I had the pleasure of chatting with Taylor Williams who is the primary songwriter for an exciting new doom metal band out of Salt Lake City, Utah. OXCROSS' most recent effort "Tree and Stone" is huge record that pummels the listener with vocal layers, heavy riffs, and aggressive melodies for a stunning debut record. Check out the interview below.
TJ: So OXCROSS hails from Salt Lake City Utah. Does coming from such a conservative area influence the music at all?
Taylor: I think so, ever since I was 15 I was playing in hardcore or metal bands and there’s a pretty crazy counter culture that is a direct reflection of how a lot of us were brought up with conservative values that dominate the state as a whole. I’m not sure it affects the music itself. It’s more like it affects our attitude and the way we approach things. It definitely drove me and others to seek out weird music for sure and that led to playing those styles too.
TJ: Do you feel like Salt Lake City can be limiting in terms of the style of music you play compared to other cities?
Taylor: Not at all. For a lot of us it was a small way of rebelling. I was brought up Mormon. My parents are pretty liberal as far as Mormons are concerned, but for me and a lot of our friends, we still looked for ways to rebel. First we were straight edge kids playing hardcore and metal, and then playing heavy music and the alternative scene was next. Salt Lake City is an awesome place to live though. It created this polarizing scene with a lot of artistic people, which is better than ever now. OXCROSS was the easiest band to form and be a part of because of the great people in this city.
TJ: The members of OXCROSS have a lot of different side projects. How did such a talented group of people come together especially with the other projects you guys are involved in?
Taylor: Well, Oxcross is my only band. I’m the only one in the band like that doesn’t have at least two projects. I have known Andy Patterson since high school and he recorded my band Glacial a long time ago and he eventually joined on drums. We had plans to do another project when I moved back, and so I just asked and he said, “Yeah I’ll drum for you.” Jeff Anderson (guitar) I had known for a while and I called him up after another potential member didn’t work out, and really, I don’t why I didn’t ask him in the first place because he is just the best. I had talked to him and known him from playing shows together as separate bands. He immediately wanted to play with Andy and I. Then we recruited Dave Jones from Dwellers, who brings a great easy going dynamic to the band. He is a great bass player, and just the easiest going guy of all time. It all fell into place really quickly. There’s no real ego. It’s great. I love the dudes in OXCROSS, couldn’t ask for a better bunch really.
TJ: I want to ask specifically about Andy Patterson who also drums for SubRosa and others. He is obviously a hugely talented individual. Talk about his influence as it relates to the OXCROSS sound.
Taylor: Andy is a wizard. He drums, he plays guitar, he has his own recording studio, he is a talented producer. He doesn’t play drums super flashy, he plays what needs to be played. A lot of drummers don’t hit with umph. When he hits the drums, we know it man. You feel it. One of my favorite things about playing with him is he punishes his kit. He really knows what he is doing and the whole band feeds off that big drum sound. He is one of the best drummers I have had the pleasure of playing with. Just a solid drummer, musician, and human being. He’s also a stellar recording engineer. He’s in like 5 bands. I’m stoked that he still wants to play in OXCROSS and makes time for it.
TJ: What are the influences for OXCROSS? The reason I ask is because your other bandmates’ projects really sound different from OXCROSS. Black Sleep of Kali uses the screaming vocals and even a bit of thrash influence, SubRosa has the violins and female vocals, Top Dead Celebrity is more bluesy and psychedelic. How do you manage all these different styles?
Taylor: Well I’m mostly the primary songwriter and everyone writes around the songs I usually bring. But even though I may write the bulk of a riff, 90% of the time, no one else is directed what to do, we just figure it out together. Every once in a while, I will have a real specific part for someone to play, but it’s rare. Andy has a saying where he’ll say, “Do your Taylor thing”. I don’t mean to sound like I’m in charge though, because that isn’t really true. I love music. I’m obsessed with music and this is somewhere in between being very heavy but still accessible to me. We all love Goatsnake, Failure, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Quicksand, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu and all those influences are sort of thrown in a pot and filtered through a heavier sensibility. Jeff and Andy are in Top Dead Celebrity, and they sort of play that AC\DC/Queens of the Stoneage sound, which we all love too. We all love all sorts of music, so no idea is off the table. If we wrote a pop song and thought it sounded good we would probably play it. As long as it’s fun and seems cool. It’s an amalgamation of tons of different influences but mostly that heavy stoner rock metal vibe. I hate that stoner rock term though.
TJ: I’m not a huge fan of that term either.
Taylor: Right? It sounds like the music would be a bunch of hairy guys that do nothing but sit around and get high (laughs). That’s not who we are as a band. Two of us are dads, our drummer plays in five bands and we just all love playing music. It’s just a weird term to me.
TJ: By now doom metal and stoner doom are pretty historic genres that have a lot of bands trying to emulate that Black Sabbath or Sleep style of sound. How do you distinguish yourself in a genre where there are certain expectations to sound a certain way? Is that something that ever crosses your mind?
