1. Can you tell us a little bit about the projects for those that have never heard of you before?
Patrick: We started PlasticBag FaceMask to get something heavier from the generic band we were in together. We wanted to be completely original and become anything we wanted, never doubting or questioning each other and just going with the flow. After a couple of PlasticBag FaceMask releases I recorded a What Makes a Time Bomb Tic album, but after that realized the sound of it was not really what I wanted, so I went for an uglier and sloppier sound. Not knowing how to play guitar helped.
Jacob: PlasticBag started as a fun little escape, like Patrick said, from the monotonous band we were taking so seriously. Then that band quit so Plastic took over and became way cooler than we thought it would be. Skull Incision started in 2007, a year after generic-band started, and a year before PBFM. That was my experiment to produce songs on my own and sound like bands I was listening to on Myspace like Flesh Intoxication and wecamewithbrokenteeth. I mostly used it as recording and guitar practice, recording covers and silly little metal and grind songs. In 2010 I started making actual releases and taking it seriously.
2. How would you describe the musical sound of all of the musical projects and how they differ from each other?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask is more experimental. Every album sounds different and reflects what we were into at the time. Peanut-Butter Radio reflects us being new and just busting out songs and having fun. After that, our release /b/ears!!1!11 showed more maturity as we were trying to get more serious and express our talents. Ironically, at the time we were really into poppy music so we dabbled in some singing and choruses. With our third album we wanted to write one long song and split it into separate tracks, which became one of our favorite releases to date. With that album we also wrote our first album of completely serious lyrics, which was more of a challenge but we still enjoy them. With our most recent release, we had actually disbanded and had some left over songs we never finished, so we got together to finish them and properly dubbed it Zombie since they were dead songs come back to life.What Makes a Time Bomb Tic's first release was very rushed and confused. Without really knowing what sound was wanted, it became a clusterfuck of genres that did not mesh well. After that, the project became very muddy and ugly, going after the not caring aspect while still trying to write quality and catchy songs. The second and third releases both reflected the proper sound of the band.
Jacob: PBFM's songs are very spastic and rarely repetitive unless we make them so on purpose, due to our writing process, which is also called IMPROVISING. We sometimes talk about what we want a certain album to sound like, heavier, faster, more melodic, whatever, but that never ends up happening when we actually get to writing. All our plans usually fall short and the results are accidents that are so much better than the original plan. The two of us bring the best out of each other so these songs are the fastest, hardest, most intricate and unique music we can play. PBFM I think has maintained it's own weird sound that combines dissonance and melody into one being.
Skull Incision's genres used to jump around all over the place, usually playing metalcore and stuff but weird variations of it. But for the past year I think I have found my home in Grindcore and its subgenres (however, it is probably in weird variations again). To avoid getting shit from butthurt internet people that will swear on their families that I am NOT GRINDCORE I always say I play metal influenced by grindcore and deathcore. I am not trying to claim grind, its just more music I love and what I identify with the most.
For a long time I have been calling What Makes a Time Bomb Tic dissonant progressive metalcore, because I think that is awesomely accurate. But his recent music, especially To the Ark, is so dark, gritty, and raw. I've seen people call it deathgrind, I think, and other really crazy names because really, what do you call it? Doomgrind? That sounds awesome. But seriously, WMATBT is such a fresh young creature that its hard to tell what beast it will grow into. We will see when it gets as old as Skull Incision.
3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the different bands?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask's lyrics sometimes explore humor and sometimes explore very serious topics, such as love, hate, war, peace, life, and death. Sometimes they are very specific and obvious and other times they are vague and abstract to be left to interpretation.What Makes a Time Bomb Tic's lyrics vary. Aluminum Lakes featured some random lyrics, and some lyrics about a break up. It was a way to get over it and vent some of the rage. To The Ark is actually a concept album about the horror phenomenon Slenderman. The section of Trifarious Assault's vocals were actually mostly improvised. While there are lyrics, there is no record of what they are.
Jacob: Usually random. However, every Skull Incision release since Profits of Destruction has been very hateful. I'm angry at bigotry, war, destruction of the planet, dependance on things that make us less human and more robotic. Every songs has been about some important topic. I do like writing about scum who think they have it all until they realize they are trapped, about to fall, or taken down by force by the oppressed. Oh crap, and I love writing about unraveling sanity.
