Push to Fire: Alternative Music Webzine

Push to Fire Interview: Poison the Well

Only a couple of months before their new album will be released, Poison the Well are playing just three intimate shows in the UK. Push To Fire's Steve O'Gallagher caught up with guitarist Ryan Primack before their show at the Barfly in Camden.

Bands often play a string of live shows leading up to the release of a new record in order to test out new songs and to promote the upcoming release, but for Poison the Well the reason for these shows is much simpler. “These shows came about simply because we got done recording, so that meant it was time to go back on tour. We hadn’t really intended them as a specific pre-album promotional tour or anything. For us it’s just because we love touring. We’ve only been playing two new songs for these gigs and some nights they’ve been received well, sometimes bad. Just like our band in general. Some nights it’s like a fart in church on Sunday, and then some nights it’s great. Sometimes people just don’t like us.” This statement isn’t beyond the realm of reasoning as this band plays some really heavy music which is not for everyone. Ryan describes the band’s goal as ‘to put out the most honest music we can’. It’s honest, raw, and powerful. Perhaps they’re the marmite of the rock world.

“There were some nights on the 36 Crazyfists tour where people would just be looking at us like we had twenty arms growing out of our faces.” The band 36 Crazyfists are at least within the same catchment of heavy rock as Poison the Well, but there have been bands they’ve shared the stage with who are even less likely to have fans suited to their blend of progressive hardcore. “One of the most inappropriate line-ups we ever played on was something called the Take Action Tour in the states. The first half of it was us, International Noise Conspiracy, The Promise Ring, Lawrence Arms, and a ska band called Common Rider. I love ska actually, but it was a rather strange billing. Some nights it was good, and some nights it was ‘okay, everyone’s here to see International Noise Conspiracy…nobody likes us’ (laughs). I love being on tours where you don’t sound like any other band though, those are actually the tours I prefer to be on because you can stand out and it’s a challenge. Not exactly to win people over but, to stand where you’re supposed to be standing and be unabashedly unapologetic.”

Poison the Well by Suzy Witts

Poison the Well seem happy enough to play on any line-up and no matter how big or small the venue, be it a festival or a tour, simply as long as there are people there and they have the chance to do what they love best which is this band. “The 36 Crazyfists tour was a very different tour from this one, I’d honestly prefer to play this venue size than, say, the Electric Ballroom though. We all prefer somewhere where we can actually interact with people on a personal level.” This is a sentiment which is evident when watching them meet with their fans in person or through blogs, that connection is noticeably a priority. Despite having been on massive tours and playing all the festivals, there’s no ego on display either on or off stage. Shrugging off that rockstar stereotype, Ryan adds that “we don’t really get up to much antics between shows on tour, we’re old and boring. I drink beers and hang out with my friends and don’t really do anything crazy. We’re all well over the ‘let’s get girls’ thing, we never really were into that, it was always for us that the only thing that matters is playing and when we get done playing it’s like ‘well, I guess we gotta wait another twenty-three hours until that happens again.’”
With the live shows being the central most important part of the touring schedule the impression would be that touring is the preferred outlet of the band, but Ryan seems to have a preference for wherever he happens to be and whatever the band happens to be doing. “When I’m in the studio, I like the studio better than touring… and when I’m touring I like touring better than the studio. It’s all connected. The first part of a song written for the new record came about in 2007 so there isn’t any set song-writing process, sometimes they come together whilst we’re touring as well. We started properly writing the record last summer in July and then we went to record in November so we spent about 4 months writing it and then did the recording process in 5 weeks.”

