by Jay Snyder
January 5, 2008
Spare Change Records continue their tear with the signing of another band that plants its roots in sludge soil but grows into a gnarled offshoot that walks a crippled but differing path. Last time it was When the Deadbolt Breaks. This time it is New Jersey's A Day of Pigs. Not an easy band to pin down, ADOP has a lot of elements that could potentially turn off doom purists. Sadly, if you write them off for that you'll turn down a band who has written some of the most interesting ditties in the genre this year. Daringly mixing sludge, hardcore, noise and metal into a concoction that'll knock your socks off ADOP's debut album Lecherous unabashedly charges into a variety of different genres while managing to produce a cohesive whole of an album. Vocalist Kevin LeBlanc is a blue collar guy living his dream and screaming his head off. Here he sits down for a thorough Q & A session with Hellride Music.
Hellride Music: Hey Kevin, I want to say thanks a bunch for taking the time to do this interview! To get the ball rolling, how about you introduce the band to us and who plays what.
Kevin LeBlanc: Hell yeah! My pleasure... all right well we've got Steve (Meat) Silberg on guitar, Bill (Bixby) Belford on drums, T.J. Shovlin on bass and me (Kevin) on vocals.
Hellride Music: How did A Day of Pigs get started out? Have there been any line-up changes between the time of your demo EP The Oath and the new record Lecherous?
Kevin: It actually started off as a joke. The guys I used to work with were talking about starting another band, strictly for fun, so I opened my big mouth and told em' I would sing for them. I was completely kidding of course, but somehow or another they talked me into showing up for the first practice. I had no idea what I was doing. I was 33 or so at the time; never even set foot in a practice space but the second I kicked that PA on... that's all she wrote! I was screaming through blood by the time the first night was through and I loved it... so that was the birth of Whore Bleeds Black...from there we just started fucking around. We wrote a few tunes, got a new drummer, got a new bass player wrote a few more tunes and then it was done but I sure as shit wasn't. It was like crack to me. So I get a call from our original drummer one day asking if I wanted to sing for this new thing him and his buddy were doing called Beatstick! Beatstick? What the fuck is that? Haha, so I went and checked it out and it was exactly what I wanted to do. On the condition that they change the band name, I was in, and that's when it became A Day of Pigs. We've had a few changes, actually we've had a bunch and it sucks so bad every time you have to replace someone but you do it in hopes that you find that right person to not only better your band but to keep it fun and free from fucking drama!!! I've been a tattooer for about 14 years and tattoo shops are the epitome of drama so that's the last thing I like to deal with in the band. Back in Feb. of 07 we got a new drummer, our bassist moved to lead guitar and we brought in a new bassist. We were all so psyched; it was myself on vocals, Steve on guitar, Bill on drums, John on lead guitar and Holly on bass, and for the next 7 months we did nothing but write and record
Lecherous. Unfortunately after the album was finished we started looking for a new bassist. We didn't realize we'd be looking for a new guitarist as well so as it stands A Day of Pigs is myself on vocals, Steve on guitar, Billy on drums and T.J. on bass.
Hellride Music: Is A Day of Pigs the main gig for all those involved? Are there any side-projects that we should be looking out for as well?
Kevin: Nope this is it for all of us at the moment. We're all older and we've all got families, so this is enough. Our friend Mike Gunari was filling in for us on guitar for a few months and his band One False Move is doing really well. Although it's not my cup of tea on CD, they are so damn good live. We wish him and the rest of the band great success.
Hellride Music: I particularly like the band name. It makes for some bleak world imagery. Who came up with the name and what does it mean to the band?
Kevin: Yeah we really like it too. It's obviously based on the name from the Cuban conflict "Bay of Pigs", so I just changed it around a bit and came up with A Day of Pigs. The name says it all about this band. It speaks about the hate that fuels us and hope that one day things will be better because one day we're gonna wake up and realize that all our lies and fears have ruined this world and it's gonna be too late. I never write about politics but they definitely fuel my anger for a lot of the problems in the world along with religion and big business. They are the murderers and rapists. They kill for joy.
Hellride Music: The debut record kicks ass! There is a mix of sounds on Lecherous that don't necessarily go together in the traditional sense. You've read my review so you know what I think. So, if you had to describe the music to someone that isn't in the know, how would you do that?
Kevin: Thanks so much man and seriously thank you for the review you did on the album. It really made us fell like we did something good. As far as explaining the sound of the album or the band's sound in general to someone, I personally have a really hard time. I always meet those people that have so much to say about their band and I'm instantly turned off, so I'm not the person to ask. Maybe Steve would have a better answer. I always say we suck, haha.
Hellride Music: I've heard a couple of tracks from The Oath and those songs are certainly different than the material presented on Lecherous. How do you feel that you guys grew as a band in the time before Lecherous was recorded?
Kevin: Different is a good word for it!! Haha... Well for me it was a pretty big thing since it was the first thing I've ever recorded and we had a really good time writing and playing all that shit, so even though I think we've grown as a band, I still really like the
The Oath. Although two of my friends that were part of writing
The Oath aren't in the band anymore, it was the catalyst that we needed to write
Lecherous. We were all on the same page finally and we were driven. If the whole band isn't going in the same direction then you're going the wrong way. So at least for a small time we were all going in the same direction. Then we hit a few walls and that car burned. Bad.
