On The Human Abstract’s Portland, Oregon tour stop during the Atticus Metal Tour III I got a chance to talk to A.J. Minette, guitarist and founding member of the band. He’s very down to earth and nice and opened up to us about all different kinds of things. An in depth interview covering the CD, the current band, the former members, and even baseball.
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A.J. Minette
Can I get your name and what you play?

Yeah, I’m A.J. Minette and I play guitar for The Human Abstract.

How do you feel about the release of Digital Veil?

It’s exciting to finally release it because we recorded it July of last year and because of label situations and a release that got pushed back for a long time. We’ve just been waiting for a long time, you know, it’s good just to finally get it out there. Something we’re all very proud of.

Who all was part of the writing process?

Most of the writing of this was done between myself and our guitarist Dean and when it came to vocals it was Travis and I working on vocal melodies and lyrics. Even Henry, our bassist, contributed lyrics for one song called Antebellum.

What made you guys choose to switch from Hopeless to eOne?

Hopeless was kind of moving away from metal and heavier music in general, we were the only metal band on the label for a long time and they didn’t really want to go down that avenue any further. So when the possibility of having to license to another label popped up Hopeless was into the idea and we were into the idea and eOne had a metal department so it just seemed like a good spot for us to be for this record, feel things out for the future.

Was eOne one of your first choices?

I guess so, because in a way we had spoken with our manager at the time and Darkest Hour is also on eOne and our drummer Brett was friends with them at the time.

What band are you most excited to be touring with right now?

I mean everybody on this tour has been really awesome. Um, it has been good to meet a band like Darkest Hour who, you know, I’ve been listening to for a long time. I’ve been really into their music. But it’s really cool to be meeting the other bands As Blood Runs Black and Born of Osiris. Born of Osiris and us are similar age and we put out our first records around the same time even As Blood Runs Black. But I remember As Blood Runs Black and The Human Abstract were both local bands in the Los Angeles scene. We had always heard of each other and each other’s names when we were getting out there but we never got to play any shows together. The one show that we did have scheduled to play ended up getting canceled.

What impressions of feelings do you want your music to give people?

I guess more then anything I just want it to be interesting. I guess if I achieve that then I achieve my goal.

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Dean Herrera
What’s it like being with these guys again? Was it awkward at first or was it just like being right back at home?

No, it was a really gradual process coming back into the band. At first it was just writing and producing and then we just started recording stuff and the closer it got to the release the more I wanted to go out and tour on it, put our best foot forward. It was gradual getting back into it, but you know, we had kept in touch when I left the band. Obviously the first several months after I left the band it was a little awkward. But we had gotten past that. It wasn’t exactly awkward or anything, but it was new, it was a different feeling. Part if it was not having Nathan Ells in the band. There was really positive vibe going on, knowing that we didn’t have to work with him anymore. And I don’t mean to sound rude or crass but none of us wanted to work with him, and to be free from that burden gave us a lot of motivation and encouragement to make Digital Veil.

For the people that are just now starting to hear about you guys, what happened between you and Nathan Ells?

There was no one incident that happened between us and when I left the band in 2007 it was mainly to go back to school and study music. To study classical, get into that. Because just part of my education felt incomplete. So there wasn’t one particular thing Nathan did that made me want to leave it was mostly school. But having said that, Nathan wasn’t a person I would want to work with again. It just, it was a lot about his personality as well as his performance that we weren’t that satisfied with. A lot of it had to do with Nathan’s attitude, how he carried himself on tour, and how he treated everybody else in the band.

Like a Diva?

No, it’s just, anytime someone had an idea different then his or had a belief system different then his he would try and admonish them or make fun of them and that to me is completely intolerable. It was that sort of thing that happened all the time. It was that negative sort of attitude he had toward everybody else.

And it all just sort of added up?

Yeah, yeah. You know, I’m opening up more then I usually do for whatever reason I don’t know why. You know, there was a time when I didn’t talk to him for a month and we were on tour, working together. And then we didn’t even exchange words, I didn’t want to. You know I did that on purpose, I was aware of that. It wasn’t that time had passed and I had forgotten to say hello.

Was he trying to talk to you?

There was a time, yeah, and there was a moment when I had an argument with him in the van. I told him not to talk to me, he wouldn’t listen to what I had to say and he wouldn’t respect anyone else in the band. So I just told him not to bother talking to me, because there’s no way to have a civil conversation. And you know a day goes by and he tries to talk to me and I feel really bad to do this, and I didn’t even think this sort of thing existed. You know you hear about the silent treatment, I just thought that was kind of a fake thing. But he literally tried to talk to me, he’d look at me and talk to me and I’d just not say a word. You know any person that drives me to be that way is not somebody I want to be around. It was just really hard to deal with and that’s just the type of person I am. I don’t open up about how I feel in the moment, a lot of times it just gets bottled up and I end up resenting the people and of course it’s not good, but it’s just the way I am.

