Coming off the ten ton fiery hammer of Exhaust that dropped a few weeks ago onto the streets across the world — we bring you a lightning round style interview with the skronkboyz of Pyrrhon. We hope you enjoy.
01. What is an example of Pyrrhon operating at a 200% in your experience?
Doug Moore The first example that comes to mind for me is a show we played in the fall of 2014 at ABC No Rio, with Starkweather and Sulaco. We had recently come off a 6-week tour with Artificial Brain and Gigan, and then-Arty B drummer Keith Abrami was playing for Pyrrhon too at the time. Keith had only learned about 35 minutes of Pyrrhon music before the tour, so we played the same set the whole time and got it down to a science by the end. This show was about a week after the tour ended, so we were rested, but we still had full mastery of that set and absolutely shredded it. All the songs were like 25% faster than normal, but it worked. There’s a video of it on Youtube on the Unartig channel.
Erik Malave Pyrrhon at 200% for me was the recording session for An Excellent Servant… when we were staying in a frigid motel in Tabernacle, New Jersey in the middle of a blizzard, with cold condensation on the walls of the tiny shower, eating and crapping at Wawa as our studio was someone’s garage whose inmate wouldn’t allow us to use their bathroom in the house, pissing in a hole in the ice (aptly dubbed the Piss Hole) and drinking Old Grandad whiskey and watching Lock Up at night.
Dylan DiLella Preparing for the What Passes For Survival recording sessions. We ran the album front-to-back twice (2x) per rehearsal. And it’s pretty easily the most physically challenging album we’ve made. We were rehearsing this way twice per week for months. We’ve gotten more efficient since then, lol.
Stephen Schwegler There was a period after releasing What Passes For Survival where we would alternate our live material during the tour. If I recall correctly, during our tour with Yautja in particular, we were swapping in and out a lot of songs and changing what we would play live on different legs of the tour. We probably only reached about a 140-148% maximum, but I’ve never met a human being operating at 200% who wasn’t also a lunatic.
02. What surprised you the most about making Exhaust?
Doug People seem to really like it. We’re not used to that.
Erik The songwriting process. We did not expect to come back from the house in PA with actual songs written.
Dylan No surprises
Stephen The stench. Psych no, actually it was getting tennis elbow the night before we started live tracking, and then managing to deliver probably my best studio drum takes despite that. I had that injury for probably five months afterward but it was worth it. Very surprising.
03. What is the most challenging composition to play off Exhaust?
Doug The first 2 minutes of “Stress Fractures” are pretty tough. Lots of lyrics in a small space, with a lot of delivery nuance.
Erik I would say “The Greatest City On Earth” as my bass part has these octaves sliding around and riffs going back and forth maddeningly.
Dylan Probably “Not Going to Mars” for me because of the constant back and forth between high and low register stuff. It’s also probably the most frantic song in terms of switching feels throughout.
Stephen They’re all pretty tricky unless I’m seriously paying attention, but playing “Stress Fractures” feels a bit like fist-fighting five drunk men in a steaming sauna.
04. What has been the hardest pill to swallow as a New York band?
Doug We will probably never have anywhere to sit down and relax in our practice space.
Erik Oppressively small and expensive practice (pain) space.
Dylan The logistics are more difficult + expensive here than they are in most other places.
Stephen Having to fucking drive up there and back from Philadelphia for almost nine years. Especially after quitting smoking, damn man it gets boring sometimes.
05. If Death Metal is a primal sport what is the delicate bit of the music-making that most would be astonished to learn about you?
Doug Not exactly the music-making, but I have been shocked to learn how many spreadsheets are involved in maintaining an underground metal band. Spreadsheets for merch, spreadsheets for tour routings, spreadsheets for label pitches, spreadsheets for PR outreach…sheets rule everything around me.
Erik Improvising on any instrument is the most freeing feeling there is.
Dylan My practice of classical guitar has had a huge influence on my approach in Pyrrhon (fingerstyle on a nylon-string guitar).
Stephen The most violent sounding or head spinning shit that we play that makes us all laugh and smile like children. We keep the laugh-inducing riffs probably 99% of the time. A good riff is less like discovering an ancient necromantic text, and more like finding a surprisingly good sandwich that your buddy brought over. For how dour and cynical our band sounds, it feels light-hearted how much we enjoy writing this stuff.
06. What is the most unexpected influence on Pyrrhon?
Doug I dunno if this is the most unexpected, but one kinda outside-the-box influence on the lyrics for Exhaust is the rapper Billy Woods, who is best known as one half of Armand Hammer. I really ransacked his lengthy discography while we were writing the album and borrowed a lot of shit.
Erik I take any chance I can to bring up Primus.
Dylan Sonic Youth. Maybe not totally unexpected but they were insanely informative to me when we were figuring out our sound. One of my biggest influences personally.
Stephen I’m pretty sure we all love Herbie Hancock. That’s probably not unexpected, everybody should, right? I’ve loved listening to a lot of Brazilian music recently, like Azymuth, Hermeto Pascoal and Kiko Dinucci.
07. What is the perfect recipe for the perfect Pyrrhon song?
Doug Tragedy plus time.
Erik Bringing riffs to the table that make the rest of the band laugh progressively more as we learn them.
Dylan Shooting from the hip and giving no fucks.
Stephen If playing it feels like flawlessly running an obstacle course, or if it makes me want to play really hard, then it feels like a perfect Pyrrhon song to me.
08. Is there something you wanted to do as a band musically, lyrically, artistically, visually, tour-wise that you feel you still haven’t done?
