Images courtesy of Laura McCullagh and Slam Dank Productions
(We’re very pleased to present our contributor Vizzah Harri‘s interview of Lille Gruber from Defeated Sanity, with apologies to both of them for our delay in publishing it.)
Defeated Sanity are a jazz ensemble hiding in plain sight as a brutal tech-death band. At this writing they’re currently on their Final Impetus tour to bring to audiences far and wide one more experience of their 2020 opus, The Sanguinary Impetus. Their recent show in Cape Town, South Africa was reviewed here.
It’s certainly not easy to make time on a tour for pesky questions from a sometimes-contributor to a music blog, but Lille Gruber, drummer, songwriter, and founder of Defeated Sanity, took precious time out of his busy schedule to entertain my queries.
For those who don’t know or grew up under a rock like me, Lille Gruber started playing and growling from a really young age. Starting the band with his brother Jonas Gruber and their dad, the late Wolfgang Teske (R.I.P. 2010), it was like growing up with a literal Amadeus as a father.
With family names basically soothsaying where they’d end up seeing as the etymologies date back to people who lived in a hollow… or pit (Gruber), and to console/comfort (Teske); well, they’ve been comforting pit-dwellers since 1993 and aren’t we all the richer for it?
How is the tour going so far?
It’s going great. These Asia tours are crazy exhausting, but also rewarding.
You had a moment of silence for your dad on the 5th of July at The Armchair in Cape Town. His influence was far-reaching even after his passing for having contributed songwriting for “Naraka” on Passages into Deformity. What do you think he would have thought of where the band is right now?
I know he would love what we do and be proud that he was part of it! We simply dedicated the song he wrote to him!
The ellipsis of opening the show with “Phytodigestion” and then a reverse counting out with the encore was so dope! How did that come about?
It’s just some cool idea we came up with when practicing the set again and again. Eventually you start trying to find better and better options and ideas…
Is there room for improvisation at Defeated Sanity live shows, or do you ever break into a jam midway or as an encore?
I improvise a few fills here and there, whereas the others more or less stay within the composition.
Going all the way back to Devoured by the Black: With quite a bit of cooperation and swapping of duties throughout the demo, how much did you, Wolfgang, and Jonas impact each other’s playing and writing?
We definitely influenced each other and created a language. (The same) goes for Jacob, Josh and Vaughn as it goes for Christian, Wolfgang, Konni, etc…
Vaughn Stoffey, Josh Welshman, Jacob Schmidt
I read elsewhere that some of your biggest influences in style over the years have been jazz greats like Tony Williams, Dennis Chambers, Billy Conham, and Dave Weckl. Are there other drummers around these days that make you sit up and go, “damn that’s sick?”
Matt Garstka (Animals as Leaders) and Ronald Bruner Jr. (Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, Suicidal Tendencies) blew me away recently!!! As well as hyper-speed fetishists like Matt Kilner (Vitriol, Nithing).
Which theoretical application in drumming has been the most useful for your playing and journey as an artist?
I’ve been diving deep into groups of 3 (hands or hand/foot combos) recently. Those unlocked a lot of doors!!!
Has it ever been the case that drums would be written before any other instrument?
Happens rarely but happens…. it’s composition. Every technique is welcome!!
In the same vein, do lyrics or themes ever come before the music in writing?
Sometimes a theme or song title comes first… but not before the music writing tho.
I’m sure each part of the creative process brings its own thrills, but perhaps each album and/or artist is different. Is there any part of the process, be it writing, recording, mixing, or performing that stands out as more fulfilling?
It’s all equally satisfying!!!! Having finished a new song is amazing! So is having it recorded or played live for the first time.
Can you tell us a bit about your new album?
A concept album about mental disorders and such things. We almost called it the self-titled….
The inimitable Colin Marston mixed and mastered The Sanguinary Impetus, how was it working with him?
Amazing! Super tight friendship! He’s an actual superfan! And he’s an amazing artist and engineer.
How important is it for you as a band to jam together to break new ground, or would it be the case of individually writing pieces and putting them together later and seeing what fits?
I’d love to jam more… unfortunately, the spread-out nature of this band doesn’t allow for it… we make it work any way.
L-R Jacob Schmidt, Lille Gruber, Vaughn Stoffey, Josh Welshman
Which song is your favorite to play live other than the easy answer of: the newest ones. Or is it always the freshest material? Haha
Songs without great obstacles lol… rare tho haha!
In 2017 you guys played a show in Ho Chi Minh City even though your gear didn’t arrive and a power outage for most of the day resulted in little time to do a soundcheck, yet the show still happened!
Well, we’re not flying to a foreign country to fuck around. We wanna play! So borrowed instruments will do. We always accept a challenge!
Any other unique experiences on the road?
Playing in the middle of the jungle/Himalayas a few days ago was crazy… having to fight off various critters while playing lol.
How hard is it to maintain your live sound while going on tour, especially to venues that you’ve never been to before?
Difficult! I need to deal with new drums every day. Luckily, I got my snare, triggers and cymbals with me… the pillars of my sound.
From which wells do you draw for inspiration?
For me it’s not knowing anything else. No idea what else I should be doing….
Has there been any music, no-genre-bias, in the past 2 years that has stuck by you?
Check Anal Stabwound… pretty crazy for a 17-year-old! (the artist’s age upon the release of their 2022 album)
You did some stellar session work with Florian Engelke’s Ingurgitating Oblivion, is there anything new on the cards for that project or anything else outside of Defeated Sanity?
New album comes out before ours!!! Crazy stuff… almost tooooo crazy.
Thanks so much for your time and patience with the questions and I hope the rest of the tour goes well!
No problem! Thxx!!
____________________________________________________________________
It looks like there are two more albums in the offing to whet appetites before AOTY lists start flying about like everybody’s business. Defeated Sanity’s new album will be released later in 2024 through Season of Mist and it looks like Colin Marston is involved in the recording process again.
They are premiering some of their new material on tour right now, and these tracks pack a polychromatic punch with some gracious grooves to spare! So, be sure to catch them live if they’re anywhere in a vicinity near you! Here’s a cool excerpt from the making of their new album from Defeated Sanity’s Facebook page – here.
You can still catch them live at these locations in Asia:
