 Interviews - Sasquatch
06-20-2005, 10:52 PM
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by Chris Barnes
June 19, 2005
 Not unlike the mythical legend for which the band is named, LA’s heavy-stompin’ rockers Sasquatch leave a BIG impression. Drawing influences from early 70’s heavy rock and the golden days of early 80’s metal, Sasquatch rely on good ol’ fashioned feel and technique to create music that is heavy, swingin’ and soulful. A welcome change of pace from the cold, clinical feel of most of modern heavy music. Veteran drummer Rick Ferrante takes a moment out to talk to Hellride about the band, the LA scene and what lies ahead for Sasquatch.
Hellride Music: I think we were gonna do this interview a year ago and then I lost track of my life. Sorry about that... so let's get back on track. What's been going on since the release of your self-titled album on Small Stone shook the earth from LA to NYC? You were up for the LA Weekly Awards for best Rock/Metal band recently, huh? Tell us about that, too.
Rick Ferrante: Well, we try to do shows here & there, to where we don’t burn anyone out. It would be nice to get in on some more opening slots for bigger bands. Our work schedules are kinda fucked up to be able to do a lot of touring as well. We need to do the West Coast next. Yeah, we were up for the award thing, that was pretty cool. Someone dug us enough to get us in. Isis ended up winning that.
Hellride Music: I see you've also got some Sasquatch tunes on "Viva La Bam", "American Chopper", "Monster Garage", assorted video games and some nice space on the special edition release of "Clerks"... geezus. Who's doing your P.R.? Or are you coking and whoring out the industry? Either way, nice move. It's good to see the underground rise up from this scene and get a little starshine.
Rick: Yeah, I think Scott Hamilton (Small Stone Records label head) submits various bands/tunes, and the guys from those companies pick out what they want. Our shit is new/old school, pretty sraightfoward & to the point, pretty suited to that kind of stuff I guess. I wish I was good at that gaming shit, my nephew is into all that, he was pretty fired up.
Hellride Music: The Sasquatch sound is firmly rooted in the free n' easy days of 70's hard rock. Who do you guys consider as inspirations? Is it a case of being born too late or are you guys just tired of the constant trend-shifts and constant corporate rock suck-ass and just wanna rock out? Or both? Or neither?
Rick:  I would think a little of both. We feel the best Heavy Rock came from the early 70's. It had the most feel & honesty, plus great heavy, gritty and soulfull vocals. Blues-based guitar playing was essential. We like having tradition involved. With drums, I try to keep the groove solid, with some cool fills as well. I try to kick and snare first and foremost. To me, John Bonham, solidified Heavy Rock at a time where it made a big statement. Brought the groove up front. There is too much inconsistent, sloppy & garagey drumming out there. We also have the 80's Metal influence as well and a lot of the straight-up playing comes from that. A lot of the newer metal still seems too mechanized. The dumbed-down, Emo, lazy garage shit has got to go as well! Punky, college alterna "Cool to be Uncool" is getting old. I would hope musicianship will start to mean something again. Dimebag R.I.P.
Hellride Music: I'm genuinely curious because I haven't been to a show in LA since I last saw you guys at that Starchild gig. What's going on in the LA scene? Has it gotten better, worse or stayed the same? What part do Sasquatch play in bringing rock back to LA?
Rick: I think it's a little better. There are still a lot of the above type bands around, but there are some good "local Rock" bands out there. Aside from Fireball Ministry, Nebula, & the desert bands like Fu Manchu, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, Unida and Hermano, Shakey Mallard is one of them. The drummer, Tom, was in Big Elf & Dave the singer was in a killer high-energy band called the Superbees. Like us, they got to play out more. Smoke is another local band that we dig a lot (get a fucking drummer you fucks! ). Arthur & Mike (Unida) have a new band as well, House of Broken Promises. I don’t really go out just to "go out" anymore, so it's hard to follow the "scene". I will read the local paper reveiws, or hear about new stuff through other people. Keith our guitar player works at a club and sees more shit. You see a photo of band now, and it looks like guys off the street. Boring. Like the two other bands I mentioned, I think we look like a rock band, as well as sound like it. Old School. Keith can sing better than most guys around town, hands down. Vocals have to have a style to them, (Trinidad Leal from Dixie Witch is awesome) not just screaming & Cookie Monster stuff. Depends how it's done I guess, some people like that shit. We just want to bring back what was cool back then, with a modern flair. We have a lot of women that come to our shows. You don’t see too many at others, most chicks don’t dig the screaming and abrasive stuff. It's like a "sausage fest" at a lot of other shows. Our shit is pretty well rounded & easy to lock into. I don’t know about other bands, but we like seeing women up front getting into it as well. We don’t scare them away. As far as heavy rock, something for everyone. If your tunes are Titty Bar compatible, then you did something right.
Hellride Music: Well it sounds like the Sasquatch live shows are going good – any crazy gig stories?
Rick: Not too much, a lot of people seem to be "medicated", haha. We did get flashed a few times. I never see it ‘cause I'm in back, Clay & Keith get to see everything and then tell me later. Fuckers.
Hellride Music: So you guys getting set to record again? Can we expect the same stompin' arena rock we heard with the self-titled, or are you guys gonna throw a curve ball or two our way?
Rick:  Yeah, we will change it up a bit. The last one, we kinda rushed it along. Clay paid for most of it so we were watching the clock. We didn’t get to experiment too much with mic placement & other shit. Scott Hamilton has a good ear and likes to help with shit as well. He's got a local Detroit genius, Phil Durr (Big Chief) as a consultant. More experimentation for CD number two. We will have a cool acoustic tune on it, and maybe a cover. We want to be more rounded on this next one. We want to showcase Keith's vocals more. The fucker has natural, blusey & soulful vocal ability and he's coming out of his shell as a guitar player as well. Got to kick him in his shy ass sometimes lol...Yeah, curve ball or two. Clay has come into his own as a bass player (he was guitar player first) locks right in with me, as well as going off on his own. He has to have one of the best bass tones around town. Right now, we are finishing up our tunes for Sucking the 70's Vol.2. Scott's got some great players coming up on this one. Should be fun, as long as people dig it, that’s the main thing. If people have a good time listening to the CD and at live shows, then we did our job right.
Hellride Music: Thanks for the interview and sorry again it took so long. Please leave us with a few good words. Anything besides "F you, Barnes" would be great.
Jason: Shit, "F you Barnes" was the first thing on my mind! ha ha...Fuck, just support your local indie rock as well as the touring bands. Look out for more Sasquatch on the way, Listen to our boy Crazy Craig on KNAC.com on Sundays (we got to come back to visit and fart in the studio again) and that’s all she wrote.
 Purchase Sasquatch’s Self-Titled debut at the Hellride Music Superstore
Download a MP3 of Chemical Lady
Read the Hellride review of Sasquatch’s Self-Titled debut
Visit the Sasquatch website at www.sasquatchrocks.com
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06-23-2005, 08:28 PM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: CT.
Posts: 219
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This band rocks. Period. Theyve got the formula for good god damn rock and roll perfect.
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