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SPOTLIGHT ON KILLSHOT By Randy Chandler Killshot For the members of the crushing Tri-city outfit KILLSHOT, 2002 has been a very interesting year, adding another step in their slow climb out of obscurity and into the limelight. May saw the quintet land Review Magazine's Best Metal/Thrash Band award, putting them in the grand company of past winners Aceldama, OX45, and The Miscreants. "That was a shock," commented bassist Seth Montana, "because The Miscreants are so hugely popular in Saginaw we never thought we'd get it." The next opportunity to prove themselves to a wider audience came when they were tapped to open for ex-Ugly Kid Joe vocalist Whitfield Crane's new group, Medication, at the Empire in Bay City. Torrey Lefrance, who served on the tech crew for that gig recalls, "In my opinion, Killshot were every bit as good as the headliner, and they kicked the crap out of the opening act that Medication brought with them. Those guys really stepped up to the plate." Indeed, in performance Killshot are one of the most ferocious live bands this area has turned out in many a year. Backed by the balls-out bass work of Montana and the incredible percussive wunderkind Jake Cristoforo, featuring the heavier-than-thou riffing of guitarist Dallas Knapp and the otherworldly sounds of guitarist Bob McComb, and fronted by the inimitable vocal stylings of Jay Clayton, Killshot manage to be every bit as heavy as their aforementioned local peers while retaining a strong sense of melodic accessibility that is sometimes sorely lacking in that genre. "When we started this thing," Montana explained, "it was right as bands like Limp Bizkit were getting popular. I wanted that kind of rock/hip hop thing. I wanted it to be angry and powerful, but it needed to groove. Recording for the group's latest disc began in Autumn 2000 at High Concept Studios. It was a grueling two-year process beset with blessings masqueraded as catastrophe. The initial sessions went fairly well and despite limitations of an 8-track ADAT format, the group seemed pleased with the results and considered it a marked improvement over previous recordings. All was well and it looked like the band had a great recording to shop around. But just as they were prepared to mix the tracks, the foreign made recording machine took a dump - with Killshot's master tape firmly loodged inside. It didn't help matters that the manufacturer was in Chapter 11 at the time, so warranty repair work was out of the question. As High Concept moved into new digs in Saginaw Township, the group recorded a short 3-song EP so they would have something to tide their following over until the full-length product was finished. It also served as a means to break-in new drummer Cristoforo, whom the band had found after extensive auditions following the departure of original drummer Ross Kolb, who left to focus more time on his side band, A Janis Thesis. "Man, this kid is bad," McComb enthused to me on the phone prior to the recording session. "I can't believe someone so young could play so tight!" "I've been playing since I was a little kid," explains Jake. "My dad got me into it. He's extremely supportive." Cristoforo also influenced the band's collective meter by urging the whole group to practice along to the marshall click-click-click of a metronome. "It made us UNBELIEVEABLY tighter as a band," confirms Seth. "I'd recommend it to anyone." When session began for the third try at recording, that tightness was self-evident. The band evolved into a world-class killing machine, freeing up McComb, in particular, to conjure to a plethora of odd tones from his new rig. "We'd done some shows with that band called Tribal Tracktion, and their guitarist had some awesome tones. I ended up getting the same kind of rig as him, and it's all over this recording. But there was still something missing. I was happy with my tone, but I knew I could improve on it. I was kinda bummed that it didn't get represented properly on the recording." McComb needn't have worried. For just as the mixdown began, the limits of technology reared its ugly head once again. "The hard drive crashed in our new recorder," says Lefrance, who served as engineer on the fourth and final set of sessions. "It was like, "OH NO! Not Again! I wanted to kill something it was so frustrating. But we had to start all over again because we owed it to them, which didn't bother me because I love these guys and their songs kick ass." It was a beautiful day when the members of Killshot left High Concept with their finished master. The CD will be available October 10th. "Y',now, we went through a lot to get this finished," McComb says, waxing philosophic. "But this is the best thing we've done and I'm proud of it and I finally nailed the tone I wanted. If we had gotten to finish the first recording, then Jake wouldn't have been on it. My tone and all our sounds in general wouldn't have come out so well, and we wouldn't have the new songs that are on it. So in a weird, twisted way, it all worked out for the best."
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