by Mark Kadzielawa

Atheist's story is a very complicated one, yet it's a story filled with inventive and original music that roars with an uncontrolled intensity. The band unknowingly pioneered technical metal in the late 80s and early 90s. While they've never reaped the benefits of their hard work, their influence is immense, and their role in the genre unparalleled by any other band.

Atheist formed in 1984 in Florida. After several names they settled on Atheist, The band was made of four very distinct players. Kelly Shaefer on guitar and vocals, Steve Flynn on drums, Roger Patterson on bass, and Rand Burkey on guitar. Their first album "Piece of Time" was released back in 1989/1990, and the band quickly took to the road to promote the album. While returning home from California, the band was involved in a horrible car crash. The crash claimed the life of bassist Roger Patterson. A huge blow to the band, as Patterson's brand of playing and songwriting was second to none. Atheist recruited Tony Choy, and recorded "Unquestionable Presence." Choy left Atheist to tour with Pestilence, and the band toured with Darren McFarland in support of the album. Soon there were more changes in Atheist. Their third album, "Elements" featured only Shaefer and Burkey, surrounded by the new members. Not soon after the band ceased to exist.

Atheist's brand of metal was very futuristic and overly innovative, and often not understood by an average metal fan. As the years went on, the appreciation for Atheist's music grew, and many of its fans grew up and started their own bands. Also, their back catalog was re-released with great bonus tracks, and very insightful liner notes. All of it caused the band to eventually reform as well. The nucleus of the band, Kelly Shaefer and Steve Flynn, were joined by two guitar players, Jonathan Thompson and Chris Baker. Completing the cycle was Tony Choy on bass. After a few years of reunion shows, and a live album under their belt, the time came for some new Atheist music.

"Jupiter" is the new record by Atheist. It is by far the most intense offering the band has ever done, proving once again how untouchable the group is in their field. The album sports finesse songwriting, and a state of the art delivery. It is exactly what true Atheist fans were waiting for and more. Also, the album shows an incredible dynamics between the core players, and the new members. It will be a record regarded very highly for years to come.

Singer-songwriter, Kelly Shaefer, talks about how "Jupiter" was accomplished, and goes deep into the philosophy of the record.

