Norfolk - During the hustle and bustle of preparing for the Ill Nino show at the Norva I was able to sit down with three members of Cape Coral, Florida metal band Ekotren to talk about their music, life on the road, and a tribute to Kingpin, the former metalcore keyboardist.

33: Your name is unusual and cannot be found in the dictionary.  How did you come up with it and what does it mean?
Keith Finnell: The name came from the first drummer’s experimenting with acid, the drug… [laughter from all]  It involved him, his mother, and his blonde labrador.  I am not sure of the story, but the name Ekotren came from it.

33: Did it involve the dog talking to him?
KF: I don’t know if the dog was talking to him or licking him in parts unknown or his mom was yelling at him.  I am not quite sure, but he came up with the name in 2000 - that’s when we started the band.  There was no one else with the name Ekotren.
John Sheldon: We already had shirts and a banner so we couldn’t go back!

33: There are a million genres of music in existence today; where do you fit?
KF: Poop core…
JS: Definitely!
KF: I made it up.  We are starting a new genre right now called poop core.  It is the worst stuff you have heard in your entire life.
JS: A lot of people call us metalcore.
KF: We are melodic metal - that describes us.  Metal and hard rock, that’s what we are.

33: Who are some of your favorite bands?
JS: Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, grunge from the early 90s.
KF: Pantera, early Metallica stuff like that.
Derek Desantis: Old stuff - Zeppelin, the Stones, the Beatles, and the Who.

33: [to Derek] You look more eclectic.
KF: He drinks wine.  We don’t.
DD: I am a cultured fellow.

33: So what’s your favorite wine then?
DD: 7 Deadly Sins.

33: Wow, you actually had an answer!  I thought you might be bullshitting.
DD: I smoke cigarettes, and I like smoke, so it tastes like someone put liquid smoke into it.  It's awesome.

33: I have to give that a shot.  I will definitely try it.
KF: It tastes like a cigarette.  We are in Virginia, so we are near Marlboro country, right?

33: Really?  Wow, I didn’t know that, and I live here... [laughter]
KF: Well, I just know on 85 we passed a few Philip Morris buildings numerous times, and every time we get excited.  We don’t [Sheldon and Keith], but Derek and Frankie do, so they start itching a little bit.  They itch, we cough.  It’s kind of funny.

33: Kind of like an STD, only with cigarettes?
KF: I heard they both can kill ya.

33: Congratulations on the release of your new album.  What was the inspiration for it?
KF: We just went out and wrote the best stuff that we could.  It’s a heavier record than the last one; faster, more aggressive.
JS: It’s a one way ticket to pound town.
DD: That’s right - pound town.
KF: We can’t sit down and say we want to write a mellow song.  We will probably right the heaviest song we have ever written, and if we want to write a heavy song we will probably write John Mayer or something.

33: So is there any John Mayer on this album?

DD: We tried to get him on the album.
KF: But he wouldn’t work for cigarettes and food stamps.  I don’t know what the deal was.  I think the fame got to his head.

33: I read on the Spirit of Metal website that your band used to have a keyboardist - is this correct?
KF: Yeah…

33: How did you make that metalcore?
KF: We actually didn’t.  We had to kick him out of the band to get a record, so…
DD: We actually ask ourselves that same, exact question.  [laughter by all]
JS: He was a keytar swinging mother fucker!

33: So any nicknames for him?
JS: [laughing] Kingpin.  Looks like Bill Murray totally.  His hair is all jacked, balding and stuff.  He is the spitting image.

33: Any funny stories from the road you would like to grace our readers with?
KF: Umm, let’s see there has definitely been an instance where a head gets split in two by a bass guitar or puking midset.  It happens.
JS: We were playing on the biggest stage we ever have played on, and I got hit in the face with a bass.  I don’t know how it happened.

33: Was it a debilitating hit?  Where?
JS: I probably should have gone and gotten stitches, but I held paper towels to my head and kept going.
KF: You thought Gene Simmons spitting blood was a scene.  This was blood everywhere.
JS: I didn’t even know I was bleeding.  I thought it was sweat pouring off my face, but it was blood.  I have never been the same since.

33: In closing, what do you see in store for Ekotren, and where would you like to go?
DD: We are going to follow up with another tour and shoot a video for it.  Looks like "Road to Nowhere" off the album.
KF: We just want to go out there and tour around this album as long as we can keep getting in new fans' faces every night.

33: Sounds like you want to pound something!
JS: Definitely!  That’s what it is all about!

Ekotren is looking for that one way ticket to pound their grungy, melodic metal offerings into the ears of new fans everywhere.  I can assure you my ears were delightfully filled with the new genre of poop core that Ekotren has claimed all to their own.  I do not think I will ever have the chance again to say, “Go poop core, go!”

Ekotren.com

By Photojournalist: Kerri Killion

Kerri Killion has lived in the Hampton Roads area for the majority of her life.  Her curiosity and creativity always had her viewing the world through different eyes.  She was immediately drawn to the artistic side of life.  An artist and writer, Kerri found herself interested in photography at a young age.  Soon viewing the world through her camera became second nature.  In 2007, she started Inner Vision Artistry as a way to show her photography to the world.

Her love for music including punk, metal, psychobilly, and hardcore naturally led her to an interest in band photography.  This journey has now led her to Magazine33.