Suicide
Watch
Let's face it! Most of
the bands that are created from people that used to reign in the metal
scene whilst being in a huge band, like for instance here Stampin' Ground,
would crave for publicity and would do anything necessary to promote their
new band by outlining their connection to the past... However, this is
not the deal with Suicide Watch and Ian Glasper, who proves to be a really
clever, frienldy and down to earth person. After all, music is all that
counts, isn't it so? So, read the interview and make sure you get your
hands on a copy of "Global Warning"!!!
1. HELLO! FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW
HOW YOU FEEL NOW THAT YOUR DEBUT ALBUM “GLOBAL WARNING” IS READY AND OUT
IN THE MARKET. DID YOU HAVE ANY POSITIVE RESPONSES SO FAR FOR YOUR FIRST
WORK AND HOW IMPORTANT IS FEEDBACK FOR YOU?
The only feedback that really matters is that
of music fans (the mainstream music press can lick our balls), and we’ve
been overwhelmed with all the positive comments for our debut album, but
at the end of the day, we just made the record that we ourselves wanted
to hear. And we still love it, even now, a year after we recorded it.
2. YOUR ALBUM HAS THE TITLE “GLOBAL WARNING”,
WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH THAT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE
MUSIC AND IN GENERAL THE ART CAN “MOVE” PEOPLE ABOUT THE PROBLEMS OF OUR
MODERN SOCIETY? DO YOU THINK THAT MODERN PEOPLE HAVE THE WILL TO FIGHT
FOR A BETTER FUTURE OR ARE THEY LAZY AND IGNORANT?
I personally think that if you have a public
platform where you have an opportunity to really communicate with many
people, you have a duty to impart a sincere, heartfelt message, and let’s
face it, the planet Earth is in great danger – from us, the human race.
I think we’re just pointing out the obvious for many people, but we wanted
to express our concern at this sorry situation. I don’t think music can
ever change the world, but if you can make even one person question their
actions, it’s a small victory for the general good.
3. ONE OTHER THING THAT I’VE NOTICED IN YOUR BOOKLET
IS THAT BELOW THE LYRICS OF EACH SONG YOU HAVE PUT A QUOTE OF A KNOWN PERSON.
WHY DID YOU DO THAT? IS IT SOMETHING LIKE A CONCLUSION/APOTHEGM OF EACH
SONG’S TOPIC? HOW IMPORTANT ARE LYRICS FOR YOU? DO THE PEOPLE OF EXTREME
MUSIC READ THE LYRICS, IN YOUR OPINION OR DO THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THE MUSIC?
The lyrics are very important to us, as I
said above, but the quotations were there just to add a little extra perspective
to each song. So, even if you don’t sit and read the whole song all the
way through, you at least get a general impression of the meaning behind
it.
4. THE COVER ARTWORK IS ALSO MADE FROM A VERY
KNOWN ARTIST. CAN YOU TELL US, WHO HE IS AND HOW YOU MANAGED TO COOPERATE
WITH HIM? DID HE LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC IN ORDER TO CREATE THE COVER ARTWORK?
Ed Repka is a fucking metal god, haha! Of
course, he did all those great covers for Megadeth, Evil Dead, Death, Misfits,
Defiance, Biohazard, Toxik, Ludichrist, and Uncle Slam, so it was a great
honour for us to collaborate with him. I’d worked with him before on a
cover for a compilation I put out on my old label, Blackfish, and we just
kept in touch, and then when we started up Suicide Watch, we knew there
was only one man who could paint our cover for us…!
5. HOW IS THE COVER ARTWORK CONNECTED WITH YOUR
LYRICS? DID YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE COVER ARTWORK, SINCE IT IS A
BIT EXTREME?
No, we didn’t have any problems with the cover
art, and I only think it’s ‘extreme’ because it’s based in reality and
not fantasy. Violence is so much more disturbing when it threatens to intrude
on our own lives, and government warmongering has sadly brought terror
into all of our homes…
6. MOST OF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH OTHER BANDS
AND SOME OF THEM ARE VERY KNOWN LIKE STAMPIN’ GROUND. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE
TO LEAVE THESE BANDS AND START FROM THE BEGINNING? WHERE FROM DO YOU DRAW
THE STRENGTH TO START ALL OVER AGAIN?
I left Stampin’ Ground because I had two kids
with my wife, and decided that I didn’t want to tour extensively any more.
I didn’t want to hold the other guys back either, so decided to retire
gracefully, haha! I’d only been out of the band for six months when I realized
how much I missed writing and playing music, so I called up Ade, the old
SG drummer, and a few other old mates of mine, and we put together a band
that we can do on our own terms.
7. THE FACT THAT YOU WERE MEMBERS OF STAMPIN’
GROUND, DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HELP YOU PROMOTE YOUR NEW BAND? HOW DO YOU
FEEL THAT, YOUR LABEL USED THIS IN ORDER TO PROMOTE YOU?
All credit to Alfie at Mausoleum, because
he hardly mentioned Stampin’ Ground in his promotion of the album at all,
which we were pleased with. The past is the past, and we wanted Suicide
Watch to be judged on its own merits. We’re miles better than them anyway,
haha!
8. BEFORE YOU FORMED SUICIDE WATCH YOU’VE ALREADY
KNOWN EACH OTHER QUITE WELL. SO, MAY I ASK IF YOU HAD PLANS TO FORM THIS
BAND IN THE PAST AS WELL? IF YES, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO DO IT NOW?
Even when I was in Stampin’ Ground, there
were often times when I wanted to do something more old school and thrashy,
and Ade has always been a huge fan of Eighties thrash as well, so I’m sure
we discussed doing something similar to SW at some point – we spent many,
many hours in the back of a tour bus talking about all sorts of shit…
9. YOUR SOUND IS CLOSER TO THE 80S FEELING. WHY
DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THAT? ISN’T IT A BIT RISKY ON BEHALF OF YOU SINCE
THE YOUNGER THRASHCORE FANS ARE USED TO LISTENING TO MORE MODERN SOUNDS?
Like I said, we knew exactly what kind of
record we wanted to make, and we made it, and we really didn’t care what
anyone else thought of it. We have no ambitions as far as becoming a popular
band anyway, so there wasn’t any great ‘risk’ as such – the only thing
we weren’t prepared to do was compromise the vision we ourselves had of
what our album should sound like! We’re all in our mid-late thirties, and
all our favourite bands were from the Eighties, so it’s a natural style
for us.
10. YOU HAVE RECORDED YOUR SONGS ONTO AN ANALOGUE
TAPE. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS METHOD? IN WHICH WAYS ACCORDING TO
YOU ANALOGUE RECORDING IS BETTER THAN THE DIGITAL ONE?
It’s real, there’s no cheating, no hiding
or fixing your mistakes. We just plugged in and recorded everything live
at the same time, like a real band jamming in the rehearsal room, but with
the tape rolling. I think recording like this captures an energy and intensity
that digital recordings often lack. Old school, baby!
11. SINCE YOU ARE AN OLD-FASHIONED BAND, DO YOU
HAVE PLANS TO RELEASE “GLOBAL WARNING” ALSO ON VINYL AND TAPE?
That would be awesome, but I somehow think
our limited commercial appeal wouldn’t encourage our label to go crazy
with lots of different formats.
12. YOUR MUSIC IS PASSIONATE AND FULL OF RAGE.
ARE THERE MOMENTS THAT YOU ARE IN A CALMER MOOD AND HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT
THAT YOU HAVE EXAGGERATED A BIT?
There are many times when I’m in a calmer
mood… but I never write songs during those times, haha! I’m only really
motivated to write lyrics when I’m in a rage – it’s a great way to vent
negative feelings. Sometimes when I read my lyrics back to myself, I’m
shocked at how desperately angry they are, but that was how I was feeling
when I wrote them, so it would be wrong to change them and lose the honest
passion they evoke.
13. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME! THE LAST
LINES BELONG TO YOU, SO FEEL FREE TO USE THEM AS YOU WANT…
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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