Decent News has been a busy band for the past couple of years; since their inception in 2017 they've released a demo, three singles, two albums, a Christmas song, and a remix album. This industrial metal band just does not know how to stop. But with more incoming and their new album "Monolith" released recently, we chatted with Eddie of the band to get a feel for their history and their new album. Check it out below:

<a href="http://decentnews.bandcamp.com/album/monolith">MONOLITH by Decent News</a>

Hello Decent News, and welcome to Brutal Resonance! We're gonna start this off with a getting to know you question for everyone who doesn't know who you are; give us three of your favorite albums of all time and why you like them so much.

Eddie: Hello, Eddie here. Laken and Caleb were supposed to be here with me to answer these questions but they found a really cool stick in the woods to play with. First off thanks for having me, I really appreciate the opportunity.

Damn, picking my top three albums is really hard. It honestly depends on my mood or if I get on a random kick with a certain artist. I've spent like four days trying to pick three albums so what I'll do instead is talk about three of the albums in my top ten.

"Houdini" by Melvins: I'm never not in a Melvins' mood. My style was heavily influenced by King Buzzo over the years due to tracks like 'Honey Bucket' and 'Set Me Straight'. It was between this album or "Bullhead" but ultimately I feel like "Houdini" shows a lot of diversity track to track.

"Телевизионный Снег" by Танцы На Воле: I don't remember how I stumbled upon these guys but I fell in love immediately. It's EBM plus guitars so what's not to love. Years ago when I emailed them trying to find a way to buy this album because it was long out of print I ended up talking to one off the members for a while and he gave me a lot of music advice that I still use today. This album might not be for everyone so check out their album "F5". They remixed alot of their older songs and modernized them.

"Destiny" by Resist the Ledge: Alright so there's a long story for this one. Back in 2012 I think, I was playing a show with my old industrial band Hopscotch and the Tickled Fancy's and after our set these two girls kept trying to get us to buy some random band's CD for ten dollars. I ended up haggling her down to two dollars and a lock of her purple hair which she then just pulled out of her scalp. I have had so many good memories forcing people to listen to what's on this album. It's gotten to the point where I don't like it ironically anymore. It's truly one of my favorites.

Tell us about the origin of Decent News. I see on Bandcamp that you had your first release, a self-titled demo, out in 2017. But what made you want to start up Decent News and what did you want the project to be about?

Eddie: We formed in early 2016. Our old drummer Collin and this guitarist Nate were looking for a second guitarist and a bassist for a metal band so I figured I'd go try out. Collin was the last drummer in The Tickled Fancys so he and I had really good chemistry. The next week I dragged Laken with me to fill in on bass. Every week we'd go to this building on the Uconn campus and practice in this small ass twelve-by-twelve with a full drum set and amps. We had a lot of creative differences with the other guitarist so we didn't get a lot done that year. We decided to give him the boot and 2017 is when we really kicked off Decent News fresh.

From what I understand there are four members found within Decent News. How did you all meet and when did everyone decide to tag along for Decent News?

Eddie: We've all known each other for about eleven or twelve years. We all met freshman year of high school and have been friends ever since. Laken was in Hopscotch and the Tickled Fancys for a few years and I've always loved working on music with him so whenever I had the chance I'd try and get him into whatever else I was working on. Caleb joined the band two weeks before we started recording our first album "Filth". Lastly, Bruce is my keyboard stand. This thicc ass boi holds my Ultranova up for me with his wide load bearing hips. I met him when Sears was going out of business and I bought him for like twenty-five dollars.

A band's sound and imagery can be among the toughest choices a group has to make. Did you always want Decent News to fall under the industrial metal category? Or was there ever a time when the band wanted to be something else entirely?

Eddie: I mean not really. We started off as a metal band and slowly over time we worked it in. I always had synths kicking around and wanted to include them but everyone has vastly different influences so I never really wanted to force it on the group. Right around the time we recorded our demo we started to become more industrial. We loved messing around with synths but we were just limited because we all needed two hands to play our instruments. That fall, Collin went back to school for the semester so he couldn't practice with us. So instead of practicing without a drummer Laken and I picked up a Roland MV8000 sequencer and started programming his parts. Eventually we started programming the synths and life became a million times easier.

Within the band, did you ever have any difficulties working with one another? Do ideas collide and, if so, how did you guys compromise?

Eddie: Every once in a while one of us gets crabby, but other than that we all work very well together. We all have a way a balancing out any issue we run into in a composition. Most of the time we just fuck around with stupid ideas until we have a whole song done. The song "Substance" was really hard to get to flow properly with all the time signature changes. We couldn't get the intro to lead into the first verse correctly and I think Laken suggested "No wait, take that synth and just go BEEEWWWWWWW" and it actually kinda worked. Later in the track we has the same issue before the breakdown and one of us said "Do the BEEEWWWWWW but up now". It ended up working perfectly. Our dynamic together shouldn't work, but it does.

Your entire discography consists of the demo, the remix album, a Christmas single, as well as two albums. A tough question, perhaps, but what is your favorite release out of everything that you've done so far and why?

Eddie: I want to say "Monolith" because it is one-hundred percent a better album, but "Filth" was way more fun and way less stressful to record. All of us worked the same shift when we were working on "Filth" so getting everyone together to record was a lot easier. Don't get me wrong though, "Monolith" is a way better album.

Let's talk about your latest album "MONOLITH". I'd like to start off with the cover art; insects seem to be staring at the titular monolith with bees flying out of it. What does this mean? Is it just a literal interpretation of an alternate reality or does it have some weight to it?

Eddie: We have a very wild and dumb imagination. There's this ominous building near Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT that is massive and has no windows. I've always referred to it as The Monolith. One day a few years ago we were all talking about how it's probably just a huge nest filled with pissed off bees. Turns out it's just a building that tests elevators (likely story). All of our main albums covers are drawn by my childhood friend Conner Michael and he really breathes life into our stupid ideas.

With the cover art in mind, does the album have an overall theme behind it or does each song stand on its own? Could you elaborate on any of the ideas put forth into "MONOLITH"?

Eddie: I think each song stands on it's own. You might be able to connect a few themes here or there though. 'Monolith' is about those tower bees that I mentioned earlier, while 'Black Box' is about colonizing the sun because it's probably not even that hot. So maybe at a stretch the songs could tell a bigger story.

How has the album been received thus far by fans and critics alike? Have you seen much talk or uproar about the album?

Eddie: Everyone seems to like it for the most part. We're always very humbled when we get a positive review! We did get one really bad review but it was hilarious. The whole review was two run on sentences of this dude just listing other industrial bands that he knew of and then he just called us losers. I haven't gotten around to framing it yet but I love it and I'm going to.

And what is in store for Decent News in the future? Do you have any albums, singles, or EPs in the works? Shall you be performing live anywhere?

Eddie: We have a few things brewing at the moment. We have the "Monolith" remix album coming out in the spring which we're excited about. There's no set date and we're still waiting on some submissions but I think everyone will be excited once we unveil the track list. Even sooner than that, we have an EP coming out called "No Names vs. Decent News" featuring four remixes from out newest label mates No Names. They hail from that continent that's on fire right now. Also, we're working on getting some more shows booked. If for some fucking reason you happen to be near New London, CT on April 11th check us out at 33 Golden Street

Lastly, I'd like to thank you for your time. I leave the space below free for you to say any final words

Eddie: Thank you for having me! I'm gonna use this space to shamelessly plug our links. Also Caleb says "Check out this dog though"

Decent News

Jan 2020

Industrial Metal