Aside from the Indy 500, U.S. state Indiana boasts another special entity, and perhaps on decibel par with the infamous race day. Progressive metalers The Contortionist have emerged over the past few years to deliver top-shelf, quality music.
The band comprises of a virtuoso team who take their roles seriously, experimenting to unleash spoils of ‘djent’ – a colloquial term to describe a progressive sub-genre of distorted palm-muted guitars.
The Contortionist are coming Down Under in November to show off some newer tunes from their latest album Intrinsic, a follow-up to their debut full-length record Exoplanet released in 2010. The band will be supporting fellow progressive peers Between The Buried And Me, who will be headlining the national tour.
Vocalist Michael Lessard is getting to know the band quite well at the moment. “We’re currently out on the road with Between The Buried And Me, The Faceless, and The Safety Fire and after we finish up that tour, we fly ahead to Australia,” the frontman exclaims.
The progressive masters have toured with the band before, but Lessard was not part of the band at that stage – as he replaced ex-vocalist Dave Hoffman. “The other guys knew them for a while before I did and had played a few shows with them before, so there was somewhat of a relationship growing already.”
Whilst they often tour with a line-up of bands packaged in the same sub-genre, Lessard appreciates a bit of diversity on tour as well. “When touring with Between The Buried And Me, there’s so much variety in their music in general that I enjoy it very much.” The singer admits, “I do usually like some variety on tour but if you have some really talented bands on the bill, that’s all that really matters.”
Between The Buried And Me will be performing The Parallax II: Future Sequence in its entirety on the upcoming tour. “We haven’t done that before but we’re very interested in doing something like that too. I’m not sure how soon it’ll come into fruition but hopefully sometime in the near future we’ll be able to try something like that,” Lessard says.
“I do usually like some variety on tour but if you have some really talented bands on the bill, that’s all that really matters.”It is no accident how The Contortionist came about. Besides the case of Lessard, the band came together organically. “They’ve all grown up together and known each other since they were really young, all living in the same neighbourhood and playing music together.” Additionally, Joey Baca (on drums and percussion) and Robby Baca (on guitar) are brothers, and played a large role in forming the band.
Once the metalers came together, their range of external and socialised musical influences interconnected. “Some of these bands include Radiohead, The Dear Hunter and Karnivool,” the latter being Australia’s very own progressive ambassadors.
“I’d actually be really excited to meet Karnivool while I’m in Australia; if that was to happen, it’d be awesome.” Perhaps Lessard and Karnivool vocalist Ian Kenny could perform a duet together while their fans gloriously unite? “An amusing thought,” the frontman chuckles in response.
With the situation of Lessard only joining the band after their album Intrinsic was released, he assumes reasoning for the recognisable differences in structure to Exoplanet.
“I think that the band obviously wanted to progress as musicians and after two years (he says with inflection, emphasising the gap as lengthy) I feel personally that they have had a coming of age with the latest album in the sense that they’re finding their style a little bit.” This maturation is reflected through the example of key changes and generally increased levels of experimentation.
Lessard reflects on the band’s process and how he fits in with The Contortionist now. “I feel like we all have a better grasp on what better musicians we are but even with that being said, you never really know what to expect.”
With Intrinsic being released last year and 2013 coming to an end, the band are contemplating a new album. “We’ve gone into the writing process with no real expectations until later on down the road, just to see what evolves naturally at the beginning,” Lessard says, exemplifying the band’s experimental colours.
“I feel like we all have a better grasp on what better musicians we are but even with that being said, you never really know what to expect.”“We’ve already started writing and we plan on going into the studio in the spring time, so we’re very much getting the wheels in motion.” People of the southern hemisphere, don’t forget that would be our autumn.
Sandwiched between the Australian tour and recording their next studio record, the band are touring Mexico with progressive deathcore elite, Born Of Osiris. “That is going to be an amazing tour and after that I actually get to fly home because I’m from a different area than the other guys in the band.”
Lessard lives in Maine on the far north-east of the U.S., while the rest of the band resides in Indiana. “So then we’ll take a little break to reset and then get right back into writing for the new album and not long after that, we’ll get in the studio to record.”
When The Contortionist members enter the studio, they will have plenty of inspiration from progressive cohorts on the world stage who are releasing some magnificent albums. “The new TesseracT album is excellent. I think their new singer Ashe (O’Hara) did a phenomenal job on the vocals.” Lessard empathises with O’Hara as they both have recently adjusted as new vocalists in their respective bands.
He also emphasises the importance of progressive bands that got things started, like King Crimson who formed in the 60s. “They were definitely ahead of their time, you could say, and you can hear contemporary bands incorporating their influences,” Lessard says.
With respect to the music scene around him, it is Lessard’s time to shine with The Contortionist. He’s excited to make it to Australia for the upcoming tour. “You can expect a good time with good music and good vibes.”
The Contortionist will tour with Between The Buried And Me in Australia from mid November.
