Sons of Tonatiuh (Band Interview)

Atlanta based Sons of Tonatiuh has performed in the 850 area on at least three occasions, and if you like to venture outside the metal mainstream – kick yourself for not seeing them.

We’ve written before about their blistering performances of what can only be described as hyphenate metal. Meaning they are a crust-punk-doom-sludge-stoner-experimental-damn-near-everything while defying the confines of any of these genres.

“I’m hoping that it is pretty authentic. I’m ripping off a little here and there from other people, other bands, but for the most part I am trying to keep it pretty fresh.” – Dan.

Dan is the only remaining founding member of the group. After a West Coast tour this past October, Dan found himself without a band. “I took a month or two off because I was kind of burn out from touring and whatever.  That was the plan, before we even left the for the West Coast tour.  But as soon as we got back Mike (bass) was like, ‘Yeah I’m burn out. I’m done.’ And then drummer just kind of followed too.”

The new line-up is Dan (guitar/vocals), Josh (drums), and Twitch (bass).  It debuted earlier this month at 529 in Atlanta.

“I’ve known Josh for two years now and he has been in some other local bands.  He actually went on tour with us a couple years ago, filled in on drums. So he learned our stuff then. I’ve always kind of touched base with him.  He moved out of town a year ago, moved up to New York and then he came back. This past December, I was like, ‘Hey, want to play some drums?’  He said, ‘For sure.’ So he is playing drums.”

“Twitch plays in another band called Drop Out here locally. I know the other guys in that band pretty well. The way it came about, he was selling some bass gear, and I found him on craigslist.  I had been talking to this other bass player who had wanted to play bass for us, but he didn’t have any bass gear. So, I was like, I don’t know how that is going to work.  In the back of my head I was like, sure I will just go buy some bass gear for him, which is a crazy idea.”

“So I found this dude online, on craigslist, selling some bass gear. I went and met up with him and it was Twitch. I mentioned what band I was in, and he is like, ‘Yeah I know you guys’. I said basically, ‘I know you are busy, but if you are interested in maybe playing bass’.  He was like ‘Sure, I’m down’.”

“Within the next few weeks he came in and started playing bass. I never bought the gear, but he started using the gear.  So I guess he has some use for it now.”

The hard to pronounce band name (Tahn-ah-tea-ah for those curious) is derived from an Aztec sun god.  “I have never stopped reading up on ancient cultures.  It is something that I feel like where we all came from really, so that is my fascination I guess.  I came across it in 2007 or so, the Aztec stuff.  The whole culture was pretty brutal.  Tonatiuh was just insane for me, how they would just worship this god and just kill people left and right – sacrificing them to Tonatiuh.  It just sounded right.”

The band has released two albums.  The most recent being Parade of Sorrow which was released on vinyl through Hydro-Phonic records last summer.  After a long wait, CDs have been pressed in preparation for an upcoming South East Tour.

There are differences between SOT’s first release and second, an evolution that Dan plans to continue to nurture.  “I envision a whole different sound all together once we get another album recorded. I am pretty sure that it is going to be light years different from the last one and the one before that. Which is good, that is what I want to do. I want to progress and I don’t want to keep repeating myself.”

“I’m starting to sing more, not just scream. I kind of want to go in that direction anyways, as far as vocal-wise, starting to sing.  As far as the sound, I’m conflicted by a couple different avenues: More harmonies in general, it is still going to be heavy, I just want it to be more of a story.  Make the songs more poetic musically.  The last album was good, but it was lacking a lot of flow and that is something that I am developing on my own.”

Beyond the impending South East tour, SOT plans to make their first trek to Europe later this year and already has two new songs developed.

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