We had the chance talk with T-Roy of Sourvein about the new album, Aquatic Occult, available Worldwide April 8, 2016.
What’s up, T-Roy; how are you doing?
T-Roy: Good, man. Just out in California doing some work, remodeling a house.
So nothing fun, then?
T-Roy: Making some money and helping a friend out.
Let’s talk about this new album you have coming out, Aquatic Occult. How long has it been since the last album release?
T-Roy: Last album release was in May of 2011.
So you have had a few years to work on this one?
T-Roy: We went in and did the last one, then went out on tour with it, and after you get that done, it’s time to work on the next one.
Looks like you have got a slew of guest appearances on Aquatic Occult.
T-Roy: I invited a few friends. Finally had the opportunity to do so.
Yeah just a few friends, Randy Blyth and Mike Dean, just to name a few…
T-Roy: Yeah man, I kind of go back with those guys. Stig from Amebix is on there. A couple of the guys from my hometown, like Kiko that used to be in Weedeater, Dave Capps, the guys from Subrig Destroyer, are on a few tracks. I had the opportunity to have some friends join in on the fun, so I made it happen.
You say you made it happen. That had to be a pretty big undertaking to get a lot of these guys on there…
T-Roy: I happened to record Aquatic Occult in North Carolina, so it gave me the opportunity and the access to like the gut of Corrosion of Conformity. They live just down street, and they were into the tunes and wanted to do the records. We were in-between drummers at the time, and Reed lives, like, a mile away, so it just made since. And we were able to go up and visit Randy Blyth in Virginia. He and I have been talking about doing something for a while. Stig from Amebix and Dean from Iron Monkey recorded in England and Canada and flew their stuff in. It took a little wrangling, but we just went with it you know. It was just a perfect opportunity to do it and do something different from the last album.
So, what would you say is your favorite track from this album?
T-Roy: It’s hard to say, man; I like a lot of them, but I really dig one called “Hymn to Poseidon” and “Capsized”. Those are the ones I put a lot of time in to the riffs, and especially “Capsized”. I was able to get my friend Dave Capps. He was one of the guys that I saw in high school that was already doing it and he influenced me. So, to come full circle and get him on a track and to have Reed Mullin playing on it, too was great. It was a North Carolina kind of thing, so to have it come full circle was a very rewarding kind of thing for me as an artist to bring it all together. I really like all the tracks, man. “Ocypuss”, the single that just came out with Mike Dean and Randy…I like them all.
It’s pretty awesome to have all these people that can come in and play and jam out. It speaks volumes for you and the band.
T-Roy: Yeah, with my schedule and always traveling it is hard to just stay put and be, like, a local band. I have guys all over. I have my set guys that go on the road with me. I have my core guys, and that is just what works best right now.
So, are you guys looking to get out in support of the album?
T-Roy: Absolutely, we are a live band, man. I have done a tour every year since ‘94, so that’s like 22 years or something. We are not one of the bands that take a seven year break from touring and the hop back on it like we have not missed a beat. We always try to stay active and do everything we can to get dates in every year and to stay relevant. We’re a live band, like I said. Seeing us live is the way to go. We are looking forward to doing the first leg of the tour; it will be in Europe, then we will hit the West Coast. Then we will break it in to sections due to work commitments and stuff like that. I can’t do it like we used to and just live on the road for seven months. We got to break it down into sections, stay active, try to do some festivals and some offs.
You’ve got to love being on the road, traveling to Europe and everywhere else, and seeing the people out there singing your songs going ape shit. It just has to give you so much energy.
T-Roy: I feed off that energy, and III love it, man. I appreciate them to the utmost because music is my life. To get feedback like that over in Europe or anywhere else is very much like the payoff.
Well, man, we hope on one of those legs of the tour you get over to KC so we can see you guys. Like you said, you are a live band, and we would love to see you. Is there anything you would like to say to the fans before you have to get back to the work you do not want to do?
T-Roy: I just want to say thanks to everyone and thanks to everyone who supports. Thanks to the musicians who have played with me, and thanks to Mike Dean who produced the record and to Metal Blade for putting it out. Thanks to Brad for mastering it and all the guys that helped and all the years of support. We will see you on the road. We are going to hit everywhere, man, in little sections. We will see you all out there.
Interview by Ace Sims, RockRevolt Journalist
