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Fifi LaRue – Fifi LaRue (vocals)

Fifi LaRue is a Los Angeles based shock rock band in the tradition of KISS and Alice Cooper. If you are a member of the MetalSludge message board, you’re probably already familiar with the group. SMNnews caught up with Fifi (the lead singer) to clear the air about a few things and ask about their recent and controversial performance at a KISS expo.

People who follow underground rock in Los Angeles already know you guys but mainstream success has eluded you. Anvil had a popular documentary made about them and much about their career has paralleled yours. The publicity generated from their documentary has done wonders for Anvil lately. Are there plans for a Fifi LaRue movie?

I just did a documentary interview with a Hollywood production company filming for a new movie called La La Land: The Movie which is going to be all about the new scene here and not just music but everything including acting, weird lifestyles, and comedy in Hollywood!

As far as a Fifi Larue movie, I have had a few offers from a few people to film me on a daily basis! I am a real T.V. reality whore! ABC was considering me to go live with a family for a few weeks in full costume for one of their shows!

When you watched Anvil’s story, did it hit home?

I never saw their interview or movie.  I maybe heard or seen a commercial but if they aren’t wearing clown make-up, why would you think it would interest me?

You have a one of a kind stage look. How did you come up with it?

“One of A KIND!” I do have a one of a kind glitter coffin that I bring on stage. My look is more like KISS meets Alice Cooper but a lot of people think I ripped-off  King Diamond. If anything, it’s a homage to Ace Frehley because to this day, I’ve never listened or have bought any King Diamond albums. I never thought King Diamond looked cool plus he ripped Gene Simmons off!  My Make-up design is actually two dragon knives going down both of my eyes. I love dragon knives! I Kill everything with them! I think? O.J. Simpson used a dragon knife! It is a pretty messy Knife! :)

You recently played a KISS convention and it seemed like the turn out was bad. Did the event not get promoted right?

I don’t know, is 350 people a bad audience or turn out? It’s better than a 100. It should have been 500 to 1,000 but what do you want on a Sunday afternoon… a sold out show??? Hahaha…

A lot of people know the band from your appearance on reality shows. Do you think this has helped or hurt the band’s image?

It’s helped me tremendously! You know of me now right?  I know most of all the reality producers now and they all know I’m easy to work with. I see T.V. and Radio the best avenue to take for me and my band. You have all these bands who go on national tours vans and still play dive bars everyday! Still, nothing ever happens for them! except their egos! Do they think that they have accomplished something? I’m like a big hemorrhoid! Everytime you hear or see me on radio and T.V. you are either loving it or hating it and that’s the best reaction I can get for this band! Free T.V.  and free radio exposure doesen’t come easy for other bands but it just comes easy to me.

You were on an episode of Simmons Family Jewels where Shannon Tweed goes to your mom’s house to try and buy some KISS memorabilia off of you. Was that completely staged?

I was on two  episodes and they were not staged! The way it all happened would suprise you. I was informed by a producer that someone was doing a documentary on KISS fans. Who else is a bigger fan than me? He then came to my house with a hand held camera so I thought the guy was setting me up to jack my shit since he was filming my entire collection! He came back a few days later to do the real filming for the show.  He told me someone would be knocking at my door and the next thing I knew it was Shannon and Sophie Tweed and Gene’s daughter!  They did really come to buy stuff from me. I ended up giving everything they needed to them for free. It was for Gene Simmons’ show but those two episodes ended up being all about Fifi Larue.

Your KISS connections run deep. Didn’t you do some work for Eric Singer at his house?

Not that deep actually. I didn’t sleep with anyone… haha! I am a custom licensed commecial painter so that’s why my stage props always look cool. Anyway, I have painted a lot of celebrity homes and yes, I painted Eric Singers house. I also painted C.C. Devilles house and did some work for Gilby Clarke.  I even painted a house once owned by Jane Mansfield. That was pretty crazy since I do love my women without their heads…haha!

If a popular band offered you a position, would you take it?

Do you mean to paint their houses or to be in their band? Just kidding. If KISS needed a new singer I could be the “5″ Beatle in the band!  How about Alice Cooper’’s side kick?  After all, “I am the Bastard Son of Alice Cooper!”

What’s the groupie situation like right now on the Sunset Strip?

I haven’t been up there for awhile. I do too much T.V. and radio stuff lately.  I just was asked last week to be a judge on Playboy’s Sirius Radio morning show. It was to judge a sexiest Playmate Halloween costume thing. Life is hard being a killer clown but someone’s got to do it. So no, I haven’t had time to go to the Strip lately.

Is The Rainbow still the place to be?

It’s better than going to Disneyland because it’s still free.

Of all the rockstars you’ve met in your career, which ones were the coolest and which ones blew you off?

Chris Holmes was the coolest by far! I met Alice Cooper at Ryan Roxies house when I was painting there and he said, “see you later son!”  Calico Cooper is a cool chick for being the daughter of a legend!

Eric Singer is a down to earth guy until you get him in his cat make-up. Derek Sherinian from Dream Theater and Billy Idol’s band has always been cool to me. He once told me,’ “Fifi, the more notes you know how to play the bigger the house you will live in!” I painted his house too and I was luckly enough to meet Zakk Wylde there too. I showed Zakk how to stain a cabinet…haha.

What do you have to say about the Fifi haters on MetalSludge.TV?

I have to thank them all! Where else can you get a whole bunch of idiots together to just promote Fifi LaRue?

What’s next on the recording and live show agenda?

I’m working on my new album called The Clown Flu. You know I got to get into this flu thing. I’m a big reality whore.  Even if it’s just local T.V., you know The Clown Flu is coming…

We are playing and headlining a show on Halloween night in a place in downtown Long Beach and it will be a FREE show!

By Dwid Koller

Here is footage of Fifi LaRue’s KISS expo performance:

Evergreen Terrace – Josh James (guitar/vocals)

With the release of EVERGREEN TERRACE’s latest masterpiece, Almost Home, and its debut at #53 on the Billboard Heavy Music charts, SMNnews got the chance to interview Josh James (Guitar/Vocals) from the band.  As you know by now, us folks here at SMNnews loved Almost Home, and while I’m still rapping right now, make sure you catch their crazy and energetic live show at a city near you with For The Fallen Dreams, Asking Alexandria, and Unholy.  And go out and buy Almost Home already, dammit!  These guys are incredibly hard workers, and hi-yahh!: Watch their new music video for “Sending Signals”.  Now let’s take a look into what the band has going on… 

So, Almost Home is finally out now!  Cheers, you guys must be pretty stoked huh?

Yeah, we are super stoked. It debuted today #53 on the billboard heavy music charts.

Plus you guys have a music video for “Sending Signals” out right now.  It’s a really cool video.  Parts remind me a little bit of The Karate Kid.  Care to explain some of the ideas behind it?

Ha, Karate Kid was a huge influence on it. Collectively it’s a favorite movie from our youth. We wanted to do something a little different then our previous videos and when the director brought up this idea we were totally down.

EVERGREEN TERRACE has always put out some really cool videos.  Any plans for any more music videos off of Almost Home?

I hope so. I would love to do a video with lots of tour and live footage to the song “Mario Speedwagon”.

You guys have a tour coming up with For The Fallen Dreams, Asking Alexandria, and Unholy.  What are your excitement levels to getting out on the road, and give the crowds that energetic EVERGREEN TERRACE live show?  Also, what are your excitement levels to exposing the new material from a live perspective?

Excitement level is around 69. Once we get to the show and on stage, that’s when we get really pumped. I can’t wait to start playing new songs. I wish we could just play the whole new record every night but I doubt the crowd would be into that, ha. We will be playing around three new songs a night and the keep all the classics in the set.

Staying on the tour topic, you guys just got off the road with Stick To Your Guns, Emmure, Oceano, and For Today.  Any fun stories you’d like to share?

The guitar player in Oceano fell off a stage in Tulsa, OK and landed on a small child. The crowd couldn’t get the guitar play off the kid. When the kid finally came up for air he was crying and screaming “Mommmmmmmy!!!!!!!!”

EVERGREEN TERRACE are touring machines – seems like you guys are always on the road.  Must be a great time!  Coming back down to Jacksonville, is there still no place like home?

There are a lot of imitations but there is no place like home. We just did a CD release show in Jacksonville and it was my favorite show of the tour. The fans at home never disappoint!

So when we come out to Jacksonville, what are some good places to catch a show, grab a bite to eat, party it up, etc.?

Right now good venues in Jacksonville are hard to find. Jack Rabbits in San Marco is a cool little club that is one of the only clubs that have stood the test of Jacksonville time. A block down the street from Jack Rabbits is my favorite Mexican restaurant, La Napolara. Queso dip is a must! Best place to party is my parent’s house when they are out of town, my brother still lives there and puts on full ragers anytime the folks leave.

“Not Good Enough” is a killer song!  It’s catchy, heavy, and really does pull the heart’s strings!  Cheers man, that’s the power of music.  Another favorite of mine on Almost Home is “God Rocky Is This Your Face?”  What are some of your favorite songs off the release?

God Rocky and Sending Signals are two of my favorites. Really i’m stoked on how the entire record came out.

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 arena festival if you wish.

Queen, Foo Fighters and Rancid.

You guys have came a long way, have great work ethic, and Almost Home is yet another evolution in EVERGREEN TERRACE.  We loved the CD: http://www.smnnews.com/2009/09/27/evergreen-terrace-almost-home/.  How does the future look for the band?  Any last words/shout-outs?  

As always, we will be on tour non stop so keep an eye out and go pick up Almost Home!

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

By Alex Gilbert

Powerman 5000 – Spider (vocals)

POWERMAN 5000 have just released Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere, the cyber-rockers’ 7th album. The collection finds the band diving back into the industrialized sounds of their earlier work. SMNnews spoke with frontman Spider and asked him about the new record.

Your last album was a bit too “punk” for a lot of your fans. How much of an ego blow was that?

I won’t say it was an ego blow, but more of a learning experience. That “punk” record was something I felt like I had to get off my chest and looking back now I clearly see why fans rejected it. They were right!! But doing that record helped me see what Powerman 5000 should be.

Did you ever consider putting the Powerman 5000 name to bed and continue in that stripped-down direction?

Not really. I want to be able to take chances with the band without feeling like it has to be an entirely different group. Not to mention once I stripped it down I knew pretty quickly that it was time to build it back up.

You’ve returned to that classic PM5K sound on this new album. The material has that pulsating, industrial tempo running through it. When you’re writing, do you use loops and write riffs over that?

There is no formula. Sometimes it will start with the electronics and sometimes we build off guitars and add the fun stuff later.

You have a song called “V Is For Vampire” which is really timely. Were you inspired by the pop culture craze around the Twilight books and movies?

It is timely but purely by accident! That song was the first song we wrote for the record and it was right before the whole vampire craze. Though, if a legion of tween Twilight fans want to become Powerman fans it’s OK with me!

Who is playing in the band now and how heartbreaking has it been that you’ve had a lot of issues in that department?

The line up is strong right now! On guitar is Velkro and Evan Rodan. On bass is Gustavo Aued and  G Flash is on drums. I’ve gotten use to so many changes over the years. It’s hard to keep a line up together but I think in some ways it is an advantage. New people bring new ideas and it makes the concept of the band itself bigger that the individuals.

You played around 3-4 new songs at last night’s Hollywood show. How did it feel playing those? The crowd really reacted positively considering the album didn’t hit stores yet.

I know! People are really responding to the new stuff, not to mention the new songs are a blast to play live. I couldn’t be happier.

Aren’t you glad you don’t have to wear one of those masks/helmets on stage? They look really uncomfortable!

They are brutal! And yes I am glad I don’t have to wear one!

What’s next for Spider? Do you see yourself doing more of the hosting stuff in between tours?

Absolutely! I love my gig with FEARnet! I get to go to great events and talk to such cool people, I interviewed Mark Hammill! Fucking Luke Skywalker!! You can’t beat that!

I want to do as many things in this life as possible. Music is my main thing but I’m up for anything!

Pick up Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere here.

