Dead Register: Interview

Chvasta speaks about Dead Register

Interview conducted on August 31, 2018

by Daniel Locke

Dead Register can be described as The Cure covering Neurosis. Or Peter Murphy covering Swans. Or Bauhaus covering Type O Negative.Or Dead Can Dance covering Isis. Many sentence fragments. Or none of the above. Melodic gloomy blackened cvlt gaze. Complements 80’s new wave to 2000’s black metal.

Dead Register – Danny Ryann, M. Chvasta and Avril Che

Dead Register’s signature dual-bass sonic proclamation has been described as “crushing waves of despair,” “unforgettable and haunting,”and “an emotion-evoking wall of sonic sadness.” Their crushing yet accessible sound has paired well as live support for Author & Punisher, Wovenhand, Agalloch, Pinkish Black, Vowws, Tombs, Alcest, Order of the Owl, Pleasures, Wolvhammer, King Dude, Set and Setting, Hexxus, The Body, SubRosa, & many more.

For all fans of the CVLT bands, new and old, currently icy hot in 2018: Chelsea Wolfe, Joy Division, Soft Kill, Soft Moon, True Widow,Cold Cave, Deafheaven, Ritual Howls, Drab Majesty (stole their image from our Grave video, you’re welcome), Pallbearer, Youth Code, Windhand,  Anter Irma, Russian Circles, Sumac, Katatonia, Depeche Mode.

On November 2nd 2018 gothic post-metal band DEAD REGISTER will release their new EP Captive. The release is the follow up to the band’s critically acclaimed 2016 album Fiber.

Dan Locke: How did your band start?

M. Chvasta: No one was playing the music I wanted to hear. Novel idea: “I’ll just, like, play what I want to hear.” Avril and I (best friends for 15 years) started dating, and shortly thereafter started making music.

How did you get the band’s name?

Avril plays the low-low bass parts, mostly an octave or so below the standard bass register. When I distorted chords over her fuzzed out low end, it turned into a gloriously mushy mess of sonically pulverizing register of bass frequencies that we dubbed “The dead register”. It stuck.

Why do you call your music Gothic Post Music?

There was Post-Rock, Post-Punk, Post-Metal, so why not “Post-goth”? We get a ton of gothic comparisons due to my baritone voice on top of the moody tunes that I write. I’m not exactly the sleeveless see-through mesh top type of bloke, and our image or sound isn’t overtly “bat music” (as described by a previous album reviewer). So there. I didn’t see it anywhere else at the time – I might have started a new genre by coining us as Post-Goth. Trendsetters, we are.

You two are married. How is it to be in a band and to be married?

Dead Register- M. Chvasta and Avril Che

We’ve been best friends since 1996. Most of our relationship has been based around getting together and viciously bitching about “shit that sucks” over multiple cups of coffee. We’re like an extra crotchety version of Statler and Waldorf.

How has the creativity different come home to your marriage?

Wet goose lands on bricks. Dark feathered father fears rejection from his peers. Mango juice. SYNTAX ERROR.

Your band played in Chicago, IL back in Nov. 2017, at the Quenchers Saloon. Did you get any chance to check out Chicago at all?

We LOVE Chicago. My mother lived there when I was a young’n and I spent many summers there melting and bringing carry-ons home full of tapes, records, and cd’s back to Atlanta. I found so many rare, weird, and CHEAP albums. Your public transportation actually takes you to places with ease.

How is Atlanta GA for metal music?

There are so many metal bands here I can’t keep up. I just checked my social media and there were ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE invitations to “like” band pages. So… even though ATL is predominantly a “trap” town, there are some metal happenings here.

Since you are from Atlanta GA have you had the chance to see any famous bands play small clubs?

I’ve seen Isis and Explosions in the Sky in a tiny basement venue. I saw Less than Jake at a house show. Atriarch played for me, Avril, and two other bodies on Thanksgiving a few years back. Hot Water Music played in the dining room of a burrito place. Converge played at a small campus hall.

What clubs do you like to perform in?

Dead Register1

The ones that provide us with food (and/or gas money). I like small clubs with low stages to be near to eye-level with the crowd. Growing up going to tons of DIY shows in houses, basements, galleries, burrito joints… that intimate aesthetic has stuck with me. Example: Chizuko in Pensacola fed us unforgettable vegan sliders, gave us gas money, gave the drinkers drinks, and was filled with a fair amount of attentive and receptive bodies on a weeknight. To me, that’s a great night. We’ve built tailored our live sound to work in just about any small/medium venue without a PA if necessary.
How has your music changed from the first EP to the new one?
The vibe is still there, but I wanted to play more than 3 songs a night, so I’ve cut the song length down considerably from our first. There is no 13 minute long songs on the new Captive EP. Setlist: same gloom, more room.

Any endorsements?

We’d love to get behind any rad company that’d send us gear. Avril and I have spent countless hours tone-sculpting and found some of the most unique sounds through some fairly common gear. She LOVES BK Butler’s stuff and Tech 21 for her high textures. We both use a great deal of… BOSS pedals. Yes, the tried and true. I’m a fan of Boss, EXH, and TC Electronics stuff. Big name products seem to require big name, high revenue generating acts to fork over gear. If you know companies that want to help some poor artsy folks with gear – WE ARE THEM. Send us drumsticks, bass strings, drum heads, and cases THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

Who would you like to open up for?

We’ve been lucky enough to play with a great deal of the bands we love. Here are some long stretches of bands whose hordes of fans would buy our merch: FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM. Godflesh. Killing Joke. The Cure. Daughter. Rotting Christ. Nine Inch Males. Julie Christmas. Team Sleep. Swans. Failure?

Any special side projects you are working on individually?

Dead Register

Hahaha, Avril and I are working on a harsh electronic/industrial project together. Dead Register started out with beats that I programmed, and we’re going to bring our ideas that are too ugly for DR back to this to be hung on a rack and tortured. We’ll keep you posted. I used to play a solo show, just voice + bass. I keep saying I’m going to bring it back. Super sappy neo-folk-type stuff, you know, the stuff that mostly nobody wants to hear. Avril’s been scheming an insect noise project, speaking of stuff that nobody wants to hear.

Avril you are a fan of Mr. Rogers. Have you seen the Mr. Rogers documentary? Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Is an intimate portrait of Rogers, a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination? And what do you think of Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers in the new version of his life?

Mr. Rogers represents a miniscule flickering possibility that the human race isn’t entirely a steaming pile of doomed mammal-creatures. Thank you for reminding me that I need to see that documentary! As far as Tom Hanks goes… well… we’ll see. He can be an amazing actor. But I see him on screen, and it’s like, oh, look, there’s Tom Hanks acting. I’d prefer an unknown playing the part so the focus is on The One & Only Mr. Rogers without the distraction of a big-name star.

Anything you like to say in closing?

Listen to our new EP. Send messages to your friends with a direct URL to listen. Go to your favorite public place and put us in the jukebox. Make us immortal (without vampirically sucking our blood, please and thank you).

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