If creating a second Dialysis 7”
proved anything it was that we didn’t really know when to stop. But it was also a jaw-dropping surprise
that we even made it this far.
Something worked and it seemed fun enough to continue to pursue. So we really let all the weird and
crazy ideas we had just shake out and not intentionally try to write just fast,
short punk songs (although that certainly did occur). There were a few points where there was some uncertainty if
we would keep going, but ultimately playing shows was fun, traveling around was
a good time, hanging out with each other produced a lot of stupid jokes, and
sometimes those interactions would lead to song ideas. And for whatever reason, we couldn’t
just leave them alone. We had to
follow up with those ideas.
Things kind of took off from a very
Anthrax-inspired riff that John had been playing for months and at the same
time I was writing some very Syracuse-centric lyrics with the idea that there
ought to be a song about things I really enjoyed about town and a bunch of
things I hated about living there.
I also thought it would be funny to have two songs start out with the
same riff, but be about different things.
Thus, was born “Things I Like About This Place” (which ended up on the
record) and “Things I Hate About This Place” (which ended up on the split with
Bleak, which came later). I took
the idea from the band The National Acrobat, who started two songs on different
records with the same riff (one of which was released on Hex).
But once that idea was solidified
we really got cracking on a bunch of other stuff that seemed to just steamroll
together. Long van rides late at
night were punctuated with listening to early 80’s Genesis records because
they’re really good and we thought it would be funny to use their songs as our
intro music because why would grind-freaks and punk kids have any interest in
hearing that? And from that came
the title of the record, a play on “Abacab”, but, ya know, more violent. Hence, “Abastab”. It’s a stupid title, which should make
no sense to anyone. But for
whatever reason, we thought it was hilarious.
And I finally was able to get a
favorite comics artist of mine, Liz Suburbia, to do the cover art. I had asked her about doing art for
another release but she was busy finishing her book “Sacred Heart” (which was
released through Fantagraphics and ended up winning some big comics
awards). But for this record she
was free and I sent her a big list of things I wanted on the cover and she
completed it perfectly. And to
make things even wackier I decided to try my hand at making comics again (I had
illustrated some zines, as well as making a handful of goofy tour posters for
us) and both John and Matt encouraged me to give it a go. So I cobbled together some weird story
based around the song titles and lyrics on the record, laid out a basic plan,
and got to it. It also doesn’t
make much sense, but it sort of does.
The whole notion around “Abastab”
was really just throwing it all out there- doing whatever crazy ideas we felt
we needed to get out of our system.
It’s a crazy record. And I
think who better to assess the overall course of this record than Dialysis’ far
out drummer. Matt is the one who
takes the riffs and makes them sound like a whirlwind of insanity. He takes an idea that I might think is
so-so and lays a beat over it that makes me a full believer of what a song can
be. It’s a rush hearing the
intensity of what our songs turn into when he gets behind the kit. Matt is also the guy snoozing in the
back of the van when we’re out driving to who knows where and out of nowhere
will chime in with an idea, or joke, that elicits so much laughter that it
keeps us coasting the rest of the weekend. He will throw out random ideas for song titles and it’s just
so good I’ll feel compelled to make something up for it to ensure it becomes a
song. He doesn’t like social media
because it probably cannot handle what goes on in his brain, so I got him on
tape. It’s high time I spoke with
the one and only Matt Calabrese about the second Dialysis record, “Abastab”.
The one and only
I like that this record is a mish-mash of all sorts of weird
shit we were thinking about at the time and our attempt at trying to cram in
every idea, dumb joke, and random influence that we had up to that point into
11 tracks, one comic, and seven inches of vinyl.
I haven’t listened to “Abastab” in awhile, but the last time
I re-visited it I was really pleased with what I heard. I thought, ‘wow, this is a really
aggressive recording.’ It’s really
aggressive. I think there’s a lot
of bands that have a second record and they get a bit more raw. Like, for example, “In Utero” is super
raw compared to “Nevermind”, even though it’s their third. But theres other bands that make a
second record that is really raw and that’s what I think about when I think of
“Abastab”.
I don’t remember a lot of the material on it because there’s
so many songs and it was so long ago to me. We don’t really play a lot from that one.
There’s a couple we do. But sometimes I think about it and think, we should play a couple
more of these!’
We could definitely do that. But that’s kind of the way it is with all of our
records. There’s songs I forget
about and would have to relearn.
There’s a couple songs I’ve only played once or twice!
