SACRILEGE (Interview with Tony May)

SACRILEGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH TONY MAY,

ORIGINAL BASS PLAYER FOR LEGENDARY

PRE-CRUST METAL PUNK BRITISH BAND

Okay lads! this interview was taken this spring,

when i contacted Tony and he was so kind

answering all my questions about the past and

present, music and life in general, and of course

about the band that every metal and punk maniac

should WORSHIP: SACRILEGE!!!

This glorious ansamble was active in mid and late

80s and created the unique mixture of metal and

punk, taken both styles to new direction, new

sound and incredible outstanding riffs, which

someone would name even 'proto crust' riffs.

They were a punk band from the start, became

a crossover punk metal band and dove into the

depths of doom heavy metal in the late 80s,

and only now their legacy is becoming as

important as it must be, this was the band

that ran faster than time and were simply

outstanding!

Of course being a huge Sacrilege's fan i asked

many questions about the history and members

of the band. I haven't read many Sacrilege

interviews it's hard to find, and these i've read

were all old, so i hope you enjoy these Tony's

answers as much as i did!!!

Taken: spring 2009

Hi Tony! Thanx for doin an interview with us!

D - OK let's start with the questions 'bout very old times!

When have you first got into heavy/extreme music?

What was the first band which really impressed you?

T - I was into rock music in 1975 & when i heard

B.Sabbath, there was no other band as heavy

& original, as them @ that time, so my love of heavy

metal grew with Sabbath.

D - The first band of yours was Final Attempt according

to your myspace. What style it was, i guess simple

aggressive punk usual for those times?

T - It was 1980 & yes Final Attempt we were very raw

& inexperienced, we could not play our instruments

properly, but that did not seem to matter

( Punk Attitude), we just wanted to get our views

on life in general, across to anyone who would

listen, we were young & angry.

D - Tell us a little bit about your short

appearance in Varukers. Why you and other guys

left this band and decided to form Sacrilege?

T - I personally decided to leave the Varukers on the

way home from a european tour in 1984, that tour

had been very exhausting, & i found out Damian

the guitarist felt the same ,so we discussed

forming a new band, & that turned out

to be Sacrilege.

D - You even did two old Final Attempt songs with

Varukers, whos decision it was to make these

songs with the Varukers?

T - Yes when i joined the Varukers, i offered Rat

some F. Attempt songs, & Rat shortened them to

fit the Varukers style of song writing, the songs

were "Stop the Killing" & "No Hope of a Future".

D - So in 1984 you formed Sacrilege. Is it right that

from the start the goal was to create an

anarcho-punk band?

T - Yes the intention with Sacrilege, was to create

an anarcho punk band, as we followed such

bands as Crass.

D - Anarchopunk movement was very influential for

all bands in those times, but later many of them

turned into more metalized sound.

Why in your opinion it happened?

T - We were listening to alot of punk & metal bands,

& the metal influence started to rub off in our music,

it just seemed a natural progression for us.

D - Anarchist or other 'political' views, was it really

important for Sacrilege in early days?

T - We lived the life of protesting, going on demos etc,

so the band gelled nicely into that part of our lifes.

D - Do you remember what was the first song you

composed with Sacrilege?

T - Good question, i had to really think about this & it

was a song called Cattle Market, with Liam our

original drummer, the song was later dropped

from the set.

D - OK many bands were tryin to incorporate metal

sound into punk in mid 80s, and Sacrilege were one

off the best no doubt. Just from WHERE you got all

these incredible riffs, what bands were influential for

you? Were you into metal and punk both at that time?

D - Like i said before we listened to alot of Punk & Metal

& i think this gave us an advantage, we drew our

influences from so many bands like Antisect, Sabbath,

Slayer & Trouble, they were really our main

influences, Damian wrote 99.9% of the music

& he just progressed so quickly, in my opinion

a very underrated guitarist.

D - Later your songs became longer and darker,

but on "Within the Prophecy" it wasn't doom/heavy

metal yet. Some people describe this album as

"thrash metal" (i'm not sure about it personally).

How would you describe Sacrilege's style

on "Within the Prophecy"?

T - The intention was always to slow down & try

to get as heavy as possible, with past albums

like Realms & Prophecy, we always varied the

music, because we never wanted to be an

out & out thrash band, so "Turn Back Trilobite"

was the next stepping stone & sadly the end

of the road for the band.

D - Some songs had really interesting lyrics and

great names, with therminology from Tolkien

(though lyrics were more metaphorical i would say).

Who has been writing lyrics for Sacrilege mostly?

Was it Tam?

T - Tam did write the lyrics & i think she was a very

clever, creative songwriter, & a spiritually, deep person.

D - Amebix said one time that they had been

misunderstood on a punk scene because of their

non-political lyrics and strong metal influences,

was it the same with Sacrilege?

T - Maybe people expected too much from us,

but we never set out to please the masses,

we only ever followed our own path.

D - You left the band before "Turn Back Trilobite",

can you tell why?

T - The time seemed right, i never felt comfortable

in the studio & the pressure just got too much

for me, Sacrilege in my mind, was always about

playing live, even though we only ever played

20 gigs in the U.K.

D - Have you been playin in other bands after Sacrilege?

