Progressive metal trio Gracchus on finding their sound: “don’t be afraid to f*** up!”

Progressive metal trio Gracchus are an unlikely collaboration. With founder/singer/rhythm guitarist Bernhard Schnellmann and drummer Allan Murphy hailing from Switzerland, but lead guitar player Jeff Elrose calling New Jersey home, the combination of Swiss precision and American attitude creates a sound that’s hard to identify but easy to love — heavy as a Zurich vault door, but one that is swung wide open to welcome diehard metal fans and the merely metal-curious alike…

They have always recorded their tracks themselves, including those from their latest EP Infectious. Both onstage and in the studio, Audix mics have played a vital role throughout their entire career.

Schnellmann and Murphy schooled Headliner on the band’s genesis and success, and on how they use mics such as the D2, and D4 on toms; the D6 on kick drum; the i5 on guitar cabinets and snare; the OM7 on vocals; more i5’s and the A133 in the studio, and most recently the new PDX720 studio dynamic vocal mic on upcoming sonic explorations.

When did each first learn to play an instrument?

BS: I started out as a kid learning piano. My dad was a pianist, so it was natural in my family to play the piano first. I love the percussiveness of piano, too — you have more than just a melody to work with.

You can harmonise with yourself, you have a rhythm section, you have two hands, right? At one point I wanted to play the violin. So, I kind of forgot a little bit about the piano. I'm starting it back up again because it's especially useful for producing.

My dad was also a big Deep Purple and Steppenwolf fan. He bought me a Washburn X Series electric guitar. It stood in my closet for a long time because I really wanted to play the drums, which my parents didn’t want me doing in our apartment, obviously.

Then I started listening to Metallica and Rammstein. Rammstein’s riffs are easy to play, but they're very percussive. That’s how I first got into rhythm guitar.

AM: I had a pair of drumsticks first when I was very young, maybe four or five. I just started playing on our furniture and my parents figured out that I really need a drum kit. I got a children's drum kit at first. From there, I moved up.

What was your first band, or gig in front of an audience?

AM: Before Gracchus, Bernhard and I were together in our high school band. I guess I joined a little earlier than he did.

BS: At first, they didn’t want me in it. I had to ask like, four or five times! [Laughs.] Then I was the lead guitar player in a band called Whitefield. To this day I don’t know why the bandleader named us that. Every time I asked, he had a different story. I wanted to take it professional, so I went to Musicians’ Institute in Hollywood. I researched ‘where did all my idols go?’ That’s where I met Jeff Elrose, our guitar player from New Jersey. As soon as I finished, I came back to Switzerland. I hit up Allan, who was playing bass in another band at the time.

AM: Well, I had some other projects, but they were very short term. I was more like filling in. It always feels like that as a bass player!

How did Gracchus form?

BS: I knew that as well as Allan played bass, he played the drums better, so I asked him to be the drummer in my band. He was like, “Let’s go!” So, we founded Gracchus together and I wanted my brother to play bass, but he was busy with a successful local band. He suggested a bass player he’d played with for a long time.

Now, we went through a couple of guitar players that didn’t work out, so I hit up Jeff, whom I’d met at Musicians’ Institute and was the best guitarist I knew. I didn’t know what he was doing at the time, but I sent him some demos and he said he really liked the song My Ashes.

That song was what made him come to Switzerland. We found our groove with the EP Cluttered and Crowded in 2018, then the LP Murder Party followed, and we immediately toured it. The European tour ended right before the pandemic began. We wanted to go to the U.S. after that, but of course everything came to a halt.

AM: That led to some productivity, though. We brainstormed and committed to releasing a song a month until lockdown ended. We were in our studio, and Jeff couldn’t travel of course, but we managed to do that for 14 months straight.

Bernhard, you talked about Metallica and Rammstein as musical influences. Any other big ones for both of you, either inside or outside of metal?

BS: System of a Down. I remember watching all these videos of them as a 16-year-old. Also, our guitar player Jeff turned me on to Avenged Sevenfold, which I’ve come to love.

AM: My big one growing up was Linkin Park. My older brother listened to them and got me into them. More recently, the French metal band Gojira, especially because of the drummer Mario Duplantier. They always wrote interesting music.

