EMQs with Boarzoy
EMQs with Boarzoy
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with USA Prog/ Groove/ Death Metal band, Boarzoy. Huge thanks to them for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Jake: I’m Jake, and I play guitar. We’ve been a band for almost 3 years now. Just been playing as many shows as we can, making the best music we can, and being goofballs.
Rennie: My name is Rennie, I sing and scream and run around and make a fool of myself. Taylor has been my best friend since elementary school and when I moved out here, he asked me to sing, and it was go time.
Taylor: Hello Taylor here, I’m the one who bangs on the drums. We started out just jamming Black Sabbath and Alice In Chains tunes, and over the last few years, it’s evolved into so much more! Once Rennie joined after a few months of jamming, we set out to start writing our own material and find our personal style.
Senne: I’m Riley, bassist of Boarzoy. Jake, Taylor and I all became friends when we first started college. Jake told me that he and Taylor had met up to jam some Mastodon and Alice In Chains songs, and I demanded that I be invited next time. They begrudgingly agreed, and before long we were crafting heavy riffs of our own, and brought in our vocalist Rennie to make things official.
How did you come up with your band name?
Jake: We have a friend, Judith, a dear friend of ours, who loved the dog breed named Borzoi. They are nutty-looking dogs, we just liked the ring of it, and I suggested it to T and Senne on the train one day. We weren’t sure at first, but it stuck, with a different spelling. So by the time Rennie joined a month or two later, Rennie liked it overall, I think ha!
Rennie: I had nothing to do with it, don’t blame me.
Taylor: ^
Senne: We liked the idea of combining the image of a borzoi dog and an actual boar, and originally planned for our logo to be some sort of weird mesh of the two animals. Even though that idea quickly faded away, we felt the name was still cool enough to keep.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
Jake: We’re from the U.S, specifically the Northeast. Part of a kind of growing Boston Metal scene. I’m from good ol’ Delaware though, close to Philly.
Rennie: Taylor and I both come from the SF Bay Area. We grew up playing shows at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma and at DIY spots in the city. Really cool way to get a start and soak up all the history in the Bay.
Taylor: Boston has a long history of underground Hardcore and Metalcore that is still going strong today. As well as more Alternative, Punk, and Shoegaze bands we’ve had the pleasure of playing with. It can be tough, the city isn’t the most supportive of the DIY music scene but we all do what we can to have the privilege of playing live music.
Senne: The Metal scene is most definitely alive in Boston/New England if you look in the right places, we’ve been privileged to play with many other amazing up and coming bands in small bars and house venues around the northeast.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Jake: Our latest release is a little double single named ‘Guts’. It’s got two heavy, nutty songs on it. ‘Guts’, and ‘Computer Lizard’. Definitely a lot of inspiration from different genres and bands for these two songs. And they’re the wackiest songs we have, so we hope you like them.
Senne: New double single ‘Guts’ out July 25th
Who have been your greatest influences?
Jake: Metallica, Mastodon, Faith No More, Gojira, Rush, Opeth and a lot more. The list goes on and on.
Rennie: Metallica is the big obvious one. Social Distortion is the most important band in my upbringing, and I find myself ripping Corey Taylor off a lot. I also listen to a lot of country and bluegrass and it informs the way I write vocal harmonies a lot.
Taylor: For me as drummer, Lars ulrich, Neil Peart, John Bonham, Abe Cunningham, Mario Duplantier, Dave Lombardo, Gene Hoglan, Eloy Casagrande. As band, every artist Jake mentioned as well as Deftones, Pantera and Lamb of God. I think you get the idea, we love metal of all shapes and sizes.
Senne: As a bass player – Cliff Burton forever (obviously) Les Claypool, Steve DiGiorgio, as well as all previously mentioned bands.
What first got you into music?
Jake: It was just another language, or voice that I didn’t have, and it helped convey a lot of emotion. And growing up listening to music and playing games like Guitar Hero, and Rock Band actually helped a bit too haha! It’s just amazing.
Rennie: When I was around three, my parents took me to a Dane Zanes and Friends show. I was mesmerized from that point onwards. Taylor introducing me to Metallica was the event that truly rewired my brain.
Taylor: My dad showed me Metallica for the first time when I was around eight years old. Rennie and I grew up together and have been great friends since elementary school. I played him ‘Master of Puppets’, not long after I had heard the song for the first time, and I think both of our lives were changed from that moment on. I started taking drum lessons around that time and it’s been my passion ever since.
Senne: Like many many others, Metallica was the band that started my love for Rock and Metal when I was 9 or 10, and it all expanded from there.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Jake: I would say a band consensus would be Gojira in any form. For a person, probably old school James Hetfield, or maybe Jerry Cantrell. Personally Mikael Akerfeldt, or The Contortionist would be a dream.
Rennie: Personally I would really love to play guitar and sing with Social Distortion.
Taylor: Code Orange would be rad or a Nine Inch Nails remix.
Senne: It would be very cool to collab with someone unexpected from a completely different genre, and I think a fusion artist like Hiromi or Domi and JD Beck would be amazing.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Jake: Maybe Hellfest, resurrectionfest, or Arctangent
Rennie: I think any festival at all would be mind blowing.
Taylor: Aftershock because it’s in Northern California, or Rock in Rio.
