November 1st, 2021

(The entire audio portion, can be found at the bottom of the page. The interview took place under the St. Vitus bar, where the equipment, pipes and basement were located. Some of the sound is slightly difficult to hear)

(A YouTube audio version of the interview, is also available down below)

Metalchondria: This is Jason from Metalchondria, here with Imperial Triumphant, on the last day of the tour, 2nd day at Saint Vitus, and I happened to be at the first day. (Here) with Kenny (Grohowski, drummer), Zach (Ezrin, guitar/vocals), and Steve (Blanco, bass/vocals). Let me know, what was the first day like? I thought the crowd was really receptive, sold-out, to the point where, even during the ambient outros, the instrumentals, no one was talking in the crowd.

Zach Ezrin: That's actually a great point, man. We didn't usually hear that there. It was pure silence, pure focus. And that was like--

Steve Blanco: We're talking about last night's show?

Yeah!

Zach Ezrin: It was a really great crowd, let me just leave it at that.

Steve Blanco: Yeah, it was a great show.

Yeah! It went by so quickly. When you see the posture and all the bands, Imperial Triumphant, Pyrrhon, and you see Couch Slut, you're like in your head, "Is that a Punk band?"

Steve Blanco: Couch Slut rips!

And then I was going to say, I heard all these Drone-y riffs, beautiful melodies. They were--I was really impressed! That's a really great introduction and opening band, for Imperial Triumphant. Do you know the band? How did they get on here?

**Entrance of the legendary Saint Vitus Bar, in Brooklyn, New York**

Zach Ezrin: I mean, we got really lucky with this bill, it's really just like 3 up and coming bands, from the last decade, in the New York scene that have just been grinding. Playing show after show, putting out record after record, slowly growing, and I'm really happy they're both at each show.

For the whole tour, the first two bands mainly, and was each different show a different opener?

Zach Ezrin: Correct.

Was that the band's choice? Is that the label, or something the band gets to choose? Or the label saying, "You're going to pick a different opener each?"

Steve Blanco: It's a local support, which is typical protocol, for when you're on the road. You pick a band that's local.

Zach Ezrin: Sometimes, the bands will reach out to us, "Hey, can we open for you?" And usually yeah, the answer is yes.

Steve Blanco: Sometimes, they're friends of ours. Like, in Chicago, we had a band that was friends of ours, and it just goes like that, you know?

It seems better that way too. You're getting a "different flavor" each night, different crowd for a different band, different kind of genre, maybe? The band can see different perspectives of this (new) band. It just changes the mood of the tour, I would imagine, right? It has to be a positive. I personally like change, and it's something different.

Steve Blanco: It was pretty diverse. I mean, we ate a lot of BBQ, also.

Zach Ezrin: The BBQ tour.

What was the best place? Texas, Missouri?

Steve Blanco: For me, North Carolina destroyed!

Zach Ezrin: North Carolina.

What did you guys have? What was the best--

Steve Blanco: Kenny, what did you think about North Carolina BBQ we had?

Kenny Grohowski: It was the sleeper.

(laughs)

Kenny Grohowski: The place was like, it was some weird sort of Sopa complex, with like some weird, semi-modern, like--I don't know what the fuck, weird commune food, like caphills commune thing happening. But then, it ended up being really delicious, so, there you go.

Bands lately too, even Immolation, they'll be posting pictures of these food things. And, I think it's just nice that people can--with social media at least, one positive thing is you can go around, and see all these places, that you don't get to be around or see, but it's good vibes.

Steve Blanco: Love that Immolation post about the food.

Zach Ezrin: That's chill.

I know, they weren't doing it before, and all of a sudden, they just started doing that.

Zach Ezrin: That's sick.

Kenny Grohowski: I need to take the drum shit off the stage. I'll be right back.

So also, just talking about the band itself, you started the band, I assume?

Zach Ezrin: This is true.

Tell me, how Imperial Triumphant kind of got started? What were you surrounded by, how you made music, and how it kind of came to be?

Zach Ezrin: I would say it's kind of like, Imperial Triumphant was just a one-man band that I started, because I had no one to play with in high school. And then, and honestly, it was a completely different band. By the time I graduated college, it was a different band, but with the same name. And I added Amar to rhythm section, as my accompaniment. And then, by 2014, I had Steve and Kenny as my line-up for rhythm, it was just like, "Okay, found a lineup. This is the real band; this is what it was always meant to be." And we've been just kind of cruising ever since.

I was going to say too, when you see the band in costume, and mask on-stage, I feel like that's how the band always was. But looking back at the members, looking how the material earlier was, it was different entities.

Zach Ezrin: Oh yeah, there were many, many years, where people had no idea who we were.

(laughs)

So, have you guys known each other a long time?

Steve Blanco: For years, yeah. As long as I've been in the band.

How did you get into the band?

Steve Blanco: I mean, the one time in my life, that I answered a Craigslist ad, was an ad he posted for a bass player, to go on the road, actually. I wasn't even going to join the band; it was just to go do the tour. So, it was like--

Zach Ezrin: It was even like, "We need someone who can, you know, scout out BBQ joints." And then, he was like, "Yo, by the way, I also play bass." Oh, perfect!

Steve Blanco: Exactly, exactly! It was like bass and BBQ.

Zach Ezrin: Yeah, the two B's.

Joining the band, because I think you--the first time for the material, was the Inceste EP, in 2016, right? That was the first recording where the 3 were on there, is that--

Zach Ezrin: Correct.

Steve Blanco: That's right.

So, at that point, what was it like with the core group, the people in the band that, "Okay, this is who we are now. This is what I've always wanted, vision wise." What did that start like, in terms of making the music? Because, Imperial Triumphant, with a lot of list of bands, like Pyrrhon, I mentioned before like about Anata, Beyond Creation, Yattering, Lykathea Aflame, that very, Augury, that very unique type of extreme music, that doesn't do a typical chorus-verse-chorus. There may be no solos, and those different things. I'm personally fascinated by that kind of style. And you hear more of that later with Vile Luxury, and going forward. I'd just like to ask, how you create riffs, and what do you see, what do you feel: colours, imagination, emotions, and life? What do you feel?

Steve Blanco: I would say, we look to the Sonata form, would you agree?

Zach Ezrin: Heavily influenced, by this Sonata Allegro form.

Steve Blanco: And you know what, speaking of colours in music, I would say, think about a composer like Alexander Scriabin, you know? He was all about it.

And, how does that translate, in terms of--I noticed yesterday, seeing the band for the first time, a lot of dissonant chords, a lot really fast-picking with scrapes, a lot of jazz-influence I hear from Kenny. I just like to know a little more, where did that come from? You say came from that Sonata, but I guess about your Metal influence, and your Metal "journey", and musical "journey".

Zach Ezrin: Metal "journey" (laughs). That's my autobiography.

Yeah! Because we start off on Slayer, we start off of Metallica. And then you think, "You can't get faster than this! You can't do more than this!" And then you hear Archspire, and then you hear Gorgasm, then you hear Gorguts, and then "Suffo" (Suffocation), it goes rolls, and rolls, and rolls on.

**Sold-out, taking place on Halloween night**

Steve Blanco: Portal.

Oh, Portal! Deathspell Omega, Ulcerate. That's the stuff I'm just--and complimentary, I put you guys in that group, of uniqueness.

Steve Blanco: This question, is you know, a very difficult question to give, to what we all answer to. Because, it's huge. It's like different cuisines.

Zach Ezrin: I got an answer, yeah. We write this kind of music because, it's like we can't write, we can't play what other people already did, you know? I don't want to--I love Metallica, but I don't want to play like Metallica. Because, I'll never be as good as them. And, I don't want to play like Slayer, because I'll never play like Slayer. We can do, is our own unique thing. It's what we do.

Steve Blanco: Which is it, our combination of everything that the three of us, you know, have encompassed.

Zach Ezrin: Any great band, is one that stands up on their own. So, it's a matter of taking time to, and it can take many years like it did us, to figure out what makes you stand out, and how to focus on that.

Some of those bands that I listed, those names, are you familiar with those names?

Zach Ezrin: I'm familiar with all of them.

Okay! When you say, you don't want to play like them, Metallica and Slayer, I get that for sure. The structures aren't the same. So, how do you not play like them? What do those bands, the common--I talked to Luc (Lemay) of Gorguts, a long time ago. And, he mentioned that when they made Obscura, they didn't look at what they were playing. "We don't want to be impressed by what's moving, we want to be impressed what you hear." I talked to Ulcerate--

Zach Ezrin: Smart man!

See? And that's the--Ulcerate talked about, they change tunings off each song, on their albums.

