by Jay Snyder
December 3, 2008
Taking their name from a rank in Sumo wrestling, New Jersey's Maegashira have the girth in their sound to back up such a literally weighty namesake. Still Maegashira are much leaner and more ferociously agile than a whole ring full of Japanese gargantuan grapplers. Their sound trims the fat and builds a muscular wall of southern-fried EHG styled hate-doom that unfolds majestic, psychedelic swirls of sound; Cathedral sized groove eruptions, slower than slow sludge outbursts and a generally progressive sense of songwriting all around. Madman vocalist JJ Koczan puts the icing on the cake by narrating the affair with a Ben Falgoust level of vocal variety that is as lively as the band's ever-shifting sands of sound. To make matters even better (thought I was going to say worse, didn't you?) the unit is finally bringing a full-length to the table due out in the fall on Spare Change Records. The Stark Arctic is the album and it should net Maegashira a great deal of attention as long as music fans give it an open ear. It is one of the best damn slabs of doom/sludge that you are going to hear all year, hands down. Hellride is proud to bring the whole band to the frontlines for a long overdue grilling session.
Hellride Music: Well, I have to say it is damn great to finally bring Maegashira into the interview spotlight here at Hellride; an honor actually! Here is where the guilty parties get to step forth and make themselves known. Introduce yourself to the readers and tell me how this project went from a tiny blaze to a red-blooded inferno hell bent for taking on all comers.
John Eager:(bass) Basically we're just four dudes with beards from all over NJ. We all have a lot of the same influences but also were different in a lot of ways which I think is what keeps it fresh and interesting. George and I met through an online music ad and jammed for a while. After a few Yuenglings at a Nebula show, we asked JJ to come onboard. And then after tryin' out a few drummers, we hooked up with Steve. The rest they say is history
JJ:(vocals): George had given me a tape of three instrumentals that wound up becoming "Day of 1,000 Broken Fists," "Planet Smasher," and "Hound's Breath" off the first demo, and I'd sat with Post-It notes writing down the riff changes to place verses and such. I got some pretty funny looks when I got to practice and started screaming and growling, but, lucky for me, I guess they got used to it.
Steven Moraghan:(drums) I answered an ad on the Internet from George looking for a drummer but he responded they already had one. Then a few weeks later George emailed me and asked if I was still interested. Our first practice was basically playing "Hound's Breath" for about two hours.
Hellride Music: The level of advancement from the Inner-Workings of Block Time (a slam-bang starting point!) to The Stark Arctic is the kind of stuff underground legends are made of. I couldn't even believe how much The Stark Arctic improved on the phenomenal 1,209,600 Seconds Sessions demo. The material on that demo was out of this world and you guys found a way to set the bar for yourselves even higher. What kind of mentality influenced the material on the new record and how did that mentality seep into the songwriting process?
George Pierro:(guitar) Thanks man. When we recorded the first demo, we had only been playing together for a few months. The second demo was actually recorded over two years ago and is going to be released by Shifty records as part of a three-band split with Sowbelly and OSSM.
John: Our mentality is usually if it sounds good and it's heavy, it's good to go. No rules.
Steven: The first demo was put together pretty quick, to try and get something going to play shows. It was recorded in a weekend and they were the first songs written by us. The Stark Arctic wasn't put together so quickly and I think was more of an effort to make something massive.
Hellride Music: What constitutes a Maegashira practice? When you are putting together new songs does any one member lead the charge or does everyone contribute equally? I hear a lot of varied influences seeping into the mix, so I could imagine the songwriting splitting up nicely in the jam space, in addition to a record number of beers being consumed. The question is, can Maegashira out drink the competition? Haha.
JJ: I didn't even know it was a contest! We pay hourly for a practice space in New Brunswick that's about in the middle between the three of us further north and Steve more to the south. John'll usually bring a sixer of Budweiser tallboys and we'll get two hours of jam time in. The practice itself is pretty business-like. Time is money. Start off with a couple song set, work on new riffs (or on the rare occasion my prima donna ass has lyrics, put lyrics to a new song), then do a song or two we haven't played in a while to finish off. Sometimes it's hard to get everything in when your songs are 10 minutes long, but we do our best.
John: Usually George will come up with a riff and we just take it from there. That's when a four-minute jam ends up being a 17-minute song. Then JJ will come up with lyrics and put his staple on it.
George: We usually just jam on some riffs and see what happens. Everyone contributes to the direction of each song. There isn't a songwriting dictatorship going on.
