AGPOBS is one of those listening experiences that is so startling it is almost uncomfortable. The only examples that first pop to my mind are not that metal, for instance if you’ve ever meditated or were made to do yoga and had unresolved mental issues or post traumatic stress, it is hard to find that quiet space inside. When you do manage, a lot boils to the surface that you’ve repressed. Like listening to the Atlas Moth, it’s an act of patience to ride the intimidating storm of emotions out, but one that rewards you in the end with a brand new perspective. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently found it very uncomfortable to watch the Michael Jackson This Is It film because you know he is dead and seeing him working with the dancers and the level of professionalism and craft just hits you in waves, underscoring the loss of such a talented dude to the viewers of the film, regardless of what anyone thinks of Jackson’s public troubles. The common thread here is, again, that sometimes in life you have to absorb all manner of emotions at once and find your own way to process it. The Atlas Moth, in this sense, are already true masters of collage hell-bent on finding their own piece of blue sky.

The following is a conversation with guitarist/vocalist Steve.

MORGAN Y. EVANS: There are a lot of influences combining in The Atlas Moth. “Grey Wolves” reminds me of Ulver meets early-Mastodon meets Sonic Youth; just free spirited, heavy music. “A Night in Venus’ Arms” also has this cold swirling feeling and sounds indie rock influenced, like Dead Meadow or something. It seems like suspense is just as important in your sound as bashing people with heavy parts, which is cool. Alfred Hitchcock knew when to hold back for maximum psychological impact.

STEVE: We never wanted to sound like this band or claim to be this style of metal. We all like heavy music, whether it’s heavy by nature or heavy by content. We listen to so much different music it’s almost dumb. On tour we listen almost exclusively to hip hop in the van. When I am at home, I listen to a lot of old country and underground psychedelic from the 60s. I don't necessarily think that comes across in our music but I can't say that there isn't influence from all of these genres.

MYE: Yeah, you don’t really remind me of Nas. So, you are just finishing up some dates with Coalesce and Harvey Milk. That’s a powerful batch of bands! How was the experience and is there any particular kind of band you prefer to play with?

STEVE: This tour has been absolutely incredible. I have been very vocal about my love for Coalesce in past interviews. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be playing music right now so to be on tour with them is quite surreal. Harvey Milk is a band I just discovered in the past 4 or 5 years who I have fallen in love with, so between the two of them, I find myself running back and forth night after night trying not to miss their sets while also trying to find places to smoke. I don't truly have a preference about what bands we play with as long as they are real. We have been given some pretty amazing opportunities this year to play with some of our biggest influences and that alone is more than I could have ever asked for.

MYE: That rules, man. I have a tendency to be really nostalgic at all times for good ‘90s indie rock and metal. I am even gonna come to Chicago to see Hum play around Memorial Day so we should meet up somewhere and smoke some doobs! But seriously, I always associate Chicago with great bands from the Touch and Go era like The Jesus Lizard or Big Black, whatever. It is cool that your band is really clearly doing what you love and not trying to be trendy, am I right? Anything about Chicago help shape your sound?

STEVE: We should definitely meet up for some doobs! Hit up our email when you are in town.

MYE: See, Crusher readers! I take my role as a nomadic rock’n’roll scribe very seriously!

STEVE: I love Hum! Also a huge fan of the Touch and Go stuff. As far as whether we are doing what we love vs. doing what is trendy, none of us are playing breakdowns and wearing girls’ jeans. We are just doing what feels right and when it doesn't feel right anymore, we won't do it. We do come from a city notorious for bands that are either totally under appreciated or completely awful. The fact that bands like The Jesus Lizard, who are brilliant, can come out of Chicago and then bands like Disturbed and the rest of the nu metal bands from that timeframe also come from here is kinda a trip. Right now in Chicago there are some pretty fuckin’ awesome metal bands for once. I will proudly say, especially after the amount of touring we have done, as a whole, Chicago is the place for metal right now. There are so many killer bands in Chicago doing something unique and different with metal, it’s quite refreshing. I also think coming from a place where we measure our snowfall in feet as opposed to inches definitely has an effect on the way we all make music here.

