Hellwitch - Pat Ranieri

Pat, Hellwitch arose from the depths in October of 1984, how and under which circumstances did the band form? How did you hook up with other former member Harry Tyler?
Harry I and formed the band as college roomates. We had been friends since high school.
Was Hellwitch the very first band for all of you?
Yes, as far as I know.
Originally you came from Gainesville, but the death metal scene developed in Tampa, were you familiar with acts, such as Mantas/Death, Massacre, Morbid Angel etc.?
Yes, I was familiar with those bands through shows we played in Tampa.
Do you consider Hellwitch the pioneers of death metal along acts such as Mantas/Death, Morbid Angel, Massacre, Atheist, Possessed etc.?
Sure, why not. How many FL bands were before us?? not too many I think.
There are several theories how the term „death metal” originated: one theory is the name originates from an early pioneer of the genre, Death; a Florida journalist explained to his readers Death play their own kind of metal: „Death’s Metal” and an others contest Death is not the origin, but the harsh vocals and morbid lyrical content generally inspired the genre, correct?
The band DEATH did NOT have anything to do with originating the term. Harsh vocals...etc. is more accurate. Actually, MOST bands in the early/mid '80s' were called "Death Metal"! in '85 these bands were all called death metal (at least by Floridians): Slayer, Death, Hellwitch, Sodom, Destruction, Possessed, Celtic Frost, etc.
Might the term death metal also have originated from other recordings, Possessed’s 1984 demo is called „Death Metal”, and a song with the same name is featured on their 1985 debut album „Seven Churches”? A demo released by Mantas in 1984 is called „Death by Metal”…
Maybe a bit. Again, MOST bands were called "DEATH METAL" in the mid '80's. Dark Angel, Exodus, etc. ALL were seen as DEATH METAL.
How do you view, that the British band Venom crystallized the elements of what later became known as thrash metal, death metal and black metal, with their 1981 album „Welcome to Hell”? Did their dark, blistering sound, harsh vocals, and macabre, proudly Satanic imagery prove a major inspiration for extreme metal bands?
I'm sure it did. I'm not a big VENOM fan, so I don't know.
Would you say, that another highly influential band is/was Slayer formed in 1981 and although the band was a thrash metal act, Slayer’s music was more violent than their thrash contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth and Exodus and their breakneck speed and instrumental prowess combined with lyrics about death, violence, war and Satanism won Slayer a rabid cult following Slayer released their first album, „Show No Mercy”, in 1983?
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Since Hellwitch began its career as a two-piece band, what do you recall of your rehearsals? Did you start writing originals right from the start or were you mostly jamming on covers?
We rehearsed 2 times and wrote one song, NOSFERATU. We recorded it and released it. That was all the 2 piece did.
You recorded the first demo, a one track venture called „Nosferatu”, in the living room of your apartment in Gainesville, Florida; the track consisted of you on all guitars, and Harry on drums and vocals, you composed the music and the two of them penned the lyrics, can you tell us more about it?
Harry came up with the title/most of the lyrics. I came up with the music. we arranged it together. See previous answer for more info.
Was this effort shopped or spread around or was it mainly done for yourselves to chrystallize your musical path and direction?
It was just for fun.
In February 1985 Dave Silverstein and Andy Adcock joined the Hellwitch ranks; you took on vocals and bass as well as guitar, Andy became the bassist/guitarist, and Dave replaced Harry on drums, how did they get in the picture exactly? What about their musical background?
We were all students at the University of FL. and met in class. Dave had not even learned to play the drums when he joined. Andy played guitar for 5 years by HELLWITCH. Dave learned drums as we practiced.
Why did Harry decide to leave the band? Did he continue his musical career after his departure or…?
He didn't play any instruments and was not really into the band thing.
The band’s first show was on July of 1985, opening for a local punk band, Roach Motel, how did that show go? Did you have enough originals at this point or did the set consist of mostly covers?
I don't recall too much. The set was all covers except for Nosferatu and Satan's Wrath.
Over the course of that year, Hellwitch gained a large local following and opened for such bands as C.O.C., D.R.I. and Agnostic Front and over the next 2-3 years Helwitch grew as one of Florida's death metal pioneers playing with various established bands such as Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, D.R.I, Kreator, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death, Dark Angel, Coroner, G.B.H., Nasty Savage, and Atheist, does it mean, that you worked hard on building up a huge fanbase? Was it the time, when the band was introduced to the underground fans?
No, we just played shows that came our way. Harry actually became a local concert promoter in Gainesville, so he hooked us up with most shows that came to town. We just played when asked. We were introduced to the UG fans when "Nosferatu" was released in '84.
Was it hard to make a name for the band? Would you say, that the Florida death metal scene started becoming bigger and bigger at this point witch newer acts, such as Cynic, Amon/Deicide, Xecutioner/Obituary etc.?
I don't know. As I said, we never actively tried to "make a name". We just played when we could usually for little or no $$. The FL. scene grew steadily from '85-'92 I would say.
Hellwitch recorded their first studio demo entitled „Transgressive Sentience” in January 1986., what can you tell us about this material? Were you solidly penning new songs?
Those were the first 4 songs we wrote. Very boring stuff. No, we took our time writing about 1-2 songs per year or so.
A re-mixed version of „Torture Chamber” appeared on a compilation LP on New Renaissance Records entitled „Thrash Metal Attack”, released in July 1987, did it help a lot for the band? Did it open for you some doors?
We did receive alot more mail after T. Chamber came out. I'm sure it opened some doors for us.
It was followed by the „Mordirivial Disemanation” demo, released in June 1987...
The '87 demo was recorded on a 6 track recorder in a house in Gainesville! NOT a studio. We thought it sounded better than the '86 demo really. We only had 3 new songs, so we re-recorded „Nosferatu”. That demo got us the deal with Wild Rags Records!
Were the early demo recorded by the same line up or did you go thru some line up changes?
The '86+'87 demos had the same line up.
In July of 1988, you relocated to Ft. Lauderdale, what made you to move there? Didn’t you see any chance in the Gainesville scene or…?
I'm FROM the Ft. Laudeerdale area. I simply returned "home". AND, there was NO future in Gainesville for death metal.
You began auditioning bassists and drummers, did it take long to find the suitable members?
No, I found members within 1 month of relocating.
By the way, did you remain in touch with the former HELLWITCH members? Did all of them remain in Gainesville?
No, I didn't. They did for a few more years, then they relocated to Tampa.
A new lineup consisting of you on guitars and vocals, Frank Watkins on bass, and Steve Rincon on drums, released a rehearsal/demo in March of 1989, how did the guys get in the picture exactly? How about their musical past?
I met Frankly at a Vio-lence/VoiVod show soonafter I moved here. He knew Steve from a previous band. Neither were in any bands that did anything before being in HELLWITCH. I think one of Frank's old bands had a demo out, that was about it.
How did you approach the songwriting at this point? Were Frank and Steve familiar with the previous, early Hellwitch materials?
I wrote all the music and lyrics. Yes, they were both HELLWITCH fans before they met me in person.
It features the tracks „Mordirivial Disemanation”, „Viral Exogence”, and a cover of Death’s immortal „Archangel”, what do you think about this material compared to the previous ones? Did it satisfy the demands of the Hellwitch fans?
Those were the 2 best songs HELLWITCH had at that point. Better than anything on either of the previoius demos. No, I think it was a disappointment really. We had 2 studio demos, then followed with this rehearsal piece of shit! I think the fans were not happy with this shitty release.
Was it a progression in the band’s career?
Musically, yes, sound quality, no! haha!
Soon after, you decided that the level of musicianship left much to be desired, what was your main problem with them?
Oh yea, I mean, Steve had a drum set with 1 cymbal and NO double bass! And his playing was very unenthusiastic. And Frank's bass picking was not up to par. Some bass parts where NOT played properly EVER by him! you can hear on the '89 rehearsal/demo how the drums and bass are lacking in performance. BUT, they were great guys and I love them to this day! Obituary was really more Frank's caliber of musicianship.
How did Frank Watkins end up becoming the bassist of Obituary later on?
Frank went and auditioned for Obituary in late '89 and got accepted.
At that point, you recruited drummer Joe „Witch” Schnessel, and bassist Jesse Trevino, did they come from an death/thrash background? Have they already played in local acts or were they unexperienced musicians?
Joe did, Jesse didn't. Joe was in Malevolent Creation before HELLWITCH and Jesse was a punk rock guitarist in some local bands. They were BOTh immensely better musicians than Frank and Steve!
In June 1989 Flight 19 Records released a 7” single featuring two tracks from the „Mordirivial Disemanation” demo, so it means, that you re-recorded the songs, but, didn’t you think about to put brandnew tracks on the 7”? Didn’t you have enough time to rehearse and to write songs or did you find easier and faster to re-record that tunes?
No, they were NOT re-recorded. They are EXACTLY taken from the demo tape! We had NO inclination to release a 7", but Pierre from Flight 19 Records REALLY wanted badly to release some sort of HELLWITCH 7"! He wrote me and asked more than once! So, I asked what he'd want to put out and he picked those 2 songs. I agreed.
That release quickly sold out, correct? How much items were pressed from it at all?
yes, it sold out fast because there were only 200 total! haha!
Around August 1989 Jesse was replaced by bassist Tommy Mouser, were you perhaps dissatisfied with his achievement or didn’t he fit in the band neither musically nor personally?
That was a mistake! Jesse was MUCH better on bass than Tommy. BUT, Joe found Tommy and Tommy had long hair and came from a metal background! Joe really pushed me to get Tommy and boot Jesse. We did! Only to get Jesse back 1 year later!!! I was glad when we got Jesse back. Jesse had the FASTEST bass picking I've EVER Seen in my life! STILL today I say this!
How do you view, that with the addition of Tommy Mouser the classic Hellwitch line up was formed? In which band did he play earlier by the way?
I don't agree. The CLASSIC line up was with Joe, Jesse and I. Tommy was in Vacant Grave before HELLWITCH.
In October 1989, Hellwitch approached Wild Rags Records and negotiated for the release of the band’s first full length record „Syzygial Miscreancy”, were there still other labels interests in the band? What made you to accept Wild Rags’ offer?
No. There were no other offers.
Did you know bands, that were working with Wild Rags, such as Recipients Of Death, Bloodcum, Gammacide, Blood etc.?
Yes, their albums were in stores in S. FL.! So, we knew Wild Fags at least had good distribution, if nothing else!
While Morbid Angel was signed by Earache, Obituary and Deicide signed to Roadrunner, you signed to a very little, independent label…
Yes!
When did you start writing the material for the record? Did Wild Rags ask you to hear some preproduction or advance material?
in '89. No, he had the '87 demo and that was good enuff for the Wild fag.
How did the recording sessions go with the album?
It was a “blip” in time! The whole thing was 25 hours total! We spent 3 days there. A few highlights were when Scotty gave us a list of nuts and bolts we had to go to the hardware store and buy for Joe’s rickety drum set! Haha! Also, the mixing of the GODZILLA soundtrack into the “M.D.” intro. That was magical when we first heard it replayed in the studio. And, Scotty’s opinion NOT to use some “wind” sounds on the “Ascent”. I had wanted some wind FX mixed with the 12 string guitars, but Scotty said, “Every band uses wind with acoustic guitar these days, I think just the guitars ALONE would be more original/effective”. He was right I think! Finally, I remember being soooo tired during the mix that we basically just set it up quickly and went for it. No long involved debates or fine tunings. We just set it up and let it rip! Frank (ex-bass) spent some time with us as well then. That was fun!
Did you have a decent budget to record the material?
No, only $2500.
Do you agree with, that this is a very fast, blistering, complex stuff?
Sure, that sounds pretty good.
Would you give us a song by song description?
The Ascent/Nosferatu-first songs I ever wrote for HELLWITCH.