T - No, I almost joined Bolt Thrower, as i was meant

to give Jo the bass player a rest (sorry Jo), but in

the end i just chilled out & went to as many

gigs as i could.

D - Many british bands moved from punk to metal

and then after that disbanded: Sacrilege, Onslaught,

Amebix, English Dogs, etc.

Hmm strange fact, can you tell your opinion on that?

T - It does seem strange, but i cannot speak for the

other bands, Damian our guitarist was getting

very disillusioned with the scene in general,

so after the Trilobite album, his song writing got

very laid back, to the point of sounding almost

rocky & bluesy, like the old rock band from the 70s

"Free", after that, his writing became almost folksy

& quite dark & depressing, as Damian had switched

too playing mainly acoustic guitar by then, he does

not play guitar anymore, which to me is a

great loss of Talent.

D - OK can you name your favourite Sacrilege's song?

T - I have a few, but i love 'Closing Irony', from the

Realms Album.

D - What other bands from 80s were important for

Sacrilege's members?

T - Basically the same as early influences, Antisect,

Sabbath, Venom, Slayer, Metallica, Candlemass,

Trouble, etc....

D - What album was the best for Sacrilege in your

opinion? (i would say they all were unique

interesting to know your thoughts!)

T - It has to be "Behind the Realms of Madness"

without a doubt.
...

D - Can you remember the best gig you played in

your life?

T - Leeds Adam & Eves & most of the Brimingham

Mermaid gigs.

D - And the best gig you've visited?

T - Got to be Rammstein Berlin 05 @ the Wuhlheide,

what a fantastic place for a band to play.

D - You said on your myspace that you're still into

extreme music, and into Rammstein as well.

What other modern bands, apart from Rammstein,

are your favourites?

T - Emigrate, Hanzel und Gretyl,etc.

D - You have a son, does he like Sacrilege's records?

And what other bands he's listening to?

T - Yes my son likes Sacrilege & he loves his Punk/Metal,

Sum 41, Blink 182, Green Day, Linkin Park & many,

many more....

D - What's your opinion on all these reunions happend

lately, Amebix even are doin a tour, Hellbastard

are ready to release an album, Concrete Sox are

reforming.. have you ever thought about playin again,

maybe even with Damian?..

T - I personally think the reunions are great & good

luck too them,remember a lot of new fans may

never of seen these bands live. I would love

to see Antisect reform myself, but as for Sacrilege,

i have already asked Damian & Tam, but sadly they

have both declined, so no Sacrilege reunion

i am afraid too say.

D - Do you think that punk and metal movements

are still actual for these days?

T - Definitely, we owe both scenes so, so much,

& the bands that have been formed,

because of those scenes is vast.

D - Do you know where is Tam now?

(maybe a stupid question sorry but its so interesting!)

And with whom from punk/metal world of 80s do

you keep relations with ('til this day).

T - I am in touch with Tam, although we have not

met up in many years, & because of my space,

i have found many old bands & friends, + made

many new friends also.

D - What are you hobbies and interests?

T - Music, Tattoos, trying to work out how to use

my computer properly, growing own vegetables,

generally trying to do up my home, going to

gigs when i can, with my Son.

D - I see that you like tattoos, what is you favourite

tattoo you've done?

T - My favourite tattoo has too be, my back which

is dedicated to my Son.

D - What movies do you like to watch?

T - Lord of the Rings, Two Towers & Return of the King.

Documentaries on History, Bikes,

anything interesting really.

D - Do you travel a lot?

T - I love visiting different countries, but due to my

knee problems, this limits what & where i can go,

there is a big world out there & i would like to see

a lot more of it before i die.

D - And the last question, i ask this one always..

If i go to England, what do you recommend to

visit/see first in your country?

T - Well England is only part of the U.K., there is

Scotland, Wales & N.Ireland too, plus Isle of Man

(Famous for MotorbikeT.T.Racing) & Isle of Wright,

which are both Small Islands close to the U.K.

If you started @ the top of the u.k. you would have

to start @ John o'Groats (Scotland), then visit the

Highlands, Lock ness(Monster), Edinburgh Castle,

Edinburgh Motolux Indian Motorcycle Shop,

Hadrians Wall (from roman empire), Lake Windermere

Cumbria, Birmingham Birth of Bands like

Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath etc, Birmingham

Motorcycle Museum, London, Tower Bridge,

Kings Rd, Stonehenge, Glastonbury Tor, Wales,

Machynlleth, Snowdonia, Beacons National Park,

Eden project in Cornwall, Tintagel Castle, St Ives,

& @ the bottom of the u.k. Lands End.

Dublin in Southern Ireland for Guinness(Stout),

Howth, where the Late Great P. Lynott is laid too

rest( T. Lizzy).

I personally have never visited Isle of Man,

nor the Isle of Wright, but there is so much to see,

so Buying a Tourist Guide of the U.K. would help,

then plan your journey from that, it really depends

on the persons interest of the country their

visiting & what they want too see.

(this last answer was almost like a Geography

lesson! hehe follow Tony's advices! -ed.)

Finally, Greetings Russia, Slanteyye who runs the

Sacrilege U.K. MySpace Site, Sacrilege R.I.P.

& Thanks to Daniel & Grind the World Zine,

I am Selling Official Sacrilege Merchandise on Ebay,

so have a look! & i am on MySpace tonymaysacrilege,

I am still amazed @ the interest in the band some

25years on, so, thank you to Old & New Followers,

it is much appreciated.

