SMNnews recently had the chance to talk with Jonathan Dzwonar of New Jersey based underground death metallers EX DEMENTIA. He gave his opinion on everything from why Rob Zombie sucks to the fact that if you don’t like AUTOPSY, your opinion is meaningless. Enjoy this glimpse into the mind of one of the few people putting out death metal that’s still worth listening to!

Since 99.9% of the people reading this probably have no clue who Ex Dementia are, can you tell us a little bit about the band and its history so far?

“We’re a band from the smelliest part of New Jersey. Basically nothing more than 4 assholes that want to do nothing but play death metal in the vein of Autopsy, Carcass, Dismember, Impetigo, and the classics from the days where death metal was a genre of music worth listening to.”

You have a new album coming out soon called Thou Shall Repulse. How did the recording of that go and are you happy with the final result?

“I’m more than happy with the final result, it came out a lot better than I ever expected. Miguel at Cape Studios knew what we were looking for and took plenty of time and energy to deliver us exactly what we wanted. It’s raw and heavy, but still clear and professional. It sounds a thousand times better than the artificial and bland sound most death metal bands look for nowadays.”

Any word on when it will be released?

“As a lot of people know, there have been plenty of delays, but as of now it looks like it will definitely be out in late February.”

How did you end up hooking up with Kitchen Vomit Records for the new album’s release?

“It was a bit difficult finding a label at first, considering that we don’t follow the boring trends most bands do to get a sure contract from anyone, but we looked around and stumbled upon Kitchen Vomit. We sent Mike a copy of the demo and he dug it and really wanted to release an album, since he was only working on split releases and whatnot, so he jumped on the idea and has been doing a killer job promoting it.”

Do you care at all about people illegally trading your music online?

“That’s something I’m a bit torn about. We didn’t start the band to make money, if we did we’d probably be playing screamo or whatever the flavor of the week shit is raking up the dollars now, but I’d definitely would like to get some of the money we spent on recording and promoting back. Most people argue that band’s get the majority of their money from shows and the like, which is true, but its hard to convince a promoter to book us if we had minimal sales, saying we’ve had a bunch of downloads doesn’t really catch anyone’s attention.

Personally, I buy my music, and I’m not saying that to look cool or whatever, but I just need more than a CD-R with the name of the band written on it to satisfy me, but I’m a huge nerd about collecting stuff. I do go on soulseek to check out demo’s from bands who are on there and get some rare, OOP album that some dickhead is selling on ebay for like $50, but the majority of the time I like to give a little back to the guys who spent over a few grand to get their music out.”

Do you think sites like MySpace could have any positive effect on a band like yours, or is it only for trendy band of the month types?

“It helps both ideally. No matter what happens you’ll always have the trendy bands, and MySpace is a good way for them to leech some popularity that they’ll never deserve, but it’s a good tool for bands like us too. We’ve gotten dozens of messages from people who saw us on there and checked it out and totally dug us, and in a world before MySpace, these people might have never stumbled on us, so that makes it a good thing in my book.”

You mentioned Impetigo as one of your influences before, does it disappoint you that they chose to reunite and play a festival with bands like Gorgasm and Putrid Pile, instead of something more along the lines of the Goregon Massacre fest, where they’d probably be a little more appreciated?

“I think if you’re going to have a deathfest, you’re going to have a huge amount of people who’ll love to see Impetigo, so I don’t think they’ll have to worry about finding a place where they’d be more appreciated. Their reunion seems to be a treat to the fans and a last chance to actually see them, and also a nostalgic occurrence for them (being it on the same date as their very first show and all) so I don’t think it’s really negative that they’re sharing the stage with bands who don’t really fit their style somewhat, they’re just doing what everyone has been asking them to do for years now.”

Speaking of the Goregon fest, you guys are getting to play it this year. How did that come about and are you excited?

“Jason from Splatterhouse hooked us up with a spot because, well, I’m not sure why. I’d say it’s because he digs our music, but I doubt that, I mean, have you even heard us? We suck! Either way I’m more than fucking pumped to be opening for the almighty NUNSLAUGHTER, and sharing the stage with bands like Ghoul, Funerot, Cardiac Arrest, Skarp, F.K.U, and Engorged, who are by far, the best modern day death metal band. There really isn’t a bad band on the bill, I’d probably go even if I wasn’t playing in it, it sucks that it’s still five fucking months away though.”

Will you be doing any other shows around the festival appearance?

“We’re booking a lot of things right now. This March we have a few shows around here, and in April we have a 5 date east coast mini-tour planned with Cardiac Arrest which is shaping up to be pretty awesome. And right before we take off for Portland we’ll be opening up for Regurgitate and Fuck The Facts in Philadelphia, which I’m sure will be a killer show too.”

I heard a while ago about some controversy between you and Maniac Neil (Frightmare, Blood Freak). What was that all about?

“I’ll be the grown up and not comment on it. It was more of a personal thing and I won’t sink down to a level where I’m slagging him in interviews.”

Way to ruin the fun! Speaking of personal questions, have you had the chance to parlay the fact that you’re in a band into getting pussy? Maybe meet a cute scene whore off MySpace…

“Our guitarist tries that one all the time, it never works, I’m not sure if its because we’re in a crappy death metal band or that he looks like a dopey ass fucking ape, I think that’s something the band will address at our next practice….”

Obviously there’s a big horror element to your band’s music, as well as a lot of other underground death metal bands. Why do you think cheesy 80’s horror films and death metal go so well together?

“I don’t think that horror movies just go well with death metal, but with metal in particular. The first metal band in the world was named after a Mario Bava movie for chrissakes! But death metal is definitely a more fitting genre for horror movie worship, and I’m not sure why. I’ve been watching horror movies before I can even remember, so the imagery has always been there for me. I think the extremity of both of the mediums have something to do with it, both horror movies and death metal bands were racing to out-do their kin back in their hey-days, and also the all out intensity that both display mix well with each other. It would make more sense to growl about zombies eating flesh then it would be to do a love song. Another thing is how both aren’t taken seriously, horror never got the recognition it deserved as an art-form and neither did death metal, they’re both the red headed stepchildren of the media that won’t be taken seriously unless some piece of shit scum fuck can find a way making a buck watering them down and turning them into shit.”

Speaking of scum fucks and turning things into shit, what are your thoughts on Rob Zombie’s plans to remake Halloween? Think there’s any chance it wont suck?

“There is no chance that the movie will be decent. Rob Zombie is a talentless hack and always will be. I don’t know why everyone is surprised he jumped on the remake route, his first piece of shit ‘movie’ was pretty much a remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre but with MTV music video styled editing to keep the attention of the mouth breathing pieces of shit who claim to be ‘horror’ fans nowadays. Oh, and to top his ‘masterpiece’ off, what does he do? He makes the sequel a rip-off of the sequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Great thinking Rob! You fucking whore. I could have just seen him sitting at his computer desk thinking ‘Well, most people haven’t seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, so I’ll just lift the whole ‘law-man who has a grudge on the killers because they killed a relative of his in the original’ and no one will care! Shit, no one cared that I blatantly ripped off the original one in the first place! Shit, I’ll even put my fucking talentless wife who can’t act worth a shit in it too!’ And before you fucking idiot pieces of shit can give me that ‘Who cares if she can’t act, she’s hot’ argument just shut the fuck up right the fuck now. I don’t give a shit if she has a nice ass, if I wanted to look at a nice ass I’ll just look at the billion pages of porn on the fucking Internet. No, horror movies don’t necessarily have the greatest acting, but the best movies of the genre generally do have some solid performances, and I’m positive that that hackjob has enough weight in the industry to get money to pay someone with at least a minuscule bit of skill. Fuck, that fucker has enough money to do whatever he wants, he could have delivered us a brand new fucking movie, instead he’d rather tread on paths that were taken years ago and tries to market it as ‘extreme.’ Fuck you.”

What are some of your favorite horror films?

“Oh shit, don’t get me started. If I had to pick just one, it would be the original Dawn of the Dead. But Day of the Dead and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre are definitely very high on the list. I think one of the reasons why horror is such a strong genre is that it’s very universal, you can mix many different elements with it and still come out with something strong, there is pretty much a horror flick for every tone you can imagine. Personally I like the more bizarre, off-beat ones the most, like Frank Hennenlotter’s flicks, and I Drink Your Blood, and Night of the Creeps. Stuff that did more than just follow cliches and throw some tits and blood to make sure it sold, although that stuff can be pretty fun too, I just prefer the movies that seemed to deliver something completely outrageous, even for horror.”

Between bands like Waking The Cadaver and Digested Flesh, the New Jersey scene doesn’t really seem to have too much to offer. Are their any good bands we should know about?

“Swashbuckle! Fucking awesome pirate thrash from not to far away from us, these guys are fucking killer on every level. Also Funebrarum are pretty fucking good too, they’re from up North of us, very dark and sinister sounding death metal.”

What do you think of the current trend in music now of bands like Job For A Cowboy and Despised Icon taking death metal and adding in more trendy elements to it?

“I really don’t think much of it at all. It’s a trend, its going to have hundreds of clones that are going to flood the market until its no longer profitable and the labels are going to look for a brand new trend to make a buck off of. It’s been happening since the dawn of the music industry and it will never stop.”

Who would look better in a dress, Ross Sewage (Impaled) for Jason V (Splatterhouse)?

“Jason V, he has more of a ‘cute’ look while Ross has more of a ‘handsome’ look.”

So who would you prefer…for friendship…

“I’d like to think I’m friends with both of them, what are you trying to imply here? ….Oh…”

Hot! So besides the new album and upcoming shows, is there anything else Ex Dementia have coming up?

“I’m not answering that, after those two last homosexual themed questions we better talk about MAD HOT GIRLS for like 3 hours.”

Well, I can give you Granny Monster’s e-mail address, if that counts for anything…

“I think she’ll be at Goregon, I’ll use my suave and charm to get her e-mail address. I don’t need any hand me downs, thank you very much.”

Nice. So any final message for the people still reading this who I’m sure can’t wait to check you guys out?

“I’m never sure how to reply to these final messages thing… check us out, dig our shit, buy our stuff, and if you don’t like Autopsy you’re a fucking shithead and I don’t care what you think.”

www.exdementia.net
www.myspace.com/exdementia

Rate this interview: (5 votes, average: 3.2 out of 5)
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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 3:27 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

dr0ne wrote:

Everyone knows Ross looks stunning in drag, it’s common sense.

January 28th, 2007 at 3:44 am

Crucified Coma wrote:

Ross looks stunning in anything!

January 28th, 2007 at 3:50 am

Whee of the Dead wrote:

Its the sideburns. It really is.

January 28th, 2007 at 4:36 am

havoc wrote:

Jon is sexier than Ross Or Jason

January 28th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

Smorgasmorgue wrote:

Hahaahh. Woo…I’m apart of the 0.01%

This is hilarious…Split with The Dead will be out at Goregon I hear.

January 28th, 2007 at 6:00 pm

George Gore wrote:

Come See Ex Dementia March 9 At Hamilton St Cafe
With Swashbuckle Re-Animator Bitchslicer And More TBA

January 29th, 2007 at 6:49 am

CHUD wrote:

super duper!

January 29th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

SMNnews.com | Ex Dementia - Upcoming Tour Dates; New Album Cover Art Revealed wrote:

[…] Ex Dementia - Jonathan Dzwonar, Vocals […]

February 5th, 2007 at 3:53 pm

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