Ill Traits: Metal is a musician’s music

Echo (KEPW, Underground Echo): I’m your host Echo and today we’re diving into a sonic abyss with Frank from Ill Traits, the metal marauder from Grants Pass. So you’re going to be playing at the Apocalypse benefit concert on April 12 at Sacred Connections Church in Eugene, 810 W. 3rd Ave., for those planning their sonic pilgrimage. For our listeners who haven’t had their eardrums shredded by Ill Traits yet, how would you describe your sound?

Frank (Ill Traits): Well, it’s metal, but deathcore, you know, grungy voice, pretty clean on the leads and stuff. I’d say somewhere around like speed metal.

You know, anytime you hear music, you’re like, “Oh, it sounds like this, sounds like that.” So we got all of that within the music. You’re anywhere from Pantera, some Suicidal Tendencies, you know, some Megadeth, a bit of Metallica, it’s all in there.

[00:00:51] It goes from fast to slow and everything in between. A lot of stops, I like, you know, like Ministry and, you know, even the dubstep-type stuff to get as much of that energy into it as I can. I really like some of those sounds too.

[00:01:08] One of my favorites was Exodus, you know, for years. So the vocals kind of emulate old school Exodus. Bonded by Blood album was one of my favorite albums ever in existence.

[00:01:20] Echo: I hear you’ve got some new tracks you’re working on.

[00:01:23] Frank (Ill Traits): Oh yeah. Yeah, I’ve got so many songs. It’s all about just working with the group and seeing what ones they like, stuff that I’ve had very good responses with from people, you know, over the years. You know what I mean? Because like yeah, if you have a song where nobody’s feeling it or whatever, you know, and you can tell, you know.

[00:01:41] But, like, everybody has a different preference, as well. There’ll be like one guy that really likes this song, somebody else really likes that song, and a lot of the music is for other musicians.

[00:01:53] When you play metal, you’re kind of like the type of musician where you’re really, you know, diving into it and getting skills and trying to practice as much as you can. A lot of people that don’t play music do like metal and everything, but when you’re playing metal, it’s kind of like a musician’s music, you know?

[00:02:12] I’ve seen this for years. I’ve played music with hundreds of people. The most important thing, from one of my favorite guitarists, Randy Rhoads, he said: ‘You’ve got to have your own sound,’ you know. And that’s what I have, is my own sound. I’ve been working on it for years just to stand out, to sound different.

[00:02:30] If you hear Angus Young play his first note, you know it’s AC/DC. There’s a frequency these guys get into in each band. You can tell Led Zeppelin, you know, one note in as well, just all of them. So, yeah, so I’ve definitely got like my own sound, you know, I’ve been working on for a long time to get it just, just right, right where I like it.

[00:02:51] Echo: It sounds like your sound is going to melt more faces than a microwave mishap at a wax museum.

[00:02:58] Frank (Ill Traits): Yeah, if the music doesn’t, the lyrics will, because I got some really good lyrics for people to think about, for sure. It. dives deep into all all this stuff we’re presented with nowadays, you know, from quantum physics to social psyops, you know, the language we speak, the control they have over all of us, you know, it’s all in this music.

It’s basically almost, like, conspiracy metal. Heck, even the Mandela Effect is in it. Pretty much anything you’ve ever heard a conspiracy on, Anunnakians, I’ve studied and been to the bottom of the rabbit hole, and if it intrigued me enough, I’ll make a song about it.

[00:03:39] Echo: That’s an amazing way to write. I think that it adds a special flavor to your music. What can fans expect from your live performance?

[00:03:49] Frank (Ill Traits): Some good sounding metal, that’s for sure. We should be putting on a pretty good show. There is total of five bands we’re with, right? Well, I think we’re fourth in the lineup and it should be a lot like underground, you know, metal, like, this isn’t mainstream anything. And I’ve made sure that none of my stuff has ever got out in the world in any way, so it’ll all be new for them. It’ll definitely be new.

[00:04:14] Echo: That’s intense. How do you guys prepare for such a high energy show, debuting stuff like that?

[00:04:21] Frank (Ill Traits): It’s all well-scripted. We just practice it out and go over everything, if we want to add a little bit of flavor in a spot and, you know, a drum breakdown or something, one of us, a lick that we’ve been practicing on, we always have room to add it in the bridges and do some changes, you know.

[00:04:40] And that’s why it’s nice at this point to keep it the way it’s been. It makes it more elaborate instead of just, you know, the three different riffs or something, you know, regular turnarounds. You get some nice intros and extros that way.

