Etikett: Fredags special

Fredags Special#5 – Gammal Skåpmat

Av , , Bli först att kommentera 1

Det har varit lite döfött här på Blashyrkh de senaste veckorna förrutom de två stående punkterna "Veckans Playlist" och "Veckans Gratis" och så kommer det tyvärr att förbli åtminstone den närmsta tiden.

Varför denna torka av läsbart material?

Skulle kunna ge flera orsaker, men i det stora hela så är det universitetet som kommer att svälja den mesta av min tid de kommande tre veckorna. Alla arbeten skall slutföras, grafiska profiler inlämnas etc. Men även skriverier för VF har tagit lite av min tid, samt ett "projekt" som jag startade sju år sedan som sakta men säkert äntligen börjar närma sig startskottet.

Jag har dock än en gång grävt lite i arkivet och hittat lite fler intervjuer från en svunnen tid och tänkte att jag kan spinna vidare på detta fredags-tema. Denna gång i form av en intervju gjord med Mirai från Japanska SIGH och som vanligt så är intervjun nedan oredigerad från dess originalskick då den första gången publicerades 2001, stavfelen m.m får ni på köpet helt enkelt.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Greetings. I am The Reverend and this is my interview with Mirai, bassist and vocalist for the band SIGH. If you haven’t heard them, you are truly missing out. Hailing from Japan, SIGH has unleashed their unique music style upon the world once again with "Imaginary Sonicscape" available from Century Media. They are very talented musicians/songwriters, and one of the absolute best bands I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Do yourself a favor and pick up any one of their Cd´s, You will not be disappointed.

First , I gotta ask the obligatory questions …For anyone who hasn’t had the privilege of hearing Sigh, how would you best describe the music you guys play?
-Well, it is always difficult to describe music by words. As far as "Imaginary Sonicscape" goes, it is heavy metal with a psychedelic, spacey and exotic touch. It is 21 century’s music with 70s equipment, 80s metal spirit and 90s digital technique.

How did you three guys hook up?
-We all three went to the same university and met there. It is unusual to see people into Venom here, so we immediately went along with each other.

The music on each Sigh album differs from the previous one. Did you ever worry that some fans of your earlier material would say you "sold out"?(too many metal fans scream "Sell out" when a band’s sound expands and progresses)
-I really do not care even if people conisder that we sold out. I want to sell our albums more and more. As a musician, it is a natural desire that I want our music to be heard by more and more people. If you call it "sold out", that’s right in a way. I really do not see any reasons that we have to stick to "underground".

The new album, Imaginary Sonicscape, has a kickass stoner sound to it. Did you set out to make an album for stoners?
-We’ve always had a big influence from Black Sabbath, and this time we wanted to give a psychedelic edge to the songs. So it is natural that you feel stoner vibes on the album. All the good rock albums sound great on weed. If not, it’s not rock or it’s not a good album!

Do you endorse hallucinogens and weed? What do you think about the terrible anti-drug laws worldwide?
-At least, weed should be separated from other hard drugs. I really do not see any reason why the government has to forbid weed as illegal while alcohol and cigarettes are allowed. Weed should be legalized.

What are the drug laws in Japan?
-The drug laws are really strict here. We’ll get 2-3 years for Marijuana possession regardless from the amount. The Japanese do not know what is the difference between weed and other hard drugs like speed. Magic Mushrooms are still legal here, but now the government is taking steps to ban it, which truly sucks.

What is the songwriting process usually like? Is it all done in the studio?
-It depends. I usually bring a music note with me to write the idea down on it whenever I come up with new melodies, riffs etc. Also I sometimes compose on the piano. When those ideas are roughtly assembled as a song, I give it to other members and start jamming in the studio.

Could you explain what these songs are about:
Scarlet Dream
-It’s completely based on my drug experiences. 
Slaughtergarden Suite
-It’s a ten-minute horror story. It’s about a murderer. 
Sunset Song
-It’s about fear of getting old. Nobody can avoid getting old unless they die young. We’re gonna lose lots of things when we’re 70. It is really scary but there is no way to avoid it other than death. 
Bring Back the Dead
-It´s about losing somebody you truly love. How would you feel if your girlfriend would be killed in a car accident? How would you feel if your kid would die because of your fault? It is scary and it could happen in your life. 
Ecstatic Transformation
-It’s about sex/orgy things. Sex is an activity to create a new life, and life has to succumb to death in the end. You can’t separate sex from death.

Also, what exactly is "Living the Scarlet Dream"?
-Well, "L"iving in the "S"carlet "D"ream.

Ecstatic Transformation has a real good stoner rock sound. I was wondering if the opening riff was influenced by The Mentors…it almost has a Sickie Wifebeater sound to it.
-We didn’t do it intentionally, but we’ve been listening to the Mentors so much, so probably it is impossible to escape their influence!

