Interview with Kyle Purwin of Amonarchy
By Mick Michaels
COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Kyle! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.
CV: What do you feel sets the band apart from
other bands, especially those of similar sound and style? What's specific
allure your sound and style have that has people taking notice?
Kyle
Purwin: Great question…so, we all come from different musical backgrounds. I
come from bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Queen, just the whole classic rock
and metal genre but I also love new bands…bands like Muse and Rage Against The
Machine. Our drummer Tony’s favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers and also
likes bands like blink 182. Our bassist’s Sam has a very diverse taste; loving
bands like Nine inch Nails and Linkin Park and also likes bands such as the
Grateful Dead.
We bring all of our styles to the table especially during live shows, so a lot of what you hear on the record is very different from what you hear live. While our core is definitely hard rock and metal we definitely have some songs that expand, for example, among reason is just a one big rock anthem, Man in the Sky is a song I wrote about my father, and that's an acoustic ballad, and Far desperation is just a straight up alternative rock song, so we definitely love to get out of our comfort zone while writing and we don't want all of our songs that sound the same, we want each song to be a different journey.
CV: For any band, dynamics is key to
grabbing an audience's attention. What do you feel is the main ingredient to
having such a captivating dynamic and being able to bring something more to the
music?
KP: I
think one of the biggest things is stage presence and also about the chemistry
that you have with the band, the audience really notices that. We try to pay
just as much of attention of what we're doing on stage and how we interact with
the crowd just as much as getting all our parts down musically. One thing I
love to do he's trying to make eye contact with his many audience members as I
can, I feel like that's a really powerful way to interact with them, and we
always love to run around and dance on stage. I sometimes sing on Sam’s
microphone.
CV: How
would you describe the ultimate musical experience for
your fans? And how does the band go about creating that musical
vision, while generating the impact the band wants to have on its
audience?
KP: I
think the ultimate musical experience that a fan can have is them feeling like
they're a part of the show, as opposed to just watching it. That is one thing
that we try to implement on all of our live shows, we want to make the audience
feel like they're a part of the show, by singing along when they can, sometimes
we teach them apart, and they sing it, we always try to get them to sing the
whoa part in our song Among Reason and there's the part in Burning Season,
which is the last track on the album, where we make everybody get down on the
ground and jump up when this song comes back in. I think when we create that
kind of energy for everyone, it spreads throughout the room and it's more fun
for everybody, and people will remember that a lot more.
CV: The music business has always been
one that regardless of who you are, where you came from or where you've been,
you can either sink or swim. Does this type of realism have any effect on
how the band drives itself to succeed?
KP: We
try not to have any outside sources dictate how the band is going to be, we
just write what we want to write, does that mean we won't have any outside?
Suggestions…if anybody has anything, absolutely not, but it all starts with us,
and if we like it, and we're confident enough in it, then we have to stick with
it. Yes, the music business has a big part in bands career, and the more
connected you are with it the better. However, you can't let that dictate how
you write your music and how you perform. I think the thing we lost and this
has a lot to do with cancel culture is speaking true to yourself, people are just
writing what they think is culturally appropriate and they totally lose sight
of what they really want to do. The most meaningful way that all the bands we
listen to got their name out there was writing what they wanted to write, and
not caring what anybody else thought. That's the kind of example that we're
trying to show.
CV: In your opinion, is there any middle
ground for a band or is it a do or die climate in today's music industry?
KP: If
you're really trying to make a career out of music, I think it's very do or die
because you have to commit your life to this. Becoming a musician is not
something that happens overnight. You have to dedicate your whole life to it,
make plenty of sacrifices, and with all the streaming that happens, you have to
work extra hard and work and extra smart, with this digital age that we're
living in. Since lots of people are trying to make it as musicians, it's all
about who works the hardest and who works the smartest too. I try to go out as
much as I can to concerts and networking events to trying that work. Because I
think that's just as important as your craft, since this day and age, it's all
about who you know.
CV: How would you describe the band's
internal energy? Does the band’s outward appearance align with its true inward
nature from your perspective?
KP: Absolutely!
I have a personal relationship with both of my bandmates, and some bands don't
like each other they're just doing it for the money, and I think it's very
obvious when bands do that. I've known Sam for seven years, so I feel like I
can talk to him about anything. I've known Tony for almost 3 years, and we've
developed really strong friendships in those three years. Having a personal
relationship in a band is a very intense thing, because no, we don't agree on
everything, but at the end of the day, we're all brothers and we always work
through our disagreements when they do come up. I think on stage, people can
tell by the way an internal relationship is by the way the band members
interact.
CV: What's at the core of the
band's songwriting approach? Are there certain elements that are
considered when a song begins to take form and evolves?
KP: So
the way I wrote the songs was me creating a scratch track and then a superior
drummer track over it, for our drummer Tony to learn. After that, we bring that
to the studio and then we record that. There's a lot of things to consider when
we bring a song to the table, like how long does the song need to be, because
some songs I have more to say musically and lyrically, for example Among
reason, which is about suicide and that song has me dive into a person’s mind
who is struggling so that one is a longer song. For a song like Racing Hell
that’s a faster but it’s a shorter song so I say everything I need to say in
under 4 minutes.
CV: Do you allow things to just happen when
writing; seeing where a song goes, or is there a certain course of action and
structure you keep a song on, thus, essentially making it destined to achieve
its overall potential?
KP: That
honestly depends on the song, for a song like a “Unknown Reckoning” we wrote
most of that in a jam session, and I wrote the melody to the vocals in that
same jam session, but then I wrote the lyrics at a different time, and I've had
the main roof in my pocket for many years before. Some songs, I come up with
the lyrical melody first and then I put some chords over it, and then I write
the words after. Songs like “Among Reason,” I've had that whoa part written for
almost 10 years, I didn't come up with the words and the music until way later.
That song is a very complex song and I had a lot of musical ideas for that one,
so it took a little bit longer to organize. And not all the musical parts I
came up with made it on the song. So it can be difficult, sometimes to pick and
choose, but I usually go with my gut when it comes to that.
CV: Do you feel how the fans and critics
describe the band’s music accurately reflects how you would describe the band’s
music?
KP: Yeah definitely.
So one example for that is a lot of people have been comparing me to Bruce
Dickinson of Iron Maiden and that is the best compliment I could receive
because he is one of my biggest inspirations as a singer. I’ve also heard a
bunch of people say that we’re the baby of Metallica and the Foo Fighters, and
I'll definitely take that. Metallica is the band that got me into music and is
my biggest inspiration of all time, and Foo Fighters are a great example of
doing whatever the fuck you want on stage, and that's something that we
definitely are inspired by
CV: Walk us through a typical show for
the band...what can fans who have never seen you perform expect?
KP: Expect
tons of interactions from us and expect a lot of crowd participation. I
had mentioned earlier, I think stage presence is very important so we try to
involve our fans as much as we can. You can also expect us to bring tons and
tons of energy, we run around the stage all the time, and we try to project the
fun energy that we're having to the fans.
CV: What more can fans look forward to seeing
coming from the band?
KP: So
we're definitely planning on playing a lot more shows in LA this year, but we
would like to get out of LA, which we’re working on. So the rest of the
year will just be us playing shows, and then next year we plan on having a new
album out.
CV: Thank you again Kyle for spending some time talking and sharing with our
readers. I wish you all the best and continued success.
KP: Thank
you so much for having me!
Check out Amonarchy at:
Official: https://www.amonarchy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amonarchyband
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