Denmark on my birthday in 1993 -- between Benediction, Dismember, Grave, Morbid Angel,
Cemetery and Atheist. Fucking chaos! I plan on writing a book myself soon and I’ll share the
details of that fiasco…”
“What is something remarkably bizarre that happened to you and every time you tell
someone they think you’re a pathological liar?”
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“When Atheist recorded ‘Piece of Time,’ we had a relationship with a spirit that we
communicated with on an Ouija board, named HEST. Me and Steve Flynn had barely a finger on
this thing. He would communicate with us about all kinds of things for many months. It was
incredible, and very real. He was with us in the studio… It was crazy, but he drew pictures with a
dry erase marker... Most scoff at that story but its true…”
“Will Atheist be recording a new studio album in the future, or are you letting the
legacy remain as it is? Outside this band, do any of you have any side-projects you’re working
on?”
“We all have tons of things but one of them is not fucking with the legacy of Atheist. It
just would not be right to do that under the moniker. However, we do plan on recording together
in some capacity very soon. It will be crazy, and very death metal. We wish to respect that Roger
Patterson was a very important part of what was great about our band, and so it would just not be
the same. I have just produced Steve Flynn's new band Gnostic's debut, and that is going to
satisfy all of the Atheist fans I think ‘cause it's total chaos -- some of the best metal drumming
ever recorded, and a great record top to bottom. The record will be coming out on Relapse in the
latter part of ’08. I have an acoustic duet with a female singer that should piss some people off.
It's very much a departure for me, I dig it though. Also a new heavy rock project with some of
Neurotica…”
“What do you think of Frank Zappa?”
“Genius -- brilliant composer, musician, visionary. I am still angry that we lost him so
early, of all the wasted space of this earth from people who deserve to not be here such as Fred
Durst, and that little Disturbed dweep. Why are those people still breathing and Frank Zappa &
Jeff Buckley are gone?”
THE LOS ANGELES MURDERFEST (DAY TWO)
**From the chicken scrawl annotations of Dr. Bartek (Round II) -- Obscene Gesture: Quick grind
blasts and Anal Cunt infused retardation as this big black dude stumbled about screaming his face
off, and the chick bassist obscured herself with a WWII gas-mask. Fetus Eaters: Psychotic grind
with a Frank Zappa grace. The vocalist keeps busting out kazoos, recorders (like the musical
ones from elementary school) and an acid-jazz fueled saxophone. Kill The Client: One of the best
performances of the entire fest. Short little beer-bellied Texan vocalist thrashing around jumping
into the crowd and screaming about the Illuminati. "Don't let anyone tell ya how to be free!!"
They were total Pig Destroyer styled grind, and unbelievably fast at all angles... DR. KNOW:
Another legendary grind/hardcore assault that brought you right back to the oldschool days of
LA hardcore... Bad Acid Trip: The band most known for being on the label of System Of A
Down's guitarist. Circus carnie grind, totally weird, Mike Patton-esque vocalist throwing himself
around the stage animated as a coke-loaded Robin Williams stand-up taping from 1979. No one
in the audience seemed to dig it except for me... Cretin: One of the guys from Repulsion and the
newbie band on Relapse. Another unstoppable grind explosion... 7000 Dying Rats: A shit-load of
members in ski-masks belting it out like a secret SWAT society. Chicago's pride... Lack Of
Interest: Hard-hard-hard fuckin' core... Waco Jesus: A band that I never gave a second thought to
once again destroying everyone in the room. None of their recordings ever did them justice.
These guys obliterated everything in their path... The Accused: Oldschool splatter-core warriors,
singer looking even more kielbasa-like than the drummer from Coffin Texts... Pig Destroyer: Half
new shit, half Terrifyer plus a blistering Dwarves cover. Live they didn't maintain the raw sound
of their albums, but instead had a clunky, metallic crunch that kept having me think Skynet's
army of exoskeleton death machines... Anal Cunt: Seth back from his bad meltdown, gripping the
microphone to keep in place, screaming his all. Once again, this is a live band, not a studio work.
