Morbid Visions : Interview With Jasper "Infested Art" Swerts

What sort of arts did you work on during your formative period?

I mostly did line drawings and coloured those in photoshop sometimes. At least, that’s what I did during my short visit to college. There was a lot of experimentation with photoshop back there. The professors weren’t that much into traditional techniques and media. I haven’t made an awful lot of drawings that way.

 I have always been drawing kind of “grim” stuff though. Especially skulls have always intrigued me, for some reason, ever since I was a kid.

When and how did you begin doing artworks for bands? Do you still remember the very first art that you have published?

I used to play in some bands and we played a lot of shows all over Belgium, so I met a lot of other people in bands. I did the artwork for our demo’s and shirts and that’s how word got out, so to speak. Soon I was doing covers and shirts for other local bands and zines. The whole myspace thing helped too. It was a good way to get your stuff “out there” in a more global sense. Things only grew from there.  I honestly can’t recall the first artwork that got published, besides the stuff I did for my band back then.

Your style is primarily stippling technique. What made you fall in love with this style? Aside from it do you do some other style too?

I have always loved the effect of the stippling technique. The first Pushead design I saw as a little kid always stuck with me. It was a Metallica poster they were selling at a local store. I had no idea who Metallica was, and I don’t really care for them now, but I remember saving up for weeks  and weeks to buy that poster.

I don’t really do other styles. Only tattoo designs are done solely with pencil. Other than that I just combine some techniques, for example my coloured pieces are done with watercolour and pens. I’d love to try and do some oil painting, but I haven’t had the time yet.

What sort of medium do you normally work on?

 I work on regular drawing paper. Nothing special in any way. I bought this drawing block once that was supposed to be specifically for pen/ink, but that was the worst paper I ever had to work on. The only thing I have worked on which wasn’t paper, was an old skateboard of mine.

At which point do you go digital?

When the inking is done. I try to keep the digital stuff to a minimum. It’s handy to save time colouring backgrounds, contouring or adding splatter. Sometimes I ink the backgrounds and do the contours directly on paper. It depends on what I think is best at the moment. I mostly just use photoshop to add band logo’s to the designs and to adjust the colours, for example to make sure the black is 100% black. Usually, I don’t put more than 20 minutes in the digital part, unless it’s for record layouts.

How do you go about when doing arts for bands? Do you always ask for idea from the band?

I automatically ask if the band has an idea I should work with. It’s their design, so I think it’s only natural they have the first say. Usually I have enough freedom to come up with my own ideas and details. Most ‘clients’ know what they’re in for when they ask me to make them something.

Since most of the bands you’re working with are independent, I’m sure you’re not getting enough in terms of financial benefits.

Not at all. But I absolutely love what I do. It’s my greatest passion, so it’s all good. There’s is no feeling like finishing a drawing you’ve spend countless hours working on. Personally, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction, especially when it makes the people you made it for happy. If I had to give up drawing I’d delete myself. It’s one of the few things keeping me moderately sane, haha.

Majority of the bands you’ve been working with are in the grind, powerviolence, d-beat and the likes. Any bands that you would like to work with in the future that’s outside this realm?

Ha, that’s a good question. Definitely The Darkness. Andrew W.K. too. I practically don’t listen to anything besides grind, crust, fastcore and some death metal.

Who are the other artists that inspire you?

As I mentioned earlier, Pushead, but M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali had an impact on me when I was in my teens, as did a lot of manga/anime artists. Right now inspiring may not be a completely accurate description, but other artists which I think are really great and definitely worth checking out are Daniel Shaw, Santos, Alisha Chainsawguts, Shunsuke, Stiv and Arif.

What about bands, who are your favorite and found to be truly inspiring?

That’s kind of a hard question. I like lots of bands and I’m sure they influence me one way or another. In my teens I was really into old-school hardcore like D.R.I., Toxic Reasons, Black Flag, 7 seconds, Reagan Youth, BGK, Minor Threat,... Bands whose records I still play regularly right now are: Ictus, Cop on Fire, Kill the Client, Toxic Narcotic, Passiv Dödshjälp, Tragedy, World Burns to Death, Noisear, Swallowing Shit, Entrails Massacre, Livstid, Fuck the Facts, Pig Destroyer, Running for Cover, Insect Warfare, Bloody Phoenix, Rehashed, Nice View, Real Reggae, Look Back and Laugh and Melt Banana.

There’s a distinct combination of beauty and sickness in some of your pieces. What message are you trying to point out in those themes?

It’s a metaphor for the duality of life/people/reality. There’s a beautiful and an ugly side to almost everything and everyone. Not a single person in their right mind can get passed the fact that horrible and unspeakable things take place on this planet every single day. I don’t think I need to give examples. Just pick up a newspaper or watch the news. On the other hand you shouldn’t ignore all the positive things around you either, though I know sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Do you have a certain inspiration in female arts? It’s noticeable that they all have the full lips.

Haha, I thought you were going to say big breasts... I’ve had people say that to me before. This is the first time someone says “full lips”. The thing is, I just like drawing women. For me it’s a little more challenging  and interesting to get right than something like skulls and it’s a nice change every now and then. None of the women I’ve drawn portray what might be considered an ideal look or what I think any woman should look like. I want them to be well drawn first and foremost. Of course I have my preferences when it comes to the opposite sex and without a doubt some of that reflects in my drawings. However, I don’t go “hey, let’s draw some big ol’ titties and ass now.” Women are beautiful to me. Only their mind can make them ugly.

Tell us about your love of guns, bullets and other weapons. They are almost always a part of your arts.

They are the tools that bring death and destruction. Used to enforce and maintain control or to change and overthrow, for better or worse. They can symbolise resistance and rebellion. Personally, I truly don’t believe a revolution can come to pass without the use of some form of weapons. Whether  or not that’s a good thing is debatable. Therefore weapons are an extension of our nature and what humans are capable of doing to each other. And that can be with or, as it more often seems, without the best of intentions.

How much of your time do you spend on a particular artwork? What’s the typical working environment do you prefer when working?

It depends mainly on the size of the piece. Usually it takes from around 20 up to 60 hours. The only preference I have when working is to be left alone, but that’s not a necessity. Pretty much anywhere will do. I can just as easily work in crowded spaces. As long as people don’t act too annoying, because I might get the urge to stab them in the eye with one of my pens, haha.

Tell us about the art book you have recently published.

An art book to me is like a record to a band/recording artist. I had one a bunch of years ago, which was more like a zine, being printed in black and white  on photocopy paper at a local store. So all these years and whole bunch of designs later I figured it was time to do another one, but I wanted it to be/look a little more professional. Zines are great and all, but I wanted to have some coloured images and a thicker cover too. Looked around for a while and found a great printing company online. The result is a full colour, 40 paged, A4 sized paperback.

You also play guitar and vocals for Days of Desolation. How did the band get together?

We started out as a three-piece somewhere back in 2007. Back then it was just me, Owen and a guy called Gert. We were (and still are) heavily influenced by bands like Cop on Fire,  Ekkaia, Ictus, End of All, Ambulance and wanted to try something like it, but with more blastbeats. We just wrote some songs, not really planning on ever playing live. Gert was supposed to play bass and do the vocals. That didn’t work out like we intended and we wanted to have two guitars to do some melodic stuff, so Gert traded the bass for the guitar and we asked Olke to come and sing. We couldn’t find a bassplayer and played our first couple shows without one. 
Gert also played in a German metal band called Deadlock. He used to travel between Leipzig and here all the time, but he became more and more involved with life in Germany, so it didn’t take long before he just didn’t have time for Days of Desolation anymore. He lives in Berlin now. In 2009 Strouven joined on bass. He’s not in the band anymore. That’s about all there is to tell about him. 
Then another couple years later Frank ‘the tank’ Rogiers joined on bass. Sometimes we do play shows as a 2 piece or 3 piece when Olke, Frank or both have other priorities.

How do you define DOD’s music?

To me it’s all just hardcore, nothing more and nothing less. I’ve seen a lot of descriptions like grind, crust, metallic-crust, grinding crust, stenchcore, ... So a combination of all the aforementioned would be a pretty good description, I guess. I can’t say I really care.  If people enjoy it, that’s really great. If they don’t then that’s great too.

DOD's lyrics are very political and to the point, it fits right to the harshness of your music but the question is do you think the listener cares about the lyrics at all?

Honestly, it’s really not my concern if anyone cares for the lyrics or not. It’s how we (or at least the people who wrote them) view certain things a certain way. No one’s forced to care or agree. We’re not out to please anyone or spread a message. If we were out to do that we’d be better off making pop music. We play for us and because we have fun with it, not for anyone or anything else. The day I stop liking the music we play, is the day I’ll quit. That said, I do not care at all for anything racist, homophobic or misogynistic.

DOD’s drummer, Owen is also an accomplished graphic artist. Does having two graphic artist in a band affect your stature in any way?

I wouldn’t call either of us accomplished artists, but thanks! To answer your question, no, it doesn’t have an effect on me at all. I treat my own band like any other band I do artwork for, so we discuss everything properly beforehand. It happens that we don’t agree on things, but then compromises are usually easily made. Owen and I get along pretty well in general.

The album was recorded at the span of over one year. What took it so long to be done?

One of the reasons is that we re-recorded the whole thing, because we bought better recording equipment. The other thing is that this band is just not a priority for any of us. Everyone was/is busy with getting/keeping their lives together. I’m drawing all the time and busy with other projects as well, with Owen it’s pretty much the same thing and now he’s studying again too and our singer has his wife, kids, work, ...  Frank is actually doing a winter stop right now, because he has too much stuff going on. Something always comes up when stuff needs to get done, though I’m sure that’s part laziness too sometimes. But that’s just the way it is with us and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. Of all the bands I’m in this is the one I invest the most in though. It’s also the only band we actually play shows with every now and then.

The album is available in both CD and free download. What’s the deal with that?

We have the cd for when we play shows or people who want a physical copy. There’s not much more to it. It’s just a hobby, so why wouldn’t we offer it for free. A lot of people around the world can’t afford to buy records, so in case they have an internet connection or know somebody who has they can get it for free.

You’re also gearing up for a split EP with Controlled Existence (CZ). Are the songs for this EP all new? How would you compare the new songs to your older materials?

Yes, we are quite excited about that split. It should be out in March on Power-It-Up records from Germany. All the songs on there will be new. I’d say it’s more of the same. A little bit more straightforward perhaps. It’s kind of hard for me to tell, because I write most of the songs and I don’t think about it that much. It’s like drawing. When I look at a drawing from years back I can tell how much I’ve progressed and how recent work is different. It’s kind of like that with the music too, so I’ll be able to properly answer the comparison question in a few years, haha.

You and DOD drummer also have a band called China Syndrome. What makes this band different from DOD?

China Syndrome is faster, a lot more gindy, straightforward and less “technical” than DOD. Owen does drums and I play the guitar like in DOD, but we both do the vocals. The vocal style is different from DOD with less high screams and more low “grunts” if you will.

What other bands/projects are you involved in? What can we expect from you and your projects in the near future?

Owen, myself and Frank also play in a band called ShakenBaby with me on drums, Owen on the guitar/vocals and Frank on bass. We just put our songs from the split with Mental Waste on our bandcamp. You can download that stuff for free. As far as shows go, I have no idea. Shaken Baby hasn’t played one in a while and I don’t see us playing one soon. Same goes for China Syndrome. There are plans for a tour with DOD, but nothing’s set in stone yet. We’ll see how everybody’s schedules work out. I’m working on another grind project too right now. A bunch of songs are ready. They just need to be recorded. It’ll end up as a free download on bandcamp for sure though.

Artwork is taking up most of my time nowadays. I’ll be working on some very cool projects this year I can’t say much about it right now. Keep checking out my facebook page if you want to be up to date.

Infested Arts
Days of Desolation
China Syndrome
Shaken Baby
Horse's Silhoutte (Owen's one man Grindcore project)

Grinding Towards Eternity: Interview with Inhumate

 

Interview with Christophe and Fred

When I open the CD the first thing that got my attention was the song titles which is an acronym of the lyrics. That’s quite radical. How did you come up with that idea?
Christophe: I don't really remember, but as I was working for my exam for being french teacher, we had to work on this kind of thing. Then I thought that it would be a very good idea to put this in the lyrics. I try to do always better. But I must say that's quite difficult, but also very interesting to do. It completely changes the way you work on your lyrics, and makes it so much interesting.
You can also see that all text ends with the word "ashes" (or "cendres", which means ashes in french) and you also have 2 songs titled one ASHES and the other CENDRES. And it was also logic, because of the meaning of this album, the theme being death, all is reduced to ashes again. But on the last track from the CD "Faster Than Thoughts", you can see that this title ends saying that we'll rise from our ashes, to make a transition with the next and last album Eternal Life, because it is the next step after death.

Each album cover are carefully crafted with as much pages that it could allow, this must cost extra and knowing that you guys are indie, it’s really cool.
Fred: Yes, you’re pointing two important things for us. First of all the fact that we’re independent. Yes, we’re a self produced band since the beginning. We never signed to any label. It may seem very strange, but that’s the best way we found to overhead everything we do and stay totally free of everything. The dark side of that attitude is the work we have to do. No one is here to help us in any part, but it’s ok. We work hard and don’t have to say thank you or fuck off to anybody, everything we go, we had it because of a hard work.
Now, second thing, concerning the album booklets : We bring high the flag of self production and being an underground band but in the same time we try to propose the highest quality we can.
It’s not easy when you’re doing everything by yourself, especially concerning the financial aspect. But as you noticed it, from album to album we put more and more. First booklet, the "Internal Life"’s one, was  8 pages, with black and white printing inside. We couldn’t afford something  more expensive.
Years passed by, things changed, we got a bigger budget for the “Expulsed” album, and so you see what we did for this one. In the same way, Christophe worked more on his lyrics, and we also needed more space to print them ah, ah!

What does the merging of the four elements of nature inside the tray card signifies?
Fred: Hard question, because I have to explain several things before answering… You know we’re building a 7 album concept through our albums, we call it our heptalogy. So, name of the albums are:
Internal Life
Ex-Pulsion
Growth
Life
The Fifth Season
Expulsed
Eternal Life
So, you can see that some words are coming several times, “life” is in the first, middle and last. Same for the second and 6th album, names are very similar. So, in the same way that album titles are connected, the booklet artworks are connected too.
In the “Ex-Pulsion” booklet you could already find those elements, one for each of us. The meaning of that is that the combination of us four, and this combination only can create the INHUMATE entity’s which life is developed through the concept.
 I don’t know if this is very clear and understandable. Not easy to explain that in English hehe.

One more album and the band will be history. It’s quite depressing knowing that a good band like Inhumate will no longer exist after one more album.
Fred: Maybe, maybe… but we think things will be even better if we’re able to stop after the heptalogy.
When we were talking about a 7 album concept 15 years ago, people were laughing. Now nobody laughs anymore.
I think we’re the first band able to put up such a thing. And everything makes sense as long as it is seriously done.

Experimentation has been part of Inhumate’s repertoire from album to album like the re-mix of It’s Back, Cendres, Grind To The Core, Grindub. Is it a traditional thing to do something different in each album that sort of shy away from straight-forward grind?
Fred: Hum, no. We don’t want to have something particular on each albums. For us "It’s Back" and "Grind to the Core" are “normal” tracks, we used to play the second on stage for more than a decade and are still playing the first one.
Grindub is different, it was a project of a friend of Christophe that mixed some INHUMATE sound. I don’t like it, but why not. Nowadays, I think we shouldn’t add such a track on an INHUMATE album.
About Cendres, it’s particular. We were thinking of writing a slow track for years. But we wanted something different that the usual doom / sludge parts grind bands play. "It’s Back" was a step to that slow track, "Cendres" is the endpoint of it.

