Interviews: Crejuvent

In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview the Metal band Crejuvent, from USA. Check out this band and give them a like on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?  

I was playing scrabble once with a friend when I was about 16 and I could’ve sworn that it was a word. I then googled it and couldn’t find ANY results, so I immediately claimed it and since then that word has been my unofficial property in any internet search. At first I was a bit hesitant to use the name for this project because it sounds so fucking stupid, like clearly something that a 16 year old would think sounds badass, but then I thought that perfectly encapsulated the sort of vague juvenile humour circling the music.   Plus I’ve always been extremely shit with band and song names, this project couldn’t be any different.  

2.Why did you want to play this genre?  

I think that’s a bit of a dumb question. Genres are formed from the music, not the other way around. I listen to an awful lot of music, consequently I write a lot of it too. So when I write really heavy songs I’m obviously going to use it for Crejuvent, whereas if I write something more straightforward I might use it for my other band Novacrow, or if something mellow comes out I might use it for another project and so on.   With that said, I do gravitate towards heavier music, especially in my writing style, which is why Crejuvent hits closer to home for me. I also love big and overpowering melodies and other elements that people wouldn’t consider ‘metal’, but I’m not really concerned with that. Since Crejuvent is my ‘solo’ project, it’s important that I give myself complete creative freedom, even from myself, which results in the music that you hear. If it’s progressive death metal or industrial metal, that’s fine, I don’t really give a shit. I do remember when I was put on Metal Archives I was classified as ‘Atmospheric Death Metal’, I just stared at the screen for a half hour thinking “what the fuck is Atmospheric Death Metal??”, gave myself a good chuckle haha.  Seriously, what the hell is Atmospheric Death Metal?   

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?  

Well, it’s a solo project so…maybe?  Ugh, it’s WAYY too early for an existential crisis…  

4. Each band member favourite band?  

Hm, can I pretend that I have a band and each ‘member’ gets an answer? In fact you don’t even have to answer that, I’m gonna do it anyway.  

Vocalist: My favourite band would have to be Strapping Young Lad (I’d pick Devin Townsend in general but that covers too much ground). I mean, try to listen to all of Alien without simultaneously cumming and crapping yourself. Actually, don’t bother, it can’t be done.  

Guitarist: The Red Hot Chili Peppers have always been one of my favourite bands ever. In fact, they should be EVERYONE’S favourite band.  

Bassist: I fucking looooove Cynic. Focus influenced me so much when I was younger and that album really got me into technical death metal. When they came out with their last album, I was already a bit more musically…mature? So when that album came out just as I was like “OOHH ok now I get it!” and it’s been constantly on loop ever since.  

Drummer: Bee Gees. I think they’re absolutely fantastic! My other band Novacrow was supposed to support Tragedy, the UK’s biggest Bee Gees metal tribute band TWICE, but we couldn’t make it to either one and I’ve lost so much sleep because of it.  

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?  

Time primarily. I find I write best when I have lots of spare time and can get my thoughts together. Other times an idea will just sit in my head and I gotta get it out like a bad itch, then the song sort of writes itself. But there doesn’t seem to be anything that prompts it. Again, seems kind of a dumb question when you break it down. If we knew what inspired us to write songs, wouldn’t we just spend our time doing that? That’s not QUITE how creativity works. Having studied music and surrounding myself with musicians, I quickly learned that everybody has a different way of writing songs and getting inspired, but there’s pretty much never a set way to do it, and everyone will struggle with inspiration at some point.   

It always blew my mind how some songwriters tend to write their songs and find inspiration in almost anything. They’ll be walking down the street and see a dead bird or something and they’ll just go write a song about it. I definitely don’t operate with that sort of musical efficiency, but it really is interesting to see that happen in people!  

6. Where was your last gig?  

With Crejuvent, it was at EBGB’s in Liverpool as part of the Metal 2 the Masses competition. I don’t really play live too much with this project because it’s just me playing to backing tracks. I’d love to do more of those shows though, maybe after this EP is out…  

7. Where would you like to act?  

For real, anywhere. I fucking love performing live, it’s the best feeling ever. Especially with a project such as this where I can completely uninhibit myself on stage and be the most ‘me’ that can exist. Obviously, a big show with lots of people that are digging it is the ideal show, doesn’t matter where. That said, I’ll be playing Metal Days in Slovenia with my other band, and playing on a river in the middle of a valley with the scorching sun slowly edging behind the mountains sounds like a fucking dream. I fucking LOOOOVE mountains.   

