Interview with Jason and Todd of Psycroptic

Interview with Jason Peppiatt and Todd Stern of Psycroptic
Interview and Photos by: George Archibald

Australian band Pyscroptic is currently out on the road with Aborted, Ingested, Disentomb, Venom Prison, and Arkaik on the Devastation on the Nation Tour. Pyscroptic are known for breakneck speed and intricate riffs that make them a favorite in the technical death metal genre. The band is ready to announce the drop of their new album, a follow up to their self-titled release on Prosthetic Records, any day now. Vocalist Jason Peppiatt and bassist Todd Stern sat down with me to discuss touring, the new album, and the state of metal in general.

GA: How about we start with you telling me a little about the band in your own words?
TS: Pyscroptic started in the late nineties in Hobart, Tazmania.
JP: When we started out we were a straight down the line technical death band, but we’ve progressed over the years. Who knows what you would call it now. It is some sort of blend of thrash, tech, and a bit of everything in the mix. The music has a lot of elements thrown into it.
GA: Your last album was the self-titled release through Prosthetic Records, has the band been working on newer material and is there a possible release in the future?
JP: Yes, we’ve been waiting on the new album to get mixed and mastered. It has been sent to Will Putney to mix, we are hoping to have some sample mixes back any day now.
TS: We are going to be in the final mix stage very, very soon.
JP: Everything will be ready to go; the album will be released sometime later this year.
GA: Can you tell me a little about what the listeners can expect to hear on this new album?
TS: I would have to say if you liked the last album, it certainly picks up where that one left off, but it is darker. It has those types of song structures, with the big choruses and the hooks, but this time it is very fucking evil. It is not overall as fast as some of the older stuff, but I think this time we focused on writing better songs.
JP: I think it is an album more about the song writing.
GA: The Australian metal scene has so many powerful heavy bands with the likes of Aversions Crown, and Thy Art is Murder, it has become a go to source for metal. Being Australian natives, what makes Australian metal different from other regions in the world?
JP: That is a hard one, the metal scene out there was small for a lot of years. It’s just gone fucking wild the last few years. For bands to get out of Australia is expensive, so they just have to work on their craft, and get really good at what they do. The scene out there has grown a lot in the last ten years. There is a bigger fan base, there are a lot more quality bands coming out. For a long time, there weren’t a lot of bands hitting the world circuit. We were doing it, and there were a couple other bands, but now it is fucking awesome to see all our mates getting out and touring. I mean we have Disentombed out with us on this tour, they were in Europe last year as well, which is sick. We have been touring Australia and playing shows with them the last ten years or so. It is rad to be out on the other side of the world with those guys.
GA: What gear is the band using currently live, any endorsements please mention?
TS: Joe Haley uses EVH Amplification, and Ormsby guitars. I use ESP basses, D’Addario strings, and Mesa Amplification. Dave uses Pearl drums, I believe he has been endorsed with Pearl for years now. He also uses Zildjian cymbals as well.
GA: How is touring North America differ from touring Europe and Australia?
TS: It depends on the tour, where it is different is your day to day life. Actually, everything is different. In Europe the culture, the food, and the way you tour is different. The audience reacts differently. They react to the music in a more honest way; they don’t get as excited, especially Germans. Germans are harder to impress, and they are brutally honest with what they didn’t like about your performance. I feel like in the states and North America, it varies. Mexico has always been great, and Canada has always been great to tour through.
JP: We did a run through Canada last year and it was insane. It was consistently awesome shows on that run.
TS: I would guess the amount of people that would turn out to shows is similar, but the way fans talk to you after a show; when they pull you aside to tell you what they think of your band is very different.
JP: Australia is a totally different thing altogether. Out there the shows, for us are always bigger being it’s our home country. We have been touring there for the last fifteen years. The big thing with touring Australia is getting up early and flying everywhere.
TS: That is another thing that makes your life different when you are on tour. If you are in Australia, you have fly ins to most of your dates. When we are in Europe, we are on a bus with a bunch of other bands, so you get a community feeling with all the bands in one vehicle, which is sick. Then, in America you are kind of on your own traveling. Where everyone has kind of their own family vehicle.
JP: This tour has been fucking amazing, so many bands and the crew have made it a good one, getting to catch up with some old friends. It has made for a good time every day.
GA: What is next for Psycroptic after this tour?
JP: We are going to Australia, apart from that there is nothing solid just yet. We are working on putting some things together, but we are waiting on our album release date. That is going to sort of dictate things for the future. As usual, there are going to be plenty of tours after the release.
TS: We will be back in the states and Europe for sure. As Jason said, once we have the released date we will start locking in some things.
GA: Where can people keep up to date with the band online, and if they wanted to purchase merchandise where can they find your store?
TS: We have an Indiemerch (https://www.indiemerchstore.com/b/psycroptic) store, if fans want to purchase Psycroptic merch. The band is also active on Instagram (@pyscroptic_official) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/psycroptic/).
GA: Anything else you would like to add?
TS: Get on out to shows. Come on out and hang out with us. People love to complain that their towns are not getting good bands, or tours. You got really rally around these bands that are coming out and support them if you want people to come to your town. It is a massive amount of overhead for bands to travel to make things work. You know how it is, people say ‘why aren’t you coming here?’ That isn’t up to the bands, it is mainly booking agents and promoters, but they look at the crowd participation and market with planning these tours. You got to come out to shows to make it worth time to book there. Have some hometown pride, so when someone is on stage and says, ‘this is the best night of the tour so far’ and they mean it, it feels good.