IN PASSING: AGRICULTURE

This series of blogs is called IN PASSING, and in it I'll be interviewing bands/artists I love and trying to shed further light (in the small ways I can) on their music and give anyone who may come across this a reason to listen to them. I want to focus on smaller music that deserves more attention than it gets. All blogs in this series will include unabridged (yet slightly edited) interviews with the artists and a small write-up from me.

In November of 2023, I was honored with the amazing opportunity of interviewing Agriculture after the Phoenix date of their tour in support of Chat Pile. One of the most unique and adventurous rising bands, Agriculture creates ecstatic black metal that explores sublimity and spirituality in their every turn. This interview is going to be a little shorter since I didn't want to take up too much of the band's time after their show.

I've made a companion playlist for this post featuring Agriculture and some bands and artists that we discussed below. If you'd like to listen to it as you read you can do so here.

Daniel (Vocals and Guitar) = D. Kern (Drums) = K. Leah (Vocals and Bass) = L. Richard (Guitar) = R. 

photos stolen from the band online.

Your debut record [Agriculture] became an immediate success, even reaching the Billboard Top 100, what was that like?

R: I mean, you work on something for so long and put your heart into it. We spent a long time producing it together and just thinking about every little moment, so the idea that people are listening closely or at the very least listening and thinking about it is really awesome. Yeah, good. 

L: Yeah, I remember the afternoon that happened, I was taking a nap. I woke up from like a long nap and saw there were already memes that we were posting about it. It was definitely a surprise. 

What is the culture like on The Flenser? How was it joining the label? 

R: Amazing. Incredibly supportive. Super awesome. Jonathan is amazing and is running an incredible thing--super supportive, super encouraging, really cool, great community of people. 

What drives Agriculture's sound? And where does spirituality play into your music? 

D: I think a relationship to spirit underpins everything that we're doing to a certain extent--and I think that means different things to each one of us. 

The sort of central thesis that we're working with is that music has this remarkable and unique ability to create situations where big feelings can be maybe articulated in social contexts that are conducive to working through these big things, right? It's one thing to feel joy by yourself, but it's another thing to feel it in a community. So, I think that we sort of felt it was a natural leap. When you go to a heavy show, even if you're seeing like a band like Mayhem or something that's ostensibly heavy music, it's a fun experience, right? There's a sense of joy that underpins the whole thing, even if it's articulated through a kind of darkness. Or, seeing a slasher film or something--no one goes to see Friday the Thirteenth to feel shitty. I think that's sort of our concept--heavy music is a wonderful channel for all kinds of big feelings and one of those is joy. I think that the way that we get at that is through different kinds of articulations. And, I think it's important that it's done in a social context, whether it's just with the four of us or ideally in a live context.

L: Yeah, I think also especially in the concert space we're trying to use the extremity of the music and the energy to offer a space for people. Like you were saying, the spirituality means something different to all of us and I think it does to our audience members as well. With everything we're giving, we're providing an energy that then allows them to be with themselves, be with others, and be with something higher than themselves, whatever that is.

How do you see this sound developing in the future?

D: We've been listening to a lot of third-wave ska. We've been thinking a lot about The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. We're trying to bring more of a trombone energy.

K: Also sliding. 

D: Yeah, some slide whistles as well-- just any kind of instrument that can slide. 

L: Anything that slides around. 

D: Real slides--putting contact mics on a piece of cardboard and going down a steep hill. We're interested in sliding.

R: We're just trying to get away from temperament. We're finding the notes in between the notes. That's really what the slides are all about. 

L: Microtonal black metal. 

R: Not even microtonal, just omni-tonal. Everyone wants to do it. Yeah, I've been reading a lot about quantum physics lately...

K: Exactly, yes. There's a lot of play to everything. 

L: Yes, lots more play. 

R: Maybe a more serious answer would be that we're interested in following intuition. I'm interested in following intuition. I think there's maybe not an agenda. The way you framed it sort of sounds like maybe we have an agenda or know what the punchline is. I don't think we really have an explicit agenda and I don't really think we know what the punchline is.

D: You know the scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas movie where all the kids start dancing? I have this image, kind of going like that, you know, raising your arms up and then letting them go down. I forget which Peanuts child is doing it. I think that's a very earnest approach to getting stupid, you know what I'm saying?

K: That's actually pretty important to me, getting stupid, going down, not thinking too much. 

D: Yeah, with the music, if one of us--we talk about this sometimes--if any of us start thinking on stage, we're fucked.

R: Yeah, you just kind of have to be there and give yourself over to it.

Are there any smaller bands you've played with on this tour that you want to highlight? Any bands that you're looking at that are really interesting? 

D: There's this band Chat Pile...

R: Smaller bands. 

D: Sorry, I'll make a real answer. There's a band called Senza in Eugene, Oregon. Excellent. 

L: Really sick. Excellent blackened and screamo. It's so good. Really good. I think the band tonight was really sick--Rotting Yellow. 

D: Other than that, the other bands we played with are bigger than us.

R: Oh, there's that little band, Baroness, they might do something. They got something for sure. 

D: We've had a great time playing with the Midwife as well. 

R: Really great music. She's also bigger than us, obviously, but incredible. 

D: She's very tall, yeah. She's huge. 

Are there any other things that influence your guys' sound? What about some bands, movies, music? 

(Someone nearby holds up the previously mentioned image of the dancing Peanut's kid).

D: Yeah, exactly! That's what I'm talking about. That's 100% the vibe. I'm not joking at all. I just think it's potent. You don't have to think about it too much...

I mean, there's the obvious stuff, right? There's a tradition of tremolo picking and blast beating that in certain ways we're related to. But, I think more than that, each of us is pretty distinct. Like in the van, the stuff that we all play, I mostly play Bob Dylan. I think you can really hear that in the music. I think it makes sense, especially with some of the rhythmic stuff and the melodic sensibility of Bob.

K: I play The Fall in the van a lot and think about jazz quintets a lot while I'm driving. That's mostly what I'm imagining I'm doing in a way. 

R: I obviously love Van Halen, especially that first record [Van Halen]--so good. But also, there are 20th century composers whose use of harmony and voice leading is incredibly beautiful. The other day we were listening to the two Janáček string quartets, Richard Strauss, Jean Sebelius--just really interesting, cool harmony and voice leading things that I think about when I'm writing my parts and when Dan and I are trying to get our guitar parts to at once lock in but also be distinct things that don't just create this mushiness but speak in their own registers.

D: All those composers also have a really weird sense of form. 

R: They do. 

D: I think that's a big part of it, too. It's just one thing and then another thing--putting things next to each other.

L: Lately I've been revisiting Transformer by Lou Reed. That's a huge album for me and we were listening to it in the van. I love the way those songs are written. I love all the different arrangements and textures on that album. I think it's just a kind of magical album for me. 

Thinking lyrically, a lot of queer media from the past. There's a movie called Nowhere by Gregor Rocky. That one's really incredible and has this really wild energy--it's kind of nihilistic but hopeful and exciting at the same time. It's very gay in a very fluid way that I really love. Another one is a book called The Faggots and Their Friends. That one is a really amazing book from the 70s. It's almost written in a folklore, mythical way, but it's showing these queer communities. That's been pretty inspiring for some lyrics I've been writing. 

I want to extend my purest thanks to Agriculture for doing this interview with me, especially after a long show and longer tour. They're really doing something so interesting, unique, and honestly addicting. It makes my heart happy that they're getting the recognition they deserve for pushing these boundaries. Nyle of Dead Mothers Collective and I have some very cool things coming from this show that I am unbelievably excited to share with you all. Thank you all for reading.

-Foster