Hellride Music: Did the songwriting process undergo any changes to produce such a high quality piece such as The Stark Arctic? I still can't get over how good the last demo was and how the LP eclipses it tenfold.
John: We played so many shows the first couple years, we just kept getting tighter and tighter and I think we found ourselves. Found the vision of what we want this band to sound like.
JJ: We pretty much took all of 2007 to write and put the album together. It involved a lot of refining one song before moving onto the next, and we pushed back recording a couple times because we wanted to be comfortable with all the material before going in. I think that shows in the songs. For the kind of doom we play, the arrangements are well put together and the structures thought out. Not that we're Stonershuggah or doing something technically jaw-dropping, but the idea of the song is important to us and especially with this being our first full-length, we wanted a record that really showed what was our best at the time.
Hellride Music: My memory isn't so hot always, so let's do a little refresher here; "Baggage Claim/Skin Slip" also appears on the Fumes from a Dead Scene Compilation. Was this track along with the ones from 1,209, 600 Seconds Sessions recorded in the same sessions as The Stark Arctic or was it re-recorded?
JJ: Okay, here goes: "Baggage Claim/Skin Slip" was on the Fumes comp. that our good friend Flyin' Ryan from the band
12 Eyes (check out their Mamma Loves Sabbath EP) put together and we were honored to be the first track on there. The two weeks demo was recorded earlier — Sept. 2006 as opposed to March 2007. The first time we recorded "Baggage Claim" was our first experience with Lou Gorra from Halfway to Gone as an engineer and we loved the sounds he got in his studio. We started The Stark Arctic sessions (and re-recorded "Baggage Claim/Skin Slip") January/February 2008, mixed it in March. In between, in August 2007, we did a version of Buzzov*en's "Useless" from their 1998 album, At A Loss, for a tribute CD that T-Roy Medlin from Sourvein was kind enough to help us get on. Not sure the status of that at this point, but the song's on our MySpace for anyone who wants to hear it.
Hellride Music: This one is for George. I can't believe the tone you are wringing out of your guitar. As I stated in my review, "Caribou Crossing" is a dead-ringer for Gaz Jennings at his very best, with a slight southern twist. What kind of rig do you use to get such an ungodly swing going and who influences your style? I'm hearing everything from Cathedral to Cavity in the general delivery of the riffs with your own take on it all.
George: Thanks Jay, it means a lot that you dig the guitar tone. I'm not the most technically proficient player so I really rely on a good tone. I'm just using a Laney tube head with a ‘70s era Guild guitar and trying not to go too crazy with the effects pedals. Also Lou at
Redline Archiving did a phenomenal job engineering/mixing and getting great tones. When I started playing guitar, I had just gotten into the classic hardcore bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, Cro-Mags, so I learned to play by listening to those bands and also all the metal and ‘70s stuff I was into before that. Even when I got into the hardcore stuff though, I never just threw the other music I had been listening to off to the side like a lot of my friends did. I never cut my hair after I found Agnostic Front, literally and figuratively. So I guess that and all the Sabbath-worshiping bands (God bless them) I found later on are what influence me.
Hellride Music: If you ain't got the rhythm, you ain't got shit. No one famous said that, well maybe they did but as far as I know I'm making it up right now. John and Steve you really are laying down serious artillery that adds an extra level of thickness to the sound. What dynamic makes a rhythm section worth their salt and are there any particular duos that made you pick up your instruments of choice?
Steven: I have a weird way of learning a new song. I usually play to the guitar part — which really speaks volumes of how good a bass player John is for being able to make a bass line and sync up with drums that are playing to the guitar.
John: For me it's all about Geezer Butler, and you can totally hear that in my playing. I basically rip him off [laughs], but I also like many others. Anybody who can keep a good groove but also throw in some tasty lines. As far as me and Steve go, he's the hardest hitting drummer I've ever seen. Me and him really don't even have to look at each other and we're right in the pocket. The three of us, actually. When we're in a groove, sometimes it can be fuckin' lethal.
Hellride Music: Finally…JJ. You've got that chameleon gone mental approach that Ben Falgoust of Soilent Green brought to his outfit's sludge-y take on furious grind. You cover the entire spectrum from cleaner yowl to full-on death metal growls. It fits the sound like a hand in a glove. What vocalists tickle your fancy and why the decision to bring a nearly grind-faceted delivery to a decidedly doom oriented band? Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining but curious as to the bravado behind the ballistics!