4. What are the meanings and inspirations behind the names out off all 3 of the bands?
Patrick: What Makes a Time Bomb Tic just sort of clicked one day. Being a big fan of puns, the name just made sense, and with the music being so ugly and making some people feels so tense, the name seemed to fit. PlasticBag FaceMask is a secret. Whenever people ask us we usually make up a story or just shrug.
Jacob: I found Skull Incision by reading through one of my mom's medical terminology books. I just wanted something blunt and violent like those cybergore bands I was inspired by.
5. I know that there has been live performances from PlasticBag FaceMask, what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Patrick: The best PlasticBag FaceMask show was probably one of the times we opened for Dance, Gavin, Dance. She show was sold out and the whole room seemed to really love us. We actually sold a lot of shirts, had a lot of movement, and unfortunately caused a few physical altercations in the crowd.
6. Can you tell us more about the label Plastic Skull Music and Recordings?
Jacob: I don't think it's really a label. I'd love to start one but it's pretty beyond me how those businesses work. My passion is recording so I had to give it a name. The Plastic Skull Bandcamp is all the music that I have recorded, for myself or others, and the store is all the stuff that those bands have to sell that I have made or they want to let me sell. So for now it is just those two websites but hopefully there will be a studio called Plastic Skull music and Recording soon.
7. On a worldwide level how have the 3 different projects been received by fans of underground music?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask was actually pretty popular worldwide back in the days of MySpace, but since FaceBook and our less public manner we have died down from popularity. We had a lot of shit talkers and they were the best. We would also be walking down the street and hear, "PlasticBag FaceMask! lolbreakdown!" That song was the best and worst thing we have ever done to ourselves. What Makes a Time Bomb Tic has had albums downloaded over a thousand times, but with really no feedback to show the response from potential fans.
Jacob: I have learned a lot about how rough it is in the music world through these projects. We dug ourselves in a hole by playing the "fuck you" kind of metal that we do, having a nonprofessional professionalism, and barely playing shows to get our name out. Millions of bands are asking you to download their album on iTunes through the internet and we are just three more that play loud, abrasive metal that either goes too far against the grain or just isn't very good even in its own genre. But overcoming that, finding the right crowds, and communicated with cool blogs and whatnot like this is a learning experience. Anyway, as far as the question goes, PBFM has riled up quite a few people, especially in the Myspace days and at a few shows. That was our goal though. It was funny when people talked shit. Now our solo projects' audiences are pretty quiet except for our musician friends and split partners (Dog Snot, James Doesn't Exist, Noah Sias HOLLA).
8. Besides the 3 bands are there any other projects in the work?
Patrick: Right now, we actually have a project coming up featuring the two of us with the vocalist from a friend band called Forever Rising. Our goal is to be as heavy and brutal as possible. While being abstract is a wonderful freedom, this may cause some much needed discipline we have not had in a while. Other than that, I am just trying to book shows and record as many albums as possible. Maybe I will try to break the world record for most albums recorded in a day. It can not be very many, right?
Jacob: I hope to record more people. Every local band in need. And there are talks of jams and possible new projects but we are all full time workers now so it is difficult to find time. If you follow any of the three of these projects you will in no doubt hear about anything new that we do.
9. What direction do you see the 3 bands heading into on future releases?
Patrick: We just go wherever our musical minds take us. There will be a To the Ark II coming out soon with the same lyrical subject of Slenderman along with a release called Art, Officially that is hoped shows massive growth from the previous release for What Makes a Time Bomb Tic.PlasticBag FaceMask is going to finish the last album that was never finished, The Family Portrait, which is a concept album about the mafia and then we will take it from there and hopefully impress ourselves. I would really love to do splits every other album like Jacob does. It seems like an awesome way to make new fans and band friends.
Jacob: I'm working on another split with a dude called Deformed Elephant Surgery who makes badass synthcore, nintendocore, deathstep craziness. I'm changing my writing process up a bit so we will see how this turns out. I'm also churning ideas for a full length that I am hoping will sound completely new to SI, more atmospheric and epic. And I need to write something that people like my parents and my girlfriend will have an easier time appreciating.
