» interviews

Girls Don’t Like Metal

biodagar — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:31:18 +0000

This is one of those GO READ THIS OTHER SITE things.

The very lovely, super talented critic Natalie Zed, has a new column over at Canada Arts Connect. She’s called it Girls Don’t Like Metal. Wondering where the title comes from? Go read this piece.

In her first column, Natalie has interviewed one of my most favourite female metallers, Kim Kelly. Known as “Grim Kim”, this gorgeous young woman is actually an old, snarling black metaller reincarnated. Her knowledge is phenomenal, her writerly skills fantastic, and her love of metal unsurpassable. She is also one of the very best publicists I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.

Here’s a bit of a taster for you:

How would you define your role/job/niche within the context of heavy metal music?

Some heretical amalgamation of scribe, entrepreneur, road warrior, merry blasphemer, masochist, blue-eyed devil woman, mercenary and firebrand, if I were one to wax poetic. More tangentially speaking, I am an opinionated extreme metal journalist and writer for a number of print and online publications (Terrorizer, Invisible Oranges, The Atlantic, NPR, Metalsucks, Hails & Horns, Loud! and lots more).

I’m also the publicist and sole owner/operator of my company, Catharsis PR, an occasional blogger, NYC gig promoter and merch slingin’ road dog for Corrosion of Conformity, Black Tusk and Saint Vitus (to name a few). I was 15 when my first piece of metal-related writing was published, and in the ensuing almost-decade, I’ve fought tooth and nail to make that scrawny, Bathory-obsessed kid’s dreams come true. So far, so good.

YOU SHOULD GO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE. Now. It’s well worth your time. And keep your eye on it, because Natalie is going to bring us the goods. I’d put money on it.

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Metal as Fuck: the world’s most obliterating metal mag. Coming Feb 2009

INTERVIEW: Thirty years and thrashing harder than ever – OVERKILL

biodagar — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:16:12 +0000

With the rise of the new wave of thrash, which has taken the world by storm in the past two years or so, it becomes easy to forget that some of the earliest thrash bands are still going strong. Enter Overkill: old-school thrashers with a long history.

I recently caught up with both Bobby (vocals) and DD (bass) to chat about Overkill‘s latest release, Ironbound, which is taking people by surprise left, right, and centre; their change of label – they’re now with Nuclear Blast; and the impact touring has on the Overkill sound.

Much of the critics’ take of Ironbound – which has been a good take – tends to pass by such veterans of the scene as Overkill. As Bobby commented, ‘It’s obviously flattering – but inconsequential unless stuck on the toilet. Then a good or bad review holds the same value…’.

While many critics find themselves wanting more by the end of the release, the structure of the album wasn’t planned so deliberately that the band was consciously trying to create such a yearning in the listener.

‘It wasn’t planned that way, but the result is awesome,’ Bobby enthused. ‘If the opening track The Green & Black clocks in at 8+ minutes and feels like 5 – that’s success. Having time pass without it noticeably passing, then it’s a score. I suppose it’s also about having less rules, formulas. Makes the game that much more fun to play.’

DD was a little more dismissive. ‘How long or short a song is doesn’t really matter…. READ MORE –>

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INTERVIEW: Genre, charts & Metal – Trevor Strnad talks Deflorate

biodagar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:00:40 +0000

The Black Dahlia Murder released their latest album just last month: Deflorate. To talk about the album and what’s going on in the BDM camp, I caught up with frontman Trevor Strnad for a bit of a chat.

When I spoke with The Black Dahlia Murder‘s vocalist Trevor Strnad, it was a lovely day in California and the band were just two days into their most recent headlining tour of the United States, which they began very soon after finishing up a month-long tour just prior. After a short break over Christmas, these guys are heading to Europe; but it isn’t going to stop there either.

‘We’re just gonna try to spend as much time on the road as possible, hit as many places as possible, try to push the new record as hard as we can,’ Strnad explained. ‘It seems to be going well so far, so we’re just excited for the future, you know?’

Knowing fully well that the BDM guys like to have a bit of fun – if you’ve seen the guys’ DVD Majesty you’d know it yourself – I couldn’t resist asking what sort of pranks they play on each other when they’re on the road, to keep themselves occupied. While Strnad couldn’t recall too many pranks, there was one in particular that he remembered.

‘Brian has been known to prank our manager a lot and fuck with him all the time,’ he said. ‘He’s always screwing his life up,’ Strnad giggled. ‘You know, calling him up in weird voices and pretending that we got in an accident and stuff like that. He’s done some pretty ruthless stuff, you know.’

