ROTTING CHRIST

How and when did Rotting Christ form?

 

Back in late 80’s and specifically in 1987 when we decided to “destroy” our conservative world and to create a band that  will sound like our idols back then.Like Venon like Bathory like Celtic Frost.Really tough times my friend.Really tough but full of dreams.

 

When the band first formed did you think it would have lasted this long?

 

No ofcourse.Our goal was to perform once.That was the top of our dream.The story showed something different though.

And to be honest if someone cete a band in order to catch the top I am so sure that he will have no luck.

 

Of all your releases which is your personal favorite and why?

 

There is no fave album for ROTTING CHRIST.This is up to you to decide.Being the only composer of the band I face each album as an instant expression of  my artistic anxiety in the specific time period.It is not good to regret your past for instance.That wmeans that you do not respect your present.

 

What are some of the lyrical topics on your newest release AEALO ?

 

Aealo is refered on the feelings of a warrior  during a battle.Weird feelings,strange feelings,feelings like the feeling of anger,the feeling of fear the feeling of grief and so many other vibrations that can a warrior have during a battle.Listening the album you will feel that you are in the middle of a battle field and you are fighting against your feelings.No it is not a warlike album…I think the opposite.When you end up listening it you feel relieved you will feel like you escaped from the trials that only a war can create!

 

 

How does Rotting Christ go about writing a song? Is it done by one main person or is it more of a group effort?

 

As I told you I am the only composer of the band and when is time to write somehing new I make a self concenbtreation, I am talking with myself a lot, I am exploring some untrodden paths of mysoul and when I feel like have something to say to the listeners I go ahead pre recording in my home studio and then I spread away to the rest band members and all together record .

 

Besides guitar, bass, and drums what other instruments are presented on your newest release?

 

Female traditinal choirs based in Hellenic lament songs that they have their roots back in ancient Greece as well as some traditional instruments .Ofcourse  ROTTING CHRIST are based in the normal triple.GUITAR BASS DRUMS.Do not confuse us with a folk band.

 

Would you like the band to recognized more in the mass commercial markets like Metallica or should it be something that stays underground?

 

Hey man I am ok where I am.I do not want to spend my time with psychologists.I am ok.I do enjoy Metal as I am with my band.I am not ungratefull.

 

How is your label Seasons of Mist Records treating you?

 

Really well and we have a strong and productive corporation.

 

What bands have you currently been listening too?

 

I did like new Slayer’s album .Also Overkill’s new outcome rules.Burzum is great and also Fintroll….

 

For those who have never been to a R.C. show what can they expect from the band at a live concert?

 

 

A fair and an aggressive expression on the stage.A really Metal one that definitelly vibrates you and trip you in our rotting world.

 

If you were to go into ancient battle what weapons would you use and why?

 

My brain…This is my first weapon to use on an ancient or even to a present battle.

 

What are your goals and expectations as a band for 2010?

 

Performing in every corner of this planet that a metal hearts beats.This is the meaning of playing in a band.

 

Does Rotting Christ make a living or do you still have to keep a normal day job?

 

The last years we can earn a part of our living but we are still involving and with some other jobs in order to respond in our obligations.

 

Why did you choose the name Rotting Christ?

 

In order to express our opposition in every kind of conservative ideas that religions express and serve.We just think that all religions are rotting.

 

 Does the band consider themselves Satanists?

 

Rotting Christ is an occult band with knoledge and interest in dark arts.

 

Does the band have wives or children at home?

 

Yes.it is hard to leave them back but we consider ourselves as soldiers…Soldiers of Metal…

 

 If so how do they deal with the band going on tour for such long periods of time?

 

They are used and they support us even if it is hard to leave your kid back…really hard believe me.

 

What’s the craziest place you have played and why?

 

Siberia was an great experience for us.

 

 

Do you see the band together 10 years from now?

 

Fighting in the first row in the battle field.If our health is in good position then you will find us torturing you with our music.

 

Thank you for sharing some time with Keeper Magazine is there anything else you would like to add?

 

Keeper readers…KEEP THE DARK CULT ALIVE

 

SAKIS on behalf of   ROTTING CHRIST

 

Ryan S

 

Suffocation

Legendary and iconic within the death metal  Suffocation
have been a steadfast name assocaited with brutality and bone crushing music
keeper was there in atlanta to interview them.




Keeper: Tells us a bit about the history of suffocation and your impact on the death metal scene?

Terrance Hobbs: This is a long story back in the beginning back in 1989 1988 me frank,  pretty much guy and mike and whole slew of other people during the gelling of this band jammed together and it just so turned out the line up we had for  human waste and the reincremated demo it was Myself, Mike smith,Josh baron, Frank Mullen, Doug cerrito.

After that in 1991 we ended up putting out our first record and had some line up changes during that were josh was no longer our bass player. We ended up getting Chris Richards and mike ended up playing in the band up till our second lp Breeding the Spawn which mind you the production wasn't so great then we ended up getting Dirty bones who ended up recording on the Piercied from within album in 1996 and after that the band has its share of turmoil we ended up no not having dirty bones anymore went through some more line up changes. Things to that nature and we ended up putting out Despise the Sun which was in essence the same band without Mike or without Doug. We had Dave Culross for that that was in 1998 and now 7 years after the band had broken up we got back together with this line up and in turn Guy who had be in the band during the beginning parts of the band when it was forming came back to play with us same with Mike. We had brought Josh back into the picture but it didn't seem to work out during the reunion of the band in 2004 so Derrik Boyer flew in hes been with us ever since. Its 2010 after The Souls to Deny album we put us out the self titled album and we just put out Bloodoath  so thats were your catching us now.


Keeper: Didn't guy used to be in Pyrexia?

Terrance: yeah, he used to be in Pyrexia, Internal bleeding
Derrik used to be in Dying Fetus,Vital Remains, Depricated, Decerepit Birth, so a couple of the guys in the band have had some real road experince with some real bands not some bands you have never heard of its a cool thing.

Keeper: Your latest album BloodOath does it met up to the vision the band had have you achieved with this release what you set out as your goals?


Terrance: well, yeah, throughout the course of time we can always write records but were trying to remain consistent in what we do after 20 years of playing, making records, touring, line up changes, fights you name it.
I think it couldn't have come out better although still writing more riffs for something new. Its all up to the people we still remain the same in our writings and all that it lives up to what we do and as long as we tour people see it I'll be happy till the next one.


Keeper: The live album Close a Chapter Live in Quebec city 2005 whats the story behind this release?

Terrance: we just figured we never did an live album. While we had the opportunity we were out on tour playing some show, we made some recordings and that one sounded pretty good. So we decided to put it out. We had it for sale with us a bit while on the road Relapse Records decided after our contract was done with them they would like to put it out so we said hell why not that's cool.


Keeper: What can fans expect with your upcoming dvd Legacy of Violence?

Terrance: Its going to give you an in-depth look at suffocation the band as a whole coming throughout the course of time. if you look on Youtube you can catch the Frank the Tank trailer check it out.
Its a big collaboration its not just going to be a dvd of interviews its going to be like a movie so it should be really good for you guys. We still got a little more time and footage to submit pretty much the thing is done just waiting on the final details to go through as of yet.



Keeper: what legacy would you like to leave behind with Suffocation?

Terrance: Well I hope I play in suffocation till I am dead and that people will appreciate the music after all these records its its own art form. a lot of people do this but don't know it there going to withstand the test of time my main goal is to keep this original as it was as long as possible.


Keeper: How do you feel about the general perception of death metal in the public that it is said to be a talentless
music and treated as a sideshow joke?

Terrance: Well, the people who don;t think it has talent don't listen to it
and there minds are not opened up enough to metal music as whole shame on them.
As for the perception its slowly growing its just that it hasn't really hit the mainstream market enough where  extreme bands are getting enough recognition it really hurts the music machine now a days with the pirating of music and what not.

Bands make there living  going out playing live and selling records
its an actual business and its an industry it gets the bottom sucked out of it when all the down loadings and things occur.
so hopefully we'll be one of those bands that can survive that test of time. like going records to cassettes to cassettes  to cds to cds to dvds to dvds to digital downloading hopefully we can survive that and so can the music industry.

I think of the perception what the rest of the public at large that the underground supporters are die hard's they will try to stick it out regardless. So hopeful we can make some new fans bring it more to light and keep this thing afloat thought the test of time
especially with the digital downloading and the change over you'll see it in the next 5-10 years.
Anyway you know it does leave a lot to us musicians we work hard at what we do and spend a lot of time you only sell 10,000 copies its hard for us to come down to Atlanta
to play for you and there are only 12 people.
So that's pretty much it I think the scene is still up and coming
it still needs the support of all the fans if you like it
buy a cd buy a poster come up to your fellow band mates ask for an autograph.


Keeper: any final words?

Terrance: Come out and see us hopefully in October we'll have a headlining tour, watch out for the dvd, love to see you guys at the show.
We love our fans keep supporting death metal and keep it brutal.



















Kittie

Since 1999 Canadian metal heads known as KITTIE have been destroying the scene in every corner of the globe. Embarking on yet another tour to support their latest release-"In The Black" Keeper magazine  had the chance to catch up with them and get the latest news about whats going on with these brutal chicks!

Angelgrave: Its been a while since the release of "In The Black"- How has the
 response been?
 
