Alright folks, time for some interview sessions! I got in touch with Seth from Becoming The Archetype a few weeks ago, he was kind enough to shed some light on their recently released EP ("Celestial Progression"), as well as the new album expected to drop sometime in late 2012. The guys have been dormant for the last little while and now with a new tour on their hands, and the momentum of a new album in the works, I'm sure you'll be hearing/seeing quite a bit of these guys for the rest of 2012 and into 2013. So without further delay, AFGM gives you Seth Hecox from BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE!
First off, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. How are things going in the BTA camp? What have you guys been up to recently?
Things are going well. We're gearing up to record our 5th full-length album and then we'll be hitting the road all summer!
What prompted the Celestial Progression EP? How did it come about to take on a project like this?
Celestial Progression is an EP of 6 remixes done by friends of mine. The remixes sound great and it was something I'd wanted to do for awhile, as I've been into the electronica scene for the last couple year. Luckily I have genius-level friends that made some great sounds with our songs!
How do you find people are taking to this EP?
So far, so good. People have said really positive things about it, although I assume only our hardcore fans are aware that this digital-only EP is even out, haha.
Where can people find this EP?
iTunes and amazonmp3 have it. amazonmp3 always seems to be cheaper, though.
The prequal LP, Celestial Compilation, was a great success and you got a lot of positive reviews from it. Do you have any future plans to keep that momentum going in regards to writing and recording?
Absolutely! Shane Frisby is lined up to record our new full-length and we've got most of the material written for the album. Should be an exciting new album. We'll be cutting out a lot of the crazy experimentation that Celestial Completion had and making a more focused, cohesive album.
Who did the artwork for Celestial Completion? It was a great job!
Dan Seagrave painted the cover of CC. He did our first album, Terminate Damnation, and it was a pleasure working with him again. He's a great artist and we plan to use him for our next album.
Hows the touring looking like for you guys in 2012? I see you are planning to hit every state, or damn near all of them coming up. Can we see some BTA up here in the great white north of Canada?
Haha, I wish. I had no luck getting shows on the eastern side of Canada last summer and this summer proved to be the same. We will be playing in over 30 states this summer, so that'll be fun.
Since this always seem to be a conversation piece in the metal world, where does BTA fall in the "Christian" label of metal bands? Do you guys mind being labelled as such/prefer it?
We don't really care what people label us. There are so many different views out there as to genres and classifications that I don't bother with it anymore. We are all Christians and we do consider ourselves a ministry band, but we're also artists and we take our art seriously. So our aim is to make excellent music that anyone can enjoy and we really hope that people will get into the message of the songs and that those lyrics will speak to them on a deeper level.
I was looking through the Facebook page and saw that killer ASG axe (http://www.artistseriesguitar.com/FeaturedArtist/Becoming-The-Archetype-Beardskull/flypage.tpl.html). How did the signature guitar series come about? Who approached who and where did the design come from?
ASG approached us and they did a great job on the design. We're very happy with the finished product and I know the people who purchased the Beardskull! will be happy with it. ASG is a great company and I like what they're doing.
I saw on the BTA blog that you are in the works for a "folk album that Brandon and I are doing this fall." Can you elaborate on this? Does this have anything to do with Anchors?
Ah yes, I do have a folk album in the works. That album was successfully funded via kickstarter and will be recorded in September hopefully. Anchors is the next project I'll take up again, probably early next year. I have 6 songs ready to go for a new Anchors EP, so I'll probably start a kickstarter campaign for that later this year and try to record in January or February.
The folk album will be a fun, laid-back 10 songs of acoustic music with some organ and harmonica. I'm stoked about all 10 songs and Brandon and I tend to be very creative when working together, so there'll be lots of good vocal harmonies and whatnot.
I see from the Metal Sucks article that you are quite the fan of baseball (http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/03/01/grand-slams-becoming-the-archetypes-seth-hecox-take-on-major-league-baseball/#more-85642). I know its way too early to tell but do you got any predictions this year as to who will take home the series this year?
Well, I wish I could say it would be the Blue Jays, haha. But I guess my favorite is Texas. I think the Rangers are solid all the way around and after going twice in a row, I think, barring injuries, they'll make it this year. And if there's a lack in any area in a few months, they've got the $ to go out and acquire what they need.
Fun questions I like to ask every musician:
If you could have a single guest member on an upcoming album, who would it be and why?
I really fancy the idea of having Jack White do something with any of my projects. I think he's a true genius on quite a few levels. Having him sing, play guitar, play synth or guest produce would really make my day/year!
If you had one band who you would be honored to share the stage with, who and why?
I'd be very honored to share the stage with Metallica. They are the godfathers of American Metal and they've been doing it well for so long!
Covers are always fun to do when your jammin out in the studio or live, any songs in particular you guys like to play and have fun with or is it all original material?
Speaking of Metallica, we used to play "Sad but True" as an intro to our sets. More recently, we've done "Stand up and Shout" by Steel Dragon (from the movie Rock Star) as an intro to our sets. It's a lot of fun and to those who know what's going on, it's a little bit of special thing at live shows.
(Note the awesome cameo by Myles Kennedy)
Favourite band/album of 2012 so far?
So far, I haven't heard anything I'm crazy about, but the year is young. I think the new John Mayer could be really good.
Thanks again to Seth for taking the time to hash these questions out with us (side note, still my favourite tune from BTA would have to be Ransom...such a beast!). Be sure to stay tuned for more interviews with some great bands and musicians! Be sure to keep up with these guys on some of their official sites:
- www.celestialcompletion.com/blog/
- www.facebook.com/becomingthearchetypemusic
- www.twitter.com/archetypeboys
- www.youtube.com/btavideos
And for some new updated info on these guys, they have released an album sampler/teaser for their upcoming LP release "I Am", which is due in stores on September 18th, 2012 via Solid State Records.
1. The Ocean Walker
2. The Time Bender
3. The Eyes Of The Storm
4. The Sky Bearer
5. The Machine Killer
6. The War Ender
7. The Weapon Breaker
8. The Planet Maker
9. The Sun Eater
10. I AM
A single preview of the tracks "The Time Bender", "The Eyes of The Storm" and "The Planet Maker" have also made their way online for previews as well:
Cover art and pre-orders available via their site Iambecomingthearchetype.com.
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