Interview with Devin Schum – Guitars / Vocals of Concrete Funeral.
– What’s new with Concrete Funeral for the summer?
Well as we’ve just released our debut album we begin work on a follow-up offer. Well also be supporting our brothers in Detherous as they release their debut on August 17 at Border Crossing here in Calgary.
– How was it recording the album Ultimum Judicium? Lots of work I am sure.
Yes, it was a ton of work of course but definitely worthwhile we felt. We recorded our drums at Ghost Iron Studio in Calgary and then had the luxury of completing the rest in a home studio so that we could really take our time and make sure everything came out exactly as we wanted. The album definitely went through a few different mixes before we got it right.
– How did you go about making the artwork?
We met Troy Worden of Vile Treats Artwork through a Facebook contest of his that we won. He drew us up a t-shirt design that we really liked so we went back to him for the cover. We wanted something very bright and colourful and somewhat like a graphic novel. Were all into excess so we thought a demon at a podium of body parts was perfect for what we wanted.
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When writing a song, is there such a thing as investing too much time? What’s the shortest time you ever took to write one? What was your strangest inspiration?
No there’s so such thing as investing too much time, as long as things are moving forward. I think we have a pretty good idea of when our sons should be finished. Some songs definitely take longer than others but others would likely have come together within a couple of weeks, of course, there are always little tweaks after a while. All of our inspiration comes from morbidity in various aspects but Facebook is an abundant source lately. New material has been inspired by public posts sharing stories of parasitic infection which have sparked a totally disgusting and depraved story to be told.
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When do your ideas come to you for writing music?
Movies, Sarcastic embellishment, the absurdity of life
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How many shows do you play per year on average, and how crazy does the schedule get?
The past few years have been pretty low on shows due to working on the album and prepping for release, maybe 2-3 a year. Now that our album has been released we are looking to get out a lot more. Personal issues prevented us from booking an immediate support tour but we did get a chance to play a few shows around the province.
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What’s the typical setup, warm-up, and break down procedures for your gigs.
Well, we stand around and make fun of each other and have a beer for a few hours. Connor sets up his drums while the rest of us make fun of him. Everyone takes a few mins before we’re up to the blood flowing a bit, we load our shit up while Connor puts drum shit in the way. Play fast, hard and exhaust ourselves and then get that shit off the stage as quickly as possible. Oh, then we stand around and make fun of each other.
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Where do you see music, in general, going in 100 years from now?
I think most people that listen to heavy music would say that it ain’t looking good hahaha. Who knows though, there’s always the next generation coming up too. Stuff like videos of 8-year-old kids playing Malmsteen on youtube gives us hope.