Wet Specimens, an Interview with Liam Sweeny – Xperience Monthly

Wet Specimens Interview.

We reached out to Colin from the band Wet Specimens. I had questions, and he had answers. 

RRX: Your demo is great, raw, and I usually don’t see demos on Bandcamp. Was there a particular reason you put the demo on Bandcamp, considering how much you’ve done since then? And can you tell us just a smidge about how the demo was recorded? Studio? Home studio? Microphone in a garage?

C: Initially we put it up just to give people an idea of what we had cooking up in the laboratory because all of us were coming from bands that were active, defunct, or soon to be defunct, so we wanted to show what we were working on and also get word out to friends in other places. It’s mostly on Bandcamp still because it hasn’t occurred to any of us that it may not be the best representation of the band anymore and also that I’d wager we all forgot that it’s still up. You were on the money with it being a single mic recording in a dingy space – all the instruments were recorded live at the old practice space and vocals came later on in my basement after some (very loose) mixing.

RRX: You’ve come a long way since the demo in 2018. It feels like 2018 was two years ago, but it’s been five. Maybe I’m just getting old and it’s dog years. Our station started in 2018, the magazine the beginning of the next year. Aside from certain global events best left in the past, what kind of trip has it been?

C: Man, said global event definitely boosted the volume on my time blindness because I feel the same way. It’s not until I get thinking about what we’ve done that I realize we’ve been at it for a fair amount of time at this point, let alone the things we all did in bands previously. All of us have gigged pretty extensively, so we were fortunate enough to have friends in a lot of places that helped us do a lot of cool stuff. This summer we got to play a show with ‘80s Finnish punk band Appendix at one of the funnest punk fests in the USA, and that’s so sick. I mean playing in a band kinda sucks because it drains your health, your time, and your bank account but what’s the alternative? Not doing cool stuff? That sucks way more. We’d all probably lose our minds.

RRX: Going from the demo to your latest album, “Over Pale Bodies,” the recording quality has definitely improved, and the band is much tighter, but you can still feel that original groove. And I noticed that the vocals lay back just a little bit, which bumps out the music. Is that intentional?

C: We definitely refined our sound working with Will at Dead Air Studios, who Dan and I worked with a handful of times with Neutron Rats. That dude is a wizard in the studio and nothing short of a delight any time we see him. He heard the demo, listened to our word vomit description of how we wanted to sound, and somehow got some really flattering recordings out of us for the Haunted Flesh and Serpent Circle EPs. It was a no-brainer to come back to him for the LP, and he really helped to bring the vision to life. The quieter vocals were definitely intentional, I always considered singing to be just another instrument and being level in the mix helps with that, and it lends to a dark and cavernous vibe which helps with that hopeless and desperate tone.

RRX: I’ve seen you called punk, in particularly, “Not Your Daddy’s Punk Band,” but my dad listened to Clapton, so what do I know? But I hear metal in your sound as much as punk. Do you consider yourselves a punk band, a metal band, or something different, cruising down the street bashing the mailboxes of both punk and metal?

C: As far as the neighborhoods of punk and metal go, we try not to shit where we sleep but we may have thrown up on a few lawns trying to walk home. We are definitely a punk band at our core, that’s always been our home, but we all have pretty eclectic taste and try to take influence from other genres when appropriate. Most of us are metal dudes too because a lot of that abrasive and nasty shit goes hand-in-grubby-hand so that finds its way into our music, but we dip into the poisoned well of classic death rock/goth just as much. This new LP musically has influences ranging from Rudimentary Peni to Judas Priest to Christian Death and it’s both fun and a challenge for us stooges to blend that together and make it sound coherent.

RRX: I like to ask bands questions about other bands that they think need a boost up. We’re a community, and we support each other. It also tells me who I should be getting a’hold of next. Do you know a local band, any genre, particularly a new band, that you think should get more recognition than they do?

C: This is not an easy question to answer because this area does not get enough credit for the amount of creative and talented bands and musicians across all genres. I’m not sure if it’s that we are always going to be in the shadow of NYC, or because people can have a pessimistic view of the Capital Region, but I am consistently stoked on the cool shit that comes out of the area. I’ll try to stick with some newer/ish bands that we are fond of: Unknown Liberty, Schenectavoidz, Ice Queen, Stutter, Cheap Heat, Cinnamon, Architrave, Grand Street, Nite Office, Wrasp, the list goes on and on. I know I’ve left some off but it’s impossible not to with how lively shit has gotten around here.

RRX: This is where you answer the question I didn’t ask. Comments? Remarks? Educate, enlighten, emote – the floor is yours.

C: Our LP came out officially August 25^th and we had a killer show at No Fun with our chums in School Drugs from New Jersey, and Leaking Head from Rochester along with local support.