By Andrew Bansal
San Diego-based Tristan Shone, better known as Author & Punisher, is a one-man industrial doom project and a true musical innovator that redefines the implications behind the word ‘industrial’, composing music through his self-created set of drone/dub machines. Although clearly portraying an eclectic blend of heavy music, Author & Punisher has garnered a fan-following in heavy metal circles, as evident from his newfound association with Phil Anselmo’s Housecore Records, and the subsequent Housecore release of his latest album ‘Melk En Honing’, which was produced by Anselmo. Author & Punisher toured the US West Coast in September 2015 and played a show at Complex in Glendale that was exceptional even by his typically spellbinding standards in live performance. I recently spoke to Tristan Shone to discuss all things A&P. Enjoy the conversation below, and catch him on the second leg of his US headline tour this November.
Tristan, it’s great to finally have you on Metal Assault. I’ve been checking out your albums and live shows for the past nearly two years. You’ve toured with a lot of metal acts. I run a metal blog and I’m talking to you right now, so the metal community has embraced you in that sense. What do you feel about that, and did you ever expect it?
Well, it’s definitely the core group of people I’ve always talked to and felt comfortable with, and it’s what I grew up listening to. I don’t listen to as much metal anymore, but it fees good to have a home in the metal scene because I’ve been involved with so many other genres that I sometimes feel like I’ve had my toes in all these different things but never fully immersed in anything in particular. So, it’s good to have a home.
When you play shows, what kind of a crowd do you usually see? Obviously there are metal fans, but it must be pretty diverse, and I can imagine you drawing people that don’t even listen to metal.
Yeah, I think it has to do with the types of venues. Because if I play an art gallery, I might get a lot of people that come out that are turned off by a dive bar or an industrial venue. They prefer to be some place where they’re getting something more experimental. It’s weird, because at a place like Complex, I get a lot of the industrial folks and it might turn off the heshers to not show up, but then if I play a full-on dive bar I get all the doom metal guys coming out. So, it varies, and also depends on who the promoter is. It varies all over the place. The crowd changes drastically.
That’s interesting. And you’ve been associated with Housecore Records in the recent past. How did that come about and how did you get somebody like Phil Anselmo interested in this project?
It’s funny because of all the times that I’ve tried to send my stuff to people that I wanted to, whether it be booking agents or record labels, the Justin Broadricks of the world that I grew up being influenced by, I didn’t expect Housecore. From all the ones that I wanted to happen, this one came from nowhere and I hadn’t really associated with Housecore and I hadn’t been following any of Phil’s stuff since Pantera broke up in the early 2000s. So, when he got in touch with me, we talked on the phone and emailed to get to know each other, and found out that we had very similar idea of what ‘heavy’ was, and in terms of songwriting, structure, and what makes a good hook. It’s something that we were able to connect on rightaway.
That’s very cool, and he has worked with you as a producer on the latest album. What exactly was his contribution in that?
You know, when I came to know that I was going to do the album with him, it sort of changed the way I approached the album beacuse I wanted to get the most out of who I was working with. I think if I was working with someone that was may be more electronically focused, or somebody involved in hip-hop, IDM or breakcore, it would have changed the way I think. I try to work to people’s advantages. With Phil, I knew that I wanted to make this thing very heavy, no ambient tracks, no filler tracks, but I think Phil latched onto that and we really brought the vocals out more. He really made sure that I didn’t cover them up with effects and a bunch of reverb and delay to kind of hide them, which is what I’ve done in the past. He made sure that they were right out in front.
I think that’s very noticable on the album. But moving forward with future albums, do you think that’s the direction you’re heading into, or could it be something not as heavy or straightforward next time?
I start to feel a little bit anxious on the types of interfaces I use, because for me a lot of the live performance is this push and pull of getting myself physically involved with the setup, and I’ve used variations of this setup and these instruments for a few years. So, I’m always pretty anxious to build some new stuff and it’s a big challenge but half of my art practice is making instruments and designing new ways to interact with them. So, I think the next album will probably be more experimental in terms of the interfaces being different. That’s something I’ve already started designing and hopefully next year I’ll be buildin them. I don’t think it’ll be any less interesting for people to listen to. It’s just that the more I learn how to play certain instruments, the more clean my sound is, and that might be why the newest album kind of sounds more accessible. But I wouldn’t expect that on the next album.
Talking of the redesigned interfaces, I saw what you brought to that Complex show, and I believe that the setup was very different from what you used when I last saw you, opening for Corrections House at the Echoplex in early 2014. Has the new system been better for you, performance-wise?
