Anesthesia have been a staple in Albuquerque, NM's local metal scene for over 20 years.
I have interviewed Jake (guitar/vocals) a couple times in the past, but the last time was about twelve years ago. A lot has happened with Anesthesia since then, so I caught up with Jake to discuss what is going on with the band as well is talking about the history of the band.
Let's get medieval.....
Hey, Jake! Let's start with the early days of Anesthesia. What made you want to start a band, and at what age did you start playing guitar?
Both my parents have always been into music of all sorts. My brother and I sat in front of the MTV all the time and it just grabbed me, man. I loved every aspect of it. At a very young age I loved Zeppelin, Sabbath, Queen, Skynyrd, Rush, shit like that thanks to my parents. With the help of my bro, Metallica was introduced and I was hooked. The SAD BUT TRUE video, man... all the headbanging and just how they all looked hahaha! In the mid 90s we moved back to NM from Ohio and my mom linked up with some old friends that were in a country band called 3 Legged Willy. She took me to see them play at a Holiday Inn Bar on like a Tuesday night, and seeing those dude play music together live blew my mind. You could say that was pretty much my first concert at age...11 or 12 maybe. I thought my hobby was guns but I quickly sold my guns and with the money got my first LEFT HANDED BENTLY guitar. I think I was 11 or 12.
Anyone who has been a fan of Anesthesia for a long time knows that you are a huge Metallica fan. That is definitely noticeable on your old demos and on the debut album from 2006, Unfuckwithable. How would you describe the influence Metallica has had on you personally? What other bands did you get into when you were younger?
Metallica always stood on another hill by themselves regardless of what music trend was happening. They always do whatever they want whether their fans approve or not. On a personal side, I'm not gonna pretend that I was an outcast growing up or anything, but when you are 12 years old you do tend to struggle a little bit with other kids and "what is cool" and all that. Seriously, with Metallica I didn't give a fuck about any of that. All I knew is I loved heavy music, football, and riding my bike. Dude, I wore snow boots for a whole year in 7th grade and could care less what people thought. I didn't wear them to be different, my regular shoes got fucked so I wore what I had and didn't give a shit. I know that's off the rails a little, but Metallica seriously got me in that mindset of "as long as you ain't hurting anything or anyone on purpose, do YOUR thing and don't give a FUCK what others think of you."
Pantera came along right before I moved to NM from Ohio and they were a whole other level of FUCK IT ALL hahaha. And I have to say the other band would have been WHITE ZOMBIE that really got me going. HEAVY, LOUD, dressed however the fuck and just went for it. I'll say this too, there weren't many kids my age into this shit either, it was great. They were more into Bush, Korn...more emotional "metal".
By the time Unfuckwithable was released in 2006, you guys had been around for nearly a decade and had a huge following in the local scene. What was that experience like to record in a studio for the first time? How do you feel the album was received by your fans?
Prior to recording in a studio we did a few demos on our own..as fun as that was.. it was nice to have a guy (Jon Wall) who knows what the fuck he is doing, mic everything up and push all the buttons so we could just rock. That session was very, very raw and that's what we wanted. I think Steve did drums maybe in 2 nights. I did all my Guitars in 1 night and so did Nate. Aaron knocked out I think all his bass in a session or 2 as well. Longest part was Vocals which took a few days but it was pretty quick. I think our fans loved it because we had been taking so fucking long to release something that WASNT RECORDED IN MY LIVINGROOM.
The CD release show for Unfuckwithable got pretty rowdy. I don't think I have seen another local show that even comes close to matching the energy from that night. The Albuquerque scene is a lot different now than it was then. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, that show was fuckin' insane. It IS a lot different now. For us mainly because our fans all grew up and either moved away, stopped listening to metal, or just matured passed us hahahaha. We still have a great following now, don't get me wrong, but back then when everyone was so young and hungry and just ready to get rowdy. Everyone is a little older now, so standing with a beer in hand in front of the stage is a more of what they want than a mosh pit hahaha. Back then we were younger and closer to that younger crowd so we could pull all age shows. Now heavy music is a lot different and kids now days are listening to that more technical stuff, something we are far from. We get some youngsters here and there though when we get to open for a national. ROCK AIN'T DEAD!!!
That brings me to my next question... A lot of the early Anesthesia fans now have kids that are fans and come out to the shows and headbang. Did you ever think Anesthesia would still be going strong all these years later?
In my opinion success IS hanging around for a long time. Well...within reason...if you suck...please stop hahaha. Na but really we still have people that come to shows that are now 30, and seriously their first show was when they were 16 or 17, and it blows my mind. Seeing shirts that we made in 2002 is crazy. And yeah, a lot of y'all have children now and they are fans. That to me has got to be one of the coolest things ever.
