Breathe Knives
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Breathe Knives

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"BREATHE KNIVES"

Ever heard the phrase some of the hip kids use these days, “That’s gangsta”? If
you haven’t here is a quick bit of quick definition for the street-lingo dis-inclined
out there. That’s Gangsta: To pull off something impressive or bold without giving
much regard to negative consequences that may occur as a result of these actions,
also while upholding a certain level of swagger and prestige amongst peers and on
lookers. Let me assure you boys and girls, if you attend a Breathe Knives show you
will find yourself suddenly, without warning, uttering this phrase. Doing it their
way and not giving a fuck what you think, these boys have taken live performance
and boundaries of local music to the next level. With beams of white lights blasting
in your face, burning your retinas and only silhouettes of three musicians violently
shaking in front of you, Breathe Knives live show is something not to be missed.
Lead vocalist Aaron Mayes is bizarre hybrid of angst ridden screaming youth and
seasoned vocal perfection. Add two local infamous musicians ,guitarist/sequencer
Cory Martins and Bassist Kieran McAuley, who have spent more years in successful
local bands than Mayes has been alive, and you have a novel new-noise juggernaut
on your hands . Perhaps one of the most hyped local metal/noise acts to come out
of the local scene in a while, these boys are about as humble as they come, just don’t
ask them about the drum machine.

BREATHE KNIVES
AU: So to start off, why don’t you tell me a bit about how you guys got started as a
band?
Cory Martins : Kieran (McAuley) and I were always going to do something like
this. I just said I wanted to do something with a drum machine and it was gonna be
gross and heavy and Kieran knew exactly what I wanted to do. All we were doing
was talking about it so finally I wrote two songs and I said “Okay I have two songs
written, drums written and everything. Come play bass. “ Kieran’s not even a bass
player, he’s a guitar player. He actually taught me everything I know about guitar.
Which explains why the whole thing is so shitty (laughs). Then we just started
jamming. At first it was really ambient and heavy and super droney. Then we
started just playing the two songs over and over again and then we started writing
stuff, which isn’t easy with the drum machine.
AU: Can I ask why choose to use a drum machine?
Martins: Uhh..No not really (laughter)
Aaron Mayes (vocals): (laughs) Yeah. No you can’t ask that. Moving on!
Martins: Anyways I was in the middle of the first answer. It just started to turn into

something that I really didn’t expect it to sound like. Not like my first vision. Kieran
added more depth and a weird dynamic that I had never thought of before and it
just started becoming grosser and fucking noisier and then we got Aaron and that
added another level of shitty gross on top which was a completely welcomed like an
old friend.
Mayes: I shit on their shit.
AU: So you’re pretty stoke on the results.
Martins: Oh yeah
Mayes: I think we’re all pretty stoked. If people haven’t seen it, or friends of mine
who haven’t seen it, I’m like “ COME SEE THIS! It’s different from what you’ve heard.
It’s a new style.”
Martins: There’s no boundaries. It’s not “my band.” I do kind of initiate some of the
song writing. Just initiate it . But I always text Kieran and I’m like “ I think I have
an awesome riff but I need a bass line” That’s what changes everything too, I mean
that’s the way it’s been going so far. Until we turn into like Stryper or something,
where everything sounds the same, but it hasn’t been there yet.
McAuley: That’s the goal though to get to that Stryper level.
Mayes: That’s something I like is the level of communication. Cory makes the base
of it and we form it together. I don’t feel like I’m playing in someone else’s band and
I’m just showing up and singing.
AU: Would you ever include a drummer in the band?
Martins: Oh yeah. Absolutely. None of us have been opposed to it.
Mayes: We have a lot of people coming to us who want to drum. But usually they’re
involved in other projects. We are super serious and we want a lot of commitment
to this band. We don’t want a guy who is in another band.
Martins: I called it right from the beginning. I said “ You know that as soon as we
play a show we’re gonna get asshole drunk fucks saying they can play drums for us
cause they think it’s missing from the band.” And I don’t think it’s missing, I think it
adds a completely different element.
Aaron: I don’t think that when people come to see us they don’t feel that it’s not
complete. It’s just a different kind of complete. We’re all ok with getting a drummer
and making it that kind of complete, but I really enjoy the way the drum machine
sounds mechanical. Cory putting his guitar against the amp and running it along the
fret board and stuff. It’s an organic noise.
McAuley: I like the fact that the drummer is never drunk, or late.
Mayes: But then sometimes WE look like assholes.
Martins: Yeah I don’t want to talk about the drum machine anymore (laughs)
AU: I bet you get asked about that a lot.
Cory: Yeah we do. That’s the first question all the time.
A: I have seen you guys categorized as noise metal…new noise, but I don’t think I
even really know what that means.
Cory: I don’t know either ‘cause I don’t even know if that is really even a sub genre.
I know there is metalcore , noisecore and shit. I don’t know what “core” means. I

