Interview w/ Upon Departure
If you hear the beast rumbling into a town near you, get yourself to the venue for Upon Departure is on their way – but keep your eyes open, because they might need a lift (ha ha). Ever pushing to evolve their sound and bring a mind blowing performance, Upon Departure may be the only band able to go from intense to melodic and happy in 2.5! Renewed by a lineup overhaul and the addition of elements that with expand their sounds, Upon Departure is set to record and will be assaulting venues throughout Oregon, Washington and beyond with their metal mayhem.
HC Is there any significance or story behind your name? We know Upon Departure started with Lowen’s sticks and Justin’s riffs, looking back, how has UD evolved in the past 2 years and what have been some of the most significant changes?
UD - (Justin) Our name came from a few different concepts. We really just wanted to start something new, do great things collectively with our talents, and be able to get out in the world and upon departure go anywhere we wanna go and take our music to its heights.
- (Lowen) First of all our member change, but more importantly our music has become more dynamic. We have definitely found our specific sound since our last EP.
HC The Upon Departure bio mentions that there have been several lineup changes since starting the band in 2007, with some of the recent being your founding drummer (Lowen) stepping out to take on guitars and acquiring a new drummer. How has the depth and diversity of talent shared amongst your members benefited the band? Does it ever make the writing process harder?
UD - (Lowen) We can all play each others instruments for the most part, so when someone has a new idea it can flow pretty easily out for us to hear. We all have different influences also, which helps give us a diverse sound I think.
- (Trevyn) It seems to me that the writing process is much easier! We all are very versatile musicians, which helps us bounce ideas off each other when writing new material.
- (Adam) I feel that Lowen is where he belongs, behind the guitar, it was easy since him and Justin wrote most if not all the music in the beginning anyways. This way, it leaves our best musicians exactly where they need to be to give the best performance and talent.
HC For those who are unfamiliar with Upon Departure’s set, how would you describe yourself? What can
we expect from a UD show?
UD - (Trevyn) We are a powerhouse! At least thats what we’ve been told. Everyone came to see a show, and we’ll give you a show! No matter if you like our music or not you will remember us long after the show is over.
- (Justin) Performance wise, Brutal!!!! ‘nough said HA.
- (Brandon) Very intense, powerful and crazy performances… We try and throw it down harder every show, so that the fans don’t get bored with the same ole’ same ole’.
HC UD wants to be a band that doesn’t just create music to jam to but music that you can feel, what does that mean to you as a band as you write/perform and how have you seen fans responding to that mission?
UD - (Adam) Well when we write music, we go through a lot of different sounds, but we know when something feels right. We’ll stick to a riff and expand on that till we have a rough sound for a song down, then each practice we fine tune it.
- (Justin/Lowen) We’ve both been here since the start, and since then our fans have grown strong and true, and everywhere we go we have someone whether a metal head or not that enjoys our music and our performance. We get people all the time that are just “in awe” about us. And the feeling we get from that response is epic.
HC The band lists itself as Metal/Hardcore/Experimental – what is the experimental element of Upon Departure? How has the recent addition of keys enhanced UD?
UD - (Justin) Metal is pretty self explanatory, along with the hardcore portion of our music. The experimental part is where people get confused… We added the keys/synth to acquire a more full sound and to add expression and more emotion to our music. And besides that, we are not your typical band when referring to our writing style. The normal basis is intro; verse: chorus: verse II; build up; chorus and so on… we don’t particularly follow these modern techniques. We are all about how we think the song should, and the reaction we think we will acquire from the techniques we use for transitions and how we could go from intense to melodic and happy in 2.5!! and we all effin love it!
- (Brandon) The experimental part of the keys is how Dan uses them to our advantage such as adding something super mellow over something super heavy. There for making the perfect experimental melody to rock out to.
HC Upon Departure is set to record mid Nov (09), will this be a full length or EP? When can we expect to see the album available? What is new for this album?
UD - (Trevyn) It will be the start of our full length, we are recording it in stages. We have around 4-5 songs ready to record this coming November. Then we hope to finish up sometime early next quarter. We feel that doing it this way our fans get to hear what our current line up sounds like and so they will have some newer tunes to enjoy before we release them all. We are trying for a late summer release but if everything runs smooth we could be looking at releasing it in late spring. We are trying to add more melody without changing what our fans have come to love.
- (Brandon) It will be just as Trevyn says, we are starting with 4-5 songs of intense crazy heavy music. These new songs are going to be really good and we are all super excited to see how our fans react towards our new stuff and style. Plus the brand new line up.
HC Where are you currently grabbing inspiration from and how has this been affecting your music?
UD - (Adam) well I know that most of the band uses The Devil Wears Prada and like minded bands for inspiration, with a couple of us having influences from the Black Metal scene in Europe.
