CULT AFFECTIONS - THE ENVENOM SERIES
Annsley “AJ” Jennings - @annsleymedia
If you’re tired of listening to the same repetitive shit and you’re craving something new and kickass, look no further. Cult Affections is a band based out of Houston, Texas, and they possess a powerful and alternative edge that is a must to hear.
The band recently released an EP back in October of 2023 titled The Envenom Series that consists of six songs
Sorry Charlie (An Intro)
Everybody’s Sick
Guillotine (Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell)
Sidewalk Diving Team (You Were in my Dreams Last Night)
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Fly on Friday
Generally speaking, I loved every individual song; each one was unique in its own way that helped contribute to the overall ambience of The Envenom Series (my personal favorite would have to be Fly on Friday due to its haunting sound, though). I got the chance to speak with front-man Grant Varner in regard to the EP and the music as a whole and to say it was eye-opening would be an understatement.
AJ: How did your band start? How long has it been around?
GRANT: Things got kicked off way back in high school when myself and our old guitarist met in Boy Scouts. We bonded while jamming to My Chemical Romance songs on acoustic guitar over several camping trips. Eventually, we started writing our own material (which was shamelessly MCR inspired), and as we were both huge fans, that's kind of the wall we bounced off of. Then we recruited the other guys over time. Our other guitarist tagged along after he and I met through the "Rock Band" club at our preppy as hell high school. We'd put on these shows for the whole school during lunch period out in the courtyard. It was so fun but stupid because we were basically assigned to these jam bands with random people who could play whatever sort of instrument. In our group there were just two guitarists, no bassist, a guy who couldn't really sing that stellar, a guy who couldn't really drum that great either, and another dude on electric ukulele. It was a total clusterfuck, but it was fun. Finally, I met our drummer when I played guitar in our school's jazz band. I couldn't actually play guitar - I never practiced and the volume was turned down for every show - but he was one hell of a drummer.
AJ: How did you choose your band name?
GRANT: We were playing around with some new names when we were ready to get rid of the old one. One day, I was watching an episode of Boy Meets World about cults. We initially wanted to do something similar to the episode title, which was "Cult Fiction," but then our bassist came up with Cult Affections, which sounded sexier and more mysterious. Subsequently, it actually meant a lot towards the kind of messages we would convey in our material, so it began to make sense.
AJ: What genre of music would you say your band falls under?
GRANT: We've been compared to a lot of bands that we never listened to initially, like Placebo or Interpol. But off the cuff we usually just say Alt-Rock/Hard-Rock/Post-Punk/Post-Hardcore, etc. Those genre names blanket so many bands and artists and can mean so many different things, but that's the most digestible way to call us. There's so many labels on sound these days, and we paint with pretty broad strokes. I'd personally love to see what kind of niche box a hardcore music-head would label us as. Or maybe we're complete posers to those genres…who knows?
AJ: Who are your influences?
GRANT: Like I said, we paint in pretty broad strokes. Despite what the sound is, personal influences have ranged literally anywhere from Elvis, The Cure, and Oingo Boingo to Korn, Kenrick Lamar; and Nine Inch Nails. Some of those sounds might not even be obvious in our work, but I promise something from each of them is somewhere.
AJ: What is next for your band after the tour?
GRANT: The little Texas tour we went on this summer was actually a super huge step. Using that experience, the goal now is to keep hitting the road and expanding a bit each time. First going across the bottom South, then maybe a couple states North, then out West, etc. In the meantime of ironing things out for that next move, there's a lot of fun things that are still happening behind the scenes that we haven't made social media privy to yet.
AJ: Please explain your creative process.
GRANT: You know how you get into an argument with somebody and you only think of the things you should've said after the fact when you're in the shower? Taking those bits of hindsight and frustration and putting them on top of music is how a lot of things have come to fruition and, in a way, feels like having a better comeback prepared. Additionally, if I have a certain musical idea, whether it's actually of substance or not, I swear; I get absolutely one-track minded and HAVE TO get it down before being able to move on to anything else. Writing certain parts of a song for me is like finally being able to scratch a stupid itch on that unreachable part of my upper back that's been ruining my whole day.
