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Here's an interview with Repulsion former member Scott Carlson... I stole it from the web site Voices From The Dark Side, which used my biography without being allowed by myself, so what's the problem with stolen it ? Hey guys...
Can
you tell me more about the pre-REPULSION band GENOCIDE, when the first idea
grew to form this band and who played in it?
"The whole thing sort of evolved unconsciously, Matt and I had been playing
together since about age 14, playing JUDAS PRIEST covers in the bedroom and
stuff. When we got into high school we met his guy Sean MacDonald and together
we discovered IRON MAIDEN, MOT�RHEAD, METALLICA, GBH, DISCHARGE, CRUCIFIX,
CELTIC FROST etc. Looking at those influences you can see how it quickly
became more and more extreme. In those days (around 1984) I sang, Matt on
guitar, Sean on bass and James Auten on drums. Phil Hines of DISSONANCE
replaced James briefly in late �84."
Was
the �Stench Of Burning Death� tape the only official release from GENOCIDE,
because I have some rather good rehearsal tapes called �Armies Of The Dead�
and �Violent Death�?
"Those tapes were sent out as demos to various fanzines and key tape traders in
an effort to raise the profile of the band on the underground scene. We were
very aware of the success of METALLICA, EXODUS and a few others achieved by
circulating demos through the underground. So basically yeah, we considered
them demos even though they were crudely recorded."
Why
the change in name from GENOCIDE into REPULSION? I guess there were many bands
around with that name?
"Firstly, it�s a bad name. I don�t like what it stands for and never would
have chosen it if I weren�t so young and naive. Secondly, when ten other
bands from around the globe started writing with claims to the name I figured
it was the perfect excuse for us to change our name. REPULSION was a name that
I always liked from the Roman Polanski film. I had just written a song called
'Repulsion' and it just seemed like the right name. It was a fairly
painless transition as word travelled quickly through the underground network.
And this was way before the internet explosion! The name GENOCIDE stuck around
four months.
Did
Chuck of DEATH contact you and Matt personally to join DEATH after the
�Infernal Death� tape or was it the other way?
"Chuck and I had been writing back and forth and the situation came up that
they needed a bass player. I first suggested Sean MacDonald for the job but
after Chuck fired Rick Rozz he asked Matt and me to join. We felt bad for Sean
at the time because he was very disappointed and probably quite mad at us.
After going down there to Florida and having Kam Lee quit shortly thereafter,
Sean was probably glad he didn�t go!
"The short stay was due to two things. The previously mentioned departure of
Kam and the differences in direction that quickly arose between Chuck and us.
Matt and I wanted to get faster, more raw and punked out with short songs and
even shorter guitar solos. If you listen to GENOCIDE and DEATH demos the
material is similar. Then listen to �Scream Bloody Gore� and �Horrified�.
It�s apparent that we headed in different directions. Having said that,
I have tons of respect for Chuck�s accomplishment and we remained friendly
after the split. A good friend of mine just gave me a rehearsal tape from May
�85 that features the Chuck / Kam / Matt / Scott line-up. In late �85 we
returned to Michigan and reformed the band with a new drummer and me playing
bass as well as singing."
If
I�m not mistaken wasn�t the �Horrified� album originally a demo
called �Slaughter Of The Innocent�?
"That is correct. We
were going to call the album �Slaughter Of The Innocent�
but when no label showed interest in releasing it we decided to sell it
through the underground as a demo."
Did
other labels show interest in REPULSION before you were approached by Necrosis
Records to release the �Horrified� album in 1989?
"Not one. We sent an unmixed demo of the album to every known Metal label of
the day. We received several rejection letters from labels saying it was not
what they were looking for. I can�t really blame them. I think the most
extreme Metal record at the time was probably SODOM �In The Sign Of Evil�
and even they were starting to refine their sound."
In
1991 there was a sudden reunion of REPULSION, which resulted in the re-release
of the �Horrified� album and the �Rebirth� tape. Although Matt
didn�t join in this short venture, why?
"He was in the military at that time. Still, he wrote one of the songs on the
�Rebirth� tape and re-joined after the discharge from the military."
Why
the change in label?
"Because the
Earache / Necrosis contract had expired and they showed no interest
in re-releasing the record. Relapse was a new and hungry label that moved
fast. They released a new REPULSION single and quickly re-issued the
�Horrified� CD."
Wasn�t
there a 1992 demo tape recorded but never released? Why did you never release
this? I guess REPULSION split after this�
"Yeah, the band broke up during the recording of this demo, which resulted in
it remaining unfinished. I had lost interest and was itching to move out of
Flint, Michigan. It was somewhat a return to form with blast beats mixed in
with thrashy stuff but it was too late for me. I just couldn�t maintain my
enthusiasm for the band and I moved to Chicago."
Relapse
Records is releasing a double album with old GENOCIDE and REPULSION material,
can you tell me more about this and what will be on it?
"It will be like getting an old compilation cassette from a band member. Every
demo is there as well as a few live and rehearsal tracks. It will even include
songs from the aborted 1992 demo. The booklet will have tons of old photos and
thorough liner notes. You will never need another version of this record again."
Are
there maybe some gigs planned to promote his double album? It would be cool to
see REPULSION in Europe!
"Highly unlikely! It would be possible but I don�t think it would have the
same conviction or intensity that it had back in �86. We regret that the
band never got the chance to play for the European fans."
What
are you and the other members of REPULSION doing nowadays? Are you still in
contact with each other and are they still involved with music?
"Matt and I are both in Los Angeles working in audio editing for television.
Aaron is a computer draftsman for the auto industry in Michigan and Dave is in
Detroit working for his father-in-law�s business. He�s doing quite well.
We all stay in touch a bit, it gets harder and harder as we live far apart. We
all still play music but I think I�m the only one still in a band. I�m
playing guitar for a heavy rock band called THE SUPERBEES."
Do
you still personally follow the scene today?
"I
don�t know anything about the Death Metal scene today. I�m sure there
are still bands out there that are pushing the boundaries and finding new ways
of playing extreme Metal. I�m impressed with the staying power that Death
Metal has displayed."
Well
Scott, many thanks for this interview, any final words to say?
"Hey, thank you for still keeping the flame alive after all these years. It�s
kind of weird to realise but GENOCIDE / REPULSION existed as a working unit for
only 10 months. There were numerous attempts to re-form but the energy and
commitment just never equalled that
extremely productive period from September
�85 to June �86. I think it is great that people like you still dig it.
I�m just happy that people are still enjoying REPULSION and hope that new
fans discover �Horrified�
and all the others early practitioners of extreme Metal from SIR LORD
BALTIMORE to EXODUS (�Bonded By Blood�) to HELLHAMMER to Toronto�s
SLAUGHTER! Know your history, it will serve you well! Cheers!"
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Here's another interview, far more detailed. Just
like POSSESSED, DEATH, early DESTRUCTION, early SLAYER, early SODOM, early
MASTER, early SLAUGHTER and HELLHAMMER
Do
you remember exactly when and how GENOCIDE was formed in '84? Besides you Scott
on bass / vocals and Matt on guitar, who was on drums in '84 as I don't think it
was Dave "Grave" Hollingshead yet and did you have other members like
a second guitarist at the time or whatever?
Scott:
�We did have a bass player by the name
of Sean McDonald and I was just singing at the time.�
Matt: �Singing?�
Scott: �Well you know�(laughs) I was
on vocals and a guy named Phil Hines played drums for us, he was in a Flint Punk
/ Rock band called DISSONANCE who were
very popular at the time and we were very happy to have him playing with us.�
The
first semi official recording that made its way in the underground was the
November '84 rehearsal featuring 'Armies Of The Dead', 'Satan's Whore' and 'Crack
Of Doom', a quite amateurish recording but still showed some promise at times...
Scott:
�Well it was recorded in...
Phil and Tanya,
the bass player of DISSONANCE
who were a couple at time, it was recorded in their basement and
it was just done on a boom box and the reason why we recorded it was to send it
to several people who had magazines like Vadim Rubin from Brain Damage and Bob
from a magazine called Sledgehammer Press which was in Michigan, we made it for
people like that.�
Matt: �We did a photo shoot right after
that, the recording of that demo didn't we?!�
Scott: �Yes we did.�
Matt: "We
did
that photo shoot and took some pictures of that line up. Oh also, we got a
drawing of
Away from VOIVOD, we got a drawing of
that line up that he did, cartoon caricatures of all of us, it�s pretty
cool.�
Scott: �If we�re lucky, we might see
that in the re-release of �Horrified� that�s coming up. Yeah,
that was just a basement recording done for friends in the scene, and we just
wanted people hear us and we didn't have enough money to go in a studio. Looking
back on it? It�s kinda cool.�
Matt: �I love that demo because we had a
really tight band. The drummer we had was Phil at the time, it was so easy to
communicate and he was a solid drummer, he was a Thrash drummer but he wasn�t
like doing blast
beats or that kind of shit, he wasn�t doing like double bass shit and stuff
like that and he�s lot of fun. Sean was a really really good friend of ours
and I just remember one thing, we had all this equipment plugged into like one
plug and it looked like Christmas time when you get one plug with like five
millions strings of light plugged in (laughs).�
Scott: �One thing I can say about the
drummer Phil, he was from a Punk background and we were violently opposed to
Heavy Metal drums, we weren�t into double bass drumming at all, we were
totally�. You know Dave had two kick drums and the other one sat in the
corner, we sat drinks on it, we did not want any double bass in our music at all
because we were trying not to be� we were conscious we were trying not to be
too Metal I think, we were definitely heavily influenced by Punk.�
I
remember that your main influences back then were coming from the likes of
CELTIC FROST, DEATH, POSSESSED, SLAUGHTER, AGNOSTIC FRONT, MISFITS and others
such as NYC MAYHEM, so considering that most of those acts were underground,
were you big underground fans?
Scott:
�Yes we were into the underground scene,
heavily into tape trading. I would say that the band SLAUGHTER was the band�
they were the geniuses that we were trying to keep up with them all the time, it
was friendly but we loved what they were doing, the way that they incorporated
the heaviness of CELTIC FROST and DISCHARGE with a speed that hadn�t been
heard previously and that�s the difference between I think like us and
SLAUGHTER as opposed to let�s say CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER and NYC MAYHEM. We were
also as heavily influenced by the speed bands like L�RM
and early AGNOSTIC FRONT as we were by CELTIC FROST and stuff like that, real
heavy you know, we grew up on SABBATH so��
Matt: �You know when I think about it, I
wasn�t really� I didn�t feel I was prompted by the bands like CRYPTIC
SLAUGHTER and NYC MAYHEM to play faster, for some reason our speed just sort of
came with the evolution of our music. I�m sure it was influenced by those guys
at the same time
we came up and our Heavy Metal concept was based on like the early recordings of
VENOM, MOT�RHEAD,
you know METALLICA when they came on the scene, they changed a lot of shit but I
mean, the Punk stuff and the really really hard Metal, early Metal stuff, Speed
Metal stuff were my main influences and then I think, we were just like those
other guys CRYPTIC
SLAUGHTER and those guys, we were just evolving, I think we just kept getting
faster and faster but as far as contemporaries go, I can�t think of anyone
that just made go �Okay I just want to sound like these
guys.�
Scott:
�Except for SLAUGHTER of course.�
Matt:
�Except for SLAUGHTER yeah!�
Scott: �I mean the direct influences had
to be VOIVOD, DISCHARGE, CELTIC FROST, SLAYER, those are the obvious ones. GBH
also when Matt found out about we were really into the Metal when we heard stuff
like GBH and DISCHARGE, we started getting more loose and thrashy with our
playing, not in a bad way. I mean those guys I didn�t think were great
musicians but it changed our approach of playing Heavy Metal.�
By
the way, was GENOCIDE the first band you played with for you guys?
