IE: Power Trip’s first full length “Manifest Decimation” hit the streets back in June and has gotten overwhelming support from all corners of the heavy music world. How have things changed or not changed for the band since that release date?

Blake: I would say they have changed greatly. I’ve definitely noticed many different people taking notice of our band....metalheads, punks, hardcore kids, etc and I feel like we’ve reached a lot of places we’ve never reached in the past. It’s cool knowing that people outside of our usual crowd are into the album, and that the audience is growing.

IE: I think you guys were tracking for “Manifest Decimation” back in July of 2012 and went all the way to Philadelphia to do it. What drew you to PA to record and can you take us through the whole process of how everything came about in regards to the making of this new album?

Blake: We decided to go to Philadelphia because that’s where Arthur Rizk lives, and we were committed to doing the record with him. He’s a brilliant guy when it comes to vintage metal/recording techniques and he’s just a really good friend of ours. We spent a couple weeks up there. We did a decent amount of pre-production to make the songs concrete and then recorded drums and some guitars up there. The main idea was to do drums up there because we had a specific room and sound in mind that was most easily attained at his house in the city. We were a little pressed for time so we decided to come back to Texas and track guitars/bass/vocals at our friend Daniel’s studio in DFW, a place where we’ve usually recorded in the past. We spent a good amount of time on the record, and once I went in to track guitars I knew exactly what I wanted so that didn’t take too long. I had a while to listen to demos and decide what I wanted. Once we got the ball rolling in DFW, it didn’t take long to complete everything....we had a tour right after the Philadelphia recording so we had to take a month or so off from the whole thing. It gave us a lot of time to listen to what we had and come up with fresh ideas. I’d say mixing took a little longer, we had to decide what we wanted and there were a lot of different routes to take so it was more trial and error in that area.

IE: Calendar wise it was close to a year from the time you did the tracking until the time it actually came out. As a musician sitting on an album like this and knowing how it is going to basically blow people’s heads off once it comes out do you get some anxiety or do you kind of put it out of your thought process while you let the record company do what they have to do to get it out?

Blake: I was definitely anxious, and looking back it did take a while to get it done. Based on our schedules and everything that was going on, we had to work around a lot. I think the amount of time we put into it reflects the quality of it. I believe we put in our best effort into the songwriting, and the extra time we had to plan the songs/change things really allowed us to make it the best we could. Artwork, layout, mixing, recording, etc takes a lot of time but I think it was worth the wait. Trying to knock it out in a couple months would’ve probably resulted in something lackluster.

IE: Every review that I have seen so far has been positive for the new album. Have you seen any negative ones and if so what have they said?

Blake: I was pretty overwhelmed with the positivity I’ve noticed, and it’s a good feeling. I think most people that choose to listen to us understand what we’re doing and know what they’re in for. I’ve read a couple reviews that weren’t totally positive...but considering I’ve probably read at least 30 reviews of our record, that’s not too bad. Some people don’t understand why it sounds like it does, some people approach it as some modern metal record and don’t get why we’re simplistic in certain ways. I think some people get on the internet too much, get tired of “hype” and try to find reasons to dislike something that’s popular. The bottom line is if you don’t like the way 80’s records sound, you probably won’t like it. If you don’t like bands like Possessed, Nuclear Assault, or Vio-lence, you may not like it. We wanted to create a record the way it is supposed to be done, the way it was originally done--which is personally the only way I think this style of music should sound. I don’t believe in re-thrash, or modernizing an old style of music. We wanted to respect the historical context of the sound and not ruin it with a contrived modern approach. Most of all we wanted our record to sound how WE wanted it to sound, not the way others would like it to. So it is what it is, and people either like it or don’t which is perfectly OK with me.

IE: Does it ever bug you out that Power Trip has such a heavy thrash sound yet you guys go on stage in a setting like the This Is Hardcore Festival last year and just take over a crowd full of hardcore fans?… or for that matter any show where you are playing with a majority of hardcore bands.

Blake: I think it’s cool. I don’t really care who it is, if they’re into it then I get stoked on it. I think it’s cool that we can play to different audiences. It’s a different era now and a lot of hardcore kids are fairly educated on their metal, so I don’t think it’s crazy that a lot of them are into it.

IE: If you could put together the perfect dream show consisting of your top 5 favorite bands (past or present, alive or dead) playing along with Power Trip who would it be with?

Blake: That’s a tough one. Probably Sepultura (Max/Igor/PauloJr/Andreas), Exodus (1986 w/ Paul Baloff), Cro Mags (1988, pre “Best-Wishes” before JJ left the band), Nuclear Assault (“Handle With Care” lineup), and my favorite current metal band Is Death Breath. That’s hard though, lots of amazing bands I would love to play with.

IE: When you guys tour and are in a van/bus or whatever who usually controls the music being played and what kind of things can we catch you all listening to while on the road? 

Blake: Whoever’s driving usually picks the music. We listen to lots of different stuff....Texas rap, metal, hardcore, punk...it varies. If you roll with us you’ll definitely get a nice mix of everything.

IE: When you look at “Manifest Decimation” you get a dark vibe starting with the album cover and that translates as well into your sound. When I first found metal as a teen I was always turned off by the whole upside down cross and satan worshipping stuff. My question is how do you guys look at this topic?

Blake: We are not a satanic band. Sure, we love bands that may or may not have been satanic....Possessed being one of them. I think we’re all mostly on the same page about that stuff. No one in the band is religious. I respect most people’s personal beliefs as long as they aren’t backwards and controlling of the way other people live their lives. I would say we are not in favor of religion and if you read the lyrics our vocalist writes, it is a topic he likes to share his thoughts on and I’m in agreement with them.

IE: So up next is some touring for you guys. You have a west coast run with Terror starting in early October and then over to Europe for the first time with Bane in November. Have you ever been over to Europe on your own or with other bands?

Blake: I’ve been to Europe on my own a couple times, never on tour.

IE: From what you have heard from other bands and friends what are you looking forward to the most once you get over there?

Blake: I’m looking forward to the hospitality, the landscape, the food, and to visit Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate’s record store in Copenhagen.

IE: What can we expect out of Power Trip once you get back from the Europe tour? Are there new songs already being worked on?

Blake: The next record will be released by Southern Lord Records. I’ve been writing riffs and have a lot of material already but we probably won’t start putting some things together until the new year begins. As for now, we have a long touring schedule and a lot of places to be the next few months. We did recently record an exclusive song for a compilation that should be released later this year, though.

IE: Anything else to add that we may have missed?

Blake: Check our Twitter/FB for updates on the band and tour dates. Appreciate the interview, thanks.

https://www.facebook.com/powertripTX

https://twitter.com/PowerTripTX

Watch Power Trip's set from This Is Hardcore 2012 courtesy of Hate5Six.com  

Recorded @ The Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA August 10, 2012 by: Sunny Singh

Run time 24:19

http://hate5six.com/player.php?album=2059859

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