I think we got in this track the specific INHUMATE sick feeling. From the deepest of the human urges sounds some voices… the voices of the creature creation… this creature live on stage, and on stage only!

The serial track “I Want To Kill...” was surprisingly missing in the new album. What happened?
Fred:  Ah, ah! There are 2 versions of this track on “Internal Life” and none on “Ex-Pulsion”. So, there is no version of it on “Expulsed”, but there will be 2 versions on "Eternal Life" The concept is never far !

You normally use studio-recorded spoken words for intros but in Freaks you sampled from a movie.
Christophe: True. As the lyrics were about this movie, Freaks from Ted Browning (1932) and also a little about Elephant Man from Lynch. I thought it was interesting to use a sample this time.
I love this idea : "Offend one, and you offend them all", which is a little as we are in the UG. At least, it is the way we like to imagine it, even if it's not completely true, we often have this feeling or brotherhood and real friendship.

You’ve been using the same studio and the same guy at the helm for every record. Is it merely a matter of convenience or friendship or there is some other reason behind it?
Fred: Yes, it’s a kind of friendship. We recorded the first demo in 1993 with Didier, he was just beginning as we were. Then he became slowly a good friend of us and now I can say that he is like INHUMATE 5th member (in the dark). He is very well known in our local rock and roll scene, his studio is the biggest of the area and working with him is always a pleasure for us.
Other interesting thing is that he is not a grind head, not even a metalhead, so he brings us something different with the sound. We’re not sounding like all grind bands do, but we always had a good sound and that’s fine I think.
Last thing, INHUMATE is an old band also because we didn’t have many line up changes, this regularity is also a proof of our integrity.

And speaking of studio, the production of Expulsed is so far the cleanest without losing the rawness of all the instruments.
Fred: Sure, we always had a better sound on each album comparing to the previous one, and especially on this one. Maybe is it due to way of recording and also the long time spent in studio, we stayed there almost one year!

Christophe, you have never been more insane with your vocals. Are you as wild in the studio as you are on stage? How do you record those vocals at the confines of a studio booth?
Christophe: Thanks ;) About the way I'm in studio, of course, I'm not like on stage, I don't jump around everywhere eh eh, but of course, when it comes to record the vocals, I try to be at 100%, even a little more if I can. Our quest is to explore bestiality in music, and I do it in my domain : vocals. I love it, I love to explore new sounds that I can make and I want it also on stage and on CD, that's why I don't use effects.

I want to be able to do those sounds all the time. You have less technical problems if you just have a mic of course.
About the recording itself, we use for the high pitched vocals a microphone on a stand, like everybody I guess. For the growls, I use my old amp (a 150w PEAVEY for keyboards) that I used in rehearsal at a time and my old Shure SM58, and we record the sound at the exit of the amp. For the very low growls, it is the same, but the mic that Didier, the sound engineer, use in front of the amp is an old mic used at the BBC, as he told me. It better catches the low frequencies it seems.

Christophe, you write the lyrics. Do you have complete control of what you write or do the rest of the band chips in ideas too?
Christophe: As for everything, everybody can tell if he has an idea or if likes something or not. But usually I bring the ideas and write the song after, especially because it is very difficult for me to put my patterns and lyrics from someone else together.
As I try to follow as precisely as possible the patterns I find first for the lyrics, it is better than I work alone, but Damien or Fred, even Yannick once and David, gave me ideas or even lyrics. Sometimes, I changed and adapt them, sometimes, I just kept the idea, and sometimes, I haven't used them. But we always discuss about them, when I have an idea.
It is important for me that they like the lyrics. Usually, many people don't give a fuck about them, so I find important that my mates like them.
And I'm very glad that you ask so many questions about them!
 
Is there a conscious effort to incorporate the concept to the songs and lyrics as much as possible?
Christophe: Yes, when it's possible. Usually, we finish a song and I just put some patterns of vocals on it, without words, just trying to find which kind of voice I can use, and find some interesting sounds or patterns on it. Then I can have an idea about the title, then I make lyrics using this theme. But it can also completely change. The track "Voices" for example, was about another completely different subject, and the new one is really better now.
I also like to wait until we have many tracks to do, to have a choice and to make echoes between my lyrics. I like this idea of a kind of web, but I know that the others are always angry because we stay a long time without a title for the tracks ah ah! But it's the way I work, so they have to accept it.
But I think that they like my lyrics at the end, and that's the most important, isn't it? Eh eh!

It is often said that the afterlife is a new beginning. Perhaps this could be what the looming demise of Inhumate signifies.
Fred: Yes, maybe… that could be a possibility… but life will be eternal, so no need to pull up something new.
The 7 steps of the eternal life will be engraved for eternity! And to be honest, we claimed so hard that we will stop after the 7th album, that it should sound strange if we won’t do it. But we didn’t give any date, so we can stop when we want.
The only sure thing is that we won’t hit the studio after the 7th album. The concept will be over no need to record any new stuff, in the name of INHUMATE after that.

Personally, what’s your view about death and the afterlife?
Fred: I think we’re meat and just meat. Your consciousness, thoughts, mind is just the result of chemical action. I don’t believe in anything after death. A dead person is nothing left, nor here, neither anywhere else. But art is eternal!

 “Time has no other function than to burn. It burns without ash.” How does this quote fit in to the bands’ concept?
Christophe: Well I found this quote, from Elsa Triolet, and I find it interesting because it is exactly what is happening to the band (and beside for everyone in this world at least), that time goes by, and brings us slowly to our end. It is the idea of fatality, and the fight that we try to have against it. And I liked that it ends with the word "ashes", like all my other lyrics, and that it was about Time, which is the main theme of our concept.

Therefore, I thought it could fit to this song "Cendres" (which means ashes in french), which is perhaps an image of this struggle against fatality.
I hope it is clear enough ah ah!

How do you see the scene evolve over the years?
Fred: I think I could give you a different answer everyday… sometimes I find interesting thing in it, sometimes I don’t. I can’t say it was better before because things are changing and I also have to change my mind.
When I started in the Underground, all exchanges were done by snail mail. I was receiving 5 to 10 letters a day, from all over the world. I was spending hours to answer them. And it was fun to spread flyers, read them, searching for the good contact for promotion or a new band to discover. But in the same time it was expensive as fuck!
Nowadays things are immediate, in one click on Fuckbook you get connected with anyone in any part of the world. You got your answers in 2 seconds and don’t have to investigate to find music, there is some everywhere… And everything’s almost free!
But... But… I can’t fight against a small voice into my head that tells me that if everything’s seems easier nowadays, quality is less. Too many bands, too many people connected for the best or the worst…
Before thing were surely harder and only the strong were able to survive, nowadays, things seems so easy that only the strong is interesting. But it belongs to every underground maniac to make a difference between bullshit, commercial or unserious music and the rest !
 
What are the things that you missed from the scene back then?
Fred: Without hesitating the need to investigate to discover new bands. I had a real pleasure to buy, trade tapes in order to find an unknown band that was interesting.
I never followed what labels was telling as being the best stuff to listen to. I always wanted to make my own choice. And nowadays, there are too many bands and it’s almost impossible to find something new in this crowd…

Lately many grindcore bands have been incorporating different influence into their music and sludge is probably the most popular. What’s your opinion on album with fifteen 60 –second track and one ten minute sludge track on an album?
Fred: I don’t like sludge or doom. Grindcore is fast music, nothing else. Of course you can add here or there something different tempo, but I don’t understand the similar feeling some people find between sludge or grind core ???
For me music is sickness and there no sickness in slow shits. Slow playing is for drug to the eyes smoking hippies, not for me !

Do you have certain criteria when trading with labels? Will you trade with “bigger” underground labels?
Fred: We were trading our albums with everybody until the 5th one. But for “Expulsed” we don’t trade it anymore. The CD market seems to be over, it’s hard to sell CD. So, now we do just work through wholesales and no matter if we don’t spread many albums. In any case, we will have our money back with the merchandising as we play enough gigs to sell it. So, it may looks like crazy, but we’re selling much less album than 10 years back…
 
I myself have been trying to influence my kids to get into metal and grindcore but of course I cannot control them with what they want musically. What about you how do you deal with your family when it comes to listening to this music?
Fred: My wife is absolutely not into metal. But as I was a metalhead and playing in INHUMATE before I met her, she couldn’t change anything for me and I couldn’t change anything for her. But the most important thing is that she accepts that metal is a part of my life and that I cannot live without it.
Concerning my children, I’m in the same case as you. They all 3 grew up listening to metal and grind core, no one of them seems to like it. And it’s absolutely no problem for me. I’m enough open minded to accept their choices in musical tastes and future way of life.

Are there any new bands that drive you really crazy whenever you hear their music or see them on stage?
Fred: To be honest it’s a long time since a found a really interesting band. Last one was EPICRISE from Ukraine, especially the split album they did with NEUROPATHIA. Nowadays there are too many bands as I told it before… And I think I’m also too old to follow the new grind fashion. I’m really not into power violence and such things. I don’t like all those high pitched voices, seems they got their balls crushed all the time ! This is hysterical music, it’s not brutal anymore…

Any possibility for Expulsed to be on vinyl too?
Fred: Yes sure ! We’re working on it now. I think you can expect it for the beginning of 2014.

After the release of The Fifth Season you stopped doing splits, why?
Fred: To be exact, we never did any full length split. Usually if a band proposes us to release a split, we don’t say no, but propose only live tracks. We keep our studio tracks for our own full lengths albums. The only exception to this was the split EP with DEPRESSION. We did it because the tracks were recorded with David and when the label asked us, David had left the band. So, we accepted to use those tracks: But it’s really an exception, and that should never happen again.

Is there any possibility of compiling all your previous split tracks, demo, and maybe even unreleased tracks in the near future?
Fred: Everything is possible, of course. If such a project should happen, I think we’d better make a special box with the seven albums and the 2 demos. But, nothing is possible before the last album is unleashed eh, eh…

Any idea as to what the final album would be? Have the band discussed about it?
Fred: Yes, some ideas about the artwork, but nothing definitive for the time. About music, we already started to write some stuff. Only thing I can tell you : it will be pure INHUMATE, nothing else !

INHUMATE!

End of Slumber: Interview with Ataul

Let’s begin with the band history?
I started Ataul around March 2012. I have 3 songs ready at that time. The first rehearsal was around May, only me on guitars and Edu On drums at that time. We needed to find a guitarist to complete the line-up and so I can handle bass duties. After days passed finding a guitarist, Nonong joined as of late June. After rehearsing almost every weekend, the demo was then recorded on January.
We haven’t booked any gigs yet, as I wanted to record first before playing live.
And as of April 2013, Edu departed from Ataul, and for whatever reason it is, it will stay that way. We have a session drummer as of now, helping us to record the new material due later this year.

Why old school doom/death, it seem to be the least known sub-genre in the local scene?
 I guess I wanted something not too slow and not too fast. Or maybe it just ended up that way, sounding a mix between death metal and doom metal, or maybe because I’m listening to too much old school metal or whatever you want to call it.
Least known, I’m not even aware of any bands playing in the same vein as ours, if you have recommendations, send them to me!

How you got into the underground? Who are your favorite bands?
I guess I’m not into what’s easily accessible and much more audible when it comes to music. I’d rather dig much deeper than be content with what the masses consume. I refuse to submit!
I’m really into Black and Death Metal, and I also listen to various metal genres. Rippikoulu , Avsky, Zemial, Father Befouled, Mgla, Reverend Bizarre, Evoken, Crowned In Semen… that what’s going on my head right now, tomorrow it’s different. There’s too much to mention, I can go on and fill this page.

What makes the underground music very interesting to you?
 The never ending possibilities.

How do your friends who have no idea what this music’s about react when they learn that you’re in a death metal band?
 Curious, but they don’t want to listen to it because they know it’s all noise. You know the stereo-typical don’t you? But we’d stay friends, just set aside the musical part.

Aside from death metal what other music do you often listen to?
Black/Thrash/Speed/Heavy Metal, and all that will bring pleasure to my ears. I also listen to some Punk and Classic/Hard Rock.

Tell us about your first demo, how long did it take you to complete the 3 songs?
It was five songs actually, the other two didn’t make it because I didn’t like the drum tracks. It took us almost 8 hours to complete these songs. Drums and rhythm section were recorded first. Then I have to record guitar 2, Bass, and vocals and Nonong took in for the solos. I’m a bit exhausted after that. But in the end, we finished the recording.

Lyrically, what are the songs about?
  Doom and apocalypse. And what I foresee after we leave this human form.

Have you submitted the demo to any labels and zines? What are their reactions like for the demo? 
I did send some copies to fanzines, but only limited. To labels, I didn’t sent out copies, because I initially wanted this demo to be self-released as a CDr and stay that way, I just wanted it to be free just like a promo copy. Anyways, things have been done, then so be it. Reactions for the demo were quite positive. I’ve read somewhere, and was compared to Goatlord, Necro Schizma. Which I doubt it, that we sound like them, though I listen to Goatlord (One of my favourites) and Necro Schizma, but that’s their opinion and not mine.

In what ways do you promote the band?
Giving copies to metalheads, distros, fanzines and anyone interested on our music. We are currently planning on doing live shows at moment, when something comes up, then we’ll see. And also when I do trades abroad, I always include the demo for them to hear. I much rely on people to do the promotion /recommendation of Ataul being a death/doom outfit from our own land.

The demo was recorded in Noiseworks. How was the studio experience?
It was good, I had a chance to work with Dondi again. My band Rabies recorded 3 songs from there previously, so it wouldn’t be a hard time for me keeping up. And we were the first to use his newly acquired gears. I guess it’s a bit exhausting for me as I have to record three parts of every song, guitars, bass, vocals, but it ended well.

Tell us about the bands’ song writing process?
 I write most of the songs. I record them at home using a drum machine and after the arrangements are done, I send the songs to my band mates, for them to hear. Nonong adds a riff or two, then I add some of my riffs to complete the song, then I write the lyrics.

Tape version of the demo is available under Mandarangan Records. How did you end up closing the deal with this label?
 Edu closed the deal with Mandarangan Recordings.

Tell us about the awesome artwork that Norman did for the tape version of the demo. How did you get hold of Norman to do it?
 I like what Norman did for the artwork. I didn’t dealt with him, Edu did.

Michael, you also play with Rabies, can you tell us about this band? I joined Rabies back in September 2011 I think, Vic contacted me because they needed a bass player, then rehearsals went on. I also got a chance to record with them for the first time at Noiseworks, it was three new tracks found on the “Survive the slaughter” demo tape by Dethrone Records.
We will also be recording new material later this year, and all I can say is “expect some old school trashing madness!”

Edu also runs a label, Lifespan Records. I haven’t heard much about the label’s activity these days?
Haven’t heard much of him also. Maybe the label is on hiatus or something or he’s busy doing shit.

You guys live in Laguna and Manila, do distant have any effect in the band?
We are all from Laguna. I’m from Los Baños, Nonong Is from Bay (Next town to mine), Edu is from Sta. Cruz (About 45min-1 hour commute), though our rehearsals always at Los Baños. Distance doesn’t’ bother me, because on my other band Rabies, I’m the only one from Los Baños, all of them are from Sn. Pablo which takes me 45min-1 hour commute on our weekly rehearsals and I’ve been playing for Rabies for 2 years now.

