Interviews: Phantom High

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Metal/Nu-Metal band, Phantom High from the USA. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

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

Peril Erinyes: So our name happened relatively quickly and unexpectedly. In 2016 Seven and myself were in our final months of college for Electronics Engineering. We were on a school break and had been binge watching Animes, at the end of the list looking for a new series, we decided we would watch “Black Butler”. The main character was named Ciel “Phantomhive”, which initially upon hearing I misheard as “Phantomhigh”, which blew my mind, because we were pursuing an aesthetic that was a based somewhere in suburban/urban highschool creep squad meets “Warriors” or “Joker Gang”, and Phantom High just NAILED it! I was so happy to learn that it was in fact “Phantomhive” in the series, I ganked it immediately!

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Peril Erinyes: This style was easy to pick (as it’s just making music I feel compelled to espouse), but difficult to articulate in a sense of genre. I always loved pop songs covered by heavy bands. I love pop music and its anthemic melodies and formats (I’m a huge fan of Max Martin who’s written the majority of pop hits in the last 20 years, it’s mind blowing), but I am also a fan of angstful and aggressive music. So I decided to write my own “pop songs'' and then brutalize them with heavy guitars and absurd contrasts. This is why the genre is hard, we have “metal” attributes, but I feel presumptuous in calling us “Metal” or even “Alternative Metal'', many bands seem to direct their sound to fit a genre, whereas we are just playing what pleases us, and hoping to stuff it on a shelf where people that might like us would think to look.

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

Peril Erinyes: Initially it was Seven and myself we met Joey through a close friend in 2018 and pieced the rest together as we have progressed. I found Blaire our bassist online, and stalked her in binary until she agreed to join hahaha!

4. Each band member's favourite band?

Peril Erinyes: Depends on what day you ask… Largest overall catalogues I love to-date would be Korn or Deftones.

Blaire: My favourite band is Jinjer, Tatiana and Eugene specifically for various reasons, but Tati really has inspired me more than anyone and given me the confidence to not be as afraid of the way people perceive me in everyday life. Seven- Korn. Easy.

Joey: currently Gojira, Twelve Foot Ninja, Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More, Refused, 3TEETH, Deftones, Korn, The Police

Muse: I don’t really have a favourite, I like so many!

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Peril Erinyes: Conceptually, I do most of the writing. I have a lifetime of things I draw from regarding content, but musically I am different from a lot of people I talk to, in that I write all my music to a drum beat. I create a beat and then vibe off of it with a guitar or synth, and then flesh it out from there. What the music makes me feel or channels, then becomes the subject matter.

6. Where was your last gig?

Peril Erinyes: Our last “live” show was March 14th at Lee’s Palace here in Toronto. We played the last big show of 2020 before the shutdown with On, A Primitive Evolution, and Sulpher from the UK.

7. Where would you like to act?

Sunset Strip in California- The Whisky A Go Go foremost, but any of the establishments there that still host live music, naive as it seems, these places are my “Mecca”. The Roxy, The Viper Room, I dream of these places, it’s largely personal nostalgia, but I embrace that.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Peril Erinyes: Korn, Motionless In White, In This Moment, The Birthday Massacre, 3TEETH, there are so many spanning genres too Gaga, Migos, Cardi B, Carpenter Brut -Deadmau5!

Joey: Korn, Fever333, Deftones, Slipknot would be amazing. Seven- Kendrick Lamar. That would be an insane collab.

9. Whom not?

Peril Erinyes: There’s no hate in us for fellow musicians or genres, the only thing I can put here, is anybody in which there seems to be no common artistic chemistry or passion, or that has no emotional merit. We don’t like obligatory art.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Peril Erinyes: I was terrified early on, especially as a guitarist turned vocalist, having to use my own voice, with no instrument to hide behind! Yes, I beat it militarily. I researched the dynamics and technical pitfalls, I created an environment to rehearse in that emulated a live performance, and I rehearsed religiously for hours every night in front of a mirror, learned posturing, mannerisms, and how to breathe in the moment, I did it like a boot camp, repetitiously over and over to the point it became so ingrained in my subconscious, that the building could fall down and I won’t miss a beat. Joey - my secret is 2 drinks before going on stage, and some jumping jacks haha Seven- I tend to jump into things that frighten me. I don’t know if it’s some weird addiction to adrenaline or the accomplishment of overcoming fear. But I think it’s important to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Accept you will not be perfect and learn from those imperfections.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Peril Erinyes: Korn (sound and writing), Deftones (diversity from album to album, sonic dynamics), Motionless In White (Aesthetics, articulation, theatrics, bridging heavy to pop)

Joey: Stuart Copeland from the Police was my biggest influence followed by Korn and Deftones. More recently, session players such as Anup Sastry, and Devin Attard as well.

Seven: obviously we are all Korn fans and I hate to sound redundant but they are my biggest influence too. It’s the vulnerability of their lyrics and the way they make a piece of music groove.

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

Peril Erinyes: I get asked for my underwear so much, that’s not even weird anymore, a few days ago somebody asked me if I could “teach them to be Satanic”. I think it would be weird if I got asked to do something conventional like sign a shirt LOL.

Joey: I got asked for a lock of hair once, I think she was a witch… Seven- a kiss… I was like “is this dude for real?”

13. What do you think of your fans?

Peril Erinyes: I don’t like to refer to people as fans, even if they consider themselves to be so, I like to think that people follow us. As for what I think of them, I feel a kinship to them, because I know if they like us, they understand what we espouse and that it resonates with who they see themselves as.

14. What do you think of our site?

Peril Erinyes: I love the feel I get when I look at breathingthecore.com, I can sense a true passion for heavy underground music, and I feel a sense of communal unity in the effort to be inclusive world wide. This goes along with where we hope to see ourselves as a musical act in time, connecting people who share our passions despite any classification or cultural differences.

Seven: I don’t get the sense of traditional Metal gate keeping and that is awesome! I love exploring all genres of metal and meeting musicians from different metal genres. I want to talk and explore passions not focus on what sucks and who sucks more like traditional metal sites. Great job guys! It’s a killer site!

15. Something to add?

Peril Erinyes: I would just like to say thank you for this opportunity to talk, thank you for caring about music, and that we hope to chat again!!