More badass than Samuel L Jackson's wallet in the end scene of Pulp Fiction... Brutal Truth: The
moment of glory. If there ever was a band that deserved the top honors of the fest, here they were
at the top of their game. The grind masses swirled, the circle pit was vicious, the sweat poured
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from every orephous. It was religious in the sense of a triple-live gonzo MANOWAR
performance, all selections of the power ballad nature…
KILL THE CLIENT
Morgan: “Everything I write is political or social. It’s the old saying -- ‘we can’t change the
future without looking at the past.’ The underpaid, the overworked, the jobless, the homeless –
The Machine doesn’t work without the middle class. If the middle class decided not to show up
one day then the government would shut down. But just like you, if I don’t show up to work I
don’t get paid. They’ve stuck us in a corner. Your dad, mom, grandmother, grandfather -- they’ll
run you all into the ground because to them you’re nothing but a machine. They don’t give a fuck
about your health, your social security. They want you to remain a gear in the machine. I write
about breaking that gear, making that change. I love this country more than anything in this
world. I believe in the constitution, our original rights and our original freedom. We don’t hide
that, we want to lay it down. I’m 35, I’ve seen a lot. I’m actually a Gulf War veteran.”
“Where you from?”
“Dallas, Texas; where Kennedy got shot. He’s the one who said in a speech, nationally,
that big government was too big and we had no reason to be in Vietnam. Two weeks later he got
shot. The last two records we put out we released on November 22nd [the anniversary of the
assassination]. It’s the most reasonable conspiracy that ever happened. The US government itself,
the CIA, the mafia. Fidel Castro was CIA-backed. Kennedy hired the mafia to kill Castro because
Castro defected. It’s all connected and they’re all dirty bastards. Kennedy was a dirty bastard too,
but he was fighting for equal rights. I don’t give a shit what color you are, what racial
background, what sexual background. We’re all people. If we can’t work together to make things
better than were all gonna end up fucking ourselves.”
“What are some crazy show responses you’ve had?”
“The one I remember the most is a VFW hall show. We were playing and this squatter
punk pulled the American flag off the wall and spit on it. I whooped the fucking shit out of him.
There’s a huge difference between hating the system and hating the country. I will never hate this
country. I’m a veteran of a foreign war, so is my father. My grandfather stormed Normandy on D-
Day and also fought the Battle of the Bulge. I believe that squatter stood for freedom, as do all of
us, but don’t disrespect that because you don’t believe in the system. None of us believe in it
because the fucking system has failed….”
PIG DESTROYER
Among my personal favorites in grind culprit warfare happens to be the quaintly titled Pig
Destroyer, of Virginia origin. Savage and confrontational, this almighty titan of black ooze and
crunching verbosity was formed in 1997 by vocalist J.R. Hayes and Scott Hull [of Agoraphobic
Nosebleed fame]. Starting their catalogue with a split 7” alongside Orchid, and by ‘98 the
Explosions in Ward 6 LP, Pig Destroyer made an instant name for themselves via DIY tours up
and down the East Coast.
By 2000 Relapse Records had signed the band and pressed another 7”, this time with
ISIS. Yet it wasn’t until 2001’s Prowler In The Yard when the group became a household name
in the deepest of powerviolence circles. Headlining performances at the 2002 New England Metal
and Hardcore Festival & 2002 Relapse Records CMJ Showcase, alongside a hi-profile set at the
Relapse Records Contamination Festival in Philadelphia, sealed the deal at an international level.
A lengthy Japanese tour was soon to follow, alongside Napalm Death and Nasum. All of
this swirled a volatile period of motion which ultimately culminating the heart-stopping Terrifyer
album, which far and wide ranks as one of the best grind/death crossover albums of the decade.
Then came the UK, SXSW, MacRock in Virginia, the Maryland Deathfest… It goes on and on
my friends. Just know that they are here now, forever on the printed page before you, in a slice of
time which precedes the release of Phantom Limb…
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JR: “There's a song called ‘Girl In The Slayer Jacket,’ which is about this girl who listens to
Slayer and hangs herself on a bridge. There's one called "The Machete Plan" which is about these
twin sisters who... you know... kill people with machetes then take out a bunch of cops and shit.