Poison the Well by Suzy Witts

The new album to be released in July of this year will be their second release on the label Ferret Records after their 2007 record Versions. “The new record is a departure from previous records, just like every record we’ve ever done. Versions was like 3 different sessions and for us we just thought we’d do something completely different, and change the whole way we went about it. It’s a change, but I feel like with Versions things got so layered and so kind of orchestrated in a way. We’ve kind of stripped it down for this one and tried to make it a little bit more of a rock and roll record. It’s not like it’s a return to a particular sound from the past, it’s just more stripped down, kind of more ‘meat and potatoes’ sounding.”
Poison the Well’s songs radically vary in structure and sound, which could be due to the writing process which is described by Ryan as a ‘stream of consciousness.’ “The songs can come about in any number of ways. Someone might come in with a little idea, someone else adds to it, and it just kind of goes back and forth. Usually if I bring in a song, it might be a loose arrangement and I won’t have written anyone else’s parts, it’ll be just like the core idea and then the others will come in and do whatever they want on top of that. It’s good to have things be sort of spontaneous in that way.” This is certainly evident as time signature and tempo changes are par for the course in any PTW song. The lyrical content of their material also appears to reflect their desire to be connected to their fans on a personal level. “We’re not terribly political, not because we don’t care about that stuff but we all have separate beliefs so we really try to keep that out of the band so that no one feels like their opinion’s getting pushed aside because somebody else feels a different way. There are things that we all agree on though. It’s always been more about self-discovery in our band and things like that, making things more about what’s going on interpersonally with people and sort of a social commentary.”

Refreshingly, they’re not afraid to talk about their shortcomings and confess that they put a massive amount of effort into making sure their live shows are as good as possible. They’re certainly not complacent or convinced that everyone should love them because they’re some flawless and broody rock band. When asked about any mishaps they look back on now and laugh, Ryan ventures “I’ve fallen off the front of the stage many millions of times. I’m a clumsy bastard. I fell off the front of a Warped Tour main stage once, it’s like an 8 foot stage. I just went right off the front and ended up in the dirt. A friend who was with us jumped down and apparently I was just in the dirt still playing the song, out of the tune, just didn’t give a shit. As soon as I hit the ground I blacked out so I don’t remember it, I just lost like a minute of my life. I wish I did remember though, then I could look back and be like ‘man, I was a trooper’ (laughs). Those will be times where I play bad and I just don’t care because at least I didn’t stop playing. For the most part over the years though I’ve gotten much more critical about how I play, at least personally. One mistake and the show’s ruined for me.”

This confession begs the question of what the most important elements are for them during a live show, whether it be how well they feel they’ve performed the songs or how hyped up the crowd is. “We generally judge a good show eighty percent by how well we play the songs and twenty percent how the crowd is. When the crowd joins in it’s like an added bonus. There’ve been a couple of a stand-out gigs that we all look back on and think that was an awesome gig. One time was in Budapest, Hungary. It’s still in my top three shows we’ve ever been part of. There was a sliding platform of ticket pricing depending on the country you came from, so for people coming from places like Croatia and Serbia where they’re a little more economically impoverished... the show was like three dollars. And during the show there wasn’t really any moshing or dancing, it was just that everybody was singing along. That’s my ideal kind of show. People just sang with us and it was the best thing ever. I know I sound like a hippie but I don’t really care. That was awesome.”

Poison the Well by Suzy Witts

From talking to Ryan for these few minutes, it’s clear that they started this band from an intense passion for music and intended to do so with as much heart as possible. When asked the character-defining question of what would he do if he won the lottery and would that affect the band, the answer was a unique one. “I’d probably give a lot of it away to my friends. I’d give a ton to my Mom just so that she never had to worry about that kind of stuff again, and the rest... I’d probably open a music school that was free, like that was ‘work by donation only’. Just stuff like that, like there’s a lot of stuff missing in the states with education so I’d probably put a lot of money into that.”
Poison the Well seem to be in a pretty content state of mind right now. They’ve had great successes in the past, which they appear to consider as a bonus side-effect of just doing what they love and are compelled to do. The live show that followed this evening was jaw-dropping. For a band of that stature and quality to play to this capacity crowd of 200 people with every ounce of energy that they’ve got was truly a sight to see. This looks to be only be the beginning, however, as they show no signs of slowing down. “We don’t have any plans to play any UK festivals so far for this summer, but I think we are gonna come back and play a few shows anyway though, as like an anti-festival tour, just play only in people’s living rooms or something (laughs). We’ll be doing an American tour towards the end of June, that’s still taking shape but that’s the only known and definite plan at the moment. We just love playing shows, whenever we have free time that’s what we do.”