Peace! 09.

DARKTHRONE interview

Darkthrone needs no introduction, i guess. Norway's
best and the most untrendy metal band in the world!
Fenriz answered our questions in august 2008, and the
answers are really interesting. Just as always with
Darkthrone.
The interview was splitted on two parts by Fenris,
and i left it like that.

=======================================
PART ONE

1-Hi Fenriz & Darkthrone! Great to talk with you. What
you been up to lately, how's life?..
F: I have a day time job since 1988, and apart from that
i am tenting alot (29 trips so far since april, today it's 21 august)
and hanging with my girlfriend. i stopped going out and such in
May 2005 so i have a lot more time to use in the underground
metal scene now. This scene is as good now as it was in the 80s,
but many more idiots now hahaha...

2-Of course i cannot not to ask about your upcoming
new album. (in august of 2008 it was "Dark Thrones and
Black Flags", out now on Peaceville) There was a shitload
of misunderstanding with 'F.O.A.D.',but i guess (and hope)
this new album will be also as original and surprising,
as FOAD was. So what can you tell us about new stuff -
in a couple of words?.. What inspired you or what have
you been listening when writing the riffs for that new songs?
F: After all these years we mainly inspire by ourself,
our own bold direction these days, but yeah, it has been
a lot of REAL metal (i guess Ted has listened to alot
of Judas Priest) and for me, i've been into a lot of NWOBHM
and SPEED metal. So it will be alot of that, combined with
the sound and songs of our 2 last albums. The biggest years
of change for us was 1991 and 2005.

3-The name 'FOAD' somehow reminds me of Broken Bones
and Black Uniforms.. are these punkmetal bands inspired
you in any way?..
F: I heard Black Uniforms already in 1987, but neither them
or Broken Bones has inspired our music. But FOAD was a title
that was EXTREMELY COMMON in the 80s underground,
also VENOM and VOIVOD had songs called this,
there was even a ZINE called FOAD...the list goes on.
That's one of the reasons we used the title, so 80s freak
could see that our album was HOME.

4-In my opinion, there were even MORE oldschool riffs in
last two albums,early Bathory-oriented and even some
influence of early crust/stenchcore. So why in your opinion
people are saying crap like 'they're selling out' or
'they've lost their roots' when the band actually is still
AS close to its roots as always? This dislike of oldschool black
and heavy metal in nowadays generation, why is this
happening what do you think?..
F: Yeah, if we wanted to sell out, as in SELL LOTS OF COPIES
AND TRY TO MAKE KIDS LIKE US we would have played
dimmu borgir or pantera style since 1995! What we are doing
now is doing EVERYTHING ourself, we take VERY BIG
CHANCES, changing our sound to even more free sound,
even more underground, even more down the path of
metal history.
Some people think old school is 93, well, i sing about how
little i have in common with those crybabies in our song
RAISED ON ROCK on our last album. I advice people
NOT TO STAND IN OUR WAY of our freedom sound
of 80s underground and beyond. They can go put on
corpse paint and take a photo in their back yard when
it snows instead. just don't make me hear their cry-baby
complaints.
HAIL REAL METAL

5-I really believe Darkthrone are one of very few bands
today who plays pure oldschool. You guys do what you like
the most, so is it really important for you to make some
influence on young dudes?.. In other words, do you care
will or won't your music 'educate' young generation of fans?
F: Well as i said the scene today is better than ever, it seems
a lot of young people understand the barbaric sound of the
80s underground, the real metal is back too and speed and
nwobhm and thrash and traditional doom metal... yes yes,
it's very great (as idi amin used to say hahahaha), so it seems
the 90s was a shit decade for metal, all the styles died, death,
doom, black, power, traditional and, yeah, every style was
replaced by some plastic versions of itself - or faster and
stupider versions. BUT NOW THE SOUL IS BACK INTO
THE WARRIOR OF METAL. So we play for the really old
ones, 30-45 year olds and also the die hard kids who are into
TRUE HARD RAW AND CRUSTY sound. Those who like
plastic metal, trendy 90s standard bm can go away and
listen to something else.

6-I know you're interested in underground stuff like
Nocturnal or Bludwulf... maybe you can recommend some
other modern oldschool-like bands, some names you
discovered lately?..
F: Nekromantheon, Salute, Em Ruinas, Creep Colony, Corrupt,
Whip, Portrait, Old, Midnight Rider, Demon's Gate,
Alpha Centauri, Karnax, The Devil's Blood, HEVN, it's a million
cool bands out there, just make sure you take the right path
in the myspace world so you don't end up on some 14 year
old with a computer band tributing 1995 bm stuff hahahaha
or some plastic big shot band. STAY DIRTY and soulful.

OK I WRITE THE REST LATER, i have to meet a friend of
mine to deliver him my old backpack for tenting!

PART TWO
F: YES I'm back and listening to WITCHES HAMMER
demos 85 and 86 from Canada!