By Chuck Knorr

Amon Amarth — Johan Hegg (vocals)

After dropping the name SCUM and emerging as AMON AMARTH in 1992, the Swedish horde from Stockholm have been on a steady climb in the metal world ever since. Being dubbed as Viking Metal for its fascination with Vikings and 13th Century pre-Christian Norse mythology, AMON AMARTH create original, aggressive-yet-melodic death metal like no other band.

With its first full-length release, Once Sent From The Golden Hall in 1998, AMON AMARTH’s brand of metal set them apart from their Swedish death metal brethren such as ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER and UNLEASHED.

With last years release, Twilight of the Thunder God, the band has reached an unprecedented level of popularity for such an extreme metal band.

Goliath-like frontman Johan Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg, bassist Ted Lundstrom and drummer Fredrik Andersson, have paid their dues and are now reaping the recognition they so deserve.

Speaking by e-mail before the band embarks on its European tour, Johan Hegg talked about the upcoming tour, his distinct growl-vocal technique and why he can’t wait to get out and perform.

Tell me about the spectacular package with Entombed, Evile and yourselves on the upcoming European tour.

Yeah, I think it’s a fucking awesome package. Entombed is of course a legendary band and Evile is a very promising and interesting UK band. I think it’s going to be a great tour!

LG Petrov sang on “Guardians of Asgaard” on your latest CD, now Entombed will be on the European tour with you. Will LG be singing with you onstage nightly on that song?

We’ve talked to him about it, but of course it’s not the reason Entombed are on the tour. At the end of the day, it depends on if he’s up for it or not. I mean, I’m sure he would like to kick back with a few cold ones after their set, so we’ll see.

The last date of your Scandinavian tour is in Stockholm. What type of feeling do you get playing to the hometown crowd? Do you ever get nervous?

I don’t think any of us really get nervous anymore, but playing the hometown is a bit special. At least I know I get a little bit nervous before playing Stockholm. But on the other hand, it’s just a show, so that “nervousness” usually goes away as soon as we enter the stage.

With Amon Amarth’s Viking theme and Norse mythology lyrical content, how do you keep things fresh without running out of ideas for songs?

I haven’t really felt that I’m running out of ideas yet, but it is easy to get stuck repeating yourself anyhow. I try to add a lot of other elements into the theme every now and then, using the history and mythology as a backdrop or
metaphor for more philosophical and temporary ideas I want to discuss. I guess you never know what will happen in the future, but right now I don’t see any limits to the Viking theme. There are a lot of historical and mythological
topics I haven’t used yet.

Your brutal growl-vocals mixed with melodic heavy metal is the perfect match, how did the band come up with such a musical mixture?

It wasn’t like we planned it really. When we started out we had a more traditional Death Metal sound with growl-vocals, although we had some melodies and heavy metal influences in there, but soon we started writing stuff with more melodies and guitar harmonies, moving more towards a Death/Heavy Metal style of music. But we’ve kept the brutality of the vocals although they have evolved during the years as well.

I know that you didn’t actually come up with the label “Viking Metal,” but how would you describe yourselves? Is that label misleading?

I don’t think it’s a misleading label as such, but we’ve always said we play Death Metal. I wouldn’t really say we have a “Viking” image though that is the theme of the lyrics. I mean, it’s not like we dress up in Viking costumes on stage or anything.

Were you overwhelmed with the popularity you received from “With Oden On Our Side,” or were you confident that someday you would reach a higher status in the metal scene?

Well, we knew we had a very good album – at least in our opinion – but one never knows how fans and media will react. Having said that, I don’t think we could’ve anticipated what a big impact this album would have on our career.

Since hitting it big with “With Oden On Our Side,” and now “Twilight of the Thunder God,” have you been able to quit your day jobs and live somewhat comfortably now with just doing the Amon Amarth thing?

Yeah, for the past three and a half years we’ve been focussing one hundred percent on the band. Basically we all had to quit our jobs around the time of writing “With Oden On Our Side” to be able to continue growing as a band. At first it was a bit shaky financially, but now it’s a bit more stable, although we’re not exactly millionaires or anything. We make enough to pay the bills and live a decent life.

In the early days, what bands influenced you and at what age did you start getting into music?

I’ve listened to metal for as long as I can remember, with such different bands such as AC/DC, KISS, MOTÖRHEAD, METALLICA, SLAYER, BLACK SABBATH, you know, the classics more or less, but I never really thought about getting into music until I was 19.

You seem to truly love the live performance. With your commanding, tough-as-fuck stage presence, what do you get out of performing?

Hahaha, yeah I love playing live shows! It’s the best fucking feeling there is to be up there screaming like hell. The best part is to hear the crowd reactions when you have a good show. Nothing really beats that feeling. Personally, I’ve always tried to enjoy myself on stage, and I really enjoy interacting with the fans.

Singing like you do nightly, how do you protect your voice? Any vocal techniques or pre-show warm-ups?

It’s hard sometimes, especially if we have a lot of shows in a row, but I have a few warm-up techniques I try to do before every show as well as a secret hot beverage I drink before and after the show.

What’s next for Amon Amarth after the European tour?

We’re going down under for a few shows in Australia, and after New Year’s Day we’ll see what happens.

Any last comments for your fans?

See you in October! We’ll have a few pints! Cheers!

By Kelley Simms

BrokenCYDE – Mikl (Vocals)

brokeNCYDE – Booty Call Feat. E-40



Meet the very modest and remarkably well-spoken Mikl – half of the vocal portion of BROKENCYDE (or BC13)…Check Their MySpace!

Brokencyde! Hello there! What it do? How art thou?

Never better life is great.

So, let’s get jiggy with this. question number one here. The correct way
to type Brokencyde…what letters are capitalized exactly…did someone’s
keyboard get stuck?

Yes, our keyboard was broke… ncyde… But no its brokeNCYDE because it helps to better understand the meaning of our name. We started making music because Seven and myself (Mikl) went through break ups with our girlfriends at the time so we were broke inside…get it, brokeNCYDE!

Alternatively, you go by ‘BC13’. Noting that there are not 13 members in
the band, and it’s nothing to do with “Before Christ” or being unlucky,
what does the 13 represent exactly?

The 13 represents our gang, the family of Crunk Kids that support us!

Would you guys consider yourself to be more metal, more rock, more rap, or…?

We don’t really subscribe to any labels or fit into any genres, so we made our own and called it “CRUNKCORE”. We’ve always just done our own thing and that’s what we are going to continue doing. Its funny to us that people are throwing 3oh!3, Millionaires and even Breathe Carolina into OUR Crunk-Core genre when none of them are Crunk-Core…I guess people just need labels to put on bands they don’t understand.

Crunkcore – it’s not in the Miriam-Webster dictionary. Please define.

It will be there soon enough! Crunk-Core – taking high energy beats and mixing top 40 rap with screamo. Bringing the club to the kids, getting Crunk and having fun.

On your most recent tour of the US in the spring, you were castigated on
stage by the lead singer of the headlining act, Senses Fail, what did
you do to royally piss him off. Was he not down with getting crunk?

He basically didn’t like that the opening group was getting the love we were getting every night! Maybe he thought we were stealing his thunder I really don’t know BUT i will say the rest of the guys in Senses Fail are actually really cool guys! A lot of his fans would come up to me after the show and complain that he wasted so much time talking instead of playing music; which is what they came for.

The song “Bree, Bree” – its genius. What exactly is your inspiration
for such an anthem?
You know when grind core bands do the pig squeal? Well in our home town kids would tell us we weren’t hardcore, so we made a song making fun of pig squeals naming it “Bree Bree” and it just took off from there.

If you got to bring the bree to the world, who would you most like to
tour with?

Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit.

What exactly is a ‘bree’ and how would one go about bree’ing? If that is
indeed at all possible?

It is VERY possible. There is a genre for it, ‘Grindcore”….bree = making fun of pig squeals.

Oh right. Of course…

You nabbed the magnificent E-40 and got him to lay down some hot, sweaty
madness all over the cut ‘Booty Call’. Are you down with E-40 like that?
How much did you have to pay him to get him to spit his stuff with such
a loud and aggressive act like yourselves?

E40 is a legend! We are so grateful that he wanted to come in and record something for our record and shoot a video with us. E-40 killed it and really brought out the best in the song “Booty Call”. When we heard that he was down with what we were doing, we immediately asked him to be on a track. He said yes because he believed in us and the movement we were creating. Dude did it for free 99.

What is your most lyrically deep song that you’ve written to date?

“Taking Life From Me”

How is the new album selling?

The record has done amazing so far! Never in our wildest dreams would we have ever believed it would have charted in the Billboard Top 100, but we did and we have all of our devoted fans to thank for that.

If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?

I don’t know, that’s a weird question, but maybe cherries.

Some bands get hogwild bonanza bananas on the road. Holla back with one
of your greatest tour pranks or stories of all time.

Those are some good memories. . . We were on tour with our friend Kill Paradise and we tied some buckets to the back of his van and glued some pictures of naked girls all over it and left condoms on the handles!

Be honest, at any one time, how many ghetto booty hoes have you had in
your bed at once?

Not hoes, but fine ladies…. As a matter of fact, right now there are about 43 girls… Oh’ wait 7 more just walked in. How many are in your bed?

None of course. I’m a journalist of the highest order. Cigarettes or alcohol?

Neither for me

What are you guys listening to right now on the road? What’s in that
tape deck?

A Latino rapper called Gemini

You recently hit up the UK. Who appreciates your tunes the most –
European/UK audiences or folks in North America?

Both, but the UK fans though get super crazy and we can’t wait to go back! The tour we did over there was a blessing and it was amazing to go over to a country we’ve never been to before and have so many kids show so much love.

If you got to put together your most ULTIMATE tour package…who would be
in it?

3OH3, Hollywood Undead, and Innerpartysystem.

If I were to attend a Brokencyde gig. Am I expected to mosh, hardcore
dance, or just jump up and down? What is proper Brokencyde concert
etiquette?

It’s all up to you. We get it all at our show and we love every ounce of it!
for a couple of our songs like “Get Crunk” and “Schitzo” we get circle pits like real Punk mosh pits! and for other songs kids do dances and jump around getting Crunk!

Some homo emos are rumored to be boycotting Warped Tour this year if you
perform – which is just super insulting. What do you have to say to
those kids?

Grow up; if you don’t like us there are a ton of other bands you can watch and enjoy! It’s so funny to see that a punk-rock tour is being so closed minded when it comes to a new style of music. The beautiful thing about Warped Tour is that there are so many different bands and different styles to enjoy. Nobody is forcing you to watch our set, so if you don’t want to check us out then by all means go check out one of the side-stages or someone you’ve never heard of before and take a chance. Who knows you might discover your new favorite band that way.

Speaking of controversy. An SMNnews commenter (aptly named “Anonymous”)
recently posted that he met one of you guys at a show in San Diego where
you were handing out some sort of white power pamphlet rambling on about
the band Skrewdriver While this is all hearsay and undoubtedly an
internet rumor, this has since blessed BC13 with a “racist” tag with the
SMN faithful. Would you like to respond, refute, and/or. comment on the
matter?

Anonymous… Isn’t it funny how the ones that talk the most shit and create these outrageous lies about our band want to remain nameless? Whoever said that needs to remember karma is a bitch, but it doesn’t matter because I already know who it was, so no worries. Honestly thanks for bringing up the stupidity of some people on the internet who have nothing better to do than make shit up, because it gives us a chance to address them. To set the record straight all the members of brokeNCYDE come from Hispanic backgrounds, our tour manager on Warped Tour is black and we have nothing but love for everyone (regardless of race, age or sexual preference). The best thing about coming to a brokeNCYDE show is we get to put aside our differences and everyone can get crunk together.

When is the last time you showered?

I’m in the shower right now actually…

What was the last meal you ate?

Breakfast; eggs, hash browns, pancakes and milk with some fruit

In the name of all things bree – I thank you for your time today. As a
final salute and gesture to your fans out there…any last words?

Thank you for the time and to our crunk kids, WE LOVE YOU AND APPRECIATE ALL THE SUPPORT! “BROKENCYDE WILL NEVER DIE”

the_Network – Pete Marr – guitars

As a music critic, it’s not everyday that you’re able to have a conversation that is longer than the interview itself, but that is the type of outgoing person that the_Network guitarist Pete Marr is. Easily one of the friendliest guys I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to, Marr was colorful and witty in our back-and-forth banter, especially with the topics that didn’t make it onto tape. In-between a deep conversation about the importance of corpse paint in metal, Marr recently talked to SMN News about the_Network’s new album, why there is an underscore in the band’s name, avoiding the sophomore slump, and much more.

What is the concept behind the_Network’s upcoming album Bishop Kent Manning?

I cringe at the word concept album in general because I feel it’s dumb, pretentious bullshit that bands do. To be honest, concept albums have been done so many times, good and bad, but we decided to do a concept based around a story that the other guitar player Kev wrote. Not to get into the story too much, because it isn’t that long of a story, but it’s basically about a televangelist on his death bed that realizes that basically everything he’s meant to believe and taught everybody else was false. For us, it was a way to put a name and a face to a lot of things we expressed on the other albums we’ve done.

The major theme in general with the band is, ‘Fuck the man for everything.’ That has been the overall theme on all the lyrics that were done on previous albums and splits. That’s still the theme for this, but now we have a name and a face. ‘Fuck the man, but who’s the man?’ We call the man Bishop Kent Manning. We used him as the eyes and ears for a lot of things we were trying to express.

Was it hard for the band to focus the music with the lyrics? Did the music come first or the lyrics?

Early on, before the album was written, I think we probably had about two songs done and no lyrics or anything. When we wrote the songs, we had some idea of what we wanted the vocals to do over those two songs, but Kev wrote that story coinciding with when we started to write a lot of the music. We knew where we were going to record and we had a date set out. We only had two songs and we were about two months out from recording. It was good because we had all that stuff set up and the only pressure left was making sure the songs were ready to go.

We’re definitely a band that’s pretty pro-active with that stuff. It gets stressful, but we went through pre-production on this date and we have studio time to record there and we had a concept set up. We did a lot of back story stuff so we could incorporate everyone on the story. Kev wrote the story, but he also wrote an outline to the story to break it down a little bit more and he also did a screenplay, which was helpful for all of us to get a broader aspect of where he was going with it. We had a shit-ton of lyrics and song titles ready to go before the music was even written. Once the music was written, we threw that stuff together and I think it worked out fairly well because from beginning to end, the whole record was written, pre-production, produced, recorded, and mastered in three months.

That’s a huge difference from anything we’ve ever done before. Our first album was two or three years in the making and then we had these weird couple of songs we ended up doing a split after the first-full length from Black Market. Then we wanted to do another full-length and make sure it was done by this time, so let’s book the studio and let’s do it.

How did the band obtain the producing services of Kurt Ballou?

I get confused with the whole producer title. To me, producer can mean a lot of things. They can fucking write the whole album and basically say, ‘Okay, you guys play it and this is your band and I produced it, but I really wrote everything and did it,’ or they can sit back and let things happens. With Kurt, what he did was sit back and let us do what we had to do. We have him some pre-production stuff and he didn’t say much about it. We were wondering what that meant and if he wanted to be involved in producing. We never had a real producer work with us. The first album we did, we had a friend record it. When you go in with Kurt, the dude has so much experience, it’s almost daunting. He’s as good as it gets and there’s so much respect for him. It was definitely a leisurely producing role. If we asked him for something, he would give his two-cents on it, and that didn’t always mean we agreed with what he said. To be honest, though, most of the stuff he said we actually did do.

Do you feel that when the band goes into the studio, is it better to have a producer who is on you guys all the time or one that let’s you open up creatively?

I think it comes down to what stage the producer gets involved in. If you’re writing stuff and feel really confident about it and they might hear it and not see the whole overall picture with vocals and bass and how the drums are going to go. If you’re going in there and you’re just tracking drums with a scratch guitar track, someone that hearing that for the first time may go, ‘Well, I don’t really like that because it doesn’t sound right,’ but they have to see the overall picture.

I think a producer would be great, if we get to work with someone that is outside of the little circle. It allows you not to get too close to your music that you are playing. If you are playing songs that are a year old and you’ve been playing them every night for a year, and all of a sudden somebody comes and wants you to change it, you’re going to argue the shit out of it because you’re so comfortable with playing it and so used to the way it sounds. I think producers are great for the beginning stages of song production and the little stuff obviously.

Is the songwriting a collaborative effort or do individual band members come in with their stuff and it’s all pieced together?

All the songs start with guitar stuff or me or the other guitar player coming up with an idea. On the album we have now, I don’t think there was ever a point where the riffs are written around the drums. It’s always an idea for a riff and building around that. I know early on, when we were stressing out about the timeline for songs, I and the other guitar player cut the list in half and we each wrote five songs. Of course, it didn’t go down as smoothly as that, because if somebody starts writing a song, you get pretty involved in it. For this album, more so than the other stuff, we try to keep a lot of stuff more open. If we’re writing with guitars, you have to have that foresight that there is going to be bass and drums and vocals too, so you don’t want to go in there and doing all kind of crazy shit and have all the other instruments buried. There were a few parts that were really so simple on guitar and it was hard at first tracking without a bass player, because you have to have the foresight that there is going to be a bass player here and there’s going to be bass shit over this and that will be the part that will sound right.

Is there any difficulty in balancing the aggressive and melodic sides of the band?

It’s not really difficult, to be honest. With two or three songs, there is a more melodic side taken. We do a lot of jamming. I, the other guitar player, and the drummer have played for so fucking long now, it’s just depressing how old we are and we’re still doing this shit (laughs). That’s also lent itself to showing up in the practice space, not saying a fucking word to each other, and playing for a good hour. Some of that stuff, it’s a little harder to make it always chaotic and heavy. If you playing for an hour, the drummer is eventually going to go, ‘Dude, my arms are going to fall off.’ It lends to more atmospheric, melodic stuff. If we’re feeling it and it sounds good, let’s fucking play it and see how it goes. We’re not afraid to have nine songs that are crazy heavy and a song with a dude singing on it; it is fine with us.

The sophomore slump is something that has haunted countless bands. Was this predicament in the back of anybodies mind during the recording?

No, not really. We never really thought the first album was a good representation of what we were. The production sounds fucking weird as shit. The snare sounds really fucking bad and it was an old vocalist. We got two new dudes who are just like the three guys already in the band and they were really fucking good. We went on tour for a good year and a half straight and they always did everything with us, what we wanted to do. So that’s why the three months we wrote, recorded, and mastered all this shit wasn’t all that bad, because we already knew what we wanted to do and we were all on the same page with ideas and whatnot. I guess the sophomore thing wasn’t really much of an issue because everything was so different now. I kind of still look at it as a start-over kind of deal.

So would you consider this to be your debut album, in a sense?

Oh man (laughs). I wish I could, but we’ve been doing this for so fucking long. We’ve been a band now for close to seven or eight years. I couldn’t be comfortable saying this would be our debut, but I’m sure in a lot of people’s eyes, yeah it’s going to look like a debut. I’m sure this will be people’s first introduction to us, if that makes it like a debut.

Is there an interesting story behind using an underscore in the band’s name?

I wish there was; not really (laughs). There was a good friend of ours who went to college with me and the other guitar player. He did samples in-between songs and in songs, on keyboards, adding that element to the music. We were trying to find a name for so long, and then it came down to, ‘What about The Network? Yeah, that’s cool man.’ This was before that fucking horrible Green Day band had the name. We already had something released before they even had the name. That kind of fucked up everything. We never went to court for any of that bullshit because it didn’t feel necessary. That underscore was there before that other band was there.

I think the underscore was there because those dudes wanted to get a stamp done and wanted to do everything DIY and stamp everything. So our first release, the 7’, every one was hand stamped and for some reason, they put an underscore and a period at the end. I don’t know; maybe that was suppose to be fucking cool, but I thought it was dumb as shit (laughs). I guess it was one of those dumb things that stuck. Maybe they still want to use it because it makes us differentiate between that other Green Day band. It doesn’t do shit; it’s dumb (laughs).

Any tour plans lined up in the near future?

We’re getting an Australian band to come over to tour the States, which is the first time we’ve ever brought a band from a different country; it’s kind of like a fucking exchange program. This band from Australia contacted us almost a year ago and asked us if we wanted to come to Australia and we said, ‘fuck yes!’ You get all these crazy messages over MySpace, since anyone can message nowadays, so you don’t know what the fuck to believe or not. We kept in touch and it ended up working out, we went over there and tour and it was great. So now we’re going to reciprocate the favor and bring them over here.

That Australian band is doing the west coast and then they are going to meet us in Texas. A couple of the dudes in the _Network are driving the van and trailer down to Texas. Myself and the drummer are going to fly down to Texas to see them all. From Texas, we’re going to tour our way back up home to New Hampshire. I think we’re doing two or three weeks of touring in direct support of the album. After that, we’re going to play the West Coast in January. We’re going to do like a week out, flying from Boston to Tucson and then up to Seattle to tour for a week and fly back home. Next year, we’re trying to get Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan. That’s a priority, as well as Europe.

Bishop Kent Manning is being released on September 15^th. A lot of great things have happened on that day, according to the band’s MySpace page, including the battle of Signal Hill in 1762 and the first use of tanks in battle during World War I. What makes the release of the band’s second album more important than all these other events?

(laughs) I wish I was witty and had something very smart to say; unfortunately, I’m not that kind of person. I don’t know, nothing: just an arbitrary date. That was more of the point of that. You could type in any date and a bunch of things happened. It wasn’t supposed to be, ‘This is on par with everything else. This is all this other dumb stuff that happened, including a dumb album by a dumb band.’ (laughs).

If you could tour with one band, past or present, who would it be and why?

Neurosis, just because they are my favorite band ever. If somebody was going to ask me what my favorite band is, Neurosis is my fucking favorite band ever. It doesn’t get any better than that band. If I had to see a band every night, I want to see my favorite band play and that would be Neurosis.

Early Neurosis or present day?

I love everything they’ve done. They have probably had a few one-offs in the past. When they started to transition to their own label, it got kind of sketchy. Some of the singing stuff is a little ‘eh.’ Through Silver In Blood; music does not get any better than that album.

By Dan Marsicano

Ravage – Al (vox), Nick (guitar) and Howie (bass)

For over a decade, Massachusetts power metallers RAVAGE have been tolling away, working their way through numerous line-up changes and forks in the road. However, their fortune seems to be turning for the better, with a Metal Blade record deal and a new album, The End Of Tomorrow, recently released. I recently got a chance to interview the band to talk about the new album, the unique cover art, and much more.

Could you each say your name and what instrument you play?

Al Ravage: I’m Al, the singer.

Nick Izzo: Nick, the guitarist.

Howie Snow: Howie, the bassist.

How would you describe Ravage’s sound to somebody who has never heard of the band before?

Al: I would say we’re more or less traditional heavy metal, with influences from Bay Area thrash and power metal. Some of the members of the band have influences from death and black metal, but it’s more or less traditional heavy metal with thrash influences.

The band has a new album out, The End Of Tomorrow. How did the recording process go this time around compared with last time?

Nick: The same (laughs).

Al: Just as long and just as difficult, if not more so. We had the usual line-up problems, where we basically lost our rhythm section before we started recording this album. So we had a new rhythm section with a new drummer and by the end of the album, we had a bassist come and go. We had all kinds of issues recording as usual. So the recording process was very difficult and it was a self-financed recording again, but I think the big difference with this album from anything we’ve ever done is that in the end, the results were good and we’re happy with the way it sounds, as opposed to wanting to chuck the thing and throw it away.

Tell me about the songwriting process for the band. Is it a collaborative effort or do individuals come with ideas?

Al: For most of the songs on this CD, and for most of the writing that we’ve done in the past, it’s usually been one guitarist or band member will bring an almost-finished demo to the rest of the band and we’ll kind of work on it and polish it up and then add the vocals and the lyrics. However, on this album, we did have some different stuff because in addition to some new songs and old songs that we put on there that we had been kicking around on demos for a while, we also had a couple of songs, “The Nightmare’s Hold” and “In Shattered Dreams,” which came from a side project band that Eli (Firicano, guitarist) had formed with Howie and George before they had joined the band. They had written a couple of songs and we thought they were pretty good, so we actually decided to use some of those songs. Those songs were all collaborative songs, where everybody pitched their own ideas. That was a different thing for us and we may be doing more of that in the future, but in the past, it’s been mostly somebody brings an almost finished demo to the song and we fine-tune it and add lyrics to it.

So Al, do you do most of the lyrical content on the album?

Al: Yeah, I do all the lyrics and I usually come up with the song titles because stuff like that, if it’s left to everybody to come up, usually turns into arguments or something bland. If you asked everybody in the band what the album title should be, they would say self-titled or a black logo on a black cover (laughs). So, as far as all the lyrical ideas and lyrics, that’s usually me, and most of the song titles too. I did the album title (The End Of Tomorrow) because it was the most epic song on the album. Originally, the album was actually going to be called Damn Nation, but so many bands had been coming out with albums with damn or nation in the three years it took us to get this one out. We thought we do something different, so now it’s The End Of Tomorrow.

What inspires you from a lyrical perspective?

Al: I think, mostly, the way the music sounds. What I first work off of is listening to the demo that whoever the band has come up with and trying to get an idea, then translating that into my feelings towards whatever I am thinking at the time, whether that is political, views on the world, or personal events. I take a mish-mash of the non-fiction, personal stuff and views on things and fixing that in with fantasy elements, because that what I think metal has traditionally dealt with; sort of a dark fantasy subject manner, either sci-fi or horror. So it’s taking that kind of stuff and mashing it into whatever I am feeling at the time and trying to melt that into what the music is saying and trying to find a voice for the music.

The End Of Tomorrow features a cover of Judas Priest’s “Night Crawler.” What made this song the perfect one to cover?

Al: I think it was just that we have so much difficulty finding a cover song; we have endless arguments over what we should cover. We didn’t want to do “Breaking The Law;” we didn’t want to do a song that had been done to death. We did want to do something that was a little bit different. “Night Crawler” was a song that we had covered years ago at live shows, so I think we just sort of fell into it. We wanted to record a couple of those cover songs in the recording process. We ended up recording about 17 tracks throughout the couple of years we were working on this and since we recorded that, we decided to stick it on the album. I don’t think there was a lot of thought that went into it as far as any particular reason why we picked that song. Most of the band members like the Judas Priest album Painkiller and think that its one of the best metal albums. So I think that it was kind of an obvious choice to do something from that album, but as far as the song goes, there wasn’t a lot of thought put into it; it was kind of random.

The cover art is quite unique, even by power metal standards. Can you explain a bit about the meaning and creation of the artwork?

Al: We actually had a different cover art worked out when the album was going to be called Damn Nation, which we used for a poster last year. That was sort of a more political album cover. It had Uncle Sam and he was skeletal, but we decided to go with a different art when we changed the album cover. We contacted Ed Repka, who is best known for his Megadeth and Death album covers, and I gave him a basic idea to run with, that being a mechanical spider attacking a city. With all his album covers, Ed has this world he works in, so everything he does is set in the same world, but this is our corner of the world, where crazy mechanical spiders are attacking a city. We’re really happy what he did with it. As far as the general idea behind it, it’s all about Ravage and the fan club taking over the world. If you look closely at the back of the spiders, they bare the SWWR logo, which is the Society For World Wide Ravage logo, which is the logo for the fan club. So it’s kind of people who know us taking over the world or some force taking over and it’s kind of a goofy idea, but I think at the same time, it has this sort of old-school, Godzilla, 50s horror-movie vibe, but with a modern edge to it.

Is there any one particular track from The End Of Tomorrow that sticks with you?

Howie: A couple that stands out to me are “The Nightmare’s Hold” and “The Shredder” partially because they are the more thrashy ones.

Nick: “Shredder,” I really like playing live and when “Damn Nation” is done correctly, it’s also really fun live.

Al: I like a lot of the songs. It’s really hard for me to choose one of them, because I like parts of them and I like doing different songs live and listening to different songs from the CD. I would say that “Damn Nation” is probably my favorite song to listen to from the album and I also like different parts, like certain solos on the album. It’s hard for me to choose a favorite, but I would probably say “Damn Nation.”

I want to go back for a second. Nick, you said that “Damn Nation,” when played

correctly, is a good song. Can you explain that?

Nick: (laughs) It’s a very fast, rhythmic song and right when we first started playing the song, it was played a little sloppy. Now we have a new rhythm machine and so far, it’s been played at its best for the longest time, so it’s been really good each time we pull it off.

Ravage has gone through numerous line-up changes. Explain the challenges of finding the perfect line-up.

Al: Especially in the early period of the band, it was very difficult to find people because at the time, when we started out, we were coming out during the grunge trend and then into nu-metal and hardcore. So there weren’t a lot of people that listened to this music, let alone played it. So it’s definitely gotten easier to find people over the years. I think because the core of the band being the two guitarists and the vocals, we were able to stick together for such a long time. It just became a matter of finding a rhythm section that worked. So at least we had half the band for a while (laughs). When we finally did find key players for the rhythm section, I think that sort of brought it together for us. In the past couple of years, especially coming out of the grunge and nu-metal thing, musicians have become more attuned to the whole virtuosity thing again, like they were in the 80s. In the 90s, there were a lot of people that were playing in their garages and didn’t really give a crap how they sounded. Now that a lot of people are into death metal, you can find a lot better drummers who can play faster. Now that there are people who are into power metal, you can find a lead guitarist or bassist. The talent pool has expanded and it has helped us to find people more easily than we have in the past. We’ve been able to keep it together and hopefully, we’ll finally have a completely solid line-up for the next album; that has always been the hope.

I want to talk about the band signing with Metal Blade Records. What did the label have that others did not?

Al: An offer on the table (laughs). What happened was we signed with them out of the blue. We were prepared to release the album ourselves. The album was fully recorded and we were looking at a few underground labels. We had released an album in 2005 with a German underground label. I was looking at mostly underground European labels and seeing what they had to offer, but as you probably know, a lot of labels are closing or cutting back. We were basically going to just find somebody who would press the CD and not do a whole lot of promotion for it. So we were ready to put it out ourselves. We were actually contacting magazines and talking about advertising and all this other stuff to try to properly release it ourselves. Metal Blade made an offer out of the blue and we signed with them. We were really fortunate to be one of the bands who have gotten to deal with them lately, because labels are really cutting back, and especially with this kind of metal, nobody is getting signed.

What touring plans lie in the future for Ravage?

Al: We should be heading up the East Coast and up into Canada and then after that, we’re going to continue on and we’re actually going all around the United States; just trying to get a feel if there is any demand for traditional metal out there. Whatever traditional or thrash metal bands you can find in a given area and just trying to resurrect some of this music. That kind of wraps up in early November and then we’ll see how the album is doing and if we have any interest going overseas in Europe. That’s really the goal for the band; trying to get over there and play some big shows or some festivals over in Europe or Japan or wherever we can play. Right now, we’re trying to promote the album as much as possible and go out and play for anybody who is interested.

If you could tour with one band, past or present, who would it be and why?

Nick: At least for me, I would have to say Testament, past or present. I think they still got something going on and they seem to be doing the same thing we’re doing; bringing this style of metal back up and back into everybody’s face. I think it would really be fun to be on tour with them.

Howie: I have no idea who I would like to go on tour with. There are so many great bands to go on tours with that have been around for a while and those that are starting up.

Al: I would probably want to open for Metallica or Iron Maiden or Judas Priest because they will bring the biggest metal crowd. As far as just getting to see another show every night, I would probably want to see King Diamond or Lizzy Borden because they put on those cool stage shows. Pretty much what Howie said; I would be interested in touring with any band. It would be cool to tour with anybody, but it would be a bonus to have a band we like that we can watch every night.

Where do you see Ravage five years down the line?

Nick: Five years from now, I would like to have two more discs out and to have at least been to Europe longer than four days. That’s it; just doing the same exact thing again. If the band can support itself and we live on the road, I would like to at least live part of it in Europe. That would be the best thing.

Al: Probably see myself in another band (laughs). As far as the goals I have for the band, whether it be five years or ten years, I want to see us get at least three good albums out, play a full tour of the US, which we are trying to do right now, so that’s kind of dropping that off the goals list, if we can survive this tour. Also, try to do a full tour of Europe and try to play in Japan. Those have been the goals from the beginning. We get those accomplished somehow within the next five, ten, fifty years; I would have done everything I wanted to in music. If it goes beyond that, then that’s great, but we want to do the basics and not get too much music out there. I don’t want to be a band that has fifty albums, with a lot of them being crap. I rather be one of those bands that only puts out five albums, but they are all good. I would like to put out a few albums, do a couple big tours, and that’s pretty much it.

By Dan Marsicano

The Flood – Chris Johnson (vocals)

Hi Chris, tell me a little about your background in music. When did you first decide you wanted to form a band?

I received private vocal training for five years from the Maestro David Kyle, who is the same teacher as Ann and Nancy Wilson from HEART, Lane Staley from Alice in Chains, Queensryche’s Jeff Tate, just to name a few. I first decided to form a band in 1990 with some very close friends. The name of the band was LSD (Living Seaman Demons) and we played an alt/punk style and played with bands like the Rhino Humpers.

What were some of the first bands you were drawn to, lyrically, musically, etc. ?

The Doors, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Mother Love Bone, Slayer, Metallica, Smiths, U2.

How long has the band been together? We’re you in any previous bands?

We have been together for about 4 years. I was in the band LSD as you already know and also played with the band Within, Lift, Mable.

You are currently working with Sylvia Massy on your debut full-length. What has that been like?

Working with Sylvia is amazing.  I know when we work with her we are in good hands and her studio/theatre is incredible both acoustically and visually!  I was really impressed with the history of some of the equipment.  Led Zeppelin’s song Remains the Same was mixed on the Neve console and the SVT bass amp that Jeff used, belonged to the Rolling Stones during one of their first tours.  As far as the process goes, we do the pre-production at our studio in Redmond, WA.  This means we get the platform ironed out before heading to Radiostar Studios.  Once in the studio, we play the songs for Sylvia.  She gives us a yea or ney and then we begin tracking.  When the instruments and vocals are tracked in studio A, we move to studio B and mix everything down.  When everyone’s happy with the end product, we come back home and master our tracks at RFI CD masters.

Who is the main songwriter in the band?

I write all of the lyrics as well as coming up with the vocal melodies, I also help with the arrangement of the songs, as well as writing some of riffs.

You recently toured with Static-X, what was that like?

Their fans totally kicked ass.  The crew was awesome and Static’s members made us feel welcome.  Night after night, their consistency was amazing and gave us something to strive for during our first major tour.

Any tour plans for the Fall?

Yes. Something big soon.  I look forward to making the announcement.

Any final words, thoughts?

I kind of feel like my journey is just beginning and I am just excited about the path The Flood is on.

Check out The Flood here.

Evile – Ol Drake (lead guitar), Mike Alexander (bass)

Recently, SMNnews ran down to the US Earache Records office to catch up with Ol (lead guitar) and Mike (bass) of UK shred masters EVILE.  After tipping a few back, the fun began!  Check in with us as EVILE lets us in on their latest, Infected Nations, as well as some upcoming tour plans, attractions in the UK, Ol’s custom Moser guitar in the makings [such killer designs], and our favorite thing to ask, who the band would choose to create a dream tour.  These guys can truly thrash, so make sure you check them out immediately. 

So, Infected Nations is about to be out.  On your myspace you have 2 news songs up in “Now Demolition” and “Infected Nations”.  How has the responses been for that so far?

Ol: It’s really cool!  A lot of people seem to dig the new direction and such.  I think a few people might have a mixed opinion, but I think it will turn out really well.  We tried a lot of new things with the guitar.

