SATIATE

1. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Before we dive in, if you wouldn’t mind introducing yourself and what you do in the band, that would be great!

Absolutely! Appreciate you giving us the time. My name is Max, I’m the vocalist in Satiate. 

2. Where in Maine are you based, and could you give us a little backstory on the band: when you formed, how you knew each other, what the vision was for the band, etc.?

We’re based out of Biddeford, ME which is where most of us met. I’ve known Trevor and Nick for almost a decade now, and met Ethan and Ryan when I moved to Biddo a few years ago. In terms of Satiate, Ethan, Ryan and Trevor had all been in Gumskab together and Nick and I used to be in a band called Katahdin. When both of those bands ended, we all came together pretty organically and just decided to create something that was fully off pace from either of our previous bands. The goal was to make songs that didn’t live within any sort of formula. Just chaos and noise.

3. Who are some of the band’s primary influences?

We take influence from so many walks of music. I think if we had to narrow it down we’d all agree on Norma Jean and Converge. Obviously we mix in aspects of more modern core bands but the havoc of our sound is definitely rooted in the early 2000’s.

4. What about you personally—what got you into and drew you to heavy music in the first place? Take us down the iceberg.

If we’re going all the way back, Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche was a staple in my Dad’s Ford Flex when I was a little kid. My older brother was a huge metal head and being a younger sibling I naturally wanted to like everything that he did. My parents would leave the house to run errands and him and I would put on Ozzy or Metallica and jump around on the furniture playing air guitar. As we grew older his taste evolved into other sub-genres. I vividly remember when he showed me the first Slipknot record, I’d say that was the day that changed everything for me.

5. Catch us up on your shows and touring the first half of this year—what have been some of the major highlights, and what have you got lined up in the near future for shows?

We just got back a few days ago from our East Coast tour with Infernal Diatribe [Ed. note: you can read my interview with Infernal Diatribe here]. It was an amazing experience and we got to meet/play for so many cool people. We’ve only been a band for around 6 months now, and have already been blessed with so many opportunities that we’re thankful to be a part of. We’ll be up in Old Town with Psycho Frame next week [Ed. note: joined by Mortar, you can read my interview with them here], and recently announced a show at in Portland getting the chance to open for Vanna (another band we are so inspired by and have loved forever). There’s a lot lined up for us as we head into summer and fall, and we’re immeasurably stoked for all of it.

6. Walk us through the Sins of Seneca release with a track-by-track breakdown if you’d be so kind.

S.O.S was so much fun to make. We wanted to take all of the things that made our previous EP and turn them up to eleven. 

The first track “The Secrets We Keep” was actually the last song we demoed. Lyrically and sonically it’s my favorite track on the release. The song is rooted in my confusion around religion, and how something so heavily preached upon can be so ideologically divided. I grew up in a religious household and always had a hard time understanding it. As I grew older, I noticed people around me using it as more of a crutch than a true belief, and also to spew hatred even though it was meant to be “all loving.” We shot a video for this song that tells more of a surface level story, but we’ll leave that to the viewer’s interpretation.

The title track “Sins of Seneca” is about how something so pure at first glance can still destroy you. You can put all of your trust and time into something and sometimes that thing will still choose to do harm. Fun Easter egg that we’ve never publicly said, but the end breakdown pattern on guitar is S.O.S in Morse code. 

“Life Inside of a Cyst” was actually inspired by the movie Together. Ethan and I saw that last summer with our partners and immediately looked at each other when it ended and knew there was a song in there. The idea of becoming so emotionally intertwined with another person that you begin to suffer as one.

7. It feels like hardcore is in a better place currently than it’s been in for a long time. Do you feel like this is an accurate assessment?

I’m eternally grateful for the state of our scene right now. Speaking specifically for Maine, I’m from the generation that went through what felt like a decade long drought without proper local hardcore shows. Ever since things started popping back up a few years ago, it’s been a full on snowball effect and just continues to grow and evolve every day. It’s great to see kids have these places to make friends, start bands and be themselves. 

8. What’s your take on disbanded or “lying fallow” legacy bands (and fests) re-emerging over the last few years? To me in most cases it doesn’t so much feel like a cynical cash grab or nostalgia trip as that there’s a younger generation that’s starving to see these giants, the older heads are feeling re-invigorated by what the kids are doing, and the environment has changed so that they don’t have to be on the road the majority of the year if they don’t want to be. 

I genuinely do think it’s situational. Sometimes you can see a cash grab from a mile away, but most of the time I do think it’s purely fueled by demand. That being said, everyone in Satiate is patiently waiting on that Every Time I Die comeback (please). 

9. Is there anything you’d like to accomplish with the band that you haven’t yet?

So much. Basically from the day we got together for the first time to now, we haven’t stopped conceptualizing and building off of new ideas. Nobody likes a “big things coming” band but just know that we will always have stuff in the pipeline. 

10. Okay, last question: if you were stranded on a desert island by yourself and could only have five albums with you to listen to, what would they be and why?

Always a stumper. I would say: 

Sacramented by Molly Parden

Iowa by Slipknot

Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep

Perseverance by Hatebreed

Turn To Stone by Twisted Roots

Taste of everything. All albums that attach to different eras of my life and that I hold very dearly.