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Last month Eenzy caught up with Atlanta-based chaotic hardcore luminaries Apostle for a heartfelt hobnob after a show. The band gets into how they adapted to losing a member and becoming a trio, how they support each other creatively and emotionally in the band, and they land some solid burns at the expense of jazz and black metal (genres famous for their sense of humor). They’re currently supporting their latest release Liminal. Listen to the interview down at the bottom or on our Spoofy channel and read the edited transcription below.
[Fan crashes interview to tell the band how great the show was]
Eenz: Hey guys, Eenzy here outside 529 once again, this time with Apostle. You guys wanna introduce yourselves?
Michael: Hello my name is Michael and I play bass in the band.
Eenz: I just sat through a pretty bitchin’ show with you guys, Malevich which is another local blackened grind band, Hexis – a great band from Denmark, and.. I forget the last band actually. But I have questions about your band so it doesn’t matter. My first question is about the name: where did the name Apostle come from? Is there a story behind it? Did you just pick a word out of the dictionary like Health? What’s up?
Evan: It was kinda something I was sitting on in my early 20’s, I was going through my kind of angsty, atheist-phase. To be totally honest I was like ‘Yeah, it’d be cool to have a band in a chaotic and abrasive style kind of tongue-in-cheek named Apostle’. Honestly, I just thought it sounded kinda cool at the time, and it stuck. When we started playing with Cam when the band actually formed, I had that name in my back pocket from over the years and was like ‘what if we just named it Apostle?’ and it just kinda stuck.
Eenz: Cool, I like it – the bible’s pretty metal in certain parts. Other parts are pretty fucked up, but whatever [editorial note: dude, the metal parts are super fucked up too]
Murice: I always just like put us in the category of like chaotic hardcore, just cause it’s an easy catch-all term. I’m sure all of our influences vary, but mine are stuff like Yaujta, Sumac, Infernal Coil, Iron Lung, Coke Bust, The Chariot. Just names like that – listening to them really pushed me to like try to do something more with the music I’m making.
Eenz: That’s awesome, you guys seem like you’re really emotionally intelligent as a band, and you care about each other not just musically, but also appreciate each other. And it’s cool that you are influenced by jazz and also like black metal, cause when I think of black metal the first think I think of is shitty drums. What was your approach to writing and recording the record – you answer a part of this already, and what are you hoping listeners will connect with on the album?
Murice: Our approach was… weed! And just showing up. Just making sure we’re consistent and come to practice and really just invest in each other. What was the second half [of the question]? Even though like the music is obviously really important, I really hope people check out the lyrics when we get them up and everything. It just feels like everyone is kind of feeling the same way as me, and I don’t know that until I talk to people, and some people don’t necessarily reach out or anything, and I’d just like them to know that somebody feels like you feel. A lot of those lyrics I wrote staring at a buck hoist on my break at work, hating my fucking life, and I didn’t really do much to ‘clean up’ the lyrics or anything, it just kind of is what it is.
Eenz: Actually that’s my next question, but I wanna say I really appreciate bands that try to be there for people to connect with. One of the things I like about going to shows is that it’s one of the only ways I can reach some emotions that I have and [grapple with] them if I’m seeing a band I really connect with. You guys had a lineup change, you lost I think a founding member, between your last release and this one. How has that affected your songwriting process and your live performances?
Evan: It’s definitely brought us all closer as friends and creatives. In all the bands that Mike and I have been playing in, it seems like three is the magic number in all of them. Having a stripped down sound with just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, it’s kinda hard to mess that up, but also because we’re so honest with each other with how we’re feeling creatively, mentally, emotionally – I feel like that kind of honesty is reflected in the music as well. Because it’s just the three of us, it’s a lot more close-knit than it has been, really ever. Being the only other founding member of Apostle I can definitely say that. In terms of how it’s affected our writing style? I’m gonna have to pass it to Murice here.
Eenz: Two of you are in another band called Ladybird, and I guess another two of you are in another band [FNTM]. I’ve seen Ladybird live too and you guys rocked. Is there any shared influence between Apostle and Ladybird? It sounds like there is at least a little…
Murice: Yeah, I used to be the frontman of Ladybird, and don’t ever do that first of all that’s the dumbest shit you could do, but the guitarist is also my best friend. He moved to Connecticut and he started building cellos up there and now he does like massage therapy. But his playing style, the way he could just pull riffs out of his ass, and I was like ‘Let’s make a song out of that!’ and he was like ‘Oh I forgot it already’. I still use the tuning he uses because of how much he influenced me and pushed me creatively to try to say something on a mic that can measure up to that. I’m heavily influenced by Connor in Malevich and Christian, as well as both of these guys.
Eenz: It’s cool that you guys put so much of yourselves in your music, at least that’s what it sounds like to me. Do you guys plan on touring in support of Liminal?
