By COURTNEY GUTTENBERG
Staff Writer
The Albany scene is ripe with musicians who fit into a generalized punk, hardcore and metal sound. An astounding thing about this is that there are so many subgenres of each group and so many different bands amongst a larger genre that a death metal band can play with a hardcore band and draw two different types of crowds, melding into one bigger crowd.
Invoke Thy Wrath, a local band with members from the surrounding Albany area, began in 2012 and categorizes the type of metal they play as “slam.” Slam is characterized by horror-driven lyrics, heavy breakdowns and low-tuned instruments.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jahir Knight (vocals/guitar), Jesse Addington (bass) and Mikey DePerna (drums) to talk about their experiences as a band, their current focus, and what the future holds for them.
Q: So what would you say that your influences are?
ADDINGTON: I would probably say Devourment, and Slipknot is a big influence for me. That’s not a joke. I wish it was.
DEPERNA: I would say my biggest influence is probably The Black Dahlia Murder. That was my first metal band, honestly. Melodic death metal [like Black Dahlia] has always been there for me.
KNIGHT: My biggest is Gorgoroth.
Q: How did you guys meet?
KNIGHT: Well, Mikey and I are cousins. [all laugh]
DEPERNA: Yeah, I had no choice but to meet him.
KNIGHT: We’re stuck together forever. I met Jesse a year and a half ago.
ADDINGTON: I sold him a ticket for Fit For An Autopsy [played with now defunct band Incisions].
DEPERNA: And I met Jesse through Jahir.
Q: What made you guys want to start a band? What was the driving force that made you want to write together?
KNIGHT: Me and Mikey were really just messing around one day at his house and he got a drum set, I got a guitar two days later, and then we just started droppin’ slams.
DEPERNA: Honestly, my answer to why I wanted to play in a band is because I played “Rock Band” way too much and thought I was really good.
ADDINGTON: That is also my answer.
Q: What led to Jesse joining your duo?
KNIGHT: Well, this band started off as just a two piece for two years. We had our friend join, but we eventually had to part ways with him.
DEPERNA: Just a lot of differences musically, et cetera.
KNIGHT: And then Jesse offered to join when he saw our post [looking for a new bass player, on Facebook], and I was like “Yes!”
ADDINGTON: They were like, “We’re down a bass player,” and I was like “Nah, chill.” I had been going to their shows. Every time they would play I would wanna go hang out. They were in distress and I was like, “I can help, even if it’s just for a few shows.” I went and jammed, and it worked out pretty well.
Q: You guys are an Albany local band. What would you say is your favorite part about the Albany scene?
KNIGHT: The amount of support we’ve got.
DEPERNA: People are very, very supportive of bands’ first coming out and playing. Everyone is just supportive of everybody. It’s nice. If you’re nice to people, everyone is nice to you, and that’s just awesome. All the bands here are tight.
ADDINGTON: A lot of bands also support us. It’s not just people who come out [to shows]. It’s also the bands, who are super tight. Imperialist [another Albany local] has always had our back […] In Trenches and Adhara [more locals], too.
DEPERNA: When I lost a cymbal, I was given a cymbal by someone in a different band [Life’s Not Fair, a local hardcore band].
Q: What’s your favorite venue that you’ve ever played?
DEPERNA: I’d probably say Bogies. It was my favorite for sure.
ADDINGTON: Bogies, and Trick Shot too. The sound system is great and Joel [Miller] always books killer shows with great line-ups.
DEPERNA: Bogies felt very cozy and homey. It was a nice, welcoming environment where everybody was like “Yeah, we’re all here to listen to music and have fun.” They [the promoters] loved to give starting bands a chance. They gave small bands a start, and that’s amazing. Most people would be like, “You’re not gonna bring out a lot of people, so why do we care?” They [the promoters/Bogies] were like “Go ahead. Have fun.”
Q: So you guys would say that Bogies is/was your favorite local venue you’ve had the chance to play at, too?
DEPERNA: Yup. [Jahir and Jesse agree].
Q: What part of the Albany scene has helped you the most as a band? If you could single out one area of the scene that has helped you the most, what would it be?
KNIGHT: A lot of my friends that are not in the scene who came to the shows, as well as the friends already in the scene who do come to shows.
DEPERNA: I agree with Jahir, though. A lot of people that don’t normally come out, but they came out because like, “Oh, you guys are a band. We’ll come check you out.” A lot of my friends who have never even listened to metal came out and supported us. That was amazing.
ADDINGTON: Our friends in the scene helped a lot. They try to generate buzz for us. All of Adhara really helped. Them, and all of the guys who book around here. Dan [Asylum, of Asylum Shows], Mike [Valente], Joel – they always throw us on really good shows. The people in the scene as a whole were a really big help.
Q: What’s your writing process like, if you could explain it?
KNIGHT: Usually it just starts off with just jamming. Like, “Oh, that sounded cool. Let’s piece it together.” “Let’s go off of this.”
DEPERNA: Musically, more or less, it’s mostly just us messing around. But lyrically, if I were to write a song, not to be generic but usually it just would be from trying to tap into something disgusting.
ADDINGTON: Like a horror movie.
KNIGHT: Like how a director makes a movie.
DEPERNA: Yeah. It’s really hard to try to tap into that normally.
Q: What’s your favorite song to play?
ADDINGTON: For me personally, it’s “Mangled.” The end of that song is super heavy. [Jahir and Mikey agree].
DEPERNA: I also like playing “Cabin.” It’s physically demanding to play, but it’s a fun song to play. It was also the first song we wrote.
Q: Would you guys say that those are your favorite songs that you’ve written thus far? Or is there another one?
ADDINGTON: That we’ve written? I like “Dead Man” a lot. That’s a fun one.
Q: What’s the biggest goal you hope to accomplish as a band?
KNIGHT: I would say an East Coast tour.
DEPERNA: I would have to say the same. That would be really fun.
ADDINGTON: Tour would be really cool, or even just someone wearing a shirt with our band on it. Anyone saying like, “Hey dude, your band’s cool.” That’s good. I like that. It’s harsh noise to listen to, so the fact that someone would be like, “Hey man, your band’s great!” That makes us feel good.
DEPERNA: I can sleep at night.
Q: What’s the biggest goal you guys have accomplished thus far?
KNIGHT: Playing with Fit For an Autopsy.
ADDINGTON: That, and all the guest vocals we have lined up [for the EP].
Q: If you had to sum up your band experience in one word, what would it be?
DEPERNA: Cringy.
ADDINGTON: Cringy, and/or crunchy.
Q: If you guys had a choice and the world was ending or had ended, and you guys were remembered for one thing, what would you want that one thing to be?
DEPERNA: Being one of the only slam bands around Albany. That’s pretty cool.
Q: Anything else you guys want to add?
KNIGHT: Just keep an eye out for us. We’ll be around.
Invoke Thy Wrath plans on recording their EP, which has some awesome surprise guest spots from many well-known local musicians, within the next two months, with sound engineer Jonathan Folino.
Check them out on Facebook at facebook.com/INVOKETHYWRATHMETAL, Twitter and Instagram at @invokethywrath, Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/invokethywrathmetal and Bandcamp at invokethywrath.bandcamp.com.
Keep an eye out for them, as they hope to get endorsed by Slam Worldwide, DWS and other metal based entertainment collectives.
I would like to thank Jahir, Jesse and Mikey for a great interview!
