The California post-punk band Provoker has always had an interest in building an aesthetic universe beyond simply writing songs. Since the inception of the project, which was started by Jonathon Lopez in 2015 as a vehicle to provide the soundtrack for non-existent horror movies, it has prized a conceptual outlook that takes major inspiration from the language of film and television.

That isn’t to diminish the band’s musical outlook. It synthesizes the languages of post-punk, goth, and industrial into a cohesive, pop-minded final product, always keeping a focus on songwriting and performance. This mastery of form and content is on clear display on Mausoleum, their new record on YEAR0001. In its combination of high-minded music videos and catchy choruses, the album extrapolates upon the band’s ability to move beyond their immediate subcultures and into a more accessible space. 

But everyone has to start somewhere. Today, for the newest edition of Web of Influences, we went back, way back, with Provoker members Lopez and Christian Crow Petty and learned about their formative musical experiences and early brushes with underground music. We also get an insight into their love of movies and find out what it means to write a song from the perspective of a ghost. Read the piece and listen to Mausoleum, below.

Can you remember the first music you consumed that felt like something you made an intentional choice to seek out?

Christian: Blink-182, Rancid, and the Beastie Boys were the first CDs I ever owned as a kid. I think the more intentional choices came around my teenage years finding emo music.

Jonathon: Probably soundtracks from skate videos growing up. Baker 3, Sorry, Yeah Right, Bag of Suck. I would go to the mall and ask for CDs by these artists I didn’t really know. The chains never had what we were looking for. Eventually we started downloading the mp3s from Limewire or KaZaA. 

Christian, what was it about emo music that resonated with you when you were a teenager? Who were some of your favorite bands?

Christian: My older brother introduced me to it and I was finally old enough to appreciate music. I was and still am a highly emotional person. That was my first experience with music: creating images/stories in my head. I think I just liked how I felt listening to it. Some bands I liked were The Promise Ring, Pedro the Lion, Armor for Sleep, Senses Fail, Saosin, and The Postal Service.

What was your first brush with subculture or underground music?

Christian: I grew up heavily with skateboarding and surfing, my dad named me loosely after Christian Hosoi. For music I was never a part of any scenes, I played shows with my friends in high school but it never felt attached to a subculture. For the most part, making music was pretty insular for me.

Jonathon: Skateboarding and going to punk and metal shows in Houston.

Is there a song that reminds you of being a teenager?

Christian: “My Town” by Armor for Sleep.

Jonathon: 80s US hardcore, LA punk like The Germs and Black Flag, Misfits, etc.

Does living in LA and growing up in the Bay Area influence your songwriting? If so, how?

Christian: I was born in LA, and have some family here so I’ve always felt connected to it but I don’t know if that influences my writing. I will say it changes a little based on my environment. I used to live in an attic in my friend's house. I often isolated myself up there and wrote from a ghost's perspective the whole time I was up there.

Jonathon: We have access to a few studios here in LA which is super lucky. A lot of our friends here make music, so it's easy to meet up and collaborate whenever. 

Christian, could you talk a bit more about this idea of writing a song from a ghost’s perspective?

Christian: I was living in the attic of my friend’s house in Echo Park (every member of Provoker has since lived there or lives there now). I’m pretty introverted, so I didn’t really leave very often, and I really just felt like I was haunting the place. I was the footsteps in the ceiling, the creaks in the walls. When I was recording music I imagined my faint singing voice sounding like a ghost moaning. A lot of the songs from that era ended up being about a ghost stuck in the physical world.

You worked with “Kenneth Blume” on your new record. Do you listen to a lot of rap? Does that inform your band at all?

Christian: I used to listen to almost exclusively rap for a period of my life. While I don’t keep up as much as I used to, I think sometimes my vocal delivery has a bit of that influence still.

Jonathon: I listened to a lot when I was younger. There was all the rap from the skate videos but also Swishahouse—chopped and screwed music was big in Houston when I was growing up. After that I’d say I started listening to Wu Tang, MF Doom, Dilla, Memphis stuff, Bay Area rap, etc. I haven't really listened to any rap in like the last ten years.

How important are horror and sci-fi movies to your band and your sense of world building?

Christian: We love movies. When I’m writing lyrics I’m usually always thinking about a different fictional story. Whether it’s inspired by a film or just a story I’m making up in my head, there’s always a visual to go with the words. It can start as something small, like feeling regret, and evolve into a song about a man preserving his wife’s corpse after she passes because he couldn’t let go.

Jonathon: We watch a lot of movies and TV and you can see some of that in our artwork and Christian’s lyrics. When the band first started I drew a lot of influence from horror movies, like poster graphics or synth texture ideas from the scores. But I feel now we just make a lot of songs and the world building comes later organically.

What is an underrated goth or post-punk band that has influenced your sound?

Christian: Lowlife influences me a lot, especially when singing in a lower register.

Jonathon: Asylum Party, Xmal Deutschland, Lowlife. “Last Song” by Trisomie 21, “I Want To Be You” by Your Funeral.

Any non-musical influences that have been inspiring you lately?

Christian: I’m really into perfumery lately, creating a perfume kind of feels like telling a story. I’m really drawn to ones that are kind of gross leaning.

Jonathon: David Lynch. 

Christian, what are some of your favorite perfumes right now? And how would you describe how they smell?

Christian: I have a discontinued one from Byredo called m/mink and it’s supposed to smell like ink. It’s pretty nice but there’s something in there that’s very piss-like. There’s another one from Blackbird that has notes of banana, milk, and used electronics which is pretty cool. I actually tried making my own recently, for that I used synthetic ambergris, synthetic civet blend, sandalwood, oak moss, sichuan pepper and gun smoke. It’s not quite there yet, it’s a ‘lil too gross.