They do sound killer, and a great musical direction.  Also noticed the vocals have some darker tones.  Anything else new in the direction of EVILE?

Mike: Yeah we can play!

Ol: We?  You can’t.

Mike: I can [laughter]. 

You have some tours coming up on the way.  Care to share?

Ol: Yes, we have the European tour with Amon Amarth and Entombed, and then we’ll look to be over in the states.

Nice, cheers to that for sure!  So influentially on this new album, are there any influences you looked up to on recording the new album?

Mike: I don’t think any direct influences.  We all listen to the same kind of music like old Sepultura, Death, some prog rock so it’s all kind of bleeded into one.  It’s not like, “oh, we want to sound like Sepultura or anything but…

Sound like EVILE

Mike: Yes.  We want to sound the way we want to sound. 

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

Ol: I like the faster stuff because I like to see people moving around, stage diving, and stuff like that.  If that’s not moving them then that doesn’t seem to work for me. 

You guys can shred for sure, though I did catch the clip of you guys attempting the Rock Band song [“Thrasher” off of EVILE’s Enter The Grave].  Cheers to that, that is a whole media outlet of its own.  How did you like seeing at first that “Thrasher” was on Rock Band?

Ol: It’s great!  We’ve been fans of video games for years, so to have our own song on the game that we can just play without programming itselves, it’s really cool.  It’s great that they stepped forward to put thrash on a game like that.  It’s cool. 

Playing in Europe, the UK and Germany are the 2 most broadcasted places for metal, though really everywhere has a scene of its own.  Any places in Europe you especially like playing?

Ol: Spain and Germany.  Spain and Germany have the craziest fans, and it always seems like there is something mental going on.

You guys have a great team behind you with Earache Records, and Infected Nations on the way.  How excited are you guys to getting that out there, and what’s to come?

Ol: We worked so much on the album, are really proud of it, and there’s nothing I’d want to change or anything personally.  I just can’t wait for people to hear it, and from now it’s just gigging as much as we can.

Mike: I’m excited to get back out on the road and talk to people.

So when we come down to the UK, what are some places you recommend to eat, check out some concerts, etc. etc.?

Ol: A good place in London is the Camden Underworld because when there is a great band in there, it’s just a mental show.  People get into it, and it’s cool.

Mike: Camden Underworld, an awesome place to play.  I’d say London in general is a great place to play, it just goes crazy. 

The New York of Europe huh?  Ol, you play Moser Guitars.  They sure have some wicked designs!  If you were to design your own custom guitar, what kind of wicked design would you like it to look like?

Ol: Well . . .

Mike: I think a flower [laughter].  A Hello Kitty one. [more laughter]

Ol: It might just be a rip off one of a Moser one.  I’m actually getting a custom one done with him at the moment, so just waiting on that; should be cool.

So there’s been a resurgence of thrash lately, and I think we can definitely classify you guys [EVILE] towards the top of the pack.  I hear it both ways: the rebirth of thrash, or creating a gateway for today’s youth who might not have been exposed to the roots in the first place.  Your thoughts?

Ol: I also think there are 2 ways of looking at it.  You have the kids who have never heard of thrash, so maybe Trivium or something, who might have screwed off the old bands like Metallica and stuff.  On the other hand, there’s all those old bands where thrash never went away for them, like all the dudes back in the 80’s. 

Thrash never died at all.

Ol: Nope.

Here’s a fun and tricky question.  If you were to create your own dream tour or dream festival, who would be on it?

Ol: Dead or alive?

Either.

Ol: For me it’d be: Death, old Sepultura lineup, original Testament lineup, old Megadeth with Marty Friedman…

Mike: Well wait, I like the new lineup [Megadeth].

Ol: Oh yeah, it’s a great one.  [back to Ol’s dream tour]  And Metallica with Cliff [Burton], or with Jason [Newstead] because he’s just as good.  What about you Mike?

Mike: I can’t really answer that because all the band’s I grew up listening to looking at the lineups they have now, are equally as good as the first time I’ve seen them.  Like Exodus has some great lineups…

We can let the time machine go in on this one.

Mike: Well then, I’d like to have all 3 lineups go in the tour if that was possible [laughter].

So you guys will be in the US soon, so we’ll definitely catch you around that end.  So how about some places you’ve never played yet.  Any certain places you’d like to play as a band?

Ol: Japan.

Mike: Argentina.  I’ve seen crazy footage of band’s playing there.  Australia, too.

So we might as well get EVILE touring the world, Antarctica as well. 

Mike: Yes!  Australia I know we’ll get chased by a crocodile or something [laughter].

So on Infected Nations, what are your favorite songs off of it, or is it more of the whole package deal?

Ol: I’m proud of all of it, but the second to last track “Metamorphesis”, there’s so many things going on in it.  Like this doom metal with this fast kind of thrash metal, and heavy metal, and just really stoked on that. 

Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.  Any last words you guys would like to add?

Mike: Drink beer

Ol: Buy our album

And drink more beer

Ol: [laughter] Yes, exactly!

Label: Earache Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/evileuk

By Alex Gilbert

The Accused – Tommy Accused (guitar)

Thanks via our friends in Earsplit PR, SMNnews jumped on the opportunity to interview Tommy [Niemeyer] Accused, guitarist of the legendary band, THE ACCUSED, who are the pioneers of their self-dubbed splatter rock.  And even more importantly, THE ACCUSED has stuck to their guns from having the very 1^st release in the Earache Records catalog, to now almost 30 years later with their just released full length, The Curse Of Martha Splatterhead, out on Southern Lord.  And they sound fresh as ever, and a big cheers to that!  Come join the fun as Tommy tells us his desires for a music video, future tour plans as they look to hook up with Lamb Of God, Tommy’s dream tour he’s created called “SPLAT-TOUR FROM HELL”, the long lived mascot of Martha Splatterhead which Tommy has created the new artwork for, and much much more!!  Seriously, get into THE ACCUSED immediately if you have not heard of them, but those of you already die hard fans, you are absolutely going to love the new release!

You guys have The Curse Of Martha Splatterhead on the way due out on Southern Lord.  What are your excitement levels towards the release, and your new relationship with Southern Lord?

Hi, Alex: Since I’m fucking dragging behind on this interview, the release date was now 2 days ago. But I can tell you: We WERE excited about the CD coming out beforehand; and NOW?….The Accused are fucking insanely happy and exploding with joy, love, and good will towards all of mankind’s creatures–except for the Fisher Cat (like a badger, I hear…)

Any plans or desires for a music video off of The Curse Of Martha Splatterhead?

“Desires”?…yes. Immediate “plans”?…no. Always got “ideas” about those things, but currently nothing slated. It WILL most likely get a video treatment one way or another. We’re hoping to do a “full on music video” for at least one of the tracks; which will happen (if it’s going to at all) probably by the first of 2010.

Both musically and lyrically, you guys have stuck to your guns from the beginning, unleashing some of the rawest, intense, and true underground spirit.  Cheers guys, how does it feel to look back to all the great times, and look forward to the great times to come?

You described our credo perfectly there, my friend. Stick to it. If it’s TRULY coming from the heart, no matter what it is you are doing: you can be happy, really loving life, which we are right now. The experiences and memories this band has provided for many people are almost ALL great ones. The members of The Accused have been fortunate enough to meet lots of great people over the years; as well as the chance to go places they otherwise may not have been able to visit or really enjoy. I hope very much that will continue as The Accused enters its third decade of existence. I can just tell you I personally am very thankful that the fans of our music overwhelmingly suggest that it’s not “over” yet for The Accused. Which is good, cuz it feels like we are just getting started. “The Curse of Martha Splatterhead” proves what I mean. That album kicks ass period.

What do you think of the current underground scene in terms of punk, thrash, and metal?  A great doorway for the youth of today to become exposed to its creators, or loosing some of its message and culture?

Well, I am not totally “up” on scenes much–musically or otherwise. Possibly, because I am purposely limiting my exposure to certain avenues of influence–mostly media sources, the internet; television, etc. I only experience “a scene” at the shows we play–or standing in line at the local grocery store where I live. So I couldn’t comment really.

I know that “my way” was not the “right way” whatever the topic may be. Just because I am older than most now, doesn’t mean I get carte blanche to say the “new generation” is wrong. I HATED hearing that when I was younger, and vowed to NEVER become a grumpy, out-of-touch old fucker. Which–so far–seems to be going fairly well. The out-of-touch part needs work…

To attempt to answer your excellent question, though: If younger fans of this music are interested in its “roots” or “origins”, then thanks to the internet, they will be able to discover (quite quickly I’d assume) The Accused were pioneers at a time when it was literally “dangerous territory” to be creating the music we enjoyed playing. We got threats from punks for being “too metal” and the metal crowd didn’t really want us hanging with them, because they considered us and our friends too rowdy and fucked up all the time. (Hmmm….wonder how they got THAT impression? Probably cuz it’s 98% true…oops!) The current state of the music world we are a part of seems very good and alive right now. Hell, I’m doing more interviews now in one day than I EVER did in the past.

You guys have a bunch of upcoming shows on the way.  That’s awesome, you guys must be excited.  Any upcoming tour plans after that you can let us in on?

We are doing a Western US tour Sept-Oct 2009 then hoping to do something in the Midwest over to the East coast if we can squeeze it in before year’s end. If not, then after the first of the 2010 year, we’ll try to make it to the East Coast. Spring of 2010 we’re planning European dates now. We are hoping to hook up with Lamb of God somewhere amongst all of this and do some shows with those guys. Randy was integral in helping expose The Accused to a bunch of the younger audiences. We are fans of their band as well, and think those shows would destroy!! Let’s start a petition!! You now have the “scoop” on that info, BTW!!

Man, you guys have played all around the globe, and must have had a ton of fun while doing it, while also learning many new things.  Out of curiosity, when coming back through Seattle, is there still no place like home?

Well, a close #2 for me may be Prague now that we’ve spent time there. Or Slovakia.  But, yeah Seattle is still our beloved city. Even though they are a little “tax crazy” on smokes.

I’ve always loved the artwork for THE ACCUSED, and it’s awesome you guys have kept your mascot throughout the underground (Martha Splatterhead).  So Martha is still a part of the family, and that’s good to see.  Care to give some promotion on the latest art designs?

I did all the new CD art, with Stephen F. O’Malley making it all fit and look totally killer as a CD package. There’s lots of new “Martha Splatterhead-related” art coming out currently–via our website, T-Shirts, stickers, etc. As well as other Splatter Rock graphics and images from Bob Lane at Coffin Rot Clothing and Skates. He’ll be big on designing our new website along with Federico, an old friend and fan we just officially met in LA last week.

There is also a limited edition vinyl for The Curse Of Martha Splatterhead coming on the way soon, with some bonus tracks.  I’ll definitely have to pick up a copy; I’ve been a fan for awhile!  Can you give us a glimpse into these bonus tracks, and additional artwork if any?

The two bonus tracks are kinda secret right now. Hints: 1 track is a cover song, originally recorded and written by legendary English punk band U.K. Subs; the other is a re-visit of a familiar classick from The Accused that hasn’t been re-recorded in the studio since 1986. They’re both produced by Joe Rizzi at Low Cut Studio here in Seattle. He’s a great guy and gets a cool sound out of his place, which has a VERY low ceiling, but AWESOME acoustics.

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

In no particular order, the bands at this “SPLAT-TOUR FROM HELL” would be:
1. Sacrilege UK
2. TANK
3. Discharge
4. The Stains (LA)
5. Legion of the Damned
6. EXODUS
7. Lamb of God
8. VOID
9. Cannibal Corpse
10. The Accused

Man, from having the very first release in the Earache Records catalog with The Return Of Martha Splatterhead in 1987, to now almost 30 years later throughout THE ACCUSED’s history as a band, how does the future look for THE ACCUSED?

Pretty fucking good, man. Doing things like answering questions about this band’s past AND future show us 100% that: life is pretty fucking good for The Accused for awhile. Thanks for the questions, Bro. See you out there soon I hope.

Cheers!