JJ: I definitely appreciate the Ben Falgoust comparison, and though I think both Soilent Green and Goatwhore are badass, he's not really an influence on me. I'm a huge fan of Devin Townsend from Strapping Young Lad — in particular the layering he did on his Terria and Synchestra solo albums was big in my head when we recorded the album, and COC's America's Volume Dealer was my warm-up disc for the ride down to Little Silver when it was time to lay down the vocals. Not their best work, I know, but Pepper Keenan's voice comes through really clearly — probably because it was produced as a commercial rock record — and I could really sink my teeth into the changing notes and little cracks in his voice. In terms of layering, thinking especially of the arrangement on "Back To Muro," Blind Guardian's Hansi Kürsch was an inspiration as well. Not sonically, just in terms of construction. I like a lot of different vocalists though, from all across the metal spectrum: Glen Benton from Deicide's high/low approach, Grutle Kjellson from Enslaved, Chris Goss' work with Masters Of Reality, John Garcia of course, Robert Lowe in both Solitude Aeturnus and now Candlemass, and Ronnie James Dio is probably my all-time favorite. I started out singing along to Burton C. Bell on Fear Factory records, so I've always had an appreciation for guys who can change it up somewhat. I'm still developing the clean-singing/screaming/growling thing. There's a lot to learn, but it's handy to switch around when trying to convey a different emotion, idea or voice within a song.
Hellride Music: There's also a nasty bite to the lyrics on all of the releases but no printed words yet. I can make out a good deal of your preaching JJ but some of it still hasn't manifested yet. What kind of bile are you spitting and will we finally get a taste of printed lyrics in the official release of The Stark Arctic?
JJ: The lyrics will be in the liner notes for The Stark Arctic. I'm a self-absorbed bastard, so just about all my lyrics are personal in some way. I started out on the first demo trying to write about other stuff and though I still like those songs very much, especially "Hound's Breath," which we still play from time to time, it didn't feel as genuine. "Hi from Jersey," which has become our regular set-closer, is probably the meanest song lyrically, talking about bullshit indie rock from Brooklyn and the irono-fascist hipster fuckwads who believe that saying nothing is a worthwhile replacement for saying something. There's a lot about that kind of overly-entitled post-graduate pseudo-intellectualism I find infuriating. Most of it I poured into the song, but there's always more to say about assholes, because there's always more assholes to say it about.
Hellride Music: What does the rest of the band have to say about the lyrics? Does anyone ever do any co-writing or do you handle the whole deal JJ?
John: It's all in JJ's lap. He's a genius with words.
JJ: 
[Laughs] I don't even think they know the lyrics until they see them printed. I'm an insecure guy and I don't see myself as being much of a vocalist, so I like to think that the words and what I bring to the songs lyrically are my main contribution to the band. That probably makes me sensitive about the lyrics, in addition to being a jerk-off and difficult to work with in general. The lyrics are personal, so the process for writing them is personal too, even if it usually takes place in my car before a practice. I remember scribbling what would become "Baggage Claim/Skin Slip" as I was driving down 287 to New Brunswick and almost killing myself. I wouldn't be adverse to someone else having lyrics at all, though. If George, John or Steve were to hand me a piece of paper and say, "Hey man, I was thinking we could try these," I'd be flattered they thought enough of my vocals to let me give voice to what they had to say. I do plan on being less insular with the lyrics going forward, sharing them with the guys and getting opinions and ideas and such. Making The Stark Arctic was a kind of confidence builder in that way, and especially since I want the next batch of tunes to have even more of a central, specific lyrical theme, their input will hopefully be a part of that.
Hellride Music: Choosing Lou Gorra to do the new record couldn't have worked out better for the band, IMHO. He did a great job with the sound. I'm a big fan of both Solarized and Halfway to Gone. How was the studio experience with him? Feel free to give me all of the gritty details you want. He seems to specialize in the southern-tinged stoner sounds for sure but Maegashira is something a lot heavier than what I would normally associate him with. Granted, I don't know him personally! Is he a fan of the sound on top of just twiddling the knobs?
John: He probably hates us now [laughs], after putting him through 13 and 20 minute songs! Seriously, not only is Lou a great musician and engineer, he's a great guy. He let us do our thing, throwing in his suggestions here and there. Very easy to work with as well as being a great guy.
George: It was basically a lot of High Life and crab chips. I actually met Lou through the Solarized guys and gal, when I was playing with them a few years ago. Then we'd run into each other from time to time. His wife came to see us play once and I gave her a demo. Next time I ran into, him he was saying, "If you guys need to record anything you should come by my place." Lou is an awesome engineer and a blast to work with. I can't say enough good things about the guy. He also recorded the A Day of Pigs CD, Lecherous. And the dude definitely knows heavy music.