How long did it take you to realize the current Atheist line up was capable of making the record?
Kelly Sheafer: I knew they were capable of playing the old material, and very capable of writing new material with us. At the end of the day me and Steve Flynn were making sure that everything was fine, just as if it was Rand (Burkey-original guitar player,) or Roger (Patterson-original bass player) sitting with us and playing the riffs. A good riff is a good riff, and we all sort of agree on that. We all have similar tastes in music. That’s why we ended up having these guys in the band. So, it was pretty easy to just roll things out. Let’s say if Jonathan had a riff that sounded like something Atheist would do, then we would use it, and work around it, orchestrate music around it. It was never really a thought, we just rolled into the idea of doing the record, and those guys were the obvious choices to make it with us.
Was there any pressure to confront your past achievements, and living up to them?
Well, yeah. We thought about that a long time ago when we started doing reunion shows. And we thought, it’s not worth matching up the legacy, and the logistics of us getting together and be able to write that type of music, and the period of time it would take just seemed impossible. But as we found out during the time we played the reunion shows that the landscape for that kind of music is just blossoming. There seemed so many opportunities and things to do, so we finally thought, let’s get a room, and see what it sounds like. After the first song we did, we got a clear indication that everything was going to be alright. We were like, we really didn’t miss a step, it was just as like it always was back in the day when we wrote songs together. It’s just that type of language between me and Steve. It’s when I play a guitar riff, he knows exactly how to approach it from a percussive standpoint. It’s a very special process. I mean if you listen to me writing with Josh Greenbaum on “Elements,” you’ll know it’s an entirely different record. There is a chemistry between me and Flynn that’s clearly Atheist. The other two guys were able to embellish and write some great things that fell in line with our philosophy and music. It worked out great.
You dropped playing guitar live, but I assume you still write music regularly on guitar.
Absolutely. I wrote quite a lot of stuff on the album. I mean I play guitar every day. People got this idea that I don’t play guitar anymore, but it’s only that I don’t play it on stage. I want be free to be able to stand with the microphone, plus the carpal tunnel problem I have does not allow me to stand, sing, and play guitar at the same time without my hand falling asleep. I’m very much involved with all the guitar stuff. I play guitar every day just sitting down. I didn’t want to go on stage and sit on the stool, and play that kind of music. It just wouldn’t look normal, and it’s not an ego thing. I don’t need to be out there with a guitar, I know I play the guitar, and I know what I wrote. It’s really all about what’s best for the band, so I allowed my parts to be played by somebody else, and it allows me to be up front more.
Had you had a chance to play any of this material live prior to the recording sessions?
Not even close. “Fictitious Lies,” the second song on the album was written maybe 10/12 days before we recorded it. That’s what was kind of different about this whole process. I would fly to Atlanta, and work on stuff, and we would put an arrangement, I would fly back, and these guys would rehearse, and work on it for the rest of the week. I would fly back, finish the song, and we would move on the next track. We were really writing the whole time, and rehearsing whatever we’ve had already written. We came right up to the studio date with arrangements and everything. It was really fresh. All the stuff was written in the last eight months prior to the recording. There were no old riffs or anything like that. It’s all brand new stuff.
Now when you listen to the album recorded, do you see how it will play live?
Now, when I listen to the new album, I see how it’s gonna work really well live in comparison to our older material. I feel like it’s a lot more explosive. Those performances on the album are basically live drum tracks, and then everything else. It’s not exactly how we play it when we get together in the room. We tracked everything in six days, which is a lot. The drums were done like a day ahead, then we did the guitars and vocals. I mean we tracked “Unquestionable Presence” in eight days, so this one was done two days quicker. Some of the lyrics were written the night before we recorded, so what you are hearing on the album is literally 18 hours old. The development times was the purest spontaneous combustion. We did what we knew musically, and I love that. I like that kind of vibe when you don’t have time to think about it much. It’s a natural thing.
The music on the album goes in so many directions, “Jupiter” is a very challenging album to concentrate on, but rewarding when you finally do.
That’s not unusual for Atheist. You’re definitely not gonna get everything after a first listen, but as long as you are intrigued by it. It’s like when you meet a person, you met that person’s sort of representative, and then as you get to know them you start realizing all the different personality traits they have. And some you like and some you don’t. And then the time comes you get to love the person the more you know them. We’re that kind of band that the more you listen to the music the more you can appreciate it. You appreciate it for how weird it is. For as complicated as it is, it’s the most catchiest record we’ve ever done. There is no chance of getting bored there for any lengths of time. Every 15 second we switch to another gear. Many people who listen to this kind of music all the time are used to getting it a lot quicker, or faster this time around then when we did “Unquestionable Presence.” People were so confused, and there was no precedent. People expected this a little bit, but this is what they got. At the same time, I don’t know what’s it like to listen to our music. I’m so close to it. So, it’s always interesting to hear the reactions.

