Arizona Thrashing With HEMOPTYSIS

All Metal Resource recently reviewed Arizona death thrash outfit Hemoptysis‘ EP Who Needs A Shepherd?, which turned out to be quite the effort from this young band. I had the opportunity to ask the band a few questions in regards to their sound, this EP of theirs, and the status of the metal scene.

AMR: First of all, tell us a bit about Hemoptysis. We have gathered you are a death/thrash crossover act, what other tidbits do we need to know?

Travis: We feel our music is pretty unique because each band member has different influences and styles. You will find our sound to be even more unique, brutal, and more perfected with the addition of Jack on guitar.

Sunao: We are also a crossover of American and Japanese musicians.

Jack: We are basically aiming to combine old school thrash with modern day melodic death metal resulting in awesomeness.

Masaki: The music that makes you want to headbang involuntary and sticks in your mind is what we really want to write, like classic thrash thrash songs such as Megadeth and Slayer. Everybody listened to those bands if they were metal heads. Those songs have feeling and passion.

AMR: We recently reviewed your EP Who Needs A Shepherd? and it got a good review, are you in the process of formulating a full length or are you focused on promoting this EP?

Masaki: We are focusing on writing new songs for a full length. Jack was not with us on Who Needs A Shepherd?

Sunao: As Masaki said, we are working on some new songs and they sound awesome!!You can check one of them out on our myspace page. We’ve got live videos as well.

Jack: We’re promoting the E.P. while writing new material for our full length. We’re good multitaskers I guess.

AMR: Tell us about the meaning behind the title of the album, Who Needs A Shepherd? I assume it has religious connotations?

Travis: Who Needs a Shepherd? was the first song we wrote and it refers to the sermon that introduces the song. In that sermon the preacher describes how Christians are weak, like sheep, and they are the feast of the king of beasts, meaning the feast of satanists and athiests.

Masaki: We also worked with Evil Dave, a tatoo artist, for the album artwork based on that song and the title of the EP. Some people might recognize Evil Dave’s work because he previously worked with Vehemence.

Jack: We like making fun of religion so it’s a fun question to ask people.

AMR: How did you guys come up with the name Hemoptysis? It sounds like a word Carcass would have used on Necroticism or something!

Masaki: We had a hard time naming ourselves. We had a name before we came up Hemoptysis, but it was taken already and we wanted to use one word that sounds bad ass and original.

Sunao: And we are having a hard time with people memorizing it correctly too.

Travis: My wife came up with the name.  She is a pharmacist who specializes in infectious diseases. We needed a name and were stuck. I asked her for some sick medical terms and she pitched a few at me, including Hemoptysis, which means coughing up blood. It sounded cool and has a brutal meaning so we kept it.

Jack: I wasn’t part of the band when they were coming up with the name but I think having a difficult to-pronounce name is bad ass.

AMR: Have you guys attempted to do any organized tours yet?

Masaki: We wish we could tour around. It is not easy to tour without sponsors like labels, especially in this economy. However, I can’t wait for it and that’s one of our goals; a world tour!

Sunao: We haven’t attempted it yet, but we will in the near future. Right now, we are promoting so people in other states will know us when we go there.

Jack: We haven’t attempted touring yet. We’re still trying to get more popular locally.

AMR: What do you think of the modern metal scene right now in regards to trends?  Your band seems to be fighting the trend of having overt core influences. Do you think metal and deathcore, the most popular of all genres right now, is good or bad for metal?

Masaki: The metal scene seems like it is finally getting back. I can’t stand nu-metal or Metalcore and I’m glad to see the thrash/death scene is coming back! I don’t know if deathcore is good or bad, but I  just hope people will find good bands and support them regardless how popular they are. There are many great bands out there that are not popular.

Sunao: I think it’s good because people listening to them might start listening to more hard music like ours. I do like some of the current bands, maybe because I listen to all kinds of music.

Travis: Keeping metal alive in any form is good.  I prefer thrash, death, and black metal, but not everyone does. Hopefully we can turn people’s opinion around with regard to our sound.

Jack: I don’t think any genre is bad for metal because good metal is always made as a result of people hating the bad metal. You need one to make the other. I think it’s cool that Thrash is making a comeback though! It was a long-needed revival.

AMR: Is there anything else you’d like to add for our readers?

Masaki: We will be your town soon! Keep checking us out and please support us! The full length will be a badass CD!

Sunao: Keep checking us out on our myspace page and web site.  If more people request us to come to their town, there will be more of a chance for us to be there!!

Jack: Huh-MOP-ti-sis. thanks you for your support and everyone reading this should check out our music if you haven’t already.

http://www.myspace.com/hemoptysismetal

Interview by CODY