Hellride Music: Out of curiosity (isn't this all curiosity, haha) when is The Stark Arctic officially set to drop on the masses?
John: Good question!
JJ: As of mid-November, the disc is at the plant. Hopefully we'll get it back by the end of the month or early December, send some out to press and friends, and have an official release come January. Looking forward to that release party. It's been long-awaited on our end. In the meantime, the album is available for pre-order through the "http://www.sparechangerecords.com" Spare Change site.
Hellride Music: I heard Spare Change Records is handling distribution for the album whenever it is released. What happened to actually being on the label? Can you spill the beans on the issue or is this classified information?
JJ: I'm pretty sure we're not working with anything classified here. The distro deal just seemed like it was going to be the most beneficial for all parties involved. It was a lot of back and forth, and actually a lot of the delay in pressing the album was because we didn't know what the deal was going to be. Look, we're a realistic band, and we know that the music we play isn't the most accessible for casual listeners, even as far as doom goes. Signing full-on to the label isn't necessarily off the table for the future, but for now, we thought the distro deal was a great way to get the music out there while still being involved with Spare Change. Scott has been fantastic to us and since most of the communications with Roman were solely via email, the exchange of ideas probably wasn't presented as well or efficiently as it could have been. You live and learn. Sometimes things don't work out the way you initially intend, but we're still glad to be working with both of those dudes because they're passionate about the music and about what they do for their bands.
Hellride Music: Scott mentioned to me the possibility of a Spare Change package tour that was once mentioned to have Maegashira in the proceedings. Will that happen or has the idea been canned? He told me that Southern Bastard Church, A Day of Pigs, When the Deadbolt Breaks and Maegashira would be the possible line-up. If that happens I'll be the first one there if it comes anywhere near the tri-state area. Have you gotten a chance to jam with a good deal of the bands on Scott's roster? I'm pretty sure you've gotten to play with A Day of Pigs if knowledge serves me correctly but how about the rest? Who are the favorites of your current label home?
JJ: We've done shows with Negative Reaction, When the Deadbolt Breaks and A Day of Pigs, who are also from Jersey. All three fucking rule. Any show we do with those dudes is cool by me. I consider myself good friends with both Ken-E Bones of Negative Reaction and Aaron Lewis from Deadbolt, and they're both badass players in killer bands. We're honored to be working with the same label. We haven't had the chance to play with Southern Bastard Church yet. The tour idea was kicked around for a bit, but I'm not sure how much of a touring band we're actually going to be. There were some initial plans Scott had a while back, but things got complicated with the dealings as discussed above, plus on our end we've all got full-time jobs, families and other commitments, so it's hard enough to get together to practice, let alone find the money to shell out to hit the road.
Hellride Music: Who are your personal favorites in general? What bands and records in particular receive regular listening in the Maegashira rotation? Are there any acts on a national level that have blown your minds when you've gotten a chance to share the stage with them? Hell, throw in some local favorites too. Let's get meticulous here!
George: I think 12 Eyes are the best "good-time doom" band around. And A Thousand Knives of Fire are always awesome. Stu and Paul are two of my favorite guitarists.
JJ: Lately I've been digging on a lot of the early Swedish stoner scene; Dozer and Spiritual Beggars, Demon Cleaner and stuff like that. Totally different sound, but the new Darkthrone, Dark Thrones And Black Flags, also rules. New Enslaved too. Locally, A Thousand Knives of Fire does indeed rule. Ditto for 12 Eyes. John Wilkes Booth gets better every time I see them. Negative Reaction are great friends and a band that certainly doesn't need a plug from the likes of us, Seeds Of Chaos, Deep In Vein, A Day of Pigs, L.O.M.F., The Brought Low. We had the pleasure to play with Dixie Witch, that was huge for me. Crom, Throttlerod and Puny Human too.
John: There's just way too many to list. We all listen to a lot of different stuff, from death metal to ambient to ‘70s rock to funk to, of course, doom and metal. As far as bands we've played with, I would say Earthride, Solace, Halfway To Gone, Negative Reaction.12 Eyes as well. Great bands.
Steven: My current playlist: Napalm Death, Enemy Of The Music Business; Cannibal Corpse, Kill; Radiohead, Hail To The Thief; Coliseum, all; Explosions In The Sky: All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone; Humanfly, II.
