Jack Ketch
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Jack Ketch

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"BEST 5 BANDS OF ‘08"

#4. Jack Ketch - Face-melting hardcore metal at it’s best. This band has set a precedent with their professional approach to promotions matched with hilarious/grotesque song titles and their grinding sound. - Fringe Magazine


"BEST 5 LOCAL SHOWS OF ‘08"

#5. Jun. 14th, Fire Escape in Citrus Heights - Jack Ketch, Sons of Oswald, Omnidemic and Bipolar. - Fringe Magazine


"Bands You Should Know"

Jack Ketch dwells in the depths of Sacramento manifesting their own breed of Metal. With fragments from all genres of metal members [Nick Bakkie - Vocals] [Spencer Clarke - Guitar] [Squeek Jones - Bass] [Eugene Kern - Drums] reach to push the boundaries to a new level of brutality. Their thunderous sound cuts deep into your mind and leaves you wanting more. If you do not know them… you soon will!

Website: myspace.com/jackketchkills

By Fringe Staff

http://fringemag.com/bands-to-know/jack-ketch - Fringe Magazine


"Metal as Mastery and Execution"

During a particularly turbulent period of English history, the executioner Jack Ketch garnered a reputation for the often sadistic and cruel ways in which he meted out justice to the condemned. “The hangman’s knot is called a ‘Jack Ketch’ knot,” vocalist Nick Bakkie tells me. “We liked the feel of it, and it matched the dark tone of the music we play.”

I met the guys from Jack Ketch at their rehearsal space, and our conversation journeyed from the famed executioner, to an epic space-opera, a house in the country and eventually to the music scene in Sacramento. We also talked about the state of heavy metal music in the world. Perhaps not since the “golden age” of thrash—when bands like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Pantera pummeled the world with their sonic assaults—has metal been bigger. Bands like Mastodon have succeeded in bringing a new audience to metal, while also sparking raging debates about what truly deserves the “metal” moniker and what doesn’t. However, while some devotees believe the path to metal purity lies in exclusion and careful, often tedious labeling of sub-genre after sub-genre, Jack Ketch thinks otherwise. “Nowadays it’s metal to listen to hip-hop and metal at the same time,” says guitarist Corey Parks. “A kid won’t look at you weird if you are listening to a Lil’ Jon record and then immediately put on a Despised Icon record.”

This idea of inclusion—of remaining open to all possible musical forces and never settling into a comfortable pigeonhole—fuels Jack Ketch in pushing their music ever further. While they may be best described as a “progressive-metal” band, the technical and complex approach found in their music is a means for exploring sonic and narrative landscapes rather than being an end in itself.

After two years together and a new album, Bringers of the Dawn, due out in early August, Jack Ketch stands poised to create their own reputation as a band that combines brutal metal energy with intellectual sophistication and technical prowess.

You guys have a record coming out soon on Transmedia Records. Tell me a little about the record.

Squeek Jones (bass): The new album is called Bringers of the Dawn. It’s actually a concept record. Basically every single song is related and there is a theme going through the entire record. It’s pretty epic. Be ready, that’s all we can say.

Can you give us a preview of the concept itself?

Nick Bakkie: There are kind of a lot of different things going on, but basically it tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth, and there is this huge epic battle between the aliens and humans.

Corey Parks: One big idea in the story is that humans take advantage of what they have without much thought.

And the aliens come in and put us in check?

CP: Pretty much, yeah.

Metal often gets a bad rap from people outside of the scene, like it’s just loud, dumb music to get drunk and mosh to. Do you think metal can be a thinking person’s music?

SJ: Absolutely, I think it already is. There are so many different layers within metal and rock music. From the technical side, it’s a hard genre to play, and there are a lot of really talented, underrated musicians doing this kind of music, so there is a lot that can be done in this genre.

CP: Yeah, we are not trying to go for the whole thrash metal, go get beer and get drunk at the club kind of scene.

Garrett Garvey (drums): I feel like there is as much metal that is done wrong as there is done right. So it’s hard to stand out when you are in the same genre, so you really have to work to distinguish yourself. Having some music education and fusing that with metal is what brings the progressive elements and staying musically intelligent.

NB: Metal is becoming a lot bigger in the world, and Squeek and I have always talked about the entertainment value of it, but we want to push that entertainment value beyond just the music, bringing in the visual aspect and the storytelling aspect. We recently did a show in 3-D where we had 3-D visuals and passed out glasses. People got really excited with seeing something different. We always want to keep it fresh and entertaining as well as highly energetic and intelligent.

You guys mention Opeth and Dream Theater as influences. Those are two bands that are, like you guys, technically sophisticated and compositionally complex. How do you approach songwriting for such demanding music?

CP: I live out in the country [everyone laughs] and I watch a lot of really bad television and I listen to everything from acid house to death metal and I jam on my acoustic. I will come in with some riffs and Garrett and I will start arranging stuff on the white board and it goes from there.

GG: I’m always pushing the technical aspect. I came into this band under-prepared for how far we wanted to push it, so for me there is a challenge to see what Corey brings in and see how I can push it further. Then it’s just a process of complementing each other and c - Submerge Magazine


Discography

Bringers Of The Dawn
(Released August 2010)

In Articulo Mortis
(Released August 2009)

Demo 2008
(Released March 2008)

Currently being played on:
98.5 KRXQ (Sacramento, CA)
91.5 KYDS (Sacramento, CA)
1580 KSSU (Sacramento, CA)
92.5 KYHY (Burbank, CA)
www.eggsandkegsradio.com
www.KSSU.com
www.LocalRootsRadio.com
www.bunkradio.com

Photos

Bio

After only two years Sacramento, CA based metal band Jack Ketch is about to release their second album early this Summer. Since their first release Jack Ketch has been working endlessly on perfecting their new progressive sound. Influenced by bands such as Dream Theater, Opeth and Between The Buried And Me, they are taking the crushing riffs that brought them to the top of the local scene and adding a more matured melodic feel. Pairing this along side with new levels of technicality and an always energetic live performance, Jack Ketch is a force to be reckoned with in the progressive metal scene.