By Tracy Dietlin
On Sunday, May 18, Perishment was the second band to take the stage at the CV Music Awards, where they were nominated for Best Metal Band. While they didn’t walk away with the award that night they did garner a whole new legion of fans that had never seen them perform before and satisfied their loyal fans by offering up a full-throttle impressive performance.
If you weren’t in attendance at the CVMA’s (shame on you!) you still have the opportunity to watch this band live this Saturday, May 31 at 9pm at Schmidy’s Tavern where they will be having their record release party for their third disc, Amidst the Black. Also performing that night will be Brain Vat and Robotic Humans. This is a free show and 21 & over.
The guys from Perishment: Ruben Gutierrez (vocals), Aaron Ramson (bass), Bobby Taffolla (guitar) and Tommy Winters (drums) took time out of their busy schedules to answer a few questions for CV Weekly.
CVW: How long has the band been together?
Bobby Taffolla: I formed the band in 2005. After working with various desert musicians, we played our first “real gig” at the Vibe in Riverside with SANGRE in March 2007. After playing gigs throughout the rest of 2007 in the Inland Empire with session players, then drummer Devin Jay and myself decided we needed to finalize the permanent line up and record a debut album. Enter ex-Crematorium bass player Aaron Ramson and former Innerwar front man Ryan Barneck. We recorded and released our first full length LP Cult of Disaster in 2008 and continued to play here in the Coachella Valley and Inland Empire through 2009. In 2010, Barneck parted ways and we recruited ex-Menzrea vocalist Ruben Gutierrez and recorded our second release, Peripheral Veil EP in 2011. In 2012, Jay moved to Oregon and enter current drummer Tommy Winters. And here we are in 2012, stronger and more united really then we have ever been!
CVW: Where did you record the new record?
Taffolla: In the Perishment HQ/Studios! An in home DIY studio.
CVW: Who produced it?
Taffolla: We did! Honestly we love having the freedom of coming and going as we please, experimenting, changing what we want. We have a very old school analog set up, which of course has its limitations, and without the assistance of modern software, vocals are the hardest thing to produce/record. But you hear everything, for the better or the worst. There is no hiding here!
CVW: Who writes the lyrics?
Taffolla: Ruben pretty much writes all of them now. In the early days I used to write a lot of them when we didn’t have a permanent vocalist.
CVW: What is your inspiration for writing?
Ruben Gutierrez: Inspiration for the Amidst The Black EP lyrics came from being in a dark place. Everything I was writing was coming out too personal, so I discarded my rule of writing about my own life and decided to go at it head first. I felt the songs were heavy and well written so the lyrics had to be just right. Definitely a place I wouldn’t want to visit again… but I’m relieved I was able to walk that road and end it with my own sanity.
CVW: How did it feel to be nominated for the CV Music Awards and perform there?
Aaron Ramson: It felt great to have an opportunity to shine and be recognized. We’ve gotten a bit of exposure from it. We think it raised our profile a little.
Taffolla: It was amazing! To perform along -side the talent and variety of genres on that kind of stage/platform/format was huge! We feel very grateful to have the opportunity let alone be nominated amongst the Valley’s finest heavy bands!
CVW: What tricks do you have up your sleeve for the record release show?
Taffolla: We have pressed 25 CDs for this show only, hand numbered that contains both our EP’s and 2 newly remixed songs from our first album. We are giving them to the first 25 people through the door to see the show after 8:30pm. And they are FREE!!!
CVW: I heard there’s going to be some special guests/performances?
Ramson: Definitely, it’s what we do! We’ve reached out to a wide array of local artists to help us out on this one; friends who are amazing musicians on their own. To have them agree to help us out is tremendous and we couldn’t be happier. From the jump we’ve always loved sharing the stage with guest performers and other musicians. There is an energy and a vibe that’s created with collaboration, you know? It’s a shame it’s not something seen often in heavy rock music, because pop thrives on artistic collaborations. Not that we aspire to create pop, but the love of music remains fresh through collaborations and mash-ups.
CVW: Other than selling CDs will you have other merch?
Tommy Winters: We will have shirts, posters, and 3 signed lithographs featuring the limited CD’s artwork!
CVW: Any plans for other upcoming shows or small local tour or bigger?
Ramson: We’ve always aspired to make our shows events. We’ve never played the same set list twice. We’ve never used the same guest musicians twice. If the right opportunities were to arise, we’d love to take them, be it higher profile shows or even mini-tours.
CVW: How do you feel the metal scene has grown here in the CV the last couple years?
Ramson: There are a handful of metal bands in this valley and none of them sound alike. That’s such a great thing when you think about what a small pool of musicians live here. I played in a death metal band with Luis Diaz from ITNOTD years back, and now we’re in different local bands that sound nothing alike. That diversity in sound is what makes this local scene so exciting to be a part of.
Taffolla: It has definitely grown, with the help of publications and the increase in quality venues/bars. When we did our own local metal shows back in 2008-2011, we used to do everything ourselves. We tried to make every show we were putting together a huge event. We did the booking, the flyers, the printing, the lights/smoke, stage management and honestly it was exhausting. That’s why I quit promoting shows after 2011. Now with places like Schmidy’s Tavern, The Hood and the Date Shed, that have lighting and a legit PA, and with publications like CV Weekly and more recently VM Management helping the bands to get the word out and bringing in National Acts, the bands and artist can focus on the show and promotion, which is a huge relief! Makes us want to up our game and play more!
CVW: How do you feel about all the different metal genres…death, nu, hardcore, black, grind, post hardcore, thrash….and where do you feel Perishment fits in?
Winters: As far as the genres, I don’t listen to music based on genre, good music is good music no matter what genre it’s classified as, and if it’s good I’ll listen to it. I don’t really classify us as anything. We are just PERISHMENT we make whatever type of music we feel like making, whether it’s psychedelic, technical, or just balls out heavy.
Ramson: We’re performers; all 4 of us are entertainers and we just happen to play a really aggressive style of music. We said from the start that we are a metal group with the heart of a rock and roll band. We don’t want to be pigeonholed, but that’s hurt us in a way because metal fans are very fickle and demand a certain temperament from their bands.
Taffolla: Yeah… really at this point in the band’s history, I’d say we cannot be sub-genre classified, really I can’t even tell you a band that we sound like anymore, which of course is what we want, our own sound and our own identity.
CVW: Anything you want your fans to know?
Ramson: Thank you for appreciating what we do and understanding why we do it.
Taffolla: Thanks for the support over the years! You are the reason we are still standing! Oh yeah Tommy loves Dr. Pepper, Ruben loves comics, Bobby likes long walks in the park and Aaron brews all his own beer!
Perishment record release show Saturday, May 31 starts @ 9pm @ Schmidy’s Tavern located on the corner of Hwy 111 and Fred Waring in Palm Desert, next to the Men’s Warehouse.
https://www.facebook.com/perishment