know what Hardcore means. It’s an attitude. Like the Jersey Shore guys. Those guys
are hardcore about GTL. Hardcore just got so diluted. Anytime anyone has a new
idea they just throw core on it. It can’t just be something that’s different it has to
have a fucking label on it.
Aaron: The original hardcore was transmitting a lot of emotion through your music.
Now its seems like bitching about shit is hardcore now.
Cory: All of our emotion is in our live show now. It’s completely legit and it’s full of
conviction. Our recorded stuff isn’t as intense as live, but that’s how it’s supposed
to be. Not to negate how we record because we put a lot of time and thought into
how we record. I’ve never wanted to do to much trickery in the studio that can’t be
pulled off live.
Aaron: I’ve never felt more ripped off then when I listen to a bands album and I
really like it and I go to see them live and it sounds the exact same. I could have sat
at home with your album and got drunk and had just as good of a time
AU: Talking about live performance and also the way you guys describe some of
your sound as mechanical how does that tie into your live show. Your choice of
lighting is something that stuck out to me visually in seeing Breathe knives live.
Aaron: For me we’re assaulting your senses. We are assaulting your ears and your
eyes.
Cory: It’s exactly that . It’s a senses assaulter. That’s the kind of band that I want to
see. That’s the kind of band that gives me a boner. That fucking makes my ears bleed
and our eyes.
Aaron: Hate us or love us people remember that we played.
Cory: I like people that hate us a little bit more. Cause it makes me want to put the
lights right in their eyes and put their fucking ear drums inside of my amp and make
them fucking really hate me.
AU: I have seen so many bands come up locally with a lot of hype surrounding them
and press and normally it seems to be just hype. There has been a lot of hype and
press surrounding you guys….
Cory: I haven’t seen a lot of hype about us….
AU: I have seen you guys in categories like top 10 bands you must check out etc… Do
you guys feel any pressure? I guess not if you haven’t even noticed it.
Cory: No (laughs)
McAuley: We didn’t know! (laughter)
Cory: It’s not an ego thing. But it kind of fuels the machine a little bit more and
it makes me personally play harder and try to live up to it rather than just shluff
something off cause “who cares people like us anyways.”.
AU: What are the future plans for Breathe Knives?
Aaron: Writing
Cory: Yeah writing and the split
AU: Right, I had heard a bit about this. Tell me about the upcoming split.
Cory: We’re doing a split with this band Kataplexis and I think it’s gonna be a 10 inch
that’s kind of what we’ve been leaning towards and we’re going to do a couple of

new songs and we’re gonna cover a couple of each others songs which is gonna be
pretty fucking dope cause we’re completely different.
Aaron: Right different sides of the spectrum in terms of music
McAuley: Kataplexis got the easy end of that stick though!
Cory: I’m scared to program the fucking drums let alone learn the guitar. …
Cory: Last fall we went out to the east , we went as far as Thunder Bay and back. So
this year we’re going to try and capitalize and go as far as we can that way and then
go to the west Vancouver, the interior and stuff like that. Some of the East is going to
be with Kataplexis to support the Split, which is going to be awesome. - Absolute Underground Feb 2011


Discography

s/t 9 song demo
http://breatheknives.bandcamp.com/

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Bio

Breathe Knives are a 3pc noise/metal outfit from Calgary, AB who employs a sequencer that provides all drums and samples. Formed in late 2009, Breathe Knives have quickly cut into the Calgary scene with their Unsane/Today is the Day noise makings. Having already released a 9 song demo, and toured across Canada, Breathe Knives’ near future includes the release of a 10” in spring 2011, and tour to follow…