Weren't you worried about the vocals being created right before the recording took place?
That was the thing for us that made it really fresh. We were listening to the music for a while, when we were playing it. But me not being there for all the music rehearsals. I was basically writing, and then were arranging, and eventually recording. I would leave the band, but they would continue to work, so when I came back, everything was even more developed, and smoother. All the transitions were smoother because there is ton of different shifts. I didn’t need to be there for all that. All of those guys needed to work that out on their own. They would send me recordings, and I would still make changes. None of the vocals were even thought about until it was ten days before the recording. I had maybe one song title, but everything else was just very spontaneous. Upon doing the vocals the first day, we were riding back from the studio, and it was a 45 minute ride. We were listening to what we recorded, and we thought it was crazy. I mean when I added the vocals those recordings became songs. It was like they had eyes and a nose, but the vocals completed the process. And all of a sudden we were looking at some weird looking people. These songs are strange, and all the chaos going on underneath them. So, the vocals ended up being the catchiest parts of the whole thing. These choruses came out of nowhere. I would track a song in an hour and a half, reading it off the paper that I wrote the night before. There was no time to do anything, and in retrospect when I listen to it back, I love every single stitch of it. There is no part that I would change. I really love the way it came out. I only got what I got at 42 years old voice-wise for screaming. I’m sure there a lot of kids who scream a lot better than me, but I think I found a new way to represent my vocals. Inadvertently, I didn’t mean to do that, but I found it. It just the way it came out of me, naturally, so there is a lot more passion in it, which is a weird word to hear in that kind of music. I was very angry, and I went through a lot in the last year and a half. It was really an honest complete organic relief vocally for me. We had no idea what it would sound like, but we were taken as a band by the way it came out.
What elements do the new players bring into Atheist?
Jonathan is a lot like Roger was. He writes really complex thinking patterns. It is very similiar to what Roger would do. What I mean by that is Roger would write things that were very difficult for me to play. I would be struggling to play it, and just get frustrated with it, and write something around it. For instance, the opening riff to “I Deny”(hums the riff.) It was very hard to do that with a pick, and make it sound cool. What he would do with his fingers. So, I was just like (hums the guitar riff,) I wrote that. That became our template, so I was doing things like that. So, Jonathan presents these riffs much like Roger did that are just not my style, I can’t play like him. He is a bass player as well, so he just writes things very strangely. It allows me to orchestrate around him much like I did with Roger. Chris Baker is a lot like Rand (Burkey) in a sense that he doesn’t come with a whole song ever, but he has like pieces. Little pieces that are perfect, like an intro to "When The Beast" is his riff, so I wrote a riff that goes with it. It’s like I got the thinking pattern that went with that riff, and continued it. Jonathan has a lot of phrasing. Probably the stuff that sounds more like “Elements” came from Jonathan than myself because he was a big fan of that record. He's a 25 years old kid who grew up on our music. We refer to his authenticity at times, whereas I look over and say "is that badass enough milk and cookies?" And he would give the thumbs up, and we would go to the next song. It was kind of fun, we had a great time together writing the music. Those guys were great, and we couldn't have done it without them. Jonathan was very instrumental, and he wrote a lot of really great stuff. He definitely played a huge role in three of the songs, where he wrote a wealth of the riffs, and I wrote stuff around it. Steve wrote a couple of guitar riffs, one of "Fictitious Glide," and that was the last song we wrote for the album. Literally, we sat one day with some really good pot, and it was the last day that I was in town, and put that song together, and it's one of my favorite songs. It's the most spontaneous song, and again, rolling with that theme we're trying capture the moment of explosiveness, and this whole album is really about that. These moments that were captured are almost like snapshots. Pictures, and that's hard for a lot of people to understand, but this is the type of music that flows out of our heads on any given day. When you listen to "Jupiter," it really is just this natural weirdness.