Senne: Hellfest in France just because of the sheer amount of other artists you may run into, and the crowds seem absolutely wild. Same for Rock in Rio too.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Jake: Maybe a fake Boarzoy tramp stamp?
Rennie: Mushrooms. The fun kind.
Senne: Weed of questionable quality and origin from a sound guy, but turned out to be great stuff!
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Jake: Love each other. Be yourself fully, and support everyone around you in their endeavors to be happy. Don’t put barriers between one another. And make music/art, and never stop the pursuit of doing what makes you happy.
Rennie: Take care of each other. Dance and sing whenever you can.
Taylor:^
Senne: What Jake said!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Jake: Chuck Schuldinger, or Cliff Burton would be awesome.
Rennie: Mark Lanegan, Joe Strummer, or Shane Macgowan
Taylor: Layne Staley or John Bonham
Senne: CLIFF, Chris Cornell
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Jake: I Enjoy pretty much everything about it, but I love the energy of playing shows. It’s kind of the best thing ever, and having a voice be heard and music to be listened to forever. Sometimes overthinking is tough playing, but that’s more of a general thing, and you learn as you practice and play more shows.
Rennie: I love being on stage more than anything, and I really love being a part of a team. Being in a band with your best friends is the best team experience you can have. The social grind is really hard, trying to fit into a scene when you play music that’s different from everyone else.
Taylor: The ability to creatively express emotion within the rating process, and how that culminates into the thrill of playing live. Starting out on your own can be a grind, but to me, it’s all a part of the fun journey.
Senne: I love Performing and recording and hanging with my best friends is the best feeling in the world. But getting to a gig 5 hours before you go onstage and waiting around nervously is sometimes not the most fun thing.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Jake: Maybe how much it undervalues musicians. There are good outlets for music nowadays, but it’s also really hard. And it’s kind of a shit landscape, a huge majority of musicians can’t just live off of playing shows and having a bit of airplay now. And that’s just a tough life to maintain cause it’s a lot LOT of work.
Rennie: Ban monopolies on venues and ticket sales! Livenation and Ticketmaster are slowly destroying local music scenes.
Taylor: The way streaming is formatted completely takes advantage of the effort and dedication musicians put into their work, and it’s all about making as much corporate profit as possible. It is not sustainable.
Senne: Live music definitely isn’t valued in the way it used to be, and it’s become quite hard to make money as a small artist.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Jake: “Language” – The Contortionist
Rennie: One is really hard. “Remain in Light” – Talking Heads
Taylor: “Master of Puppets”
Senne: “Superunknown” – Soundgarden
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
Jake: Always been a CD guy, but recently have been getting into collecting cassettes. It’s great. Records, of course, are beautiful too.
Rennie: Vinyl all day, every day.
Taylor: Vinyl hands down. Shoutout to CDs and cassettes though!
Senne: It pains me to say it, but streaming (depending on what service you use) is the best possible audio quality you can achieve in today’s world, and with how accessible it is, it’s impossible not to use that as the main source of music listening. I do love vinyl and have a small growing collection, and the feeling of putting on a record is unmatched.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Jake: Overall, the last show we played at O’Brien’s Pub was awesome. Sugar Hollow Taproom in CT was a cool show too, and it’s always cool playing at the historic Middle East Upstairs. They’re a lot of cool house venues we’ve played too. Star Market Bathroom, and the Beatroot were standouts.
Rennie: O’Brien’s in April was so special, I had a lot of people who do not like heavy music come out to support, and everyone had a blast. A really special night.
Taylor: The Glue Factory January 26th 2025.
Senne: our last show at O’Brien’s in April of this year
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Jake: I’d probably be doing some sort of art thing I hope. I’m not good at any artistic crafts per se, besides music. But I hope it’d be that. Maybe as some sort of architectural designer, as I love buildings and different designs of skylines and skyscrapers.
Rennie: I am a full-time line cook, so I’d probably still be doing that, but I’d really really like to be a teacher.
Taylor: Probably something to do with acting or filmography. Always been into movies and acting since before I found music.
Senne: Something in the agricultural realm
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Jake: Tom Morello, Mikael Akerfeldt, James Hetfield, Jack Black, and Geddy Lee
Rennie: Billy Strings, Charlie Day, Draymond Green, Mike Ness, and most importantly, (I don’t care that he’s gone), Anthony Bourdain
Taylor: John Mulaney, Dave grohl, Kirk hammet, Draymond Green, Jack Black
Senne: Billy Strings, Jack Black, Stu Mackenzie, Bill Burr, Jerry Cantrell
What’s next for the band?
Taylor: ‘Guts’ – will be released July 25th. It’s a double single featuring the songs ‘Guts’ and ‘Computer Lizard’. We also have a full album on the way locked up in the vault.
Senne: double single release and some kick ass shows to celebrate
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/boarzoy/guts
https://www.instagram.com/boarzoy
There’s a long-standing food-based debate here in the UK. And we’d like your help. So… A Jaffa cake – is it a cake or a biscuit? Discuss!
Jake: I think it’s… BOTH! A cake and a biscuit.
Rennie: I was watching the Big Fat Quiz show one time, and I think I remember David Mitchell going on a rant about Jaffa Cakes legally being biscuits for tax reasons?
Taylor: Never tried it, but from pictures, that looks like a biscuit to me.Senne: My American brain cannot comprehend this question!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
