Providence, USA-based industrial band Downcity Armory have made some noisy waves with their recent EP “Empire Gone” for two reasons. Firstly the EP features some great abrasive industrial dance floor music and secondly they are giving all proceeds to charity. Rivetheads Radio have played a few of their tracks in recent times, so I decided it was time to enter the Armory and find out a little more. Luckily, member Todd Bowes was more than happy to go “downcity” with John E Smoke for a natter…

JES – Thank you for talking to Midlands Metalheads. How does the new year find you?

DCA – Excited. It’s the Year of the Horse according to the Chinese zodiac, and we’re hard at work on our new double EP “Workhorse/Firehorse” which should see a Spring release if all goes well. I’m actually working on lyrics today, in advance of hitting the studio with my two producer/engineer friends, Phil Petrie and Christopher Brown.

JES – For the uninitiated, how about describing what you do in a little more detail. While not everyone likes to be compared to other bands, who have you found Downcity Armory compared to in the past?

DCA – We take our cues from the usual suspects: Pitch Shifter, Nine Inch Nails, Die Warzau, Sister Machine Gun, etc. But we borrow ideas from all genres including metal, hip-hop, down tempo, classic rock, etc. It all gets filtered through the lens of DCA and comes out as something we call “electrocore.”

JES – Who would you cite as your musical influences and inspirations?

DCA – There’s too many to list here. I came up on 90s era Wax Trax, Re-Constriction, and Metropolis records bands. I listen to a lot of Celldweller right now too.

JES – Digging further, what was the first piece of music you remember purchasing and what was the most recent? Say something about each of them if you will.

DCA – The first thing I ever bought with my own money was Young MC’s Stone Cold Rhymin’. I was in the sixth grade, so about 11 or 12 years old, and I memorized it. I could probably rap that today. I had it on cassette. The first CD I ever bought, however, was Front Line Assembly’s Millenium that I bought from the Virgin records megastore in the Louvre in Paris, France. I had never seen a “gothique/industriel” section in a record store before. Europe has always been a completely different animal in terms of how music is perceived and valued by culture…

My recent music acquisitions are discs from local and regional unsigned bands here in the northeast US: The Difference Engine, From Below, Ex Machinae, Satellites Fall. I try to support the local community as much as I can. When you can blast a great tune at home, then go see them live down the street, then hang with them all night, it’s a great community.

JES – You’ve recently released an EP “Empire Gone” on Bandcamp. Tell us a little more about the recording and release of the EP. Has it been well received? Are you considering a physical release on CD/vinyl/cassette etc.?

DCA – “EMPIRE GONE” took a while to make, mostly because I was shifting commitments with a previous band and couldn’t concentrate on it like I wanted to. So the songs are really old to me. But when I finally extricated myself from other obligations, I finished it with Ex Machinae’s Phil Petrie at the helm and got it out there. Despite the rather low-key release, it was well received, and it continues to grow as more people learn about it. Actually, the response was overwhelming, proportionally speaking. I had no intention of bringing it to the stage, but I kept getting offers for live shows. People kept getting behind it. Everything that DCA is doing, everything we’re trying to make happen is a direct result of the fans’ support.

There are no plans for a physical release, besides whatever I make for promotion purposes to give to DJs or industry people. I totally miss CDs and records, but it’s just not practical for us to make physical albums right now.

JES – I particularly like the track “Cthulhu Walks”. Is Lovecraft a big influence on your creative output or was this more of a fleeting dalliance?

DCA – Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour Out of Space” is probably the most terrifying thing I’ve ever read. That said, I composed the track before settling on the title. I went with “Cthulhu Walks” because I live on Angell Street in Providence, which is Lovecraft’s old neighborhood from when he was alive. When I shot the video for the track, I just walked around my east side neighborhood and the downcity areas, thinking, “These were his streets.” There’s actually a brief clip in the video of a house Lovecraft used to live in.