There's a couple that are more relationship based and a few that might even be considered
political. I didn't write a concept or story because the songs feel more individualistic than the last
two albums.”
“The last album was centered around this kind of archetypical evil bitch from hell. I
was curious about that in particular because every time I go through some horrible female
burn I end up listening to it drunk and pissed and it totally suits the moment in time. Were the
lyrics on ‘Terrifyer’ based on someone in particular, or were they this kind of protean
conglomeration of many, many bad relationships rolled into one specific symbol...”
“You know I don't really feel the anger in them. But it depends on who listens to it. I
think it's important that the anger in anchored in real emotion, but I never try to write so close to
the bone. To keep it artistic you have to fictionalize it to a certain extent. I always try to work
from that premise and turn it into an interesting story that has emotion attached to it. I think I'd
have to have someone else analyze it to say how much of it is actually me. And you're in a death
metal band too, so you kind of got to play on the evil a little, you know?”
“On Terrifyer you have that really rough, raw processor on your vocals…”
“The vocals are definitely a little different. On Terrifyer there was a lot of me doubling
the vocal tracks, even doing triples. There was a lot of distortion and a lot of stuff piled on top of
other stuff and that's what gives it that real chaotic feel. The vocals aren't quite as layered, they're
a little more stripped down and that makes them a little more aggressive. It sounds far more raw.”
“Do you have any side projects you’re working on right now?”
“I've been working on a novel. It's written but its all longhand and I'm typing and editing.
I hate computers. It's a little bit of a love story, it's a little bit of a horror story. There's Bruce
Willis style Die Hard action in it… It's going to be called Dixie & The Dead Girls.”
“What's just a weird, fucked up story that happened to you and every time you tell
people about it everyone looks at you like you’re a pathological liar?”
“Well, I met Chuck Norris once. That was pretty cool… Actually I have a black belt in
Tae Qwan Do. When I was younger I went with my instructor and we met Chuck Norris. When
the picture was developed I had my eyes half closed with this stupid grin on my face. I was so
fuckin' pissed (laughs). I mean how often do you get to meet Chuck Norris and here I am looking
like a douche bag…”
7000 DYING RATS
Formed in Detroit in 1992, then quickly moving onto Chicago, 7000 Dying rats are perhaps the
founders of “comedy grind,” or as they so call it. Just fewer than 30 members have come and
gone over the years, all who’ve stamped their faceless identities on the terrifying bursts of
psychosis that has spread the Rats virus over innumerable comps and splits.
When 7000 Dying Rats perform live, expect multiple men in ski masks to perform
fiendish actions – always ghastly, always delightful. They keep declaring they’ve broken up, but
keep playing shows regardless. The men of following words are the sort of pilot/co-pilot duo of
this collective…
Josh Diebel: “Well, I had a pretty great time. We didn't have any time to rehearse, so we had to
rely strongly on alcohol and drugs. Repulsion destroyed all of the bands this weekend, seeing
them was the biggest highlight. Another highlight was Kill the Client…”
“Tell me about the general message…”
JD: “We have no message at all. The records are compiled over stretches of time so there
is no concept either. We will record stuff that makes us itchy… We are really influenced by our
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political leadership; they have set a great example for not just us as Americans, but mankind in
general. Also by television, fast food and beautiful people…”
“What are some odd tour flashbacks you have?”
Toney Vast-Binder: “Naked foot races in Milwaukee, a bathroom in New Jersey covered
in blood, pyrates in Reno, playing in gay bars in San Francisco AND Boston & never wanting to
leave… Pissing off legions of serious-minded music fans everywhere…”
“What is something remarkably bizarre that happened to you and every time you tell
someone they think you’re a pathological liar?”
JD: “Once, in London, I met Amy Winehouse, she said I was ‘a tubber’…”
TVB: “Once, in Los Angeles, I met Brent Spiner and we totally did it...”
“What are some bullshit mentalities in the underground you could do without?”
TVB: “People trying out-underground each other. Just because something is
‘underground’ doesn’t mean it’s good. Sometimes there are things are sucky and not many
people know about it. That’s OK by me…”
“When is going too far going too far?”
TVB: “Usually when people start to ask those kinds of questions, that's exactly when
things start to get interesting…”