June Interview With Psychostick

By Josh Fritz.

Last night at the Masquerade, I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Rawb and Joshy from Psychostick. Very amicable gentlemen, very welcoming and as soon as I sat down, I realized and was rather grateful that they had obviously not let their success go to their head. They were regular people, just like you and I. Rawb was working on sending out posters and Joshy was burning CDs. Like I said, just regular people.

TheRealAtlanta.com: Psychostick is a rather unique name for a band. How did you come up with it?

Rawb: I thought of it around 2:00AM in a half-awake daze in 2000.

TRA: All right. Well, for those that don’t know who Psychostick is, what genre do you consider your music to be and who have been some major influences?

Rawb: Our genre is best described as humorcore. Comedy, metal and hardcore. As for our influences, they range from Primus to Crowbar and everybody in between.

TRA: What are your favorite and least favorite venues to play and why?

Rawb: Favorite is the Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan. There’s a built-in draw, it’s a legendary venue and there’s just a lot of little subtle things that make it so incredibly awesome. My least favorite is Zak’s Coffee House in Murfreesburough, North Carolina. It’s a s…-hole, it has bad sound, the staff are a bunch of d…a…s and there’s no crowd. But, it’s kind of like a hazing for every band. When you start out, everybody has to go through there at least once.

Joshy: Good question! I’m going to agree with Rawb’s answer on the least favorite, but I think that my favorite one is Pop’s in Sauget, Illinois. They’re open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. They have two stages set up for the bands to play on, their staff is top-notch, the sound is awesome. Overall, the place just has a really cool vibe.

TRA: Do you guys have a set song list or do you just go out there and wing it?

Rawb: We have a prepared song list. Since we have a touring bassist, we have to make sure to plan everything out. We usually only play for about an hour, so we just figure out what we want to do, trim the fat and teach the bassist the riffs.

Joshy: Yeah. The jokes and stuff that we do between songs is pretty off-the-hip, but if we hear something we like, we’ll tell him to say it again tomorrow. It’s just a matter of having fun and seeing what the crowd finds funny. It usually takes about two weeks to get settled into a good show. We get the jokes worked out, the gags and all that kind of stuff.

TRA: Any covers?

Rawb: We try to do a cover every tour. Last year it was Kenny Loggins, “Highway To The Danger Zone.” Or as it’s more well known as, “The song from Top Gun.”

Joshy: [laughs] We also had a Gloria Estefan melody one year. Maybe we should do the Kenny Loggins song tonight…

Rawb: Yeah…maybe.

TRA: What’s the song writing process like?

Rawb: It’s based on life experiences. Something that was traumatic in some way. Something that pissed us off. Something funny. But, it always starts out with an idea.

Joshy: We write the lyrics, then write the music. We don’t try and force our lyrics around the music. Then, we’ll work with each other. Different combinations of band members creates different styles. We figure out what we like the best, but above all, it has to be funny.

TRA: What’s been the biggest challenge as a band?

Rawb: Our bassist quitting. I’m tired of members quitting. We’re not looking for a permanent member right now, because of all the members just up and leaving.

Joshy: Yeah. Who knows if the guy is going to want to do this a year from now? May miss his family. Get a girlfriend. Get married. You never know what the future holds.

TRA: What is the ultimate direction for your band? When are you finally going to believe that you’ve “made it”?

Rawb: Getting our CD released nationally was a huge plus. It helped us to get noticed. What would it take for me to die happy? Hmm…Gold status on one of our records. Being able to easily fill a thousand-seat venue. That would be incredibly awesome.

Joshy: Agreed. We’re not making as much as we were with our day jobs, but we’re working towards it. You’ve got to work with the industry. Music is the bait and the hook. The merchandise is where the money is. So…buy some.

TRA: What advice do you have for people who want to start their own band?

Rawb: Three things. First, be different. There’s too many bands that sound like other bands and the industry is over-saturated with them. It may take a little longer to get noticed, but it’s going to work out in the end. Second, embrace the business end of the industry. Don’t get taken advantage of. Learn the business and understand it. Third, use the f… out of the internet.

Joshy: Go into it, doing what you love. Be genuine. Be happy with what your doing, but also make sure to be realistic. You are going to suck at first. Everybody does. The only way you’re going to get better is with practice. If you want to be a songwriter, then write a song. Write a song about anything. It’s going to suck, but learn why it sucked and use that to move forward. Also, make sure to have a balance between the art and the business. An extreme focus on one can leave the other one behind.

TRA: Is there anyone you want to thank for support?

Joshy: Our hardcore fans. The ones that come out to every show and sing along. And XM Radio for playing our songs. Rest In Peace, XM.

Rawb: I want to thank Evil J from Otep for introducing us to XM radio and getting our tape into the right hand. I’d also like to thank Michael, a huge fan out of France that helped us out a lot over the years.

TRA: Any last words?

Rawb: Buy our s… or you’re stupid.

Joshy: Congratulations on having the weirdest burger in the world. [Author's Note : He's talking about the Luther Burger from Mulligan's Bar in Decatur. It's a bacon cheeseburger with a Krispy Kreme doughnut instead of a hamburger bun.]

I thanked the guys for their time and made my way outside to wait for the show to start. It was an incredible show and I, for one, am looking forward to their next one. If you see Psychostick coming to your area, it’s worth every penny to attend. I’d like to thank Joshy and Rawb from Psychostick for their time and for answering the questions that I had for them.

For more information about Psychostick (including their upcoming tour dates), check out : www.psychostick.com

More articles by Josh Fritz

This article was published on Monday, June 28th, 2010 and is filed under Bands, Featured, Music, News. You can follow any comments to this article through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.