- How long has Black Mask been a band? Have any of you played together in previous bands?
- It seems like the self-titled 7" you put out in 2012 was very successful. How do you feel it was received? Were you satisfied with it?
We really had no expectations when we put that record out. We recorded it basically as a demo and didn't know how far we would even take this band. But Get This Right showed interest in the album and decided to put it out on a 7" in October 2012 and we think it did really well for being a relatively unknown band. We're almost sold out of our second pressing of it, and that exceeded all our expectations by far.
- I noticed that the 7" doesn't include a lyrics sheet. Was that an artistic or financial decision?
At the time we didn't really think about including a lyric sheet with the record, we were just excited to put the record out.
- Do you feel like that 7" is still a good representation of Black Mask, as you prepare to release Lost Below?
Yeah, I think the 7" is a solid beginning for us, we still play almost that whole record in our set. Lost Below picks up where the self titled left off, but we tried to add some more elements and make a more diverse record this time. But we all still love those songs and they seem to be received well when we play them.
- How excited are you guys for the East Coast tour you have planned?
We always love touring the east coast, we get to play a lot of our favorite towns and see some good friends that we've made. We made this tour a little longer than we usually do on the east coast to try to play some new places. Also it's always good to get out of the winter weather back in Pennsylvania.
- Reflections Records put out an LP for Black Mask in Europe. How did that come about?
Reflections came to us right as we were planning our European tour and offered to put a record out for us over there. Initially we just wanted them to put out the 7 inch for us but since we didn't have very much distro over there we decided to combine the first record and the second as a Euro exclusive full length.
- I looked at buying one but they are very expensive to ship to America. Do you have any plans to release the LP stateside or is it a European exclusive?
Yeah, Get This Right Records is planning on having a limited amount of those records available in the states on their webstore in the near future.
- I hear people talk about your guitar tone, and how you supposedly use Sunn amps. Most pictures I see of you live, though, you're playing Marshall amps. Care to end the confusion?
We've used a few different guitar set ups since we started the band so I can see why there would be some confusion. But we have a pretty consistent set up now that we're played on the past few tours. The heads we use now are a Peavey VTM 120 and a Marshall JCM 900.
- Are there any particular bands that you take influence from individually or as a band?
The only band that consistently influences us is Tegan and Sara.
- How do the four of you typically write songs?
At the time we wrote the last record we didn't have a full line up so it made the writing process a lot more difficult. And we were in a bit of a time crunch to record so Justin ended up writing most of the record. A few of us live many hours apart so getting to sit down and write together can be a little challenging, but we're looking forward to being able to write together for the next release.
- I read somewhere that you may have gotten your name from a Batman villain . . . ?
Yes, we're all nerds.
- Before we wrap up, are there any bands local to you that you want to give some recognition to?
There are a lot of young bands coming up out of our area, and we are excited to see what they will do in the future. The band Killing Thing out of Pittsburgh has been consistently awesome every time we've seen them, and hope that they keep doing what they're doing.
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Be sure to catch Black Mask on their East Coast tour.
-Brian
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Keep it decent.