Most of the band nowadays uses the social media to promote their band but it seems Ataul is not that keen in using this media to spread the word, why?
I’m just too lazy to put up info’s on the internet that’s all. Maybe someone would put them up for us, even if that happens, I don’t mind. And I also prefer a word-of-mouth type for this band.

Have you written any new songs lately? How have you progressed In terms of song-writing?
Currently we are working on new material and will be recording hopefully by the end of the year. It’s a planned five song release. Two songs from here were recorded previously on the demo but didn’t make it, and we wil re-record a new version of it. On the new material, I can say that it’s more darker and gloomy than the previous release. So again, expect some Death, Doom And Destruction. (Haha! that was from Cianide)

What are you plans in the near future?
Record/Release more material. Play more shows. Spread the word of Metal!
ataul_ph@yahoo.com

Isa Pilapil's New Artwork.

Down From The Wound revealed the artwork for their up-coming album "Violence and the Macabre". Out soon under Comatose Records. Artwork by Isa Pilapil, she also plays guitar for Brimstone in Fire. Check out her other artworks here http://isapilapil.com

Another Isa Pilapil masterpiece will grace the cover of In Dark Purity Zine's special issue featuring nothing but Malignancy.

Violent Annihilation: Down FromThe Wound Interview

How was the show in Vietnam? How does the crowd react to your music out there?
Saigon was a blast, people are very friendly, the crowd went nuts and I was dumbfounded when I happen to smell and see some crazy shit mofos smoking weed, enjoying the music and moshing all throughout during our set. Feels like us playing in front of Filipino crowd, fun!!!

I’m sure you had lots of fun while roaming the streets of Vietnam. Aside from the show can you tell us some memorable moments during your visit?
Right, when you are in Vietnam one thing you will notice is there is a huge number of motorbikes you’ll go fucking insane to see them most especially during peak hours on the streets. Aside from that, street foods are amazing very cheap, healthy and really authentic, plus you’ll be able to smoke weed even on public places like restaurants and parks as long as there are no cops. Haha cool!!!

How was your show in Singapore and Thailand? What’s the experience like to play in another country?
It feels great to play outside the country, you’ll get the chance to meet other people, experience the culture and see the scene.
Bangkok has one of the craziest crowds we’ve seen so far. Thai people really know how to enjoy brutal death metal and fucking supports us all the way.

You almost never made it to the SGDF; will you give us the details of this airport incident?
The Philippine Immigration never let us pass through the airport it’s because these certain scum bug officers are required us to show em some working visa and shit. They don’t understand that we are playing in other country and will not get any money from the performance. They insist and believed that we will earn big money out of the tour and for that we, according to them, should show and secure a working visa on that same day which is really impossible to. They didn’t allow us to board the aircraft and for that, our ticket was forfeited.
Immediately, I made a phone call to the organizer in Singapore and told him what had happened. We have to show up in Singapore we worked really hard and came up with the idea that yes, there are other ways of getting our ass off the country.
We have 24 hours before the fest so we decided to get another flight but this time on a different airport. Good thing we still have extra money just enough to buy tickets for five and finally we made it to Singapore.

You’ve just commenced recording tracks for the second album. How’s the progress so far?
It’s almost done; we are on the process of reviewing the entire record and will do the mastering soon.

Can you give us more info about the second album?
The new album “Violence and the Macabre” will be released under the belt of Comatose Music USA. 11 tracks written from 2009-2013 recorded at Demiurge Digital with producer Ian Cuevas, artwork by Isa Pilapil and Executive Produced by Alexander Dela Cruz.

What about the artwork and layout, who are going to handle them?
Art work and CD layout by Isa Pilapil of Demiurge.

How would you compare the songs to this album to your previous records?
We still have the same creative visions and styles, the slam, blast and heavy rifling’s are still the major components of the new songs but we are much mature musicians right now and we wanted to incorporate much more elements into our music.
We don’t have a bass player and we realized that we are not clearly a technical death metal band but we as musicians joined together and push ourselves off to the limits in writing and creating the music and the sound we like. Obviously, the new materials are more devastating compare to the old ones.

Comatose Records will release this album. How did you managed to snag this deal? Is this going to be a one shot deal or multiple album contract?
Steve Green of Comatose is not really that hard to get along with, I mean if you have band and has proven that you are capable to be included in his roster, you’ll get that deal very easy.
We hope we could sign another contract again with his label after the 2nd album.

The band has gone through some tough times with the line-up before. I remember being dumb-struck when asked for advice back then, but in the end you guys were able to patched things up and ended up much stronger than ever. What have you learned from that?
I guess our passion and our interests keeps us going, I mean this is what we want to do and we are happy doing this thing, the weed explains the rest, hahaha.

Jayquin recently left the band. Can you give us more information about his departure?
He is not capable of playing the music we’d like to play and decided to move forward without him, it’s a wise decision for us and it’s proven but yes we are still friends and manage to get along with him sometimes.

Are you now searching for another bass player or simply go on as 4-piece or perhaps re-shuffle with your instruments?
We are. We have couple of friends who want to play bass with us but couldn’t find a single time to jam and practice with us. If there’s anybody out there who has time, willing to play bass and with the same interest like us call me up!!!

You are all now busy with your regular jobs with different working time. How do you manage to get together for rehearsal and shows?
Quite tough!!! With a different working schedules? I and Jeff live in a same apartment but seldom see and talk to each other. By the time I arrived he is already sleeping and by the time he wakes up to go work I’m still sleeping. For rehearsals we normally set a schedule mostly after works or on day offs but very limited time only. We do the conversation on text message, haha!!!
Good thing I got my own kit here in my apartment and I’m always able to jam and practice whenever I want, Jeff do the same thing, he got all the gears and guitars.

There was once a very active metal scene in Gapo, now I seldom hear activities in the area, or am I simply unaware?
Most metal bands here are I call the fly by night bands they just happen to be a band whenever there is a gig/show organize by themselves. They don’t even bother to record or write their own shits.

I’d say the local scene is more active now. More bands are coming up with their own records and the supporters are keener in going out to shows. Unfortunately there are some leeches who are taking advantage of this situation. What can you say about this latest “trend” in our scene?
Yeah good to see more new bands are coming out with their own records these days I just hope they’ll stay true to themselves and on the scene.
Talking about gig organizers/promoters that take advantage to bands and to the scene, these filthy scum bugs should be eradicated. If you really have the passion, do it and don’t take advantage to others.

And speaking of trends, what’s your take on new bands who gets to release tons of shirts first before even releasing a demo?
The situation is very clear, these bands that came up with shirt before music are the one I called corporate bands, selling shirts and wants to earn money. Music first before merch.

You have been around for almost 10 years together, did you ever thought that you could go this far? What keeps the band going?
I didn’t realise that we are on our 10th year already, haha fucking awesome. When Jeff and I started the band our aim was to play the heaviest form of music and that is metal.
All throughout the years passed, we continued doing this thing, writing music, playing live, meeting new people, travelling, and all that shits. These are the best things we got out from the band and I think all of these shits are the reason why DOWN FROM THE WOUND keeps going on.

How far do you think the band could go? Do you think you guys can still carry on once you have your own families?
Good question, I have my own kit and I will play the music I want till I can, this is the thing I love to do and this is the music I want to play all through my life. I think as long as we have the proper time management everything we have started 10 years ago will pushes through till we have our families. Death fucking metal!!!