Hellride Music: Lecherous really doesn't walk any set path. There are elements of doom, metal, hardcore and lord knows what else. What type of song-writing process does A Day of Pigs go through to come up with material that packs so much diversity? Who writes what parts as far the instruments are concerned?
Kevin: That's by far my favorite part of the album... we all have such diverse musical tastes so that really drove our interest when we started writing
Lecherous. The best/worst part of writing was that we all put in our two cents on what we wanted to hear on the album so sometimes it could get a little bit heated especially towards the end when we were running out of time but it made for some good angry practices!! I love that shit!!! For the most part Steve and John wrote all the music but there were a few songs that I had lyrics already written for and an idea for how I wanted the song to go. That's how, "How to Kill a Witch" and "In Blood I Lust" came to be. The funniest part of "How to Kill a Witch" is the chorus, "my wife, my wife she is possessed, the devil has come to suckle her breast"... that's the way that song was born but Steve and John had such a cool dynamic because of how differently they both played. Anything that John would write, Steve would basically chop it up and slow it down. It wasn't always that easy though but I really think that dynamic between the two of them really created a lot of our sound. We're excited to find a new guitarist and see where it's going to take us to next. There's no love lost with John leaving.
Hellride Music: To elaborate further... Explain the connections between tracks like "Innominate", "In Blood I Lust", "How to Kill a Witch", "Pikey" and "The Lion's Cry" because honestly I can't see how each one of these would exactly fit onto the same album. It somehow feels right but these songs illustrate the vast variety of A Day of Pigs. How do you guys feel the puzzle pieces together?
Kevin: Once again I think it's our diverse musical tastes. I listen to everything from Son House to Behemoth and the same goes for the other guys but I'm not sure how it makes sense on our album!!! In one way I think it's a great thing that it's such a diverse album and then on the other hand it could hurt us as well especially with songs like "Pikey" and "In The Crease". Chances are people that would like that type of stuff probably wouldn't be into "In Blood I Lust" or "Way to go Fuckface", but for us, it's got to be all about what we like. We can't write an album for other people. I listen to this CD so much I kind of feel weird about it but we're all really proud of it and that's all I wanted. In some weird way, all the puzzle pieces do fit, the picture it paints is of ugliness but they fit.
Hellride Music: Your vocal style is also all over the map and fits the music to a tee. How have your vocals developed over the course of your experience with A Day of Pigs?
Kevin: The progression has been pretty crazy, all the way from not even knowing the difference between verses and choruses to today where there is a need to do more than just scream. I took a few lessons with Melissa Cross from The Zen of Screaming and that was a huge eye opener for me. Although I'm not good at doing warm-ups and all that shit it makes such a huge difference. I'm not a big fan of my voice but I want to keep getting better and stronger and like I said I would like to learn how to actually sing a little bit more and even though screaming is so much fun it just beats the shit out of me!
Hellride Music: The lyrics are also quite inventive; telling a number of interesting tales. Do you have sole control of writing lyrics or do any of the other guys contribute as well?
Kevin: I write all the lyrics and those guys don't give a shit what I write about so it works perfectly. Sometimes they'll have an idea for a song name but that's about it.
Hellride Music: What influences the lyrics? There is a bitter as hell aesthetic running throughout them while still rising far above your normal "fuck the world" fare if you ask me. Is it mostly daily life or are there many other aspects involved as well?
Kevin: Most of it is nonsense but some things I write are pretty personal to me. They either have something to do with my horrible self-esteem or they're based on the terrible shit I did when I was younger. I always lived in fear as a kid so it really shines through in my lyrics; hate is just my fear, and fear is what I hate. That sounds so cliché but it stands true for me. Fear definitely fuels me and I live in my own world but I think just like everyone else there are no differences between us and them. We're all the same animal.
Hellride Music: How did A Day of Pigs hook up with Spare Change Records? Scott is an awesome guy and his label has really hammered home some winners thus far. Did, The Oath seal the deal for you guys or was the signing based on something else?
Kevin: Yeah, he contacted us through Myspace after we had some songs from
The Oath up there and we've stayed in contact ever since. So when
Lecherous was finished they were the first people that we sent it to and I guess they liked it. We couldn't be happier working with Scott and Roman. They've been really good to us thus far and we hope to keep working with them in the future.
Hellride Music: What type of promotion is Spare Change doing to get the record out there? Will they be doing most of the work or will you guys be equally self-promoting as well?
Kevin: Man they've been pushing it really hard and we've gotten some really good reviews and write-ups on it so far. Mostly e-zines and that type of stuff but we did hear that they're going to do a review of it in Metal Maniacs for us, so that's fucking awesome. Shit J.J. from Metal Maniacs helped write our bio for us, so that's says something, right?? Hahaha. We also push it as much as we can and were getting ready to mail out a ton of press packages, so we'll see what that does. I'm a realist in most aspects of my life so I understand that were a microscopic bug in the mud puddle of the music industry but for us that's just fine. Anything more is just bonus for us.