What year was it that Anesthesia played Ozzfest and how did that come about?
2006 I believe. We had a guy kinda of managing us around that time and he was a radio guy that could pull a lot of strings. I'm telling you now...it is ALL ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW, KIDS!!!!! Networking and getting to know people is the best thing you can do for you band. I don't give a shit how amazing you are as a songwriter or musician or whatever... get to know people and don't be a shit head.
In 2010 you released the self-titled album, which was also your first release by a record label. I always thought that Suburban Noize was an odd label for Anesthesia because their roster is primarily made up of rap-metal type of bands, and Anesthesia is obviously a much heavier band. What was that like, being signed for the first time and having a label backing you?
Well it wasn't much of anything really. Same guy that managed us was sending them rough mixes and they thought it would be cool to get a heavy band on their roster and see how that directions went. We literally signed some papers, they sent us discs and told us to go tour. We did what we could as far as touring, it's not easy, man. Money runs out QUICK, gas is expensive. The label never really promoted us at all. And to my surprise had no interest in helping us book gigs and/or getting on some kind of tour with anyone. It was really strange. Short lived.
A lot of fans were probably surprised at least a little bit when they heard the self-titled album for the first time. It's still heavy and has the same Anesthesia attitude, but the sound is kind of different than what people were used to. I have always said that this album really gives the fans a closer look at what your influences are other than Metallica. You hear a lot of different types of music blending together. Would you say that this is accurate, and if so, what are the influences we are hearing on that album?
You are absolutely right. There were a ton of different influences, not just from music but from each other. I could roll in with a riff that was inspired by Static X but at that time Steve was super in to Van Halen, so mix those two and you get Van X hahaha. But seriously, it's always cool to not say "I wanna write THIS kind of song..." rather everyone comes in with the music they have been jamming in their own car and it flips everything. It's cool 'cause Steve and I would be working on something....then Aaron who has been getting high listening to all that weird trip hop shit he likes, rolls in and starts playing bass lines from fuckin' outer space, and its like "what the fuck?...….FUCK YES...DO THAT!!!!"...then we get a feel for how that's going...then Nate rolls over and has been doing guitar tracks all day with some hip hop friends of ours, he starts adding his guitar flavor...again.."what the fuck!?!?!?….FUCK YES, NATE!! THAT!!!"...then eventually sounds and words come out of my face and here is a song called SEE YOU IN HELL.
I believe it was 2011 when Anesthesia went on hiatus for a while and later reemerged with a new lineup consisting of yourself, long time bassist Aaron Bustamante, and newcomers Jon Singleton (Last House on the Left) on guitar and Dax Lujan (Requiem Mass) on drums. How did you go about selecting Nate and Steve's replacements and what do those two bring to the table?
Super long story. Yeah, we hadn't done anything.... pretty much had broken up. Dax's band Requiem Mass had a show coming up and their guitar player was gonna be outta town, so they asked me to fill in on guitar for a few songs and just have fun with it. One night after practice Dax asked me what was up with Anesthesia. Conversation ended with Dax letting me know that if I ever wanted to jam, he was down. We got together several times jamming Anesthesia songs before inviting Aaron over...and it was like..."shit.... this is like a band" I'll give Dax all the credit for calling it, man... he said... "This has to be Anesthesia, is 'Sthesia songs..is your voice, guitar and Aaron's bass." So the 3 of us tracked a song we had been working on. We all knew we needed a 4th though, this is a 2 guitar band. I think Jon had been sleeping in Aaron's front yard or something and he is a hell of a guitar player (also one of those kids that was at our shows when he was like 15). Jon and I have very similar influences and style..and LEFT HANDED...and it worked, man.
Dax is very machine..very Metal. Even though he is a technical drummer, he likes things simple if that makes any sense. Jon is just fucking good and writes 12 songs a week. Now whether or not they fit what we do together is another story, but the guy never stops playing and is just GOOD. Songs we have written together are far more mature and just to the point more so now than in the past.
You have been fortunate enough to open for some very popular bands over the years such as Damageplan, Static-X, Korn, Soulfly and a bunch of others. What are a couple of your favorite national touring bands to play with and what are some of your favorite local bands to play with?
My favorites are the ones who they AND THEIR CREW understand what level WE are on and remember that at one time they were a small band opening for a big band. And treat us respect. There has only really been one band we played with where the crew acted like their shit smelled like roses and treated everyone like garbage. Opening for Damageplan of course was amazing for 2 reasons, 1 it was my 22nd birthday, and 2..it was fuckin Damageplan, man! Band and whole crew were all kick ass!!
