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Wisteria - September 2008 After many delays, we are blessed to finally bring you an interview with an exciting young band…WISTERIA! They have an interesting progressive death metal vibe that will excite many fans of bands like Death and Opeth. Wisteria has already released one demo and we recommend it to all of our readers! We asked Wisteria about their musical influences and many other things in this great interview. Sadly, we also learn of a lineup change, as guitarist Matt Rossa has decided to pursue other musical interests. However, Matt was kind enough to answer the questions we sent him and we have decided to include them as he is a crucial part to the Wisteria story. We hope you enjoy the interview!
Wisteria in 2007 (from left to right): Matt Rossa (guitar), Shawnt Gregorian (drums), Alex Weber (bass/lead vocals), Billy Pizarro (guitar). In the last year, Wisteria has had the honor of opening for the legendary band Candlemass and Finnish power metal giants Sonata Arctica. Matthew Bankes (MB): Hello everyone in Wisteria! Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions. I think you are one of the most unique metal acts I have heard since starting this webzine, and I am glad I could finally catch up with you! How has everyone been and have there been any exciting developments with the band lately? Shawnt Gregorian (SG): Hello Matt, everything is fine here. On some news though, our guitarist Matt (Rossa) has decided to leave the band. We support him in his new projects and will always be family to us. We recently opened for Candlemass in May and Sonata Arctica in August. I think we've all been growing musically. That’s always an exciting developing moment if you ask me. I think we're just trying to find our niche/sound still. MB: I want to try and get to know everyone better first before we dive into the music. How did you all get introduced to music and how did you get interested in music? SG: We have all been around music from an early age. Our families would have to be the reason that we all are playing music. All of them have been involved in music one way or another, which has influenced all of us personally. MB: Once you all got interested in music, I'm sure sooner or later the musician bug bit. When did you all first pick up an instrument and seriously decide to pursue being a musician? SG: I was about ten years old when I decided to start playing music seriously. I remember hearing the song “Everlasting Gaze” by The Smashing Pumpkins and remember wanting to learn how the drummer was playing the drums because it sounded so cool to me.
Billy Pizarro (BP): I started playing piano when I was seven years old. Played for about four years I believe. Then, I just kind of lost interest. Not because it was boring though. I think I just wasn't mature enough to fully appreciate what I was learning. Then I tried playing violin for a year. Love the way the instrument sounds but it just wasn't for me. Then I picked up the guitar when I was 13. I started playing because my best friend at the time was taking lessons and we thought it'd be fun to jam together. The first year of my playing I didn't take seriously. I never practiced. Then I was introduced to Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi was a huge influence after that. That’s when I really started to take it seriously. Alex Weber (AW): I picked up the bass in a kind of weird way. Around middle school, I wanted to learn how to play one of the typical band Matt Rossa (MR): I started playing at the age of 11 and developed a habit of practicing several hours a day. Since then I have developed a strong connection to artistic outlet. Music will always be there for me. MB: What bands were the first rock and metal bands that you became interested in? SG: The first rock bands I really got into were Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Deep Purple. When I switched gears into heavier music, (the bands) I had first gotten into were Sepultura, Carcass, Death, Anthrax, and Megadeth. BP: I remember my first CD ever was To the Faithful Departed by The Cranberries... not sure why (laughs). But the first bands I was into were your typical bands... Sabbath, Ozzy, Zeppelin, Cream, Metallica, Rainbow...stuff like that.
AW: When I first got into bass, I was into bands like Green Day and Less Than Jake and all the other mainstream rock bands of the time. But then I started checking out heavier bands like Mudvayne and System of a Down. Those bands left a big influence on me and actually the bass player of Mudvayne is still a big influence on me today. After that, I was introduced to underground metal like Death and Helloween by Billy and all the rest is history. MR: In Flames, Children of Bodom, Behemoth, Sonata Arctica and a few others. The albums I got my hands on back then are sentimental to me, but I hardly listen to them anymore. MB: How did you all meet and how did Wisteria come together? SG: Wisteria had already been formed years ago, with a completely different lineup. At that time we were still younger and played a more thrash/old school death metal kind of style. Throughout time, some changes were made and the final lineup with who we are now was pretty much finalized in early 2005. MB: I have to ask this question: The name Wisteria...I noticed when I was down in your hometown of Germantown, Maryland for a show that there was a street called Wisteria Drive...this may sound strange but did that influence your decision in naming the band? SG: Yes, during our first lineup as Wisteria, we all lived off of the street and thought it would be pretty cool and amusing to give ourselves that name. Later on we also realized it is a good way for us to kind of represent our hometown and where our roots originated from. MB: Wisteria has a very unique sound that not only touches on many forms of melodic but also more extreme metal styles. What different styles do you mix to create your unique sound? SG: We all have different tastes and of music and styles. When we try to write something, we usually pick a kind of background or atmosphere for each song, whether it is mellow like jazz or extreme and chaotic like death metal. It can be a benefit because we are not limited to one style of music, as cliché as that may sound, but it does give us an advantage of picking a direction where to go for the next creation. MB: Another really cool and interesting facet of Wisteria is your diverse ethnic backgrounds. It is always great to hear of bands who add a bit of their heritage to the music because of the flavor it adds. Can you tell me more about your unique and diverse backgrounds, and how have they influenced you musically? SG: We enjoy picking things up from different cultures and their music. More recently we have been using Armenian folk music and modernizing it for songs. Billy is also from MB: Alex, what bassists have influenced your style and what vocalists have influenced you? AW: One of my biggest influences is Jaco Pastorius. That dude could play the bass like no one else ever could and probably ever will. Also bass players like Steve DiGiorgio, Ryan Martinie, Victor Wooten and Jeff Berlin have influenced my playing and my tone. For vocalists, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth is probably my biggest one because of his versatility, flawless tone, and his in-depth lyrics. Also Chuck Schuldiner from Death and Michael Nicklasson from Dark Tranquility are big influences on me.
