FLOOR
The Time Has Come...
By: Drew Juergens
Amidst the mass-heaping of heavy bands hell-bent on imitating Sabbath hymns to a tee, comes one of the freshest breaths of air ever to grace the rock scene...or the music world in general. They are known no other than FLOOR. Combining the sheer musical heaviness of HIGH ON FIRE with the vocal serendipity of JANE's ADDICTION and FUGAZI, FLOOR create an amazing aura of originality while mowing down the listener with roaring rhythms and thunderous riffs seemingly devised by the hammer of Thor! I had a chance to interview the band (guitarist Anthony Vialon, drummer / bassist Henry Wilson and guitarist / vocalist Steve Brooks) just before their U.S. tour with Alex Newport's new band Theory Of Ruin and found out why furniture decorating, Christina Aguilera and toilet paper helped to shape the most amazing record of 2002!
To be honest with you, I was not very well versed with FLOOR until I got my hands on the Self-Titled effort on No Idea Records. I know that the band has a pretty extensive history. Would you be able to give me run down of how FLOOR began, and how your music has progressed?
Anthony: Steve and I met in '92 (as the story goes: he heard I had a HEAD OF DAVID record and wanted to meet me). I had just started playing guitar and was working with a drummer named Betty Monteavaro. Steve and I were kindred spirits as we had similar tastes in music. We were into the heavier bands of the day, particularly the MELVINS and GODFLESH. The only other heavy band in South Florida at the time was CAVITY (then called CRAWL). They had been around for a few months, but we hadn't heard of each other yet. We had more of a "doom" sound then. We tuned low, but after seeing CATHEDRAL, we knew we had to go lower. Steve, Betty and I recorded a 4-track demo under the name GRENSTIK and sent it off to Maximum Rock n' Roll. The review was brief but awesome, definitely raising our spirits. We did another demo shortly after and changed our name to FLOOR. Steve was already trying to be more melodic on that demo -- no screaming. After our first gig, our friend, Jason Paige asked if we wanted to do a seven-inch for his label, Dirge. Steve was messing around with a broken string on his guitar and it was so incredibly powerful, if not ridiculous, that we incorporated it into our sound. We tuned two other E strings down to the point of being barely in tune and that was it. It was like four low-tuned guitars hitting a single note, with the "bomb string" for impact. We still did a few things with normal tuning but slowly phased it out, concentrating solely on the unique tuning configuration. Vocally, we never abandoned singing, but definitely used screaming more often because, then, heavier music was just that way. It was when we started writing the vocals for this last album that we started using more melody and writing vocal harmonies.
Without a doubt, the first time I heard the S/T record, I was blown away by the heaviness found within, as the production had this inherent grittiness that made it very unique. What was the recording process like and what was it like recording at Atomic Audio? What sound were you working towards?
Henry: The initial tracking was done pretty fast, two nights for the music, two nights for vocals, and one night for bass and other small overdubs. The mixing process is what took the longest; we were definitely on a mission to make the record good. Atomic Audio is basically one guy, Mark Nicolich. I consider him one of my good friends, on top of being an amazing studio engineer. The recording process is always somewhat stressful but doing the record with Mark took a lot of the headache away. I have total faith in his ability to take what we do and put it to record. The sound we were working towards is what made it to the record. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that there is nothing on the record were unhappy with.
Steve: Well, it was a draining experience but well worth the work. I've never worked with anyone as easily as Mark at Atomic Audio. The guy is skilled! He would listen to us, instead of trying to make it his own sound. I think that's the most important thing when you're working with someone else. He also kept us in line. Anthony and I were trying to blow everyone's speakers by pushing the limits in volume, but he kept us at a reasonable level. Haha.... It works!
Anthony: All of our previous recordings sounded awful. We always wanted to sound like we did live. The live shows we so much more powerful than the records. Finally, after nearly ten years of poor-sounding seven-inches (and two unreleased albums), Atomic Audio did us justice.
How does the song writing process work with FLOOR? I find that the vocal delivery complements the heavy riffing without seeming out of place. With such a strong melodic vocal delivery, how do most of the songs work themselves out? Do you have the lyrical content first and work on the music, or vice versa?
Steve: We used to be really slack about the thought that went into our songs. We'd write a bunch of songs, record them and then lay down vocals. The vocals were the least important because I'm really just a guitar player. I'm into writing riffs and that probably explains why we've had so many instrumentals on our 7"s. I view song writing much differently now. About 99% more thought goes into our songs now than they did in the past. I mean, we were "punk-as-fuck, thrown-together, un-tuned guitars, screaming nonsense" and it was beautiful. However, I don't appreciate those songs as much as I do the gems that I put more of my heart and effort into. Nowadays, we spring off ideas at practice. I take it home and work on them. Due to the fact that I live about 4 hours from the rest of the band, I don't come to practice empty-handed anymore expecting a miracle to happen. I do homework and bring it to the table. If it doesn't work, we don't keep it. But, most of the time, we get a head start in the song-writing process when someone has a basic skeleton of a song to have the rest of us fill in the blanks. I get off on figuring out the answer (which is a new song). Songwriting is like problem solving to me. Haha...