Evan: That would be great yeah! Our plan for 2024 is to play some weekenders, but if we can get like a week long tour worked in there somewhere – if anyone has any recommendations send them our way please. @apostlesucks is our handle on IG. But we definitely want to take it on the road and share it with people, we will literally drive to you!
Eenz: So this is one question for each of you: what is your favorite shared experience as a band?
Murice: My favorite experience is when we just did our little weekender last month [November 2023]. We kept seeing really cool areas travelling [from Nashville to Richmond] and just nerding out, like just being nature boys. I dunno what the hell was happening, maybe it was the altitude, I gotta blame it on something…
Eenz: I should point out that he’s like maybe one of the friendliest people I’ve met. So like, that scares me a bit.
Evan: That definitely was hilarious. Lucky for us they ran a yoga studio so they were just naturally chilled out. Verbatim the guy was like ‘you know, we all make mistakes’.
Eenz: [Evan] what’s your answer?
Evan: Ah man. Honestly there’s just been so many of them. I know that’s so fucking lame, but just being able to do this with these guys is more than enough. I think probably when we started to see a lot of the rough drafts from some of the artwork around Liminal come in – that sort of solidified the direction that we’re going in, just seeing it all in a physical format was really good personally.
Eenz: Yeah I think you guys have great album artwork generally.
Evan: Shoutout to Fabio Rincones, he’s an incredibly talented person, check his artwork out.
Eenz: Ok, I got one question left. This is a question that I started asking and thought was dumb but people like it cause I get weird answers. Atlanta recently just got some new Michelin starred restaurants, but fuck them cause they’re expensive (probably), so what’s your favorite place to eat around town?
Murice: I can give you my top three for sure. Nam Phuong which is this really good Vietnamese spot off Buford Highway [editorial note: Eenzy seconds this pick]. E Ramen which is a cool, kinda different ramen place in Midtown. And I wanna say La Cubana in Marietta square, those people are super nice every time. Just get the Media Noche and the Guava juice ok?
Stream Apostle’s latest release Liminal on Spoofy or via BC embed below and peep their cool shit on IG
And if you’re really fucking cool, and in the Atlanta area, come rage at Liminal’s release show at Star Bar on Feb 1st
<a href="https://apostlesucks.bandcamp.com/album/liminal">Liminal by Apostle</a>
4.9
6363 ratings
Last month Eenzy caught up with Atlanta-based chaotic hardcore luminaries Apostle for a heartfelt hobnob after a show. The band gets into how they adapted to losing a member and becoming a trio, how they support each other creatively and emotionally in the band, and they land some solid burns at the expense of jazz and black metal (genres famous for their sense of humor). They’re currently supporting their latest release Liminal. Listen to the interview down at the bottom or on our Spoofy channel and read the edited transcription below.
[Fan crashes interview to tell the band how great the show was]
Eenz: Hey guys, Eenzy here outside 529 once again, this time with Apostle. You guys wanna introduce yourselves?
Michael: Hello my name is Michael and I play bass in the band.
Eenz: I just sat through a pretty bitchin’ show with you guys, Malevich which is another local blackened grind band, Hexis – a great band from Denmark, and.. I forget the last band actually. But I have questions about your band so it doesn’t matter. My first question is about the name: where did the name Apostle come from? Is there a story behind it? Did you just pick a word out of the dictionary like Health? What’s up?
Evan: It was kinda something I was sitting on in my early 20’s, I was going through my kind of angsty, atheist-phase. To be totally honest I was like ‘Yeah, it’d be cool to have a band in a chaotic and abrasive style kind of tongue-in-cheek named Apostle’. Honestly, I just thought it sounded kinda cool at the time, and it stuck. When we started playing with Cam when the band actually formed, I had that name in my back pocket from over the years and was like ‘what if we just named it Apostle?’ and it just kinda stuck.
Eenz: Cool, I like it – the bible’s pretty metal in certain parts. Other parts are pretty fucked up, but whatever [editorial note: dude, the metal parts are super fucked up too]
Murice: I always just like put us in the category of like chaotic hardcore, just cause it’s an easy catch-all term. I’m sure all of our influences vary, but mine are stuff like Yaujta, Sumac, Infernal Coil, Iron Lung, Coke Bust, The Chariot. Just names like that – listening to them really pushed me to like try to do something more with the music I’m making.
Eenz: That’s awesome, you guys seem like you’re really emotionally intelligent as a band, and you care about each other not just musically, but also appreciate each other. And it’s cool that you are influenced by jazz and also like black metal, cause when I think of black metal the first think I think of is shitty drums. What was your approach to writing and recording the record – you answer a part of this already, and what are you hoping listeners will connect with on the album?