Hellride Music: I heard something about the possibility of a package tour coming up. I got wind that the tentative bill might involve A Day of Pigs, When the Deadbolt Breaks, Maegashira and Southern Bastard Church. Is this tour going to happen and if so when? This would be a heavy hitting jaunt for damn sure!
Kevin: Yeah that was in the works but with December in just a few days; I don't see it happening this year but we definitely would love to do something like that or any small tour for that matter. Either way in 08 we're going out on the road, hopefully for a 2 week thing somewhere. It has to happen in my eyes.
Hellride Music: Whether that is going to happen definitely or not... have you gotten to play with any of those bands yet? With the exception of Southern Bastard Church (who I haven't heard at the present time) both bands are awesome. I could see them on any bill featuring A Day of Pigs.
Kevin: Yeah we've played with Maegashira once. It was a weird ass show but those dudes were good and our guitarist Steve is friends with one of them so it would be fun to play some more shows together. We just like to play out as much as we can so it's even nicer when the other bands on the bill are in the same genre. It doesn't happen often in this part of Jersey.
Hellride Music: If you guys embark on this tour will it be your first, or have you had the chance to do a bit of cross country action already?
Kevin: Nope we haven't done shit in that aspect. We have played a lot locally and built a decent following and we've also played in the tri-state area a bunch. Like I said before, we worked so hard this year on writing and recording that we didn't play but maybe 3 shows and then we lost 2 of our members. But we've had a bunch of shows these last few months that our friends Mike and Derek filled in on guitar for us (two of the sickest guitarists around these parts!!), that have been the best shows we've ever played. Shit we got invited to play Ringworm's CD release show out in Ohio. That was awesome! So on one hand it sucked losing those people but on the other hand it's been a blessing because we started having fun again. There was no drama clouding us.
Hellride Music: What can one can expect from the A Day of Pigs live show? Is the response pretty good or do people have trouble wrapping their head around it? I need to watch those live videos on You Tube soon. There needs to be more time in the day!
Kevin: Yeah, it's strange. Some people get it but you can't really "dance" to it so all the hardcore breakdown kids don't like it. It's not straight up stoner/doom so you can't just bake and bang your head to it and it's not radio friendly rock. So I never know if people like it...
Hellride Music: What has been the best moment of being in this band thus far? It can be a recorded experience, a live show moment, a wild after party... hell you can tell us about one of each if you want to. Has anything crazy happened at a show yet?
Kevin: For me, the whole fucking experience has been awesome from front to back. If you ask me to name one, I can't. I've been a kid locked in the candy store for years now... just left there, no teeth left, skin falling off, disgusting and happy and I just keep eating.
Hellride Music: What is next for A Day of Pigs? You've got an awesome first record released; a label to call home, what seems like regular live appearances... so what does the future hold?
Kevin: Well first off we need to find a new guitarist. That's the most important thing right now. We start some try-outs this week so hopefully something good happens and after that we want to start on a new album. If you're not moving ahead, you're falling backward so I need to keep going and I know the other guys feel the same way.
Hellride Music: On an even larger scale level; what is the ultimate goal that you guys hope to achieve with A Day of Pigs? Take it beyond the level of just the next year or two. What do you guys want to have to look back upon when you are old and gray?
Kevin: Shit we're old and gray now!!! So who knows how far this fucker will run. We'll just keep shooting salt pellets at it until it drops! We're just having a good time and hopefully some other people will enjoy what were doing as well.
Hellride Music: You're also a tattoo artist in addition to doing the band if I recall correctly. Do you run your own shop? Is the demented art present on Lecherous of your own doing?
Kevin: Yeah, I've been tattooing now for about 14 years but I've always just worked for other people so I can concentrate on my artwork and as of late the band stuff but tattooing has been my obsession since the day I started. I still wake up everyday and look forward to going to work and I never thought that possible. Yeah, I did the album artwork and I'm not too excited about how it came out though. I'm extremely critical of my own stuff so the next album will DEFINITELY be done by someone else!!
Hellride Music: Who is currently kicking ass in the New Jersey scene; are there any other bands that are on the verge breaking out that we should keep an eye out for?
Kevin: That's a good question and I got to get out more to see what's what. Or should I just write down my friends bands??
Hellride Music: If you could take A Day of Pigs on a dream tour that included four other bands who would be on the bill? You can dead musicians, defunct bands or currently up and running projects. Who would make up your ultimate tour package?
Kevin: Let's see... Acid bath, EYEHATEGOD, Today is The Day and Tool (early Tool). I don't know if the other guys would have the same line-up but they ain't sitting here writing this shit!!!
Hellride Music: Well Kevin that is all I got left. I'm officially out of ammo. You can have the floor and leave us with some closing thoughts. Thanks again for taking the time to talk to us!
Kevin: This has been an awesome ride so far and we hope that it keeps getting better. Thanks again for all the kind words and we wish you all the best with Hellride Music!!!
Read the Hellride review of Lecherous
Visit the A Day Of Pigs website at www.myspace.com/adayofpigs
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