How do you feel about the current line-up?

I love it, it’s just a blast to be out on tour with these guys. In having that missing piece in a vocalist who can be the voice of the band and the front man of the band. Everyday on this tour has been fun, any problem along the way has been solved collectively. There’s no dead weight, it’s finally like a solid group.

Any big arguments yet?

No, nothing out of the ordinary. Of course we have debates, you know, arguments about what we should do with this or that, it’s all really healthy. There hasn’t been any bad arguments as a group, it’s all been really good. And we’re notorious for having some of the most unstable line-ups of musicians. If you look at our wikipedia page we have more former members then current members.
Do you ever think that with all your past problems you should have waited a bit longer to start the band?

Maybe, but then again it would have been a little harder to get work done, you know, having people I hung out with, or being friends with somebody it would be difficult to get down to business. Now with the way this band unit is working we’re able to work out any problems and issues that we all have. At the same time we’re all friends, we can get together and just go watch a movie, do what friends do, play sports.

You look like an athlete, what do you play?

I’ve played baseball my whole life. I was raised to play baseball, since the time I could walk. It was my dad who encouraged me, taught me everything about baseball. I played baseball my whole life, until I was 16, and at that point it was apparent to me that I wasn’t going to grow past 5’6”. Which wasn’t the best body type for a professional athlete. But something more important dawned on me and that was my love for music. Got a guitar when I was 16, started taking lessons, and just all that commitment that I had to baseball and sports was transferred to guitar. In a way that athletic upbringing was helpful because it showed amount of discipline, a certain approach I can have towards something.

How’d your dad feel about you deciding to become a musician instead of a baseball player?

He was cool because we have that common ground. We could talk about music and play guitar. But at the same time I knew it hurt for him to see me walking away from this because it was something we both invested so much time and effort into. My dad built a batting pitch in my backyard with his bare hands, dug the holes poured the concrete. He’d throw to me every day after school, every single day. My dad would work from 5am to 2pm and he would still throw curve balls. So seeing that dedication in my father was something I took notice of, if I wanted to get good at guitar I needed to have that same sort of dedication, work ethic. I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned, work ethic is what you need.

When did you decide to start a band?

When I was 16 I started guitar and then 3 months later I started a band in high school, I mean obviously it was terrible. I’d only been playing guitar for three months, but at the time you don’t think about it. I was thinking ‘Wow I could play this now’ and I was writing some music. And there was this, maybe it was just an illusion that it was good in my mind, but maybe in a way you need that illusion. If I had my perception now, if the 24 year old me heard the 16 year old me playing guitar I’d be kind of depressed and I might now want to continue doing it. So that’s what I mean, that illusion could be necessary because it gets you to that next step. After that I had another band. It wasn’t until after my senior year that I started The Human Abstract. I called Dean and asked him if he wanted to jam some stuff and we got together and got stuff written and I got really excited with how it was turning out.

Was metal what you knew you wanted to do?

Well with Dean, yeah. I picked Dean because I knew he’s into metal and he’s a good guitar player. Dean went to high school with my brother and I’d hung out with him a few times and I knew he was a good guitar player, but he was into metal. You couldn’t exactly call Dean and ask if he wants to start a pop/punk band.

How’d you choose to study classical?

University my freshman year, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I went in undeclared. I knew I was there for a reason and I enjoyed studying anything. I took this music appreciation class which is pretty much a survey of classical music history from maybe 1500’s to 20th century. Part of the requirements for the class was to go see two classical concerts and one of them was Pepe Romero, who is this world renowned player. At the time I didn’t know this, just that he’s a guitar player and I was going to go see him. I realized this is what I want to do, this it what I want to study and I need to figure out how to do this. When I went back to campus I found out what paperwork I needed to do to audition to the music program. I had never done classical at this point so I didn’t know what the audition process was going to be like. Fortunately Loyola Marymount’s requirements allow people to come in without any classical experience. Luckily they accepted me into the program, I don’t think any other music school would. Now I've auditioned for masters programs and I’m going to USC for my masters.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Yeah, I go threw some sort of stretching routine. Because if you don’t stretch you’ll suffer through a bangover, which is when you head bang too much and the next day your neck hurts. So you got to be careful of that. I don’t have any weird superstitious things.

Who’s the goofiest guy in the band?

The biggest jokester is Travis. He’s always making jokes, making a heavy situation lighter. He’s a real character

How about the other personalities?

They’re all dull, they’re all boring. Nah I’m just kidding, we’re all just really laid back. There’s a side of us that’s joking and loves to have fun but there’s also the side of us that just want to work.

 


Comments

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08/07/2011 21:20

melodies and lyrics. Even Henry, our bassist, contributed lyrics for one song called Antebellum.

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