Interview with Strata frontman Eric Victorino

After the release of the their debut self titled album, Strata spent a very busy year touring across North America, shooting music videos, and doing all of the other necessary band-related publicity that is normally required of an artist. With this year behind them, however, this quartet of sick musicians once again finds themselves locked in the studio. Currently working on material for their follow-up album, this time around the process is much different for the band. In the past, before even signing with their label Wind-up Records, the band had actually self-produced and recorded all of their own music. This time around however, the guys will acquire outside help. Nevertheless the band claims that they are very much looking forward to switching up the process from the last time seeing as they’ll have more time to focus on themselves as musicians. Bearing this in mind (as well as the superb quality of their first album) it would be a safe assumption that this forthcoming release will top their previous work. Now as the band continues to forge their array of sick new tunes, I managed to catch up with frontman Eric Victorino and jam about, the band’s past, their new album, and furthermore the pending release of his 192 page collection of free-verse poetry entitled “Coma Therapy.”

You had already written and recorded most of your debut self-titled release before singing with Wind-Up Records. How was it recording all of your own work and what attracted you to this label in particular?
Eric: The people at Wind-Up seem to understand who Strata is and what we want to do. It’s a good relationship.

How do you personally feel about your debut release and what has the response been like with fans and media?
Eric: It is in the past. We’re all proud of that record, but are working our next right now and we are very excited about it.

Touring across the U.S. and Canada, shooting two music videos, and god knows what else; it’s safe to say this past year has been an extremely busy one for Strata. How was the year, did you get any time off, and was it good to get back to the studio?
Eric: It was all fun. Whether we’re home or not, time passes way too fast.

Unlike your debut record, your next release will not be self-produced and self-recorded. Are you looking forward to having someone do this job for you and why? Any ideas on who might be producing it?
Eric: We didn’t self produce the last record as some kind of artistic statement or anything, we recorded it before we got signed, so we didn’t have access to producers. We don’t want to repeat ourselves and who knows how many records we’ll get to make in our career, we’re looking forward to working with another artist in the mix.

Can you give us any details on how the new album is coming along so far? How has the writing and recording process differed so far from the last time?
Eric: This was our first time writing an album start to finish – everything before had just been compilations of demos we’d recorded at random… the process was hard, we’ve re-invented our sound. We’ve come really close to breaking the band up a few times from the stress of it all.

What can your fans expect from this next album and do you have any idea when it might be released?
Eric: As of now we’re still writing stuff and talking about where we want to go, sharing new music discoveries with each other, going to the shooting range to let off some steam… we haven’t begun recording it yet so we have no clue when it’ll be released.

You recently uploaded a demo song entitled “Coma Therapy” to your myspace page. How has the response been thus far for this track and will this song be on your next release?
Eric: The response to coma therapy has been amazing. It feels good because it’s my personal favorite of the new stuff – we’ve made some pretty drastic changes and we like to think our fans are sophisticated enough to keep up….

For those who are unaware, you are soon to be releasing a 192 page book of free-verse poetry entitled “Coma Therapy.” Can you give us details pertaining to the origin of the idea for the book, the book itself (possible details of content), and its release?
Eric: Well like most guys who end up singing in bands, I started off writing stories and poetry. I’ve always wanted to release a book and being home for an extended period for the first time in years afforded me the opportunity to put it together. It’s got a lot of drug stories, some political stuff, and some downright depressing shit too – I think any real fan of Strata would appreciate the biographical elements of the book because they could gain a little extra insight into the songs. You can read more about it and order it at www.ericvictorino.com.

Where did the name for coma therapy originate, what does it pertain to, and what is the relation between the song and the book?
Eric: It’s a procedure doctors used to perform where the patient would be given an insulin overdose and slip into a coma for a few days – when the person woke up, they’d be free of addictions… only problem was that some of the patients would die in the coma. When I heard about that, for whatever reason I associated it with the way people deal with loss, or heartbreak – I myself, do it with whiskey – some people do it in other ways, but you sometime just have to kind of escape reality when reality hurts too much.

So with the combined release of this book and the recording of your sophomore album, you must be busy as heck. How do you maintain your sanity, manage your time, and prioritize your interests?
Eric: We have all been very busy, but we’re also sure to enjoy the time we have at home. I think the time I spent writing the book was just time I would otherwise have spent looking at sluts on myspace.

When can we expect to see Strata on the road again and what are your plans for promoting the new book?
Eric: We are all getting the tour bug – we’ve never been home for this long – we’ll get out there as soon as we can! I don’t really have plans to promote the book much – we’ll see what happens.  [ END ]