Viral Exogence-best song on the album.
Sentient T.-had to rush and write this just before going into the studio. Has parts I wish we would have changed a bit.
M.D.-This is what I call an "epic". A rather long song with many parts, many moods, many changes, and the GREAT GODZILLA roars at the beginning!
Pyrophoric S.-Best of the "old" songs! Sounds great with that MORRISOUND! Love it!
Purveyor of Fear-BORRRING! Worst of the old songs, thats why it's the last track.
The band members are all talented, and even though many of the songs are short, they’re very complex without being close to anything „progressive”, such as Atheist or Cynic...
Yes, that is accurate. I don't/never have liked "progressive" music, personally.
Joe Schnessel did an incredible job behind the drums, he was on the level of Steve Flynn and Pete Sandoval and I would say, that your growls are very close to Kelly Shaefer’s one…
yes, I agree wiith those statements!
Is this raw technical, with in your face attitude Thrash/Death Metal?
I like to call it DEATHRASH!
Do you think, that „Syzygial Miscreancy” lays down a load of hammering thrash metal with an unruly attitude and some obvious death metal influences in the rhythm department?
yes! we're more Death than Thrash!
Is the instrumentation on this album varied enough to draw the listener’s attention for good?
I don't know. You'd have to ask some listeners.
The album was well-received by the trio’s small cult following, and is more memorable than other death/grindcore releases from Florida and worldwide in 1990, how do you view this?
I agree. We had more originality than most others at that time, I think. I think the originality halted our success really. People in 1990 were NOT ready for such "off the wall" music. NOW people are ready and the re-re-release is selling well!
Did death metal reach its peak at this point? Did the scene become oversaturated?
Yes, and yes! By 1992 bands began to sound the same. Especially if you look at the Suffocation clone bands and the Cannibal Corpse clone bands! SOOOO many bands sound like these 2 starting around '92! sad...
Did the quantity prejudice of the quality considering the amount of death metal bands and releases at this point? I mean, that death metal became the big thing and a lot of bands appeared suddenly -then disappeared suddenly-, they attenuated the scene and while Hellwitch, Massacre, Morbid Angel, Atheist were original the bands started copying each other and the great bands, like you or Morbid Angel. A lot of death metal records were released, but the majority was weak and unoriginal...
Yes, I agree. The loss of originality coincided with the explosion of new bands in the early to mid 90's.
As a big fan of Death and Chuck Schuldiner, how did you view Death’s progression at this point? They started as a pure, brutal death metal band and started turning into a more complex, progressive direction with the „Spiritual Healing” record, right?
They went waaaayyyy DOWNHILL! I only liked the demos and first 2 LP's. Everything else was NOT DEATH in my opinion. Chuck chose a musical path that I did not appreciate.
Was Hellwitch among the less well known fore-runners of the second generation of Morrisound produced Death Metal?
I don't know. I thought we were part of the first generation.
What do you think about, that if the record had been released three years earlier, there's no reason to doubt Hellwitch would have made a bigger name for themselves?
I'm not sure. I doubt it would have mattered.
Hellwitch never quite received the attention they deserved… What was of its reason?
HELLWITCH was too "off the wall" and unusual. NOT "trendy" enough to catch on
The material was recorded at Morrisound Studios with veteran producer Scott Burns, was it unambiguous for you to work Scott Burns with? How about your experiences with Scott?
No, things would NOT have turned out like they are without Scotty. He found a formula that inspired the WORLD. What do I remember from that session??? It was a “blip” in time! The whole thing was 25 hours total! We spent 3 days there. A few highlights were when Scotty gave us a list of nuts and bolts we had to go to the hardware store and buy for Joe’s rickety drum set! Haha! Also, the mixing of the GODZILLA soundtrack into the “M.D.” intro. That was magical when we first heard it replayed in the studio. And, Scotty’s opinion NOT to use some “wind” sounds on the “Ascent”. I had wanted some wind FX mixed with the 12 string guitars, but Scotty said, “Every band uses wind with acoustic guitar these days, I think just the guitars ALONE would be more original/effective”. He was right I think! Finally, I remember being soooo tired during the mix that we basically just set it up quickly and went for it. No long involved debates or fine tunings. We just set it up and let it rip! Frank (ex-bass) spent some time with us as well then. That was fun!
The first album, that was recorded at the Morrisound was Nasty Savage’s debut, would you say, that Scott was introduced for the bands with that work? Why did he become so a popular death metal producer?
I don't know what the first one he recorded was. He became popular because his work always sounded clear, clean and heavy.
As for the bands, that recorded their materials at the Morrisound, did they sound the same or did every band have an own sound?
They all sounded similar, I think. Especially the drums! But, the guitar sounds/vocal sounds differed quite a bit from band to band.
„Syzigial Myscreancy” has sold over 10,000 copies world wide, were you satisfied with that result or did it surpass your expectations? Did Wild Rags do a good job considering tour support, promotion, merchandise and stuff?
wow! It's spelled SYZYGIAL MISCREANCY, for the record. I don't know if it actually sold that much. I was dissatisfied with the sales. They did good promotion for the LP, but ripped us off in the end.
Have you never cut any videos to do more promotion for the record or didn’t you attach great importance to this?
We have done 2 videos for promotion. Yes, it's important to have videos.
What sort of reviews did you get? Were you proud of that reviews and of the material as a whole?
Some good, some not so good. The material yes, the reviews, no.
In late 1990, the band added Jim Nickles as second guitarist, as I as know, he came from Malevolent Creation who were moving to Fort Lauderdale from Buffalo, correct?
Yes, they moved here in '88.
Did you add Jim to the band to sound more brutal in live situation? Did/Do you consider him an experienced, talented musician?
Yes, Jim is a good musician.
You completed successful tours of New Jersey and made an appearance at the 1990 Milwaukee Metal Fest, what do you recall of that shows? How were you welcomed by the crowd?
Yes, I sort of remember them a bit. The N.J. shows were great, but Milwaukee was a small crowd.
In February of 1991, Jesse Trevino returned to the band, Jim left the band and a very successful 4 date tour of Texas shortly followed, why did Jim have to leave the band? What about that four dates as a whole?
Jim had a cocaine problem (and still does today!). As a whole the 4 dates were GREEAT! Some of our best shows EVER! We sold alot of merchandise!
Were there still more shows in support of the record after the Texas gigs?
Yes, when we returned home, we played with M. Creation/Demolition Hammer about 2 months later and then another show one month after that.
While Massacre, Obituary, Morbid Angel etc. made a name for themselves in Europe thanks to the intensive touring, Hellwitch didn’t appear in Europe, why? Couldn’t Wild Rags finance a European tour or…?
No, Wild Fag NEVER paid for anything except making the actual LP's and some shirts he paid to make one time. He ripped us off, as I said!!
In late 1991 Hellwitch acquired a new second guitarist, in the person of Craig Shattuck, why did Jesse leave the band again? From what kind of musical surround did Craig come?
Jesse moved to Texas. Craig came from a King Diamond, non-brutal musical background.
After Jim Nickles left Hellwitch he formed his own band, were you aware of it?
I know he JOINED an existing band about 2-3 years ago called Gorilla Punch, then Vile Vindication... these were 16 years after he left HELLWITCH! Other than that, he was in no other band that I know of.
A 3 song E.P. was recorded in August 1991 at Morrisound for Wild Rags, which became the „Terraasymmetry” EP contains the title track, „Dawn of Apostasy”, and a remake of the 1986 demo classic „Satan's Wrath”, how were those songs penned? Does it mean, that you started writing new material right after the „Syzigial…” sessions or did you write new tracks during the tour too?
They were penned as a band effort, except for Satan's Wrath which I wrote alone. Neither. Songs were written many months after S.M. was recorded.
What about the „Nosferatu” EP, that came out in 1992 too and contained „Nosferatu” and „Torture Chamber” (Live in Pennsauken, N.J.., 02.08.90)? 45 Vinyl limited to 500 copies, was it an official release or…?
yes, it was an official release that I financed/released myself.
„Terraasymmetry” was released in 1992 on Lethal Records and showed just how extreme the level of song composition had become, does it mean that you developed a lot compared to „Syzygial…”? Were you always focusing, concentrating on becoming better musicians?
I guess... it's up to the listener to decide. To some degree. Mainly we focused on writing better songs.
As for the label, how did they end up releasing the EP? What kind of experiences did you gain in connection with that label?
We sent them the studio tapes and they pressed it onto CD. They called me and offered to release the recording since Wild Fag ripped us off and did not pay Morrisound for the recording. We got ripped off by Lethal even more than Wild Fag had ripped us off! With LEthal, we never even got ONE copy of the CD!
„Terraasymmetry” sold 4,000 copies worldwide, so would you say, that it was a successful material too?
ReallY?? I didn't know that. Yea, that sounds successful to me. haha!
In March of 1992, Joe „Witch” Schnessel left the band, but briefly returned in 1993 before finally departing for good, what were the reasons of Joe’s decision? Did you think about, that it will be a hard task to replace such an incredible, talented drummer, like Joe?
Yes, it was hard!
Jesse then moved to Texas and Craig moved to the bassist position, the band cut all ties with Wild Rags Records in September of 1992 after bogus sales figures were found to be reported and after having problems finding a suitable replacement for Joe over the next year, Craig lost interest and you wete left alone, can you sum up this period?
In summary, it sucked! It was just a time when I joined another band and didn’t really care about HELLWITCH too much.
Why did happen so often line up changes within the band?
People had no job, or no money, or drug problems, or no car, or felt they should guide the musical direction. Many reasons, really.
In early 1994 you found drummer Joel Suarez and the „Anthropophagi” demo was soon recorded with you playing all instruments except for drums, how did that happen?
Joel and I practiced together and went thru a few bassists and none worked out. Finally, I decided we should just record and not worry about finding members.
How did you find Joel exactly?
He called me out of the blue.
Could he replace Joe perfectly?
NO way, Joe is a one of a kind kook/god drummer!
In November of 1994 the „Anthropophagi” demo was released, it contains five songs including „At Rest”, „Days of Nemesis”, „Torture Chamber” and a reworked, non-instrumental version of the classic ’86 demo track, „Fate At Pain’s End”, in what kind of mood were the songs written?
Many different moods as they were all written in different times, different years even!
Did you write them alone?
Some yes, some no.
How was that demo recorded at all? Can you give us details regarding that demo?
It was done in a warehouse on a cassette 8-track recorder with Dennis Munoz (ex-Solstice, ex-Demolition Hammer) producing/engineering. It took about 2 months to record. Joel quit to join a rap/metal band before the project was even finished!
It has sold around 1500 copies to date, did you also shop it around to attract labels interests?
Yes, thats how we signed with N.E.P. in ’96!
How did you view the metal scene at this point? Would you say that the various forms of metal (death, thrash/speed, power, traditional etc.) went out of fashion and the crap grunge and nu metal swamped the scene?
I wasn’t really much into the „scene” at that time, so I’m not sure. I didn’t go to shows, buy magazines, etc. I just listened to music at home and that was it.
Was metal completely dead or was it rather on an underground level?
I have no idea.
Both the independent and major label were mainly focusing on signing grunge/pop punk and nu metal bands and they didn’t take no notice of the metal bands (scene) or at least, they didn’t want taking notice of the metal bands, such as Roadrunner, what’s your opinion about it?
Thats a shame, really. But, in the end, bigger labels are all about $$$, thats all!
Around the time of the „Anthropophagi”, J.P. Brown joined as second guitarist and Craig Shattuck also rejoined, but in early 1995 Joel decided he was sick of death metal and wanted to join a rap band, what’s your comment on this?
Joel was a poser....
