8 Degrees
Questions Answered By
Chris Stuke (Drums), Aaron Lambotte (Vocals), Erik Francis (Guitar)
11/28/00
Interviewed by wookubus
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Related Links:
Official Website
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PRP: Lets start off with the basics, how did you guys get together?
Chris: Erik & I had known each other from previous bands and we were both in between bands around
X-mas of 95 so we just decided to get together to see what new and different
kinds of sounds we could come up with. We both knew Aaron and asked him if
he'd be interested in checking things out and he did and he liked it. I knew
Helmut through my brother and we'd jammed around before so I gave him a call,
and he loved what we were doing, then we called Tim who all of us but Helmut
knew, and he came down and was into everything too, I'm surprised that we've
made it for as long as we have.
PRP: You're all planning to relocate to the west
coast soon, what are the reasons
behind this and how hard has it been to establish yourself in a town like
Topeka?
Chris: It hasn't been hard to establish us per say, but it has been extremely
difficult to be taken seriously anywhere outside of Topeka. Even Lawrence
which is 20 min east of T-town won't give us the time or day, and playing in
Kansas City which boasts of it's prominent scene, is impossible, most club
owners and people in "the scene" dictate what's cool to hear at their clubs
and what's not. The reasons for us relocating are quite simple, we feel that
our music will get the attention it deserves and that people are more into
what we're doing on the left coast as opposed to the "emo" loving snobs
around the KC area. Lets face it, the market is greater and on the left
coast there's actually a legit scene instead of the same 10 or 12 bands
playing every weekend and calling it a scene.
PRP: Do you worry about the big fish in a small pond vs. small fish in a big pond
situation that moving to a larger scene will cause?
Aaron: Absolutely not, we're not
well received around our area but almost everyone has heard of us so as far
as being a big fish in a small pond, being that big fish has done nothing for
us. I'm looking foreword to being a little fish, I feel it will make us work
harder and that our music will develop light years ahead than if we stay put.
PRP: On your first full length release the band was pretty much into the standard
rapcore sound, was it a feeling of wanting to reinvent yourself which pushed
you to the more melodic approach you have now, or was it more along the lines
of natural growth?
Chris: Natural growth, you can use the same formula only so many
times before you get burned out on it. And it was so weird because our
change was almost as if it was an unconscious effort. None of us said "hey,
let's change our style" the music more or less just wrote itself and there
were no comments like" hey guys, I want to keep doing what we've been doing,
fuck all this melodic shit." I think our first full length was us just
trying to find our potential and our strengths, and our second is us actually
putting in motion our capabilities, and hopefully by the third we'll have
definitely established a sound or genre all it's own.
PRP: The fusion of rap and rock seems to have been losing its following, do you
see the urban styling eventually working itself out of the band or do you plan to
always retain a hip hop element?
Erik: I think that Aaron will always rap, but I
think he does it with a style that is different and better than most of the
standard vocalists who rap. Aaron also has a fantastic voice and the knack
for using it in just the right spots. And in more of the material we've been
writing he's been singing a lot more and rapping only when the personality of
the song asks for it. As far as us having a hip-hop element in the music, I
think that it's fading quick and that we are becoming more of a, I don't
know, all's I can say is that we don't sound like any of the other bands that
are in the rap-rock categories.
PRP: Bands like Linkin Park and Papa Roach are seemingly thriving on putting
their own spin on the rap/metal movement, yet many other groups have tried
and failed, do you think there's a viable market for your guys sound?
Chris: Yes, I know there's a market for us, I think that in some ways we're on the same
lines as Linkin and Papa and in a lot of other ways we have our own spin on
what we do that gives us a unique and appealing sound.
PRP: Do you ever fear being written off as a mere "Adidas Rock" band?
Chris: No, and I
really don't know who you'd put in that category to begin with. I guess when
I think of the term "Adidas Rock" I think of all the unsigned bands that just
write straight forward rock and rap songs and who dress all trendy and have
songs named 4:20 and refer to their music as phat. The first time I'd ever
heard of the term, was in an interview with Ross Robinson, and he was stating
that Adidas Rock was dead, which I find funny since he pretty much helped
create Bands such as Korn and Limp who wore Adidas shoes, so I guess he was
saying that that type of music was dead. It looks as if both Limp and Korn
are still mad popular, so maybe Ross was just upset that they were using
different producers. I wear Adidas shoes so I guess if that constitutes for
the mainstream definition; than we're an Adidas rock band and we'll be
written off as well. Ha ha.
PRP: The evolution of the bands music has taken a bit of an off course direction
on the latest CD "A Series Of Moments", would you say you guys were trying
to create larger sounding songs?
Erik: I don't think it took an off course, I think
we're right on course with how we want the music to sound. In my opinion I
don't think we we're trying to create larger songs, I think that we just
naturally matured in our writing and that we all share the same vision and
want the most for our music and what you're hearing is the result of the
maturity and the vision. When we write we just don't come up with cool
sounding riffs, put them together and then have Aaron come in and rap and
scream, we look at how we want the song to develop, what textures would
compliment it, and what kind of feel the song wants to have. Then Aaron gets
a vibe off of what's being created and puts what he thinks needs to be in the
song. It's very tedious and tiresome at times but the end result is worth
the hard work and stress that goes into the song. It's a part of all of us.
