Grasping Spore Lord’s sound is difficult without experiencing it firsthand. It’s a minimalistic blend of groove-oriented ’70s hard rock and fuzz-induced stoner metal that weaves in and out like a psychedelic cosmic wave. Perhaps the band’s own description of being the “bastard child of a Black Sabbathian, supernatural beast” is the best way to illustrate what these dudes are delivering.
The trio — consisting of guitarist Matt Irvin, bassist Dan Giampietro, and drummer Cam Barnes — are not necessarily rookies to the scene. They were living in obscurity, playing shows OTP before connecting with local promoter A. Rippin’ Productions a couple of years ago. Now it seems like Spore Lord is linking up with every major metal act in the greater Atlanta area, and they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon with their debut LP, In the Beginning, due out this December.
Recently, we spoke with the band as they prepared to play their first ever Slaughter Que this Saturday. Featuring 16 bands across 2 stages, Atlanta’s largest local metal festival boasts not only a boatload of beer and BBQ, but also a carnival midway with classic carnival games, a full freak show, and an assortment of sideshow performances including sword swallowing, fire breathing, juggling, a contortionist, aerial acrobatics, street magicians, and stilt walkers. The festivities kick off at noon.
How do you think the city has received Spore Lord thus far?
Matt Irvin: I think Atlanta seems to like us thus far. You should be able to find something in these songs that appeal to you even if metal is not your thing. Each song is a little different from the last. [It] still has the Spore Lord groove, but you’ll find different elements of rock or metal in each tune you can move to. We’re real excited for everyone to hear our upcoming album, In the Beginning. I think it will demonstrate how we’re able to write heavy and loud music that’s palatable for everyone.
How has not having a singer impacted your approach to writing or composition?
MI: Not having a singer has enabled us to do what we want. We don’t have to stick to a specific genre or key. We don’t have to have the verse/chorus approach you normally would have. Even though our earlier stuff does have some of that progression, we did write them with a vocalist in mind. We tried to find a singer for a while. It just didn’t work out. They were all nice people, good at what they do, we just felt it didn’t go with the sound we were trying to achieve. We still aren’t sure what sound we are trying to achieve.
What’s up with naming each song only a numeral?
MI: We thought the songs should speak for themselves. Maybe we should have named them Eric or Steve — like children.
Credit: Brandon Belcher
Let’s talk about gear. What do you guys utilize to get Spore Lord’s soul-crushing tone?
Dan Giampietro: I play a Spector Euro 4LX. I’ll run that into an EBS Valve Drive overdrive pedal, a Morley Pro Series II Wah, and a MoogerFooger Phaser. All of this will either go into an AD200 Orange bass head or a SVT Classic [Ampeg]. That’ll run into some variation of an Ampeg 410 bass cabinet. This is what I’ll use to get my gainy, bright but not overbearing sound. I just want to have a tone that’s gnarly but full.
MI: For my head, I’ll use a Marshall JCMA 800 with KT88 tubes and I’ll run that through a Marshall stack. As far as pedals… they could all be replaced. I’ve used various phaser, wah, and delay pedals from various manufacturers, but if it needed to happen, I could plug straight into my head and play our set. I can get all my gain from the head — I don’t need any overdrive or fuzz pedals. My head and cab setup delivers an overdriven tone without it getting too fuzzy.
Tell me more about your partnership with A. Rippin’ Production?
MI: We stared working with A. Rippin’ about two years ago. We saw [Amos Rifkin] was booking all the clubs we wanted to play so we emailed him demos and a little bio and he responded with a gig. We have been working with them since playing with all kinds of acts in Atlanta that rule as well as really rad touring bands. It has led everyone to great new friends and new music to party to.
It must be exciting to record in the same studio used by bands like Mastodon and Artimus Pyledriver. How has recording at LedBelly Sound Studios been?
MI: Recording with Matt Washburn at LedBelly was great. He has a new studio. Real chill. Horses, a pond, and a ton of land way up there in Dawsonville. We went to LedBelly expecting to get our live feel and tone captured as close as possible. The rough mixes alone were better than I expected. He captured everything we were going for. There wasn’t really a difficult part about recording the album. Washburn seemed to really like our compositions so we didn’t really change anything at the studio. We practiced so much beforehand, we knocked out each song in a few takes.
How do you fell about playing your first Slaughter Que this year?
MI: We’re very excited. Not only is it our first Slaughter Que, it’s also our first time ever playing the Masquerade. We are playing with a lot of other bands we have never played with before, so hopefully it’s a good chance to expose us to some fresh ears.
Spore Lord will perform on Saturday, September 24 at Slaughter Que at the Masquerade. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.. Admission is $20.
More Info
Bandcamp: sporelord.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @TheSporeLord