Scott:
�Well it was,
but it was always Matt and I and� the first band was called TEMPTER and also
featured Sean who was in the earliest GENOCIDE line up on bass, and we had a
second guitar player named Matt Diphin and a drummer named James Otin. That was
more of a heavily SLAYER, METALLICA influenced band, that�s when we wrote the
song 'Armies
Of The Dead'.�
Matt: �Yeah we did. Our first gig was
all cover songs except for 'Armies�'.
That was the first song Scott and I wrote together.�
Scott: �And we were doing MAIDEN and GBH
in the same set, that was kind of ridiculous but that�s where we were at the
time, we were experimenting with all kinds of heavy music. That band TEMPTER, we
lost the second guitar player and we continued, we changed the name to
ULTRAVIOLENCE and GENOCIDE which you know, they were all those names we just
threw on ourselves because we didn�t really have become creative enough yet to
think of a really cool name� Anyway just kept evolving, Matt and I kept the
concept going more and more extreme and people fell by the wayside as they got
girlfriends or you know lost interest playing music and Matt and I were just
obsessed with it so we were the ones that carried the concept from the beginning
to the end.�
How
much interest from people and fanzines did you get for that first recording? Was
it enough to keep the band alive in the first part of 1985?
Scott:
�As far as keeping the band alive,
no, because we lost� the drummers came and went because� you know Phil who
was with us played in another band that was doing really good at the time so we
only had him in part time and we wanted somebody who was fully committed to what
we were doing. Bass players came and went, like I said girlfriends popped up�
when you�re young, your focus doesn�t stay with you for very long unless
you�re totally obsessed the way Matt and I were.�
Matt: �I
don�t know why! I mean it was plain to see back then that we were extreme
geniuses (laughs).�
Scott:
�So we got a little bit of interest,
thanks to magazines like Brain Damage and Sledgehammer Press who were the first
like fanzines that people knew worldwide in the underground that wrote about us
and had positive things to say about what we were doing and really introduced us
to a lot of other people in the scene like Katon from HIRAX and Chuck Schuldiner
from DEATH, these were people that we met that really made us see how big the
scene was getting over here in America cos we�d seen DESTRUCTION and BATHORY
and SODOM and all these bands
- I�m forgetting CELTIC FROST
- coming up in Europe and really
making a dent after the initial METALLICA, SLAYER thing and we were really blown
away to see that it was coming up in America too so that was great.�
The
next step for you guys was to join Chuck Schuldiner and Kam Lee in DEATH in
Florida around June '85 as the band had just fired Rick Rozz and had no bass
player, so how did it happen exactly?
Scott:
�I had ordered a magazine called
Guillotine, it was just another underground magazine I�d probably read an ad
for in the back of Brain Damage (me
too, but they never sent it to me those Florida assholes!
- Laurent) or something, I ordered it
for two or three bucks and when I got it the editors Mark Edwards and John
Gross, they sent me both of their two or three different issues they had at the
time
- they were very kind to
send me all the magazines, and one of �em had an article about that band
called MANTAS who had recently changed their name to DEATH and when I read the
article about the band, it just struck me that they had to be�
a lot of what I read sounded exactly
like what we did. Obviously it was a little different, I think it was probably a
little more like SLAYER, POSSESSED influenced than us but definitely along the
same lines and the concept was close enough that Matt and I were intrigued to
hook up with this guy Chuck and try to start a band.�
Considering
the fact that DEATH was only a demo band at the time and you were based in
Flint, Michigan which is quite far from Florida, wasn't it a bit risky for you
guys to do such a move to join a small underground band?
Scott:
�If you�ve never been to Flint, MI,
it�s kind of a burn out��
Matt: �It was as risky to stay in Flint
(laughs).�
Scott: �It�s an old industrial town
similar to like Birmingham, in fact more like Coventry if you have ever been to
England, like a small town that used to be very industrial, when the automobile
industry was booming there but as times have changed the automobile industry as
moved away from Flint into other places and Flint is kind of a dying out town,
it�s kind of a burning out star so to speaking. Leaving there? We had
absolutely nothing to lose living there, even nowadays we still have a lot of
loved ones and friends back there but Flint was definitively not a place for us
and were happy to not live out there.�
Matt: �We were young and like very very
adventurous anyway. I mean it was kind of a long shot but at the same time when
you�re caught up in a movement that's so young and fresh like what the Death
Metal movement was back then and you�re into it, devoted to it as much as we
did, doing something like this we didn�t think twice, it was like �We�re
going!�. Once Chuck said �That�s cool�, we just packed our shit and
left.�
The
only recording I've ever heard from that new DEATH line up was a rehearsal from
July '85 where you played mostly covers from DESTRUCTION, SLAYER and the likes,
was it easy to get along with Charlie and Kam?
Scott:
�Definitely. Chuck,
you know,
became like a brother to us at the time. Unfortunately we've completely lost
touch with the guy but� Kam on the other hand was young, he had some things
going on at home, it was just hard you know! We were all young�"
Matt:
�In fact we got along with them both
when you think about it. He (Kam) was...
like what Scott was saying because of whatever was going on in his personal
life, his dedication in the band became really really flaky but in hindsight I
mean we couldn�t possibly take that personally in you know?! But as far as the
guy, he was super nice, he partied with us a couple of times and we had fun.�
Scott: �I never had any hard feelings
towards Kam at all, just frustration because we moved all the way down to do
this band, we had high hopes for it.�
Talking
about Kam, as far as I know the band broke up in August '85 because Kam left the
band and as you guys couldn't find a new drummer, Chuck moved to S.F. by
September to reform DEATH and you came back to Michigan to reform GENOCIDE�
Scott:
�Well basically, it was Chuck, Matt and
I sit around with no drummer and the other thing that was key was�I don�t
want to sound like I�m kissing Terry Sadler�s ass (from SLAUGHTER) but we
were around there and Mark from Guillotine was there too and he had just
received SLAUGHTER�s �Surrender Or Die� demo, when we listened to it, we
were like �These guys are breaking some ground, it�s heavy as CELTIC FROST
but they�re faster than SLAYER� and I was completely blown away by their
sound and I immediately wanted to be more like that than more like a technical
Death Metal band which obviously� you�ve heard the REPULSION album and
you�ve heard the progress that DEATH made which you know was brilliant in its
own way� two different areas that we have made and we had no drummer so we
just thought it was best we go back home and concentrate on this new idea that
we had which was based around the first couple songs, I think it was 'Six
Feet Under'
and 'Lurking
Fear',
those were like the first couple and I remember that we played 'Lurking
Fear'
for Chuck and he just wasn�t interested in it at all so you know it was again
no hard feelings, we loved Chuck and still do but at the time we just knew we
had to go back home and start what became REPULSION.�
Matt:
�Yeah it worked obviously best for both parties, no hard feelings.�
Then
as you decided to reform GENOCIDE following that split, you hooked up with Dave
Hollingshead as drummer who was a skinhead if I'm correct, how did that happen?
Was he into Metal a bit also considering that he was coming from another angle
musically / socially I'd say?
Scott:
�Well first of all, I�d clear one
thing but Dave Hollingshead is not a skinhead, he was like a skateboard Punk,
and he was in a couple of bands you know who was sort of poppy Punk indie, Punk
kind of thing.�
Matt: �Party Punk�
Scott: �Yeah like slower bands you know
and the reason that he got so fast��
Matt: �What was the name of the bands he
was in?�
Scott: �THE GUILTY BY STANDERS.�
Matt: �They�re still around right?!�
Scott: �I think he was in another band
as well� but when we got Dave in the band he�d never played Metal, he�d
never played our style of music.�
Matt: �Oh musically he was just like a
whatever kind of guy, as long as it was Hardcore basically, he was like really
into it.�
Scott: �Dave was like us, he was
adventurous, he was adventurous enough to go from what he was playing to playing
Speed Metal and it worked out great.�
Matt: �Yeah exactly, I think because of
the fact that he wasn�t like us something new got introduced into the REPULSON
sound and into the Thrash Metal sound because it would be like if you took a
Jazz guy and threw it into a seventies Rock band, what would happen?! It could
be pretty interesting, who knows��
Scott: �Dave was not really coming from
a musically
/ socially different angle than us, we
came from a small town where everybody sort of knew each other and when Matt and
I got back from Florida was when Dave had recently been busted for grave robbing
and we just immediately thought that�s the guy, I mean he plays drums and
he�s a grave robber, he�s perfect for our band you know?! (laughs).�
Matt: �He
was a little devious� I know it was kind of cool.�
Scott: �But
we liked it you know, as much as we sort of never knew exactly what was going on
inside of Dave, that was one of the things that was sort of like, maybe really
cemented the chemistry between us all you know was� really interesting playing
with Dave.�
Matt: �It was an undeniably Death Metal
act to rob a grave so� (laughs)�
Did
you try any other guys besides him or did you know immediately that he was the
right guy for the job by the speed he could come with through his insane
playing?
Scott:
�We never tried anybody else, he came
along and there was no other Speed Metal, Death Metal, Punk
/ Rock drummers in our town. He wanted
to be in our band so he was in the band, that�s the way it was.�
He
got his nick name Dave "Grave" as he was accused of robbing a grave in
a cemetery with somebody else or something like that according to the collage on
the album insert, what's the story behind all that stuff?
Scott:
�Yes he got that from robbing a grave,
if you can read the collage on the album, if you can put a microscope on that
article and read it, him and a couple of his buddies when they were in high
school robbed a tomb in a cemetery and stole the skull and by the way her name
was Helga - if you�ve heard the song 'Helga
(Lost
Her
Head)',
that�s where the idea came from
- and Helga happened to be the mother
or grandmother of like one of the county prosecutor and it did not work out so
well for Dave in his trial but since he was so young they did let him off the
hook with a little slap on the wrist.�
So
the next recording came out in the shape of "Violent Death" a ten song
basement rehearsal / demo done on October 21st '85 and this time it was like a
new band that people could hear since all the songs can be considered as Death /
Thrash classics from opener 'Armies...' to the already classic 'Horrified' tune,
any memories of that famous tape?
Scott:
�Well that was recorded in Matt�s bedroom which was in his parents basement
on again possibly the same recorder that was used to record the �Armies...�
demo which belong to our friend Lee Williams and now belongs to Sean McDonald
the guy who used to play bass for us��
Matt: �He
still has it, he still uses it (laughs).�
Scott: �Yeah that jam box recorded a lot
of REPULSION rehearsals that you�ve heard, we carried that jam box with us
everywhere, recorded those rehearsals in the basement that were later on like
right before we did the album, everything was recorded on that jam box and other
than the fact that we were trying to push the speed forward, we were trying to
get Dave into shape because he�d never really played that kind of music
before� I don�t think it was that good, what I do think is good about it is
the seedlings of REPULSION which I�m very proud of so��
Matt: �Oh I like it, I like that demo, I
think its Scott explained it pretty good, I mean it wasn�t really quite what
we wanted to be but it was definitely the beginning, a good beginning.�
Did
you sell it or was it just a tape you were trading around? Did it come out with
a cover if you sold it like the previous November '84 rehearsal which had a
cover (Toxic Metal)? What kind of response did you receive for that second
Metallic attack?
