Review | Interim Divine EP ‘Ruin’

Always on the lookout for new information regarding Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music that I can share with RockChoice.com visitors, I came across a post for a new band called, ‘Interim Divine.’ I checked out their myspace page, listed to the music that was available, and liked what I heard.

Interim Divine

The Southern California band came together in 2008. According to drummer Dav Fulford-Brown who was in a Tool type progressive band at the time, was looking for a new guitar player. Reconnecting with guitarist Kasey Johnston whom he had been in a band with ten years earlier, Johnston got the job. “Kasey was on the top of the list on myspace, we had been in a band a decade ago and hadn’t spoken since” says Fulford-Brown. “It was just a weird coincidence.” With the current band that Johnston had joined with Fulford-Brown going nowhere, Kasey mentioned that he had another project in mind with other musicians, and Interim Divine was formed.

Current singer Josh Bauserman was not in the original line-up of Interim Divine. The singer that was recommended by Kasey for the project was a bit older with family obligations and just didn’t work out. “We must have auditioned 20 to 30 singers and we weren’t finding the right sound” commented Dav. “Josh came to audition the day after he answered our ad and blew us away, we knew right away it was him.”

The band consisting of Josh Bauserman (vocals) Kasey Johnston and Aaron MacKenzie (guitars) Mike Hamilton (bass/vocals) and Dav Fulford-Brown (drums/vocals) recently released their debut 5 song EP titled ‘Ruin.’

The name of the band according to Fulford-Brown who, along with Johnston came up with it said, “It’s a representation of the way we feel when we are performing or writing together,” Interim being the temporary situation of being together. Dav continues, “The Divine is the feeling we get, it’s heavenly or God like, it’s a really good feeling.” I immediately asked if Interim Divine was a Christian band. He quickly said, “That’s not a theme of the band, no, were definitely (laughing) kind of dark.”

Singer Josh Bauserman comes from a metal vocalist family tree. His father, Tim Bouchee was the vocalist for the metal band Havochate, and according to Bauserman is not involved with Interim Divine. “Not in this band, not at all. He wasn’t around much when I was young, being on the road trying to achieve his own dreams.” I asked if he has opened any doors. “No not really, I’m sure he could, but I’m not really asking for it at this time.”

The bands release, ‘Ruin’ could almost be considered a ‘concept EP,’ with all the songs themed around human emotions and events of the heart, broken ones. The song “Enemy” speaks of the self-destructive behavior that far to often becomes a coping mechanism in the face of betrayal and heart-ache. Interim Divine’s songs reach down to the dark undesirable places that we are unwilling yet forced to visit mentally, because of an unavoidable situation in life and it’s aftermath, this is heavy stuff. The song “Low” (penned by Fulford-Brown) is based on a failed relationship, and the refusal to accept that some things are just not meant to be. It’s about being powerless, and the in-ability of coming to terms with it.

This is a band in every sense of the word

Song writing for the band is a group effort, with everyone bringing something to the table. Guitarist’s Johnston and Aaron MacKenzie contribute as does drummer Fulford-Brown, with Bauserman being the primary lyricist. Fulford-Brown commented, “I had to twist his arm just to do one song that I wrote with my own lyrics, cause I mean he’s just a machine when it comes to writing lyrics.”

I asked Josh if writing came easy to him. “Ah yes, because it’s everything I’m feeling at the moment, I write about the moment that I’m in at that time, I don’t just write lyrics to write lyrics, they always mean something to me.” He continued, “Doing this EP actually took a lot out of me, I’ve had a lot of things going on this year and this has really helped me get some things off my chest.” He added, “These songs have been the best songs that I’ve written, and were still writing great songs right now, things are going good.”

The moments Bauserman speaks of can be felt throughout their EP. It’s what I would call, ‘Heavy Mellow’ very dark most of the time with deep emotions oozing out of the speakers, almost draining at times. This is a talented group of musicians that I would like to hear change it up a bit with a few up beat, up tempo songs that I think would mix nicely with their dark emotional music, making for a powerful LP.

It’s okay to share

I asked the guys what their take was on file sharing and all the music being “stolen” on the internet. Dav jumped in and said, “You know I definitely want to make a living at this, so it gets to the point where it gets a little ridiculous for the artist, but at the same time exposure is exposure” he went on, “If people really like your music and their taking it because they love it, then I can’t really complain about that.” Josh’s take was, “I grew up with a punk rock back ground and to me it’s a very punk rock thing, the whole file sharing and ripping, I can’t really talk to much shit about it, because I mean it is what it is, and it’s there, and you can’t stop it.”

In speaking with Dav and Josh I came away from the conversation impressed with their philosophies and professionalism. The band was signed to a record label out of San Bernadino which was an eighteen month artist development deal with distribution that went nowhere. After numerous broken promises regarding gigs and the release of an album that never materialized, the band let their contact expire and recorded their own EP. Once the final mix on ‘Ruin’ is complete the band will concentrate on playing shows and gaining exposure. Interim Divine is currently unsigned, but I don’t think it will be for very long.

Check out the songs from their EP, ‘Ruin’ at the Interim Divine myspace page.