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INTERVIEW WITH MIKE TORCHIA (BASS PLAYER FOR DISSOLUTE/RUN DEVIL RUN) By Dhruva das 31/1/2002 Hare Krsna Dhruva! I will do the best i can with your questions... 1. Could you please introduce yourself. And what do you do besides doing music? Ah, well... I'm Mike Torchia and besides music I attempt to follow Prabhupada and Krsna's instruction, I am married to Laura (for about 3 months now) and I work as a firefighter for a city and as a paramedic in a hospital. I also love to ride dirt bikes and old motorcycles (great mundane activities!) 2. How did your band (DISSOLUTE) start? And what is/are your goal/s & motivations in writing lyrics? Actually, to clarify things, it is OUR band! haha. Dissolute started in 1998 between longtime friend/guitarist Ryan Sack and myself, trying to play something different, something that wasn't boring when you listened to it... and we've been trying to do that ever since. In the lyrics, I try to express things that strike me in my life. Whether it's things like the corruption of the media (Real TV) or about discovering my position in life (As It Is, Above the Body) I try to explain things and how i've seen them, and how it can make a difference to someone. I don't wish anyone to simply follow what i'm doing for the sake of doing it, but hopefully the words could inspire someone to assess their own situation and make a change for the better, regardless of the path. 3. It is my 1st time to hear your sound, could you describe your music & who are your influences as an individual & as a band as well. Well, let's see... our music is kinda no frills. No lengthy intros, no guitar solos, no singing (as in the melodic type, it's all screaming) and almost all of the songs are under two minutes. If you would like a musical comparison, imagine if Today is the Day, Harvest, Deadguy, and Coalesce all had a baby. That child could be Dissolute. We all listen to different stuff, way different stuff. I'll play a Guess Who record and the latest Converge back to back. Everything from early r+b to the latest metalcore, as long as there is a meaning... ya know? A lot of 60's & 70's "pop groups" had a great underlying message in there. Ryan listens to whatever is on the leading edge of extreme, lots of smaller indie artists... artists on small labels like Hydrahead. Basically, all the latest and original stuff... he brings most of the riff writing to the band. And the drummer Paul listens to classics like Sinatra and Elvis, but owns about every release put out on Tribunal Records. There are a ton of influences which meld into our "style" if you could call it that. 4. Could you please explain the background of the song "Kill for God" coz it's quite heavy. Okay. First, let me say it was written about a year and a half before this whole "September 11th" terrorist thing. To put it briefly, people justify killing each other in the name of God, yet every major religious text has the primary instructions to "love thy neighbor" and "serve others as you would God". Just because someone calls God by a different name is not an excuse to slaughter them, but people are doing it every day as they have for thousands of years. No one can see that by continuing to kill, there will only be more killing. Haha, so much for the short version. But anyhow, the song basically points out that killing for God is really just a lame excuse for our own desire to kill others because they are different from us. 5. How are you connected with RUN DEVIL RUN? I've been the bass player in RDR for about 2 years now, that's my connection... it's been fun to play with them, a great group of guys. 6. Mike Prabhu, what can you say about the scene in your local hometown? It's okay. The hardcore scene is coming back, for sure. There was a time a few years ago it was almost dead. Madball came to town in 1997 and there was maybe 100 kids there, that's terrible in a city this size. Now, with the resurgence of many old local hardcore bands and lots of new ones the kids are back into it again, which is great because hardcore (mostly) is about values that are positive instead of negative. 7. Anything you want to say & any message you want to impart to the readers. Thank you Nah, just buy our stuff!!! haha just kidding. I'm not much for inspirational speeches or anything, so i'll just say thanks for reading and if you would like more info on Run Devil Run or Dissolute please check out our websites, thanks! http://www.vmsrecords.com/dissolute Thanks again Prabhu!! Mike/Dissolute |