“Fuck everything that anyone has ever told you to do” A.P.E. Interview

in Interviews by Tanya Tonon — January 21, 2010 at 5:45 pm | 0 comments

“Fuck everything that anyone has ever told you to do”
A Primitive Evolution Interview

by Diego Silva & Tanya Tonon

A Primitive Evolution [A.P.E.] held their album release party at The Reverb, where we sat with Stu Playdead and Brett Carruthers of A.P.E. shortly after their set.  After mingling with friends and shaking hands with the fat cats hanging around the venue, we settled into some couches backstage. The boys were pretty drunk and still riding an adrenaline rush, making this one of the most incoherent and interesting interviews we’ve ever done. All in all, it was a great show!  Check out our photos HERE.

BBtBB:  You guys just released your self-titled album, A.P.E.  How long did this album take to make?

Stu: We’ve demoed [the songs] a few times.  We actually demoed a lot of songs, probably 20, and then we cut them down.

Brett:  We cut them down a lot.  When we got into the final mixing phase, because we didn’t have a big budget, we were slightly unsatisfied with the mixes so we decided to go back and remix them in July.  That’s what we’ve been doing the last few months.

BBtBB:  Is that the perfectionist side of you?

Brett:  Well, yeah, perfectionist out of all of us.  Why would we release an album that – two years later – we’ll say, “Fuck, I wish we would have done this”.  I think we’ve produced a fuckin’ record that I will stand by, until the day I’m dead!  Everyone’s happy with it and we did what we needed to do.

BBtBB:  That’s good!  For your first album, you could always feel really self conscious about it but you guys took your time and made sure it was what you wanted it to be.

Brett:  Exactly!

BBtBB:  Where was it recorded?

Brett:  It was recorded everywhere.  We did the drums at the Playdead Mansion, we did the guitars at Matt Wagner’s rehearsal space and we mixed the album at Matt’s house, vocals we did at my day job because we have no money.  I have to emphasize that so much!  No money!  People come up to me and Stu and say, “Oh man, you must be loaded.  I hear about Playdead Cult all the time”.  No, we’re not fuckin’ loaded, we’re fuckin’ dying!  Give us your money. (laughs) The shit we went through for this album, no human should go through what we went through.  I almost lost my mind!

Stu:  When you’re cleaning the toilet and producing the album…

BBtBB:  You’re the engineer, the producer the assistant…

Stu:  The janitor!

Brett:  The band became this machine of album production, which is actually pretty amazing when I look back at it.

BBtBB:  Now you’re ready for the next one and you know what to do!

Brett:  We’re totally ready for the next one.  We could use a couple interns, I think.  Hopefully, this album will prove our worth.  This is what we can do on our own, so what can we do if [labels] backed us up with some cash money.  That’s what is is now, you need the distribution channels and the money to get behind you.

BBtBB:  There’s no such thing as artist development anymore.

Stu:  It’s a good thing though, it weeds out the shit.

BBtBB:  I noticed you guys have a lot of dark undertones in your music, where does that come from?

Stu:  That’s the part I don’t understand.  I don’t think dark thoughts.

Brett:  It’s because we live our lives in misery. (laughs) My dad also died when I was 14. He was killed by a drunk driver, that pissed me off a bit.

BBtBB:  Does that influence a lot of your songs?

Brett:  Yeah, I kind of lost my faith in humanity and God and everything that everyone ever tried to teach me.  I, all of a sudden, have this new set of morals that I’ve put upon myself to reiterate in music.  Fuck everything that anyone has ever told you to do, listen to your heart.

BBtBB:  Nothing should be sugar coated nowadays, you need that reality.

Brett:  It’s not like I’m an unhappy person that cries myself to sleep every night.  I love my life and I love what I do.

Stu:  I love moments!  That’s life though.  Some days you get diarrhea, some days you don’t. (laughs)

BBtBB:  Brett, are you the primary songwriter or lyricist?

Brett:  Lyrically, yes and no.  Stu brought some things to the table.

Stu:  We work together on most of the songs.  Lyrically, it’s mostly Brett.  I have verbal constipation.

BBtBB:  What do you guys have in store for 2010?

Stu:  Shoot some videos.  Expand the music.  The first one we’re doing is going to be a bloodbath!

BBtBB:  What song is this?

Stu:  ‘Empty Holes’, it’s the last song on the record.

Brett:   First video, last song! (laughs)

Stu:  The concept we had for the video fit the song perfect.  ‘Beyond True’ would probably be our single for radio but we didn’t have a video idea for that song.  We’re doing the video ourselves and I’m directing it.  Then we’re going to work on some other videos as well.

BBtBB:  You guys are already planning for the future.

Brett:  We have a game plan.

Stu:  We’re a visual band.  It’s not just about one song or single, you got to come see us live to know what we’re about.

BBtBB:  You can tell you guys are trying to hit all the senses.  You had the video in the background and the grim reaper girls, it was awesome!

Stu:  Some people just don’t get what we’re trying to portray.  We’re not even trying, we’re just doing what we want to do.  I hate when I go see a band and they just stand there on stage.  I paid money to see you do something.  I want to be entertained.

BBtBB:  Your show was definitely entertaining.  Ok, we have a question that we ask everyone we interview.  If you didn’t have a career in music, what would you be in jail for?

Brett: Jail?

Stu:  Vandalizing.

Brett:  I’d be a terrorist.  A political terrorist, but I wouldn’t affect the civilian population.  I’ll just look at the wrong doers and blow their shit up.  Sometimes I wish Fight Club was real.

Stu:  I’d put speed bumps on all the highways!  (everyone laughs)