What were some of the things that factored into Sigh leaving Cacophonous? 
-Cacophonous Records didn’t do anything right for us or other bands on them. You know they once had Cradle of Filth, Bal-Sagoth, Dimmu Borgir, Primordial etc., but ALL of them left the label. You can easily imagine how they sucked. They were very slow in doing anything, they didn’t pay money, their distribution sucked, they liked to intervene in our music etc.

How is Century Media treating you guys so far? When Dread Dreams was released on Cacophonous it was impossible to find here.
-I didn’t see any advertisement when Dread Dreams was out. How people could find out that it was released? Century Media are doing very well for us. We did lots of interviews for "Imaginary…" and they never intervened in our musical direction. It is great that now people can find our album much easier.

Being a trio, does it make the live sound different than the studio recordings? I imagine it would be hard to find a keyboard player that is as good as yourself. Speaking of keyboards , how many different keyboards do you own and what are your favorite ones?
-So far we played gigs without keyboards, but for the future, we will add a session keyboardist, or a session bassist and I’ll play the keyboards. With a keyboadist, still it is impossible to reproduce the album sound, but it will sound much better than trio. Now I have 13-14 keyboards and I also own many software synthsizers. I like all my instruments, but if I have to pick up one, it should be the acoustic piano. With the acoustic piano, I can express a lot of things. Other than that, I love the old equipment such as Minimoog, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, etc.

What bands/musicians influence you guys? I know you like alot of bands and musicians from a wide range of styles. Do you like any ’60s-70s bands or any country musicians? (for example Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, etc..)
-I like any kind of music as long as it is artistic. Yes, I do love many artists from 60s-70s such as Beatles, Beach Boys, 10CC, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, Doors, Byrds, Grateful Dead and so on. In those days, rock was one of the most ambitious styles in music. As for country music, our gutarist is a big fan of it.

What are some of the other projects you guys are involved in?
-Thrash metal project with Abigail members, CutThroat, just recorded a new 7"EP in October. It contains one original track and one Tankard cover. It will be released on a German label some day. Now I am not sure what is happening with the Enoch with Killjoy and Phillip from Pantera. I can’t say much about it right now. I am not sure even if it will actually happen or not.

Will Sigh come to America anytime soon, and are there any shows in Europe planned?
-Yes, now we’re talking about touring the States early next year. Also we hope to tour Europe too. We would love to play in as many countries as possible.

I’m curious, I know you like wrestling, so who are some of your favorite wrestlers and wrestling federations?
-I mainly like the extreme wrestling. The federation named WING, which existed in the early 90s here in Japan was really extreme, and I liked it a lot. My favorite wrestler is Mr.Pogo although he sucks these days.

Since I am a huge fan of The Mentors, I was wondering what your favorite songs/albums were by them?
-I guess "You Axed For It" is the best. All the songs off it are great. My favorite tracks are Golden Shower, Free Fix For a Fuck, Sleep Bandits, FFFF Club etc. I also love Trash Bag EP! Woman from Sodom!!

I also have a question about GG Allin for you. Do you think if he had ever toured Europe or Japan that he would’ve finally rose from the underground scene to be a force in the music world? Any favorite GG tunes?
-Yes, GG Allin is great. His attitude was as great as his music is. But I do not think he would have been a force in the music world if he’d come down here. He was too extreme and too much for "normal" people. Personally I like the track "Anal Cunt". Also I’ve heard some country tracks from him on the video, but unfortunately can’t find the country CD by him.

Many thanks to Mirai for taking the time to answer all my questions.
Until next time,
//The Reverend

Fredags Special#4 – Gammal skåpmat

Av , , Bli först att kommentera 3

Vi spinner vidare på samma tema ett tag till, finnes material för minst ett par veckor till. Vi slår på stort denna fredag med en ARCH ENEMY intervju gjord i mitten på December 2001. Intervjuoffret var den relativt nyförvärvade Angela Gossow, som tog över skutan efter sångaren Johan Liiva’s avhopp.

Jag kommer faktiskt ihåg när ARCH ENEMY på sin hemsida lade upp material från kommande plattan "Wages of Sin" 2001 men vägrade att tillkännage den nya sångaren utan ville helt enkelt ha feedback från fansen innan de gick ut med beskedet om att den nya sångaren faktiskt var en sångerska. Fansen hade dock redan talat innan beskedet, de gillade det nya starkt och det var inte många som backade ur även om det nu visade sig vara en kvinna som tog rollen som den nya frontfiguren i bandet.

I mina ögon så ändrade Angela Gossow bilden av en mansdominerad metalvärld förr all framtid, och då säger jag inte att det inte funnits starka kvinnofigurer inom metal sedan tidigare, för det har det. Men inget kvinnofrontat "extrem metal" band hade nog innan nått samma höjder som just Angela Gossow med "sitt" ARCH ENEMY.
Det känns lite löjligt att tänka att det inte ens har gått 10 år sedan detta inträffade med tanke på att det inte är speciellt många ögonbryn som höjs inom dagens scen när det kommer till "growlande" frontkvinnor. Som sagt, Angela Gossow var inte mitt första möte med en kvinnlig "growlerska", men däremot så är hon nog den kvinna som lämnat de störta fotavtrycken efter sig.