Label: Southern Lord
Website: http://www.myspace.com/kingsofsplatter

By Alex Gilbert

Cauldron – Ian Chains (Guitars/Vocals)

Recently, Ian Chains (Guitars/Vocals) of Canadian heavy metallers CAULDRON and SMNnews got together for an interview.  Looks like the band has some extremely exciting events ahead of them, ranging from tours with Stryker, Enforcer, and Wolf all respectively, to crossing my fingers these guys get accepted for a Canadian video grant.  If so, it looks like there will be a music video for “Chained Up In Chains” coming around, from which I understand will have some familiar plugs with their album cover [Chained To The Nite], and I can just tell it is going to be no less than bad to the bone!  These guys are keeping it real for sure, creating some of the best NWOBHM songs in this modern age, so grab a beer or two, and get into some CAULDRON!

CAULDRON really does bring some of the best NWOBHM songs in this modern age.  Cheers guys, and thanks for keeping it real!  Creating all of these rockin’ songs that you do, what is your songwriting
process like?

Hi Alex, thanks bud!  I guess listening to some of the best NWOBHM songs of the old age paid off!  Our songwriting process is usually Jason sitting in his room recording songs on a 4 track and making tapes for the band, or Jason and I will also meet up at the practice space and piece together sections of songs we have.  That’s how stuff like Chained Up In Chains came around.  When Jason has a riff in his head though, he doesn’t record it, he just makes up a name for it and writes it down.  Then years later he’ll pick up a piece of paper with the riff name on it and remember exactly how it goes.  He’s fuckin’ weird.

It looks like your schedule is really starting to fill up.  You’ve got the tour with Stryker, then with Enforcer, and then with the Swedish heavy metallers Wolf.  That’s awesome, man!  What are your excitement levels to hitting the open road with all these great bands, and showing the crowds who CAULDRON is?

Our excitement level is at DEFCON 2 right now.  Striker are our friends from Edmonton, they’re arriving in Toronto in a couple days and they’re playing 4 shows with us around the area.  We met them in 2007 when Cauldron went out west and 2 members played in a band called Vinyl Spine.  We’re looking forward to it, we’ve never seen Striker live and I want to pick up their record if they’ve got any left!  Enforcer and Wolf we met in June when we played the Muskelrock festival in Sweden.  They’re all laid back guys, I think we’ll get along with ‘em.  Although the Wolf guys seem to be the prankster types.  Which is cool, I just don’t want to see any naked Swedish men.

Chained To The Nite has been doing pretty well man.  Any plans for a music video for any of the songs off of the album?

It has?  Cool!  Well, we’ve been planning to do a video for Chained Up In Chains for a while.  We applied for a Canadian video grant but got denied.  I guess the content wasn’t suitable, you know, a couple long hairs, some chains, a demon or two, maybe a girl if we could afford it.  It was too risque basically.  They save the grants for artists that will enrich the lives of Canadian youth.  Big black chicks shaking their greased asses at the camera with thugs throwing money at them.  We’re gonna try to have a video out this year some time!

I love the riffing in “Chained Up In Chains” – it’s so catchy!  It’s such a great all around song.  What are some of your favorite songs off of Chained To The Nite?

Right on!  We like playing that one too.  I would say my favorite songs off Chained to the Nite are the ones that don’t grab you immediately, but you enjoy them more in the long run, like Fermenting Enchantress and Witch Trail.  Those songs have a bit more depth to them and nice arrangements.  I think Jason would say Conjure the Mass and Chained Up.

Can you explain to us a CAULDRON show for one who has not seen the band live before?  What do you like to open and close your set with, or do you like to mix it up?

Well, a Cauldron show usually starts with Jason doing his best Cronos bass introduction, with a ridiculous amount of smoke billowing out.  He’s usually playing his bass and pressing the smoke button at the same time.  And then we might open with something like Midnite Hour or The Striker Strikes.  We often end with the Goat Horn song The Last Force, which is a good one to end with because it’s so tiring we can’t play after it anyway.  For some reason it’s the first song in the set in these upcoming shows, I’m going to look into that!  We get bored with sets a lot and usually throw something new in or play it backwards.

You guys have sure moved on from previous projects, the first CAULDRON E.P., to now with Chained To The Nite. Looking forward, do you guys have any ideas for some future CAULDON material?

Yeah we’ve been demoing about 8-10 new songs.  Some of them are almost done and have scratch lyrics, and others are still in the instrumental phase.  There’s going to be a lot of variation on the next album.  Fast ones, slow ones, short ones and long ones.  As soon as we get back from the Wolf tour we’ll start whipping them into shape.  Some working titles that probably won’t make it onto the album are Wasp Grinder, To Die to Death (Surrender) and Tears of Cum.

The scene in Canada has been emerging in many ways lately, with many different forms of metal.  How do you like the metal coming out of Canada lately, and where are some of your favorite places to play?

Well I’m not too up to date on the Quebec black metal scene, but there are good bands like Striker, Metalian and Maniac who we play with a lot.  We usually play at the Bovine Sex Club and Sneaky Dee’s.  I don’t know if those are our favourites but we always end up there.  There’s an all ages place in Halifax called The Pavilion that is always a good show.

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

Time travel is obviously allowed so that would be Black Sabbath’s Born Again lineup, Megadeth in ‘86, Torch, Parasite, Seduce, Diamond Head, Cirith Ungol, Cutty Sark, Savatage, Griffin, Talon, Vandenberg, Trouble, Reckless, Riot, Restless, Picture, Shotgun Messiah, Lizzy Borden, Mad Max, Michael Schenker Group and us if there’s room, and it will be called Rap Fest.

You have a great team in Earache Records who has your back, a great album in Chained To The Nite, and some killer tours on the way.  How does the future look for Cauldron?

Pretty good I guess, we just need to start touring and touring and maybe incorporate some greazed bitches in our video proposal so we can get a grant.  The future is what you make it!  Dream it, be it! 

Label: Earache Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/cauldronmetal

By Alex Gilbert

Blood Red Throne – Dod (guitar)

With one of the best death metal releases of the year so far with Souls Of Damnnation, the latest release from the almighty BLOOD RED THRONE, the guys took the time to chat with us at SMNnews.  Come one, come all and get the inside scoop on some future tour plans, as well as the band’s custom tour they’ve created for the world to see.  Those who don’t know our buddies in BLOOD RED THRONE, these guys have been sticking to their guns for 11+ years creating that skullcrushing death metal that you just can’t deny, for this underground metal machine shows a level of expertise within the playing fields of metal. 

Your 2009 Earache Records album, Souls Of Damnation has just been released recently.  Cheers, you guys must be pretty stoked, huh?

It’s always good to have a new album out and especially when it’s the best release we have so far! Now, we look forward to get on tour and have a good time!

Souls Of Damnation in my eyes is one of the best death metal albums of the year so far!  You guys have really earned your spot.  On the subject of metal albums, what are some of your favorites of the year?

Thanx man! Great to hear! There are many good bands out there, but we definetely think we’re one of them, so it’s good to be noticed! I don’t think I’ve checked too many albums in 2009, but of course, the new Chimaira album is great, as well as the latest Suffocation and also Dream Theater album!

Out of the whole BLOOD RED THRONE discography, are there any particular songs you especially like playing live?

There are some. The Children Shall Endure, Smite, Deranged Assassin, No New Beginning and The Light, The Hate are great to play live and they’re always included in our live set!

Does BLOOD RED THRONE have any tour plans you can let us in about?

We’re doing a single show in Romania for the first time august 2oth. Otherwise, we’re doing our first headliner European tour, starting october 10th in Holland! We’ll visit some new countries like Spain this time, and it’s gonna be awesome! We’re also workin’ on a US tour next year and it’s about time our US fans are able to see us live for the first time!

You guys for sure have stuck to your guns in the long run, and Souls Of Damnation continues that straight up skullcrushing death metal.  Do you guys have any future material planned, and the musical direction of it?

Yeah, we’ve been around for 11 years and both Tchort and I have been in the Norwegian extreme metal scene since early 90’s. We know exactly how we want our death metal and though we haven’t too much new material right now, there won’t be too many surprises next time. Just quality headbanging death metal the way we know it!

I absolutely love the song Not Turgenjev, But Close - it’s killer!!  In BLOOD RED THRONE’s songwriting process, how do you guys feed off one another for the final product?

Thanx. That’s one of the last tracks I wrote for the album. It has a fine combination between some thrash and heavy metal with a death metal twist I think and the titlte is quite funny too! All members got their favorite tracks of course and I really like Tchort’s Ten Steps of Purgatory. I think all enjoy the opening track as well!

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

Bands still alive; Suffocation and Morbid Angel. Bands of all time; Death and Gorguts back in 1992!!! I love festivals, so everyone, but I really think Wacken should invite us soon!

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us.  Souls Of Damnation has great potential, and things look like they are going great so far.  How does the future of BLOOD RED THRONE look to you?

Excellent! Thanx! We sure hope we can take one step further with this release. Play more live and just get more fans! Cheers!

Label: Earache Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/bloodredthrone666

By Alex Gilbert

Slough Feg – Mike Scalzi (vocals)

With their seventh album, Ape Uprising!, receiving excellent feedback from metal fans and critics alike, Slough Feg is still kicking and screaming after almost two decades together. Vocalist/guitarist/founder Mike Scalzi has been through countless line-up changes and the nu-metal movement in the late 90s, but through it all, the band has never compromised their sound for a quick buck. Scalzi spoke to SMNnews about the new album, the current music scene, the popularity of the band, his fascination with apes, and much more!

Can you tell me, in your opinion, the band’s high point and low point?

The low point is right now (laughs). No, the low point was 1996; the year the first album came out. Nobody cared about metal; nobody cared about Slough Feg. We couldn’t get any good gigs and we didn’t have a bass player. It was basically the two of us. It wouldn’t have mattered if we had broken up. There was like two people in the world that cared, not including the band (laughs).

The high point, to tell you the truth, is last year and this year. We’re getting some appreciation, getting flown around to festivals, stuff on video games, and publishing.

So the band, in your opinion, is riding a wave of momentum?

Well, we are in a national and international sense. Locally, we just played a show that was poorly attended. We though we were on the up-and-up; we just had an article in Decibel, we’ve had a ton of attention in the last few months since our album came out, publishing, t-shirt, and video game companies wanting to do our stuff. To play a gig and 40 people show up, we’re like ‘what the hell?’ Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on, to tell you the truth. There are people out there who tell us or write about us as the true premier metal band. Yet, at the same time, on another day, it’s like nobody knows who we are or cares. That’s the nature of this new millennium of internet and cyber recognition.

Do you think that the Internet has helped the band to gain a wider audience?

I don’t know if we’re gaining ground because of the Internet; I’m not sure. I do know that a lot of the attention you do get is on the Internet. Whether we have gotten more popular because of the Internet, I don’t think we can really tell. We were around for a few years before the Internet was really big as far as putting records out and we got attention. It’s hard to isolate the band’s success or lack of success from the growing Internet. However, underground music in general has benefited from the Internet.

The band has a new album out called Ape Uprising. What is the significance of the title and the lyrics, which seem to show a deep fascination for monkeys?

I like great apes. I don’t know any personally (laughs). When I was a kid, I had posters of them in my room. I was really into King Kong and Planet Of The Apes. I feel some kind of affinity for apes. Gorillas in particular; I don’t know why. I thought it was a fun idea. I got excited when I heard about these apes freaking out at the zoo and attacking people. I got interested in the story. I guess, in a way, it’s a good metaphor for how I feel about things a lot of the time. It’s an idea throughout history, people feeling caged up, enraged and wanting to go nuts on people…the music says it all. It’s one of those things you talk about that seems kind of silly because it is rather silly (laughs). That’s the basic idea; to have something to think about that’s entertaining.

Before you started to write the album, musically, was there a clear direction Slough Feg wanted to take?

I would have to say no, there wasn’t. As we wrote the record, we were a little more open to the long instrumental passages where we sort of wank. Some of the songs, that isn’t true, like “White Cousin” and “Simian Manifesto;” we spent months and months rearranging the parts and really fix things that sounded awkward. We tried to make things sound smooth, sound right to Slough Feg. We come up with riffs that we think are exciting and we try to make arrangements that are exciting. To me, heavy metal these days is very boring. Most of the stuff that comes out bores me to tears because it’s a rehash of something else, with tired, old riffs. It’s an ordeal listening to it, and live, it’s often an ordeal as well. I love the first Black Sabbath album and I love the early years of Led Zeppelin, but do we have to keep having new bands redoing these same ideas at a third-rate version over and over? That’s the foundation that Slough Feg grows from; the frustration with what is going on.

Desperately, we’re trying to do something that is more explosive. I love that style and I can’t seem to break out of that style of the Iommi-esque riffs. I’m not saying I’m completely entrenched and confined in sort of that box. That’s where, musically, I completely and totally come from: the early Sabbath, early Maiden, early Priest. I can’t seem to give it up; I try. I say I want to write an album that sounds more like Rainbow or an album that sounds like something not metal, like new wave-ish. I can’t seem to break out of that Iommi songwriting style. So the best I can do is try to really write the most creative, exciting riffs I can in that style and try desperately not to sound unoriginal. If I do sound like Black Sabbath or Maiden, I want to do the very best job I can to make it sound like a good Sabbath or Maiden song, like the one they never did on Killers or Master of Reality (laughs).

Going into the studio and writing songs, our number one priority was to try at least not to fall into that by arranging things over and over again in order to get an exciting song. On this record, we did that for about half the record; the other half, we did go into freaky stuff, where I let things go and didn’t worry so much.

Speaking of Master of Reality, the first song on the album is obviously “The Hunchback Of Notre Doom,” one of the best songs titles of all time…

It’s funny, because the original title of that was going to be “Ozzymodo” (laughs). We were going to call it that, but we decided to call it “The Hunchback Of Notre Doom.”

The song is interesting because it sets a tone for the album that is different than everything else on the album. When did the decision come have it not only as a track on the album, but the opening track?

The day I wrote it. That was the first song I wrote for the record. I try to be original, but that song is pretty much a whole-sale Saint Vitus rip-off. The vocal line is a little different, because I have a different style, but pretty much trying to sound just like Saint Vitus. That’s my effort to make the doom song; not a doom song, but the doom song to end all doom songs. I’m not saying I succeeded, but I tried. The minute I wrote it, that was my decision. My original idea was that this was going to be a doom album; most of it was going to be doom. It didn’t work out that way and that’s fine. To be honest, when I wrote that song, I wasn’t sure about the ape uprising concept. I just wrote “The Hunchback Of Notre Doom” because I thought that nobody has ever written a metal song about “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame” before and that is the ultimate doom story; a hunchback doomed to a bell tower and totally miserable.

I want to talk briefly about the title track, which is ten minutes long and a throwback to the late 70s/early 80s, with extended instrumentals and harmonies abound. How did the song come about? Was it a spur of the moment type of thing or did you have an idea of having an epic track like that?

The same as anything else. I had some riffs, put them together, and thought to call it “Ape Uprising” and write a song about apes uprising. I knew I wanted to do a song like that. It was two different songs together. We sat with that one, the first half of the song, for months and months trying to get the right arrangement. Then the second half of the song was some sort of Celtic-sounding instrumental. It’s a totally different song, where the singing ends and it goes into the instrumental portion, so its just two songs that happen to be one track on the record. Before we put it out, I said that these two songs connect, that one goes right into the other, but it should be two tracks with two separate names. At that point, my band goes, ‘No no, make it the same song; it sort of has a continuity to it.’ So I said ‘Ok, we’ll make it into one track.’ I was going to call the second song like something about the jungle. So now it’s a ten-minute epic song.

One more thing about the title track. I know it was the third song on the album; was that your decision to put it there, because it seems like a perfect closing track?

Yeah it does. We tried to arrange the album a bunch of different ways, but to be honest… we did it in two different studios. I think you can hear the difference in production. When we put “Ape Uprising” towards the end, it sounded weird to me. I put in the middle; I thought it would be a good centerpiece.

With all the line-up changes over the years, do you think this is the best line-up the band has ever had and do you think this line-up will last?

Right now, I think it actually is. We’ve had a lot of talented musicians in the band before and we do now too, but as far as raw talent, I don’t even know. Maybe it’s the best line-up; maybe it’s not. We’ve had some really good players, but that’s not as important as the creative energy, that a lot of which is due to personalities. We have, right now, the best sounding band we’ve ever had because everybody is 100% totally into it. We all want the same thing and we all get along really well. There’s no friction. Years ago, it was very different, a lot of trouble with that kind of thing. So, yeah, it’s really nice. We can all hang out in the same room and have a good time. That’s rare for a lot of bands. I sort of honed it that way.

I have a lot more choice now than I used to because people like heavy metal now, people know about Slough Feg, and people want to play with Slough Feg. Ten years ago, it was very hard to find people to play with. Now, it’s not hard to find people really. So there’s a big list of people who want to play with us, so I can choose the person with the right style, the right taste, the right personality. It’s pretty good, as far as that goes. We can produce music really quickly now and come off as if we’re having fun in everything we do on stage and in the studio, which is really rare.

What are the band’s current touring plans in support of Ape Uprising?

In about three weeks, in August, we’re going to fly over to the Midwest and play a handful of gigs, about five, in Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit; that area. Those should be good, because the local shows aren’t as good sometimes, because we set them up with a friend’s band in a bar and we don’t have our booking agents do it. People don’t get as excited because they see us several times a year. In the Midwest, we seem to do pretty well. So we going to do that handful of shows, then we’re going to come back, and keep writing music through August and September for a new album or EP. In October, we’re going to go to Canada to do some festival in Calgary. Then in late October, we’re going to Portland, Seattle, and Northern California for a week. That’s it until January, when we’re going to Norway and England. We have about ten or thirteen shows spread out over the next few months, all over the place. So I guess, in a way, it’s a tour. The way we need to tour is sparsely, rather than getting into a van and touring the country. We just hit so many dead spots when we do that.

After seven albums, do the musical ideas still flow strong?

Surprisingly, they do. Three albums ago, on Traveller, I was having trouble with that. I had done three heavy metal albums with tons of riffs and I thought ‘I’ve probably said everything I got to say in this epic metal genre.’ I felt that way when I wrote Traveller. I thought some of that stuff was sort of rehash. I was like, ‘Ok, after this, I don’t know if I can do much more.’ I did Atavism and I thought, ‘That’s it. I finally did another album that does sound pretty original.’  I like the album a lot. I though Atavism was, to me when I did it, the ultimate Slough Feg album. So I thought, ‘Ok, this is the most honest and personal album I’m going to do, maybe that should be it. Five Slough Feg albums are enough.’ As soon as it came out, I needed to do something else.

Now, I feel that I can go on forever, as long as the stuff excites me. The new thing I have is going to sound Slough Feg-ish, there’s no way around that, but it’s going to look different. I think I’m going to do the artwork myself. It’s going to have a totally different subject matter and its going to go way down to the roots of the sound we have; what makes Slough Feg unique. There’s a whole bunch of metal coming out now and it’s so easy to get lost in the fray. I want to make that statement that, ‘Wow, I know who this is, I know this is a trademark sound,’ that kind of thing, because it’s the most valuable thing you can do at this point. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the rabble, you know what I mean? No one would pay any attention; just say, ‘Oh, there’s another epic metal band.’

If there was one band you could tour with, past, present, or future, who would it be and why?

The Henry Rollins-era of Black Flag, with Damaged and My War. That might be the best band I’ve ever seen live. Of course, people would say ‘oh, that’s punk rock,’ but they don’t know what the fuck they are talking about. The version of Black Flag I’m talking about is sort of punk and sort of hardcore, but they are a King Crimson, Sabbath type of band. At that point, their songs became doom songs, with Sabbath lyrics. A lot of lyrics were introspective; going insane, depressed, pissed off, fucked up, and not fitting in. In 1986, I saw them live at their last tour. Not as far as musical aficionado stuff, but as far as putting on a show and making a statement live, it was really the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, with the possible exception of Iron Maiden live.

What’s the one thing that you want to be remembered for as a musician, when the band is long and gone?

I want to be remembered for making exciting music and doing something nobody else did. I like to be remembered for putting on exciting, live shows, definitely. I like to be known as that band when you go see them, it’s an experience you’re not going to get seeing any other band and you’ll never get bored; something new will always come up to surprise you. I like people to think that way about the records too; something no one else did. I think that’s the point of making a musical statement or an artistic statement; to do something new that no one else did. It’s the whole point of doing it. I understand saying that I love so and so band so much that if I sound half as good as them on a record, that’s okay. I feel that way too about certain Sabbath records. If I could do something like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, that’s good enough for me. I feel that way also about early Maiden albums. If I do something that sounds like Number Of The Beast, that’s cool, that’s good enough…but not anymore, because I’ve done enough stuff to where I’m satisfied with my replication of those things. I want to do something no one else has ever done.

By Dan Marsicano

Darkest Hour – Mike Schleibaum (Guitars) and Mike ‘Lonestar’ Carrigan (Guitars)

It’s a hot, sunny day in Orange County, CA as I pull up to The Grove in Anaheim to pay witness to all things heavy at The Summer Slaughter Tour 2009. Black T-Shirts run rampant across the mostly male crowd and I never really understand the need for people to wear the shirt of the band that is playing that night. We know you’re a fan, so why else would you be here right? I get through the gate and make a phone call to MIKE SCHLEIBAUM (guitar) from DARKEST HOUR to arrange our interview. He states that he’s backstage jamming some SUFFOCATION songs on guitar but will come out and meet me. He meets me in the photo pit and we quickly dart backstage into the dressing room where we grab a couple of drinks and MIKE ‘LONESTAR’ CARRIGAN (guitar) as we head outside to find some quiet area to have a quick chat. We had already started talking before I press ‘record’ so here’s what ya get as this seemed more like a few people sitting at a table as opposed to an official interview.

Do you guys feel being the odd ones out a little bit on this tour?

M: Ya know, we’re definitely not a classic, American sounding Death Metal band. To me, DARKEST HOUR is pretty much Swedish Melodic Metal which to me fits right alongside of SUFFOCATION, DYING FETUS, ORIGIN and extreme metal bands because to me it’s the same as that death metal. But to people who aren’t as obsessed with death metal music as we may be, the three of us, probably won’t get all of those nuances. Then there’s the purists, people who only love SUFFOCATION style death metal, you can’t please them no matter what because we don’t sound like that. In the past, we did a tour with SIX FEET UNDER and we got crushed. We did a tour with DYING FETUS in 1998, the band didn’t fit in, DARKEST HOUR was weird. Now, it’s really nice to know we go on tour with a ton of death metal bands and fit in and have people respect it and like it. I don’t know if we got better or the songs got better since 98, but something happened where now, we can tour with death metal bands and it’s a great time.

Do you think maybe people’s minds opened up a little bit?

L: I think it’s a little more closed mind perspective. It’s like do you like Doom? Grind?

Can’t we all just listen to metal?

M: Yesterday we were trying to figure a new name for what we could be because it seems that Metalcore is a bad word because there’s so much bad music. But to me, metal and hardcore is fine. Hardcore like MINOR THREAT and metal like SLAYER combined sounds bad ass. But it didn’t turn out like that so now we have this term [metalcore] that defines a style of music that’s not very good.

You got people wearing makeup on top of it.

M: Now it’s like dude, I like metal. It’s not even the same type of music. We were trying to think of something different.
L: I say Melodic Thrash.
M: When we destroy the term metalcore with something new and much cooler we’ll let you know.

Maybe that’s what sets you apart on this tour because you have the chanty parts of the choruses.

M: We’re definitely a little more melodious than most of the bands. Most death metal is about the sick riffs, low vocals, and stripping melody out and making it as brutal as fuck. And DARKEST HOUR has been always about being pretty melodious musically and aggressive vocally and rhythmically so I think that’s where we fit in but also where we differ.
L: We’re a lot more epic.
It’s not to say that one’s better than the other. Any style of death metal done with sincerity and thought usually turns out much better than the predecessors that are just copies.

Is that what you grew up listening to?

M: No, you know what’s funny? Ryan, our drummer, fucking loves SUFFOCATION. He grew up loving this. And the thing is I never really liked that style death metal, it never grabbed me. That’s why I was so in love when I found AT THE GATES and IN FLAMES. Now that I’m older and really a connoisseur of the genre I love and appreciate that style of death metal. The style that I liked is the style that DARKEST HOUR is. These tours are getting more open minded. Look, we got DYING FETUS on tour with WINDS OF PLAGUE on tour with AFTER THE BURIAL on tour with SUFFOCATION. So it’s a pretty open minded tour. You have fans that are opinionated.
L: If I had to sit and listen to the same band 15 times in a day I’d go crazy.

So far so good on the road so far?

M: Yeah! It’s funny we finished recording the record, then 7 days later we were in Europe touring with BLEEDING THROUGH for 6 weeks. Come home for 2 weeks and all of a sudden it’s a couple of weeks before the record’s comin out and you’re back on tour. So it’s been a long time that we’ve been on tour so it feels like we got our groove and it’s good to be on the West Coast. We’ve been on tour for so long now it feels natural to be doing it everyday.

Take it back to Europe, what kind of stuff we’re you playing with BT?

M: We were trying out 2 new songs, “No God” and “Devolution Of The Flesh” Playing a new song before it comes out is fucking always hard because nobody knows what to expect, don’t know the words.

You fuck up you know that nobody is going to notice, ya gotta look at the plus here! (laughs)

M: It really worked out since Mike is relatively new. We did one Thrash n Burn tour together then it was like, Bam, you’re in the studio, everybody write together. Then 8 months later it’s like, Bam, the touring machine starts again, get in the groove. It’s great when you hit the ground running here. I’m confident now that if people come see DARKEST HOUR now, it’s going to be the bes DARKEST HOUR they’ve seen.

Tell me about this, you went back and used BRIAN MCTERNAN again who you worked with earlier in your career. Your album sounds darker this time around.

M: That was intentional. Brian would be every metalheads true champion. He was not saying we need a radio hit. He was saying, we need to bind what makes DARKEST HOUR a band, and amplify it to make it the sickest DARKEST HOUR record, not try to make it something else by make it more melodic or more brutal, just try to make it what it really is and that was his greatest influence.
L: I think he made some of the songs a little brighter. They were a lot darker when we first came in.
M: It was going to be a really ugly record. But I think that the kind of balance of the changes we made and the vibe going into it made it a DH record. On DELIVER US, we weren’t only thinking of making one thing, we were thinking epic, and melodious, and “Demons” was pretty poppy, it’s way more out there than the songs that are on this record. So we were going to make it violent, make it sound pissed off, make it feel pissed off, and I think we achieved it but I think we achieved it with a little bit of balance of melody and that’s greatly due to Brian’s ability to be the judge and jury. You get 5 dudes in there (insert arguing comments and screaming comments with humor) “I don’t want to change that riff!”
L: Then you listen to it the next day and it’s like, “oh yeah, that’s a good idea!”

What do you [Lonestar] think you brought to the band this time around and where’s your background at musically?

L: I’m a big PANTERA fan, SLAYER, MEGADETH, classic metal basically. I thought maybe I’d try to throw a little something like that in there, the solos have a bit more classic feel. Different direction than the Neo-Classical which is awesome.
M: There’s some of that on the record too. The guitar vision was to have different stylistic stuff, there’s Neo-Classical shit, bluesy type, very Dimebagesque / Van Halenesque. We never did that before. This now makes the band sound more rounder and more classic.

When I first heard “No God” online, I heard the opening riff and it felt like SOUTH OF HEAVEN era SLAYER and some of the songs on the last album were poppy.

M: We feel like reserve the right to go poppy at anytime and reserve the right to go pissed. We also like to do what people enjoy.

What’s have you heard lately that you like musically?

L: I love MASTODON!
M: I know it’s stupid as it’s been said everywhere so why waste print on MASTODON? They took that craft, blew it up, did metal awesome, and they did it in a way that they totally remained themselves. Awesome guys, killer band! Then you got SKELETONWITCH who are really awesome guys playing a sick style of metal that’s kind of innovative if you really look into it.
L: A little throwback though, like MUNICIPAL WASTE is a throwback.
M: Which I like! DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN keeps putting out records that sound fresh and new. TESTAMENT’s THE FORMATION OF DAMNATION. I’m probably going to get crucified for this shit, but I like the last IN FLAMES record.
L: [A big sigh of air full of sarcasm.]
M: Whatever, Lonestar, Whatever you can have your opinions. (laughs). I’ve watched them put out tons of records and I was a fan of the earlier ones. But you go on a creative journey as an artist and maybe the fans don’t always follow you certain ways and I’ve watched them the whole time and this last one I was stoked on! I think the new GOD FORBID is sick. Those guys really pushed it, took it to a place where Doc and Dallas took it out to some progness.

What’s the next 6 months like?
L: Go to Europe for a week and a half, then we do TRIVIUM and SUICIDE SILENCE.
M: Kinda crazy weird places. I think we’re even playing a state we never played before. Montana I think. Ryan could tell you. It’s Montana and Mississippi. There’s a tour in Europe with KATAKLYSM. We’re gonna tour on this record. It’s kinda the Victory era of the band, we finished our record contract. We’ll see, it’s interesting to see where we’ll go.

By Mark Thompson

Poison The Well – Brad Clifford (Guitars)

POISON THE WELL have been around for over a decade and their twisted blend of hardcore, metal, and indie rock, has only improved with each release. The Florida outfit just released The Tropic Rot which only cements the band’s unshakable reputation. SMNnews caught up with guitarist Brad Clifford to talk about the release, his views on album reviews, and what bums the band out while on tour.

The first thing I noticed about the band since your last record is that you’ve expanded the lineup. What brought on this change?

Poison the Well has always been a 5 piece live, so when it came time to tour on Versions, I came in to play guitar, and we had a few bass players fill the position until settled in with Brad Grace. I think having a 5 piece is/was always the goal and it was just a matter of finding the right people. Doing Versions as a 3 piece was more out of necessity and the urge to keep going relentlessly, rather than preference.

The name of the album is striking yet I’m not sure what it means. Can you break down the meaning of The Tropic Rot?

It has a lot of meanings, depending on which member you ask. To me, it sums up my time in Florida while writing this record. It was a pretty dark and lonely time for me, and Florida wasn’t exactly the place I wanted to be. In addition to that, it speaks to me about the idea of the being in a place which people consider to be a magical tropical paradise, and by and large, it’s not. There’s a lot more deep and dark going on there when you’re around more than 4 nights and 3 days at Disney.

The cover of the album is a photo of Jeff Moreira’s mom taken years back. How did she react to being included and what does she think about the band in general?

She’s really stoked about being on the cover. It’s an honor to be able to have her on the cover, and to have a layout full of such personal photos that definitely fit right in with the title and feeling of this record. She’s super supportive of the band and wants us to be number one. I’m not exactly sure what that entails, but yes. Number One.

You recorded The Tropic Rot in the U.S. with an American producer this time out where on the last 2 albums you went to Sweden and worked with Eskil Lövström and Pelle Henricsson. Did the comfort of working in the States have any impact on the way things came out?

I think at this point everyone in the band thought a new sonic take would be good for this record. It’s musically different than any other release, as always, and we thought Steve could take this music interesting places. Recording in the U.S. this time around was another bonus, because the comfort of recording at least in your own country was probably necessary at that point in time. It sounds like Sweden was a definite full-immersion-into-the-record kind of experience, and maybe being able to take a breath from it here and there could help the process. We can’t have anyone losing their minds.

Did Steve Evetts open up the sessions to a lot of experimentations in the sonic sense? The album has an almost ethereal quality to it.

We always wanted experimentation and weird noises and other things in there that added flavor to the songs instead of stripping it down too much. It’s definitely a record with a more aggressive sound to it than Versions, and that was exactly what this music needed. Steve was great with finding sounds that fit perfectly with the style of song, and has magic ears.

Unlike a lot of other bands who took the plunge, the major label thing didn’t end up killing the band off. Did you ever look at that part of the band’s career as a failure or a bad move?

I look at it as a positive thing. You Come Before You was a great record in my opinion, sounded fantastic, and that was the ultimate goal for the Atlantic experience: to be able to make an awesome sounding record.

The sound you helped shape in the late 90s has become huge (relatively speaking of course) in the last few years. How do you see the band fitting into that? Do you even consider PTW part of any scene at this point?

I could see where it maybe helped shaped things in a general sense as an influence here or there, but I think in recent years especially it’s gone beyond that. From an outsider perspective, I saw Poison the Well as a band who mixed punk rock and hardcore with influences from 90s indie rock and melodic punk bands. Now it seems a lot of influence comes from two much more extreme ends of that spectrum: death/black metal/thrash, and pop punk. Within that, we don’t really fit. I guess we don’t really fit much of anywhere to be honest. Most tours we’re either the heaviest band, or the lightest band. We’re totally into that, and be able to be diverse enough to pull it off where we do. We don’t know where to put ourselves as far as our exact fit in any scene, so we just do whatever we want which allows us some freedom and awkward times, depending.

What is the reaction to the new album been from your core audience and do you ever read your press?

Some dudes totally read press. It’s exciting to offer a huge chunk of yourself in the form of this creative expression, and have it to yourself for that time until the record comes out, and then when it does being under the microscope and hear what it means to other people. The reviews for The Tropic Rot have actually been way more positive than we even expected. I think it’s a very relevant but atypical record for what’s going on in music nowadays, and we’re extremely proud of it. It’s awesome to hear the vast majority of people seeming stoked on it. In the end of the day a good or bad review isn’t going to change what we do, but positive support is always better than negative.

Have you heard any newer bands that have excited you recently?

I feel like I talk about this all the time, but this band from Milwaukee called Red Knife Lottery is awesome. They certainly aren’t new bands, but both the newest Mastodon and Kylesa records are incredible.

What is one album that everyone in the band can agree on in the van and one that just bums certain members out?

The new Mastodon gets everyone stoked for sure, even for dudes who weren’t the biggest fans before. One that bums certain members out is definitely Michael McDonald. That dude needs to never be in my ears again!!!

By Carlos Ramirez

Reign Supreme – Jay Pepito (vocals)

Fans of bands like Killing Time and NYHC in general should check out Testing the Limits of Infinite, the new album from Reign Supreme. The Philadelphia act have put together the best hardcore record of the year so far and with the folks at Deathwish Inc behind them, it won’t be surprising if they make the year end lists come December. SMNnews spoke with vocalist Jay Pepito about their new album on the eve of its release.

Reign Supreme’s roots are obviously planted in the hardcore scene but with Testing the Limits of Infinite you embrace a lot of metal  tendencies from a songwriting and sonic standpoint. At this point do you find yourself more inspired by what’s going on in the metal scene?

I don’t really know much about what’s going on in the metal scene, unfortunately.  I think we embraced a lot of heavy tendencies, and I think we sound like a metal band in a lot of ways, but I think we’re essentially still a hardcore band that has metal influences.

As diverse as the underground as become, do you still find resistance from the crowd when you play on more metal leaning bills?

Not really actually, I love playing to metal crowds.  They like our breakdowns.  Hardcore kids have seen that all before.

How did you first get into heavier music?

I got into black flag when I was 11, from listening to Nirvana and skateboarding.  I got into hardcore a little bit later, and I’ve listened to metal the whole time. I’ve had Down’s Nola since I was 11 too, and that’s been a pretty big influence on me sonically.

What bands did you gravitate towards in the beginning?

I was into anything that was angry, melodic, and full of emotion; Pantera, Sepultura, Crowbar, Entombed, Machinehead, etc.  That’s still what I like. I love anything heavy. I absolutely worshipped the new Lamb of God and Slipknot records.  Those two got a lot of play in our van when they dropped.

There’s always been talk of unity within the bands in the hardcore scene. Is that still true today?

No. Unity in hardcore is dumb anyways.  No one is there for you when things get hectic, I promise you that.

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