Kaish Doane of Gigan Talks About Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes

Noel Smart recently interviewed Kaish Doane about the new Gigan record "Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes". You can learn more and follow the band here: http://www.facebook.com/Giganmusic

 

 

Kaish: I couldn't say what happened to Grover with certainty, but Danny had to part ways with the band for personal reasons that didn't allow him to leave his state for a certain period of time. He has since finished school and is still jamming with bands!

 

SDM: Why did Randy Piro of Hate Eternal fame leave Gigan?

 

Kaish: Randy had to do what was best for him, and the demands of the “Gigan universe” were too much. We still talk often and he is missed!

 

SDM: What’s it like to work with Eric Hearsemann, formerly of Diabolic and Lord Blasphemer?

 

Kaish: Working with Eric is good fun for the most part… He's one of my best friends, and that always helps when you're working on a project like this. He's a sharp dude and has an energetic personality that is oddly contagious.  Plus, he sure knows his metal.

 

SDM: Tell us all about the new Gigan album “Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes”?

 

Kaish: It's the product of a lot of hard work and love for what we do. I like to think it's something different in the realm of extreme metal.

 

SDM: How long did it take you to write the drums for the new Gigan album?

 

Kaish: There was probably a good 2 month or so chunk of Eric and I fleshing out the songs. Most of the material was written over the course of 2010. We had the advantage of living near each other so we jammed often.

 

SDM: What influenced your drumming for this record?

 

Kaish: I guess all the music I like has some influence on my playing whether I want it to or not. Music ranging from death and thrash metal to jazz and funk probably came through the most on this album. I'm actually getting away from "faster" playing and the whole 'technical cause it's flashy' mentality of playing in favor of more musical playing… but Eric pushed me to play more metal with this album, so…

 

SDM: What did you hope to achieve with the release of this new Gigan album?

 

Kaish: I just wanted to come out with something that I'm proud of, that hopefully, reflects our vision.  It would also be nice if I knew that the album had some of sort of impact on the world, even if it's a small one by certain measures.

 

SDM: How did you make the drums so dynamic on the new Gigan album?

 

Kaish: If it they sound dynamic, it's probably because we did the big death metal no-no and recorded it without any electronic triggers! From the start we knew we wanted to go for an organic drum sound. Of course we had the badass Sanford Parker at the helm. We tried to capture the drum parts in as few takes as possible and I also recorded in a big open room so there was a lot of natural reverb.

 

SDM: What influenced your style of playing?

 

Kaish: Like every drummer I suppose my style is constantly being shaped by my unique experiences. I try to play a lot of different styles of music, maybe not always "successfully", but I don't limit myself.  I think one of the most important aspects of music is improvisation, and that tends to shine through in my playing. Or maybe not!

 

SDM: Tell us about your time playing in Vital remains?

 

Kaish: It was chock full of fun, interesting,  and metal moments! 

 

SDM: How come you left Vital Remains?

 

Kaish: A desperate yearning to do someting other than constantly play blast-beats! But seriously, I loved jamming in VR but it was very limiting in that I was playing someone else's songs, and these are songs that have very little room for interpretation. I like to think I have a lot more to say on drums than I could have safely expressed. I did put a lot of hard work into the band during the 2 years I was in it; Tony, Eric Sagardia (a  ridiculous guitar player), and myself wrote an entire album together — only for it to probably never be "officially" recorded, unfortunately. That's because, in short, it just wasn't the right gig for me. Decisions about what band to play for should be based on musical integrity, and not other arbitrary reasons, at least ideally. That's part of why I love the creativity involved with Gigan. 

 

SDM: What sort of percussion did you play on the Gigan album?

 

Kaish: Well, there's a timpani part in there, among other things… but technically it's all persussion, right? 

 

SDM: Do you have any tours lined up in support of “Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes”?

 

kaish: Yes we will be traversing the US and Canada with the killer bands: Grave, Blood Red Throne, and Pathology in August/September 2011! And there is more in the works. Thanks Noel!