Leeway – Desperate Measures (1991)
I would say the first big record that was a huge influence on the band in the early days was the second Leeway record, Desperate Measures. Born to Expire was really cool, but I thought Desperate Measures just had this really cool songwriting going on – it wasn’t as fast, but it was still very, very metal. It was kind of groovy, and Eddie [Sutton] had this really wild vocal style that I never even tried to capture. When we started the band, it was more like crossover by way of New York hardcore, so obviously we liked Cro-Mags and Nuclear Assault and all that stuff, but Leeway – who are from Queens, New York – and the Icemen got a lot of love. At our first show, we actually covered the intro to the [Leeway] song called Kingpin. We did that a few times; I’ve always loved that riff in that song, so we just played around with that at the first couple shows. I still love that record – to this day, I can still put it on and not get tired of it.
Sacrilege – Behind the Realms of Madness (1985)
When we started writing our first album Manifest Decimation, I remember the rest of the band getting into Sacrilege with me and Chris Ulsh. Behind the Realms of Madness was a huge one. I just thought vocally that Lynda “Tam” Simpson was so cool and sounded cooler than any thrash vocalist I had heard. Everything about that record is awesome to me; it’s got those cool, almost rock’n’roll-style riffs, but it’s very punk – you could mosh your ass off to this one.
Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal (2005)
I always thought Bolt Thrower had the craziest artwork. I noticed the Warhammer comparisons and was always curious about them, until one day I bought Realm of Chaos, and got into Bolt Thrower from there. But I think if I had to pick one record, I would say Those Once Loyal, the last one they did. We’re not heavily influenced by them, mostly because it’s straight-up death metal and we don’t use any double bass in our songs, but the riffs in that are just so catchy. I get The Killchain stuck in my head for days at a time. I’ve always really loved their style, and [when] we played with them once and those guys all came out to the show and said a bunch of really nice things about us afterwards. That was the coolest metal set I’ve seen in my entire life, too, because it was basically just a no-holds-barred hardcore show; there was no barricade, no security, the band wasn’t tripping about kids stage-diving or anything, so everyone was going nuts the whole time.
Anti-Cimex – Scandinavian Jawbreaker (2009)
Another one would definitely be Anti-Cimex’s Scandinavian Jawbreaker, for sure. That was an example of “punk band goes metal” done right. Some of it is kind of cheesy, but it’s still really cool – you can tell that they heard the Cro-Mags and heard some New York hardcore, and started bringing it into their music. I had also heard the earlier stuff, and Chris Ulsh and I were obsessed with trying to get the right d-beats – we have this very distinct drumming style in our band, and we take that straight off of them, for sure. There are so many things that can go wrong when you go from punk to metal too, whether there’s questionable vocals, or the riffs aren’t there, or maybe you have an overzealous drummer and there’s too much going on. I really hate the generic thrash beat, and I don’t think anybody in the band likes it, so that’s what we try to take from bands that actually had a sense of rhythm and rock’n’roll – anybody who actually gave a shit about Motörhead beyond Ace of Spades and that could actually play in the pocket. I think it’s just one of these things where I want to hear a catchy song; I guess I still have a very pop music heart, the stuff I want [to hear] is from bands that aren’t doing anything crazy experimental, just good riffs and catchy songs, and some thought-provoking lyrics.
Iron Age – The Sleeping Eye (2009)
I love that record, and Power Trip definitely wouldn’t be the band we are without Iron Age. Those guys are sort of like our older brothers, and showed me a lot of really good music, not just thrash metal but a lot of cool shit in general. That’s a record that should be in every metal fan’s collection. I think it kind of flies under the radar, but the people who love it are rabid about it, and I love that. The way Wade Allison writes his riffs is like no other guitar player that I can name, and I think it’s insane to have had a band that had a style that was so distinctly their own. You cannot tell me that Iron Age sounds like any other band, or that any other band sounds like Iron Age – you hear people try, and it doesn’t work. That’s a one-in-a-million thing, and it’s an absolutely essential listen, especially if you’re like, “Oh, I like this Texas band Power Trip, who should I listen to that would even remotely strike a chord?” – that would be the band, for sure.
Power Trip’s new album Nightmare Logic is out on Southern Lord on 24 February
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