Although I’d ideally love to be able to conduct hard-hitting, in-depth interviews, who has the time these days? In lieu of this, I’ve thrown together the below question template, hopefully to gather some interesting and informative results, without taking up too much of anyone’s time.
Introduce yourself – who are you and what do you do?
I’m Cayle Hunter and I play guitar in Armed for Apocalypse.
Tell us about your latest release and why people should listen to your music
Our latest release is called Ritual Violence. It came out on Oct 7th on Candlelight Records and we’re very proud of it.
People should listen to our music first and foremost because it’s sincere. It’s the most vulnerable thing we do. I know the music doesn’t sound that way to most people because it’s so loud, energetic and dirty, but that’s the truth. Hopefully at its core it’s good art.
From a musical perspective, if you like downtuned, sludgy guitars, screaming vocals and drums that sound like cannon blasts, this new record is for you.
What’s the most important thing to you about your music? What meaning does it give you and what purpose does it serve in your life?
I’m going to answer these questions in reverse order because music serves such a critical purpose in my life. The act of writing and creating music is for me what meditation is to other people. It moves my focus away from the minutiae of everyday life and towards creating something that excites me, even if no one else will ever hear it. I guess it’s a form of therapy, and is a key component of my mental well being. The more music I create the happier I am.
The most important thing to me about music is authenticity. There are so many places in the world where we can’t be our true selves. Music, and art in general, can not be one of them.
Tell us a lesser-known interesting or funny anecdote about your band or music
One time we were on a mega DIY tour playing bars, parties and VFW halls. We got word that our show that night had been cancelled, which was a common occurrence unfortunately. We have always, and will always, hate days off on tour, so we had a competition within the band to find a show that night. It didn’t matter where as long as we got a bar tab.
We ended up seeing an event called “Booze-a-palooza” in Corvallis, Oregon that advertised bands playing. We called them, told them our situation and they invited us to play!
It was a complete mess, and a great memory. I remember the act before us sounding like Dave Matthews and thinking “uh oh…”. But the people were fun, we had a great time meeting locals and having too much to drink, and someone was even kind enough to let us sleep on their floor. We’ll never forget it.
Finally, what are you listening to at the moment that you especially enjoy and wish more people knew about?
Right now I’m listening to the Split EP by END and Cult Leader. Two absolutely killer bands! I love when bands collaborate on projects like this and I want it to happen more often. Highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 