7-Some underground bands are turning into big labels now,
like Toxic Holocaust for example (signed on Relapse).
Many people immediately decided they've 'sold out'.
Do you think being on big label can prevent development
of the young bands?
F: Many people says that Joel (Toxic Holocaust) sold out?! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IDOTS! Last time
i saw Joel he was playing Onslaught "Thermonuclear devastation
of the planet earth"-cover on small club in Oslo. He deserves to
be known by more people because he is cool and has done
GREAT work for the underground and everybody loves him
in the underground. TOXIC HOLOCAUST, I AM GLAD YOU
GOT A SOLID RECORD DEAL. It is great for the barbaric
metal kids to see that Joel could get that deal.
No bones about it.

8-It's reeealy interesting to ask you about your PUNK
(crust, hardcore) tastes, 'cause such a questions are not so
oftenly asked by many journalists... so what punk bands
influenced Darkthrone and you (Fenriz) personally?
Just a several names.
F: Well in the 80s almost everyone was influenced by punk.
Even Cronos from Venom said he was influenced by Rush
and PUNK haha. Discharge was extremely important. I have
only 2 riffs on this album DARK THRONES AND BLACK
FLAGS inspired by punk, it is a part played like HIS HERO
IS GONE and another part i was thinking of PUKE from
Sweden, one of my all time favourite punk bands. I have
learned to like original punk band the most, Amebix,
Raped Teenagers, Rudimentary Peni, Warfare, English Dogs,
Dead Kennedys, Septic Death, Beyond Possession,
Cryptic Slaughter ...most of these from when i was young in
the 80s, in 90s more style of DETESTATION, and 'Everyday
Slaughter' album by....DISFEAR was very good. The 2000s
i got into very many bands like Hellshock, World Burns to
Death, Hevn, Skitsystem, Uncurbed, Accursed, Sanctum,
Crow, the list goes on forever. I get around 400-800 records
every year, so it's alot of every style that i listen to.
I like atleast 150 music styles/sub genres.

9-Are your musical tastes differ with Nocturno's tastes
very much or they're mainly similar?..
F: I think he is busy with a lot of other things than always
listening to music. i am the one OBSESSED with music in
this band. He likes a lot of the styles i like too, yeah.
But i am completely possessed by music.

10-What kinds of literature do you prefer? Who's your
favourite authors?
F: I am a public person here, and have to concentrate
mostly on newspapers like AFTENPOSTEN. I hate and
boycott TABLOIDS by the way. And i also read a lot of
literature and other facts about the forests around Oslo,
since this is where i am at home and i am known for this
here in Oslo. (1560 km2 of forests around here, it's
enourmous for a capitol)

11-If i decided to travel to Norway, what would you
recommend to visit first?..
F: Uff i don't know, i am so specialized in my interests
so i only know about forests of Oslo. Most people should
take the HURTIGRUTA a famous boat trip. But maybe
it's expensive i don't know. I wouldn't visit Oslo, people
should see the west of norway or north i guess. But my
home is the forests around here.

12-If you've ever been to Russia, tell us about your
impressions?.. And, maybe you know some russian bands? :)
F: Hahaha, no no, i do not like to travel. I have everything
i need in my life, and i am extremely busy here.
I have almost only heard ARIA/apur, i really really like
their KROV ZA KROV album. Fucking great Iron Maiden
worship!

...thank you a billion for the interview and i hope
readers could learn something about great bands
and right underground attitude!

p.s. originally printed in GRIND THE WORLD #1 in december 2008 on russian.

YDINTUHO interview

YDINTUHO means "Nuclear Destruction", at least guys told me so.
This band from northern Finland is mixing oldschool first-wave death
metal with dis-beat and hardcore punk, and the result is more than
awesome! You have to give this band a listen here:
www.myspace.com/ydintuho

Veke (guitars) answered on my questions (thanx for sending it to me
again!!) autumn '2008

================================================

1. P: Hi Ydintuho! Thanx for doin the interview with our zine. Well,
not so much information on your myspace about when you formed
the band, so can you tell us?..
V: Ydintuho was formed in late summer 2007.

2. P: You're from Rovaniemi, north of Finland. Are there many active
bands in your town and what music are they playin'?..
V: Actually we're all from Kuusamo, small and cold town in

north-east Finland. I live in Rovaniemi nowadays and other

guys in Kuusamo. Not much to say about Kuusamo's music

"scene", a few cover bands and a couple of crappy metal bands.

In Rovaniemi there's some punk acticity and rest is

(at least what i know) somewhat crappy pop/rock
or these shitty modern sounding "metal" bands.
Exitium Terror (formerly Vеmit) from Rovaniemi are great!

3. P: Your sound reminds me of very oldschool examples and its
like oldschool death metal meets crust and hardcore..
This is incredible mixing, why have you decided to play this kind
of a subgenre?..
V: We're all into old and raw metal, raw punk, d-beat etc so it's

kind of natural for us haha!

4. P: What bands influenced you first?..
V: Hellhammer, Discharge, Disclose, Master (US),

The Shitlickers etc etc!

Raw old school metal and hardcore punk in general.

5. P: Seems like dbeat and raw punk are growing these days,

why in your opinion it's happening so?
V: ..Is it? Maybe people are bored with soft and melodick stuff
in general haha!

6. P: What's your opinion on modern underground, what bands
do you like?..
V: Well i dont really follow what's happening around, but

there's sure great bands here like The Carnival,

Black Mass Pervertor, Kylmä Sota etc.

7. P: Finland lately is popular mainly for its softrock and some
mainstream metal bands. Not very much is known about the
underground, maybe you can recommend some good finnish
underground bands of nowadays?..
V: For example those bands i mentinoed above.

The Carnival is a great combination between old finnish hc

madness and old bm/thrash metal. I'm too to lazy describe

every band, just check them out! Of course there's shitloads

of great bands.

8. P: I know your first demo is sold out already..how much

copies have you guys sold?..
V: We made 66 copies of the demo, they sold out in less than

a month. There was also 15 copies of "special edition" cassette

with Bathory rip off covers wich we sold/gave free at Kainuu

Soi festival june 2008.

9. P: Are you planning to record a full-lenght, if yes, when?
.. Maybe you're more into eps and splits?..
V: No plans for full length album yet.. I personally like to

listen music in EP lenght. We just finished two tracks for a

compilation Lp which will be released by Torture Garden Pictures.

10. P: You've also used a cassette format for making different

editions of your demo, do you guys like casstte releases?..

What do you prefer - tapes, CDs or vynil more?..
V: Cassettes are fuckin' cool! Vinyl is of course great, and cd:s

go as well. I usually dont care about the format, but of course

the analog is superb!

11. P: You're a three-piece band, have you ever changed the

line-up?.. Maybe some of you played in other bands before

(or playin now?..)
V: No changes in the line-up except that we just got a real

vocalist! Our drummer Ari played in a couple of death metal

bands in the early nineties. Kalle played Punk Rock in

Monster Hemi for several years and was forming

Violent Hammer (old school death metal) in 2006.
Also Ari and our new singer Matti played in Violent Hammer.
Me and Kalle played in Dirty Funeral which was old and

doomy heavy metal mixed with hard rock.

None of us have any other bands at the moment.

12. P: What are topics of your lyrics guys?.. Are you writing

on finnish sometimes or only on english?..
V: Nuclear destruction, war, death.. Everything is done in

english this far, but maybe we do something in finnish in future.

13. P: 'Ydintuho' - what's the meaning of this word?..
V: It means nuclear destruction.

14. P: Is it hard to exist as a band in Finland, when you must

have a constant work?..
V: We're all unemployeed at the moment except Kalle whos

studying to be that cute nurse in white dress haha! Once a

month we gather up in the rehearsal place to get drunk and

try to rehearse new/old stuff for a weekend. Usually its 90%

drinking 10% rehearsing. It's hard to exist as a band when

they rose up the alcohol taxes here in Finland haha!

(fantastic answer! -ed.)

14. P: You're living in a deep forest zone, i've also grown up in

russian Karelia where forest and lakes are covering all the

territory :) Do you like to make trips/tenting?..
V: There's nothing greater than to take a few beers and watch
the spectacular Finnish landscapes, specially in hot mid-summer

days. I used to go fishing/tenting every summer when i was

younger, but havent done that in years :(

15. P: Do you guys drink a lot? :)
V: Yes we do.. Alcohol is the fifth member of Ydintuho.

16. P: And the last question: (sorry its just for fun!) what
would you do if the cometh would strike the earth tomorrow? ..
V: Propably i would first get drunk and then start to think

what to do, or i would be crying in the closet with a pile

of shit in my pants haha!

Thanks for the interview!

Answered by Veke.
contact: www.myspace.com/ydintuho ydintuho@luukku.com

p.s. originally printed in december 2008 on russian.

CRUCIFIER interview

An interview with kickass thrash metal band from GREECE,
CRUCIFIER. They are playin' sort of a mix between canadian
and Bay-Area thrash metal schools. Thanatoid (singer)
was very kind and answered all questions in august 2008.
Myspace page is here: www.myspace.com/crucifiergreece

=================================================

1. P: Hi, Crucifier! Tell a little bit about yourself, where and when
the band have started?
T: ...Hi mate, there have been some changes in tha band's line up,
since last year, or more likely the end of 2006...we have new
material also,we just finished the recordings of a split 7" with the
classic thrash godz HIRAX (hail Katon) and we've recently signed
with Ibex moon records, a fact for which we 're very proud - and
we hope to see our new album on the shelves sometime in 2009.

2. P: You're from Greece, home for many great metal bands,
there's some black metal and other things.. so what'up with
thrash scene there?..
T: The black metal scene is really thriving - and truly guys like
Rotting christ and Septic Flesh have been very popular, but the
thrash scene is also very "happening" and there are tons of bands
that are really great there too...like benefactor dissease and mortal
thread, infest and braindead but the promotional aspect of most
of the companies involved and the underground status of most of
them doesn't help in spreading their name, outside the tight confines
of Greece.

3. P: Your sound is completely 'bay area thrash', with some influence
of Whiplash and other cult bands of 80s, maybe from german thrash
too in my opinion.. So can you name 3-5 of your main influences?
T: Vio-lence, Razor, Sacrifice, Dark Angel and Sacred Reich. We also
love the German Scene, but we think our sound is largely based in
mixing the elements of B.A and Canadian bands.

4. P: Do you have any contract with a label now? Are your albums
distibuted worldwide?..
T: Recently we signed with Ibex moon, so we 're hoping that the
new album will be availiable worldwide - and should be realtively
easy to obtain. Also "cursed cross" was released on vinyl format
by Anger of Metal (www. angerofmetal. de) so you could get it
from there....

