ESTRUM from Austin, Texas are in the process of recording their 14 song album in their home studio Nebulost Productions. Well all I can say is, if it's anything close to the 3 song EP, uploaded at their myspace, well then, this is going to be one hell of an album! Also look for a new video for the song "Abiosis" directed by the talented Linde Brewer with Mike Simpson as Director of Photography. The epic video was shot on 16mm film in various parts of Austin... The band defines their sound as rock/metal/progressive.. well it's that and more.. I'm calling it some sort of progressive alternative rock metal goth for now.. and lovin' every note of it! My optimism tells me that there will also be more news on the near horizon, so we'll just call this Part One of an interview started with lead vocalist and songwriter, Zena..


MUEN: YOU ARE GETTNG A GREAT SOUND.... WHERE DID YOU RECORD THE "ABSENCE OF LIFE" (Abiosis) E.P.? AND HOW MANY SONGS ARE ON IT? IS IT JUST THE SAME 3 SONGS THAT YOU'VE UPLOADED ON YOUR MYSPACE OR ARE THERE ALSO OTHER SONGS ON THIS E.P.?

Zena: Thanks! We actually live in a pro recording studio called Nebulost Productions run by our guitarist Jason Rufuss Sewell. So we have lots of time to make sure everything sounds the way we want it to. The EP is just the three songs we have on line.

MUEN: AND HOW IS WORK COMING ALONG ON THE NEW 14 SONG ALBUM YOU ARE RECORDING AT "NEBULOST PRODUCTIONS?" HAS IT BEEN A SMOOTH PROCESS SO FAR, OR HAVE THERE BEEN PIT-FALLS ALONG THE WAY?

Zena: We are almost finished with a full length album. We're just doing some final tweaks on the mix. Expect an October release. This album will actually only be 9 songs and it features our original drummer Tony Reveles.... as heard on our EP. We finally have a permanent drummer, so we're basically cutting a few songs off of the original release to save for our next effort which will feature our new drummer Brian McClain.

MUEN: YOU SAY THE BAND IS NEW... TELL US HOW LONG HAS ESTRUM BEEN AROUND FOR?

Zena: Jason and I are a couple. We started writing songs together about three years ago, and started rounding up players about 2 years ago. Finding the right drummer was the hardest part. Tony Reveles is the drummer on the recordings that we have now, but he actually lives halfway across the country from us. He's extremely talented and helped a great deal to shape the sound that we have. It just wouldn't have worked unless he lived in the same city. So really, Estrum wasn't a "real" band until Brian McClain came along in May 2007.

MUEN: WHERE DID YOU FIND BRIAN MCCLAIN, AND WHAT IS HIS BACKGROUND IN PERCUSSION? WHAT WAS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH TERRY BOZZIO, WHO RECORDED AND TOURED WITH FRANK ZAPPA?

Zena: Brian responded to our internet ads. We were feeling pretty hopeless considering that we had hundreds of responses and only a few serious inquiries. Then along came Brian. He actually showed up to jam when he said he would! Literally we were and are amazed that we found each other. There's a nice fluidity to the way Brian plays, and just this intense groove that he couldn't hide if he tried to. He's been drumming since the age of 12. It started in school and he was in bands ever since then. He was Terry Bozzio's drum tech. He toured with him for about 4 years with acts like Fantomas and Jeff Beck, setting up and tearing down his massive kit. That kind of professional experience is good for any musician.

MUEN: IT SEEMS MORE AND MORE, KEYS ARE BEING USED IN THE BANDS WE COME ACROSS TODAY, YOU'D THINK A KEYBOARDIST WOULD BE HARD TO COME BY.. HOW DID ERIK COME INTO THE BAND, AND WHAT IS HIS MUSICAL HISTORY?

Zena: Erik would have been hard to come by had we not already been good friends with him. Jason and Erik have been in bands for years. He's a real pianist, which in my opinion is even more rare these days amongst rock bands.

MUEN: WHAT TYPE OF VOCAL TRAINING DID YOU HAVE ZENA? DID YOU START AT AN EARLY AGE?

Zena: I started singing pretty much when I learned to talk. My parents were music lovers, and ever since I can remember I was surrounded by good classic music. I grew up on Pink Floyd and Rush. As far as training, my real training was being obsessive about singing all the time, and listening to amazing vocalists. There was nothing else, just singing, for a long time. I sometimes wish that my parents had taken me to piano lessons or something, but then I think that those things may have side tracked me from concentrating on my goals as a vocalist. So I guess it worked out.

MUEN: "YOURS" IS AN AWESOME SONG, WITH SO MANY TWISTS AND TURNS (IT'S THE SONG THAT FIRST CAUGHT MY ATTENTION), AND I THINK WOULD NEVER LOSE THE LISTENER'S INTEREST FROM START TO FINISH.. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS SONG? AND HOW LONG OF A PROCESS WAS IT, FROM THE BEGINING TO THE END OF IT'S CREATION?

