Cerebral Brutality

Russian Circles have been relentless in their bid to take their metal-infused instrumental rock to places others haven't dreamed of. With a variety of genres covered often in the same song, the band continually succeed at straddling beauty and brutality, grandeur and grotesquery, ambience and annihilation, and are unrepentant for this. Furthermore, they are fevered touring musicians, travelling incessantly to push their mantras to as a wide an audience as possible. They are on the tail end of their global tour of last year's release Empros, and bassist Brian Cook admits that they way they work is unconventional in most senses of the word.

“I feel like with every record there is a different dynamic and approach to the music we make, or the components of the band,” Cook explains. “With Station (2008) it was all written by Dave [Turncrantz, drums] and Mike [Sullivan, guitar] before I came on board – I was pretty much a hired gun on that record. It came about that they were six weeks out from recording at a friend's studio in Seattle when they parted ways with Colin [DeKuiper], so I just thought, 'Fuck it, I'll do it'. I had the other band at the time, so it wasn't a sign that I wanted to move on, it was just a favour.

“So Station from my perspective was all about putting a record together on a really short deadline that complemented the band but didn't dramatically alter the things that were already in place. Geneva (2009) is totally different; I was part of the band, and we kinda built everything from the ground on up. We wanted to go all out, create this very sonically lush, layered and ornate record, and it was very satisfying. I had always wanted to have the time to be able to make something elaborate such as that. Then we wanted to go back to making something that was [a] more visceral, more immediate and totally stripped down record. We went to, for the lack of a better word, a punk studio with less refined hired gear and made a raw, scrappy record, in my opinion. That is what Empros became.”

The intellectual connection of their music is something that the trio treat very seriously. Cook insists that making music intellectual is a cornerstone of the immersive nature of music, and that as artists they are not alone.

“Most of the bands that we build camaraderie with aren't necessarily metal or even guitar-driven bands,” he tells. “We just did a three-week tour with Chelsea Wolf, who sonically is very different from what we do, but at the same time I felt there was this very strong mutual admiration there. People are quick to say, 'Oh you're a post-rock band, you're a post-metal band', and I get it I guess, but those aren't the bands that we really feel a connection with.

“I grew up in hardcore bands, you wanted to be in hardcore bands and hang out with those kinds of guys, and it was a label that you were really excited about. It was something you worked for, it felt like you had to earn that. With all the post stuff, or indie stuff, when people label us as that it's fine, but I don't feel that connection to a community. The bands that we feel a connection with are Young Widows or Helms Alee or Chelsea Wolf. We feel aligned to those bands. They have similar attitudes and approaches to music. It's more of a personality thing than finding similar sonic characteristics.”

Russian Circles will be playing the following shows:

Thursday 4 October - ANU Bar, Canberra ACT
Friday 5 October - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 6 October - The Hi-Fi, Sydney NSW