Murice: Our approach was… weed! And just showing up. Just making sure we’re consistent and come to practice and really just invest in each other. What was the second half [of the question]? Even though like the music is obviously really important, I really hope people check out the lyrics when we get them up and everything. It just feels like everyone is kind of feeling the same way as me, and I don’t know that until I talk to people, and some people don’t necessarily reach out or anything, and I’d just like them to know that somebody feels like you feel. A lot of those lyrics I wrote staring at a buck hoist on my break at work, hating my fucking life, and I didn’t really do much to ‘clean up’ the lyrics or anything, it just kind of is what it is.
Eenz: Actually that’s my next question, but I wanna say I really appreciate bands that try to be there for people to connect with. One of the things I like about going to shows is that it’s one of the only ways I can reach some emotions that I have and [grapple with] them if I’m seeing a band I really connect with. You guys had a lineup change, you lost I think a founding member, between your last release and this one. How has that affected your songwriting process and your live performances?
Evan: It’s definitely brought us all closer as friends and creatives. In all the bands that Mike and I have been playing in, it seems like three is the magic number in all of them. Having a stripped down sound with just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, it’s kinda hard to mess that up, but also because we’re so honest with each other with how we’re feeling creatively, mentally, emotionally – I feel like that kind of honesty is reflected in the music as well. Because it’s just the three of us, it’s a lot more close-knit than it has been, really ever. Being the only other founding member of Apostle I can definitely say that. In terms of how it’s affected our writing style? I’m gonna have to pass it to Murice here.
Eenz: Two of you are in another band called Ladybird, and I guess another two of you are in another band [FNTM]. I’ve seen Ladybird live too and you guys rocked. Is there any shared influence between Apostle and Ladybird? It sounds like there is at least a little…
Murice: Yeah, I used to be the frontman of Ladybird, and don’t ever do that first of all that’s the dumbest shit you could do, but the guitarist is also my best friend. He moved to Connecticut and he started building cellos up there and now he does like massage therapy. But his playing style, the way he could just pull riffs out of his ass, and I was like ‘Let’s make a song out of that!’ and he was like ‘Oh I forgot it already’. I still use the tuning he uses because of how much he influenced me and pushed me creatively to try to say something on a mic that can measure up to that. I’m heavily influenced by Connor in Malevich and Christian, as well as both of these guys.
Eenz: It’s cool that you guys put so much of yourselves in your music, at least that’s what it sounds like to me. Do you guys plan on touring in support of Liminal?
Evan: That would be great yeah! Our plan for 2024 is to play some weekenders, but if we can get like a week long tour worked in there somewhere – if anyone has any recommendations send them our way please. @apostlesucks is our handle on IG. But we definitely want to take it on the road and share it with people, we will literally drive to you!
Eenz: So this is one question for each of you: what is your favorite shared experience as a band?
Murice: My favorite experience is when we just did our little weekender last month [November 2023]. We kept seeing really cool areas travelling [from Nashville to Richmond] and just nerding out, like just being nature boys. I dunno what the hell was happening, maybe it was the altitude, I gotta blame it on something…
Eenz: I should point out that he’s like maybe one of the friendliest people I’ve met. So like, that scares me a bit.
Evan: That definitely was hilarious. Lucky for us they ran a yoga studio so they were just naturally chilled out. Verbatim the guy was like ‘you know, we all make mistakes’.
Eenz: [Evan] what’s your answer?
Evan: Ah man. Honestly there’s just been so many of them. I know that’s so fucking lame, but just being able to do this with these guys is more than enough. I think probably when we started to see a lot of the rough drafts from some of the artwork around Liminal come in – that sort of solidified the direction that we’re going in, just seeing it all in a physical format was really good personally.
Eenz: Yeah I think you guys have great album artwork generally.
Evan: Shoutout to Fabio Rincones, he’s an incredibly talented person, check his artwork out.
Eenz: Ok, I got one question left. This is a question that I started asking and thought was dumb but people like it cause I get weird answers. Atlanta recently just got some new Michelin starred restaurants, but fuck them cause they’re expensive (probably), so what’s your favorite place to eat around town?
Murice: I can give you my top three for sure. Nam Phuong which is this really good Vietnamese spot off Buford Highway [editorial note: Eenzy seconds this pick]. E Ramen which is a cool, kinda different ramen place in Midtown. And I wanna say La Cubana in Marietta square, those people are super nice every time. Just get the Media Noche and the Guava juice ok?
Stream Apostle’s latest release Liminal on Spoofy or via BC embed below and peep their cool shit on IG
And if you’re really fucking cool, and in the Atlanta area, come rage at Liminal’s release show at Star Bar on Feb 1st
<a href="https://apostlesucks.bandcamp.com/album/liminal">Liminal by Apostle</a>
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