Trey Ramirez of At All Cost
Interviewed by Dave Fonseca on 9/3/2007
Transcribed by Dave Fonseca
Dave Fonseca: At All Cost is a band that the readers of Metal Review aren't really familiar with yet. Can you give us a brief history of your band and your sound?
Trey Ramirez: The band started in 2002 in Austin, Texas as a politically motivated hardcore band. And through the years there were a few member changes in addition to stylistic changes. We sort of transformed into this heavy metal machine that refuses to fall into the current trends and bullshit fashion that most audiences are being fed these days
Dave Fonseca: Your sound seems to have gotten progressively more metallic over the years. I recently saw the video for “Selling Me Out” and was surprised that it was the same band that wrote Circle of Demons. Was turnover in your lineup responsible for this evolution?
Trey Ramirez: I think it's a sort of 50/50 thing. The band was definitely changing into a more tripped out experimental metal band due to the boredom that comes from that style of music. There's a million hardcore bands out there with the same message and we just wanted to make the music we made more interesting and fun to create and challenging to play and perform. So I guess naturally we developed a more metal sound.
Dave Fonseca: Prior to being signed to Century Media you were with the ill-fated Combat Records. Can you describe what it was like to be with Combat?
Trey Ramirez: At first it was really great with Combat, they really understood us and pushed our last album pretty well. But then the parent company wasn't happy with the results and destroyed what could've been an awesome label before it got on its feet. I don't think many people were receptive to the new Combat.
Dave Fonseca: Do you think Combat's decision to change their logo from a cougar destroying the shit out of a tank to a picture of a cat's face led to their untimely demise?
Trey Ramirez: Hahahahaha. I dunno man. Do you think it was a good idea for Burger King to get rid of Kid-Vid and his crew for the KING?! Actually I just think too much money wasn't spent properly and it became a liability due to decisions by the big wigs.
Dave Fonseca: Do you feel a certain camaraderie with Horse the Band and Look What I Did after having gone through the Combat debacle?
Trey Ramirez: We're all crazy, that's about all that we share.
Dave Fonseca: Were you surprised when you were approached by Century Media Records? It seems like a bit of strange marriage.
Trey Ramirez: Yeah, we're not really like any of their other bands. Most of their bands seem to be extremely heavy or just completely fucking weird. I guess we kinda fall under that weird category.
Dave Fonseca: One common strand I've noticed between It's Time to Decide and Circle of Demons is the use of the vocoder. Explain the fascination. Are you fans of Cynic?
Trey Ramirez: Uh. I dunno. It sounds awesome to us. Gives a little bit of that Peter Frampton vibe or maybe Styx. But, that's pretty misleading. I've never heard of Cynic, but we really like the bands Trapeeze and Mountain.
Dave Fonseca: You guys seem to have a sense of humor about yourselves and your music. You also get into some pretty serious themes. The video for “Death to Distraction,” for example, is pretty dark. Can you talk about this dynamic a little bit?
Trey Ramirez: Well we never take ourselves very seriously cause this band is mostly about having fun and hanging out. But, we do have a message to get across to people out there that might be paying attention. We make music videos that we would want to see. Our video for “Circle of Demons,” that will be out soon, is by far our best work to date. It's an orgy of metal, chicks, pony tails, and us getting to vent about four years of how completely stupid the music business is.
Dave Fonseca: Do you consider yourselves a political band?
Trey Ramirez: We have politically motivated themes in our lyrics, but I don't think all of us have the same political views individually. Mostly we'd like people to stand for something and try to make a change in their life or someone else's, as long as movement occurs one way or another, it's a positive thing to us.
Dave Fonseca: Andrew seems like the kind of vocalist who really thinks about his lyrics, rather than just recycling metal-core cliches. Are there any particular lyrical themes that fans should look for on Circle of Demons?
Trey Ramirez: Yeah this album is mostly about our frustration with the scene and music industry. It's really fucked how many bands that are coming out playing the same song and writing the same lyrics about their sorry ass 'broken, black, bloodied heart in the encasing of tomorrows augustine valentine' or some other bullshit babble that makes no goddamn sense. That's what labels in the 'underground' want but its all packaged up and ready to buy at your local hipster indie store or wherever an Edward Scissorhands costume can be found.
Dave Fonseca: I was looking through some of your photos on your MySpace page. Do you have any workout tips for Metal Review readers looking to buff up?
Trey Ramirez: First, drink plenty of Coors to get all the carbs. Then, to turn that flab into muscle do massive bong rips and cough out your lungs for some extra definition. And finally when you're good and toasty, grab a Wild Berry Gatorade at your local convenience store.
Dave Fonseca: Finally, for the uninitiated, why should fans of heavy music get into At All Cost?
Trey Ramirez: If you're tired of the same old cookie cutter bullshit music being fed to you by your local scenester or musical elitist and you wanna listen to some real dudes playing their asses off to some real heavy music with no bullshit then check us out.