After many months of looking, Gabe Lewandowski (ex-Killing Addiction, Naphobia) was recruited as drummer were you familiar with these bands?
I’ve heard the names.
Did Gabe come also from a technical death/thrash surround or was he rather a brutal death metal drummer?
He was a technical drummer of the death/thrash variety.
The members worked profusely on new material that would secure them a new record deal, did you write a lot of original at this point?
Not really, just a few.
In late 1996 Hellwitch signed with Nazgul's Eyrie Productions (Germany) for the release of the next album, how did you get in touch with them? Does it mean, that no US labels showed an interest in the band?
They contacted us. Yes, no US labels showed any interest.
Due to the distance between Gabe and the rest of the band an enormous strain was put on the relationship, does it mean that you coudn’t often rehearse and the distance hindered the work of the band?
Yes, exactly.
Some of the newest songs were „Final Approach”, „Epitome of Disgrace”, and „Mythologicalies (Enlightened Paganus)”, did the other guys also have a big hand in the songwriting?
Yes, they did.
Rehearsal versions of the newest songs were recorded but were never properly captured in a studio setting, how did it happen? Why didn’t or couldn’t enter the studio to record the new material?
We didn’t enter a studio to record them. Gabe was a big pain in our ass, so we just gave up on planning to record with him. He was hated by us at practice, so we knew that we’d kill him in the studio.
After a year of writing/rehearsing and numerous delays concerning the new recording, things reached a point where no one was really happy and the band split again in 1997, correct?
The band only split ONCE, in ’97. No split occurred before then.
On Halloween 1998 the last line up reformed and played a show with Deicide and Acheron in Hallandale, FL., how about this show as a whole?
It was a good show. Deicide was GODLY back then and Acheron had that bald god guitarist and a female keyboardist too!!
The band remained split from then until early 2004, what have all of you done during this period? Did you remain in touch with each other by the way?
I took it EZ. You’ll have to ask Craig and JP what they did. Somewhat.
Did you never loose your interest and eagerness as for Hellwitch? Do you consider or have you Hellwitch ever considered as your own baby, that you never give up?
Yes, I did/have lost interest in HELLWITCH. I used to, but now I like working with Craig and JP more than when I wrote alone.
December 13th 2001 is/was a sad day in the history of metal…He was considered as the godfather of death metal, how would you describe him as person?
He was a cool dude who liked horror, gore, metal and having a good time.
How often did you meet Chuck? Was Chuck the person, who made the biggest impression on you?
I met Chuck 2-3 times and he stayed at my home once for a couple days. He performed live with us on 10/25/86 too. No, others have made more of an impression on me than Chuck.
What about the „Final Approach” compilation, that was released in 2003 by Progressive Arts Music? How deeply were involved into the making of that material?
I played guitar/vocals on all the songs so I was very involved with that material.
In your opinion, was it a good stuff to draw the fans attention to the band again? Did it help getting perhaps new Hellwitch fans?
That was the plan, but it didn’t sell too well. I don’t think it attracted any new fans.
Around February 2004 Joe „Witch” and you reestablished contact and began to practice the old songs just for fun whenever either had some free time, but soon, things became more serious and around April 2004 Craig Shattuck was asked to rejoin on bass, tell us more please about it!
It was a blast playing with joe in his garage again. First we only played 3-4 old songs, then we added more, then we decided to move ahead and called Craig and then J.P.
I think so, that Joe didn’t forgot to drum so incredible, did he?
He didn’t forget, but he needed to rebuild his „chops” initially.
The band played their first show in 6 years on July 24th, 2004 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. with Malevolent Creation and Divine Empire, how did you feel staying on stage again and performing the Hellwitch classics? How did the setlist look like?
I was nervous/uncomfortable. I don’t recall, but it was mostly Syzygial songs.
Around September 2004 , J.P. Brown rejoined as 2nd guitarist and in hat month the band also played again with Deicide, did these shows lead to the band’s reunion? Did all of the bandmembers take the reunion seriously?
No, the reunion lead to the shows. Yes, we were all serious.
How was that Deicide show?
It was great. Good turnout, good time. Sold a lot of merchandise! I met/hung out with Glen’s son who was 14 then! Wow! Very polite kid.
In 2005 Hellwitch began working on the „Epitome of Disgrace” demo, the new recording consisted of the tracks, „Final Approach”, „Epitome Of Disgrace”, „Opiatic Luminance” and „Mythologicalies (Enlightened Paganus)”, all of the were brandnew songs, weren’t they?
They were all from ’96-’97.
Can you tell us more about the demo?
It was NOT a demo. It was a promotional CD solely to shop to labels. It was recorded at Mercury Studios with Gus Rios (M. Creation/Sickness/Kult Ov Azazel) engineering.
This new demo landed them a deal with Dave Rotten and Xtreem Records in Spain, but did you send this demo to other labels as well? Would you say, that it was an impessive material, that convinced the label of signing the band and resulted in a contract with them?
Yes, we shopped to about 20 labels. Yes, the songs kicked ass and Dave had the brains/taste to realize they were uphill from anything HELLWITCH had done before!
Shortly thereafter, Hellwitch worked a deal with Open Grave records to re-release their first full length album „Syzgial Miscreancy”, but Open Grave never released it, so that opened the door for Displeased Records to re-release this masterpiece, what happened exactly?
Open Grave IS A TOTAL RIP OFF! Beware! We were VERY lucky that James Mattern from Open Grave never honored the contract we had with him or we would have lost $$ again! A few months after O.G. stopped replying to our phone calls/emails, we were contacted by Displeased to do the release.
Whose idea was to add the demo materials to the disc?
Displeased’s.
Displeased re-released a lot of cool old school materials, such as Atrophy, Master, Deathrow, Toxik etc. how did you view that re-issues? Did you hope, that Displeased will do a good job with the re-release of „Syzygial…”, considering the layout, booklet and stuff?
They were great! Yes, I hoped they would do a good job on ours as well. They DID! Haha!
Before you started working on your comeback album „Omnipotent Convocation” a split release with Storming Steel came out titled „The Twin Bestial Forces”, what have we to know about it? In my opinion, Storming Steel’s material is boring…
It was just an avenue to spread our name around. Yes, S.S. is not that intriguing, but they DO have a song called, „HELLWITCH POSSESSED”, so thats cool!
During that year the band finally entered into Studio 13 to record the long awaited „Omnipotent Convocation” with Jeremy Staska at the helm, can you tell us more about the recording sessions? How did it go at all?
Jeremy is a legend having worked with such bands as Poison The Well, Divine Empire, Malevolent Creation and over 100 others! We were sooo high hangin’ out with Jeremy that we couldn’t even play most of the time… a recipe for a classic HELLWITCH album! Joe Witch floated off his drum seat and flew away one night! He never came back! As for changes from the old days. I think we’ve come up with music that “flows” a bit better now as opposed to the off-the-wall type stuff I was writing in the ‘80’s. Also, we are healthier, wealthier and more physically exuberant these days! That has helped. With the advent of ProToolsHD, recording is much more efficient than anytime before. I really love recording with digital programs. All the mistakes magically go away! Wha-La!
Were all of the songs ready when you started recording them or did you still jam a little bit in the studio?
They were all ready to record.
Were you prepared to record the material?
Yes. We had rehearsed a lot by the studio sessions.
It took from August 08 to May of 2009 to complete work on this masterpiece, what did cause this long process? Why did take so long to record the material?
Because we’re perfectionists.
During the recording of this album Joe „Witch” Schnessel found Jesus and started walking the straight and narrow path, what’s your opinion about it? Do you think, that Joe denied his past?
Straight and narrow path?? Ha! Thats funny! He smokes weed and takes pills even when he found JESUS! I think it was just another of his kooky phases that he goes thru from time to time. No, he realizes his past.
Is it true, that just following Joe’s rebirth he demanded that you alter the lyrics in „Infernal Death” from, „we praise Satan” to “we hate Satan” and after the entire band vetoed that idea Joe said he could not have anymore to do with Hellwitch because of our new found love for the Dark Lord? It sounds so laughable.
Yes, it’s true! Joe has gone thru other kooky phases in the 20 years I’ve known him, so it doesn’t really surprise me too much.
Lee Harrison founder/drummer of death metal legends MONSTROSITY, has agreed to fulfill all future recordings and engagements with HELLWITCH, does it mean, that Joe’s drumparts hasn’t been recorded yet? Were all of the drumparts played by Lee?
The O.C. album was recorded with Joe and Lee was recruited just 5 months ago.
Was he your first choice as for Joe’s replacement or…?
We thought about finding a drummer locally, but agreed Lee was a better choice as he had already been in HELLWITCH in ’88.
I read, that Alex Marquez also drummed in the band, at which point was he the member of the band?
Never, it was just talk.
„Omnipotent Convocation” is the glorious comeback of the insane thrash/death metal, there aren’t radical changes compared to „Syzigial…”, you didn’t became neither downtuned nor modern, but followed the path of the first record, is that correct?
I don’t know. It is what the listener feels. I do agree that there are less radical changes. It flows much better than any previous material.
As I told you, the #3 release on my the top 20 albums of 2009…
I’m honored! WE’re honored! Thanks Leslie!
What do you think about, that what’s even more important is that the songs sound more like songs, the production is thicker and deeper and that HELLWITCH still sounds like Hellwitch and nobody else? It succeeded in keeping your own sound, right?
Oh fuck yea, it’s HELLWITCH 2009 all the way! I STILL stick to the firm belief of HELLWITCH SOUNDS LIKE NO OTHER!
„Omnipotent Convocation” finds the band at full force and claiming their rightful place as one of the originators of progressive/technical death/thrash craziness, how do you view this?
Yes, it covers all the musical bases pretty thoroughly I think. Not enough acoustic guitar passages, but still great songs. Again, HELLWITCH does NOT SOUND LIKE ANY OTHER BAND!
Does the record have a crispy tone of it that demonstrates well the constant flurries of guitars and there is no denying that HELLWITCH can be trusted to deliver the goods with a maximum effect?
Oh yea, the new CD has great production, great mix and great instrument tones! The production is SUPER heavy but you can in fact hear EVERY INSTRUMENT individually, right?
Who came up with the DEATH cover? Was it meant to be as a tribute to Chuck?
We’ve been doing that Death cover since ’86! It was my idea in ’86 to play this song.
No, it was not meant as a tribute to Chuck, it was just one of our favorite songs of all time!
Was the song originally recorded in this form? Why did Chuck alter the lyrics later on?
Yes, we perform the ’85 demo version of this song. Chuck changed the lyrics in ’86 because he didn’t like Satanic lyrics anymore then. Kam acutally wrote the lyrics originally.
The truth remains that HELLWITCH is/was in fact a pioneer in the underground death metal scene and shall always be recognized as an innovative and uncompromising force in music…
Thats what our bio says!
As a long dedicated, enthusiastic musician you are, how do you view the developement of the death metal scene? I mean, how is the situation of death metal compared to the early/mid ’80s?
Originality is fading each day. The situation sucks now compared to the old days.
What do you think about the reformation of Cynic and Atheist?
I think they are doing it to make $$$ mostly. At least ATHEIST is!
In your opinion, are the fans nowadays paying more attention to the band, than 20-22 years ago? Was Hellwitch a popular acts, such as Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse etc. or were you always underground warriors?
Yes, MUCH MORE! We were never above ground like those other bands. We remained obscure.
What are your future plans? Do you go on tour in support of the record? Do you perhaps plan to do a European tour as well?
Write new songs for possibly another album. No tours planned.
Pat, thanks for the interview, if somehing hasn’t been covered please share with us. Hail Hellwitch!
Thanks for the interview, Leslie and good luck to you and the ’zines! Check out our websites and my video site. I have OVER 12,000 concert videos for sale/trade!

