Albums of Purgatory interview Liquid Conscience

Firstly, whats the band up to right now?
When we aren't practicing, we're playing 2 shows a week in the Nothern California area. New material is always coming to surface while we stay solid on all of our other songs. Our set has grown to be almost 2 hours long and we are constantly adding new songs to make it longer.

How would you describe the Liquid Conscience sound?
We get our sound from the many areas of music that each member of the band listens to. This vast sound-scape ranges from classical to death metal and all in between. Most of our material is Rock and Hard Rock oriented but we have slow, ballad style songs as well as up-beat alternative songs. Heavy sounding guitar riffs, ripping lead guitar solos, and hard drums make our sound.

How did you get involved with the band?
One day I stopped by this storage shed place that we practice at now to check out one of my friends that plays drums (different band). Someone handed me a guitar and I started soloing over this simple blues progression in E. As it happened, Jason and Brian (the two brothers that make up the singer and bass player in Liquid Conscience) were watching me play and they liked what they heard. The next time I went out to the sheds, I found myself doing a full-on audition to be in the band and the rest is history.

Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?
Our first show was a small cafe in Stockton, California. We weren't even nearly ready to play a live show but we said "what the hell, lets do it." Everyone cheered after each song, even though it was a small crowd, so we figured they must have liked us. At that time, we only new about 10 songs.

Are you involved in any other projects and if so how do they compare to Liquid Conscience?
When I'm not playing rhythm and shredding lead guitar for Liquid Conscience, I'm playing saxophone, my first love. I'm not in any bands, currently, but I might persue something in the future with a jazz band.

What are your favourite Liquid Conscience tracks?
My favorites are Last Rights, No Means No, and Am I Dreaming.

What are your favourite all time songs?
Too many to even list but among a few are: Metallica - Master of Puppets, Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb, Dream Theater - Beyond This Life, Primus - DMV, Extreme - Play With Me, Joe Satriani - Midnight.

What the first record you ever bought?
Megadeth - Rust in Peace. Marty Friedman became my hero at the time.

Which album was it that got you into metal and can you explain why?
I never listened to metal until my best friend played me Metallica's Ride the Lightning all the way through. It took me several months to even start liking it but after that I couldn't stop listening to it. James Hetfield is the reason why I started really getting into metal because of his blistering (literally, for me to learn) guitar riffs and piercingly good vocals.

Whats the last album you purchased and what did you think of it?
Racer X - Technical Difficulties. Absolutely a first-rate 80's based album. It was released only about 2 years ago but the influence is all 80's. Paul Gilbert is one of the best guitar players on Earth. Just listen to the song Technical Difficulties and you'll know why.

What would be your dream band line-up?
Alright, imagine this: Tim Owens (The Ripper - Judas Priest vocalist), James Hetfield (rhythm guitar), Paul Gilbert (lead guitar), Les Claypool (Primus, bass), and none other than Mike Portney on drums. Now theres a lineup that will put a crater of sound in the Earth...

If you could do a cover for a tribute album to any band, which song of which band
would you pick and why?
I'd play Joe Satriani's "Midnight", the last track on the surfing with the alien album. Eventually there will be a Joe Satriani tribute album and I'd like to pay Joe as much respect as I can by playing that.

What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?
Metal is actually starting to surface a little more. It was dead for a while but now more and more youths and beginning to realize its potential on the music scene. Ozzfest is pure metal and is still growing bigger each year as more up-and-coming metal artists emerge. Music in general, however, is at an all-time low in my opinion when I think of the radio. Everytime I turn it on, where I live anyway, I hear nothing but male singers trying to sound as much like girls as possible and guitar riffs that fail to catch my attention. Pop is taking over very quickly and is crossing over into many genres of music that it definitely shouldn't. There are still some bands that know how to Rock, they're just hard to find nowadays.

Which other bands stand out for you at the moment?
I just recently saw Pat Travers and the combination of Rock and Blues that he delivered was outstanding. As far as metal goes, Hatebreed is one of my favorites right now as well as Disturbed. Both of those bands are must-see live acts if you haven't seen them before.

Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?
The funniest one was a show at a cafe where Brian (bass) slipped on the wood floor because someone spilled a cup of water right over where we were performing. He hit the floor hard on his back and kept playing the song without hesitation. Everyone in the audience started cheering wildly when they saw that. Ever since then, Brian brings a towell with him to every show and wipes the area off where we're going to perform before we go on.

and finally, what do you see in the future for Liquid Conscience?
We're going to record a new album soon and in the future we want to tour as far north as we can. Possibly all the way through Washington.