CYNIC's PAUL MASVIDAL On New Album, Playing With CHUCK SCHULDINER In DEATH

David E. Gehlke of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with CYNIC singer/guitarist Paul Masvidal. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blistering.com: Fifteen years removed from "Focus", what stoked the fires to get back in and do a new album?

Paul Masvidal: It started with the 2007 reunion tour which happened as the result of a bunch of synchronicities. It started with a dream from a Russian fan where he went to a festival and CYNIC played and it was really cool. Then after that email, there was a series of events that brought CYNIC back into my life and there were probably seven total in the course of two weeks that were just…one of those if I was willing to pay attention — which I was — the universe was saying, "You need to get back together." It was the combination of more phone calls, emails; just Sean (Reinert) and I had the same dream, and then Kelly (Shaefer) from ATHEIST calls and tells me I have to do this. We had really closed the door on CYNIC and never intended to open it again, then all of sudden it appeared dramatically in a concentrated period of my life and I just responded to it. I called Sean and at one point and said, "We've got to do this," and that was the beginning of the reunion process. We didn't intend to make a record. We just thought we'd get out there and share "Focus" with people again and that generation that didn't get to see us back in the day. We got back from the tour, and had "Evolutionary Sleeper" that we played just as an experiment. It was a song I had that felt very CYNIC-like to me and the response was really incredible, almost on the verge of overwhelming. I got home from the tour, sat down and looked at my stuff and developed ideas and started developing some stuff. I got Sean in here, jammed, worked out ideas and we knew, after a couple of rehearsals, that we had something to say, our return was purposeful.

Blistering.com: Vocally, you've developed quite a bit from "Focus".

Masvidal: Yeah, I think I feel more confident. Having been singing and writing songs actively for the past 15 years with just an acoustic guitar or piano, it just forced me to develop my melodic sense and comfort level. Playing a lot of gigs with a guitar and no band, it puts you in a really vulnerable and exposed environment. I think I've gotten better. I feel much more confident in my approach and how I sing in general. That's just the result of doing it for years and years and gainfully, it seems to be a big part of the record in terms of how the songs developed melodically.

Blistering.com: What were some of your fondest memories being in DEATH and doing the "Human" album in '91?

Masvidal: It's weird. It's blurry at this point, but Chuck (Schuldiner) was a friend from childhood and someone I had a relationship [with] for years, way before we made "Human". It felt natural and easy to make the record with him. It was a part of our evolution as friends; it made sense to make a record together. He was somebody I had a lot of respect for. He brought Sean and I into the thick of the music industry and gave us a lot of experience that you don't get at that age. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for seeing how he worked and his dedication to his craft. He was definitely dedicated to what he was doing. Chuck was in his own head and had his own vibe which was completely different from what we were doing. Seeing someone that was out there making a living as an artist, working and all that was really cool.

Blistering.com: Was there any consideration at all in terms of sticking it out with him?

Masvidal: I might have passed through our brains for moment, but DEATH was a full-time job and I wanted to do CYNIC. I had my own vision and path as an artist to pursue and we realized that if we stayed with DEATH, it would have been next to impossible to do CYNIC and even make the "Focus" record. We had to make a decision — are we going to follow our path and do CYNIC or are we going to give our careers to Chuck? I realized I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to give my love and energy to my own voice and my own path as an artist. DEATH was Chuck's gig — his songs, his vision. When you worked with DEATH, it was Chuck, it was his vibe. I had my own journey to make and I needed to take it and I'm glad we went the road we did. It made more sense to do CYNIC and do what was honest for us instead of being side-guys.

Read the entire interview at Blistering.com.

CYNIC performing at Metal Heads' Mission Festival in Crimea, Ukraine on August 5, 2008: