Two years after their promising debut LP, Austin, Texas based EASY PREY go the extra mile by incorporating more influences from various subgenres of metal and hardcore and giving it their own twist, nce again delivering a sonic experience of phenomenal quality. Rather than merely aiming at specific niche, they have set a new personal best for turning heavy riffs into earthmovers. Their new EP “Relentless Struggle” displays the signs of consistent refinement and to give it a nod, we have teamed up with the band to give us the full story of their journey and their newest work, and to spice it up a bit, an extra Spotify playlist and top 10 Gerald Butler movies, in case you still feel bored after spending long weeks in lockdown.
A few years ago, I (Cole) was filling in on and off on guitar for the Riverboat Gamblers on road dates, and they turned me on to The Last Podcast of the Left. Yeah, it takes some getting used to and isnβt for everyone, but the subject matter is pretty interesting, and the amount of research they do for episodes is impressive. I listened to an episode about Robert Hansen, an Alaskan Serial Killer who was active in Anchorage Alaska in the 70s. They were talking about how bleak Alaska was during that time, and referenced a series of photos that highlighted the hopelessness in that area during the Alaskan oil boom. I was interested to see the photos, so after some Internet searches I came across the Relentless Struggle photograph. It immediately grabbed me, and so I shared the image with the rest of the band. It seemed to strike a chord with all of us and started talking about the idea of somehow using this image as a basis for the new material we were working on. We didn’t think we’d actually be able to use the photo but we tracked down the talented photographer, Stephen Cysewski, who was so kind to let us use his work.
2018-2019 was a challenging time for us. One of us lost a parent, and had to figure out how to take care of the surviving parent in the aftermath. I had to undergo a very necessary surgery with a pretty awful recovery, and went into surgery six days after finishing writing the record. Lastly, one of us went through a divorce.
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The songs I guess don’t deviate too much from the subject matter of Teeth that we released early 2018, mental health issues, frustrations at a failing government, deterioration of relationships, it just seemed we all had a lot more experience to pull from for these songs.
The biggest difference with these songs is the fact that they were all written by the bands current lineup together, so although there some broadening of styles being played, the songs feel way more cohesive. We also wrote these songs entirely as a unit, and worked out parts live, which led to a much more organic writing process. We dumped anything that we didnβt feel fit in with the rest of the songs, and that left us with material that we felt represented what we were trying to do.
We recorded the songs with Stuart Sikes, who’s worked on records for The Sword, Jets To Brazil, Cat Power, The Walkmen & Riverboat Gamblers to name a few, but we didn’t have a plan on what we were going to do with the songs. Luckily a friend of our bass player who plays in a rad old Austin band, Boy
Wonder, reached out to us and offered to put the EP out on his label – 1407 Records. We had a ton of fun working with Joe to put everything together, he gave us lots of space and input, and we were able to put out a package that we were really happy with. We worked with designer Drew Lakin (a good friend and a straight up ripper, he was in the now defunct band Torcher while he was still in ATX, another dude from that project went on to start saintpeeler) to create the artwork and layout, and he was able to incorporate the style of his design into the photo that we had found.
We were also lucky enough to work with a rad local artist, Samantha Wendel aka Dethscum on a t-shirt design for the release and also my favorite tattoo artist, Thomas Hooper for another design that is in the works.
It felt strange having a record coming out during a global pandemic, we can’t play shows to promote the record, so we’ve worked really hard to promote it online and do what we can to get the record out to people without the live platform and performance being an option. We, like hundreds of bands, had a grip of shows planned for SXSW which were cancelled as the numbers of the pandemic grew in America. We were scheduled to play a showcase with a bunch of great local bands and a couple of bands who were travelling and also a stacked show with Power Trip, Protomartyr, The Spits, Regional Justice Center, Truth Cult, Gulch and Austin rippers Portrayal Of Guilt. We were obviously pretty devastated as this was the 1st year as our current line-up had some SXSW plans, but obviously people over profit.
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Bands like PoG and Glassing, Exhalants, Godshell, BLK Ops, Dining With Dogs, Deep Cross, saintpeeler, Zyclops, Communion. There’s too many, and its cool that there’s a whole scene that is just operating through DIY venues and promoters, and working entirely outside of the βindustryβ. Austin has a pretty great network of clubs who are down to put on diverse bills as well. I hope these bands are able to keep doing what they’re doing while we’re all unable to play shows and tour.
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1st half by Chris (vocals) Doom/Atmospheric/Noise and the second half is by Cole (guitar).
Extra: Top 10 Gerard Butler Movies
10. Gamer– WTF, this movie is terrible/great, and im 80% sure some of it is a musical. 5 stars.
9. Timeline – I read timeline in high school, hot on the heels of Jurassic Park. I was stoked that they were making a movie out of it, but it turns out that sending the fast and the furious guy and Jerry B back in time is no deal. I recommend Martin Lawrenceβs Black Knight over this. 2 stars.
8. Laura Croft Tomb Raider – He was in this? I didnβt see it. 4 stars.
7. The Bounty Hunter – I didnβt see this either, but how can you go wrong with Rachel from friends and our dude Gerry? 3 stars.
6. Law Abiding Citizen – This is not good, and the entire movie hinges on some very specific events happening. Hard pass. 4 stars.
5. Hunter Killer – I watched the first 20 minutes of this on Netflix. It was a little strange that he didnβt hide his accent at all, but whatever. This reminded me that there are better submarine movies to watch, so thanks for that, I guess. 1 star.
4. The (insert thing) has Fallen Series – These are crazy. Iβve only seen the 1st 2, but rest assured, ill be watching the 3rd as soon as I finish typing this sentence. Ok, wow that was great. JK. Im not entirely sure how they got away with making 3 of these, as the last thing I would have expected after watching the first one is a time traveler showing up and saying βthis will become a trilogyβ. 4 stars.
3. Virtuosity – Ok, so I know its Russell Crowe, but for a second I thought it was Gerard Butler, so im including it here anyways. 10 stars.
2. Den Of Thieves – hmm this was legit pretty great. OβShea Jackson Jr is a gift, and should be celebrated from the mountaintops. 5 stars.
1. Geostorm – Maybe my favorite movie. Its amazing. It has everything – crazy coded messages, large scale disasters where people get frozen solid, repeating the phrase βDutch Boyβ 300 times, and of course – our boy Jerry B. 5.5 stars.