Som vanligt så är intervjun nedan oredigerad från dess originalskick då den första gången publicerades 2001, stavfelen m.m får ni på köpet helt enkelt.

——————————————————————————————————————–

I’m sure many of us were surprised in early 2001 about the departure of Johan Liiva and the mysterious new vocalist for Sweden’s best band, Arch Enemy. Fast-forward to very early 2002 and this is what we have, or more appropriately, who we have – Angela Gossow. Although Fraulein Gossow has not been a member of any prominent bands, she is a veteran of the German underground death metal scene with bands such as Asmodina (1991) and Mistress (1998). Both bands released a total of 2 self-financed CDs and a bunch of tapes.

-Interview by: Ryan / Conducted in mid-December 2001-

After the revelation of the new singer, things went well for the first few months following the (Japanese) release of Arch Enemy’s next great opus, "Wages Of Sin."
Until, "my voice left me. So I had to start from the beginning. My nodules are gone now, and I get permanent vocal coaching since August. I hope I can stabilize this situation now and will not develop nodules again,"explains Angela.

Speaking of "Wages Of Sin," it’s definitely the best of 2001 and one of the band’s best ever.
"’Wages Of Sin’ is a great album, but if you want to get the best AE album ever, you have to take some songs from every album and make a new one out of it. I think the sound on "Wages Of Sing" is the best one Arch Enemy ever had," she replies.

It’s quite true if you’ve had the chance to hear it. The material is also more aggressive than in "Burning Bridges," and the next album will be even more hard-hitting.
"Michael and Chris are the riff-masters and kings of melody. We had lots of frustrating moments in the last months, and we used these emotions to write new song-material. It’s fucking brutal!"

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the new album is the vocals. Who would have thought something else catches your attention more than the Amott brothers’ guitars on an Arch Enemy album?
Her response, "They knew somehow this will happen, so they are not pissed off of so. I am a bit afraid of this ’fame.’ I don’t want to disappoint anyone." No one in their right death metal mind can say anything bad about the vocals on "Wages Of Sin."

It also sounds like the rest of the band understands her and they get along. Well, they do.
"Actually, I think more like a guy. I have a pretty rough sense of humour. We have a really great time together!"

I’ve wondered (and you probably have too) if she was a fan of Arch Enemy before she joined.
"I liked their stuff. I had all their albums. My favourite tracks are still ’Bury Me An Angel,’ ’Dead Inside,’ ’Diva Satanica,’ ’The Immortal,’ and ’Burning Bridges.’ But I never loved them as much as I loved Carcass, Death – Chuck, rest in peace! – or Morbid Angel. Nowadays, I prefer Arch Enemy of course."

To me, Arch Enemy’s vocals were the weakest part of the band, until now. I just wasn’t a big fan of Johan Liiva.
"I think his vocals on ’Black Earth’ were just great, fucking brutal, he really sucked on ’Stigmata’ and he was good on ’Burning Bridges.’ And I know that he is a very nice and kind guy – a bit shy though. Not so good when you are supposed to be the front-fighter."

Wonder why "Wages Of Sin" hasn’t been released worldwide yet?
"Show me a band that is happy with Century Media. We had several fights; we wanted to get out of the contract. They wouldn’t let us go, but fighting on would have killed Arch Enemy. So we gave them the "Wages Of Sin" material – a long time ago. Now they will release it in March 2002 after we added lots of bonus material."
North American and European fans will get some bonus tracks and two videos. A double-CD! Even without the second CD, "Wages Of Sin" is worth the wait.

As for tour plans,
"yes, it seems South America and Korea will happen too. Nothing announced yet, but we hope…and discuss…and make plans."
Angela also reveals some songs that she can’t wait to sing live – "’Diva Satanica’ will be my sonic orgasm. Followed by ’Burning Angel’, ’Ravenous,’ ’The Immortal,’ ’Beast Of Man,’ and ’Bury Me An Angel.’"

The unavailability of "Wages Of Sin" outside Japan has forced many to try their luck with MP3s – such as myself. I don’t feel guilty at all because I know I will buy the North American edition
"I don’t feel betrayed when people trade Arch Enemy files. Usually, after I listen to some cool files, I rush into the shop anyway to get the real CD with lyrics, pictures, etc.," says the split-resident of Germany and Sweden.

No matter what artists or record execs argue, MP3s are great for discovering new bands. Unfortunately for Angela,
"I would be glad if somebody could give me a good newcomer’s name. I am so tired of all these clones."

It would be alright with me if there were any Arch Enemy clones, but there are none. No one can match the sheer musicianship of the band, and will most definitely not find a singer that is as talented as she is attractive, at least not in death metal.