 
Kittie: yup, so far its been really really good, Actually we did headlining tour
 in sept/october in the states and just got back from a european/uk tour, so far its
 been really well received and everyone seems to know the songs and are familiar
 with them, the energy is really high I can't complain.
 
 
Angelgrave: Tell me a little bit about the "Sorrow I know" video and what was
 behind the design and styling’s of the 1930's era?
 
 
Kittie: yeah its supposed to be the prohibition era kind of speakeasy style.
I think for us we've never done a video where we could do a different character or
 dress up make it abit more theatrical. A lot of our videos have been mostly been
 performance and added things that don’t make much sense. So we wanted to do
 something different, we filmed it last July of last year in New York at a real
 speakeasy its like s secret club, they still serve drinks in tea cups 20's style
we worked with some really good hair and make up people it was fun.
 
 
Angelgrave: So You guys landed E1,Dare I say you clawed your way to the top?
 
 
Kittie: Its definitely a good place to be we've had multiple labels over the years
 ups and downs with every experience, and this particular time its nice to be in a
 place were there is a lot of growth in terms of the business aspect of things.
E1 seems to be signing a whole bunch of new bands and established bands all the
 time. I think Black Label Society actually just signed to E1 its definitely a good
 place to be. They've been nothing but kind and pretty much let us do exactly what
 we've wanted, they’ve been very helpful its been a good marriage so far.
 

Angelgrave: Aside from line up change along the way did you have a hard time
 proving yourself because of the whole female factor?

 
Kittie: Of course we continue to struggle with that constantly. I think though a
 lot of it perhaps has to do with our past and when we first came out the age we
 were at when we release our first album a lot of people associate what we do now 
with what we did 10 year ago and to put it bluntly our music is totally different
were we've grown up in the industry and  we've become better musicians. I think the
 proving yourself thing doesn’t have as much to do with the gender thing as it has
 to do with combating the preconceived ideas about what the band is when people hear
 the name kittie they think of "Brackish" most of the time and we're so far removed
 from that now out main thing is to prove our worth as a great extreme metal band
 with longevity.
 

Angelgrave:  Do you have news about the Poisoned Black clothing line?
 
 
Kittie: No, not at this particular moment it took a backseat to the release and
 touring
and stuff like that with the new album previous to the album being release we were 
working on some deals with getting it into stores and developing a little bit
 further with a friend of ours who does a lot of cool stuff in the fashion industry.
 Hopefully in a little while we'll be able to get it up and running, get some new 
designs and what not hopefully in the not to distant future we'll be able to get 
back to that.
 
 
Angelgrave:  Who are your favorite bands right now?
 
 
Kittie:  Umm lets see a favorite bands in general I listen to like all the time
 almost everyday Metallica, Carcass, Pantera stuff like that, lately Kings of Leon I
 know that album is  few years old but its still really good the new behemoth album.
What else I guess the band we were just in tour with in Europe Malecite there from
 the UK there pretty awesome there cd was release last year its really good.
I don’t listen to  much of new music then that, I like to keep with the old metal
 mainstays ya know.
 
 Angelgrave: Who do you guys look up to?
 
 
Kittie: My main influence musically?, Honestly I don't know I don't look up to
 bands or too many people umm for me its more about if I see a great live show it
 inspires me to play better that sort of thing, I don’t have an interchangeable idol or anything
I just enjoy good music and want to better myself as a musician.
 

Angelgrave:  what advice do you have for up and coming musicians?
 
 
Kittie: Anybody can listen to any style of music go to shows and all that sort of thing,
 obviously widely accepted and alot of fun and a great community.
As terms of a becoming a musician and that sort of thing you definite have to hold 
your own ground and practice to become a good musician and a respected musician
you’ll do things that garner respect not the opposite and you'll be good at what
 you do and you necessarily don’t have to play up the gender factor because people
 will already focus on that as it is, just be good at what you do and not let people
 tell you can't do it forever live.
 
 
Angelgrave: How have line up changes effected Kittie?
 
 
Kittie: Oh yeah definitely we've had the same line up for 5 years now that’s about
 half the time we've been in the public eye. I can't really complain We have good
 chemistry with these girls there good friends of ours and everything seems to be on
 the same page, everything is good.
 

AngelGrave: What is the future of Kittie?
 
 
Kittie: of course we d want to definitely be doing more release in the future, in
 
the immediate future we have a tour in march with God Forbid  through the Midwest
 and the northeast of the states and a few Canadian dates you can check those dates
 at Kittierocks.com. A touring festival for the summer a few little tours in between
 we'd like to get back to Europe for festivals we're not really sure with the status
 of that, we definite will not be giving up anytime soon we will be on the road for
 the rest of the year check back on the website for any new dates. Things are always
 crazy and sporadic in the industry you never know what will happen.
 
 
 
Angelgrave: Any final words?
 
Kittie: Thank you very much, See you on tour!.
 
 
 


DISMAL LAPSE -



Since 1999 Chris Barnum and his band  have been a non-stop force in the Northern California underground death grind scene. Their melodic, catchy, and twisted song structures have earned them the respect of listeners worldwide. I caught up with Chris and was lucky enough to get an advance copy of their yet to be released CD entitled "Eon Fragmentation". The sound immediately blew me away. The record reminds me of a combination of Decapitated, Dying Fetus, and Deeds of flesh all traveling on the same killing machine. We are glad that Chris was happy to share some insight on the band....

Q: When and where did Dismal Lapse form, and who are the current members and why did you choose the name Dismal Lapse?
 
A: I started Dismal Lapse under the name BLED in 1999. There's been a lot of member changes and hiatuses, but we're now a very solid 3 piece consisting of Me on Drums and vocals, Evan on guitars, and Jason on bass. When we had to change our name in 2008 I did a lot of searching for a good but original name. I found the two words separately and really liked the meaning behind the words!
 
Q: Why did your band decide on this particular style of metal, obviously there are more accepted, more commercial money making styles of metal to play (laughs). Why Brutal Death and Grind?
 
A: I've always been a metal head and found myself being drawn to heavier and heavier styles. Once I started playing metal I found that it was really hard and drove me to be better. That and the high of a frenzied crowd makes Death metal a lot of fun to do! I'd love to make some money but that is secondary to traveling and sharing what we do with the tight knit brotherhood that makes up the death metal fan base.
 
Q: The new CD "Eon Fragmentation" is amazing and sounds quite a bit different than your first EP "The Nameless Faceless". The sound is more crystal clear and the song structures are insane! What inspired the new sound?
 
A: If you don't get better with every release you should give up. That doesn't mean faster or more technical, it means just writing better songs and pushing your own boundaries. The CD came out very clear because we had more than 3 days to record it!!! The last EP was rushed and we had just finished songs. This time we spent more time writing the material and had 14 days to record the CD. We're very pleased with the outcome. Because it sounds so perfect we've really had to step up our live game...which is a good thing!
 
Q: If you crashed on a desert island and only had 3 CD's in your backpack what bands would they be? Also, how would you use the CD's in a survivalist situation like this?
 
A: (Laughs) Great question!! but the first part is almost impossible!! I listen to everything under the sun but I'll give it a try! I would say The Allman Brothers, Andy McKee and Death. And obviously if someone flew over head I would use them to reflect light. I might also use a piece of one to spear fish and other food.
 
Q: In the time I've been listening to DL you guys have had 3 bassists, finally settling down with your permanent bassist Jason Brehm. He has done an excellent job on the new release. His patented death fingerslap style is uncompromising. How did you find him and how has he helped the band in comparison to previous bassists?
 
A: Jason is the first real bassist we've had! Both the previous guys were guitar players who were playing bass. We live in a very small town and really good bassist that play DM are almost non existent. When we hooked up with Jason we instantly knew he was for us! The chemistry in the band now is great! He also adds a lot of cool stuff to our music instead of just playing the same riffs as the guitar.
 
Q: What is the concept behind your new release title "Eon Fragmentation"?
 
A: Eon fragmentation is about the destruction of time, and the whole process of wasting time. I don't think people realize that the clock only goes forward and when you weight it, it doesn't come back. It's also loosely based on black holes and how you can break time through them.
 
Q: How does DL go about writing a song? Is it one person doing the writing or is it more of a combined effort?
 
A: At first I wrote everything. I played guitar and vocals in the band for the first 8 years. Now it's different. I still write a lot of riffs but Evan has got my style down pretty good and writes a lot of great riffs. Also I was never a lead guitarist so some of the sweeping and uber tech stuff is new since I could never play it!! Now we get together and just start brainstorming and show each other our riffs, then I usually structure the song and we start hammering it out.
 
Q: Some bands prefer to take a sober approach to music while others like to party. Is there a drug of choice for DL? If so, have you ever played under the influence?
 
A: Jason and myself are massive stoners. Evan just likes a beer or two while playing. For me I get way to anxious if I don't smoke. And I don't know if I could write the twisted stuff we play or write the lyrics I do without something to take me away from normal. That being said we all have a massive hatred of chemical substances and drug addicts. We actually write about addicts on the new CD.
 
Q: Having done numerous tours across the U.S., I’m sure you've had some pretty crazy shows, but which show was your craziest experience?
 
