Misanthropic slaughter by US thrashers Hemoptysis is one of the best thrash debuts we have heard for a while, we spoke to main man Masaki to find out more about Phoenix’s hottest musical export.
How did Hemoptysis come together ?
Masaki: I moved to Phoenix from Seattle, WA in the end of 2006 and started searching for band members.
I met the drummer, Travis, in early 2007 through a mutual friend and we started jamming together shortly after. That’s how we started. Bassist Sunao Arai joined us in February 2008. We had several guitarist changes and Ryan Miller joined us in January, 2010.
How did you come up with the name ? I had a real Ewww moment when I looked it up
Masaki: (laughs) Travis’ wife is a pharmacist that specializes in infectious diseases. We were stuck on what to call ourselves. We wanted something that no one else had and that had a very intense meaning. She suggested a few medical terms and Hemoptysis sounded the best and it had a great meaning, “coughing up blood.”
How would you describe the music you play ?
Masaki: All of us have different influences and backgrounds that make our music sound different and unique. There is an old school vibe in the music with thrash and death metal riffing and melodies.
Our lead guitarist, Ryan Miller, (who is also in a death metal band called Excessive Bleeding) describes our style as “Buffet of Metal.”
Hemoptysis have a fast, highly technical style, who would you say were your biggest influences ?
Masaki: I write the riffs, mainly, and I think the biggest influence is Megadeth since they are the reason why I picked up the guitar.
One thing that sets you guys apart from the competition is the vocals, has it taken long to develop your own style ?
Masaki: Surprisingly, not really. I honestly never wanted or planned to sing in this band and we had a different singer before we recorded the “Who Needs A Shepherd?” EP. However, he decided to leave and we were trying to find a replacement, yet we couldn’t find the right guy. I was just playing around at rehearsal one day and Travis loved how I sounded and I decided to do double duty. I hated it at first since I can’t move around on stage as much as I wanted to, but now I love it!
The album seems to have been pretty well received, happy with the reviews ?
Masaki: Absolutely! We have over 25 positive reviews for “Misanthropic Slaughter,” as of now, and we are very proud of it. “Misanthropic Slaughter” is set to release on March 8th and we are taking pre-orders worldwide right now at www.misanthropicslaughter.com .
You’ve twice been voted Metal artist of the year by the Phoenix Music Awards, that must have been quite something ?
Masaki: Yes. It definitely helps us get the name out there. It also helped me to obtain my visa to stay in US legally as an artist. It is extremely hard to get a visa to stay in US to do music nowadays. I am very proud of it and happy about being able to do what I love.
What’s the metal scene like in Phoenix, was there much competition 
) ?
Masaki: There are many great bands out here and it seems like it’s getting more competitive recently.
We are definitely trying our best to stand out.
There seems to be quite a buzz building round the band, what are the next steps ?
Masaki: We would love to tour though it is extremely tough to do being an unsigned band. We will keep pushing hard and we hope to tour worldwide in the near in the future.
If you could tour with any band, which one would it be ?
Masaki: There are so many but to name a few: Megadeth, Slayer, Carcass, Testament, and Exodus.
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