BOOKS OF ARMAGEDDON - PART ONE

The bottom line is that the scene in general was glued together by the underground 'zines. Hand in hand then with their tape trading brethren (often one in the same), a crusade was undertaken to bring unholy writ to the furthest corners of the Earth. Few locations were left without some semblance of underground activity – and all for extreme music of one form or another, most of which promoted politics or messages of almost every kind.

The zines became the prophets; raising the alarm to new bands that were championing sounds and styles that had never been seen or heard before. Given, some bands were then being influenced by newly crowned leaders, but over all the 'zines were heralding the fact that a new dawn had arrived for this music.

There may have been glossy magazines out there, but hardly pioneering where they in their spirit of solidarity with the underground idea. The advocates for what was coming, having the insight of decades of observation and hands on experience – it's easily seen to the discriminating eye that most if not all of the glossy magazines of the era pretty much spat right at the underground and it's kingpin bands – only to change tune and display some almost pornographic efforts to curry favour with the ones they'd forsaken years earlier.

You could find cartoons and artwork and even logos in many zines, which brought the humour and quality levels to new heights with the participation of guys like Bob Plante from Disturbed 'zine. (Photo - appeared in Buttface #2 1989 Australia)

 Morbid Magazine shirt from Norway. Editor Ronny Eide, we believe, produced the first fully glossy underground magazine. (Photos - Alan Moses)

 It wasn't because of a sudden ray of enlightenment opening the synapses to talent, but merely the cold hard reality of keeping a profit venture going, and watching the stale heavy metal scene spin in it's grave with the advent of Bay Area metal becoming rapidly unsellable. The formerly 'hardest metallers' to be found, suddenly faced the lesson of taking LSD and being shoved in front of a mirror – and they certainly hated what they saw.

A brooding and vindictive entity, greater than the sum of it's parts, cast them into a shadow that they have never been able to get out from underneath, except of course by swaying certain things into the commercial realm, which renders things mute from the biological vantage point of the glorious times.


FROM THE GLORIOUS TIMES

INDEED!

 Glorious Times editors Brian Pattison (Chainsaw Abortions) and Alan Moses (Buttface) former zines.

What is not contrived or distorted and what was not originally motivated by profit are the 'zines. And Glorious Times is a direct part of this entity, so we've been assembling some flashbacks from the LSD mirror, since combined, we are the ones that reflected misery and shallowness back upon the so called 'authority on matters'. This is a story of sheer dedication, unsponsored and raw, lacking  the drives of profit or fame or notoriety. The 'zines primary objectives being to expose what was coming, unveil what was happening, and to give something back (on a physical level) to the bands that gave US some of the most memorable times of our early lives – and for a portion of us – what our lives have been since awakening to the music to begin with.

The pen, and also the photo-copy machine – were mightier than the sword. Share now some of the recollections from the front line of the glorious times. This is a multi-part series which we intend to spotlight as time and submissions allow. Enjoy!

JOE PUPO from The Rage of Violence 'zine:

Joe Pupo with his copy of the glory! (Photo - courtesy Joe Pupo)

I always look back at days of the underground in the 80s and early 90s as the fondest time of my life. It started for me in 1983 when I stopped into the local record store to buy something new. There it was, still in a box of new records: This album with a hammer and blood on the album cover. Of course it was Metallica's "Kill Em All". I hadn't heard anything like this before and I was instantly hooked.

Music kept getting faster and heavier. I started tape trading in 1984, then the scene started to explode in 1985 with bands like Exodus, Possessed, Kreator, Destruction, Dark Angel and so many more. I started going to a lot of shows, but I couldn't get enough of thrash and death metal.

 Another of Bob Plante's classic cartoons which were known to pop up in the weirdest of locations in the zine world. (courtesy - Bob Plante)




The underground was growing so rapidly. There were so many great bands popping up all over the world: NY, SF, Tampa, Sweden, the UK, etc. At the time, you couldn't really read about death metal music in the mainstream mags, so people started writing their own fanzines. I bought every copy I had the chance to get. Looking back, tape trading and fanzines were the life-blood of the underground. They allowed us to spread the word about our great music. We were spread all over the world, but we were all connected through the Underground. It was an exciting time for music.