Matt:
�Oh
we didn�t sell it, did we?�
Scott: �No we didn�t sell that. As for
the cover you mention
for the November �84 rehearsal tape, I don�t even know� I know that were a
drawing of the zombie that�s on the front and that was mine and I know I wrote
Toxic Metal on the flyer but I don�t know if I ever made that into a tape
cover, somebody may have made that tape cover, maybe it was me but I don�t
remember, if you have a copy of that I�d like to see it. But no we didn�t
sell that tape or really trade it around, I�m sure we send it to like Borivoj
(Krgin) and a few other people just to get some opinions from some underground
kingpins as to if we were or we weren�t heading like the right direction even
if we didn�t care, we knew we were doing it but� just to see what people
thought.�
Was
the addition of Dave in the band responsible for that massive dose of speed
injected in the new stuff?
Scott: �I
think we pretty much answered to that. We were just� all of us at the same
time were sort of going in that direction.�
Matt: �(laughs) Poor Dave, I just
remember, he had some problems of low blood sugar so we were playing like two or
three songs and his arms and his whole body, his face would just turn white and
we had to gave him Coke, Snickers and stuff. (laughs)�
How
long did it take you to come up with that new material considering that two
months earlier you were still in DEATH?
Scott:
�Well the material on that tape, some of
it was written in Florida, songs that we would have liked to see used in DEATH
but obviously like we said before Chuck was moving in one direction, we were
moving in another so in fact we were writing in a pretty frantic pace. If you
consider the fact that GENOCIDE
/ REPULSION was formed in September
1985 and broke up in June of 1986 right after the album was recorded, that�s
only like seven or eight months that the band was even in existence so we wrote
an abundance of material, you know there�s a few songs that no one has ever
heard because they never got recorded on a rehearsal tape but you know that 18
bunch of songs that is on the album, 18 songs and more in a very short period of
time, it was just a very creative spurt and obviously if we could have been able
to duplicate that later, that would have been another REPULSION album so��
Also
at that point why did you not record that demo in a proper studio instead of
coming up with a somewhat poor - but KILLER - sounding tape which obviously was
a handicap to get an eventual deal with a label? Did you try to approach
labels by the way at that point?
Scott:
�We had no money, that�s the bottom
line, no money. That�s all we can say, no money and no connections, we were
completely on the outside in Flint because most of the bands in town were like
hair Metal, Heavy Metal was like �84, �85 you know M�TLEY
CR�E,
RATT� I don�t even know who else was popular, APRIL WINE, bands like that
were really popular, it was right before M�TLEY
CR�E
exploded even if I don�t think they were that huge
- maybe they were but the bottom line
is NOBODY in our town were doing what we did and��
Matt: �Scott
and I were always the kids that never had the gear, you know like in every scene
there�s one or two bands where the kids just have incredible gear, great
guitars, great amps, great drum kit. Scott and I come from very very middleclass
background, we never had� in fact we had no financial support from our parents
to do this kind of crap so if we wanted to do something like go in the studio,
we had to save money and you know��
Scott: �My parents were supportive of me
playing music earlier but at that point, we had just came back from Florida and
I had no job and I was just bummed around the house and in fact around that time
my parents said �Get a job or get out.� and I knew that we were onto
something with the REPULSION thing so I just moved out and moved with a bunch of
Punk Rock guys in a house that we rehearsed in and became totally obsessed with
making the REPULSION album.�
Matt: �No money that�s the bottom
line. We never had shit.�
Next
thing I remember is that you were recording your rehearsals quite often, making
sure that some of those rehearsals would be traded in the tape trading scene,
how important was that tape trading circuit for the whole GENOCIDE / REPULSION
story by the way?
Scott:
�I have to say it was everything, it was
everything to us. I mean it was like we were in Flint but we knew there was a
whole world of people out there that would love us if they could hear us so the
tape trading scene, that was all because in our town when we played gigs, we
played to all Punk Rockers who appreciated us because they were friends of ours
and they heard us rehearse so much, you know our rehearsals were almost like
shows in themselves and people loved this because we were all good friends and
it was a very tight knit scene but to really get the love of the Death Metal
people out there in the world, we knew that we had to have tapes circulating in
the underground so��
Matt: �Even then, there were still�
there was only few
reactions, luckily it was key reactions, positive reactions to the demo from
some key people but for the most part people were still way way into the SLAYER
sound you know which was for us on its way out when it was still very much in
its prime for the rest of the underground you know what I mean Scott?�
Scott: �Oh yeah!�
Early
January '86 you approached Aaron Freeman to play guitar to fill out the sound on
the "The Stench Of Burning Death" 1/26/86, an absolutely cult and
majestic demo, how did you hook up with him first - I think you Scott had played
with him previously and you knew him from school?
Scott:
�That was recorded at WFEE studios.
Aaron was a childhood acquaintance of Matt and I� Matt, Aaron and myself all
lived within a quarter mile of each other, I mean Aaron lived in between the two
of us and I lived a quarter of mile from Matt so it was a very short walk from
one house to the other. We just knew Aaron, he hung around with friends of ours,
he sold pot in the
parking lot of our high school��
Matt: �(laughs)
He was the neighborhood thug! He had
that big old fat loud black car with the big stereo and everything��
Scott: �So you know Aaron started to come around to our mutually friend Lee
Williams house and we all sort of hanging out over Lee�s house and everybody
was listening to this music and you know Aaron owned an amp and a guitar and he
was into the same music we were and we really wanted that demo to sound fatter
so it just made sense, he was right there and� you know every decision that we
made like that was sort of like impulsive and like�. Aaron was there and we
knew he could do it so we just said �Come on� you know, �Jump on board�.
Because I was singing and playing bass, I always wanted a second guitar player
because it covered up more of what I was doing, made me a little more
comfortable on stage to have that much extra noise going on in the background
you know?! I agree with you that this demo was very� that was the first thing
that we did that we were really felt like it was a real accomplishment as far as
the band�s short career.�
Talking
about musicians, it seems it was really hard back then to find Metal musicians
in the Flint / Detroit area and even the Metal / Hardcore scene there was really
weak back then as there were only a few bands around like you, GORE, JIM JONES,
HALLOWEEN and a few others compared to the big Chicago or Cleveland Metal
scenes, would you say that the fact of Detroit being mainly an industrial city
had a lot to do with that?
Scott:
�I don�t think the fact that Detroit
or Flint were industrial cities had anything to do with it, I think for one
thing, a lot of those early tours that came around by bands like METALLICA and
VENOM because they were small, just shoestring budget tours, in fact they
didn�t make it to Detroit, they were playing Cleveland, and then blow right
past Detroit going to Chicago because Detroit is a little bit out of the way.�
Matt: �There is no really small to
medium sized venues in Detroit, there was one, there was that place called
Harpo�s?�
Scott: �Blondies, Harpo�s��
Matt:
�Blondies was a really really small
club.�
Scott: �But we didn�t get to see
METALLICA in Detroit until 1984, they didn�t come through on their two
previous tours, the one with RAVEN and the other headlining one they did so
people just weren�t really exposed to the music in a big way, the way they
were in cities like New York, Chicago and L.A. where there were scenes going on
like in San Francisco��
Matt: �You know like Cleveland was a
better place��
Scott: �Yeah Cleveland was definitely
better at the time. So there were a few bands around and we were all very
dedicated, I think that made us even more hardcore to the fact we didn�t have
anybody there to tell us what was cool and not, we just figured it out on our
own.�
Matt: �I just remember loving to come to
practice and just to jam. I mean it was a time in your life for, you know you
don�t have to really care of the world and the reason we continued doing it
wasn�t so much for me like, �Oh I�m got to take care of this, I�m gonna
make it for my children��� NO it was just like I fuckin� love to jam you
know?�
So
how did the recording go of that first studio demo? Who came up with the idea to
have the drums quite up front and making them sound like a machine gun? Did Dave
use double bass on this or was it done with a single bass drum?
Scott:
�Dave never used double bass in
REPULSION, that�s all single bass. I think I had this discussion with NAPALM
DEATH when I first met �em and they found it extremely hard to believe that
Dave was doing the blast beats with the single kit but it�s true. Dave is the
best blast beat drummer from that era you know?! He was the best (and still
fuckin� is along with Pete Sandoval!
- Laurent) and he was just using a
single bass drum kit and a lot of that�
you know his technique, he just came
up on his own from playing really fast.�
Matt: �If you watched him doing it,
it�s really unorthodox, it�s really strange.�
Scott: �And then to have the drums
upfront, I suppose that was the engineer, Kenny Roberts, at the radio station,
we recorded that at the radio station. All we knew is that it sounded loud and
upfront which� before that the only time we�d ever heard our music was
through our jam box so to us it sounded like a LED ZEPPELIN album so we were
totally stocked on the production and we just let him do what he wanted to
do.�
Matt: �Still to this day, I think it�s
our best recording.�
Scott: �Yeah. So Kenny Roberts from
Flint, MI was the man who made our sound happen.�
At
which point did you decide that Aaron would join the band on a permanent basis?
Was it after the recording or before?
Scott:
�I guess it was probably right around
the time that we made the recording, we listened to it, we were like �Cool�
and like I said I always wanted
to flesh out the sound just because I always had little confidence issues
probably back then cos we were so new, and I was playing and singing at the same
time, just made me feel a bit better to have two guitar players and Aaron was
our buddy, and just made it one more person that much more fun, Aaron was a
really funny guy, still is in fact and� so it was a lot of fun, just made it
more fun because we all had the same sense of humor which was heavily inspired
by a local guy called Brian Lourin, so we were all just having a blast.�
Did
you get an even bigger and maybe better response with that new effort? Were you
getting some letters from overseas despite a lack of articles in fanzines at
that point?
Scott:
�Of course we did! We got a lot of
letters from all over the place, we got a few articles in fanzines, Borivoj of
course who had the Violent Noize magazine going on at the time gave us a pretty
positive write up on that demo and he was pretty influential so for him to give
us his endorsement definitely�
we got a lot of letters and a lot of
response for that demo and I think that was probably around the time that we
began to have an influence on NAPALM DEATH and those bands so� yeah I�d say
it worked out really good."
From
what I remember, you tried to approach a few labels back then at a time there
were only a few Death Metal bands around and one of them - Pentagram Records -
was stupid enough to reply to the band: "Amusing, very amusing"...
Scott:
�I remember them responding, I don�t
remember exactly their response but Combat, Metal Blade, New Renaissance, there
were several labels back then that all politely turned us down and said �You
know send us your next demo� or whatever, I mean you can imagine� The demo
still sounded pretty crude and the music was totally over the top and nobody was
interesting in that. The people who run the labels were still trying to find the
next SLAYER and we were like, way way beyond that.�
You
did a show in Flint on February 28th '86, was it the first show you ever played
or...? What kind of crowd did you have at your shows? I mean was it like a
crossover crowd?