Thank you to Ryan Primack for offering his time and to the rest of Poison the Well. Thanks also to Ferret Records and Andy T. Photos by Suzy Witts (taken at Fibbers, York on 11th April 2009). The band's new album, 'The Tropic Rot' is out June 15th 2009. Check out the official MySpace page at www.myspace.com/poisonthewell for the latest release and tour news! We also have some photos from a recent Poison the Well show in Italy on the site now:

Push to Fire Interview: Poison the Well Only a couple of months before their new album will be released, Poison the Well are playing just three intimate shows in the UK. Push To Fire's Steve O'Gallagher caught up with guitarist Ryan Primack before their show at the Barfly in Camden.
Bands often play a string of live shows leading up to the release of a new record in order to test out new songs and to promote the upcoming release, but for Poison the Well the reason for these shows is much simpler. “These shows came about simply because we got done recording, so that meant it was time to go back on tour. We hadn’t really intended them as a specific pre-album promotional tour or anything. For us it’s just because we love touring. We’ve only been playing two new songs for these gigs and some nights they’ve been received well, sometimes bad. Just like our band in general. Some nights it’s like a fart in church on Sunday, and then some nights it’s great. Sometimes people just don’t like us.” This statement isn’t beyond the realm of reasoning as this band plays some really heavy music which is not for everyone. Ryan describes the band’s goal as ‘to put out the most honest music we can’. It’s honest, raw, and powerful. Perhaps they’re the marmite of the rock world.
“There were some nights on the 36 Crazyfists tour where people would just be looking at us like we had twenty arms growing out of our faces.” The band 36 Crazyfists are at least within the same catchment of heavy rock as Poison the Well, but there have been bands they’ve shared the stage with who are even less likely to have fans suited to their blend of progressive hardcore. “One of the most inappropriate line-ups we ever played on was something called the Take Action Tour in the states. The first half of it was us, International Noise Conspiracy, The Promise Ring, Lawrence Arms, and a ska band called Common Rider. I love ska actually, but it was a rather strange billing. Some nights it was good, and some nights it was ‘okay, everyone’s here to see International Noise Conspiracy…nobody likes us’ (laughs). I love being on tours where you don’t sound like any other band though, those are actually the tours I prefer to be on because you can stand out and it’s a challenge. Not exactly to win people over but, to stand where you’re supposed to be standing and be unabashedly unapologetic.”
Poison the Well seem happy enough to play on any line-up and no matter how big or small the venue, be it a festival or a tour, simply as long as there are people there and they have the chance to do what they love best which is this band. “The 36 Crazyfists tour was a very different tour from this one, I’d honestly prefer to play this venue size than, say, the Electric Ballroom though. We all prefer somewhere where we can actually interact with people on a personal level.” This is a sentiment which is evident when watching them meet with their fans in person or through blogs, that connection is noticeably a priority. Despite having been on massive tours and playing all the festivals, there’s no ego on display either on or off stage. Shrugging off that rockstar stereotype, Ryan adds that “we don’t really get up to much antics between shows on tour, we’re old and boring. I drink beers and hang out with my friends and don’t really do anything crazy. We’re all well over the ‘let’s get girls’ thing, we never really were into that, it was always for us that the only thing that matters is playing and when we get done playing it’s like ‘well, I guess we gotta wait another twenty-three hours until that happens again.’” With the live shows being the central most important part of the touring schedule the impression would be that touring is the preferred outlet of the band, but Ryan seems to have a preference for wherever he happens to be and whatever the band happens to be doing. “When I’m in the studio, I like the studio better than touring… and when I’m touring I like touring better than the studio. It’s all connected. The first part of a song written for the new record came about in 2007 so there isn’t any set song-writing process, sometimes they come together whilst we’re touring as well. We started properly writing the record last summer in July and then we went to record in November so we spent about 4 months writing it and then did the recording process in 5 weeks.”
