Interview

Guitarist Kenny "Mad Scotsman" Discusses The History And Future Of Sicarus

San Diego's dual guitar act Sicarus has been gaining force in the California metal scene, sharing the stage with the likes of Threat Signal, Napalm Death, and 3 Inches of Blood. The band's most recent release was the five track "Strength of All" EP, and two songs from the disc are currently available for streaming via the Sicarus MySpace page.

The band's "Mad Scotsman" guitarist Kenny shared the history of the band and how it has changed to move towards a more melodic sound with frequent clean vocal work. While explaining the idea behind the band's most recent EP, Kenny commented "Going to the title track, 'Strength of All' is basically saying that you aren’t going to succumb to all the crap life throws at you and you’ll overcome and prevail over that type of stuff. It’s giving a positive attitude towards life."

xFiruath: Let’s start off with a little background on what got you started in music and how long you’ve been involved in metal.

Kenny: Back when I was 8 years old Iron Maiden was on T.V. with I think it was the “Infinite Dreams” album. It pretty much had me from them on. When I got to an age when I would actually pick up a guitar I started getting into heavier music. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Sepultura, and then into the modern death metal stuff.

xFiruath: Where does Sicarus land in the heavy metal genre roulette board?

Kenny: Basically if you could imagine all the popular elements of Killswitch Engage but mixed with a darker, nastier sounding metal as well. It’s very well balanced metal. I personally like all the different genres and I like to encompass all the different parts and blend it together. Hopefully in a seamless manner.

xFiruath: Tell me about your latest EP “Strength of All.”

Kenny: For the one that we did before this, we had just recently got together and we started off with a less than talented vocalist I guess. It was a bit more on the brutal side. It had a lot of musical elements to it but it was more straightforward metal with screaming. We got our second vocalist who has a really perfect voice and we wanted to take our music to that next level of aggression. We wanted to be more musical but still maintain that heavy kick and shredding guitars and all that. The stuff that we are writing right now is another progression of what we’ve done on this CD.

xFiruath: I just started listening to the EP myself and I’m wondering if it’s all clean vocals or are there any growls as well?

Kenny: It’s not so much growls as it is screaming type stuff. For the most part we like to keep the vocals pretty understandable so there are a lot of three or four piece harmony parts in the songs. The last song in particular, the title track “Strength of All,” that definitely is more heavy and has some long screams and gang vocals to emphasize the heaviness. We like to keep the hook in the chorus still so it has a singing type chorus and then there’s a little break down at the end. It’s about 70% melodic vocals and then rest is heavier. We like to keep a good balance, but at the same time I don’t want to waste this guy’s voice. He’s got a good set of lungs on him so it would be a shame not to utilize that aspect of his voice.

xFiruath: Where was “Strength of All” recorded?

Kenny: That was in a studio here in San Diego, it’s called SCM recordings. We currently have a bit more access to that studio so we are tracking demos at that same studio right now.

xFiruath: Is there any theme to the lyrics on the EP?

Kenny: Going to the title track again, “Strength of All” is basically saying that you aren’t going to succumb to all the crap life throws at you and you’ll overcome and prevail over that type of stuff. It’s giving a positive attitude towards life. There’s not really a general theme to the entire CD. “Undone” is about how screwed up the world is, which is a typical heavy metal theme I guess. The other three are kind of about relationship type stuff, not necessarily with chicks only, but with people in general. How you see all sorts of sides to people. You think you know somebody and then they do something that makes you think you don’t know them at all.

xFiruath: I saw that you guys had a song on one of the Metal Maniacs CDs last year, how did that happen?

Kenny: We had two songs on Metal Maniacs last year I think. We had a connection through our drummer Mike. He’s always very active in the music industry and talking to all sorts of people and networking. It was through his connections that we got talking to the girl who puts the bands on the CD and basically took it from there. I guess not too long after we had our song put on there I think the magazine basically came off the shelves. I think they started doing an online magazine now I believe. At least we got in there when it was still in print.

xFiruath: Have you got a particular tour memory from a favorite show you’ve played?

Kenny: It’s more some of the bands we’ve played with that have been quite cool. We played with Napalm Death about a year or so ago and that was quite the memory. I remember being a kid and thinking Napalm Death was the most brutal music you could find. Some of the other bands we’ve played with too like 3 Inches of Blood and Toxic Holocaust. It’s just good to get gigs with some real name bands. Besides that there’s not really anything that stands out in terms of the drunken debauchery that goes on. That all kind of blends into one pile.

xFiruath: You guys are in San Diego. How is your local metal scene there?

Kenny: It’s pretty good. We kind of took a little step back to work on new stuff, so we’re not on a break, but we aren’t driving as hard for shows. We need to get all the material we’ve been writing over the past year into CD format. The scene itself is pretty good. There’s a big scene for the new metalcore and deathcore type bands for sure. All the big bands that are more similar to us do quite well when they come through.

xFiruath: What are you listening to lately?

Kenny: I just got the new Soilwork, which is sounding pretty good so far. I wasn’t so much a fan of their last record so I was a bit surprised to hear some good again. Scar Symmetry is one of my favorites. Anything that’s new right now that’s a band I’m into that’s what I’m into until I get bored and move back to the older stuff. Scar Symmetry, Soilwork, Slayer, and Iron Maiden is another favorite of mine. They are coming out with a new one. I’m looking forward to that one.

xFiruath: So what’s life like for Kenny outside of music?

Kenny: I’m a big fan of body building. Lifting weights in the gym and stuff like that. I work as a civil engineer as well.