If practice makes perfect, then Poison The Well’s Chris Hornbrook is on his way to mega-precision. That’s because the drummer maintains a religious practice regimen, working out for two to four hours every day. “If I’m not working on actual ideas that I have, or certain rudiments or whatever, then I’m just playing to play,” he explains. “I try to work on three or four concepts and really space things out.”

And Poison The Well’s latest release, Versions, proves that Hornbrook’s been putting his hours in, as it features a wide spectrum of drumming concepts applied to the act’s progressive hardcore/metal/punk fusion. So how does he wrangle this wide range of forms into one song? “Usually I’ll sit down and have a basic idea or groove,” he says. “Then I’ll try to build it from there and color it with whatever makes sense, like ghost notes, a certain feel, or certain accents.”

In order to record the band’s latest album, Poison The Well trekked overseas to Sweden, working once again with Pelle Henricsson and Eskil Lövström (who recorded Refused’s seminal album The Shape Of Punk To Come). Hornbrook attributes the disc’s stellar drum tones to the producer’s know-how, mic’ selection, the array of drums he used on the album, and the room in which he recorded, which was an old, octagonal wooden lodge. “We set up the drums in this little cove,” he explains. “So when we were playing, I was projecting into the octagonal room.” Advertisement

Waleed Rashidi