Starring Janet Leigh interview with Matt Zadkovich

by Joe Toeben – 2009

 

How’s the weather up in Canada?
Weather is great today. It’s sunny and humid actually, it’s over 30, so it’s gorgeous.

That’s good. Well do you want to get this underway then?
Yeah, let’s get ‘er man, sounds good.

I noticed on your MySpace that all you guys have nicknames, what’s the reason behind those?
Haha, well half the guys in the band, if we include our roadie, are named Matt and over time it just got easier to call them something else other than that. Our drummer is kind of a quirky guy too and he just kind of rhymes off nicknames and apparently most of them stuck.

Where does the name, Starring Janet Leigh come from, or what does it mean?
The best way to explain it is when most people think of the actress Janet Leigh, they usually think of her role in Psycho in the shower scene when she gets stabbed, and what we kind of drew from that was that in the same way that Alfred Hitchcock would use his movies and the actors to portray a vision, we try to use our music as a conduit by which to do the same. In a reference to that specifically, we also saw that that kind of a scene as somewhat of an example of absolute intensity which is something that we do try to convey. Hitchcock as his rector in general specifically in that area also did a lot of very revolutionary things in terms of horror movies and movies in general and we try to do the same thing with our music.

How would you guys describe your sound?
I guess the best way would be, I guess technical death metal. It’s kind of a distant and angular and somewhat jazzy approach to death metal, is probably the best way of saying that.

What would you say the hardest thing is about being a new and upcoming band?
Making a name for yourself as an early band is always a hard thing because a lot of it is very much do it yourself, you know what I mean. We’re fortunate now to be working with a good record label, the guys at Iron Plaid and Metalblade, but it’s a lot of it is very, um, not everybody is willing to give everybody a chance, there are a lot of bands out there, a lot of great bands out there, and you really got to work hard to earn your earn your audience and get to the tours you want. For us in Canada, one of the hard things as well is dealing with the border issues, getting into the states is somewhat of an expensive thing to do it properly, as opposed to trying to sneak across, which you know, we want to do things legit and correct and they don’t make it easy, but you know if you want it bad enough, you just do the best you can with what you have and you throw enough amount on the lull, eventually some of it’s going to stick.

Who does most of the lyrical writing or the music writing for your band?
The majority of the lyrical writing is done by our vocalist. We all contribute you know, our kind of approach is a good idea, is a good idea regardless of who comes up to it. The majority of it is our vocalist, I know I’ve done some lyrical contribution myself. Musically, I usually come up with the, or I have, come up with the initial ideas and my drummer and I kind of edit it together and then once we get it in a band scenario, just a constant editing process and we get comfortable with the feel of a tune and everyone kind of puts in their two cents in terms of what feels right and how things should be arranged.

Who is your favorite band that you’ve ever toured or played with?
Wow. Haha. Favorite band that we played with is probably a local band from Toronto called Titan, they are a good friend of ours and kind of play a doomy style of hardcore, but very much o up and coming band and these guys are best friends of ours and we’re pretty much exact opposite of extremes of metal. Like we’re technical sounding metal, and they’re much more spacious in their sound, but it’s always a perfect compliment for some reason.

Who would you cite as your bands biggest influences?
Off the top of my head, I’d say Cryptopsy, Origin, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mr. Bungle, The End, that’s probably the key influences there. Nile as well.

What’s the reception to your new album Spectrum?
So far it’s been pretty positive. I mean it’s a pretty over the top record like there’s a lot going on and so some people are receptive to that and some people are not, but the reviews that I’ve read this far and what we’ve heard from the people that have the record and our fans who’ve picked it up, is a very positive, people seem to be really into it, a lot people kind of describe it as an on-flood of sound, but I’m okay with that. Haha. So all in all, the reviews and response have been great. We’re really happy that people are digging it.

What do you think you would be doing today if you weren’t making music?
Well, personally, I think I’d probably be dead if I wasn’t making music. I mean for myself it’s pretty much an outlet of who I am. I mean aside from that a lot of us do somewhat professional work I guess. Here in Toronto, I actually run a paralegal firm. A couple of my guys are in sales positions and our drummer is a professional graphic designer so if I wasn’t doing music I couldn’t even picture my life without it. Quite honestly, it’s just been a part of my life for so long that I couldn’t imagine living without music.

Would you rather be the band on the stage or one of the fans in the crowd rocking out?
Band on the stage. There is no feeling like playing live music. I love experiencing live music as a listener and both as a player, but if I had to choose I’d rather be on stage. There is a feeling you get when, I call it a perfect moment, when everything goes right, whether it’s the performance or the song, there’s just that magic there that you don’t feel anywhere else. Do you know what I mean?

Yup, I know exactly how you feel.
Right on.

Do you feel successful at this point in your musical career or is it too early to tell?
I would say that it’s pretty much, everything moves in stages. I always say that where we are now opposed to where we were three years ago is great. Onward and upward is the best way to look at it for us. I mean we have had some success, I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do with this record and what the future is going to hold for us.

Alright. I think that’s all I got for you Matt.
Right on Joe. Thanks a lot man