The legendary groove metal band Pissing Razors has been resurrected. The foursome will dominate the Tricky Falls stage Saturday, July 11th. Founding members Eddy Garcia (drums) and guitarist Mat Lynch, in addition to vocalist Joe Rodriguez, and newest member, bassist Geo Gomez comprise this local metal behemoth. Key players in establishing the metal/punk music scene, the band clawed its way to carve out a name and a following. They rode the often-turbulent wave of success, upheaval, cataclysm, and demise, to eventually re-connect and strengthen their established foundation and ubiquitous roots. I recently sat down with Lynch and Garcia to talk about the band’s rise, fall, and revival.
Let’s begin at the beginning.
Eddy: I met Mat. . .I think it was at Saso’s. I was playing in a band called Montage and Mat and the bass player were really good friends at the time. Things didn’t really pan out with Montage so me, Mat, and two other dudes started a cover band, Back Door Cyclops. Yeah, it was all covers, but at one rehearsal we started working on original stuff and in that one rehearsal we probably wrote ten songs.
Damn! How long was that rehearsal?
Eddy: It wasn’t that long it was that we had so many ideas that had been pent up for years and years, and me as a drummer playing in other bands and getting told “You can’t write music; you just play drums.’’ But I knew I could write songs. I just felt like “somebody write the fuckin music; I don’t care who it is!” So from that day on we kind of changed gears and went a different direction and started playing original music. At shows we’d tell the crowd “This is a new song by Pearl Jam,” but it would actually be one of our songs. We’d just sneak them in one by one. By the end of that band we told the owner of Saso’s “We’re playing on the weekends, we’re only doing one set, and you’re paying us the same.” (Laughs) And they agreed to it because the house would be packed.
Was that project pretty much the same line-up and instrument arrangement as Pissing Razors?
Mat: I play guitar, but you know, these guys are all multi-talented. Eddy can play drums and bass. Geo can play bass and guitar and sing. So it’s all interchangeable. In our early days as part of our stage show we would switch instruments, just to make it even more interesting. Eddy’s brother played drums and bass. I’d play bass and guitar. Eddy would play guitar and drums. We had this really crazy singer who would blow stuff up on stage, roll around in barbed wire, a lot of GG Allin-ish type of stuff. When we started a big element of the band was very punk oriented, so we had this punk foundation with a metal edge to it. Our moniker was “Psycho punko metal groove.” There was a lot of attack and aggression within our music. It wasn’t necessarily musically proficient where we were doing all these crazy stuff. Not a lot of musicianship in there per se, but the sound was big, it was aggressive and it got people’s attention right away. That was our thing: Grab their attention, be aggressive, be loud.
Eddy: At shows when we started playing, half the room would leave, but the other half that stayed, totally dug it. We’d joke: “Ok, that table right there’s leaving, them over there, they’re definitely leaving.”
Mat: Our goal wasn’t to be liked by everybody. We had a sound that you either really got or you didn’t, and we were fine with it. We weren’t trying to please everybody. Our singer had a very politically motivated message and it was very in your face.
Eddy: Candy Cock
Mat: Yeah, that was one of our songs.
Candy Cock? Wow, that sounds like a porno actress.
Mat: Yeah, it had various messages in there, and that was one of them, amongst others. But yeah, in the beginning our songs were very profound in terms of the message, and just the aggressive nature of the band. Through the years we transformed into more of a metal-edged band and everybody ended up sticking to their instruments.
I have to ask about the name.
Mat: Our original singer said he had an encounter with a female in Juarez and he caught the clap, and said it felt like he was pissing razors. And we thought that was a great name for an aggressive, in-your-face band.
What is “groove” metal?
Mat: We always try to grasp that rhythmic undertone of the music. We base our music on the beat, the groove. We love metal, but you have a hard time always pulling the rhythmic element out of it. We try to grab onto to the groove. Everything we do is based around the beat.
When did Pissing Razors form?
Mat: In 1994, but even in the cover band we were in we were trying to make a statement. All the bands at that time were doing the same stuff. The scene was heavily influenced by Grunge, but we were trying to play bands that not many people knew about, like Suicidal Tendencies. We wanted to be the gateway to introduce people to new music, because it was all Nirvana and Pearl Jam. But there was a lot of great stuff out there, like Prong, Helmet.
Mat: We did a lot of underground punk and metal. When White Zombie came out, we had been doing their stuff well before, stuff of theirs people didn’t even know about.
Eddy: Even Ministry.
Mat: Yeah, we did Ministry.
Oh wow, which songs?
Eddy: “So What”
Mat: You know Eddy was in Ministry?
Yeah we spoke a little about that before the interview, and I told him my little Ministry story.
Mat: (Laughs) Yeah, there are a lot of those Ministry stories. But, ironically, he ended up in the band.
How long were you in the band?
Eddy: I just did a tour with them in 2004. It was like a three month tour.
How did you land that?
Eddy: (Jokes) I was desperate.
Come on. . .seriously?
