Can you introduce everyone in the band and what instrument do they play?|
Will McHenry - Lead Guitar/great beard, great vibrato.
Coltan "I play the bass" Wickwire - Suprise, surprise, Plays the bass
Damian Leppert - Vocals and goblin sounds (hates city boys)
Neil "Garth Brooks" Schneider - Studio drums/Production/Engineer
Colin Lee - Drums, King of the skins, Whole milk enjoyer
Scotty Glaser - Studio Synth Wizard Tomfoolery
Dylan "Big Milks" Wickwire - Rhythm Guitar/Black Metal Disliker
How long has everyone been musicians for?
Dylan: since 2017 started with bass, then was forced to play guitar by my first band which turned out great all things considered
Colin: Been playing for 17 years
Damian: I have been a musician for 5 years.
Coltan: I've been playing bass/guitar on and off for about 11 years mainly country/blues
Scotty: Most of my life, grew up on violin, viola, cello, piano through school. Been playing guitar and bass for 15 years.
Will: 22 years. I've been a musician since I was 10 years old
Neil: I’ve always loved music since I’ve a kid, I used to air drum to everything but officially started playing drums when I was around 6 or 7 years old.
How did you guys decide on a band name?
So way back in 2016 when my (Dylan) first band Romeo Tried was just an idea I started writing something called "the Autumn Harvest EP"
which the other members of RT instantly shot down, So I just left it in my notes until about 2019, I stumbled back into my notepad and found it again
I was slowly moving away from doing stuff with RT and was learning how to record drums, the ex guitarist of xHRVSTRx and myself kinda were trying to meme
on the idea of bands taking out vowels from their names and basically ended up at this, I wrote the entire first ep (ope) in about a week outside of vocals and lead guitar.
Now here we are in 2023 still going, shoot we haven't even changed the original logo yet because it's so good.
What artist influenced each of you as a musician?
Dylan: Local bands from Iowa my first band was able to play with (Drowning Life/Hardship/The Emblem Faction/Chapter:/Abstract Forms/ ect.)
It was a really special feeling being able to be the new kids on the small block of Iowa metal scene and being accepted really cemented this for me.
Colin: Reflections is my biggest influence
Damian: I was mostly influenced by Job For A Cowboy and Infant Annihilator
Coltan: System of a down and my father in law Tim Jones
Scotty: Norma Jean is one of my biggest influences as far as metal goes. Black Sabbath and Metallica are the reasons I picked up guitar.
Will: Main influences for starting to play rock/metal are Between the Buried and Me and Meshuggah
Neil: I have way too many artists/musicians that influenced. My childhood favorite bands were Slipknot,
In Flames, Children Of Bodom and Mayhem so definitely all of those dudes but as I got old
I branched out and really fell in love with bands like State Champs, Neck Deep, American Football, etc.
so it’s a big conglomeration of various Metal and Pop Punk bands that have influenced me throughout the year.
What are each of your favorite songs that you’ve released and why?
Dylan: For me it's Cornbread or Death, the most underrated breakdown I've personally ever written resides in that song. It's hard to pin it down to just one.
Colin: Fowl Fister.
Damian: Fowl Fister for being our best structured song and Cornbread for the breakdown.
Coltan: I absolutely love cornbread or death because it makes me want to kiss my sister. Hard.
Scotty: All the songs slap
Will: My favorite song is Fowl Fister, really proud of my first song with these guys
Neil: oh man, I honestly don’t even know. It’s really hard to pick a favorite song from personal projects because
I put a lot of time and love into all of them that they’re all special to me honestly.
We saw that recently you’ve been signed to Total Deathcore, what is the best piece of advice you could give someone who is grinding trying to get signed?
So, we never actually considered signing with anyone until they came along. Dan the label owner is a beautiful human who selflessly loves deathcore. When he proposed that we join them.
It was pretty much "where do we sign" almost instantly. We've been really big into DIY but having a label with such a great reputation believe in us was amazing.
As for other bands *trying* to get signed, we really don't have many things to speak on that front. We just love making music that's fun and Kinda takes a different path from normal deathcore.
Which is for the most part a pretty serious genre overall. Just keep at it, put your all into it and don’t give up. You’re going to fail many, many times in any creative field but if you always put your best effort in it will show at some point, just let the love for music keep you going and you’ll be bound to see some sort of success along the way!
For someone who is posting memes on Facebook create a perfect playlist for them?
Dylan: "Dog Eat Dog," by Fox Lake or anything by the band Bonginator, they're insane
Colin: Anything Two-Piece or Extortionist
Damian: "Dwell," by Traitors
Coltan: "Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues" Buddy Guy
Scotty: Anything by Leprous
Will: "Selkies the Endless Obsession" by Between the Buried and Me
Neil: I’ve been in love with the band Trha recently, so I'ma thought a curveball and say Endlhedehaj from them.
Very ambient and lo-fi Black Metal aka Dylan’s favorite genre
Where can we find you guys at? (This is where you can share any and all links!)
SOCIALS
Facebook.com/xHRVSTRx
Instagram.com/xHRVSTRx_ia
Twitch.tv/xHRVSTRx
MUSIC:
Spotify: xHRVSTRx https://open.spotify.com/artist/4AaaSUwAONofj0mRATDiUR
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUJzOOSZx8&ab_channel=xHRVSTRx
MERCH:
xHRVSTRx.bigcartel.com
https://total-deathcore.myshopify.com/collections/xhrvstrx
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