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Shogun Interview

Coming out of Colorado, Shogun was been taking over the hardcore world over the last few years with their unique brand of metal-core. Leaning more to the metal side of the core, Shogun is highly impressive in their skill and adeptness in song structure and performance. Shogun just finished recording an EP for Goodfellow Records that will come out in the Winter. Be on the lookout for these guys in a town near you.

Professor (P): Who is responding to this?
Shogun (S): Jesse, guitarist of Shogun

P: Could you give a quick history of the band?
S: The band started in a basement of a fraternity house in March of 1998 with Charles Levingston on drums and Dave Heinrich and myself on guitar. Our friend, Trevor Graham, then joined as the vocalist and Joe Nepomuceno rounded out the original five a few months later. We recorded a four-song demo in September and played our first local and non-local shows throughout the fall and winter. In August of 1999, after releasing a CDep on Not Bad Records, we replaced Trevor with our current singer, Warren Zeger, as we hoped to spend more time practicing and touring. We released a 3-song 7" on Chainsaw Safety Records that winter with Warren on the mic. In July of 2000, following four weeks of touring split between March and June, Joe quit the band due to personal differences and was replaced by Brian Pennington. Brian did us a favor by playing bass on a quick January tour with LA rockers, Open Hand. This tour coincided with the release of Iconoclast on Goodfellow Records and was the most promising to date. Because Brian was never interested in being our full-time bassist (despite our pleading!), we had to find yet another. This time, we called upon Stuart Anderson. Stuart accompanied us for a three-week tour in June of 2001, the second since Iconoclast was released, and even more prosperous and fun than the last tour. We are currently in the midst of putting the finishing touches on our next release for Goodfellow Records, a four-song ep that should hit the scene this winter.

P: What have been your guys' musical influences?
S: Our musical influences are various and wide-ranging. Personally, I enjoy bands that mold complicated instrumentation and unpredictable song structure into a fluid song. Some bands that come to mind would be Fall Silent, Botch, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, and Slint. I also enjoy the orchestration done by classical composers such as Bach and Penderecki. Throw in the off-time jazz of Dave Brubeck for good measure... Warren appreciates the vocal style of Carley Coma of Candiria, as well as the ripping guitar mastery of bands like In Flames and Children of Bodom. He wishes Dave and I had such mastery...Along with the previous bands listed, Dave is heavily influenced by bands like Dream Theater and Meshuggah. He also absorbs his fair share of electronic music.

P: What are your instruments of choice?
S: Assuming we find replacements, we are comprised of drums, bass, two guitars and vocals...If you are interested in equipment, Dave plays (with pride, I might add) a Les Paul standard guitar through a Peavey 5150 head and Marshall cab. I play (with little luck) a Paul Reed Smith (a cheaper model) through a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier (not the cheaper model) and Marshall cab. I don't know if that is what you meant by "instruments of choice," but there you go.

P: How do you guys write your songs?
S: The song-writing process begins with the guitars as Dave and I create and revise various sections and phrases of potential songs. If we have something we like, we work with the bass player and drummer on writing their parts, while eagerly accepting feedback on ours. Warren (always) throws his two cents in and adds the lyrics when we have the song in its final form. Sometimes our songs can have three or four versions with dozens of parts being tossed by the wayside. We look at it as sort of an upgrading process, if you will. In fact, one of the songs we just recorded was about 50% revamped just a week before recording, and that was on top of a few months of careful crafting!

P: Where is your favorite place to play?
S: I enjoy playing any place with little or no stage, but I think the best shows are not defined by the venue as much as the energy of the crowd. I liked playing the Spot in Denver because it was extremely intimate and the shows were always fun. We had some fun shows at Club DV8 in Salt Lake City, and several across the US and Canada that have been memorable...Long live house shows!

P: Who is the sickest metal band?
S: I guess it depends on what you define as metal, but just to answer the question, I'm going to go with Dillinger Escape Plan just because their playing is unbelievable. But I also think some other bands are awesome too, if only for the "live rockability." Warren is a big fan of Nile and was pretty much blown away by their live show a few weeks ago...To be honest, except for Warren, we don't listen to a great deal of metal bands these days.

P: What is American culture missing that you like to see?
S: Well, it has been said before, but I think American culture is missing a sense of awareness, both at the global and personal level. It seems that Americans have spent the last century or so, expanding and building our human world as rapidly as we could. In our haste, we never stopped to consider whether or not we should. Specifically, I am referring to the fast-paced, technologically-dependent lifestyle that we live just to keep up with ourselves. It seems like the purpose of half of our population is to maintain the technology that we have created! People go to "work" most of their lives so that I can do this interview via email. And I think most people are unsatisfied with their lives. By the time they find out what is truly important to them, they are trapped in a 20,000 square foot home with too many cars and big screen tv's-there monthly payments nailing them to the corporate cross-that they cannot do anything about it! I am not saying these luxuries aren't nice (I'm using one now), but we seem to lack the presence of mind to evaluate the effects of our culture on our nation, as well as the rest of the world. Without going into the issue of the destruction of our natural world, I think it is sad that the option of a simple life within society is gone. One cannot keep up in the mainstream world and live without a car, running water, or electricity. I guess I just laid out some scattered thoughts, but the main point is that it is no one's fault that our society lives in excess. However, it is sad that so many of us are taught to pursue such a lifestyle, without considering what we can do to improve the quality of others' lives solely by improving the quality of our own.

