Saturday, June 3, 2017

Canadian death,thrasher's Mortor done by Patrick posted on 6-3-17

Here  is  another  new  interview  this  one  is  with  the  Canadian  death,thrashers  Mortor  who  released  their  third  cd  "Burn Up The Dead"  so  if you  are  a  fan  of  aggressive  thrash  metal  then  be  sure to  pick  up the  band's  new release  today.
Patrick
fiendformetal@live.com
https://twitter.com/PDeathrasher



Interview  with  Jay Cross  drummer  of  Mortor  done  by  Patrick




1.Hello Jay  how  is  life  in  Canada  going  these  days?

Can’t complain! It’s usually pretty cold but summer just arrived so we get to enjoy a few months of warm weather before it all starts to change. 



2.When  did you  first  meet the  other  members  of  the  band? And  was  it  long  before  you  all  started  Mortor?

I joined Mortor just before the recording of “Shoot ‘em Up” in 2012, so the band had been around for some time prior to my arrival. I’d known the guys from the scene in Ottawa-Gatineau. They approached me one night when I was opening for Aborted with Accursed Spawn, and I was in the studio not too long after.  



3.Burn Up The Dead  is   Mortor's  third  full-length  how  long  did  it take the  band  to  write  the  music  for  the  new  release?

David (guitars) is always writing, so it depends when you start counting. We went on hiatus for a few years after the 2nd album and got back together in 2015, so that was when we took riffs and turned them into songs. 



4.Jay  how  do you  feel   Mortor's  music  has  changed  over the  years  since the  beginning to  the  new release? And  who  would  you  say  are  the  bands  biggest  influences?

The first album, “Metal Ride”, was very much about grooving to heavy riffs. When I joined and the band released “Shoot ‘em Up”, the idea was to take that groove and the riffs but add some more speed, and a bit more texture to the overall sound.
This latest record is another step in the “faster” direction, but it also has a lot of really amazing leads which add a big dimension. We were really luck to have Adam join us and take the official lead guitar position during the recording of the album, and also include some outstanding guest-solos from Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy), Paul Kelly (Accursed Spawn), Antonin Perras-Foisy (Insurrection) and Matt Maclvor (Signs of Chaos, Fumigation).
In terms of influences, it’s all about old-school death and thrash metal in the veins of Kreator, Sepultura, Carcass and the like.  



5.Who  usually takes  care  of  writing the lyrics  and  what  are  some  subjects  you  all  wrote  about  on Burn Up The Dead ?

Mortor is all about war, though not from a political point. It’s more of a “hey man, it’s pretty cool when things go boom!” sort of band.
The lyrics for this album were taken care of by Boulay (vocals) for the most part. I contributed the lyrics for one song, ‘The Executioner’, which is about a military dictator being hunted down and put before a firing line. 


6.Besides  the  new  release  Burn Up The Dead    are  the  first  two  releases  still  available?Besides  physical  releases  does the  band  have  any  other  merchandise  available  for the readers and  if  yes  what  is  available?

That we do! It’s all available on our Bandcamp store, along with a few different shirt designs.


7.Does  Mortor  get to play  live  very  often  and  what  have  been  some  of the  bands  most  memorable  shows?

The band doesn’t play live too often as everyone is busy with life and/or other musical projects. My personal favourite Mortor gig would probably be the time we played with Kreator, who are a major influence for the band and were all around incredibly cool people to work with.


8.Are  their  any shows  or  tours  planned  in  support  of  Burn Up The Dead ?If  yes  where  will  the  band  be  playing  and  who  are  some  bands you  will  be  sharing the  stage  with?

We recently did a release show in Hull, Quebec for the album and plan to do select dates in Quebec and Ontario in support of the record. Everything’s still in the works at the moment.


9.Jay  you  handle  the  drums  for the  band  when  did you  first  become  interested  in  playing the  drumming?Are  you  self taught  or did you  take  lessons   when  first  starting  out?

Self taught, unless you count YouTube. Started playing around 13 and learned by joining bands and playing with guys who were better at music than I was.


10.Who  are  some  of your  influences  and  favorite  drummers?Other  then  drums  do you  currently  play  any  other  instruments?

When I first started play I was really influenced by drummers like Danny Carey (Tool) and Abe Cunningham (Deftones). Eventually I discovered more extreme forms of metal, and became hugely influenced by Kevin Talley’s work with Dying Fetus and Misery Index, Igor Cavalera’s crazy thrash beats in early Sepultura, and Gene Hoglan’s work in Death.


11.Besides   playing  in   Mortor   do  you  or  any  of the  members  currently  work   with  any  other  bands  or  solo projects?

We’re the classic “metal band made of a bunch of dudes from a bunch of other bands” sort of band. I also play in a band called Accursed Spawn with Adam (lead guitars), who also plays in a prog metal band Antlion and used to play in Aggressor. Nick (bass) also fronts a badass doom band called Norilsk.


12.What  does  underground   metal   mean  to you?

Underground metal to me is people who make music because they love it, and that’s their #1 goal. It’s incredibly honest music, and it’s a thriving place of creativity for the metal scene. We’re lucky to come from a city (er, cities) that has an amazing roster of bands including Fuck the Facts, Insurrection, Killitorous, and our label mates Fumigation, just to name a few.


13.When  not  working  on  new  music or  band  business  what  do you  like  to do  in  your  free  time?

Hang out with the girlfriend, practice drums, check out shows. I’m a significantly less interesting person than I’m hoping this interview makes me sound.


14.Thank you Jay   for  taking the  time to  fill this  interview  out  do you have  any  final  comments  for the  readers?

Thanks to you for asking these questions and supporting the metal scene! It’s always a pleasure to speak with anyone who helps keep metal thriving. Thanks as well to anyone who read this, and particularly made it to this paragraph where I’m thanking them (Thankception).
   For anyone that hasn’t checked out the new record, we have song tracks up for streaming on our bandcamp, where you can also buy it should you decide it is sufficiently badass.
  Cheers!
    Jay
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