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Lazarus A.D. – Jeff Paulick (Vocals, Bass)

It’s a Saturday afternoon in a sunny Santa Barbara, CA on State Street. While SB is not really known for being a Metal capital, it does have its exports throughout the years (SNOT, ULTRASPANK, DEVILDRIVER, and even UGLY KID JOE), this city has never been known to have insane mosh pits or sell out crowds for the metal fanbase partially due to the age restrictions normally imposed at the venues. And while fresh off a national tour as the opening act for TESTAMENT and UNEARTH, Wisconsin’s LAZARUS A.D. proves that they are a promising act in serving as direct support for UNEARTH this evening. While sporting a short 30-minute set, the quartet shows enough metal madness to stir the small crowd into a frenzy begging for more at the end if their precision tight set.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to sit down with lead vocalist / bassist JEFF PAULICK and one of the first things I ask him before the tape is even rolling is, “how often do you get told that you look like Dimebag?” His soft spoken reply is, “at least once a day.” During the course of our conversation I found Jeff to be truly focused on the band and ready to take them to the next level of success.

Jeff Paulick, Bass and Vocals – LAZARUS A.D.

No Beers?

We don’t have our rider yet!

You guys weren’t even 21 when you were doing clubs?

Our first major tours were these two and we were already 21 but when we did other stuff we weren’t 21 and had to wear those stupid X’s on our hands. (laughs)

You just finished up the TESTAMENT run?

It was pretty crazy! We had the AMON AMARTH tour right before it and had to drop off that tour early and had 3 days to get from North Carolina to Seattle to start this TESTAMENT tour, 45 hours. And needless to say we we’re a little drained; we’re drained now. The TESTAMENT tour was phenomenal right from the get go from the first night all the bands bro’d down and it was like all the generation gaps as we’re in our early 20’s, UNEARTH in their early 30’s, and TESTAMENT in their 40’s. All these bands came together, on stage nobody had any worries about their show as we all knew we could bring it. Right from the get go every night, crazy drinking, crazy partying, hanging out, it was phenomenal. Kids turned out early and an experience I will never forget even if I don’t tour again. It’s going to be hard to top that tour!

And you’re a TESTAMENT fan?

Huge TESTAMENT fan!

What’s your favorite album?

THE GATHERING!

I’m a NEW ORDER fan!

I’m big on production as we grew up in that age of production.

You put out an album (on Metal Blade) that you had already released and got a ‘re-release.’ What did you do different?

It was re-mixed, new artwork and other than that nothing different. James (Murphy) mastered it the first time but when it came time to remix, he just totally nailed it and what we wanted origianlly for it to sound like.

It’s weird to hear that you put it out yourself first then put it back out again which is kind of unheard of. What was your relationship like with Metal Blade?

Initially when we did the record the first time we sent it to all the labels and we didn’t get a response from anyone but Metal Blade. They said “we’re not interested, keep us posted.” All of a sudden 2 years later rolls around and “Last Breath” gets on the Thrashing Like A Maniac compilation and they hear that other labels are interested in us and they take a second look, apparently the right people didn’t hear us at that point because then I get a call from Mike Faley on my cell phone that says, “Who are you? I want to sign you!” When we were talking he was saying that this record is 2 years old to us, but 2 years new to everybody else. They loved the record and we did too! He said let’s give it a spit shine and the people who already did buy it will pick it up again and the people who haven’t heard it will be blown away.

When I heard it (THE ONSLAUGHT) I was blown away as it’s very early 90’s written, not sounding as it sounds more modern but written back then. Then I hear that you’re 21 years old, what the hell did you grit your teeth on to put this album out?

We don’t really listen to that much thrash as you think we would as people say you sound like this band, you sound like this band, and I’m like I’ve never heard of these bands before. A lot of TESTAMENT, definitely the #1 influence, METALLICA huge influence, PANTERA huge influence. Just the bands that stood out and rose above; especially with their songwriting. That’s what we really focus on, it’s not so much about how fast you can play and how much you can shred, at the end of the day it’s about writing good songs and that’s what those bands did. PANTERA can sit there and groove then go into the fastest heaviest thing ever but at the end of the day when you get to the chorus you’re like, I remember this for a good reason and that’s the angle we’re taking.

What’s your songwriting like now?

We have a couple songs written and I don’t know what’s going to make the record or not. It’s gonna be tough as we could go the other avenue and go more commercial try and reach out to a larger audience or we can take the PANTERA route and go a lot heavier and hope enough pick up on it. I’m not worried too much about it. We’re just going to write the songs we wanna write. It’s going to be heavy, it’s going to be fast and there’s going to be some different things on there especially vocally. When we started this band I was just put into the spot of vocalist.

It wasn’t what you wanted to do?

No, I did not want to be the singer of this band, Hell no I did not! (laughs) As we started to grow, I grew as a singer and as a frontman. If you look at our first show and compared to me now, you wouldn’t even know it’s the same person. I’m much more focused now on the vocal part and the next record is going to have singing. Not like “la la la” emo bitch singing, but like heavier METALLICA, TESTAMENT, PANTERAesque vocals. Instead of screaming, it’s going to be fast and going to be heavy but we’re definitely going to try different things cuz you need to evolve as a band.

You mention things will be a little bit different next time around, musically in which way?

We have a lot of classic rock influence and stuff like that as we like guitar solos and stuff like that as you can see on the record. Hopefully a little more melodic, definitely a lot of face crushing riffs because DAN (GAPEN, guitar) is all about in your face stuff. Here’s how you get the whole sound: I’m all about the melody; Dan is all about the riffs that kick you in the ass and don’t let you get back up; ALEX (LACKNER, guitar) is really about the groove; and RYAN (SHUTLER, drums) all he cares about it going 250 beats per minute. You mix all those together and you got four people that want four different things bringing four different things to the table and you push here, give there, and at the end of the day it puts out some pretty solid songs.

Dan Gapen, Guitars – LAZARUS A.D.

Alex Lackner, Guitars – LAZARUS A.D.

What do you want people to take out of LAZARUS A.D.?

We’re not here to be pushed into a corner. We’re here to rise above and be one of the next premiere metal bands. We’re here to carry the flag. In our eyes, there’s a huge lull in Metal right now after the whole Metalcore thing blew up and took everything by storm. It’s like What’s next? We want to be that next band that comes and says “we don’t give a fuck!” This is what we’re gonna do, take it or leave it. We are not here to be mediocre!

By Mark Thompson

Starring Janet Leigh – Matt Zadkovich (guitar)

Recently, SMN News had the chance to catch up with our friend Matt Zadkovich of Ironclad Recordings latest signees, STARRING JANET LEIGH.  Come join the fun as Matt gives us insight on some future tour plans, the band’s recently finished music video for “Ex You”, and get lost with us as he takes us through Canada to some of its hot spot venues, music stores, and great bites to eat.  STARRING JANET LEIGH’s Ironclad Recordings debut, Spectrum, is out now, so make sure you pick up a copy.  And make sure you catch the band on the road when they come near you.

Having recently signing to Ironclad Recordings, how does it feel as a band to jump up to that next level?

It’s really refreshing to work with guys who care as much about our music as we do.  The guys at Ironclad have been great in helping us get this record out to the masses, and are good at throwing opportunities our way.  No attitudes, just hard working dudes.

Coming up, the band has a mini tour with Unearth, For The Fallen Dreams, and Woe Of Tyrants.  What are your excitement levels to that?

We super stoked about the Unearth tour in July.  This is very clearly a huge opportunity for us to reach an entirely new audience and we are not taking that for granted.  We plan on bringing it 110% every night on this.

When playing live, how does it feel traveling around to show these crowds who STARRING JANET LEIGH is?

It’s exactly what we’ve been working towards for the last 5 years.  We’ve overcome our obstacles and are now in a position to bring it in a big way.  Playing live music is one of the greatest feelings in the world.  That connection between band members, the music, and the audience is profound to say the least, perfect in many cases.  I just hope the audience enjoys it as much as we do!

Being a part of this killer Canadian metal scene, where would you say are some of your favorite venues to play in Canada?  Also, have any recommendations on places to eat, shop for music, etc? 

Favourite venues……oh there’s a list haha.  Each city has their own little hot spots.  Toronto is our home, and here I’d say the venues we enjoy the most are: Sneaky Dees, The Reverb, and of course The Opera House.  Windsor, ON has a place called The Chubby Pickle, great venue.  Hamilton has The Casbah.  Halifax, Nova Scotia has a place called the Pavillion which is a GREAT place to play.

For Music shopping in Toronto, you can always hit the big HMV’s (they do carry a lot of metal/indy imports) but there are some specialty stores that are good to hit like Rotate This and Sonic Boom that carry a lot of LPs and CDs that you rarely find anywhere else.

Food: Sneaky Dees serves amazing Mexican, vegan friendly as well.  Depending on how much you want to spend, the city has a lot to offer, but I’d recommend any of the following places (I’m vegan so I’m clearly biased on this, but good food is good food): Sushi Island, Fressen, Burrito Boyz, Big Burger (in Etobicoke, best fries in the city), Lick’s (best burger joint overall in Ontario), Utopia, and there are so many others.

Bands to check out from here that are on the verge of being HUGE: Titan, Dismata, Bloodshoteye, Terrorhorse.  All good dudes who make great music.

Love the music!  You guys have this level of extreme, and have found ways to differentiate and stick out.  Also, STARRING JANET LEIGH spices up the music with some intriguing jazz lines.  Creating the music that you do, what are some of your key influences?

Our influences are all over the map, most notably ones that push a lot of boundaries.  Our key influences are: Origin, Cryptopsy, Pantera, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, The End, Candiria, Sleep Terror, The Faceless, Metallica, Pig Destroyer, Nile, Nasum, Return to Forever, Ion Dissonance, Beneath the Massacre, Decapitated, Necrophagist, Mr. Bungle, really the list is endless.

Spectrum opens up with the giant riffs of “Noire” and really gives a great introduction for STARRING JANET LEIGH.  Looking at Spectrum as a whole, you guys must be proud of this beast, huh?

This record is really a moment in time for us as a band. Through the member changes over the years we’ve really evolved and the songs reflect this incarnation of the band very well.  It was the best we could be at the time we recorded it, and stood as the accomplishment of us pulling through the struggles we endured.  I’m really happy with how it turned out, and that it’s finally in stores!

Any plans/ideas for a music video or some more live footage from any material off of Spectrum?

We have just finished the editing for a music vid for “Ex You.”  It should be out very soon.  We have some live vids up on our youtube page performing “Noire” and “Spectrum” you can check out: www.youtube.com/starringjanetleigh

We’re working on hard on getting some more Canadian and US tours under our belt throughout 2009.  Our goal was to make sure we made it to California before the year end, and that’s what we’re sticking to.  After the Unearth tour, we’re working on 2 more US tours for 2009, and a western Canada tour.  We’d love to hit Europe too if we can fit it in.  If not in 2009, for sure in 2010.

Here’s a fun and tricky question.  If you were to organize a dream tour, who would be on it?  Feel free to name a full scale festival if you wish.

Wow haha.  That’s quite the option.  Dream tour festival: Meshuggah, Candiria, The Faceless, Lye By Mistake, Pantera (if such a thing were possible…), Origin, Cryptopsy, Martyr, Ion Dissonance, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Myotonia (RIP), Dillinger Escape Plan, Nile, Necrophagist, Severed Saviour, Beneath the Massacre, and all the bands from Ontario/Quebec we’re friends with that I truly believe will be that big one day: Titan, Dismata, Bloodshoteye, Plasma Rifle, The Last Felony, and Terrorhorse.  I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of bands (guaranteed) but this is what immediately comes to mind.

Looking at the music’s technicality, does it sometimes get difficult to hit every single detail, or has practice really kicked in to where you guys can just go out there and do it?

We work hard at being able to convey the album live as well as it sounds on the album.  We’re very diligent about keeping the songs up to par.  We jam 3-5 days a week usually.  The further you push it technically, the more likely there is to be some kind of error.  We just work hard to keep ourselves at the top of our game, both as instrumentalists and as a band.

What music has been playing in your cd player lately for your listening pleasure? 

Currently spinning: Mastodon – Leviathan, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, The Faceless – Planetary Duality, Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer, and I’m sure many others.  When someone breaks out an ipod, who knows what might come up.  Some of our guys have a ridiculously huge music collection, so it could go from Cave In to Corpse, or West Side Connection to Bruce Springsteen.  We’re pretty open when it comes to music, so it’s a good mix.

Lastly, with Spectrum about to hit the streets and more to come, how does the future look for STARRING JANET LEIGH?  Any last words and shout outs?

We have a lot of hope and faith behind this album.  It’s been a long time coming and it’s finally out! Now we just have to work hard to bring it to the world as best we can: tour tour tour.

Shoutouts: to all of our fans, family and friends who have supported us over the last 5 years in getting to where we are now.  We thank all you so much.  Your support is what has kept us going for so long when many people said we were beating a dead horse replacing members and rebuilding.  I guess we have come to stand the test of time thus far, and we wanna take this as far as it can go.  Cheers!

Label: Ironclad Recordings/Metal Blade
Website: http://www.myspace.com/starringjanetleigh 

Written by: Alex Gilbert

The Legion – David Svartz (guitars) and Lars Martinsson (vocals)

Joining SMN News today, we have Swedish extreme black metallers THE LEGION!!  Check it out now, as David Svartz (guitars) and Lars Martinsson (vocals) give us some in-depth details of their latest Listenable Records release, A Bliss To Suffer, and much more.  From their song writing process, tour plans, possible plans for a music video (please make it “Shining Redemption”, *crosses fingers*), and the dream festival Lars has created in a hidden away forest in Transylvania, these guys are the real deal, and are going to continue to get stronger, and stronger, and stronger.  And attention promoters, let’s help get these guys to the US.  I mean, something with this much blasphemous genius needs to be heard by the masses!  Just witness their power, for THE LEGION will convert you within first listen.  Much respect!!

I absolutely love the song, “Shining Redemption”!!  Right away within the first listen it gave me the chills, as does the rest of A Bliss To Suffer.  It’s true blasphemous genius!!  Creating such a beast like that from start to finish, you guys must be really proud, huh?

David Svartz (guitars): Thanks, and yes, of course we’re proud. We wanted the music to be a bit more dynamic and varied this time and I think we succeeded quite well. The material is a bit more epic I guess and there’s less grind/blast beats, but the intensity is still there for sure. We’ve focused more on getting the right feel, if you know what I mean, instead of getting entangled in technical twists.

With the raw and energetic power and strength of THE LEGION’s metal, how does it feel seeing the crowd give that same energy back when playing live?  A job well done?

Lars Martinsson (vocals): You could say that, or rather the attitude is more often “don’t just stand there, do something!”, since the tendency is you do not get that same energetic feedback from the crowd that you think you deserve. Most bands agree that western European crowds are pretty lame.  I guess the situation is different in the States. Then again, what do you prefer? People who appreciate what you are doing on a personal, reflective level with arms crossed or unmanageable kids who mosh about, without the slightest care which band they are enjoying this particular weekend night?

Another great thing about your extreme style of black metal is that THE LEGION incorporates some shredding guitar solos.  That is something that isn’t heard as much in black metal, but of course, it sure follows the heavy metal law!  It’s awesome, and showcases even more of the band’s talent.  Are there any particular influences in your mind that help create that extra drive?

David: I wouldn’t call them shredding guitar solos, but sure, there are a few solos here and there and this is something that we really haven’t used a lot of before. It’s true what you say; traditional black metal hasn’t exactly been famous for using guitar solos, and to be honest, we’ve also been quite restrictive to the idea of incorporating such stuff. Much is due to the risk of sounding cheesy. But, we’ve strived to be more open-minded in some aspects, and not be limited by certain norms.

Lars: Heavy metal is indeed the law, which I guess comes across in those solos and in some other inclusions on the album as well. You have to have that heavy metal feeling going at least from time to time, mind you we are definitely black/death METAL if anything. I myself appreciate this development, since it resembles the situation in the 80s when metal bands had great guitar players above all, and not the 90s tendency, with splendid drummers and mediocre guitarists.

Creating the black metal you guys do, how do you look upon the current black metal scene?  Losing some of its roots, or creating a huge doorway for many other heavy bands that one might not listen to?

Lars: I guess what we see at the close of the first decade of the 21st century is that black metal is increasingly absorbed up in completely other music subcultures than metal only: we have i.e. Wolves In The Throne Room associating with ecology/leftwing politics/punk, a band like Xasthur releasing albums on Hydra Head which indirectly associates that band with all sorts of subcultures, a band like Twilight taking in Aaron Turner of Isis and somewhat reevaluating both his position as a musician and their relationship to anything he is associated with. Nothing could be more hip two years ago than puking at a Watain concert, punks dress up in Craft t-shirts and Darkthrone start playing crust… I see the resolve of the puritanical black metal environment as a good thing, and loath the thought of the situation fifteen years ago when black metal only took inspiration from black metal and the perspective was as narrow as a duck’s asshole – it was completely oppressive.

The symphonic parts throughout A Bliss To Suffer truly stun the listener, and really add another dimension to THE LEGION’s music.  In the songwriting process, how do you guys work off of each other to create the beast at full force?

David: We’ve always used atmospheric elements and orchestrations in our music to some extent, but we don’t work like many other bands do today, you know, adding some simple guitar strokes to a pompous orchestral part just to make it sound heavier. We always compose the songs with the guitar. When we feel that a certain part needs to sound “bigger” we add some orchestration so it’s more like a background to complete the whole thing.

We are dying to know.  Does THE LEGION have any plans for a music video or some kind of live footage for any of the songs on A Bliss To Suffer?

Lars: I guess we had grander plans about music videos five years ago, yet nothing happened, so it seems to be farther away now than ever. Let’s see what happens on the live department in the close future, it would probably be a good idea to collect your own footage and assemble it with some sort of aesthetic awareness than relying solely on fan material on YouTube.

The artwork on A Bliss To Suffer is beautiful!  It really sticks out, and helps show the pure darkness of the release.  Care to give any promotion for the artwork, and any concepts you guys had behind what you wanted the album artwork to look like?

David: It’s important to us that the artwork goes well together with the music. It should somehow visualize the feeling you get from listening to our songs. The artwork was made by a guy called Kris Wervimp. This is the third time we’ve collaborated with him and I think that he nailed it once again. We are really satisfied with his accomplishment. I want people to be able to recognize our albums, just by looking at the cover art, you know.  Not in an “Iron Maiden kind of way”, but still with some unity to the art.

Does THE LEGION have any plans to tour in the future?  I know the US would love to see the unholy black metal force in action.

Lars: We have plans for live performances in the near future, sorry to say nothing is planned for the US as of now. We would definitely love to come, though.  Any promoter interested should get in touch!

With A Bliss To Suffer out already in Europe, and for the album to be released early August in the US, how have the responses been from Europe so far?  Also, are you guys stoked for the US’s responses?

Lars: Responses have been pretty good, the least excitable responses come from Sweden actually, which is not that strange, since it is a country immensely anxious about trends, and bombastic, well produced metal with black metal overtones is so totally out this season, I guess. We don’t mind, but wait eagerly to hear what people overseas have to say about it! It feels far more important to us. On a more cynical note, the American market is a huge one (California alone having four times more inhabitants than the whole of Sweden), so if you “make it” there, you are a busy musician basically until you’re tired of it yourself. We confidently look forward to launching the album in the US.

A Bliss To Suffer closes on the song, “The Reaping Of Flesh And Blood” and really ends the CD on such a strong moment!  It’s such a well put together CD, but we also want more!  Does THE LEGION already have some ideas on any future material?

Lars: I agree with you on that, it is a kick ass song – the album’s best one in my opinion. We always spend some time and thought on the actual sequence of songs.  It is not unimportant and if you have a look at some really great records, because you will probably find it is not haphazard at all. A good ordering will not make up for crappy songs, but great songs can actually lose some by being put together in a bad way.  I actually got an email last week from one of the band members and he was extremely enthusiastic about a new concept of lyrics, and as long as we are not about to get into spoken word performances, I guess it means we have some new shit coming up.

Are there any particular songs out of THE LEGION’s discography that you especially like to play live?

David: I think “Retribution” from the first album is a great opener and its fun to play. From the “Revocation-album” I love the song “Nocturnal Apparition”. In a way it sums up what The Legion is all about; a perfect display of severe brutality carefully blended with majestic progressions opening the paths to your inner darkness! Muahaha!

Lars: I have not played live with the band for five years but when I did I liked “On Swift Wings” and “Rise of the Fallen”, both off our first album, very much, because of their grand and very emotional climaxes. It was always a great feeling of statement to play those songs to an audience, a very strong sensation of using yourself to an utterly important cause at that given time.

Here’s a fun and tricky question.  If you were to organize a dream tour, who would be on it?  Feel free to name a full scale festival if you wish.

Lars: Ha! I would have myself a festival in some hidden away forest in the middle of Transylvania, no bus transports, there should be shuttle hearses running from the village to the venue. The Legion could open up at three o’clock in the afternoon, and after we played, I could get plastered watching a drum-and-bass version of 1990 era Mayhem performing with two open caskets on stage, then Morbosidad and Bestial Warlust covering each other’s songs as pause entertainment, before everyone in the crowd is supplied with free LSD and the night is rounded off with Wolves In The Throne Room playing their entire discography in sequence. Then there would be Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” read aloud around the campfire and wolf petting until everyone is sane and sober and fast asleep.

David: More LSD Lars?

THE LEGION began in 1999 with a strong musical direction.  Now it’s 2009!  How does it feel spreading your message to the true metalheads and beyond for now 10 years?

Lars: It feels great, even though I would suggest we are actually not spreading a certain message but are rather happy spreading our artistic expression to audiences across the world. That we, having some major impulses from the black metal movement, should be around for the reason of proclaiming some sort of ideological agenda is a misunderstanding, I am afraid. Moreover, we would hope that we do not only come through to true metalheads, but may actually be relevant to people outside of that crowd as well. Apart from that: it feels great!

What music has been playing in your CD player lately for your listening pleasure?

David: Anaal Nathrakh!! I absolutely love the band. To me they’re still doing something original. If I’m not listening to extreme metal I sometimes enjoy a good film score. Composers like Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer or James Horner really appeal to me

Lars: This morning I listened to Conqueror’s “War Cult Supremacy” as I was showering away yesterday’s hangover, apart from that there has been a lot of Nick Cave lately (as always). The latest new discovery I really got fond of was Den Saakaldte from Norway, sounds a bit like Obtained Enslavement or something really melodic yet dark, dark, dark. I actually listened to a lot of power ballads from the late 80’s/early 90’s lately, i.e. Damn Yankees. Cheesy, but absolutely enchanting.

I see the unholy black metal force of THE LEGION is ever evolving!  You guys have a ton of potential, and have really used it to its best so far.  After each release, you guys have found ways to keep getting better and better, and now with A Bliss To Suffer, THE LEGION is stronger than ever!!  Looking ahead how does the future look for THE LEGION?

Lars: The way I see it the main objective for the time being is to get on the road and prove ourselves to crowds in Europe. There has been a lot of studio activity for a couple of years now, it is time we get on our feet and fucking do something about ourselves. We hope to come to the US but it is a long way to go – support us and it may come true. We sure would love to come! We will start rehearsing full-band this summer for whatever may come our way in terms of live performances; we are all ready to go.

Label: Listenable Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/legionsweden

Written by: Alex Gilbert

Pulling Teeth – Chris Kuhn (bass) & Mike Riley (vocals)

Just recently, SMN News has interviewed Chris Kuhn (bass), and Mike Riley (vocals) of Deathwish Inc.’s powerhouse, PULLING TEETH.  As much fun as these guys are having creating their brand of music, they seriously pound out their roots of hardcore while also giving tastes of metal and punk – creating a damn respectable crossover, a crossover that the underground scene needs!!  Come join us and see Chris and Mike’s thoughts on their 2009 Deathwish Inc. release, Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions and its process, their dream tours they’ve created, future ideas and plans of the band, as well as their explanations about why Black Flag is so awesome!  Plus much more is included.  Check them out immediately, drop by their myspace and swap a show with them, and get some in depth looks with us right here: 

You guys have a group of shows coming up on the east coast.  What are the band’s excitement levels towards getting out and killing those stages?

Chris: I would have to say on a scale of 1 to 10, our excitement is a 20. Not only will we kill those stages, we’re going to rip them apart with our weapons of mosh destruction.

Mike: I prefer the term “murdering” stages as my feelings toward them are certainly malicious. I love playing shows. I Iove hanging out with my friends. I love going to places and making new friends. I have a lot of fun playing live. I’d say we’re pretty excited to play any show.

When playing live, are there any songs in particular out of your discography that you like to play live?

Chris: With Avarice, Dead Is Dead, Clipped Wings, Stonethrowers, Shiteaters, Sick And Tired, Rains, Basically Dead, Martyr Immortal,(Mori Vincent Omnes), Black Skies, Ashes And Dust, Dismissed In Time, Weeds, Never Wrong ,Prepare For The Worst, Heretic, Vicious Skin, Rot Forgotten, Bleeding To Death, Our Downfall, The Kids Are Not Alright, Weapon of Mosh Destruction, Sand and Cells, Paranoid Delusions, Unsatisfied, anything mitch roemer didn’t write, Rituals, Bloodwolves, ambient noises, and everything from the unreleased LP.

Mike: I couldn’t care less if people mosh or not. I’d rather have headbangers right up in my face. Way better energy that way.  “Stonethrowers” and “Dead Is Dead” are fun cuz you’ve got a bunch of people going off to these heavy songs about really compassionate topics, but songs like “Heretic” and “Clipped Wings” are always a blast cuz people tend to cram up front and sing along the most for those songs. The songs off the new album are cool to play live as well because they’re fresh and exciting. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of reactions those songs get now that the album is out and people have had time to become familiar with it.

Can you please explain to us a PULLING TEETH show for one who may have not seen the band live yet?

Chris: Look up the definition of “destroying” and you’ll understand what a live set is like, I have pasted the definition below: 1: to ruin the structure, organic existence, or condition of <destroyed the files> ; also : to ruin as if by tearing to shreds <their reputation was destroyed>2 a: to put out of existence : kill <destroy an injured horse> b: neutralize <the moon destroys the light of the stars> c: annihilate, vanquish

Mike: We try to keep it high energy and fun, but we’ve got some song parts that are a bit more epic that give us a bit of a breather and give a sense of ebb and flow to the live set. Keeping things dynamic and interesting is key.

Your EP Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions packs quite the knockout punch!!  From start to finish, the EP flows great – I didn’t want it to end.  The recording process must’ve been quite a memorable moment, and a blast.  During that, does PULLING TEETH have any other ideas for future material?

Chris: It was quite a grueling process, spanning 12 weeks!!!!!!! We do have ideas for future material. As the old PULLING TEETH material was heavily influenced by Canadian legends the swarm, left for dead, and thor.  The new PULLING TEETH material is going to be influenced by another great yet under appreciated canadian band, ANVIL.

Mike: Recording the last record was a new experience for us as we had a lot more time to get everything done and do it the way we really wanted to. It was a much more relaxed environment and I think that comes through in the songs. Dom’s brain is constantly going on overdrive so we’ve already got some new song parts in the works that we’ll start putting together in the near future.

You guys have a video online covering Black Flag’s classic song, “Revenge”.  It’s a very respectable cover guys, cheers!  Have you guys had time to throw the song in your setlist when playing live?  What has the crowd’s response been so far to that?

Chris: Thank you, thank you. Everyone hates it when we play that song, we don’t understand why. In Tulsa, OK, people threw eggs at Mike Riley while he was singing that song. No one respects hardcore legacies anymore, be it Mike Riley or Black Flag.

Mike: Well, that video is from a live show, so, yes, we have played it live before, many times actually. Black Flag are a huge influence on us as a band so it just made sense to do the cover. Unfortunately, I fucked up the lyrics that night the video was taken so it’s a bit embarrassing for me. Don’t hold it against me, please. The cover, like most of the ones we do, goes over really well sometimes, and like a lead balloon others. I don’t think hardcore/punk kids have as much of an appreciation for our forefathers as they used to. Black Flag should be required listening and appreciating for anyone that considers themselves a punk or hardcore kid.

You guys have such a raw and intense style that breaks into many dimensions.  I believe Europe would just LOVE to see some PULLING TEETH, as would the rest of the world.  Are there any places in particular you’d like to play?  Also, any future tour plans you can let us in on?

Chris: We would like to play the following places, if you anyone reading this is from there, please contact the Pulling Teeth myspace; Dom will definitely trade you a show:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan

Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma (Myanmar) Burundi

Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democratic Republic of the Costa Rica Côte d’Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic

Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic

Ecuador East Timor Egypt El Salvador England Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia

Fiji Finland France 

Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Great Britain Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana

Haiti Honduras Hungary

Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy

Jamaica Japan Jordan

Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, North Korea, South Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan

Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg

Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar

Namibia Nauru Nepal The Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Northern Ireland

Mike: We had a great time in Europe when we were there in the fall of 2009 and we hope to get back there soon. Hopefully sometime in the next year. We’d really love to get to go to Australia and southeast Asia sometime in the future. Hopefully we can make that happen. Japan was an amazing experience for us and we’d love to get to do that again as well.

“Bloodwolves” is such a killer song- it’s soooo good!!  It’s brilliant: the time changes, speedy guitar solos, heavy hitting riffs, and the moving melodies.  Creating such a beast like that and the rest of the songs on Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions, you guys must be proud, huh?

Chris: Thanks for the kind words! We are pleased with how the record came out, but honestly we still are not content. Music, Art, and hardcore are all about pushing boundaries, I don’t think I’ll ever be proud. Pride constricts creativity.

Mike: I think the record came out really well. We’re definitely proud of it.  Now our goal is to take the progression of the band even further on the next record while still staying true to the roots of the band.  Hopefully we can pull it off.

Here’s a fun and tricky question.  If you were to organize a dream tour, who would be on it?  Feel free to name a full scale festival if you wish.

Chris: good question.

Anton Rough, Falling Sickness, Bruce Lee Band, The Lawrence Arms, Thursday, Saves The Day, Alkaline Trio, Hatred Surge, Hatebeek.

Mike: Iron Maiden, Slayer, Avail, Descendents, Pulling Teeth, the Ergs, Deep

Sleep, Idle Hands, and Sleepwall.

Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions truly give that raw hardcore feel, while also exploring areas of metal.  It almost feels like the roots of both are being brought back all in one.  Doing all of this in a modern age, PULLING TEETH has really helped me and many others restore the spirit into both respective genres.  Do you guys feel part of a movement of sorts, or more so creating the music you want to play while having tons of fun doing it?

Chris: We’re just having fun. We pledge no allegiances to any movement or organization. We are just doing the only thing we know how to do be ourselves.

Mike: We’re definitely a hardcore band at our roots, but there’s certainly more of a metal feel to our songs than traditional hardcore punk. We certainly have our influences, and they range from bands like Black Flag and Left For Dead to Slayer, Integrity, and Black Sabbath. That’s a pretty decent cross-section, I’d say. We just hope to create something unique that’s still enjoyable to all who dig metallic hardcore, because it’s what we dig as well.

The artwork on Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions is beautiful!  Would you like to give us some promotion on it?

Chris: Thanks again, it’s by Jeff Beckman.  He rules.

Mike: Jeff Beckman (Left For Dead, Chokehold, Haymaker) did the album art for us again and again we were blown away by what he created for us.  Couldn’t be happier.

What music has been playing lately in your CD player for your listening pleasure?

Chris: Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse, Jenny Lewis, The Cranberries, Anvil

Mike: Nobunny – Love Visions LP, Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves LP, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart – s/t LP, Deep Sleep – Paranoid Futures 7″, Sick Sick Birds – Heavy Manners (upcoming) LP, Avail – Front Porch Stories LP, Carbonas – (newest) s/t LP, the Down and Outs – Friday Nights, Monday Mornings LP, Ceremony – Violence Violence LP, Hum – Downward Is Heavenward LP, Psyched to Die – Sterile Walls 7″, Idle

Hands – 7″ and new LP, Radio Faces – Party at the Bushwick Hotel LP, and Slayer – Reign In Blood.

Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions so far has received such great feedback!  From the Deathwish Inc. release, to where you are now, how does the future look for PULLING TEETH?

Chris: The future looks as it always does, mysterious and vague. We have a few things planned and a few things not planned. We are playing it by ear.

Mike: It looks pretty good as far as I can tell. We’ve got some cool shows coming up. This Is Hardcore fest is gonna be really awesome this year.  We’re going to start working on some new stuff soon. We’ve got the split with Irons coming out in a few months. Hopefully we’ll make it back over to Europe in 2010 and maybe even Australia. No complaints here. Thanks for the interview.

Label: Deathwish Inc.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/pullingteethmd 

By Alex Gilbert

God Dethroned – Susan Gerl

With the new mega release of GOD DETHRONED’s Passiondale on Metal Blade Records, the band proves that they are back at full force, and ready for the takeover.  SMN News has just interviewed GOD DETHRONED’s newest guitarist, Susan Gerl, which is also her very first interview in the US – glad we can get the ball rolling on that!  Check out Susan’s thoughts on Passiondale, upcoming GOD DETHRONED tours, her dream tour she has created, and more…

After much anticipation, GOD DETHRONED has made such an explosive return into the metal scene with Passiondale.  Thanks for coming back for more!  How does it feel to be back, and to just completely stun the GOD DETHRONED fans and those who haven’t heard the band yet?

Susan: You’re very welcome! It feels great to have created an album that is liked and received that well by so many people! We are glad that we receive so many positive reactions about our new CD and that it made such an impact.

You have some really powerful screams, and a ton of really powerful riffs.  Everybody in GOD DETHRONED brings a lot of great ideas to the band!  When recording the 2009 Metal Blade release, Passiondale, how does everybody in the band feel about the finished product?

Susan: Even though I only joined the band after the recordings I feel really proud to be part of all this and if I speak for the others: they are all really pleased with the final outcome.

Out of the whole GOD DETHRONED discography of killer metal releases, are there any songs you especially like to play live?

Susan: I especially like to play Nihilism and Poison Fog (and many other songs of course) live.

“Poison Fog” is an amazing song!  The level of extreme metal is outstanding, and the melodies are really catchy.  There must have been a lot of great ideas being thrown around for Passiondale.  Does GOD DETHRONED have any ideas on future material and musical direction?

Susan: We have not really discussed new material yet, but as far as our musical direction is concerned I guess that nothing much will change as far as the combination of brutality and melody is concerned. The leads might become slightly different when I will contribute to a new album, since I simply have a different way of playing than for example Isaac or Jens.

Here’s a fun and tricky question.  If you were to organize a dream tour, who would be on it?  Feel free to name a full scale festival if you wish.

Susan: Carcass! Would be great to play together with this band once. Would be cool to do a tour with Carcass and Arch Enemy, though practically I don’t think that would be that good since poor Michael and Daniel would have to play twice every night then, haha ;-)

GOD DETHRONED has created such a brilliant and meaningful concept album, and it sounds great!  Aside from the metal being just extremely awesome, you guys have got to be proud of making your mark?

Susan: Thank you very much. Of course you are always proud as a band if you manage to have made your mark in any way and if that is something we have achieved so far then we are definitely very happy with that.

You guys have toured a lot of places, seen a lot of cool things, and played with many awesome bands with equally awesome people.  The road life must be fun.  What are the band’s excitement levels for the upcoming tour with Fleshgod Apocalypse and Sacramental Blood?

Susan: We are all really excited to go on tour again since it’s been a while that the band has toured. We are eager to do the ‘Storming the Balkans’  tour in June because we have not been to these countries before.

I know you guys are about to conquer Europe and South America, as well as Mexico.  Do you know if there’s any chance of you guys coming to the US?

Susan: Yes! Only a few days ago we announced a 3-week tour through the United States together with Woe of Tyrants, Abigail Williams and Augury. Please visit our site (www.myspace.com/villavampiria) to check out the exact dates and venues.

What music has been playing in your CD player for your listening pleasure?

Susan: I have listened a lot to our new “Passiondale” CD of course, but very recently I have also been listening to the last Paradise Lost album, the occasional Carcass, some Satriani for relaxation and some new releases to keep a bit up-to-date.

After just creating the monster in Passiondale, it sure looks like people are starting to catch on.  Looks like Passiondale is doing great so far.  How does the future look for the almighty GOD DETHRONED?

Susan: The future looks very bright! The vast majority of CD reviews has been extremely positive. We are all very focused at the moment and are all anxious to hit the road again and promote this album and meet people and fans. We will start with a 10-day tour in the Balkans in June, then play a number of summer festivals across Europe and in September we’ll embark on a 3-month tour through South America, The United States and Europe.

Label: Metal Blade Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/villavampiria 

By Alex Gilbert

Jonathan Dennison – Unholy, Guitar

May 12 marked the release of New Life Behind Closed Eyes from Prosthetic Records own, UNHOLY. On this Friday night in Anaheim, CA, UNHOLY is the first band on the bill and went on about 15 minutes earlier than planned. While the SxE crowd in attendance were generally unknowing of the Syracuse based band, near the end of the set the kids began to flail their arms, windmill, and give their pseudo-roundhouse kicks in approval. Currently on tour with EARTH CRISIS, guitarist / founder Jonathan Dennison finds a few moments to speak with SMNNews.com to give a little insight to the world of UNHOLY.

How did you guys tug on the ears of Prosthetic?

A couple years ago we were on tour and we played a show with FUNERAL PYRE. The singer John works at Prosthetic and we met him and we were teasing the idea as we were pretty much unsigned to a certain extent as we had a release called Blood Of The Medusa on Lambgoat Records which was a one shot. Come a year later we start record shopping and Prosthetic Records was one of the few lables out there that I believe we would sync in not sounding exactly like the very popular and trendy sounding stuff these days. They have a pretty good roster of great, different sounding bands; a very diverse roster and the ethics behind the label are amazing. Our management company works with THE ACACIA STRAIN as well and they pretty much sealed the deal with us as well.

Give me a little history of UNHOLY.

UNHOLY has been through a few lineup changes; it’s only been an active band for the past three years really. It’s been a project band that I’ve tried to get serious for a long time and never had a solid lineup. About 3 years ago we had a pretty consistent lineup minus the singer trouble we had.

This nucleus of the band, how long?

About 2 years! Billy Price (vocals) has been with us about 2 years. Basically right after the first tour off of the last record we realized why the singer has been in local Syracuse bands forever including GOD BELOW because he freaked out a week into the tour and went home. So after that we had to regroup and we knew Billy Price from other local bands and is a really great dude and friend of ours and everything sort of worked out that way. We did a couple more tours and the band was road ready.

In your press release there is a quote “If there was a purpose, we’re here to destroy everything around us, we’re here to destroy the planet, and every form of life that walks this earth.”

I think it was a question once asked about the undertones of our record. It was saying in essence that the lyrical idea behind our record is that the root of the program is humanity. If there’s anything that’s set to destory anything on earth is us. One thing I’ll have to say is that behind the story our album encompasses is we really don’t want to live forever, we really have nothing, we’re all gonna be dead tomorrow and nothing is going to mean anything. The record looks at us as more of a microcosm of a mold as something corroding and eating itself away.

If you think about how big Earth is and the Universe, how little are we compared to all of that?

Definitely! As much as we might look at a spore of mold on the ground and look at that as a little piece of mold, we are the mold in that same manner. We have no idea what’s out there and for us to be as feable minded and to think we’re the only intelligent being in this universe is very closed minded. And since we only use 6-16% of our brain and I do belive that the Ancient Egyptians were a million times more powerful than we are as they built a civilization with only what was only around them and the power of the sun.

People don’t realize that we only use 10% of our brain.

Yeah! That’s why when people use Acid the nickname ’spinning’ you’re basically shredding through different aspects of your brain that you don’t use. There’s definitely something to be said about the Third Eye through certain religions and so forth. Nobody can sit there and have an answer for everything!

Tell me about the early influences of UNHOLY.

A lot of 90’s metal! All time favorite death metal band of all time, CARCASS. ENTOMBED! TESTAMENT Low era!

Really? How about The New Order era?

I love that stuff too but they took what they saw in COC and really brought groove into it and between that and SEPULTURA Chaos AD. All that stuff that sorta has a punk edge to it. Before the days of pro-tools when things were a little loose and musicians had to play their instruments front to back in a song and perform and make it sound like a band. That’s the beauty of that era. There would never be any such thing as ‘Extreme Metal’ or whatever you call it without all the chaotic studio magic that these kids have to use triggers for their drums. A lot of the stuff of the 90’s really roots UNHOLY. As a teenager, that’s the bands I loved.

What about the rest of the band?

Pretty much the same thing which is why it works. Our other guitarist (Steve Caiello) is more into stoner rock and classic rock than I am hence he does all the leadwork and solos, amazing guitarist to play with. Between all of us we’re pretty much in the same school of music. Any progression of UNHOLY is never going to be like trying to sound in a different way than to please anybody other than a progression of us feeling the moment and whatever comes out comes out.

How does the songwriting work with you guys?

Usually I’ll write about 80% of the song to start off with and then I’ll jam with the drummer, work out the kinks and structuring. Get a lot of input from the drummer. Then after that point when the actual structure and all the kinks are worked out, Steve will pretty much write a whole song over it between harmonies and leadwork. Then I’ll work with Billy and we’ll work with vocal patterns and try to get that 110%. It’s a self-produced band. We have a brand new drummer (Andy Miller) and this is his first tour with us and I’ve tested him already to see if I could write with him and I’m super excited. We started working on new material for the next record and it’s gonna smash this one times ten. We’re gonna tour as much as possible for this one! For us, luckily we can do a tour like this and go over amazing with the hardcore kids then we can turnaround and play with SOILENT GREEN in front of a full house and have everybody doing the devil horns with us!

What would you say to a person to get them to listen to UNHOLY?

I’d say for anybody who is looking for something more in music. As the genre we’re coming out of that people call Metal or Hardcore, UNHOLY is definitely a band for somebody who is beyond a 16-year old level of just bland music and wants to listen to something a little more interesting and still catchy enough to keep your ears going.

Paolo Gregoletto – Trivium, Bass

After discovering a way to avoid paying the $22 parking rate at the Forum in Inglewood, CA (hint, they allow you to park at Hollywood Park if you’re working with the bands), I walk to the TRIVIUM tour bus where greeted by their Tour Manager and escorted to to the backstage area where I am introduced to Paolo Gregoletto (bass) and Matt Heafy (guitar & vocals). I sit with Paolo for a moment but we quickly learn that there is an over abundance of press being conducted so we return to the tour bus to have a quick chat and see what’s been going on with Florida’s own, TRIVIUM.

This tour has been your best run yet of the US so far, what makes it better?

It’s a whole new audience for us and it actually feels like we’re making progress here. Sometimes you go out on tour and not that it’s a bad tour, but you’re playing to people who already know who you are, they either like you or don’t like you, they’ve already made up their mind. On this tour it’s almost like a fresh start with a whole new crowd of people. Obviously our fans are out supporting us, but I’d say some of the places we play, especially like the midwest, 80-90% of the people had no idea who TRIVIUM was beforehand so it’s cool.

So you got the SLIPKNOT crowd who would already be acquainted with you at least by name anyway?

I don’t know, it’s kinda weird like, they’re really into a whole new level especially on the mainstream side of things. We don’t have mainstream radio support. We’re not into that world so there’s a lot of people coming out who don’t know us at all.

But they’re feeling it?

Yeah, it’s been really great. We’ve felt really welcome not only by the band but by their fans as well.

That helps! You got the oddball band in the middle with COHEED AND CAMBRIA.

Yeah, it’s cool though. The one thing is we all share a common bond is that we have very diehard fanbases. There’s a lot of TRIVIUM fans coming out, a lot of COHEED fans coming out, and definitely a shitload of SLIPKNOT fans. It’s cool, it’s just different dynamics.

So how many days left in the tour?

We’re almost done, 4th show til the end.

Then what?

Then we have a couple weeks off, then a few shows up in Canada with SLIPKNOT. Then we head to Japan and Australia for a headlining tour. Then all the summer festivals and Mayhem.

Mayhem looks good this year.

Yes, we’re headlining the Jagermeister Stage.

That’s a good bill.

Great bill and very diverse.

Great bill and more extreme this year.

I’m looking forward to it; short set, middle of the day, it means I can party and do whatever I want afterwards. (laughs)

What about this tour now? You were warming up backstage right now playing on guitar, is that more of a device to warm up on?

Well, I just jump on Matt’s guitar sometimes just to try to write stuff and for warmups more for stretching and vocal warmups. Or if I warm up I warm up on my bass and do all the chromatic, boring, useless sounding things but they warm your hands up.

You have a pretty technical stance on your delivery; it’s very precise. How much time do you put into practice or warm up before you go on?

Definitely try to put as much as I can into it. For me, the vocal warmups and actual stretching for a tour like this for arena shows it’s a little cold inside the building so I think that’s probably first and foremost the thing I focus on. 30-minute sets really easy playing wise as we’re playing pretty straight forward songs that really go over well to a new audience in a big place like this. Mostly the physical side of it that I worry about the most.

With the coldness of the arenas, do you feel disconnected from the fans from being so separated especially for those people up in section 221 in the top of the arena?

Well some of the arenas have been a cool setup, still a big place, but with a couple thousand people but they’re not like those gigantic arenas. Madison Square Garden was ridiculous; I couldn’t even see people it was just like an abyss. The hard thing to do when you’re in arenas is to make everyone feel a part of the show and get everyone’s attention. Especially when you’re the opening band I mean a lot of people are just waiting to see the main event. You have to come out and make everyone feel a part of the show and get people amped up and all four of us have to put out as much energy as we can and try to pump people up.

This is your first time in arenas though isn’t it?
In the States it is yes.

Was it scarey walking out your first couple nights?
No, it was like a rush. Every night when I go out I don’t feel scared going out. I know the songs well, I mean playing and stuff isn’t a problem. Our crew is super pro. It’s just that rush of coming right out and seeing the people there is just awesome.

Is there much movement down below?

Yeah Yeah! Every show it kind of varies. Some days it will be completely insane. Sometimes it takes a couple of songs for people to warm up then when they’re feeling it they start really getting into it. Some people like to watch. For me either way is good as long as people are reacting to it and they’re loud. That’s the main thing. If they’re just sitting there quiet it’s like, come on!

You’re in LA though tonight.

True. (laughs)

That’s the worst part about LA though.

Yeah. The thing is, sometimes LA, I don’t know. Sometimes I think New York has been more like that than LA has; you never know. It’s kind of a gamble with the big cities. Regardless of what people are doing, we come out with the same intensity. My kind of philosophy on this thing is that if you’re going to go out there and hope to feed off the crowd you’re gonna have a lot of shitty nights especially when you’re a new band to people you have to project the energy. You have to keep going until the end even if it’s not the greatest moshpit you’ve seen. You have to look like you’re having fun. You should be having fun this is a great job.

Talk about your transition into arenas?

SLIPKNOT asked us onto this and we have to Thank them for that. We started off in our van making enough to get gas in the van and get to the next place. And just continue doing what we do trying to get better with our live show and progress that way. It really wasn’t overnight and it kinda seems like people look at us because we’re young that it seems like it was overnight. We definitely worked from the ground up. A couple years ago I couldn’t imagine we’d be opening for SLIPKNOT on their US arena tour let alone we’ve done it with IRON MAIDEN in Europe.

Talk about Europe vs. America fan reaction.

TRIVIUM fans around the world it’s the same reaction. Europe’s not one singular thing, it’s like each country has it’s own scene almost. You might be big in Germany and Austria then you go to Scandinavia and you’re playing clubs. It’s totally a different thing, it’s definitely taken a lot of time to earn people’s respect over there.

Once you earn it there, they’re much more loyal, especially if you’re playing with MAIDEN.

You gotta step up, you gotta bring more than your A game. We had heard the horror stories that there was one band the crew was telling us that got like 200 Euros worth of coins thrown at them and that the entire front row stood with their middle fingers up in the air like the whole set. We had heard about that and we’re like, well, all we can do is go out there and be as aggressive as possible and hope they dig the music we play. That was probably one of the most fun tours we’ve done. When we played in Spain and Italy it felt like we were headlining as they gave us such a warm reaction it was awesome. And it was awesome seeing MAIDEN every night. That was probably the one tour I went out and watched the headliner every night.

What are your 3 career highlights?

Not counting this one (current tour) because we’re not done with the tour yet. I’d say opening the main stage at Download in 2005, opening for METALLICA, and doing the tour with IRON MAIDEN. It really doesn’t get any bigger than MAIDEN or METALLICA.

Static-X – Tony Campos

Industrial metal band Static-X has spent a decade churning out consistent material and gathering a loyal fan base. With a new album, Cult Of Static, coming out this week, bassist Tony Campos took time out to speak to SMNnews about the new album, playing on Ministry’s last tour, how he feels about Static-X’s most criticized album, Shadow Zone, and much more!

The band has a new album coming out, Cult Of Static. What is the significance of the title?

Well, it’s a little nod to our fans that have been loyal to us for the last ten years. We’re all part of this cult of evil disco and the title is an acknowledgement to our fans and their loyalty.

How did the recording process this time around go for Cult Of Static?

This time around, it was weird. Wayne and I got together around January 2008 and wrote some songs together, but in February, I took off to play bass for Ministry. I didn’t get back until June, so Wayne wrote the rest of the record while I was gone. As soon as I got back from the Ministry tour, the band was in preproduction. I basically went into the studio not really knowing a lot of songs, so I went in cold and played everything by ear, and pulled it off. On past records, I was in there for everything, but this time around, it was jump in and go. I think it turned out good.

Since you went in cold to record the bass parts, is there an interesting dynamic to the album? Is there something different sounding about it compared to previous albums?

With the last two records, I stretched out my playing a little bit, due to Nick’s drumming. Just getting to match up to his drum patterns and his fills helped me stretch out my playing a bit.

When Nick first joined the band, was the chemistry immediate or did it take some time?

No, it was actually really easy, going from Kenny to Nick. Kenny was a solid, rigid drummer; he played like a drum machine. When Nick came in, he had this really cool swing and feel to his playing that opened up a whole new groove to the music.

Dave Mustaine performs a guest solo on “Lunatic.” How did the band obtain his services?

We’ve known Dave for years now. We met him back in 2000, when we opened up for Megadeth when they were touring for Risk. Back in late 2007, we did the Gigantour in Australia with them, so we reconnected with Dave. So when it came down to do the record, we decided to ask Mustaine. He was really cool to take time out of his busy schedule to do a solo for us. We’re really happy that a legend like Dave Mustaine played on our record.

Static-X recently released a video for single “Stingwray.” Can you explain the basic concept behind the video?

It’s us jamming in some decrepit old house and Wayne’s wife is running around and breaking stuff. There’s this whole section where Wayne and his wife are in a car and having fun and it’s suppose to lead to a second video that is in the works. If it doesn’t make sense now, it’ll all make sense once the second video comes out.

What’s your favorite Static-X music video?

The one I had the most fun doing was “Destroyer,” off the last record. It was fun standing around watching hot chicks in roller skates beat themselves up.

The last album, Cannibal, had a big addition to the band’s sound; guitar solos. Explain the decision to bring that element into the band.

It’s funny; after we toured for Wisconsin Death Trip, we discussed bringing guitar solos back into the songs. Koichi was a shredder and we knew he could pull it off, but then Koichi quit. So there goes that idea, and then we got Tripp. He’s a decent guitarist, but he wasn’t much of a shredder. We forgot about the idea, until Koichi came back into the band. He’s an amazing guitar player and has his own unique flavor to his solos. You hear a solo and you know its one of his.

Were you surprised at the success of Cannibal?

Yeah, especially in this market where people don’t buy records like they used to. It is a good feeling to be able to do this after all these years. We’re happy our fans have been so loyal to us and still supporting us ten years later.

What the situation with drummer Nick Oshiro?

Nick has some personal issues to deal with, so the band agreed that he should take this touring cycle off. When we’re ready for the next record, we’ll reevaluate where he is and if he feels he is ready to come back, we left the door open for him. He’s still the best drummer we ever had. We’ve had a couple of other guys filling in, Bevan Davies and Will Hunt, who is filling in for Nick again, and both those guys are great drummers. Like I said before, Nick has an awesome feel to his playing that I have yet to experience with another drummer. I hope he resolves his issues and comes back.

What are the band’s upcoming tour plans?

We got the Snocore tour, which goes up until the second week of April. We have some headlining shows to finish up the month. Then we go to Europe for two or three weeks, but we’re still booking those shows. After that, I don’t know. We’re going to see if we can do a headlining run.

Any surprises in the set-list?

No, we’ve just gone through the set list we’re doing for the Snocore tour, and we’re doing all the fan favorites. We like to save the surprises for the second time around, and bring out some old obscure songs or songs we’ve never played live. After not seeing a band for over a year, people want to see us play their favorite songs.

How, in your eyes, has the band evolved from Wisconsin Death Trip to Cult Of Static?

I think we’ve gotten heavier. We tried some different things on previous records. Through the process, we’ve gotten heavier and put more evil into the evil disco formula.

How do you feel about an album like Shadow Zone, looking at it today?

I think it’s good for what it is. It definitely showcased that Wayne can actually sing, which a lot of people didn’t think he could do. I thought it was a good record for the direction we were trying to go with at the time. Personally, I’m a death metal-head, so I like the heavier and more aggressive stuff. However, I can also appreciate more melodic and straight-forward stuff.

Will the band ever return to that sound or was it a one-off experiment?

I think it was a one-time deal (laughs). There may be elements of that creeping back in if Wayne wants to sing again. I would definitely want to keep it heavy and aggressive.

Earlier in the interview, you mentioned joining Ministry on their last tour. How did you land that gig and what did you think of the tour overall?

While we were on Ozzfest 2007 in Texas, Al (Jourgensen, vocalist) invited me and Wayne to go to the studio to do vocals for the Cover Up record. Wayne had already met Al, and I met him briefly, but I didn’t know the guy until I did vocals on the record. While I was there, Al said, “Hey guess what? You’re playing bass.” He caught me a little bit off guard. I was nervous as hell. I was like “Holy shit, I’m playing on a Ministry record.” So I played on two songs, Al and I got drunk, and we had a good time.

In October, a few weeks after Paul Raven died, they called me and asked me if I wanted to do the tour. If I didn’t do this, I would punch myself in the balls for the rest of my life. There was no way I was not going to do this. It took me a few months to figure out if I could do it or not, working things out with Wayne because we wanted to get in the studio and do the next record. We worked a schedule out, where I could do the last Ministry tour. It was an awesome experience.

Any good stories from the last Ministry tour?

All kinds of crap, man. We did a month of rehearsals in El Paso, and the first weekend I was there, I tried to hang with Al drinking wine. Into the second bottle, I blacked out. I don’t remember what the hell happened. I woke up the next morning and there was red puke all over the floor, next to my bed, and wine all over my socks. It was pretty ugly and that was just the first weekend. Two months in the states and two months in Europe; it was the experience of a lifetime.

What, in your mind, makes Cult Of Static a great record?

The album is aggressive, with some really good and heavy songs. It has more dynamics than the last record. There’s some slower, moodier stuff in there. It takes you on a ride; the whole time you’re on this ride, you’re getting your face kicked in. So it’s a good ride.

By Dan Marsicano

Maelstrom – Gary Vosganian

Fans of European tech-thrash are strongly advised to pick up It Was Predestined from Maelstrom. The self-released EP is available on iTunes and it’s a must for fans of bands like Sabbat, Coroner, Anacrusis, and Voivod. After a long hiatus, the Long Island band reunited and picked up right where they left off in the early 90’s. Hopefully an indie metal label has the balls to sign these guys because they deserve the attention. SMNnews spoke with Maelstrom vocalist Gary Vosganian about their long history, their new EP, and his hopes for the band’s future.

I used to go see you play out on Long Island back in the early 90’s but then you seemed to disappear. What happened and what lead to you finally reuniting?

Well first I would like to say thank you so much for this interview and how great it is to be talking with someone who saw us play way back when.

Basically it is just the classic story of some guys wanting to go in one direction and me feeling that we were losing the heart of what Maelstrom was.

The specifics go like this – After we released our second demo This Battle to Make History, Yet History Never Comes. We wrote a few more songs, which I feel is some of our best material ever, and then John our drummer had this life changing idea and wanted to move to Atlanta.  Which left us looking for a replacement, that took almost 6 months and we definitely lost momentum, and then we found Elliot Hoffman ( [carbomb] ). He was an animal behind the kit, and truly an incredible talent, but he wanted to drive things in a much more syncopated polyrhythmic manner. Joey Lodes (Guitar) and Jon Model (bass) were really into this new vibe and that was the direction that the music began to follow. It was really not my thing and I just felt we were losing the true essence of Maelstrom, we wrote some more material but I could barely write lyrics to it. The feel just was not there and I became more and more disheartened with what we were doing. And they knew it, and ultimately asked me to leave. They went on under with a different vocalist and with a new name; they were called spOOge and became a sort of Mr. Bungle type of act.

As far as us reuniting, it is really just Joey and I. The two of us stayed best friends thru all those years and actually had some businesses together. We decided that this was an unfinished part of our lives that we really wanted to see though, to complete that album we always dreamed of. We found a new drummer named Daniel Kleffmann and taught him the material. Then we recruited Greg Marchak who had done our second demo back 18 years ago to cut the drums and we flew down to Florida to begin the process. It has been longer then I would have hoped but has been coming out better then I ever thought it could. I have been extremely happy and proud of our efforts.

Were you disheartened by the lack of underground support you got back then? I don’t remember seeing too much international press on the band. I think local bands like you guys, Injustice, and Kronin were creating great stuff back then.

No, I can’t say that I was disheartened with the underground support. Locally we were the yearly top draw for two consecutive years and internationally we got a fair amount of press from the zines, and we were as high as number 4 in the metal forces readers demo chart – and held there for a while. So I thought the press was pretty good to us. It was different back then, everything was snail mail and many zine writers were on typewriters and photocopying their issues to dupe them off. And there were many countries that this stuff was not even allowed, Poland, Czechoslovakia, it was all black markets.

Thanks for the compliment on the material. We played with Kronin quite a bit, and that was a lot of fun, every so often I still run into some of them – they had some great music and were one of the first bands I ever saw as a kid. Cold Steel was another band that we played with a lot – those were classic shows Kronin, Cold Steel and Maelstrom and drew a ton of kids. However I do not remember the Injustice guys.

The interesting thing is that your music always seemed so forward-thinking that it still sounds really fresh today.

Well that is one of the greatest things we can hear! We were hoping that the music would stand the test of time and we felt that it probably would, of course we did change some things up, and we are 20 years older, but to hear that it is still fresh today is perhaps the single greatest compliment we can get about our material. These are our babies and they are being re-born again so to know that people feel this way about it – especially those who had experienced it the first time around is a wonderful thing to hear. Thank you sincerely.

Tell us about some of the band’s influences? I hear some Sabbat in there and a definite European feel.

SABBAT!!!! Absolutely – no doubt my all time favorite vocalist and lyricist was Martin Walkyier of Sabbat, and they were a big influence on our material. Other influences would have to be Kreator, Destruction, Coroner, Celtic Frost, Testament, and Death. As well as Vai and Yngwie on the guitar and soloing side of things.

But Yes definitely a lot of the 80s euro thrash, that is stuff we were all into.

Lately I really dig Dark Tranquility, Children of Bodom, and Amon Amarth. Also I think Bal Sagoth’s music especially, on The Power Cosmic – is really interesting material.

Can you tell us what the storyline is about on It Was Predestined?

It Was Predestined is the title of the EP we have recently released, it is 3 songs or chapters, if you will, of a 10 chapter story. This EP represents chapters one, four and nine.

With respect to the story, basically there has been a horrible war, which has ravaged the planet, the war is led by two dominant demigods, which have influenced and forced all of mankind into one faction or the other. Fundamentally a Good versus Evil story, however it becomes apparent that both these good and evil ‘gods’ try to influence and puppeteer mankind for their own gains.  Arise tells the story of Greadon (pronounced Grey – a – Don)- the force of good calling to life his chosen leader to form a new army in the wake of the planets decimation, to go on and lead the remaining faithful against the forces of darkness which now dominate.

“A Futile Crusade” introduces Deamous the evil demigod and describes the epic viscous battle that takes place along the coastline between the newly formed rag tag army of light and the army of evil. As the title implies – both destroy each other almost utterly leaving very few alive but in this battle Evil is victorious, barely.

“Predestined” jumps way ahead and depicts the tale of the new leader of few good who had survived, it speaks of how he was raised by the original leader and snatched from a horrible fate as an infant and how it is destiny his to ultimately bring down the heads of the evil army but also to ultimately destroy both the gods who forced this war upon mankind.

The new EP is culled from your classic demos. How much new material do you have written and how does it compare stylistically? Will it follow a specific storyline?

Yes the EP is from our classic demos, Joe an I took the songs we felt were the real crowd – pleasers from back then and figured lets go with that for the EP, when we had played the last year we were around in 93, the other guys did not really want to do these songs and it really bummed me out because I felt it was quintessential Maelstrom material that the fans really loved. So when we went to do the EP I really wanted to re-visit those days, and those tunes, that I knew truly defined us.

As far as new material – all of these songs have been re-tooled in one way or another, but actual new material, I will say there will be 2 songs that no – one has ever heard and 1 song that only retains its intro, the rest is so new – I have not yet heard it! Stylistically it is all pretty close to what we have done before. Though we always want to try something a bit new – we usually leave that up to song structure. I think the closing song will be really special, I am trying something vocally I have never really heard before and I think it will be fantastic, and crazy,  but its going to be a bitch to mix (have fun Tue).  Musically it has both some power style riffing and some real death metal speed picked stuff that I just love. All in all the new material is real Maelstrom, that is something Joey and I wanted to make sure of as we wrote new tracks that would have to sit side by side with these classic ones for this album.

Aside from that we have some other material that I would love to record that was never recorded before, it is some of our best stuff, but that will have to wait till a second album, right now its all about this one.

And yes – it all follows the specific story line I described before. This debut record was always a ten-song concept album and that is still the vision we have for it.

I know your guitarist Joe Lodes has been really active as a musician in the years away from Maelstrom. Did he continue to follow metal the entire time? I know he was always into different types of styles.

I will let Joey take this one himself:

To paraphrase Spock …. “I have been ….. and always shall be” …. METAL!!!

Guitar wise … I was always checking out the metal scene while studying Jazz, Fusion, Classical, and even Country/Bluegrass styles … but really didn’t like anything I heard during the mid and late 90’s in the mainstream metal guitar scene … except for the better Pantera stuff. I guess it was that whole “nu” metal thing going around that had absolutely NOTHING to do with excelling on your instrument. Absolute Rock bottom shit if you ask me. When the guitarist of Garth Brooks is pulling off a MUCH more challenging piece of music than anything the late 90’s metal had to offer  … I knew there was a problem!  Of course there were players in the guitar world like Dimebag (RIP), Chuck (RIP), Yngwie, and Zakk who were still putting out good metal guitar … but WAY to far and few between.

It wasn’t until later on when Gary turned me on to bands like Between The Buried And Me, Children of Bodom and Amon Amarth (just like he did 20 years ago with Kreator and Destruction) that I actually realized bands were starting to really PLAY again in metal. that it was ok to play a guitar SOLO again!!  To Write actual SONGS again. Some of the stuff that these bands have put out is simply killer! The state of metal and metal guitar is in a MUCH better place today!

-Lodes

When you guys got the MySpace page up and announced your return, were you surprised by the amount of people who actually remembered you? It seems like a lot of people are excited about the band now.

I figured there would be some who remembered us, of course some of the local die hards, but the most satisfying thing has been to see so many people that we did not really ever know that say they remember us and loved our material from back then. Many people have talked with us about our second demo and how great they felt it was. In fact a guy named Roman from the Forgotten Steel website had kept this awesome review of us from the second demo that he had put on his site as a cult best sort of thing, and it was that review that helped inspire us to do it all again. I have also been getting people from South America, Germany, Belgium and Greece hitting the site and leaving comments about how they loved us way back when and are psyched to see us doing it again.

It has of course been amazing to see a bunch of new fans catching on to what we are doing this time around. Considering these songs were originally written and cut 20 years ago it is great to see people hearing it for the first time feel it is real fresh ad truly embracing our work.

Do you have a stable line-up and are there plans for any shows in 2009?

The current Line up is Joey Lodes, Daniel Kleffmann and myself.  This is stable but we would need a bass player for shows, (Joey did all the bass parts on these songs) a few people have expressed interest, but we will see when the time comes-. Additionally we would probably have to recruit a second guitarist to gig live and keep things close to what we did on the EP, and plan on doing for the album. We had second guitarists on and off through the years when we were gigging and it just never worked out for us, but here again we will have to see what happens when it is actually necessary.

As far as plans for shows – we hope to do some specialty shows in the states and hopefully a short summer festival tour in Europe it is my dream to play some of those shows, but this would all have to wait till 2010, there are just too many other commitments right now and the main concern is the album.

Is there anything else you would like to tell everyone reading this?

Yes, please support this scene that we all love and are a part of, if you like a band and feel their music is worthy of your collection, then buy it. If you can attend a show – then go, if you can afford a shirt then get it. Music as an industry is becoming decimated and it will eventually implode if we don’t all help prop it up. I am personally proud to be within a genre that typically does act as a community and the binds created are tighter then any other form of music I can think of. But we all have to realize there is an actual value behind the music itself, and that value is unrecoverable if the music is not valued by the person who wants it. If it is thought of as a commodity with no real money assigned to it and something that can be downloaded and burned and duped at will, then I am afraid we are all in for some major trouble. And the problem winds up being a domino effect, with many adjunct businesses affected as well. The retailers of course, the labels, the bands, but also the cover artists, web site designers, the disc manufactures, the studios and engineers everyone gets hit. Look I am not saying buy everything you can from every band you like, that would be ridiculous, but I am saying if you can and you have the means and it is something you want – then yes please support it. I personally never illegally download music. And often if a band gives music to me I offer to pay for it. Believe me it cost them money to make it.

Also I would like to say thank you so much to the fans we have out there for embracing this music that we love to create and to those, like yourself, who were with us back in our early days, Thank you so much, we truly appreciate the support and friendship.

Stay heavy, stay true to yourself, keep it metal and never give up!

By Carlos Ramirez

These Green Eyes – Greg Mauro

Post-hardcore fiends should check out THESE GREEN EYES. The outfit infuses the angular guitar elements of bands like Jawbox and Thrice and the melodic sensibilities of Jimmy Eat World and Christie Front Drive. Their new album, Relapse to Recovery, hits stores March 24th. SMNnews spoke with guitarist Greg Mauro about the group, touring, and superheroes.

SMNnews: Can you explain how you came up with the name “These Green Eyes?”

Mauro: Green eyed means jealousy and envy.  It was one of those things were we had a real hard time coming up with a band name. These Green Eyes just stuck.

SMNnews: With your debut album coming in March, can you talk about your process with writing this record compared to your previous records?

We have a real free vibe when it comes to recording. Anything goes, Colin may write a whole song by himself. I may structure something or write with zach. Colin and Zach may write together too. Whatever happens happens.

SMNnews: Can you talk a little about this record, what it means to you, and why it’s titled Relapse to Recovery?

The record means the world to me. We all hit a a real rough patch before we decided to write this record. And we got a lot of our frustration out on it. The record tells a story of a mental relapse to a recovery, and how sometimes you may need a serious mental break down to recover from tragedy.

SMNnews: I know that you have played with a lot of popular bands. What has been your favorite/most memorable show?

Any show with Less Than Jake. Those guys are blast. Playing our home town is always a special experience as well.

SMNnews: Do you have a favorite song to play live?

“All We Have Is Gone” off of House of Glass. The song has amazing energy live!

SMNnews: What has been the biggest obstacle to over come as a band from starting out to where you are now?

We lost a good friend to suicide. At that point not only did we question what we wanted out of the band but what we wanted out of life. And one day we just woke up and decided we wanted to tell that story. We truly had nothing to lose.

SMNnews: Who have been your biggest influences as far as your musical tastes?

That always a tough one to answer. Anything from punk to classic rock. Nobody in this band has the same taste so its tough to say. I guess it depends on what I’m listening to while writing.

Are any of you guys married/have girlfriends and how do you handle that when you are on the road?

At the moment some us do and some of us dont. Its very tough to handle. When things go wrong on the road its easy to say “i want to go home” if you have someone at home. And when you have problems at home it’s easy to say “I want to hit to road”. Its hard to handle two things your passionate about and love. Allot of phone calls and text messages get you through it. I have seen allot of bands do video chats too.

SMNnews: If you could be any super hero, who would it be?

Superman. The dude can fly and only one thing in the universe can kill him! Wolverine is pretty bad ass too.

SMNnews: What is yet to come for These Green Eyes in the coming year?

We are dying to go to Europe or Japan or anywhere over seas and see how different the music culture is. We’ll see this is going to be a big year for us.

By Ben “Twink” Farber

Woe of Tyrants – Chris Catanzaro

Death metal band WOE OF TYRANTS recently released their sophomore album, and first with Metal Blade Records, Kingdom Of Might. The band mixes aggressive riffs with a melodic touch, and an inspiring message to boot. Vocalist Chris Catanzaro recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to SMN News about the band’s new album, his lyrical inspirations, today’s metal scene, and much more!

Death metal band Woe of Tyrants recently released their sophomore album, and first with Metal Blade Records, Kingdom Of Might. The band mixes aggressive riffs with a melodic touch, and an inspiring message to boot. Vocalist Chris Catanzaro recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to SMN News about the band’s new album, his lyrical inspirations, today’s metal scene, and much more!

Can you go into details about the songwriting and recording process for the band’s sophomore album, Kingdom of Might?

We released our album, Behold The Lion, on Tribunal Records in the summer of 2007. We exhausted all our new material for that. The Metal Blade thing happened in October and they wanted us to write a new record. So we stopped everything we were doing and locked ourselves away for about five or six months working and practicing six, sometimes seven, days a week. We finally got enough material together and started shopping around where we wanted to record it.  We decided on Joey Sturgis (The Devil Wears Prada, Gwen Stacy, Brothers Von Doom), who runs Foundation Studios. Joey invited us up there to demo a track and we liked what he was doing, so we went with him.

As far as the recording process go, we did it in parts. We went up there in shifts, so everybody didn’t have to stay up there the entire time. Joey was extremely easy to work with; he was very relaxed as far as the environment goes, so that was nice.

How has the band progressed from Behold The Lion to Kingdom Of Might?

Well, Behold The Lion was a lot rawer and was recorded when we were younger. We wrote that album three years ago; some of those songs on that album we wrote four years ago. It was a long process when we didn’t release anything for a long period of time, as far as recordings go. So when we laid everything down for Behold The Lion, there was a progression on that album, even from some of the early songs to the later songs. There was a progression in our songwriting as we matured as musicians. That same transition can be heard from Behold The Lion to Kingdom Of Might, only everything on Kingdom Of Might was written together. It’s a lot more consistent all the way through, as far as the one particular sound goes; Behold The Lion was very raw and all over the place. I still love playing the music from that album and listening to the album, but Kingdom Of Might is under control.

The lyrics aim for a more positive message than what is normal in death metal; what is the reason behind that?

For one, and this sounds lame, I don’t like people to feel down. It’s okay to be angry and get fired up and be aggressive when you’re listening to heavy music. That’s a huge part of it, but I got my own personal beliefs and I don’t try to push it on anybody. To me, I wrote everything honestly and as heartfelt as I could possibly write. I don’t mind being on stage and smiling and having a good time and not feeling the need to throw vulgarity at the kids there. I don’t think (that being negative) is something that is necessary to be a death or thrash metal band. We try to avoid gimmicks anytime we can; we’re not a Christian band, but everyone in our band is adamant about the fact that we like to be a positive influence. With more success becomes more responsibility as a role model; someone that other people want to emulate. I think that kind of responsibility shouldn’t be something you take lightly.

What were your inspirations lyrically for Kingdom Of Might?

The first lyric on the entire record is “look to the skies for the evidence” and I think that sums up a lot of what the album is about. It shows that there is two sides to everything; dark-light, good-evil, that age-old comparison. For me, honestly, if I walk outside and look around, I just think that there is so much inspiration in the natural world around us, without it being a biblical thing. You can tell by looking at the song titles that there is a lot of biblical reference, but to me, it’s more about the values, instead of pushing it on people. There’s no preaching on this record; it just more of trying to evoke curiosity.

What song (s) are you most proud of on Kingdom Of Might?

The first track after the instrumental is “Soli Deo Gloria,” which is Latin. I actually borrowed that from Johann Sebastian Bach. He used to put that at the end of every one of his pieces that he wrote, which means “to you alone the glory.” To me, I look around and I see a lot of evidence of a creator. To me, that song was pointing out in respect of that. I can’t make water, I can’t make grass grow, you know, all the stuff that is perfectly set-up and perfectly designed. It’s very impressive, so respect-wise, that’s why I really feel that song.

I would also have to say “Like Jasper And Carnelian” because that song is a little different approach than we’ve ever taken before. It’s a little more melodic, and I was glad we were able to put it in there.

What, in your eyes, qualifies as a great song?

For me, a song that evokes a mood; that’s why I like Cult of Luna so much. I could pop in one of their albums and it could take me to a different place. That to me only happens not only a vocal part or a guitar part, but when it all comes together, you can tell those parts were meant to come together at that exact moment. It allows the song to take its own direction. I’m a fan of hooks; a lot of bands try to do, but it’s hard to do it tastefully without it coming off like it’s forced.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently during the recording process?

I would have probably played less World of Warcraft (laughs). One of the songs I didn’t have the lyrics for, and I honestly wrote the lyrics to the last song I recorded while I was sitting in the studio, almost in its entirety.

Do you remember what song it was?

Yeah, it was “Sounding Jerusalem.” I already had all the rhythms played out, as far as the patterns, because I write them first. I remember perfectly just sitting there that morning, I was the only one left in the studio. The vocals for that song were the last thing left we had left. I was sitting there and I was like, “Joey, we’re going to have to wait a couple hours because I have to write these lyrics.”

What are the band’s upcoming tour plans?

(In late March) we leave with The Agonist and Salt The Wounds. That takes us all the way to the New England Metal & Hardcore Fest, which we are really excited about. We play that, and then we leave directly from there with Cattle Decapitation. We are basically booked until June.

Are there any special preparations you do to keep your vocals strong on tour?

Honestly, I’ve been ridiculed before because I don’t warm up. It’s just not my thing, I guess. I’m sure I’ll pay for that someday, but as of now, I don’t do anything. I try not to drink stuff like alcohol, caffeine, but I really don’t pay too much attention to those rules. Sleep is the most important thing, at least to my voice. If I don’t have any sleep, I could feel myself getting very hoarse. I’ve been fortunate so far to have never blown out my voice.

The band recently filmed a video for “Break The Fangs Of The Wicked.” What is the concept behind it?

That song lyrically kind of culminates to a positive message. They did a great job when they edited it together, but there was a lot more things I wanted to do with it. As far as the concept of the video, we have that girl tied up like she’s been kidnapped and we have this other girl…I was pushing to have another girl be the heroine of the video, as opposed to having a guy do it, because that’s so common. You have two options in any situation; you can do the right thing or you can do the wrong thing…but there’s that third thing that pops up in your head and tells you which one you should do; your conscious. It tells you which one is the right choice, even if it’s a dangerous decision, like breaking into a theater because you hear somebody screaming. That takes guts; doing the right thing does take guts. That was what we were trying to get across, even though when you have to have us jumping around too, it’s kind of hard to make that obvious.

What did you want to do different with the video? Was there some stuff cut that you were disappointed with?

There were some things that would have been hard to do. I would have wanted it to have, just to make it more obvious and make it easier to digest, I wanted to have people walking by outside the theater and cut to the girl screaming and have people walking by hearing it, and keep on walking. Then have that girl walk by, hear it, second-guess herself, and go in, but we didn’t have enough video or time for it.

What does Woe Of Tyrants have that makes the band stand out amongst the rest of the younger metal bands out there today?

I’m not sure how much we stand out. I like to think we do. I mean, I think every band thinks they are unique, even though they might not be. We have parts that as death metal as we can possibly come up with and we have parts that are really calm and melodic. You don’t have that sometimes in aggressive death metal and thrash metal bands. We’ve never been that “breakdown” band, which has kind of hurt us a little bit on the road. We don’t play the “chugga-chugga” riff that give people the opportunity to dance. We have one little breakdown part in our album. That’s one thing that sets us apart; we don’t go with formulas when we write. We don’t try to go, “hey man, people really like this.”

Do you think bands that play breakdowns rely too much on them, and that devalues the music as a whole?

I think if you rely on them, yeah. The way that happened, in my opinion, is that you see some of these bands that did it and did it well, like Poison The Well. Bands that have a lot of talent; they were writing stuff that was very progressive, as far as the songwriting went. The kids that wanted to start bands took the easiest part of that music, not the best parts necessarily, but when a band constantly has to rely on being heavy, all open, I think it takes the integrity out of it. I’m not naming any names, or bands I’m accusing, but I would find that boring. Yeah, it looks cool if you are playing something extremely easy, but when you throw your guitar out three times without hitting a note, or throw your guitar in the air and catch it, it becomes theatrical.

Do you think the metal scene is heading towards that?

No, I think its coming off of that to where people are now realizing that you can only play an open note so many ways. It seems that there is more of a push towards good guitar playing and technical structuring of songs. I see that as good things, because there are a lot of talent out there, and if kids are making a ton of money just playing really simplistic stuff, then they don’t really have any incentive to really push themselves artistically into new areas.

Do you think mainstream music listeners will ever appreciate bands like Woe of Tyrants?

Yeah, I like to think there is a possibility for that, but I’m also completely aware that it is a fickle industry. It’s a very contrived industry. There is a chance that if we write a song, it might catch, even if we don’t have melodic singing (It would be great) if we got to be besides bands like Nile and Behemoth, since they are playing some insanely aggressive and heavy music; however, they are still playing to 1,200-1,500 kids a night because there is a growing market for that. So yeah, I think there is a chance that a band like ours could have that that song, but that’s what you need, that one song that grabs people and the rest kind of falls into place.

If Woe Of Tyrants could go on tour with one band, which band would that be and why?

I would want to go out with Pantera, but I know that’s not really possible anymore. As far as the realistic thing goes, I have always wanted to tour with Amon Amarth. I think they are a perfect example of a band that is easy to digest, but their good and solid songwriting has catapulted them. They aren’t overly-technical, but they are just a very solid band. I would love to tour a band like Amon Amarth or a band like Nile; something that could challenge us. If we go with bands that only play open note-type songs, that’s not really a big challenge to us, because we’re the only band on the tour that’s playing a little more technical stuff. I would like to go out with a band like Dying Fetus or Vital Remains; a band that is playing very technical stuff and see how we are received.

By Dan Marsicano

Zombi – Steve Moore

InstruMENTAL kingpins, ZOMBI have just released an excellent new album called Spirit Animal that you should check out. “What do they sound like?” you ask? Well, imagine a score to a classic Giallo film crossed with a soundtrack to an obscure Scarface rip-off movie that was released straight to VHS circa 1983. Pick up the album here.

We spoke with Zombi songwriter Steve Moore about the album, horror movies, and (almost) drugs.

SMN news: How did your fascination with film scores begin? Did you start collecting them right off the bat?

Steve Moore: My fascination with film scores began when I was very young – my father had all the Star Wars soundtracks on LP and we’d listen to them non-stop.  This was long before DVD’s – we didn’t even have a VCR yet so this was the only way to re-live the movies.  From there it grew to unhealthy proportions.  The Halloween and Halloween 2 soundtracks were the first I bought on my own – on cassette!!

Were you raised in a musical household?

My father played guitar and sang in a band.  Before I was even born I was spending every Friday night at the local bars and joints in the Monroeville PA, my mom standing in front of the PA speakers watching my dad play.  We listened to a lot of records too.  Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Yes, Meco – my dad has a pretty eclectic record collection.

The title track on Spirit Animal reminded me of Georgio Moroder in parts. Can you talk about the song’s origins?

Moroder is quite a compliment.  Spirit Animal is one of those rare instances in which a song forms completely in the mind before it ever makes it onto paper or tape.  One night I had this melody going through my head – very simple and repetitive.  Within a day the whole thing had worked itself out in my mind, and I spent the next two days recording a demo mix for Zombi drummer A.E. Paterra to check out.

Everything from the warm analog sounds to the artwork on the new album is rooted in a 70’s feel. What about that time period appeals to you the most? Spirit Animal certainly sounds like it could have been released in 1977.

I’ve always felt a lot of nostalgia for the 70’s.  The decade spawned most of my favorite albums, movies, books.  That said, I’m not trying to recreate sounds of that era – I just like to use them as a starting point.  I love to write for synthesizer, which automatically gives our music a 70’s feel, but really aside from that I think we’re more in tune with math rock bands from the 90’s, like Don Caballero or Trans Am.

There’s always been this idea that has gone around that listening to a band like Zombi, Tangerine Dream, or say Amon Düül is better appreciated under the influence of psychedelic drugs. What are your experiences in that realm?

Ha – sorry but I’m going to have to plead the fifth on this one.

Since Zombi formed there has been a huge wave of instrumental bands in the heavy rock and metal scenes. Have you found a lot of quality new groups from this surge or has it been disappointing so far?

I haven’t been paying too much attention to new instrumental metal – it’s been about 2 years since the last Zombi tour and that’s usually the only contact I have with the metal world.  Outside of metal though, instrumental bands like Turzi and Chateau Marmont have been blowing my mind.

The obvious next step for the band is scoring. Have you been approached yet and what would be your ideal project? People would probably say something in the horror genre but I was curious to get your take on it.

We scored a couple movies years ago as Zombi – both horror films.  It was a lot of fun, and I’ve scored a few movies on my own since then.  I don’t think scoring films is high on Zombi’s priority list anymore though.  I think my ideal project though would be something more along the lines of a BBC nature documentary or a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie.

Thanks for the taking the time to do this.

My pleasure!

By Carlos Ramirez

God Forbid – Corey Pierce, Drums

Here’s a quick 10 piece Q&A with the man behind the skins of GOD FORBID, Corey Pierce.

1 – What band do you think is most critical to the success of todays’ Metal scene? Why?

I would probably have to say LAMB OF GOD. I think because PANTERA is gone. They are looking for the band that meets the same standard. There won’t EVER be another Pantera(my favorite metal band of all time btway). But I love LOG and I think people hold them in their hearts more than any other band comin up.

2 – Why did you choose to start playing the drums? Who inspired you the most?

Because I am not very bright obviously. Shoulda stuck to harmonica. Seriously it was just one of those things that happened I could play piano and guitar but the drums just spoke to me. Plus you got to hit stuff. It’s really hard to say who inspired me the most but I would say Ken Schulk of CANDIRIA gave me the direction I needed to be the player I am today.

3 – Earthsblood release is a few weeks away, tells us what people should look for in your playing on this album?

They should look for the subtle nuances within my playing. There are tons of really groovin, heavy and aggressive licks. The things I want people to discover; the little things that give any album its own soul.

4 – Do you prefer touring the big festivals outside or the small clubs indoors?

Well personally I like small arenas. I just think that on that level everything goes more according to plan and schedule. I also love walkin out and seein all those people screamin and goin crazy. IT’S GODDAMN ELECTRIC! Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing like a packed sweaty fuckin club to make your balls drop. . haha

5 – What is your dinner of choice while on the road?

Steak and potatoes when I can get it. BEEF BITCHES CArNIVORES RULE!

6 – What is one genre of music if you had the power to make it disappear you would?

Whiney ass emo rock that doesn’t rock. I’m sick of soft ass suburban spoiled bitches [that] cry on records. We used to have men in this country, now it’s all about metrosexual dudes and manicures. WTF???????? I’m sorry, I’m a little old school.

7 – You’re the last man on earth and you’re stuck in NJ and you know the last woman on earth is in France, what do you do?

Start learning how to fly or perhaps just get a HUGEEEE bottle of lotion.

8 – What are your 3 high points so far in your musical career?

1. Playing Download festival
2. Show with us, SLAYER and SLIPKNOT in IOWA! yah fuckin crazy
3. Making EARTHSBLOOD

9 – If you could play drums for any other band (past or present), who would that be and why?

Pantera! FOR ALL THE OBVIOUS REASONS BUT MOSTLY CAUSE THEY WERE THE BADDEST OF ALL TIME EVER!

10 – What do you think of SMNnews and will you go to WWW.SMNNEWS.COM to read this?

I actually check out the site quite a bit man. I think it’s an awesome news site. Fuyckin A right I’m gonna come check in on this little interview and see what you mutherhumpers say about me!

Cannibal Corpse – Pat O’Brien, Guitars

On the heels of their11^th studio album, Evisceration Plague, Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O’Brien spoke with SMN News about recording the new album, the controversial lyrics that have made Cannibal Corpse infamous, and what the future holds for the death metal band.

What was Cannibal Corpse’s mindset going into the studio for the recording of Evisceration Plague?

Basically, we tried to be as prepared as possible. We took six months to write the album…we tried to have everything planned out before we go out and record. That’s basically our mindset.

Did the band do anything different this time around or was it business as usual?

We definitely tried some things different. Every album we do, we always try to go in and make it as heavy as we possibly can. Of course, every band always says that…with this album, we worked with a click track a lot. Every song, Paul (Mazurkiewicz, drums) would practice to a click, which we’ve never done before. That was different, but the end result was that we got a lot tighter with the sound. I think the performance were a lot tighter because of that. There was no fluctuation within the song or even the riffs. It was pretty much straight through as far as the click and the timing go.

Were there any issues with using a click track?

I thought there would be; I didn’t think we could pull it off. We’ve never done that; usually, we write a song, practice the shit out of it, and then we go in and record it, and get the best takes. A lot of times, Paul will do a great take, and the song will be a little bit faster than we originally had the idea for because the way the drummer plays or just the way things change over time…I think with the click, we knew exactly the tempo things were going to be so we were able to iron that out before we went in.

Do you feel that this is the tightest Cannibal Corpse album?

I definitely think it’s the tightest, for sure. Definitely one of the tightest; the only one that is maybe as tight is Bloodthirst because of the production on that.

Will you guys use a click track again in the future?

I definitely think we will use it again because it comes across better. Everything is tighter, more solid, and cleaner; it really cleans everything up.

You guys don’t want to get too clean though…

No, we don’t want to get too clean; believe me, we do not want to get too clean (laughs). The problem is, a lot of the time, we’ve been too dirty, where people can’t hear some of the stuff going on…its good to have stuff that’s more controlled.

Where did the title of the album originate from?

I can’t remember who came up with the title. It was either Paul or Alex (Webster, bass). What we do, we call it the drum head: Paul’s got the snare drum head. We take a piece of paper with song titles on it. So we have a couple of titles coming in and coming in, and even if its just one word that’s kind of weird, we write it down. When we write music, if one of the song titles from the paper up on the wall, if they make it to the music, he writes it on the drum head. So all these albums each have snare drum head with all the songs on them. It’s like the final stage; if it makes it to the snare drum head, that’s what it’s usually going to be called.

Last time around, some fans were complaining that the cover art for Kill wasn’t graphic enough. This time around, was it easier for everybody to agree upon a cover art?

We were going back and forth with ideas; honestly, we’re getting sick with stores not carrying our product because of album covers. With Kill, we wanted to put that everywhere, we wanted to be able to be in Best Buy. There were so many albums, like The Wretched Spawn, where we couldn’t get it into any stores because the front cover was so graphic…have all the shit on the inside, so at least we can get into stores.

What made Cannibal Corpse choose producer Erik Rutan to come back and work on Evisceration Plague?

He played in Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal; he’s played death metal his own life and has this killer studio that he has been building over the years. We used him for the last album, Kill, and we thought he did an amazing job on that. He knows what he is doing…he knows how to get good performances out of you. He brings a lot of knowledge and has a lot of great gear in the studio and we get a better rate. I think he’s done us right both times.

How do you feel about the end result?

I think I feel pretty good about it; I feel better and better about it the farther I get away from the recording process because the recording process torments a person like me. I analyze every little thing about it. I go in there recording guitars all day long, and by the end of the night, I think, “Man, this sounds like shit.” The next day, I think it sounds good, and it always goes back and forth. It’s good to step back from the album and not listen to it for a little while. That way, I forget about everything that went into it, all the aggravating little details and just listen to it the way it is.

Can you explain what is on the bonus DVD that comes with the album?

It’s just basically studio stuff, going over some gear we used, the process of making the album. Probably something that doesn’t need to be here, but it is, so I guess its something else for people to put on.

Do you believe that bonus material like a DVD is needed to help sell albums?

I really don’t think it is, but the record label thinks it is. There’s so much downloaded on the Internet that you can’t really stop it. This bonus DVD could be on YouTube anyway…probably will be up there before the damn thing comes out. A lot of people are trying different things to sell their CD’s as much as they can.

Do you have any favorite tracks off the new album?

There isn’t one I particular like more than the other. I think they all got certain strong points. I’m kind of curious to see what the fans think of it.

Are they any particular guitar parts you are proud of?

There are certain things that turned out pretty cool. I enjoy playing parts that I write more, as I usually play those parts better. Most of them turned out pretty damn good; some of the solos turned out good. It’s hard to pinpoint anything in particular.

After 20 years, is it tough to provide shocking lyrical content to hardcore fans?

You would have to ask the fans; I’m definitely not shocked by anything anymore. I don’t think there is too much out there that can be shocking, especially after September 11^th. What can be more shocking than that? I’m not a lyric type of person. Every time I listen to my favorite bands, I listen to the guitar parts.

So you never have been a fan of lyrics?

Not really a major fan of lyrics. For me, it never did matter to me if it was a good song or not. Most of the time, I can’t understand what they are saying anyway. Even when people do sing, I never focused on the lyrics. With bands like Metallica, I would read the lyrics as I listening to them, but that isn’t what drew me in…it was the overall thing, not the lyrics…for me, it’s just the music.
Have you ever thought about doing some instrumental music on the side?

Well, from time to time, we do some instrumental work in Cannibal Corpse, but later on down the road, I’ll think about doing something like that, but not right now.

In your time with Cannibal Corpse, has there been any lyrics that have shocked or possibly offended you?

If you think about it, if we play “Fucked With A Knife,” that’s a brutal topic. There’s some (songs) when I first joined, I said “ah, that’s fucked up.” After seeing them on the set list every day, you get used to it; it doesn’t faze you anymore. I never let it bother me in the first place. To me, I got what it was about before I was in the band. We do have brutal and gory lyrics, but that’s all they are. There isn’t any kind of message or anything like that…I don’t want to speak for the lyrics; I’m just a guitar player. George (Fisher, vocalist) isn’t up there trying to push any political agenda or anything like that.

Do you think that makes the band unique, as there always seems to be underlying messages in a lot of modern metal bands?

Yeah, maybe. We’re definitely not a political band and I’m glad about that. I wouldn’t want to be. There’s political issues I have that people wouldn’t agree about; I would rather keep that personal. When you listen to Cannibal Corpse and you listen to the music, what lyrics are really going to fit over it? I think the lyrics actually fit the music perfect, but I think the music has more to say than the lyrics. To me, it’s more about the music than the lyrics.

That’s an interesting viewpoint, as the fans would probably feel the opposite way, looking at the lyrics more…

That might be for George, you know. Lyrics are going to be more important for him as the vocalist. I’m a self-indulgent guitar player (laughs); that’s the way it comes from me…there is no doubt that the lyrics are important, but as a guitar player, that’s not what I’m listening to.

Are there any Cannibal Corpse songs that you are sick of playing live, that make you go “oh god, here we go again?”

(laughs). Depends on what night we’re playing. Some nights, there are ones where I go “oh god, here we go again,” but it’s a good thing because I might be playing like shit; at least I’m able to play these songs that I’m sick of. If I’m not sick of them, I can play them with little effort. For the most part, they are pretty fun to play.

Tell me one thing people may be surprised to find out about you, something they wouldn’t expect a Cannibal Corpse guitarist to do.

I do enjoy hunting, shooting. Actually, I have been fucking around with a banjo, messing around with it. I’m from Kentucky, so I’ve been checking out some of the bluegrass stuff up there.

Any final thoughts?

Thanks for the support; for supporting death metal, as George says every night at the end of a show.

By Dan Marsicano

God Forbid – Dallas Coyle, Guitars & Vocals

It’s January 15th, 2009 and I’m headed to The Whisky in Los Angeles to interview GOD FORBID Guitarist/Vocalist/Songwriter Dallas Coyle. I call when I arrive and he meets me outside the club and gives me a copy of their forthcoming album, Earthsblood. I disappear for an hour to digest their new masterpiece which is destined to showcase them as a new band who is determined and ready to shed the horrible tag of, “2nd rate metalcore.” As soon as my ears are finished being blessed, we meet up again to have a conversation where I found Dallas to be sincere and friendly as well as completely absorbed and committed to GF.

Ten Songs; and the first one totally threw me for a loop, the instrumental that’s really kinda gothy and dramatic.

Laughs!

I was like, that’s different! Then the 2nd track is blasts right from the beginning that I thought was a really cool change. The album as a whole is a lot to take in at one listen and I was blown away by the changes and the moods in it. The last song, I didn’t think you guys could keep it that slow for 4 minutes until it kicks in at the end. The album really hits and the comments I’ve read online about the album being kick ass; I always get worried when people talk about that.

Laughs! I did the blog on Metalsucks before we got mixed and we were working on it for so long. I really didn’t know what it was because at that point we didn’t know what the track listing was and I was really nervous just because we worked on it so hard and there’s a lot of singing but I don’t think the singing takes away from the heaviness of the album. So I did a blog about how I didn’t know if it was going to be good or anything but then we started to get the
mix done it was like this record sounds good. People gave me props for not pushing up the record but two weeks later I was like, “damn, this shit sounds amazing!”

I was blown away, there’s a lot going on musically. Lyrically, I’ve read a little bit about some of the inspiration being from THERE WILL BE BLOOD (starring Daniel Day-Lewis). Were you a fan of the movie?

That movie was my favorite movie of last year, well not last year, the year before that. My brother and I are big film buffs and we went to see that movie at some small theater and we were talking about the movie on the way home talking about some of the underlying themes that the movie has on top of the actual script. I think our record is kinda similar if you listen to it once you have to go back to it. We wanted the album to be optimistic, but as it came out it’s a dark record. It’s not a terrible feeling, it’s kinda like a morose vibe. The movie and the record are similar in our eyes.

Who wrote all the lyrics?

Me and Byron Davis (Vocals) write most of the lyrics. I’d say that I write probably 70% of the lyrics then Byron writes the other 30%, but this record was probably 60/40. The last song, “Bat The Angels,” “The New Clear;” those songs I wrote all of the lyrics immediately because those songs really vibed with me. If I write a song I normally write 100% of the tracks but the other songs Byron will write 60% because the heavier stuff, the straight thrash stuff I don’t really like writing stuff to a typical thrash song. No one has a stranglehold on anything.

When you write the songs, is it you and your brother together or do you sit and do your own thing?

Usually with my brother’s stuff he usually has the first part of the song written then we play it the way he hears it in his head and we go back and forth and argue about everything. Then we just kinda chip away at the songs like a quilt. My songs kinda start off in the practice space and we jam on it then we just really kinda punch it out. The last song (on the album) was written in the practice space and was the third song we wrote. The first (full) song on the album,
the one with the blasts was probably the first song we wrote.

It’s interesting as there’s one song with a tribal / middle eastern vibe in the verses; “The New Clear.”

That was kinda the hardest song to write because my brother had all the riffs and I had a riff that he changed. He arranged that whole song. Our producer Erik Rachael was like, “this is the best song you guys have written,” before we put down the lyrics. Then we put the lyrics down we had a hard time you know because there’s a lot of melodic singing in the beginning. But what are you really gonna do over that style of clean stuff. We’re not gonna sit here and scream over that shit just because people like screaming. I think that song is the most left field we’ve ever gone in our career but I think if you’re a fan of GOD FORBID I think you’ll accept it because we’ve kind of done that in our career. I’m really happy with that track that it allows us, on the next record, to go different places. Like on Constitution of Treason we had that clean song that sounded like THE BEATLES and nobody gave a shit for but it allows us to do the song that you were talking about.

It’s cool to see that progression as you go through album after album with you guys you’ve developed more vocals as there’s a lot of vocal layering. Was that conscious or did it come natural?

It was conscious because the last record there were harmonies, I wouldn’t say it was layering. But what me and my brother wanted to do was make sure we were both present on the record. He would have parts that he would sing and I would have parts that I would sing. The only songs that really had me singing every part were Bat The Angels and the last song “Gaia” because I had them down so well. We were running out of time in the studio so I was like I’m gonna do these songs as I can harmonize these songs really easily this way.

How deep is your musical background? Did you study?

I didn’t study but my Dad’s a jazz piano player and my Mom was a jazz singer. When we were growing up he would play MILES DAVIS all day and my mom would play ARETHA FRANKLIN. We were growing up with music and my brother and I joined All City Band and I played trumpet and he played saxophone. But then when I found guitar I pretty much put trumpet down forever. We started playing and within two years we were able to play METALLICA and SLAYER and then we met up with Corey Pierce (Drums) and Byron and we started writing our own songs and it took about 2 to 3 years. Or maybe like 2 years after that when John Outcalt (Bass) came in the band we did our first EP. About 4 years after playing we did the EP. We were pretty hardcore just getting every single record like SUFFOCATION, DARKANE, I got the first SOILWORK record when no one knew who Soilwork was crawling through the internet and I would spend my paychecks only on metal. I was really into the technical stuff but now I’m more into the rock playing. I actually listen to ALL SHALL PERISH and THE FACELESS but when it comes to writing I’m more about the slower groove stuff.

There’s a lot of that on the album.

One of the reasons why is because our band, a lot of people give us shit and say we’re a 2nd rate metalcore band but I couldn’t disagree with them more. From a musical standpoint we understand what our tools are, we understand how to manipulate it, but we also understand how people who like our music want to hear from us so we don’t step too far out. So on this record we started using 7-strings we realized there’s only so fast you can play.

The strings start to bend.

The strings and it starts to sound unclear. That’s why there’s songs like Bat The Angles that like all the way through they’re kinda groovy then at the end it’s like that MESHUGGAH groove because we’re tuned to G. You can do open notes and be heavy there. We understand our instrument a lot better than we technically understand it. We don’t read music, my brother’s starting to read music. We understand the person who likes our band and how far we can go and that’s one of the things I like about being in the band. (temporary interruption from parking attendant who asks us to move the car). [laughs and comments about posting that online] I get bothered when people call us a 2nd rate metalcore band but at the same time I like it because the people that really like our band know that we’re not and it makes them say GOD FORBID is not that way. Maybe the first album we were metalcore, but at the time you can’t say we were because there was no genre like that then.

The musical climate is changing and you guys maybe haven’t broken that threshold yet of being the underground band yet as you’ve hit that cusp where you’re right there and everyone knows who you are. Hopefully this album will be that step up.

You never know what the kids are going to buy though. I think in Europe it’s going to go well. But I don’t really know what I think as we don’t have expectations anymore.

That’s the best thing.

Our records before we had expectations you know and this record there’s no expectations. The more you pay attention to it the more you expect. I’d rather be happy selling 65,000 records than be unhappy expecting to sell more than we sold before.

You have a career though! You’ve got album after album. You’re not hanging it up after one record and not revolving band members who don’t want to struggle or are pissed off because they’re not making tons of money. The album sounds like you committed to it in full as there’s so much going on.

It was weird as we write albums now and don’t go song for song. We’re writing an album, we practice 4-5 days a week then we get into a groove and we just go. This record, my brother and I knew we wanted to make the record more simple like Gone Forever. It would be the first track would stand alone, the second track would stand alone, like none of them were into one another. Constitution was kind of like that; if you listen to “Lonely Dead” on its own, it sounds different if you don’t listen to the songs before it. On this record you can listen to “Shallow,” just a thrash song, just listen to it like, “check this out” and be into it and that was conscious. We wanted to make a simple record but we wanted to have the whole thing be progressive. The whole thing to me, except for two songs, is very progressive. We really wanted to show our musicianship because OPETH and CHILDREN OF BODOM are very popular bands and a lot of it is not because of their personas, it’s because of their music. And we’re not nearly as good as those bands as far as technicality and songwriting and musicianship, but for what we do we stepped it up a level. We made it clear to the average person that we don’t want to be a niche band anymore. We want everyone to buy our records so we made sure every single song was dense and had a lot of substance. But it was simple enough so if a guy was just getting into metal who just heard PANTERA and you’re the guy who knows about all these bands and you play a song like Bat The Angels which has a Pantera like feel to it and although he’s hearing a lot of crazy stuff, structurally it’s not very crazy.

The guitar tones were killer.

Awesome, Thank You! This record is beefy! It’s like, Damm, there’s a lot of sound within. I think that’s one reason why our band can really do well because that sonic sound of what our band lends to like almost, I hate to say it like that KORN crowd, the hip-hop people that like the bass and the groove but also the metalheads who really, like we’re heavy and brutal and melodic so we’re tyring to be diverse.

But it’s cohesive and it doesn’t sound like it’s just there for the hell of it as it flows.

The thing is with this record like I’m very, very happy with this record more so than any of the other records as there’s some songs on the other records where I feel like there are good metal songs because that’s what we want to do, but on this record everything fits together well. There’s no part that jumps out at me like, “oooooh I wish we had done that better.” I think the parts flow into each other well, I think the songs are set up well, I think the songs that need 3 choruses have 3 choruses, songs that don’t need 3 choruses like Bat The Angels only has 2 choruses but it’s a very big chorus. We are learning how to not go overboard learning how to fit our heavy with our melodic better. I think the record is an accomplishment for us, but you can’t force people to buy records.

What we have there is a very true statement about the public that we can’t force people to buy records, but records as great as Earthsblood (see review) need to be heard and you can do that come February 24.

Unearth – John “Slo” Maggard, Bass

With a new album out and a huge touring schedule planned for next year, SMN News had a chance to get a word with Unearth bassist John “Slo” Maggard. In this in-depth interview, Maggard discussed the band’s new album, The March, the political slant in their songwriting, and how the economy is affecting their touring.

So you guys just got back from an overseas tour. How did that go?

It was amazing. We toured most of Europe, Denmark. The shows were sold out and it was a great time.

Do you find that the European audience is different than the American audience?

Well, it used to be a big difference between the U.S. and European audiences. Years ago, in 2001-2003, you could see a change in the way shows were going… (at some point), you saw that the world became a smaller place, and there wasn’t so much of a difference anymore.

So let’s talk about the new album, The March. The reviews have been positive and fans seem to love it. Explain the recording process this time around and bringing back producer Adam Dutkiewicz.

The last album we worked with producer Terry Date, who has worked with Pantera, The Deftones, among others. That was a great experience, but the album before that one, The Oncoming Storm, we worked with Adam Dutkiewicz. He’s from our area, Massachusetts, and he’s a friend of ours, plays for Killswitch Engage. He’s kind of like a sixth member of the band and we wanted to get back in the fold with him. He understands what we do musically and he’s a musician himself, so anytime we had trouble with guitar harmonies or structure, he comes up with the most sensible solution. We like to have his musical knowledge…when it gets down to recording the stuff. We wanted to get back in the fold with him and that’s what we did and the album turned out terrific because of it.

From what I read, there seems to be an underlying concept behind The March. Can you go into some details about it?

Basically, with The Oncoming Storm, two albums ago, we did a political album. We addressed the political climate that had arisen during the Bush administration. We wanted to get back to that and provide another political album that was a resolution to what was going on during The Oncoming Storm. That’s pretty much it; it’s a political climate album of now. We touched back on all the subjects that we did on the previous album.

Some people are very hesitant about putting political messages into metal music, especially considering metal music is associated with drinking and partying. Do you feel that these messages are important to put in the music?

I think, in Trevor’s (Phipps, vocalist) case, he’s very knowledgeable when it comes to politics. A lot of times, I don’t like when bands touch on it, but he has a reasonable outlook and he’s not preaching to anyone. He basically is just making people aware and he gives an opportunity for people to think about their own lives. That’s what I like about the way he writes. I don’t personally mind being part of a political band because of that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want to touch on that, because I wouldn’t want to create a one-sided team, if you will. I like the way he wrote everything. Of course, we are a drinking and partying band as well (laughs). It’s also fun, but I like that Trevor is well-spoken when it comes to politics.

The album seems to be going away from the metalcore tag the band had, with more thrash elements and more solos. Was that a conscious decision or was that a natural progression for the band?

That definitely just naturally comes out. We’ve always been a band that plays what we wanted. Before metalcore existed, we existed. I think we were one of the pioneers of that genre. We always played what we felt; that’s what we wanted to hear back in the day and that’s what we want to hear now. As we get older and our musicianship goes stronger and our writing goes stronger, it changes with time. We had wanted guitar solos, but we may not have been good at them, and now we better at them, so we use them more.

The songwriting; a collaborative process or does Trevor stick to lyrics and the rest of the band deals with the musical side…

In the past, that’s how it was. Nowadays, it’s more of a group effort. We have so many different brilliant personalities within the band and a lot of great ideas, so we always trust each other with instincts when it comes to putting together songs. A lot of times, Buz and Ken (McGrath and Susi, guitarists) will come to the table with a lot of riffs and a lot of different ideas. Then me and Derek (Kerswill, drummer) will take these parts and hash them up and create structures for them. Then we’re come back and add more structure. In the meantime, Trevor usually does most of the lyric writing, but on this album, myself and Derek also lend a hand in the writing process.

Was the writing done mostly before you got in the studio, on the tour bus?

Most of the writing was done previous to recording. We did pre-production work with Adam before we started recording as well. Some of the lyrics weren’t all written until we had the tracks locked down. One song wasn’t even written until the last day of tracking and we ripped it out quickly.

Which song was that?

It was actually…um, the secret track on the album…something called the Silent Tongue (laughs). I don’t own any of our albums, I don’t know why (laughs).

(Laughs). I want to talk about that hidden song for a second because when you look at that song compared to all the songs, it has a Slayer-ish breakdown and a lot faster than the other ones.

We just wrote a lot of different songs. We just experimented a little bit and went a few different directions and that’s how it came out. We don’t try to be like any other band; it just comes out.

In the studio, when the band is sitting around, going through the tapes, do you over-analyze everything or do you have a tendency to let it flow, let it be organic like the songwriting?

Some of us have a tendency to over-think and some of us let it flow. I think that’s actually one of our big strong points. Sometimes, things will flow easily, but it will be long-winded. When the people that over-think, they come in and tone it down and give it a better structure. Then we come back and add a little more flow and then they come back and give it a better structure; that’s basically how we work together, that push and pull.

Is there ever any conflict because of that between the band members?

In the past, there was, but not so much anymore. We just used to dealing with songwriting at this level…we don’t have any conflicts anymore. We have discussions about things, but everybody listens and keeps open minds.

So are you the over analyzer or just let things flow?

Actually, I’m one of the flow guys. That’s how I am. To hear a song and have my interest remain in the song the entire time, I want to be tricked into that. You know, that flow that keeps you interested in the song and feels natural and stays at a pace the entire way through.

So you’re saying you want to trick your audience into listening to the album?

Yeah, I do actually. Let’s say you’re at a party and somebody puts some song on, and you’re in the middle of a conversation. All of a sudden, halfway through the song, you realize that there was this awesome song playing the whole time. You’re like ‘wow, this is a fucking great song, who is this? What band is this?’ That’s kind of what I want in a song. I want somebody to be playing it and somebody be like ‘what is this? This is great.’ I’ve been listening to this song all the way through, with my interest kept the entire way, which is good. That’s what I think a song truly is.

Okay, let’s switch gears a little bit. Let’s discuss getting Derek into the ranks. Was it a tough challenge to find him? Was there like 600 auditions for the spot?

Actually, we didn’t have any auditions. We knew that Derek was our man way back when we split back with Mike (Rudberg, band’s first drummer). Derek helped us write a couple of songs on The Oncoming Storm album previous to Mike (Justian) being hired into the band. At the time, Derek couldn’t be in the band. We asked him to, but he was working on several projects. This time around, we asked him to fill in after Mike left, and he agreed to it. He kept playing with us for a long time, and as time went on, he dedicated himself to writing the new album and now he’s in the band. It was a process where he was filling in for a while and committed to the band. There was no real audition or anything; we didn’t even miss a beat.

Did Derek adjust to the band’s old material, as well as the newer stuff?

Yeah, I think it was a challenge on one side because he was coming from a more blues-rock project and he was going into the ranks of playing fast heavy metal. He had to do a little practicing on his own to get his endurance up, but once he got that locked in, it was a smooth transition. I know he’s put in a lot of work and a lot of effort into it, taking it very seriously and we thank him for that.

Before Derek came in, you had legendary drummer Gene Hoglan fill in. How did you get him on board?

We met Gene a few years back when we played Ozzfest 2006 and before that, Sounds of the Underground. We met him through Strapping Young Lad and we became good friends with him. When things went…with our previous drummer, we were within 100 miles of where Gene lived. We called him up and ask if he could fill in for the rest of the tour and he said he could, so our next show happen to be in Vancouver. He learned the songs that day and that night, he played with us.

Cool, cool. So what are the band’s plans for touring in 2009?

We’re doing a US tour in January, and I think some Canadian dates will be included with that. Then, in February, we will be going back to the UK with Lamb of God. Then we will be heading to Australia…from there, we’re going to Japan with Lamb of God and In Flames. After that, everything is up in the air and we’re kind of taking it on a day-by-day basis.

Is the economy having an effect on bands touring?

I think it might affect some bands. Personally, it hasn’t affected us yet and I don’t think it will. We were just in Europe recently and the dollar was bouncing back quite a bit. We had left to go to Europe and the British pound was 2:1 on the dollar and when we came back, it was 1.5:1. The American dollar is gaining more steam in the world market; either that, or the rest of the market is crashing as well. I don’t think its really going to affect us that much. We’re obviously going to be touring the states like we always have. We’re going to continue to tour the rest of the world as well. We’re going to keep going and assume everything will go according to plan (laughs).

So when the market crashes and things go to shit, the band will still be on the road?

Absolutely. I can’t see that, at this point, it’s going to get any worse. The economy will get better with the new administration coming in and the rest of the world being hopeful for us as well. The rest of the world is on the side of Obama, so we’ll be in good hands regardless.

Since we’re getting political, what do you think needs to be done to the economy to fix it? Do you think its going to balance itself out naturally?

As we see the war in the Middle East end, as well as a lot of unnecessary budging spending, there will be a lot more money available to pay off debts and create jobs in other markets, other than the war industry. I think that is what’s going to help stabilize it. It’s going to be a long process; I kind of have to agree with Bill Clinton had said recently, when he said it would take three or four years for the country and the economy to bounce back. Personally, I don’t think that’s a bad time frame, considering that it’s been 8-12 years of getting into this mess we’re in. If we can bounce back in that quick of a time, I think that we’re doing pretty good. I hope it doesn’t take any longer.

Going back to the album, what’s your favorite song off it at this point?

Right now, I would have to say “Grave Of Opportunity.” I do actually like a couple of other songs better, but we started playing that song live and I really like the down vibe it  brings to our live set. Usually, our set is really energetic and…like a train throughout the entire set. It’s nice to play that song, because it plays everything down and gives people something to listen to, instead of kill each other through.

Are there any B-sides, demos, etc. left over from the recording session for The March?

Yeah, I like to say that “Crow Killer” is going to get a lot of attention. I don’t know why I consider that song a B-side, but I’m sure we’ll never make a video for it. It’s a strong song and it’s been in our live sets for the last two tours and I don’t see us pulling it out. It’s a good song and I think it representative of Unearth current day.

Any final thoughts?

Yeah, thanks for everybody out there that supports us and we greatly appreciate it. Hopefully, we’ll see you very soon.

By Dan Marsicano

Jarboe – Jarboe, Herself

A haunting voice, a guest spot by Mr. Anselmo, and a new album out on The End Records. We just had to have a word with Jarboe!

1. Be honest…what do you think of SMNnews.com and have you ever been to the site?

Yes, I have been to the site! It is full of detail and variety and holds the interest.

2. What’s the worst band you’ve heard in the past few weeks?

Hmm.
The serious answer is:  I‘m not the judge but  I’m diplomatic.
The  playful answer is : If I were to name it, the other worst bands would be jealous.

3. As Jarboe, what does your day to day consist of?

Multiple projects. Constantly collaborating. I work all the time. And even when I am running or mountain climbing or meditating, or reading a book, or watching a film, I am working.

4. Out of your inspirations for your hauntingly beautiful music, for many of the dark undertones, would you consider any “vices” to be part of that inspiration?

Thank you! Well. I like what artist  Chuck Close said: “Amateurs look for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work.” Vices?  I don’t do drugs but I did evocations in a Solomonic circle for  some of this music.

5. Probably asked about a thousand times…but Anselmo – how did that come about?

“The Elements Are Overthrown.” Philip Anselmo was chosen to sing  Overthrown because to me , he was the one to give voice  to this song about the destructive force considering he lives in Louisiana and Hurricane Katrina had as an elemental force given us a reminder of  wrath, Mahakali speaks of  the aspect of Time and Change. Destruction and Compassion. A theme is “the elements” and the aspect of Global destruction of war and environmental disaster.  If you are asking me how  we got  along, we got along very well. The first thing he said to me was that he had my work in his  iPod ! And I absolutely consider him to be one of the greatest vocalists in the world.

6. You’ve been one for collaborations over the course of your career, how did those on “Mahakali” match up to past experiences?

It is  all about an open mind and an adventure. I love collaborating and it is always a journey of rediscovering yourself and also learning from others. It can be a mirror and it can also be a  bright light into unknown territory.  It was an honor to work with  such great artists as the ones involved with the Mahakali album.

7. Poetry, spoken word, music – what is your favorite to perform?

I love creating a massive wall of sound now more than anything else. I  am excited to bring  a version of Mahakali to the  stage in  2009  and I am excited to begin the follow-up album to it as well.

8. What does Barack Obama’s win mean to you as a person, as well as your music?

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States is significant to me on many levels. He is energetic, elegant, refined, eloquent, intelligent , and  sincere. I grew up in the South and I feel that the election of the first African American as President is a major triumph for the civil rights work of Martin Luther King, Jr. I also feel that Barack Obama is a voice of redirection from greed to compassion in this country.  I believe health care is a right, not a privilege and I believe the  middle class must not disappear into a country increasingly consisting of the rich and the poor.

“The elements, they are overthrown !”

9. What’s the biggest misconception with your music?

Perhaps that it can be limited by definition or that it could be anything other than who  I am.

10. What do you make of all these recent ‘big band’ reunions?

Uh oh. Any  question with reunion in it usually leads up to the  question about a reunion of a certain seminal NYC band so I will redirect:

It isn’t Led Zep without Robert Plant !

Pink Floyd even massively reborn after Syd cannot be without Rick Wright.

Van Halen was never Van Halen after the brilliant multi-faceted  ‘Diamond’ David Lee Roth.
If the MASTER Peter Gabriel worked in Genesis again after 33 years and it toured, well that is another matter entirely.

11. I read that you are currently composing the soundtrack for a horror game entitled The Path? Can you tell us a little more about that?

This is based on Little Red Riding Hood pre-brothers Grimm (who cleaned it  up). Find more out at: http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/

12. What does the rest of 2008 have in store for you?

I am preparing to do shows in Europe and the U.S. in 2009 for Mahakali.

I am also recording a song for a soundtrack companion compilation cd of the  songs of  Scott Walker. I am also recording for a project  of  5 women musicians. It is called Aeaea.  I am also completing a 2 cd audio documentary called The Sweet Meat Love and Holy Cult. I am also completing a DVD of a show I did in NYC. It was professionally filmed and multi-track recorded. There is more…

13. What about early 2009?

February and March etc should find me doing live shows.

14. How will you follow up the release of “Mahakali”? Any live performances?

As for the next album, it will feature heavy rock instrumentation as well as cello and violin and will be done in part in San Francisco as a counterpoint to Mahakali which was done in New York.

15. Top 3 metal bands of today…name them…

I have no top 3 are but I will tell you 6 that I enjoy regardless of  today !

Nachtmystium, Moonspell, Negura Bunget, Secrets Of The Moon, Watain, and Endstille

16. What’s your biggest pet peeve with today’s industry?

Misdirected resources.

17. Any final words?

ex animo !

Total Fucking Destruction – Richard Hoak

SMN News recently conducted an exclusive interview with Total Fucking Destruction drummer/vocalist Richard Hoak. Hoak discussed the band’s new album, his philosophy on life, the upcoming album from the re-united Brutal Truth, and much more.

Could you go into details about the origins of TFD?

Total Fucking Destruction started out as the idea to play music called ‘grind’ at its very simplest and also to have the emotions expressed by the lyrics to be the simplest expression possible. That’s sort of always directed the band; that’s why there’s only three people in it and not four. That’s why I just play the kick and the snare drums, so I don’t have to carry all those other drums around. I want to write riffs so easy that the drummer can write them. I guess a lot of that started with me being bummed out with Brutal Truth’s breakup and I was like “oh fuck man, what a waste. Any knucklehead can start a band with a dumb name and go around the world doing grind shows. Oh wait! I’ll start a band called Total Fucking Destruction and travel around the world doing grind shows.” It was a drunken thought, but snowballed to what it is today.

A lot of people think that TFD is a joke band or a goof, but it’s actually deadly fucking serious. I do present ideas with humor or using humor in certain ways, but its deadly fucking serious; its serious poetry for me and its things I think about and topics in my head.

With songs like “Biosatanic Terroristic Attack” and “Monsterearth Megawar,” I have to ask; does the band spend more time on the music or the song titles?

One of the things I always did in Brutal Truth, writing songs with Danny (Liker, bassist), was making sure it was extreme and ultra brutal first, and then we made sure it was musical, if there was a tune to your ears. With TFD, the songwriting takes that approach; it has to be musical, has to be a tune there you can hear in your mind when your not playing a super-fast grind style. Also, it came with the ideas and stuff I want to sing about. A lot of time, a lyric will come first. Like “Let The Children Name Themselves;” that was all lyrics first. Then we have to have a riff that’s like “Let The Children Name Themselves.” Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. I don’t know if that makes sense to you…

Yeah, it makes sense to me. I hope that the audience thinks it makes sense, but it makes sense to me…

Dude, that’s really fucking awesome when people understand. That’s what is cool about TFD; a lot of people get it. There’s always one guy on the Internet out of ten who’s like “This is a bunch of noise with some dude screaming over it,” but then we play gigs and kids come out and they’re like “dude, “Kill The Jocks and Eat Their Brains, what a great song.” It’s fun and its punk and it has a great message. What better song to fucking mosh in the pit to than “Kill The Jocks and Eat Their Brains?”

Tell me a little bit about the recording of the new album, because there was only one year between the releases…

Zen was recorded a long time before it was released. Zen was mixed by Danny O’Hare, but not recorded by him. It was recorded under suspicious circumstances…

Could you elaborate on that?

It was recorded on an 8-track reel-to-reel machine and then those 8-tracks were dumped to computer hard drive and then there were eight futile attempts to get guitar and vocal overdubs. It didn’t work until I did them in “Garage Band” and nailed them in or whatever. A lot of technical stuff.

But Peace, Love, And Total Fucking Destruction was recorded, mixed, and mastered from beginning to end with Dan O’Hare. That’s one of the things that helped us send our message in the best light possible. Dan did Brutal Truth and TFD songs for the Eyehategod tribute; I think he mixed the Brutal Truth songs for the This Comp Kills Fascists compilation, which was the first Brutal Truth stuff in ten years. He has a studio in New Jersey, just over the river from Philadelphia, so it’s cool.

Does the band plan on touring behind this material, or is Brutal Truth taking up most of your time?

Most of my time is taken up with work, family, and taking care of my household. Total Fucking Destruction will do a world-wide tour in support of Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction, but its not going to happen until 2009. It’ll start early on and it’s no sweat to work those bands together. Everybody is heavily scheduled, so as long as you know what’s going on, barring any unforeseen major fuckups, you can do one thing and do the next thing and do the next thing.

Do you ever see Brutal Truth and TFD headlining a tour together?

We did that in England six or eight months after Brutal Truth (re)started. I guess we did it in England in February or March of ‘07, where it was Brutal Truth, Narcosis, Total Fucking Destruction, and a local band opening up. That was cool. I totally dug it; I could play all night (laughs).

Are you going to bring that tour to America?

I would love to have Total Fucking Destruction and Brutal Truth touring the states. I would be totally psyched for that; it’s a little different because it’s a much longer drive. Touring around in England, it’s like being in the Northeast.

What’s your beef with the Internet?

(laughs) That song is a little tongue-in-cheek. In the lyric sheet for every set of song lyrics, there is a story that goes with it. It’s all part of a concept album. If you go the lyrics next to “Fuck The Internet,” we list where you can get in touch with Total Fucking Destruction on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/totalfuckingdestruction). Where the “Fuck The Internet” comes from is being over-whelmed by modern technology. At one point, I had nine e-mail accounts, and three instant messages going at one time, while I was talking on my cell phone. I cut a lot of that out; I shut off my text messages, and stuff. It’s like you’re overwhelmed with living the online life.

Since you alluded to it earlier, could you explain a bit about the concept behind the album?

Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction is the story of warriors of the fourth World War, after the collapse of civilization. There are people who will fight to survive and it’s mixed with the “game-boy” generation. There’s world-wide global manufacturing of weapons and technology that can go anywhere in the world. You can be a 12-year-old in Africa with an IPod, an AK-47, and a Hello Kitty backpack. It has a lot to do with globalization and giant corporations run the world; turn the Third World children into soldiers.

Is there any main character; I know there is a child with a gun on the cover art…

It has a lot to do with children in the future. I guess the whole concept is more than Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction concept. It’s more of the concept of Total Fucking Destruction, the band, and the lifestyle. This is one certain aspect of it. In Total Fucking Destruction, we assume that there is a slow-motion apocalypse unfolding around us. We don’t know if it’s the result of the world-wide corporate-military-entertainment-technological complex. Post-modern gadgets fill our lives; take our minds off of what’s really important…that the world civilization is approaching the end of history. When I was a punk-rocker and thought that the world would blow up, it would all be a nuclear cataclysm in seconds, but I since realized that the end of the world could take a hundred or a thousand years. It’s not until the year 2080 that the oceans are suppose to run out of fish. Taking all of that as fact, with Total Fucking Destruction, I try to create a sort of…mindset (so people) can come together and celebrate the end of the world. A lot of Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction is a comment on the role of children in the fucking apocalypse that’s going on around us.

Speaking of the apocalypse, now that George Bush is getting out of office, do you think it will slow down a bit?

No man. In eight or ten years, nothing big happens, unless something is truly the Anti-Christ and is playing it off so that they can get into the office of the president and push the button that launches everything. It’s just a slow decline; it goes up and down and up and down, sort of like a graph. It might make things better in the short-term.

You wrote a song about Anal Cunt vocalist Seth Putnam on the new album. Is the song a shining tribute to a great vocalist or knocking on him for making fun of Brutal Truth back in 1999?

Seth is a good friend and I consider him to be a great artist. I disagree with some of the things he says in his songs, especially in the context of making a comment from Total Fucking Destruction. Total Fucking Destruction is anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-facist, etc. So all that being said, there are definitely some things that Putnam says that I disagree with, but at the same time, I know Seth to uncannily accurate in his call on life. Seth can walk into and say ‘that guys a douche-bag’ and he’s totally right. That (song) is just a shout-out to him.

At the end of Zen and The Art Of Total Fucking Destruction, there are four songs which are acoustic-based, with a 60’s acid rock/jazz feel to it. Where did those songs come from, because they seem quite sudden and out of place, but in a good way?

It was at a rehearsal and I was like “These songs have to be able to be sung in your head. These songs can be A cappella or acoustic.” Then Pingdum (Steve Morasco, guitar) said, “We should play these songs acoustically!” It snowballed from there; I think Pinkdum had bought a pair of stereo microphones, so we could set it up in the old-fashioned recording style, where it was a stereo recording in a big wooden room. To mix it, you have to listen to it, and if the drum set was too loud, you have to move the drum set back. We did five songs acoustically, and they were just acoustic versions of other TFD songs.

Were they done in one take?

I don’t know if they were done in one take. They were done in one session. We recorded the songs and I did the vocals afterwards. We mixed it afterwards, and Dan O’Hare did the mix also. The mix was just stereo band and then a layer or two. I don’t think there were any overdubs. The music was live and we did overdubs for the vocals.

I enjoyed the acoustic tracks on the album. Will the band expand upon this sound in the near future?

Dude, I work by intuition. I’ve always done that in Brutal Truth and TFD. I don’t what might happen. It’s whatever I feel, I guess…

For a second, let’s talk about your influences as a musician and songwriter.

Well, for playing drums, I try to be like crazy drummers I admire; Buddy Rich, Keith Moon, crazy shit like that. When I write songs, I try to make them musical. I don’t know that I have any influences. Sometimes, I often have in my head song riffs of other bands or music that you hear on the radio, but every once in a while, an original riff pops into my head that I can’t get out of, and that’s how I know it’s a good song.

What’s the biggest misconception that people have about grindcore as a genre?

There are people on the planet who are privileged to have the extra leisure time and extra money to not only survive, but to make noise and create obscure art, like grindcore, renaissance painting, or free-form jazz. I always thought the music was supposed to be meaningful or self-aware; you have to be self-aware of what’s going on.

Let’s shift focus to Brutal Truth for a second. They are back together and you guys are working on a new album. Can you update the status of that?

We recorded at Watchman Studios with a guy named Doug White, who did an amazing job recording bass and drums. We recorded 24 tracks and then Kevin did his vocals out in Chicago. I think the text mixes are coming in and we are having Jason Fuller from Blood Duster do some test mix, and if it sounds good, he’s going to mix it.

Are all 24 songs going to be on the new album?

Absolutely not. It was a thing where I was pretty well rehearsed and I had a list of tunes and I was like ‘let’s just do it.’ We re-recorded all the songs on This Comp Kills Fascists and did some free-form jazz jams. We did a recording of “Walking Corpse,” but there are no vocals for it.

How does the new Brutal Truth material sound?

It sounds pretty good man. It’s like if you listened to Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom and took a step beyond that, and mixed it with the production of Need To Control and 30% of the brutal grind of Extreme Conditions. I think people are going to dig it; I think the songs are great. I haven’t really heard a lot of it with Kevin’s vocal tracks put on, but it sounds pretty spot on so far.

Is there a release date yet?

Nothing else official, other than its recorded and some mixes are coming in.

So off the record, when’s it coming out?

Even on the record, it’s coming out in early 2009; sometime between March and May.

Final question; Total Fucking Destruction: great or greatest comedy grindcore band ever?

Dan, grindcore isn’t a competition. This is a fucking brotherhood of grind and metal; it isn’t a competition. Total Fucking Destruction is what it is; my friend’s bands are what they are, so let’s fucking party.

By Dan Marsicano

Cold World – Nick Woj, Drums

Have you heard Cold World yet? Fans of straight-up hardcore (not metalcore) definitely have to check for this band. Their sonic foundation is built on the blueprint old-school NYHC groups like Breakdown, Killing Time, and Outburst first laid down twenty years ago. But on their recently released Dedicated to Babies Who Came Feet First album, Cold World fuse the groove elements that Life of Agony explored on their debut record as well as throw in some of the hardest lyrics this side of Nas. SMN News spoke with drummer and lyricist Nick Woj about the band, his love of rap music, and the financial struggle of being in a touring hardcore band.

First off, are you named after the GZA song?

Yeah. It sums up the band perfectly plus it’s a hip-hop reference, easy to say and a bleak outlook.

There are lots of obvious hip-hop leanings in the band’s imagery and lyrics. Do you think you’ve been more moved by the lyrics in rap songs than say, hardcore or punk? I find that certain rappers (Cormega, Gang Starr) have a very direct and relatable way of expressing themselves and the shit they’re surrounded by.

You can say a lot more in a line of a hip-hop verse than a hardcore one, so I guess so. Hip-hop is a little more versatile too. For instance, take a rapper like Scaramanga or Raekwon. They may not be saying much in the verse itself but the way they put words together can strike vivid imagery in your head. So there’s a lot more ways to grab you in hip-hop lyrics than hardcore. Don’t get me wrong though, a lot of hardcore frontmen certainly grab me.

Did you find that kids didn’t understand the way you guys, for a lack of a better word, “branded” Cold World early on? I could see how using EPMD’s logo on one of your shirts can throw some people off.

At first I was shocked because I thought most hardcore kids were into hip-hop because that’s how it was in Wilkes-Barre and Philly with me and my friends. So I thought it was kind of weird when people were so alienated by it but I didn’t care. There are certain people whose taste I respect and those are the people whose acceptance I care about. Our core group of friends were down with it and psyched on what we were doing so I just kept pushing it. People who didn’t get it just didn’t and that was that. Once I saw bands biting us so hard I realized we were sort of a “brand” but whatever.

Cold World is unlike most other bands in the sense that you, the drummer, write all of the lyrics as opposed to the lead singer. Why doesn’t Dan handle this aspect of the songwriting? When you started the band, was this always the way you guys planned it?

We didn’t really decide that’s how it was going to be but I had so many ideas that I just went with it. I suppose I’m more expressive so I can put ideas into lyrics more easily. Alex actually told me he’s been working on some lyrics so I’m excited to see what he’s come up with.

Your lyrics on the title track absolutely jump off the page. You lay out some ghastly images. But towards the end of the song, there seems to be a sense of clarity coming through. Can you talk about what was going on in your head when you put this one together?

I was inspired to write those lyrics by seeing all these young kids covering themselves in tattoos (”tat-fuckin-too’s”) and acting hard when there’s nothing behind it. There are some things that I went through that someone with that mindset would use as an excuse for being that way but that’s just not what I want to be. So in the first verse I touch on some of the personal things then in the second, I apply it to these types. “You pose hard, show your scars, I never once questioned who you are, but that whole routine is so tired to me”. It’s a routine, and it’s not very clever but kids fall for it all the time. I wanted to show that you can express hard things you’ve been through without getting your eyelids tattooed and joining a gang. Not that I’m speaking out against tattoos or gangs, just kids going through that routine to gain their image when there’s nothing behind it.

“Roaches and Rats” really seems to be talking about someone specifically in your life who has really lost themselves to drugs. There’s also a lot of anger behind it. Do you have people in your life right now losing the battle with the needle?

I’m actually talking about seeing my friend change after he lost his father to drug addiction. I went through a lot of the same thing with my dad but I put that behind me and I don’t really fuck with him anymore, but I saw him kind of carry the weight on his back after that and I really felt for him.

While the new album has a sense of urgency to it, there are definite nods to the past musically speaking. I hear some Keith Caputo (Life of Agony) flavored vocal things going on in parts and the guitar sound is thicker than the metalized tone a lot of your peers are going with. Is this why you guys chose to work with Billy Graziadei of Biohazard? It seems like he would really know how to capture that essence since he was part of the scene back then.

Yeah, we wanted someone who understood the mechanics of that sound and that’s about as close to the source as you can get. I’m happy with how this record sounds but now I’m ready to work with someone who sees what we can do and takes it a step further.

I read in another interview that you had to bow out on a tour and have a fill-in drummer replace you because you had to stay home and work your day job. It just seems like with the way things are going in this country, it’s getting increasingly tougher to go out and make a living playing music; let alone hardcore. Where are you on a personal level with this right now? Can you see yourself touring 10 months straight and coming home to find a regular job in between?

Man, that’s a struggle I deal with every day in my head. When I took this job I felt like I had to for some reason and now I have no time for the thing I love the most in life (music), so I resent it because in a way it took that away from me. We’ll see what happens. We just got offered some crazy stuff for next year. Alex and I talk about it all the time, but I really want someone with some power to see our potential and push us. I’m sick of seeing all of these cornballs making money and getting famous off of things that our scene created. It’s time for people to realize that nothing is sacred anymore and to get out there and take back what’s ours. So, yes I can see us doing the rugged touring as long as we have the backing and push we need. We’re grown-ass men, but at the same time we’re not stuck in the same old thing. I feel more creative now then I’ve ever been.

What’s the story with your limited t-shirt runs? I heard people collect them like they would colored vinyl or rare LPs.

There’s not much of a story behind it. We don’t play shows too often like a lot of other bands so we just print up enough shirts for whenever we have shows. I have a lot of ideas for designs so I just like to keep them going. People definitely collect them but that’s nothing new. Collecting band shirts has always been a phenomenon in hardcore.

Let’s talk rap for a second. What was your introduction to it?

MTV! I remember seeing Beastie Boys, Fat Boys, Run DMC and LL Cool J videos and just being mesmerized. There used to be so may Rap compilation tapes back in the day and I had them all. They were usually around 5 bucks so it was easy for me to have my Mom or Grandmother get them for me. There was Rapmasters, Kool Rap, Fresh Rap, Hard Rap, so many!

I know you did some breakbeat and loop stuff on the new album. Are you producing any artists?

I do production for a group with two friends from Wilkes-Barre called Type Ill, I’m doing beats for a group with our guitar player Haroun called All Thoro and I just gave some beats to a group out of Richmond VA called Frontside. My ultimate goal is to have somebody I love on one of my beats.

Who are your some of your favorite rap lyricists? I have always found that the New York MC’s, and the rest of the North Eastern scene seems to have a sharper lyrical style where the West Coast guys are more about a getting into a groove and certain vibe and not so much the wordplay in a song.

I like guys who do a little of both. Sadat X, Grand Puba, Raekwon, Scaramanga, Q Tip, Lord Finesse, A.G., Diamond D, early Mos Def, Rakim, Kool G. Rap, etc. All my favorites are from NY but I like stuff from all over. Detroit has a great scene going on right now. Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and Elzhi are really killing it. It sucks that Jay Dee died but it seemed like it really lit a fire under that crew’s ass to rep for him and push that sound. I like some West coast guys like Rass Kass, old Souls of Mischief stuff and Bishop Lamont is cool. There are even Southern guys I check for like Z-Ro and Trae. All the old Rap-A-Lot stuff is great. I’m really mostly into the 90’s underground NY shit though. All those early Rawkus releases, every Godfather Don related, all the Fondle Em stuff. I’m a rap nerd, man. That takes up like 80% of my brain.

What does your family think about you playing in a hardcore band?

Not much. I’m not really close with my family, but I remember telling some of them that I was going to Europe and stuff and they said it was great but they didn’t seem that all impressed. They would be more impressed by me working in a factory and having a knocked-up blonde wife. Hardcore is so weird because barely anyone outside of it can understand it the way that we can. Even all of these screamo and pop punk bands could never fully understand it.

What are the biggest misconceptions people have about you and Cold World?

Great question. People think a lot of different things. I know a lot of people come up to Dan and try talking to him about sneakers and he has no clue what they’re talking about. People think we’re huge street wear guys but we’re not really into that shit at all. Some of the more established brands are cool sometimes but I pretty much just like Polo and Nike. I also think a lot of kids who didn’t know any better thought that we were perpetrators. They didn’t think we were real hardcore kids but in reality we’re deeper into it than they’ll ever be.

Dragonforce – Vadim Pruzhanov, Keyboards

It’s early November and DRAGONFORCE pulls into The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, CA for an evening of extremely talented musicianship and SMNnews was able to take a few moments to chat with keyboard whiz Vadim Pruzhanov.

How are you, what’s going on?

We shot a video yesterday for “The Last Journey Home.”

Are you excited about it?

Yeah, it has a bunch of actors, we had to do acting ourselves, it was really exciting. I can’t really tell you too much about it but it will be so good when people see it.

Without giving it away what makes it so different?

It’s more futuristic, the storyline, it’s meaningful, it’s more of everything. It’s good, It’s good, it’s just amazing.

Does it have the comedy aspect?

Not so much comedy, more of a storyline, really cool graphics, a lot of acting by the band, extra actors to help out with the storyline. It’s going to be different.

Was it your idea or the directors?

I think the director came up with the concept and we helped with some ideas so it was like a whole team effort.

Where did you shoot it?
Just downtown, not too far away from where we’re from now. We started early morning and went to late at night.

You guys spent the summer on the road with DISTURBED and SLIPKNOT, good times?

Yeah, it was a blast, parties every night, barbecues, hanging out with bands, hitting it off with all our good friends, it was amazing man. We got drunk so much and that was the only time I was drunk every single night and now I’m like cutting down.

You’ve got a longer set now.

Longer set, more moves on stage, have to concentrate on playing which sucks (laughs) and it’s alright, I’m having a great time. Every single night there was booze, you would drink, every night one band would be organizing a barbecue and organizing drinking games.

Any future tour plans with any of the bands from the summer?

Not yet, so far just POWERGLOVE and TURISAS for now as we finish the whole US leg and Canadian leg the 19th of December then next year we do some European shows, some Japanese shows, then I think we come back and do some more here.

You’ve built a huge fanbase which started as a cult type following. What do you think attributes to this success?

Definitely helps out that the true fans that listened in the early days like some of the people that I met outside today right now sticking around. The fact now that we have so much of a variety with exposure with Guitar Hero, touring, word of mouth, a lot of little kids with their parents, young people, old people too.

It’s not just the classical metal fans anymore.

No, it’s a bit of everything, sometimes goth looking people, hardcore kids, emo kids, some metalers, whatever, just everyone.

It’s something special when you break out of that certain stigma you have.

It’s cool if people enjoy this kind of music. Back in the days, Rock was really popular in the 80’s, everyone listened to it. Trends come and go but with us we’ve never been attached to a particular genre or trend. When we started out with this genre, it wasn’t really popular at all. It seems to be going really well so far.

Any plans for live material?

We’ve thought about it but just waiting for the right time, find the right time when we learn the songs really well (laughs). I mean we’re alright, much better now playing wise. We need to find enough material for the fans to like. So I mean probably next year we might do something.

From the stories I hear about the craziness that surrounds your band on the road with the trampolines, the girls.

We have so much stuff filmed, some explicit material as well (laughs) that we’d love to share but unfortunately we probably can’t. We’d like to release a live dvd at some point and release a touring, not so much a live thing but a life on the road.

When you’re in the studio recording and learning the songs to go out on the road, do you ever think, “what the hell did I do there?”

Not really normally. A lot of the times things are really rushed with us and I don’t really like it that much. We all have busy lifestyles and people do this and that. We get together for one rehearsal before, like pre-production, and we pretty much go through the songs once and everyone knows them. When we start off it’s rusty and not that great, but as we go along it gets better and better. For this tour it was one and a half rehearsal.

How do you stay in shape to play all the time?

I don’t know. I just sort of, I learn the songs and if you play them a lot of times you memorize them in your brain especially when I’ve written parts. The songs are not really, to us, they’re not really that complex. We’ve always been playing this kind of stuff.

Did you possess the natural talent at an early age or did you really have to work hard to get there?

As a kid I studied classical music. I didn’t study as such but I went to this school, my parents put me in this school. Right now I don’t have much to do with the classical training. I always practiced a lot but with DRAGONFORCE lately I don’t have time to practice. As a kid I was playing all the time, I had Bryan Adams on and try to pick out all the melody lines and play that. I had a Yamaha PSS keyboard where you press the button and it picks out a chord for you and I’d play melody lines like GENESIS or BRYAN ADAMS.

I never imagined Bryan Adams as a big influence.

Not really, I was into {Black}Sabbath, {Led}Zeppelin, Bryan Adams my dad listened to it and I was a kid and I would just play all these things. They asked me to go to this school I really didn’t want to do it (classical music) or study it. Now I’m happy that they made the choices that they have.

You’ve been on tour for a while; do you pay attention to the media at all?

It’s always interesting to see what people write in reviews. There’s always gonna be people who criticize you for what you do. If you get a person to review the band, if the person doesn’t like the band they’re not gonna say, “oh yeah, they kicked ass.” But it’s always nice to convert people who don’t like the band. We’re very happy even if it’s a bad one because it’s still made an impact if somebody really hates us or dislikes us because it’s a passionate feeling (hate).

Do you pay attention to the gossip columns in the UK?

I flip through KERRANG or METAL HAMMER sometimes I see us in there. But newspapers you’d have to ask Sam, he reads newspapers.

Any of you ever shag a page 3 girl?

(long pause) Even if they did I wouldn’t be able to tell you. (laughs)

Lily Allen or Kate Nash?

Mmmmm, Kate Nash probably. Good question. (laughs) Kate Nash because she’s less violent. I hear Lily Allen likes to punch people in the face. I have both their albums. I find their accents fascinating. They have very strong English accents.

If you had to write a song about Chavs, how would it go?

Are people going to really get this? Power Metal Chavs listen to Dragonforce. We get some Chav fans. Maybe we’d start singing with strong cockney accents. I don’t think the other guys would agree. I come up with these great ideas all the time and they always say no, I wonder why. (laughs)

What are you listening to right now that people wouldn’t expect of you?

The ENCHANTED Soundtrack. In the movie it’s really weird as actors usually look really stupid and silly when they start to sing but in this movie they look silly until they start singing and when they start singing it’s really pleasant so I forward it to the singing parts.

If you could perform with any band or performer in the world, who would that be?

I’d love to play with Devin Townsend, I like his music, he’s pretty good at what he does. Or I don’t know, I could play with Steve Vai to see how crap I am and make me look so bad and I’d be embarrassed and that would be funny.

Doesn’t Tony MacAlpine play keys with Steve Vai now?

Yeah, I think he does. These guys are too great, I’d never put myself in that category. But I’d love to play with Devin Townsend.

If somebody could bring you something on the road to remind you of home, what could that be?

Bring me cheesecake. I’m a big fan of cheesecakes. If I had em on the rider I’d be fat as fuck.

Anything else?

I want to Thank all the fans for all the love and support and support and love and all the street teamers as well.

Linkin Park – Phoenix, Bass

SMNnews managed to sneak in a quick 15 minutes with Linkin Park bassist “Phoenix” – also known as “Dave”. He talks about recording for the new album, possible collaborations with Jay-Z and other metal artists, his beard, as well as the next step and musical direction for the band.

Where are you right now?

Southern California.

Fun. Enjoying your time off?

Absoutely. We toured through mid-September in the US, so we’ve just been taking some time off, and come November we’ll be back working on the new record. I’m enjoying being home, kicking back and just doing some promotion for the Road to Revolution CD/DVD.

November 25^th right?

Yes.

In terms of your writing for the new album do you have a preference for how you want to sit down and get it hammered out?

Well, we are done writing at this point. We had a little break in the summer, like 6 weeks at home where we started working on it a lot. We are just waiting to get back in the studio now to begin writing some more and begin recording, there’s still a lot of work to do. Our fans know we are slow writers, but we hope to have less of a layoff with this album.

It was 2 years between albums last time, yea?

Yea. The big part was we didn’t know how long it would take to be proud of. For Minutes, we took time off of after Meteora, and it took a year and a half to write and record.

Do you have a producer in mind?

For now, we’ll just have Mike produce it. Potentially other people, but at this stage up it is up in the air.

What about Timbaland?

He is not on the radar.

So…have to ask. ‘Phoenix’, do I call you that?

It’s comfortable for me.

Well, I would hope so, considering that’s your name in the band. Do you have a preference though?

Nah, I honestly don’t have a preference. My family calls Dave.

That also makes sense…so, Milton Keynes…fantastic venue, fantastic crowds – why there for the DVD?

We knew going in to the show we were recording it, we knew it was gonna be a special show for us and we figured it would be something we really like the rest of the world to see. Having seen the footage and the largest Project Revolution show abroad, it made sense to edit it and put it out.

We always have our own video guy, Mark, who does our internet stuff and website video editing and capturing – we have him film it all. For Milton Keynes, we had a full crew, and a full on shoot.

Right on. Any nifty behind the scenes DVD easter eggs you can tell me about?

There’s surprises in there. At his point there’s a ton of stuff to still be put together. We haven’t figured what’s included yet. The best way to keep up to date on that, is linkinpark.com – that’s gonna have up to the minute info.

Nice plug. What sort of additional content you looking for?

We’re still messing with it.

What about one good, hearty drinking tale that wasn’t included?

I have to apologize, I mean, is it a bad sign if I can’t remember anything? We’ve had couple of doozies.

This is a stupidly vague question, but what’s the best crowd slash fan situation you came across?

Hard to say, not being PC here, but everywhere we go there’s a different thing the crowd does. Like Europe in general, specifically in the UK, they bounce up and down, where in the US, they pit – lateral movement. Asia is insane, even there it’s so different. Japan is crazy to play, because there’s a built in respect in the culture where when we are not playing the crowd will go deadly quiet…just to hear what Mike and Chester have to say, even if they don’t understand, the crowd will go dead quiet and listen. You’re used to screaming, and loud, but Japan is unique that sense.

That is pretty intense stuff. Keeping in league with intensity, I know Jay-Z appears in the mix for a few tunes, what’s the jigga man like in person?

He’s a good guy, and we have got a chance to work with him quite a bit. Ever since we got that Collision Course CD, he came out to LA, and brought his entourage with him. Our crew and his crew got along well from the start. I think Jay is the one, if not the best MC, of our time. Crazy work ethic.

Will he perhaps appear on a track or two on the new one?

Doubtful, only because when we do studio albums, we never have worked with any guests. We keep it to be our own stuff.
Does he constantly bombard you with pressure to wear his Rocaway clothing line?

No (laugh). I don’t think he’s ever talked about it. I asked if he could get me a pair of shoes, and he ignored me and laughed at me.

You also collaborated with Bustah – what’s next on the collaboration circuit? Any metal artists per chance?
Not really. No plans. Just us.
Minutes to Midnight is a far cry from past material, and has perhaps alienated your ‘heavier’ audience – will we see a proverbial return to form?

For us, we don’t sit down with a direction, we just begin with writing music, and it works towards whatever we gravitate towards – its wherever the album goes. For us, it would not work with an idea of where you want to finish. It kills the creative process. Having said that, we all love the stuff we’ve done, we love heavy music and we are sure we aren’t gonna abandon that. But we want to push new ways to stay energized for ourselves and fans.

Touring: tell me more – US/UK, what’s the plans? More festival type gigs, smaller venues, what’s what?

Right now, we finished in the September. The touring cycle ended for Minutes to Midnight, and there’s literally not one show on the calendar. We are purely back in the studio and are going to write and focus on the new record. Having said that I wouldn’t be surprised, next summer we’ll do some shows and if we were to do that, it would be Europe.

Thanks for your time…as a final question…are you ever going to shave your beard?

I’ve been thinking about it! My hair and beard is a product of my laziness. I haven’t touched a razor on my face in 10 years. It’s only been clippers without a  guard, that’s it. An actual razor, it gives me razor burn, I decided if I’m gonna play music and its ok for me not to have that.

Long live beards. Thanks Dave.

Ill Bill – Himself, Vocals

Death-rapper Ill Bill speaks his mind to SMN, who he has never heard of. His loss.

Have you ever heard of SMNnews before?

No.

Why not, because we think we’re quite awesome.

I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Do you feel as though your style of music gets enough love in the metal circles? In fact, do you even care?

If you mean amongst bands, I get a lot of props from a bunch of different bands in the game. Bands whose music I dig I’ve come to find out also dig my music. That’s a huge compliment cos I’m an old school metalhead. I started going to L’amours in Brooklyn when I was 14.

Are you happy with The Hour of Reprisal’s reception so far?

No and I’m still waiting for my fuckin Grammy. Nah, I’m just fucking around. The response has been great. Bigger than anything else I’ve ever done. People are digging it.

How’s the tour gone so far?

The tour is going great. Right now were driving from Louisville, Kentucky to Chicago. Different day, different city. This is what we do. It’s dope.

What initially attracted you to metal when you were growing up?

Same thing that attracted me to Rap music. It was outlaw music that I wasn’t supposed to be listening to. I got hooked and never looked back.

Whose a hip hop artist you’d love to collaborate with that you haven’t yet?

M.O.P.

I saw you back in 2006 with Jedi Mind Tricks at CBGB, and that was such a great combination. Are there any plans to do more shows together in the U.S. in the future?

No doubt.  figuring that out right now.

Your brother has attempted crossing over and doing shows with metal/hardcore bands like Hatebreed and Madball and the Sounds of the Underground. And I know Non-Phixion would play at L’amour with Biohazard and shit like that. Would you want to explore that more in the future, and if so, what are some bands that you’d think you would fit well with?

I would like to do something with Slayer, Slipknot, System Of A Down, Obituary, Madball or the Cromags.

Growing up in New York City, it’s kind of hard to not be exposed to so many different styles of music. Hardcore and Hip Hop especially have their roots firmly planted in the local scene here. There’s also a lot of crossover between the fans. What do you think it is about the two that brings them together?

The streets connect both artforms. The graffitii scene is big part of that connection in NYC.

What’s going on with La Coka Nostra?

We just finished recording our debut album “A Brand You Can Trust” due to hit stores early 2009 along with a worldwide tour.

What were your top 5 metal and hip hop albums growing up?

1. Master of Puppets
2. Reign In Blood
3. Dimension Hatross
4. Peace Sells
5. I Against I

1. It Takes a Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
2. Paid In Full
3. Criminal Minded
4. License To Ill
5. King Of Rock

Is Soulja Boy killing hip hop?

Hell No. He’s making a lot of money right now and I’m happy for him. Good for him. He used the tools he had at his disposal and made it work for him. That’s Hip Hop to the core.

Is there anyone else in the underground hip hop scene right now, that you’re not normally associated with, that you enjoy? Like anyone from the Def Jux crew or Rhymesayers, or something along those lines?

I dig both Def Jux and Rhymesayers to the fullest. Those are my peoples. Me and El-P go way back to the early days of Non Phixion and Co Flow. I also dig the Strange Music family. Duck Down are my peoples. Soul Asassins, Psycho Realm, Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind and their entire extended family, The Visionaries, Dilated Peoples, the list is endless. My ties within this underground shit run deep.

Have you ever collaborated with someone you really admired and just thought to yourself “wow, I can’t believe I’m doing a track with him?”

I thought that about most of the people I worked with on my new album.

Do you ever just sit around and give DJ Lethal shit for having been in Limp Bizkit?

Well, Limp has sold more records than Jay-Z, so at the end of the day, who’s giving shit to who?

Who do you want to win the Presidential election?

Barack Obama.
GZA or 50 Cent?

I thought the beef was stupid. I think they’re both dope.

Pretty much all the legendary venues in NYC have closed, and it seems like either Live Nation or The Bowery Presents controls like 90% of the city at this point. What do you think that says for the future of underground/independent music in this city?

It says if we want to complain, we need to open our own venues.

What do you have lined up for the future?

Check out myspace.com/illbill. My schedule changes daily so make sure you pay attention. Look out for the LCN album and alotta touring. One.

Call to Preserve – Harbor Partin, Guitars

Call To Preserve are a hardcore band from Florida who have just released an album on Facedown Records. The band play was influenced by acts like Madball, Strongarm, and No Innocent Victim. SMN News spoke with guitarist Harbor Partin about their From Isolation album, the Florida underground scene, and his views on the Christian hardcore scene.

I know you the members of the band got their start playing more punk inspired music. How did the evolution towards hardcore happen?

I think as a band our musical tastes got heavier so we just gravitated towards that type of music. I remember at first I was the only one in the band that wasn’t really into hardcore and I just wanted to play punk, but then I heard bands like American Nightmare who played traditional hardcore and it turned me on to hardcore. Plus as it turns out hardcore is a lot more fun to play, so I guess that probably had something to do with it.

Although your sound is tough, there’s a lot of melody in certain spots. It reminded me of Terror with some Stretch Armstrong thrown in there and a more straight-forward hooky element to it. Can you talk about the writing process?

Yea we all grew up on Stretch Arm Strong so I think that influence definitely came out a little more on this album. When we were writing we worked a lot more on song structure and having parts that would be memorable. When we were picking and choosing what was going to be in a song we were going “ok, what does this part bring to the overall song? ” It made us try some things that I think we might have been to afraid to try before because it wasn’t typical hardcore type stuff, but I think it paid off in the end.

This interview is for a site that is definitely not Christian. We cover everything from Norwegian black metal to bands like Cannibal Corpse and Incantation. What do you have to say to the kid who’s looking at his computer right now and questioning us for covering a band like yours?

I don’t know really know what else to say except to keep an open mind. When it comes down to it, lyrics or and personal beliefs aside, we’re still a hardcore band. I don’t mean to be cliche and say hardcore is about standing up for what you believe in, but it kind of is. Diversity is what has made hardcore great from the beginning. Even in the early days when there were bands that stood up against religion, you had Krishna bands like Cro-Mags that were vocal about their faith. Imagine if no one would’ve listened to Cro-Mags because they didn’t share the same beliefs. Hardcore wouldn’t be the same. So I guess keep that in mind.

Did you guys ever find yourselves in a situation where you’re on a bill with bands that were resistant to playing with you because of your religious beliefs? For example, I’m not Christian but that doesn’t stop me from listening to bands that might be but I there must be people who don’t feel that way.

I suppose there are people who feel that way, but we haven’t encountered too many people like that.  We’ve played with all different types of bands and everyone we’ve ever played with has seemed to respect what believe. I think part of the reason is because we’re not a real preachy band. You can look at our lyrics and talk to us and know what we’re about, but we’re really into just playing and letting the music speak for itself.  I’m sure there’s tons of bands we play with who aren’t into what we’re about, but I guess not to the point where they wouldn’t want to play with us.  There’s a lot of bands I’d like to play with that aren’t Christian, so I don’t see why it couldn’t work the other way too.

Do you think because of the religious overtones, kids who listen to positive hardcore follow the lyrical content closer?

It’s hard to say. I guess we have a lot of positive type songs, but  I know with the new album there were a few songs where the outlook isn’t exactly positive. A song like “Sinking Sun” has kind of a bleak outlook to it, just because that was how I felt at the time that I wrote it.  I know we talk about a lot of positive stuff, but I hope that anyone could relate to our music, no matter where they are in life.

Which songs on From Isolation are people responding to the most on tour? “Hope For the Fallen” seems like one that would go over really well live.

“Hope for the Fallen” does alright, but I think it’s going to be one of those songs that’s going to do much better once people get more familiar with the new album. I think “Sinking Sun” has probably had the best response out of all them, probably because it’s been on our MySpace for a while now and it’s got that intro in the beginning. Shameless has also gone over really well. It’s probably the heaviest song on the album, possibly the heaviest song we’ve ever written so people tend to react to that song very well.

On the song “Sinking Sun” you have the lyrical refrain, “We come from isolation but we’re never alone.” Who is the “we” in that particular track?

That line is about thinking you’re alone in whatever mess you’ve gotten yourself into and then realizing that it’s not just you who goes through low points in their lives. It’s everyone. You have to face the reality of your decisions by yourself, but it’s kind of a common aspect of being human and we can share the burden of our struggles. “We” is pretty much everyone in the most general sense.

It seems like the Florida hardcore scene is really coming up lately. Can you talk about some of the bands that we should keep our eyes out for?

Yeah Florida Hardcore is pretty dope. One of our favorite bands here has got to be Infected. We’ve known their singer Josh for a long time and has come on the road with us a few times. They played a bunch of our cd release shows and they’re awesome to watch live. They’ve got a real pissed, thrashy, sound. Definitely got that Infest or Seige  vibe to them, but darker. Definitely check out Infected. Good dudes and good music.

I loved Strongarm and actually became friends with Nick and Steve from the band years later when I was in a band that was signed to Nick’s label. How important was that band to Christian hardcore and the Florida music scene?

That band was extremely important, especially when it comes to the genre of “spirit filled hardcore.” They were definitely a huge influence on this band, not only the music but also what they stood for and how they stood out in the scene at the time.  What stands out about them to me is that they’re music was just as good as any of the other hardcore bands at the time who weren’t Christian and that definitely cemented them as one of the defining Christian hardcore bands. They’re definitely  a huge influence on Christian hardcore now as far as their message goes, but I wish more bands actually sounded like them.  There’s too few Christian bands who still follow in their footsteps musically and I wish there were more.

How is the tour going with For Today? Are the turn-outs decent and how are the out-of-control gas prices affecting everything?

So far the tour’s been going pretty awesome.  Everyone in For Today are awesome dudes and they’re a lot of fun to hang out with. For the most part the turn outs have been great, probably better than decent. There’s always good and bad shows on tour, but even the shows with less kids haven’t been that bad and they’ve all turned to be  a good time. Gas is definitely taking its toll, but we’re still surviving. It could be worse because gas has actually gone down since we’ve been on tour, so I guess if gas would’ve gone up instead we’d probably be really hurting right now. So yea, we’re still a pretty broke band, but we’re gonna be ok. This is what we love to do so nothing’s going to stop us.

What’s the best part about being in Call To Preserve and what’s the worst?

The best part is getting to do what I love and travel the country with my best friends. The worst part is that since I’ve decided not to have a real job, I’m broke and I can hardly afford to feed myself. Don’t even ask me how I plan to pay off my student loans because I don’t have an answer.

Name your 5 favorite hardcore albums of all time.

In no particular order:

• American Nightmare: Background Music
• Dag Nasty: Can I Say
• Stretch Armstrong: The Rituals of Life
• Give up the Ghost: We’re Down Till We’re Underground
• Cro Mags: Age of Quarrel

Bison b.c – Dan And, Guitars

Bison b.c. hail from Canada; where everyone is funny. They also happen to play some of the dirtiest, sludgiest, and crushing metal you’ll find out there right now. Their new album, Quiet Earth is out on Metal Blade Records and it belongs in your collection. SMN News sat down with Dan And (great name!) to talk about all sorts of shit including Flying-V’s, King Diamond, smelly touring vans, and obviously, Nickleback.

Bison b.c.’s members have their roots in the more thrash/punk side of things. How did it evolve to the riffed-out beast it is now?

Our roots are all over the fucking place. We all grew up on punk and metal as much we grew up on pretty much all forms of classic rock. Be it 70’s blues rock or even psych pop, we love it. When James and I first started jamming and writing riffs we never decided to make it sound like anything in particular besides something that we ourselves would want to hear and bang our heads to. We all come from such similar and yet diverse musical backgrounds that all those influences just kind of poked through and meshed together somehow. I hear a lot of heavy bands that forget about one key element to keep music interesting to hear which are dynamics. You can make a riff or a part of a song sound ten times as heavy if you have a part that’s a little mellower before or after it.

Was it tough convincing the people who loved S.T.R.E.E.T.S. and the other bands you were in about the newer stuff you were doing with Bison b.c.?

No, we didn’t even consider what anyone would think. We were starting something totally different than what S.T.R.E.E.T.S. and all our previous bands were doing. None of us had ever played together and were buds first and foremost who admired each others individual musical pasts. We didn’t know what to expect from playing together anymore than anyone else did. All we knew was that it we wanted it to be heavy and most importantly that we were playing songs that we were stoked on. Besides, Vancouver has a killer family of bands that run the entire musical gauntlet who all hang out and are friends so we weren’t worried.

Your first full-length, Earthbound, caught some buzz in the metal underground. Did you find yourselves suddenly playing with more bands in that scene?

I moved to Vancouver to start this band with James so other than whatever bands would come over to Victoria (on Vancouver Island, where I was living) it was all pretty new to me. The metal scene is so varied here that I’m still finding new bands that I’m stoked on. There’s crust, doom, death, thrash, noise-rock…you name it, and somebody’s doing it. We’ve always seemed to play with a lot of different types of bands because I guess we aren’t too easily categorized right off the bat. We’re too loud to play with a lot of punk bands but not evil enough to play with a lot of ‘METAL’ (insert scowl and claw) bands. Crossover?

Were you weary of singing with such a big label like Metal Blade?

Growing up as punks we’ve always been weary dealing with any kind of label. It’s a tricky situation and we’ve certainly known some people who’ve kind of ended up getting shafted. Looking at Metal Blade’s roster I was most worried that we wouldn’t be evil enough for them but they were stoked on what we were doing and gave us the freedom to keep being the same goofs we’ve always been. They have a pretty stellar track record for keeping bands and are a metal label through and through. Fucking Cannibal Corpse and King Diamond are still on Metal Blade, how can you argue with that?

Tell us about working with Jesse Gander. Some of our readers might know him from his work with 3 Inches of Blood.

Jesse is an old bro of ours and a total wizard in the studio. Jesse Gandolf. He’s recorded hundreds of bands around town and we knew he would come through for us. He not only came through for us on Earthbound but totally blew us away with how he was able to capture us in only two days of doing all the tracking. For Quiet Earth we really wanted to see what Jesse could do if we gave him more time to cast his spells of whatever the hell he does with all those knobs. Needless to say he blew us away again. He’s got a lot of input too on trying different things and we trust him 100%. If he told us to throw some accordion on there, we probably would have.

What kind of guitar and bass rigs did you guys use when you recorded Quiet Earth? The guitars are thick but they maintain a clear quality somehow.

For Quiet Earth I recorded using a flying v with stock pick ups through a 100watt Soldano Avenger and two 4×12 cabs. James rocked an SG through an old Mesa mark IV and two 4×12s. Masa has a Boogie 400+ and an Ampeg fridge and the cheapest, most beat up Epiphone bass you’ve ever seen. it’s only got three strings and looks like shit but sounds great. Brad’s got a total Franken-kit that’s constantly changing but no matter what he’s got he just beats the fuck out of it.

We’re bare bones kinda guys, no pedal boards or triple rectifiers or anything. Basically the less to fiddle with and worry about malfunctioning the better. The less knobs the better too. James and I both have boosts for leads (me a tube screamer TS9 and james a custom line boost pedal by our bud Chris Welch from the band No Horses) and James recently added a wah pedal to his set up but other than tuners that’s it. Dumber is gooder.

Even though the riffs are heavy as fuck on the album, the vocal melodies keep things, dare I say it, catchy. How are the songs constructed? Do you write the basic guitar riff first and then build up from there?

Yeah, sometimes the songs are pretty much done when we bring em to the table but other times it’s just a pile of riffs we like and we arrange them all together. Lyrics are generally last but sometimes I’ll kinda build a song around a lyrical idea, which is probably why I take years longer than James to finish a song. Things get added and taken away a lot too; it all depends on how we feel after playing them for a while.

Lyrically speaking, what kinds of themes are you getting into on the new record?

Ancient-future. A lot of James’ lyrics make me think of post apocalyptic wastelands. Mad Max type stuff or He-Man style civilization scenarios. Societies crumbling and retaining certain aspects of technology while also being reduced to a smoldering wreck of their former selves. While not quite concept albums, if you were to take both of them and study the cover art and lyrics of certain songs on each there is a vague sort of narrative being told throughout. My lyrics are thinly veiled stories of mystical creatures used to cover songs of more personal and internal struggles. He’s the expression of disdain and foreshadowing of eminent societal collapse and I’m the expression of internalizing feelings of doubt and loss of control within the self. Wait didn’t I just say dumber is gooder? Fuck.

Who is this “Stokasaurus” you sing about?

The Stokasaurus is a long forgotten dinosaur that was the raddest of them all. It hunted no other creatures and had no known predators after it and spent its days getting rad and being heavy mellow. It was the dinosaur you could call if you were bummed for whatever reason just to chill with and shoot the shit. It’s long been extinct but we’re trying to bring it back “Jurassic Park” style cuz we could all benefit from getting heavy mellow now and again.

Your touring van is famous on Canadian television. Name five bands that you WON’T hear on a long drive when you are on tour with Bison b.c.

Bootsauce, Bootsauce, Moxy Fruvous, Bootsauce and Nickleback. Everything else is pretty much fair game. And yes, we love our van so much its creepy…even though it smells like a bum’s asshole.

What is the biggest misconception Americans have of Canadians? For example, I think ALL Canadians are funny.

That’s fair, we are all funny. And it’s because we realize that the rest of the world sees us as their weird little brother that isn’t as angry or insecure as our ‘older’ brother the US. We’re content being the peaceniks that we are trying to joke our way out of conflicts. We’re the freaks and geeks to the rest of the worlds’ jocks and university grads. We also don’t live in igloos but I am sitting on my chesterfield with a toque on.

Goretex – Goretex, Himself

SMN News readers who also listen to underground rap are probably already acquainted with the work of Goretex. The Brooklyn, NY MC was a member of seminal hip-hop group Non-Phixion. He’s also released a solo album called The Art of Dying a few years back and made numerous guest appearances with groups like Jedi Mind Tricks. SMN News recently sat down with Goretex to talk about his history in the rap game, his thoughts on music (metal included), and his future plans.

What are your first musical memories?

I think the first memory musically I had which is odd is that song by Blue Swede, “I Cant Fight This Feeling” that was always on the radio, my mom had the 45 single.  I hate it now but yeah, some stuff like Santana, Pink Floyd too.  My dad was a Mexican pothead he always had a bunch of vinyl laying around.  Years later I realized he had Syd Barrett, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, and Nucleus.  He has a lot of weird prog-rock and stuff along those lines.  I guess I didn’t realize how hip he was!  I also remember this obscure show on PBS in New York, it seemed like some sort of music workshop with all sorts of afro’d and dashiki wearing musicians would jam out.  It would usually feature heavy soul and funk bands along with some free jazz kind of stuff too.  I would always watch that when it was on.  Once they had Buddy Rich on and it destroyed my brain!  I couldn’t believe what he was doing!  He was the best ever and still untouched.

Which bands/artists did you obsess over when you were a kid?

When I was around 4 or 5 I started to collect music and was slowly becoming a creep.  When I went with my mom to the local library back then, they had thousands of albums you could check out.  I’d fill up my schoolbag with as much as I could jam in. I was eventually caught taking a Blondie or Hot Tuna album.  I can’t remember which.  This must’ve been around 1977.  Around 1980, I went to summer camp on Huntington, Long Island, and got turned onto stuff like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and AC/DC.  My friend would cut himself while listening to Maiden in the back of the bus on this crappy little one speaker radio, I didn’t understand it.  I’m like, “what the hell are you doing?”  He tells me, “I’m doing it for Eddie.”  We must’ve been 7 or 8 years old.  We’d solo back and forth, it was ridiculous.  Anyway, my cousin was a local DJ out on Long Beach out on Long Island and he had all the old school hip hop stuff on vinyl and all the James Brown albums.  He was a break-dancer too who wore Puma sneakers and had the huge boom box.  I’d say he was a major influence on me musically and culturally.  He was 16 or 17 years old then so I don’t think he took me too serious back then.

Why did you choose to express yourself artistically through hip-hop rather than heavy metal?

It was never a conscious decision in terms of expression.  I’ve always written.  Whether it was poetry in school, short stories, raps, letters to girls, I always kept busy that way.  I think I saw rap more as a direct vehicle to express everything back in that time.  I had bands back then, or kiddie bands.  In 1984 I started a band called Warlock.  The singer wore obscene corpsepaint.  Ride The Lightning by Metallica had just come out and we tried ripping them off!  The singers name was Phil he had a short afro and wore upside crosses and also would cut himself.  Years later around 1991, I heard he went in the woods somewhere upstate and shot himself. Although I was always interested in both genres, rapping seemed more direct than say, putting a band together, dealing with nutjobs and flakes.  I had the instruments too.  I played and could’ve put something serious together back then but felt hip hop was my calling.  Anyway I hear my verses and flows like guitar riffs anyway it’s all the same in my world I suppose.

Was it rough in school being into such wide musical influences?

School could be rough due to the kids’ lack of culture.  By 1986 I lived in Glenwood Projects in Brooklyn.  I always had to have two or three sets of friends.  Some hated Hip Hop, some hated Metal or Hardcore so it was tough.  I know for a fact that I was the only person trying to rhyme like Rakim over “Hell Awaits” by Slayer.  Its trendy now but it meant something then. School sucked, I got tired of fighting with the guidos just because I’d wear an Exodus t-shirt to class or metal kids heard me talking about Run DMC.  It got too stupid!  If I grew my hair out, I was a “rockhead” or Satanist.  In seventh grade I started becoming a truant and when my mom would go to work, I’d throw parties everyday.  Everything was an event. I totally fucked up my education around that time and I regret that now.

Did you relate more to metalheads or hip-hop kids?

Again I had lots of different friends, but I did grow up really poor and at times I felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere really.  Who the hell would want to go to the store by yourself and pay with food stamps?  I grew up with black and Latino kids in Long Beach.  My father’s side of the family is Mexican so culturally I’ve always had that instilled in me.  We shared poverty and I guess that sometimes brings kids together.  I moved to the projects in 1986.  Metal kids may have thought I was an alien wearing shell tops with fat laces and spikes, and a cutoff Maiden denim jacket with a custom paintjob on the back.  If you looked at me as an outcast I was going to live up to it.  People in the projects always showed me love because in their world if you keep it real, you earn their respect.

After doing some solo stuff you went on to join up with Ill Bill in Non Phixion. How was it working with MC Serch (ex-3^rd Bass) and why did the group disband?

Well fast forward a bit I was the last member to join Non Phixion. Everyone was doing solo stuff before. Bill and I had a few different groups prior to Non Phixion. In 92 we started The Dead Celebrities. No one was doing the brutal fucked up shit back then except The Geto Boys, who were our main influence at the time. Musically it was more east coast. It was us and B-Wiz (R.I.P.) doing the beats. B taught me a lot about rare vinyl as he everything back then. He was the first to have a sampling keyboard around too, he had an Ensoniq. He totally influenced me and Bill. After that it was The Dept of Forensics. We did some demos; it was Bill, me and 10 K on the beats. It was definitely the most foul style wise of anything we were involved with. Bill had his “Gory Professor” style lyrically and myself I was gobbling tons of acid, so it was very interesting. To make a long story short, Non Phixion was started by MC Serch in late 1994.Sabac was his boy and he brought in DJ Eclipse. I spit for Serch one night at Bill’s crib and that was that. Serch got us a major label deal with Geffen Records but that somehow got fucked up.our A + R was the chick who signed Grim Reaper in 85, which to me was dope lol, but her knowledge of hip hop or underground hip hop was limited. She wanted us to sound more like “Puffy”, that’s all we fucking heard Puffy this or Puffy that. It was an ulcer. Miscommunications with Serch ultimately ruined the deal with Geffen. It’s a seven page story; you can fill in the blanks loll. We had a good run of 10 years and basically with a few other cats like Company Flow + Juggaknots we started the NYC underground movement. Around 95, 96 the scene was strong and you really felt like something was happening, some sort of alchemy involved. We toured the world 4 times over, met a lot of cool fucking people ,inspired tons of people and helped a lot of people along the way too. It was a blast!

What I will say about the break up is that I didn’t want the group to break up at all. It was a shock to me. I gave ten years of my life if not more to the group and something that could’ve been handled privately should’ve. It got real immature. To be honest cause I am. I had some issues with an ex-girlfriend I had been with for about three years. She had a bunch of issues that ultimately affected my professionalism in the group. There is way more to it but that’s the gist of it. Lots of legal issues too with respect I don’t want to get into but, to clear things up further, everyone besides DJ Eclipse used drugs. We respected E for that and it was never a problem, once in a while id smoke out the van he couldn’t see where he was going but everyone in the group got fucked up…..Me and Bill would drop acid every weekend at some points around 94, In 96-99.. We’d go to L.A. and get fucking zonked! Tons of  X…haha! We wound up at some party and Naomi Campbell was there and her jaw was finished. Haha! She was a zombie dude! I asked her where the bathroom was and she led me to the kitchen and told the manager I was the new chef haha.totally trashed! She admitted to me she liked W.A.S.P, which was awesome….so…lets keep it really real! I don’t mind being the “drug guy”, but let’s not get crazy.

How do you feel about your solo album, Dopesick, looking back? Did you get to do everything you wanted to do artistically?

Well I guess for what it is it was ok. I know for certain people it means a lot and helped them out in their lives, so I don’t want to go too in depth about why I don’t like it or what it lacks. To be honest the whole project was done in less than 3 weeks, written, demoed, recorded, mixed etc. It was very rushed, but what can you do? I had the title track already done but everything else was done on the spot, super spontaneous which is not the way I like to work. In a nutshell the album is a demo. No sweat, I know heads love it and it’s special to them so I’m fine with that. The Italian press for some reason tore the production to shreds focusing on mostly the mixing and mastering .They were super offended for some reason. The first Non Phixion album sonically doesn’t sound great either, but they loved that one. You can’t please everyone, it just doesn’t happen. I do agree with some of the beefs they had with the album though. Anyways, the new stuff I have been demoing already sounds 100 times fresher and it’s not even mixed yet so I’m not worried about it. I still had the best cover in the history of hip hop…haha!

You’ve done some great guest appearances in the last few years. What would be your favorite collaboration?
I’m trying to think here. I like most of them but probably the one I did with Jedi Mind Tricks which was called “Kublai Khan.”  I like the way they mixed my voice and the beat is hard! I think everyone came correct on that one. I also I like the one I did with Brian Austin Green.

Your lyrical style is very frenetic. The closest I can compare it to would be Ghostface Killah. Can you get into what inspired your flow and patterns?
I tend to view what I’m writing about or how I’m flowing as if it’s an instrument. My flows are only guitar riffs basically. Obviously there’s some influences there as well, mostly old Nas, Big L, Kool G Rap, Geto Boys and King Sun. Who wants to hear the same riff over and over? Well if your Sunn O))) or Neurosis yeah, but generally I just keep it fresh so every time you listen to it your still discovering. I think a lot of my shit people don’t even get what I’m talking about really, so maybe I’m making it harder for myself, who knows? I’m very into creating scenes for the listener and involving the audience so you get the actual scenario, I’m not a battle MC by nature but if I had to be its game over, ill shred anyone or at least, mostly anyone…haha! Maybe I should, that way I could be on “Cribs” and snort coke with Chad Kroger!

Which MC’s are currently doing something interesting to you?

I wish I’d hear new cats and be blown away but I’m not. It’s super rare in 2008 brother. If someone stands out its either cause they bite someone popular or ripped off myself or heads I grew up with. I don’t hate on anyone I’m just saying as far as hip hop it’s mostly a dead issue.  I wish id hear a new cat and be inspired. There aren’t anymore more great white hopes either. Mathers came in and took his $125 million. Its weird cause when I started getting serious in  the game like 92 it seemed there were kids everywhere getting dope, I would do shows or open mics and there was a bunch of  heads getting busy, where did they all go?. One thing I have learned is this game is that it’s not for everyone. It’s a tough fucking racket and the worse thing is that there are no rules and no guarantees. It’s all or nothing and if you aren’t ready to sacrifice everything you should just go home. I lost a lot for this shit…trust me! I die for this everyday and will continue to die for my art… All those cats got regular jobs or got locked up had 12 kids and are stuck watching “Will & Grace” with wifey while she stuffs her fucking face with Bon-Bons.

Which bands are?
I listen to everything I guess, not much hip hop after 99 the game got weird after that I’m sure you would agree. I like some but not too much recent stuff no ones heard of. I love Torche, Unearthly Trance, Aura Noir, 16 and tons of doom stuff. I’m also into Bedemon, High Tide, Iron Monkey, Saint Vitus, and Electric Wizard. I’m just looking around at what records I have laying around forgive me…haha! There’s lots of bestial black metal too: Impeity, Unlight, Semargl, Horned Almighty, Havohej. I’m also into some new thrash like Violator and Warbringer.

What are the biggest misconceptions people have about you?

Not sure what people think about me. Maybe that I’m constantly having blood orgies with hot teen sluts, while shooting the finest Hollywood Hills heroin and hanging out with John Frusciante??….wait, that would be cool…actually who knows? People are sheep they believe anything on the internet they read. It’s an atrocity, but I’ll be whatever you want me to be. Fuck you, pay me…  I tend to look at hip hop as wrestling circa 1981, I’m like Hulk Hogan when he was “bad” and had that creepy mustache. I’m a real cat but everyone tends to play a character I suppose. If I didn’t talk about brainwashing chicks with acid, or lesbian pissing who would like me?  haha. I’m not saying I didn’t rob people or stores or haven’t sold drugs, but come on dude! No one is molesting corpses, shooting 20 people a weekend, selling that much drugs, robbing that many people or pumping that much crack! This is all entertainment my friends. Most of your favorite rappers never do drugs, nor have sold any. They stay in on weekends, cuddle with their girl and go to the mall to buy stupid fucking gay anime DVD’s.

Where are you in terms of finding a label deal and when can we expect a new album?
Well I’ve been in the studio a minute now, just been demoing and getting the machine rolling. In terms of a label, it’s me doing it DIY for now. I’m hoping to get this out during the first half of 2009. I know I have my goons waiting and I want this to be official.  It’s a new chapter in my life. I want to reach people before we all die.

All of my people who stayed true, it means everything to me.  Y’all know I’m a laid back, down to earth dude. Let’s build. Thanks for taking the time out brother. The Supercoven is only expanding.  Hail Satan!