METAL PULP AND PAPER: Hello Sacha. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us at Metal Pulp And Paper. We appreciate it.
How are you? How is everything going so far now that we are well into the 2nd half of 2018?
SACHA LASKOW: Everything is going just swimmingly thanks!
MPAP: Before we talk about your new EP, Fragile Machine, let us first introduce everyone to your band for those that might not have heard of you just yet. Every Hour Kills is a Progressive Melodic Metalcore band from Alberta, Canada that formed in 2015, and features the likes of Sacha Laskow, on guitars and programming, Brent Stutsky, on bass, and Jerrod Maxwell-Lyster rounding it out on vocals. Care to add anything else to that to grab the reader’s attention?
SACHA: I’ll let the music do the talking.
MPAP: The group name was inspired by an anonymous literary quote, 'Every hour wounds, but the last one kills.' That quote put things into motion for you, and the blueprints soon took shape for Every Hour Kills to form into a band. What were you doing when you saw the quote? Were you at any place in your life that it seemed relevant for that to stick out and make you want to name your next endeavor that?
SACHA: I read it in a Neil Gaiman book.
MPAP: Why was it so inspiring to you?
SACHA: I thought it was a clever turn of phrase, with a dark edge that leads to a good name for a metal band.
MPAP: Whom would you like to think that this anonymous person might be? Describe him, or even her?
SACHA: I picture him as a Goblin that just never stops murdering.
MPAP: While doing some research for this interview, I found this quote in my searches, and although it doesn’t have any connection, it just seemed fitting to share it with you; 'Call no man happy until he is dead.'
SACHA: Strongly agree with that one! The sooner the better, I welcome death’s sweet silent embrace.
MPAP: Moving forward, let’s talk about your new music, shall we? The new EP is titled Fragile Machine, and hit it the streets, or the internet world on July 6th, on your label Perfect Filth. Tell us a little bit about Fragile Machine? What musically can the new listener expect to hear? What are you hoping they get from it?
SACHA: You’re going to hear a seamless mix of various styles from Prog to Djent to Metalcore with some Hard Rock and Poppy elements. I hope they enjoy it and maybe even fap to it.
MPAP: Fragile Machine explores the questions of what comes next in human evolution. Go into more detail about that if you will? Some might say humanity is headed towards the end, the apocalypse? What do you believe is next?
SACHA: I think it could go either way really; we see society circling the drain in many respects, yet technological advances and general longevity/wealth etc., are better than ever. Only time will tell if the pessimists are right, or the people with a more positive outlook like Ray Kurzweil etc.
MPAP: You also stated, ‘What does it mean to be human, if consciousness can be stored in a machine.’ To me the name, Every Hour Kills, doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy and want to start picking flowers, so when you say human and machine in the same sentence, I start thinking man will turn into a machine? More like the Terminator movie machine? Am I far off?
SACHA: It means that in the near-ish future, 'consciousness' (depending on how we define that) will be able to exist in code and be stored on a machine. If our minds exist in an infinite reality, what does anything mean anymore? Are we in a simulation already? It brings up many interesting questions and thoughts, hence why it’s a topic I enjoy writing about.
MPAP: The artwork for Fragile Machine is an enormous server cube floating in space. Tell us about it? What does it mean to you?
SACHA: It is meant to represent post-Singularity, all of humanity’s conscious minds being stored on a computer server in space. Presumably, the earth has become bereft of actual physical humans as we make the transition into infinite beings of pure energy.
MPAP: Seeing the artwork, I must bring up another movie reference. This time from the 1997 drama/fantasy film called Cube. The film follows a group of people as they cross industrialized cube-shaped rooms, some rigged with various traps designed to kill. I picture this happening in your cube?
SACHA: I wish I still got high, sometimes.
MPAP: Going back to what the listener can expect to hear, tell us about some of the songs found on Fragile Machine, like "Illusorian," "Numlock," or even "Death Song"?
SACHA: Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
MPAP: Also, Every Hour Kills, this past May, released a music video for the song "Aldebaran." What was it like to have one of your videos animated for the first time?
