DEAR READER,
Hopefully, after a couple of years of writing this column, I am loved enough for my temporary absence to be noticed. Eh... who am I kidding? Well, I did take some well- needed time off. Interviewing bands is not all fun, I tell you. Actually, being on the inside of just about everything licks rancid balls. It’s not because of time restraints, responsibility, etc. Nope. It sucks because you get left holding a bag of shit (even by your friends). And if that’s not enough, you really get to see how shitty people are. And yes, most of my readers know the majority of people are worthless. But here’s the real hair-puller: most of your favorite bands are worthless pieces of shit too.
Bands are notoriously flaky. I won’t mention names. But I will tell you I had some great interviews in the works, when said interviewees decided to flake out on me. As my friend Joe used to say, “not cool man... not cool”. I’m big on communication.... Well, I’m awkward about communication as well. But, even in my awkwardness, I believe in keeping people informed in regards to things that pertain to them. Even if someone fucked me over really fucking bad, they would probably get a formal letter in the mail stating why I am not talking to them and how I wish they would swallow a concoction of bleach and razor blades. But... musicians are a whole different kettle of fish. For a breed of people so eager to ‘share’ with the world, they sure are terrible about sending a simple e-mail that says something like “sorry, I won’t be interested in doing that interview after all, as I am too busy jerking off, strangling whores and filling my body with poison”. Such an e-mail would be appreciated by someone like me.
Ah... always good to vent! Sorry for my rant there. But, my readers, I do not come back to you empty handed. Terry from Seattle’s own SCORCHED EARTH was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. Scorched Earth has some killer shows lined up (read the interview for dates), so sell your blood, sperm, eggs or clothing to ensure you are able to make it to such events, with enough cash left over to get unbelievably drunk, because... well, what show would be complete without your drunkenness. For the time being though, get your shot glasses lined up, cigarette lit and read on for yet another glimpse of Seattle’s evil underbelly!
Scorched Earth was founded by you and was originally a one man band. What made you decide to recruit?
I never intended this to be a one-man band in the first place. At the time (the nineties), the only musicians I would come across around here were either Grunge/Alternative clones, Metallica/Pantera clones, or bad-Death Metal-turned-Korn-clones. So, under the name Nazgul, I released the demo “Under Blood Red Eyes” in ‘94. I don’t recommend it at all these days, but its important to our history as we have re-recorded versions of some of the songs throughout our discography.I always wanted this band to be live and touring and whatnot, and after many missteps over the years, we finally have our definitive lineup.
Usually musicians start off in a band with other members, get fed up with having to work with other people and split off on their own to form solo projects. Do you think working with other musicians in Scorched Earth has been beneficial?
Yeah, because you can come up with the structure of the song by yourself, but when the other members insert their input, it can make it better. Sometimes I’ll see things from a way I didn’t think of, and things will have improved. I think it’s stupid to have several different projects going at once, when you can combine them into your own sound. I always love running into guys who say “Hey, I have a Black Metal band, and I’m also in a Death Metal band, wanna form a Doom Metal band?” Make up your mind!
The new SCORCHED EARTH album (Devils In Iron) has just been unleashed. It’s a killer album, if I say so myself. But is there anything, looking back, that you would have done differently but couldn’t because of time restraints or plain old impatience?
Thanks. Whenever you record an album, you look back and think you could do things better, you can’t escape it. We actually recorded it pretty hastily, because we had an offer from a fairly well-known label (in the Metal underground) that was interested in putting us out (they’ll remain nameless). Well, we recorded it, and we then couldn’t agree on a contract. We got other offers to release it, but they weren’t much better than releasing it ourselves, so that’s what we did (for the third time). “Devils...” spent two years in limbo, and we’ve vowed that we’ll try not to have that happen again (although you never know, heh). I am proud to announce that we will be spending this April recording our 4th album, which will be our most epic yet, and hopefully it will be unbound sometime in ‘08.
This is a somewhat common question, but one that I love to ask on occasion because rarely people in the spotlight get a chance to clear their own name/ reputation, etc. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about you?
