What’s up, Chris! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Been a
long time since we’ve talked!
Hey bud! It’s been a minute for sure, thanks for taking the time to interview
me!
For the readers that don’t know you, could you introduce yourself real
quick and tell them what bands you play in.
Well, my name is Chris Smith, I’m an artist, designer, & musician residing in
Buffalo, NY. I’m currently in an extreme tech grind band in Buffalo called
Burial At Ornans. It’s a collective of musicians from Narakah, Parade of the
Lifeless, & Interia. I’m also in the Pittsburgh-based media deathgrind band,
Narakah.
What got you into music and wanting to play in a band? Any particular
moment in your life that made you go “I want to do that!”
Well since I was young I loved music, I remember buying bands like
Faith no More, Metallica etc on tape and then getting into heavier genres as I
aged into my teen years. I listened to a lot of metal & death metal and found
hardcore around age 13 or 14. I went to whatever show around 1994 (you’d
think I’d remember which it was but I don’t lol - Maybe Chokehold and some
Buffalo locals?). Anyways, I was sold - I had never experienced something
like that - hxc dancing, mic grabs and pile ons - the vibe, message, and feel
was different than anything else out there. So from that moment on I was
hooked and was I guess a “crossover” kid - into metal and hardcore. Soon
after, my friends and I formed a band, the first incarnation of it was debuted
as XEmbassyX and we played our first show with Hatebreed, Despair, and
No Reason. We changed our name to XLifeblindX (named after the Fear
Factory song) and added a member changing the sound from more of a
sraightforward SXE Strife/Earth Crisis sound to something along darker and
heavier the lines of Disembodied/Starkweather meets old blasty Cannibal
Corpse.
Who are your top five influences and what drew you to their particular
style?
Man, thats HARD. I’ll just pick a few off the top of my head since there are
a ton.
1. Deadguy. Their aesthetic and design by their vocalist Tim Singer was
enough to sell me - it took me a while to grasp the music, but I loved it - the
whole package came across as walking into a very cynical retro funhouse of
old toys and pulp comics. Other bands had that cool retro feel/look too in
their own way - old Dillinger Escape Plan, old Cable, etc..
2. Napalm Death. Specifically groove era ND - many people hate it bc it
wasn’t full on grind, but man, the 90s was a GREAT time for bands getting
experimental with their sound and look. I revere many of these types of
albums. I liked when bands looked different from most extreme bands, with
clean design or non-typical aesthetics. Anyways - the riffs on “Fear,
Emptiness, Despair”, Diatribes, etc friggin rip - they’re darkly dissonant,
heavy and cacthy melodic groove, and Barney’s voice is so tough sounding.
3. Despair. Back to hxc. Listen I know everybody has their own Vogel fav
band(s). Most wanted Buried Alive to come back. Not me. Give me Despair
and Slugfest over the others (whic are good in different ways). I was away
from Buffalo and beginning my tenure in Pittsburgh while Buried Alive was
coming up - thus missing them live and not really getting into them. I grew up
seeing Despair like every weekend with great bands ...and caught the
Slugfest reunion (i was just a tad too late for that band). I found both of those
bands a bit more interesting and they seem to hit a particular spot that BA &
Terror didn’t quite hit for me personally.
4. Grave. “Soulless” - the only Grave album that matters to me. It’s great
because it’s basically a dark metallic hardcore record.
5. Engines of Aggression. Switch it up to 90’s industrial/rock. Most people
would go straight to NIN, Ministry, Front 242, Skinny Puppy, Stabbing
Westward - all good bands. But they’re not EOA. “Inhuman Nature” has been
on constant repeat since it came out. Their other EP, “Speak”, is decent and I
own a studio copy (among other artifacts from the band) of their vault into
nu-metal territory, which was catchy and retained their sound but in a later-
90s way. It was never released. If you’re a fan of the aforementioned bands,
just go pick up a copy of “Inhuman Nature” on Priority Records, 1994. One of
my hidden gems I tell people about. Like if Ministry was way more catchy
and melodic*
6. There would be like 8 bazillion concurrent-runner-ups, but I woud have to
say Painstake - a Colorado mid-90’s metalcore band that’s one of my hidden
gem favorites, they had decent music but one of the coolest and
nastiest/unique sounding vocal performances I’ve heard in the genre. Very
cool. If you like the strained vocals of Kickback, Bloodlet, Macabre, At The
Gates, Strain - think that arena.