One day my friend Mike McPhillips and I decided to do our own fanzine. We thought if others could it, why not us? We certainly loved the music. It would be a chance to not only meet some of our favorite bands, but also spread the word about them. We needed a name and we wanted it to sound angry and violent, so we went with The Rage of Violence.

Some bands we interviewed in person like Kreator and Destruction, some by phone like Sepultura and Death, while the rest we did by mail. We had an interview with Nuclear Assault, so we put a picture of John Connelly on the cover. We also tried to feature some of lesser known (at the time) local bands like Revenant, Ripping Corpse, and Prime Evil.




When I worked at Atlantic Records, I did a short assignment in the Printing Department. So, I printed up about 500 copies of the fanzine and we sold out pretty quickly through mail order, at record stores, and at local shows. The orders kept coming in, so eventually I sold the few copies I put aside for myself. To this day, I don't even have a copy for myself.

I started writing a second issue of the fanzine. I hadn't completed it, but it was already longer than the first issue which was pretty big in itself. At the time, Ed Farshtey and I had been talking about starting up a record label. When I saw how expensive the quotes were from commercial printers and the second issue wasn't even completed yet, I decided to just invest the money into our record label. Sadly, that was the end of the Rage of Violence, but it was the beginning of Rage Records.

I have a lot of great memories from writing those two issues. I loved writing and I loved contributing to a scene that meant everything to me at the time. The best part of writing my zine was that I got to meet a lot of great people and bands. I remember meeting my good friend Mario Junco at show in Miami when I sold him a copy of the zine. I also remember a time when G.G.  Allen wrote to me from prison demanding a copy (for free) of the Rage of Violence. Interviewing Mille from Kreator in the basement at LaMours was a thrill I'll never forget or the guys from Destruction at Sundance in Long Island. There were many more moments like that. Thank you for allowing me to re-live some of those memories. Glorious Times indeed.

The Mighty Soothsayer 1987 w/ Justin Ivey's War & Pain shirt! (Photo - courtesy Chris Petit)

JOHN DEATHRASHER from Deathrasher Mag:

  
Mainstream Glam was getting way too big in 1984, so we decided to make a DEATH, SPEED and HARDCORE fanzine called Death Thrasher Mag in early 1984 after reading zines like KICK ASS, METAL FORCES and so many more. I was 24 years old at that time. 

 
Deathrasher #1 1984 (courtesy - John Deathrasher)

DEATHRASHER was a fan thing made by fans for the fans, not made by weekend warriors, and made for the love of METAL and all the great things that came with it: meeting other cool people with the same interest, metal chicks were a big part in the early years too. The early years we paid for everything we put in the zine by supporting the bands, buying the shirts, demos, LP's, EP's, pins, posters, all the goods right from them to review (not to get things for free). Not until labels like Roadrunner, New Renaissance, Steamhammer, RC and others got a hold of me somehow, still to this day I have no idea how.

 Deathrasher #7 (courtesy - John Deathrasher)

For issue number 2 we changed the name to DEATHRASHER FANZINE. Being a long time fan of hard rock/heavy metal music (since 1970) I hooked up with Mad Mike (later changed to Madman Mike because of a gay video place called Mad Mike's Gay Videos, yeah we broke his balls for it). We were pretty much into the same type of music. We were like night and day. He was a black dude and I'm white. Not too many blacks around here was like the MAD MAN into thrash metal (I believe the other blacks made fun of him/beat him up in the ghettos). 

 Madman Mike. (Courtesy - John Deathrasher)

He had mentioned to me about doing a zine and showed me a flyer. So MadMan Mike became a main man for DEATHRASHER FANZINE as the writer / interviews. I put it together/thoughts and came up with the name DEATHRASHER. By no means was I or am I an editor, just a fan. We only printed about 100 copies of each issue (1 - 9).

Mike was kicked out of the zine for personal reasons, so he did not write for all of them. It was supposed to come out 4 times a year but never really happened. It was when ever we put it out. Most of them were really bad looking too. I had a young son so it was kinda hard to do both, sometimes as I lived a ruff kinda life before my son Todd was born in 1983. Todd wore Motorhead and Dio shirts as an infant and the funny thing about that is he later became a Motorhead / Dio fan on his own. I did not push my views on my son or anybody else for that matter (sounded to much like a religion to me).

