Review Fix chats with Lion Splicer Guitarist Max Frank who discusses the metal two-piece’s new EP “Holiday in Dystopia.†A powerful blend of modern metal, Lion Splicer is band that will shred your face off and have you looking for more.
Review Fix: When did you and Danny decide to embark on this EP?
Max Frank: I started writing the music for Holiday in Dystopia right after we wrapped our previous little EP, Valkyrie. We’ve had the concept sitting around for a while, and since I had a break from school and work over the Summer, it just made sense to lay it down then.
Review Fix: Are you happy with the way it turned out?
Max Frank: Yeah, I feel as though we had this piece of music in our heads that now exists as this cool little thing. The production went up tenfold (our engineer Nathan Long and I worked for about twelve hours a day in the two weeks before the release combing out the mix), and Andrei Bouzikov laid down what I think is the best cover art he’s done since Municipal Waste’sThe Art of Partying.
Review Fix: What do you think you and your brother have to do in order to get to where you’d like to be in music?
Max Frank: The next few years. We still need a bass player and maybe a second guitarist. I have a long, long road to go as a guitar player (I’ve gone from piano to drums to tenor saxophone to guitar in the last ten years, and really have only been seriously playing guitar for about seven months). But after a bit of growth, we’re fully prepared for, and have no illusions about, the touring life in a heavy metal band. I’m slowly starting to assemble this little team for the band – whether it’s Nathan as our main producer or my best friend Luke Smith as our touring bro, lead beer drinker, and life advisor – that will hopefully flourish in the next few years.
Review Fix: What do you believe is your biggest strength as a band?
Max Frank: We listen to so many kinds of music, and come from very bizarre musical backgrounds, for the kind of hard music that we make. Danny and I were raised in a very small sector of the jazz improvisational scene in New York – players like Sal Mosca, Warne Marsh, and Lee Konitz were the dudes we grew up around (and who were teachers to our old man, who plays tenor sax in a jazz combo).
Review Fix: How do you want this EP to be remembered?
Max Frank: As a riotous little rager.
Review Fix: What does your music diet consist of?
Max Frank: Lately it’s been the new Revocation EP, but I’ve also been digging on this Colorado folk band called Paper Bird. They’ve got the three most beautiful female singers I’ve ever heard or seen in my life. One day I’d love to get them on a heavy metal record.
Danny and I pretty much listen to the same stuff. We love Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Foo Fighters, Zappa, King Crimson, etc. Whatever. Anything that sounds cool. The new Baroness and Devin Townsend records rule.
Review Fix: Any guilty pleasure songs or artists our readers wouldn’t expect?
Max Frank: I love the disco band Escort, and this old New York dance/girl punk band called ESG. I guess I liked that song “Call Me Maybe” too. Great video.
Review Fix: How do you guys fill out your sound so well with just two people?
Max Frank: We’re multi-instrumentalists, so we’ve been able to record a full band setting with just us. We also have as many of our friends as possible contribute to the record. Our engineer and bro Nathan, as well as our friend Andres, contributed some killer guitar solos. And a ton of my dudes came to sing on the “Panopticon Stomp” chorus, as well as some other little shouting sections. Just energy man.
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