THE SWORD
something more high energy. I don’t really like
to sing in an aggro fashion, so sometimes the
instrumentals and the guitar playing have to
carry that mood. Plus, sometimes I like to keep
my head down and rock. That really was kind of
the design—short, fast instrumentals and longer,
more involved rock-song structures.
Shutt: When we started the band, I was 20
years old. So a lot of that [economy] is just
getting better as a musician, getting more
comfortable, and knowing when to go off or
lay back. I’m less interested in getting too
noodly—and I’ve really started to hate listening to a lot of that stuff anyway.
When it came to composing parts or songs,
were you influenced by artists who don’t
play heavy rock?
Cronise: Yeah, definitely. You can hear a ZZ
Top influence in there. But there’s even some
homage to the Meters hidden in there. We listen to all kinds of stuff and it seeps through.