 The littlest Deathrasher. (courtesy - John Deathrasher)

Mike would get a shit loads of demos/test pressing and so on from a friend (Jay R) from NY, test pressing from Slayer 'Hell Awaits' and before the LP came out. Sodom's 'Pretenders To The Throne' (original name before 'Obsessed By Cruelty came out). We concentrated on DEATH, SPEED and HARDCORE (1984-1988 era). I really hated punk rock in my teens unless it was Iggy Pop or the Dictators etc.. Not till I heard Dr Know around 1984 is when I started to like hardcore punk music. My zine never really went anywhere but that is not why I did it or why I brought it back in 2005.

In 1988 I felt it was time to give it up. Scenes around here were dying and all the greats were putting out shit that I hated. Even though I'm not well liked I felt in 2005 I should bring it back and I met some really cool folks like you guys who I thank dearly for including me on this project. I also did a zine with Rob from Atrocity (CT) called DEATHRASHER'S BOOK OF THE DEAD 1 (all covers included for this special blog). Funny memories, driving up to see POST MORTEM in a hallway at a radio station. MAD MIKE had to drive up in the back of a pickup truck under a tent in pouring and I mean down pouring rain for the 3 hours driving from CT to MASS. He wanted to go and that was the only way to get there and being a die hard he did it. I believe that was in 1986. 

 Deathrasher's Book Of The Dead. (courtesy - John Deathrasher)

Another memory at the Enfield CT roller rink was seeing DRI in 1986 or so. Inside, some Billy Idol looking dude started shit with me and Madman fucked his shit up inside the roller rink. It ended up outside after the show and Kurt's (DRI) brother was hanging with us by our car partying and he pulled out a crowbar and said I'm with U guys. Eric I think his name was.

 Haven't heard PTL KLUB? Fix that right now!!
 
In 1987 I put out the PTL Klub's 7" 'Nobody Cares Anymore' and it sold out the 1000 copies I pressed fast and was loved around the world. 1990 I vanished into thin air. 2005 I came back with a best of worst of, and since 2005 I came out with number 11 and 12 and awaiting number THIRTEEN (out in the Fall of 2010) with BULLDOZER, OZ, SACRIFICIAL BLOOD, MASSACRE, EXALTED,  PILEDRIVER and maybe ATROCITY from CT. I am ending it after THIRTEEN.

 John with the illustrious Piggy June 29 1986 @ Sneakers, Brandford CT. (Photo - courtesy John Deathrasher)

 Hanging out with Voivod  for the 1986/1987 shows was the best time of my life, my whole metal life  (1970 - 2010). Hanging backstage at Sneakers in Brandford CT, eating Tom G's  food, as he was pissed off in the corner, while Snake said to me "FUCK HIM, EAT JOHN!"  Smoking hash in the back room of an in store appearance with Voivod and Tom G. aka Celtic Frost. The record shop owner let me and Snake go in the back room. Yes, I was the only one in the USA with HASH, I gave them CHUNKS hahahahah Awesome time, awesome people I say. At the show that night, the last Voivod song, the bouncer had me by one arm and Snake up on stage singing had my other arm. Yes they tossed me out. What a classic moment that was. I WAS THE HASH MAN BUT NO MORE, 1980's are long gone but not forgotten in my eyes and in The GLORIOUS TIMES aka Brian and Alan.

The Glorious Times of John Deathrasher!


WATCH THE DEATHRASHER #13 2010 PROMO VIDEO RIGHT HERE!!

*Thanks lads for participating, and thanks to Bob Plante for the kickass art!

CLEANSE YOUR DEMONS

History binds the past to the present and provides a link to the future. Each event, choice and action providing a link which forms a chain connecting things together - and if we choose to take hold of the current link we are bound to all parts thereof. 


With an impressive and accomplished "rap sheet" as it were, Cleanse Your Demons has bounded out from Toronto, Canada, sporting a new 3 track demo and carrying the insight and experience (along with the wounds) that come from being a link  themselves.


It's with a great deal of pleasure that Glorious Times introduces Cleanse Your Demons, and invites you to take hold of a hand that extends to the future, whilst steadfastly extends another back to the ground work that is our collective glorious past.



PREPARE TO BE CLEANSED

 We recently conducted an interview with Nick Sagias, one of the founding members of this band, and figured we'd introduce this interview by having him remind us of when it was that Overthrow was formed and some of his recollections from that time period...