[00:04:54] And practicing the leads has always been important to me. Like when you hear, you know, the monsters of rock, like, the old school, those guys weren’t pretty, you know. They didn’t have to be all this glamour thing or good-looking and they just rocked, you know? (Yeah) And the music said it for itself. You hear them in concert and they’re pulling off, you know, just elaborate, you know, these shred metal leads that are just, like, all over it. And they do the same lead again, you know? And a lot of times, even sometimes, it might even have a little bit more on it.

[00:05:28] Echo: Now this show isn’t just about unleashing hell on earth. You’re also supporting KEPW 97.3 FM. So what made you want to be a part of this charitable chaos?

[00:05:38] Frank (Ill Traits): Music is almost charity as it is anyhow, so it’s not a problem to just show up and play music someplace and help other people out. That’s a good way to go about it. You know, a lot of places, I mean, you have to pay to play in a lot of this world. I’ve been in plenty of bands and yeah, you pay to play, you know, it’d be nice to get it out there for all of us to get some recognition and open up a whole another, you know, thing for people to do, get involved, you know, the more bands the merrier, I mean, if you had a whole day of music festival, those are always fun. (Yeah!)

[00:06:19] And I’ve been to plenty of blues festivals and stuff. I’ve never been to a full-on like a metalfest like that, where they have the three different stages and you go over and there’s some guy over here, he’s kind of like, doing his own little thing and showing everybody his little licks. You know, how like the blues festivals, there’s these little guys off to the side and stuff that are, you know, these little master guitarists and stuff, always interesting. I’ve never really seen that in the metal world.

[00:06:46] For practicing and stuff, I actually sing and play country music to classic rock and all everything in between. If it’s good music, I’ll—I’ve got thousands of songs now. I’ve forgotten more songs than I could play you in one day. You know, I usually learn about three songs a week and that way you grow, you know. People put notes together in different ways. You know, it doesn’t matter, the Eurythmics, I could just do music from them. Tons of Bruce Springsteen. Just anything.

[00:07:16] Echo: That’s an interesting mix. So how do you incorporate all those influences while still maintaining your unique sound? That sounds like a juggling act.

[00:07:24] Frank (Ill Traits): You know, we all have our own energy. In a cover band, if you don’t know who it is in the actual song, you might not even know it’s a cover. I kind of turn the stuff into my own energy, you know what I mean? (Yeah.) And that’s how I keep my own sound is, I pull it more over into me and how I sound and the way I play.

[00:07:44] Like the old school stuff, like if I was to do like the White Rabbit or something like this, you’d know it was me right out of the gate because I’d have some more hardcore distortion on it to begin with. But then the leads, you know, like classic rock leads were like the most boring stuff in the world to me.

[00:08:02] So I’m doing things like hit—bending octaves and crazy hammer-ons and frills, you know, licks through the whole thing and you can tell it to be the White Rabbit, but you’d be like, ‘Man, the lead’s way better.’

[00:08:17] Echo: Following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole, huh?

[00:08:21] Frank (Ill Traits): Yeah, really, you can always go ask Alice.

[00:08:25] Echo: So for the gear heads out there, can you tell us about your current setup? Any favorite instruments or pieces of equipment that are crucial to your sound?

[00:08:47] Frank (Ill Traits): Man, I like my old school Kramer guitars. I play out of like ’80s Kramers, you know, I do the Floyd Rose. Lots of guys don’t like the Floyd Rose but what I’ve started to play more because I don’t know you always have the band members and doing stuff.

[00:08:54] Right now, like I’ve just been doing a couple Ibanez guitars that have a really good sound to them and they’re really good on the metal, you know.

[00:09:00] But I got a Dean that I play out of and a couple of different Ibanezes. And the Ibanez has like the EMGs and stuff so it does sound really, really good. And my buddy, we have, you know, a Gibson that we play now and then as well.

[00:09:17] But I find myself on that old Ibanez. I’ve been, for many, many years. There’s something about it that just, you know, I’ve always played it. So it has the Floyd Rose tremolo and so you, you know, can do all that stuff with the whammy bar.

[00:09:34] Echo: All right, metal maniacs, you heard it here first. Don’t miss Ill Traits and the four other bands at the Apocalypse Benefit Concert on April 12 at Sacred Connections Church in Eugene, 810 W. 3rd Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. A portion of the proceeds will support KEPW 97.3 FM, your local radio station and platform for the artist. Thank you for joining us in the madness, Frank.

[00:10:02] Frank (Ill Traits): I hope to see you there, it’ll be a good night. We’ll come back and play for you whenever you want, be glad to come and play some shows for other people and network this and get it going.

[00:10:13] Echo: This is Echo, your guide to the metal mayhem on KEPW 97.3 FM. Remember, if it’s too loud, you’re too sane. Keep it brutal, keep it loud, and we’ll see you at the Apocalypse.