BS: Beethoven was the heavy metal of classical music! The way the rhythm and lower-pitched orchestra sections are arranged is very metal. He still sounds modern. Also, a lot has been written about Bach’s influence on metal and hard rock guitarists, plus, you can’t be a lead guitar player and not know Paganini! Also, my mom will kill me if I don’t mention Flaco Jimenez!

What advice would you give to young musicians who want to form a band like Gracchus?

AM: First of all, today it's so easy to record your own music. There’s power in that — you can stay independent.

BS: Don’t feel like you need a million-dollar console to record on. And above all, don’t be afraid to f*** up. Happy accidents occur that way. Learn by doing.

When did you first become aware of Audix microphones as something you might want to use onstage or in the studio?

BS: The first one I bought was the OM7, the live vocal mic. I had another mic, and we had this gig in a weird club. There was a hot light on the mic, and due to the moisture in it, it sort of started boiling and just broke. After that I was like, “I want something high-end that doesn’t sound muffled, cuts through the mix, and that any audio engineer can work with.” My sister bought the OM7 for me and said, “Now every time you play, you’ll have something from the family around.” I loved how it sounded and we stuck with it.

AM: This was early on. When we started our endeavour of recording demos, we told our audio engineer we wanted drum mics we could tour with but that would also work in the studio. We wanted something universally applicable. Every audio engineer loves that question, right? [Laughs.] “Can I have something that does everything?” So, we settled on D2s and D4s for toms and a D6 on the kick and you know what? They do everything. They’re small, they sound fantastic, and they’re rugged. We’ve never looked back. We got the i5 recently, too, which I’ll use on snare.

BS: Yeah, the i5 will also be playing a major role in Jeff Elrose’s guitar sound. He has a big “shine” to his sound — he likes a very brilliant top end. The i5 doesn’t sound shrill but it captures that perfectly, but keeps the heaviness, you know? We’ll use it live on his cabinet, and in the studio, we plan to pair it with the A133 to be able to blend two mics.

We also heard you recently got the new PDX720, which is a studio vocal mic, but dynamic instead of the usual condensers used for that purpose. Do you have an opinion about it yet?

BS: We have used the PXD720 already on both vocals and even guitar and it is amazing. Obviously, vocals are its main application. It will probably be my main studio vocal mic going forward.

How would you compare Audix to other mics you’ve used?

BS: One cool practical thing about the D2s and D4 is that other microphones are maybe a little too large, which makes them harder to direct.

AM: Another great advantage is that you can clip them onto the drums and don’t need the footprint of extra mic stands. Sound-wise, they're really good enough for the studio, too. They have a great sound profile for toms. There’s a bit of that mid scoop, which for this kind of music we make is perfect because you don't have to do too much EQ afterwards.

BS: That's the thing about all Audix mics we've been using. The OM7 is so fantastic live because the audio engineers get a good sound out of it very quickly, no matter the venue. It’s head and shoulders above anything else I’ve ever used live.

AM: It has such good rejection as well. It rejects most of the ambient sound around the intended source. If I point it right at me, then the drums aren't as loud, which is important because sometimes I sing and don’t want my kit bleeding into my vocal.

BS: Also, if you stay within the Audix ecosystem, each mic is optimised for its type of source, right? They’re tuned out of the box, you put them up, aim them at the source, and you immediately have a great sound to work with. For other reasons, you might have a little processing to do afterwards, but it’s not like the engineer is fighting the mic.

It calls to mind how some digital mixers have input channel presets for different instruments and vocals…

BS: That's very well put — that's actually our experience to a tee. Audio engineers like it when you turn up with Audix because they know their job is going to be easier.

Then, do you carry your own mics on tour instead of using what a venue or sound contractor might provide?

BS: We definitely carry our own stuff. We also travel with our own engineer. We rehearse with him beforehand, too. But the consistency of the mics no matter the venue or staffing situation is stellar.

How do you feel about your relationship with Audix as a company? How’s our customer service?

BS: It’s been amazing. We've been talking with them lately a bunch, and they’re so responsive. They really take the time. There are a lot of companies you can talk to, and it takes, like, four weeks for them to get back to you if you have a problem. Not Audix.