Scott:
�We played one other show before that,
in fact we played a few shows before that. In September right after we got
together, we played the University of Michigan and did a DESTRUCTION cover and
several of our early GENOCIDE rockers like 'Armies...',
'Six
Feet Under',
'Crack
Of Doom'��
Matt: �I had forgot about all of that
damn!�
Scott: �And then about a month and a
half later, we had the opportunity, the honor to open for D.R.I. and CORROSION
OF CONFORMITY at a party in Flint.�
Matt:
�When those guys were in their prime!�
Scott:
�It was C.O.C.�s �Animosity�,
D.R.I. �Dealing With it� tour, we felt like we had made it big or something
opening for those bands. By the way in November �84 with the line up that
recorded the �Satan�s Whore� demo, we opened up for SLAYER one time on the
name of ULTRAVIOLENCE (it
happened exactly at the Ukranian Hall in Flint, MI on 11/20/84 when SLAYER were
at their prime!
- Laurent). At the time I don�t
think there was an album that was anymore influential on earth by D.R.I. and
C.O.C., I remember standing and playing, Reed Mullin and Woody from C.O.C. were
standing there watching us like ten feet from the front of the stage, Dave
messed up and I like freaked out like threw the cymbals on him. I think he
showed up at the gig on acid or something like that��
Matt: �I remember that right before that
gig, we were so freaking nervous that in fact we rehearsed our full set right
before we left to the gig and everybody was really nervous at the time but we
still managed to have a good time.�
Scott:
�So that February show, I can remember
this cos I have an insane memory. We�re opening for a band called FALSE
PROPHETS I think they were on Alternative Tentacles or something like that, they
were from New York, that was the first show we did with Aaron on guitar. The
crowd at our shows was completely Punk? You say crossover? No! There was no
Metalheads there at all except for five or six of our friends, it was a pure
Punk Rock audience that luckily for us kind of welcomed us with open arms.�
Matt: �Well you know Scott, if you think
about it, we used to rehearse at Phil and Tanya�s and we ended up rehearsing
at Frank�s, both of those places in Flint were like hubs of the Punk scene so
no matter where we were at, and after we�d had rehearsed, we all got drunk
together, we go and try to ride skateboards and walk up to the stores, I mean
we�re always just completely fully integrated into their scene so when we
played live it
was natural that the crowd would be all Punks.�
After
another show in April '86 with GORE and UGLY BUT PROUD, the name was changed for
REPULSION as there were some other GENOCIDE's around including the one in NJ who
got signed by New Renaissance, so who came up with that new name and that famous
decomposed head that came along with the name? Would you say REPULSION fit the
band better than GENOCIDE?
Scott:
�The New Jersey GENOCIDE, the Japanese
GENOCIDE, the French GENOCIDE, the English GENOCIDE and the fifty million bands
named GENOCIDE from all over the world that wrote us letters saying �We�re
the real GENOCIDE� after we started to get known outside of Michigan was why
we changed the name and secondly GENOCIDE is a horrible name, we were kids, we
had no idea of the full connotations of a name like that. If I started the band
today, I would never even consider calling it GENOCIDE.�
Matt: �I remember knowing what it meant
but��
Scott: "That�s what I mean, I
really like taking it all into consideration you know?!�
Matt: �We didn�t realize the impact
you can have when you call your band like that. We were just thinking of
concepts like genocide and nuclear war and you think about the awesome
unimaginable events as they were and as they happened in the 20th century and
you just go �Wah! �, I just remember being floored by thinking about some of
the things that happened during World War II and of course the cold war was
still in effect in the early days of REPULSION so� it�s like we thought
about those concepts, not necessarily in a way where we�re like condoning
�em or we thought they were cool, we were just like blown away by some of
those things in a total 15 year old kid kind of way.�
Scott: �So in fact we relived when 20
million bands wrote us letters saying �We�re GENOCIDE, change your name�
and I thought �Okay this is it. This is the time to change the name.� and we
were kicking around a song called 'Repulsion'
where I got the name after I was looking though a horror film book at the
library and I saw that classic shot called Repulsion, that�s where I got the
name REPULSION, I saw the word, looked up in a dictionary, saw what it meant and
I was like, that�s the band name.�
Matt: �Yes, that�s perfect.�
Scott: �And the head, the decomposed
head, that came from� I stole that drawing from a comic book basically, I
re-arranged and changed it a little bit but I�m not gonna say what comic book
cos it�s probably still copyrighted��
Matt: �And incriminate yourself.�
One
thing I noticed back then is that you often recorded rehearsals before you were
playing shows, does that mean that you were only practicing a few days before
the shows?
Scott:
�No, but we were recording our
rehearsals almost every night. The ones that have leaked out to the public were
mainly recorded for people like, I had fans who had wrote me a letter and send
me a blank tape and say �Would you record one of your rehearsals for me?�
and I obliged them, I�d take the blank cassette down to the rehearsal space,
record the rehearsal and mail it out, that�s why we don�t have a lot of
those. They were just recorded for the fans and the reason you�re hearing a
lot of �em right before the shows is cos we were just starting clicking really
good, you know that was the time I wanted to record the rehearsal and listen
back to it and see how tight we sound because when we were in the basement
rehearsing, it was just a wall of sonic noise.�
Matt: �Oh yeah!�
Scott: �So we�d record the rehearsals
before the shows to see where we were going��
Matt: �In fact some of those rehearsals
did have performances of our songs in a way better than anything we�ve ever
recorded, faster and we�re more relaxed, having more fun. When you�re on
stage, you are on a clock and you are doing a job performing.�
After
having written a couple of newer songs such as 'Maggots...', 'Repulsion' etc,
you entered the studio to record what should have been your first album back
then, "Slaughter of ..." and ended up being sold as a demo, so what
happened exactly as it was recorded as an album without being signed by any
label which was quite strange?
Scott:
�Laurent, you were probably around back
in those days and know that in �86 we were definitely more extreme than
CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER or WEHRMACHT or any of those other bands that did get signed
as they had more of a accessible, maybe something at the label people can grasp
onto and ours was just morbid, poorly recorded� just morbid, heavy and out of
control.�
Matt: �You�ve just described early
SODOM (laughs).�
Scott:
"Yeah, that�s the same you know?!
But the labels just weren�t into it, it�s that simple. We sent it to every
label we could possibly think of...�
Matt: �But it wasn�t supposed to be an
album either, we were trying for once to record a good demo��
Scott: �But we were intending to release
it as an album.�
Matt: �We were?!�
Scott: �Yeah definitely, he�s right
about that. The intend as to release that on a label then if not put it out
ourselves. In fact we were pretty displeased with that recording, we left the
studio cos the engineer (Larry Hennessee) that recorded it was a completely hack
who had no idea what we were all about and he was high on marijuana the whole
time we recorded it��
Matt: �The being high thing is not such
a big deal and if the guy know what he was doing for one and if he was into us
but he was there and his favorite band was probably like STEELY DAN or something
and to him we were just like a joke you know?!�
Scott: �Put it this way, the master
recordings for that record, some of the songs are recorded over used tape that
was used a car dealer ship, a radio commercial you know so the guy just kinda
screw us around like didn�t take us seriously and we ended up with
something� at the time we thought was subpar but looking back on it now� the
impact it had on the underground scene and stuff, we�re pretty proud of it at
this point.�
Matt:
�Yeah you know I remember Scott that we
were thinking earlier on that even though this recording basically sucks, at
least it didn�t have that super clean kind of Megaforce recording act sound
so��
That
demo got a tremendous response in the underground - even if Borivoj�s review
wasn't really good, how did you feel at that point? I mean you were getting
excellent response from the people and zines but little response from labels,
how do you explain that? Would you say REPULSION came out too early in a scene
that wasn't prepared yet for such insanity?
Scott:
�His review in Violent Noize magazine
was still fairly positive, I think he commented something like maybe we should
brush up in the songwriting department a little bit but see Borivoj was into
that technical Metal with lots of time changes like MERCYFUL FATE and the stuff
DEATH was doing at the time, Power Metal, double bass (when
you think that this guy now worships
so hard the likes of MACHINE HEAD, SKINLAB, PANTERA and such garbage while at
the same time �80s Metal to him sounds dated, what a waste if you ask me
-
Laurent). I think his idea of songwriting was throwing as many different tempo
changes and parts into it as you want.�
Matt: �Was
he into Punk at all? Hardcore?�
Scott: �No. And what we were doing if
you listen to the songs, the structure of our songs, it�s basically the same
as an Elvis or Chuck Berry song, we have a little intro piece to get you in
there and then we have a verse
/ chorus, first chorus, solo and
/ or bridge, first chorus and it�s
out, that�s the way that Pop music has been written since the �40s you
know?! And obviously our approach was very�"
Matt:
Twisted (laughs).�
Scott: �Twisted or modern, I mean we
were just doing� but basically I don�t think that the REPULSION songs, their
structures is that much different than a Chuck Berry song and that�s something
that we were definitely consciously attempting. We weren�t trying to write any
five minute opus with fifty million chord changes, we wanted the album to sound
like a song and we were meticulous about the order of the songs when we put that
demo together so that you have the ups and downs in there because we knew that
our songs� some of them just blast from the beginning to the end but when you
listen to the whole record in one piece, it has some dips, some highs and lows
and that�s what we were going for, the individual song was intended to destroy
your face not to make you impressed with our musical virtuosity."
Matt: �We were also thinking of the
future too at that point, we were thinking that if we arrange this nicely, this
will go better when we�ll record with the San Francisco Symphonic Orchestra
(laughs).�
Scott: �Yeah! Guitar solos and double
bass kick drums were definitely not something� Because I was always so
impressed with Matt�s guitar playing, I encouraged him to play more guitar
solos but�
he was just like, he had nothing to
prove as far as guitar playing went, we just wanted to destroy people faces with
our sound.�
Would
you admit that speed was the main concept in the band?
Scott:
�It wasn�t speed alone, it was
extremity. We wanted extreme lyrics, extreme vocals, extreme guitar and bass
tones an extreme speed and heaviness. It wasn�t just the speed, we wanted
every aspect of the music to be completely over the top and to push the
boundaries of traditional guitar, drums and bass band as far as we possibly
could.�
Matt: �Well said.�
To
this day I still wonder if the Toronto gig with SLAUGHTER and DARK LEGION on
July 6th 1986 really happened as I've never seen the REPULSION live tape of
it...
Scott:
�Well, no that gig didn�t happen
because we got stopped at the border going to Canada and one of our roadies had
drugs on him so we spent the entire day which was the 4th of July which is the
Independence Day in America, a big national holiday, we spent it in the custody
at the Canadian customs department.�
Matt: �We got strip searched.�
Scott: �Needless to say we didn�t make
it to that show (well
the real date was July 6th since the show happened but without REPULSION on the
bill and on the 4th of July SLAUGHTER were opening for CELTIC FROST
/ VOIVOD in Toronto
- Laurent) but we did turn the car
around, drive back to Detroit and go to see CELTIC FROST and VOIVOD at Blondies
so I can�t really say it was a total loss but the fact that it robbed us one
of our only chance to have ever played with SLAUGHTER is something that I regret
to this day.�
Matt: �Oh yeah.�
Also
around this time problems arose with Dave so he left and he was replaced in July
by Tom Perro�
Scott:
�I think Dave got sick of Matt and I
bossing him around musically, I just thought he wasn't that into the style and
we were constantly pushing
him to be faster, faster, faster and that�s not tight enough��
Matt: �I think one thing that was key
with him becoming disillusioned, we worked so hard for so long, I mean like a
year or so, basically we pushed him for so long and there really wasn�t a pay
off in sight.�
Scott: �We kept promising the other guys
in the band, �Don�t worry there�s gonna be a record deal, we�re gonna
get a deal, we�re gonna go on tour, this is gonna work� and we never saw any
of that happened for us so they became disillusioned.�
Matt: �
Think about it Scott, we were both certainly becoming disillusioned slowly too
you know��
Scott: �The one thing that happened
around that time is that we pretty much blew our wad creatively as far as that
style of music, we pretty much said everything needs to be set by REPULSION on
that �Horrified�
/ �Slaughter...�
demo and by the time we got Tom in the band, we were starting to write songs
that did not have the blast beat in �em anymore, we were just kind of burned
out to blast beat ourselves, I think we used it quite a bit as you�ve heard
and by the time Tom came in, things weren�t the same anymore, everybody was
heading in a different direction and it just fall apart later on that year.�
The
band rehearsed with Tom as a rehearsal late July '86 was recorded and a show
with SACRIFICE at Blondies was even scheduled in August but didn't happen and it
seems the band was gone by September after a last show, is that correct? So what
happened that led to the demise of the band?
