Interview with John LaMacchia (Spylacopa / Candiria)

One of the most brutally overlooked albums that flew below too many radars this year must be the stellar Parallels album by Spylacopa. Originally a side-project by Candiria guitarist John LaMacchia, the group started out with a spectacular line-up consisting of Greg Pucciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Julie Christmas (Made Out Of Babies), and Jeff Caxide (Isis, Palms). Therefore it was no surprise that their first sign of life in a five-track self-titled EP gained a lot of attention and praise. Yet with life, death, birth, and a whole lot of other things happening in the eight years after its foundation the whole project fell somewhat back into the shadows of underground anonymity. Greg Pucciato turned out too busy with countless other projects, and the time of the other musicians also turned out limited. So Parallels is mostly John LaMacchia himself churning out the weird, experimental, keyboard-infused psycho metal only he can do best. With the news of his main band Candiria reuniting and writing on a new album it is inevitable that Spylacopa will always be an obscurity for the masses. However I cannot stress enough that this is not due to the quality of the music. So do yourself a favor and look up Parallels, it deserves to be listened to so much more than 99% of the sonic garbage out there these days…

Spylacopa InterviewHi John! How are you doing these days?

I’m well, Candiria is active again. Spylacopa is active and I also have an instrumental project called The Mill and The Cross that all keep me pretty busy so, yes, I am busy therefore I am well!

I’ve been listening to Parallels a lot this year, and it keeps blowing my mind, definitely one of the most interesting and awesome albums I heard this year. How has the response been so far?

Thank you very much. I am glad you find it to be an interesting listen. The response has been extremely positive which is fantastic because now I have the confidence to continue with the project in its current state.

Actually, it surprised me somewhat how little attention the album has received so far, it seems like a lot of people are missing out! Do you have a ready explanation for that?

Well Spylacopa is a studio project. There is no touring band to support the releases and it has been 8 years since the initial EP was put out. I am actually surprised how many people are still interested in Spylacopa and the new album. It did fairly well considering my expectations.

Could you tell me a little about what happened in the eight (!) years between the last Spylacopa release and Parallels? The EP was received so well! What happened?!

In order to give you an accurate account of what has happened in the past 8 years I would have to write a book. The major events in the past 8 years including Troy Young’s murder (drummer who played on the EP and Parallels), the release of Julie Christmas, The Bad Wife and the loss of The South Sound music building which I opened with Andrew Schneider and Mike Law of Translator Audio Recording Studios to hurricane Sandy all led me to this moment. As far as what the holdup was, people are just busy. Spylacopa is a side project. It was never meant to be a full-on band. I never intended on waiting 8 years to release a full length but things just happen and people have priorities. Greg has The Dillinger Escape Plan, Jeff had Isis, now Palms and they both live on the West Coast. Julie Whom I worked with more than anyone else also has her own things going on. It’s just the way it goes.

 

I saw on your FB page that there was supposed to be an ambitious video project for one of the songs, but it fell through? Could you tell me about that? Was this the same video that you finished shooting last month?

A video for “Betrayer,” a song on Parallels I had worked on for nearly a year with independent video artist, Steve Perlmaster. Another tragic story. This was a very ambitious project with many moving parts and many people involved. It was supposed to be shot throughout the months of June and July of 2015. It rained on every scheduled shoot day we had planned. After 4 attempts we threw in the towel. It just seemed impossible to make happen after that. It was extremely frustrating to have to let that go but who knows maybe one day we will get back to that. The video that was recently shot was for a song called “Duskeyhead” which will be on the next Spylacopa record that I am going to put out later this year. With the Same director, my buddy, Steve Perlmaster.

On the EP there was prominent room for Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Pucciato and Julie Christmas, on Parallels we don’t hear Greg, and a lot less from Julie, could you elaborate on that?

Well let’s just say Greg is a very busy guy. Partly the reason why it took 8 years to get a full length out. When you are working on a project like this you have to accept the fact that the people you are working with have priorities. Especially if there is really nothing to gain from this but the joy of making music with your friends. Greg went on to do other awesome things. Julie did as well. Now Spylacopa is exactly what I originally intended it to be, a solo project. Now I will put out music more often. I have a lot of catching up to do! Ha.

 

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Spylacopa 2015Who are the players on Parallels? How involved was Jeff Caxide this time around?

Most of this material was written the same time the EP was written in 2008. Jeff Caxide was only involved because he co-wrote some of these songs with me back then. He gave me his vote of confidence, the green light and his approval when needed. He knew this was important to me and really was just great about all of this. I am lucky to have friends like Jeff, Julie, and Greg. I have received nothing but love and support from them and they receive the same from me, 100 percent, in whatever it is they choose to do. Julie Christmas who I am Honored to have as a part of this record also performs on a few songs. Then there is Ken Schalk who was a major part of this release. He really breathed life into these songs. He is a great mixing engineer and I feel that he really understands me as an artist after working together for so many years on so many different projects. Michael MacIvor who co-wrote a song and played bass on another is always a welcome guest on anything I do. My dear friend Sabrina Ellie was kind enough to provide some beautiful vocals and harmonies on a couple of songs as well.

Could you tell me what your ambitions are for Spylacopa now and in the future? Will you ever become a more active touring band for instance?

At this point as I have mentioned. Spylacopa is a solo project. That’s what I originally intended for it back in 2001. Greg, Jeff, and Julie became involved for a time and I could not be happier to have made these records the way we did but now it is time to put out some of the music I always intended to with this project. The next record will be somewhat different but I never intended on putting out the same record over and over again anyway. That’s not growth. I really hope people appreciate what comes next because I couldn’t be more proud of these songs. If not, fuck it, I don’t really care. I am selfish in that way. Musicians and artists have to be in order to produce quality work or what you will wind up with is a bunch of soulless drivel that no one will ever hold in high regard.

You had mentioned on Facebook that you were thinking about putting out another Spylacopa album this year. Is that still the plan? If so who are the players on it?

Yes, I have an album title and a set of 8 songs to make up a full length release. I plan on making 3 videos for this one. Hopefully I don’t get rained out! I am looking at late November as my target to get this record out. This is some of the most personal music I have ever released and I am truly excited to put it out into the world.

Can you tell me what Spylacopa means to you personally? Does your life revolve around it, or is it more of a temporary outlet. And how personal is it to you?

Ha. My life definitely does not revolve around Spylacopa. It’s more like Spylacopa revolves around Candiria. That’s really a better way to put it. Without Candiria I probably would have never felt the need to start this project. I would have never met Jeff Caxide, Greg Puciato, or Julie Christmas. As far as how personal the music is, let’s just say it’s about to get the most personal it’s ever been.

How is the Rising Pulse label doing by the way? Is that a job for you or is it more like a hobby? Are you releasing any interesting records in the near future?

Labels are really difficult to keep afloat. It’s definitely more like a hobby. It does help pay the rent most months but if I didn’t run the label out of my apartment the label would have went under years ago. The next release is the Spylacopa record coming out in the end of November.

Ok, so I’ve been spying the internet for news about Candiria, and I was happy to find out that you seem to have the band back together and perhaps even an album this year?! Tell me all about it!

Yes the band is active again. We are working on an album for a 2016 release. Candiria is at the center of everything that I do and the guys in the band are like family to me. I am happy to be sharing the stage with these guys again.

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