Formed in their teenage years by Diamond Rowe and Josh Fore, Tetrarch continues to create their own path and tear down industry barriers with songs that are everything from heavy and electrifying to dark and melodic. What’s truly special about them though is their dedication to their craft, their appreciation for their fans, and the relatability of their music. Despite COVID-19’s affect on the music industry, Tetrarch has still managed to connect with listeners through their music. In less than 2 months, Tetrarch’s “I’m Not Right” reached 1 million views on Youtube and it’s still growing. I sat down with the band’s guitarist, Diamond Rowe, to talk about the new single and their upcoming album.
VV: Congratulations on the release of “I’m Not Right.” The single is incredible and it’s received a lot of positive feedback from fans and the industry alike. What’s things been like for you since its release?
DR: It’s been awesome. I know it was interesting because of just the quarantine, the virus, everything that’s been going on. It was kind of a weird time and we weren’t sure when we should put it out. We finished the record in February and we were planning on a summer release so when everything happened and everything shut down, it kind of pushed plans back a little bit. We weren’t sure how it would be releasing the first single during this time but we decided to go ahead and do it and it’s actually been really, really good.
I mean like you said, the reception has been awesome. Opportunities are starting to pop up even though we’re not able to tour yet and all that kind of stuff. We’re just kind of setting ourselves up really well for when touring and everything starts back up so we’re super happy with everything that’s going on so far especially considering the state our world is in right now.
VV: I know you’ve said that “I’m Not Right” ignited the writing process for your new record ‘Unstable.’ How is this release different for you from 2017’s ‘Freak’?
DR: So I tell people all the time that this album is kind of like ‘Freak’ on steroids where ‘Freak’ very much was us trying certain things and bringing in influences that we never had before but that maybe we wanted to try. So we kind of stuck our toe in it and brought in elements that we never had before but we saw that it worked with ‘Freak’ really well and so with this record we just dove in headfirst and we really embraced everything that we just might have tried on ‘Freak’ we just went in full force so what’s really cool about this record is there’s something for everybody on this record.
There are hard rock anthems on this record and there are super, super heavy songs that we never done anything as heavy as before. There’s a lot of groove on this record which we never messed with a lot before so it’s pretty much a continuation of ‘Freak’ but we’ve grown even more.
VV: Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Khemmis) has producer credits on both ‘Freak’ and ‘Unstable’. What was it like working with him during the recording process?
DR: It was good. Just like ‘Freak,’ this album we co-produced with Dave so it was definitely cool because I say this too a lot, the recording process for me is very stressful and every musician kind of has what they like to do the most. Some love touring more and some love being in the studio more. I definitely love touring more so being in the studio is kind of stressful for me but Dave makes it a pretty comfortable environment for us all to be in.
He lets us be in charge basically of the creative direction but he’s very good at giving us ideas that we may have never thought of. He’s usually like the extreme death metal guy so sometimes he gives us ideas that we would never think of and vice versa so we work really well together. It’s crazy because even though he’s the tough death metal guy, he’s an amazing singer so he helps us come up with super cool melodies and all that for Josh and choruses and all that kind of stuff so working with him is just- we’re a good creative team and it’s a very comfortable environment.
VV: With the Coronavirus making it unclear on when concerts will resume, we’re starting to see more things like virtual concerts and live streams on the horizon. Is it possible we may see some virtual live appearances from Tetrarch in the coming months?
DR: In the beginning I would say to people that we weren’t sure about it because the most important thing for our band is our live performance. People always say to us I love your records but I saw you guys live and was blown away. We’ve been playing live together since we were kids. Me and Josh started Tetrarch when we were 14 so that’s always been a huge aspect of our band and we always want to make sure when we present ourselves live it’s the best way possible and our connection with fans and everything on stage is a big part of that so we still aren’t 100% sure about it because that connection is part of the live Tetrarch experience and not having them there would be kind of weird.
But something that we have been tossing around is maybe doing like a live studio performance. Not necessarily in the super energetic show form way but just a studio performance of one song or something like that could be kind of cool that we could release right now. So we’re still tossing around ideas but we just want to make sure when we do it, we’re 100% satisfied with it if that makes sense.
VV: Word on the street is that Metallica is one of your favorite bands. They just finished up doing #somekindofbracket with “Master of Puppets” being deemed as the top song. As a fellow Metallica fan myself and I know a good portion of our readers are also Metallica fans I have to ask, do you agree and/or what’s your favorite Metallica song?
DR: It’s hard for me because yes, they are my all time favorite band on planet Earth. It’s hard because I honestly don’t know if I have a number 1 favorite Metallica song. I know for the longest time it was “The Unforgiven” from The Black Album. ‘Master of Puppets’ in general is my favorite record because I learned how to play guitar to that record. It was the first Metallica record I ever got and probably still is in my top 2 all time favorite Metallica records, it might still be my favorite one so I’m not upset with “Master of Puppets” being the number one song. I would agree with that. I’m okay with it. [laughs]
Where Can I listen to Tetrarch?
“I’m Not Right” will be on Tetrarch’s new album ‘Unstable’ which is due out this fall. In the meantime you can find it on your favorite streaming platform or you can check out the video here. You can also stream their debut album ‘Freak’ or purchase a physical copy here.
