​Photos by: Andrew Bastion

Angrier than ever The Last Ten Seconds of Life are marching towards 2019 with a new banger of an album set to release January 11^th. Machina Non Grata will be the follow up to2016’s The Violent Sound. With 14 new songs in the chamber, this album is promised to be an angrier. and heavier record than its predecessor. The Last Ten Seconds of Life crew are currently on tour with The Faceless, Rings of Saturn, Vale of Pnath, andInterloper only to pick up another tour going into January 2019 with Filth, Born A New, Boundaries, and Grievance. I was able to speak with vocalist John R Centorrino about the new album, and what the band has in store for 2019.

GA: How about we start with introductions, and a brief history of the band?

JC: My name is John and I sing for The Last Ten Seconds of Life. I am originally from New York but now I live in Florida. I used to sing for a band called, My Bitter End before joining Last Ten, and I fucking loved that band. 

DB: I am David, and I am LTSTL’s drummer. This is my third tour with the band, and it has been a blast. 

GA: I saw the band dropped a new single, “Psychophrenia” for your upcoming album Machina Non Grata, can you tell me more about the song and album, like the themes behind them?

JC: Psychophrenia is about… well, the whole album is about things we dislike. Psychophrenia is about how the universe continues to press on it, people no longer give a fuck, and people are just whores about it. They are begging for the negative, it’s like they are asking for the pain. 

GA: Sounds like a society that thrives on misery. 

JC: Yes, that’s literally what it is. I could elaborate more if Wyatt was here. This new album was written mainly by he and I lyrically. There are songs that we collaborated on, and then there are songs where we each went off by ourselves and wrote. Back to the album, the album encompasses that whole idea, that we hate ourselves and you. 

GA: With this new album what was the writing process behind it? Like, how does song get birthed by the band?

JC: Usually what will happen is, Wyatt will start out with the guitar, then he will send it over to Mike and me. We will all listen to it, and then it is an open forum for ideas to be thrown out there. Everything is a scratch track and we will roll from there. As for our inspirations, we pull from our emotions and our daily lives. It could be arguments we have with our families, or arguments we have with strangers or with each other, and all of that just rolls into a ball for us to pull from. Our emotions are how our writing take place. Everything we write is how we feel. So, when you hear a heavy part that is how we feel inside of us, and we try to portray those emotions in our songs. 

GA: What can listeners expect on this new album, will it be an extension of what the band did on The Violent Sound or did the band decide to take another route. By this, The Violent Soundhad some killer rhythms paired with the addition of clean vocal hooks that really caught my ear, an example of this is ‘The Drip’. Will the band be playing with this aesthetic more, or will this be another in your face release?

JC: This new album will definitely be the opposite direction of The Violent Sound. This is not because have a problem with what we did; because we absolutely adore that album. We were all so proud in the studio during its recording process, and nobody can fuck with that. When that album was finished, I was so in awe with what we accomplished. So, this time around though, we have gone through a lot of negative shit, especially since that album. This new album is geared to showing you all that. We wanted to show you we could write music (with the last album), and it turns out you want to just hear how mad we are. We don’t pretend to be pissed, some bands are just mad onstage but not us, we are pissed. We are just mad always and I don’t know why. We like to jump around and have fun, but when something goes down, we are right on it. 

GA:  Who did you work with to put the album together?

JC: We worked with the same producers and engineers that we have worked with in the past, Grant and Carson from it is Now Think Studios formerly Atrium Audio. So, it’s the same stuff, but it is like they are a part of the family now. They have so many ideas that are on the same level with us, and they are great at what they do. I love recording vocals with Grant. It is fucking amazing, and he is so funny; he is a super intelligent dude and very articulate, but when you get him alone in a room, he is just like everyone else. They are great dudes to record with, and their studio now is amazing. It is three floors; the governor has a room in the building they use I believe. It is sick, everyone has their own room, they have their own shower and bathroom. I got to shit with my pants off and it was great. They have three kitchens and a grill onsite as well. 

GA: What gear is the band currently using for your live setup? Any endorsements please mention.

DB: I am proudly endorsed by Vratim Drum Shoes and Click Track Mixer, they have been hooking me up since I joined this band. Vratim makes the best drum shoes I have found. Click Track Mixer helps all of us do our live sound, and our backing tracks. For other gear I use Meinl cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Evans heads, Tama drums and pedals. 

MM: I rep Legator basses, they have been taking care of me for several months now. I also use Darkglass amplifications, I am not endorsed by them but would love to work with them. 

JC: I use Sennheiser, I would love to work with them as well!

GA: As the vocalist, do you have any preshow warms ups or rituals you do to prepare to go on stage?

JC: I am a fanatic, I have a preshow and post show ritual. Usually when I arrive to the venue, I have a licorice root tea that I will make and drink prior to sound check. It is delicious and beautiful for your vocal chords. I will take a little ibuprofen, then before we go onstage, I will do the Lisa Cross warm ups. They are super soothing for me, they might sound really annoying, but I love how it feels and I am like religious with doing them. I don’t feel comfortable going onstage without doing them. After I get off stage, I drink another tea or two, and take another ibuprofen to keep the swelling down, because sometimes we get a little crazy onstage. Oh, and I forgot, I will do a shot of whiskey before going onstage, Ian Bearer from Rings of Saturn got me into doing that. If you are a vocalist; if you do anything before your set, take a little whiskey. It isn’t even about the alcohol or buzz; it helps with the throat. 

GA: Being from the Northeast; do you think that our winter seasons have an effect on writing heavy music? It seems some of the heaviest shit comes out when a band from this region writes during the fall/winter portion of the year. I know personally some of the songs my band wrote, the heaviest shit was done in winter. It is something about it being gray all day, wet and cold. It just makes people pissed. What are your thoughts?

JC: I completely agree with you, that is a real thing. It is the same thing with places that are really nice all year. It’s more upbeat and happier, makes me want to smack someone. It’s like, I know you are miserable too. I have to agree and think it is 100% accurate. The winter just makes you pissed. You are cold and shivering. want the car to start to go to work, but you can’t because you have to sit and wait 15 minutes for it to warm up. It makes you pissed. 

GA: What is next for the band after this tour, and what are you looking forward to going into 2019?

JC: We are totally looking forward to 2019 and we going to keep trucking along. We have a headliner tour happening in America in early January with Filth, Born A New, Boundaries, and Grievance. They are all great bands make sure to check them out. After that we are heading to the UK for a tour with Lotus Eater which will be super sick. That is going to be fucking cold and heavy too, the UK in February. 

GA: If someone wanted to keep up to date with the band online, and support the band by purchasing merch, where can they find the band?

JC: This is great, we just recently launched out website, so you can go to thelasttensecondsoflife.com. On the site you can find every link for what you are looking for from there. If you prefer social media, we are on Facebook, and Instagram. We have been using Instagram more than Facebook due to the algorithms and having to spend money to reach our fans. As for merchandise, we have Cold Cuts Merch we also have a store through Big Cartel. You can also use our website to purchase merchandise directly, also to preorder our new record Machina Non Grata our January 11^th. It is going to be around $10 for an album that is 14 songs. 

GA: Anything else you would like to add?

JC: We love all you guys. This is going to be sick, we cannot wait to release this album for you all. We want you to be pissed with us. 

Official website: Thelasttensecondsoflife.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelasttensecondsoflife/

Instagram: @TLTSOL

Twitter: @TLTSOL

Big Cartel (merchandise): https://thelasttensecondsoflife.bigcartel.com/Cold Cuts Merch: https://www.coldcutsmerch.com/collections/the-last-ten-seconds-of-life

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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