(Side note, I listen to a ton of stuff across many genres that’s not in the
heavy realm).
You’ve played in a handful of bands in various different genres. Could
you tell us a bit about them and are you working on anything new?
- Yep, I’ve been in a few bands over the years:
1. XLifeblindX: (Initially XEmbassyX and more SXE hc) Dark Buffalo
Metalcore from my teenage years 1996-1998.
2. Officeworker: Pittsburgh deathgrind with members of Firstdaydead &
Grisly Amputation, maybe early-mid 2000s.
3. Gigantis: Angular metallic/melodic rock from Pittsburgh, 2007-09.
4. Meth Quarry: Pittsburgh dark metallic/dbeat hardcore with “slams”, 2012-
15.
5. Hindsight: Pittsburgh 90’s-styled/screamy hxc, somewhere in the One
King Down, Turmoil, Strain, Harvest, Coalesce, Damnation AD, Snapcase realm. 2013-16?
6. Acolyte: Negative Pittsburgh metalcore with a slammy/slightly beatdown
edge. 2016-19.
7. Narakah: (currently active): Pittsburgh-based blasting media-influenced
deathgrind with grooves/slams and elaborate concepts/visuals. I play guitar
, co-write the lyrics and do the visuals/design.
8. Burial At Ornans (currently active): Buffalo-based extreme & eclectic
tech grind/metal project featuring Narakah, Parade of the Lifeless, & Intertia
members. I play guitar and co-write the material, lyrics and do the art/design,
and most of the vocals.
In addition to being involved in metal and hardcore, you’re an
accomplished graphic designer. How did you get into that?
Well, my father is a master printmaker, watercolorist, carver, and ex-teacher
that specialized in all the graphic arts & photogaphy. I was lucky enough to
inherit the talent from a young age and went to an arts high school, attended
a New York State Summer School for the arts at Cazenovia College, and
then to Pittsburgh at The Art Institute, for college where I started as a 2D/3D
Animation major, fucking hated it, and switched to a Graphic Design major
where I excelled.
I then worked for The Carnegie Museum of Natural History for the better part
of a decade doing exhibit/graphic design and installation - working alongside
scientists and artists, craftsmen, & tradespeople. After that I started my own
business, Grey Aria Design Studio, which I currently run and operate from
my home here in Buffalo. I do a variety of design and visual /illustrative work
beyond music design. Although music-oriented work is my primary workload.
I still do exhibit/information/educational design, packaging design, mixed
media/fine art illustration in various styles, logo & branding work, I have
freelance/contract work from various companies including everything from
tactical and fire protective tactical clothing companies to beer labels,
medical/nursing businesses, sports logos, to museum + educational work.
What’s the craziest show you’ve been to or played?
- Hmmm... another hard one, there’s been A LOT.... I think the Slugfest
reunion in Buffalo in like 1997 was a truly wild and packed show at The
Showplace Theater - Brothers Keeper, Hatebreed in their prime, Cast Iron
Hike, Birthrite, Extinction. (I claimed the first stage dive, taking flight in my
big-ass JNCOs, flipped back NY Yankees fitted, Gotcha shirt, and Adidas
runners - You can see that set in all it’s blurry camcorder glory on YouTube
haha).
In Pittsburgh, probably one of AJ’s Sincerity Fests - they were always insane
as they got bigger and bigger.... Definitely The 2 shows at The Shop that
were friggin crazy - Enemy Mind, Dehumanized, Taste The Steel,
Embludgeoned, & No Reason To Live, it was a literal warzone.
