red Death, This is Why, and The Heuristic. Then we'll be touring all this fall in support of Reproach with Ed Gein and No Idols.

The HXC: Does "Reproach" mark your first full length?

Engineer: Yes. Along with the release of "Suffocation of the Artisan", our split with Achilles, and our split 7" with McCarthy Blacklist, Reproach is our 1st full length. It was a fairly large goal for all of us personally, and is a huge mile marker for the band as well. We're all pretty happy with the way it came out. Hex (Records) and Sean (Invisible Youth PR) have done a great job for us so far and things are only getting better.

The HXC: How long have the songs off "Reproach" been in the works for?

Engineer:Ever since our first release we've been constantly writing and touring. After we recorded our split with Achilles with Jocko at More Sound (October/November 2004) we started writing and constantly re-working songs for the full length. We recorded Reproach with Chris Owens at Head Bangin Kill Your Momma Music in September/October 2005. So we took the end of 2004 and the better half of 2005 (in between tours) to write Reproach.

The HXC: Do you guys generally have a long writing process?

Engineer: Usually. We like to take our time with song writing and figure out how each of them are going to work together as a whole. There are a couple that came together pretty fast on Reproach that we were surprised with, and a couple that we planned on having a little shorter than the rest to compliment everything else. But we never rush anything or just put something together just to have the song done.

The HXC: Would you say it's easy to pin down your sound for description?

Engineer: I wouldn't say it's easy, no. I have the hardest time trying to describe any band. It's easy for other people to make comparisons but we never reference other bands while we're writing our music so i never know what to tell people what we sound like besides 'heavy'.

The HXC: How do you think the songs from "Reproach" have progressed since your release with Achilles? Though the release was just a year ago.

I don't think a year is that short of an amount of time to progress. Once we get done writing and recording a record, we usually always have a direction for the next. Or just ideas that we want to work with or focus on for the next record that we didn't touch on as much as we would have liked to with the last. We always have new ideas and different approaches to writing so we're never at a loss for direction. With Reproach, I think we made it leaps and bounds beyond our split with Achilles. We're all still happy with our songs off the split, but we took way more time to develop our songs with Reproach.

The HXC: The technicality is apparent in Engineer but is it a focus when song writing?

Engineer: I wouldn't say it's a focus, no. I think it just comes out that way because we're always trying to challenge ourselves and push each other harder. But at the same time, we're trying to create a we'll written song. So it doesn't mean write the most technically challenging song we possibly can just caused it's hard to play. It means write a song that has dynamics and intelligence all the while, paying attention to details with transitions, melodies, and how the song works as a whole.

The HXC: That's all on my end, is there anything else you would like to add?

Engineer: Yeah, we'll be on the road all this summer and fall so keep an eye for us in your town. And we plan to be back in the studio this fall/winter recording and EP before our next full length. You can check out our website (www.engineermusic.com) for all that info.