I have a pet peeve with the term “music journalist”. I guess technically what I do for Ryan’s Rock Show is a form of journalism, but sadly my image of a music journalist is no longer Lester Bangs. To me, the term “music journalist” has taken on such a pussified connotation within the past few years; I blame blonde 17-year-old screamo girls that do interviews with Bring Me The Horizon cookie cutter bands for dating purposes. In my opinion, a “journalist” is much cooler and more respectable than a “music journalist”. Music journalists are lame like Poison.
I, however, consider myself an interrogator. An interrogator that gets inside the heads of people to weed out bullshitters, posers, and people that make and play music for the wrong reasons. For instance, if you’re only playing in a band to get signed, your band members should kick you out. Or, if you’re using auto-tune on your vocals at a live show, you should immediately kick yourself out, throw away your Melissa Cross DVDs, and go listen to Milli Vanilli.
If you are looking for an example of a band that does do it right, The Acacia Strain does it very right. They don’t over-analyze, they don’t abuse technology, and they really just don’t give a fuck…about anything.
I sat down with The Acacia Strain gentlemen at a cafe in Hollywood to talk about their latest release, “Wormwood”, to get their thoughts on the current music scene, and to figure out why they are so bitter with the world.
The conversation begins with my opening question: “If Wormwood is a star in the Book of Revelation that poisons the waters and kills those that drink from it, has the band itself seen near-death experiences?”
From left to right: Vincent Bennett, Kevin Boutot, and Jack Strong on Ryan’s Rock Show.