“Watching the Devils Work” Track List:

1. Hold Your Arms Out
2. Watching the Devil’s Work
3. Break ‘Em Down
4. Confusion On the Dance Floor
5. In a Crowd of Few

Calgary hardcore act Stab.Twist.Pull start growing their musical roots in 2007, with vocalist Mike Hoogars joining the group in February 2008. A series of line-up changes plagued the band, even as they were still struggling to find their sound. But that struggle was not in vain.

Armed with a new EP, Watching the Devils Work, set for release 2010 and new drummer, ready for unveiling at their single release show on Dec. 19, Stab.Twist.Pull is finally ready to flourish.

“We have all grown,” Hoogars says appreciatively of the last couple years, and their experiences as musicians. “We have also just gotten better as a band as a whole.”

One of the most obvious developments is the band’s overall sound, something Hoogars attributes to the drumming style of Pat Southgate, previously of A New Face For Marley.

“One of the hardest decisions letting our old drummer go. He was a founding member and real good friends of all of us. He is the reason that I am in the band,” Hoogars reveals. “We found Pat in August. He recorded with us for this album, but we knew that he would (eventually) be leaving us to go to Australia.

“But the effect it had was huge. Pat brought a lot to the table that we didn’t have before him, like a double bass kick, and overall it was a different sound. We wanted to go in a different direction on this album… We wanted to be heavier, but still groovy,” he adds enthusiastically. “And I would say we did that, plus some”

You also did a little shuffling in the bass/guitar department.

We were really good friends with Pat’s old band, A New Face For Marley, before he played with us. We became really good friends with Dave Blume, the bass player of that band, and we thought it would be cool to record two songs with him on bass and Scotty, our bass player, on guitar, before Dave and Pat left for Australia. We recorded “In a Crowd of Few” and “Watching the Devils Work” as a five-piece, and the rest of the EP as a four-piece. Dave will be missed, and so will Pat. Those guys changed our sound forever and we are all thankful for that.

Where did you record Watching the Devils Work and who engineered?

We recorded at Slaughterhouse Studios, because Nate (Renaud) knows our sound best and makes us sound on CD how we really want to sound: not too over-produced, just hints here and there recording-wise that really helped. He gave us advice on lots of recording ideas and such, but mostly just knowing our sound and giving us what we wanted out of this album (in particular).

Had you done any work there in the past?

Yes, we did our first EP, I Want It, there with Nate as well, and we recommend this place to others. We love it at Slaughterhouse. Bob (Richardson, owner) and Nate have been so supportive of us over the years, and we just want to give a little back, so we tell as many people as we can about Slaughterhouse.

How long were you in the studio?

We were in the studio for three days total for the five songs

Is there anything you’re definitely going to approach differently next time?

We will do things different next time, but not recording and who did it. Just band structure-wise, we really want a line-up that we can have for a while, and I think we have finally done that.

Stab.Twist.Pull is released the new album Jan. 15. It is available at Sloth Records in Calgary, Alta.