Hellhound - Rich Pelletier

So Rich, HellHound’s career began in 1981, when at the age of twelve, novice drummer Steve Pelletier began playing music with some friends in his parent's garage. How did this passion into metal develop, and how did you discover that music style?
I'm pretty sure I got Steve into metal, at least the more extreme forms. I think he and his friends were already listening to UFO, Scorpions, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath. My best friend in high school was Brian Lew (Whiplash Magazine, among other things), and he got into tape trading. He got ahold of the very first Metallica and Mercyful Fate demos, and that really changed things for me. Before that, we were already experimenting with Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon, Venom, Angel Witch and the like, which was pretty radical in our area because no one knew who these bands were. We'd read about them, and buy the records without knowing what they sounded like. Luckily, it was the greatest thing we'd ever heard in our lives.
What were the stuffs that you were into? I mean, did you prefer underground acts or rather known, established ones?
Well, because I lived in the US, even the mainstream stuff I listened to like Judas Priest seemed underground compared to what my peers were into. The US was, and still is to a large degree, very trend-oriented. There doesn't seem to be a lot of independent thinking when it comes to art, and musical taste in particular. People tend to like whatever MTV and the radio DJs tell them is good. It has begun to change in the last decade or so, but you still have to make an effort to find something you really like for yourself, instead of relying on society or the media.
What were your influences to form a band respectively to become musicians? Were all of you self taught or…?
My brother Steve and I loved metal so much that we simply had to learn to play it. For me, I wanted to be it. I love listening to metal, but there's no comparison to actually playing it. We started out with some formal lessons (Steve, piano and drums; me, guitar), but for bass I'm entirely self-taught (and I'm sure some will tell you it shows, haha).
The band was called Black Death, and were soon joined by you, who came up with the name of the band. Weren’t you aware of the existence of a Cleveland based band that was also called Black Death?
When I joined up with Steve and his friends, they were called Black Death. We had never heard of another band by that name, but this was before the Internet.
Together you began practicing incessantly, attempting AC/DC, UFO and Judas Priest songs in typical „garage band” fashion.
What do you recall of your rehearsals? Was it unambiguous for you to start playing covers instead of writing originals?
When we first started playing together, we could barely play. It sounded horrible. Playing covers wasn't so much a choice as a necessity, as we lacked the skills to write anything ourselves. Still, we had one or two originals we'd mess around with, but I think they sounded very much like another band's songs.
You wrote a song called „Hellhound”, and the band changed it’s name soon after. What was the reason of it?
According to my brother, I didn't like the name Black Death. I think the real reason is that I wanted to be like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, with a song named after the band.
Players came and went, leaving Steve and you the only original members and finally, in October of 1982, Robert Kolowitz joined as rhythm guitarist, and soon proved to be an integral and permanent part of Hellhound. What about his musical background?
His story was pretty much the same as ours. He was taking formal guitar lessons, and was into the usual Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc. Steve and I turned him onto Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Venom and the rest.
You were one of the first Bay Area bands, were you familiar with other acts, such as Sinister Savage (later became Griffin), Exodus, Blind Illusion, Anvil Chorus, Metal Church etc.? Did the Bay Area scene start with these bands? I mean, they were the pioneers at the Bay Area surrounding…
Yes, we were aware of these bands. We all had the same influences, and were sort of doing the same thing at the same time. HellHound was based about 50 miles from San Francisco, though, so we had little contact with them at first.
Do you agree with, that Along with Tampa, Florida, the Bay Area scene was widely attributed as a starting point of American thrash metal and death metal?
In my opinion (and I'm sure some will disagree), thrash and speed metal were born in Southern California (the greater Los Angeles area) with Metallica and Slayer. It quickly moved to San Francisco, though. I'm not sure there was ever a thrash metal "scene" in LA. If there were, Metallica wouldn't have moved to Northern California. My interest in death metal didn't really begin until the Scandinavians got ahold of it during the 90's, but my understanding is that Possessed (from the SF Bay Area) were the first death metal band.
What were the clubs that started opening their doors for metal? Was there a strong and healthy club scene at this point?
There were a few clubs that embraced metal, mainly the Keystone Family (one club in SF, one in Berkeley and one in Palo Alto, which was our area) and of course Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley. There were a few other places that would have metal shows as well, but these were the main ones. I would say the scene was pretty healthy; on any given weekend you could see Exodus, Legacy, Death Angel, Heathen, etc., and every so often big guns like Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax would come through.
In your opinion, did Ron Quintana’s and Ian Kallen’s Metal Mania fanzine and KUSF radio help to develop/evolve the Bay Area scene? Were they a kind of catalyst for the Bay Area scene?
Absolutely. Metallica in particular owes a lot to those guys, along with my friend Brian Lew, who helped build the scene.
In November of 1983, after a steady stream of part time bassists and singers, you decided to switch from guitar to bass, because you felt locating another guitarist would be easier than finding a permanent bass player. Robert had begun displaying considerable potential as a lead guitarist himself, you advertised for a singer and new guitarist, and began to write original material. Does this mean it was hard to find the suitable members for a metal band? Was it hard to find members that were sharing the same musical path, interest, direction etc., as you?
It was very hard. We wanted to play a style of music that was so new barely anyone had heard of it. Thrash or speed metal is also unique in that it really has to be inside you. It's not a style like blues or country that any decent musician can pull off convincingly even when they're not serious. There's a technical skill aspect that requires a genuine passion to learn and execute. It was hard enough finding people who liked the music, let alone those who could play it. Vocals are another matter. If thrash, speed or death metal vocals aren't done just right, they can suck pretty bad. Most people don't even like them when they're done well. Yeah, building HellHound took a lot of time and hard work, and looking back I feel pretty fortunate it turned out the way it did.
How do you view, that although Metallica had initially formed in Los Angeles, it wasn’t until their relocation to the East Bay area in 1983 that Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett joined as bassist and lead guitarist, sealing the band’s first, formative line-up? Did Metallica have an important effect on the other Bay Area bands?
I think moving to Northern California was the smartest thing they could do, and that it was Cliff who made them into a real band. I was at one of the very first rehearsals Cliff had with Metallica, when Mustaine was still in the band. He was an incredible bassist, and he brought them to a new level. There are guys you play with that make you better, and he was one of them. The very first time I saw him play was with his old band Trauma in Palo Alto, CA. He blew me away, and I feel fortunate to have seen him perform so many times. Metallica had a huge influence on all the Bay Area bands, including HellHound. They weren't the most original band in the world when they first started (if you listen to "Kill 'Em All" you can hear Diamond Head and Blitzkrieg in nearly every song), but they added the speed element to their NWOBHM influences, and created something new and improved. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge Metallica's contribution to metal, thrash and speed in particular, doesn't know what they're talking about.
Was their musical direction the most brutal and the heaviest at this point?
They were on the cutting edge, but I always thought Slayer to be the more brutal. It's funny when you think about what used to be considered "extreme". I'll play an old Judas Priest song for my son, and say, "This was as heavy as it got at that time."
Burton and Hammett’s friendship with other local acts, notably Oakland’s Exodus and Testament, and San Francisco’s Death Angel - among others - strongly vitalized the scene, leading to intensive touring and tape-trading that would cross borders and seas, and eventually graduate to record signings, what do you think about that?
I wish that we had been based closer to San Francisco, so that maybe we could have benefited from some of that. We of course talked to all of these people and knew many on a first name basis, but these guys had the advantage of growing up together, of living in the same neighborhoods and going to the same schools. There was an "inner-circle", I guess you could say, that we unfortunately were never a part of. We also weren't the most social of people, myself and Robert especially being rather quiet and low-key.
Inspired by the NWoBHM and then largely unknown bands such as Metallica and Slayer, Robert wrote music while you provided the lyrics, coupled with Steve’s blossoming technical expertise, the result was a fast, furious and very heavy style, which turned away the Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne fans who were coming to audition. Can you tell us more about it?
Well, we basically had people answering our ads who were barely into metal. Maybe they knew Iron Maiden, most only Priest and Sabbath. Metallica and Slayer sounded like noise to them. We also needed people who looked the part, which for us and the other bands doing our style was modeled after a British metal fan. Back in the early 80's where we lived (and probably most places in the US) it was hard to be a male with long hair. No one wanted to hire you, a lot of girls didn't want to date you, and your parents gave you a lot of shit (though luckily mine didn't). Being a thrash metal musician was an underground lifestyle unto itself.
Finally, in May of 1984, the new members were settled upon; they were Bob Edwards (guitar) and Rich MacCulloch (vocals). Would you say, that a long way led to the band’s permanent line up? What can you tell us about Bob’s and Rich’s musical past?
It seemed like a long time, but I think it was less than a year of searching. When you're 19 years old, a year is a long time. I don't remember much about Bob and Rich's previous experience, but I don't think either had ever been in a serious band prior to HellHound. Bob came in with an original song (which became "Suffer the Innocent") that fit right into our style. He was a huge Iron Maiden fan, and kinda looked like Dave Murray, so he was a no-brainer. Rich wasn't exactly what we were looking for vocally, but he was a nice guy, dedicated and willing to work hard. We were happy to have found them.
Hellhound, now a complete band with its own material, rehearsed through the summer with renewed vigor, the band made its club debut in San Fransisco that October, and soon followed a series of uneventful gigs during which the band perfected its performance skills. How did the early gigs go? Did the shows help the band getting new fans?
Our early shows, except for the one with Slayer, were mostly uneventful. They served to give us experience playing live, and interacting with club owners and promoters. We built our fanbase primarily through the demos. It did help once we started playing regularly at Ruthie's Inn, and later doing gigs with Forbidden Evil and Death Angel.
Then, in December of ’84, the band was offered a dream come true - the opening slot for Slayer on New Year's Eve…Is it true, that Slayer’s gear had been left in New York due to an airline mix-up, so Steve offered Dave Lombardo the use of his drum kit and as a result, Hellhound was moved up to the support slot, playing right before Slayer, and performed to a packed house?