Down From The Wound Facebook

Sacrilegious Profanation: Pathogen Interview

Pathogen’s been together for over 12 years now. Have you ever thought that he band could live this long?
Deathful greetings Roel, and to all the maniacs and readers of Tripalium ‘zine out there!
Some 12 odd years gone by in a blur! No, we never expected the band to ever last this long to be perfectly honest. Although we always dreamt of making music our careers since we were young. But considering the odds, We’re not a ‘Manila’ band, we are the outsiders from a middle-of-nowhere quaint little city in the province and we just wanted to play music that moves us, basically, so it was so very far in our minds back then to think of ever lasting this long.
We were that band that everybody ignored and looked down upon in the beginning. But we just wanted to play and create our own music I guess. We’re very much inspired by that D.I.Y. punk mentality to create your own music, fanzine, or whatever it is that can help you express your thoughts and ideas. It doesn’t really matter if it’s crap or done very well as long as you’re creating your own original shit without conforming to any so-called ‘standards’.

What motivates you to keep going despite the fact music you’re playing isn’t exactly popular in the local scene?
It’s mostly our love for this particular kind of music, I mean I don’t think we could have lasted a year if we didn’t like what we’re playing.
We all like metal and all its sub-genres, from grind, black, doom, thrash, classic heavy metal, punk/crust/D-beat, etc...But it is death metal, among other genres that really resonates strongly within us and we try to add a little of those other influences in our songs in order to create some sort of ‘sound’ of our own. We all know that we’re not really selling an obscene amount of CD’s so success and failure never really mattered to us.
We’re not trying to be overtly original by any means, and I suppose it’s hard not to wear your influences on your sleeve when you’re playing in a metal band- because this genre practically feeds off itself-you have to really listen to a lot of this music in order to play this particular musical style. This is not jazz or progressive music where things sort off drifts away into a cacophony. Metal is always based on the ‘riff’-which is a very integral part of the song, and without it you have nothing. But then again, death metal is versatile enough to add jazz and progressive elements (or any other metal sub-genre for that matter) and be still considered ‘death metal’.
Anyway, another reason we keep on doing this is because we have chips on our shoulders, nobody in our local musical community, in San Pablo City, ever believe we could ever achieve anything from playing this kind of music-they all think what we do is bullshit and therefore we could not play a single note of music. They are all trying put us down and that fires up our boilers and we wanted to prove them wrong. And to be really candid with you many people here that actually does not believe we have albums released overseas and stuff. But then again we never really focused too much in promoting our own band locally in the beginning. It’s only in the recent years that we are getting noticed locally-in a small way, because of the internet thing and such.

Erwin left the band recently, what happened?
Erwin went through some very difficult period in his life in 2010. He and his wife separated-in the ugliest, most unimaginable way possible. And things went on a downward spiral for him for the next couple of years, he went back into doing drugs, he lost weight and some of his hair due to stress, and the most significant thing was that his attitude changed. After the separation he was never the Erwin Javier that we all knew, his mood became darker, his behaviour more erratic, he started to miss rehearsal sessions for months, he and (drummer) had an argument once and the conflict built up until we had to make the terrible choice of firing him. None of us wanted that to happen, but he’s acting in a manner that is affecting the entire band and even some people around the band, and I suppose there are times in life when you have to make a very difficult decision. It was a tough move but we have to be decisive and we never looked back. But we all hope the best for him and his kid in the future. I hope he’s pulled himself together out of the debacle that he has been through.

How’s the current band line-up?
The line-up we have now is comprised of basically the same people since we recorded ‘Blasphemous Communion” with the exception of Erwin-he is duly replaced by Jervish Alcos, also of Rabies which is also a long time Pathogen session player.

You used to have other bands/projects, why did you decide to put them all to rest in favour of Pathogen?
I’d like to focus on a single band right now, and try to put a lot more effort with song writing and stuff like that. We’re maturing as musicians and people. We don’t want to lose sight of what Pathogen is all about, we want to remain true to ourselves and our music but add a little bit more of ‘finesse’ in our playing for a lack of a better term. I had fun playing in different bands and playing with different people in other bands over the years. It broadens your musical horizon and develops a musical connection and intuition with other people because it sharpens your harmonic and rhythmic senses. But I feel that it’s time to put more focus on Pathogen right now. I’m not really sure why but it’s just my gut instinct.

One of your projects that I’ve been longing to hear from again is Children of Badeath. Is there a possibility that COB might come back to life again? How you get the idea of doing this project in the first place?
It all came about in a drunken night with several friends-the Toxemia guys, mostly, at another friends’ apartment in UP Village in late 2004. He was learning to make good use of his brand new recording software and he got all these instruments and effects and just recorded some shit for the hell of it! It really meant nothing to me now in all honesty! Hehe! We just tried out some new stuff, reworked some cover songs, etc... I haven’t heard anything we did since 2009! I threw all the COB recordings with a bunch of local demos from that era on my storage bin! Hmm, maybe I’ll pull them out one of these days and have a blast!

Your releases are on different labels. How it’s like to deal with different people every time you have to release something new?
It was very difficult to snag a record deal earlier in our careers. Oftentimes the labels would say their release schedule is full for the entire year or some other excuse. But we persisted and kept on spreading promos to bands and fanzines and kept contacting other record labels, until some of them would take notice. We’re being rejected for us is a very common thing and we’re used to it. But at least we got a pretty good deal with Old Temple and Dunkelheit Produktionen in the recent years. Anyway, we’ve always operated on a more ‘global’ level since the very beginning. 90 percent of the time foreign labels have invested in our music-which we really think is good because the music reaches more people.
There’s no point in just being a ‘local’ band these days in this vastly globalized world of today and a lot of the music we listen to pretty much comes from everywhere now.

Old Temple Records have just released your third album and the Lust of Evil EP on CD. Will you tell us more about it?
We got the Old Temple deal in early 2011. And it took nearly a year and a half for them to get the third album released-release schedules, you know! But it was well worth it when they finally put the thing out. (in October 2012). The ‘Lust Of Evil’ MCD came out in April this year, (2013) which previously was released by Afterlife Productions, Malaysia in 2011. The CD version has a different track listing than the tape version and the tape version of our third album would be released by Mandarangan Records, USA sometime this year.

What about the split project with Toxemia, how did this project happen? What can you say about their new musical direction?
It’s been a long time coming. We have planned that release since 2005 and it is only this year that it finally became a reality. A lot of other things have gotten in the way but we were very happy it finally came out. I think Toxemia these days are hitting their stride in being good and prolific songwriters and musicians their ideas and musicianship are developing and I really liked their new material. Slow, riffs contrasting with fast blast beats, I think they’re really into creating a vibe, an atmosphere in their music instead of just grinding their way into their songs.
Toxemia has been our long time friends, brothers in fact, and we’ve always collaborated musically and alcohol-wise over the years. Vic and Erwin played with Toxemia in the past and I laid down some guitar parts for their full-length album and more recently Kenneth, played drums for Pathogen for the As Sahar gig.

Your second album “Miscreants of Bloodlusting Aberrations” was finally immortalized on CD. Will you tell us more about this album?
Yes, finally after three long years! That album is born out of pain if I should say so myself. Around the time we wrote that in 2008 things were not well personally for several of the band members at the time but that album is also a huge step forward in terms of songwriting and production compared to our first album, “Blasphemous Communion” which is almost a ‘crust’ record if you ask me.
We were more prepared and better rehearsed for ‘Miscreants...’ compared to ‘Blasphemous...’ There are a few glitches on it because like ‘Blasphemous...’ it was also rushed during recording. It was ten-fold better than everything we have done during that point and nobody seemed to be interest in it during the time we released it on our own except for that low-key French tape label, Satanized Productions who released it in March 2010. We have had several deals from other labels but nothing really came into fruition until we came across Dunkelheit Producktionen in 2012.

How did you managed to land a deal with Dunkelheit Productions?
Sometimes things just happen in a strange way. Back in 2012 we have practically given up any notion that ‘Miscreants...’ would have any other proper release. But we were still actively trading and spreading the promo everywhere when all of the sudden I came across Bernd of Dunkelheit through his band, Nacht. We traded some materials and surprisingly enough he offered us a record deal and I didn’t even know yet that he was running Dunkelheit Produktionen and it was finally released on CD in March 1st 2013 and he also did everything he promised in terms of promotions and everything.

