Interviews    Rebreather
by Jeff Kupferberg

So, you want to wake the sleeping giant from within? You want the intensity of the Devil passing a kidney stone? You want angst, power and total ROCK? That's what you will receive when you listen to Rebreather. These dudes have three self-released EP's, and a panache to be reckoned with. Jeff Kupferberg interviews Jeremy and Chad, let's uncork the whup-ass....

Hellride Music: How did the band get together?, who makes up Rebreather?, give us some back-story.

Jeremy: Rebreather's history began in a the small village right outside of Conan the Barbarians, to small for recognition. Chad has known of Barley (guitars/vox) and his earlier band "Package-e" for about 8 years, and I (Jeremy) have been playing with Chad for about 6 or 7 years on and off in various projects. I finally met Barley about 3 years ago, he had a skate shop that was connected to a record store. We jammed with Barley's brother for a while and then we started Rebreather in the summer of '99. The first version of Rebreather was comprised of Chad-bass Barley-guitar/vocals, Jake-guitar Jeremy-drums. We recorded our first ep late that year.


Hellride Music: I think your debut CD "Die on Pot" is brilliant, is it true the band only had 4 rehearsals previous to recording?

Jeremy: The first ep could have been recorded anywhere between fall and winter of '99. We definitely had more than 4 rehearsals but were not sure how many.

Chad: About 3 months after... songs were... writing... stuff... was out (puff puff give).


Hellride Music: What is the touring situation with the band? Any crazy road stories you care to share?

Jeremy: Oh boy, were very lazy, so we haven't been to far, but there was a little doozy we played in Independence Missouri, the kind of place that appropriated you to your restroom destination by the titles "BUCK" or "DOE" on the doors...mullets were a given... and when I asked the band we were opening for what kind of music they were doing, I knew we were in trouble..." a mix between Metallica and Queensryche". I saw about six tiers of keyboards go up after our set and was ready to roll. We were treated like shit, was it because we were playing 1/8 the speed of the fucking Creed wanna be bands and cranked twice as loud? We were hurried from the club while packing up, and I later learned that the owner thought we were playing slow and long in spite of him, but that's just our way of doing things.

Chad: All our tours are imaginary and no one lets me listen to any of my hip-hop.


Hellride Music: I heard your show at the Chicago Emissions festival was jaw-dropping, and I still kick myself for missing it, please spill the beans.

Jeremy: Chad tuned his bass for about 30 minutes THEN we rocked. Good ol' fashioned slow and sloppy, half asleep. Kung Pao rocked as per usual. The fucking jaw dropper for me was "the Men of Porn", they blew my mind.

Chad: I was high. I was higher than usual, I was just high. Men of Porn blew every one away. (Chad leaves the room to clean his eye because he was absent mindedly wiping dope in his eye for the last half hour.)


Hellride Music: Ever notice that the sitcoms Family Ties, Drew Carey Show, 3rd Rock, and Roseanne, are all set in Ohio? Hmmm...

Jeremy: Ohio is cool, Rebreather receives all of its super hero powers from Ohio.

Chad: Conan the Barbarian was from ohio.


Hellride Music: I hear a slight stylistic change from the first EP "Die on Pot", which is very riff-centric, to a more doomy/loose psychosis on "Longplay" and "Need Another Seven Astronauts", where is Rebreather going in the future?

Jeremy: Yes, "Die on Pot" was very anchored, our x-guitarist, Jake was very good at anchoring, but as we moved into "Long Play, I feel that we were in between the two points of "DOP" and "NASA". Making "Long Play" the fulcrum thus far. Jake left us after "Long Play", so "NASA" is our first 3 piece effort, and I feel that it was much looser and dirtier. But it's a very good chance Jake will be back in the line up soon and that will add another twist to the music. Jake was the actual time piece on the 1st two ep's we worked around his tempos. So when we did "NASA" it was definitely a tad more loose but more gritty. We've also been in talks with a couple labels and we might put out the first 2 ep's as a whole album, we will soon begin working on the next album.


Hellride Music: Does the band use illicit materials for religious reasons, or just to be cool?

Jeremy: Well we feel that were too cool already to be any cooler so the illicit materials that we are surrounded by are STRICTLY recreational. Also my family upbringing denotes somewhat of a strangely fashionable narcoleptic asshole raping.

Chad: We're cooler than a polar bears toe nails....


Hellride Music: Is it helpful that your home turf/rock venue is also operated by your tour manager Greg Barratt?

Jeremy: Yes, we have much to thank Greg for, he pulled us from the gutter, fed us, clothed us, de-clothed us. We have met many cool bands, made lots of friends in which we would not have if he did'nt post shop in Y-town.

Chad: Unfortunately we have to look at his ass-crack all the time but I guess its worth it.


Hellride Music: Does it embarrass you that some people might sing Rebreather songs in the shower? And does the band indeed shower?

Jeremy: Jeff....It's ok....just come out and admit it....we know you want to be part of the the Rebreather fan club, and yes we are currently marketing waterproof nude pictures of us for you to put in your shower and sing to, and masturbate at. I've only showered twice this year and it's twice as much as last year.


Hellride Music: What does the future hold for Rebreather? Here is your opportunity for shout-outs etc...

Jeremy: Barley couldn't be here tonight because he was out drinking chai tea and wearing beret's. So Barley gave me a list of shououts for me to give for him, here they are...
1. Creed
2. Whitesnake
3. Limp Bizkit (keep it real yo)
4. Joe Shipton (I wanna suck your balls)

Barley uses, Charvel guitars with locking floyd rose, Crate 1x12 combo amp with a reverb, meditation crystals and dreamcatchers.

As a whole we would REALLY like to thank...
Greg Barratt & the Nyabinghi, Barbaro/placer, Tummler, ATP, Kung Pao, Bottom, Halfway to Gone, Cuda, Bongzilla (cause they are straightedge as fuck, yo), Josh Roman & Mindrocket studios, the Euclid Tavern r.i.p., Fistula, Positraction, Clock Eating Planet, Ohio, the JJ paradise Players Club, the Shipton brothers, Hellride Music, and all the people that sing our songs in the showers.


Purchase Need Another Seven Astronauts at the Hellride Music Super Store

Listen to a Real Audio sample of Joy Bang

Read the Hellride Music review of Need Another Seven Astronauts

Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Interview by Jeff Kupferberg 2/2/02