ECOPHAGY – PAUL RYAN
Art: Santiago Jaramillo
Bio: Formed in Topeka, Kansas, in 1997, Origin has eight full-length albums to their name. The group buzzed early with their 1998 EP, ‘A Coming into Existence’. Fans of high-calibre death metal and record label representatives had noticed. After Origin joined luminaries Nile, Cryptopsy, and Gorguts on the 1998 ‘Death Across America’ tour, a monster was unleashed. In 2000, Origin signed with Relapse Records, issuing four full-length albums ‘Origin,’ ‘Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas’ (2002), ‘Echoes of Decimation’ (2005), and the Billboard-charting ‘Antithesis’. While on the label, the group gigged incessantly, appearing on such notable tours as ‘Death Across America 2000’, ‘Relapse Contamination Tour 2008’, ‘The Summer Slaughter Tour North America 2009′ and several successful European runs. Additionally, guitarist/vocalist Paul Ryan was listed on Decibel’s Top 20 Death Metal Guitarists list in 2007. Origin’s subsequent albums Entity’ (2011), ‘Omnipresent’ (2014), and ‘Unparalleled Universe’ garnered praise in Metal Hammer, Allmusic, and Exclaim! While occupying prime slots on the ‘Occupation Domination 2012,’ the ‘Devastation on the Nation’, and ‘The Hell Over Europe tours. ‘Chaosmos’ again sees Origin’s technically apt death metal in scarily superlative form.
Creative rituals? I was sitting down in my dungeon with my thoughts and dedicated practice time. After a while of practice, some alcohol is consumed, and once in a while, some edibles are ingested for creativity purposes.
Music saved my life, it got me into some trouble when I was young, but it kept me out of the grave and prison. It’s a positive release of negative energy for me, and my music is the soundtrack of my musical life.
I was a wild, hyper kid getting into trouble, and metal music was the perfect soundtrack to what I was living at the time. Still, eventually, my mind only wanted to create the music I listened to and loved instead of getting into trouble. I’ve been very fortunate to have played w so many of the bands I idolised when I was young! I would say Kerry King of Slayer. I wrote school reports on Slayer and met him a few times later; I opened for Slayer, and once, he even came to an Origin show and complimented my band and our logo.
I play sober, but I practice and create sober and sometimes w a few drinks and or puffs of weed. Nothing too serious.
Music is the soundtrack to our lives, but I wouldn’t call it spiritual. It does bring people together in various ways for forms of entertainment and creativity.
I appreciate music and the talent & dedication that is needed to craft and create a skill. I play death metal, and when I was young, that’s all I listened to. I do appreciate live music of all kinds, but I’m most creative when I don’t listen to anything music related. I enjoy listening to ocean waves, thunderstorms & the sound of rain. I create the music I hear in my head as I believe music is how people think.
www.facebook.com/Origin