MYE: [laughing] Numerous band members sing or scream at different times in the band. How do you coordinate this lyrically or even timing-wise? Do you ever fight over who gets to scream over a particularly nasty riff? Some of the screams sound almost black metal. Do you go by whose voice works for a certain part?

STEVE: Well, I do all the "lead" screaming. Both the high and low pitch stuff. Our bassist Beetle and our guitar/synth player Andrew do back up screams based on what Dave and I write. Dave does all the melodic vocals. I am sure there has been a disagreement in the past over what goes where, but I honestly cannot recall any arguments. Dave and I usually split vocal ideas, he writes his singing parts and I write my screaming parts. Sometimes we mutate each others ideas, rewrite lines or rhythms. It’s truly a collaborative effort that I am actually really stoked to further explore on our next record. As far as AGPOBS goes, I do recall me feeling strongly about screaming over a few parts and no one having a problem with it and vice versa with Dave. If it fits, it fits. It’s all about serving the song and not an ego.

MYE: Can you talk about the psychedelic aspect of the music The Atlas Moth writes? The best psychedelic rock is more an organic journey than pure pretension, and I think your music really pulls off great textures. It is really mood expansive. I am from Woodstock, New York, but growing up I liked metal and punk more than most ‘60s music because it had stagnated, but metal still reflected the larger world I saw. I love the way you combine things in a refreshing way.

STEVE: I was lucky enough to grow up in the day when record stores were still the only way to get your music. I was also lucky enough to get employed at the coolest used record store I had ever been to while in high school. I was in high school, obsessed with ‘80s thrash that my sister taught me about while growing up and my two managers were both older ‘60s/’70s rock dudes. Both had been working in record stores for 20 or 30 years. Both of them kinda took me under their wing to show me real underground psych and garage rock. There is definitely still plenty of credible psych still being made but there is definitely something to say about the ‘60s/’70s stuff that no one can touch. It was definitely a snapshot of the time that can't be recreated, much like all types of music. Regardless of what throwback band is happening now, it’s not gonna be the same as when it was first happening ‘cuz the time is different. Right now, with all the bullshit going on in America, there is definitely sort of a ‘60s rebellion thing going on but I think in more of a nihilistic fashion. It’s not so much about change as much as its about complete over indulgence cause no one thinks anything can change…which in turn, does make for some interesting music all around. You have to take the time you are living in and the world around you as you see it and try and express it. In that regard, our music must seem pretty fucked up now. [laughing]

MYE: The three guitar situation, you could tour with Whitechapel and Iron Maiden and the bands could have an axe-joust! Ok, I’m retarded. But yeah, I think it really works fine for your band’s sound. Any problems keeping it all in tune on stage while creating such chaotic music, or do you not care so much about that live?

STEVE: Ok well, you got me there...I have no fuckin’ idea who Whitechapel is. [laughing]

MYE: [laughing]

STEVE: I DO on the other hand know Maiden and that would be a wacky tour to be on for sure. [laughing] We are all pretty good about keeping our instruments in tune but that doesn't mean they stay there throughout the song, that’s for sure. It’s kinda all about the moment for us. We all try to stay in tune and on time but shit happens. The real question is, did the people watching think it was fuckin’ awesome? We write chaotic music so why not instill a little chaos?

MYE: Does a band like yours, who clearly put out some heavy vibes from the stage or on record, attract many weirdos? Any stories of maniacs at your shows or on tour that you met and had to deal with? I was at a bar the other night and this old dude who had like 4 different IDs with different states and names took my lyric writing notebook, said he used to be in the Weathermen and wrote this long rant in my notebook about Kent State!

STEVE: Oh, fuck yeah we do! [laughing] There are countless but one comes to mind. We were in Gainesville, Florida and got a place to crash from some crust kids. We knew what to expect so we were preparing for the worst. We pull up to this address and we see a crust kid outside pointing us where to go. We park and walk into this house and it’s beautiful. It’s clean, it’s well put together...completely unexpected. Andrew starts questioning how this could be the house we are suppose to be staying at and decides to go join a bonfire out back with the crust kids. I, at this point, am laying on their couch, cuddling with their cat, stoked on life. Andrew runs back in like 2 minutes later just screaming, "WRONG HOUSE". We all jump up and actually leave our drummer Tony in the bathroom of the house. We then proceed to go into the correct house. The crust house… and it was disgusting. Andrew and I shared a futon while our tour manager Joe grabbed some floor space. We were laying around trying to fall asleep and we heard this scratching in the walls. I tried to not think about it but I woke up in the morning to the roommates talking about a humane way to deal with their rat problem as they are getting "giant".