5. P: Many people are against downloading music, but you guys are
sharing your albums yourselfes.. why have you decideto spread
your albums that way?..
T: We want to spread our name, so that's why we allow this.
So this is - a way to promote ourselves - to people that wouldn't get
to know us otherwise. We all grew up buying our records - and CDs
and it's a great compliment when somebody buys your actual
record.... it's such a bond ... so while we don't mind people listening
to our music in whichever possible way and through whatever
means and mediums, we love it when somebody buys the album
and it helps us to continue to grow - and invest the money on making
the next album better sounding etc... so it benefits the fan as well...
in the long term...

6. P: Your songs seems very aggressive. Who writes the lyrics
and what are they about in general?
T: The lyrics are written mainly by me and Nick who writes most
of the music as well, but we're all - like family we help out each
other.... and we work together as a unit...as for the aggression
- theres just too much Bullshit flying around - so it's an endless
source of inspiration - you just tune on the news on the TV
.... and it just comes naturally....

7. P: Have you made any tours lately? How was people's response?
T: We 've been largely doing local gigs - but in September we
intend to tour Holland and Belgium - and we're planning out a
bigger tour soon...

8. P: What bands of nowadays are the most interesting,
in your opinion?
T: Bonded by Blood, Fuelled by Fire, Hatchet, Mercyless Death,
Strikemaster, Violator, Municipal Waste, Legion of the Damned,
FKU, Gammabomb, Evile, Alcholizer, Executioner, Abuser,
Armored Assasin, Vexed, Witchburner and many more.

9. P: What other kinds of musik are also in your playlist,
besides metal?
T: We're addicted to THRASH metal ! Also old school Hardcore
and some nice tunes of electronic music.

10. P: Are you guys travelling a lot? Have you been to Russia?:)
T: Whenever we can ! We haven't been to Russia ! But we'd love
to come and drink all your vodka and thrash till DEATH !

11. P: Do you like to read and, if yes, what kinds of book
do you prefer?..
T: Lovecraft's stuff, SCI FI and fantasy and history books.

12. P: Tell me a couple of words about how metalheads are taking
a rest in your country, are there many gigs in your area?..
T: Gigs are many and frequent.... we simply don't rest - we go to
as many as our necks allow before giving up!!! haha

13. P: I cannot not to ask this: is ancient folklore of Greece
important to you in any way?..
T: We respect it - but it's something of the past....but most of the
modern day Greeks are a bit unworthy of it..... civilization is
decaying not only in Greece but globally - so..... it's nice to
reflect on it - and hope that things might actually get better....
although we don't hold our breath ...

14. P: Do you collect records and what do you prefer, vinyl i guess?
What's the most precious record in your collection?..
T: Yeah got a huge vinyl collection - love vinyl - but Cd is also ok.
I really love my Congumelo rarities....maybe ANTHARES and
Sepultura's split with Overdose.... just too many !!!

15. P: Okay feel free to say anything you want to my readers,
and huge thanx for the interview!!
T: WE SPIT ON THOSE WHO CHOSE TO POSE,
WE THRASH WITH ALL THE REST !!!!
Many Greeting to our fans in RUSSIA !!!!

Hlias Thanatoid - Crucifier !

p.s. originally printed in december '2008 on russian.

HELLBÖMBS interview

HELLBÖMBS is mighty grindcore/crustcore band from
Indonesia, an interview with them was taken autumn '2008
Take a look at their page: www.myspace.com/hellbmbs
Herusegn (guitars) answered all questions.

========================================

- P: Hi Hellbömbs! How are you guys?..
-H: Great fine...we're fine thank you

- P: Tell me about the band please: for how long its existed,
how much people are in the band? maybe some story
about the band.
-H: This band's found in 2005, we're members are:
Din on vocal, Herusegn on guitars, Iphe on bass,
Gaban on drums.

- P: Your music is incredible mix of rawpunk, disbeat
and extreme metal. How you just found out that you
want to play such a mix of genres?..
-H: We're influenced by so many bands from Sweden!
Genre of our band is dark d-beat crustgrind.

- P: How much demos do you have up to date?..
-H: We just have 14 songs, and 3 songs in split
with Hellexist From Malaysia which was released
by Broken Noise Records.

- P: Do you like to play alive, do you oftenly do that?..
Do you prefer big festivals or club-shows?..
- H: We prefer with simple stage and D.I.Y gigs/shows
because we're more closer with our friends people like us.

- P: What names from punk world influenced you most?
And, maybe some metal names too?
- H: We're the band influenced by Discharge, Anti-Cimex,
Avskum, etc. And some oldschool Blackmetal like Venom,
Burzum, and some little touch Grindcore like Assuck,
Birdflesh, Cripple Bastard, Nasum, etc.

- P: "When war exist, we're ready to resist" and such words..
what does it mean to you?..
-H: Seems like on our songs "When war exist, we're ready to resist"
it's told that we really hate war... and we're Anti War!

- P: War, hell, pain topics - do you think these topics are alright
(and still actual) with modern punk music?..
- H: we've overflowed our emotions with our music and lyrics
we hope, some people who likes war will be having pain
in their ear ..hahahha...

