Formed in early 2001, The Chry5alids explores music that is extreme in nature yet diverse in content. “The goal is to achieve an aural assault that can only be defined as over the top and sincere,” says frontman Shafique. Often favourably compared to The Dilinger Escape Plan, The Chry5alids dishes out guttural vocals and piercing guitars at machine gun tempos.
Joining Shafique in his plans to conquer the world are Kelvin (guitars), Rizal (drums), Suffian (bass) and Raihan (guitars). Aging Youth scopes out the band to find out what they are about.
Are you guys highly influenced by John Wyndham's novel, "The Chrysalids"?
Shafique: I read that book when I was like 14 years old and it was the first piece of literature that impacted me so much. The story itself was way ahead of it's time and yeah you can say I at least am pretty much influenced by a lot of John Wyndham’s work. However, none of it has any affect on writing the lyrics or the music. It's more of a personal thing when naming my band after the book.
How did the band come about in 2001?
Shafique: Raihan, Kelvin and I were previously from this band which main repertoire was melodic death metal. We enjoyed playing that type of music but we thought we needed to attempt something that could challenge us musically and satisfy our love for the abstract. We hooked up with drummer Rizal through a mutual friend and started jamming with the original bassist Shafie (Bricolage).
However, his involvement in the band fluctuated consistently which instigated us to replace him as soon as talent was aquired. I met Wendy (then with Playing In Traffic) at a gig and inquired courteously whether she was interested in joining an extremely experimental death metal style band. However, she went on to continue full time with her other priorities. I then approached Suffian (ex-SWAN) to accomodate the bassist position for live shows, and he’s been our bassist since.
The Chry5alids seems to undergo several line-up changes over the short 3years of its inception. Why is it so?
Shafique: Well, it’s basically that we can’t find a bassist who can settle down into our already volatile mix of musical eccentrics, ego and professionalism.
Wendy from Zhen was handling bass duties on the EP. Why did she leave the band?
Kelvin : I guess time does not permit her to be in the band and I think she wants Zhen to have a distinct style she always wanted to achieve. Basically, (she wanted to move into) the progressive rock/classical style. The Chry5alids was never about that. We basically wanna shove our guitars into someone’s arse!!
The Chry5alids are highly unpredictable and intense in your playing style. The vocals remind me of screamo bands like Thursday while the guitars chug along like a nu-metal/death metal train. Suddenly, the band will break down into an ambient soundscape, complete with electronic beats. How did you guys derive such a musical formula?
Shafique: Simply by avoiding any formula whatsoever, we incorporate all our influences and styles. But it’s not without hours of trial and error and rewrites and epic band discussions. Our mantra is basically "If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, fuck it up". It's simply trying to put together all the kinds of music you like into one song and hopefully scaring people along the way.
I understand from your bio that the Chry5alids absorbs music as diverse as death metal and pop. How do you guys reconcile these influences and incorporate them into your music?
Shafique: Easily.
Kelvin : Naturally too. We do not care what people around us have to say. We do whatever it comes out from us and not restricting ourselves to any stupid music scene. Fuck all that!! But then again, the music must be good, extreme like fuck and most importantly, it’s US.
Which artists/ performers would they be?
Kelvin: Anything from extreme brutal bands like Cryptopsy, Carcass to Ayumi Hamasaki.
Shafique : GOD! my list is endless I’m a serious fan of all music but off the top of my head, the key influences are Tchaikovsky, Robert Smith (The Cure), Yoshiki (X-Japan) and Devin Townsend (SYL). Vocally, I admire Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke, Sylvian Houde and Morrissey.
Fear the Internet, gentlemen. I'd stumbled across Shafique's blog, ‘i hate myself and i wanna die' by chance. Shafique, are you really that emo? By the way, the Samaritans Of Singapore hotline is 1800-221-4444.
Shafique: Yes. I’m a manic depressive, suffering from bipolar disorder and recovering from alcoholism.
Raihan and Kelvin, the parts you guys play interweave each other tightly. There doesn't seem to a distinct lead or rhythm. How did you guys arrive at this approach of playing?
Raihan : By accident! In all seriousness, if you listen closely to both guitars, there are distinct parts where they are being played differently. You just need to open up your ears a little bit more. Another option is to increase the volume. I’m joking!
Rizal, how do you juggle your time between playing in Zhen and playing in The Chry5alids?
Rizal : Well, it all boils down to effort and passion. |
