Ben Murray (with glasses) and Heartsounds
Heartsounds play melodic skate punk out of San Francisco, CA. Rice and Bread recently caught up with one of the band’s two guitarist/vocalists, Ben Murray, in Montreal during Pouzza Fest to discuss their next release, a bit about Fest and Murray’s own record label, Creator-Destructor Records.
So, this was your first time in Montreal and first Pouzza. How was it?
It’s been great. Unfortunately, we only got in a few hours before we had to play.
Who are you excited to see?
Municipal Waste, mostly. Love that band.
Do you have any recording plans for the future?
Well, we’re not writing an LP; we’re writing a different kind of release. It’s shorter, but it’s different. It’ll be cool. I can’t really give away too much until we have the announcement ready and all that. But we’re making progress; we’re about halfway done. It’ll be out in October by Fest.
So, you’re coming back to Fest this year; anyone you’re excited to see there?
Well, I know we’re playing with Lagwagon at Pre-Fest, so that’s gonna be really fun. But every band is always fun, I can’t even think about who’s playing.
What are your favourite places for food at Fest?
Man… I don’t know. I usually just bop from venue to venue, getting as drunk as possible. I don’t know where I end up. We weren’t there last year either, so I don’t know how the setup has changed.
It hasn’t really changed much at all.
So, yeah, just bop around, get drunk.
For your next release, are you gonna do the production diaries like you did for Internal Eyes?
No, actually, we’re gonna do the opposite.
What’s the opposite? Just not doing them?
Nah, we’re just gonna release it one day: here it is! So one day people will just have a new record.
That’s awesome! Do you have any other plans, aside from Fest and the album?
Well, we’re just focusing on the record until Fest. After that, we’re not really sure. We may do some shows with Atlas Losing Grip in December, and we’d like to go back to Japan in January. But I’m not really sure, aside from that.
Do you have any plans for your record label, Creator-Destructor, this year?
Well, we’re putting out the new Heartsounds record and the new Point of View record this year, which is really fucking good. I think that’s it for the year.
You’re someone who’s on both sides of the coin, musically, that you’re both in a band and the owner of a label. Do you find the skill sets from each one overlapping?
Yeah, for sure. Just being able to keep track of stuff, especially. We’re a self-sustaining band. We manage ourselves and we book ourselves for the most part because we know the people we like to work with. And when you put out your own records it helps you control it a bit more and just… stay on top of your shit more.
How do songs in Heartsounds get written?
I usually write all the music with Trey [Derbes, drummer] riff by riff and then Laura [Nichol, guitarist/vocalist] and I work on the vocals once we have enough lyrics to show each other and put them together. It’s a pretty easy process. We’re trying to do it a little differently for this one; just have all four of us in a room more often.
Are there any places that you travel to that you really look forward to the food?
Well, I ate three cheesesteaks in Philly, which… I don’t know, that was a little gluttonous.
Where’d you go?
Jim’s first and then to Philip’s after the show. I mean, we toured down to Mexico and that was a real food tour. The food is so fucking cheap and so good. If I had to say one thing, that was probably my favourite.
Heartsounds‘ Internal Eyes is available on Creator-Destructor Records.
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