That's exactly the way it happened. We got to the club pretty early, but Slayer were already there. They were hanging out at the bar, looking depressed. We introduced ourselves and started up a conversation, and learned of the airline mishap. Of course, we offered to lend our gear. I think they ended up using various pieces of equipment from all the bands that played that night, but because Dave Lombardo used Steve's drums, we were moved up to direct support. I believe Sentinel Beast originally had the slot.
In 1984 you released a seven tracks rehearsal demo, how did the recording sessions go? How many time did the recording sessions take at all?
That actually wasn't an official release. I see it listed all the time on various websites, but it was just a rehearsal we had recorded that somehow made it into the hands of the tape traders.
Did the demo contain brandnew material or were the songs written earlier?
I honestly have no memory of it. I imagine it had "Ice Age", "Flee the Bomb", "Killing Spree", "Hellhound", and some cover tunes we used to play (possibly "Creeping Death").
Can you give us details regarding the demo?
Since it was just a live rehearsal recording, there's not much to tell. I used to pull my tape deck out of my home stereo system (it was a component system), and we'd plug a couple of cheap mics into it.
How much support did you make for the demo? Through which channels was it spread? I mean, through the tapetrading scene, in record stores, did you sell it at your shows etc.?
Though we weren't aware of it, I suppose it helped to get our name and our music out to the underground metal scene. I'm guessing one of my friends asked me for a copy, and he started sending it to people he knew. Like I said, it was never an official release, so we never packaged it for sale.
Would you say, that the material showed a very promising thrash outfit?
I think by the summer of '84 we were starting to show promise. I think we were more of a thrash band at that point than we were a year later, when the first demo was recorded. Since we still had our first singer, there was a lot less melody in the vocals as well.
In August of 1985, shortly before the recording of Hellhound’s „Submit or Die” demo, Mike Walish took over as vocalist, learning the material in only one week’s time, how did he get in the picture exactly? In which bands did he sing prior to Hellhound?
We'd been working with our old singer for some time, trying to move him in a direction we'd all be happy with. By Spring of '85 (I think it was), we decided it was never going to happen, and we started looking for a new singer. I think Mike answered an ad we'd put out, but I do know we'd played a show with one of his bands in the past. I think his previous bands were called Omega and Militia.
Why was Rich McCulloch fired? What did he do after you parted ways with him? Did you remain in touch with each other?
We were getting negative feedback from our live performances. The consensus seemed to be "You guys kick ass, but your singer sucks". We came to believe that he was holding us back. He formed a band called Baphomet almost immediately after leaving HellHound, and I had limited contact with him for a while. I eventually lost touch completely, but just saw him for the first time in about 15 years at a Forbidden show.
In 1985 you released your second demo „Submit Or Die”, were you more prepared then with the previous?
Well, being as how "Submit Or Die" was the first official demo, we were very prepared. We rehearsed like madmen, so that when we went in to do our tracks we wouldn't waste a lot of time (meaning money).
This material contained the majority of the „Rehearsal demo 1984” and a new track called „Repression Of Life”, why didn’t make up more originals on the demo? Did you re-recorded the old songs, because the sound quality wasn’t so good on the first tape?
When that rehearsal tape was recorded, most of the songs were very new. I'm not sure if they are the exact same versions as were eventually recorded in the studio in '85. "HellHound" and "Flee the Bomb" had already been around for a couple of years by '84, so they are probably the same versions. By August of '85 all of these songs might have seemed old to us, but to the rest of the world they were brand new. This "rehearsal demo" from '84 probably didn't make wide distribution until long after our 2 official demo releases.
The material was recorded on 16 tracks at Astral Sounds Recording San Jose, CA, correct?
That's right. My brother and I had been friends of the family that owned the studio for a while; I think I was in Kindergarten with the guy who recorded us. We were able to get a discount of sorts on the project, and were pretty lucky to do our first recording in a studio of that quality (for the time).
Were the sound quality and performances excellent in your opinion? How much did you develope compared to the first demo?
We were pretty happy with the way it turned out. The guy had never recorded a metal band before, so we had some problems initially with the guitar tones and my brother's double bass drum kit. It's not perfect, but a good representation of the band at that point in our history. To compare HellHound in '04 to the level we were at when we recorded "Submit", I'd say we were more polished and better musicians. We'd matured past just wanting to play as fast as we possibly could, and were concentrating more on perfecting our performance.
The tape got rave reviews in many prominent metal fanzines, including Metal Forces from England and Metal Hammer from Germany and as a result, many copies were sold. Hellhound received airplay on radio stations in Europe and the U.S., often ranking high on audience request lists. Does this mean that the tape helped the band to expand its popularity in the underground? Did this demo draw more fans attention to the band?
Exactly. Once the reviews started printing, we started getting a lot of orders for the demo. After that, the fan mail started coming in. Most of the attention seemed to be coming from Germany, though we got letters from all over Europe. I used to spend a lot of time answering fan mail and filling demo orders. It finally got to the point where I had to set aside some time one day a week, after band practice, so the rest of the guys could help me.
Around the mid-80's the sound of the Bay Area scene changed considerably; virtuosic musicianship (particularly lead guitars) had become a defining characteristic of the scene; the second wave of bands coming out of the scene, led by Testament, Death Angel, Forbidden and Heathen, played a style of thrash considerably different from their predecessors, what do you think about it? Was it a natural progression of the Bay Area scene?
Yes, I think we all went through the same process. When we first started out we were mostly concerned with how fast and heavy we could play. After hearing guys like Yngwie Malmsteen, I think the guitarists started to change their style a bit. Overall, I think we all became interested in being more technical instead of just "thrashy".
Do you agree with, that this new brand of thrash featured longer and more harmonically and rhythmically complex songs, with often neo-classical styled dual lead guitar playing highlighting the album and the songs also borrowed more from NWOBHM vocals and melodies?
The NWOBHM influence was there from the beginning. Thrash can be seen as a hybrid of the NWOBHM sound and stuff being played by the (then) hardcore punk bands like G.B.H., Discharge, The Exploited, etc. The changes you mention came from a natural progression, I think. The bands were getting better with time, and starting to experiment with more complex songs.
A progressive rock influence became apparent for the first time in the genre and the punk influence that was once crucial to the genre was now almost completely absent and this sound, highlighted by albums like Testament's „The Legacy” and Death Angel’s „The Ultra-Violence”, both released in 1987, was the style that many would associate with the classic Bay Area sound, how do you explain this?
I think Megadeth had a lot to do with it, along with Metallica and Anthrax. For HellHound, at least, "Killing Is My Business....", "Peace Sells....", "Ride the Lightning", "Master Of Puppets", and "Among the Living" were very influencial. I can imagine they had an effect on other up and coming bands as well, though I'm just guessing. Testament and Death Angel may have been influenced by something else entirely.
Meanwhile, Hellhound had perfected its live performance into an intense, brutal assault, complete with choreographed stage moves and non-stop head banging. Unfortunately, the band lacked management or a booking agent, and most shows were dismal failures played in near-empty clubs. Did this hinder the career of the band? Why couldn’t you find any agency or management that would have attended to the band?
Well, it obviously hindered our career, and was a contributing factor to our eventual demise. Basically we were young and stupid, and made some bad choices. Unfortunately, we weren't connected with anyone who could have helped us properly. I was the de facto leader of the band, but when it came to business matters I wasn't very good at it. I tried to work with a couple of different people that I knew, but they weren't professionals, either.
In the summer of ’86, it was decided to record a second demo, the band opted for a studio run by one of Mike’s friends who became ill shortly after recording began, what happened exactly?
He hurt his back, I think. I'm not sure why he didn't cancel the project. For some reason he kept telling us to come back, but we'd make the drive out and find he was unable to work. It was very frustrating.
Is it correct, that the project dragged on for months in an „on-again/off-again” fashion, during which time the band did not perform in public at all and eventually the work was scrapped entirely, but by then many thought Hellhound had broken-up?
Yes, we wasted an entire summer, basically. This was another nail in our coffin.
In December the band returned to the studio where the first tape was recorded, and produced „From The Ruins Of Yesterday”, what about the recording sessions?
I think the tracking went well, but it was during mix-down that we ran into problems. This time around, the brother of the guy who did the first one was doing the engineering. He wasn't as authoratative, and we were able to have more say while recording than we should (it would have been okay had we been more experienced, but this was only our second professional studio project). I think we made some technical decisions during recording that lead to problems when we got to mix-down, and the guy had to call his brother back in to fix things. I don't really like the sound of "Ruins", though I think the performances are better. We were definitely tighter by that point.
How do you view that the demo was more polished than its predecessor, the performances proving HellHound’s growing mastery of technical and progressive Speed Metal?
I think it’s more polished than the first demo, but sounds over-produced in some aspects. I think some of the effects were over-used, but some of us were into that. The first three songs on „Ruins” are more technical than our older material, and Robert was trying to be more progressive with his writing. „Progressive Metal” means something else entirely now, so the term really doesn’t apply any more.
As for HellHound’s music as a whole, do you agree that it varies from early Exodus to Attacker and even Helstar, as well as some other heroes from the 80s?
I think you can hear our influences somewhat, which were Iron Maiden, Slayer and Metallica, mostly. We tried to be as original as possible and made an effort not to sound too much like anyone else. Any resemblence to the other bands you mention would probably be due to the fact we had similar influences.
Is the music pretty catchy, the riffs quite good (especially the technical ones), and one can hear some entertaining drumming too; fast but varied and the bass is clearly audible, and it is also pretty good.?
I’ve always been a fan of Robert’s songwriting, and my brother’s drumming. I was as big a fan of HellHound as anyone. As for the bass playing, I’m my own worse critic. I always feel it can be better, but now that I’m revisiting these songs after 25 years in the new HellHound, I find I’m not changing much.
This demo was also well-received, and the band's fanbase was growing, especially in Germany, where HellHound had achieved an almost cult status. Did you get a lot of mail from Germany? Does it mean that you were more popular and known in Germany than in the States?
