Thanks a lot.  It's nice chatting with you as well.  And thanks for the amazing review of the new album! Strange days indeed! The bad news is it's no mystery the states haven't handled the corona thing too terribly well.  The good news is the band and their families are all healthy and well. I hope the same goes for you and yours.  If not Black Tractor is selling corona vaccines online. $99.99.  They come in suppository form, menthol and plain.

Black Tractor formed from the ashes of a band called Bagg which dissolved in 2002.  Myself, rhythm guitarist Rock High and drummer Tungsten Steele all came from Bagg. Rock High mixes sound in pretty much every venue in Cincinnati so he knows just about every musician in town.   The rest of the guys were cherry picked from the Cincinnati music scene.  A couple guys have quit and we've fired a few folks, but that's always been our process.  Were fortunate in the fact we've been around so long we know just about everyone and most local musicians are familiar with the band.  Some previous bands the guys have played in are the aforementioned Bagg, Arapyma and Helifino.

The original idea for the band was to create a new genre called farm metal.  We planned to write songs about hoof disease and milking cows.  We were going to wear carhardts on stage and have chickens roaming throughout the venue while we played.  But alas, the carhardts were too hot under the stage lights and bar owners frowned on the poo the chickens left behind.  So we kept the agricultural name, while the band went in a different direction thematically.

Lead guitarist El Sid and myself came up with the concept.  The artwork was designed and created by El Sid.  Stylistically we tried to create the look of VHS Horror movies from the 80's.  The golden years of video stores.  The pig image is meant to represent Mary Bradbury.  Mary was jailed and sentenced to die in 1692 for witchcraft in Salem.  She escaped and eluded authorities until the witch trials had been discredited.  Townfolks at the time believed she transformed into a giant blue pig and terrorized the town after nightfall.  They also thought she sunk supply ships en route to Salem via witchcraft.  After the trials she returned home and lived until 1700, when she died at 85 years of age.

I really listen to a wide range of stuff.  I can't take too much new country.  I do think heavier music is where a lot of creativity manifests.  I think I'm pretty typical for a music junkie my age.  Lots of Ween, Mr. Bungle…stuff a bit left of centre.  I also really enjoy singer songwriter stuff as well.  John Prine and Townes Van Zandt sorta stuff.  I was super bummed when Covid-19 took John Prine.  Lately I've been digging into Richard and Linda Thompson's catalogue.  "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" is an amazing record.

I've been fiddling around with home recording as long as I can remember.  Endless 4 track cassettes in my closet probably go back to the mid 80's.  I play guitar a bit.  Mainly just chords to sketch out a song.  I'll call the bandmates when it's time to solo.  I can't solo for shit.  My goals on our future albums is to do some more melodic vocals.  Hopefully I can do that and maintain my angry metal vocalist street cred!

Yes.

We've already got 5 or 6 demos fleshed out for the new album.  Stuff we've recorded at home and emailed the files back and forth during the corona lock down.  I'm pretty excited about the new stuff. I can't wait to record them properly.  It's gonna slam!

For sure.  It seems like a pretty far off thing right now, but when things start up again we'll be in all the shithole clubs that'll have us.  Drinking and causing hearing loss.    Touring can be tough because were all saddled with day jobs.   We've discussed long weekend types of mini tours.  We'll just see what opportunities arise when the Covid stuff passes.

That changes all the time.  A few songs seem to consistently go over well with the audience.  The Thief And the Trumpet is always fun.  And Not Now off our 2nd full length LP, "Applaud My Friends, The Comedy Is Over" is always pretty rocking as well.

That song was inspired by a caller I heard on a radio show.  He claimed he had a demon living in his previous home that his grandfather had invited in via drinking and spousal abuse.  So one night he wakes up and the demon is sitting at the foot of his bed.  He's terrified so he tries to wake his wife up but he can't rouse her. I'm assuming she woke up the next morning completely fine. A funny sidebar to that story is the caller gave the actual address of the house in the call.  I was nearby so I drove past the house.  It was a nice little house with a garden out front.  A grey haired old lady was tending the flowers.  She didn't look too traumatized by any demon so I'm guessing he moved out.  Ha!

I write all the lyrics so thank you!  I put alot of thought into them and it's nice someone appreciates them.  I was jazzed to finally include a lyric sheet on the CD and vinyl editions of the album.  It was the first time we've had enough space to include them..

People always bring up early CLUTCH so that's always been an influence.  GOJIRA's name has come up a time or two when were writing.  We actually have a few riffs we call SCISSORFIGHT riffs.  SCISSORFIGHT is a band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire who write some giant riffs.   And of course BLACK SABBATH cast a long shadow!.

My hope is we continue to write and record and play shows.  Noone really is trying to be a rock star.  We're truly in it for the creative rewards it allows us.  Hopefully we'll have a nice discography when we throw in the towel. I don't see us stopping anytime soon.  We miss playing shows but love writing and recording as well. Everybody is in the band for the right reasons so I'd imagine we'd just keep playing shows and writing records.  There's no reason for us to stop.