Chris: When we first formed we went under the name Excathedra, but believe it or not there already was an Excathedra, so we were forced to change our name. Our first vocalist Rob suggested the name Psychotogen, which is defined as a chemical agent that induces a psychotic state. Rob is a forensic psychologist, and a good portion of his lyrics back then were based on his experiences in dealing with the criminally insane. Not only was the name unique, but it seemed to fit into the lyrical theme of the band at the time.

Chris: A little bit, yeah. Back when Rob, Tony and I were in Pessimist we wore the black clothing, spikes, etc., and when we formed Psychotogen we decided to forgo any sort of "Death Metal image" and just concentrate on writing quality music. We really take pride in our lyrics and packaging, but I think what really sets us aside from most death metal bands is not really the image, packaging, or lyrics, but our desire to not limit ourselves artistically in any way. If we want to add a flamenco or jazzy part to a song, we just do it, we don't hesitate to color outside the lines from time to time if we feel the song calls for it.

Chris:If I absolutely had to tag us, I guess I would label us "Progressive Death Metal." I really don't think we're all that extreme to be honest. To me extreme is Cryptopsy or Dillinger Escape Plan; something that is completely insane and over-the-top, the stuff that just make your head want to explode. Labels do tend to limit a band, but unfortunately everybody does it, it's just a necessary evil in the music biz. If I was trying to turn you on to a new band that I thought you'd like, I'd be the first to say that they "sound like this" or "sound like that."

Chris: Damn man, thanks, I really take that as a compliment! Some of the major Metal influences would be Atheist, Believer, Cynic, Gorguts and Anacrusis to name just a few. We all dig all sorts of metal, from doom to power metal, from death to grind, old school and new school, but it's the oddball, technical, left-of-center bands like the ones I just mentioned that we all seem to have in common as far as influences go.

Chris: We don't necessarily come from a jazz background, in that none of us have ever actually played in a jazz band or anything, but I will say that jazz is a major influence on the band. We dig all kinds of music, such as Fishbone, Living Colour, Dead Can Dance, and jazz stuff like Duke Ellington or Miles Davis. I've said it in quite a few interviews that I've done, that all musicians steal ideas. The trick is to take a little bit from a wide variety of bands, rather than take a huge amount of ideas from a small amount of bands. Too many metal bands in the scene now are content to merely imitate a handful of metal groups such as Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Death, etc., they tend not to bring in any influences outside of the death metal genre.

Chris: Unfortunately we've all got wives, homes, jobs, kids, bills, etc., that prevent us from really going out and doing some major touring. That leaves us with the option of either making Psychotogen strictly a studio project, or to just do as many one-offs as we possibly can in an effort to promote our music. Since we do enjoy playing our material in a live setting, and we don't want to make the group a strictly studio thing, we opted to just play as many out-of-state gigs as possible without killing ourselves (or each other).

Our touring limitations undoubtedly hurt the band in several ways. Major labels usually want their bands to tour for long stretches of time, so our signing with a label such as Relapse or Century Media is unlikely. We've got no choice but to work with smaller labels that won't require massive amounts of touring from us, but unfortunately those labels usually don't have the funds to promote a band (i.e., touring support, recording advances, advertisements) that a larger label does. So basically we just go with the flow and do the best we can with what we have to work with. As long as it continues to be fun for us, we'll keep going. We definitely don't expect to make a ton of money (or any money for that matter) from playing death metal, we simply do it because we have a passion for the music.

Chris: I guess it depends on the duration of the tour. We could probably afford to take a couple of weeks off to play with a band if it's worth it. We do one-off gigs with national acts once in a while. That's one of the few benefits of my playing death metal, is that between Pessimist and Psychotogen I've got to open for a lot of bands that were big influences for me growing up. I've gotten the chance to meet some of them and tell them what an influence they were on me musically.

Chris: Mike played in Pessimist for while, and I played in Mike's Cadaver Symposium project for a short while a couple of years back. We've known Mike for quite a few years now, so when Rob split from the group Mike is one of the first guys we thought of. We gave him a rough demo of the album and gave him 100% artistic freedom as far as the lyrics, vocal phrasing and melody lines go, A couple of weeks later we were in the studio recording.

Mike originally did the vocal tracks on the disc as a favor, but then decided to stick around for a while. We did a handful of live dates before Mike then decided to leave the group due to his desire to release a solo album.

Chris: Probably. He's worked with us on both of our CDs, as well as Pessimist's Blood for the Gods CD and all of the Misery Index & Dying Fetus discs. He does a killer job every time, so I see no need to use anyone else.

Chris: Larry gives us the best of both. He can achieve Rob's powerful, guttural vocals and he can pull off Mike's vocal style as well. He hasn't really been in a band before, so he's kind of inexperienced as far as that goes, but what he lacks in experience he definitely makes up for in enthusiasm. The guy really has the hunger to take the band further with the next release. We're currently writing new material with Larry, and we hope to showcase the abilities of our new vocalist with an EP we plan on recording during the winter for a spring release.

Chris: We hope the next release will take us further. We were really just trying to get a feel for each other on the first release, and the second release is really where we began to gel as a group, so I'm expecting the third release to be killer. We are currently writing the EP I mentioned earlier in hopes of shopping it around to various labels as we are no longer with the Crash label. The group and the label mutually agreed to part ways. Unfortunately it just wasn't working out for either of us.

Although we haven't written one note of the new album, the one thing that I can guarantee is that it will not be TCoE Part II. I think Psychotogen will always have a signature sound, but we've decided to take the band in a different direction with the next release. We're not about to release our version of Cold Lake or anything, it's not going to be that drastic of a change. We really don't know even know what direction we're going to go in next, we're just gonna do our usual routine of going with the flow and see what happens.

Chris: Hopefully we can keep this beast going for a couple more years. Our immediate plans are just to release an EP, get signed, release our third disc, and play out in support of it as much as we can. As I mentioned earlier, I don't plan on making a ton of money doing this. I would be quite content just to release an album that would be considered a classic in years to come, such as "Heartwork" from Carcass or Suffocation's "Pierced From Within." I think that's the goal that we truly strive for.

Chris: My favorite would probably have to be Exodus with "Tempo of the Damned." Talk about a fucking comeback!

Some other cool releases this year -
Grip Inc. - Incorporated
Monstrosity - Rise To Power
Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

Chris: Thanks for the interview and for the kind words about TCoE. Any metal fans out there that dig bands that choose to artistically expand themselves beyond the usual limitations and expectations that death metal has currently inflicted upon itself, then check out Psychotogen.