Albuquerque’s Gravework produces a shocking amount of sound for only having three members. Every band these days says they are a “mix of genres” — it’s the nature of an extremely competitive 2025 global music market — but singer/guitarist Chisim Lujan, drummer Lucas Bailey (Gravework, Descrated Humanity, Powertoke) and bassist Lucas “Torture” Boron (Gravework, Feed the Corpses to the Pigs, Rotten Intestines) really mix it up. First, imagine slow, chunky, heavily distorted guitar and bass squeezed through a shitload of effects pedals and blasted through amps meant for big venues. Next, throw in a drummer who’s a candidate for the fastest sticks in the state and let him go nuts. You wouldn’t think the speed would match up, but it works really well. Take one part stony sludge, one part frenzied grindcore, add a pinch of Burque gangsta flavoring, and blend on high. Cram the band into a small living room or a backyard shack, and hold on for dear life.
Will you describe your sound for us? What bands or genres inspire your music?
Some people would say that our sound has a Western vibe to it, but our base sound is a mix of doom, grind, hardcore punk and other types of metal. It’s kind of hard to put us in one basket, but that’s probably because we all grew up listening to metal. All of those genres are related, anyway. But we also sprinkle some hip-hop and rap into the mix. I personally feel rap music influences our groove. There are a ton of past and present bands from New Mexico who really lay it down and have been a big inspiration.
What are your favorite venues to play and why?
I would say our favorite venue would be Launchpad — it’s our home base — then basically from there, it’s the classics: Sunshine Theater and the El Rey Theater. We like playing houses, backyards, garages, you name it. Ren’s Den is always pure fire. I would also like to give a shout-out to all the past venues that aren’t around anymore. They paved the way. All the houses, all the little warehouses, it all matters.
What are your lyrics about?
I would say our lyrics are about everyday life, and most of them start out as ad-libs when we first write the songs. I feel like somehow they’ve subconsciously been in there the whole time, and the words don’t end up changing too much from what they were right off the bat. Most of our lyrics are a combination of that. Kind of like the Nirvana thing, but for metal.
What is the best show you have ever played and why?
My favorite was our first show with our base player Lucas Boron. It was at The Armory in the Central and Wyoming area. The venue’s gone now, I think. The vibe of that place was something else. It was an old recording studio, and if you know about recording in New Mexico, you know there must have been some big heads who rolled through there. It still had all the old rigs in it — we’re talking recording gear from like the ‘50s and ‘60s — and the place had the weirdest smell. It was right across the street from the craziest trap house I had seen in a long time. After that show, I knew the three of us were a perfect fit for each other.
Recently, we played at Ren’s Den, and I can’t remember what show it was, but I remember what shirt I was wearing. We were so locked in. It was one of those shows where I don’t think we had practiced or even hung out in a while. Classic Albuquerque move: just play shows with no practice. The vibes that night were just right, the crowd went nuts. They interacted with us enough that on the way home, I cried a little [laughs].
Our very first show that Lucas Bailey and I had together as a two-piece before we met “Torture” was in what The Baileys call “The Jam Shack.” It was in the middle of July, no bass player, but for some reason, I felt it was necessary to use two full stacks. It was so stupid loud and totally unnecessary, but that was our first show, and it was awesome. I remember I was shaking the whole time.
If you don’t know about bandcamp, maybe Gravework’s page is a good introduction to the website. Check ‘em out here and on Youtube Music here.
Here’s Gravework’s tearjerking Ren’s Den performance (mentioned in the interview).
You can also watch Gravework playing that infamous venue called The Armory on Youtube here.