I met up with Mike from The Contortionist before their set at The Social, we talked about the upcoming album, his favorite concert experiences and more. You can check it out after the jump. The Contortionist just finished up their run with Protest The Hero and will be going into the studio in March, so be on the lookout for any updates from the band.
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Q – The Contortionist were added as a last second replacement for Architects, how was it for you to be asked by Protest The Hero to finish out the tour?
Mike – It’s awesome. I’ve actually had the privilege of touring with them before with my other band. They hit me up, we had just gotten back from Australia, and we were more than happy to do it. They’re all awesome dudes, all the bands on this tour are awesome, so we were 100% down for it.
Q – “Intrinsic” has been out for seventeen months now, are you guys working on a new album?
Mike – We go back into the studio in March, we’ve already started writing and getting ready for that.
Q – How do you feel you’ve been able to implement your writing style into the band?
Mike – It’s been going very well, and very easily. The guys have been more than willing to let me do my thing over everything. The guys will bring their parts to me and let me put my own flavor over it. And I’ve also been writing my own music and bring it to the band as well. There will be some new textures in the music for sure.
Q – What’s the best concert you’ve ever attended that you did not play?
Mike – That’s a hard one. Of recent memory, I went and saw Decapitated with Baroness and Meshuggah, that was about a year and a half ago. This one is a little left to center, but there is a Canadian artist called Bryan Adams, he did “Cuts Like A Knife”, “Summer Of 69′ “, a bunch of old school tunes. But from age 4-7 he was like my favorite artist, and i got to see him with Foreigner in 2008. That was a cool show.
Q – What are some of your favorite music releases from this year?
Mike – Again, that’s a hard one. My time scale is horrible, I think Intronaut just released this year, yeah it was earlier this year. So Intronaut’s new album, there’s a band called “Active Child” that we listen too, they’re more like an ambient rock band, those guys are really sick. Other than that I’ve just been listening to a lot of older stuff, I listen to a lot of R&B, old school like Mo-Town and such.
Q – After you guys finish out the tour, what’s next for The Contortionist?
Mike – We do five more shows with Protest The Hero, and then we literally drive to the airport and fly to Mexico, and do five dates with Born Of Osiris. Then we have a couple months off, go to the studio in March, and start recording.
Q – Is there a set time you guys are hoping to have the new album by?
Mike – If we record in March, I’d assume summer time to early fall, that’d be my guess. But i can’t really promise on that right now.
Q – Is there any updates you want to give on Last Chance To Reason?
Mike – With Last Chance To Reason, now with this we’re basically just doing stuff whenever we can, we just did the tour with Evan Brewer in August. So I’m hoping in between doing the album and going on tour with The Contortionist, we’ll do another tour. We’ll probably do one or two tours a year, and keep writing on the side.