Zach Ezrin: Sounds so annoying.

Steve Blanco: Yeah, it sounds like a lot of work. I just want to say this one thing: I agree with Zach, about you want to keep moving forward, there's the compressor (laughs). You want to keep it moving forward, but nobody is doing anything really new. Because, everything is built on what came before. You just do your own interpretation of that, and that's what we do. And the three of us are into a shit ton of music, and a lot of different cuisines! And therefore, it becomes this meal, a melting pot.

Zach Ezrin: Gumbo.

I haven't had Gumbo on this side, I can only imagine how good Gumbo is, on this side of the country.

Steve Blanco: Well, you gotta go South. You're not going to get it here.

(laughs)

Zach Ezrin: Maybe a rat one.

Steve Blanco: Yeah, we might have rats in it here, yeah.

In terms of the music, is it pretty much, each person writes the drum parts, you write the guitar, you write the rest? Or, is there a little bit of mixture?

Zach Ezrin: A lot of mixture.

What does it like? Learning, writing drum parts, or him maybe writing guitar parts, I'm just curious of the writing process, the three of you make uniquely. What's it generally like--

Zach Ezrin: Imagine a share of creativity. We all have like an idea, of what a song could be like. We don't have the same shared vision. So it's like, we have an idea, maybe Grohowski will be able to interpret what I'm trying to say, or he'll an idea that will be great for that. And, we'll follow that rabbit hole, you know what I mean? It's, it's--don't think of it as like, me doing writing guitar parts, it's Imperial Triumphant is writing a song. It's one, shared, like hive-mind.

Steve Blanco: Based off individual components, if that makes sense.

Zach Ezrin: Precisely, precisely.

Steve Blanco: Like a true, free market share. Like, what a free market should be like, bunch of individuals, that can also work together, you know? But without losing their identity.

*An Evening with Imperial Triumphant (*Century Media Records). This performance was support of Behemoth’s *In Absentia Dei* livestream/broadcast, September 2020.

Talking about the live album, that opened for Behemoth's special, the "church show", last year. I had friends who were just as excited for your show, than theirs. And it was so, "New York", in a really--gritty, obscure, and I think it just made such a great, warm introduction for a lot of people, who were just waiting on shows, and everything. Was the experience, was as good, as you wanted it to be? Was there anything that could have been different?

Zach Ezrin: It could have been different, if we were playing for a real crowd. But that was like, it was an unbelievable experience, man! We're very grateful to Behemoth, for inviting us to be on that.

Steve Blanco: Absolutely! And, it was an honour to be able to be part of that.

Zach Ezrin: We truly did gain a lot of new fans, from that. It was a shit ton of work too, you know?

Steve Blanco: It was!

Zach Ezrin: We do the work, you know? You do the work, and you get the benefits.

Steve Blanco: Great people helping us too, you know? They assembled a little team, a crew, to pull that off.

You noticed it, for this tour that happened? Were people like, "Oh! I saw you on the Behemoth concert thing!"

Steve Blanco: Yeah! Definitely.

So, it helped with merch, and just overall?

Steve Blanco: Definitely!

That's wonderful! Good to hear. And I noticed last night, because you do the piano, and the other keyboard moments, it was more of the PA. Was it just because of special events?

Steve Blanco: Well, there's no piano on-stage. You know, can't really have a grand piano on a stage yet. When that time comes, I'm sure we'll figure out how to do that. But for now, we take care of it, through different means, playback, you know? That, we can control, we play along to.

And I'd say something, I've learned personally a lot over the past couple years; I'm a guitar player, but I've paid attention to the rest. But drumming? Out of nowhere, it just unlocked, for how we hear bands, and just all the musicians out there. So, drumming means more to me now, than it ever possibly did. And talking about your drummer, (Kenny walks back to the interview) good timing, actually!

Zach Ezrin: (Claps hands) Wow, there he is!

This is a good question: I was asking--the past couple of years, drumming in Metal, and in extreme music, has opened up for me, exponentially. Seeing things, and hearing parts of how things are set up. I've had more appreciation for drums, than I ever have in my life. And, hearing your style, and your technique. I've learned too that, your drummer in a band, has to be at least excellent. If you have a subpar drummer, it definitely shows. And, I guess my standard for drumming, is even greater than--I think we all have that standard, for what we love, what we listen to, and what's good out there. Tell me about how you started drum wise, and where you got to today, for what you do?