There is a well publicized event that took place prior to the recording, and it deals with bass player, Tony Choy, withdrawing from the project in the last minute. Would you care to shed some light on to what really happened?
We're still friends with Tony. He knows how we really feel about the way things were handled, and I know how he feels about it. He got caught up in a time where he was just so busy doing other things. Initially my whole problem with this, and Tony know this was that at one point he looked me in the eye and said that he wanted to write a record. And then he was never available to come to Atlanta when we needed him, and we were slowly running out of time. All of sudden the year had passed, and our label wanted a record. They didn't hear a stitch of music until they heard the completed album. Can you imagine how scared they were? Here is a band that's been gone for twenty years, we just gave them an advance to write an album, and we haven't heard a stitch of music after a year and a half. So we get to the point where we have three weeks before the studio, and Tony came up and played some things that we had written. He would play along, and we worked on a couple of things. So, there weeks before the recording, he says " you're just gonna have send me the music you have, and I'm gonna do my tracks in Miami, and you have to pay my engineer. " He was being like a rock star, and I was like "dude, we didn't sign up for that." You need to be there, you need to work with Steve on the bass and drum patterns. That's the way we've always done things. He wasn't available to do that. We came to the point where we had to say I guess you're not on the album. His head was in Latin pop. He was out with the Area 305, and they were touring. He put out a record with those guys in 2009, and then he was touring with them, and was not available to write, and that was not fair to us. People need to understand that it happened to us back in the day. He was available to write, and we made "Unquestionable Presence," and then he bailed out with Pestilence. That's not cool. I love Tony, he's like a brother, but I don't think he handled that correctly. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but these things happen when you're family. Long time ago, it was very difficult to find somebody who would play bass like that. That's why it was a problem then. This time, we had three weeks, and bass lines, so you really have to take your hat off to Jonathan Thompson for the job he did. He had 21 days to write bass line and record them for a very complex album. At 25 years old, after writing guitar parts, and having to do guitar solos, he is owed a great deal of respect. I don't want the people to think that we chump changed the bass line because there is a lot of great bass lines, and he did a phenomenal job, he really did. The mix on the album is obviously different than any other album that we've done. We weren't there for the mix, but we let Jason do his thing because he is a very unique character himself. Jason Suecof was the mixing engineer and is the most neat guy I've ever met in my life, and I trusted him, and he was a fan of our music since he was 12 years. We hung out with him for four days, and we've listened to all the songs, and we've talked about it. Until he finally kicked us out, and mixed the record. We felt comfortable with that, and that's the first time we've ever did that. The intent to this record was to be an album full of songs, as opposed to any showcasing of anyone's instrument. So, even if Tony played on this record, we would've fought and battled about the volume of bass on this record because while I love bass I love guitars too, and that was something that was always missing from the Atheist record in my opinion. That strong guitar sound, and I knew that Jason Secof was gonna give me that strong guitar sound. I wanted it to be all about the songs, and I wanted to be able to hear all of the instruments, and vocals pushing at the same volume. So, it's a really hot mix, and some people already have ruffled their feathers about it for being too loud, and not dynamic enough. And I agree, it's not a dynamic record, we pretty much put our foot on everyone's throat, and didn't take it off until the last song was over. There no moments like on "Elements" when everything got real quiet. After twenty years I just wanted to come out with an album that would punch somebody square in the nose.
It doesn't seem like you regret letting go some of the dynamics in favor of strong to the point song structures.
This really needed to be a definitive punch in the face, and it is. So, for the people who were expecting something else, obviously they gonna have a problem with this being at 11 all the time. This album is only 34 minutes long, but there is no bullshitting around. There is no moment of extra soloing, and stretching the song out when you don't need to. I don't mind the fact it's that long, "Reign In Blood" was 28 minutes long. If you wanna have a 45 minute record with six-minute songs, I've never been about that. Give me four songs on one side of the vinyl, and four song on the other, however long they end up being that's fine. We didn't sit around and time ourselves. We wanted to be about songs this time. Technical metal has gone in a direction that's gotten away from itself. It's technical for the technical sake. And that's not cool, that's not gonna allow this music to evolve more and grow. Not that we're coming around to save the day, but we are offering the different slice of pie, and we are allowed to do that because we played a role in creating this music. We wanted to take it to the next level. And in our opinion it was good songs, and having vocals that you can actually remember and understand. It's really important to listen to it from top to bottom. I think the album has the best sequence we've ever had. Some writers wrote things about this album that we cut and pasted things, and that is not true. I wish you could see the songwriting session when I'm sitting down, smoking weed, blowing out a hit of weed, blasting out riffs, and Steve just drops in. It's almost as if the song is already written, and we just have to find the way to catch it out of the air. That's how we do it. I told a couple of people this, it's the first 30 minutes after I smoke a bowl of good weed is the best riffing that comes off my fingers. These guys know that about me, so they help me catch them. They basically stand there with nets, musical nets and catch my riffs. This time around I was able to do this on the computer. I recorded two solid hours of riffs on the computer, and I've never done that before. I was able to take that CD with me to Atlanta, and review it with the guys. Some people will love this record, and some will hate it. I expected the split to be more like 50/50, but it's more like 80/20, so more people seem to like it.
Getting back to the bass department, you did announce a new addition to the band, who is he and how did you meet him?
His name is Travis Morgan, and we met him in Maryland, at the Maryland Death Fest. He was just a fan, and we met him through a friend who worked at a radio station in Maryland. That's how we initially met him. We knew he was a bass player, but we didn't really think much about it. He was 18 at the time when we met him. He was just really persistent. When he found out we were gonna be looking for a bass player, he sent video tapes of himself playing the songs. He did a really good job. The main thing was, he learned the songs from "Unquestionable Presence." He learned them the Roger Patterson way, and those tracks were on the demo, which he did in the video, and we thought that was kind of interesting. He sort of went after the harder versions of the songs, as opposed to what was on the album. Travis is just a monster bass player who is really studious. We didn't really have an audition, he just kind of won the job over by being persistent. He took it upon himself to make the videos, we've never asked him for that. He did it, and sent them over. We talked to him on the phone, he is in college right now. He is gonna take a year off school, come out, and do all this. I think he will be a major asset to the band. He is flying and rehearsing with the guys, but the first time I play with him will be on stage. The particular date of the show also happens to be 20th anniversary of Roger's death. It's interesting that Travis is 20, and it's the 20th anniversary of Roger's death, and that's the day I meet our new bass player. There are a lot of parallels that are really cool. Travis has a lot of respect for where we've been, and where we are going. So, it seems like a perfect fit.