// Ryan

 

Fredags Special#3 – Gammal skåpmat

Av , , Bli först att kommentera 2

I och med att denna vecka är tillägnad Black Metal så passar jag på att gräva fram en intervju med ett av mina absoluta favoritband från Finland inom genren, nämligen THYRANE (R.I.P). Detta band är enligt mig väldigt förbisett och underskattat så jag passar därför på att bjuda på en spelare med en låt från samtliga av bandets skivor fram tills bandet lades ner 2005 efter släppet av "Travesty of Heavenly Essence".
Nu träffade jag iof sig på bandets kärna i form av gitarristen/sångaren/trummisen Blastmor på Jalo Metalli två somrar sen och det lät på honom som att det inte var helt omöjligt att något nytt ev. skulle dyka upp i framtiden, fast detta har jag hört förrut från bland annat Blackheim när det kommer till Diabolical Masquerade, detta var då typ 5-6 år sedan. På tal om det, Marcus E. Norman, hur går det med nya Ancient Wisdom plattan? klar snart?…..Riiiiiimaaaaab!!


 

Som vanligt så är intervjun nedan oredigerad från dess originalskick då den första gången publicerades 2001, stavfelen m.m får ni på köpet helt enkelt.

——————————————————————————————————————–


Back in 1997 Finnish Thyrane released a debut demo "Black Harmony" consisting of 35 minutes of pure high-quality Black Metal unlike nothing I had ever heard from Finland. Now after 2 released Full-length albums + a re-issue of their debut demo, it´s time to see where the band stands now. Read what guitarist AVATHER has to say about both this and that.

[ Interview conducted by: Kuntz June2001]

 

Greetings Avather & Thyrane, I want to start out by saying that your last contribution to the world of Metal "The Spirit Of Rebellion" totally blew me away. I´ll start off with a basic question: Tell us a bit of the history of Thyrane, current Line-up etc.??

Ave. Well, it didn´t totally blew you away ´cos we met some time ago…and you were there with your whole presence. Ok, but just a bit.
Thyrane was formed in 94-95. First release was "Black Harmony" demotape in ´97. Then record deal with Woodcut Records and they re-released Black Harmony as a MCD in ´98 and in ´99, first full-length album "Symphonies of Infernality". Then there was record deal made with Spikefarm and they released our  2nd album "The Spirit of Rebellion" in December 2000.
Current line-up is Blastmor: Drums, vocals, guitars. Avather: guitar. Daemon: bass. Hannamari: keyboards. At gigs we have session drummer Toni ´cos Blastmor can´t play guitar and drums at the same time…

Your Demo "Black Harmony" that lead to a record-deal with Woodcut records is one of the best demos I have heard (and believe me I have heard many), it also has a amazing running-time of 35 min. I guess this demo got some great response within the Underground movement when it was unleashed upon the world. You have any numbers on how many copies this demo was spread in??

Yes, it did gain quite good response back then. Too bad that we didn´t spread it that much, I mean that we actually didn´t send it to any record label and only to very few zine.Wise men… We did only spread around some flyers and sold it in some zines, so it´s not strange that we sold it only 250-300 copies. These are also few of the reasons why Woodcut re-released it.

I also have to ask about the band name THYRANE, It often makes me think of MARDUK´s-"Deme Quaden Thyrane" track from their "OPUS NOCTURNE" album. Is there any connection????

The connection is there, that´s where the name was taken from.

If I were to tell you to name 3 great finnish acts/bands to our readers (besides THYRANE that is). What bands would you recommend people to check out??

It could be FUNERIS NOCTURNUM, …AND OCEANS & MOONSORROW

You played live at Nosturi (Helsinki) a couple of month ago along with Norwegian BORKNAGAR & MALIGNANT ETERNAL, how was the response ??? . Any special countries/festivals you would like to play in/at ?? And what is the best live-show you have done according to you so far ???

That gig was quite good experience for us and response was pretty good as well I think, though there was few blunders during some songs, mostly because before that gig, we had rehearsed only once these new songs with our session drummer so there was some forgetfulness in the air…I don´t believe that there´s a country that we would play rather than in some other country. As long as there´s totally crazy and numerous audience, it doesn´t matter where you play.
I would love to play as many countries/festivals as possible. So far best gig must have been in Kuopio´s Valhalla or in Tampere´s Rusty Angel. Good crowd and intense feeling in both places. Those places are both quite small so I think that the best feeling, at least for me comes when you are face to face with your audience, sometimes the distance being only half meter…

Since I personally know that you and at least Blastmor as well are damn wicked beer-drinkers, any special beer that you preffer or is it like "beer as beer"??? Also Whiskey is considered as a Metal "drink" & Kir (well at least it was during the early 90´s and forward by most of the Swedish Metallers). What is your opinion towards Whiskey & other kind of alcoholic beverages besides beer??

Well, if I was in situation when it´s some specific beer or no beer at all, then I don´t care, then it´s beer as beer. But if I have a chance to choose then I´ll take Karhu or Lapin Kulta. I like whiskey very much but as it´s quite expensive and I´m one poor motherfucker, I rarely buy whiskey. About that Kir, I think I don´t even know what it is. All in all I can say that I´ll swallow almost anything. Only exception is maybe white wine which I don´t like, that much…

Considering the future of THYRANE, can you tell if the music is developing in any special direction, maybe into more technical or perhaps back to the more primitive?? You can notice that more and more bands from our neighbour country NORWAY, uses more industrial and even Techno/Rave sounding tunes/beats.(This according to me being a disadvantage for many of the bands that choose to experiment a bit too much.) Is this something that you can speculate in now or is it something that the future will tell???