AJ: How is playing live and writing music in the studio connected?
GRANT: Well in short, in the studio you get to screw up as many times as your heart desires, but playing live you've just got the one shot to get shit right. In both experiences, there's always the disgruntled sound guy with the scraggly beard there to yell at you for fucking with the equipment a certain way.
AJ: What do you like to do outside of music that contributes to your musicality?
GRANT: Each of us have always had an array of outside interests that help the creative gears go round. The band was definitely founded upon the love and appreciation of comic books and horror movies. Personally, I love to watch silent era Avant-Garde films like Nosferatu or Faust synced up to 80's snyth-wave soundtracks... and I also enjoy cooking occasionally.
AJ: How did you come up with the name of the EP?
GRANT: So, I get this Webster's "Word of the Day" email that shares fun words with their definitions, origins, etc. One day, this word "envenom" caught my attention because I thought it sounded cool and very MCR-y... It's a fun little part of my morning, learning new/weird words, but my memory retention in this department is usually kind of crap. However; I'm quite proud to recall this one means "the process of slowly putting poison into." Instantly, I felt it connected to the main theme of the EP - over time as you grow older; go out, and live life, you gain experiences that can leave a nasty impact; over time, these experiences "poison" a good soul, potentially turning someone into a very pessimistic, resentful, begrudging individual. Each track on the EP tells a story based on indirect or direct experiences that would "poison" anyone's heart over time. You can't choose what type of shit happens in life, but you can choose how you react and rally from it, so this EP concludes with that notion as well.
AJ: How would you describe this EP and what does this EP mean to you?
GRANT: While the songs on this EP aren't exactly a representation of where we currently are in our musical lives, the work now serves as a triumphant time-capsule of sorts. It arguably has got a very juvenile sound, as these tracks and even the lyrics were first conceived way back in our late high school and early college days. So, even though all of our musical tastes have matured and changed since then, this EP perfectly encapsulates a very specific time in our lives including our influences, our musical skills, our relationships with each other; our relationships with other people, and so on. Not to mention, it was a bitch and a half to complete due to some of us living in different states for college, having difficult recording experiences, and various bits of drama in each of our personal lives. The completion and release of this project was long overdue, and feels like a proud triumph against all sorts of BS we were faced with from the start.
AJ: What do you hope your music does for people?
GRANT: Musically we've kind of prided ourselves on creating what we want to hear or maybe what we feel like is missing in today's sound as opposed to what we think people would want to hear or what's currently super popular. That in mind, hopefully it provides people with something different than what's found in the local scenes these days. It's totally cool if all that's someone else's cup of tea - this afternoon it's just not really ours.
Beyond that, as far as a potential "message" that listeners could pick up on (if all goes according to the blue-print), our material hopefully inspires more independent thinkers. Which is kind of funny, because I believe today everyone wants to be different, but they go about it all in the exact same way. It's like if you follow a nicely formatted checklist of what sort of things to believe in (religious, political, etc.), who to surround yourself with, who to love, who to hate, then that gives you some sort of "coolness" certification.
But, ew, c'mon.
Just because today's idea of coolness is different from 20 years ago doesn't mean that there isn't still some sort of weird mob mentality amongst youngins today. It's like, "Do you know what you're even doing?" In a world full of diversity, at the same time we love to paint things in black and white. Hopefully, people can take our little social narrative and run with it in a promising direction.
AJ: Anything you want to say to your fans?
GRANT: Hell yeah. Whoever our fans are, wherever you are... All 6 of you..maybe 7. Don't take shit from anyone, but don't be a dingus either. Luv ya lots.
Cult Affections is a kick-ass band I would definitely recommend listening to, as they are on the up-and-up.