You are now in the process of recording another album for Dunkelheit. Will you tell us more about it?
I don’t want to get too much into the details yet, but we’re still working on it for sure!

In what direction is the new record heading into? Have you made any major changes in terms of music and song-writing?
I can say that there are songs there that are very aggressive than many of the previous songs we have written in the past and some of the songs arrangements and definitely more complex and really a challenge to play live and record.

What about the release of Lust of Evil on CD. What can you say about the way Old Temple do things for the band?
Old Temple is a good company and they still very much adhere to the old underground traditions of trading and promoting music. They also run their own fanzine. They are probably one of the few good Polish underground labels since Time Before Time has already closed down a few years back. They have very wide connections and distribution globally and recently they also have digital distribution via Code 7/PHD, and ‘Forged In The Crucible Of Death’ and ‘Lust Of Evil’ are now available on that format for all the anti-CD crowd.
It is a fact nowadays that there are a new generation of metal fans out there who have never bought a single CD in their entire lives, it’s a pity but that’s the reality of this modern age that we’re in! I suppose I’m that person who wants the music contained in a format that you can hold and read the lyrics and look at the artwork.
But anyway, yeah we are very much happy with the outcome of ‘Lust Of Evil’ the quality of the CD that they pressed and the reproduction of the artworks and photos are nothing short of immaculate.

You guys are often invited at gigs, sometimes with rather odd band line-up. How do you deal with the crowd who doesn’t have any idea about Pathogen’s music?
It’s always been a challenge playing in front of people who are not aware or even familiar with the particular kind of music that we play. And we think it’s always good to do things outside your comfort zone from time to time. It keeps you on the edge and you don’t get too complacent as with playing in front of an audience that are comprised mostly by friends and bands that you already knew.
Personally I don’t really mind if they are not into our music. We just wanted to play and make some fucking noise, basically!

How does the social media and internet in general affect the band?
Its effects on the entire underground scene not just on Pathogen are massive. Some die-hard underground dwellers might underestimate it but its benefits undeniable. There never was a time in the past where underground and independent musicians are so empowered. 90 percent of correspondence of bands, labels and fanzines are happening on the web, plus the postage is free!
A decade ago there were fears that the internet would kill underground traditions such as making paper fanzines, releasing physical albums and demo tapes, snail mail correspondence, etc… But guess what, It didn’t! Although there are downsides such as lazy bands releasing music only in the web and the overwhelming amount of accessible music available, but that’s for the here again, gone tomorrow type of trendy wannabe scenesters! Majority of the real underground bands are still releasing tapes CD’s and vinyl, underground media is still flourishing with paper fanzines and newsletters, and real fans still buys or trades records and demos!
The mediocre people will always use the internet in a mediocre way-but why bother? I wouldn’t want to waste my time on such insects. It’s just the reality of life in this ultra modern world that we’re living in. Time moves forward not backwards. It’s something that we have to face-the changing of the times. But I do believe however that all that old underground ways and tradition can peacefully co-exist with modern technology-it’s happening right now.
Some people in the underground scene just couldn’t accept that reality and they just could not develop a more mature perspective on things, unfortunately-which is kind of a shame really. To each his own, I suppose.

What’s your view about bands that are very active in playing live but couldn’t find the time to record their materials?
We’ve encountered and still encountering one too many bands like that for as long as I can remember and I couldn’t really figure out what they’re all about.
Some bands have recorded demos and albums but don’t have the slightest idea of how to promote their materials-they don’t even know what a fanzine is. While other bands have more shirts released than the songs they’ve written!

You’ve been in the scene for quite a long time; you’ve been to several bands and have done a couple of zines. What can you say about the local scene’s evolution?
Well it’s still developing. It has definitely changed a lot since we started out around 2000-2001. Today there are a lot of bands and fanzines. More and more people are getting into the scene with an equal amount of posers coming in as well. More foreign independent bands are playing-which is something that is unheard of back then, except in the punk/HC scene. Fans, bands, labels and fanzines are more interconnected now because of the internet and social media-which is a good thing, especially in averting the near-disastrous As Sahar gig. Information and updates are faster now compared to 2 decades ago.
Only time can tell about what the future would bring to the local scene-but I’m hoping for better things to come.

OSDM recently made resurgence and lots of bands from the 90’s were suddenly active again. What’s your take on that?
Yeah, it’s basically the same with the thrash scene a decade ago. I’d hate to think that they’re just cashing in on nostalgia but in a way they are, you know. A lot of fans have missed them and would pay real money to see them live. But I’m not too excited about their newer releases though. It’s quite apparent even on the underground scene that many new bands are adopting that old-death metal style and sound and the underground media are proclaiming a revival and all that hogwash, because in reality, OSDM never really went away from the true metal heads. The underground media have this tendency to create all these revivals and ‘movements’ with one great band spearheading it and the rest are pale imitations.
It’s the same thing in the 80’s and the 90’s as it is today. But you know, I don’t believe this so-called ‘resurgence’ will be as big and as awful as the black metal explosion of the mid-to-late 90’s where the bands like Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir were almost topping the mainstream pop charts in Europe in terms of record sales and popularity.
Death Metal was big in late 80’s and early 90’s but it never eclipsed the popularity of thrash and it was nearly dead by 1994 with too many bands and shit releases flooding the scene. And even though it became popular it never was truly accepted by the mainstream as thrash was in the 80’s and black metal was in the 90’s and I don’t think it’s because of the lyrics either.
Horror, Gore, Violence, Satanism and Nihilism are totally mainstream entertainment, just look at films and TV shows! It’s probably because of the music because Death Metal is not as catchy and as melodic as thrash or 90’s black metal. It’s a bitter pill to swallow and definitely an acquired taste.

And speaking of band re-union, who among the bands from the early years you’re happy to see coming back from their grave and who you wished have kept the lid of their coffin permanently closed?
There are a lot of bands out there that I wished would rather call it a day instead of perpetually disgracing themselves, Celtic Frost is one. They’ve gone too much overboard in being experimental and they just practically alienated their fanbase.
As for local acts, there are plenty as well. Many old bands have reformed but they just didn’t have the same attitude and musical integrity that they have in the past. They should try to make more great music instead of just re-living former glories.

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Predatory Greed: Wake Interview

Interview with Rob and Kyle.

How did you guys get together to form WAKE? Are the members also playing in another band?
Rob: WAKE was formed in the fall of 2009. I had a bunch of songs pre-written and asked Sergey if he would be down to do a more d-beat/grindcore influenced band, he joined and we began the arduous job of finding members of this band that fit with what we were/are doing. Released a 7" and did a quick tour of the west coast US/Canada. I'd say that pretty much sums that up.
We've all played/play in other bands, none that you've probably heard of hahaha

You have recently concluded another US tour. How was it? Any show highlights that you want to share with us?
Rob: Fucking awesome. Played some amazing shows with some amazing bands, Met a lot of really good people and got to drink a lot of really good beer. All in all it was a blast, can't wait for Europe. The main highlights would be that our van didn't break down and got to play back to back shows with our friends No Brainer in Milwaukee and Chicago.

How do you manage to get by on the road on your own?
Rob: It ain't easy. Jokes and being ridiculously mean to each other.

So far what’s the worst thing that's ever happened to the band while on tour?
Rob: We've been very fortunate not to have anything go that sour while on tour. Except for maybe the odd cancelled show here or there, which comes with the DIY territory.

You are about to embark on your first European tour beginning with a Bloodshed Fest appearance. You guys must be really stoked to do this one. The line-up for this year’s festival is a killer. What are your expectations for this tour?
Rob: We're extremely excited to come to Europe for all 5 shows. It'll be awesome to play for our European friends and drink some great European beers. I EXPECT to come home with a lot of records and a pair of wooden shoes.