8. Whom would you like to feature with?  

Hm, tough to say. Assuming you mean who I’d like to perform with, then I’d have to say anybody well known who could be fun and suit my performance style ideally. I’d love to be on a bill with Devin Townsend, cus his stage banter is fucking on point, and a lot of what I write for this project is heavily inspired by him. I’d love to play with Fleshgod Apocalypse as well, they seem like fun dudes and playing with them looks like it’d be a blast! Plus, it’d be cool to see a relatively synth heavy metal act like Crejuvent and an orchestral heavy band like them on the same bill!   

9. Whom not?  

One genre of music that generally doesn’t appeal much to me is reggae, so I’d have to say any generic reggae act. I love reggae influenced music, but straight reggae just doesn’t do it for me. I think I’d feel well out of my element on stage in that environment, but who knows, it might be a worth a giggle!  Oh, I probably wouldn’t share a stage with Trump. Not because of his politics or nothing, he seems like he’d hog the stage too much and that’s MY job!   

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that? 

I don’t normally suffer from stage fright. I think the most nervous I’ve ever been for a performance was when I was being assessed at school or something, but the stage? Never. I remember when I was younger my school took us to a field trip to watch the Limburg orchestra rehearse and afterwards we got a session with the first violinist. When asked if he gets nervous he just said something amongst the lines of “No not really. It doesn’t make sense, people don’t come to shows to watch a nervous person, they come to watch you be you, and what’s so nerve wrecking about you being yourself?” and that just made perfect sense to me at the time. A lot of people say they get nervous and the way they overcome it is by using that adrenaline to sort of fuel their energy and performance, and that seems to work for them. But for me getting on stage is the best high ever, I go on knowing that the stage is mine to control and fuck with, and that confidence that confines arrogance is all that takes over.  I guess people get nervous because they think “what if something goes wrong? What if people don’t like it?”. If something goes wrong then hey, shit happens and you learn from it, it’ll probably be something beyond your control anyway so why worry about it? And if you’re concerned with people not liking it then you’re in the wrong business! You gotta get up on stage for yourself and nobody else: people are already there specifically to see you, so you don’t have to worry about it!  

11. What bands have inspired you the most?  

Hm, hard to say. For Crejuvent it’s a myriad of bands really, mainly Strapping Young Lad, Cynic, Obscura, Gojira, I’d say those are to me the influences you can hear the most straight out of the bat. But there’s an element of humour in what I do that stems from bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Alestorm, bands that are seemingly more concerned with enjoying what they’re doing as opposed to making a musical statement or whatever.   

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?  

A 50 something year old woman once tried to hit on me after a show a few years ago. That’s not quite asking something but it was still pretty amusing!   

13. What do you think of your fans?  

People like to suck up to their fans. Part of me wants to say I don’t really care about having fans as a whole, but the other part of me loves the fact that I can have a positive influence on somebody else’s life in any way shape or form. Ultimately I feel bad for them, simply for the fact that they seem to enjoy my music. Those poor souls…   

14. What do you think of our site?  

It’s pretty bitching! My other band Novacrow was featured here sometime last year I think. These websites are a great tool for bands, especially now that sites like Facebook are making it harder for bands to reach out to their fans. If these sites were stock then now would be the time to invest! Trust me kids, I’m an economist!   

15. Something to add? 

Hell yeah, thanks for Breath The Core for this badass feature! I tell you, spending time at work doing these things makes the whole day SOOO much more bearable!  

Check out Crejuvent’s debut EP ‘Time’ coming out on the 1st of July 2017! It’s gonna be jam packed with juicy musical goodness and I’m sure you’ll all love it <3 a="" aboard="" adjuntos="" ahead="" all="" and="" any="" archivos="" as="" at="" available="" band="" bandcamp="" be="" can="" cd="" choo="" cool="" crejuvent="" de="" ep="" facebook="" font="" fun="" goggle="" hip="" it="" like="" little="" los="" lyric="" new="" of.="" of="" on="" other="" physical="" platform="" platforms="" play="" released="" sportify="" stalk="" streaming="" the="" think="" times="" train="" utunes="" video="" well="" will="" with="" www.crejuvent.bandcamp.com="" www.facebook.com="" you="" zona="">