Yes, most of our fan mail came from Germany, and it did seem we were more popular there than in our own country. Metal has never been as popular in the U.S. as in Europe, though.
How about other European countries considering fans interests, demo orders and stuff?
I remember getting fan mail and demo orders from Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, and a few from the U.K. I expected more to come from England since metal was born there, but we didn’t get much for whatever reason.
1987 saw the band playing bigger and better shows, supporting such acts as Forbidden Evil and Death Angel, do you think that the Bay Area scene reached its peak at this point or would you say, that the scene started becoming oversaturated?
I think it was either the peak or close to it. Many of the bands had been signed by this point, so they weren’t playing the Bay Area constantly like they used to. Also Metallica had got pretty big by ’87, and many in the scene had already labeled them sellouts (because they were signed to a major record label, I guess). There were a lot of new bands on the scene, so I guess you could say it had become oversaturated. People were still going to the shows, though.
Two of HellHound's most notable performances were with Anthrax and Megadeth (both on seperate occasions), after which they received compliments from these bands as well as excellent audience response, what do you recall of these shows? Did you musically fit to that bill?
I wish I can remember more detail about individual shows, but they all seem to blur together for me. I do recall the crowds were great for both those shows, and we were very excited to do them. We certainly didn’t have any trouble selling tickets for those two shows, and that was probably the most money we made for performing. As far as fitting on those bills, we definitely did.
HellHound sought professional backing, and during meetings with Forbidden Evil's and Death Angel's management were surprised to learn you had attracted the attention of record labels who were waiting to hear more from the band. Who were these labels? Did they show a serious interest in the band?
I can’t remember any specific label being mentioned by name, though I did hear at one point that Metal Blade was interested. Unfortunately, by this point we were already falling apart.
It's sadly ironic that the time HellHound was perhaps closer than ever to it's goal of being signed to a record label, it was crumbling from the inside; Steve, you and Robert, long the solid core of the band, had begun growing apart, what kind of reasons did lead to it? Were there any personal or musical differences or…?
Steve had been unhappy for a while; I think he wanted to try something different. Robert’s songwriting style was changing, too, and I remember not being very happy with that.
While you remained committed to the speed metal style, Robert was progressing as a musician and writing slower, more melodic material. Steve, on the other hand, had grown weary of the long struggle for success and was doubting the band's commercial potential. What do you think about it? Were they dissatisfied both with the band’s status and musical direction?
Robert’s change was natural, I think. He was listening to all the Mike Varney/Shrapnel Records guitar shredders, and it seemed to me that he wanted to progress as a musician along those lines. I don’t recall him ever losing faith in the band. Steve was definitely dissatisfied with the band’s status, and figured that if we hadn’t been signed by then it was never going to happen. He was almost completely out of thrash and speed metal by this point, so I don’t think he was into any of our music any longer.
In early 1988, Steve and Bob accepted an offer to join another band; you, Robert and Mike attempted to replace them, but after a few months of unsuccessful auditions you broke up the band. In stark contrast to it's thunderous music, HellHound died not with a bang, but with a wimper. Your comments?
Well, we definitely didn’t go out in a blaze of glory. I’d felt the band was dying for some time, but I guess I was tired, too. I just kind of let it happen. We did try to replace Steve and Bob, but I don’t think we tried very hard. It was clear (to me, at least) it would never be as good as it was, so I decided to call it quits rather than do something that didn’t live up to what we’ve done in the past.
A couple of Bay Area bands besides HellHound, such as Militia, Desecration, Assassin weren’t signed by any labels, although they had the potential becoming great outfits. What are your views on it?
Well, not every band can get signed. Though I can’t remember any names, I think there were bands from that scene who were signed but went nowhere. They either signed bad deals and got ripped-off, or didn’t sell enough records and were dropped.
Can you tell us more about your musical involvements that you did after HellHound’s demise? I think of RapidFire (you and Steve), Doom Society (Mike) and Blackstorm (Robert)…
After HellHound broke up, I actually quit playing for a while. My son was born shortly after, and I had to get a full time job and such. Eventually I started jamming with people again, and made another attempt to put HellHound back together with Mike. We tried some different drummers and guitarists, but nothing came of it. I really didn’t have as much time to devote as in the past, though, as I had a new family as my main focus. Still, I was hired to do some studio work by a guy I met while I was recruiting for HellHound. Robert was in Blackstorm during all of this, and Steve had moved to Southern California with the guys from Rellik to join up with another band (can’t remember the name). Bob was with them, too. All of this took place during 1988 to about 1990, I think. In 1991, Steve was back in Northern California, along with the singer and guitarist from Rellik. Bob stayed in Southern California, but I think he had stopped playing guitar by that point. Rellik reformed but needed a bass player, so I came out of retirement and joined up, wanting to play with my brother again, more than anything. I was in the band for about a week, then one of the guitarists quit. The singer, Steve, second guitar player and I went on to form a band called Ground Zero. We later recruited Robert, who was then out of Blackstorm. We changed our name to Disciple for some reason (I think there was another band called Ground Zero), recorded a demo I never play for anyone and did one show that no one came to. Disciple broke up, but Steve, Robert and I went on to form RapidFire, which lasted until late ’93. After that, I didn’t play seriously again until Robert asked me to jam with his band Terminus in ’97. It was an industrial metal thing that didn’t work very well. We played several shows and recorded a demo (again, which I don’t play for anyone), but it was pretty obvious the band was never going anywhere. We broke up in ’98, I think. As for Doom Society, I don’t think Mike formed that band until 2003 or 2004.
What about these acts compared to Hellhound? What can you tell us about the materials, that you –and the other guys- recorded with those acts?
For me, the only band that could be compared to HellHound is RapidFire. The only things I’ve done that I’m proud of in any way are HellHound and RapidFire. Like I said, I don’t listen to anything else I’ve recorded, and don’t play it for other people. I’m sure I was into it at the time for whatever reason, but not everything you do in your life can be gold. I don’t necessarily regret doing those other things, but looking back they just don’t hold up. I’m sure the other people involved wouldn’t be very happy to hear me say that, but I’m just being honest.
How did you view the metal movement during the ’90s and nowadays? How much did it change compared to ’80s? Do you agree with, that the ’90s weren’t favourable for metal, because it was almost killed and annihilated by the crap grunge and pop/punk bands, that started popping up at this point?
When I was doing RapidFire in the early 90’s, metal was pretty dead in the U.S. People were still into Metallica, but they had just done the Black Album, which to me isn’t really a Metallica album („And Justice...” is the last thing they did that I really liked). Real metal went back underground, so in a way it was like the early 80’s all over again. Unfortunately, it didn’t pick up again until around ’04 or ’05, but there were some cool things coming out of Europe during the mid to late 90’s, if you were open minded enough to accept them. Luckily for me, I was able to get into bands like At the Gates, Cradle Of Filth, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir and In Flames. Metal didn’t die, it just evolved. A lot of my friends were stuck in the 80’s, though, so for them metal died when grunge took over. Well, grunge didn’t last very long, and metal is still here. Presently, we have the classics like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest still going strong, and of course bands like Slayer, Exodus, Forbidden, Death Angel, Testament and others are still out there plugging away. Metallica are even trying to be Metallica again for the first time in 20 years. I think this is a great time for metal.
That the memory of Hellhound remains alive to this day is a testament to the loyalty and perseverance of Heavy Metal fans around the world, so you would like to dedicate the CD „Ice Age” to all the people who supported the band and helped make those years spent playing in Hellhound some of the best of our lives, how deeply were you involved into the making of that record? Can you tell us more about it?
Thanks for quoting so much of the bio I wrote. That’s one of my favorite parts! For the „Ice Age” CD, I was involved pretty heavily. I wrote the bio and all the liner notes, assembled the photos and transcribed all the lyrics. I always wanted to call our first album „Ice Age”, so it seemed the perfect title. We didn’t have anything to do with the cover, though; we didn’t provide High Vaultage with anything, so they took care of it. I’m not sure where they got that painting. It was a lot fun doing that CD, signing an actual record contract and getting an advance from the company. It would have been better if we had put the band back together at that point, but I guess the timing was wrong.
Did you have some materials written back in the day, that never saw the light on Hellhound releases? Did you put all of your songs on your stuffs?
There is only one song that isn’t on either of the CDs.
Stormspell Records released „Anthology” last year (including a DVD), but it was the „Ice Age” material from 1998, wasn’t it?
Yes, the first and second demos. That’s everything we ever recorded in a studio.
Do you agree with, that Hellhound was a promising band from America which unfortunately never achieved the success it deserved and you sure had the potential to become a big name in the thrash metal underground?
I can’t say if we ever would have been a „big name”. I’d like to think we would have been, but that’s up to other people to decide. I actually consider the two CD releases, which are ten years apart, to be a sign of success. The fact I’m doing this interview 20 years after the band broke up shows success, too, in a way. If the band simply died in 1988 and no one ever showed any interest whatsoever after that, then I’d agree we never achieved the success we deserved.
What were the best and the worst memories with the band? What would you change on the band’s career? How would you sum up the band’s career at all?
My best memories are of writing the songs, of hearing them go through the creative process until completion. It’s very satisfying. The recording sessions were also great experiences, as was the T.V. appearance we did. My worst memory is of the band breaking up, the moment I realized it was gone for good. As for summing up our career, I like to tell people we were „almost famous”.
How would you see the band to be remembered?
I’m pretty happy with the way HellHound has been remembered so far. The current CD release on Stormspell Records is selling well, and I don’t think I could ask for anything more. I’d ultimately like us to be remembered as the band that just wouldn’t die.
Rich, thanks a lot for the answers, anything to add what I forgot to mention?
Well, you probably didn’t know this, but the band is now officially back together and writing new material. It’s great to be playing all the old songs again, and we hope people will like the new ones, too. We’re also working on doing some shows in Europe next summer, so people who never got a chance to see us back in the 80’s will finally get a chance. Thanks for having me, and thanks to everyone who has supported HellHound over the years. It’s great to be back!