Eddy: Al [Jourgensen] was living here and the Pissing Razors’ bassist at the time called me and was like “Dude I just got hired to play guitar for Ministry.” I told him if the needed a tech or anything to throw my name in the hat. He called two weeks later and said they’d just fired the bassist and if I’d be interested in auditioning. This was only about eight or nine days before they left on tour. So I went and got their entire set list and learned the whole thing in one night. I went the next day and said: “I’ll play everything right now.” There was another local guy they were going to audition and said, “Fuck that, I’m getting this gig.”I ended up getting the gig. It was cool. Sort of a Catch 22 because you’re traveling in a nice tour bus, staying in five star hotels, you’re getting paid, but you’re also dealing with the rock star side of things.
Yeah, we could talk about that all night, but back to Pissing Razors. What were the early days like?
Mat: The major benefit we had then was Eddy and his brother realized there weren’t a lot of clubs to play at, so they opened up The Attic downtown.
That was you guys?
Eddy: Yeah, me and my brother Danny.
Mat: The scene was really booming. There were a lot of touring acts and we were really able to hone our skills by opening up for a lot of big traveling bands that would play there. It was a great time for music and a ton of great bands.
Eddy: We got the Deftones, Everclear, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, No FX. Just hundreds and hundreds of bands.
Mat: From there we started hitting the road with the contacts they would make from the club. We started branching out regionally, and then further and further.
Eddy: We threw after-hours parties to raise money to tour.
Mat: Yeah, we would wing it. We said “Hey we can get there, and we’ll figure out how to get back.” We had enough money to get there, sometimes not to eat.
Eating was optional?
Mat: Eating was optional. We were good as long as we had a few beers and gas money. That happened quite a bit. We lived on Halloween candy one time. We shared a burger one day. There were six of us and we each got a bite. It was the best bite of a burger ever! A lot of times we were a DYI band. We had a lot of accessibility to be successful on a small, do-it-yourself scale, so we released our own demo’s, funded our own tours. We were doing a run through LA one time, and Eddy had built up quite a few contacts. We ended up playing in this small town just north of LA on the same bill as Snot and System of a Down, who were trying to make record deals at the time. Eddy ended up meeting the guy who was there from a label scouting those bands. Eddy talked to him and the guy got the head of the [record] company interested in the band, flew them out, and we did a show in Las Cruces. The label was Noise Records. They signed us and we got involved with a big name producer, Andy Snead. Working with him we really refined a lot of our sound. He saw what we were trying to do and helped tighten everything up. We released three albums with Noise.
So you released 7 or 8 albums total. What happened then?
Mat: I ended up starting a family and due to finances and stuff, I ended up stepping away from the band for a while. Eddy kept going. The guy who was teching for me at the time ended up stepping in on guitar and they did another couple of records. And he’s actually a guitarist in Ministry now. But in 2004, they [Eddy,et al] put it to rest for a while.
For what reason?
Eddy: We had to let go of the singer and at the same time another guy quit. We’d already signed a contract and they’d given us money, so we were obligated to do the record. We got two new guys in and kind of forced the record and made it happen. We toured and it was a bit much because instead of making us bigger and better, we took a few steps down. It’s wasn’t anyone’s fault. We just needed more time, and the guys we brought in tried their hardest, but the chemistry wasn’t quite there. I was fed up and said “I’m done.” Did the Ministry thing and other stuff, but after being at a certain level it’s hard to back pedal. At that point it wasn’t fun anymore. To me the fun part is when you’re playing with a band, even in jam rooms and the band sounds the way it needs to sound—that’s fun to me. Basically I can’t do a band half-assed.
Mat: Especially when you’ve been identified on a certain level and people are expecting certain things. I can’t speak for the latter part of the band. Eddy did what he felt he needed to do to push the band forward. Through the years of playing in different bands I’ve learned sometimes it’s better to just have cohesion and respect, versus trying to force something as Eddy mentioned. Over a couple of years we had discussed if it was the right time to move forward again with the band. Everyone’s schedules started opening up and we saw some light to get together and have another go at it, and do it on our own terms with no oversight from a label telling us how to do it. We’re getting back to what the basis of music is. Instead of wanting to make a bunch of money we have something to present we think people will enjoy. We’re having fun with it and that’s the most important aspect.
Are you working on a new album?
Eddy: Yeah probably later this year. Right now we’re just getting our chops back?
How’s that been?
Eddy: For me it feels pretty good. I thought it was going to be a lot harder, but it feels like we’re picking up where we left off.
In the last decade, music’s become even more commercial. How does that translate to you guys?
Mat: We would have never been very commercial on any level anyway. Our main motivation has never been to have our music on the radio or whatever. At this point we’re in a position where we realize it’s important to keep it fun, on our terms, and genuine to what we want to do. From there all the natural steps will follow.
Do you feel like you guys have stuck to that original vision?
Mat: I think so. We’ve never really forced anything. The way it started and where we are now was never over calculated and we never forced our sound to be like this band or that band. Geo is the newest member but we’ve had different interactions with him in studio settings for his band. He and Eddy collaborated on a Pantera cover band. Bringing him in was very natural for us. And with the songwriting, I can already tell it’ll be an easy transition to write with him.
Pissing Razors
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Tricky Falls, 209 S El Paso
Doors open 8 p.m.
Local opening bands begin at 8 p.m.
Tickets $15
Text: Denise Nelson-Prieto | Photo: Courtesy of Pissing Razors