But like Strnad explained, he’s been with the band for a long time and knows what to expect; so while it sounds fairly harsh, their manager is a good bloke and rolls with whatever the BDM guys throw at him.

Being the sort of band that looks they way they do, and that have been the butt of many discriminations largely because of the way they look, I asked Strnad what his take was regarding genre. Specifically, I wondered what he thought of the notion that only a band has the right to pigeonhole itself into a particular genre. In discussing genre, Strnad told me that he thinks that it’s kind of an obsession, to try and define things and cram them into genres. READ MORE–>

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INTERVIEW: In the Spotlight – Crystalic

biodagar — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:52:15 +0000

Crystalic is the first band in Europe to win a Metal as Fuck spotlight feature, having scooped the pool by a long way. Of course, these guys didn’t dare to think that they would win; or that they had fans and supporters, not just at home but also abroad, sufficient to see them charging to the post.

I talked to guitarists Mikko Mattila and Toni Tieaho about winning the spotlight, and they gave me the low-down on Crystalic. They were incredibly surprised that they’d won, and that they were the first Euro band to have scored the spotlight.

‘First? Damn that’s killer!’ Toni exclaimed. ‘Absolutely, we didn’t dare to think that we would win. There were a few good local bands, and I also thought that our local people were not going to support us like this. It seems that we are getting fans little by little; it was a nice surprise for us.’

The band was first formed in 1998. Eleven years ago, the band was much styled much more along black metal lines, especially vocally. Between then and 2002, the project was put on ice, and it was resurrected in 2002. Although Crystalic has experienced several lineup changes, the band itself has been around for approximately ten years.

Mikko gave me the run-down on how the band has dealt with line-up changes… READ MORE –>

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INTERVIEW: Blood Oath – Live by it, die by it. (Suffocation)

biodagar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:18:49 +0000

Suffocation

Suffocation’s drummer Mike Smith talks to Metal as Fuck about Blood Oath, being twenty years into their career, how the industry needs to change, and, of course, their current Aussie tour with Arch Enemy.

Suffocation are co-headlining with Arch Enemy right now. Unfortunately, I missed these guys’ last sojourn to the land of Oz, but everybody I spoke to who went to those shows has always talked about how Suffocation absolutely slays live. When I ran this past drummer Mike and asked what his take was on whether the band does its best work when people are banging their heads in front of them, he laughed gently…. READ MORE –>

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INTERVIEW: Welcome the dead: Daemonicus on Host of Rotting Flesh

biodagar — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:36:56 +0000

Swedish blackened death metallers Daemonicus released their first full-length album earlier this year, to excellent reviews. Recently, Metal as Fuck caught up with guitarist PO to talk about their history, their new release, and what we can expect from these guys in the future.

Although Daemonicus formed just three years ago, their debut full-length release Host of Rotting Flesh, which was released this year on ViciSolum, displays a maturity that belies the band’s age. No doubt a lot of this can be attributed to the way in which the band works together.

Three of the band’s members, Jörgen, PO and Stefan, have been mates since they were kids, and Jörgen and PO have played together in various bands over the years. A previous project that they were involved in had Stefan on vocals, but it was more for fun than anything else.

But by January 2006 the three of them decided to start a new band and give it everything they had.

‘We contacted fellow death metal fan Marcus Nygren and asked him to play bass with us, which he was more than happy to,’ PO said. ‘We got in touch with our drummer Viktor, through a friend of ours. But he never really liked the music I think, and he quit just before the release of the first demo. Stefan and Magnus shared a common interest in motor sports so when Viktor left us and we had two shows coming up, Stefan asked Magnus, who already played drums in another band, if he could fill in on the gigs? And he never left.’…. READ MORE –>

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Interviews I’ve done: a (probably) partial list

biodagar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:49:10 +0000

Now, I’m not one to go banging on about all the fabulous, wonderful and (sometimes) not-so-wonderful bands and people I’ve ever spoken with in my line of work. But it occurred to me today when I was updating my profile page at Metal as Fuck that somebody somewhere might one day be interested – in fact, many of my friends ask me. Often. So, to get this shit out of the way I’ve decided to compile a list. And this is it. It’s nothing fancy – it is, after all, just a list – but I figure I may as well.

Some people might think it’s odd to be humble about this sort of thing, but I figure that if you are star struck and you’re in the music industry you need to get a different job. Now. All of these guys just work doing what they do, they’re all people with real lives and real things going on all the time – just like the rest of us. The fact that I get to talk to them about their work and their lives is, on the one hand, amazing; and on the other hand it’s really just work!

