Timelost Give Marilyn Manson’s “Cryptorchid” a New Lease on Life (premiere + interview)

Timelost issue their debut, Don’t Remember Me For This, on 25 October via Golden Antenna on CD and LP in Europe, To Live a Lie a Lie Records on cassette, and with their self-titled imprint in the United States for CD/LP and digital. Timelost are vocalist/guitarist Shane Handal and drummer Grzesiek Czapla. Bassist Tony DiDonato rounds out the lineup heard on the record.

Don’t Remember Me For This comprises the entire Timelost output to date. Everything that Handal and Czalpa have written together to this moment appears on the LP. “Only one song didn’t make it onto the final record, but that’s because we’re hoping a sick band wants to do a split with us someday soon,” the pair says. “S’up Josh Homme?”

The group has included a cover of Marilyn Manson’s “Cryptorchid” on the LP. With enough of the original’s punk attitude intact to be recognizable, Timelost have transformed the time-honored tune into their brand of darkened goth-cum-lo-fi-black metal without skipping a beat. Arriving on a collection of deeply cathartic, frequently frightening punk/metal, the song sets the pace for what should be a promising career from the Philadelphia unit.

Czapla recalls that recording the Manson tune was a spontaneous decision. “The album was almost done being written, we were only a few weeks away from recording, and I was on a heavy Manson kick,” he recalls. “There were a couple of songs I had wanted to try, but ‘Cryptorchid’ was the oddest one and had Shane interested immediately. We were already knee-deep in trying new things since this band, and this “style” was new to the both of us, and I guess working on a song like that had the same allure.”

He adds, “The first version had me playing the original beat, but we instantly knew it didn’t fit. Not the right vibe. It was dishonest and just plain weird and almost disrespectful to be covering a Manson song and attempting to do in his likeness. As soon as we tried the song in our style, we knew we were onto something. It sounds like a Timelost song, and it’s cool to be honoring one of my rock ‘n’ roll gods. It wasn’t our intention to make the second half sound like Cock Sparrer, but we’re not mad about it.”

“Lysergic Days” is one of those tunes that I think encompasses perfectly everything the band does.

GC: Thank you! I’m pretty sure there was some Rock God out there that has said something like, “All you need is one good riff, and play it as many times as possible.” I don’t know who that was, but it’s true.

That song also fits nicely on an album that takes listeners on a ride the way we might expect albums of old to do. Did you spend a lot of time thinking about the sequencing?

SH: From the flow of the music to the silence of Side A ending on vinyl before the flip, there was plenty of time spent on sequencing. Ever since my early obsession with Pink Floyd, the importance of an album as a whole cohesive piece has been really important to me. Glad you noticed and felt the ride!

How did “Don’t Remember Me For This” come to be the title track?

GC: This album is a compilation of one gigantic fucking meltdown, one right after another. While writing, we didn’t quite realize the songs were coming together in such a diary-like fashion that was nice to listen to but tough to hear. It gets a little too personal at times, and I’m glad we agreed to not credit ourselves with lyrics on who wrote what. The songs capture and expose us both in such a vulnerable and maliciously personal way, I know we’d both prefer to be remembered differently after this record comes out.

What role did Jeff Zeigler have in making the album come to life?

GC: The album was done and demoed before making it into the studio, but weren’t totally sure on how to make it sound like what we had envisioned. That’s what playing in a lo-fi black thrash band for over a decade will do to you! Jeff is the master of getting killer tones and pedal effects, and that really shows on this record. He took the lead of that aspect of the record, and for that, we are grateful.

SH: We purposefully went with Jeff because we wanted fresh ears and experience from more of the indie world. Ryan Haft, who mixed the record, comes from our heavy music background, and we felt that his touch brought both worlds together perfectly.

What did you think of the album once you heard it all the way through for the first time?

GC: I’m pretty sure this is exactly how we came up with the title of this album. As soon as we had it finished and demoed out, we were proud, we were stunned, and happy, but I was almost cringing at how fucking personal it was at times. I remember Shane and I laughing and saying to each other that we hope the world does not remember us for this.