Hard to say at this point as we´ve just started to think the next album, only few riffs has been made etc. I really can´t say that much yet. All I can say that we are not going to do "The Spirit of Rebellion" again. Though I believe that the new album doesn´t differ THAT much from it´s predecessor. Yes, only future will bring us the answer…

Well, I wanna thank you for this interview and let the last words be yours….

Thank You. Not much last words. If you want to taste some rebellion against the holy and mediocrity, pick up "The Spirit Of Rebellion".

Fredags Special#2 – Gammal skåpmat

Av , , Bli först att kommentera 0

Temat från förra veckan fortsätter denna vecka i form av en intervju med CANNIBAL CORPSE gjord av Dman 1999, ett par veckor innan släppet av "Bloodthirst" plattan. Och som vanligt så är intervjun oredigerad från dess original och må innehålla diverse stavfel etc.

——————————————————————————————————————–
 


This is a never before published CANNIBAL CORPSE interview.
It was concucted by Dman with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz.
This phone-interview took place a couple of weeks before the release of the 1999 album "Bloodthirst".

[Great Fucking Hails to Dman for letting me publish this.]

So how’s life?

It’s pretty good. We are really happy with the new record and we really can’t wait to get on the road so everything is going great.

Yeah I caught your show in Wacken Germany. It was a pretty good turnout despite the rain wasn’t it?

Yeah definitely! We thought it was a very great turn-out. We were there hanging out the day before and you know it was very nice weather and we were hoping well it would be great if it was just like it was that day. And then of course we get there and then it starts raining and we’re thinking it might hamper the show or whatever. But it seemed like it really didn’t and all the people were there watching and it was definitely a lot of fun, it seemed like it was a big success.

You got a chance to meet Chris I guess?

Yeah, we talked to Chris. That was the first time we’ve seen him and talked to him since we kicked him out I guess. So it’s been about four years now. And…yeah, it was an interesting situation.

Any hard feelings or…?

Well not really I mean he came up to us and was being really cool and nice and everything. We talked, me and Alex especially, about a lot of stuff. Mostly what’s been going on in the last few years and bringing up old times of course. But it was definitely a little bit of a bitter break-up when we did kick him out of the band. We were very frustrated and angry, sort of, and mad and there was a lot of things, a lot of bitter things, that happened between us over the years when he was in the band. So I mean there wasn’t any really kind of bitter feelings when we met him, but I don’t think just because we talked to him and have seen him that we’re gonna’ go right back to whatever friends or we’re gonna’ hang out with the guy or anything like that. But it was a good thing, I think it had to be done. It was a positive experience I guess.

I read in a old interview that you were having problems with some German schoolteacher who spread flyers everywhere and tried to cancel your shows in Europe. Where there any problems this time around?

Well, not in Wacken we didn’t hear of any problem like she would have been there or anything. But, yes the last problems stemmed from the last time we were in Europe on the Gallery tour and we actually had to sign some paper saying that we wouldn’t play any songs off of the first three records. And we could have been jailed or fined, I don’t even know what the situation was exactly but it wasn’t something we really wanted to mess with. That’s the only problems we’ve really dealt with. So we’ll find out if there is going to be any more when we come back to do this tour, cause we play a good five-six shows in Germany. So we will see what happens when we do the tour.

Have you ever had any legal problems such as Judas Priest etc.?

Not really. The only thing that has happened I think was a couple of years ago in Portland, Oregon. I think there was a murder or two. Two guys ended up killing some lady and another lady was thought to be dead but she survived or something like that. I think they wore Cannibal Corpse and Deicide shirts. Something with us and Deicide was the big focal point. And everybody got sued that had any to do with the band. Record labels, producers, the studios. They tried to sue as many people that were involved as possible. And it actually came to light. It was on MTV news and stuff like that. I think everything was settled out of court so basically we never had to do anything. We never when to court, we’ve never seen any of the signs or whatever. I guess it became a little bit of a big deal. Really that’s the only thing we’ve kind of had to deal with besides this German woman that is trying to spoil our party. We’ve been pretty lucky I guess.

Vile debuted at number 151 on the American billboard. How did Gallery do?

I know it didn’t debut, it didn’t crack the 200. I know it made heetseeker. It sold well, it’s still selling, and it seems like people actually likes this album better. So it’s kind of weird that Vile did hit it, we were very surprised. We never expected that. It was a good thing and a great feeling and a good accomplishment I guess to be the first death metal band to ever break the 200. We were hoping maybe it would happen with gallery but it didn’t so I guess we’ll see what happens with Bloodthirst. But if it doesn’t we understand, you know, it’s only on the chart only for that week and it has to sell a lot of copies when it gets out. So who knows we’ll see what happens. But if not at least we can say that we did hit the 200:s on one album and we can kind of have that under our belt as a little bit of a credit. It was good!

Your next album, Bloodthirst, is to be released two weeks from now. Are you satisfied with it?

Oh, we’re completely satisfied. We think it’s a great cd, we’re happy with the songs we came up with, and the production using Colin Richardson for the first time was a big plus, and using a new studio really helped our focus and in keeping it fresh and exciting. So yeah we’re really, really happy with the outcome and we can’t wait to get it out there to hear the reactions from all the fans and everything. Cause we’re getting a lot of great response from all the press and all the interviews we’ve been doing. It’s been completely positive. So that’s good.

You’ve been working with Scott Burns for a long time and then on Gallery you switched to Jim Morris. Have you switched producers now again?

Yes! Gallery was a great sounding record, we definitely thought it was the best sounding up to that point in time and Jim did a great job. I think we definitely felt we could get even a better production and we we’re fond of Colin Richardson work in the past. And I know the guitars and Alex of the stringplayers were very in to his guitar sounds and knew he could get that crushing tones that we need. So we really wanted to work with him and we were very fortunate that he gave us the opportunity and we feel that this is the best produced record to date so we’re completely satisfied.

Does it differ in any special way from Gallery?

A little bit. I mean it’s not totally different but I do think the drum sound is the best sound I’ve ever gotten on a record. And I think the guitar sound is definitely a little bit more crushing. It’s not completely different but it’s different in just a little aspects that I think makes it just a little bit better. It was a step up and we’re fortunate and glad that we had the opportunity to work with Colin. And he beeing able to give us the sounds we want.

I’m surprised that you are releasing a new album so fast. I was under the impression you have been touring most of the time since the release of Gallery.

Well we did a lot of touring when Gallery came out, but it seemed like we compacted it all in to a short period of time. So in a way I think it was a little bit too much for us and we got a little bit burnt-out. And once we did a bunch of touring and it was done we almost felt we didn’t want to be on the road for a little bit because as I said we felt a little bit of the burn-out. So pretty much we just started writing material for the new record and we made a little schedule and before we knew it we were going to record in June. So it is pretty quick, kind of like the old days, I know the first three or four records came out like basically once a year. And of course the touring got a little more hectic in between Bleeding up in till Gallery. I can definitely see us doing a little more touring for Bloodthirst. I’m sure we won’t have a record out this quick again. But it’s still never going to be any longer than a year and a half, two years tops, cause I think that’s as long as we want to go without releasing an album. So yeah it is a little quick I think but the fans are happy and we’re happy so lets just keep cranking them out you know.

Here’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for quite some time now actually. You have been verbally attacked by former president candidate Bob Dole and a lot more people. So I think a lot of people were really surprised of your appearance in Ace Ventura – Pet Detective. With I think it was Hammersmashed face. How the hell did that happen?

Ha, ha. Yeah that was very bizarre and we were kind of shocked ourselves. Well Jim Carrey is a fan of death metal and I guess he was on a few talkshows just before the film was going to be filmed and he was talking about how he likes Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse and was really intrigued by the whole thing. So one day we got a call from the record label requesting Cannibal Corpse to do this movie. We were shocked of course and excited to do it. Just the fact that Jim Carrey wanted us to be in the movie was amazing. That’s basically how it came about, it was a lot of fun and a great experience. The movie obviously doing so well helped a little bit, a lot of people had to see Cannibal Corpse and I’m sure a lot of people were exposed to death metal for the first time. Be it only forty-five seconds it’s enough to maybe stir the interest. And we have noticed a few new fans from the movie. A lot of people tell us they saw us in there and it was what got them in to the music. It was a lot of fun and a great thing. It would be nice to do another one ha ha ha…

Here’s a little worn out question I guess but, Tampa was long considered as the capital of death metal.
Now I guess death is on it’s way back so how is the scene down there?

It’s pretty good. I mean there are still a lot of bands of course that live in Tampa. I guess that’s why it was deemed the capital. Also with a lot of bands using Morrisound. It’s ok. Immolation played there just a couple of days ago and it was a pretty decent show. Hateplow just played there a couple of weeks ago and that was good so… I mean there are always shows going on for the most part and the scene is maybe not as strong as it once was but it’s still there and it seems like it’s more on the incline again. We actually haven’t even played in Tampa ourselves in a few years. And I know Morbid Angel, when they played there a few months ago, had a really good show. I think there were about a thousand people. For the bands that have been around and are established like ourselves and Deicide and Morbid, we’re going to have pretty good shows. But even the underground shows with the bands that aren’t maybe as popular
or whatever the shows are still good. So I’d say it’s still thriving.

What do you think of Black Metal?

…I’m personally not really in to it. I think it’s good for us to tour with bands like Dark Funeral and Marduk. Those types of black metal bands that are definitely more brutal than some of the other styles of black metal bands that might just be less brutal. Myself I’m not really in to it so I just don’t listen to it.

What sort of music do you listen to yourself?

I listen to a lot of different stuff now a days. I find myself listening to a lot of stuff I grew up with, a lot of the heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. And then just a lot of different stuff that I guess I’ve really never listened to before in my life that I find myself liking for whatever reasons I don’t know like James Brown and stuff like that. I’ve been listening to a lot of different weird things. And for the other guys, everybody listens to a lot of different stuff but I find myself not really listening to as much of the newer heavy stuff than I used to in the past.
But I still love it, I love to play in Cannibal Corpse and I love our music. It’s kind of weird but I guess it’s just the way life goes.

It used to be Chris who wrote most of the lyrics and now it seems like the whole band though mostly Alex has taken over the burden

Well, actually if you take a look at the credit on Bloodthirst now I’ve taken over the burden, because I wrote six songs on Bloodthirst and Alex wrote five. So yes it’s kind of weird. Alex definitely wrote most of the lyrics for Vile and Gallery, and then all of a sudden Bloodthirst comes out and I end up writing six of the songs. So at this point I definitely think Alex and I are primarily the song writers. We’re having fun at it, we like what we’re coming up with and we think we’re doing a good job at it. And everybody else in the band seems to get in to it. So we feel we’re doing a decent job, a really good job.

Was it hard to start writing lyrics?

In the beginning it was a little bit hard, I think I wrote two songs on Vile and I collaborated on a couple. But it took me a little while cause I haven’t sat down and written lyrics or any type of a story in years. I used to dabble in that when I was a little bit younger. When I wrote lyrics for my previous band before Cannibal Corpse. It was definitely a few years before I wrote anything. So yeah in the beginning it was I guess not tough, you just had to get in to the flow of writing again. I noticed when we started writing for gallery we started picking up a little bit and wrote more songs and for Bloodthirst here like I said writing six of the songs they seemed like they were flowing more easily and I got them done a lot quicker. The ideas flowed better so I would just imagine we’re getting more comfortable writing and as we go we’re just going to get a little bit better and a little bit more tuned in to our style of writing. Improving as we go. We are having fun with it which is most important.

How often do you rehearse? The reason I ask is because on Gallery several of the songs are made by just one or two of the members.

Oh yeah, we are always rehearsing, but I guess the writing process has pretty much differed over the years. When we started out in the beginning it was definitely more of a jam session, like all the bands, where one guy had a riff and we would work out of that and before you knew it we had a song. And everybody contributed. Like Alex might have come up with one part and Jack another part, so it was a big collaboration. As time went on, pretty much starting with Bleeding, that’s when Alex just wanted to go off and write his own song. He’d go home, write the riffs and put them to tape, and say "this is what I’ve got" and we would learn them. And that is how the song would come about. I think beeing the first time on Bloodthirst that every song was written basically that way for the most part like you said. Only on musical credit per song. Alex would go home and record on his fourtrack or whatever and come up to the room with the parts and we would all learn them. And then finally fine-tune them as a band. We practice a lot. We try to practice at least four to five times a week and we’ve been doing that for years. The writing process differed a little bit but we’re always practicing.

Vincent Locke has drawn all your covers . Does he draw the pictures after your requests or is it his own little sick fantasies?

Well a lot of it is mixtures. I know in the beginning obviously Chris wanted to take care of everything. He was the so called spokesperson for the band. And he was dealing with a lot of the business aspects. So I know Chris talked to Vince all the way up in till the Bleeding about what was going to be done on the covers. So of course once we got him out of the band there had to be a new designated person to talk to Vince and I was the man. So I’ve been talking to Vince, ever since we kicked out Chris, about doing the artwork. So actually when we had him do Vile we told him the titles of the song and the title of the record and said "Give it your all!" and that’s what he came up with and we were like "yeah it’s awesome". You know real sick and twisted. We really didn’t change much at all on his basic idea for Vile. When we did Gallery actually it was more of our idea than his. We gave him pretty much of a specific idea what we were looking for in both covers. And he pretty much did it and we did a few minor changes. So I think that’s a little bit more of our vision than his. And the on Bloodthirst it’s kind of back to his vision again. We gave him a few basic ideas and he just went off and did the stuff on his own. So a lot of the stuff were his ideas like on the censored version, which I think is probably what you have, with the weird, twisted kind of baby face creature. That was like all his idea. We never even would have thought of that I think. And Vince was really in to it and we definitely trust his liking and his opinions and sick mind I guess. So we really just went with it. So it differs from album to album I guess but a lot of it is a mixture and he definitely has enough of his own ideas that are on our wavelengths. So it works out perfect for us.

Does any other band use Vince that you know of?

No I don’t think he has done anything else for any other band. We got knowned to him because he was doing his own comic book back in the late eighties, early nineties and the artwork was great. So that’s how we ended up wanting to use the guy. But it is kind of weird cause you’d think someone else would want to contact the guy and want to use his art cause we think the guy is amazing. We are really in to the art and we are fortunate to have him had done all the records. And I guess we are fortunate that no other band uses him cause it kind of gives us our own identity. Kind of like the Iron Maiden thing with Derrick Riggs when he was doing all the covers. It’s pretty cool!

Yeah and his style is really unique as well…

Right! It is definitely unique and I think especially for the ones he did for Bloodthirst. They are very different yet very effective and they are pretty much Cannibal Corpse. They are different pieces of artwork than he has done in for us in the past. But as I said we are really in to him and they are still really sick and twisted.

What about sideprojects? I know Alex is doing something with Eric Rutan.

Well he was, actually he is not any more. He was the original bassplayer for Hate Eternal, which I believe just finally has been released. So he wasn’t playing on the album and he isn’t involved in the band anymore. But he did start out as the first bassplayer for Hate Eternal. He hasn’t been doing anything since then and none of us are really doing anything besides Cannibal Corpse. There is just too much going on with us right now. And there is a lot of things to be done. So right now there are no sideprojects going on.

How is everything working out with George? Is he adapting well?

He’s adapting great and I think on this record he sounds the best that he’s been sounding on any of the three. So he is definitely adapting great, we love his style and he’s gotten better over the years. We couldn’t be happier with his performance. It’s just what we’ve been looking for.

Ok, well that is pretty much it! Do you have anything you would like to add?

Well no, just thanks for the interview, thanks to all the Swedish fans for supporting Cannibal Corpse. And we hope to be up there maybe in April or may playing. Thanks for the support!

Fredags Special – Gammal skåpmat

Av , , Bli först att kommentera 1

I dessa hektiska dagar fyllda av engelsk grammatik, fonetik, textanalys, översättningar m.m så kan jag inte annat än att få lite dåligt samvete över att jag inte riktigt finner den tid jag vill lägga på att uppdatera Blashyrkhbloggen kontinuerligt. Jag fick dock en fix idé om att jag kanske kan återvinna lite gammal skåpmat och använda detta som någon slags "Fredags Special" åtminstone ett par veckor framöver. Det är nämligen så att  jag mellan åren 2001-2003 drev ett "Webzine"  (MetalNorth) och tillsammans men en hel bunt skribenter av olika nationalitet/härkomst faktiskt fick till en helt ok nätblaska. Det blev kanske inte så många intervjuer gjorda men ett par styckna och det var därifån jag tänkte plocka lite, skall även kolla med en viss Mr. Johansson om jag får publicera ett par av hans artiklar osv. 

Denna fredag tänkte  jag dock bjuda er på en kort intervju med legendariske DAN LILKER gjord någon gång under Juli 2001, så om viss info känns inaktuell så är det just för att den är det.

 

Now here is a man that doesn´t need any longer introduction.
Dan Lilker, The man with the band(s). Anthrax, Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault, SOD and more….
And that is a hell of a impressing resumé…So we decided to put the man in question against the wall & ask him some questions about his Rock´n Roll lifestyle….

[Questions by Ancalagon & Kuntz / July 2001.]

Nuclear Assault, Anthrax, Brutal Truth, SOD, Hemlock, Exit-13, The Ravenous, that´s a hell of lot of a bandlist (And probably still some missing, please do fill in). Seems like you have been busy with bands most of the time, ever had a peaceful moment?
You have listed most of the bands I’ve played in except a few projects like Malformed Earthborn, Last Satanic Dance and Extra Hot Sauce. Well, ever since Brutal Truth bit the dust almost 3 years ago, I have not toured so much. But that’s good ’cos I am married now. So, there is time for relaxing with the woman, and of course posting on message boards!!

Any future plans for a Nuclear Assault or Brutal Truth reunion?
There has been talk about doing an N.A. show or 2, but this has not happened yet. Besides that, no, there will be no more activity with these bands.

How is it like being a metal legend?
I’m not the kind of guy to think about it all the time, I know I’ve done a lot
of cool shit but I don’t get ego’d out.
I appreciate the fact that there are a lot of metal freaks out there who have supported my various endeavors, without them, I would not be a "legend"
in the first place!

How do you keep that fucking great hairdo in style?
I use the blood of angels for shampoo.

Have you had a lot of groupies, during your "rock ´n roll" lifestyle??
Before I was married I had some fun here and there… but that was not the reason I started playing music, unlike a lot of people, apparently.
I play metal to keep me sane!

What are your future metal plans or releases?
The Ravenous will record this September for a release next year, SOD will write and record another album (the last one!) next year, and Hemlock is about to record 4 new songs for Steve O’Malley.

What was your most memorable experience playing live? Meaning, any crazy shit like naked chicks dyking out on stage, etc.?
Brutal Truth once had S&M girls onstage in Houston whipping us. That was cool.

What kind of equipment do you use?
Jackson JJ bass, Gallien-Krueger heads, Ampeg SVT cabinets, Sans Amp disortion pedal.

Well don’t want to bore you any longer. Any last words or advise for those striving to become inductees into the metal hall of fame?
Thanx to all metal freaks for keeping the faith. Advice? Uh, smoke pot and don’t get caught wanking.