A: I would have to say there is a tie! Once was with NILE, we played at a great venue with a packed house and really had a good night! The other was after driving in horrible conditions up to Willits (California) and expecting a small or average show we ended up playing for over 200 people that were going crazy. It was a great show with a very nice payday at the end. The shows that are supposed to suck but turn out rad are always our favorites!
 
Q: Nowadays there are tons of death metal bands popping up everyday. What advice would you give to these younger bands?
 
A: Well when you say death metal do you include all the core stuff? If so I would say don't listen to a very successful band and say, "Let's start a band and play exactly what they're playing". Work hard and never forget the reason why you are playing DM. You gotta really love what you do and always write music for yourself first!
 
Q: What sets DL apart from other bands in the death metal genre?
 
A: I think we use a lot of really different riffs in our songs and we're a 3 piece that creates a lot of sound. Also me doing drums and vox sets us apart from the rest. I think our desire to please our own musical tastes make us write different music.
 
Q: What can we expect from Dismal Lapse in the future?
 
A: A never ending work horse of touring and writing. We're driven like crazy and won't stop tell no one wants to hear us!
 
Q: Thanks for your time, is there anything else you feel people should know about your band?
 
A: And thank you for a non boring interview! We just want to tell people that we work extremely hard at what we do and put everything we have into this band. If you want to support the true Underground DM scene come out to shows and help spread the word about bands you like! Look for us this November as we trek across the US and Canada on this years Underground Alliance tour! Keep you bongs loaded and your mind open!!!! Get our releases and merch at WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DISMALLAPSE  or www.deepsend.com!!


Interviewed By: Anarchy Austin
DEE SNIDER-
There have been many soldiers for Metal, but few who will walk the walk as well as the talk, but one who stands out more than almost any is the legendary Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. I know some of you may disagree and let me explain to me why you are wrong. While some of you were still playing with your first erection or your first act of defiance Dee Snider was in Washington D.C. fighting for our rights and the rights of Metal. So before you snicker, raise your HORNS for the man who raised his voice to let the rest of the world and yelled “We’re Not Going To Take it”
Part 1

KeeperKev: First, I’ve got to say it is a huge honor to speak with you. You’ve always been one of the loudest voices and strongest fighters for the Heavy Metal cause. So tell me about the new website you are promoting.

Dee: Yeah, it’s called www.takebackthehorns.com. I credit my initial inspiration to an article in the Onion a few years back. They were one of the first ones to point out that the horns were being way overused.  At the time I thought it was funny and with all the crap the around me it didn’t really set in. So fast forward a few years later and doing things like this reality show called “Gone Country” and I go to Nashville and I see these country stars throwing the horns, cut to Miley Cyrus on the red carpet in intervening gown throwing the horns. Cut to a moment when I’m talking to an audience at a show out in Vegas, just sort of in passing and the reaction was huge. And I was like wow, I’m not the only one who was noticing this and people got so fired up. We were all like what the fuck! So I was like I’m going to create this website and it’s very self aware. I realize that it’s funny for sure. It’s meant to be tongue n cheek. But at the same time while I was creating this website, I keep going back to this “What the Fuck”. Aol announced a new logo that sports a variety of backgrounds and one of them is Metal horns. This just sort of defines the over use and abuse if the Metal horns and what the fuck makes Aol Metal in any fashion.

KeeperKev: That’s insane! I have a bunch of my friends, who are diehard Metal fans that are sure if we should throw up the metal horns, because no one is associating with Metal anymore and I don’t get it. I remember when I was younger and when we did it everyone told us we were going to Hell, but now all of these supposedly “nice people” are doing it and everyone feels like until we get some sort of control of it Metalheads are almost embarrassed to do it, just because of that fact.

Dee: Oh yeah, and you almost go from getting the humor in it and having fun with it. You’ve got the dos and don’ts section and of course the Metal or not Metal section. Where you can rate photos where people post. But you go back and forth from laughing and having fun with it to a point of going “yeah, but you’ve got to be kidding me”. Betty White?! Betty “Golden Girls” White! I mean, I like Betty White, but that’s just not right. I got a text from a John Mayer concert about people throwing the horns and I’m thinking John Mayer?! If this guy was any more laid back he’d be dead. Yeah, the www.takebackthehorns.com is definitely a fun site. It’s meant to be entertaining. It’s very self aware, but at the same time there is a degree of seriousness about it. The majority of the people signing up are like “we’re pissed off” and are thanking me for taking a moment to point this out and make some sort of statement about it. I’m not trying to get any commercial value out of the site, but maybe after seeing this they might think “maybe there’s something better I can do with my hands in the family picture”.

KeeperKev: Yeah, it’s funny. I still throw up the Metal horns. But a little while back I was talking to some friends about it and I said I wondered what you (Dee) was thinking about all this. I mean you were always one of the strongest supporters and fighters for Metal, you went to D.C. to fight for the rights of Metal. So I had wondered what you thought about all this and then a few weeks back I hear something about you starting up the site ( www.takebackthehorns.com ). So I was wondering if you were going to get pissed off about this.

Dee:  Well, I’ve got a voice. I’ve got an opinion and certainly doesn’t hurt me. I laughed. But you know the one thing that kills me is the lack of solidarity in the Metal community. It’s always bothered me. You can go back to the eighties and I‘m pointing it out. Back then we were much more outcasts. This horns flowing thing shows the level of acceptance Heavy Metal fans and of it’s value. Although that’s a little confused too. At times you’ll see people throwing the horns in a mocking gesture. I’m talking about non-Metalheads. They’ll throw it like “look at me I’m Metal and it‘s cool”. So you look at this like “are making fun of us or you wish you were a Headbanger”? So that can be a very confusing thing as well. In other words it’s the lack of solidarity in the Metal community. And I’ll get the occasional pot shot where people will say “who the fuck is Dee Snider to do this. He’s the problem” and I’m like are you fucking kidding me! Someone’s trying to make a statement and you’re going to tear him down. I mean the majority of people are like “go for it”. Especially because of the Washington thing. I definitely have respect in the Metal community. So I’m like let me use my voice and my position to say “Hey. No it‘s not fucking right”.

KeeperKev: It’s funny that you mention the solidarity, because that’s what we’re trying to do with Keeper Magazine. We’re trying to make Metal a family like it’s supposed to be. There was a time back when I was playing in one of my old bands where people were coming out to help support each other and everyone wants to make a buck, but it started becoming “every man for himself” type of thing. I have issues with that. I mean Metal’s never been about the money. It was never about who can sell more records. To me it’s always been like a family, a bond and a kind of kinship.

Dee: Well, it should be and I applaud your magazine for that. It’s like you don’t have to like it all, but at least be accepting and as “who am I”, I’m the original Headbanger. At fifty four years old I was there at the Sabbath 1, Zeppelin 1, the first albums. In 1970 I was in an all Black Sabbath band and I celebrated the death of the Woodstock nation and did my part to tear the fucker down. And I support it and I love it all, from Pop Metal to the new Hardcore Metal. I love a lot of the new bands. This is the definition. If the vocals are going forward, if the drums are thunderous, if the bass is booming, if the guitars are slashing and powerful, then that’s Metal. It’s all Metal and we should be supporting it.

KeeperKev: That’s actually something I had wanted to ask you. I mean you being one of the original and one of the strongest voices for Metal. Being there at it’s inception in the seventies and early eighties. How do you see Metal now.

Dee: It’s getting healthy again. We suffered a near fatal blow in the early nineties and I won’t say it’s self inflicted, but you’ve got to take responsibility. It needed to be cut down. And with the Hair Metal movement, the record companies will use that and do as they will often do is try find out how to make it a money maker. They figured a way to formulize it and in the process of formulizing it, they watered it down, exploited it and turned it into a pile of bullshit. And in a reaction we had Grunge, which I enjoyed a lot of the bands, because they were very metallic by nature anyway. If you look at bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. They were Metal bands originally. Even Pearl Jam was a Hair Metal band before they got Vedder in the band. The biggest change to me was the middle finger factor. It went from being a middle finger raised high and a fuck you to the world, to being a whining and complaining form of music and that’s not Metal. And when that kicked in we lost an important element that young people, especially young males need. They need music that says “Fuck You”. So a lot of them drifted and went to the Hip Hop community and that’s when the whole change went to Hip Hop, because Hip Hop provided that release and was that middle finger. I don’t know if you agree with me or if people really observed that, but that really hurt us. We need that element. I’m very into a lot of new bands and I’m seeing that “Fuck You”. Some of these “Screamo” bands are missing the point, but I like that middle finger. Metal’s got to have a middle finger.

KeeperKev



 DevilDriver
We caught up with charismatic Devildriver  front man Dez Fafara on tour in Atlanta Ga to inquire about the new release “Pray for Villains” and how life is on the road.Here is what he had to say:

Keeper: What is the history of the Devildriver and how did you met up with your future band mates?

Dez: Well the history of the band is we formed in 2002. When we met up I moved to Santa Barbra California I do not longer live there. I was having a barbecue  and some people  started coming over and one guy knew another guy so we started jamming. I told them I was going to leave coal chamber as the situation in that band wasn't all that great.
we formed the band and we were together all of 6 months before we recorded our first record and now we’re getting ready to record our 10th album in April or may.


Keeper: With your latest album "Pray for the Villains" have you achieved the goals you set out to meet with this album, how have the fans reactions been?

Dez: Accolades have been coming down really strong on this album.
We’ve been getting 9 out of 10’s  and 10 out of 10's the fans have been really open to the direction we took stretching our wings a  little bit its good to see.

