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By Michael Marotta
Photo By Adrienne Belyea
It all starts with the oft-mispronounced name. In short, Asystole is a medical state of no cardiac electrical activity in the heart, causing it to stop beating. It’s something every person will eventually go through, marking a passage from a living state to death.
Incidentally, the name spawned the official birth of the band. One day in the summer of 2004, singer JJ Long was toying around with a flatline-based logo, in the midst of a time when the band would run through several ill-fitting names on a daily basis. Touching on the profession of guitarist Art Gordon’s mother, a licensed repertory therapist, Asystole (pronounced a-SIS’to-le) was bandied about. The name instantly stuck.
“Yes, thanks to Art’s mother we’re called Asystole,” laughs bassist Tim Munroe over beers at the Model Café in Allston, not far from one of the band’s original practice spaces. The guys have spread out across eastern Massachusetts a bit since forming in 2004, with singer Long living in Melrose, Munroe residing in Cambridge and Gordon and drummer Greg Gillis sporting Brockton addresses.
But for their intense live show, the synergy and chemistry on stage belie their distant living situations, almost leading one to believe the four grew up together in a dark, padded room where nothing but the likes of Killswitch Engage and Sevendust blared from eight-foot tall speakers.
Though a steady diet of metal growing up helped shaped and inspire Asystole, it’s a mixture of several genres that gives the band its sound today. Long’s vocal range can shift from prolonged croons to angry rapid-fire screams to low-riding growls over the length of one bridge.
While his voice aids Asystole’s delivery, it’s the pure thrash of Gordon’s shredding and the front-and-center Munroe-Gillis rhythm section that unites the four musicians. The result is a fist-to-the-face arsenal that incorporates various levels of metal. On last year’s self-released eponymous debut, there’s nary a moment to catch your breath. On “Embrace,” Long holds a long harmonic note while, just underneath, the rest of the band goes absolutely batshit with an epic no-holds-barred grind that’ll likely keep the band far from mainstream pop radio.
But where some opportunities close, others open. The band’s vitriolic sound may not be a fit for the FM dial, but it is for Jagermeister, the party drink of many a metal band, such as Slayer and Pantera. Though not officially sponsored, the band is in talks with the oxblood-like liquor company to join forces. A few months ago, a Jager street team representative caught an Asystole live show and loved what she heard. Fast-forward a few months and a few hundred calls and emails, and Asystole is under heavy consideration for a partnership with the German herb liquor, which will make the drink a part of its live experience.
“Metal and alcohol...” quips Gordon, not needing to finish his sentence.
The band isn’t worried about aligning with a corporate sponsor if it helps get the Asystole name out into the public. A potential sponsorship down the line would include national tours, discounts on equipment and inclusion on Jager compilation albums. That last bit is most appealing — it equals exposure. Previous Jager tours have featured headlines like Hatebreed and Shadows Fall, with a litany of unsigned underground acts playing to get noticed.
“It’s about getting our name out there,” says Munroe. “We could have a chance to get on national tours. It’s promoted by merchandise, flyers...The sponsored list [of current bands] is all the same genre. Jager’s into the bands that drink their liquor.”
Right now, the band distributes Jager gear at shows and then emails back dozens of pictures of themselves with fans decked out in Jager merchandise or drinking the product. The band doesn’t mind the party-like vibe, or the attention it creates.
“People see Jagermeister on the [merch] table and check us out,” Long notes. “They say ‘You must be good if Jager’s with you.’“
After recently self-funding a tour down the east coast by cashing in their tax returns, any promo boost the band receives is welcome. Ultimately, they simply want the word to spread as widely as possible. “People pay to see a show,” Munroe says. “I want everyone who sees us to say ‘I saw this band last night, jumping around and throwing guitars, and it was insane.’“ Then they can start worrying about the pronunciation.