- P: What other punk/metal examples of nowadays
do you like, some young bands?.. can you count
several cool (in your opinion) bands?
- H: a lot of bands we like, as Martyrdod, Nuclear Death Terror,
Wolfpack, with various sound who influenced our band.

- P: Is a scene in your country big and strong?
Let us know some about it, what Indonesian bands
can you recommend to listen to?..
- H: Community in our country is very strong and in here a lot of
bands play punk hardcore such as Krasskepala, Decay(Bandung),
Proletar(Jakarta), Extreme Decay(Malang), etc.

- P: Seems like asian scene are growing now and gettin
better and better. Can you suppose the reasons of it?
- H: Solidarity and our community are strong! So our community
is kept in until now.

- P: Is it hard to play hardcore/crust music in your country?..
Are all bandmembers having a constant jobs?.. What 'hobbys'
do you guys have?.. what do you like to do in your free time?..
- H: We're in here do some merchandise for the band, like t-shirts,
patches, and some of our friends are working at different places.
Our hobbis are different from each other.. Din (playing game),
Herusegn (design), Gaban and Iphe (stencil-plate/silk screening).

- P: That's all for now, thanx for answering the questions...
You can say whatever you want to my readers. Thanx!
- H: ok..thank you for the interview, ...still crust!! Thanks!

cheers *Herusegn

-- D-BEAT DARK ATTACK!!!

p.s. please mention that almost 7 months passed since
this interview was taken. Originally printed in december
2008, on russian language.

STATE OF DECAY interview

This is an interview with Harold, bass player for great
punk-metal band from Singapore: STATE OF DECAY.
They play sort of a metalized punk, Black Uniforms style
or mix of heavy/speed metal and hardcore punk.
Thanx Harold for the interview and also for sending some
recordings for the review.
Band's myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/stateofdecaysg

TAKEN: august 2008

=====================================

Hi, Harold and State of Decay!Thank you for acceptin
the offering to answer some questions.. well, let's start!

1. P: Tell a little bit about the histrory of a band - who and
when formed it?
H: We were formed sometime around early 2005, actually
Ariff, Irwan and Kody already had somewhat of a band
and I was looking for a band too so I kinda joined them..
haha its all good though, cause all of us were more or less
already close friends at that point in time and at least we
found it easy to work with each other.. or something
like that, haha!

2. P: Does any members of the bands have other projects?
H: ah yes, Kody plays in a shitload of other bands, mostly
as a drummer (Minus, Blinded Humanity) but also the
bassist for Slutet.. my other bands are all inactive, same
goes for Ariff, and there weren’t any recordings so it isn’t
worth it to mention them haha.

3. P: Are you independent band, or you're searchin for
some kind of label to release you stuff?
H: Hmm I guess we could be considered independent,
but Hasib from Azadghei Records has offered to help
press a pro CD for us so we took it up.. we’re good
friends as well, so I don’t know if that would be
considered a label? We don’t mind if people consider
us under Azadghei Records anyway because it doesn’t
really make much of a difference.. what matters if
whether they like the stuff we play or not, haha.

4. P: How much releases have you made on that moment
and, do you guys have a worldwide distribution?
H: Actually we only have 1 CD-r that only had like 25 pieces..
even the band members sadly do not own a copy.
There were supposed to have been more but it just didn’t
happen.. we just finished recording a few months back
and are gonna press it onto cd tho, all our recorded
tracks + the demo so its about 19tracks on 1 cd, hopefully
it’ll be done soon!and we’re definitely planning to record
and release more, hopefully even on vinyl but as all
the members of the band are more or less busy
(2 of us are doing national service so that cuts down
most of our spare time) it might take a while…

5. P: How's scene in Singapore, wht's popular there etc...
What's your opinion on modern bands playin 'metalcore'
and emo-core stuff?
H: ...sadly the scene here is very inactive as of late,
and I don’t really enjoy myself at the gigs here now…
Used to be a lot more fun, I really have no idea what
happened.. I have nothing against these bands that play
those styles, regardless of genre here and there there
are still a few good songs (but nothing comes to mind
now haha). If they enjoy what they play then more
power to them, that’s all.. haha.

6. P: Have you made any tours/gigs outside your country?
If yes, how was the response?
H: ..Sadly, no, mainly cause
of me cause I didn’t know where my passport was
at one point.. only got it done early this year, so hopefully
it wont be a problem anymore when it comes to this.

7. P: I've heard some songs on your myspace and some
of it is on English, some on your native language.
What are lyrics about and who is writing it in your band?..
H: Ahh actually most of the band members speak English,
my native language is Chinese but I’m horrible as hell at it,
and the other 3 members native language is in malay.
The malay song on the myspace is actually a cover from
an old malay rock band here, we don’t write lyrics in malay..
too hard for me! Lyrics are written by me and ariff, actually
we write whatever comes to mind and try to make some
sense out of it.. we aren’t really geniuses or anything so
you wont find Aus-Rotten like lyrics here
(wish we could though).

8. P: Also, i've found your stuff very melodic but with big
influence of oldschool hardcore/discore, like Black Uniforms
and even heavy metal/speed metal.. So how would you
describe your style, more newschool or completely 80s-way?..
What's your biggest influences in both metal & punk?
H: ..actually, I don’t even know how to describe ourselves..
we usually just say we play metallic punk or a metal punk
kind of way.. I’m quite sure Iron Maiden is a very obvious
influence in our sound, but other bands that have really
influenced us are Anti Cimex, Black Uniforms, Wolfpack,
Discharge, Motorhead and Black Sabbath?
Probably a few more as well..

