CRISIS INTERVIEW July 14th 2005

CRISIS INTERVIEW
By Benji Womack- Your Music Magazine & Army of Pit Soldiers Presents
July 14th 2005 @ The Pound S.F

Ok I did an interview with crisis a while back and it was never really published the way it should have been, so I caught up with them again and I took the best parts from the first and added them to the follow up. I don't know but there is just something about hot women behind the Microphone screaming at me , I love it , and Karen is defiantly talented at what she does up on that stage , here is the first interview I did earlier this year and the one I just did recently , SO don't waste anymore time, read on…

Dudes Name – Jwyanza Hobson
Karyn Crisis -

Benji-For those you don't know shit about Crisis, please inform the world who Crisis is and there sick ass line up?
Karen - Well we started in 1993, and uh, we released our first album in 1994, um which was Eight Convulsions, uh, the one after that, '96, was Deathshead Extermination, which was the one that put us on the map, um, 1997 was The Howling. Not long after that, um, well throughout those albums we did have some drummer changes; but we are touring with the original drummer, who is here tonight, so we're playing all of our old school stuff. Um, and in between the time we moved to California to launch and start the band and to audition a new guitar player. We where really pretty much the first uh, heavy metal female band out there; we where an anomaly at the time we came out. Not only because we had a female fronting the band, because metal was a dirty word back in those days, and we where thought to be, but we where. In addition, musically I think we where just as weird back then, as we are now, we do not really fit in anywhere and we tend to go emotional places that many bands do not, and we tend to use a lot of different texture, and just, kind of break the rules. We really don't really follow any typical standard metal rules or hardcore rules. Jwyanza was actually a fan of the band before he joined, so he can tell you about what he thought.
Jwyanza – you did not have problems right on, I mean, we played by the band uh, checked out the records, I guess. It speaks for itself.

Benji – Yeah I read about that in another interview I just did.
Karyn – Yeah, the brand new one on Sheep Led to Slaughter is the first on was Jwyanzas Arm, he has been in the band for 6 years now, 6 years, lots of recordings, but this is his first album.

Benji- So lets here it, how was the tour with Jackknife and M.O.D, and tell me some of the highlights?
Karyn – Well, it has been fun. Actually, this is our last night of the tour, um, M.O.D and jackknife are continuing to Tempe, but this is our last, so uh, it is going to be a fun one. I think we decided the first tour where all the bands really got a long and had a good night every night, lots of joking around, and hamming it up, and actually, we had a lot of weird stories on tour.
Jwyanza – Yeah, the first one, and I know your thinking the same thing, was this show that we played in Okalahoma at this club called Club Purgatory, which was actually a church at one point, and uh, what happened was, the resident creature killed himself in the basement of the church, he thought he was possessed by demons, and so he killed himself. And later on they converted the church into a club where they have rock shows, like metal shows. And when we drove in there and heard the story and where like "wow that's unbelievable", and at the same time we're hearing this we find out there's two tornados, coming towards Okalahoma city on the East and West sides of the city and their coming towards us, destroying towns in their paths, and then so we got to get inside the church. We take all our bags, all our belongings; and we bring them all inside the church and it seems like we're going to be stuck in there for a while. So we where in there for a while just the amazing ness of the situation just, it was just,
Karyn – And then we were struck by lightning! So all the power went out, but luckily came back on, and it was raining sideways.
Jwyanza – Yeah, it was absurd. In addition, people where walking around the club saying they felt the presence of the preacher and all that.
Karyn - We have quite a few stories like that

Benji -Tell me about KC Leatherworks?
Karyn-, it is a leatherworks company I started a few years ago. I decided I need to make a living doing art that I do, and I decided making a lot of custom leather, and um, I have a shop here on Crisis.com, and I had all the leatherworks up there. It's off line; well the store is closed at the moment, um, because I've been having trouble figuring out a solution on how to get things made while I'm on tour, so I've been brining the leather with me on the rode. Um, meanwhile, to solve that problem I've gotten belt buckles made and I've started a T-shirt line for women called Exorsister. Um, and so those are all things I can get made at a factory, and so, and keep for sale while on the road. So I'm just developing the leather the same way and have all those things available along Crisis shirts on the KarynCrisis.com store.