That I actually DO buy my own cigarettes and don’t always bum off of people. You can’t say I don’t buy my own beer, though. Musically, I think there’s a segment of folks who listen to one song and immediately pigeonhole us as just another Thrash band. While that’s my favorite form of music, there’s alot of other elements to what we do (Death, Black, Doom, Horror) that defines us. Those that are diehard into us understand that, while others it takes a few listens/live shows to get it.
I was reading through the booklet for “Devil’s In Iron” (I’m very anal about lyrics). Do you write all of the lyrics for SCORCHED EARTH or is it a group effort?
I write all the lyrics. In some instances, though, the other guys have given me ideas that I run with lyrically, so they get credit for those cases.
Some of your lyrics are very war- minded. Would people be incorrect to assume you were a nice guy?
They can assume whatever they want! “Kindness only to those that deserve it”, as the saying goes. Not all of our lyrics are war-based, though. There’s stuff like “Gormenghast” which is based on the book of the same name, “The 22 Disciples” which is sort of a horror script I came up with, and would make a good movie someday, and I write about other subjects as well.
I didn’t know you wrote scripts. Are you trying to get into film?
I haven’t actually written any scripts, but I have a whole host of ideas for movies and books. I’m just now learning how to write and structure them. Most of my ideas wouldn’t be made because Hollywood is so PC about everything. Our lyrics would make for some good cinema one of these days. I think it would be fun to act in B-movies and things like that, maybe I’ll give that a go at some point. I could be the next Danny Trejo or something, haha.
Of course I can NEVER skip over the infamous religion question. Hehe. Would you consider yourself an Atheist, Satanist, Devil worshipper or???? Do you have any thoughts you would like to share about religion as a whole?
I’d consider myself agnostic with sympathies toward Asatru and pre-Christian Celtic religions. Religion as a whole, well, I don’t care for it, haha. Any further reply is just the stock “I don’t care for organized religion, I am my own master” response. I don’t think about it alot really. Just out of curiosity, since you say you always ask this question, have there ever been any bands who reply that they are Christians and go to church regularly?
HAHAHAHAHA! No, definitely not. If I did, I do believe that would be grounds to call off the interview right then and there, if I knew the person was sincere in their answer, anyway. We are after all a sarcastic bunch. I’m actually really particular about who I interview for the religion reason, among others. But enough about my boring logistics. You play a lot of shows with other local bands and actually thank a good portion of them in your thanks list. Do you think it is important for one to support their local Metal community? And what do you think of the Seattle scene?
Absolutely it’s important. We have lots of great bands in the scene here now, as its grown leaps and bounds in the past decade (granted, it had nowhere to go but up). We’ve done shows here with great locals like Serpens Aeon, In Memorium, Drawn & Quartered, Inquisition, Ceremonial Castings, Sol Negro, Book Of Black Earth, Skelator, Inquinok, and many more. There’s been some really good turnouts to the shows in recent years, and it makes me proud ‘cause we’ve been at this for a long long time and to see things get way better is fucking awesome. Its always been hard to get any recognition when you’re from here, but recently when we’ve toured we seem to be getting more notice both for our music and our area. Everyone elsewhere still have this notion that we all play Grunge up here, it’s bizarre. So, if you’re reading this and are still skeptical, come see us May 15th at Hell’s Kitchen w/ Drawn & Quartered, Satan’s Host and Rutah, or June 18th at Studio Seven w/ Angelcorpse, Holocaust Wolves Of The Apocalypse, Gospel Of the Horns, Cemetary Urn and Sanguis Imperem.
The Mr. and myself were just talking about perseverance and how if more people, artists specifically, just kept keeping on, they could actually gain some success. But it’s so common for people to give up just a short while after starting something, because they aren’t magically rich, successful or even well- received by their ‘audience’. So, through your nearly 15 years of creative endeavors, have you ever found yourself an inch away from throwing your hat down and screaming as loud as humanly possible: “FUCK IT! I’M DONE!”?
Never. The thought of being around to indirectly torment those that would dismiss us is far more satisfying.
It’s now 11:30 PM, Sunday/ deadline night and my glass has runneth empty. Time to get away from this annoying computer and go get lost in the woods. I humbly thank you for your time and honest answers. We are at the almighty money shot question: your last words?
“Ye are of your father the Devil, and the booze of your father ye will drink” - SE 6:16.
www.hailscorchedearth.com
www.myspace.com/scorchedearthxxx
