You might recall that we reviewed a new Subdivision Records band named Sungrazerr last issue. I am completely infatuated with the sounds that come from this new act, and can honestly say that this is as new, fresh and unique as it gets. Subdivision has released some great stuff recently and I hope that they continue long into the future. I had a chance to catch up with the man behind the music, Dean Tompkins, and we got along really well talking about Sungrazerr, his other interests, and the mighty genre of heavy metal which we both love and is actually miles apart from the work he releases in Sungrazerr.
Dean is a native of California and lives in Costa Mesa with his wife and his son who is nearing the two year mark. After hearing the sonically warm and vibrant sounds of Sungrazerr I pegged Dean for a indie/shoe gaze kind of guy, but his scope is much broader than that. If you haven’t checked out the Subdivision roster you really should, it has got to be the best newer label that is out there, and their acts are top notch!
Have you played in any other bands or is Sungrazerr the first?
Sungrazerr is actually a side project that I started with Dylan Hake. Dylan has played with a bunch of bands from Telegram to Set to Sea to Moi, and Dylan is also the drummer for Mammoth Thunderpower which is our 70’s metal band that we do. It’s our main project, just good old slow dark heavy metal. It’s the greatest thing ever man…so, Sungrazerr was something I had always wanted to do because of my love for effects pedals. Dylan was a perfect fit, however he can get a bit busy with school, so the first EP is all me pretty much. So I guess to get back to your question, I also play in Mammoth Thunderpower. As far as past bands… ehhhh, just grand ideas and fill in spots in other peoples bands.
Mammoth Thunderpower huh??? Yeah, I LOVE metal! Is there a website or a place to purchase those tunes, and can you give me a little background on the band (who, where, how long, releases, etc.)?
Yes… Mammoth Thunderpower, we’ve been doing it for almost two years now, but the last year has been more serious. We are basic, heavy, hard slower metal. There are no releases as of now, but I’d say within the next six months we will be putting something out ourselves. The roster is me, Timm Nasario Daza (tattooist extraordinaire), Dylan Hake, Aaron Luckett and Chris Waffle. I guess you probably want our band names huh? Our band names are Deanstroyer, Sir Maximus Thunder, Boy Thunder, Salt and Pepper Leopard, and The Chrispocalypse. We have a face book page and all that and it’s honestly the most fun I’ve ever had in a band.
How did you come to be on the Subdivision label?
I feel that I got really lucky with that man. I mean (this is gonna sound really funny) it’s like a dream come true. I grew up with Andy as a mentor, I guess for lack of a better mentor.… (haha no, no I’m kidding). Andy was best friends with my brother growing up so he basically taught me how to play guitar. I always liked his music but I was more of a hardcore kid. I would raise hell at Prayer Chain shows…looking back I was so lame…jumping off of the PA speakers into the crowd and taking out some poor girl who was really worshipping and crying in the front row. I already knew Andy and Eric and I bonded over skateboards and aliens. Then you know, you grow up and life happens. We lost touch for a few years and when we did start talking again my musical tastes had expanded and so had theirs. So, we would send songs back and forth, you know, turning each other onto new bands and such. I ended up kind of helping manage some of the bands Andy has produced with Northern and started coming around his circles more. I also started helping Eric a little bit with Manta Rae, his clothing and screen printing company, so it just kind of fit. I recorded the songs in my ThunderDen, which is my own little studio, then the EP was done and online. Those dudes said they were stoked on it and now it’s a part of Subdivision. With the digital age upon us it can be that easy. I’d like to think that all the homemade mac and cheese that I made Andy was the real reason. He just wants food from me, so he keeps something over my head.
I didn’t know Eric had a clothing & screen printing company…?
Eric has a company called Manta Rae. In the past 6 months I have been adding my two cents to move it into a new direction. We do a line of tees, just cool designs, and we also do contract printing with damn good prices if you ask me! We aim to try to help out bands with their merch. People don’t realize how important merch is in keeping your band afloat. That is YOUR money, not the labels money, and the profit margin is great, so we do like package deals and try to help out bands (or any company for that matter). A couple hundred bucks gets you shirts and buttons and all that. If you don’t know about screen printing and the whole process, you can end up spending a lot of money on crap and feel in the dark. We are just trying to give a little back.
Where do you draw your inspiration, and what other bands do you consider to be an influence on Sungrazerr?
Sungrazerr is about feelings… emotions…. .Andy really got me into the whole “music is a drug” thing and I wanted to see if I could really push that. Can I listen to a song and have my brain really, honestly make me feel high? I mean, that’s what we are all chasing anyways right? The next high? Be it love, acceptance, instant gratification or whatever gets you off. Each song has its own different feeling or emotion due to whatever state of mind I was in while I was writing it.
I had the IPod on shuffle a while ago and “Humb” by The Prayer Chain came on. I then realized that that song alone may have planted this fuzz/drone seed in me. I also listen to Suicide, French Drain, and I love The Sound Gallery stuff, it can be so haunting and delicate at the same time….Herb is rad.
So the whole “music is a drug” that Andy got you into… can you elaborate on that concept a bit?
Music is a drug…yes indeed. There is a book called “This is your Brain on Music”, and Andy turned me onto it. It basically explains that the human brain processes music like it processes drugs, the same chemical change happens. So think about it, think about how different music makes you feel different ways. It can totally hype you up, or totally drag you down. Your mood can make you crave different types of music.
It has actually changed the whole way I listen to all types of music, especially when you go see bands play. There is always some band playing that you don’t know or haven’t heard before. If you can’t get some sort of enjoyment from them, or some sort of something, just bail. It’s not worth it. Why take a drug that you aren’t into? If you came and saw Sungrazerr and weren’t into it, I would hope you would leave for your sanity. It wouldn’t offend me.