And the other Shop show that got moved there from Ohio (my singer, Adam,
got his head split open too during Xibalba) - it was Power Trip, Xibalba,
Alpha & Omega, Expire, & Twitching Tongues. Not really into the bands a ton
necessarily, but it was a bonkers/packed show.
My last show on vocals for Lifeblind was at the Mercury Theatre in Buffalo in
the late 90s, I was like 17-18 - we played with Shockwave and maybe
Lockjaw - there was a tornado down the street and it was sideways raining
so people were running back and forth to the door to peep the crazy weather.
There’s a ton of other crazy ones, but those were ones I remember.
You’re originally from Buffalo but lived in Pittsburgh for a period. Both
have very rich scenes, could you tell us a bit about them and some
bands people should give a listen to?
- Yep! I grew up in Buffalo for 18 years and was heavily involved a seriously
awesome hxc scene here for the better part of the 90s. It was a crossroads
for bands coing from both directions, so we had killer shows and a specific
vibe, like how Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Syracuse, and Eric etc have...
Some of my favs were Despair and Slugfest, Lockjaw, Parade of the Lifeless,
Sirhan, XPrideX, Snapcase, Ceasefire, Envy, XNo ReasonX, Threshold,
Hourglass, & Union. and if we’re talking area bands - from Ontario, one of
my favorite “very under the radar” bands ever on Goodfellow Records -
Acacia. Go pickup “Untune The Sky” immediately. Really dark and heavy
sludgy metalcore with venomous vocals. Also, another cool band i saw a few
times that was seriously heavy and nasty - Order of Deceit. I sadly can’t find
anything from them anywhere. I think they were from Syracuse.
Now Pittsburgh, that place has a whole different vibe. Pitt/PAHC, beatdown,
grind, metal, punk etc is a whole other animal and feel than Buffalo, even
today - the scenes are drastically different just 3.5hrs apart. I spent 23 years
in Pittsburgh and have made friends with every kind weirdo & lizard lunatic
there. Pittsburgh just hits heavier and meaner. The Buffalo scene, while the
bands do their thing really well, just doesn’t hit/vibe like PA for me in the
present day (although there are some cool bands). Both are my home and I
like them for different reasons.
Now for a fun question, what’s an album by a band you love that
everyone else thinks sucks?
Ha...So, we’ll reverse that after I answer. I’ll go back to Napalm Death
groove era shit - people dog it, but it’s my favorite stuff from them.
A few bands I can’t get into at all (I’ve tried) but everyone else seems to love:
Every Time I Die, H20, Bane, Twitching Tongues, At The Drive In, (newer)
Cannibal Corpse, any nu-deathcore/some indiemerch type shit or mall metal.
Thanks for doing the interview Chris! What can we expect from you in
the future and anything else you wanna say before this ends?
Thank you bud! Just want to shout out Pittsburgh and Buffalo and anybody
who works hard to put something positive into their respective scenes no
matter the genre. Giving props to people who put in work to get what they
want and help others. Go start a band, make friends, make art, have fun, and
be a part of something great whatever that is. There’s not much more
satisfying that building or keeping a scene strong. I’m lucky enough to do
what I love and always happy to help bands and small business etc look
good creatively & visually.
You can expect me doing my thing as usual - making visual stuff and I’m
hard at work on the first Burial At Ornans (@burialatornans) album, which is
shaping up to be a level up as well as unique & extreme. That will be
releasing in 2024. Looking forward to making more music with Narakah
(@narakah_grind) at some point and releasing that as well. You can check
out our other members projects that vary across the board:
-Aconitum (Pittsburgh Noise Grind)
-Windchimes (Pittsburgh Post Metal)
-Null Pink (Pittsburgh Avant Garde Math Grind)
-Cynocephalus (Pittsburgh synth/electronic/samplewave)
-Machine Dream (Buffalo accordion duo)
-Inertia (Buffalo tech-deathcore)
Comments