Lovecraft’s ideas though, namely how we understood the universe entirely wrong and everything is out to kill us, have had an influence on DCA’s attitude and lyrics. Suffice to say, it’s pretty grim stuff.

JES – I spotted that you have someone making Cthulhu plushes for you as merchandise. I’d buy one. How is that project going?

DCA – The plushes were originally for another project that never materialized. They’re made by Danielle Ameen of https://treefortfive.com/ and are handstitched with the DCA coat-of-arms on the back. I’m certain that if you write to her, she’d be happy to make one for you. If enough requests come in, we may make it a regularly available merch item at shows.

JES – You are giving all proceeds from the EP’s sales to Free Geek Providence. Would you like to tell us more about that? You seem to be getting a reputation for being thoroughly nice industrial noisemongers who support local causes…

DCA – We tied the release of “EMPIRE GONE” to Free Geek Providence and helped raise some money for them, allowing for them to continue their mission of bridging the digital divide in society and putting more computers into the hands of the less fortunate. You’d be surprised by how many people are actually not wired into the web. As for why we do such things, you can’t go around saying things like, “Real social welfare is corporate dependence” and then be expected to keep all your merch money. It’s a simple matter of putting our money where our mouth is, and giving back. We not only supported Free Geek Providence, but also Rosie’s Place, a Boston women’s shelter. And we’ll continue to support a variety of charities and non-profits throughout the year. We also want to encourage people to spend money on music again, and we figured for charity was good motivation to do so.

But I do want to add that I think bands are a worthwhile charity too, and one of the best things you can do as a member of your community is to go out to shows, buy merch, and especially buy the band a round of drinks. These guys and gals work hard, and are in your neighborhood. They represent you. Do you want to be from the town with the shittiest music? Then get them some shots!

JES – What can you tell us about your music set up? What are your main instruments, software and hardware choices?

DCA – It’s actually far more low-tech than it lets on. We try to keep it simple live. There’s no laptop running here; my drummer Rob Fusco appreciates that. I will say we use a classic Korg synth, which over the years has proved far more reliable than computer technology, knock on wood! I bash a set of Roland e-drums when I’m not singing. I also built custom stands for my drums; our keyboardist Mark Hallam has a custom keyboard stand, and my bassist Christopher Brown’s e-drum that he plays in some songs also has its own custom stand. It’s got casters on it so we can kick it around.

JES – What is the music scene like in Providence? Do you get to see many other bands making similar music to yours?

DCA – Providence has a vibrant music scene with a lot of talented bands, but near as I can tell, no one sounds like Downcity Armory. We have a lot of indie/alt rock even alt-country bands. Deer Tick is from here, to give you an example of the main music output. There are some power electronic groups in the region, but I don’t think they play out much. Some metal bands too. Other bands like Satellites Fall use a lot of keyboards but I wouldn’t call them industrial or electrocore at all. It can be a little frustrating because I’m friends with a lot of these bands but show promoters are usually hesitant to give us a stage with them because it might seem like too weird a bill. We’re too aggressive for the indie/alt crowd; too electronic for the metal crowd. I think that’s all nonsense, that people actually like weird bills and like hearing a diverse palette of sound when they go out. But between Providence, Boston, and New York, which are all the cities the members of DCA hail from, we find a place.

JES – Thank you once again for talking to Midlands Metalheads and Rivetheads Radio. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

DCA – Please connect with us over at www.facebook.com/DowncityArmory so we can keep you all updated on the process of our new releases, as well as all our shows in 2014. We are already planning a short multi-city tour, so get ready for that. And if you’ve never heard Downcity Armory before, please listen to us at https://downcityarmory.bandcamp.com. Please support us and our causes by purchasing some music, or a t-shirt. And thank you, John E Smoke and Rivetheads Radio, and Midlands Metalheads, for supporting independent, unsigned acts. This is the way of the future. Let’s all tell the old, broken industry to fuck off.