I kind of feel like we tested the waters with the first
seven inch, and then decided to try mixing things up a bit with “Abastab” and
do some weirder shit. Do you
agree?
The first one is a bit uptight! And I like that recording a lot too. After it came out I listened to it a
lot. It came out good. But one of the things that makes
“Abastab” special as well is the artwork and the thought that went into
that. It’s really a special
package. The cover of the album
really shows what we do. It’s kind
of what it’s like at our shows.
I think it’s representative of what I would ideally want one
of our shows to look like.
The cover rough sketch, into realized final image, courtesy of Liz Suburbia
And I think some of that cool packaging goes back to
conversations we have all had within the band about albums from bands we admire
where you interacted with the artwork and packaging, and there was a lot to
look at and have fun with. Our
stuff is very colorful and it’s very busy. I think we’ve done a good job getting the artwork to reflect
that and the busy-ness of it all.
And I don’t think you guys have ever given me shit about
wanting the artwork a certain way.
No, no! That’s
one of the things that works.
People in the band are allowed to play and just have fun, and do what
they like doing. It’s not an
uptight situation where you’re in a band and one person controls
everything. Plus, it’s only three
people! That’s why it works so
well. It’s just me, you, and John.
Economy is really understated in the dynamics of a
functioning band.
The band was born out of forced minimalism. And it wasn’t just us at the time. There were a lot of other bands like
Twin Lords in Ithaca who were a two piece, or Empty Vessels, who were a duo.
I think when we first started I was a little hesitant
because it was just guitar and drums. But then I thought about a bunch of bands
that I like that have the same set-up and figured ‘this is OK’. Plus, not having five people in a band
is fucking awesome. It makes
things so easy.
So easy dude.
That’s why it works. It’s
not a cluttered situation. John
and I drive the music, you put in your input, you sing about what you want and
do it the way you want. The more
people you have in a band the more messy it can get. We’ve both been in bands with five or six people. And god bless Ebony Sorrow, it’s
worked like that for a long time. But there’s been a lot of situations
that I’ve been in where it did not work with five or six people. It’s pretty rare.
Original pages/layout for the comic portion of the record
But this band is the only group you have really done much in
the way of touring with, right?
Well, yeah.
There have been some firsts for me in Dialysis. There have been some long stretches of
shows with my old band Excoriation.
But the touring aspect of being in a van, that’s just with Dialysis. Aside from that I’ve just played a lot
of shows. But being in the van,
and having gone across the country, Dialysis is the only band I’ve done any of
that with. Or went out for like
five days in a row.
But that’s what I wanted to do, and Dialysis has made it
possible for me to achieve small goals like that. One of them was definitely going to play on the other
coast. That was one goal we were
able to achieve. Another goal was
to put out a full length. I’m
grateful to still be doing the band with you and John.
One of many dumb show posters I made for yucks
I’m surprised at our own accomplishments. I never thought it would go this far.
Yeah! I see
them as accomplishments. They may
seem very small, but in my life they’re pretty significant. We still have fun doing it and I want
to continue to do it. I’ll do it
until the wheels fall off. I’m
always going to want to play music. Always. And I’m
always going to want to play aggressive music as well. It’s one thing I have to do.
Did you end up trying out for Suffocation at one point?
No. What
happened was I was in a death metal band and I was very young. I was in a band called Excoriation and
we went to New England Metal Fest in 2003. Suffocation played it. I was about 17, but there were two guys
in Excoriation who were quite a bit older, like in their 30s. And they made friends with Suffocation
while we were there. And then we
ended up going to record a demo at their studio, which was in Long Island. It was really cool, and really
surreal. We went to Mike Smith’s
house and watched them practice.
So that’s the story.
But I’m sure that story got to you, or handed down to you, from a few
other people or something. I
didn’t try out for them, but I definitely hung out with them when I was very
young. And they showed me a lot of
things. They really did. Not all of them, but a couple guys from
the band who were partying hardcore.
These guys were up for a few days at a time.
So we recorded there and eventually all the guys came
through at one time or another. A
couple of the guys from Obituary were there as well in town doing something.
But I was 17 years old at the time and that was really
exciting for me because I loved all those bands at the time.
Another interesting thing I remember from doing that is that
when we went to Mike Smith’s house to watch them practice there was a Word Is
the Virus (Syracuse band featuring members of Architect, Dialysis, etc) CD on
Mike Smith’s table. I thought,
‘this is bizarre’.
I’m curious as to your dad’s involvement with this
music. By all accounts no parents
should really enjoy our music at all.