Hellride Music: As far as the difference between recorded material and live sets, how does Maegashira differ in that aspect, or does the band try and recapture the recorded sound exact? When the lights dim and the volume rages, how do all the rockers react? These days at shows there are too many people that stand around and don't seem to get moved by good tunes. Damn, shame if you ask me. Does anyone incite a riot when Maegashira plugs in? Do you guys let it all hang out on stage (any crazy antics or show stories) or is everyone pretty sucked in to their own instrument?
John: With me and JJ it's hair everywhere. Head banging galore, if you will. There's a lot of energy up there when we play. Some performances have been very sonic — just pure volume and groove. I've fallen over a few times. We've blown amps. Steve is always tearin' up his hands, bleeding. JJ lost his wedding ring. You know, the usual.
JJ: 
We do most of our shows in Manhattan. Places like Ace of Clubs have been really good to us, and Curran Reynolds, who runs Precious Metal at Lit Lounge on Monday nights, has continuously put us on bills despite the fact that we're not exactly the world's hugest draw. As a rule, New York crowds don't give a shit about anything. We're by no means exempt from that. People are jaded because all they ever really have to do is look out the window of the apartment their parents pay the rent of for them and they see an awesome show. We're much rawer (and louder, obviously) onstage than we are on record. More feedback, which I like. No riots, but we've had some pretty good times. Usually a good show is one where we don't leave pissed off at the circumstances, assholes around us or general crappiness of the scene. There have been a lot of really good shows — the cabin party we did down in Virginia with Bad Brother, VOG and Valkyrie comes to mind — but some crappy ones as well. We played The Saint in Asbury Park once to my wife, Stu from A Thousand Knives of Fire and the sound guy, who left in the middle of the set. A whole new definition of "brutal."
Hellride Music: Now in recent developments, JJ was telling me that George injured his hand. The whole of Hellride sends our best. What happened, George? When will you be back in action?
George: Thanks for the condolences. It was me vs. the garage door, we all know who won. The tips of the fingers on my left hand got pretty crushed. It looks like it'll be a few months before I can start playing again. I guess if it comes down to it I can try to use some thimbles. That worked out well for some other guy.
Hellride Music: Is the injury going to snafu any end of year live plans or was the whole focus on getting the full-length out the door?
John: We're focusing more on gettin' the CD out. Then, 2009, we will get back in the swing of playing live shows.
Hellride Music: You guys are on top of the world right now aside from George's recent injury. Where do you see the band in five years? What plans are you making for the near and distant future? Is there a certain goal in mind or do you take it day by day? Had a chance to work on even more new material yet?
Steven: We have a lot of live shows filmed and I would like to see us trying to get some of that up online soon. Maybe record an EP, then work on the next full-length.
George: Probably just another five years of High Life and crap chips. We're all married, not that young, work full-time and one of us has kids. So that's kind of what dictates our lives right now. I guess you could say we're the "family-man's doom."
John: We basically take it day by day. Like George said, we're no spring chickens here, so we're just havin' fun with it. Who knows what's down the road? The fun part is seein' where it does take us. We have a few new things we've been workin' on. Our main goal right now is getting' this CD out and hopefully seein' bigger and better things from it.
JJ: Right. For now, we're just trying to get this album out, get some shirts printed up, get the word out about who we are and what we do, and hopefully, keep doing it for a long time to come. We're not out to conquer the world or be some huge commercial band. We do have some new stuff in the works, yeah. It's slow, heavy and loud as hell, so in other words, we're happy with the direction it's taken.
Hellride Music: Thanks a ton for doing this JJ, George, Steve and John. Congratulations on releasing a monster in The Stark Arctic. Hell, congratulations for writing song after song of unparalleled quality and dementia. It is truly appreciated! I'm all out of ammo. Crack one open and give the readers some closing comments! Hellride thanks you!
Steven: Thanks for the time and the great reviews.
JJ: Jay, man, we can't thank you enough for what you've done for us, with the reviews, this interview and everything. Really, we appreciate it more than you know. Thanks as well to anyone who reads this and sees fit to check us out. We hope you will and we hope you dig what you hear. And of course, thanks to Lou Gorra, Ryan Lynch, and Rock & Roll Gina Brooks.
George: Thanks for having us. Hellride rules. And please check out Lou at Redline Archiving.
John: Thank you for doin' this. We appreciate it very much. All I can say is come see us live, check out the CD. You won't be disappointed!! Doom on…
Visit the Maegashira website at www.myspace.com/maegashira
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