Our writer Gilbert Potts had a little chat with Bob Meadows of Pennsylvania based metal band A Life Once Lost about music, the guts it took to throw away a new album and start again and about life in general.
(((o))): Unless they play an experimental or avantgarde style from the start, bands are often judged by how well they reproduce the sound of their last effort. If you applied that to human evolution we would still be living in caves. What got in the way of the evolution of A Life Once Lost?
Ah, nothing. We have always evolved from one record to the next. I feel bands figure out the formula of success and hardly stray from it. They play it safe. Music and especially metal should never be safe.
(((o))): The shit that gets in the way of doing your thing, of evolving, did it feel like you were spiralling down into a funnel? Did it reach a point where you needed to step back, blow everything up and almost start again?
Everyone falls in that place from time to time. It's natural and honest. To be able to recreate the situation/problem/task at hand is human. You can cut away the excess stress you do not need which is beautiful.
(((o))): You threw away the record you had ready because it was no longer what you wanted to do. Does that take courage?
Yes. It takes a big set of balls and fortunately the band has a massive set. We wanted to turn heads and give the people something they would never expect. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
(((o))): Why not just release it anyway and then do the new one?
I don't see it that way. I need to stand next to the release and be confident. The previous material was not something I felt strongly towards - we fixed the issue and now I can stand here believing in what I was a part of.
(((o))): What else did you throw away from your life and what did you keep so you could reach the next level? Who are the people by your side helping make it all possible?
Ah, I didn't throw anything away. Thin sleeve my life due to differences or simply growing apart. It's a maturity thin I guess when you grow apart but it seems like it's for the best at times.
(((o))): The relationship between the instruments has changed for Ecstatic Trance. There's a contrast there that didn't exist before. What are the new influences you brought to the record?
We are playing music we dig. The band will listen to and give everything a chance. Live with an open mind so that you can experience and obtain a greater knowledge of life.
(((o))): The Krautrock, Afro Funk, Japanese Psych and American Hard Blues Rock scenes played a dominate roll in the music and vocal approach for the record. You can hear it very clearly on this record. How has the music that you listen to and that inspires you changed over the years?
I am a crate digger - I surf blogs, YouTube and research a lot of the bands I listen to now. It's been this way for 11 years or so. This life style has allowed to be more open with life and give things a chance I normally wouldn't.
(((o))): How big a part of your life is making music? What else occupies your time?
It's a huge part. I spent over a decade of my life writing, practicing and performing with this band. To think that this might not be here in five or ten years is hard to come to grasp with. I work in the construction business and also officiate wrestling matches in the local high schools. Anything to help make money and pay bills so that I can travel with the band.
(((o))): What sort of personality traits do you need to keep pursuing it?
You need to have thick skin. You need to have a will or desire to succeed. You have to realize that this is not going to be handed to you.
(((o))): If you were an animal, what would you be?
If I was an animal, I would be a bird of prey.
(((o))): What's your favourite riff on the record?
Gnawing Lisp or People Stare does it for me.
(((o))): What's your favourite metal riff of all time?
Meshuggah's Chaosphere is one of those songs that just does it for me - the riff is fucking massive and just smashes everything in its path.
