We had the chance to talk with guitarist Mark Motley from The Arson Choir, where he discussed their latest album released, The Warp Tour and much more. If you have not yet checked out their latest release titled Trophy Nation make sure to pick up your copy and check them out live. These guys have soul and want you to rage in the pit. Stay tuned for more, in the meantime check out this quick interview with Marc. 

Tell us about the recording process for The Arson Choir.

Writting- mostly my self and Kevin our drummer, I would come up with  20 or 30 riffs a week, take them to Kevin, where we would decided if this works and what does not. The actual recording was a real process because the way that we wanted to record, we wanted to covey that live feeling and there are not a lot of studios that were really interested in that. They would only program amps, plug in through a lot of digital effects. we wanted a live feel, like what you hear on the record is what we do live.

That was one of the things was working within our budget, but also putting something out that were were going to be happy, there is a certain degree of sloppiness that we like. There are mess-ups bad notes, missed tunes all over the record it sounds more human.

You took part of the Warp Tour Battle of The Bands, what was that like?

We participated, we enjoyed our selfs, it was a great time and good contest. Regardless of win or losing,  we give a bit of our performance. During any show, we go back sore, hurting, we give everything we can even if its 20 -50 people. As far as the battle went, they had some interesting bands and some bands that I don’t feel would fit on the Warp Tour and those bands ended up going forward advancing in the battle. For me I feel the staff they had for that event was a bit out of touch and disconnected with the current Warp Tour audience. Hopefully they find judges that is up to part.

Would you ever participate again on the Warp Tour Battle of The bands?

I don’t know if the boys will agree with me bc i have a different outlook on stuff like that. I would definitely do it again. you can’t win if you don’t try. You will not get in there anyways if you don’t try. at least I know I did my best to getting us in there. No hard feelings, we all did our best, we just did not advance that time.

What is this “puke” and “seizure” core genre you guys are listed under all about?

The best story I was told, we played  The Chain Reaction, one of our friends saw the stage, he said “dude you guys are like seizure core” looks like you are having a seizure out there having fun. Math metal, voice core, puke core, because we finished and the drummer ran off and vomited in the parking lot. We try to go out there and have a good time, we write the music that I feel we don’t hear often, we write the music that we want to hear. lets go and write what we want to hear and enjoy playing.

What can you tell us about the interaction of your vocalist with the crowd?

Our vocalist, he is passionate, energetic i feel people gravitate toward somebody like that. he may put 1000 percent each night, not all people will get that. those who do will connect.

Who writes the lyrics for The Arson Choir?  What is Trophy Nation about?

In terms of lyrics, the previous vocalist wrote the majority of the previous record, I sat down with the vocalist and drummer and go over a general feel with the songs, the beginning of every record process, we are in the middle of writing the next one. I give them the over all process of what I think the record means, globals news, the scene, it is not a short discussion, it takes a couple hours per sitting. We go over of this is what I think. Put that into words.Trophy Nation is about anxiety, very unsettling it has a lot to do with feeling abandon, lashing out agains the current climate. Its still the same at this time. For the new one I am still developing the concept, those change every day with the news, and how I feel about the backlash with world news and events.

What are some of your inspirations when it comes to guitarist?

That is a tough one man, I am playing guitar now, but I started playing on bass. The basis Tom Araya, Ryan from bleeding Through and Mudvaine, those encompassed a lot of the styles that I write. Bleeding through, uses breakdowns, slap bass, Mudvanie, pop, slap and jazz all very heavy and rhythmic. It has a lot of appeal, I kind of got throwing into playing guitar, one of the bands from SD were looking for guitarist. I really have only been playing guitar for about 5 years, not as long as a lot of people would think I have played guitar. Influences on guitar, Mark from periphery, Dillenger, Jordan of Every Time I Die. Biggest, Josh from Chariot and Stephan. not the techniques but the energy that they give out.

Where do you see your self and the band a year from today?

A year from this moment, that would be interesting because I feel we have great momentum right now, there is a lot of support, people see the potential in what we do. The next records will be the deciding record to where we tour. get out in tours that we can get along, tour with friends. bands like Differences,  American Standards, Channels to be where they should be. Mid tier to top tier bands, Norma Jean or 18 visions, where is that heavy back and forth between bands. To be honest I’d love to get on Warp Tour for the entire tour. I’ve always enjoyed the Warped Tour, specially for summer. The long term goals, dream tour would be Japan. l love to be able to get over there in a vacation aspect.

We are gonna have to take a taco truck and make tacos in front of the venue. Merch is important, cd sells are important, we are doing as much as we can independently, record labels have to make their money, if they want to be a part of what  we do. Tree members have done it, we have pitched to record labels, it becomes a headache after a while, because it gets tiring to sit with someone and have them ask us to sell them our music. Then they wont endorse you. If they like it great, but if they don’t sorry we don’t write for you. A record label is that, the I need you to sell me this music, right now it doesn’t feel very appealing. There are records labels that will support what we do and love to work with us and our work ethic, as far as top tier labels they gotta make their money back. We are not that band at the moment, and i am ok with that. Gear in the studio, I’m doing that on my own. once they feel like its time to do an investment, then ill be on board. It would.

Reported by: Hostile Jo

Photo by: Jose Barrientos