Interview Billy Razorback (answered
by M: Marco and D: Dave)
1. Tell us about the early days of Embalming Theatre.
What other bands were you involved with? What was the first release by
ET? Did you guys have a demo?
M: The roots of ET is MAGGOTS (1995, one demo and one livetape), then
we had a line-up change (drums/ vox/ guitar) and changed the bandname
in Anthropophagus ( 1998/99). Unfortunately an italian act released their
debut at the same time, so we had to change the bandname once again. So
we found Embalming Theatre, and that is a kind of "nickname"
(given by british students) for the place where they embalm bodies. ET
is a classic 5-piece-ensemble (d, g, g, b, v). There's no demo except
of a limited promo CD-R (30 copies done). The first release was the split
7" EP with Agathocles (2000).
2. Marco, I know you've been in the underground
genre for a long time. What are your memories of the early 90's death/grind
scene? Favorite bands, zines, etc. What did you like about those days
the most? Did you do any zines/bands/compilations back in those days?
M: My underground activities startet in 1988. I created logos and art
work for the slayer and morbid mag (Norway). From 1990 until 1992 I was
vocalist of a death metal band called Damnatory. All of us had their activities
10 years ago. These days I appreciated bands as Grave, Disembowelment,
Demilich, Xysma, Rottrevore, Cenotaph (Mex), Funebre, Winter, Crypt of
Kerberos, Macabre End, Immolation,.Fear of God,.. to name just a few.
But I still love those bands / recordings nowadays. When I listen to "Anatomia
corporis humani" for instance, it's like a time machine back for
one decade. That kind of vinyl owns a special spirit which is not to describe.
Listen, feel and (fly? dream?...). I liked the most that it was possible
to see bands growing (demo, 2nd demo, 7", LP/CD). I will definitely
miss flyers. For both Damnatory demos I spread more than 20'000 flyers.
1991 I was also contributor of a mag called Confluent Intentions Magazine.
We made interviews with bands as Necrony, At the gates, Samael, Fear of
God, Disembowelment, Impetigo, Samael, Furbowl, My dying Bride, .... .
An interesting time to remember.
3. You guys are planning on releasing your first
full-lenght CD on Razorback this summer, please tell us all about it!
How many songs will it have? How long will it be? Are you happy with the
new material you have written for it? What will the cover art be like?
M: The CD will be entitled "sweet chainsaw melodies" and it
will contain about 22 tracks. Playing time range from 30 to 35 minutes.
A few of the new songs will be: A leg is in the mail, you eat what I have
raped, export of corpses, amputation of the wrong leg, the title track
and many more. We will also record 5 old trax once again. We hope they
will kill more with a better recording. The new material is fast as hell
and I think that they will feature also more melodies (as the title is
promising). The art work is in a bloodred and rusty way. The cover shows
an overdressed lady with a chainsaw and a few bodyparts on the floor.
All is painted with acryl colours. The original size of the cover is 20
x 20 cm (about 8 inches).
4. You guys have one of the fastest grind drummers
in the underground today! Where did you find him and what are some of
his influences?
M: His former band (Verwaint, a thrash band) splitted up and we got him.
He's also doing the drumpart for the swiss death metal band DISPARAGED.
To play the drums is his passion. He's doing everything to improve his
drumming. For instance he's kickboxing too. That kind of music needs a
very good physical condition...His influences are more in the thrash metal
section, but he also likes Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams,..
5. Do you guys play a lot of live shows in Europe?
Do you have a lot of people going to shows in Switzerland? What are some
other cool bands from your country? I don't know too many death metal
or grind bands from there. I know of the ENDistro which does a great job!
Any other cool labels you want to mention? Is Celtic Frost still popular
there? Their old shit rules!
M: We don't play a lot of gigs. Until now we have played 3 gigs and one
more will be in may 2003. All gigs were in Switzerland. There are between
40 and 150 people at underground shows and 200-500 for bigger events (CC,
6FU,...) Switzerland is a very small country and it's definitely not known
for a big music scene. It's also difficult, that we have 4 official languages
in our country. There are without any doubt a few cool bands worth to
be checked out: Fullstop, Deceit, Nostromo, Requiem, Disparaged, Sludge,...
to name just a few next to the more known bands as Samael or Alastis.
The most important news from Switzerland is that Fear of God is back.
They rehearse again, write new material and they release a best off with
100 tracks (DLP or later on CD). Also the swiss death thrash band Messiah
are going to celebrate a short reunion this summer. Let's see, what happens.
But the popularity of Celtic Frost isn't that immense. Of course their
old stuff kicks ass, but nowadays....
6. You guys really seem to love doing 7" ep releases and
have already done many, and have many more planned. Please tell us about
all of them, and what are your next releases on vinyl? Tell us about your
own label also!
D: Paranoia Syndrome is a label specialized mainly in vinyl stuff! Steve
(our bassist) founded the label 1992 and released a demo from one of his
first bands called SARCASTIC EXISTENCE. Later as he joined our band we
decided to take care again of that labelidea and released a couples of
demos and livetapes. Soon we we'rent happy anymore with that kind of releases
and we looked for bands which were interested in releasing a 7"!
Our first 7" was with the swedish death metal band DEFACED CREATION!