The new album to be released in July of this year will be their second release on the label Ferret Records after their 2007 record Versions. “The new record is a departure from previous records, just like every record we’ve ever done. Versions was like 3 different sessions and for us we just thought we’d do something completely different, and change the whole way we went about it. It’s a change, but I feel like with Versions things got so layered and so kind of orchestrated in a way. We’ve kind of stripped it down for this one and tried to make it a little bit more of a rock and roll record. It’s not like it’s a return to a particular sound from the past, it’s just more stripped down, kind of more ‘meat and potatoes’ sounding.” Poison the Well’s songs radically vary in structure and sound, which could be due to the writing process which is described by Ryan as a ‘stream of consciousness.’ “The songs can come about in any number of ways. Someone might come in with a little idea, someone else adds to it, and it just kind of goes back and forth. Usually if I bring in a song, it might be a loose arrangement and I won’t have written anyone else’s parts, it’ll be just like the core idea and then the others will come in and do whatever they want on top of that. It’s good to have things be sort of spontaneous in that way.” This is certainly evident as time signature and tempo changes are par for the course in any PTW song. The lyrical content of their material also appears to reflect their desire to be connected to their fans on a personal level. “We’re not terribly political, not because we don’t care about that stuff but we all have separate beliefs so we really try to keep that out of the band so that no one feels like their opinion’s getting pushed aside because somebody else feels a different way. There are things that we all agree on though. It’s always been more about self-discovery in our band and things like that, making things more about what’s going on interpersonally with people and sort of a social commentary.”
Refreshingly, they’re not afraid to talk about their shortcomings and confess that they put a massive amount of effort into making sure their live shows are as good as possible. They’re certainly not complacent or convinced that everyone should love them because they’re some flawless and broody rock band. When asked about any mishaps they look back on now and laugh, Ryan ventures “I’ve fallen off the front of the stage many millions of times. I’m a clumsy bastard. I fell off the front of a Warped Tour main stage once, it’s like an 8 foot stage. I just went right off the front and ended up in the dirt. A friend who was with us jumped down and apparently I was just in the dirt still playing the song, out of the tune, just didn’t give a shit. As soon as I hit the ground I blacked out so I don’t remember it, I just lost like a minute of my life. I wish I did remember though, then I could look back and be like ‘man, I was a trooper’ (laughs). Those will be times where I play bad and I just don’t care because at least I didn’t stop playing. For the most part over the years though I’ve gotten much more critical about how I play, at least personally. One mistake and the show’s ruined for me.”
This confession begs the question of what the most important elements are for them during a live show, whether it be how well they feel they’ve performed the songs or how hyped up the crowd is. “We generally judge a good show eighty percent by how well we play the songs and twenty percent how the crowd is. When the crowd joins in it’s like an added bonus. There’ve been a couple of a stand-out gigs that we all look back on and think that was an awesome gig. One time was in Budapest, Hungary. It’s still in my top three shows we’ve ever been part of. There was a sliding platform of ticket pricing depending on the country you came from, so for people coming from places like Croatia and Serbia where they’re a little more economically impoverished... the show was like three dollars. And during the show there wasn’t really any moshing or dancing, it was just that everybody was singing along. That’s my ideal kind of show. People just sang with us and it was the best thing ever. I know I sound like a hippie but I don’t really care. That was awesome.”
From talking to Ryan for these few minutes, it’s clear that they started this band from an intense passion for music and intended to do so with as much heart as possible. When asked the character-defining question of what would he do if he won the lottery and would that affect the band, the answer was a unique one. “I’d probably give a lot of it away to my friends. I’d give a ton to my Mom just so that she never had to worry about that kind of stuff again, and the rest... I’d probably open a music school that was free, like that was ‘work by donation only’. Just stuff like that, like there’s a lot of stuff missing in the states with education so I’d probably put a lot of money into that.” Poison the Well seem to be in a pretty content state of mind right now. They’ve had great successes in the past, which they appear to consider as a bonus side-effect of just doing what they love and are compelled to do. The live show that followed this evening was jaw-dropping. For a band of that stature and quality to play to this capacity crowd of 200 people with every ounce of energy that they’ve got was truly a sight to see. This looks to be only be the beginning, however, as they show no signs of slowing down. “We don’t have any plans to play any UK festivals so far for this summer, but I think we are gonna come back and play a few shows anyway though, as like an anti-festival tour, just play only in people’s living rooms or something (laughs). We’ll be doing an American tour towards the end of June, that’s still taking shape but that’s the only known and definite plan at the moment. We just love playing shows, whenever we have free time that’s what we do.”

Thank you to Ryan Primack for offering his time and to the rest of Poison the Well. Thanks also to Ferret Records and Andy T. Photos by Suzy Witts (taken at Fibbers, York on 11th April 2009). The band's new album, 'The Tropic Rot' is out June 15th 2009. Check out the official MySpace page at www.myspace.com/poisonthewell for the latest release and tour news! We also have some photos from a recent Poison the Well show in Italy on the site now: