One Thousand Years of Ash and Mist with Jason Kallicragas of Inosuke

Inosuke (pronounced In-o-skay), is a 2 piece from Cleveland, OH. Starting in 2022, both members have a history with various other bands and had known each other since 2007. They just released a 10”, Allomancer, through Zegema Beach, Oliver Glenn, Friendly Otter, New Knee, Dancing Rabbit, Dingleberry and hellaDecent Records. The 5 song EP is based on the Mistborn novels by Brandon Sanderson, and is somehow even heavier than the 2023 EP, rage/ruin. I sat down with guitarist/vocalist, Jason Kallicragas, to talk about the new EP, the band, and everything in between.

Tell us about how the two of you initially met, and how your band started so many years later

In 2007 we were both on our first tours, me with Men as Trees and Erik with Lautrec, and we played a bonkers house show together in Baltimore. After that we would see each other at shows when we came through Chicago, then I think one of the last times our bands played together was Locktender and Lord Snow at Skeletal Lightning Fest, maybe in 2013? Then I don’t think we really saw each other until 2022 when I learned that Erik had moved to the Cleveland area; I reached out, we hung out once or twice and then decided to jam. I wondered if we should get more people involved. But after doing Stormlight, Erik was all in on the 2-piece band.

What was the writing process like for Allomancer? Did you initially set out to write about the Mistborn books, or did that come later?

Nerding out over scifi and fantasy was something we always did at practice and Erik had lent me a bunch of books including Mistborn. We started writing the music in 2023 as soon as we finished recording the first EP, and by then I was deep into reading Sanderson. We had talked about doing artwork for the album that was not your typical hardcore/screamo thing and going into a fantasy direction and it all just came together “what if this is a concept album?” I have experience with that from Locktender so I kind of know whether there’s enough depth in the source material for me to dig into and pull lyrics out of, and with Mistborn there definitely was.

What was different from writing rage/ruin?

R/R was my first time writing fully fleshed out guitar songs in a long time. They were also the first songs we wrote together so I think we were learning each other’s styles and I was feeling out how to sound as full as possible with just one instrument and also how I wanted my vocals to be. So for Allomancer all that was a bit more established and I knew more of what to expect from Erik’s drum style, and I think we were able to dig deeper into what this band could sound like. I was listening to a lot of heavy/doomy stuff so that influence is there in the more riffy parts. Tracks 1, 2 and 4 are also all pretty much in the melodic minor scale which I started experimenting with in our song ‘garsecg’ and really immersed myself fully with these songs.

Was Erik playing piano something you’ve always planned to incorporate in your music? I love it, I have piano on my band’s next album and think it’s an underused part of screamo

The first time I went to Erik’s house to practice I saw the piano there with some Debussy sheet music open and I told him we should try to incorporate it. I think on our 2nd or 3rd band practice we jammed guitar/piano and so that idea was there from the start, it just didn’t make it onto r/r. When he showed me what would become ‘god metal’ I really liked it and we jammed out this kind of duet and then he figured out how to loop the last riff and drum on top. Then he killed it with the album outro ‘catacendre’, really beautiful playing and unique phrasings that wrap the EP up. He’s a great player and I definitely want to do more of that on future releases.

I find it freeing to record stuff as diy as possible, and recording yourself is as diy as it gets. What was the driving factor there for Inosuke?

It makes a lot of sense for a band like us. Recording takes us a while because we usually just do one day a week on our normal practice schedule but for like 2-3 months. It’s slower but also more casual and we don’t have to stress about re-doing parts because we aren’t on the clock paying for someone else’s time. Also since it’s just guitar and drums there is less to worry about getting perfect and I think we are getting a sound that is very raw but also very close to what we sound like live.

What’s it like working with Jack Shirley? How did you link up?

I got to play with Comadre back in ‘09, which was awesome, but I wouldn’t say I really knew Jack at all. That connection came from Erik who knew him from growing up in California. Erik and Sean Leary recorded Stormlight with him previously and so that connection was fresh, and I was really excited to be able to send him our stuff. He’s amazing to work with, fast, professional, no BS and his first pass is usually like 95% of the way there.

Now that you have this under your belt, what’s next?

We have two songs going to a split that is done and awaiting art, should be out early ‘26 and two more songs for a different split that we are tracking right now. After that I think we will take our time writing whatever is next and just playing out all the new stuff as much as possible. Locktender and Lord Snow are both talking about recording next year so I think not having additional pressure on Inosuke would be good. I like a lot of the new songs I’ve written so I’m excited to take our time with them and see what happens. Erik wants to do another concept album which I’d be into if we found the right subject.

Anyone you’d like to shout out?

Our families for being supportive of us doing this as we get older, all the labels that came together to make this happen, Martin McCoy who killed it with the art and my buddy Matt Q. who did the amazing text and layout work. Anyone who has asked us to play or watched us, thank you! Oh, and Brandon Sanderson for writing killer books and letting me consume 1.5 years of my life reading the entire Cosmere.