XBRAINIAX - Hornswoggled #5 (unpublished circa Summer 2009)

BLOG NOTE: My friend Jordan once did this zine entitled "Hornswoggled" and he has a small collection of interviews from the last, unpublished, issue that he was kind enough to send my way. Here's the first of the batch.

First I wanted to ask about the correct pronunciation. Is it 'Exbrainiacs', 'Brainiacs', 'Brainia', or does the x function as a z-sound, as in xylophone?

It's actually pronounced "Lemon Curry."

You guys recently toured the west coast, how did it go? Discover any new cities or bands on the trip? Any touring plans coming up?

There's a band from LA called Fed Up who were pretty damn good, also a band from SF called Thousands Will Die who were some pretty bitchin' grindcore. Vancouver was the big new city for us. I'd never been there. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a really cool place.

When can we expect the new LP? Any EPs or splits in the works?

Well, we'd like to have the LP mixed by the end of the summer. We're spending more time on it than our other releases because there's so much stuff we want to do. We want to get it as polished as we can get it. So, aside from that, I can't really give a time frame. We recorded some extra material for a split, but that release is a little up in the air as of this exact moment.

Most of your releases have been nonstop speed for the most part, but when I saw you in Vancouver you also did some crazy-slow sludge type stuff. Are there gonna be any slow moments on the new album?

The 10+ minute song you heard us play back in Vancouver is called Deprogrammed. It will be appearing on the LP, which is also titled Deprogrammed.

Who designed the hypodermic needle pentagram logo? Taken any flack for it?

It was sort of a group effort. I always really liked that one. Maybe that's why I plastered the new CD with it... Took us awhile to sell all of those "Satanic Dopesmoking" shirts though...

You guys write fairly structured songs, which isn't always the case with bands that play at your speeds. Are you consciously trying to put more effort into your music? Do you find a lot of extreme music to be too generic?

Yeah, I think song structure is the most important thing when it comes to fast music. If you just spam the 'blast beat' button throughout your songs and don't do anything interesting with the parts, it'll get stale quick. I think that's why a lot of bands in extreme hardcore/punk disappear so quick. They are boring. The bands that influenced us the most were more meticulous with their song writing.

Are there any other projects (bands, zines, labels, or otherwise) that you guys are involved with?

Zach, our guitar player, does about one hundred billion different things at a time. He's doing a Japanese noisy hardcore band by himself called Merciless Game. They've done a few split 7"s and tapes and stuff. He's even gotten a band together to go on tour with. He also does Not Very Nice zine and puts out records and shit. I'm working on a few things but nothing I want to divulge at this point. Joe, our bass player, played guitar in I Accuse!. They just played their last show on July 12th.

Thanks a bunch for doing the interview. Where can people get a hold of your stuff?

Our 99 song Hail Fastcore CD is available through us and through To Live a Lie and Ebullition. Email us if you want a copy, XBRAINIAX@GMAIL.COM

Thanks!