Dennis Merrick

To The Death is Earth Crisis' 8th studio recording and the first in as many years. Our approach to this record was quite a bit different than our previous releases - partially on purpose and partially out of necessity. Although everyone in the band (Karl Buechner on vocals, Scott Crouse and Erick Edwards on guitars, and Ian Edwards on bass) is still committed to our friendships and to the same beliefs that fueled Earth Crisis - that of the Vegan Straight Edge lifestyle, which eschews the use and consumption of drugs and animal products - our lives have taken some turns that have moved us all over the country. Erick and Karl are still in Syracuse, NY; Ian is in Charlotte, North Carolina; Scott is in Southern California; and I am in Buffalo, NY. In the past, we always wrote the music together, bouncing ideas off one another, coming together with drum or guitar parts or lyrical ideas and building songs from there. With To The Death, we all developed ideas on our own and came together only a few times to put them together into a coherent record. This made the writing and pre-production process happen together. We only had a few rehearsal sessions together at my home in Buffalo before we started tracking, so we would come together with ideas, record what we had so far, then listen to the tracks and come together for the next session with new ideas.

We started out with about 18 song ideas and cut out the ones that were not right or strong enough for the record. Scott?s ideas were the strongest and most developed, so most of the songs are a result of his efforts. He has a studio at his home in California, complete with the tools to create drum tracks. His songs were the most complete; and since he loves double bass, they had a lot of parts I couldn't play initially as they weren't really my style. These same parts truly helped me develop as a drummer though, which is a great thing to happen in the process of writing a record. I have always been more of a chops-based player and never spent a lot of time developing my feet. The writing and tracking of To The Death changed that and I am incredibly happy with the outcome. Once I developed my feet to the point where I could play the parts the way I wanted to and the way the music required, I added my own style to the drum parts and made them my own.

We tracked the record at Castle Recording Studio in Utica, NY. This is an incredible studio. The room was designed by John Storyk and is housed in a converted church, complete with large, open spaces and high ceilings, which helped to create that huge, open sound when needed. We self-produced it and Matt Wagner from Castle engineered it. The result was the incredible sounds we got with my set-up. Most importantly, I used a stick that I can depend on not breaking in the middle of a great take - Vater 2B woods. These sticks have the feel, performance and durability I need as an aggressive rock drummer. I played on my Pearl Masters Custom kit which is a 6 piece all maple kit with a 22"x18" kick, 12"x10" and 14"x12" toms, and 16"x16" and 18"x16" floor toms. I used both a 14"x6.5" Pearl Masters Custom Maple snare and a 14"x6.5" Pearl Brass Free Floater. I use a mix of AAX and HHX Sabian cymbals; and I just got a new ride that I love which is a Sabian Signature Paragon 22" Ride. While many drummers are going with smaller drums with fewer pieces, I am going the opposite way. I believe that the more drums I have, the more options I have in what I play.

The sounds were great without any EQ; but the final sounds are all due to the genius of Tue Madsen, who mixed the record. He has a wonderful set of ears and used them to their fullest potential on To The Death. The end result, I believe, is our best release to date. Sonically, it far surpasses any of our previous releases. I feel that, with the writing, even though it has been 8 years since our last studio release, this sounds like an Earth Crisis record written and recorded in 2008 while still sticking to the core of our band's sound. I hope you all enjoy it as well when it comes out in May 2009.

- Dennis Merrick (Earth Crisis)
www.myspace.com/earthcrisis

Dennis Merrick uses the Vater 2B in Wood Tip.