Armoros - Mike Sudar

So Mike, ARMOROS was formed in 1985 shortly after you & Terry Groom met in Vancouver, BC at a Metallica concert on the „Ride the Lightning” tour with Armored Saint (Terry moved back to his hometown of Victoria where you resided) and you soon recruited Todd Verch on bass, Jed Simon as 2nd guitarist and Kevin Wright on vocals, can you tell us more about the band’s formation? How did you get together exactly?
Jed was leaving a local Hard Rock band he played in called Northern Thunder and I got his contact info from their other guitarist. He and I met and went to our jam spot, rocked out and totally clicked. By autumn Terry had moved back to Victoria, and we began jamming under tentative band name Chrysknife, posting flyers in local music shops seeking "real headbangers...original material ". School mate Todd Verch soon joined on bass/vocal duties and we continued on as a trio playing covers. In search for other like minded musicians, ex-Northern Thunder member Jed Simon was recruited as second guitarist, and after placing an ad looking for other metal musicians Kevin Wright of embryonic metal act Tantrum completed the line-up as lead vocalist.
What about the musical influences and experiences of all of you? I mean, was ARMOROS your very first outfit or did you play in some underground ones prior to ARMOROS?
Jed had quite a bit more band experience, prior to NT he played in a band called the Intruders.
How about the Victoria and British Columbia (including Vancouver) scene as a whole? Were you familiar with bands, such as ANNIHILATOR, ASSAULT, BLASPHEMY, NEMESIS, KICK AXE etc.?
I would say all these bands were coming out of the woodwork during the mid 80’s. Victoria had a good bar/live band scene in the early 80’s but they were mostly cover bands. Metal was only just arising.
Was it a good soil being metaller? I mean, did the hard rock/heavy metal music have a strong background in British Columbia?
Metal was a new genre and I think alot of people misunderstood it, even feared it. We conributed in bringing it to the forefront in our city.
In Canada, bands such as RUSH, APRIL WINE, BTO, HAYWIRE, HEADPINS, LOVERBOY and TRIUMPH have been classified at one time or another as heavy metal, although in some cases the description might be more accurately applied to a particular period of their career (eg, RUSH in the 1970s) or perhaps even just a single album or song, what do you think about it?
There were plenty of Canadian outfits that rocked and had some influencial musicians and songs. Many acts like those you mentioned and also Max Webster, Prism, Helix...
Early Canadian bands in the power rock, hard rock or heavy metal style included RUSH, THUNDERMUG (London, Ont), MAHOGANY RUSH (Montreal) in the early 1970s, followed by ANVIL, GODDO, KRAKEN and MOXY in Toronto late in the decade, would you say, that they opened the doors for the next generations and put Canada on the map of the heavy metal scene?
There were many great Heavy Metal acts from Canada: such as Anvil, Sacrifice, Exciter, Piledriver. The scene became saturated with this genre worldwide but at this time it was mostly underground.
Especially in Toronto was a big underground bauzz back in those days, correct?
Toronto always had a big music scene and soon introduced their version of MTV called Much Music. They acknolwedged and supported their local acts and the metal genre with a weekly metal videos show.
How do you view, that ANVIL’s LPs 1981-3 for Attic, „Hard 'n' Heavy”, „Metal on Metal”, and „Forged in Fire”, were among the first from a Canadian band to use metal terminology and Anvil has found its greatest popularity outside of Canada, as have several of the heavy metal bands that followed in the 1980s, among them SWORD, KILLER DWARS, VOIVOD, and ANNIHILATOR, all of which toured in Europe and/or the USA, both on their own and as opening acts for the leading international bands of the day?
We all enjoyed these acts and what they added to the genre, and are pleased they were acknowleged & appreciated.
So, what do you recall of your rehearsals? Did you start writing originals or were you mostly jamming on covers?
As any band starts, we played covers. AC/DC, Scorpions, Maiden, & Metallica, but we had plenty of orginal ideas for composing. I wrote our first originals: Winds of Bacata - a fantasy lyric of a fable city, followed by Forbidden Zone in a similar theme… and finally with the help of Kevin, the classic song Sacrifice. I found band name Armoros in a book of fallen angels, resulting in Jed's first musical contribution, the track Armor Us.
Would you say, that you started as a pure heavy metal act and you became heavier and more brutal during the years?
Absolutely, we evolved and were influenced by the many great thrash acts that came to rise.
As the band progressed you became more inspired by bands such as SLAYER, EXODUS and DARK ANGEL and geared towards the Speed Metal vein, how did you discover these bands? What were the materials that you started listening to with?
We had connections with underground tape traders who introduced us to the many metal bands & styles coming about. We recieved a great deal of advanced releases, many months before they actually came out in record stores.
This eventually brought about a reformation as you were recording your first demo titled „Debut Assault”, what do you recall of the recording sessions? Can you give us details regarding the tape?
It was an exciting time and fair experiencefor none of us had ever been invloved with the recording process. It was all new to us. We had poor equipment, little time and only fours tracks to work with. Unfortunately Jed was away at this time, working the oil rigs in Alberta.
Todd Verch was replaced by Rick Lee for bass, and eventually he also took over vocals as well, why did both Todd and Kevin Wright leave the band? Didn’t perhaps Kevin’s voice fit to the music?
As the group began to focus, Todd's bass playing was found inadequate, resulting in Rick Lee replacing him only about a week before recording. Rick had been jamming with John Hircock (drums), a friend of Lorne Wright who was in an Applied Communications program at a local college; Lorne offered to record the group for free as part of his class studies. Jed would however be away due to work in Alberta, leaving me to play all but one solo. Our music style was evolving to thrash and it was not a style Kevin was comfortable with. We realized we needed a higher caliber of bass player, so asked Rick to join, and with very few vocalists familiar with this music style, Rick decided to give it a shot. Advance tapes of Master of Puppets, Reign In Blood, and Darkness Descends were heard on Overkill radio and given to Armoros, that influenced me greatly, and I began writing towards this genre. My band mates were reluctant at first, and Terry even threatened to quit, but slowly they started to appreciate the power and we began to write music in this style. Unfortunately this was not the direction Kevin wanted to take, so we decided to part ways.
Were there any personal struggles among you or did you part ways with them on a friendly term at the end? What have they done after their departure from ARMOROS?
We all remained friends, sure there would be resentment at that time, but all still pursused and stayed involved in music and bands still to this day.
How did the demo sound like? Did it really represent your goals and ambitions, that you wanted to achieve ARMOROS with?
I think we were all somewhat disappointed at the quality of the demo. It sounded weak and did not at all represent the band as we came to be. It was simply a starting point.
Did the demo have a cover? How did it look like?
We used the picture Satan Falls by artist Gustave Dore, however we drew on the earth our symbol. http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore/dore_satan_falls.html
Was it distributed through the tapetrading/fanzine network? Did you try to make a name for the band with this effort?
It made it out in the local scene, but we pretty much put it on the shelf for we were evolviong ARMOROS as a whole. 30 to 40 copies of the Debut Assault demo were distributed locally. Armoros received local coverage through Thrashdance Fanzine by Jamie Fulton, and on FM radio show Overkill Radio hosted by Hircock and Lorne Wright.

Known for their local party-crashing and wild live shows, Tantrum and Armoros crews were inseparable and gigged together regularly. Violent fights and excessive vandalism at early shows reached heights that Victoria venues and concertgoers had never experienced before. Vocalist Kevin Wright recalls the early Armoros shows, "We were the band that really kicked everything into gear. We were the first heavy metal band in Victoria - the heaviest. Back then you were either an 80's cover band or a punk band. As we rehearsed and got heavier they wanted me to sing like Araya, I didn't want to do that." Kevin first quit, but later returned just in time for the completion of epic song Headsmen; however this reunion did not last long and Wright was soon out for good.

"We were one of the first bands of our kind in this area." - Rick Lee.