Overthrow live at the Apocalypse Club in Toronto

Photo: Susan Campbell

NICK: Overthrow was formed in 1987 by Wayne Powell (drums), Derek Rockall (guitar) & myself, Nick on bass & vocals. We just started jamming and writing and getting better at our instruments at which point we needed to take it to the next level, so we found Ian Mumble and proceeded to play many shows and record the demo with Brian Taylor. After the demo, by the end of 1989, Derek left the band and we replaced him with Ken Wakefield and went on to record our first cd at Morrisound Studios with both Tom Morris & Scott Burns.

GT: How did you and the other guys in Overthrow meet originally?

NICK: Wayne and I went to school together, since grade one; we grew up right around the corner from each other and got into a lot of the same music together. We started playing music around 14 years old with whatever we could find, we jammed with other friends we grew up with until we started to get more serious and focused about the style we wanted to play. Then out of nowhere, Derek moved into the neighborhood and we just started hanging out and had the same excitement and drive to make some thrash metal. Ken we actually knew through Derek because they went to the same school and we would go watch Ken play Metallica riffs instead of going to class. Ian was a friend of one of my cousins and also a friend of ours knew him so we asked him down.

GT: How did you meet up with Ron Sumners and Epidemic Records and get him to release the "Bodily Domination" demo?

NICK: Well, actually it was Ron who was brought to us through a mutual friend. Ron had quit Slaughter and after a couple of years not playing he wanted to start his own label and was brought to one of our rehearsals. He was impressed with our rehearsal and told us his plans for a label (Epidemic Records) and he wanted to start with recording and releasing what became the “Bodily Domination” demo. From then on Ron has been and still is one of my closest friends. His creativity and his enthusiasm is infectious and inspirational.

GT: Can you give a little background and describe the sound Overthrow had, influences, etc?

NICK: We all had our different influences and for different reasons. Overall sound wise there are the obvious influences like Kreator and Dark Angel and even lyrically, I am I big fan of Gene Hoglan’s lyrics on “Darkness Descends” and “Leave Scars”, I think they helped me be much more expressive with my writing. Musically, big on the German thrash (Destruction, Sodom, Holy Moses, Kreator) and some of the bay area bands (Possessed, Vio-lence), of course Sacrifice was a big influence as well as VoiVod, Slayer, I think most of those were pretty obvious, we didn’t stray much at the beginning.

GT: What sort of progression in sound from the demo to the "Within Suffering" cd was there?

NICK: I would say the demo was pretty straight ahead fast thrash, very fast. It’s just what we wanted to do, play fast and scream. After we recorded the demo and started playing more, we started adding a few slower parts and getting more technical. We were still young and we wanted to top what we did before that, which resulted in an old song being resurrected (Under The Skin) and we just played it as fast as we could. At the time it was a lot of fun and listening back it’s like a blast beat for the whole song, especially live. Of course the technical side started coming out more as we were writing material for the “Within Suffering” cd and the slow parts just seemed like a natural thing to do after going so fast all the time so songs like “All That Remains” with the mid paced tempo and “Repressed Hostility” or “Abduction Of Life” with the slow crushing paces or breakdowns, needed to come out and we were all very happy with the songs. I think we put out a pretty balanced cd sonically, whereas the demo was just in your face, not that that’s a bad thing but I guess we wanted some sort of progression and maturity to come across.

GT: In keeping with Glorious Times' reminiscent philosophies, would you share any interesting stories from your time in Overthrow?

NICK: Well, there this one time, when we went to Florida to record the “Within Suffering” cd, we tried to set up some shows with Cynic and Atheist but there were too many scheduling problems so the Paul or Sean suggested a local band and we got on a bill in Miami as kind of a warm up for the studio. Well, it was kinda nuts, I think we went on at like 3am and there were still other bands. As we were setting up, there was a section behind the stage where most of the gear was and made it easy to put up and tear down, my bass was back there and as I stepped off the back of the stage I stepped on this uneven part and fractured my ankle, I was in so much pain, still not having realized it was fractured, so we still played and it was the worst show I have ever played. Then we went to the hospital, I found out I fractured the tip of the bone and there was nothing they could do, so off to Tampa we went to record the cd. By the time we got there Wayne got strep throat and there we were, in the studio with Tom Morris me with my leg which I had to keep elevated most of the time because of the intense swelling and Wayne battling strep throat. Due to our independent label budget we knew how many days we had and how many for each thing we needed to do, so we had decided to do the bass and drums together, to save time. I can only imagine what was going through Tom’s head watching us hobble in. haha

GT: Overthrow ended because you were leaving for Holland to join Pestilence, any regret in ending Overthrow and not sticking it out to see what you could progress to with that band?

