Unsung Melody - An interview with Josh K from Psychostick.

When you think of randomness, what’s the first band that comes to mind? If you answered anything other than Psychostick, you must live under a rock. No band delivers the metal in a more humorous way than the ‘Stick. With song topics ranging from beer, to tacos, to hate, to clingy girlfriends, to boobs, to dogs and socks; the band covers the gamut of all things random. Their latest album is titled Space Vampires Vs. Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D. How’s that for random?

Today, I’m joined by a man that goes by many names. Some call him Josh, some The J, some Joshy, others The Guitar Ninja. I’m going with Joshy for now. It just doesn’t seem as intimidating. Joshy plays guitar in a little old band called Psychostick. First off, welcome to the Unsung Melody family and thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

No prob! I completely understand how someone would be intimidated… but I assure you, the stories of me being an assassin part time are only rumors.

We’ll get started by discussing the recent Presidential Inauguration. I don’t think there is a better expert out there than you, so my question is, did Beyonce lip-synch the Star Spangled Banner?

Possibly. I saw the video, it was hard to tell. But I will tell you that lip-syncing is SUPER common, especially in the pop world. It’s just plain easier when you have hundreds of thousands of dollars riding on a performance to play tracks instead of worrying whether the singer might get sick with strep throat or something and not be able to sing. For every one artist that gets caught, there are probably 100 that don’t. To make things more confusing, sometimes they will blend their actual voice with pre-recorded tracks. So they are half-lip syncing… the pre-recorded tracks help “hide” any notes that aren’t on pitch.

Okay, so there’s a video out there and it has dogs in it. It also has a new song from Psychostick in it. Care to elaborate?

One day after rehearsal, our bassist Matt was playing with the dogs singing what would become the lyrics. I heard him and said, “We should just go make that into a song and record it.” So we did. We didn’t expect it to go viral. We just have our own recording studio now, so it was like, “Why not? Let’s give everyone something fun now rather than making them wait for the next record.” It’s really cool being able to just record a ridiculous idea off the cuff like that.

See the video for Dogs Like Socks by Psychostick below:

So that new song, I’d imagine is going to be on a new album. Do you have any information you can release about it?

We originally hadn’t planned on it… I don’t think the song would have made much sense without the video. But so many people have heard it, we may end up doing it. New album: I can tell you that we have a list of about 40 or so songs we need to get written and recorded. I can’t wait to hear how some of these turn out.

You guys needed a new trailer recently, and you got it. So, that’s a huge thank you to the fans. How was the process of crowd-funding for you guys? Is it something that you will definitely do again?

This is actually the second time we’ve done crowd-funding with fans… The first time we did it, the term “crowd-funding” and “Kickstarter” didn’t even exist. We recorded our previous full-length “Sandwich” in 2008 using fan donations in exchange for putting their name in a song (the name of that track is 373 Thanks Yous.) Our fans are EXTREMELY supportive and awesome. We might do it again… we just like to make sure our fans are getting something extra and cool out of it. For example, with the trailer, the inside walls are lined with pictures of the people who donated. Every time we load in and out of the trailer, they are right there with us on the road in spirit.

I’m a big fan of pizza. So having said that, do you think that sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the future of the record industry?

Tough to say. Pizza or no pizza, funding your record is just one part of it. The touring circuit is still run by the same business that’s always run it, and there are still distribution channels that the labels are the gatekeeper for.

Crowd-funding let’s you take the cost of recording out of the picture. But it’s not as big a deal as it used to be anyway because recording technology has gotten so good. I know a lot of recording studios that have gone out of business because of all the home recording studios that have popped up (we have OUR own now, for example.) I know lots of serious bands that have one guy in the band who is the “recording guy.” They just record their own stuff. The main benefit I could see with crowd-funding is if you wanted to hire a fairly expensive producer.

You’ve had some very interesting tour names in the past. I saw some dates posted starting in March. Have you chosen a name for the tour yet?

Yes! We just agreed on the “Our Tour Can Beat Up Your Tour… Tour”. We agreed on that just last night, to be precise. You are privy to insider information, sir.

I suggest the Kickstart Your Fart tour.

HAHAHA!!! We may have to bring you in as a tourname consultant in the future. You’ve got the gift.

Will you be driving the van with the big guns or has Obama passed a law against that yet?

You know, it wasn’t so much the gun laws as practicality. The weight of that minigun was just awful for gas mileage, and we weren’t coming across enough hostiles to justify the cost. Ammo was expensive, too. You can just run them over and it’s way more cost effective.

You guys created your own genre called Humorcore. My only real serious question is, who wins the Superbowl?

Obviously the team who’s more super. My only serious answer.

No seriously, was Humorcore created out of frustration or was that the intent of the band from the start?

We always wanted to do THIS. Be a metal band, but also fun and had a sense of humor. That’s how we found our drummer Alex in the first place. He had an ad in the classified that said, “Seeking band… MUST HAVE SENSE OF HUMOR.” We even had to let go of one of the early, early band members because he wasn’t feeling the funny metal thing, so we’ve always been very serious about being stupid. The term “humorcore” started out as a joke making fun of the explosion of “cores” that had happened at the time… Hardcore, metalcore, rapcore, grindcore, punkcore, skacore. We made up “humorcore” and it stuck for some reason.

I Can Only Count to Four is a parody. You guys generally do your own material. Were there any issues from the Drowning Pool camp or did they know it was all in good fun and give it their blessing?

No issues at all. As a matter of fact, back in 2009 before we had recorded it, the singer of Drowning Pool of the time, Ryan McCombs, saw us play at a club in New Jersey and thought it was hilarious. We even got him to say “I Can Only Count to 4” on a video blog.

Here’s the video of Ryan McCombs:

Alright, I always end on a random question. Here’s yours: So I read on your website that you love frosting. What’s your favorite flavor and why?

REAL frosting… BUTTERCREAM FROSTING! Not that nasty-ass “lite” whipped-cream poser-frosting they have a grocery stores. That shit pisses me off. IT’S NOT FUCKING BROCCOLI, IT’S A CAKE, DAMNIT! I want to damage my health in exchange for a moment of HYPER-SWEET PLEASURE! That’s what cake is FOR! Don’t take that away from me, I WANT TO LIVE BEFORE I DIE.

Joshy, I thank you so very much for taking the time to speak with us today. The site and myself, we wish you and the band nothing but the best. You guys be safe out there on the road.