I’m sure this list isn’t complete; between moving publications and moving blogs – and not to mention one previous publication updating their site and losing my entire portfolio in the process – there is bound to be shit missing. As I recall it, and as I find things I will update the list.

Suffice it to say I do love my job, and I really appreciate the time any artist takes out to talk with me about what they do. Kudos to all the guys in this list, and thanks to all of them for taking time out of their enormously busy schedules to talk to the likes of me.

Enjoy!

Akercocke, All Shall Perish, (the) Amenta, Amon Amarth, Amorphis, Arch Enemy, Armored Saint, As I Lay Dying, Benediction, (the) Berzerker, Black Asylum, Bloodstock Open Air founder Paul Gregory, Blunt Force Trauma (Aus), Bullet for my Valentine, Bumblefoot, Buried in Verona, Callejon, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Cephalic Carnage, Children of Bodom, Chimaira, Chris Maric at Riot Entertainment, Cult of Luna, Daemonicus, Death Angel, Deathstars, Deicide, Derek Sherinian, DevilDriver, Dillinger Escape Plan, Dimmu Borgir, Dreadnaught, Drowning Pool, Dyscord, Edguy, Enslaved, Five Finger Death Punch, Florian Fink at Nuclear Blast, Frankenbok, Fredrik Nordstrom, Grave, Hackneyed, Hammerfall, Hardcore Superstar, Helloween, Iced Earth, Immortal, In Flames, Kataklysm, Korpiklaani, Lapdancer, Lauren Harris, Limb From Limb, Machine Head, Marduk, Meshuggah, Misery, Morbid Angel, Mortal Sin, Motorhead, My Dying Bride, Necrophagist, Order of Ennead, Our Last Enemy, PainDivision, Pig Destroyer, Psycroptic, Rob Halford, Samael, Saxon, Scar Symmetry, Sirenia, Soilwork, Sonic Syndicate, Stuck Mojo, Switchblade, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, Sylosis, Testament, The Dead, Trivium, Unitopia, Universum, Vanishing Point, W.A.S.P, Wednesday 13, Yngwie Malmsteen.

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INTERVIEW: Against the Grain V, with festival founder Lee Gardiner

biodagar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:57:44 +0000

Just recently we caught up with Lee Gardiner, one of the founders of Adelaide’s Against the Grain festival (and vocalist for Adelaide band Double Dragon), to talk about this year’s event, its history, and what the future looks like. There are BIG plans afoot.

Against the Grain is a full-day metal festival that happens annually in Adelaide, South Australia. It’s gradually gaining notoreity around the country, and this year features its most diverse line-up to date. But it’s taken about five years to get to the point it has.

It started a bit by accident, and Lee had only been with Double Dragon for about six months. Lee is good friends with Joel from the Jones Town Syndicate they often did shows together. When these guys got a date at the Bridgeway, which was eight months away, they started talking and gradually more and more bands joined the bill. Having the venue from midday until midnight, they could put the show on whenever they wanted to; and when Jason North (Truth Corroded) got his band in on the act, he started helping out – and before these guys knew it, they had the whole day booked.

‘The first one was, like, crazy,’ Lee recalled. ‘I think we had 200 people there, and I think A Red Dawn played twice: they played at one o’clock and then one in the morning coz they just let us go all night. I think my mum was cooking a barbie next to the stage… the whole place just stunk like sausage and carcass and stuff.’… READ MORE –>

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INTERVIEW: Deathstars’ Whiplasher preaches Deathglam prior to Aussie tour

biodagar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:55:50 +0000

A little while ago I had the opportunity to talk to Andreas “Whiplasher Bernadotte” Bergh of Deathstars fame about deathglam, humour, girls, and touring Australia.

Deathstars’ Night Electric Night received really good press worldwide, but it’s not something that these guys even attempt to keep up with.

‘Actually it’s just impossible to try to really think about that. I don’t do that,’ Whiplasher said. ‘But of course it’s interesting to know their general opinions so to speak, but it’s not like I’m going around checking on these things. But ah, it’s got a great response and – we’re worth it, so,’ he chuckled, ‘what else is new?’

Having interviewed these guys before – albeit by email – I knew a bit about what to expect from Deathstars; and what I knew a lot about before I started was these guys’ dry sense of humour.

For some journalists, getting a statement like the one above may put them off; without any context it looks arrogant or a bit too self-congratulatory. In the context of the band’s take on things, it’s just good fun…. READ MORE –>

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