Das Interview mit Jason Goss von Toothgrinder zum Album Nocturnal Masquerade (English Version)

Artist: Toothgrinder

Origin: Asbury Park (NJ), United States of America

Genre: Progressive Metal

Label: Spinefarm Records

Link: https://www.facebook.com/toothgrinder.usa

Band members:

Vocals – Justin Matthews
Guitar – Jason Goss
Bass and Vocals – Matt Arensdorf
Drums – Wills Weller

 

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

Now that your new album Nocturnal Masquerade is released and nearly all reviewers, including myself, were stoked about it, we would like to ask you some questions concerning the band Toothgrinder and concerning this album. So first of all thank you very much for taking your time doing this interview.

To many of our readers you may already be known, but for all the others could you please give a short look on the history of the band Toothgrinder?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

Sure! Toothgrinder started back when we were all attending various colleges. Our high school bands had broken up, but we all wanted to keep writing tunes and jamming. So we formed Toothgrinder, but we only had an opportunity to play when we were home on breaks from school. Once we started creating songs our excitement started steamrolling. Once we wrapped up school we decided to hit Toothgrinder full force and really go for it. We started playing any show we could get, anywhere we could get it. Eventually people started really latching on, we met some industry people to help guide us along, recorded our EP Schizophrenic Jubilee with Taylor Larson and the rest is really history!

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

I don’t know, if only the German people are getting kind of goose bumps hearing your name, because some reviewers, including myself, are obviously thinking of a horrible visit at the dentist, where he grinds each and every tooth without prior anaesthetization. I don’t think that was your intention, so what is the meaning of the band’s name?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

Haha no we weren’t trying to make anyone queezy. We felt Toothgrinder was a sort of expression. Think of when you are working your hardest or are really anxious, your jaw is usually clenching down, hence grinding your teeth. A Toothgrinder is someone who is really giving it their all, but not with absolute ease of mind. It can be very frustrating or agonizing at times, but you always grind through it. It’s been very reflective of our journey as well.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

How does it feel after all the hard work before the release of the album to finally present it to the audience and to receive only these very positive reactions? Was it a smooth process in writing the songs and going to the studio? And how are all the small steps in the preparation of an album allocated on the band members? Do all of them work together already in the songwriting, or do some band members have specific tasks?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

It feels great. With this being our first LP release the reaction you are going to get is somewhat uncertain because not a ton of people know you or back you yet. To have everyone appreciate it and dig it this much has just been so awesome. The writing process was generally smooth, only one major issue. We all collaborate on song writing. Mostly all of us can write guitar riffs so that helps. Wills typically handles drums, as most of us can’t really play the drums. Justin handles mostly all of the lyric writing. We all live pretty close to each other and we have rehearsal space close by. On any given night for those several months we spent writing Nocturnal Masquerade you would find one or two or five us up there working on these songs. Then we left for a tour last winter about two months before the studio, we wrapped up all our pre-production and got ready to send it out to our producer and label and other parties. Literally that day our hard drive crashed and was not recoverable. We hadn’t back up our files in two months. We had MP3’s of most of the work but that was it. So when we got home from tour we had to spend our remaining time before the studio rerecording all of our tracks. We were fully flexing the name Toothgrinder at that point in time.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

Also looking at the cover, is there any specific meaning behind the album title Nocturnal Masquerade? To me the cover of the album looks like a mask, mixing different animals, including a moth and an elephant with the eyes of a wolf, but these are not all nocturnal animals. Did you invent this motif by yourself or was it an external artist?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

Back when we were still DIYing it we did invent the mask ourselves. Wills actually came up with the initial concept and we used it on an EP way back in 2012. When we came around to doing Nocturnal Masquerade we wanted to create some symbolic imagery and we all had always loved the elephant head (Jubilee) so we took the original piece and had an external artist recreate it and sort of bring it to life a little more. We found the idea of a mask very fitting for the record title too. If you think of a masquerade you think 1920’s sort of ballroom party with women wearing those masks over their eyes. But this wasn’t any sort of Masquerade, it was almost an illusion or a dream. Nocturnal Masquerade is a dream sequence of emotions, it’s very sexual, it’s very dark, but then it can be uplifting and powerful. All the masks created represent these varying feelings and deceptions that you would find at the Nocturnal Masquerade.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

The song titles leave me quite helpless, too. For example the title The House (That Fear Builds) could also be the title of a horror movie, and the titles of the last two tracks Schizophrenic Jubilee and Waltz Of Madmen could be the titles of psychological thrillers. So that doesn’t sound very comfortable. Did you want to create this mood of feeling uncomfortableness, insecurity and disturbance, or do I understand it completely wrong?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

Nope, you are spot on! Like I said above these songs are compiled into a sort of dream sequence, almost Phantom of the Opera-esque. The lyrics Justin wrote were very emotional so he wanted to portray all the moods and emotions he felt in the titles he chose.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

In November/December last year you played some gigs in the United States with three other bands and in January some gigs with Crucible and Ghost Key. I couldn’t find any information about upcoming shows. Is there anything planned to support the new album, maybe also with some shows in Europe? Further I would like to know, if the works for the new album were already completed at the time of the last tours, or if these shows interrupted them. I could imagine that it is quite difficult to leave the studio, go on tour and then go back to the studio again…

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

We are playing South by Southwest in March, which is annually a big festival down in Austin, Texas. We will probably be playing some routing dates on the way down to that. We definitely want to hit Europe this year and play these tracks for all of you, but at this time nothing is scheduled. There’s nothing else at this point I can announce sorry! As for the record, we actually have been done with the record since June! So yes, it was completed during all these previous tours and we actually played several tracks from the record on those tours.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

When you are on tour with all the other bands, do you also spend your leisure time together? Or do you just meet at the locations and after the show you have a drink together and then all go your own ways? And how do you keep all the power from first to last show? I think the shows are quite exhausting…

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

At times we spend our leisure time together. One tour we all met up on our off day and had a BBQ, which was rad. Some times before the show we will play Wall Ball or have a catch to exert some energy. Sometimes sitting around all day can make me more tired. I think keeping up a routine allows us to have the same power from first show to last. If you can stay on a somewhat healthy routine you won’t lose that drive. I think exercise, rest and eating are vital to that.

Time For Metal / Heike L.:

So that’s it for now. I really hope to see you on stage sooner or later and thank you once more for your frank answers. Is there anything you would like to say to your fans and the readers of Time for Metal?

Toothgrinder / Jason Goss:

Just that we love you all and for those of you who don’t know us, pick up our record Nocturnal Masquerade out now on Spinefarm Records!