SACHA: It was an open source film I chopped up, so it wasn’t created bespoke for us.
MPAP: What do the two main characters in the video signify? Is there a message you’re trying to get out there to the viewer that they might not understand at first?
SACHA: I thought the imagery was cool and matched the technical nature of the song; art being subjective and open to interpretation is fun, isn’t it!
MPAP: Fragile Machine also has a few punches on it. You have some special guests involved in it. There are guest vocals by Andrew Ivashchenko (Shokran), Renny Carroll (Flux Conduct), Jonathan Thorpenberg (The Unguided), David Chunn (Vallite) and Mark Haggblad (Unveil The Strength), along with guest guitar solos by Andy James, Mattias IA Eklundh, Daniele Gottardo and Paul Wardingham. How was it to be able to work with these great musicians?
SACHA: It was a dream come true to work with some of my favorite musicians on the planet! The power of the internet can be used for good, and more than just farm animal porn and fake news.
MPAP: Was it hard to get them to commit to doing something? Everyone can be so busy and makes it hard to collaborate with someone you want to?
SACHA: Sure, but being in the music business for a long time you need to have a thick skin and expect some rejection and assume projects will go off the rails at times. I was patient and eventually everything came together beautifully, so I really can’t complain too much.
MPAP: One last question before we bring this to a close, how would you say you’ve grown as a band, and as musicians since your first self-titled release in 2015?
SACHA: We’ve grown from a real live band into more of an internet project. Or is that a regression?
MPAP: What are a couple of things you feel stand out from it since then?
SACHA: I always try and top myself when it comes to songwriting and production, I hope I achieved that, in my mind at least I have.
MPAP: On behalf of myself, and Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you for doing this interview. We look forward to what Every Hour Kills to finish out the year 2018 and beyond.
Any last words you’d like to say?
SACHA: You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.
FIND/FOLLOW/LISTEN
EVERY HOUR KILLS
HERE:
Every Hour Kills/ Sacha Laskow/ July 21st, 2018/ Interview #109
How are you? How is everything going so far now that we are well into the 2nd half of 2018?
SACHA LASKOW: Everything is going just swimmingly thanks!
MPAP: Before we talk about your new EP, Fragile Machine, let us first introduce everyone to your band for those that might not have heard of you just yet. Every Hour Kills is a Progressive Melodic Metalcore band from Alberta, Canada that formed in 2015, and features the likes of Sacha Laskow, on guitars and programming, Brent Stutsky, on bass, and Jerrod Maxwell-Lyster rounding it out on vocals. Care to add anything else to that to grab the reader’s attention?
SACHA: I’ll let the music do the talking.
MPAP: The group name was inspired by an anonymous literary quote, 'Every hour wounds, but the last one kills.' That quote put things into motion for you, and the blueprints soon took shape for Every Hour Kills to form into a band. What were you doing when you saw the quote? Were you at any place in your life that it seemed relevant for that to stick out and make you want to name your next endeavor that?
SACHA: I read it in a Neil Gaiman book.
MPAP: Why was it so inspiring to you?
SACHA: I thought it was a clever turn of phrase, with a dark edge that leads to a good name for a metal band.
MPAP: Whom would you like to think that this anonymous person might be? Describe him, or even her?
SACHA: I picture him as a Goblin that just never stops murdering.
MPAP: While doing some research for this interview, I found this quote in my searches, and although it doesn’t have any connection, it just seemed fitting to share it with you; 'Call no man happy until he is dead.'
SACHA: Strongly agree with that one! The sooner the better, I welcome death’s sweet silent embrace.
MPAP: Moving forward, let’s talk about your new music, shall we? The new EP is titled Fragile Machine, and hit it the streets, or the internet world on July 6th, on your label Perfect Filth. Tell us a little bit about Fragile Machine? What musically can the new listener expect to hear? What are you hoping they get from it?
SACHA: You’re going to hear a seamless mix of various styles from Prog to Djent to Metalcore with some Hard Rock and Poppy elements. I hope they enjoy it and maybe even fap to it.
