Interview with Toby Knapp vocals and all instruments for Affliktor done by Patrick
1.Hello Toby how are you doing this week?Please introduce yourself to the readers?
Hello! I'm doing well! I'm a multi-instrumentalist based out of Wyoming. My main instrument is the guitar and I enjoy making evil and heavy music. That's why I'm here.
2.When did you first start listening to rock and metal?Who were some of the first bands that grabbed your attention?
I'm an old bastard so I saw hard rock evolve into metal. In the seventies as a four year old I was listening to my parents albums- because they weren't interested in them anymore. Some of the first bands I heard were Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Black Oak Arkansas, Deep Purple, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Alice Cooper, Kiss, etc. Hearing Jimmy Page on the second Led Zeppelin album really possessed me. It scared the hell out of me, I sensed something dark there.....still do. At that point I knew I wanted to be involved in music but wasn't sure to what extent and in what manner.
3.Besides rock and metal do you listen to any other musicial genres?If yes who are some of your favorite bands and artists?
I like so many genres. I love early progressive rock like Yes, King Crimson, Rush, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Camel, Alphataurus, Pulsar, Genesis and so many more. I like classic rock too- the roots; Beatles, Herman's Hermits, Thin Lizzy, Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Good rock and roll music. Favorite classical composer would be Vivaldi. I also enjoy real mellow and kinda corny AM radio music from the 70's. I like so much stuff, music is my life. There are some bands from the eighties I just discovered like Anger, Universe, Jupiter, Alien, Niagara, 220 Volt...it never ends.
4.At what age did you become interested in learning to play the guitar?Who would you say are some of your influences and favorite guitarist?
Like I mentioned earlier it was really Jimmy Page. I was around 13 when I saw the Led Zeppelin concert film "The Song Remains the Same" and when the film was over I picked up the guitar and never put it down. I liked how the guitar could speak to and manipulate the emotions of the listener. I studied Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton heavily at first and then took things up a notch when I heard Ritchie Blackmore on the Rainbow album "On Stage". Soon after, Yngwie Malmsteen was introduced and I became obsessed with the guitar. All those Shrapnel Records releases of the eighties; Friedman, Becker, Vinnie Moore, Macalpine, Tafolla, Paul Gilbert, Kotzen, Greg Howe, Apocrypha....that was my life. Other players I really draw inspiration from are Loudness's Akira Takasaki and John Norum from Europe. There are many more but too numerous to list.
5.Besides the guitars do you play any other instruments?Are their any instruments that you would like to learn to play one day?
I actually played the drums first and was getting really good before abandoning them for the guitar. I use a drum machine on several of my albums and I think the fact that I was a drummer obviously makes me a decent drum programmer. I wouldn't mind revisiting drums and maybe becoming more of a keyboardist than just simple atmospheric passages....but I'm still trying at the guitar, that is plenty.
6.When did you first get the idea to form Affliktor and who would you say are the bands biggest influences?
Often things that lead to an album are as simple as getting on a "kick". Affliktor was the result of revisiting a lot of my 90's Death Metal collection on long commutes to work. I was also listening to "mean thrash"- stuff like early Kreator, Pestilence and Sacrifice. Listening to Morbid Angel everyday I was like "fuck, I need to do something powerful, energetic and well.....negative." I just started making demos and recording riffs and it fell into place naturally. There are musicians in place for an Affliktor 'band'....but on this album I did everything myself. So with this Affliktor stuff, Teutonic thrash of the eighties like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction mixed with the early nineties Death Metal of bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Hellwitch...Slayer of course is hugely influential on this record. A friend of mine described it as a mixture of Annihilator and Bathory- and I really liked that comment!
7.How long did it take you to write the music for the debut release?
Probably a month....it took longer to record though because my gear kept breaking down. I ended up singing, for lack of a better term, through a marshall amp.
8.Toby you are the sole member of the band would you like to find new members to make a full line up or do you prefer to work alone?
