www.facebook.com/TheBifurcated
Sounds like: Industrial Metal
From: British Columbia
1. How did you get started with music?
TK1: I got my first guitar when I was 16. I had a bass before that but really didn't know much. I took some private lessons and lessons at school but really just learned enough to get started. I quickly got my hands on old drum machines and keyboards and just really started messing with sound.
DS86: I've always been a drummer for as long as I can remember. My first memory of drumming is when I was 3 and music has consistantly been a huge part of my life ever since. Aside from being in school bands, I joined my first band when I was 16 and I've been living the dream ever since.
2. How did you develop your sound?
TK1: It has been a developing sound over the years dabling in many styles and types of music, industrial, metal, techno, rap... basically what ever I was into at any given time.
DS 86: I really enjoy thinking outside of the box, doing something not everyone else is doing. I've had concepts for previous bands that I couldn't bring to the table for various reasons. So The Bifurcated is a way for me to bring these concepts to light and be more abstract with my drumming.
3. Who thought of the name "The Bifurcated" and is there any meaning behind it?
TK1: For the name The Bifurcated, DS86 and I had been discussing names for a while, we had a whole list of names that later ended up becoming the names of our songs. I heard the word "bifurcation" from the show myth busters when they tried to split a car in two. I wanted it to be as if our music was splitting your head, is it metal? Is it techno? But it also became a metaphor for our social divide, especially during the pandemic, the rich, the poor, left, right, whatever divides us even though we are one in the same race.
DS86: We through around a bunch of ideas before Bifurcated even came up, but when "bifurcation" came up in a conversation I was like "wtf is that?" And once I looked it up I realized it can have a plethora of meanings. In metal we use the term "brain melting" for awesome riffs but what we do is much more aggressive and abrasive than just melting. Also, when we formed, we were smack dab in the middle of the BLM protests, anti vaccine protests, anti pipeline protests and we wanted our name to reflect the state of society when we formed... everyone is a victim of social mitosis, its something we all share.
4. What do you want people to take away from your music?
TK1: I guess with a feeling of excitement. I have always loved it when a band shows me something I like but have never heard before. We definitely have our own unique sound and hope people get surprised by us. After one of our shows a 'would be' fan came up to me and said "I don't really know what you guys are doing but I loved it!"
DS86: Something a friend of ours said to us before starting our set was "no body here knows what you're about to do to them". At the end of our set when people go outside for a smoke or fresh air, we want them to question the fabric of reality. Question what they just saw. Question who they are and the world they live in.
5. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
TK1: I have never really liked all the genre's and sub genre's that people try to use to categorize metal, to me if it is loud, distorted with double kicking drums... it is metal! That being said I feel like people would describe us as thrash metal techno industrial... or something. I dunno.
DS86: I think trying to describe your sound is self-defeating because you're putting yourself into a box. We want people to discover our sound for themselves without the preconceived perception of what they think we are going to sound like or should sound like based on the description we gave them. On an industrial or metal spectrum we are all over the map, sometimes we don't even know what we are. Some moments are drum and bass, others are death metal, some are techno, others are doom, some are thrash metal, and others are just weird. If you had to categorize us, I think you would lean toward Industrial Cyber-Thrash or Electronic Body Death Metal.
6. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
TK1: oh man, no clue ha. I guess I've never thought about that, hell I have never got to tour before. I guess some of our local friends' bands that we have played shows with would make sense. However, it is also tricky as we are metal but wanting to break into the edm scene as well so it would be a mix of what we would want and types of shows we would try to get on the bill for.
DS86: Bands we would Like to tour with? All of them! Which bands would we fit with tho? It's so hard to choose because I like so much. Who would I want to open for on tour? Who would I want to co-headline with tour? I fantasize about these things all the time. Vessel, Nachtmahr, Rob Zombie.
7. How has Covid affected what you do?
TK1: covid hasn't really affected us all that much. DS86 and I started this band more or less during covid so it never put a damper on our progress. If anything we were able to use that time to work on the tracks getting ready to play shows and record our first ep.
DS86: The Bifurcated is more a result of covid rather than an affect. We had previously thrown around an idea of doing something but never really had time, it was more of a hypothetical concept. A year into covid and we had all kinds of time to work on a new band. Lots of bands weren't able to jam because of social distancing or what ever requirements they had to follow (and justifiably so). We are just two people so as long as we weren't in a lockdown we were able to get together and jam.
