corrections: "From Wisdom to Hate" came out in march 2001, not 2000 like i think i said. "warp zone" was 2000. always get those 2 confused. the portal song with with simultaneous shredding and glissando is "13 globes," not "glumurphonel."
super enlightening interview. Colin is one of my favorite musicians of all time, not only an amazing musician with a lot of interesting insights but also just a really nice and genuine guy in general. i learned a lot of shit about Obscura i never would have even considered. and listening to Colin talk about music is always a treat. thanks so much for making this happen!
The construction of Obscura never ceases to amaze me.The Trout Mask Replica comparison is spot on; Obscura and TMR are two of my favorite records EVER for similar reasons. I've always felt like genres are abstractions, and always apply after the fact. Also YES Drumbo = John French!
Saw Gorguts live September 27/23. They were incredible and it was cool seeing Colin on bass and keyboards. The majority of the set was songs from Considered Dead and Obscura which was awesome. Looking forward to future releases from Gorguts 🤘
Hey Charlie! Longtime watcher, first time commenter. Thank you for the great material you've been providing us. This might be my favorite video of yours thus far! I've had the chance to meet Colin when he and Luc came out to see Aborted in Brooklyn back when I played played in the band. Both were SO nice! On a seperate note I've had the chance to listen to the preprod tracks of Colored Sands in Luc's truck when Luc came to see us in Trois-Rivières in a different tour. One of the highlights of my 'career' for sure.... Looking forward to more of your videos and more Extra Life!
Great interview, Charlie. Loved the bit at the end about Defeated Sanity appealing to people who haven't necessarily taken the deep dive into death metal. I recently had that same talk with a friend of mine who rarely steps outside of rap and doesn't particularly care for metal. He said he loves Defeated because "they just write good songs" Simple but rare moment!
I love the line about 'bursting out of itself' and have a little anecdote related to that. A few years ago I was invited to a contemporary experimental music event wherein the featured artist basically just played amplified snare (it was based af). This happened because that guy's japanese grindcore band had toured with my british grindcore band, making the underground connection. Anyway, another of the featured artists was a jazz saxophonist who was in his 50s. After the performance there was a social thing and I got into an argument with him about the usefulness of the music industry here in the UK, which was going about as well as could be expected when he suddenly noticed my tshirt. "Oh, Napalm Death? I bought SCUM when it came out, massive impact on me- started me off towards my career in jazz" I briefly interjected to correct him that this was IN FACT a shirt from Canadian band Napalm Raid who are more crust/dbeat than grind but understandable mistake given the aesthetics. He then continued: "Right. yeah anyway, did they ever do anything else after SCUM?".
Gorguts is awesome in that every album offers something different. I don't really like to think so rigidly in the sense of one thing being 'better' than the others, but Obscura with the addition of Big Steeve took the band to that next level.
Realmente,um baixista inspirador !!! Se algum dia,eu tivesse um terço ou metade de seu talento para tocar com palheta,um baixo de 6 cordas, como se fosse um violão ou uma guitarra,eu ficaria muito feliz !!! E assisto com muito gosto,os seus vídeos e sua forma peculiar de tocar !!!...Colin Marston,um nome e uma pessoa de respeito !!!...(Marido da Fabiana...)
I really resonate with not learning certain material to keep it mysterious. It's like once you start learning stuff accurately you connect the dots and it can make pieces feel "less special" lol
I have been loving this. Colin is a pleasure to listen to. Thanks for sharing your conversation with us all. It's so interesting! Your thoughts on Meshuggah are cool to hear.
I love these discussions - where it feels like a conversation between two innovators vs an "interview" one-way street. Here's a funny thing I picked up on: Charlie saying something to effect of "I don't like things strictly due to ''tech' nature" but then "Meshuggah is too boring bc everything essentially 4/4" and then later he says NYC has great bands with strong groove tradition... Daaang, give Meshuggah another chance; there's a lot of groove under there! So you've had a few conversations with more "death metal" guys and you mainly discuss their world. As a mainly "tech metal" guitar guy (who got into that world via Dillinger Escape Plan, Psyopus, Ion Dissonance, etc) I'd love to hear your suggestions for things adjacent to Extra Life - unique listens but not necessarily "death metal". P.S. Dream Seeds is still one of my favs - Blinded and 10 year has to be one of the best album closings! You mentioned adjectives ... I'm looking for "unsettling" and "challenging" listens.
Great interview! Very insightful, I was enjoying Colin the more he talked e.g. huge neurosis fan and doesn’t like the djent sound. Uh yeah huge fan boy here! I need to tell the story on how I discovered indricothere, no joke I was googling something about indricotheriums (the animal) and I found indricothere’s bandcamp. I appreciate the walking with beasts reference.
When you were talking lo-fi heavy/technical music, I just knew you'd mention portal eventually😁. Great talk, guys! Really cool to hear some inside Gorguts knowledge and lore from someone on the inside (who is also a huge fan). ONE OF US! ONE OF US!!!
Atheist - Elements, Cynic - Focus and Gorguts - Obscura are 3 incredible albums which are very unique from each other. Nocturnus - The Key is another great technical death metal gem. Nocturnus second album Thresholds is incredible as well. One of the things that blows me away about Obscura is that it was supposedly almost ready to go and be released by the end of 93/early 94 but unfortunately Roadrunner wasn't that interested in putting it out and eventually dropped the band. Obscura was ahead of it's time when it came out in 98, imagine how ahead of it's time it would've been considered in 93/94.
I wonder if Colin has heard Vildhjarta? I understand not really vibing with the whole djent thing but I feel like the "Thall" sound might be something Colin would enjoy. Vildhjarta's album Måsstaden and also Reflections track "Scapegoat" are what I'd recommend checking out.
Taking a dump on Rush? It hurts, but I can forgive it. Shitting on my beloved Meshuggah? Unforgivable 😂😂😂. But seriously, this interview was absolutely fantastic and inspiring. Thank you 🤘🏿
John French, a.k.a drumbo, did play drums on trout mask replica. He got kicked out of the band after the recording and didn't rejoin until lick my decals off baby. I think beefheart made him cover his drum heads with cardboard which might explain why they sound a bit odd. French also did the arrangements for trout mask too I believe. cool interview by the way!