Keeper: when you started this band what were your goals and aspirations and where do you see devildriver going in 20 years?

Dez: Form a brotherhood, have a good time, tour the world. Start from scratch like we did get back in a band and open for everybody who ever opened for coal chamber and restart again and get it to the point is is now.

Keeper: Your still opening shows?

Dez: Yeah, for people bigger then us, that was the goal to start this thing organically from the beginning and it's been very successful.

Keeper: What would be you dream tour?

Dez Tour with Metallica it would be a good time. We got some shows coming up with them in June, I hope it turns into more. It'll be over seas.

Keeper: How’s the tour been so far?

Dez: Excellent, I put this package together cause I knew it would be fun
thy will be done suffocation goatwhore everyone’s been hanging out on every night on everyone’s buses it been a good time.

Keeper: Did you ever consider any other names for the band besides DevilDriver?

Dez: Yeah, we were called  Deathride but it was something that had to do with trade marking so we had to change the name. My wife was going through my many many books on witchcraft and found the name Devildriver in a raven grimosie Italian witchcraft book it sounded heavy as hell, it means to drive away evil.

Keeper: Where does the bands icon The Cross of Confusion come from?

Dez: Its centuries old, staple throughout cultures its basically means to question  religion, question Christianity we turned it around to mean question everything its perfect for me man.

Keeper: Have you ever faced any persecution of boycotting of shows do to the bands name?

Dez: We were scheduled to go to south Africa and we were looking really forward to it. The south African government and a few townships banned us due to the name, but they had no idea what it means anyway, it means to drive away evil. So the Christians are stupid there fucking sheep I don't mean like that I mean like there followers.

I don’t have anything against one form of religion or another I think organized religion as a whole is based on control and money period.

Keeper: How was it working with the legendary Collin Richardson?

Dez: It was killer we  love that guy had a great time with him. Going back to Sonic Ranch this time when we go to and were going to use Scotty Mark Lewis for this next record and Andy Sneap is going to mix it it's going to be huge and heavy as hell?

Keeper: What does the title "The Fury of our Makers Hand" mean to you personally and where did it come from and is it a reference to the dark lord Satan?

Dez: No it is not a reference to Satan, and it came from my head and the fury of our makers hand what does it mean We'll find out when we die.

Keeper: Anything to add?

Dez: Thanks to anyone who has come out to support us.
AngelGrave

Hate Eternal

Erik Rutan, A man known for His extensive death metal habits of writing and producing some of the metal scenes most brutal albums ,Not only of his own band Hate Eternal, but of many great bands known throughout the planet, This is a guy who’s talent has exploded in the face of metal and will continue to blood soak the scene for years to come!

Angelgrave- The new album “fury and flames” is your 4th album want to tell me about it?

Erik- febuary 2008 first album on metal blade,

Angelgrave- I was reading another interview you referenced Mozart’s requiem about your album?

Erik- With Jared passing away, I wanted to create an album that was a sentiment of how I was feeling at the time which was pretty crappy, I had been talking to Jared coming back to the band, ever since he had left he had left cause he had to take care of something’s of his life he was doing well it was a real shocker that he passed away, so when he died I took some time to reflect on everything and decided If I was going to continue honestly after consoling with his family and friends I decided this is everything, Hate Eternal is everything to me, same with producing there the two things I love so I just focused on making “Fury and Flames” really a requiemess album dedicated to Jared I felt what couldn’t be better way to honor someone one of my best friends a great part of the bands history then to write an album for him,
It also made it the hardest album I’ve ever done cause I had an heavy heart during the album, it was a pretty intense ting I was working a lot I had produced 9 albums in a row leading up to “Fury and Flames”
By the time I did “Fury and Flames” I was burnt emotionally and physically I put everything I had into it.

Angelgrave- Why was your set so short tonight?

Erik- That’s the allotment we get, that’s what we do , I am humble guy I am just happy to be on tour with cannibal corpse and hate breed 25 minutes of Hate Eternal still gets the point across.

Angelgrave- You’ve had a lot of hurdles to overcome like a chipped vertebrae in your neck?

Erik- Randy my old bass player was driving in the snow, I was sleeping in the back of the van.
I woke up hearing “oh shit oh shit” then I woke up in the front of the van, we had gone into a ditch and the trailer had swung around and hit the window where I was sleeping and hit my whole body .I ended up in the front of the van, I had glass and snow in my face and I chipped my 6th vertebrae ! I was down and out for about 4 months trying to recover, I couldn’t really feel my fingers because all my nerves were out of wack ,so I had to get my act together, Hence the van without the trailer[points to the van we were leaning on] I spent 60 grand on this thing because after that I got nervous about the trailer, we got 5 bunks in there so we can sleep everybody and you can stand in there, its funny it looks big ,my girlfriend drives it all the time it drives like champ, So I saved up some money and bought this,[ points at the oddly shaped van again] the sprinter is like a Mercedes Bens everyone tours with these in Europe.

Angelgrave- So including the accident you had even more hurdles, Lineup change, after line up change, then getting Shaun back into the band?

Erik- yeah, Shaun ,he’s been a friend of mine for along time, he’s never toured and I wanted to give him an opportunity to get a taste of it, With “Fury and Flames” he wrote one song and came in last minute, he’s friend of mine he wasn’t doing so well, so I wanted to give him a chance to see the world and tour, I kinda told him when he got in the band ,he was like the reason he never joined the band before was because he said he wasn’t sure he was going to like touring, and wasn’t sure if he was cut out for this shit. I said listen if it doesn’t work out, it don’t work out, and well it didn’t work out. Touring is hard, its not easy, I hate to say it ,Shaun is a great friend of mine and a great guitar player, but I feel most comfortable as a 3 piece ,I’m so use to being on that right side, its super tight as a 3 piece it always has been through all the incarnations of the band, I think it will stay that way, I have no regrets about Shaun. He got to go to Europe ,otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten to tour, just trying to help out a friend in a bind, he was in ripping corpse with me. Some people take to touring and some don’t, not that he didn’t enjoy himself. Touring is grueling ,its a lot of work, its not one big party when your driving 500 miles. Last night we drove 500 miles here, tonight we have to drive another 400 to Jacksonville, its grueling stuff, we got a show in new Orleans, then Houston, then next thing you know were in California, no regrets when it comes to the band there’s not many regrets I have.
I’ve had a lot of people in the band over the 12 years, just people don’t realize how much work it takes to do a band, The funny thing is, I do most of the work, I produce the albums I do the biz, haha, I like to think when people join the band they don’t have to worry about a lot of shit besides playing and feeling good, I try to take as much as possible on my shoulders.
The good thing about hate eternal is we, at the best place’s we’ve been as a line up as being on metal blade its an amazing label and the Hg group which is one of the best fucking agents period, our traveling arrangements have improved.

Angelgrave- Tell us about your studio?

Erik- the studio is another branch of who I am I guess, working with Cannibal Corpse obviously producing the last to records was great, working with Vital Remains and I’ve been working with a lot of great bands for along time. Its something that comes natural to me, I went to school for engineering along time ago before I joined Morbid Angel and its something I’ve always wanted to do, own my own studio. I feel like a 6th member of the band when I am in there, I understand the music, I understand all the elements, I’ve played with the best drummers the best anybody -I’ve never played with an average anybody, so I’ve been very lucky and spoiled to play with such incredible musicians during my tenure.

Angelgrave- You Don’t have that attitude, as far as your success goes its not going to your head

Erik- No I don’t, I like to think I am one of the more humble guys considering the amount of stuff I’ve done in my career the more I do the humble I am, were some guys the more they do the more rockstar asshole they become but, I never looked at it because your successful you should become an asshole,
I try to take time to talk to the fans every night I am just one of those guys I grew up listening to slayer I am like everybody else I really try to associate with the people who listen to my music if it wasn’t for them, the minute people stop caring I loose my inspiration it’s a two way street here, I never understood the rock star mentality.


Angelgrave- what do you think about the internet and music?, Do you think its killer music?

Erik- Yeah its tough, for musicians and bands starting out now good luck, they need it I see it across the board I play in a band and own a studio, so record sales are slumping hence record budgets are smaller hence I got bands coming to me with much smaller budgets then a few years ago
To sell records now you have to do non-stop touring and get out there and really work your ass off, there are some positives as people get to hear music and may go out and buy the record, but when a kid can download a whole album for free he’s not going to ask mom for 12 bucks, when you can just go on lime wire and whatnot and download it its hurting the musicians, the musicians like us its really hard the whole music industry is changing. For me my whole life is music between the studio and the band so aim having to be more thrifty about succeeding on a finical level with the studio, its a huge I got an a and abs room, its gigantic It’s a really nice place, my partner actually spent along time building it just you gotta be really thrifty, iam already a thrifty guy but iam realizing I have to be more thrifty more entrepreneurially
Trying to capitalize on my business market yourself better, Iam one person so its kinda hard.

Angelgrave- you still chill with the guys from Morbid Angel?

Erik- oh yeah I still talk to those guys, I talked to David about a week ago, they’ve not played in the states in a long time its been years, I did shows with them back in 2006 at wacken and stuff the guy tony who replaced me , I don’t know what happen to them, they called me and I always told them if you need help with anything I am down, there like family to me, I’ll do anything to help out Morbid Angel
It was fun to come back after all these years I’ve not played with David in ten years, so it was a lot of fun.


Angelgrave- So whats the legacy Erik Rutan wants to leave behind when he’s done?

Erik- A big long one, you look at my rap sheet and it says Holy shit, I hope some day I will be acknowledged as the guy who was a really huge part of death metal, I feel I want to be a bigger part than I am, I try to give back to the scene by creating quality death metal and producing quality death metal records, death metal is dying breed right now, pure death metal is in a dormant state, newer bands coming out aren’t death metal.

Angelgrave- The definition of the genre is changing ,all these newer generation coming into the age of metal are calling themselves death metal , but there doing it a little different adding new elements and its changing the genre do you see this?

Erik- I think a lot of the bands nowadays calling themselves death metal, I don’t really feel they are, In my opinion I am not saying its right or wrong, its more hybrid death metal you know? death metal like: Cannibal corpse, Morbid angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Nile, Krisiun, Immolation, Origin are the first bands that come to mind for me when you say death metal, The newer bands ,not that there not great for what the do, just they are a hybrid of death metal, breakdowns ,argeppigos and all this crazy shit, I kind feel its not really death metal it’s a hybrid form of death metal in my opinion .They have blast beats and death vocals I am not saying its right or wrong, but for me I’m always going to play death metal and when I’m done its going to be death metal the last record I will do will be death metal.
I want a legacy of death metal, when someone goes to wikipedia and it says death metal somewhere my name will be tossed in there, Decibel did a top 20 guitarist of death metal and I was number 10, I was really happy a bout that, cool, I’ll take ten I’m fine with it. I don’t need to be at the top of the list as long as I’m on the list, its like producers there’s a lot of great producers out there a lot of bands who contact me are like we’re talking to: Collin Richards, Andy Sneap, Zeus a lot of guys out there if there even mentioning me at the bottom of the list with those names I’m happy to be there.


Angelgrave- What music do you listen to when your relaxing?

Erik- I love classical music a lot .I listen to a lot of it when in the frame of mind and Iranian music and middle eastern music, when were driving I’m listening to Nile or all sort of demos, its good driving music, I love Iron Maiden, and Nevermore is a band I really like, I like all kinds of music there’s only some kinds I don’t like I can appreciate all kinds of music, with death metal kinda changing becoming a hybrid of music most of the bands coming out I can appreciate the talent and skill level of the music I just happen to be a purist of death metal, so I am staying where I am with my sound, I’ve been doing this for 20 years I don’t see it changing anytime soon, I write angry, evil pissed ,off death metal
that’s just who I am, its therapeutic that why iam a happy person.




Angelgrave- What do you tune to?

Erik- C sharp standard


Angelgrave- Lets go through your rig real quick

Erik- Sure, right now I am playing through a La Boga , mister hector and a Engel power ball
Though some marshall jcm 800,900 and vintage 30 cabinets, I try to get a blend with a tube screamer
A noise suppressor ,a delay reverb pedal with a eq mid range boost for my solos and a morely bad horsy wah to accentuate the harmonics, if its good enough for Steve its good enough for me, That’s pretty much my rig, I change it up from time to time I have a plethora of amps at my studio, I am a marshall guy at heart, I tend to leave them at home there getting older and I value them and I got these endorsements from la boga and Engel and I love playing them they sound great.

Angelgrave- Thank you, you gave me an awesome interview

Erik- Thank you, its not my first interview on the road haha.

Bobby Blitz(OVERKILL)
Angelgrave



Keeper: so you have been around since 1980?

Bobby Blitz: We were signed in 84 released in 85
its always been steady constant committed to principals and alot of tenacity and hard work but its what we love doing, these are not complaints just observations.


Keeper: Your new release is called IronBound and it will not be released till next year?

Bobby: Yes, E1 is going to release it the first week of February.


Keeper: Your going on tour in Europe to support the album?

Bobby: That’s correct ,the European release is about 10 days to 2 weeks
Prior ,due to the strength of the Euro, they do not want to be
flooded with American imports(laughter), so its just a business move. We start our Euro tour in the Netherlands on the 6th of February, from there it takes us through the majority of western Europe
for a month then south America is in March ,then our U.S. tour starts in April on the first. Some U.S. dates are Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Connecticut , California dates, also some Canadian dates,denver, Seattle, Portland, new York.

Keeper: On the last couple tours have you guys been seeing alot of new faces in the crowd like new fans?

Bobby: One thing that I think is unique to this music is its transcendence of generation, with regards to it appreciate and regards to those who create it, there’s alot of young thrash fans out there which is pretty neat to see after 25 years when it really started that there is new found interest in this. If I am to be honest its probably due to some of the similar social political situations this started under, you know that kind of scream in the dark, or that fire in the night approach to the scene and I see that now with newer bands which is pretty interesting and quite cool to see a flag being passed to newer creativity.

Keeper: So, who do you credit for the longevity of Overkill?

Bobby: Viagra(laughs),I think its about the principals remaining the same, it was done for the love and that’s a strong emotion when you love something you protect it. It doesn’t seem to go hand and hand with what the scene is about ,but there is a big love a big sense of community, those who support and those who create it. But I think over time when I look back what really kept it was living in the day, if we could live day to day at the highest level we can to promote this band ,and we take that attitude into the next day. Days turn into years and that’s the key principal to keeping it around.

Keeper: I heard you stroked out during one of your sets onstage?

Bobby: I’ve never heard it put that way(Laughs), What happen was no painful experience, this was, I had dabbled in drugs in the early days and experienced many different highs that were self induced this was
somewhere between tequila and Quaaludes, this was not an awful experience, I remember the lights going out and then the lights came up, everything in slow motion then the sound going away, it was a quick shut down with regards to neurons. I am predisposed to it due to family, through genetics there was nothing I could do to avoid it. I never saw it coming, it hit me out of the blue, it was a moment
in time. What went through my mind was “what the fuck just happen”? And the second thing that went through my mind was someone told me I just had a stroke and iam getting married in two weeks, I hope my little bobby is still working.(laughs) Which shows were our priorities are
as men. It was never an issue for me, I was taken to place were there are people in much worse shape then me, and I realized my situation on a scale of one to ten even being damaged was a nine and a half, I wasn't damaged I was in good shape. I lived through it and I think its also one of the principals we have its not about the problem everyone has those, its about getting through those problems and coming out the other side, and really learning from it. If it taught me anything, it was really live more in the day, have
more of that type of an attitude, you never know when you will get hit by a bus or whatever. I tell my wife when I leave the house its a joke we have "Honey I am leaving yeah I know if I get hit by a bus put on your grave stone it was a great ride" I think that’s a good way to live in the present., You know it was weird, we got married over in Europe and when I got back first thing I did was I hopped on my bike and she had said to me: "what are you doing?" and I said to her "Well I gotta know" and she goes "well I guess your you" so I hopped on it and I could only make left turns so it took about 4 hours to make it home, the idea is yes it was life was normal after that it wasn’t a matter of readjusting anything or changing my life I never knew it was coming and It may never come
again.



Keeper: Do you think OverKill is a thrash legend?

Bobby: I don't know about that. Again if you think of yourself in the day you don't think with regards to that word the definition does not fit. Ironbound is very contemporary offering legendary to me means
traditional we've reinvented our past over the years we've been able to stay in contact with what we started with regards to ourselves and reinvent that from year to year. Ironbound for instance is the most contemporary offering we have to date with regard to timing its a big mix, its pedal to the metal
its a thrash and bash beat'em up. It also has a contemporary guitar wove through the whole thing it lends itself to progressive side of music its an unique offering for us.
Legendary is something that I don’t tread there so Iam not doing this if I had my choice I would do it for as long as I can. Legendary I do not think in those terms.


Keeper: What is the biggest industry change you've witnessed over the years, as far as how the industry runs everything?


Bobby: Obvious instantious information, when I started promotion was done via telephone, flyers on the windows of cars that’s how you got your name out in the early days pre signing being signed it was magazine articles and print ad. Where now its the information is instantious
and I think you have to stay with that, its been the downfall of the industry and also been a feather in its cap. Cause whats fresh is fresh and metal is metal and its an overcrowded scene right now with regards to the amount of bands that are in it. I think when people can get the information right away whether to know when a band is touring or when a band is releasing or to be able to download that song it becomes a positive aspect to whats going on as current as today, it still has to be done in balance, I think with regard to the biggest change its the internet and the downloads.


Keeper: Do you think it helps or hurts the industry?


Bobby: Well that’s also in balance, because some people take advantage of it obviously and lent the record companies to eaten themselves they cast blame to in many cases to the downloader but also they have made it available for this. For years they put themselves in situations especially the big majors the profits were so out of control they needed some type or balance or mediation to make it more level. People shouldn’t have to pay, you can’t support every metal band its not possible or feasible to do finically so the
point is you have to know what you want to support so a download is necessary to some degree. Does it hurt yeah sure it hurts the record companies and we'd like to see a balance struck between the hurt and the positive end of profit.


Keeper: You've have had a lot of line up changes over the years a lot, do you
think you've gained some talent or lost some talent because of
this?

Bobby: Well you know we talked early about a personal situation I went through and its how I perceived the situation that gives me the opportunity to come out the other side. So when a lineup change
happens you can say "Oh man we're really losing someone that’s awful” or you can say "he had to go because he wanted to go and if he doesn’t want to be here maybe its best we have someone who does"
and if you have someone who does want to be there for instance of the situation of a lineup change it gives you the opportunity to have new energy instilled into something that already exist
its changes the chemistry its really a positive thing. Its how you perceive it to be, I don’t think we're not the kind of people who perceive it necessarily negative, Its really about saying we have to go ahead with this under all circumstances so if something like a lineup change is necessary or someone leaves
we say whats next?, where do we look?, I think having that attitude
gives up the opportunity to make the most of every situation.


Keeper: Whats your most funniest tour memory?

Bobby: I was a big MotorHead fan, I still am a big MotorHead fan, I toured with them in 1988 and also toured with them in 2007,there the same people its a great testimony to the boys in that band doing what the love to do, there the kinda guys who are the most fun and also at the same time most gentlemanly on the road, its a combination of fun and manners, I think its a unique situation to be that way. To have met them in 88 and also have relived it in 2007, so that was the coolest thing ever the two motorhead tours I did.


Keeper: You guys ever have any jokes or antics while one tour?

Bobby: We were coming on stage at place called sellbrook in Germany, its was really hot. There was a bunch of openers that proceeded us we ,went on right before motorhead. There was this big kind of foyer where there were couches and iall the dressing rooms where off that big room. Our dressing room was to the right, Motorhead's were to the left, and everybody from the opening acts and Motorhead were out
there and my guys were standing outside the room as if it was locked, so we were just off stage sweating. I said whats going on? My partner D.D. says: "Motorhead turned the heat up in the room its 120 degrees in there, you can’t go in there you'll die" I think "Fuck Motorhead" and I open the door and there's Phil Campbell from Motorhead he's sitting in an little old mans hat and he’s stark naked in the middle of the room with a porno having his way with himself and I am thinking to myself, only the English would do this, SO I guess the joke was on me.



Keeper: Can you pinpoint some musical influences‘?

Bobby: We were born of I always like to think of it as a combination of the new wave of British heavy metal and the American punk rock scene in the late 70's the early 80's, I mean we were kids growing up during this time and we are a combination of the two not to say this is a punk band but we have always have a punk perspective and punk energy and I think that is quite unique with regard to what gives us an original type vibe to this.


Keeper: How old were you when you knew you wanted to be in a band?


Bobby: Me, I was playing air guitar in front of the mirror at 13, I think had my first bass guitar 6 months later!


Keeper: Did you family support you on that?


Bobby: My family supported me, my mother had cut a few records when she was younger, so it was kind of a family situation never a problem in regards to my family it was always a matter of support.



Keeper: Your trademark vocals every time anyone puts on an Overkill album
blinded to see who it is, out come your vocals and they know who it is. Anything to say about that?


Bobby: Its a god given thing, I mean I know how to use them they've always worked for me never failed with regard to what I have tried to do. Its just really the natural approach I don’t worry about it at all
Its real simple for me, use it when necessary and don’t worry about it and don’t over do it.


Keeper: on Ironbound, do you stay with the same vocal style?

Bobby: I think so, I am never afraid to learning new things I think that’s huge with this. Once you stop learning you stop the growth. Its necessary that learning happens, there’s some new approaches but
its identifiably me. The reason that's so is I’ve been writing with D.D. for 25 years and I know what to expect from him he knows what to expect from me and I think its has minimal but some
experimentation in between its what I want that’s important.


Keeper: Any final words?

Bobby: We look forward to 2010 and look for Ironbound you'll be surprised.

Belphegor


Being able to sit down Helmuth from Austria’s Belphegor was an experience ill never forget!
I half expected him to be chomping on some raw meat and dabbing blood off his mouth with a parchment made of female flesh . But my imagination escapes me as he humbly walked over for an interview and introduced himself…

AngelGrave- So, how many languages do you speak ?

Helmuth-Uhh German and English a little bit of Latin. Austrian is a little bit different then German.

Angelgrave- So Austria has two things? Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Belphegor? !


Helmuth- We also have Mozart and Adolph hitler ya know! ( hahaha)

AngelGrave- Hitler !yeah , we all know about that guy !
So , you are half way through your U.S tour , how’s it going for you guys so far?

Helmuth- yeah! Its cool you know .. Every one show’s up ! We are doing good every thing is effective, people like our shit you know, we are different then all the bands , we play a different style of music,

AngelGrave- You are definitely on a tour with bands that are different what Belphegor is Heathen fest is mostly all folk metal and pirate metal bands where as Belphegor is well . Not ! ( haha What do you think about that?

Helmuth-Yeah , he said lets do it cus its different , its like a challenge to us, new experience you know?

AngelGrave- So are you used to seeing guys dressed in kilts at a Belphegor concert in Austria?

Helmuth- No! No fucking way! That’s what I like about the U.S.A , because people are more open mined when it comes to music, because in Europe people would say fuck off you know?!

AngelGrave - So is this your 5th time in the unite states?
 
Helmuth- this is our 6th time! I like it every time! its always been my dream to be able to tour in the U.S.A
 
AngelGrave - What would be your dream tour if you could put together any bands past or present, who would you pick?

Helmuth- First I would pick Black Sabbath with Tony Iommie, Of course Ozzy Ozbourne ,I also respect Dio for his role in black Sabbath, Slayer and Mozart! Maybe some fucking Maiden!

AngelGrave-When Belphegor was starting out as a band in Austria , did you ever face any discriminations or censorships because of your music?

Helmuth- Well yeah, people in Austria are very closed minded you know , with all the problems with the church, restrictions here and there, but we like it ,its not a problem, we piss on there face and say fuck You! We do what we want !

AngelGrave- So you have a second Guitar player on tour with you , is this a permanent thing or just for the tour?

Helmuth- its like a permanent thing.. In the end its me and the bass player for Belphegor its not just business we drink together , we party, sometimes share a woman you know haha.



Angelgrave- whats the difference between Walpurgis rites hexxenwahan and your last one which was
Bondage goat zombie?

Helmuth- I don’t know when it comes to concept it’s totally different, the last album was about B.D.S.M and masochistic stuff the new one is about witches and witchcraft, music wise its typical belphegor was always try to develop our sound get better as musicians more advanced, get better sound, you know always first place.

Angelgrave- Lets talk about your debauchery and your B.D.S.M thing, how big is that a part of your life?

Helmuth- Its all about the sluts some like it some don’t I like the B.D.S.M stuff.


Angelgrave- Do you consider yourself to be black metal?

Helmuth- I don’t label my sound its about extreme metal extremity if I had to label it
I would call it death metal.

Angelgrave- How many videos do you have out?

Helmuth- for the new album we just did one for “German name” the whole song is in the German language its a cool song we spend three days its about excess and everything its cool.

Angelgrave- The goat head has become your mascot?

Helmut- its a great mascot we can’t really do it at home, it’s a real goat died of cancer or whatnot.

Angelgrave- what do you do on your downtime?

Helmut- I don’t know we spend a lot of time on shows its all about the band its our life, a lot of
Energy is put into it, its important to us to be authentic when I come home to my family I am the same,
You know its important to practice what you preach don’t say ok we are so evil, then be different.
Be authentic.

Angelgrave- Got any advice for bands who want to go out there and spread blasphemy and be like belphegor

Helmut- yeah sure, music, Satan, art, go for it.

By AngelGrave

COATHANGER ABORTION
BY Sebastian LeQuire

Keeper: how did the band begin?

Jay and Scott: Me and Scott met at a haunted house we we're both working
he was doing the torture room and I was doing the Christine scene
where the front of the 57 Chevy is coming at you I had to yank it back all night that’s how we met. He was working with friend sof mine and one of them was a bass player I was jamming with and he was a drummer so it worked out.

Keeper: How many Line up changes have you had?

Jay and Scott: That wasn't even anything that band played one show and we were probly that was called execration at the time after that band broke up it was just me and him and that how’s coathanger abortion started it wasn’t called that at the time , that was about 1991
then we played just me and jay for a while a few others buy mainly just me and him then I stopped playing for 2 years got another set
then in 2001 we started jamming again and we got Billy who had played in bands with us before back in the 90's, then Billy ended up being the vocalist for a while in the original band its just those kind of longtime friendship ya know.

we had jammed pretty solid for a year and half the first 9 months we were just bass,drums,guitar before we got the first vocalist
we weren’t that worried about the vocals at the time we were just jamming in the garage anyway it was about the music for us
our first show was a battle of the bands pay to play we got out there and the response we got was how tight we were being a well rehearsed band for just playing for the fun of it and practicing 3 times a week because we want to do. That was the response we got and that was it out first gig a battle of the bands paying 25 dollars to play and not winning cause we're death metal.


Keeper: Being from a scene that really doesn’t have metal scene how hard has it been for you to get going?

Jay and Scott: Actually the metal scene is better then you think, its better then a lot of places we have been,alot of places we've been out of town like fort worth, Dallas you know Devourment and all them are from there but very small crowds, there’s lots of places like that we've been to Florida twice, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville was the best out of those and even that wasn’t so hot, Chattanooga has a good
turn out for us better then average compared to a lot of places.


Keeper: With your bands name Coathanger Abortion have you had any discrimination or hate mail or protest?

Jay and Scott: Of course, no hate mail or protest people with signs anything like that just if someone sees a shirt or sees someone whose sort of metal and you tell them there’s a show tonight and our band name they give us the questions and then the sour faces and all that kind of stuff, it comes with the territory, we've heard of local venues that had said if we were going to be booked they said no due to the name, Then we go out and talk to them for ourselves and then it never happen its how things happen.


Keeper: How did you come up with the name CoatHanger Abortion

Jay and Scott: Our buddy of ours frank smith whose doing the one man band Putrid Remains him and Scott are both the kind of guy s who if you get them on a roll to gross each other out they won’t stop so frank says one time how about a "CoatHanger Abortion" we jokingly said that’s the band name and it stuck.

Keeper: What are your most memorable shows?

Jay and Scott: The most recent ones definite San Antonio, Davenport Iowa playing with Waco Jesus had a real good response the people from Iowa slipknot is not enough there really jonesing for some metal
they were saying thank you for coming so far they appreciated us.
The most memorable are the shitty rides and places you stay.

Keeper: Since signing with Comatose records how has it been?

Jay and Scott: For the most part I have noticed peoples eyebrows raised.
Since we have a real cd and a label backing us, venues take us more seriously. a few endorsements as well: Jay has moser guitars,Halo, I have pintech and devils workshop custom drums, pintech is triggers.
AS far as endorsements it was cool cause jay already played moser guitars so he took it upon himself to get the endorsements some of the stipulations were being in signed band a touring band and he was in aband that did all those things he was new to band and accomplished all those things so it made us look into it and Scott went and got him endorsements, ok we can do this cause we're meeting the criteria finally it never really crossed our minds before
and he took it upon himself so it makes us feel good about it too.


Keeper: How’s the release of "Dying Breed" how is it going has it helped you out any.

Jay and Scott: With notoriety and with making back some money of recording from what Steve at the label said its going well, it has worldwide distribution and its been file shared online and the buzz from myspace people are looking up our shows and coming out to see us
along with our music getting out there. that was one of the things we wanted to be with Comatose for was we knew they could do the job
they understand were we're coming from as being weekend warriors
and he doesn't ask us to do things we can’t do.

Keeper: Did you shop to other labels?

Jay and Scott: Yes in the beginning before we signed with comatose, but for another cd no we haven't we’ve not even thought of that yet, the cd just came out concentrate on this one for a year then worry about that stuff.

Keeper: Any new material awaiting people?

Jay and Scott: Yeah, we have four new songs for the next cd ,it took us a while to get this first cd out
so we'd already been working on the songs one of them is the first song we wrote and we decided to pull back out the other 3 we started to work on about a year ago, as far as getting more music together we're not trying to put another album out we do it the old school way taking time to put it together writing good music, even with Scott as he is with his drum parts he'll change them 6 months in finding different ways to do apart or make it better and make it more polished for us, then try to spit them out with alot of death metal bands do and they turn out to not be such good albums because of it alot of death metal bands there first album is there best and they get in that roll of spitting one out every year and staying on tour and it loses alot of the quality of the music that way.

Keeper: Do you feel the scene is getting oversaturated?

Jay and Scott: Well not in death metal, its not that popular.
well with the state of music the way it is with there not being alot of money and with no big label backing anymore people have to put out cds continually to make money,
Everything is oversaturated anyone can put out a damn album.
The one man band thing is becoming popular its becoming so easy to
do it all at home not dealing with 4 guys just plug the drum machine in and go.


Keeper: What are you influenced by?

Jay and Scott: The old school stuff, something we try to make sure people understand about us your sitting in our jam room you can see the posters that are up: Carcass, Napalm death, Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, early 90's stuff when it was still groovy when it made the transition from thrash to death metal, we try to throw in everything alot of grindcore too a bit of hardcore newer stuff we're influenced by would be: Cephalic Carnage, Dying Fetus, Lividity they've been around for alongtime.

Keeper: So your not afraid to put breakdowns into your songs?

Jay and Scott: We're not afraid We'll do whatever we want, but we will not do it in such a way were its the basis of the song we may do it one or two repetitions so when you get the idea and the effect but its not the part of the song you'll remember just one aspect of the song
because there still more of the flowing rhythms the rollercoaster we're taking you on the breakdown is breakdown then it goes into
a blast and we jerk you around with the music thats what I feel were trying to accomplish.

MAGGOT TWAT


Crashing into the metal scene of Chicago with crushing riffs and the disturbed comedy of Evil Dead cranked out on meth
Maggot Twat keeps the Mock Metal area alive and kickin'.This two man mock metal band Piz(Guitars and Vocals) and
Spammanwhat(Bass and Back up Vocals) crush the music scene with their trusty mechanical friend Dickpancakes(Drum machine).
catch their newest album "8-Bit Apocalypse" for Laughs, Headbanging, and straight up good ol' decrepit themed metal.






Keeper-So I saw that there was a rather brief break in Maggot Twat with Spam, could you tell us what happened?

 MT-SPAM GOT INTO A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH THE LAW. SPAM IS ALSO MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, SO HE KINDA FELT HE NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING TO KEEP HIS ASS IN LINE. ITS SEEMS EVERYTIME WE HANG OUT OR HAVE BAND PRACTICE, WE END UP GOING INSANE AND GETTING INTO SOME KINDA MISCHIEF. NOTHING TERRIBLY BAD, BUT SOMETIMES WE GO TOO FAR. SO, HE FELT HE NEEDED TO STEP AWAY FROM MAGGOT TWAT FOR A WHILE AND DO THE FAMILY THING. I DONT BLAME HIM, I WOULD'VE DONE THE SAME. BUT IT ONLY LASTED A LITTLE WHILE. MAGGOT TWAT IS TOO MUCH FUN TO QUIT

Keeper-I've seen videos of Maggot Twat's live shows and fans here in the south as well as I have wondered about a rumor of Dick Pancakes being built by you guys and actually plays a drum set or is Dick Pancakes just a normal drum machine?

 MT-I BUILT DICKPANCAKES BACK IN 2004 I BELIEVE. I MADE HIM OUT OF A BUNCH OF SHIT FROM MY OLD WORK. WE'VE GONE THROUGH AT LEAST 15 DIFFERENT DICKPANCAKE SETUPS BECAUSE WE DESTROY HIM AT OUR SHOWS WHEN THE FEELINGS RIGHT. HIS ARMS ARE OPERATED BY OUR BUDDY DEMENTED DAVE, BUT HE ISNT ACTUALLY PLAYING. HE JUST DRUMS ALONG WITH THE DRUM MACHINE. AND THE DRUM MACHINE IS SYNCHED UP WITH OUR LIVE VIDEO.

Keeper-I've seen the whole cartoon album artwork like Killgasm's album art, thats spreading amongst the Mock Metal bands and I was wondering about your view on it?like is it an annoying fad or is it something you see thats going to stick amongst Mock metal bands?and are you guys going to convert to that album artwork style?

MT-THATS FUNNY CUZ OUR FIRST ALBUM "STUFFED ANIMAL ORGY" FROM 1998 HAD A HUGE CARTOON CHARACTER ORGY ON THE COVER. IT HAD BIG BIRD BUTT FUCKING BARNEY, WHERES WALDO JERKIN OFF BEHIND A TREE, GONZO WITH HIS NOSE GOING UP SOMEONES ASS, AND STUFF LIKE THAT. OUR MYSPACE PAGE HAS CARTOON PICS OF US ON IT AS WELL. I HAVENT REALLY SEEN TO MANY OTHER BANDS DOING IT, BUT THEN AGAIN MAYBE I DONT LOOK. I THINK IF YOUR A MOCK METAL BAND, ITS KINDA GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE GOOFY CARTOON THING.

Keeper-How has it been since you guys signed with Deathstar Records?What kind of Merch are they doing for you guys and what about Tours?

 MT-OUR DEAL WITH DARKSTAR IS ONLY A DISTRIBUTION DEAL. SO WE HAVENT DONE MUCH WITH THEM YET. THEY'RE WAITING ON OUR NEW ALBUM WHICH WILL BE DISTRIBUTED THROUGH BEST BUY. DARKSTAR WILL ALSO BE HELPING US WITH VIDEO AIRPLAY ON MTV2 AND FUSE N STUFF. BUT MERCH AND TOURING IS COMPLETELY ON OUR END.

Keeper-Being a band in Chicago, How is the Metal Scene there and how do people respond to the music you guys put out?

MT-THE METAL SCENE HERE IS PRETTY DECENT. THERE ARE ALWAYS SHOWS HAPPENING HERE ALL THE TIME. THERE ARE A TON OF BARS THAT SUPPORT THE LOCAL SCENE AND PROMOTE THE CRAP OUT OF THERE EVENTS. AS FOR US, IT TOOK A REALLY LONG TIME TO GET INTO SOME OF THE BIGGER VENUES OUT HERE. I WOULD SENT PROMO PACS AND EMAILS FOR YEARS AND WE WOULD BE IGNORED. BUT THEN WE'D GET LUCKY CUZ ANOTHER BAND WOULD INVITE US TO PLAY. THE OWNERS OF THE CLUBS LIKED US A LOT AND KEPT INVITING US BACK. WE'VE BEEN ATTRACTING A LOT OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE TO OUR SHOWS. DOMINATRIX GIRLS, BIKERS, SOME PREPPY LOOKING PEOPLE (I DUNNO WHY), KIDS, METALHEADS, EVERYTHING.