How do you describe the sound of Sungrazerr?
Fuzzy…um….yeah….really, really fuzzy…… deep huh?
What is the process for writing the music and how you bring it all together?
Geez… it may be anything from a sound of a certain pedal, to a mood, ya know? I try not to rush it and really just do it when the feeling inspires me. It’s always different so I might record some cool sounds outside, or from one of my sons toys with my phone. Then mic it and play it through a fuzz pedal…or I may have a little story in my head and I’ll lay down a bass or guitar track and then just layer them up.
Are you the sole member of Sungrazerr, or are there other people involved?
Sungrazerr is my child but there are lots of people who make up Sungrazerr. As of right now it’s mainly me and Dylan, but it’s an open door policy.
Do you play live or are there plans to play live at any point?
We’ve only played live a few times with some loops pedals, an extra guitarist, a laptop, cool lights and a wall of amplifiers. I wouldn’t use the word “loud” because there’s a point when your ears stop working and you start to feel the music in your chest. It’s not for the weak, that’s for sure.
Will Sungrazerr ever have vocals or will you always be primarily the noise band that you are?
Ha! You know I had this conversation last night actually. The simple answer is “sure, why not”. There are no rules for Sungrazerr, I’m just going where it takes me because it’s art. I may do some fuzzy country songs next or it may die tomorrow.
Any other projects that came before Sungrazerr that are available?
No not really…well there is something called Unicurse, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it.
So, what/who/huh is Unicurse? Since you don’t know if you can talk about it, I feel compelled to ask.
Unicurse is a darker project with some people. Secrecy is something that is lost in today’s world. You can find out anything about anyone at anytime and it’s sad really. People can let you know when they check into the yogurt shop…weird huh? So secret bands and secret societies are fun for us, that’s about all I can say.
Are there new Sungrazerr tracks and tunes in the works?
Yep….Working on a few covers of doo-wop songs….no joke. Maybe gonna make a mixtape…you know, keep it street. Definitely going to work some live drums into the mix…by the way, I will NOT do some fuzzy country now that I think about it.
Working on doo-wop covers??? Sounds very interesting…any idea when that may come out?
Yep, doo wop covers. I love that type of music and I’ve always wanted to be in a cover band that kind of rocked out doo wop covers. I think we’d be a hit on the wedding circuit…but yeah, Sungrazerr doo wop….slow, fuzzy….it’s really fun actually. I’ll say they will maybe be out in a month or less. I usually release one song at a time and then group them together as an album or whatever. I’m very impatient and it’s so easy to put stuff on bandcamp.
Can you give me the history behind the song “Black Bunny Haven”? Where did the name and the inspiration for the song originate?
Hahaha. It’s kind of an inside joke between my wife and I. We live on the Westside of Costa Mesa which is a very ethnically diverse area. There’s an apartment building in a somewhat rough area, and we always drive by this one building that has a sign that says HAVEN on it…and a black bunny rabbit. No joke man, it makes no sense at all, like is that going to entice you to live that that place? I’ll send you a picture of it. So I made up a story that it’s some twisted bunny clone ranch and maybe the song is the programming inside of the head of one of the clones. That’s not strange at all is it? (hehe). The sound you first hear is a noise box that was custom made by the TONEBUTCHER. (www.tonebutcher.com).He actually makes most of my pedals and noise makers and fixes and rebuilds all of my amplifiers .I’m an all tube man, it takes some maintenance when you push them to 11 all the time.
On the track “Elephants” there are noises that I cannot even identify, what do you use to create the soundscapes that the listener hears?
You know that was my first Sungrazerr song that I had a collaborator on. Miles Rogers, who makes music under the moniker “Rainsword” (gonna be huge in the electronic music world), he did some of the effects on it. He’s a bit more digitally savvy than me and I lean towards the analog. So really I don’t know what he did with some of those sounds, but I also don’t want to know. I do know that his house is right under where the airplanes take off from a local Airport. He records all kinds of good stuff and speeds it up, slows it down, and he also makes a lot of his own effects pedals. He’s rad man and he just turned 18, crazy right?
What is in your ipod/turntable/cd player right now?
Tonight I was listening to the new Telegram EP, the new Crocodiles album, Russian Circles….also the new Dimmu Borgir album. There’s a French Drain cassette tape in my player right now (drone stuff)…and I’m really, really into JBAP. They’re Subdivision people too and I’m curious to hear what’s next from them.
So who are your top 10 favorite metal acts… and top 10 favorite other bands as well?
Ok so top Ten Metal Bands….
hmmm…so it would span anything that falls under metal…okay:
(besides Mammoth Thunderpower of course)
- Motley Crue
- Black Sabbath
- Iron Maiden
- Dio
- Guns N Roses
- Dimmu Borgir
- Sleep
- Pentagram
- Goatsnake
- Pistolero
Behemoth and Graveyard would be 11 and 12
Okay, now the top ten bands… ??? Damn, that’s gonna be rough…let’s see:
- Motley Crue
- The Clash
- Jawbreaker
- Oasis
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Slade
- The Murder City Devils
- Jane’s Addiction
- Gorilla Biscuits
- Russian Circles
Also, there’s new stuff up on BandCamp… not complete but almost there… http://sungrazerr.bandcamp.com/
I also want to give thanks and props to the following people for their part in helping me out and hooking me up with gear:
- Tonebutcher Pedals
- Armor Gold Cables
- Jon Baxter Pickups
and of course my wife…
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