Primate Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Primate is a hardcore/punk/grind band from Atlanta comprised of Bill from Mastodon, Kevin from Brutal Truth and three other guys you may or may not have ever heard of. Mike plays with Javelina and Dave and Shayne were with The Despised for the past several years.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

It's a hybrid mix of fast hardcore/punk in the Swedish/Japanese hardcore vein with some crust/grind thrown in. Fast, loud hardcore punk essentially. There are some technical metal riffs, some stoner metal riffs, but in the end, it's just fast hardcore.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

It is a post apocalyptic hostile world that will revert to militant groups... mad max ain't so mad...

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

There really is neither meaning or inspiration behind the name. We're a bunch of apes playing hardcore....it fits. And yes, we've heard about a thousand times that Primate was the original band name for Primus etc etc...

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

I think the two stand-out shows were the Scion Fest back in 2011 out in Pomona and the Halloween cover show that we did an entire Black Flag set. I think our stage performance is pretty energetic. If you've ever seen a Brutal Truth show you know that Kevin is a madman behind the mic which brings a ton of energy to the front. Then you've got Dave and Mike thrashing about on one side and Bill on the other just shredding. I tend to beat the crap outta my drums so the overall effect is pretty intense.

6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?

There's some stuff on the horizon that we're working on, but nothing set in stone right now. Right now Bill is in Europe with Mastodon and Kevin heads over in a couple days with Brutal Truth so we're just waiting for those tours to complete so we can get some things rolling. Stay tuned as there will be some cool stuff coming.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of crust and grindcore?

I'd have to say it's been pretty good so far. I run our little web store (www.primategrind.com/grindstore) and am the one who ships out everyone's orders and I've actually seen a good number of orders from all over the world. I've sent a bunch of stuff all over Europe, Japan, Mexico and even China & Taiwan and all of this has been before Relapse started promoting us so I expect to see that grow even more in the coming months.

8. What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

Mastodon has been kicking ass and touring heavily since the release of "The Hunter" back in September as has Brutal Truth after releasing "End Time" the same day. Javelina has a new record recorded, I'm not sure when it'll be out and Mike, Dave and my new project "Shots Fired" has just recorded some stuff that we hope to get out soon.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Fast and heavy hardcore. That's what we do. It'll probably be a little more technical with Mike and Bill working off of each other a bit more but we're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. There are a few new ones in the works currently that sound pretty good so I think the next record is going to be pretty brutal.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We all grew up listening to punk and hardcore and that has definitely influenced our sound, but as to what we're listening to today I can't really speak for everyone.

11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Bill and Kevin have families so that's a good part of their world when they're not touring. Ultimately it's working and paying bills....the American dream.... Oddly, outside of work our main interest IS music. With each of us being in more than one band, when we're not writing for one, we're writing for another, or fixing a guitar or amp or screwing around with some pedals to make some new sounds...

12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Just thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past couple years and we look forward to hitting the road soon and playing live for you!