10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Patrick: The band See You Next Tuesday, may they rest in peace, actually inspired us a lot to start PlasticBag FaceMask. We also derive influence from bands like Pacifist, Psyopus, and The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza. We listen to a lot of different and separate styles and tend to meet in the middle which brings this bizarre mesh of genres that we call our own. We tend to influence each other most of all. I seriously listen to a lot of stuff and Jacob hates over half of it, which is awesome. I highly doubt What Makes a Time Bomb Tic would exist without Skull Incision because without that I would never have even tried to venture into a solo project. Besides, how would I have recorded it?
Jacob: Skull Incision owes a lot to Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire, Rise of Caligula, The Banner, and Converge. I take inspiration from so many bands because the only thing I love more than making and recording music is listening and learning from other songs and styles. Currently I keep digging, finding, and buying the gnarliest grind CDs I can. Everything I can get. The more DIY the better. But I have several other CDs on repeat: Aegaeon - Dissension, Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony, Vildhjarta - Masstaden, Zelliack - Noir Tone, and Tesseract - One. Other stuff I listen to all the time is Black Dahlia Murder, the Chariot, Daughters, Blood Brothers, American Me, Oceana, Fear Before...
11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Patrick: Our interests do lay mainly within music, where Jacob records and produces while I books concerts, but we do have some interests outside of that. I have a lot of interest in Body Modification and actually started a highly successful petition to add it to Equal Opportunity Employment. I sometimes will study actors and get really obsessed with them and watch all their movies. I also loves to read and write.
Jacob: Um. I like movies. I try to find movies equal to my taste in music. Besides my own musical stuff I pretty much work at my job and as being the world's best fan by buying merch and supporting bands like crazy. I'm a dork. And I hang out with my girlfriend a lot.
12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Patrick: Honestly, we just make music for ourselves and get so stoked when other people like it. We firmly believe in free music, so all of our stuff is free on our bandcamp. We love doing splits with people, so if any bands are interested in doing one with us we would love to do one one with you. We even did a three-way split with our friend Dog Snot and are planning one in the future with our friend and other solo band James Doesn't Exist. Everyone make sure to support your local music. Every big band started locally. Remember that.
Jacob: This was a fun interview, thank you very much. Support your local artists, DIY OR DIE, if someone is giving you their music for free, give it a listen, and then tell them what you think.
Patrick: We started PlasticBag FaceMask to get something heavier from the generic band we were in together. We wanted to be completely original and become anything we wanted, never doubting or questioning each other and just going with the flow. After a couple of PlasticBag FaceMask releases I recorded a What Makes a Time Bomb Tic album, but after that realized the sound of it was not really what I wanted, so I went for an uglier and sloppier sound. Not knowing how to play guitar helped.
Jacob: PlasticBag started as a fun little escape, like Patrick said, from the monotonous band we were taking so seriously. Then that band quit so Plastic took over and became way cooler than we thought it would be. Skull Incision started in 2007, a year after generic-band started, and a year before PBFM. That was my experiment to produce songs on my own and sound like bands I was listening to on Myspace like Flesh Intoxication and wecamewithbrokenteeth. I mostly used it as recording and guitar practice, recording covers and silly little metal and grind songs. In 2010 I started making actual releases and taking it seriously.
2. How would you describe the musical sound of all of the musical projects and how they differ from each other?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask is more experimental. Every album sounds different and reflects what we were into at the time. Peanut-Butter Radio reflects us being new and just busting out songs and having fun. After that, our release /b/ears!!1!11 showed more maturity as we were trying to get more serious and express our talents. Ironically, at the time we were really into poppy music so we dabbled in some singing and choruses. With our third album we wanted to write one long song and split it into separate tracks, which became one of our favorite releases to date. With that album we also wrote our first album of completely serious lyrics, which was more of a challenge but we still enjoy them. With our most recent release, we had actually disbanded and had some left over songs we never finished, so we got together to finish them and properly dubbed it Zombie since they were dead songs come back to life.What Makes a Time Bomb Tic's first release was very rushed and confused. Without really knowing what sound was wanted, it became a clusterfuck of genres that did not mesh well. After that, the project became very muddy and ugly, going after the not caring aspect while still trying to write quality and catchy songs. The second and third releases both reflected the proper sound of the band.