MB: Billy and Matt, what guitarists have been inspirations for you? BP: My influences have really changed over the years. Some artists don't even include the guitar or guitar-driven music. I’ve also become pretty influenced by movies and soundtracks. I'll just name some of my recent favorites: David Gilmour - Pink Floyd MR: Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom guitarist/frontman) was a huge influence, along with most of the fast-playing guitarists out there. I would rather listen to a meaningful chord than fast guitar playing now, though. Lately other instruments have been a huge influence on playing guitar. Billy and the guys really started this whole change I’ve had when we started jamming together a few years ago. MB: Shawnt, what drummers have influenced you? SG: Igor Cavalera (ex-Sepultura drummer) has had the most influential style of drumming for me since the early days of the band. I also really look up to Jason Rullo from Symphony X and Trymm from Emperor. MB: I think your first EP is excellent and I look forward to more recordings from you in the future. Tell me about the song writing process for it and how the songs came together and where did you record it? AW: For the first EP I don’t think there was much of a process. At that time I think we were just trying to write songs and find our sound. The songs mostly came together from riffs I had come up with and us just piecing them together. Shawnt had a lot to do with some of the riffs on that EP as well. We recorded it with Keny Ruyter in his home studio. It took a few months if my memory serves right. It was nice working with him on that EP. He was a fun guy. MB: I think the cover of the Death song "The Philosopher" is excellent! How did you decide to cover that song and do you have any other favorite songs that you plan on covering live or in the studio? SG: We actually first kind of starting jamming “The Philosopher” for fun in between songs at practice and decided that we like how we play it. We then thought it would be a real cool song to play live. As far as other covers, we covered “Gothic” by Paradise Lost at the recent show we played with Sonata Arctica. It is probably a new favorite of mine to play now. MB: What has been the most memorable show that you have played so far? SG: The most memorable so far has been with Sonata Arctica in August. A lot of our friends and family were there to see us which just made it a better experience for us. It was also the largest crowd we have ever played for. It was overall a good time. MB: Do you have any future recording plans? SG: We are anxious to record the songs we have been playing for the past year. There are three new originals that we think are something different from our last EP, something we would prefer to be available over our last demo. MB: Now for something a little different for all of you. If you could pick three albums as your all time favorites, what would they be? SG: 1. Amorphis - Elegy 2. Nachtmystium - Instict: Decay 3. Ara Gevorgian - Ani AW: Definitely Heavy Weather by Weather Report, ObZen by Meshuggah, and Symbolic by Death. There are so many other albums that could be in their places, but I think those top them all. MR: 1. Tool - Lateralus 2. King Crimson - Discipline 3. Meshuggah - Nothing BP: That’s a ridiculously hard question but I’ll do my best. I’ll just name my most recent favorites. Alternative 4 by Anathema
Matt Rossa (photo courtesy of Wisteria) MB: There are many great bands in the SG: We love playing with bands that we are close friends with. We always love to play with Debelia! Debelia! and Azrael. They are our favorite bands and friends to play with. We have yet to play with some of the other big names like Odin’s Court and Division; we would love to share the stage any day with them. MB: What does the future hold for Wisteria? What can we expect from you in the coming months and years? SG: There will be new music, new updates and changes within the band. MB: Thank you all for taking the time to answer these questions and we wish you all the best of luck and success. Do you all have anything you would like to add as a closing statement for our readers? SG: We would just like to give a big thank you to the many people who have supported us by coming to our shows, buying our merch, spreading the word about us, and just being good friends to us. There is not much more we could ask for and we are grateful for all of that support.
Thanks so much, Wisteria! We are very grateful that you granted us this interview as it has been a long time coming. We wish you all the best and we also wish Matt Rossa the best in his future endeavors. Hopefully when he has a new project he will get in touch with us. As for the rest of Wisteria, we wish them luck in finding a replacement for Matt and we hope that they continue to press on and continue to refine their unique brand of death metal! |
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