An Interview with Berzerko, July 2022

 

Who/what inspires your music?

    we draw inspiration from a lot of fem led bands in the hardcore scene, to list a few; we all really like the band Failure, Brainiac because of their drums, Type O Negative, Black Sabbath, Toenut, Cherubs, and Bauhaus. A lot of post punk influence, and the overall idea that music is not just a collection of “pretty noises”, and rather a shared expression of emotion and essentially a language.

How did you come up with the name?

    The name is completely and utterly Rivers’ fault. There’s this noise band from the 90’s called Ed Hall that were heavily in the Butthole Surfers scene. But they have this song called “Cedrick”, and 30 seconds in it goes “I’LL JUST GO! BERZERKO!” and I was like man, I really like these guys.

    Berzerko is just a really fun word. it sounds like a superhero.

    did we spell Berzerko wrong?

    yes. Yes we did.

How would you describe your sound?

I would not.

    Berzerko’s sound is like if you took a bunch of rubber and put it in a chainsaw. it does not make any sense, but at the same time, we write some wacky ass shit.

How did the members meet?

    so i’ve (david) known Jamie for quite a while through The School of Rock.

    Jamie and River came up to us (David and Sam) recently as we were going to different shows, and told us about how they wanted to start a band, and it just took off from there.

If you had no choice but to become a cover band, who would you cover?

Bark Market.

Either Type O Negative, Babes in Toyland, L7 or Hole.

Mr. Bungle.

What is the hardest part about being in a band?

    We all simultaneously want the same things, and different things for our sound. we really agree on the things that matter, but there have been times when we’re writing songs that we meet crossroads of interest where we want the songs to go, which is why many of the songs have different tones to them.

    trying to find the perfect balance between respecting my (River) art, and the songs that i write, but having the flexibility for them to be completely changed by the end of the process which is one of the hardest parts for me. it’s hard to respect your own control and also hand the steering wheel to other people, and know which lines to draw in what places.

    another struggle would be the process of creating something new. and trying to push the songs to be more and trying to become better with each song and do something clever for each one, and make them all properly flow together while still being different.

If someone wrote a book about your band what would it be titled?

“Don’t Play That, It Sounds Too Melodic.”

“Berzerko For Dummies!”

“Do It Stick?”

If a middle aged white man wrote a review on your band what would it most likely say?

    I think he would say “What’re they saying??? what key is this??? These guys go up there and make funky wunky ass noises. sometimes they get a little praugey for no fuckin reason.”

“These songs are about doing WHAT NOW??? This is what TikTok is doing to our generation.”

What is the craziest thing you’ve experienced as a band?

    Our first show being at Rubber Gloves, which we consider to be one of the best venues in Denton!

    Me (Jamie) and River had horrible stage fright, and didn’t play live for roughly three years because of Covid, and being able to go back up there for the first time and completely let loose at a really cool venue, and watching all our friends enjoy themselves to our music.

    Another crazy thing is Homewrecker and the Bedwetters asking us to play at one of their shows!! we’ve looked up to them for quite some time and they’ve gotten pretty prevalent in the scene, and the fact that they’re reaching out to us is very exciting.

Which song of yours was the most fun to write & make?

If I’m being honest, I don’t remember most of the names of our songs.

    I really liked the end of our song “Ball Blues”. I think the breakdown in it was a lot of fun to practice. it makes me feel like i’m SHREDDING!

Most of our songs are very occupying and easy to bang your head to.

Another favorite was “Fed Up For Now”, which was originally somewhat of a ballad, but it ended up turning out weird, I love it.

What helps bond you as a band?

marijuana, weed and pot.

that’s all any of us wrote down.

    Honestly, simply hanging out! Getting to be around some of my closest friends making music is very special to me.

what is the dream venue/place to play?

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. fucking duh.

    I would love to play at three links in Deep Ellum. a lot of really good bands come through there, and I think it’s a very cool place. I’ve only ever seen great bands in there, you know you’re getting your money’s worth when you go there.

    it’s almost validating to know that a place that Only plays good music, is now playing YOUR music.

    another great place would be Trees, also in Deep Ellum, it’s one of our favorite venues of all time, i think the entire place both looks and sounds amazing!

Listen on Spotify!