Scott:
�I believe but I�m not sure if we
broke up or maybe SACRIFICE didn�t come, we maybe had broke up already
don�t remember honestly, can not tell you what happened.�
Matt: �If we had broke up, we at least
went to the show, didn't we?�
Scott: �I don�t remember, I mean
that�s the hazy area. Honestly at that time we were also unfocused on the
band, I don�t think anybody could tell you exactly how it fell apart but I do
remember that Matt and I were rehearsing with Tom and Aaron wasn�t around
either but I can�t remember if Aaron had quit or was not asked to come back
or��
Matt: �He
had his own thing going on too, he just had a kid and he�s doing all
that��
Scott: �So it�s hard, I really don�t
remember, I just remember rehearsals, that were Matt, Tom Perro and myself and I
remember that distinctly we were working on a song called 'Infected'
that had lyrics and everything, it was along the lines of 'Radiation
Sickness',
no blast beats or anything.�
Did
you have at that time other songs that were written but which never made it on
those early tapes?
Scott:
�I think 'Infected'
was
the only one we were working on.�
Scott,
were you the person who was writing the lyrics to those raging tunes? What were
your influences to come up with those kind of sick lyrics?
Scott:
�Yes. I mean some of them like 'Crematorium',
I think Aaron and Lee wrote part of those lyrics because it was like a joke song
that they had come up with. I think Lee Williams was the main songwriter for
this one. I took some of his lyrics and added some of my own, the song 'Festering
Boils',
the title and part of the lyrics came from my friend Jim Mark who was my next
door neighbour and practically like a brother to me and there�s one other
song, the title 'Maggots
In Your Coffin'
came from Tom Perro and it was like a joke, he just came up to us one day and
Tom was a total spaz kid and said �Man you ever thought about a song called 'Maggots...'!�
so for Tom I wrote a song called 'Maggots�'
and it became like a big sing along at our shows, one of our more popular tunes
so� Lyrical influences? It was splatter films like Dawn Of The Dead,
Re-animator, and Evil Dead, horror comics like Tales From The Crypt, Twisted
Tales as well as the lyrics of CRUCIFIX (S.F.) and DISCHARGE. Titles like 'Slaughter
Of The Innocent',
'Pestilent
Decay'
and 'The
Stench Of Burning Death'
were directly influenced by DISCHARGE. Two titles, 'Crack
Of Doom'
and 'Black
Breath'
were lyrically inspired by my youthful obsession with J.R.R. Tolkin's Lord Of
The Rings!"
Can
we say that you can be considered as the precursors of gore / sick lyrics as you
came up with that stuff way before CANNIBAL CORPSE and the likes?
Scott:
�Well I don�t really know those guys,
but from what I can tell there was a lot more sense of humor and also I mean
DEATH they had some gore type of lyrics, I wouldn�t say we were the first but
maybe to just solely concentrate on those kind of concepts, we definitely
were� you know, I guess sort of breaking new ground, I guess a lot of Death
Metal bands after that started doing that��
Matt: �SLAYER had some pretty gory
lyrics. But I think one thing that's important to know about REPULSION is that
SLAYER and lot of the other image conscious bands were just trying to create
that ambiance of evil and if you knew Scott and I and since we basically played,
almost every time we played out, we played for Punks, they don�t care about
that shit man! So I mean we just were sort of ourselves, we got into horror
movies and comic books and all kinds of stuff and those kind of lyrics and that
type of image were not necessarily priority number one, we just had fun with it
really.�
Scott: �I
wouldn�t say that we took the style of our music as a joke but the lyrics were
definitely like a sort of a wink of the eye or a tongue in cheek type of humor
to me. But we were trying to offend people, that was definitely the key.�
Matt: �Cos it�s fun!�
Scott: �Especially when you�re a kid,
offending people is a lot of fun.�
As
you know Chuck from DEATH had relocated to Florida by mid '87, "Scream
Bloody Gore" was released and he was looking for a full line up, so did he
contact you to join him again since DEATH was much bigger by that time? If he
had asked you to do it, would you have joined him as DEATH's material was quite
different from REPULSION?
Scott:
"Chuck and Chris Reifert (DEATH
drummer at the time) both called me separately and asked me to join DEATH but
Chuck wanted to be based in Florida and Chris wanted to be in San Francisco.
This is the main reason that those two parted ways I think... It was a very
short lived idea."
While
REPULSION had broken up, the interest in your material from that point was
growing even bigger with more and more people getting into your music, musicians
such as Shane Embury, Mitch Dickinson, Mick Harris, Bill Steer naming REPULSION
as an influence to the point that you had to play a reunion show on November 7th
'87 as you were asked by REPULSION mentor Doug Earp to play it. How did
you feel about that rise of interest on one side and how was that reunion gig
that a lot of European people like me would have loved to attend?
Scott:
�If you have ever seen the video tape of
that show, you could see it�s a little bit different but it�s almost similar
to all the shows that we have ever played, people are throwing like donuts
around the room, we�re all acting silly, that�s kind of how we were live, I
mean we never like introduced songs like (adopting a gruff voice) �This one is
'Maggots
In Your Coffiiiiinnnnnnn'��
Matt:
�Again our crowd wasn�t into that.�
Scott: �And we weren�t into that
either, I would have feel like a complete ass doing that. I�ve seen a lot of
Death Metal bands do that and it�s silly.�
Matt: �But when you do that in a context
of a completely Death Metal crowd, they love it, things might have been
different if we�re in a town where it would have been full of guys who were
just like (screaming with a gruffy voice), you know?!�
Scott:
�I�m glad we weren�t�
Matt: �Yeah exactly (laughs).�
Scott: �Yeah that show was fun, it was a
lot of fun. I think it might have been urged by Doug Earp or maybe that guy Joel
Rash who was a big promotor in Flint of shows like Punk shows. We had fun doing
it, everybody was around, we decided to do it.�
Matt:
�Was that the one where we played all those GUNS �N� ROSES and all
that?�
Scott: �No that was the next one. This
is the one where our friend Elvis is playing tambourine on his head the whole
show. He woke up the next morning with big nuts on his head.�
Surprisingly
another reunion show happened at the same place on January 1st '88, so what was
the reason for doing another show so soon?
Scott:
�That�s the one where we do those GUNS
covers��
Matt:
"Oh man! We
were real stoned all of us, Dave was on acid, I was stoned on pot!�
Scott:
�We were dropped on pills and drinking
and smoking weed, all kind of stuff we did on that one. The reason that we did
those GUNS �N� ROSES songs and no offence to the Death Metallers out there
but the whole time that our band was together, we knew in our minds that we were
the most killer Death Metal band on the face of the earth (HELL YES!
- Laurent) but no Death Metallers in
our city or in our area acknowledged that, like I said before our entire loyal
audience was Punk Rockers so at that show you know the GUNS�N� ROSES album
was out and I think we all totally digging on that record at the time so when we
were rehearsing, we all hadn�t seen each other together in a long time so we
were like, hey yeah we�re bashing out like GUNS�N�ROSES version of 'Knocking
On Heaven�s Door'
it�s so easy at the rehearsals just for fun, just goofing around. We got to
the show and there were all these Death Metal people there and they had video
cameras and I knew what they were gonna do. They were gonna video tape it, sell
it, trade it whatever and like be the cool guy on the block with the REPULSION
video tape so we�re like you know what man? Let�s just totally rain on their
parade and all the Punk kids thought it was funny, and the Death Metal guys were
like �Dude what�s up with the 'Knocking
On�'?
The band was always kind of fun, and we weren�t image conscious at all so when
we did that, it was just like, just to rip those guys, not really to piss them
off or flip them off in the face or tell �em to fuck off cos we were happy
that they were there, that people were acknowledging our existence but it was a
sort of little in-joke on the Death Metal guys to make them scratch their heads
and wonder why the hell we were doing that.�
Matt: �And also we�re totally self
indulgent, I mean when we booked the show, it was just like �Guys do whatever,
play as long as you want, do whatever you want�, it was basically a rehearsal,
a big drunken rehearsal that a bunch of people showed at.�
By
the way Matt you had started a new band DOOM SAYER after REPULSION broke up
during September �86, tell us more about that band as I've never heard any
recording from that band�
Matt:
�I honestly don�t remember when I did
that DOOM SAYER thing but all it was, was me, Sean who was in an early line up
of GENOCIDE and our friend, Jimmy Otin who was in Scott and I first band
TEMPTER, just goofing around with some stuff that probably sounded like
somewhere between the first SABBATH album and like maybe MEGADETH or something,
I don�t know. We got a little more Progressive and just tried some stuff. We
didn�t record any demos, there might have been some rehearsal tapes, that�s
about it really. Oh I did write a couple of songs that ended up being used in
DEJECTA years years later so that�s about it. It was just a little project and
basically nobody knew anything about it.�
At
that point, did you think about reforming the band especially since the Death
Metal scene was developing at a fast pace and started getting interest from
labels (XECUTIONER, NECROVORE, MORBID ANGEL, TERRORIZER...)?
Scott:
�At that time, absolutely not. None of
us would have considered reforming the band at that point. I�d say Matt and I
had no interest at that point into reforming REPULSION, the whole experience was
still pretty fresh in our minds and there was no reason to reform the band at
that time.�
From
that point, nothing was heard from the band anymore - Aaron had started PAIN and
released a demo "Into The Bloodbath" and did a few shows, you were
working in a record store, Matt was in the U.S. army in Germany, Dave also was
in the army until '88 when you were contacted by Bill and Jeff from CARCASS who
had started Necrosis Records - a subsidiary from Earache - as they officially
wanted to release the "Slaughter..." demo, so do you remember how you
were approached by 'em?
Scott:
�Those guys wrote a letter to Aaron
because at that point I was so sick of the band that I had turned all the mail
answering things to Aaron so he was handling all that stuff and somebody I
believe it was Jeff Walker dropped us a line asking if we wanted to release the
record on Earache and a lot of boring details and blah blah blah and it came
out.�
The
result was issued in '89 as an album called "Horrified" featuring that
demo remixed and cover artwork that wasn't so good considering what it should
have been like in my opinion, so first who came up with the idea to remix it the
way it was done with an incredible bass fuzzing sound and were you happy with
the full thing once it was completed?
