Interview with Bardus

I recently took a walk with Bardus through downtown Columbus before the final show of their 2015 tour.  Along the way we talked touring, deep dish pizza, and their upcoming album.  Here is what they had to say:

Overall, how was the tour? The tour was very good. We played in a few new cities to us, saw some old friends, made some new friends, played with bands we liked, so we were definitely pleased with the whole tour.

Of the ten stops, which day was the worst? We had a day off and ended up driving over 12 hours from Savannah GA to the middle of Indiana to get closer to Chicago. It was a rough stretch, but we were all mentally prepared and got it done.

When on tour, what are sleeping arrangements?  Did you have to sleep in the van at all?
It was a mixture of hotels and houses.  When we were able to find a couch to crash on, that was great, but we stayed in a couple of hotels along the way.  Didn't do any sleeping in the van on this tour.

What's the weirdest or worst show you've ever played? They're all weird.

Best act you saw on tour, not mentioning any of the guys playing tonight with you. Buildings from Minneapolis killed it as usual. Them Teeth in Grand Rapids were awesome as well. It's really hard to say which one is the best, I feel like every band we played with were very good and all had different sounds and styles. It's nice when shows are diverse and not just the same thing for 3-4 straight bands.

Chicago deep-dish, how was it?  Is it overrated?
It was good.  It is almost a novelty for people from their though, only tourists get it because it is so thick.  It was literally a brick of cheese and meat.  We got a meat lovers and could really only eat about a slice each.  It's not overrated though.

You recently recorded at Converses' Rubbertracks after winning some contest for free recording time.  How was that and how does that compare to how your used to recording?

Rubber Tracks was real good. We recorded with Will Putney and were able to hammer out 2 songs we'd been playing live entitled "Monolith" and "Sky King". It was similar to the way we normally like to record which is live as we feel it gives our songs more life and helps us hit our groove zone that we aim for at shows and at practice.

Those tracks are going to be on the upcoming album 'Stella Porta', when is it coming out?  Any physical formats been chosen yet? We are recording it in early September with Steve Poponi who just did the latest Fight Amp record, at his studio in South Jersey.

No release date or formats have been chosen yet.
We are an unsigned band so everything we do is paid for by us in Bardus.
When we released "Solus" we had to make a decision, get physical copies, IE records, cd's, which cost a bit, or transportation, so I got a van and we released it on our own digitally and thanks to the support of many, have been able to go on tour a few times and continue to play live as much as we can. We'd love it if someone liked it enough to release it physically, but until then, we'll do what's best for Bardus and accessible for people to listen to it. 

What does 'Stella Porta' mean? It translates to  star gate.

Will you guys give me a heads up once Stella Porta is all done? Absolutely. We'll be playing it in its entirety at Kung Fu Necktie in Philly on September 24th with Columbus' own Bridesmaid and philly's own, Hells. 

Stream a copy of Bardus' debut Here, and be on the lookout for their upcoming later this year.