Keeper-How long have you and Spam truly been playing music together? how did you guys meet and decide to start Maggot Twat?

MT-I MET SPAM WHEN I CAME OUT OF MY MOMS TWAT. HE WAS THERE AND HE SAID "WHY IS HE CRYING MOMMMY?" HAHA. SPAM AND I ARE BROS. WE STARTED PLAYING MUSIC TOGETHER WHEN WE WERE ABOUT 12 YRS OLD. THE FIRST MUSIC THING WE EVER DID WAS HIM ON HIS CASIO KEYBOARD AND ME ON GUITAR. IT WAS THE ORIGINAL MAGGOT TWAT. NO BUT WE STARTED MT IN 1998. I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WAS HEAVY AND NUTS, BUT MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH AT THE SAME TIME.

Keeper-Any future ideas or plans for Maggot Twat?

MT-YES. OUR NEW ALBUM IS IN THE WORKS. WE MAY OR MAY NOT ADD A REAL DRUMMER TO THE BAND. MUSIC VIDEOS TO BE PUSHED UP PEOPLES A-HOLES ON MTV. AND DEFINITLEY A TOUR. ALL THESE YEARS OF TWATING, AND WE'VE NEVER GONE ON TOUR. WEVE ONLY PLAYED 5 OUT OF STATE SHOWS IN THE LAST 11 YEARS. SO I THINK ITS TIME WE VENTURE OUT. I WAS SUPRISED TO HEAR YOU SAY WE HAVE FANS IN THE SOUTH.  THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT SEBASTIAN! KEEP IN TOUCH. --PIZ 
 
By Sebastian

AT DAWN


Melding 80's Thrash with today’s Metal, “At Dawn” pushes forth in attracting crowds of the old thrash heads and the young metal heads of today.
With screeching guitars and melodies to catch any ear and vocals to decimate crowds and turn them into pits quickly “At Dawn” busts forth with
their music to catch the ear of people from each genre of Hardcore, Deathcore, Thrash, Melodic Death Metal, and straight up Death Metal.



Keeper-At Dawn's style of music is very unique and reminiscent of 80's thrash metal with an added dosage of complexity to it. Can you tell us what influences helps At Dawn create the music we hear?

 

AD-On “Rapture” we were coming into the writing process with the idea we were going to try to distance ourselves from everyone in the surrounding scene and play some stuff we thought would stand up over time. That being said we listened to a lot of European shit and older stuff. Mostly focusing on old thrash bands and a few choice black metal bands. A good deal of the lyrics are about The Stand.

 

Keeper-Can you tell us how and At Dawn formed?

 

AD-Thats too hard of a question man. Three of us have been playing together and fucking off since junior year. The best answer would probably be winter 2008 when we found a good drummer and started trying.

Keeper-How do people take to At Dawn's music? Does the crowd just stand there or do they respond?

 

AD-Well for the most part people stand there and get mad when we don’t have “mosh calls” or breakdowns but that’s just how the scene is these days in California. When we played out of state it seems like more people get into it.

Keeper-What kind of crowd do you guys attract? like do you guys catch the older crowd and younger crowd?

AD-The young kids usually hate us and look at us like talentless fools for not chugging out an open note for 20 to 30 min every night. The people who are coming out these days are old metal dudes and a few young kids who are starting to get into this type of shit more and more it seems.

Keeper-I recently read in an At Dawn blog that production and shows are slowing to a screeching halt due to school, work, and a combination of the two. Do you think that it will harm At Dawn at all?

 

AD-I don’t really look at the band as a money maker. It’s metal and unless we ride the trends and jump on a hot topic tour we aren’t losing any momentum. It's about fulfilling the need to create something with friends and growing as people. If the music we put out is honest to ourselves and we play what we want that’s all I’m concerned with. We aren't going to be the next big thing. Just looking to fill a void for a few kids and not have to dwell too deep in our pockets to do it.

Keeper-How did At Dawn manage to form and mold its unique Thrashy yet complex sound that it is today?

 

AD-We've always been the odd man out as long as I can remember and we didn't want to imitate all the Warped Tour bullshit going on right now. Mix that with a lot of arguing, bitch fits, hardheadedness, mountain dew(MTNDEW=lame), long car rides and sitting in a room for way too long and theres your answer.

 

Keeper-When might At Dawn make a full length album?

 

AD-There’s no planned dates for anything, but the writing will probably be done by the end of next summer and start recording by winter 2010.

Keeper-Have there been any offers from labels or endorsements for you guys?

I mean it’s clear that the talent is there, and that labels have had to hear you guys.

 

AD-Eh, here and there but nothing worth biting. Endorsements for bands our size are almost always bullshit offers. When we put out “UNDEAD” we got a little label attention but they said we “were shredding just to shred” and they wanted to hear a future release. Not really interested in getting ripped off by a label right now. DIY for as long as possible I say.

Keeper-Can you tell us of any memorable moments and/or shows?

 

AD-Best venue we've played I think we would collectively say is in Denver. Its called “Blastomat” that has an awesome supportive crowd and the owners are cool dudes. Definitely hit that place up if you live anywhere near it. As for stories there are a lot but the funniest thing I can remember is a few years ago playing an outdoor fest with no permit in Modesto, Ca. Basically we were shut down while kids were beating on each other with bowling pins by a helicopter and SWAT team.

 

Keeper-Has the recent Economic crisis made it harder for you guys to put on shows or record or anything of the nature?

 

AD-I think the economy is hitting shows hard and we have to ask for more money when traveling. As for recording our drummer Bob owns and operates a great recording studio in northern California. You can check his stuff out at: www.myspace.com/mayhemenessstudios

Keeper-Anything you'd like to say to the readers?

AD-Always have an open mind about don't buy in to what you are expected to just because.

Low Down 


From the deep south comes the sound of a wrecking ball known as LOW DOWN, a local band with the talent and charisma that launches an audience into a head banging crowd of animals. Today they rolled into north Georgia to obliterate our small town of Lafayette and tell me the story of how they became..

AngelGrave-How did Low Down originate?

LD-Low Down originated from Mark and Keith playing together for so long,
my brother Derek and I had been playing in other bands before then we all met through a mutual friend and got together and started playing, we've had a few other bass players but luckily Pat came along.


AngelGrave -How long ago did the band form?

LD-About 5 years ago

AngelGrave-You have one release out ,and it is called?

LD-Sinner's Blues

AngelGrave-How long did you take to write the material for and record the release?

LD-It took a course of a few years to write everything you know we did it in spurts here and there. cause we didn’t have anyway or money to record everything so finally we got everything written about 10- 11 songs we recorded in about 6 weeks.

Angelgrave-What area of the south are you from?

LD-Kingston, Georgia which is out in the swamps


Angelgrave-Do you get any criticism being from a small town, trying to do shows etc?

LD-They might run that mouth, but no one really has the balls,
they run that mouth until we play, we live so far out that no one can hear you scream people disappear if they talk shit, That’s how we roll.



AngelGrave-Lowdown sports the southern flag a lot is that your logo tell us about that.

LD-It pisses people off and that’s funny

AngelGrave-Why do you think it pisses people off?

LD-Cause some people see it as racist or whatever.
Its just a fucking flag, its heritage and its black and grey anyway
ok well who were the biggest rebels of all: AMERICA what did we do we rebelled against England and moved out here. So where is the harm in that. Some people take it too literal as being racist, people interpret things in a lot of retarded ways. A lot of things we're definitely not and bigots we're not we love everybody, anybody.

AngelGrave-What are you fans favorite songs off of "Sinners Blues"

LD-We get a lot of compliments from "Sleep Treatment", "Flyswatter", "D.M.O.L", Definitely "Sleep Treatment" is my favorite one to play to me its got a little more consistent energy some of the others are peaks and valleys, its a more constant attack.


AngelGrave-Any favorite memories from any shows?

LD-I got my head busted open, It was a Halloween show wasn't it?
our other bass player he was an idiot he basically used his bass as an axe for Keith’s head and busted his head wide open, he was bleeding blood it was awesome.

AngelGrave-You kept playing?

LD-Yeah First song he turned right around and whacked Keith in the head
I turned around and looked at Keith, he had blood all over his face! I was like- what the fuck?! Do we need to go the hospital ?And he was just -No just keep playing! It was fucking metal.

AngelGrave-Do you have a scar?

LD-Yes


AngelGrave-Have you guys had any chance to play with national tours that come through?

LD-Primer55. Motograter, Dangerous New Machine which has members of Stuck Mojo in it, and EchoValve.


AngelGrave-Did anyone give you any compliments on your show?

LD-Hell yeah! Motograter loved us, EchoValve bought us drinks
we sat at the bar talking to this guy and he's all you want to get drunk and he says I am paying we ask him who are you dude he says I am playing in the band after you guys.



AngelGrave-What would be your dream tour?

LD-Devildriver, Lamb of god, KillSwitch Engage, Black Label Society, Queen


AngelGrave-What legacy do you want to leave behind?

LD-A dark and brutal one, letting people do what they want in life,
having fun, staying a kid, doing what you love and have fun with it.

AngelGrave-Anything you want to add?

LD-Where are you from? ha ha ha lets turn this around for a while!
By AnglGrave