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May Issue

Polluteme / Polluted Ezine / Interview w/ Kon'shens

Open Your Mind
Interview w/ Kon'shens
written by: Jacob Robison

I really didn’t know what to expect when I made the drive to Paducah on a Saturday to catch a hall show put on by Krakt. Fellow bands Binge, Breathe and Konshens were also on the bill. I mean, I’d heard Krakt before but the other three bands didn’t ring a bell at all. Looking back on it, I’m glad that I drove the fifty-something miles to Paducah that day; if I didn’t than I probably wouldn’t have discovered my new favorite band in Konshens. The four-man, one woman band from Eddyville, Kentucky (just a hop and a skip away from my hometown) blew me away with their double vocals and jazz-influenced brand of new metal. Sporting a sound somewhere between Rage Against The Machine and System of A Down, I was instantly hooked from their first song on. Vocalists Monty McLeod and Loren Riley, bassist Hilary McLeod (Monty’s wife), guitarist Shane Smith and drummer John Granstaff form one of the tightest musical units to come out of the Bluegrass State in a long while (and yes, more comes of out Kentucky than tobacco and country music). I immediately made plans with Monty to set up an interview with the band. I drove the fifteen some-odd minutes to their practice place and listened to them jam, and then afterwards we set down for the twenty-minute long interview.

First question is...how old is everyone, and what do you play?
HM: I’m twenty-two and I play the bass.
MM: Monty Mcleod, twenty-five and sing.
SS: Shane Smith, twenty-five and I play the guitar.
JG: John Granstaff, twenty-five, play drums.
LR: Loren Riley, twenty-nine, and I holler.
HM: I forgot to say my name. I’m Hilary.

How did you get together, and how long have you been playing together?
MM: Me and her, for about four years in a different band. Then like all of us together, I guess...counting him (pointing to Shane) not very long. We had a guitarist before him. He hung around and watched us and everything, so it was easy to bring him in. So I’d say a year with those songs that we have.
JG: It started out with two bands. Then we all got together.
HM: Yeah.
MM: Loren had his own band, and we had our band. And we just kinda got together, then replaced the drummer. Invited him to come, so we just kinda split off into another band.

Who are your influences, both individually and as a band?
JG: My influences are John Bonham and Keith Moon. I think they’re two very kick ass drummers.
HM: System of A Down.
MM: Yeah.
LR: Band-wise, definitely System of A Down.
HM: Um...Deftones.
MM + JG: Yeah.
SS: I’m big influenced by Deftones. Tom Morello...
MM: He (pointing to Loren) listens to a lot more heavy, heavy, heavy...
LR: Soilent Green, Pantera, you know...Cephalic Carnage. Anything from Louisiana.
MM: Hehe...
HM: We all listen to everything.
MM: Yeah. Dance, it doesn’t matter.
JG: Lot of reggae, Bob Marley.
HM: Yeah. Jazz, classical..
JG: That’s why you hear some jazz riffs in there. We throw a little jazz in there.

Konshens is an interesting name. How did you come up with the moniker, and what does it represent?
LR: Well, the one who came up with it isn’t with us anymore.
MM: It started off spelled like Conscious, like the actual word. Then we found there was Conscious Records or something like that. So we changed it to the dictionary pronunciation. And I guess it means because...it’s kinda like...
JG: Awareness.
HH: Yeah.
MM: Yeah, cause your conscious knows what’s right and wrong, and that will tell you no matter whether you’re a serial killer or what, you know it’s wrong. That’s what it means.

This next question is for Hilary. Monty mentioned at the show that you had played the violin for 13 years. Did your years of practicing make your transition to bass easier?
HM: Oh yeah. I really don’t know much about the bass. I mean, I can play certain notes, but playing the violin...that’s why I play a fretless. It’s pretty much the same. A violin and bass have the same strings. I just play by ear I guess.
What are some of the similarities and differences between the two instruments?
HM: Um...They have the same strings, the A, D, E, G. The fingering is a lot the same. Um...sounds definitely not the same, but it feels the same.

Where did the idea for the two vocalists come from?
LR: It was just the two bands getting together.
MM: Yeah.
JG: We just took him.
Ya’ll work really good together.
LR: ‘Preciate it.
MM: We’re both really laid back. Hehe.
HM: When we had the other band we actually had two bassists, three guitarists, one drummer and two singers. It was massive. We kept the two singers.

From L-R
Hilary (Bass)
Monty (Voc 1)
John (Drums)
Loren (Voc 2)

What are some of the obstacles that you find yourself facing coming from a small town in Western Kentucky?
MM: Oh God.
LR: No labels around here. No places to play to speak of.
MM: Like what you guys are doing with the site that’s awesome.
LR: Hell yeah.
JG: That’s kickass.
LR: Cause nobody else is doing it.
HM: You’re like our link to outside places.
JG: Yeah dude.
HM: If you want to play anywhere you can’t play your original stuff.
It’s all about helping each other.
MM: Yeah.
JG: A lot of times we put on shows around here, we’d bring a pretty good crowd in. But we’d also have those people who just think that’s the devil and all that shit.
MM: Yeah, I mean. We live in the Bible Belt.
JG: They got to listen to the message man.
MM: yeah, cause everything in our music has a message.

Shane joined the band a couple months ago as the new guitarist. How has his presence impacted the band and its’ music?
MM: Good. Real good. It’s a lot more melodic.
JG: When we lost our guitar player man we were just right there. We actually kinda split up. You know, we were like fuck it. And then we all got together and said let’s do it a couple times. We got together one night, and the first jam was kick ass. The second time we wrote a song, and I was like...
HM: Yeah.
MM: The second jam together and we wrote "Mark".
That’s a bad ass song man.
LR: We have a lot better flow. I mean, we were choppier before. A lot choppier.
MM: Yeah. Death metal big time.
HM: It just flows more.
JG: Stash has brought an element that...no offense to Bruce at all, but I don’t know why we didn’t have him in the first place. We love you man.
MM: Yeah. Hehe.’

What are some of the topics that your song lyrics are about?
LR: Government.
MM: Yeah. "Lackadaisical" is about people who are always sitting on the couch, watching tv and bitching about it and never get up to do anything about it. Or say anything about it. "Riddle Me This" is just a grievement song where we kinda guess the riddle of it all. You know, the little riddle in it. And uh...
JG: Damn the man.
MM: Yeah.
HM: Mark. It’s about taking, you know...taking the mark of the beast.
MM: taking the mark of the beast...
LR: We delve into religion a little bit.
HM: yeah, just a hair.

Who are some of the local bands that you know about that you like to play shows with?
MM: I like playing with Krakt. They’re so heavy though, that sometimes we kinda have two divided crowds. Everybody there trying to get everybody to like the same thing. We like playing with them. I’d like to play with Lowboy, we’re going to soon.
Everybody: Lappdog.
MM: Yeah, they’re a good band.
JG: All the guys from Krakt though, man...our first show we played ever as Konshens was at a battle of the bands in Murray which we lucked out and won, but...you know, Krakt dude. We just made friends with them fast, and they’re really cool guys.
MM: They didn’t have a bassist at the time, and we got them a bassist.

That’s all the questions that I have. Do you have anything that you would like to add?
JG: I guess basically we’re just doing it for the message in the music, not the money.
MM: Yeah, it’s not about the money.
LR: We’d rather be big underground than be big, you know?

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