MPAP: Fragile Machine explores the questions of what comes next in human evolution. Go into more detail about that if you will? Some might say humanity is headed towards the end, the apocalypse? What do you believe is next?
SACHA: I think it could go either way really; we see society circling the drain in many respects, yet technological advances and general longevity/wealth etc., are better than ever. Only time will tell if the pessimists are right, or the people with a more positive outlook like Ray Kurzweil etc.
MPAP: You also stated, ‘What does it mean to be human, if consciousness can be stored in a machine.’ To me the name, Every Hour Kills, doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy and want to start picking flowers, so when you say human and machine in the same sentence, I start thinking man will turn into a machine? More like the Terminator movie machine? Am I far off?
SACHA: It means that in the near-ish future, 'consciousness' (depending on how we define that) will be able to exist in code and be stored on a machine. If our minds exist in an infinite reality, what does anything mean anymore? Are we in a simulation already? It brings up many interesting questions and thoughts, hence why it’s a topic I enjoy writing about.
MPAP: The artwork for Fragile Machine is an enormous server cube floating in space. Tell us about it? What does it mean to you?
SACHA: It is meant to represent post-Singularity, all of humanity’s conscious minds being stored on a computer server in space. Presumably, the earth has become bereft of actual physical humans as we make the transition into infinite beings of pure energy.
MPAP: Seeing the artwork, I must bring up another movie reference. This time from the 1997 drama/fantasy film called Cube. The film follows a group of people as they cross industrialized cube-shaped rooms, some rigged with various traps designed to kill. I picture this happening in your cube?
SACHA: I wish I still got high, sometimes.
MPAP: Going back to what the listener can expect to hear, tell us about some of the songs found on Fragile Machine, like "Illusorian," "Numlock," or even "Death Song"?
SACHA: Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
MPAP: Also, Every Hour Kills, this past May, released a music video for the song "Aldebaran." What was it like to have one of your videos animated for the first time?
SACHA: It was an open source film I chopped up, so it wasn’t created bespoke for us.
MPAP: What do the two main characters in the video signify? Is there a message you’re trying to get out there to the viewer that they might not understand at first?
SACHA: I thought the imagery was cool and matched the technical nature of the song; art being subjective and open to interpretation is fun, isn’t it!
MPAP: Fragile Machine also has a few punches on it. You have some special guests involved in it. There are guest vocals by Andrew Ivashchenko (Shokran), Renny Carroll (Flux Conduct), Jonathan Thorpenberg (The Unguided), David Chunn (Vallite) and Mark Haggblad (Unveil The Strength), along with guest guitar solos by Andy James, Mattias IA Eklundh, Daniele Gottardo and Paul Wardingham. How was it to be able to work with these great musicians?
SACHA: It was a dream come true to work with some of my favorite musicians on the planet! The power of the internet can be used for good, and more than just farm animal porn and fake news.
MPAP: Was it hard to get them to commit to doing something? Everyone can be so busy and makes it hard to collaborate with someone you want to?
SACHA: Sure, but being in the music business for a long time you need to have a thick skin and expect some rejection and assume projects will go off the rails at times. I was patient and eventually everything came together beautifully, so I really can’t complain too much.
MPAP: One last question before we bring this to a close, how would you say you’ve grown as a band, and as musicians since your first self-titled release in 2015?
SACHA: We’ve grown from a real live band into more of an internet project. Or is that a regression?
MPAP: What are a couple of things you feel stand out from it since then?
SACHA: I always try and top myself when it comes to songwriting and production, I hope I achieved that, in my mind at least I have.
MPAP: On behalf of myself, and Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you for doing this interview. We look forward to what Every Hour Kills to finish out the year 2018 and beyond.
Any last words you’d like to say?
SACHA: You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you.
FIND/FOLLOW/LISTEN
EVERY HOUR KILLS
HERE:
Every Hour Kills/ Sacha Laskow/ July 21st, 2018/ Interview #109