NICK: Not really, no regrets at all. Between the time we recorded the cd, and it’s release, we were having differences of styles we wanted to move towards and no new material had been written during that whole time, not that we needed to because we still had to support the “within suffering” cd, so it wasn’t on the top of the list. The problem kinda came when we did start trying writing new material. Wayne and I were getting more influences by the death metal bands, Obituary standing out most, and wanted some really brutal heavy slow stuff like on “slowly we rot” and Ian and Ken wanted a more Slayer, Megadeth writing approach. There was also a disagreement about staying tuned to the standard tuning and tuning down. I don’t know why we couldn’t work it out or mix the styles but I think changing my vocal style from the thrash style to death metal style also didn’t fit with other members of the bands vision. I do not regret not writing a second Overthrow cd at all.

ON THE ISSUE OF PESTILENCE:

Ron Sumners (Slaughter) selling his Epidemic Rec. merch at Lollapalooza

GT: How did you get to meet the guys in Pestilence and get the tryout offer anyways?

NICK: Well, the same mutual friend who brought Ron Sumners to us, was writing to Martin at the time and Martin had written him that he had left Pestilence. I loved Martin’s vocals on “Consuming Impulse” and the style of that whole cd and when he told me Martin left the band I called Roadrunner and told them I wanted to talk to Patrick (Mameli) about joining the band and sent off the recordings I played on and a demo we did on a four track of “Out of the Body”. At his time, they were already talking to Josh from Suffocation and I had a chance to talk to Josh as well and he told me he was going out to join Autopsy. I left the decision up to him because he was the first choice, so after he was sure that he wasn’t going to join Pestilence, I was in.

GT: Can you recall what your first impressions were upon arriving in Holland?

NICK: WOW, well, I was only 20 years old at the time so this was a huge deal, it’s funny how you think you know everything at that age. I found it very nice there. It was quiet, yet there was still a bit of a nightlife in the small town where I stayed. Metal shows would come through and the food was amazing. So, I think I was kind of overwhelmed by the whole idea and the situation.

GT: What were the first rehearsals with them like?

NICK: Patrick had already sent me rehearsals of the new songs without vocals, so I knew what I was getting into. We worked pretty much on new songs for the most part and then a show in Belgium came up to open for Obituary and Morbid Angel, so I had to learn a handful of old tracks as well, which would have been inevitable, but I wanted to focus on the new stuff as we were only two months away from recording. The rehearsals were fine, pretty much what you’d expect.

GT: Do you recall any good stories from the live shows you did with them?

NICK: Well, there was just the one show in Belgium, the only story I could really say was that Biohazard went on before us and Bobby was jumping around so much he put a whole in the stage where he was jumping, so that put a slight delay in the show, yeah, I know, kinda boring.

GT: Care to discuss how the end with them came about and the events leading up to that?

NICK: Sure, why not, might as well. Before we left for Florida to record with Scott Burns, Patrick M and I had a couple of arguments and there were some mixed feelings on both sides about continuing to work together, so, when we had gotten to Tampa, Atheist were recording the second cd with Tony and I was telling them how great a player he was. Anyway, inevitably, we got into another argument and they decided to get Tony to record the tracks, which is kinda why I was pointing them in that direction. I was trying to leave without fucking them up recording their third cd. Because even while in Holland, I was already starting to write new lyrics and songs that was gonna end up being Soulstorm.

THE COMING OF THE SOULSTORM:

GT: How soon after you moved back to Toronto did the idea for Soulstorm spring forth?