- (Justin) along with relevant bands, I also take a lot of inspiration from most bands in the rock genre even from the early 70′s and 80′s. They started the metal scene, so I believe you can’t leave out their knowledge.
HC Where can those interested best connect with Upon Departure to find out about news, releases and tours?
UD - (Trevyn) We have a lot of sites that we are currently apart of, but the best way to get all the info right away would be through our myspace profile (like most bands nowadays). It is constantly updated and one of us is usually always logged in to answer questions or to comment back. We also send out bulletins for any and up coming shows also for merch updates.
- (Justin) People can also check us out on our YouTube channel, we have several live videos posted there. It gives people a feel for what we do.
HC Upon Departure is currently based out of Longview, are you all natives?
UD - (Trevyn) I have lived in Rainier, OR most of my life. For those of you that don’t know where that is, it’s right across the river from Longview, WA. I just recently moved the Longview/Kelso area about 2 and a half years ago.
- (Lowen) Yes, for the past 19 years I have lived in Longview, except for the four months that I lived in Kelso.
- (Adam) I actually grew up in Toutle about 10 miles N. of Longview. I joined the military and lived all around the country for almost 4 years then moved back with Dan, now I live with my girlfriend in Longview.
- (Justin) I was born in Longview at the Peace health hospital. I lived in Kelso til I was 2, then my family moved to Kalama where I resided until 2004/2005 when I moved into Longview to finish high school. I lived there until just a few months ago now I have moved back to Kalama with the love of my life!
- (Brandon) Born in Portland, my family moved to Death Valley for a few years then moved to Texas. I have lived in Washington for a couple years now.
- (Dan) I was born in Wichita, Kansas. My family then moved to the Toutle, WA area. For the last 3-4 years my residence has been Longview.
HC Have you played more shows in Vancouver or in Portland? What do you enjoy most about the local music scene? Who have been some of the funnest bands and venues to play with?
UD - (Trevyn) I guess you could say that we’ve played in Portland more. We are just now breaking into the Portland scene and we hope that it doesn’t stop there!
- (Adam) I like playing with We Move Mountains the most I think, but that is because I have only played a couple of shows with the band so far.
HC Favorite place to eat in Vancouver?
UD -(Adam) Golden Tent!!!
HC What are the weapons (instruments) of choice for Upon Departure?
UD - (Trevyn) I currently use a Ampeg B410HE 4×10 paired with a Fender Bassman 250 Head, along with a ESP F-105 Bass and a Fender Percision Bass.
- (Lowen) Right now I’m Using a Epiphone SG, with a Ibanez 50W Toneblaster amp. Looking to upgrade soon!
- (Adam) Gretsch Drums with Tama heads, 5B Vic Firth drumsticks, Pearl and Tama hardware, and GP cymbals, about to upgrade to Zildjian Pro ZHT cymbals
- (Justin) Currently running a Marshall 1/4 stack valve state combo. Fender Squier Stratocaster and Epiphone gothic “V”. by the end of the year should be grabbing up a Marshall half stack with 200w head. Or a Line 6 head and half.
- (Dan) Rocking a Micro Korg Synthesizer/Vocoder, and I am currently trying to resurrect my Korg M1 Music Station.
- (Brandon) Shure Microphones!!!!
HC What have been some of the most important lessons for you as an aspiring artist? Any words of wisdom for those wanting to pursue their dreams of music stardom?
UD - (Trevyn) I think that one of the most important lessons is to be respectful toward EVERYONE! Bands, venue owners/staff, promoters and the fans. Don’t treat anyone like dirt just cause you had a bad day, a string broke in the mid of a song or you feel that you messed up on one of your songs so bad that others will look down on you. Those are the people that are going to help you throughout your career. Oh and always bring along extra guitar picks! Never know when you’ll run out.
- (Lowen) Never lose your drive for playing music. You might get to play for a full crowd, when other times there might be 4 people there to see you. Either way, just go out and show that you love doing what you are doing. Just have fun.
- (Adam) Always have fun and bring your A-game, you never know who is watching you!
- (Justin) Never give up. There is so much talent out there. Just remember its not all about how fast or how much over all skills you can show off. Its all about a good solid sound and to have as much fun in doing it as possible. Also don’t let a new idea throw you off, go with it. It may turn out to be more than you hoped.
HC Any funny and/or scary stories from recent shows or tours?
UD - (Trevyn) Well, we were heading down to Portland on the 27th of October, to play the PacTour Finals. When our van broke down right as we were getting off the on ramp to I-5. We ended up pushing the beast (if you’ve seen our van you’ll know BEAST is the perfect term) back down the on ramp, across 5 lanes of traffic only to end up in a Burger King parking lot. After we called a few friends we got a small army of people to meet us at this BK to unload the van and divide the equipment (along with all of us) into 4 separate vehicles.