Other releases on our label are DEFACED CREATION/AETERNUM Split 7",
EVOKE/KADATH 7", THY PRIMORDIAL 7", PLEURISY/ASGAIA Split LP,
DEFACED CREATION LP..... just to name a few. More infos, mailorder can
be found at http://home.tiscalinet.ch/paranoiasyndrome
M: We have 4 ep's realized already (splits with AGx, Terrorism, Unholy
Grave and Final Exit). The next Split 7" ep's will be with MAGGOT
SHOES (Grindcore from Germany) and SEWN SHUT (swedish grindcore). Release
date should be end of march or beginning of april. Within the next months
there should see two other splits the light of day. One is with the swedish
band BIRDFLESH and one is with THE JAZZ INTRUSION (Grind from Jamaica).
There are more releases on its way: Two compilation 7" ep's , one
Compilation CD, one compilation Video and a split CD with Gored Face.
And in summer the full-length album will follow. Hopefully we will be
able to fix a split with IMPALED (would be cool) and FRIGHTMARE. A discography
with more informations can be found on our homepage : www.embalmingtheatre.ch
7. You do some really amazing artwork. Please
tell us about some of your art influences, and about some of the work
you've done.
M: Thanks, pal. I have done about 150 logos (Obscenity, Dew-Scented, Disastrous
Murmur, Desultory, Nunslaughter, Damnatory, Embalming Theatre, ...) I
always wanted to help underground bands and newcomers. "Big acts"
change their logo to have an easy-to-read and commercially more interesting
graphic design (prove: Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Gorefest, Goreguts,
Napalm Death unfortunately too-but they came back to their roots, Grave,
Carcass, and many more....) Really I prefer the underground scene. On
the artwork side I have worked for my own bands (Damnatory, Sabaism, Embalming
Theatre) and for friends .I made art work for Alastis, Requiem, Cropment,
Fermenting Innards, Aeternum, Dew-Scented, ....Some of my influences are
H.R. Giger (his museum in Switzerland is great!!!), Dali, Dan Seagrave,
Wes Benscoter, Jürg Matthys, Brom, Wayne Barlowe, Z. Beksinski, Robh
Ruppel (he did that great zombie cover for the canadian Purulence 7"
ep), Jeff Easley, Dave McKean, Phil Hale, Edward Repka, John Jude Palencar,
and many more. I'm not into that Science Fiction stuff with planets, spacestations,...
8. Do you guys like any kind of horror films,
books, etc. ?
M: I like that stuff very much. I think the members of ET really enjoy
reading books and we read the same style of books (thriller, horror, that
way). We like authors as Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child, Charles Higson
Jean-Christophe Grangé, John Connolly, .... I for myself read stuff
from Kathy Reichs, Robin Cook, Joe R. Lansdale, Nicholas Blincoe, John
F. Case, Virginie Despentes,.... and I have a large collection of Dean
Koontz (50 books) and John Saul (20 books). Concerning on movies I like
Horror movies as Hellraiser I / II, Alien I/II, TCM II, Razorback;-) Antropophagus/Man-Eater,
The thing (Carpenter), Phantasm, and others like Existenz, Surviving the
game, Kiss of the dragon, cube, or the second part of Final destination.
9. What are some bands that you currently listen
to? Any new bands you like, or do you mostly prefer the old bands?
My playlist: Demilich, Disembowelment, Assück, Bohren &the club
of gore (their new CD is brilliant!!!), Winter, Last days of humanity,
Disgorge (Mex), Inhume, Leng Tch é, Elijah's Mantle, Black Rose
(I), Stoa, Immolation, Rottrevore, St. Germain, Trial of the bow, Neurosis,
Xysma, In Slaughter Natives, Hemdale, old Grave, Napalm Death (my all
time favourite band), Impaled, Prophecy, The moon lay hidden beneath a
cloud, Esoteric, Fear of God, ... You see there is old and new stuff.
There are great new acts around (Meatknife from Germany, Ghoul on Razorback,
)
10. You guys have a lot of great riffs mixed into
your grind. It's not just all blast beats, you guys seem to write actual
songs, even though it's totally fast grind. What have you decided to play
like this instead of just playing non-stop blast beats, or will the new
stuff be even faster?
M: The new stuff will be faster!!! But you are right: we try to combine
parts fast as hell and parts full of melodies. Be sure that the new songs
will feature more melodies!!! BUT songs with blastbeats only are boring.
You can hear it when you see Marduk on stage. Unfortunatly I had to see
them for three times in a tour-package and they are definitely fast and
definitely the most boring band on stage!!
11. Were you guys ever savaged by a killer squirrel?
M. No! Were you? But a few guys in England (Manchester) were attacked
by a killer squirrel.
12. Your band reminds me of something that would
have come out on Earache Records back in the old days, but your music
is even more extreme and faster and even darker sounding. Do you think
there's a limit to how extreme this kind of music can go?
M: Hmm - difficult to say. There are always new impulses coming from bands
that try out to pass over a limit. Rompeprop with their vocals, Benümb/Cephalic
Carnage/The dillinger escape plan with their structure, mix it with a
freak's music (for instance John "Naked City" Zorn) and who
knows what kind of music can pass the limits..There are also bands from
"exotic" countries who give new impulses in that sound (for
instance Gruesome Malady from India - give'em the possibility to record
in good record studio and watch out!). It was never an aim of ET to be
the fastest or the most brutal band on this planet. That's crap. We want
to enjoy what we do. There are people saying that ET sounds like old Hemdale
or Assück... That is a big compliment to be compared with the bands
you adore.
13. Please give some last words for everybody
reading, and thanks for answering these questions?
Thank you very much for your great support. I hope you will enjoy the
new material. Cheeerrzz and give some regards to Jill too.
All guys reading this watch out for merchandise as new ep's and a new
shirt (watch on our homepage:)
www.embalmingtheatre.ch
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