Beyond stoked to have had the pleasure to ask the dudes in Colpocleisis a few questions! Read on to learn more about the band's history and future!!!
1. Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions! Let's start with who we are talking to. What is your name and role in Colpocleisis?
JB: I’m Jon. I’ve been the singer of the band since 2018.
JM: I’m Joe. I’ve played bass for Colpo since 2016
2. Could you share the history of the band? How it started, if members have switched up much?
Joe - the band started around 2014 originally as a 3 piece with Ste, Marc Mullin and Karl Scahill.
I came on later originally to play bass for the debut album Fallopian Fallout but decided to stay on board. A few years later both Karl and Marc had decided to leave the band for personal reasons with Karl now playing in Coprocephalic Mutation amongst others. The initial direction for the band was a blend of old school slam bands such as Devourment, Cephalotripsy and Cerebral Incubation but the sound has evolved over time with the addition of Jon on vocals and Lewis on drums.
3. I think I was late to the game finding your music, but I am in love with it! Colpo has been around for 10 years now correct?
JB: Yeah! A decade strong. I’d not noticed the milestone. There’s been a few changes but we’ve had the same lineup since Lewis and myself joined in 2018.
Maybe next year, we’ll find a way to mark a decade since the 2015 Demo came out.
4. Elegant Degradation is my favorite album of yours, but maybe just because it is what I heard first. It's not hugely different from your first record, Fallopian Fallout, song-structure wise. What I mean is, you guys are consistent with quality writing and production. What is your writing process like and then also what goes into the recording and production of everything?
Fallopian Fallout was entirely written by Ste and Karl focussing on caveman brutality in the riffage. Production was handled lately in house with Karl recording and mixing much of the album. Karl and Marc were both involved in some of the writing for tracks that appeared on the Human Dignity Violated EP also.
5. Also seems like you started with Inherited Suffering, then joined the ranks of RealityFade? For those of us with no idea, how does this sort of thing work, signing to a distribution label?
JB: I can’t speak on how the Inherited Suffering deal came together as it was before my time, but I know a deal to release one album was signed. The debut, Fallopian Fallout came out in 2017.
We recorded some new songs in 2019 to showcase the then new lineup. These songs were released as singles to generate some buzz and put us in the shop window to labels.
After going through a few offers, we decided to work with Reality Fade. RF bundled our 3 singles together as the Human Dignity Violated EP in 2020 and then after a long delay caused by COVID we eventually got album 2, ‘Elegant Degradation’ out in 2023.
6. I've looked up the word, but I'll let you share. How did the name Colpocleisis come about? Was this always the name?
Joe - Yeah the name was there from the beginning and was used for the shock factor when people googled the name. Much of the medical world has been used in brutal music titles and names but this was untouched and lent itself to the aggressive nature of the music the band intended on making.
7. You guys seem to have creatively funny song titles, and some lyrics to match. Do you all write these together? How do the ideas for songs form?
JB: As far as lyrics and song titles go, that’s normally from silly ideas we throw around in the group chat. We have been introducing some darker themes and ideas recently and using less puns though!
Corpocleisis was born from an in-joke about our corporate jobs away from the band. Third Degree Gurns was based on a story about a mate of the bands on a lot of drugs.
I think the best origin story for a song is with #ProlapsoVaginal as this relates directly to the band. As Joe detailed above, the band name is a form of surgery and we kept getting tagged by South American doctors promoting their surgery successes. We saw how funny the Spanish to English translation of the captions were and decided to make a song just using these captions for lyrics.
The songwriting is a mix of individual writing (Joe and Ste primarily), collaborating on riff ideas together and loose jamming whenever we’re all in the same room.
The last album was written over a longer period and in many different ways because of the pandemic. After finishing a run of shows with a February 2020 appearance in Moscow, we were set to begin the writing process for the album. Of course in March 2020, the pandemic shut the entire world down and derailed any plans.
Flagellating and Six Feet Chunder were the last two songs finished and by that point we were all back together and jamming in the room again.
8. I love the artwork for both full-lengths! Who did it? Any stories behind the art?
Elegant Degradation was a different approach. We found an unknown artist in Daniel Francisco through some internet searching. He'd not worked with any bands before and just had a great style that was super grimy and dark. We contacted him and gave him some demos to listen to, discussed the concept of Elegant Degradation, dehumanisation and such and told him to go wild with creativity.
I personally went down an academic rabbit hole reading journal articles on the psychological aspects of degradation, humiliation and similar topics. This first appeared in the Human Dignity Violated EP which was actually the title of an article that I read which inspired the themes. It was a conscious decision by the member to keep exploring these themes to add a deeper and dark experience to the music rather than standard fictional gore and famous murderer type stuff.
9. Anything new in the works currently? Please??
We’ve got 4 songs recorded and ready to go. Still undecided on how we will release, but it’s looking like a new EP for 2025.
Beyond that, writing is underway on the next batch of songs for what will be Album 3. Hopefully we can pull this one together a little quicker and easier.
10. What is your take on the current state of BDM/Slam?
Joe - There are a lot of insanely talented bands coming out now, especially on the US west coast. The younger generation of bands are delivering Huge quality brutal music which is great to see. The scene can seem a little over saturated at times and to be honest it does occasionally feel like it's ran by merch companies rather than record labels supporting artists. Dig through bandcamp and you can find some gems. Our mates in 357 Homicide, Coprocephalic Mutation and Vulgar Dissection are making waves in the UK right now.
11. Can you name 3 bands that you take influence from?
JB: Slam and brutal death metal is the core of our sound, so in terms of direct influence it’s hard to not say Devourment, Cephalotripsy and Cerebral Incubation.
There’s a lot of influence from of course the likes of Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus and Suffocation.
More and more outside influence has been creeping in though as we look to create our own unique sound in such a crowded scene. Things have got more chaotic and noisier with more fx and samples. Plus we’re pushing the tempos up as much as Lewis can handle
12. The UK Slam scene seems CRAZY right now! Can you name a few upcoming bands from your area that we should check out?
Joe - Beyond the bands I mentioned earlier I'd definitely recommend Hacked Up, Ovulating Cadaver, Vast Slug, Exhumation, the list could go on.
13. What is something about you that fans of your music would be surprised to learn?
Joe - were largely open people so it's hard to think of anything surprising. Jon is massive into fitness which is quite evident because he is massive. I have a master's degree in musicology which is why I'm such a nerd. Ste and Lew are big into their video games. Lewis is forging himself a career as a session drummer if any bands are in need.
JB: As brutal as our music is, we all have wide and diverse tastes away from the band. Everything from goregrind to black metal, nu-metal to metalcore, prog and classic rock etc etc but most of that wouldn’t be obvious to the listener.
Joe loves everything from Primus to Cephalic Carnage to Don Broco. Lewis is well known for his love affair with Megadeth and lifelong feud with Lars and recent obsession with Ja Rule. Ste is big into nu-metal and bands like Fear Factory and Rammstein as well as electronic music. I’m into all sorts from brutal death and grindcore to hip-hop.
Thanks again for pumping out consistent caveman slams and all around sick music!
14. Anything at all you would like to say to our readers?
Joe - cheers for the support, keep moving forward, stay active in the pit and support your local scene
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