The name "Jupiter" really fits the album perfectly, but where did the name come from?
I think it's in line with all the things that go on in my head. I guess I'm responsible for all the little themes. I really wanted to call the album "Jesus F*****g Christ," I just wanted that title to be bold and proud, and standing on top of the mountain. But I realized it wasn't gonna come out the way I meant it in my head. I had an intellectual thought about it, but I could see where it would go wrong. And thankfully, Steve Flynn, being as smart as he is, and some of the guys at the label talked me out of it. But I was really adamant about it. I really wanted to make a statement. I really didn't want to beat around the bush. The same musically, I didn't want to beat around the bush. I wanted it to be like "I dare you to ask me why?" That it's called that. So, I relinquished, and just wrote a song "Faux King Christ." Then "Jupiter" came out in my head, and I thought Jupiter is a lot like my personal beliefs, or their lack of. My belief in the sun, in respect that Jupiter is second in size to the sun. We really, in my head, have to answer only to the sun and the moon. That's the way I believe, and that's the way I lived my life. I believe in the Earth, and I've always been that kind of guy. "Elements" is all about that, obviously. So, in that respect Jupiter is also paralleled with the band. I mean, we have this band that you really can't put your finger on as to what kind of band we are. And then you look at the Jupiter, and it looks like it has a surface, but it doesn't. And it's a scary collection of molecules and atoms, and gasses that create what happens to be the second largest thing in the solar system, other than the sun. So, I kind of liked the parallels between that and the band. And Jupiter is a word that evolved into a particular imagery that is large and vast, and mysterious, and that definitely falls in line with Atheist. Where we're kind of the biggest band that nobody knows. You know, I get mail from the most popular people who know who we are, yet we've never sold 100,000 records. Once I told the guys the title, everyone agreed it was a good choice. When we solicited the idea for the album covers to the artists, I didn't say anything to anybody. I sent them all lyrics to "Second To Sun," and to "Faux King Christ." I wanted to see how many pictures of the Jupiter I was gonna get back from the artists. So the first four people that I asked, three out of the four were literary pictures of the Jupiter. I was like c'mon, if you know anything about this band, or at least took five minutes to read about us, and find out more. And that's the obvious thing, of course we don't want to put a picture of the Jupiter on the cover. So, Eliran Kantor came up with his concept, and it was truly unbelievable. I mean, those two lions represent like the embryo of the sun, and the way he wrote the explanation for it was just so brilliant. And those two lions represent the thousand years of Christianity. The youth of all belief, and all religion really comes from the folklore of the sun. On the lion's arm is the astrological sign for the Jupiter. He just nailed it, not only did he pay attention to what I wrote, but he dug even deeper. He made an incredible album cover, and a lot of people won't understand it unless they ask me, but there is so many little hidden messages, and hidden things on it. If somebody get the chance to get the vinyl, it's gonna come as a gatefold, and there's gonna be tons of extra art that's just unbelievable. It's definitely the best album cover we've ever had. I can't say enough about the job he did because he really took my lyrical description and created imagery that's literally perfect for what I had in mind. But he took it even further than what I anticipated. He's a really smart guy on top of being a great artist. I'm grateful to him for really coming up with artistic version of what I was thinking.

Links:
http://www.atheistmusic.com
Click here to read the Atheist interview with Steve Flynn done by 69 Faces of Rock back in 2009.