Obsolete Magazine interview August 2003
First of all, who's in the band and what do they do?
Brian Daniloski - guitars, vocals
Jason Daniloski - bass, vocals
Charlie Baum - drums
Give me a brief history of MEATJACK.
Brian: My brother Jason and I started the band in 1993. For awhile we released a bunch of stuff on 7-inch vinyl and compilations. We started working with At A Loss Recordings in 1999 and released our "Trust" CD. We did a split CD and 10-inch vinyl record with Damad, had a song in John Waters movie "Cecil B. Demented". We've pretty much been writing, recording or touring non-stop all this time.
How does your creative process usually work?
Jason: Right now my day job puts me in a car all day, so ideas just pop into my head while I'm driving. If the idea is good enough it'll be in my head all day. If I don't remember it when I get home, it must not have been a good idea in the first place. Also, putting demos on CD and listening to them all day gives me all kinds of ideas for what to add, how long a certain riff should be repeated, or what to cut. Vocal ideas usually come to me in the car. Lyrically, I like to come up with a cadence and melody line that complements the song, decide what the song is going to be about and find words that match the rhythm and subject matter.
Brian: I'll just get inspired by whatever and start playing my guitar. Sometimes I specifically have an idea in mind that I'm trying to put across. Other times I'll just be noodling around and do something and go "hey! that was cool!" In band practice someone will come in with an idea or come up with one right there and we all get our hands in it. We'll try the idea every which way possible; slow, fast, transpose parts within it, loud, quiet, until we get it to where we think it sounds best. My lyrics lately have tended to be random thoughts scribbled down when I'm driving or working or whatever, and then I'll collate the various ideas later, usually after the music is finished.
Your music has a lot of different genres stuffed into it. Listening to a song I can hear the hardcore punk, the metal and a lot of other stuff. Who are your influences?
Jason: Currently my influences are Judas Priest, AC/DC, Slayer, J.J. Paradise Player’s Club, Wino (Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, Hidden Hand, St. Vitus) is a big influence, Floor for vocals... most people may not think that they hear those influences right away, but that’s what inspires me.
Brian: I dig everything from metal and regular rock, to classical music, jazz, pop, noise, anything. I guess that all filters into what I do, although I try to wrap it up into something we define as MEATJACK instead of a bunch of random ideas banged together. I dig a band with a cohesive sound because I like to listen to certain things for certain moods. If it gets too eclectic, I find that it's schizophrenic, and not in a good way.
Who's the best local band in your area, and why?
Brian: Oh great! Now all of our friends around here can get mad at us for not picking them. Ha ha. I really dig Trephine and Swarm of the Lotus. They each do something very unique.
Jason: I agree with Brian about Swarm and Trephine. I have to add the Hidden Hand. Although sometimes you don't think of Wino as being local, he’s more eternal.
Have any of you been in previous bands, or are any of you in other bands?
Brian: Before we started MEATJACK, Jason and I used to be in a band from this area (Baltimore) called Stranger Than Fiction. But there ended up being a band from Dallas with the same name, so that was the end of that. I have a one man musical project called SUCKPiG. It's songs and sound-scapes with lots of layers of guitars.
Jason: Besides Stranger Than Fiction, I was in a talent show band in 8th grade. We played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" because the drummer was religious and it was the only song we could convince him to play.
What's the best place to play?
Brian: I've got a few favorite places besides our home town, like New Orleans, Milwaukee, Savannah, Iowa City, Philly, etc.
Jason: Savannah is a great place to play. The clubs change all the time. I'm not sure if you mean club or city. I like New York, Cleveland, Milwaukee… Austin is really cool.
What do you think of pop-punk bands like Blink 182 and Good Charlotte?
Brian: I don't. It's not really a genre that holds too much interest for me. Sounds too happy, but also it doesn't sound very new. I'd be more inclined to listen to some of the original bands that did this kind of stuff the first time around (Descendents, etc.). I'm not a big fan of derivative bands, no matter what the genre. I dig originality. However, if I want to listen to super-sweet pop music I'd go for regular pop music, not pop-punk. Punk, for me, was always an angry reaction to things, warranted or unwarranted as it may be. This happy punk music sounds silly to me.
Jason: Am I supposed to say something bad about these bands? I really don't care. They’re doing what they want to do musically. I'm sure they’re having a great time doing it and I really don't give a shit. More power to them.
If you could take credit for any musician's work, who's would it be?
Brian: I don't understand this question. Is this asking if I think that there's a musician or band out there that we've directly influenced? Or do you mean, would I think it would be cool if we could take credit for, say, Van Halen or KISS or something like that?
Jason: So I says to John Bonham, I says, "You should play drums…"
What's best about being in a band?
Brian: As hokey as this may sound, artistic expression.
Jason: All the free pussy I can eat.
Favorite alcoholic beverage?
Brian: Guinness
Jason: I'm a recovering alcoholic.
In your mind, what's the biggest difference between "Days Of Fire" and your previous records?
Brian: It's much more vast in scope. There's more dimensions to it musically. We're doing new things and bringing in elements that we haven't explored in the past. Yet it all stills sounds cohesive. We used to think that we had to be as angry and loud and dissonant as possible at all times, but we've gotten over that.
Jason: This album is a lot more riff oriented, as opposed to "Trust", which leaned more towards the noisier end. I think it’s a lot more dynamic. We paid more attention to vocals, whereas in the past I felt it was more of a weaker point. Not so much as I think the vocals were bad, but they were more of an afterthought instead of giving them just as much importance as the music. We took a lot more time in the studio this time around and we made a conscious effort to come up with something that was more dimensional, something that wasn't just a snapshot of the band live.
Any last words?
Brian: Thanks for the interview and your interest.
Jason: Come and see us, buy our merch, give us money.