Year Of The Cobra: An Interview With Bassist & Vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Seattle’s crushing, yet ethereal, doom metal, power duo Year Of The Cobra returned in 2025 after a six-year absence, in what is the Year of the Snake in The Chinese Zodiac, with their astonishing, self-titled release which will undoubtedly end up on many a year-end, best-of list.
The duo, Amy Tung Barrysmith bass/vocals, and Johannes Barrysmith on drums, last release, 2019’s Ash And Dust was produced by the iconic Seattle producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, TAD, High on Fire), responsible for much of the sound and aesthetic of the early Pacific Northwest grunge era, and he expertly blended the rumbling, thick-as-molasses low end, with Amy’s melodic, yet powerful vocals.
This time around the duo enlisted another Seattle production legend in Matt Bayles (Botch, Mastodon, Isis, Murder City Devil) and he guided Year Of The Cobra’s sound to new levels, deftly balancing the massively heavy, fuzzy instrumentation with an addictive, catchy, and at times, an incredibly emotional vocal delivery that is among the very best in the global heavy music underground.
We here at The Sleeping Shaman were beyond grateful that Amy found some time between her musical and family commitments to answer a few questions for us.
Firstly, could you please give The Sleeping Shaman readers worldwide the origin story for Year Of The Cobra? How did you and Jon first come together? Was the band always envisioned as a duo?
Jon and I met in Los Angeles in 2007 while we were playing in separate bands. We moved to Seattle in 2011 after our daughter was born because we wanted to raise her in a smaller, more family friendly city. We had both toured throughout Seattle separately and really loved the vibe. It had everything we were looking for in a city: a great music scene, close to nature and great neighborhoods for a growing family.
We started jamming together for fun because we didn’t know any other musicians in the area. We would rent an hourly space during special occasions, like birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, kind of giving us a reason to step away from family life and play some music. When we started writing songs and discussing playing out, we initially had every intention of adding a guitar player and even had a few guitarists (from LA) in mind, but the thought of having a ‘long distance’ band seemed overwhelming. As we kept on writing, we realized that we were able to create the sound we wanted as a two piece, plus it was just easier to keep it small. We also enjoyed the challenge of creating music in such a small and confined way.
Your last album, Ash And Dust was produced by the legendary Jack Endino. For the new album, you enlisted another Seattle production legend in Matt Bayles. How did the decision come about to go with Matt this time around? How was it working with him, and how do he and Jack differ?
Working with Jack Endino was amazing. He is a bundle of knowledge, and I really enjoyed peppering him with questions during our recording sessions. He is extraordinarily efficient as an engineer and really steps back as a producer. He allows the band to sound like the band, which in many cases is nice – allowing the band to just be. We really enjoyed working with him and would absolutely consider doing it again.
Switching to Matt Bayles for this album seemed like a pretty natural progression. He was the perfect mix of an efficient engineer and creative producer. We did a lot of pre-production for this album and sent Matt the early demos. He really took the time to listen to them and came back with a lot of interesting ideas. He also introduced us to metronome mapping, which provided us with the ability to play to a metronome but also allowed each song to breathe as we could set several tempos throughout the songs. We spent weeks mapping out each song and then spent a few more weeks just practicing to a loud click. I’m sure it drove our neighbors nuts! Something else I really enjoyed about Matt was his straight to the point personality. He really told you what he was thinking without any hesitation and Jon and I really respected that.
Switching to Matt Bayles for this album seemed like a pretty natural progression. He was the perfect mix of an efficient engineer and creative producer…
Can you give us some insight into how songs like War Drop, Daemonium, and Alone came together? There’s an impeccable balance between the crushingly heavy, the impossible catchy and dare I say, accessible vibe that runs throughout Year Of The Cobra. Did working with Matt inspire this, or would you characterize this notion as the natural evolution of the band, or a bit of both?
These songs were all written at completely different times. Alone was written several years ago. We have been road testing it for a while and people seem to respond to it very well. I wanted to write a song that touched on loneliness and the deep feelings of loss while playing a beautiful yet simple bass line below it. I also really liked the mix between the quiet bass line during the verses and the loudness during the chorus, and how it builds up at the end. It is one of our favorite songs to play.
Daemonium was written next. I wrote this song on the sofa. I was playing around with different tunings and wanted to come up with something that went between very low tones and very high tones. I came up with the main riff at home, but when we tested it in the studio, I couldn’t play it standing up! I had to rewrite the riff in a different position in order to play it properly. It changed slightly, but I’m happy with how it turned out.
War Drop was the last song we wrote. After we had come up with the majority of the album, we realized we wanted to add something a bit more up-tempo, so we came up with War Drop. Funny thing about that song, the original working title was ‘War’, but I wrote ‘Drop F’ next to it so I knew what tuning I was in. Jon saw it and thought I wrote ‘War Drop’ and we never fixed it. It was the last song we recorded as well. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be on the album, but after listening to the final recording, it ended up being our first single.
