A Doomsday Student Bonanza. Interviews! Videos! Fucking Weirdness!

And now for something from the farthest reaches of left field, if not outer space. Three One G Records has recently embarked upon the digital re-release of Doomsday Student’s first album, A Jumper’s Handbook. Featuring ex-members of Arab on Radar, the Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, and Chrome Jackson, the label’s press release uses the following terms of endearment to approximate the alternate universe Doomsday Student might possibly be coming from: “…dissonance…mania… peculiarity… unsettling lyrics, hysteric guitars and irregular rhythms…Obnoxious to those who seek the obvious, but beloved by many others.” Sounds like fun to us!

To celebrate the re-issue of one of recent memory’s noisiest of nerve graters, we tracked down vocalist and twice published author, Eric Paul for a quick chin wag about all things strange and headache-inducing. As well, the band’s forthcoming third album, A Self Help Tragedy (starting to see a theme, here?) is done and waiting in the wings. The first single from said release, “Angry Christmas” has been aired publicly via a culturally relevant, yet still completely acid-fucked, animated video, which we’ve included below as well. We’ve also upped the room-clearing capacity of your music playing device by also throwing in their video for “Disappearing,” a track from second album, A Walk Through Hysteria Park. Let the insanity begin!

Maybe some band history would be appropriate seeing as you’re a pretty unknown entity to the metal community.

Eric Paul: We are out of Providence, RI. The four of us have been friends and have been making music together in some form or another for about twenty years. Steve [Mattos, guitar] , Craig [Kureck, drums] and I played in the band Arab On Radar and Craig, Paul [Vieira, bass], and I played in a band called the Chinese Stars for about eight years. We have been called No-Wave, Noise, and Noise Rock.  

What was the band’s original intent? In looking back at your history – enough that you’re offering reissues – how would you say things transpired in relation to what you were looking to accomplish?

Our intent was and is simple. We are four friends that fucking love music, especially unique and challenging music. As friends, we want to make our own type of it.  

Do you have a particular group of people who you can single out and commonly describe as “a fan of Doomsday Student”?

Unlike most bands, the “fans” of Doomsday Student cannot be identified by the fashions and attitudes of most muscial genres. There is not particular look — only a look of knowing in the eye. They understand. We understand. 

The average (wo)man on the street engages you in a conversation. In an attempt to steer the conversation away from the weather, s/he asks about your band. How do you describe your musical shenanigans?

“Hello! I’m Eric. I’ve devoted my entire life to making music that, I can almost guarantee you, the average person would hate.” 

Where did the title A Jumper’s Handbook come from? I quite enjoy the dark element suggested by it, but am wondering if there’s a story behind the name.

To be honest, I don’t quite remember. 

What sorts of other were you conveying through the lyrics?

Selfishly, all of the “stories” are just my story. All the lyrics are about my personal experiences whether they are about my personal struggles, my fear of clowns, or the birth of my son. They are all about my world. I have never felt comfortable writing on subject matters outside of it. I know my world the best, so I write about it. I would sound foolish if I attempted to write a lyric with a political message or a write about somebody else’s experience. I just don’t know how to. 

Is there a particular reason for the album being reissued at this point in time?

Anchor Brain, the label that originally released it shut down. So, the record had been dormant for about six months until 31G agreed to re-release it. 

What’s different about the reissue of the album compared to the original release? 

There is no difference in the digital reissue. However, we are aiming to reissue it on vinyl this year and we were planning on using colored vinyl or some other characters of the release to differentiate between pressings. 

How would you compare A Jumper’s Handbook to A Walk Through Hysteria Park and the forthcoming third album?

I imagine that everyone in the band has their own views on this, so I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve always viewed A Jumper’s Handbook as an album that didn’t stray too far musically from our past projects as far as instrumentation and arrangements. But what makes the album special to me is when I listen to it I hear this raw anger fueling each song.  Where as I feel A Walk Through Hysteria Park begins to hint at new terrain, which is ultimately found on the new record, A Self-Help Tragedy. I believe this album is a huge departure from our past projects and the other two albums.  On the new record, we tried to keep the song arrangements close to the original improv that brought on the song. We tried hard not try to over arrange them. We also experimented heavily with new sounds whereas in the past we mostly had dry guitars and vocals. I also believe there are three distinct emotions driving each album. As I mentioned earlier, I believe A Jumper’s Handbook is a very angry album. A Walk Through Hysteria Park feels fearful or anxious, while A Self-Help Tragedy feels very cerebral to me. 

Tell us about your activities as an author. What do you have under your belt and are you working on anything of note at the moment?

I have released two books of poetry through Heatworm Press. It’s a press owned by Wesley Eisold of Cold Cave, American Nightmare and Some Girls. I regularly publish in lit magazines and journals and occasionally write for art, music, and cultural magazines. Right now, I’m working on a collection of tour stories — cataloging some of the more outrageous occurrences in our twenty years of touring. I hope to have that out in 2018.  

What’s next for Doomsday Student?  

We hope to spend 2017 touring to support A Self-Help Tragedy

Upcoming shows:
September 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus w/ Head Wound City, Sick Feeling

September 18 @ Cake Shop, NYC w/Head Wound City
November 4 – Providence, RI @ Aurora
November 5 – Boston, MA @ Hassle Fest

www.doomsdaystudent.com

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