MYE: That’s awesome, man. That’s like at C Squat in NYC you could pee in a road cone between floors. I like that your t-shirts are very colorful but not lame and cartoonish or totally cliché. It’s something I always liked about all the old Frank Kozik fliers or White Zombie merch. How did you decide on the visual direction for the band? There is sort of a sense of paranoia in some of the art that reminds me of Charlie Manson.

STEVE: I actually do all of our merch art as well as help with all the layouts. It’s rad you bring up both of those references as they both are influences on what I do. I use to love the old grindhouse-esque White Zombie stuff. I am also a big fan of ‘60s screen printed posters and artwork in general. That area of artwork for bands is so recognizable and unique to the time period. I always try to keep the thought of a bad acid trip in mind when doing our art.

MYE: Your band reminds me of music as true expression, like survival music. Converge has that, where it is clearly catharsis versus marketing. So many young kids are missing the point right now, but thankfully there are still passionate bands in the country like you guys and even Thy Will Be Done, Sub Rosa, Made Out of Babies, Taint, Casket Architects or the vets in Shrinebuilder to show people how it should be done! Any thoughts on this or other bands you think people should give more hugs to?

STEVE: I definitely think there are bands out there that consistently push the envelope of the genre and don't care about this scene or that scene. It’s the only way to make music that people can connect to. So many people think music fans are stupid, but it’s obvious, if you have ever met someone truly into extreme music, that they can smell bullshit a mile away. There are a lot of rad bands coming up right now that deserve some more recognition. Millions, Why Intercept?, & Lord Mantis are all Chicago bands I think are incredible. Coffinworm, Cobalt, Thou, Salome, Ancestors, Horseback & Wolvhammer are all killer bands out right now that people should check out.

MYE: Yeah, man. Salome is legit, for sure. What did you want to do with A Glorified Piece Of Blue Sky to build on what you’d started with the debut EP? I understand the EP was tracked fairly fast and before you played live, correct? I have to say the full-length is awesome because it still really has a great, organic and live feel to it, like movements at a concert.

STEVE: Well the first EP was meant to be a demo. It was recorded in 2 days and basic tracking done live with some over dubs. The record wasn't too much different as far as the live tracking goes. Tony recorded his drums and I recorded my guitar parts at the same time. Pretty much every song you hear on there is the 2nd or 3rd take all the way through. No punches, no overdubs. Then we overdubbed Dave and Andrew's guitar, the bass, synth, and vocals. The most important thing to us, while recording the record, was to maintain that live and raw feel but at the same time up the production value of it. We want to make sure you could tell that these instruments were actually played by us as opposed to cut together in ProTools and made to sound that way.

MYE: I’m so stoked a number of bands like you guys or The Kandidate are really making a point of that!

STEVE: That is not who we are or ever will be.

MYE: Did you guys bug out when you were done writing “…Leads To A Lifetime On Mercury”? Any parts of the record you are particularly happy with? It seems like that song I just mentioned must have been really powerful to express, because it is so colorful and massive sounding.

STEVE: It’s funny you mention that part in particular, as it’s my favorite part on the entire record. That was the last song finished before recording and that lead part over the end was actually written in the studio. I was in the other room blogging about the recording process and I just remember hearing Dave tracking it and being blown the fuck away. It was quite the pleasant surprise to say the least. I hate the mixing process very much as far as making a record goes and I prefer to let Andrew get a mix he is happy with and thinking it’s almost done and then listening to it and just critiquing it for him. I recall him handing me a disc and Blake from Nachtmystium and I eating some mushrooms and listening to it and trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was listening to our record. That was a special moment for sure.

MYE: Hell yeah, dude. Who is the best cook in the band? Who is the best drinker? Who is the ladies man/stud?

STEVE: Andrew is the best drinker, although his fiancee is actually the best cook. She is an honorary member as she cooks us dinner pretty often. I don't think anyone really keeps track as far as girls go, it happens here and there. We are more interested in hanging and partying. Or playing Scrabble.