"I went on tour and had a vision quest".

THE SMOKY STAIRWELL of a random Nob Hill apartment is crowded with wasters refusing to call it a night after the bartenders give them the boot. A thin, young blonde with mascara-caked eyes just stuffed Salt Water Taffy into her bra, and now some jean jacket is playing an acoustic loop of the intro to Slayer's "Reign in Blood." After a few minutes I request "Four Horsemen," and become locked into a loophole discussion about the rise and fall of Metallica, but realize I can't hear much beyond a dull ringing--thanks to the Saviours and their auditory assault a couple hours ago.

The Oakland-based foursome spawned in 2002 via a collaborative vision of guitarist Austin Barber and drummer Scott Batiste, who were joined by guitarist Tyler Morris and bassist Cyrus Comiskey. Simply put, they're loud and heavy. Watch out for your eardrums when they roll through your town this summer. Actually, to tell you the truth, I'm starting to enjoy this ringing in my ears. Makes it much easier to ignore things from the outside world; believe me.

How did you guys meet, and how did you start Saviours?

Austin Barber: Scott and I had this vision that we wanted to have this heavy-ass band. I went on tour and had a vision quest. Scott stayed home and got Cyrus and Tyler together. When I got back we started jamming immediately, and ended up going on tour a month later.

What exactly do you mean by "a vision quest for the band"?

Austin: I went out on tour and I really wasn't thinking about much else besides starting this band. I knew the name and what I wanted to do with it. Just smoked a lot grass, spent a lot of time by myself, and wrote a lot of ideas down. I have a lot of--I don't know--visions.

Where do the band's inspirations or influences come from?

Austin: Slayer and stuff.

Scott Batiste: It's not just metal. It's more an influence of negativity, just seeing so much total shit and wanting to counteract that in some way.

Cyrus Comiskey: You mean musical shit?

Scott: Yeah, musical shit.

Austin: But there's some world shit going on that influences our music, too.

What do you think about the current state of popular music?

Tyler Morris: It's the worst it's ever been. Popular music is in a pretty bad state right now.

Austin: Even underground music ain't that good ... every fucking dickhead DIY band.

Cyrus: I'm actually more into pop music than underground music right now.

How do you think this musical era compares to others?

Cyrus: It's probably all the same; there was always a bunch of crap, you just don't remember it. There's always your Osmonds and shit, but no one really goes out and references Charro.

Tyler: People seem to be content to like whatever they're told to like, whatever they see on TV. Music is due for some kind of renaissance, or just inspired music writing, and that hasn't been happening a lot lately. It has all been really formulaic and boring.

People talk about there being an East Bay sound. Do you guys think there's such a thing, or do you think people just throw that term around?

Austin: Kind of. Kalas is nailing the East Bay sound right now.

Cyrus: There's the Oakland hardcore thing, the Econo/Neurosis thing.

Scott: I think the East Bay certainly has a sound. I lived in Oakland for so long that I'm used to the city and I dig it, but I think people who are foreign [to the East Bay] think it's a gnarly place and there's this really negative, dangerous atmosphere. Maybe there's a certain subconscious element to it.

Do you think that Oakland and the East Bay are as gnarly and violent as it is sometimes portrayed?

Scott: No. You go to any big city--I mean, I've slept in vans in Philadelphia, Detroit, and DC while I was on tour, and it's pretty much the same shit everywhere.

Cyrus: I've been mugged in Houston and I ain't been mugged in Oakland.

Tyler: I've been chased with a baseball bat in Oakland, but that was a long time ago.

Do you think it deserves the reputation it has; is there a touch of truth to it?

Austin: Yeah, dude, it's killer. It sounds gnarly.

Cyrus: We're not complaining about...

Austin: You go to other places and people are like, "Oh, luck! You're from Oakland?" It's like they're already scared of you.

You guys have a new record coming out; is this your first?

Scott: It's our first full-length release. We did an EP that was basically just the first songs we wrote, and we put it out as soon as possible. Having the experience of being in other bands and starting a new project, it feels like starting from square one again, but you know what to do, you know how to accelerate the process, get the record out, and hit the road. We leave on tour in July and we'll be touring the western half of the United States with the Sword, and then we'll be touring the eastern half of the US with the Doom Riders and Coliseum.

What are some of your earliest musical memories, as far as being young and going to shows?

Cyrus: I was really into "Whip-It" when I was three years old and it was on the radio. I thought they were saying, "Ribit." That's probably my first musical memory.

Scott: I remember going to Bl'ast! shows in Santa Cruz. They were pretty terrifying. Totally scary, but totally powerful at the same time.

Austin: We were going to shows in Denver 'cause my brother's band was playing and there were a bunch of skinheads at the show. They would just come and fight and fuck people up. That was my first musical memory, being scared and little and that some crazy skinheads were going to kill me.

Cyrus: I totally remember being scared of skinheads. One of my first shows was MDC in Santa Cruz, and a bunch of skinheads came and beat up the singer for that skinhead song.

Any good or bad memories about good or bad shows?

Tyler: The show in Austin was awesome. Scott: We played a show with Dungan and the Sword in a place called the Shire. It was this grotto with trees everywhere, just a shitload of people, free beer everywhere.

Austin: Free everything. It was living the dream, dude.

Cyrus: Actually, some fucker threw a rock at my head.

Scott: There was a huge fight before we started, which was weird. They got Cyrus in the head with a little boulder. Was it on purpose?

Cyrus: I think he was one of the dudes who had gotten in the fight. He got ejected, and then just tossed a rock over the fence and hit me in the head.

Here's the skateboarding question: did you?

Cyrus: I tried; I was really horrible at it.

Austin: I skated every day for pretty much 10 years of my life. I moved out here and I decided I needed to play guitar versus skating, but I still kick it around a bit.

Tyler: I stopped skating because of the guitar too.

Austin: I still have a great love for skateboarding; I think everyone in the band does.

Scott: I skated all through elementary school.

Tyler: I think in my eighth grade yearbook photo I'm wearing a Thrasher sweatshirt.

Cyrus: I still do it to get around, but ask me to ollie and you're going to be bummed. Want to give any thank yous to anyone, any words of wisdom?

Scott: Walken, Hightower.

Cyrus: Don't eat yellow snow. Crucifire is available on Level Plane Records. For more information, contact Saviours.