But he seems to really like it.
He’s even joined us a couple times to do a song.
Well there’s an interesting story about my dad and why he’s
into our music. When I was growing
up I was always playing drums. My
dad gave me my first drum set, but before that I would play on like one of
those Igloo coolers in my garage with a piece of wood. The first real band I ever played in
was Ebony Sorrow, and then, from there, Excoriation. But all the people I played with were always much older than
me. So because these people were
much older than me my dad would literally come down to the band room with
me. He would bring me there, and
then hang out and drink beers with the other guys in the band! We would have band practice. He would do this a lot! I mean, the first time one of these
guys picked me up my parents grilled him!
They were just being protective parents. But over time people like John became friends of the family
and my parents have come out to shows.
My mom has come out to see me play before. So I’m very lucky and grateful for that, and they still
support me with that to this day.
They always have.
The 'Sonic Euthanasia' t-shirt that has nothing to do with grind-y music at all
You got involved with playing with John when you were really
young and you guys have been kind of constants in terms of musical writing
partners since then. How have you
maintained that partnership over almost 20 years?
I think that the reason is that a lot of bands and people
over-think things a lot and they get paralyzed when it comes time to make a
decision when they should just be punk rocking shit. And I found that the method that John uses is very punk
rock. I wouldn’t say he’s the
leader of Ebony Sorrow, but he’s definitely the captain. He steers that ship. He’s very punk rock about how he makes
decisions and I’ve learned that from John over the years and I think that’s why
I think he and I have been able to play together for so long.
Also, I have an allegiance to John because he’s really the
person who gave me a shot when I was a kid. I read what he had said about my tryout for Ebony Sorrow and
it was exactly what he said it was-
he came in the room and said, ‘hey Matt, let me hear your blast
beat’. I laid a blast beat on him
and he said, ‘you’re in the band’, and I’ve been in the band ever since!
(laughs)
I love John and he is my best friend, but he’s also like
everybody’s best friend. He really
is. He is everybody’s best
friend. So we not only play
together, but it’s been a friendship over a long time as well. And when you play in a band with your
friends it tends to last longer.
I’ve played in both- bands with your life long friends and bands that
are just people who are other musicians.
But the stuff that lasts the longest is the stuff you do with your
friends more than likely.
Blast eternal
What’s been the best part of Dialysis and the worst part?
The best part of the band is just being able to do something
I like with my friends and having other people in the band who are ambitious,
and have allowed me the opportunity to have some small goals in my life to come
to fruition. That’s the best.
The worst part of it was that one weekend in Jersey and Long
Island. Those were rough
gigs. That was the actual worst
time the band ever had.
The hang out part was fun.
The hanging out was fun. And that’s basically what you do when on the road. You wake up thinking you’re ready to rock
and then it’s like, ‘OK, it’s a four-hour car ride’. And then you get there and you’re like, ‘I’m ready to rock!’
and you hear it’s four or five other bands, so it will be awhile before you
play. You kind of have to look at
it as travelling, not playing!
We’ve been through a lot together as a band. We’ve had some good shows and very few
bad ones. I can think of only two
or three shows where we didn’t play well.
One of which was that D.R.I. show.
We showed up and some guy bought like one of everything we had before we
even played. We get up onstage and
put up a poster of a cowboy in his underwear and we played and we were just
terrible.
We got through like three songs and had to call it.
We just bombed! (laughs)
It was a weird venue.
It looked like a supper club.
You know what the problem was at that show? I used someone else’s drums I
think. And at that show the drums
I used were not that great. I was
under-equipped to play. And then
Jon kept breaking strings.
He broke so many strings that he just ran out. He started running down songs he could
play with just two or three strings, and I was like, ‘nah, let’s just wrap it
up. Just say ‘we’re sorry’, get a
Snickers bar, and go home.’
The original postcard used for part of the layout of the 7" with the "Things I Like.." lyrics on it
Pretty much.
That was rough.
I feel bad for the guy who bought all our records! We just happened to have a bad
night. Hopefully he went home and
listened to the records. If he’s
reading this, I hope you got your money’s worth from our records at least!
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Speaking of getting your money's worth, now's a good time to grab a copy of "Abastab" because I'm selling it on the cheap this week. $4 gets you the 7". It comes with a damn comic book! It's 11 tracks! And there's two different colors for the cover! It's quite the package if I do say so myself. If you don't care about that stuff and just want straight rippers get the digital version for only $3 via the bandcamp. You can get it HERE.
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