Zena: Yours was one of the first songs that I ever wrote. Mind you, I wrote the root chord progression, lyrics and melody. Jason came in and added the complex guitar parts and all. It was actually written before anyone else joined the band, but when the other members joined, they all wrote their own parts and made it what it is today.

MUEN: THAT'S AMAZING.. WHAT OTHER BANDS HAS JASON, JORDAN AND JHON (is that the right spelling?) PLAYED IN BEFORE ESTRUM? AND HOW WOULD ANY ONE OF THEM SAY THINGS HAVE CHANGED FOR THEM SINCE JOINING ESTRUM?

Zena: You've got Jhon's name spelled right. Hmmm. That would be a lot of bands to mention. Jason and Jordan we're in their first band together when they were 15. Which was 17 years ago! I know that they can all say that living in Texas is a huge change from Northern California. There's a real sense that the local scene is supported here in Austin. That's just not the case in Sacramento.

MUEN: WHEN WILL THE VIDEO FOR "ABIOSIS" BE FINISHED? AND WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH IT, ONCE IT'S RELEASED?

Zena: It will be released along with our full length. We're planning on selling it along with the CD, or on it's own if our listeners choose. It will also be available on the internet, but it's a beautiful piece shot on 16mm film by our friend Linde Brewer, and deserves to be shown on bigger than a 3 inch by 3 inch pixelated screen!

MUEN: WHERE ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO APPEAR IN THE AUSTIN AREA? WHAT CLUBS ARE BOOKING YOU NOW?

Zena: We play at Elysium, The Dirty Dog, and Red Eyed Fly pretty regularly. This Friday (September 7th) will be our first show at Emo's! We're also playing at Red Eyed Fly again Saturday Sept. 22nd

MUEN: DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF NARCOLEPTIC AT ALL? WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR WRITING THE SONG "NARCOLEPSY?"

Zena: I wrote the song when I didn't have a job for a while. I had nothing to do, no friends, no real motivation. (This was before Estrum was formed.) Jason was working a lot. I felt like I was sort of transplanted into his life... his house, his friends, etc. I had nothing of my own. So I would just sleep all day. I would sit there in my own misery, contemplating all these bitter thoughts, dwelling on the past, until I fell back asleep. No real productivity was circulating around me. So the verses are about that. The choruses are more about when we actually did have time for each other, and how I would just go crazy and have all this energy, and I felt like he wasn't interested. Once I was awake, he was ready to sleep. Of course none of this was true, it's just some psychosis that I had gotten myself into.

MUEN: LOVE THE MYSTICAL BACKDROP SOUND IN THE RECORDINGS.. DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? OR HAVE YOU EVER HAD EXPERIENCES WITH THE SUPERNATURAL?

Zena: Well I don't necessarily believe in what society calls ghosts. I feel that I don't have the grounds to determine whether or not life or energy carries on after death. I certainly do not rule out the possibility. What I really think is that there are so many amazing things out there that mankind knows nothing about. I don't think it has anything to do with magic. We don't have to dance around ouija boards to know that there is a vast and terrifying universe right above our heads. There are probably ghosts... or some manifestation of energy that we leave behind, and there are most definitely "aliens", but I think that we would be damn surprised if we were actually confronted with either. I don't think that I have ever been confronted with the supernatural though, no.

MUEN: TELL US SOMETHING YOU LOVE ABOUT TEXAS, AND ALSO WHAT YOU DON'T LIKE SO MUCH...

Zena: Austin is actually my hometown. I wasn't raised here though. I like the fact that music is considered an important aspect of the community. There doesn't seem to be any government agencies trying to push music and art out of town, it's embraced. I can't say I like the traffic though.

MUEN: THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW CASES THAT WE KNOW OF, (AND SOME FAMOUS ONES - such as Fleetwood Mac) WHERE A BAND FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO KEEP IT TOGETHER BECAUSE OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN.... I HOPE THIS ISN'T BEING TOO PERSONAL, BUT IT'S A QUESTION OFTEN THOUGHT OF IN THIS SITUATION.. IF THERE WERE PROBLEMS IN THE RELATIONSHIP, WOULD ESTRUM TRY TO STAY TOGETHER FOR THE SAKE OF THE BAND? AND THE ONLY REASON WE ASK THIS, IS BECAUSE WE FEEL THAT EVERY ONE OF YOU IS AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTOR TO YOUR SOUND....

Zena: It's a valid question. I haven't even considered it though because there is no reason to. Being in a serious band, one that you intend to dedicate your entire life to, is as much of a commitment as marriage. We've all made huge sacrifices to be in this band. Five of us moved across the country from California to Texas to make Estrum our main focus. Most of us live together. So really it's like I'm married to five guys already. Jason and I have been together a long time now and many of the members of Estrum have been in bands together for several years. Even though we're technically a new band, we have a strong, long standing bond and I'm confident that we'll stick together.

Interview by G. Cataline