Scott:
�The reason the cover art sucks is
because we sent them a really cool album cover like a sort of psychedelic blur
of a photo of a guy getting his head blown off that my friend Michael Grossklaus
had made and Earache didn�t want that, they wanted that zombie, burned kid
face on the album cover which originally that�s what it was supposed to be, a
burned little kid. Unfortunately when the guy from CARCASS painted it, he made
it look like an army green zombie or something. I never liked the cover
but�"
Matt: �Who painted it?�
Scott: �A guy from CARCASS.�
Matt: �Really???�
Scott: �I�m not sure which one� but
anyway horrible. It is terrible and we�re stuck with it cos that�s what
people have seen. As for the incredible bass fuzz for the remix, that was only
done because there was some scratched bass tracks and some of the original bass
tracks were recorded over by the stoned out engineer when we were laying down
the guitar solos and vocals, he was tracking right over top of the bass tracks
so��
Matt: �That fuzzing bass sound is the
sound of Scott�s bass going through distortion pedal directly into a mixing
console instead of going through an amplifier, right Scott?�
Scott: �I mean it�s kind of a blessing
it turned out amazing, the way it sounds.�
Matt: �Happy accident!�
Were
you happy once it was completed?
Scott:
�Well like I said I think the front cover leaves a lot to be desired.�
Matt: �I like the inner sleeve a lot,
it�s really cool.�
Scott: �The rest of the cover was
designed by Michael Grossklaus, Aaron, myself and a guy named Phil Skarich who
did the art you can see super imposed behind the lyrics on the inner sleeve. And
Phil was playing bass in a band that I was in at the time called FROM BEYOND so
I was a fan of his art.�
Do
you have an idea of how many copies of that cult album were sold considering
that the relations between you and Necrosis soon turned out to be quite bad?
Scott:
�Of course not. It came out on two indie
labels, there�s no way to ever find out exactly how many records got sold on
those labels.�
Matt:
�How many do you estimate.�
Scott: �An estimation? I know it sold at
least 6.000, that�s what Earache accounted to us and then Relapse, I have no
idea how many they sold, maybe 3, 4, 5.000?�
Matt: �I
think they did an initial pressing of 5.000 and there were some returns��
Scott: �Yeah cassettes,
a lot of cutouts, so we�re not sure
how many it sold.�
Then
the most unreal thing that nobody ever thought about happened in October '90
when the band finally reformed, did a show in a medium sized theatre as
headliners which was captured on video by a local tv channel, so what motivated
that reformation four years after you had split and how did you get the
possibility to do that somewhat big gig taped by a TV channel?
Scott:
�The motivation to reform at that time?
I guess I was hanging around with Aaron a lot and Matt was in the service, he
came home and we decided to do that show, we just thought it was something that
everyone wanted to do. I don�t remember exactly why we got back together but
it just seemed like a good idea at the time which��
Matt: �And if anyone out
there has seen the show and you think
of where we played the Capitol Theatre, you see us on this big stage with lights
and everything, you think �Waouh! They had a really cool home coming reunion
gig.� or whatever but the Capitol Theatre was just a really really nice killer
venue that existed in Flint
but it was never got used for anything and this guy sort of used it for Punk
shows, first in the basement and then finally on the big stage, it was a lot of
fun but in reality there was only like 30 people there or something��
Scott:
�No. There were a couple, 250 or so. The reason it got taped was because a
couple of our local fans of the band worked in the public access cable company,
and they filmed it professionally and showed it on TV in the Flint area.�
At
one time around May '90 ex CARNIVORE bassist / singer Pete Steele had started a
short lived new band called REPULSION and was on the verge to do an album until
he changed it to TYPE O NEGATIVE a short while later, so did you own the name?
Scott:
�Yes we did own the name. Their label contacted us, Roadrunner
contacted me and asked me if we wanted to sell the name or something like that
but at the time we were getting ready to re-release the record on Relapse and I
just felt that we needed to keep the name because� you know it wouldn�t have
been financially feasible for them to pay us the amount of money that the name
was worth to us because if we sold more REPULSION records, we�re gonna make
more money than we are��
Matt:
�It�s kind of strange when you think about it, I have no idea why they even
bother with, trying to��
Scott: �They liked the name. Personally
the guy from the label, I think his name is Monte Conner, he didn�t like the
name anyway, he wanted �em to change it anyway and it worked out better for
them cos TYPE O NEGATIVE became a huge band and sold millions of records so�
we�re still REPULSION.�
Following
that reformation show, you started doing more shows including one in Buffalo at
a Death Metal fest where Jeff Walker was - the first ever out of state gig - and
you were playing new stuff which finally ended up on a demo recorded in January
'91 ('Excruciation', 'Rebirth', 'Helga' & 'House Of Freaks') but the
material was mid paced and generally not as intense and brutal as the old stuff,
what's your view ten years later on that comeback material? Would you say those
songs were up to the REPULSION standard? Who was responsible for the songwriting
at that point?
Scott:
�I think it�s like you said, mid
paced, and generally not as intense and brutal as the old stuff and that was the
reason why later on I didn�t want to do it anymore, I always held everything
that we did up against �Horrified� and there wasn�t one song that I
thought was as strong as anything on the �Horrified� record so I just
didn�t see make sense to keep going on. The songwriting at that point was
still spread around because Matt would come home and jam with us when he could.
So like 'Rebirth',
if you listen closely there�s a couple of riffs out of 'Satan�s
Whore'
and 'Armies�'
that got recycled in there cos I always liked those riffs but didn�t
necessarily want them used in entire songs, not that 'Rebirth'
is any good either so� 'Excruciation'
is a so-so Death Metal song mid paced, 'Helga'
is a real good song, Aaron wrote the music for that and I wrote the lyrics based
on Dave�s grave robbing experiences. The song 'House
Of Freaks',
lyrically and musically is utterly forgettable."
A
few months later two songs out of that demo ('Excruciation' & 'Helga') were
issued as a 7" on Relapse Records, who came up with the idea to come up
with that sick cover?
Scott:
�The sick cover was done by an artist
named Alfred Columbia from the east coast who was doing a comic book at the time
called From Beyond and later worked on some bigger comics but I just remember
that I told him what I wanted, something bizarre and offensive, something kind
of disturbing but not like necessarily gory or zombie related and that�s what
he came up with and I loved him for it, I thought it was the best thing about
the record was the cover, the illustration on the front is great.�
Around
that time more shows were done in the Midwest, something you had never been able
to do in the past�
Scott:
�We played in Indiana with RADIATION SICKNESS and the genius band IMPETIGO,
that was really great to meet those guys and in fact I�ve remained in touch
with Mark from IMPETIGO ever since and Stevo, another great guy who is still out
there writing stuff about us on the internet and stuff which is great.�
The
band was a three piece act - as Matt had only played the reformation gig and he
was still in the army, did you try to get a second guitarist at that time to get
a bigger sound especially live?
Scott:
�We never did try to get a second
guitarist for that line up because we always expected Matt would return sooner
or later, so that was that. Matt was our guitar player, he wasn�t going to be
replaced even if we were doing shows out
there and there was never any
intention to replace Matt, he was always considered part of the band even during
his stay in the service.�
Relapse
Records re-issued the "Horrified" album in the U.S. late '91 with 'Black
Nightmare' from "The Stench..." demo added as bonus, featuring an
entire new layout, would you say that this release looked superior to the
Necrosis one?
Scott:
�I would say absolutely not, it was a
mistake. We didn�t spend enough time on the artwork.�
The
artwork featured by the way a band shot where Dave looked like Hitler, sick huh?
Also why was the track 'Crypt Of Terror' not included just like 'Black...'?
Scott:
�The picture of Dave with Hitler
moustache, that is something that was like� you know a couple of people were
irritated with us about that but we just said that Dave was never and none of
the band members were ever racist, if you listen to our music, there�s no
political agenda to our music whatsoever. Dave was only a Punk Rocker you know?!
I mean that�s all he was and he liked to get a reaction out of the people and
he did you know?! I would compare that Dave�s picture with the Hitler
moustache to like a G.G. Allin type of thing, he was just trying to get a rise
out of people and� I can see why people can take it the wrong way but what it
was, was a sick joke on Dave�s part and something that we thought about
censoring you know and then we just went, you know it�s Dave �Grave�
people expect controversy from Dave �Grave�, just ask the guys in NAPALM
DEATH who have seen him do some pretty bizarre things on their tour bus.�
Matt: �I mean he just showed up to the
photo shoot like that and we had absolutely no time to talk or think about it
and we were just like �Okay this is really weird� and we just took the
pictures and that was that really.�
Scott: � A lot of people thought it was
funny, I�ve had a couple of people asked me about it, I had one person asked
me about it who was in a band who made a record called �Speak English Or
Die� so I didn�t really take that too much� I just didn�t really think
about too much of that, I mean people do sick jokes that�s just the way the
world is, some people are offended, we�re not nazis, and people who think we
are� we�re just normal guys, we love everyone (laughs). Why was 'Crypt
Of Terror'
left of?�
Matt: �We
never really thought it was that great of a song.�
Scott: �Yeah it�s a little weak you
know?! But you�ll probably hear it on the upcoming release of �Horrified�
cos we�re gonna put everything on there, put a bunch of sick on there, but I
don�t think 'House
Of Freaks'
will be on it or 'Rebirth',
but you know we�re gonna put I think 'Crypt�'
you know historically has more significance than 'Rebirth'
or 'House
Of Freaks',
it deserves to be included, I think the whole demo will be.�
Matt: �You know what I�m pushing for
is? That we have everything that we have ever recorded that we can get our hands
on available cos I know there some people out
there that want to hear even the music
that we hate cos people like to have complete collections of stuff.�
It
seems to me that for this Relapse release, the original "Slaughter..."
demo mix was used as the sound sounded different as the bass fuzz wasn't as
upfront, am I right and if so, why?
Scott:
�I think you�ve been smoking too much
hash over there Laurent
(laughs). That�s the same exact
recording. So I just don�t know, clean your ears and listen to it again dude,
I�m just kidding. That�s the same exact version, I think the Earache one
sounds more fuzzy to you because the cover is dirty looking.�
Matt: �And if you�re listening to the CD,
I mean the mastering techniques for CDs
could have been sub standard back then and it could have gotten better by the
time Relapse did theirs.�
During
mid '92 you managed to enter the studio and record a couple of new tunes ('Deranged',
'Something Dead', 'Face Of Decay') to shop 'em around hoping to get a record
deal and the material was a lot stronger than the '91 demo as it was much
faster, closer to the original GENOCIDE / REPULSION material but still not as
catchy which was one of the main trademarks of the old REPULSION material,
catchy yet ultra brutal / intense raging fast tunes. How did you decide on a
common basis to come back to your original songwriting? Was it also because Matt
was back in the band at that point and he had a big influence on the band to
play fast as hell?
Matt:
�We didn�t shop it around did we?"
Scott: �When
Matt came back into the band, he definitely pushed to get the blast beats back
in there and at that point it was needed, we needed to get that back in there.