I have been at this alone for a very long time because there was really no other choice. However, lately I have been collaborating with drummer, vocalist Shane Wacaster in a band called Necrytis. We are actually writing stuff together and I am enjoying that. Our first album is coming out on Pure Steel Records in September and we have already begun the follow up. I have worked with some great musicians in Montana...but people just kind of drifted apart through the years. Hopefully things will come full circle one day.
9.Who are some musicians{past or present} you would like to work with and why?
David Vincent needs me. I would love to work with him. I think I could collaborate on an album with him that would be great...but that is a pipedream. I always wanted to be in King Diamond or Overkill. I always wanted to just step into an established band and be a guitar player, do my assigned job. I almost got the gig with Mayhem a few years back but logistics were just not going to work out. Attila Csihar did some guest vocals on my solo album "The Campaign" though, so at least something good came from that. It would be nice to do a completely different thing and collaborate with Kate Bush...that is if I had my choice on how things work out.
10.Toby I know you have been a part of the underground scene for many years what is your opinion of the underground scene over the years?
In the eighties the underground ruled- look what came from it? Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Overkill, Kreator, Exodus...these bands are still killing it today. In the nineties we saw great death metal; Immolation (still great), Nuclear Death, Impetigo, Blasphemy, Hellwitch, Morbid Angel, Crucifer, Deteriorate, Toxodeth.....and the first few waves of Black Metal, countless fucking great bands and singular artists. Today? Not much. Nothing that gives me hope or excites me. Realize I am 45 and don't relate to how the youngsters are going about the business of extreme music these days. That presents a problem many older fans are perplexed with....our favorite bands are getting older- how long are Slayer, Overkill and Kreator going to hang in there? What do we do when those guys stop? It's bad enough Rush called it quits....I understand that, we all get older. I just don't see a new generation carrying the torch once Slayer announces their last tour....I'm sorry...Lamb of God and all their little clones do not do it for me. I am not fooled by their groove shit. Social media ruined it too....I liked the survival of the fittest via snail mail, demo tapes and word of mouth. The scene was more selective then and not so overcrowded with bullshit. I am on facebook a lot pushing albums, do I like it? No, I hate it.
11.Besides working in Affliktor I believe you have some other projects and bands active please tell the readers a little about the other bands you are currently involved with?
Waxen is another one man band doing strict Black Metal for Moribund Records. Where Evil Follows is a traditional heavy metal project also on Moribund. Both are active. I do my solo instrumental guitar albums every few years either for Shredguy of Crushing Notes records. Necrytis is a three piece that is doing really well at the moment. We play kind of violent, raw and strange Power Metal and are working with Germany's Pure Steel Records. With all my projects combined I've done around 20 albums or so since the first one in 1993. That was a solo album "Guitar Distortion" on Shrapnel Records.
12.When not working on new music or band business what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Listening to music, collecting music. It's all about finding all the albums I missed out on, that keeps me busy!
13.Have you ever made a video for any of the bands you work with?If yes which band and song? If you could make a video for any of your bands which song would you like to see made into a video?
I had my band Onward in the early 2000's, we were with Century Media and did an official video for a song called "Night". Really, the only other thing is "Chaos Magick Totality" from Affliktor which showcases Mark Riddick's genius album artwork. An official DVD of bootleg live Onward gigs was circulated for awhile via Shredguy Records. I would like to do an Affliktor video for the song "Backwards Into Hell". That is my favorite. The Waxen tune "Hollow Eyes" would make a good video too.
14.Thank you Toby for taking the time to fill this interview out do you have any final words for the readers?
Thank you very much for conducting this interview with me, I really enjoyed it. Hello to all your readers and I hope they will check out one of my projects! There is something for everyone except Christian Metal or Groovecore or Grundge or Emo or Hipster Black Metal or Rap or Djent or................
Toby's Contacts
https://tobyknappmusic.com/home
https://www.facebook.com/TOBYKNAPP13/
Affliktor Contacts
https://affliktor.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Affliktor/
