Blasting Your Ears with Wrench In The Works

Wrench In The Works play a sonic brand of progressive noise mixed by the extremities of metal, and they do it all for the Lord.  One of the most exciting bands on the scene today, fans of Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan are sure to thrill in the choatic compositions this band has to offer.  With a new CD entitled Decrease / Increase just being unleashed through the folks at Facedown Records, the Wrench guys are now ready to tour.  Expect them to take it on the road and show up in your hometown to blast some eardrums into oblivion.  Here is a recent interview we conducted with one of the Wrench members…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Wrench In The Works, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Andy and I play drums! This incarnation of the band has been around since 2005 or so. Although under various line ups we have been playing under the name Wrench in the Works on and off since about 1998.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We are based out of Hartford, CT or as it’s called the “heartbeat”. The music scene is kind of dead as of lately. There is definitely a hardcore/metal scene but it’s not as strong as it used to be a few years ago. We haven’t had a consistent venue to hold shows at and in general kids in CT are flaky and come and go too often.

Is there any story or concept behind the CD title Decrease / Increase?
In a nut shell John the Baptist was sent to preach of the coming of the Messiah Jesus Christ. Once Jesus started his ministry John said speaking of himself that “he mush decrease so Christ could increase”. So we took that basic concept of us dying to ourselves and decreasing so Christ could increase in our lives. We as humans are flawed in our sinful nature and we can try and try to do things right in life on our own and we will always fail but through Jesus we can do anything and truly live the Life God wants to bless us with. We just need to be willing to decrease and that’s not always easy.

Who is the creep being purged on Purge The Creep?
Too be honest there is no creep behind the song; the song is about living for Jesus and pushing forward no matter what. So maybe the creep is our own self.

Where did you get some of the ideas for the lyrics? Please select two songs from the current CD and what the lyrics are about?
Darrell our singer writes all the lyrics. He really feels like God lays certain subject matter on his heart or gives him inspiration on certain subjects. We have a song called Walk Amongst The Tombstones and that song is about losing a very close friend to Heroin addiction. Watching that friend go from a vibrant person full of light and hope and seeing him turn to darkness as Satan got a hold of him and used his addiction to ruin his life.
There is another song called Project AK-47 which was inspired by a ministry from TN called Project AK-47. Basically what the ministry is about and what the song was inspired by is child trafficking in Southeast Asia. There are over 300,000 child soldiers kidnapped, orphaned or manipulated unjustly and put into armies and taught to fight at ages as young as 7. Fighting in drug cartels or government based armies. And Project AK-47 raises awareness and money to help save these kids. For only $7 you can save a kid.  When you think about it, we spend more on lunch in a day then it costs to save a kids life,  so after hearing about this we felt a Godly calling to spread awareness as a band.

How often do you hear people say things like, “I can’t believe you’re a Christian band” because of how brutal your music is?
We get it a lot, like “How can that screaming be praising Jesus”, but it really doesn’t bother us and it’s to be expected; some people just are not going to get it or agree with it. But we see Jesus work through us and our music and when we see that we know we’re on the right path. There is a generation that can be changed through hardcore and metal music and it’s our great commission to do so.

Whose ideas was it to have a skeleton on the cover of your CD and why the scary imagery?
Dave Quiggle did the artwork and he came up with the concept after talking with us about lyrical ideas, concept behind the record and what was going on with the band at the time. Cause we had lost a major member (our original guitar player) and has gained 2 new guitar players in replacement of him.

Have you played here in the Los Angeles area before or do you plan to do so in the future?
We have toured a lot through the area, playing places like the Knitting Factory or places in Orange County like the Glasshouse. And we are praying that we make it out that way very soon. Being from CT, although our state is awesome, it’s not as amazing as California so we try and make as many stops out that way as possible.

What could one expect from a live Wrench In The Works show?
Five smelly dudes ready to rip your face off with riffs, drums and the Holy Spirit.

How do you feel about fans or listeners who really like your music but may not necessarily be Christians?
By all means if you dig us, please listen! In no way do we want to limit our audience. And let’s be honest - being Christians, we really want to reach kids who don’t believe so if we can impact them in a positive way and God can use us and our music, then praise the Lord.

What was the experience like performing at Stillborn Fest and did you get to meet Hatebreed and Crowbar?
Stillborn Fest is always an awesome time. We have played on and off for a few years now and it’s always a good time and the crowd is always pumped up. We have known the guys in Hatebreed for over 15 or so years, growing up in the CT hardcore scene with them. And unfortunately we did not meet Crowbar although they are EPIC and classic!

What did Thom Green of Sleeping Giant contribute to the new album?
Tommy did a guest spot on a song called Death Slayer – it’s a slower and heavier song on the record and we just thought his vocals would sound awesome on it. He has a very anointed voice and his tone and placement is just great. Funny story, we actually met up with him while SG was on tour, we drove from CT to New Jersey and brought a traveling studio, power converters and all and he recorded his vocals in the back of a Forester. Who says punks dead, cause that was pretty freakin punk!

What advice would you give a new band about to tour on their own for the very first time?
Be humble and play your heart out no matter if 5 kids show up to the show or 5000. It’s important to give your all no matter what.

Any messages for fans and/or for those checking out your music for the very first time?
We appreciate you taking time to check us out. Please check out our new record Decrease/Increase out on Facedown Records March 16th!

(Interview by Kenneth Morton)

Wrench In The Works on Myspace