This final formation of four would then go on to record their next recording „Ressurecdead”, were you more prepared then with the previous stuff? Did you have enough material written for a second demo?
Absolutely; riffs, songs & lyrics never wer an obstacle for us. We were a close knit group who practiced and worked on new material on a frequent basis.
Can you tell us detailed about this second demo? Were you more satisfied with it, then with the previous?
We were very satisfied with Resurrecdead. Our music style evolved tenfold and considering a budget of only $400 it came out sounding great and capturing our new agressive sound. Especially in a time when most producers were not familiar with the metal style of music. The demo featured three new songs with Rick on vocals, a re-worked version of Headsmen titled Dementia with Jed on vocals, as well as an instrumental. In retrospect, it would be our collective favorite. The cover bore my artwork, which would become an integral part of future releases. Controversial lyrics on aids, drugs, abortion, and serial killers mirrored the level of sonic aggression that was evident in the newly resurrected Armoros.
By the way, did you continually write new songs?
Always, I had an endless surplus of riffs and ideas.
Did the demo better represent your thrash metal style?
It did for sure, I don’t think we were a true thrash band until this time in our formation.
In ’87, you gained a growing local fan base and decided to send your demo to the top underground Metal magazines at that time, Metal Forces, & Kerrang, does it mean, that you didn’t do any promotion for the first tape?
Correct we did not feel Debut Assault represented our style or the final formation of just us four members.
Did this tape help to expand the band’s popularity in the underground?
Absolutely it was quite well received!! -\m/. Overseas the demo received excellent reviews in both Metal Forces and Kerrang magazine, while locally we made friendships through gigs with Northwest groups such as Karrion, Witches Hammer, and Forced Entry. 50 to 75 copies were sold of the demo, and then the tape trading mania began. Suddenly a significant impact on the international metal underground scene had been made, and fans wanted more.
Did you also shop the demo around to attract labels interests? Were there any labels that started showing interest in the band on the base of the second demo?
I don’t recall so, we we focused on getting Resurrecdead to as many ears as possible around the world. We now rising in the local music scene, plaing many shows and continually writing new material.
Resurrecdead received positive reviews by both and soon requests for the demo came from all over the world, it means, that it succeeded in drawing a lot of fans attention to the band, correct?
Hell yea!!
On July 11th 1987 you recorded a nine tracker, was it the very first ARMOROS show? What do you recall of that gig?
This seems to be a misconception, this recording was never intended to be released on our part. I suspect a local fan was responsible for this. I recall all our early shows were well attended extremely violent, and the venues trashed. This agressive music seemed to bring out the bad in some people...lol
What about the early ARMOROS shows as a whole? Were you mainly opening act for bigger names or did you do some headliner shows too?
We did both. We began headlining larger local shows, doing more out of town gigs, and writing new material.
What type of audience did you have? Were they rather speed/thrash metal fans, heavy metal/hard rock ones or perhaps both of them?
It was all varieties, the whole music genre brought curious people by reputation. Predominately it was your typical male teenager with angst.
By 1988, they recorded their next demo thrasher, „Remember Michelle”, what about the recording sessions?
We actually attempting recording this with another studio before going to Downtown Sound, The producer withdrew from the project for he was too unfamiliar with the metal genre and did not feel he could capture us properly. We were hungry and ready to record it but Jed & I wished we had put a bit more into our solos. It did not quite have the same quality and sound as our Resurrecdead recording.
As for the demo, did you continue the musical path of the first two demos or did this stuff become heavier compared to the previous ones?
We got heavy & faster as we matured as players & friends. The demo showcased lyrical content focusing on reanimation, ghosts, Satanism, and death. The title-track was a song which Terry wrote after reading "Michelle Remembers", an autobiographical book about a local Victoria woman whom under hypnosis recalled having been the centerpiece of a number of Satanic cult rituals at Victoria's Ross Bay Cemetery in 1954-55, when she was only five years old.
Again you received international underground praise, was this demo better sold than „Resurrecdead”? Have you ever counted on any underground success or did it come as a surprise to you?
I think the same fans who found Resurrecdead ordered Remember Michelle. We were humbled and greatful for the recognition and appreciation from fans around the globe.
Would you say, that all of the demos have every thrasher’s demands satisfied?
I would think so, yes!
This brought about many opportunities to open for such metal legends as: Vancouvers’ WITCHES HAMMER & KARRION, Seattle’s FORCED ENTRY & THE ACCUSED, and metal greats KICK AXE, ANVIL, SACRIFICE, and DARK ANGEL, did these shows help getting new fans for the bands? How do you remember these shows? Do you think, if the demos wouldn’t have been so successful, wouldn’t have you had the possibility to open for bigger bands?

I think we made new fans everytime we played live. It was an honor to open up for some of our favourite bands. And we developed very close friendships and played many shows with Karrion & Forced Entry. The shows & turn out got bigger and better over the years. It was the birth of a scene.
After placing 2nd place in a battle of the bands in Vancouver, you were awarded some recording time at Profile studios, can you tell us more about it? What kind of competition was it at all?

It was simply a battle of the bands at a Vancouver amusement park. The win for Armoros meant a grant from Canada's SOCAN music publisher to recording time in Vancouver's reputable Profile Studios. Karrion took 1st place.
It was there that you recorded your full length album, „Pieces”, how did the recording sessions go? Did you have a decent budget to record the material?

The recording of Pieces was a challenging experience. We got additonal grant funding and some $$$ from a few investors. Had to find temporary accomodation and luckily one fo Karrions’ guitarists arranged to have us stay at his parent’s house. Recording was stressful for there was lots of late nite/early morning sessions, so our performances were sleep deprived.
The album featured the last two demos and two new songs „Forever CMDK” and „Earache”, does it mean, that you didn’t have newer material written or did you have lack of time to write some new tunes? Did you simply re-record the old songs or…?

That was pretty much our song library at the time and we wanted to capture our previous material with more professional production.
By the way, how did the songwriting process go? I mean, who was responsible for the music and the lyrics? Did you work as a really group or everybody came up with their ideas?
I wrote about 90% of the music and Rick handled most of the lyrics. We all were involved in the arrangements.
Would you change something on the record or were all of you satisfied with the result after the recording sessions?
My biggest beef was the bass guitar, it was gated too heaviliy so kinda pops in places. And still wish Jed & I had some better solos in some of the songs.
Who designed the cover of the album? How did it look like? Was it the cover, that can be seen on the „Piece By Piece” 3 CD Box Set collection?
The album cover was to be simply black and we were hoping to have our Logo embossed and in gold. Pieces text would have been red. The rest of the record layout was much to that of Metallica’s Kill’Em All.
The album was supposed to be released by Seattle, Washington’s EverRat Records but it never happened, why? Did you a sign a deal with them? Did they plan to release other materials too besides „Pieces”?
We signed a contract with Everat but under stand they went through financial troubles.
Didn’t you start finding a new label? Weren’t other labels interests in the band? Was the material shelved or…? Did EverRat own the rights and stuff? Didn’t have you the opportunity to buy the rights and to release as a self-financed material?

We had hoped to be picked up by another label, but it took awhile for our material to be returned and a series of unfortuante events contirbuted to the eventual disbandment.
Although the Album was never actually released, but it did make it’s way around the underground through tape trading, how did it happen exactly?
We shared copies to close friends/fans and am sure that they shared, and so on, and so on. I’ve even seen someone put their own CD package of Pieces up for sale on eBay just several years ago.
Have you done some shows after the material was recorded?
For sure, we were also writing & performaing some kick ass new material. Fans can even hear one of them, Crown of Thorns on Jed’s Tenet Cd,. I am happy to have recorded the first guitar solo on it.
Did you remain in touch with each other by the way? Were all of you disappointed because of the career of the band?
WE were and will always be brothers, but it was a time in our lives were we need to focus our our attention on our own individual lives. Some of us had the priorities of parenthood and finding work. We moved to Vancouver with the intention of finding further opportunites for the band but in the end it ruined us.
You reformed in 1992, and recorded another demo that never got completed nor ever ended up being released, what kind of material did it contain compared to „Pieces”? Was it the traditional „ in the vain of classic ARMOROS” written material?
We had all evolved as musicians and had new influences. We wanted to experiment with a more progressive style.
Why was the reformation so short lived? Lack of motivation, personal and musical differences or…?
It was a little bit of everything. I had also decided to move a bit out of the city and I think the others interpretted that I was no longer interested in the band.
By 1994 members went their separate ways & sought other opportunities, how did you view the metal scene at this point? Would you say, that traditional heavy metal seemed to be dead and being killed by grunge and pop/punk bands?
Yes grunge was over shadowing everything at that time, but metal stayed underground.
We were all at a point in our personal lives where we needed to focus on our own personal growths. It was just not the right time for us to continue as a band.
A lot of bands changed also their music and hasn’t anything to do wit their original approach, correct?
Well I suppose bands that were seeking success and notarity following the Grunge wave and adjusted or experimented with their style. I feel metal never died and was adopted for soundtracks to many sports shows and commercials. It also redefined music studio production and the use of frequencies ranges, and Guitar amplification performance.
Do you agree with, that Armoros is/was one of the best Canadian Thrash Metal bands ever? Did you have the potential to do a breakingthrough?
Well thats a tough question for everyone has their own perception of best, and it’s not like ARMOROS reinvented anything but I think we definitely had the right ingredients to please the speed/thrash fan.
In your opinion, were the Canadian bands always underrated and overlooked? Why did fail them making a name for themselves with the exception ANVIL or VOIVOD? Did the Canadian thrash bands, such as VOIVOD, D. B. C., SACRIFICE, INFENAL MAJESTY, RAZOR etc. play an important role in the evolution of thrash metal? Were they known on underground level? Did they have a big amount of followers?
I would say that all these bands were influenced by the greats that brought about this genre: Metallica/Megadeth/Slayer/Exodus/Anthrax. In 1985 – 90+, metal was still underground, but were exposed in many of the metal magazines and tape trading scene. I have no idea how many followed them thou.
I always state, that the Canadian thrash bands were more brutal than the American ones, some of them had more talent, energy, power than the American ones, what are your views on it? What was wrong with the Canadian music industry as far as Metal is concerned?
I don’t believe a certain country or place contributes a better style or player. It is simply the combination of players and the style they devise. Canada has a smaller population than America, and fewer people were aware and supported metal at this time. 25 years later it is quite different everywhere.
Last year Brazilian Marquee Records released a 3 CD Box Set with all of your materials you had back in the day , who came up with this idea and how deeply were you involved into the making of the stuff?

We were fully involved with this package, but would not have included some of the live stuff.
Did you immediately agree considering the release? In your opinion, did Marquee do a cool job? Is it a good way or chance to make aquainted the band’s name with the fans? I mean, young ones, that never heard of you…
We are honoured to be remembered and that Armando believed that our material should be shared officially. Would never have expected for this to come about! And it would be great to bang some young new heads!
Didn’t you think about to reform again and to hit the stages? What do the former ARMOROS members do these days? Are they still involved in the music business?
When Marquee first released this I would have told you there was no possibility of a reformation, but this release has brought us together again and we are considering possibly writing some new material. I have had the pleasure to jam with Rick & Terry recently. Our main obstacle is that Jed is out of the country.
What do you think about that SACRIFICE reformed and released a new album? Have you already listened to it?
Yes I have been lucky enough to hear it and I think it’s absolutley awesome. Perhaps their best material! I love Rob’s voice and its true thrash!.
A lof of ’80s bands regrouped around 2000 and after and released records, such as AGENT STEEL, NASTY SAVAGE, DEATH ANGEL, ONSLAUGHT or HEATHEN and ARTILLERY these days, do you still follow what’s going on in the underground scene? Do you have time to listen to new stuffs or are you too busy with your musical involvements? What kind of materials do you listen to? Do you prefer the old, classic stuffs that you were growing up on or are you opened into new ones too? Do you have some faves as for the present scene?
I personallly have never stopped listening and following metal. I live for it and seldom listen to anything else. I think there is plenty of new talent such as Gojira, Cavelera Conspiracy, The Haunted, The Destro, Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore.... and the latest efforts from the Grandfather’s such as Exodus Slayer & even the new Metallica.
How would you sum up the career of ARMOROS? The best and the worst memories?

Well it was all our first real band expereince and taught us so many things. We evolved as players and friends and got to share our passions with people around the world and be appreciated for our efforts. We got play with and meet some of our influences! It is too bad that we did not venture further, get signed to a major label and tour the world. We grew and changed as individuals. I will never forget the experiences. Armoros is still remembered and recognized
Mike, thanks a lot for your answers, anything to add what I forgot to cover or to mention?
Please check out my band SONIC DOOM, we hope to have CD out soon and to shop it to some labels. And be sure to pick up TENET!