Doug I’d like to become “Big In Japan”, as Tom Waits put it, and play some shows there.
Erik I think it would be great to do some big improvised performance with other noise and visual artists involved.
Dylan There’s always new creative terrain we want to conquer. We’ve always set out to shift things a lot with each successive album.
Stephen I have not gone to Europe with the guys yet, which I think is pretty overdue. Speaking for myself, I’d also love if we made a future EP with a wild jazz pianist. That would rule.
09. What is the ugliest element of the underground music scene and how does that [if at all] reflect on the band?
Doug People stabbing each other in the back over the pathetically small sums of money available in the underground metal industry. If you’re a greedy person, why aren’t you working in finance or something? I think it’s pretty clear that this band chose not to pursue a profits-first strategy.
Erik Playing local shows where you have to be out by 10 because the venue has to accommodate some dance party.
Dylan Everyone else gets paid before the bands do. Not that that’s unique to underground music. But maybe more pronounced.
Stephen People deciding to hate stuff because everyone else likes it, not because it’s actually bad. That’s an idiotic thing metal dudes do all the time. I’m also not that good looking, so maybe me?
10. Knowing what you know—if Pyrrhon were to come up during the first wave of Death Metal in the 90s how do you think you would fit into the cultural continuum? How does it fit into the cultural continuum of today?
Doug We would have been in punk or noise rock bands instead, I think. I love that early Death Metal era, but I don’t think people like us would have been embraced by that scene.
Erik I think we’d have ended up in Cynic’s shoes when they toured with Cannibal Corpse, and everyone was wondering WTF was going on, or we’d have ended up an unknown No Wave band. Today I think we get to enjoy being in a world where Death Metal and No Wave already existed and people who like both might be into our music.
Dylan Pyrrhon couldn’t have existed in the early ‘90s, too many of our influences came after that. We have never quite felt like we fit into any specific scene, so I don’t really know the answer to that honestly.
Stephen I can tell you this, there’s no way any of us would move to Florida. How do we fit today? It feels like we’re a small piece of a cultural waterworld also containing our friend’s bands that we love. Within that crowded raft, I think our bands provide a sort of electrostatic discharge ground for pent-up anxieties.
11. Philly Cheese Steak or New York Slice?
Doug Pizza is great but it’s a convenience food. Cheesesteaks are a special treat. Steak with and provolone, please and thank you!
Erik New York Slice (I’m the only one not originally from Philly).
Dylan Not even close. Gimme a steak all day.
Stephen This is hard because on one hand, Philadelphians often hate what they’re supposed to love. But on the other hand, we have a fervent zeal for our dirty and delicious sandwiches. If Hoagie was a third option I’d pick that, but I have to go with New York Slice. Because absence makes the stomach go-eeeerrrrgggghhhhhh!
12. Is Exhaust a mirror turned toward the world, or one turned toward yourselves?
Doug Yes.
Erik Definitely us.
Dylan Both?
Stephen I’m pretty sure it’s us.
13. 2024 album in heaviest rotation for you from the Tristate regardless of genre?
Doug Replicant - Infinite Mortality.
Erik Malignancy - Discontinued. Respect Yonkers Death Metal.
Dylan Malignancy - Discontinued. One of their strongest albums to me. They are still crushing it all these years later.
Stephen To be honest, I haven’t listened to much from the tri-state area that came out this year. But I have to give it to Dysrhythmia’s Coffin of Conviction. That’s a fun listen and the playing is amazing.
14. Pyrrhon of 2008 and Pyrrhon of 2024—what changed the most about the dynamic in the band? [writing, playing, friendships, the gamut]
Doug Back then, we were just a bunch of regular jackoffs. Now we’re a bunch of regular jackoffs who can play technical clang metal at an elite level. More seriously, we are adults with a clear artistic vision and the skills to implement it now, whereas back then I don’t think any of us were capable of much beyond clumsy imitations of more established bands.
Erik I had not yet joined in 2008, but I was in the band by 2009, when I was a 20 year old Technical Death Metal nerd playing a 5 string fretless bass filling in for a band whose drummer I met through a Craigslist gig. Honestly we’ve changed drastically in every way for me.
Dylan We are a million times more skilled and confident now. We were literally just figuring out how to be in a band in 2008.
Stephen I only had a relationship with Doug in 2008, and I obviously wasn’t in the band. But I can say my love for what the band did on those early records has stuck with me ever since. As an obsessed listener who leapt through the speaker into the band, I feel that I’ve landed where I belong. There’s legitimate friendship and camaraderie in this band that I can’t imagine being surpassed.
15. Sleeveless or Camo shorts?
Doug Camo shorts are fun on occasion, but I would never wear sleeves again if I had my way.
Erik Sleeveless.
Dylan sleeveless.
Stephen Camo shorts, especially if they have side pockets. I never have enough shorts.
16. Most satisfying thing about being in Pyrrhon?
Doug It’s a squad of my best friends who are also some of the sickest shredders alive. Pretty good situation!
Erik Definitely the laughs.
Dylan Watching the Eagles during rehearsal. But seriously… I truly value being in this band… The level of trust that we have in each other allows us all to go places we’d never go by ourselves.
Stephen All the laughs.
[Photo Credits: Band Photographs: Samantha Marble; Other Photographs: Lee [Sonic Youth] Alexander Richter [Billy Woods] Pablo Saborido [Kiko Dinucci]; Sculpture: Link Montoya (Primus); Illustrations: Caroline Harrison, Collage: PBV]
