I got the chance to catch up with the members of Legendary Weapons, the Kung Fu and Horror-themed vegan straight edge project based half in Portland and half in Nebraska.
Sky Page and Davis Driver have been gearing up for this new cassette dropping today in celebration of Straight Edge Day, so I wanted to sit down and pick their brains about the release, where they’re at, and where they’re going. See the link below the interview to grab a copy for yourself!
To start off, where do we find Legendary Weapons at today? What’s the status of the project, give us some info on this new release (recording, title, art, etc.).
Sky (guitar and dums): Physically and literally I’m in bed, I stayed up late last night reading Alan Moore and I’ll be paying for it in yawns until I find the will to get up and make myself some coffee. On status and plans (of LW), still having fun, finding parts of myself creatively that I didn’t know I had (first it was guitar, then it was writing some lyrics, most recently I was doing some vocal layers on the EP), and enjoying pitching my million wacky ideas to Davis in the interim between recordings.
Davis (vocals): LW today is the same as it was when we started the band at the beginning of 2023. We are here to have fun and write music that we enjoy. Once this project is no longer fun, there will be no more LW.
I’m super excited about our new EP, Born Invincible. It blows the demo out of the water in every way and Jason absolutely killed the recording and mixing, bringing it to the next level.
Sky: Yeah, on Born Invincible we got to continue our work with Jason McGhee, who’s been incredibly patient with us but has also been pushing himself creatively to make this sound better than the demo. We also got to have my friend Bryan Hannah complete the tape layout and art. We sent him kind of a mood board and some loose direction for inspiration, and he delivered big time.
We love how his work came out and are definitely planning to work with him more in the future. Additionally, Bryan sings in a band called Level and I wanted him to contribute vocally, he sings a part on the song “Maiden in Black;" and my friend Rob from Poland fronts a band called Protein, he’s a fellow vegan edgeman and contributes on the song “Abstain."
Davis: “Born Invincible” was originally going to be the band name, but once we decided on Legendary Weapons I knew we still had to have a song or EP named Born Invincible. The title comes from the name of one of my favorite Kung Fu movies; it’s about a man who dedicated his life to T’ai Chi and has basically become invincible.
What can we expect in the near future from Living Weapos now that this new EP is coming out?
(Davis): As for future plans, Sky has already been writing for EP #2 and we already know our theme for art and lyrical directions. We also have our first show on December 8th in Portland.
Sky: Plans! Yeah, first show is in Portland on December 8th with a bunch of great friends. Beyond that we’ve discussed just making some fun trips to places we want to go for non-music reasons and plan shows around it, so if you’re near a great hiking location or a yearly horror convention maybe you’ll see Legendary Weapons in the future.
Since releasing your demo earlier this year
Sky: I recorded the instruments for Born Invincible at the same time I did the demo back in March. We had batted about twelve or so songs back and forth and slimmed it down to ten before I went in and tracked them all. From there we got to be pretty relaxed about getting Davis in with Jason to do vocals.
The actual geographic challenge with the EP would have been coordinating the guest spots with Rob in Poland and Bryan in California, but they both knocked their parts out and turned them around quick.
Davis: Right, all of the demo and EP were recorded in a single weekend. Then it was just a matter of me getting into the studio to record vocals. Our plan is once again for Sky to go into the studio this December and bust out another 10+ songs and then we’ll trim it down and go from there. This mf is constantly coming up with new ideas and riffs.
Sky: I think it all came together fairly easily considering the distances between all of us!
Outside of music (writing, practicing, traveling, etc.) what do each of you like to do that contributes to your creativity? What lets you come back to the writing table for Living Weapons with your batteries recharged?
Sky: Music is the only thing I feel that I’m somewhat good at as a creative outlet. I’m terrible at creating visual art and have never been interested in taking any other proper art form up as a hobby.
Davis: I feel I’m on the opposite end of that spectrum from Sky when it comes to being good at writing music. So it’s been fun and challenging for me trying to figure out my voice and also learning to write lyrics.
Sky: We both watch a ton of movies and play video games, and I read comic books. That all comes through lyrically. I also love to cook and lately I’ve gotten really into making hot sauces, but I don’t think that plays into what I do with music.
Davis: Yeah, since almost all of our inspiration comes from movies, games, and comics, I also love making designs related to that stuff. Sometimes I’ll be like “this would make a sick shirt” and then build a song around that [laughs].
Sky: Speaking purely from an instrumental perspective, I am inspired by everything. My batteries lately have never run dry. Davis is probably exhausted with how much bullshit I fire off at him on a daily basis, and I swear every time I listen to something I like I come up with something new either borrowed or some way inspired, but I never make it obvious.
The song “Born Invincible” is actually heavily inspired by Tears For Fears but I don’t think anyone would ever figure that out if I didn’t say it.
To close this out, we’ve established almost all of the really critical motivations, strategic plans, and creative processes that go into Legendary Weapons; but with this being Edge Day and all, there’s one crucial piece of information that is way more important than all the others, and the people deserve to know: Which one of you is more straight edge and why?
Sky: Davis can flex all his crucial merch and his giant X Swatch wall clock but only one of us has the Gold Star Straight Edge and it’s not him!
Davis: It’s true, Sky is womb-to-tomb and I made regrettable decisions when I was younger. However, that is exactly why I’m more straight edge than him because I know what it’s like to seek that escape. I’ve tasted the forbidden fruit and still choose to abstain from it.
Also, I have the green Floorpunch football jersey and the huge X Swatch clock so fuck you, Sky.
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The Born Invincible EP is available now both in digital format and on physical cassette format via the Legendary Weapons Bandcamp
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Tagged: legendary weapons