Anthony: Until recently, almost everything we did came from jamming. The drummer would play a beat, or someone would just make up a riff, and then everyone would just come in and go from there. Improvisational, for lack of a better word. Things are completely different now, though. The last album was so rushed that the vocals were being written on the eve of recording or in the studio. Lyrically, we tried to use words that went with the melody and THEN try to have them make sense or be relevant. It was a learning experience. We have a kind of formula now so the next time we record, things will be better. The new material is already much more mature.
The imagery of the CD really does leave a lot to the imagination. In conjunction with the song "Tales of Lolita," how much did the concept of the innocent female eyes and the sheer baby-blue coloring of the cover mix with the song nature? Can you give us a little insight into "Tales of Lolita?"
Anthony: We were at the No Idea office talking with Var about the CD artwork. We didn't have any ideas except that we wanted to use the color blue because the album "sounded" like that, if you know what I mean. Anyway, there was this painting leaning against the wall and, at the same time, we saw it and looked at each other. "We want this," we said to Var. Looking at it, I think it reflects the sound of the album perfectly. As far as the details of the painting, don't read too much into it. "Tales of Lolita" is a bittersweet pop song. Lyrically, and I can't stress this enough, it is NOT a song about having sex with a minor. It can be misinterpreted that way but it's really an ode to teen pop stars like Mandy Moore, Britney Spears, or Christina Aguilera, who were not quite 18 when they first took over MTV. Maybe it could be an anthem for high school kids trying to lose their virginity. That I can deal with. It's more of a reaction to this present state of youth being sexually exploited by the media. Now it sounds like I'm talking bullshit, so I'll refrain. Honestly, though, if anyone thinks it has creepy connotations, you're mistaken.
Steve: I'm not much for visual art, but I love colors that blend well together, especially soothing colors. I worked in furniture stores for years and have somewhat of an eye for decorating, but visual art? I haven't caught that bug yet. So, anything that I can agree on with the other guys that is nice to look at is fine with me. We probably need an art director for this band.
Anthony: Yeah, Steve is the first one to comment on the furniture in your house. Maybe that will give you a little insight...
Are there any songs that stand out in your mind, or songs that have the most value or inner meaning to you?
Henry: We all contributed lyrically so each of us has our own interpretation of the songs. I love the whole album but there are moments both lyrically and sonically that I'm very proud to have been a part of.
Steve: All of our songs have some inner meaning to us. Even if they're vague, every word that's said can be interpreted a certain way to each of us. I like lyrics to have some direction but be pretty vague. I don't really want to know what the artist is actually thinking. It's cool to have your own view of what the lyrics are about. If you want to think they're about being into underage girls/boys, or even muscle cars, so be it.
Anthony: None of the songs will change the world but they DO have meaning. Some of them are stories, told abstractedly. It's hard to convey the exact images in my head to someone else but I get the pictures in my mind when I listen to it. Maybe it comes across. Probably not. We've been telling people that the songs are about getting head. Or bad trips. I suppose that's true in some ways, but the vocals were so rushed that we had to attribute meaning to them on-the-fly. The next album should make more sense.
How often do you get to tour? How did your upcoming tour with Theory of
Ruin (Alex Newport) and Lick Golden Sky starting in the middle of November
come about?
Henry: Until recently not very much, but that starting to change now. My friend Dan Rozenblum has a booking agency called Thunderdome Booking, Theory of Ruin is on his roster so he put us on the tour with them. He's been a friend of mine for years and has helped out every band I've been in.
Steve: We REALLY need to tour! FLOOR only did one tour in the past 10 years back in 1996. It was up to Boston and back. Pretty lame, I think. Without a doubt, we'll be touring much more in the near future. Henry has connections and that's how we got on this bill.
What is in the future for FLOOR? Where do you see your sound going with your next release?
Henry: The future of FLOOR, mmmmm I know what we hope to be doing, which is taking this as far as we can. As far as our sound, we're just trying to do what makes us happy, which can include the most beautiful of melodies to the deadliest of riffs.
Anthony: We have ideas, original ones, which I don't want to bring up for fear of someone ripping them off. It's so hard to be original these days. I mean, EVERYONE is influenced by SOMETHING, and that's cool. If you dig something its damn near impossible to not incorporate it into your sound. But there's so much homogenized crap out there, bands that are blatantly unoriginal and cashing in on the latest fad. They all have the same sound and style. I've seen some reviews where people have said that they've never heard an album quite like ours. For me, that's about the biggest compliment you can give. It would be great if we could keep playing, remain sincere, and be able to do this for a living.
Steve: I can't really tell at this point, we've just added a new member to the line-up and who knows what he's going to add to the sound. However, I won't rest until I can say, "our second LP is going to use the first LP as toilet paper." We'll have to see...
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