9. P: Can you recommend some other great bands from
your country?
H: ..sure thing.. my personal favourites are Distrust
(great d-beat/discore) and Bloodstone(Thrash Metal)..
and I’m sure everyone knows Impiety too. Minus are
also a favourite, but I prefer their older stuff..
I really like Sedilix as well but sadly they’re no longer active..

10. P: Two(?) of you guys are the members of M.P.D.S.
This community is the only example of punk-metal
'movement' nowadays, but people in it are so FAR
from each other) Do you know some other guys from
M.P.D.S. personally?
H: ..haha other then the Singapore “members”
(about 6 people here?), I don’t know the others personally..
would definitely like to meet them all though one day..

11. P: We here know nothing about Singapore)
Can you tell, in a couple of words, how do you guys
spending your time and taking a rest in your free time?..
H: ok Singapore is actually a really boring country.. haha.
I guess it’s the same as elsewhere in the world, we just
hang out, drink and all that kind of stuff, if there are gigs
we’d go there, otherwise its more or less just hanging out..
but I really enjoy sleeping now because I’m always
so deprived of it in the army.

12. P: Do you care about politics of your country or you are
totally apolitical?
H: ...well more or less we do care about what
goes on and stuff, but become apolitical because not much
can be done, nothing changes.. sadly this is Singapore,
not a country where we are free to practice all that other
stuff that goes on without much worries. You can call us
hypocrites, posers or whatever but one must live here to
understand how stuff works.. (completely understandable
for any russian i think - ed.)

13. P: What do you think about straightedge and veganism,
are there many people in Singapore into that movement?..
H: ahh there are quite a few, some of our friends are also
into that as well.. I guess its good for them, if they’re happy
with it why not eh? Just means more stuff for the rest of
us haha! Its just not a lifestyle that I choose to take up.

15. P: If some of you like to read a lot, can you name some
great authors/books you like to read?
H: Ariff reads a lot, will have to get back to you on this!
I try my best to read more as well, but I don’t always
know what to read.. I read lots of random stuff,
so I cant really think of books that come to mind..
just finished reading a few Chuck Klosterman books
about 2 months back tho, thought they were pretty good.

16. P: Also it would be cool to know your tastes in movies.)
H: I like nearly everything.. war films, gangster films,
comedies, action, blah blah blah.. some personal favourites
are Scarface (both original and the Al Pacino one),
Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Young and Dangerous,
Kung Pow, Tenacious D The Pick Of Destiny, The Departed,
Mad Max 1 and 3 (never got to watch 2 sadly),
Saving Private Ryan, Harold and Kumar
and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.. and these are just a few!

18. P: Personal question for Harold: i know you're
serving in army now.. army service really sucks in Russia,
cause of bad conditions and stupid people there, hehe.
How would you describe army of your country?.
Are every man in Singapore must serve?
..Is it really a militaristic country?
H: ...more or less every able bodied man must serve
2 years of national service here in Singapore..
the only exceptions are those either too physically
or mentally unfit. I wouldn’t really consider Singapore
a militaristic country, this army is mainly for “defence”
because Singapore is so small and barely anyone wants
to be a soldier here so they really need all this manpower..
hahaha but its unfair for those who couldn’t care less!

19. P: Last question: do you know any bands from Russia,
and do you want to come here someday for a travel?...
H: Sadly no Russian bands come to mind at all..
I probably listen to a few but I don’t know that
they’re from Russia.. I definitely would want to go
and travel there though, after my army service
i’m planning on traveling to lots of places.. .
and if State of Decay are all free hopefully we could even tour,
would be a dream come true.

-cheers bro!

p.s. Please notice that this interview was taken
almost 8 months ago on that moment.
Originally printed in december '08 on russian.

The First Note

Hey everyone! This is a web page for the underground

russian fanzine called GRIND THE WORLD. The 'zine is

on russian and first issue appeared in december '2008.

What is it about?

It's PURE metal punk zine dedicated to differnet metal

AND punk subgenres like thrash, speed, doom, death

or black metal or hardcore, crust, grind, trashcore,

j-core or any other kind of punk you can imagine.

Of course we're about OLDSCHOOL and only true

metal and punk!

The point of this page is to give a chance to all english-speaking

maniacs to read some interviews from our 'zine on ENGLISH

language, since the paper version is only in russian unfortunately.
We have some plans to release our zine on english too, but well

who knows when we have money and time enough to manage that.

The first russian language issue off the zine is sold out almost

everywhere, but still avilable at some russian mailorder distros.

Our friends and distributors are: http://www.pestis-insaniae.com/
and http://www.karjalan-bunkkeri.org/
You can contact us: naastmorkh(dog)hotmail(.)com,

sumerpigy(dog)hotmail(.)com

and grindtheworld(dog)hotmail(.)com

Here is our page at myspace: www.myspace.com/grindtheworld

IN FIRST, we will upload all interviews from the first issue

here ON ENGLISH, and then later probably some reviews

and articles will be translated from russian and also uploaded

here. Of course we will do so with other issues.

ENJOY!!! Don't forget the chaos!!!