1. Hello dear friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Hello, I am doing great! I am currently at my house/home studio. All of my recording and writing stuff is here including my 4 Jackson guitars. Why do I have so many of them? Because they look cool. Simple as that. Jackson guitars should really consider endorsing me.
2. Propaganda Machine is basically a duo now — how long have you known each other? And how did you discover metal for the first time?
I started talking to Basil (our bass player) in August of 2024 and we met on Instagram. Basil joined the band in September but he was just in the live band lineup as I would handle recording bass for the EP. I have been listening to metal for pretty much my entire life thanks to my dad, and he listened to more 90s and 2000s stuff like Linkin Park. At around age 8 my favorite song was Crazy Train. I really started to get into metal at 12 years old; listening to Metallica and the big hit songs of metal. Later, I delved more into thrash - Testament, Death Angel, Megadeth, Slayer, Xentrix, etc.
3. As an emerging band in the extreme metal scene, what are some challenges you've faced, and how have you overcome them to pave the way for your future?
One of the biggest challenges of being “in the scene” in such a small town as mine is finding someone willing and skilled enough to play our kind of music. At the time of this interview we are currently looking for a drummer, and hopefully we’ve found one at the time of publication! To solve this I’m gonna use Instagram, which is a great resource for finding other bands and musicians, but also I’m gonna use word of mouth.
4. Your music has been described as thrash with groove elements. How do you balance these two different influences to create a cohesive sound?
I balance the sound of thrash - aggressive riffs, driving drums, and harsh vocals - with certain elements of groove metal like lower tunings, and slow-heavy riffs by having contrasting parts within certain songs or having one song be more thrash oriented and another be more groove oriented.
5. As a band from Kentucky, how has your local music scene influenced your development and growth as musicians?
I saw a local band named Wyld Ryde, and they were a great influence and inspiration towards staying committed to my music career.
6. Could you describe the main influences that inspired the 5 tracks on your debut self-titled EP, and how do you typically approach songwriting and arranging?
The main influences for the self-titled EP were select albums by the bands Indestroy, Xentrix, Death Angel, Testament, Pantera, Slackjaw, Power Trip, and Slayer. A song for me typically starts with a riff I’ve written. I then elaborate and make variations on that riff to form a basic verse-chorus-bridge structure. At the same time I have a song title and set of lyrics that I have associated with that riff. So once the instrumental is done I fit in the lyrics the best I can and maybe modify the structure a little bit.
7. Zevin, although you are the main composer you hooked up with a couple of friends on this release – drummer James Anthony and bassist Basil Coffey. Just outline your friendship with them.
Me and James started being friends sometime in late 2023 when we joined the same band (they prefer to not be mentioned). During our time in that band we wrote the song “Suite Death” which he wrote and recorded the drum parts first and then I put the guitar and bass over it. Then as you know, we started Propaganda Machine in the early part of 2024. Then soon after I began writing the songs and then James put his drum parts over that. At around the same time as we ending demoing the EP me and Basil started getting close and a t the time joined the live show lineup of PM (as I mentioned earlier) but now he is in the main lineup.
8. Were there any elements of the recording that proved particularly troublesome?
The toughest parts of the recording process for the EP would probably be the drums. We only had a time frame of 4 days to record them and he’s left-handed so we had to rearrange my drum kit as well.
9. You sing and play the bass and guitar, has this always been the way? Did you start one before the other? What other instruments do you play if any.
I started playing guitar after Christmas of 2021 when I got my first (electric) guitar. I then got a bass in 2023 to help record demos.In 2024, we formed the band with my role being the vocalist (along with guitarist) so I acquired a PA and started practicing (specifically vocal fry and singing and playing at the same time). I also a very amateur drummer. I have recorded drums for our song “Imperial Democracy” and also on the song “As The Fog Settles” from my solo project Infant Slaughter Baby Murder.
10. What are some techniques you haven’t used on your current EP that you would love to experiment with in future releases?
I have in mind to use an audio sample (similar to how Eyehategod uses samples) in one of our future songs, so you can look forward to that!
11. As a band, what do you hope listeners take away from your music? What emotions or connections do you aim to evoke through your songs?
With the lyrics for Propaganda Machine I tend to focus and shine light on political oppression and social issues. The first two songs were based on and inspired by 1984 by George Orwell, which is fictitious, but our later songs will be more grounded in reality. I hope our listeners take away from our music that we should fight for our natural rights, even by just the means of singing about a speculative future world in order to remind us to let it come to that.
12. Are there any plans for collaboration with other artists or musicians in the future, and if so, what excites you about the potential of those collaborations?
As of now we have no plans of collaboration with any other bands, but we have made a song for a comedy-action movie called “Brainrot 2: Mind War.” The song is entitled “Brainrot” and is a half-serious song about the internet and social media. The song will be released in late February along with two other songs: “The File Has Been Corrupted” and “Brainrot - Elevator Version.” “The File Has Been Corrupted” is a remix of the song “Brainrot” that combines it and our self-titled track “Propaganda Machine.” The other song, “Brainrot - Elevator Version” is a jazzy version of “Brainrot” that Basil recorded and produced.
13. You're still at the beginning of your career, how do you see the term "underground" in times of pay-to-play festivals and the like and what significance does it have for you?
We still haven’t found our audience, or more accurately our audience hasn’t found us. I find it important that we grow our audience naturally and as a community and not as a group of trend-chasers following us in the short term.
14. Thank you all so much for taking the time to chat with us. Honestly, it means a lot! Final word is yours!
Thank you for the interview! I can’t wait for you to hear the stuff we have coming up for our debut album.
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