by Vpower
The Band: Black Sites
Country: USA
Answers by:
Mark Sugar (guitar, vocals)
When you have listened to tons of albums from
tons of bands is still great that feeling when you discover you can still get goose
bumps with some new material, a priceless sensation. And this is what I got
listening to these guys from Chicago for the first time. A
very powerful progressive metal, you can do headbanging even or let your mind
travel far way, it’s just up to you, they put the flight, just come on board!
Hello Mark and congratulations for your great
debut album.
Thank you!!
We're pretty excited about it.
To be sincere we didn’t know much about your
existence till we listened to “In Monochrome”, so please enlighten us a little
about your origins. When and how did you decide to start up Black Sites?
A little
over a year ago, I was in a thrash/modern metal band that had broken up, and I
found myself writing music in a more classic metal/progressive vein. I thought
it might be cool to make an album like that, and persuaded Chris Avgerin to
play drums on it.
While we
were working on the record, Mascot Records entered the picture, and things
became slightly more serious. At that point we recruited John Picillo (bass)
and Ryan Bruchert (guitar). This brings us to where we're at today -- preparing
to release "In Monochrome" and begin playing live.
Black Sites is a parallel project to other
bands you have or it’s your main activity right now?
We do have
other projects. John is also a member of Without Waves, who have an album
coming out in March on Prosthetic Records. Chris plays drums with Nequient,
Autonomy, and a few other bands at the moment. Ryan recently played guitar for
reunited Chicago grind legends HeWhoCorrupts. As for me, I have a couple other
things in the works, but Black Sites is my baby and my main focus right now.
I understand. With “In Monochrome” you should
be in the spotlight of many mags of the metal world, but what are your
aspirations?
It has been
my lifelong goal to be featured on one of the "Ultimate Revenge" VHS
tapes, but it seems we've missed the boat on that. Beyond that, I think our
mission is to make good music and make sure people hear it. Anything beyond
that is just extra credit at this point.
You guys in Black Sites are professionals, I
mean, you make a living with music, or this is just a passion, what is your
status?
I think we
handle ourselves professionally, but no, we all have "real" jobs in
order to pay the bills. Playing prog metal is not exactly making us rich.
Time to talk about your awesome debut album. From
day to night you release “In Monochrome”, well, maybe there are more days and
nights in the middle hahaha… how long have you worked on it?
We began
recording in February 2016, and worked on the album on and off until we
finished in August 2016. It has been in the hands of our record label since
then.
It’s time to unleash it. In terms of sound “In Monochrome” is a son or
your previous or other present acts where you play or have played or it’s some
brand new approach for you? Did you rescue any song from other projects?
I don't
think any of us have been in bands that sound like this before, so it's a new
thing for us. As far as the material itself, there were portions of one song
that had been presented to (and rejected by) my old band. And the song
"The Tides" was something I'd been trying to finish for nearly a
decade, but couldn't quite get it right until recently. Otherwise, everything
was freshly written for this album.
Interesting. In our opinion, Mark, one of the
strong points of Black Sites is the multiple styles you touch, in that sense we
could name it Progressive Metal, but how you define your sound?
I'm not a
big fan of labels, but in our case I think "progressive metal" is
pretty fair.
What are the lyrics about and what connection
they have with the cover art?
I think
most of the songs deal with going through some sort of change. Sometimes it's a
positive change or personal growth; more often it's reacting to circumstances
that have become challenging or negative. Oddly, the cover art has nothing to
do with any of that -- I just thought it looked cool, and felt right for this
album.
Aha, a license from the artist we coulda call
it. “In Monochrome” will be release on
February, do you have an agreement with any label for distribution around the
world or it’s a DIY production?
We are
signed to Mascot Label Group, who will be handling distribution worldwide for
this album.
Well, it’s hard to choose only a song in the
album because all of them are killing tracks, you can have heavy metal, groove
metal, progressive, a little of everything in one song, I would say this is one
of your trade marks
I agree,
there's a lot going on in there sometimes. We have pretty diverse tastes and
that's reflected in the songwriting. I think we have a lot of classic metal and
prog influences, but modernize them just a little so as not to be deliberately
retro.
Which song was more difficult to finish up?
I remember
struggling a bit with the vocals on "Hunter Gatherer." There's some
really high Geoff Tate stuff going on in there, and my vocal abilities are a
bit more pedestrian, to put it mildly. I'd like to think I rose to the
occasion.
Which song is your favorite? I have to say that
I love Locked Out – Shut Down, because of its heavy sound, its crazy riffs and
a guitar solo that is like a dawn in a new world…
That's an
awesome description of that solo! I like all the songs a lot, but lately I'm
really enjoying "Monochrome" and "Burning Away The Day."
What have been your influences as musicians and
what band/artist you would choose to tribute with a cover song?
Well, we
did record a cover of Scorpions' "Steamrock Fever," which may see the
light of day eventually. Speaking for myself, I'm influenced by Black Sabbath,
Voivod, King's X, Trouble, Hammers Of Misfortune, Queensryche, Pain Of
Salvation, Rush, Failure, Rainbow, Killing Joke, Judas Priest, and about a
billion others.
A great mix. Have you already played these
songs in front of an audience?
Our
first-ever show is coming up next month! We are playing February 10th here in
Chicago, at Livewire Lounge. Our friends The Z Chord and Mexican Werewolf are
also on the bill, so it should be an awesome show.
A pity, we cannot be there. Do you have in mind
to tour around? Only the States or a little further?
Our intent
is to play shows in the U.S. as well as Europe. We should have some more
specific details about touring soon.
Cool! Finally, how can any guy put his hands
over this magnificent “In Monochrome”? In
other words, how to buy it?
I'm glad
you asked! Pre-orders are up at http://usa.mascotlabelgroup.com/black-sites
. For anyone who'd like to sample the goods first, you can hear some tracks on
Spotify.
Thank you very much Mark and the best luck for
your project!! If you wish to add something…
I'd just
like to say "thanks" for your support and for this interview. And for
anyone who's read this far, check out "In Monochrome" -- who knows,
you might like it!