Interview: Psychostick

Psychostick are one of those bands you come across and question what they are doing and how they are doing it. You look into that, and then you're brought into this magical world of humour and hardcore. Everyone knows Beer and This Is Not A Song It's A Sandwich, and anyone with a sense of humour that doesn't reek of pomposity knows that it's great. Humourcore! They had the time to speak to me whilst they are busy on their tour, by they I mean by the wonderful John “The J” Key and he gave me great answers. Read on, I dare you, I mother fucking dare you.

Did Psychostick form around the same time as We Couldn't Think Of a Title? 

We were together about 2 years before "We Couldn't Think of a Title". We put out a couple of demos, hated them, vowed to do something of better quality, then put out "We Couldn't Think of a Title" which we were very happy with.

When did you have the idea of becoming a humorcore band?

Rob and I had always wanted an album that was funny and heavy, but it didn't exist. So we had to create it. 


You've had some minor line up changes, especially with bassists, do you expect this line up to stick? 

Matt has been with Psychostick longer than any other bassist has. He's great! Let's hope he doesn't get hit by a truck or spontaneously combust.   


How are you guys doing on your tour? You've got plenty of dates and places to conquer. 

We're kicking ass and taking names. Lots of names. We have people sign up for show alerts at our merch booth, and then they get emailed when we come back. See? SO LITERAL! We don't actually kick their asses, though. Unless they have it coming. 


You guys tour nationally, have you ever considering coming to the UK (*hint hint*) or anywhere else overseas? 

Absolutely. Playing the UK was actually a goal for the year, but building our recording studio took longer than anticipated, so it may wait a bit. But it's gonna happen at some point, I know we've had fans asking us to play there for YEARS! 


Are you guys are comedy fueled, what is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on stage that has been unintentional? And how did you deal with it? 

We played a huge festival with thousands of people and had put "Beer" last. It's a short song, we had time to do it. It's two minutes long, and we had three minutes left. But the stage manager didn't know that, and told us we were done so we didn't get to play it. When we told everyone we were done, they thought we were joking, but when they realized we really were and hadn't played that song, they got angry. We spent the rest of the day explaining over and over why we didn't play Beer.

The embarrassing part? Making the same exact mistake AGAIN at another festival before realizing that Beer should be second to last instead of last in case a song has to be cut.

With the album, The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Joyride, why didn't Indorphine finish the other half of it, did it involve their split?

Whoa, I have no idea how you know about that, but really they just didn't have the time to do it. Flesh Eating was going to be a full length, but when they told us they couldn't do it, Christmas was approaching so we just released it as a short record. That's why it's so short. 


When do you expect to get your next album off and running? 

Fall 2014! 


After your Sandwich album, do you guys emotional passion for food? 

Eating awesome food from everywhere is one of the best things about touring. Cajun food in Louisiana... lobster in Maine, pizza in New York. Local microbrews, too. 


Instrumentally you're solid, but Space Vampires vs Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D had different playing styles and parodies, how long do you take to write a song, or learn a song you're parodying? 

Parodies are way faster, the music is already written and you simply change the lyrics. Writing a song from scratch takes anywhere from two days to a full week. 


With the new material undergo, do you feel like this material is the strongest and most accomplished you've produced so far? 

Absolutely. Our goal with every album is to one-up ourselves, and I feel we are succeeding in this. 


After this album, do you ever wish to be signed to a big record label?  

Naw. We've always been about sticking with someone who lets us do what we want. Besides, the major labels are dropping like flies. 


And last of all, in a sentence, how would you describe Psychostick?  

Brutal LOLZ.


That sentence of power, wisdom, and courage proves that Psychostick are becoming veterans at what they do. All there is to do now for the rest of the world is to wait for the fall of 2014, then we will prepare our bodies.

~Matthew Clewley