I prefer this setup. I mean, there’s pluses and minuses, like this setup is so big that the whole night is very stressful for me because even though I have a couple of guys helping me, right when we get to a show at 4:30 in the afternoon, I have to load in, set it up and do the soundcheck. I get a break for a couple of hours but during that time I’m working the merch table, and it’s very, very strenuous. For the Corrections House tour, I was using the setup that I had for the last two albums, I could pretty much set it up myself and it wasn’t too bad. So, that’s the biggest difference, and how much can my body take, how much help do I have. Sometimes finances dictate that, and I can’t bring anybody on tour with me if the guarantees are too low, which means I can’t do the full setup with the big disc and two drum controllers and all the speakers. That’s something to think about for the new instruments too. That’s part of the design process, and it’s not just about how they function and make sounds. I have to consider how easy it is to get on and off the stage, how does it pack in the trailor, how does it ship over to Europe, and whether I build two version of everything, one for Europe and one for here, because it’s a lot different from just bringing a guitar.
I can imagine! Also, aside from the instrumental setup, you also used a light projector at that Complex show. That’s part of your setup and something that you bring along to every show now, right?
It is, but it’s also a collaboration with a video artist who’s been with me since 2013. His name is Will Michaelson but he goes by the name Cutmod. Basically that’s what he does for a living. He’s also an electronic producer. Everything that comes out of my setup digitally goes into his setup, and he has a bunch of custom program effects and lighting algorithms that project different stuff, depending on how high the pitch is or which drums are hitting. So, it’s a thing that I try not to do without.
I think it’s a very important part of the show as well. It’s all about creating a vibe with the music, maintaining what the music is creating with the lights.
Yeah, but sometimed when I go to Europe I can’t afford to bring him with me. Actually I’ve never been able to bring him because I’m kind of starting over in Europe. I haven’t played there that much and have just been starting up in the last couple of years, so we’re barebones over there, traveling really light and just trying to get the word out, and it sucks because I’m sitting there playing with the house light guy flashing a few things on and off. You’re lucky to get a fog machine and some strobes. But a 45-minute set with no real light design in rough with one person on stage.
That’s very true. And as you said earlier, on the latest album you’ve done the vocal parts more organically. Live, it must be easier for you to replicate that. You’re not putting as many bells and whistles on the studio recording, so it sounds similar live.
It does, and exactly, I don’t have as many sequences running as I may have done on the last album, so not layering as much this time because I really want to be able to play it live. I guess the only thing is, some of the vocal harmonies that are on the album I obviously can’t do live. They stood out on the album, but I can’t harmonize with myself even though I’ve tried with a backing track and harmonizer pedal. My shit is just so loud and abusive live that getting that subtlety to come across live is just something that’s not happening. So I just sing one of the vocal parts. But I think you probably come across this with a lot of bands, unless it’s King Diamond or something. In really heavy music, doing all the harmonies is pretty hard.
So, other than the US tour you have in November, what else is in the works for you for the near future?
Yeah, I’m doing a tour and then I come back and have about a month-and-a-half before I go to Europe for about three weeks. I come back from that and there’s a South America trip planned, which I’m very excited about. My wife is from Brazil, so we’re kind of working it in with seeing her family and stuff. Aside from the touring, there’s a remix that I’m doing, or actually possibly two remixes for bands that I like, and there’s may be a 12-inch coming out with somebody that I can’t talk about. But I’m using some different gear for that material and it should be interesting. So, even though I probably won’t have a new album next year, I will have lots of little releases coming out. I’m also probably going to re-press one of my older albums on vinyl and remaster it, one that never really got out there called ‘Warcry’. It’s one of the heavier, more guitar-based albums that I have, and I’m pretty excited about that.
Related: Review: Author & Punisher, Muscle And Marrow Hypnotize Glendale
Author & Punisher links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
Remaining US Tour Dates with Muscle & Marrow:
11/10 – Wills Pub - Orlando, FL
11/11 – New World Brewery – Tampa, FL
11/12 – The Handlebar - Pensacola, FL
11/13 – Siberia - New Orleans, LA
11/15 – Housecore Horror Fest @ The Aztec Theater - San Antonio, TX
11/17 – Sidewinders - Austin, TX
11/18 – The Sandbox - El Paso, TX
11/19 – Ghost - Santa Fe, NM
11/20 – Club Red - Mesa, AZ
11/21 – Hideout - San Diego, CA
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