Localized Noise: Artisan

By COURTNEY GUTTENBERG
Staff Writer

Albany locals Artisan have had an experimental, melodic hardcore sound and have mixed multiple influences from multiple different backgrounds since 2013. The band is made up of vocalist Jackson Corbo, guitarists Ryan Warren and Jesse Church, bassist Eric Rosen, and drummer Scott Owens. Artisan has two releases - 2013’s EP “Prelude” and 2015’s release, “Chapters.”
They recently started working with True Initiative, run by Sean Mott (formerly of Syracuse hardcore band GhostxShip). The band has shared the stage with the likes of Silverstein, Norma Jean, and Vanna, and will be embarking on their first tour with Ohio hardcore band Grim State and Syracuse hardcore band Meth Mouth, starting on June 11 in Mansfield, Ohio at the 4th Street Bar.
I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Jackson and Ryan to discuss their upcoming tour, their multiple influences, and their hopes for the future.

Q: How did you all meet?
WARREN: We all went to school together. [Eric] Rosen just kind of trickled in.
CORBO: I met Rosen because I went to Schenectady County Community College for a little bit and I had a group of friends there that introduced me to Rosen. Me, Jesse [Church], Ryan and Scott all went to school together.

Q: What made you want to start a band?
WARREN: It was the only thing that made sense.
CORBO: Yeah. It’s one of the few things that just makes me happy.
WARREN: It’s the only thing that really — just going to school and just being miserable at school and then going home and picking up my guitar and being like, “Yeah, I could do this.”
CORBO: And just having a group of people that have the same interests and have a common goal. Playing live is one of the best feelings ever. Regardless of how many people are there, too, it’s just a great release, especially for this scene. Even people going to shows, you get this release that you can’t find anywhere else at all.

Q: How long have you been musically active?
CORBO: I used to go to [Saint Rose] and I played tuba here, and I started playing tuba in fourth grade.
WARREN: I played saxophone in fifth grade, up until eighth grade.
CORBO: We started listening to this kind of music in like, seventh grade.
WARREN: I started playing guitar in seventh grade, around age 11 or 12. I taught myself and just kept playing.

Q: Where did your band name come from?
CORBO: We were trying to go for something a little more experimental that hadn’t really been done yet, and it sounded way different. It was total metalcore, and more experimental. At first we tried Layer, ‘cause we felt like we were adding another layer. We tried that, and we thought it was dumb. I think we just thought of it, out of the blue. We were like, “Think about building something from the ground up.” It was just the two of us [Corbo and a former drummer, Zach] at the time.
WARREN: They both did everything. Zach sang and played drums and wrote some guitar riffs, and he [Corbo] wrote guitar riffs and screamed and I think it was just kind of like — I look at it as more of them just saying they had different roles. They do more than just one thing, which is what an artisan is. They’re skilled in different areas.
CORBO: But you’re building it up as a group, still. Like we were a unit, building this one project up.

Q: What drove you to wanting to play your band’s specific genre?
CORBO: It was just the music that we listened to.
WARREN: I like the whole aspect of being able to play something really powerful and having heart and meaning behind it. Not that other genres don’t, but a lot of the time when we’re playing certain parts, I lose myself in it.
CORBO: I think, for our genre, it’s one of the most intricate ways that you can display more powerful —
WARREN: Emotions.
CORBO: Yeah. Exactly.

Q: What are your main influences as a band?
CORBO: In terms of musical influences, Underoath was a huge band for me growing up. “Define The Great Line” - that album really shaped how I see music and how I write music. A lot of it was the music I listened to in middle school and high school, but even still, now, I listen to a lot of new bands and I learn something new from every band I listen to, and I try to take bits and pieces of everything and use it as inspiration.
WARREN: I think it’s just like every other band where we all come from different backgrounds. I came from ‘80s metal and Slayer and Metallica, and he [Corbo] came from, like, having Underoath and It Prevails, and we kind of try to meet in the middle of the two and make them work. We try to find bands that do the same thing, like Counterparts and Life In Your Way.
CORBO: I like a lot of more, kind of mainstream, ‘90s stuff too.
WARREN: Like Britney Spears.

