Metal Insider’s CMJ Showcase, which will take place on October 16 at Club Europa, will feature Nachtmystium, Byzantine, Black Anvil, Ramming Speed and Vattnet Viskar. Ramming Speed will be appearing second on the bill, and we caught up with the Boston thrash band ‘s drummer Jonah Livingston to talk about the cassette revival, signing with Prosthetic, and who they’d most like to share the stage with.
Your album Doomed To Destroy, Destined to Die came out in June and was released on CD, vinyl and cassette. I know vinyl’s been making a comeback, but why’d you go for cassette?
That was actually something Prosthetic surprised us with. We made a big deal about being sure we had plenty of vinyl for tour, that was our main concern, and obviously they do CD’s and digital releases, but the tapes came out of left field. At first I figured that we were kind of the punk rock band on the label so they were like “Fuck it, lets make these weirdos some tapes to sell to walkmen-wearing crust lords”, but then they pressed some for Skeletonwitch and a bunch of other bands, so I guess it was just a fun experiment. We’re almost sold out of the first pressing so if anyone wants one come grab it before they’re gone!
It’s your first album on Prosthetic Records. What led you to sign with them?
We talked to a couple of bands on the label and everyone had good things to say, but the main selling point for me was seeing the wild success they’ve had with so many underground bands covering so many sub-genres. They’re either good at picking winners or they’re marketing geniuses. Prosthetic took bands like Lamb of God, Kylesa, Gojira and Skeletonwitch and blew them the fuck up. I don’t necessarily think that’s going to happen to us, but I have all the confidence that this team knows what they’re doing, even if we don’t. We’re going to keep writing riffs and touring our dicks off, but the difference now is that we have a rad team of people working behind the scenes from an enclosed fortress on the edge of LA.
You’ve been touring hard in the US the entire year. What bands have you most enjoyed sharing a stage with?
We’ve known the dudes from Revocation for years, so going out with them and Goatwhore and 3 Inches of Blood ruled; all awesome bands doing their own thing. Valient Thorr are easily one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, so doing two tours opening for them (plus LORD DYING on the recent one) has been a goddamn pleasure. We also played the last Barn Burner show not that long ago and that was a sweaty mess of awesome friends and hot whiskey.
Any plans on touring outside the US in the near future?
We’re talking to a few different booking dudes trying to figure out the best way to approach our first post-new-record Euro tour. We’re juggling various offers opening for Motorhead, 2 Pac (hologram) and Metallica (original line up).
What are you most looking forward to about playing our showcase?
I was in a Manhattan Guitar Center a month or two ago looking for whatever stupid drum gizmo I needed and I heard someone making fun of my Dag Nasty back patch. I turned around and it was the drummer of Black Anvil. He told me their new shit sounded super rock ‘n’ roll/heavy metal, so I’m excited to throw beer cans at that dude and yell out Dag Nasty song titles. See you in hell!