What we were trying to do is re-create the original vibe of REPULSION but
without those blast beats we didn�t have it, Matt knew that, he was right, we
had to get back the blast beats in there but even after we did, we didn�t have
the innocence or the vibe we had before, you know trying to write REPULSION
songs where before, we just fuckin� fell asleep and woke up and they were
right in there under our pillow you know or we sit down and looking at a piece
of paper and ten minutes later there will be lyrics to a song, we were
struggling to write these REPULSION like songs but they weren�t coming from
the same place than the songs on �Horrified� came from.�
Matt: �We
were older and had different experiences, Scott had really� Scott tell me if
I�m wrong but you like for a while was getting really into more classic forms
of Rock, stuff like that for a while, just take it on easy on the Hardcore stuff
for a while��
Scott:
�I mean I think I still listened to� you know I was expanding my horizons
definitely? I still was listening to Death Metal back then, I was really into
ENTOMBED, I liked MORBID ANGEL's first couple of records a lot but the
songwriting part wasn�t happening the same way, just wasn�t coming from the
same place and I never felt those songs lived up to��
Matt: �This is where I disagree, just in
one aspect to what you�re saying and thinking because I felt we were breaking
through the first layer if you will of the REPULSION concept and I think that if
we had kept trying, kept digging within probably a short amount of time, we
would have been into some gold I think but you know��
So
what happened after that demo was done exactly as nothing could be heard from
the new songs written and Death Metal was still the big thing around?
Scott:
�I think part of it had to do with and
I'll stand by the fact that you know the other guys in the band disagree with
me, I thought the songs were very sub-par compared to the stuff on
�Horrified� and I left Michigan at that point, I didn�t wanna be in
REPULSION anymore and I didn�t want to be in Flint, Michigan anymore so I
moved to Chicago and for a while we tried to keep things going on whenever I
came back to Michigan from Chicago, I would go over Matt�s and work on the
demo, record some vocals and� my heart just wasn�t into it anymore and you
know��
Matt: �In fact that�s where I think
the truth really is Scott, just like your heart wasn�t into it anymore, I mean
cos I certainly was getting to it and Aaron I think was getting into it too but
I think you just felt out of it that�s the bottom line.�
Scott:
�So yeah that was the last time we ever attempted to ever do anything
musically as the band REPULSION, it was just over.�
To
my surprise, I heard in late '93 / early '94 that you had joined U.K.'s
CATHEDRAL, so first how did you end up joining CATHEDRAL considering that
Dorrian was saying around that he hated fast material even if he had been in
NAPALM DEATH in earlier times for two years?
Scott:
�Well first of all I don�t think you
can quote Lee� I mean maybe you can quote him but I know Lee likes fast
material, I know that he�s proud of the stuff that he did with NAPALM DEATH
and he was a big fan of REPULSION and DISCHARGE and lots of other stuff. I�m
sure at that point if he did say that, he was probably just sick of people
constantly ask him why he left NAPALM DEATH considering that this band had a
huge fan base and the extreme turn around in the speed of this music at that
point but I became friends sort of with Lee and Gaz the first time CATHEDRAL
toured the States, I went to see them and after the show we went to a disco,
they got blazingly drunk and were dancing to disco until five o�clock in the
morning in a club in Chicago��
Matt: �Are you sure you want to tell
people that?!
(laughs)�
Scott: �It was insane, I think all the
guys in NAPALM, CARCASS and stuff were there (it
all happened on August 15th 1992 during that Earache
/ Columbia package tour
- Laurent)� and BRUTAL TRUTH, those
guys were there too. So we ended up just like having a good time that night and
a year later they were looking for a bass player and I phoned, I went over there
and auditioned and I played with them for a couple of years after that, it was a
lot of fun.�
What
about Aaron and Dave? What have they done after REPULSION broke up?
Scott:
�Well for a while I guess just working
and stuff��
Matt,
what can you tell us about the DEJECTA story as a demo was released late '94 ?
How long did that band exist? Did you get good feedback for that demo which was
reviewed in different mags such as S.O.D. or Terrorizer back then with reviews
saying that some of the material sounded a lot like REPULSION?
Matt:
�That was me, Sean from the early
GENOCIDE line up, a guy named Bill Bradley on the drums, excellent drummer and
Lee Williams
- Scott mentioned him as the guy
who�s place we�ve always converged at
in the very very early days and the guy who always had his box to record
our rehearsals, we had this Death Metal act, that was like a full time at the
university studying and after Scott fell out of doing REPULSION again, I was
still into Death Metal, I mean I determined to get together with these guys and
since we are these old great friends we just wrote some tunes and they were
pretty tight you know, the music I
thought was very REPULSION like but it had some more elements of, I�m
not gonna say classic Metal but maybe more like SLAYER or METALLICA style
elements thrown in with some, we had blast beats and stuff like that, I liked
it. We took some chances with it, we weren�t always like pure like the way
REPULSION was so musically that was DEJECTA but as far as like getting favorable
reviews and stuff, I seemed to remember one magazine saying that was okay but
for the most part, it was very�
nobody really reacted to it (laughs).
We sold it on the Relapse catalog for a little while and they probably sold out
of there ten, twenty tapes, or whatever we had gave them and in fact when I
started the band, I told the guys that when I had finished college in two or
three years, then I would move to Los Angeles cos I always to live there and
working in the motion picture industry which is what I�m doing now so they
knew that and once I had finished, within a month or so I�d moved here and
that was the end of DEJECTA. I recently remixed the demo and I would like to get
it out there, some material that I don�t think a lot of people have heard for
DEJECTA but if you�re interested by all means I�ll send it to you, I guess
that's about it on DEJECTA.�
Scott,
what was it like to play in CATHEDRAL which is a Doom Metal band after having
spent numerous years in one of the fastest bands on earth?
Scott:
�Like I said earlier, REPULSION honestly
only together for less than a year, the actual initial band was together for
less than a year so it�s kind of interesting how long the legacy has lived on
for a band that started in September one year, broke up in June or July of the
next year but playing with CATHEDRAL was great, I got a lot of touring
experience out of it, I loved all the guys in the band and I loved their music,
I had a blast if it weren�t for financial difficulties that arose in keeping
me in the band since I was from the States and they were all based in England. I
would have stayed with the band for a long time but it just wasn�t meant to
be.�
Did
you join the band at the same time Barry Stern (ex - ZOETROPE / TROUBLE) did for
a short time?
Scott:
�No. In fact Barry only did a couple
shows with us, I was living in Chicago and so was Barry and at one point, we
were having drummer problems in CATHEDRAL for a while and we had some
commitments to fulfill and we needed a drummer so we called up Barry since we
knew he was a great Rock�n�Roll drummer and he came in to play.�
CATHEDRAL
had just issued an EP "Stattik Magic", did you have something to do
with it or was it entirely recorded and completed when you joined 'em?
Scott:
�I didn�t play on it but I was around,
I just had joined the band, I was hanging around in the studio with them when
they did it but I hadn�t decided yet whether or not if I wanted to fully join
so I didn�t want to play on it and have them regret it, somebody played on it
that wasn�t really into it.�
Then
the band was joined by Victor Griffin / Joe Hasselvander from PENTAGRAM /
DEATHROW to fill up the line up as you were getting ready to open for BLACK
SABBATH on their European tour, but problems arose while the band had already
played a couple of dates with Victor, do you remember that tour and what
happened really?
Scott:
�Well we did that tour, we probably had
done about 2/3 of that tour when Victor just was stressed out� first I have to
say Victor is a great guy, he got stressed out� I mean it was the first time
he�d been on tour, it was a long tour, far far away from home and he wasn�t
dealing with it that well so we just sent him back to the States and finished
the tour as a four piece with Gaz handling all the guitar duties but Joe stayed
around till the end of the tour.�
How
did you feel opening for SABBATH even if it was more or less a pale shadow of
that once godly band?
Scott:
�Well Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi were
both still in the band and I have an incredible amount of respect for those
guys, I mean I think that BLACK SABBATH is one of the greatest Rock�n�Roll
bands of all time so I was honored to be that tour and it was amazing to have
the opportunity to interact with Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi from BLACK
SABBATH.�
What
happened after that tour, why did you quit CATHEDRAL so soon since it seems
things were working out well with the other guys and also considering that
CATHEDRAL were FINALLY evolving into a great inspired Doom Metal band from that
point?
Scott:
�I think I�ve explained that when I
said that� we had lost the deal with Columbia Records which prohibited me from
staying in United States and still playing with the band, before I was able to
sort of jet set around and make all the band's commitments but at that point it
was time to buckle down start writing an album, well the album was mostly
written in fact but we thought it was time for me to move in England and really
join in the band and I had a girlfriend in Chicago at the time that didn�t
want to leave and I wasn�t really thrilled about the idea of living out in
like Coventry, England or anything so� I just didn�t want to go, I just
didn�t want to leave the States basically and I would've had to� just
basically it was a logistic thing, I couldn�t move over to England.�
While
you stayed in the U.K., did you meet a lot of people, fans or musicians telling
you how much they enjoyed REPULSION?
Scott:
�Yeah I think everywhere I went, whether it was, anywhere in the USA or Europe
or anywhere I was definitely meeting people that were into REPULSION and to this
day I still meet people who are into REPULSION.�
So
once you left 'em, I guess you came back in the States, what have you done from
that point until now?
Scott:
�Well I hung around in Chicago for a
couple of years and I played in sort of like a power Pop band that was along the
lines of CHEAP TRICK, I enjoyed that quite a bit and in the last couple years I
moved down here where Matt lives, we�re both in Los Angeles and Matt was
already out here during the time that I was living in Chicago working in the
television entertainment industry out here in L.A. and Matt got me a job working
in the industry as well and now that�s what we�re both doing, working on
sound for television shows.�
What
can you tell us about the new band you're working with now as you have just
recorded an album?
Scott:
�The new band that I have is called THE
SUPERBEES, we�ve just recorded an album, it�s kind of� I guess it�s not
really up to me to describe but it�s a Hard Rock band with some sixties and
seventies influences and� you know like THE STOOGES, MC5, HUMBLE PIE, ALICE
COOPER type of stuff.�
Matt: �It�s not considered as Garage
Rock?�
Scott:
�No I wouldn�t say that we�re a Garage band necessarily but� anyway the
album is coming out in February and I�ll make sure you�ll get a copy Laurent
so you can check it out.�
NAPALM
DEATH have covered last year on an EP, "Leaders Not Followers" the
song 'Maggots In...' stating clearly how much of an influence REPULSION have
been for NAPALM DEATH over the years, how do you feel about that?
Scott:
�Well of course NAPALM
DEATH has accomplished a lot during their career and influenced the underground
music pretty heavily, not just in their own genre but in several other areas of
underground music so we�re pretty honored that a band as influential as NAPALM
DEATH has been inspired by REPULSION and ENTOMBED has spawn as THE HELLACOPTERS,
and ENTOMBED is still a brilliant band without Nicke Andersson and now you have
two brilliant bands that have both spawn from ENTOMBED, and they were heavily
influenced by REPULSION as well and I�m proud of the entire legacy that we
have left behind.�
Matt: �Nothing but pride for that whole
thing for me too. Both of those bands, I would say their versions of our songs
just blow ours away man especially 'Black
Breath'
from ENTOMBED man! Oh it�s so fuckin� heavy!�
Besides
NAPALM DEATH, ENTOMBED were the first band to cover one of your numbers with 'Black
Breath' on one of their EPs when they were still playing Death Metal a long time
ago but other than those two bands, I've never heard any other band covering
your material or even thinking doing a tribute to REPULSION which is
surprising...