Jacob: PBFM's songs are very spastic and rarely repetitive unless we make them so on purpose, due to our writing process, which is also called IMPROVISING. We sometimes talk about what we want a certain album to sound like, heavier, faster, more melodic, whatever, but that never ends up happening when we actually get to writing. All our plans usually fall short and the results are accidents that are so much better than the original plan. The two of us bring the best out of each other so these songs are the fastest, hardest, most intricate and unique music we can play. PBFM I think has maintained it's own weird sound that combines dissonance and melody into one being.
Skull Incision's genres used to jump around all over the place, usually playing metalcore and stuff but weird variations of it. But for the past year I think I have found my home in Grindcore and its subgenres (however, it is probably in weird variations again). To avoid getting shit from butthurt internet people that will swear on their families that I am NOT GRINDCORE I always say I play metal influenced by grindcore and deathcore. I am not trying to claim grind, its just more music I love and what I identify with the most.
For a long time I have been calling What Makes a Time Bomb Tic dissonant progressive metalcore, because I think that is awesomely accurate. But his recent music, especially To the Ark, is so dark, gritty, and raw. I've seen people call it deathgrind, I think, and other really crazy names because really, what do you call it? Doomgrind? That sounds awesome. But seriously, WMATBT is such a fresh young creature that its hard to tell what beast it will grow into. We will see when it gets as old as Skull Incision.
3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the different bands?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask's lyrics sometimes explore humor and sometimes explore very serious topics, such as love, hate, war, peace, life, and death. Sometimes they are very specific and obvious and other times they are vague and abstract to be left to interpretation.What Makes a Time Bomb Tic's lyrics vary. Aluminum Lakes featured some random lyrics, and some lyrics about a break up. It was a way to get over it and vent some of the rage. To The Ark is actually a concept album about the horror phenomenon Slenderman. The section of Trifarious Assault's vocals were actually mostly improvised. While there are lyrics, there is no record of what they are.
Jacob: Usually random. However, every Skull Incision release since Profits of Destruction has been very hateful. I'm angry at bigotry, war, destruction of the planet, dependance on things that make us less human and more robotic. Every songs has been about some important topic. I do like writing about scum who think they have it all until they realize they are trapped, about to fall, or taken down by force by the oppressed. Oh crap, and I love writing about unraveling sanity.
4. What are the meanings and inspirations behind the names out off all 3 of the bands?
Patrick: What Makes a Time Bomb Tic just sort of clicked one day. Being a big fan of puns, the name just made sense, and with the music being so ugly and making some people feels so tense, the name seemed to fit. PlasticBag FaceMask is a secret. Whenever people ask us we usually make up a story or just shrug.
Jacob: I found Skull Incision by reading through one of my mom's medical terminology books. I just wanted something blunt and violent like those cybergore bands I was inspired by.
5. I know that there has been live performances from PlasticBag FaceMask, what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Patrick: The best PlasticBag FaceMask show was probably one of the times we opened for Dance, Gavin, Dance. She show was sold out and the whole room seemed to really love us. We actually sold a lot of shirts, had a lot of movement, and unfortunately caused a few physical altercations in the crowd.
6. Can you tell us more about the label Plastic Skull Music and Recordings?
Jacob: I don't think it's really a label. I'd love to start one but it's pretty beyond me how those businesses work. My passion is recording so I had to give it a name. The Plastic Skull Bandcamp is all the music that I have recorded, for myself or others, and the store is all the stuff that those bands have to sell that I have made or they want to let me sell. So for now it is just those two websites but hopefully there will be a studio called Plastic Skull music and Recording soon.
7. On a worldwide level how have the 3 different projects been received by fans of underground music?
Patrick: PlasticBag FaceMask was actually pretty popular worldwide back in the days of MySpace, but since FaceBook and our less public manner we have died down from popularity. We had a lot of shit talkers and they were the best. We would also be walking down the street and hear, "PlasticBag FaceMask! lolbreakdown!" That song was the best and worst thing we have ever done to ourselves. What Makes a Time Bomb Tic has had albums downloaded over a thousand times, but with really no feedback to show the response from potential fans.