Q: What are your biggest goals as a band?
CORBO: Selling out a show would be great. That would be a great start for me. To play a show where we headline, or something like that, and we play a sold out show. And then there’s the obvious goals, you know — getting signed and touring. The goal for us as a band is to make a living doing this. That obviously comes with getting a record deal. We wanna tour. If we could tour 365 days of the year, that’d be cool, but obviously that’s not humanly possible. So 200 days out of the year would be great.
WARREN: [laughs] We’ll settle for 200.
CORBO: I feel like that’s about the average that a band tours, if you’re a full-time band.
WARREN: I would say that we’ve reached a lot of the goals that I had already set in mind. We’ve played big shows, and we released an album, and we’re working with management.
CORBO: We’re getting out of the area, which was a huge one for us. Albany is great and the scene here is tremendous. We’ve played in a handful of other towns, and you see that the scene is not the same there. We’re pretty fortunate to be from where we’re from. We wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to play as many shows as we had, if we started in any other town.
WARREN: The people that set up shows here, and the people that consistently keep doing it are literally the only reason why we’re sitting here right now.
CORBO: The music scene here is great and we’re really fortunate for that. It’s always conquer your own hometown first before you move on, and we’ve played around here two years now.
WARREN: And the best part is like, every day, I’ll get a text message from someone, or an e-mail, and it will be something new for us to do. We have a ton of sh*t coming up that we’re really really excited about, and it’s completely surreal.
CORBO: Even getting told that we were getting to go on tour with Grim State and Meth Mouth was —
WARREN: Shout out to Sean Mott. I love you and your hair.
CORBO: Everything is step by step.
WARREN: The goal is reaching the next step.

Q: What are the biggest goals you’ve already accomplished?
WARREN: I would say releasing “Chapters.”
CORBO: “Chapters” was huge. John Naclario — shout out to that guy, and his awesome studio.
WARREN: And everything about him.
CORBO: Yeah. That EP came out — it’s different, writing songs with your friends and then taking it to someone like John, who has worked with some pretty decently big names, taking it to him and having him record it, it came out sounding so incredible. That was so huge for us. Also, getting on True Initiative was great and planning this tour has been awesome.
WARREN: Shout out to Eliot Geller, because we needed somewhere to start.
CORBO: If you’re looking for a reasonably priced person to go to, either Eliot or Jon, both of them —
WARREN: I would go to either of them again.

Q: What is your writing process like?
CORBO: Jesse, Scott and I sketch out a drawing and Ryan colors it in, if we want to get metaphorical. Essentially, I bring in a foundation for a song, or lately it’s been Jesse or Scott, and then Ryan will come in and tell us if he hates it or not. It’s been different though, writing with Scott is way different. I used to write a lot of a song, or record a whole song with drums and whatever at my house, or I would bring it in. And Scott really likes to have the whole group be a part of it. With that comes colliding ideals.

Q: If you could sum up your band in one word, what would it be?
WARREN: Fun. We’re fun.

Q: What would you like your band to be remembered for?
CORBO: When we dressed up as Power Rangers [at a Halloween show]. In all seriousness, though, “Chapters.” That was a big deal for us.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the Albany scene?
CORBO: How active it is compared to so many other cities.
WARREN: It feels more like a family than other places we’ve been to.
CORBO: The other night, Axis played at The Fuze Box. If I was in any other city, I wouldn’t have gone to that show, but it was $5, and I knew everyone that was going to be there. It’s like a big house — like Bogies was. You go there to hang out, and there’s a band playing, and if you’re lucky, you like that band.

Q: What’s your favorite venue you’ve ever played at?
CORBO: Basement Transmissions in Erie, Pennsylvania, definitely.

Q: Are you guys writing currently?
CORBO: We’re trying to.

Q: Are you guys going to be playing anything new at the Trife Life record release show?
CORBO: Maybe.
WARREN: We’re not.
CORBO: Maybe.
WARREN: The answer is “pass.”

You can check out Artisan and keep updated with their tour and other updates by liking them on Facebook at facebook.com/artisanofficial. You can also follow them on Instagram at @ArtisanOfficial, and on Twitter at @ArtisanOfficial. They are also on Tumblr, at artisanofficial.tumblr.com.
You can find their releases on iTunes and Spotify. They begin their tour with Grim State and Meth Mouth on June 11 and will be on tour through June 24, and their next show is Trife Life’s record release with Albany locals Born Low and headliner Expire on April 13 at The Fuze Box.
Thanks so much to Jackson and Ryan for a really fun and great interview!