Scott:
�If I�m not mistaken the band
MORTICIAN, I believe they�re from Yonkers, N.Y., they�ve done a couple, I
think they did 'Horrified'
on their record and 'Bodily
Dismemberment'
they also did. As far as REPULSION tribute album, it doesn�t surprise me that
one does not exist because the band is pretty underground, there�s a lot of
bands around today that are full of 17/18 year old kids who were not even born
when we recorded that demo so I can�t really expect them to know who we are
considering how obscure and underground the band was in the first place.�
Matt:
�I�d love to hear one now (laughs).�
Scott: �You can do one Laurent, feel
free to put out the album and send all the royalties directly to us (laughs).�
So
you said that Relapse are going to issue in 2002 a DCD featuring the
"Horrified" album, some live tracks from '86 and the GENOCIDE demos,
can you give us more details about that? Do you think there's still enough
interest in REPULSION nowadays considering that a majority of Death Metal fans
nowadays are just too young to know what REPULSION were back then to justify
this release?
Scott:
�You�d have to ask Relapse Records why
they re-release, you know I mean we asked them if they were interested, we went
to them and they�re still interested so obviously they think they can sell it
and they should know that they�re one of the top labels in extreme music today
so if they think they can sell it, then I�m all for, for the older fans that
are still into the music, it�s gonna be a chance to have a fairly clean copies
of all the old rehearsal tracks, not all, the entire January �86 �Stench Of��
demo will be included there, the full �Horrified� album, some rehearsal
tracks, some tracks from that �91 demo, the single will be on there, 'Black
Nightmare',
'Crypt
Of Terror'
all that stuff��
Matt: �It�s gonna be every demo that
we did, a few rehearsal songs, a few live songs.�
Scott: �Every aspect of those old tape
trading days will be represented with at least a couple of songs.�
Matt: �Completely
with tape drop out��
Scott:
�Tape drop out, tape hiss, the click of tape recorders going on and off, dogs
barking in the background, arguments��
Matt: �We own a studio with a friend of
mine, and he was like �Hey dude how can we master that? Notch out some of
the noise and stuff?�, I�m like �Nah�, I want it to be just like
these tapes that people had when they first threw it in, the low bias cassette
tape over REPULSION rehearsals you know?!�
How
do you feel being along with POSSESSED, MANTAS / DEATH, HELLHAMMER / CELTIC
FROST, SLAYER, DEATH STRIKE and a few others the godfathers of Death Metal? How
do you feel about the way this music has evolved also over the years as blast
beats have become a common thing these days and most of the time people don't
see the difference between a band like REPULSION, MORBID ANGEL or INSANITY who
were playing fast all the way, and not just sudden bursts of speed (blast beats)
and all those new acts who just - in my opinion - haven't understood what fast
music really means?
Scott:
�Well I don�t know, I mean if you
consider us up there with the likes of POSSESSED and HELLHAMMER and SLAYER,
I�m completely honored.�
Matt: �Man no kidding.�
Scott: �I can see us being in the realm
of DEATH� I must say DEATH has probably a much broader influence on Death
Metal than we did but��
Matt: �We just kind of got a credit for
creating this little splinter group of Thrash Metal called Grindcore. I don�t
know about all of Death Metal, I mean our music since we played that blast beat
throughout the whole thing I think turned a lot of guys who were just starting
bands� it�s not the type of music you can play and stand in with long hair
and look really cool because it�s so Thrash, and so crazy that it wasn�t
really about having an image.�
Scott: �We�re
happy that people still remember the band and for whatever reason, it�s just
cool to know that something you did when you were that young has had an
influence on other people you know?!"
Matt: �Absolutely!�
Scott: �I know it�s not huge, it
didn�t change the world but it�s just cool to know that somebody out there
enjoyed it and remembers it.�
Matt: �I think that Scott and I have
done a lot of stuff in our twenties, in our young lives or whatever, you know I
went to college, completed college, did the service, now I'm working at a major
motion picture studio, Scott does soundwork for a very very popular children�s
television show, I think that out of all the things that we�ve done, REPULSION
by far is I think the most special thing that we�ve ever done.�
Considering
that REPULSION have always been an underground band, it would be stupid to ask
you if you plan to reform the band but at least do you talk from time to time
about doing a couple of shows just for the fun like to celebrate the upcoming
Relapse re-release?
Scott:
�Honestly I think that it would maybe be
fun you know, we would probably have fun because Dave and Aaron are part of our
history and always will be, you know the scene that we came from, a lot of
people are just gonna be friends for life but as far as going up there and doing
a show and playing with some other bands who are like out there today like
taking what they�re doing really seriously, I just can�t imagine that it
would come off that well you know?!�
Matt: �I don�t know, it would be great
for the people that just want to see REPULSION get back together and make some
noise, it would probably go pretty good!�
Scott: �I think I�d have to have
throat surgery after singing about four songs at this point (laughs).�
What
did you enjoy / hate the most in all the REPULSION history?
Scott:
�Well the thing that we enjoyed
obviously was the music, we had a blast making it and it�s a lot of great like
memories of our youth for us and like we said before the influence that it had
on other bands, we enjoyed that, I mean when somebody like Shane Embury or
Barney Greenway or Nicke Andersson or Uffe Cederland from ENTOMBED tells me that
how I was an influence on their music, and I can sit down and listen to that
band�s music and say �This band is great at what they do� then of course
that�s something to be proud of. And as far as what I hate about the whole
REPULSION thing would probably the people who took what we said seriously, you
know just people that I�ve met that seemed like they were way into Death Metal
for the wrong reasons� like it was always kind of a release for us, like a
joke and I�ve met people who are sort of obsessed and slightly demented who
have found their way into the Death Metal scene, not that a majority of the
people, I know a majority of the people are not like that but there�s always a
few weirdos that you ended up meeting and you�re bummed out that this person
likes your band you know?!�
Matt: �(laughs) Yeah it�s kind of a
touchy area because you know this kind of extreme music is for anybody who also
enjoy it obviously there�s no rules on any of this kind of stuff, that�s
what we were about, that�s what we will hopefully always stand for you know
but that was also one of the things that I really hated about it and one of the
things that made me ever thinking about a career full time and for a long period
of time. If there was one reservation I had, it was the fact that people were
constantly taking us the wrong way, again we grew up around Punk music, we
played for Punk Rockers, real fun loving people you know and we had a lot of fun
doing it and it never once crossed our mind that we were four demons from hell
here to spread the evil word on earth or something (laughs), I don�t say
people out there are doing that but there are some Death Metal bands out there
that take it very very seriously and there�s some Death Metal fans that take
it a little too seriously too and to me that took the fun right out of it,
it�s like if somebody pull on the carpet out on your feet cos we�re about
having some fun. What I personally loved about it, is the fact like everyday
that we practiced and wrote a new song, we were really touching on an area that
nobody had ever gone onto in Rock�n�Roll before even if I know there was
some bands at the same time doing some similar things but there was only a few,
literally a few handful of people in the whole world that were doing music like
that and that was so exciting and such a rush and something I�ll never never
ever forget.�
Do
you still follow what's going on in the Metal scene? What do you miss - if you
miss something - from the old days?
Scott:
�I think what I miss from the old days
is being younger and skinny (laughs). I mean I don�t miss anything because I
think my life is just as fullfilled
today as it was back then but definitely� that was a fun time and I will
always have those memories of back then so I just keep looking forward and as
far as following today�s Metal scene, I can honestly say, no I�m clueless as
to what�s going on in the Metal scene today, I still listen to Metal but when
I do it�s usually JUDAS PRIEST, or like the first IRON MAIDEN record or
something like U.F.O. I don�t listen to any new Metal at all and like new
American Metal like all these rap hardcore bands, I don�t like any of them
so� from what I�ve heard you know there�s maybe one that I haven�t heard
but from what I�ve heard Metal today isn�t very good but I�m sure there
are some bands out there that I don�t know about cos nobody knows everything
about music.�
Matt: �It�s probably one of those
classic situations where we just kind of outgrew� we live through a really
really potent time of Heavy Metal music and now that it sort of tapered off and
become mainstream, then we couldn�t possibly look at the same way that the
young kids are looking at it today;�
Scott:
�It�s
true that when we were doing extreme extreme Metal it was so underground that
you couldn�t even find it on underground record stores and today I can go into
Tower Records
and find CDs
by the most Satanic Black Metal, heavy, over the top Metal bands ever, everybody
has a record deal now you know?! So it takes some of the fun out of it just to
know you can go down to a local record store and find this stuff, you don�t
have to dig beneath the surface very far to find extreme music these days, in
fact you can consider some of the stuff that gets played on top forty radio
today to be a spawn of extreme, the extreme Metal scene.�
Matt: �Yeah you know in fact it makes me
wonder, and I�m gonna go ahead for your benefit to wonder what would the next
step be in extreme music other than just making some fuckin� noise, I mean
after REPULSION, NAPALM, LARM and MORBID ANGEL, what could anyone possibly do to
make it heavier and faster and more aggressive, I don�t know but hopefully
someone out there, some kids out there got something new and fresh on their
mind��
Scott: �Laurent, let me know when the
next HELLHAMMER comes out. When you hear the next band that is as amazing as
HELLHAMMER let me know (laughs).�
Can
you name your ten fave releases ever and the five best shows you ever witnessed?
Scott:
�I don�t think I could do that, I�ve
been a music junkie since I was in grade school, and I�ve seen a million bands
and I�ve bought a billion records and I just love music so much that�s
there�s no way I can name, I can pinpoint that few releases you know?! I
don�t think I could.�
Matt: �Same
here, not to mention the way I like music and the way most music lovers like
music cos it changes, one year you�re really into this artist or whatever and
you think that�s absolutely the number one but then after a while you get this
perspective that there�s so much great music out there that there�s no point
in thinking �This is my favorite album ever� you know?!�
Scott:
�Sorry to short change you on this Laurent but I just honestly can�t think
of anything off the top of my head that I think is the best ever but I can say
that I think that music and Rock music in general, all of its different forms is
definitely the greatest music that youth has ever created or had and we always
will have Rock�n�Roll cos there�s always gonna be young people that
are pissed off and confused and questioning the authority.�
As
an old Metal fan, how do you feel about the passing of two influential Metal
musicians such as Chuck and Paul?
Scott:
�I think it's sad to see any person die
young. It just hurts more when it's someone you care for or admire a great deal.
Chuck was a 100 % original who left us all with a lot of great music and I think
young musicians can get inspiration from the fact that Chuck always stayed true
to himself and his music. He always released exactly the music he meant. As for
Paul Baloff, I didn't know him but I was heavily influenced by the "Bonded
By Blood" LP and I was shocked when Matt told me last week about his
passing.�
Anything
to add if I forgot something to cover in your 17 year history?
Matt:
�Phew you questioned on everything
(laughs)!�
Scott: �Dude the way you lay out these
questions, you didn�t need to interview us, you pretty much told the entire
story minus the address we�re living at and what size shoes we were wearing at
the time you know?! So you�ve definitely done your homework man.�
Matt:
�I�m wondering if you got a list of my ex girlfriends��
Scott:
�And if you do, can I have their numbers? (laughs) So thanks a lot Laurent,
you definitely know your shit about REPULSION more than anybody else that I�ve
ever came across so��
Matt:
�Yeah dude we really appreciate this� this is like the first interview and
one of the very very few interviews that we�ve ever done just because we never
really thought excited about it but your questions were so good.