1. If could introduce yourselves for us, who are you?
I’m Reed. I write, play guitar and sing.
I’m Ben, keys and songwriting.
I am Nathan Berntson, I play guitar, produce, and engineer for Cthulhu Drea
I am Jake, I play guitar in Cthulhu Dreamt!
I’m Chris, and I’ve contributed a bit of composing and spoken word stuff – but hope to be adding more synths to the next record!
2. How did you all meet?
Reed: A few of us have known each other for quite a while, and Jake and Chris we met through twitter, which is pretty fantastic.
Ben: I met Reed in college, and we’ve been making music together ever since. He introduced me to the rest of the band when he launched Cthulhu Dreamt
Nate: Reed and I grew up in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I have known him for well over 20 years now. Everyone else, I met through being a part of this project.
Jake: I met Reed on Twitter through my uncle Jeremy.
Chris: I met Reed by being a fan of his, which still blows my mind. I’m very lucky. 3. How long have you been playing?
Reed: As a band, we’ve existed since 2020, but for my personal foray into music, I’ve been playing guitar since 1990.
Ben: I’ve been playing music for 28 years now.
Nate: I have been playing guitar for about 25 years now.
Jake: I’ve been playing guitar for about 14 years now.
Chris: I got involved in Liminality, Cthulhu Dreamt’s second album, probably a couple of years ago now. But I’ve been playing music since I was about eight – although I didn’t exactly take it seriously until much later. (Sorry, middle school clarinet teacher.)
4. What three words would you use to describe the music you play?
Reed: Connected, spacey, feeling
Ben: Heavy, emotional, storytelling
Nate: Metalcore, Deathcore, NWOAHM
Jake: Proggy, conceptual, and heavy!
Chris: In Cthulhu Dreamt: progressive, heavy, meaningful.
5. What are your musical influences?
Reed: Mastodon, Hans Zimmer, Lagwagon, Starset, Deftones, John Powell, Igorrr Ben: Royal Blood, Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Rage against the Machine, Audioslave, Nate: Unearth, Tool, Lamb of God, Whitechaple, Killswitch Engage, Zakk Wylde
Jake: Opeth, At The Gates, and Emperor are probably my biggest 3.
Chris: For Cthulhu Dreamt it’s Meshuggah, Gojira, Mick Gordon, Leprous, a lot of djent. Elsewhere, Reed and I (as Cedarstone) make stuff that’s more like Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter – so a bit of a mix!
6. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen during a show?
Reed: Rammstein and all the phallic stuff they did in their old shows. I guess it’s not really weird compared to what’s out there now, but back in the 90s it was eye opening.
Ben: I saw a dude lick the neck of the person standing in front of them at a Xavier Rudd concert once. No, they were not together.
Nate: Gwar once walked a lifesize Michael Jackson doll on stage, “penetrated” it in half with a giant strap on sword, and it sprayed goo all over the crowd.
Jake: I haven’t seen a whole lot of weird things at shows before, but I will say the Screeching Weasel and Dwarves show I went to as a kid was infinitely more violent than any metal show I’ve ever been to. Chris: The last Rammstein gig I saw involved a puppet in a giant baby pram being set on fire and gradually melting, so probably that.
7. Being away from the stages in the last few years, where was the first place you visited when the restrictions were lifted?
Reed: I think the first major thing I did was see Opeth and Mastodon on their tour. Ben: I saw the Broadway Tour of Frozen, lol.
Nate: I went and saw Weezer and Green Day at Target Field.
Jake: I’m definitely a homebody so I didn’t rush out once everything opened back up. I think my first real outing was an Amorphis show.
Chris: I’ve never actually toured! I’m the sole UK-based member of the group, so I’ve not even met the others in person. More widely, though, I don’t even remember. I spent a lot of lockdown seeking out nature nearby where nobody else would go, and that just kinda hasn’t changed.
8. What’s the one record you own but wouldn’t ever admit to owning?
Reed: I don’t really feel shame about tastes. And to be honest, I think for anyone who knows me, there wouldn’t be anything in my collection that was a surprise to them.
Ben: Oops, I Did It Again – Britney Spears
Nate: No shame in my game, but I do get alot of greif when people find out I have albums by En Vogue Jake: I own a record called Picnic of Love by a band who I’ll just abbreviate to A.C. It may be the worst album ever recorded and I love it for that.
Chris: I still have a copy of the Smurfs album.
9. What have you been listening in the last few weeks?
Reed: well, I went to the record store and heard Belmont being played, so I’m diving into that. Otherwise, I’ve been listening to Sleep Token, and the God of War: Ragnarok OST.
Ben: Jurassic Park Theme, by Galactic Empire; HATEFUCK, by Pussy Riot and Slayyyter; The Batman, by Michael Giacchino
Nate: Make Them Suffer – all of their albums have been on constant repeat since about August. They are that good.
Jake: Everything Everything put out Raw Data Feel a year ago and I’m still constantly listening to it. Chris: A lot of ambient stuff – lots of contemporary indie artists, and also going back to some old Brian Eno tracks.
10. Are there any releases you have planned in the near future?
Reed: For sure! We’ve teamed up with a game development company and are launching a Kickstarter for the Cthulhu Dreamt TTRPG, which will include a massive soundtrack full of new music, and we’re so hyped on that! Also, once that concludes, we immediately begin work on the thing I think we’re all getting super excited about: our third album!
Nate: Yeah… lets just say – It has begun. Chris: I think Reed’s got this one!
Check out Cthulhu Dreamt’s latest release, ‘Precursor’ below.
Almost Anything Music 