Interview with Rich "Grindfather" Johnson, Agoraphobic Nosebleed

- Hello, Richard! So, your new masterpiece, "Arc" EP, has been recently unleashed. First of all, my congratulations on the new release! Is it still the same feeling about the new release every time? 
- Thank you. In this case, it was all Scott and Kat, and John, Jay and I had nothing to do with it. That's how these individual solo releases are going to be. But I'm happy that our fans dig the record so much and that it's gotten such a positive response overall. But with every record, after Scott finishes it off and the packaging is done, it's always the waiting for months or longer until the physical record comes out.

- The "Arc" is the first release out of 4, reflecting the preferred styles of each band's member. So, when did you come up with the whole idea? Was it originally planned to release the full-lengths instead of EPs?
- It's been years since we came up with the idea to do this ourselves. I guess it was Kiss that did it originally. We thought we'd bang out all four solo EPs in a row, but that didn't happen. Now we're going to concentrate on a normal full-length record, and then turn back to the EPs after that.

- "Arc" represents Kat's tastes and has been performed in slugde/doom style. Why did you decide to start with Kat? From your point of you, how could you describe the material, in both aspects, musical and lyrical? 
- I don't know why Kat's was first, and I don't know that we have a rigid schedule for "Kat's first, then Jay's," and so on. But it's cool that Kat's record came out at the head of the pack because it turned out so well. So to categorize it, I'd call it doom metal with introspective, personal lyrics.

- While creating the new songs, how involved was each of you into the whole process? What is your usual way of composing and working on the new tracks?  
- So Scott wrote and recorded all the music and Kat wrote all the lyrics. Kat coordinated with the artist she wanted to work with for the cover and Relapse for the rest of the packaging. The normal process generally is Scott writes and records the music, then Kat and I would arrange the lyrics that she, Jay and I write (Jay is the main lyric writer), and Jay and Scott would work on the artwork and packaging. Something like that.

- Where did you record the "Arc"? How long did it take you? Tell us a bit about the recordings, did you have any particular difficulties? Or maybe anything funny happened that you would like to share with us?
- We do all the records at Scott's "Visceral Sound" studio. It took Scott a long time to write and record these tracks, and Kat took her time doing her vocal takes to make sure she was satisfied. She went back and forth with Relapse a lot on the packaging too. So I was only there once for one of her vocal sessions. I think mostly it was just her and Scott getting to work!

- Each and every of your album covers and layout design is simply iconic and shows how cool sometimes metal albums can be. Tell us a bit more about the last cover. Who is the artist? Would you interpret those 2 figures as Kat and her mother? 
- Thanks for that! Some of the split 7" covers are quite simple and some are full-on pieces of art, too. It's Eric Lacombe that did the "Arc" cover. Good question on the interpretation. I hadn't looked at it that way.

- Who will represent your next release? What other music styles will we be able to hear from you? Is anyone the fan of the Beatles?) 
- I assume we all love the Beatles. We're signed to Relapse. They'll put out our next record. I think the next full-length will be more similiar to our side of the Despise You split and "Agorapocalypse," but we'll see.

- Let's talk about your live shows. You are not the most active band in the world, how could you explain it? 
- We kept our activity up by putting out a lot of records in the past. So now we have less time to work on records because we're preparing for gigs!

- Back to 2015, at Matyland Deathfest, you had your first full-set gig. How did you finally decide on it? And how did you like that kind of experience?  
- I thought it was great. I loved it. And there were a lot of positive vibes we were getting, because our fans have wanted us to play live for years. We always said we'd never play a full, proper live show, but finally we talked about it a lot, and Scott figured out how to represent the drums live, and we said yes.

- Now you are confirmed for the first ever Netherlands Deathfest, which will happen less than in a month. How are the preparations going? What do you plan to play? And you will also play with Pig Destroyer, right?
- Pig Destroyer is playing one day and ANb is playing another day. We're just rehearsing, the same as we did for MDF and the Housecore Horror fest that we played. Nothing unusual there. I mean, it still feels like a new thing, us playing shows.

- Let's get back in time, and recall how you joined the band. That was in 2002, right? Right as the moment for “Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope”. So how did it happen? And what do you remember about those recording sessions?
- Well, I had sung on the split 7" with Laceration many years ago. In the middle of the recording for "Frozen Corpse," Scott asked me to join. Recording the vocals was a lot of fun. It's a fond memory I have, hanging out with the other guys and coming up with ideas on the spot for the recording.

- Since then, ANb has released a lot of different material, evolving and keep experimenting with each of your releases. How could you comment on the grow and band's development? Do you think you'll still have anything to surprise your fans with? 
- Over time, the sound has changed with Scott becoming a better drum programmer, getting a new drum machine program, getting better equipment. And as Scott feels he wants to bring different influences into the band's music, the songs change over time. Jay brings different lyrics these days than he did back in the days of "Honkey Reduction" too, for example.

- And the last question, tell us now about another your project, Drugs of Faith. What is the current state of the band? Do you have any plans for the new release? 
- We just released a split 7" with Cloud Rat on Selfmadegod Records. We're slowly getting back into a rehearsal schedule now, and we plan to play some shows to promote it. We're also writing songs for our next record.

- Thank you for this interview, Richard. Would you like to add anything else?
- Thank you for the interview! And thanks to our fans who have waited so long for one of the solo records to come out, and for us to start playing shows. We appreciate everyone waiting on us.