P: What is your ideal life situation, i.e. where would you live, house, car, and significant other…?
S: My ideal life situation would be to live near an area like Boulder with such a unique combination of endless natural surroundings and modern amenities (yes, I am guilty too). I definitely want to have a family of my own. It sounds corny but I think being a husband and father would be the most gratifying scenario for me. I cannot imagine how cool it would be to have kids of my own. I would live comfortably composing music for movies and still coaching running in some capacity.

P: What song(s) do you guys want to cover the most?
S: We have an endless list of potential cover songs, and, to be honest, it doesn't interest me that much so I'll try to fill you in on what the other guys want to cover. I know Dave has been pushing to cover a Depeche Mode song for a while, although I don't know which one...Warren, among others, really wants to cover "the Evil that Men do" by Iron Maiden...I guess my choice would be "18 and Life" by Skid Row. In the past Shogun has covered two songs by Weezer, "Raining Blood" by Slayer, "Halloween" by the Misfits, "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row, "I Love Rock n' Roll" by Joan Jett, and "In Your Eyes" by Open Hand. Oh yeah, and we did a Motley Crue cover set at a halloween "monsters of mock" show that featured Metallica, Slayer, and Black Sabbath as well.

P: What's the craziest show that Shogun ever played?
S: Shogun has had a few "crazy" shows, although one comes to mind that stands out because it was really the first. In February of 1999, we played Salt Lake City for the first time with Clear for their CD release. Literally from the first chord half of the 350 kids were going crazy. We thought it was amazing that none of them had ever heard any of our songs, yet they danced the entire set. We ended it with Raining Blood and it seemed like about fifty kids were hoarding the mic to sing along.

P: Do you guys have day jobs or go to school?
S: We all have various undergraduate degrees from the University of Colorado. Dave graduated in 2000 with a Civil Engineering degree and currently works at a local surveying firm. His main interest related to his degree, however, is in acoustic engineering. He hopes to help design acoustically sound studios and performance halls someday. Dave also works as a DJ, although I hesitate to say much about the music, because I know I'll use the wrong terms. All that matters is that he is into it. He actually plans on creating his own electronic music eventually. Warren graduated in 1999 with a degree in English Literature (I think that's the official title) and has been tormenting himself ever since graduation over being in this band, because he would like to eventually pursue an acting career. He is now working on being tormented but wealthy in Maryland. I graduated in 1999 as well with a degree in Kinesiology and Applied Physiology. I work part-time as a personal trainer and running coach, and am working on composing video game soundtracks. I also work part-time at a local elementary school.

P: What would you like to see taught to elementary school children that probably isn't being taught today?
S: Relating to my previous rambling on the perils of American culture, I think it would be great if elementary school kids could be given education without the pressure to someday pursue a life in white collar society. Let them decide for themselves. Working in the school system I was amazed at how much of the daily material is directed at having the kids think in terms of a "career," so to speak. The next Da Vinci could be sitting in third grade being told he/she will work in a cubicle some day. It's ironic, because teachers rarely encourage kids to become teachers. It's almost as if the lack of support for the people that comprise our school systems encourages young kids to pursue a more financially fruitful, however, possibly less-fulfilling career.

P: What is the scariest film ever made?
S: I would have to go with The Exorcist. Demonic possession? What could be scarier?!

P: What instrument or sound would you like to add to Shogun's sound?
S: Well, I don't know if we would add any other sounds to Shogun, but you can be that someday we will have a dance remix, and a symphony version of two of our songs...I really want to do a full-symphony version of Perth Epic, I think that would rule...One day.

P: Who would win an arm wrestling match: Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton?
S: Einstein would win, he developed the equation for energy, after all.

P: Can any of you really dance? For instance, go out to a club, bust out and pick up the ladies.
S: Warren is the only one who dances at hardcore shows and gets chicks. The rest of us are hopeless...Well, at least I seem to be.

P: If the band had theme music what would it be?
S: If it wasn't our own, our theme music would be John Carpenter's theme music from Halloween. We also have done a Shogunized version of that song a few times...

P: At the end of your life, how will you decide if you lived a meaningful life?
S: I think I'll be able to evaluate how meaningful my life was by the degree to which I followed my true passions. Any serious venture in life should be based upon a passion-for me music and running-or else it won't be as satisfying. If I can follow these interests and have a positive effect on the lives of those I come in contact with, then I will have lead a meaningful life.

P: Do you have a website for people to check out beyond GoodFellow's?
S: Shogun website: www.shogun.issexy.com

P: What is on tap for Shogun in the near and far future?
S: Right now we're focused on getting this ep ready for release and we're trying to find somebody to replace Charles on drums and Stuart on bass. If we can do that, then we will try to tour as we have been, rocking the nation coast-to-coast. Long live the very metal!
phone us: 303.350.1253
web site: http://www.shogun.issexy.com
u.s. mail: Shogun