What was behind the decision to self-title the album? Did this signal a bit of a new era for the band?
Self-titling the album wasn’t meant to be a signal of a new era. We just felt that the songs on the album were so different, we couldn’t decide on which song should be the title song. After much discussion, we decided it was the best choice. From there, coming up with the album cover was easy.
Did you use any new instruments or a new bass rig while recording the new album?
I didn’t use anything new, and actually, I recorded with less than I had previously. On all of our earlier albums, I recorded through three amps, usually through my regular two 8x10s and a 4×12 guitar amp to add some definition. What made this recording different was Matt separated the two 8x10s. On every other recording, both 8x10s were in the same isolation booth, so there was a lot of bleed on the mics. Matt separated them and was able to really show the two different tones I create with my pedals. I think this is a big reason why this recording sounds clearer and more defined.
Amenra has taken YOTC on their current European tour and we’re opening for the first leg. It’s been a really fun experience, being able to play YOTC and then Amenra right after…
The last year or so have been incredibly busy for you with not only Year Of The Cobra, but with Slower and now it’s been announced you’ve joined Amenra. Can you tell us how you hooked up with Bob Balch for Slower, and how you wound up joining Amenra too?
Sure! Esben Willems (Monolord, drummer) was the one who initially reached out to me. We have known each other for sometime now as YOTC has played several shows with Monolord in the past. He mentioned doing a new project with Bob and wanted to see if I wouldn’t mind singing on a song. They sent me War Ensemble, which was a beast of a song – very long, lots of lyrics, but so fun to do. After I recorded a rough mix of my vocals, I sent it back, they were really happy with it and asked if I wouldn’t mind singing on some more. From there, it just naturally morphed into what it is now.
Regarding Amenra, Jon and I have known them for 10 years now, just playing shows together and meeting up by chance when we happened to be playing the same fests. They played a show in Seattle mid 2024 and we all hung out. A few days later, they reached out to see if I would be interested in filling in on bass for their East Coast tour. After that, they asked if I would be interested in being a permanent member. It was an easy yes!
And to follow on from that, will you be touring with both projects as well as Year Of The Cobra? And will you be using the same bass and rig set-up for all three bands?
We are actually on tour as I write this! Amenra has taken YOTC on their current European tour and we’re opening for the first leg. It’s been a really fun experience, being able to play YOTC and then Amenra right after. I am not using the same rig, though, but a kind of a hybrid I guess. Slower and Amenra are tuned to the same key, so I can use the same bass (and amp, for that matter), but YOTC is too specific. We’re tuned to a different key, and I use different strings. Also, YOTC’s pedal setup is quite different as I have a split signal and play through two amps. It’s not as complicated as it sounds though. I just brought along my Dark Glass and play through that and Amenra’s Orange AD200. They bought an Ampeg 8×10 for me that I can split into two 4x10s, so it is a pretty smooth changeover.
I’m curious how you manage to balance your music and touring with your family commitments! I can’t imagine that’s easy. Can you elaborate on how you are able to balance the two?
It is a juggling act, for sure, but I like to think that one of my superpowers is being able to keep things organized and not stress. Luckily, I own a small music school in Seattle, which allows me the space and opportunity to schedule my work around my other obligations. Generally, my mornings and evenings are for my family, and my days, when my kids are in school, are for music writing, recording, practicing, etc. It is important to me to find the right balance between being a mother for my kids and being me for myself. I think it’s important and healthy for them to see that I have outside passions as well.
It is important to me to find the right balance between being a mother for my kids and being me for myself…
As someone who lived in Seattle in the ‘90s to the early ‘00s, I’m curious on your take on all the changes the city has undergone. How do you feel about current state of rock & roll in Seattle? Seems to be as vibrant as ever.
Since moving to Seattle in 2011, things have changed so much. Tech has blown up and has made things so expensive that a lot of artists and musicians are moving to Tacoma and Olympia. While it’s sad to lose them, I am actually really excited about the explosion of art and music in those cities, and we still have a lot of musicians that decided to stay in Seattle, so I feel like it has created an even larger community, spreading music and art into more of Washington State. I feel that it really is thriving, and I am so proud and lucky to be a part of it.
Please use this space for any final thoughts and thank you Amy for taking the time to answer some questions for The Sleeping Shaman!
First, I’d like to thank you, The Sleeping Shaman, for this interview. I really appreciate all that you do to further the reach for musicians like me. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without people like you helping us along. I’d also like to thank all of our listeners and fans. I really appreciate all of the support that you have shown us. We notice every bit of it, and it is a large part of what keeps us going. Lastly, I’d like to tell all of the up-and-coming musicians out there (especially the women), to keep going. Just don’t stop. You never know what is going to happen, but if you don’t give it a shot, nothing will happen. Thank you for your time!
Label: Prophecy Productions
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Interviewed by: Martin Williams