PRP: The band was originally known as Piss, do you think that when your friends
came to the shows to see you perform, they left and said "hey I just saw my
friends Piss"?
Aaron: Yeah we got to hear all the goofy remarks like "you guys sound
like piss!" but the funny thing was, is that we got a lot of attention at
first because it was such an awkward name, so naturally people would want to
come out and hear what a band called Piss would sound like. A brilliant
marketing ploy derived from Erik's knack to be disgusting.
PRP: The group has opened for bands such as Warrant, and
Slaughter, how was that
experience and were there many mullets present in the audience?
Aaron: All mullets,
and we were like, "what the fuck are these people going to think of us?" I
mean these people took these bands serious, so serious that they all stood
outside in the freezing rain since 5:00 to see these fossils of rock. But I
have to admit, they loved us and jumped up and down and did not make any
fucked up comments. I was even surprised when I talked to Mark Slaughter that
he wasn't bitter like I figured he was gonna be.
PRP: How has the response been so far for your latest disc?
Aaron: I'm not sure, I know
that all the reviews have been positive, and that the people I talk to that
have heard it say it's so much more us and 1k times better than our old
stuff. I know that we've gotten a lot more calls from everyone, labels,
clothing companies, sports programs, t.v. shows, so I guess you could say the
response has been really good.
PRP: Is there any distinct meaning behind the name
"8 Degrees"?
Aaron: Yeah but it's a
long story, the end result means powerful and intense degrees of music (don't
ask, I can never explain it where it makes sense) All I know now is that
instead of the "clever" piss jokes we get the "clever" 98 degrees jokes,
it'll never end.
PRP: You guys chose to add a DJ to your sound after already beginning to shift it
in a more melodic direction, were you at all turned off to the idea at first?
Chris: I myself was hesitant, and I'm sure I'm the only one who has this
opinion, but I feel having a DJ that does what ours is doing only stigmatizes
our music. He is very talented, but having all the "scratching and w-w-w-what's and the 4-3-2-1s " takes a lot of the maturity out of the music
and throws us backwards into the rapcore genre. Now if he was doing more of
a mood thing with weird sounds and not so much old school scratching, than I
think it would be a great asset to the music. But as of right now, I think
knowing that there's a "DJ" in the band people automatically think "Oh OK, I
know what you guys are all about, you sound like Limp Bizkit" and in a way,
with what he does, we do sound like them in that aspect, but they did that
shit years ago and the only people doing it now are those unsigned bands that
all sound alike. So yes I'm definitely turned off to the idea as it stands
now and will be until it pushes the music forward instead of dragging it back
to what has been done a million times before by someone else.
PRP: The band has made good use of the exposure the internet has to offer,
through the use of mp3's and web promotion, how important would you say the
internet has been in your career?
Aaron: It's been the most important thing I think,
how else can people in Germany and Denmark hear you, let alone hear of you? It's helped our career and given us exposure, way more than anything outside
the cyber-world has done for us.
PRP: Selling over 3000 copies of your independently released album is no easy
feat, would you say the group is well known around the local area or were the
bulk of sales through the internet?
Chris: We're well known around the local area and
the mp3 sites have helped considerably, I'd say that it wouldn't still be
selling as well as it is if it weren't for the net.
PRP: Would you have "Swam The Waters" if someone had peed in them first?
Erik: We're a
bunch of sick and gross motherfuckers, we'd have probably jumped in quicker if
we'd known someone had "pissed" in them first.
PRP: Your track "Clayed And Stitched" was included on the recent
Cataclizmic
Records release, "Crossoverdose", have you noticed more attention being
focused on the band since the inclusion, and how do you feel about being
included on the disc?
Aaron: No I haven't noticed, and as far as being on the disc,
that's cool, and being lumped in with all the other bands that have the same
taste makes us look even more off center which is great.
PRP: When can we expect the band to hit the studio again for another release?
Chris: I have no idea, but we've been going through a writing spurt and everything
sounds better than what's on "Series", everyone is happy with the way the
music is taking us. If you'd like to hear some new studio stuff you can send
donations to:
"Those broke fucks"
c/o 8 Degrees
PO Box 4923
Topeka KS
66604
PRP: So, it's already known that you guys will be transplanting to
west coast, so
what's in store for the band after that?
Erik: Trying to feed ourselves and pay the
rent.
Chris: We're all very excited and very scared which is cool because our fears
will insure us that we won't slack. We won't know very many people and we
won't have much money to do things, so our focus will be on writing and
developing, we'll also learn how to live with each other on a more intense
level, which is good also, we're already a family unit but I think the ties
will be grater therefore making the music greater. I'm looking forward to
practicing 7 days a week with my brothers and playing in places that the rest
of the world has heard of instead of shit bars with huge egos in the Midwest.
PRP: Well, that's about it, any shoutouts or shameless self promotion?
Aaron: Visit the website www.8degrees.net, and if you're in the SoCal area look for us , we'll be in
need of food and toothpaste and toilet paper and the occasional car ride,
and......
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