As far as local bands, man, we enjoy playing with any band really. SuperGiant are some of our closest friends in the scene so we love playing with them. Playing with a new band we have never seen before, whether we like their music or not, if they get after it on stage, it only lights a fire under our ass to get up and GO!!
The Unfuckwithable album features a track titled Getcha Pull, which has a recording of Dimebag Darrell talking about how much he loved watching Anesthesia perform. What was that like, not only to meet and hang out with one of the biggest legends in heavy metal, but then to have him say such kind words about your band?
It was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life that's for sure. Nate just happened to roll around with a lil digital recorder all the time and caught Dime saying all that. He was such a genuine dude, he DID stand on the side of the stage for our last 2 songs, so he actually watched. When I first met him it was like we had been friends for years. We got to hang with them at Sunshine and at EdgeFest. and at Edgefest i was back stage hanging out havin' lunch, beers and my favorite part, Dime was jamming on his rig to see how it sounded and I walked up to watch. He was playing his Dean Rebel Flag guitar, and he also had his Washburn Rebel flag sittin' there. I asked him "which one do you like more, man?" and said "well, the Dean sounds heavier, but the Washburn IS heavier and I like the weight...check it out.." and he handed me both his guitars.."feel the difference?" Dude, I have seen him play these guitars in countless videos and in magazines and shit, and here I am holding them. That may be cheesy to some, but holy fuck it was awesome!!
Deviants of the Wild was released in 2015 and was the first album to feature Jon and Dax. Once again the music changes a little from the previous album, but still maintains that classic Anesthesia sound. How would you compare this album to Unfuckwithable and Anesthesia?
I feel like the songs were a little more simplified as in we didn't try and pack in every riff we came up with into one song. We weren't afraid to trim the fat. There are some Thrashers on there and in my opinion, better thrash riffs than before. Also, Jon writes great fucking riffs and I am all about the catchy riffs and Jon brought a fuck ton of that. Jon also wrote the song SO CALLED FRIEND which is pretty much our first and only "ballad" type song. Super proud of that one. He gave me the demo, the words and melodies came so easily. I was a little nervous to give it back to him because I wasn't sure what he expected, but he loved it, we all loved it and every time we play it at a show, that's when everyone goes to the bar to get a drink hahahahahaha!
The latest album, Humans, released in 2018 has one of the coolest looking album covers I have seen. Who was responsible for that?
So I had an idea for the cover and did my best in creating what I had in my head. It was...decent hahaha. Anyhow, I follow a lot of artist on Instagram and one day I came across this guy name Boris Groh. And his shit was fuckin' creepy and I loved it. One of his pieces looked similar to what I was going for. So I sent him a message, showed him what I was working on, and he made his version of it and it blew my mind! The original art is actually purple, but when our buddy Craig was putting together the art for packaging, the purple was coming out too dark and so he messed with the lighting and gave it that hell fire type of look that is the cover now. Check out Boris, he's fucking awesome. He is somewhere in Russia, sucks cause we cant send him anything because of where he lives, he explained why, pretty fucked up.
In early 2018, Anesthesia did their very first music video, for the song "Walls," which was also the first time fans got to hear anything from the Humans album that was released months later. Never doing a music video before, what was that experience like?
It was super fun, man. I hit up the cats at MotherRoad Mobile Canning. I had worked with them in the past. Anyhow, we wanted to use their warehouse, when the boys saw all the pallets of cans they instantly wanted to start building rooms and shit for us to perform and film in. We took lights and strobes and just anything we thought we could use and kinda freestyled really. We did it ourselves with the help of only 2 people really. Aaron's lil brother and MotherRoad Joe. Pizzas, beers, and about, I don't know, 20 hours of time.
My favorite Anesthesia song has always been The Cage. This is one of your oldest songs, but was never released on a studio album. Is there any chance it will make it on any future albums?
There is actually a damn good chance, man. Jon has always been fired up on that song too. We tracked a demo version (just guitars) a while back. My only issue is that I wrote the lyrics in high school...and you can tell a 17yr old wrote them words hahahaha. I may need to make some changes.
Are you guys currently working on anything new? Any plans for a new album?
Yes, slowly but surely. Real life kicks your ass, man. With jobs and families and the bumps and bruises of getting old it takes us a lil longer hahahaha. But yeah, we actually have a pretty solid amount of material that hopefully gets heard before next spring.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this, Jake. Anything else that you would like to add?
Just thank YOU, man, for always bein' a fan and putting us out there. Holy shit, I can't even count the years it's been. And to anyone who reads this, thank you for taking the time!
Check out Anesthesia at https://www.facebook.com/anesthesia505/