AN INTERVIEW WITH DEREK RYDQUIST OF THE FACELESS

As many of you who have been reading my blogs can tell, I'm a huge fan of the band The Faceless. I recently had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with their vocalist, Derek "Demon Carcass" Rydquist. The rest is history. If you haven't checked this band out yet, you're missing out on some of the best death metal you will ever hear. Be sure to catch them on tour with Meshuggah and Cynic!!

How did you get from Akeldama to Planetary Duality, sound wise?

We grew up and aged more as musicians. We have figured out the direction that really wanted to take musically. On Akeldama, the song styles are more varied because we were still young as a band and hadn't come into our own yet. On Planetary Duality, there is still variance in the song styles and structures, but you can tell that everything is more focused and more agreeable across the album.

How did you make that journey lineup-wise as well?

Between Akeldama and Planetary Duality we lost our keyboard player(s). We also had a ton of drummers. We have decided to not recruit a new keyboardist and have settled on our full time drummer Lyle Cooper, who is an amazing drummer. Honestly the drummer and keyboardist usually don't have all that much to do with the songwriting process, so we were able to continue to write new music even when our lineup was a little shaky.

What do you do to get such a precise and articulate sound on your recordings?

From a performers standpoint, we refuse to settle for just "good enough." If a vocal line can be enunciated better or done louder, we'll do it again. If something can be picked cleaner or tapped harder, we'll do it again. If the fill wasn't clean enough or the drum hit too soft, we'll take it again. Playing the songs like that in the studio also trains us to play the songs the same way live.

How long does it take for you guys to write a song?

It varies, we worked on some songs for months, and some were written in a day or two. Just depends on if the writing bug is biting or not.


What are some of your main influences as a band?
Here's what we list on our myspace page, this list looks good: Cynic, Spawn of Possession, Allan Holdsworth, Extol, Special Defects, Cannibal Corpse, Nile.

The keyboards have taken a back seat on Planetary Duality. Is there a specific reason for that?

As I mentioned above, we lost our keyboard player and have decided to continue without a new one. We brought in our friend Matt Blackmar from the band The Library to help us out with some keyboard parts and we're happy with how those came out.

Planetary Duality has a more liberal use of clean vocals than Akeldama. Do you guys plan on incorporating that more into your sound on future recordings?

If they fit the song we'll put them in the song. After a song is written we'll sit down and listen to it, and sometimes we all think that a singing part would be more appropriate. We didn't consciously decide to put more in; it just came out that way.

There was an awesome solo on the demo version of “Leica”. Why didn't that make the cut on Akeldama?

I have no idea. I wasn't on the demo version of that song, so I'm not even sure if I've heard the demo version haha.

How did you guys react to being placed on the same bill as Meshuggah and Cynic?

We openly site Meshuggah and Cynic as two of the biggest influences on our band, and we couldn't be more honored to be given the opportunity to tour with them both. When we were told about that tour we were all so excited, and it definitely boosted the morale of all of us. We just wish it was longer than three weeks!

What can you tell the fans about the upcoming tour?

We are opening the tour, so get there early enough to catch our set. After us is Cynic, who haven't toured in something like 15 years, so you don't want to miss them. Then after them is Meshuggah. If I have to convince you to get out of your house and go see Meshuggah... I'm not sure if you're reading the right interview.

What are your favorite cities to play?

Our hometown of Los Angeles is always kind to us and a blast to play. A few other highlights are San Francisco, Seattle, and San Antonio. We're still breaking the east coast in, but I like playing in Philadelphia because I enjoy getting out and walking around in that city.

What's your favorite song to play live?

I like playing “The Ancient Covenant” a lot. We haven't played all the songs off our new album live yet, so I'm looking forward to playing “Prison Born” and “Legion of the Serpent” live on our upcoming tours.

What are some of your favorite albums from 2008?

Meshuggah - Obzen
Cynic - Traced in Air
Intronaut - Prehistoricisms
Opeth - Watershed
Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery
Psycroptic - (ob)servant
Decrepit Birth - Diminishing Between Worlds

How could I forget... The Faceless - Planetary Duality.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Not really, just make sure to check out our new album, Planetary Duality and come see us with legends Cynic and Meshuggah in February! Thanks for the interview, see you all out on the road.

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Check out a video of The Faceless performing the song, "Pestilence", live. If this doesn't convince you to catch them on tour with Meshuggah and Cynic, I don't know what will. I'm fucking pumped for the New York show!!