What do you do outside the band? How does touring affect your everyday life?
Rob: We all work menial jobs to fund what we love to do, which is to play and make music.
DIY touring is a lot harder than it was 10 years ago, we try to space our tours out so it doesn't affect our "everyday life" all too much.

Listening closely to each song progression, some songs are like a single track divided to form another song, with the last riff drifting into the next song. Is it just me or was it really planned? Rob: I'm assuming you are talking about Leeches, A lot of times we will write an ending of a song with with the beginning of another in mind. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Where do you guys draw your individual influences?
Rob: My individual influences are Poison Idea.
Kyle: I listen to so much different music that it's pretty hard for to me pinpoint my influences directly. Smart ideas and shitty people. I know they're opposite of each other, but those 2 things are really big influences on how I write.

You have some well-written but do you think the fans care about them? Ever had a chance where a fan approached you to discuss about your lyrics?
Kyle: I've had people tell me they like my lyrics, but never had a conversation discussing them. I don't tend to be overly cryptic with my writing, so it's all pretty straight forward.

Since most of your lyrics deals with negative aspects of the world, what can you say about the world situation these days?
Kyle: The world situation is garbage, it's hard not to focus on all the negative aspects when you watch the world crumble day after day. I'm not the most optimistic when it comes to faith in the human race.

What’s the concept behind the album cover? What’s the purpose of making the whole lay out dark?
Rob: The darkness of the cd was a shitty mistake by the people at the press. The lp on 7 degrees is far superior.

Shortly after the release of the album you came up with a split EP with Greece’s Dephosporous. How did this project happen? Can you tell us more about this split EP?
Rob: We recorded the 3 songs that appear on the 7" while on tour as only demo recordings. Once we got the tracks back we decided that they sounded killer and wanted to put them out, we spoke with Simon from 7degrees and he offered to do a split release between us and Dephosphorus.

What’s next for Wake?
Rob: Well, 2013 is going to be a pretty busy year. We have a split with a band called Rehashed which will come out on Give Praise Records some time very soon, we will have one of our songs released on a comp put out by Panos from Dephosphorus's label, Blast Beat Productions.
As for touring and live shows, we will use most of the winter to write and record our follow up to Leeches, We will do a few small Canadian tours/select American dates though out the winter and spring with a full European tour in July. Our friend Clennon is putting together a really cool festival in Calgary called "Torment in Fire" which we will play in April, we have been offered a bunch of festival dates all over the place, now we're just trying to decide which ones we will be taking on.

Ososo Ousatsu: Jig-Ai Interview

Interview with Brain, Buraak and Kaspy.

Jig-Ai played two sets at the last OEF to fill in for SCD. How was it like? I’m sure you already have the best songs during your first set. How hard was it to make another set list in a whim?
Brain: Actually it was pretty easy. We played exactly the same set list two times. Nobody planned that we will play two shows and the offer came shortly before the first show. Should be better if SCD could play in that time but anyway we enjoyed time there and I hope people under the stage also.
Buraak: It was kind of surprise that we got the offer from Curby. I admit we were a bit scared, because we have been drinking for the whole two days before. But in the end our concert was even better than the one on Thursday. Both sets for the concert were the same.

Eardelete also played this year. Your exposure to this year’s OEF must be beyond overwhelming. Playing 3 shows in one festival must be draining as well.
Brain: Only two shows for me. I had to quit Eardelete because of time reasons in 2010, so I am not in the band anymore.
Buraak: Since I have been playing in five bands, it´s not unusual for me to play with more bands in one afternoon and yes it is draining, but I just love playing at OEF, because it´s the best festival in the whole world.

Up until the release of the split 10” with Ass To Mouth Jig-Ai’s been pretty much in low profile. What have you guys been up to during those idle years? That is aside from preparing the materials for the split, of course.
Brain: I moved to Ireland in 2009 and spent few years working and travelling abroad so that was the main reason of our inactivity.
Buraak: The material for the split 10 ” Ass To Mouth was recorded simultaneously with the second album and mix and mastering was made by Brain and it took him a long time and he also spent some time living abroad.

The original plan for ATM split was a 7” but stretched further up to 10”. How did it happen?
Brain: It is because we exceeded time limit for 7” a bit and we did not want to compress audio to keep a good quality of sound.

Tell us about the songs of the split. Are they part of the Katana Orgy recording session?
Brain: Just partially. Some instruments we did with Katana and some of them later. Also we did another mix and master for that.

Only 500 copies of the vinyl were pressed and according to BLP no CD version will be made. Aren’t you guys gonna heed the plea of fans to have this gem on CD too?
Buraak: The idea was to make a limited edition, so no, there won´t be a CD version. The vinyl will be a rarity just for the true fans.

What about the artwork, can you tell us more about it?
Brain: It was made by talented young Russian artist Elisabeth Ivus. You can check her work at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elisabeth_ivus
She did really nice job on that picture and we decided to use one cover for both bands.
Anyway it is one vinyl so one cover sounds logic.

Stefy left the band just after the American tour. Can you tell us why he left and how did his departure affect the band?
Brain: He left because of personal and time reasons. There is nothing more behind it. We are still very good friends. He told us a long time in advance so we knew counted with that. Now we play with Kaspy and as you could see at OEF it definitely works.

What’s the story behind the song “Vlakin and Otyn Are In”? Is this your way of asking Otyn for a studio discount and Vlakin to scream out for you free of charge? Haha.
Brain: Of course, you have to be clever if you want discount :D.
Buraak: We like Otyn and Vlakyn a lot, they are the legends of the Czech grind core scene and we made fun of them in a friendly way by this.

I don’t know much about Kaspy but you and Buraak also play in several other bands. How do you divide your time between different bands?
Brain: I had to quit with Eardelete and Psychotic Despair because of time reasons. Music in both bands is for two guitars and I could not come for shows and rehearsals while I was abroad. Now I have just Jig-Ai and Flying Brains which is not active band now.
Buraak: I play in five bands and I sacrifice all my free time to them, but the most time demanding one is the black metal one Brutally Deceased.
Kaspy: I have some other band projects and lot of work as well but Jig Ai is my priority. Jig Ai was my favourite band before I joined in so I want to do my best.

The Czech scene is probably one of the most prolific in Europe. A lot of my favorite bands are from there and one thing that I noticed was that bands often share members. What can you say about this? I doubt your country is running out of competent musicians, haha.
Brain: That is the way how it is.
Buraak: Well there aren´t a lot of people competent to play grind core and that´s why ten people play in thirty bands.
Kaspy: I think Buraak made a point.

Judging by the OEF set, it’s obvious that Kaspy’s style is quite different from Steffy. How does this reflect on the new songs? At what direction is the new album heading this time?
Brain: It is going to be in Jig-Ai direction same as always, maybe little bit more grindcore and less polka but still in our way.
Buraak: Kaspy is a lot younger than Steffy. Steffy was more experienced drummer. But Kaspy has got a greate potential and in a lot of songs he is a bit quicker and has a better technique. The new album will be more grind and I started listening to more old school bands.
Kaspy: I like Stefy´s style of drumming a lot and old jig-ai songs as well, its my big inspiration for new songs. But my style is of course different, as every other drummer´s I think. Songs are not completely ready so we´ll see.

Have you started recording for the new album? Can you give us a bit more info about it?
Brain: Not yet. We have some material ready but it is still not complete so we have to finish it first. It is complicated because all of us we have to work, Buraak is pretty busy with other bands and I still work abroad. That makes things slow.

Will there be another cover song for the next album? How about doing another traditional song and giving it a unique Jig Ai touch to it just like what you did in the first album?
Brain: There will be something but we have to decide what exactly.

Aside from the new album, what else can we expect from the band in the near future?
Brain: Shows with a lot of fun.
Buraak: We´ll see.
Kaspy: Grind I think.