Artist Interview: 1-on-1 with Corvus™

Boy do I love the desert. Nothing beats hanging out by the pool, squeezing in a round of golf, or just going for a run. Where can I do that all year round? Arizona, that’s where! The band that I am sitting with today is from Arizona, and know all about catching sun rays. These guys are true rock stars, and hail from the city of Glendale. I have been to Glendale a few times, have yet to see them perform, but just wanted to learn more about the band and what made this band so strong. Just listen to their tracks and tell me there is not some chemistry here. Make sure to check out Tears Beside Me… and tell me you don’t hear some major influence from Breaking Benjamin in there. Or songs like Further From Yesterday. There is almost an epic sense to their sound. I have a hard time turning this stuff off. Oh yeah, and their song Only A Lie. I mean come on, just listen to those guitars. Sick! These guys just have it going on. It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Corvus™.

How do you pronounce the band name?

(Josh) The name pretty much sounds how it looks… core-v-us.

Where did that band name come from?

(Brock) It’s a star constellation, among other things. I was looking for names, came across it on a start constellation website. I carried around a notebook in high school with possible names. One of my friends got tired of saying, “your nameless band”, stole my book, and saw I had Corvus as my top pick. It just stuck from there.

You guys are from Glendale, Arizona. I am thinking about moving to Scottsdale here pretty soon. How are the summers out there?

(Matt)  Turn on your oven, after it preheats, open it real fast and stick your head inside… similar to that.

How long have you guys been together?

(Brock) We’ve been together about four years now.

Where did you all meet?

(Brock) Josh, the bassist, is my brother.  I met Adam, our guitarist, in high school, along with our original drummer Andre Buck. Alan, our current drummer, was a chance meeting at Sam Ash. We saw him playing in a competition. We just showed up to buy strings and were blown away. We asked him to come jam for the fun of it.

(Alan) They already had a drummer, Andre, but I became good friends with the guys and filled in when Andre had health issues. Eventually the job became available and I jumped in on the third record, Fragile Moments.

(Matt) I was playing in another local band, who were friends with Corvus. Brock was wanting to just focus on vocals, and they were impressed by what I was doing guitar wise. They asked me if I wanted to join and I wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to play with a band I was a fan of before joining.

Who writes all the lyrics?

(Adam) Brock has written everything up to this point. Music and lyrics.

So Brock, where do you get inspiration for a new song?

(Brock) I get inspiration from everything. Mainly my relationships with various people. Then I put a twist on things.

There seems to be quite a bit of screaming in your music. Does your throat ever get sore?

(Brock) Not really. The screaming is a nice break from singing. The actual singing is the more tiring part on the vocal chords.

Who are some of your biggest influences?

(Brock) There are just way too many to list, and half of them no one has probably heard of. Here’s one that nobody would expect though. Weezer! They’re one of my all time favorite bands.

(Alan) I’m a big fan of Dream Theater and progressive music.

(Matt) I’m into anything that’s heavy and fast.

(Josh) Soilwork, In Flames, Pantera… that kind of stuff.

(Adam) I love… pretty much every band listed so far.

Do you have a job outside of music?

(Matt) Brock is unemployed, except for the work he does in Corvus. Adam recently got laid off but he takes care of pools, Alan goes to Arizona State University, I’m a low voltage technician, and Josh is a chief inspector at an aerospace manufacturing company.

What is the biggest crowd you have ever played for?

(Brock) I would say a couple hundred.

The smallest?

(Brock) I would say a couple! (Laughs)

Tell me a little bit more about your debut album We All Fall.

(Brock) That was the seed that started it all. It was us discovering our sound. I wrote those songs at a very young age. I was like seventeen when I started writing that album. We recorded it once, with another bassist and no Matt, and while it did really well for us, I wasn’t satisfied with how it turned out. We were on a strict budget and having huge conflicts with our bassist at the time. Once we got Josh and Matt, we met our producer, Larry Elyea and recorded our follow up, An Affair With Tragedy. That process went so well, we decided to give We All Fall Down it’s proper recording. We couldn’t be happier with all our albums and the job Larry has done recording them.

Do you ever forget the lyrics to your own songs?

(Brock) I do occasionally. With recording our fourth album in two and a half years, that’s fifty songs to remember. I do a pretty good job though.

You guys are on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace; how do you find time for all of these social networking sites?

(Brock) We make the time for our fans; with out them we would be nothing.

(Josh) The fans are what make this fun for us.

(Adam) We make sure to hang out after every show and spend as much time with fans as we possibly can.

If you could only play one song for the rest of your career, what song would you choose?

(Alan) Poker Face.

(Adam) Bank Robber by The Clash.

(Brock) Our albums are concept albums that link together to tell a story, so I guess technically it’s all one big song.

What would you be doing if you were not performing?

(Matt) Working… that’s about it.

(Brock) I’d go apply at Disneyland or something.

There are tons of bands online now. How do you think social media sites have changes the music industry?

(Adam) It’s given people many more choices for styles of music and made it easier to get a hold of new stuff.

If I stole your iPod, what bands would I find on there?

(Matt) Nothing… I don’t have one!

(Brock) Angry Birds. Those things play music?

How often do you guys perform live?

(Brock) We try to play out once a month, but we are currently looking into doing a tour, while also juggling the recording of an album. We don’t play out when we’re recording. I have to have a fresh voice for recording vocals.

What can someone expect from a live show?

(Matt) Lots of energy and we love getting the crowd into it with us.

(Brock) We’re just a bunch of guys who love what we do. We put our heart and soul into our performance. We want everyone to have a good time and will do whatever we can to accomplish that.

I know it’s been a while since he passed, but he recently released a new album. How did you guys react to the passing of Michael Jackson?

(Matt) It sucks when someone dies, but it is the circle of life. He did great things for music. It didn’t really effect us though.

(Adam) While we respect his work, none of us were die hard fans.

What is the best concert you have ever been to?

(Matt) Mudvayne.

(Brock) I‘ll say Primus.

(Adam) Dark Tranquility and Soilwork were great.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

(Brock) I’d live in a Disney castle.

(Matt) Ireland… to reclaim my family’s castle.

Describe your genre in one word.

(Josh) Original.

(Brock) Unique.

Where do you see yourselves in five years?

(Matt) Dead… Or on the road or on a beach with an insane amount of hot chicks.

(Brock) Works for me.

What do you want to be remembered for when this is all said and done?

(Brock) I think everyone wants to leave an impact on the world. If we have touched even one person with our music, we’ve done great things.

I always let the artist get the last word. Go.

(Brock) Thanks for the interview bro! To all our fans, much love! We’re working hard on our forth release, The Comfort of Home, and it’s going to blow you guys away.  Anyone who hasn’t heard us before, take a listen, you’ve got nothing to lose.