Sophomore Jinx with Alltar

Let's go out to Portland, Oregon. It's a great city, I presume, and they've got some kick ass music. 

Today, we're checking in with Alltar before their new album drops next month.

Wanna preview their brand of doom metal? Good.

Here's some BANDCAMP for ya if you've gotta get those preorders in.

1. There is nothing more awkward than sophomore year of high school. Tell me about your circle of friends.

Sophomore year of high school is a memory stretcher for me.  But what I do know it that I had one close friend who I spent all my time with.  We would do everything together. 

We were not in any of the social groups as core friend members, but we were friendly with all the different cliches, and would hang out with the various cliches at one point or another. 

But it was always me and my best friend together, exploring new music, hanging out, trying to learn to play guitar, and spending a lot of time together [Tim]

2. By this time in my life, I'd given up on all extracurriculars in my school. Tell me about how you spent your afternoons.

Mostly, riding around on my friend truck enjoying the freedom of not being stuck with how far I could go on my bike or walking. 

I grew up in the suburbs in a neighborhood that was not within walking distance of anything, and the roads are not very bike friendly. 

It was a lot of trying to find spot to smoke weed where we would not get hassled by the cops, lol [Tim]

3. During this time is when I finally discovered Pink Floyd. I had a copy of The Wall on cassette. It was a grey one. That album was my escape. Let's hear about your favorite album from back then. What format was it on?

It is funny you mention Pink Floyd and The Wall, because a lot of my friends and peers at the time were really getting into the Grateful Dead. 

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I prefered Pink Floyd.  I had a lot of cassettes at the time, one of which was Dark Side of the Moon.  One of the first times we dropped acid, I remember listening to Dark Side on this rather modest all in one boom box. 

For the whole album, my jaw was on the floor as the most amazing sounds came out of the jukebox.  The other tape I had was We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll, the Sabbath Greatest Hits album. 

I played that tape so much that all the printing was worn off and the tape literally got stretch so it was practically unlistenable.  [Tim]

4. What was the name of your high school and did you have a favorite class?

Tuscaloosa County High School was where I went to school.  My favorite class was probably AP social studies. 

It was the college prep class so it was much more interesting because the work was at a high level and everyone in the class were the kind of student heading to college.  I learned a lot in that class.  [Tim]

5. How did your school's football team do that season?

Hard for me to remember, Football was of course a huge social event at the high school, so everyone would be at the games.  I would go to the games for the social aspects, but never really cared a whole lot about the football. 

I am guessing we probably won most of the games because football was the sports program that got all the attention and money.  Most of my sports experience like this don’t stick with me, I enjoyed watching and attending in the moment, but was not deeply invested in the team.

6. What instrument were you playing at that time?

I had an electric guitar and amp but didn’t really play it seriously.  Partly it was because I was terrible.  Partly my gear was not terribly good. 

Before that I was learning how to play drums, but that was difficult for my family (lol).  I started off on the piano.  Guitar was the one I stuck with over the years, when I was in college and after graduation.  [Tim]