Kenny Grohowski: Well, I come from a family of musicians. So, my dad was a drummer, so I guess it started really there. And, you know, I got to actually see him touring, and being on the road with him for a short while. Until, eventually in Junior High I decided to take lessons, and started studying music, like, full-time. Playing Classical music, and then getting into Jazz, which wasn't really something that was as common, in the house. But it was a little bit more of like, the Rock, Fusion, Blues, Reggae, Latin music, Urban music, that's what was happening in the house. When I started studying, I really focused mostly on Classical thing, the Jazz thing.

Didn't really get into Metal, until I moved to New York, and starting going to college out here. And then, still didn't play Metal until many years later. But, just getting exposed to it, and getting more into it, not just commercial Metal, like really deep, underground, you know? Kind of like Imperial is part of that, that lineage of sort of underground, experimental Metal, is what I was then exposed to. I mean, just to keep it short, that's probably the through line, as it were.

In terms of--you're playing for Pyrrhon tonight. Set wise, when do you do that, is that more like, you just do what you got to do, or are they very strict on how they want their drumming to sound? Or they ask you, kind of do a little bit in-between?

Kenny Grohowski: Umm, they're being generous, you know? These songs, Steve (Schwegler) and even from the time where Alex (Cohen) was the drummer, there is specific drum parts, specific things that are happening in the music, and even their improvising is based on a theme, a riff, or an idea. So, you know, there's music that I have to adhere to, but they're going to be lenient with, if I'm playing it exactly the way Steve does, or exactly the way Alex did on the previous records. They're going to give me some leeway, to sort of go, "And, you're kind of filling in the last minute, you're doing us a favor, just you can get through, you can get through. If you can nail what's there, nail it." You know? But you know, I've been a fan of these guys since they started. And I know, especially the older material, I know it fairly well so it's, not really that stressful. It's mostly Abscess Time, because that's the newer record. It's one thing to listen to it as a fan, and it's a totally different thing to listen to it, as a performer.

Also, in terms of the material, and with Alphaville just coming out last year, is there new material already being made? What's the next step? I feel like the band is, you know, honing in on what you do well, incorporating Jazz elements, the Dissonant Metal, and everything. Is there a "next step", is there something in the same kind of vein, is there a different kind of expansive material, as musicians and people, you want to grow to? I'm just fascinated to see where the band goes musically, because already, there's so much to admire, and a lot to think about, and learn. I'm just curious, with new material, that even next level thinking, "We can do this!" Is that still a long way to go, or do you have an idea of what the next material's going to sound like?

Zach Ezrin: I think we have a pretty good idea, what the next material's going to sound like. Because, it's already being recorded. You can look forward to that next Summer.

Okay! That's pretty short, compared to the--maybe because of the downtime, it made it easier to make the material.

Zach Ezrin: What else could we write?

Steve Blanco: Yeah, what else were we going to do? We have to keep working, right?

Tell me about the costumes, the masks, and the attire. It's visually, all-inspiring to watch. But you can hear the musicianship, I just think--some people's introduction to the band, they're like, "Wait, that's what they--you just don't imagine they sound like." But I'm just curious on the attire itself, how did that come to be? Did you design it? And, what does the band feel like, when you're on-stage, wearing it?

Zach Ezrin: It started with Steve, right?

Steve Blanco: Yeah, I mean, they look cool. That's like, the best answer we realized.

Zach Ezrin: When you go on stage, you got to look cool. An amazing Rock show.

It's true. Even if it's not--it can be something, but you have to stand out.

Zach Ezrin: It can be subtle. What I always say, is it has to compliment the music.

Steve Blanco: It can be just, somebody, you know, band that wears a bunch of ties, you could wear whatever it is.

Zach Ezrin: It's gotta compliment cool, you know?

Akercocke wore suits, when they started.

Zach Ezrin: Lamb of God got that "Every man’s American Death Metal" thing. And they wear kind of like cargo shirts, more casual, I don't know, gas station attire. It works!

Steve Blanco: And that's how they're--

Zach Ezrin: And they're not killing it!

Steve Blanco: (Laughs) Exactly!

Funny enough, I missed seeing Lamb of God years ago, because I went to see Gojira (open the show). I assumed, and I assumed wrongly, that they were like a Slipknot rip-off. And realizing later on, "Oh. I should have stayed!" I didn't know.

Zach Ezrin: Lamb of God is an awesome band.

