Sunken State On Relocating, Dealing With Lineup Changes & Making Music You Enjoy

In a recent episode, Marcel spoke to an unavoidable favourite in the local metal scene, Sunken State. Here’s some of what the band had to say about their journey so far, from the full interview.

Assembling the Band

Sunken State has gone through a few iterations over the years, forming the epic sound you can hear  from them today. During the band’s origin story, Marcel asks Sean for his perspective.

Sean says, “I didn't know the guys beforehand, so I was busy. I was in other bands. I was traveling with other bands, doing other shows and everything like that. I didn't know the guys. I saw them. First time I think I saw you guys was Ramfest 2021, right before lockdown, I think, yeah. And I was like, I don't know who these guys are. To me, and for a few people, it was a little bit like they came out of nowhere, but then they killed that show, right? And I was like, cool, cool, that's fine, whatever. A couple of things went by, and then I got a call or a message from them being like, yo, do you want to try out? And it was at the exact time I was launching another band, and I was joining Raptor. Like, Raptor was three, two months away from me joining and dropping an EP. So I was like, bit too much going on. I think I'm just going to continue with this, soz. And then thought nothing of it, carried on. And then, time passed, and I started seeing Matt at some of my shows, scoping me a little bit. Then obviously, a few conversations or whatever, they exchanged a bassist or two in the meantime. And then things kind of fell into place, and I got another phone call being like, yeah, do you want to come do it? And I was like, yeah, of course, dude. I was stupid. And then they did three or four backtrack shows. While they were backtracking those basses and everything, we were already working on it. Like, I was already learning the songs, we were really playing together and everything like that. So I was at the shows being like, this kind of sucks. I want to kind of play those shows. We recorded a new song, and then it was like, yeah, just drop everything and go.”

Matt adds, “And we're, like, keeping it a secret. Like, no one knew. We just came from band practice with Sean to a show, and no one knew. And we're, like, trying to keep it quiet, but people started figuring it out, though. I think they were like, they weren't hanging together before and now they are…”

Sean continues, “We went to shows and I had to just straight up pretend not to know you guys and just watch the show. And I was like, oh, that was pretty good.”

Musical Themes

Sunken State songs have a high level of crowd recognition; it’s not uncommon to hear their music blaring out of a local venue, even when they aren’t on stage. Marcel asks how the band develops the themes and ideas in their work.

Dwayne tackles the lyrical side, saying, “So, lyrics... Probably all of the lyrics you'll hear is mostly mine. Matt will definitely write a chorus or two. And it's mostly to do with things that I'm passionate about and what I feel motivated to write. And that would be like state of the world politics, animal suffering, humanity's plights, you know, people struggling. And, honestly, a lot of it comes down to us as humans being failures, you know, to our fellow man and to our fellow animal beings. So a lot of my stuff is about that and touches those subjects. And I might not overtly write about something specific all the time, you know, I'd have lines that sort of, I think people can make their own and relate to themselves. So I won't say that every song is like, just this or just that, you know, but I think every song has its motivation. You know, if you listen to, I don't know, we can take "Swindler". It's obviously a song about the people swindling you, backstabbers, you know, people that are not upfront with you. They'll take you, talk bad behind your back and stuff like that. So I guess it's mostly about angry subjects because, yeah. It's really angry music, angry lyrics and, a lot of it is not very hopeful or it's very pessimistic, and sometimes sad as well. So ya, but I think those are the themes that I draw on a lot, you know?”

The Single Method

Many musicians choose to release singles to meet the demands of algorithms & fast-moving trends. Noticing the pattern in Sunken State’s repertoire, Marcel asks about the band’s release strategy.

Matt says, “Yeah, so we did the whole single thing. Singles are great. You get a lot of traction from singles and they're cool. And also, it's a cool way to experiment with new sounds and stuff like that. But we also think that doing slightly bigger releases, like EPs and albums, they are important to have under your catalog. Because I think a lot of people are kind of under the impression that singles are the way forward. And yes, they're great and they work, and they do well. But at the same time, like, if you go onto a band's Spotify on their catalog and you just scroll down and it's just all of these different singles with different artwork and all of that stuff. I feel like your band doesn't have... I think it's important for bands to work in eras, almost, you know? Like, if you look at bands, it's like they had this vibe with this album and then they moved on to this vibe with that album. And I feel like that is still important. Because singles and stuff, like I said, they work for releasing and for traction, but what do they become after that, you know, once that's died down? And that's where I think EPs and albums and stuff are strong. So we are busy working on an EP. We are a couple tracks down now. So essentially, this "I Am Divinity" song was the first single off of this EP that's coming out.”