8. What’s your take on the current state of Industrial Metal?
TK1: ouff that's a tough one, honestly I am a bit lazy about finding new music to listen to. I tend to listen to what finds it's way to me but I have heard some bits and pieces. From what I've heard it blows me away, makes me think about really trying to develop our sound to step it up haha. I grew up listing to old school industrial, skinny puppy, front line assembly, kmfdm, ministry and nin. That stuff is amazing but some of the dubstep synth metal stuff I've heard, just wow. But I guess as technology evolves so do the sounds bands use.
DS86: I haven't really been listening to industrial or electronic music for that long... I've had a sweet spot for Rob zombie, Marilyn Manson, and Rammstien for a while but only recently started to really dive into the genres. This has opened an entire new culture and world of music I didn't even know existed. One can sit and analyze how new bands aren't sticking to what the pioneers did. Things that don't evolve disappear and go extinct. I've really been enjoying Neue Deutsche Härte, Aggrotech, and EBM like Nachtmahr, Hocico, and midnight nightmare. I've also been enjoying allot of EDM producers and dj's like Noisia, optical & dj rush, and Abstrakt Sonance.
9. What's the current music scene like there in British Columbia?
TK1: we are pretty lucky here, there is not as many venues as we would all like, a lot didn't make it through covid but the ones we have are loved by the bands and the music lovers that come out. A lot of local support with a decent scene. Not to mention some really amazing talent. I am constantly blown away by some of the bands we all get to see at these tiny venue's.
DS86: 60% of British Columbia's population is located in vancouver. Due to this, the majority of a "provincial music scene" is located in Vancouver and surrounding municipalities, aside from the music festivals that happen in the interior like Armstrong Metal fest. But Vancouver is a music hub and its an absolute pleasure we get to associate with such amazing musicians, promoters, venue owners, and live music fans.
10. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
TK1: Am I allowed to swear ... I f*cking hate it. The only good thing is the chance an artist has for anyone around the world to here them, way better then trying to slang cd's but the tiny fraction of steaming royalties isn't even close to worth it. All bands, every band, even the big ones, need to rely on playing shows and selling merch to make an income off what they do. That is the only way to even come close to sustaining them selves now. The Golden age of the music labels killed it them selves with their greed, profiting off the artist. They said for years the price of CD's would go down but they never did, in fact the price went up until the fans took it upon themselves to get the music they wanted and loved, now making it so hard for any up and coming bands.
DS86: The cost of producing a piece of music is not reflected in royalty payouts. To produce an album that meets not only industry standards but listeners standards, can cost any where from $400 - $10,000 depending on how you go about it, you get what you pay for. I've heard of artists dropping $10,000 on a debut album production... with current streaming payouts how are independant bands supposed to recover from that? Not to meantion signed bands who are obligated to sell "x" amount of records or achieve "x" amount of streams to pay off the label. Some of my favourite bands have thrown in the towel because they just cannot recover those costs anymore, and yes I bought their merch!
11. What’s next for The Bifurcated?
TK1: Well, we have been working on a lot of material since we started, we have over an hour of songs. We have so many ideas in the vault, from stage shows to lighting props to music videos, mostly cuz we think it is cool. I guess just trying to make a name for our selves and letting people thrash out with us. Trying to see if we can get our selves into edm scene more, some say we can't or they don't want us there lol but other groups have bridged this gap before... who knows right.
A: We are currently preparing to release our debut E.P on March 10th, 2023. We've been tossing around the idea of throwing some themed parties with mixed talent of bands, rappers, and DJ's. We really want to get into the rave circuit but we aren't dj's and we're really heavy so incorporating synthesizers and other electronic music tools into a live performance is on the menu. Wether people want us or not, we are here and we're gonna do what we're gonna do.
12. Any shoutouts?
TK1: My parents for buying me that guitar when I was 16. Support the scene. Journeyman productions. Suna studios.
DS86: my dad for making music my life. my mom for driving me and drums to all those band practices when I was in high school. My friends and other band mates for being themselves. People who take our stickers... they're awesome! A very special thanks and big hugs to Jade, Rob & Victoria, and Colton. Our community would be a very different place without these four individuals and the world needs more people like them.