I was very disappointed, that I made that mistake.

Zach Ezrin: Gojira's also, they're all so great.

I love--that's why mainly, it was years, and years ago.

Steve Blanco: Great band.

I mean, for one, they talked about during the--(The Way of All Flesh), after From Mars to Sirius, when they were touring. They would try to sell paintings, and they weren't making it. And, all of a sudden? (Snaps fingers) After Magma, I'm personally, really proud of how big they are, haven't really compromised, you know or anything. And, just doing that. For the old-heads like us, I would say, that's pretty cool!

What of the actual design though, of the face attire? I'm just curious where that design--is that something from a--

Steve Blanco: Andrew is a friend of the band, who drew the mask. And then another friend of the band, who got you know, three-dimensional model made in the computer. Which, then became a 3-D print, of a weird polymer. And then, Rico played with it, and finished it, put all the cool shit to make it look medieval, and make it look cool! That's pretty much it. But it ties in with stuff like, that we like. Like bold, and ancient Egypt, and Art Deco, which is a--here in New York, there's so much Art Deco shit, you know? It's all connected.

I can see the designs, especially on the album covers, some of the merch too, and everything. Yeah, it's really beautifully to see.

Going forward, end of the year. I'm assuming the last show of the year, most likely?

Zach Ezrin: Yep, probably.

Are there, with everything going on, who knows--but let's say everything goes well, is there already starts of any kind of touring next year? Do you want to tour as much as possible?

Zach Ezrin: A lot of touring.

Steve Blanco: And yes, we want to tour as much as possible. There's a lot of stuff already on the port, so. I just want to say one more thing: I just want to thank the fans, for all the support, that we got coming back out after 2 years. It's been a very, gracious response, and very welcoming.

And my last thing about that too: Sometimes, as appreciative as we are, you kind of don't know what you have until it's gone, or you lose it. Is there anything that you appreciate, even more now coming back to shows? Or like, "You know what? I didn't like that before. But now, I'm over that." Is there anything in terms of touring, or just going around, that you're even more grateful for now, then you ever were?

Steve Blanco: Just glad to be back on the road.

Zach Ezrin: Exactly how I remember it.

Steve Blanco: Grateful to be on the road, with these two guys. It's all I can say.

It's cool! We're looking forward to so much. For the (live) new album, is it going to be an LP, or it is going to be on a disc, or CD as well?

Zach Ezrin: Oh, I don't know. You got to ask Century Media.

Oh, okay. It comes out on November 26th, right?

Zach Ezrin: Oh, that? Oh, that's the live album?

The live album, yeah!

Zach Ezrin: Yeah, we got to talk to them, because a lot of people been asking this about CDs. Not sure if they're--it can be printed much faster than vinyl, so it's definitely possible. The vinyl, I just saw, the head of the label sent me a photo of it.

Steve Blanco: It looks amazing.

That's great! Is it going to be like, a DVD portion, video portion? Or just audio only?

Steve Blanco: Just audio.

No?

Zach Ezrin: If we make DVDs, then we're going to sell them with a time machine?

I don't know, maybe digital? The video portion was just--

Zach Ezrin: It was, for a year, you can buy the video on premium.

Oh, I didn't know that! Behemoth left theirs up for a couple of days. I didn't know that was a thing.

Steve Blanco: Well, it's tough with video. Everybody just rips it, and reposts it everywhere, so it has no value in it.

Ahh. It'd be cool something like, "Subscribe the band's YouTube only, to get it at." Or, something just to get numbers up, but.

Zach Ezrin: We'll get there, we'll figure something out.

Last thing, for yesterday's show, same venue today. Anything different, either set wise, or just a different vibe?

Zach Ezrin: A good set. Different champagne.

Steve Blanco: Yeah, different champagne.

Kenny Grohowski: Different drum fills.

Zach Ezrin: Different drum fills! (laughs)

Steve Blanco: Probably different bass fills.

Yeah, that champagne bottle, I took a picture of--that looked legit! It looked really, really good. Someone had a mask, and it went through the beak of the mask, they missed like, why?! They missed some drinks. Thank you all, so very much for your time!

Steve Blanco: Thanks, Jason.

Zach Ezrin: Thanks, man.

Yeah, of course!

“No Worries. The Future is Bright” – My Discussion and Sit Down with Imperial Triumphant in Brooklyn

November 1st, 2021