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Getting to Know Portland's Rustmine
By Robin Steeley

Rustmine is a band with a newly solidified line-up featuring massive drums and aching vocals mixed with intermittent screams tied together by the crunchy metal guitar and a thudding low end bass. This band is poised to bring a new sound to the local music scene. I decided to feature Rustmine after seeing them at a local venue where they put on an impressive set in front of a huge crowd for their second live show ever. Don't let their newness fool you; each of these musicians has paid their dues in former bands that have been popular staples of the Portland music scene including the mighty Anger Management, Pongoo and Patient 29. Gathering in their practice space, the band runs through their set with as much energy as if they were playing in front of a sold out crowd. Afterwards, we sat down, and between bursts of hysterical laughter, we talked about the future of the band.

Crave: Tell me a little about the early formation of the band.
RM: Josh and Jay started jamming back in 2003 and we started messing around with the idea of putting a band together. I used to work with Matt and even though he was a guitar player he jumped in on bass and started jamming with us. We tried out various people for vocals and drums that didn't work out, then we found Tracy and that's when things really started for Rustmine. We got our songs together and were auditioning singers and we had a few good people but nothing felt right until we finally found Sam. We played our first show in July at the Aladdin Theater.

Crave: Has your overall sound changed since you got Sam and the new lineup?
RM: The last few songs have really changed us a lot. Tracy turned us into a metal band. We were more rock before, until Tracy came along. He would tell us lets speed it up, lets make it heavier. If you had heard the band back in the day you probably wouldn't be here.

Crave: Where did you record at?
RM: Northern Lights studio in Vancouver, Washington. It was good times. We recorded it in one day! Tracy and Matt deserve the credit for that, they went through most of their songs in one take.

Crave: Do you have any before-show rituals?
RM: There's a lot of nervous pooing. We wreck the bathroom. Sometimes we stretch and do jazzercise in the hallway.

Crave: What's the writing process like? How do you put together the music?
RM: Usually a riff gets started and a lot of the songs are kind of written on the spot. All the ones in the past were different. We have written a few songs since I have been in the band and it started off with someone would come up with a riff then Tracy would jump on it and fit the drums into it. Then the other pieces would just fall into place and by the end of practice the song would be finished. When Sam came it really glued it all together.

Crave: Tell me how you would describe the band's overall sound.
RM: The best way to describe it would be just American melodic metal. We offer everything we can so people can feel the music.

Crave: What are your long term goals as a band?
RM: We just want to support ourselves by making music and doing what we love. We want to show our music to the world. (Tracy) I've had so many bad experiences with all the years in Anger Management and it ended up as a bunch of shit on dreams. It never stopped me, what happens, happens. I'm just a little more cautious now.

Crave: If a record company offered you a deal in the next week, would you be able to go?
RM: As long as we could make our house payments we would go. We can't lose everything. I don't want to lose what I have worked so hard for. You can always go out and get another job, but a house is a different story. To be able to do what I love and sustain a living would be the sweetest thing.

Crave: You have the demo; you're booking shows, what's in the immediate future for Rustmine?
RM: We want every show to be twice as full as the previous. We want a full length CD as soon as we are able, and we want to keep writing music. This is the final line-up, but we are still evolving as a band. Our writing style, our goals, our approach, everything has changed. It's only going to get better from here; we have a long way to go but we're headed in the right direction.

For more information about Rustmine go to www.rustmine.com or www.myspace.com/rustmine.