Jacob: I have learned a lot about how rough it is in the music world through these projects. We dug ourselves in a hole by playing the "fuck you" kind of metal that we do, having a nonprofessional professionalism, and barely playing shows to get our name out. Millions of bands are asking you to download their album on iTunes through the internet and we are just three more that play loud, abrasive metal that either goes too far against the grain or just isn't very good even in its own genre. But overcoming that, finding the right crowds, and communicated with cool blogs and whatnot like this is a learning experience. Anyway, as far as the question goes, PBFM has riled up quite a few people, especially in the Myspace days and at a few shows. That was our goal though. It was funny when people talked shit. Now our solo projects' audiences are pretty quiet except for our musician friends and split partners (Dog Snot, James Doesn't Exist, Noah Sias HOLLA).
8. Besides the 3 bands are there any other projects in the work?
Patrick: Right now, we actually have a project coming up featuring the two of us with the vocalist from a friend band called Forever Rising. Our goal is to be as heavy and brutal as possible. While being abstract is a wonderful freedom, this may cause some much needed discipline we have not had in a while. Other than that, I am just trying to book shows and record as many albums as possible. Maybe I will try to break the world record for most albums recorded in a day. It can not be very many, right?
Jacob: I hope to record more people. Every local band in need. And there are talks of jams and possible new projects but we are all full time workers now so it is difficult to find time. If you follow any of the three of these projects you will in no doubt hear about anything new that we do.
9. What direction do you see the 3 bands heading into on future releases?
Patrick: We just go wherever our musical minds take us. There will be a To the Ark II coming out soon with the same lyrical subject of Slenderman along with a release called Art, Officially that is hoped shows massive growth from the previous release for What Makes a Time Bomb Tic.PlasticBag FaceMask is going to finish the last album that was never finished, The Family Portrait, which is a concept album about the mafia and then we will take it from there and hopefully impress ourselves. I would really love to do splits every other album like Jacob does. It seems like an awesome way to make new fans and band friends.
Jacob: I'm working on another split with a dude called Deformed Elephant Surgery who makes badass synthcore, nintendocore, deathstep craziness. I'm changing my writing process up a bit so we will see how this turns out. I'm also churning ideas for a full length that I am hoping will sound completely new to SI, more atmospheric and epic. And I need to write something that people like my parents and my girlfriend will have an easier time appreciating.
10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Patrick: The band See You Next Tuesday, may they rest in peace, actually inspired us a lot to start PlasticBag FaceMask. We also derive influence from bands like Pacifist, Psyopus, and The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza. We listen to a lot of different and separate styles and tend to meet in the middle which brings this bizarre mesh of genres that we call our own. We tend to influence each other most of all. I seriously listen to a lot of stuff and Jacob hates over half of it, which is awesome. I highly doubt What Makes a Time Bomb Tic would exist without Skull Incision because without that I would never have even tried to venture into a solo project. Besides, how would I have recorded it?
Jacob: Skull Incision owes a lot to Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire, Rise of Caligula, The Banner, and Converge. I take inspiration from so many bands because the only thing I love more than making and recording music is listening and learning from other songs and styles. Currently I keep digging, finding, and buying the gnarliest grind CDs I can. Everything I can get. The more DIY the better. But I have several other CDs on repeat: Aegaeon - Dissension, Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony, Vildhjarta - Masstaden, Zelliack - Noir Tone, and Tesseract - One. Other stuff I listen to all the time is Black Dahlia Murder, the Chariot, Daughters, Blood Brothers, American Me, Oceana, Fear Before...
11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Patrick: Our interests do lay mainly within music, where Jacob records and produces while I books concerts, but we do have some interests outside of that. I have a lot of interest in Body Modification and actually started a highly successful petition to add it to Equal Opportunity Employment. I sometimes will study actors and get really obsessed with them and watch all their movies. I also loves to read and write.
Jacob: Um. I like movies. I try to find movies equal to my taste in music. Besides my own musical stuff I pretty much work at my job and as being the world's best fan by buying merch and supporting bands like crazy. I'm a dork. And I hang out with my girlfriend a lot.
12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Patrick: Honestly, we just make music for ourselves and get so stoked when other people like it. We firmly believe in free music, so all of our stuff is free on our bandcamp. We love doing splits with people, so if any bands are interested in doing one with us we would love to do one one with you. We even did a three-way split with our friend Dog Snot and are planning one in the future with our friend and other solo band James Doesn't Exist. Everyone make sure to support your local music. Every big band started locally. Remember that.
Jacob: This was a fun interview, thank you very much. Support your local artists, DIY OR DIE, if someone is giving you their music for free, give it a listen, and then tell them what you think.
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