Exclusive Interview: Akimbria talk writing and recording “All That I Am, Laid Out in Front of Me”!

You know how it works. We interview a band about their latest burnt offering and then seven days later we swing back and interview them again about what went into writing and recording it. That means we can keep these interviews mobile phone and short attention span friendly while also giving the band twice the exposure; so win-win and much like Pizza and beer, sensational. This latest one is the second with the soon to be legendary Akimbria guitarist and vocalist Joey Phillips about his bands debut EP “All That I Am, Laid Out in Front of Me”, a diverse Deathcore orientated sensation that we love and frankly we think you will too!

What did you learn in the recording sessions for “All That I Am, Laid Out in Front of Me” that will help you next time around? “Don’t worry too much about your tone while you’re tracking, get those tracks down cleanly and then worry about that later! As long as there’s no clipping and it is played cleanly, you can get a good tone later on”

How does the writing process of a new Akimbria track start? Melody, riff or rhythm first? “Riffs. At any point in time I have 12 riffs at my disposal. I usually figure out every riff throughout the song in my DAW, and then write drums and bass to accompany that scratch track guitar. Once the drums and bass are down, record the guitars and get great takes. Vocals are always last, because that’s the easiest part for me”

The clean vocals on the EP were very much an unexpected surprise and a brave choice for the Deathcore genre. How did you go about getting the balance right between when to use them and when not to and also which lyrics fitted them best? “It wasn’t a conscious decision to have cleans on every track, but the cleans fit the tracks more than screams would at those certain parts. But it’s mostly because I enjoy singing and having melodic sections to accompany heavier things. There will definitely be tracks in the future that lack singing, but there’s no plans either way”

It sounds like the drums on the EP are programmed however they have been done in a forgiving way meaning that a drummer of flesh and bone could easily take them on; so is that something that is on the cards or have you had issues finding someone to grace the drum stool for you in the past? “The drums are, in fact, programmed as you said. We don’t have a drummer so there really isn’t anything else we could have done. Rather than wait god knows how long to find a competent deathcore drummer in our area with the right equipment and mindset, we decided to make good music first and then get a drummer from there. That also means no shows until we have a drummer who lives in the Latrobe-Pittsburgh area, so if you know anyone, hit us up”

For us gear nerds out there, can you tell us what you’re using gear wise (pedals, strings, drums etc) to get your sound? “I currently use a Solar GC1.7FBB with La Bella HRS-72 nickel wound strings tuned to drop G#. For the EP, we used the Neural DSP Soldano SLO-100 plugin for all of the guitar tones. In my opinion, the Soldano SLO-100 has the best tones for metal and the Neural DSP iteration has some of the best sounding cabs I’ve ever heard, and I am VERY particular with my guitar tone. Currently, Jaden (bass) uses an Ibanez SRMS805 with the Mammoth plugin from Aurora DSP, and I have no idea what our producer used for the final mix. Owen (lead guitar) currently uses a Schecter Reaper Multiscale 7 String”

What difference would it make to you as a band if you could land an endorsement from a gear manufacturer? “To be able to be partnered with a guitar brand would be insane. I currently am using a Solar and it is genuinely the perfect guitar for me, and their new Vinter 7 string G model looks great as well. Solar would definitely be my ideal company, but we aren’t set on any specific company at this point in time. We all play different brands at the moment, and would all want to individually partner”