- Tiana Speter
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE ARTIST: Crejuvent (UK)
Elegant anger, existential chagrin and a fervour for heavy music: welcome to the enticingly macabre world of UK-based artist Crejuvent (aka Federico 'Freddy' Spera). After spending years studying music at university and dabbling in other projects, Freddy soon turned to his own devices to avidly pursue his passion for blistering metal with his Crejuvent solo project - and the rest has been extreme riff history.
With plans for new music later this year to follow up his debut 'Time' EP last year, there's no doubt a whole lot more noise in store from this explosive artist. But before the next Crejuvent chapter unfolds, Freddy took some time out to chat musical paranoia, the cruel indifference of cats and the majesty of Phil Collins. Interview below.
BAND NAME: Crejuvent
BAND MEMBERS: It’s a solo project, so it’s just good ol’ me: My name is Freddy, I normally play bass and do other stuff for a bunch of other bands, but for this project I do everything on my own. Live, I play bass and sing to backing tracks because I don’t want to be held back by other so called “musicians”…
HOW DID CREJUVENT GET STARTED? I just had all these songs lying around and thought I really needed a platform to let my ego inflate and roam free, hence Crejuvent.
HOW LONG HAS CREJUVENT BEEN GOING FOR? Crejuvent’s first release was in 2015 with the release of “Pretty Demos”, and I’ve been doing the odd gig here and there since then. Some of the songs were written as early as 2012 however.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES? Whoever I’m listening to at the time. Currently, I’m listening to a lot of The Faceless, Cab Calloway, and the Tarzan soundtrack. Fucking Phil Collins man…
DESCRIBE CREJUVENT IN THREE WORDS: Loud. Red. Orgasmic.
'TIME' (LYRIC VIDEO - CREJUVENT)
WHAT'S THE MOST MEMORABLE GIG YOU'VE PLAYED SO FAR AND WHY? I got to play Metal Days last year with my other band and that was pretty great! We had two 6 foot tall inflatable T-Rex on stage and I had Velcro pants that I tore open during the last song to reveal my awesome swimming shorts.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE CREJUVENT SONG AND WHY? Hmm, I’d probably say Dualism from the Pretty Demos release. It’s just such a satisfying song and it really encapsulated the feeling of grandiose. It’s really heavy at times and it’s a very cohesive song as a whole.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON RIGHT NOW? ANY NEW THINGS ON THE HORIZON? Yes, I’m currently working on a single and a B-side. The single will be a metal cover off an opera piece, and it’s turning out REALLY cool! I got to play around with really weird and unconventional chord voicings and it’s resulting in something I find quite unique and interesting. I don’t know when it will be released, but hopefully I’ll have something out by the end of the year.
IF YOU WEREN'T PLAYING MUSIC, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU BE DOING? Recording music. Smart ass answer aside, I’d probably be either some sort of engineer or a chef. Or I’d implode from lack of purpose.
IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONE OTHER BAND, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY? Can I pick Green Jelly and include every single person who’s ever been a member of it? If we’re stranded on an Island we might as well make a party out of it!
PINEAPPLE ON A PIZZA, YES OR NO? I KNEW this question was going to come up at some point. I’ve had pineapple on pizza plenty of times, it’s fine, it’s just not something I’d actively choose. But at the end of the day I really don’t give a shit what other people put on their pizza. You can put toenail clippings on it for all I care, just so long as I don’t have to eat it.
CATS OR DOGS? Depends what you’re looking for in a pet. Dogs seem like they would make for a better companion, like having a little buddy. But cats just do their own thing, there’s something about that indifference that makes them so appealing. Metaphorically, cats could represent nihilism in its purest form: they’re cruelly indifferent to your own problems and existence.
WOULD CREJUVENT SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE? Absolutely. I’d be on my own so already my chances of getting infected drop significantly. Plus, I seem to be an expert at repelling people in my day to day life, I can’t imagine repelling zombies must be much different.
AND FINALLY, WHAT'S THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME AND WHY? Uuuhhh, so many songs come to mind. For my own personal taste, it would have to be Skeksis by Strapping Young Lad. It’s such a dense song that’s so full of harmony and counterpoint and groove, and it all flows so beautifully. It sounds like the musical version of paranoia, and the fact that it represents something as well as it does makes it my absolute favourite thing to listen to. But from a more objective point of view, the greatest song would surely, BY DEFINITION, be the one that appeals to the most people. So the highest selling song ever would be the one I suppose, I don’t know.
FOR MORE CREJUVENT INFO, HEAD TO:
BY TIANA SPETER
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