Rhiis D. Lopez, frontman and keyboardist of Riverside, California-based philosophy-metal band ANA KEFR, was recently interviewed by Graham Finney of Planet Loud. An excerpt from the interview follows below:

Q: Why did you form a band?

A: "None of us are big fans of modern art. Most of the music being generated in the world today feels like exactly that - generated, formatted, lifeless, meaningless. To us, we have felt from the start that a song with a bullshit message behind it should have just stayed on the drawing-room floor. I frequently find myself exposed to clips of radio-friendly, MTV-friendly material, and when the first thing that comes out of the vocalist's mouth is some cliche about death, love, or being a rockstar - I don't care if the music is listenable, it just feels ugly. If someone handed you a bowl of rice with a chunk of shit on top of it, would you pick around the shit and eat the rice, or would you toss the whole thing out? Most people (hopefully) would toss the whole thing out, but you don't find music-lovers doing the same for their art of preference. Instead, people are content to accept a bullshit message at the expense of something you can tap your foot to. And this is the reason so much assembly-line-made pop and rock becomes so widely accepted - people usually don't like things that make them think. Ana Kefr was born out of a desire to do something different, to press people's buttons and present something fresh and new."

Q: What do you think about the rock scene at the moment?

A: "Every "rock" band out there sounds like a cheap imitation of Pearl Jam to me. The first time I heard Creed, I thought "I didn't know Pearl Jam put out a new, harder record." Staind, Puddle of Mudd (possibly the worst band name on the planet, incidentally; second to Hoobastank and Limp Bizkit), Nickelback - I hear it and wonder how in Fuck's name anyone could listen to it and take it seriously. Eddie Vedder should have somehow trademarked his voice long ago, I keep hearing pseudo-Vedders popping out left and right and just pity poor Eddie and his Pearls."

The full interview can be found here.