Taylor: I think there are more bands that are doing this now, but we’re not just about screaming our heads off or trying to play one note super low and loud or doing one note over and over. We try to focus on our songwriting and write a song around a riff. Not a bunch of heavy disparate riffs thrown together to sound heavy. Vocally I try to inject a lot of melody. I do the screamy shouting stuff, but I’ll sing a lot too. I mean, the screaming shreds your throat but I think about the bands I really love and come back to like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Those guys really sing. I think that is what distinguishes us, but I don’t think we really worry about that. If we write something and it feels good we aren’t super concerned about it being different. If it rocks it rocks. Like AC/DC, they do pretty straightforward rock, but it rules, you know? (laughs)
TJ: I think that really comes across on Tree and Stone.
Taylor: Andy and Jeff really pushed me vocally on Tree and Stone. Unfortunately, it also made the songs tough to replicate live because there are so many different vocal tracks going on. Some songs have like 10 vocal tracks. That’s what you do when you make a record though. The live show should be less polished and more raw. It’s more about the human element, not striving for perfection, but more emotion and performance.
TJ: OXCROSS does an excellent job balancing melody with crushing heavy sound? Is that by design or was it more of a naturally developed sound?
Taylor: I think that reflects the type of stuff we like. From Iron Monkey to Neil Young you know? We love some of heaviest bands you can think of, but Neil Young is also one of my all time favorites, there’s a strange spectrum of influences n Oxcross. I think it’s just that kind of weird thing, but we want to be more than a one-dimensional act. Sometimes we want to play loud stuff to bang your head to, and other days we are feeling less pissed off at everything I guess. As long as we’re feeling the music, we’re happy. There isn’t a plan. If it sounds like Iron Monkey, that’s ok, and if it sounds like Fleetwood Mac, that’s cool as well. As long as it’s not a Christie Mcvie song (laughs), she’s the worst.
TJ: The Dual Harmonizing vocal technique is something I really haven’t heard from other metal bands. Its typically something that only is implemented during a chorus but, OXCROSS uses it in verses. What do you try to achieve with that layered vocal style? What does is add that one vocal track cannot? (A good example of this is the opening to the album “A Beginning Without an End”)
Taylor: It’s an extra dimension. It’s like Queen. They used to all sing on all those records and it’s not just Freddy Mercury. In Queen, every member sings every harmony, to like a ridiculous degree, and that’s part of the reason they are so unique in rock. Its gives music a huge sound. I did a little bit of that approach with my other band Black Sleep of Kali. But as I mentioned earlier, Andy and Jeff pushed me to do it. It took a lot of work though. Every single vocal is doubled or tripled in some parts. Sometimes I have a two-part harmony, sometimes I try take the root note and harmonize with it two, three or four times. Those vocals were something I we spent a lot of time on. I tried wacky things. I just wanted to try different things till I found something that worked. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t. For example the first track on the record, A Beginning Without An End, I wanted to come on right away and make a statement sort of. I wanted to show the band could do big , pretty vocal tracks with a lot of melody, and balance that with a real heavy sound.
TJ: Tree and Stone is over a year old now? Describe what the response has been like to the album?
Taylor: It’s been pretty positive. We did it ourselves, we had a couple smaller labels offer, but we thought in the end, it just seemed easier to do it ourselves. And for a band that doesn’t tour or do a ton of shows we’re happy. We got a lot of traffic from all over the globe. When Crown and Throne graciously put out the tape of Tree and Stone we sold copies in Norway, Finland, and Great Britain in the first week. That was pretty surprising, but really cool. People are still sort of discovering it though which is really cool.
TJ: Next project? What is in store for the future of the band?
Taylor: We’re slowly trying to write a new record. We have about three songs mostly formed. We get together when we can and work on stuff, so hopefully we can get in the studio by the end of the year. It just takes me a while because really, Andy is so busy with SubRosa and the recording studio, that we kind of just get in when we can to record, between everything else he is doing
TJ: What are you going to try and change or improve on from Tree and Stone?
Taylor: I’m always tweaking my gear and my tone, it’s like a constant search for something that almost doesn’t exist. But, I am super satisfied with my sound right now. So, we’re gonna have a bigger and better sound with the next record for sure.
TJ: What records have you been digging from this year?
Taylor: The new Failure record is amazing. It’s called “The Heart is a Monster”, it seriously rules. The new High on Fire record is great too. Heartless Bastard’s new record is great. The new Kendrick Lamar record is really badass. I also really like the new Goatsnake and Fight Amp records, and I love that last Whores record. So great. That’s what has been in heavy rotation lately.
TJ: Any other local Salt Lake City acts making stuff we should be aware of?
Taylor: Cult Leader is awesome. If you don’t know them check em, they are on Deathwish and get a lot of publicity, but it’s all warranted. Seriously ripping. They almost make me angry when I see them because they are so good. We just played Crucial Fest with The Ditch and the Delta, and from the last time I saw them to now, they have really come into their own. I thought they killed it, and they are touring on and off this summer, so check them out if they are near you. Also, SubRosa of course. They just crush it.
Check out this awesome record here and consider purchasing.: https://oxcross.bandcamp.com/
Thanks to Taylor Williams for sitting down and chatting with Have You Heard That New!
T.J.K.
7/20/2015
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