Benji- And the Graphic novel on the fan site?
Karyn – Yeah, I do not know, everyone has been waiting forever for this thing. It's been quite a few years, um, in the making, it's about 64 pages in color, and I've been talking with the N directors about putting it out together like after the New Year. So, um, it's something that I really wanted to do all on my own, but color printing is pretty expensive, and it's um, it's not out yet. Still waiting!

Benji- Do you still have the Violin you made as a kid out of cigar boxes and rubber bands?
Karen - No! I wish I did!

Benji -What do you guys do for fun when you are not playing or writing new music?
Jwyanza – We are all big movie fans is one thing, we are probably almost equally inspired by really good movies as we are by good music, you know? Even more so now with all the independent movies and you know with things in disillusion, and the music scene as far as what is happening now, you know, listening to old bands and stuff. But yeah, check out movies, eat sushi.
Karen -never have enough time to finish them…

Benji- So is the new album still due to come out at the beginning of the year 2006?
Karyn – The new one, well we are just writing it right now, we have just barely started. So, were still getting tours and stuff out of Like Sheep Led to Slaughter. Um, what were going to do is, we've started working on a few pieces, um one of them before we hit the road and one of them actually when we played the Alrosa villa, in Ohio, which is a club we frequent a lot, and um, what happened was it was a really heavy day to play there because Dimebag was killed, and then we know the club people really well. These guys left me at the hotel to go set up and sound check at the club, and this really heavy mood fell over everyone and we where all feeling a little disbanded, but from what I heard this amazing jam came out of it, so that's the beginning of another piece. And we're going to go home and start really working on the new record, go out on tour again with in October with Exodus, The Regions of Blood, and Losa, and um, then after that tour we're going to come back, and then for rest of the year write the record. So I don't, you know. It takes time to write it and then record it, so it will not be out until late spring early summer.

Benji - Tell me about this Purgatory to Cape Fear incident you had?
Karyn – Well, you heard the Purgatory one already, which was that one. Cape Fear was uh, a couple of the guys in Jackknife got this really bad viral infection, like upper- respiratory. And I caught it, and I had to go to the emergency room because I couldn't swallow, and I was like "I'm never going to be able to sing!" And so we went to the nearest emergency room. We went to this hospital and it was Cape Fear hospital, and it was really weird. Like a lot of the medics there, doctors, had tattoos. And the woman behind the desk was like asking me, she heard we where in a band, she was like "We are all head bangers here." And she was telling me all these heavy bands to listen to. It was really surreal. That was another one of the weird stories that happened.

Benji- How are the Exorsister T- Shirts doing so far and do you have them with you tonight?
Karyn – Uh, they sold out twice, so I did not have enough to continue the rest of the tour. Which is great, it was the first shirt that I brought, the Avenga Anga; I wanted to test it out. And it sold out so fast! So it was really cool and I am going to have those on-line when I get back home.

Benji -What is next on the agenda for Crisis?
Jwyanza – Well, in October, we are going to be hitting the road again, with Exodus and 3 Inches of Blood, and also Losa's going to be doing the first half of the tour, it is going to be an American tour. But, they're going to be on the first half of the tour, and then Watch Them Die is going to be on the second half, taking Losas place. So it's going to be uh, Exodus, 3 Inches of Blood, Crisis, Losa, then Watch Them Die is going to take over Losas place. So we are going to be doing that until uh the beginning of November, then we are going to be going home, write the next record, and record it.

Benji- So tell me a little about the show tonight, how long is your set, and are you guys going to be playing any older stuff like you did last time or you going to be playing new stuff?
Karyn – It's mostly new stuff tonight, couple of oldies. Um, last time the reason we did all oldies was because our drummer exploded, literally, his appendix did, and we brought our original drummer Fred, on the road, which was a treat for the Crisis fans. So tonight, we have a new drummer, and we are playing all new stuff, about a forty minute set, maybe forty-five today.
Jwyanza – Yeah, we have got some extra special… surprises…
Karyn – ...tribute…

By Benji Womack
www.crisissite.com
www.karyncrisis.com
www.kcleatherworks.com
www.myspace.com/pitsoldiers