Metal Monday: Jack Ketch Q&A

posted in: Features

Neighbors to one of the decade’s biggest and most prominent areas for brutally heavy music (aka: the Bay Area), Sacramento is trying to put itself on the map, and death metal band Jack Ketch is helping the city to do just that. With two incredibly strong and heavy releases in the last two years, Jack Ketch is pulling no punches and is out for blood. We chatted with them to see how things were going, and where the band is headed next.

OS: Your album Bringers of the Dawn was released in October, it’s a bit different than 2009’s In Articulo Mortis. Do you attribute this more to lineup changes or a conscious decision to vary your sound?

JK: I think a little of both really. We are constantly experimenting and growing as a band. When we made the lineup change towards the end of 2009 we just wanted to come out fresh. We felt we had so many great ideas we didn’t want to limit ourselves to the old sound and just create a whole new beast. We are not even close to done yet, we just keep on writing and evolving.

OS: You’ve drawn comparisons between your band and bands like Opeth and Between the Buried and Me, whom are significantly more progressive than your two albums. Do you see your band moving more in that direction in future releases? How about clean vocal parts?

JK: Those are two huge influences on us and helped push us in the more progressive direction we have gone. As far as future releases, who knows where we’ll go? We have been working on some more progressive stuff as well as more brutal death metal stuff. Incorporating clean vocals is something we have been working on with some of the newer songs also. We write constantly and have so much depth and options that we can really take this any direction we decide, so it will probably come down to just which songs we feel are the best.

OS: Both of your albums have been released through Transmedia Records. How did you link up with them, and end up being their first release/band?

JK: Transmedia Records is a great start up label and fully supports us in everything we do. We recorded both albums up in Portland, OR at a studio called The Magic Closet. While up there we were referred to these guys in Berkley that were starting up their own label. We talked for a while back and forth about music, the industry and what we were both looking to get out of it. We just felt everyone was on the same page and could really benefit from working together and helping each other out. It’s kind of a family and I see big things for both of us coming in the near future.

OS: You’ve played a lot of shows on the west coast. How long until you start planning shows further to the east?

JK: The west coast is our home and we’ve just been working on building that solid foundation here before we start moving outward. I feel it coming soon though. Moving east is definitely something we are going to be looking to do, but it’s nowhere near the end of the line for us. I just spent some time in Germany last month and talked about maybe heading over to Europe for a tour possibly next year. We were also hit up to play a huge festival in India this November, but unfortunately because of the dates we had to decline. Anywhere in the world is a possibility for us, we are just building up our name and trying to do things the smartest way possible.

OS: The artwork for Bringers of the Dawn is pretty intricate. Is there a story behind it and, does it coincide with the album’s content?

JK: Oh definitely, everything about this album coincides with one another. We wanted to create not just a concept album but a bit of an experience. We put a ton of work into it and wanted to tell a story, not only with the lyrics, but also with the songs and the imagery. Reading through the lyrics it’s a story of an invasion of the Earth with a battle for the survival of humanity. The natural balance of life and the struggles between the perception of what really is good or evil. In the end you’re left to think, is this the end of the human race, or really just a new beginning? There are many more underlying ideas hidden within there also, but that is for the listener to find and decide upon for themselves.

OS: After going through various lineup changes in your few years as a band, do you think you’ve finally settled on a more permanent one?

JK: Well we’ve actually only gone through one lineup change, but it consisted of the guitarist and drummer at the same time. We were surprised how quickly we picked up two new members and got back to things. But that just shows you how perfect this line up is for us. With everyone so focused and on the same page we couldn’t be happier about the current lineup and have gotten such a great response from the new music.