NICK: Like I was saying, while I was in Holland I was writing stuff that wasn’t Pestilence style nor did I want it to be, it was clear to me that I was burned out on the technical style. I really just wanted to have pummeling riffs and not be so concerned with how technical we could be, we were creating moods, through the music, through the lyrics. I believe during the 6 weeks I had to stay in Florida while Pestilence finished their cd, I had pretty much organized the band (Dave Mitchell – guitar, and my brother John Sagias – drums) and had pretty much written what was to become the “control” demo. I was lucky and happy that my good friend Ron liked it and wanted to release it. So, as soon as I came back to Toronto, we were already jamming and got Rick right away, everything just clicked and started moving fast.

GT: Did you give any consideration to reforming Overthrow or was that already a thing of the past and you wanted to keep moving forward?

NICK: No, I never thought about it even for a second. By this time my Celtic Frost influences came fully into the foreground and we were listening to bands like carcass, obituary, morbid angel, entombed and this slightly influential band named Godflesh. So, yes, basically I wanted to move into a direction that was building up for some time, to include some of my industrial influences (Swans, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Ministry). Since, at the time, there was only godflesh, we kinda stood out but the comparisons were inevitable because nobody else was doing it.

GT: How did you come together with the other guys that would make up Soulstorm?

NICK: Dave Mitchell, who incidentally is the “mutual friend” in both cases mentioned earlier and I had jammed a few times before I left for Holland and it was primitive and raw, which is kinda what we wanted. So, when I made my decision to find a way out of the Pestilence situation, he (Dave) was the first one I called and asked if he wanted to do this style of music when I got home. My next call was to my brother and asked him to play drums. So, I knew Dave from the Overthrow days and I put it all together when I was waiting out my sentence in Florida. Rick entered the picture almost immediately as I had known him for years as well. (long story short – the first version of Soulstorm (’89) was a kind of Dag Nasty sounding band which featured my brother John on drums, Rick on guitar, Bob Average (Schizoid) on guitar, me on bass and on vocals former Disaster/Serenity vocalist Adam Sewell (later to form Monster Voodoo Machine) we played a handful of shows until I left because Overthrow was getting more shows and gearing up to record the cd, after I left, they changed the named, which was mine, and became Totentanz. Then Rick left and was available for soulstorm immediately. Totentanz then became Monster Voodoo Machine

GT: How well was Soulstorm received at first?

NICK: Actually, extremely well! Though musically it sounded like nothing I played before, everyone was really impressed by the sound we created and mood at our live shows. We were also one of the early bands to play in B tuning (another point of conflict on the future of Overthrow) and as a rule I did not want to use any double bass kick drums in Soulstorm, I wanted it to be heavy without double bass kicks. I also added distortion to my bass sound which not many bands were doing at the time (one of my Blacky from VoiVod influences) and the vocals got sicker and darker and so did the lyrics. We had a lot of people excited about Soulstorm who helped us out a lot and as a result we got to open for KMFDM, Entombed, Grave and Massacre to name a few.

GT: How many releases did Soulstorm have? Can we grab a list so interested parties can get their paleontological gear out and start to dig?

NICK: December 1991 – “Control” demo

September 1992 – “Darkness Visible” (Epidemic)

March 1993 – “Darkness Visible” (licensed to Metal Blade/Music For Nations)

September 1994 – “From Euphoria To Paranoia” (Cargo Records)

December 1994 – “In Moments Of Weakness” (split 7” with Mundane) “Severed” demo version – clear burgundy vinyl – limited to 1000 copies (Utopian Vision Music)

March 1996 – “A New Level Of Surrender” – contains demo versions of “Transitional” and “Mute” – clear blue vinyl – limited to 300 copies (Fever Pitch Records)

January 1997 – “A Step Towards Healing” – “Mass Murder Culture” and “Suck (abrasive)” taken the cd ”From Euphoria to Paranoia” and demo versions of “Perfect” and “Anti” – clear green vinyl – limited to 100 copies (Bodybag Records)

June 1998 – “Under The Killing Sun” – (Sweet Tooth Recordings)

GT: Did Soulstorm tour?

NICK: We did a Canadian tour with Sacrifice and a US tour with Thought Industry. We also did another full Canadian tour with Monster Voodoo Machine. We did a bunch of Ontario tours with Malhavoc. We did a bunch of dates with Skrew & Chemlab. We also did a select bunch of dates with some shitty band too stuck up and crap to even be mentioned and even got kicked off a New York show and our hometown Toronto show (Genitorturers, please do not print their name, fuck it, I don’t care, ask me about that some day… haha)

GT: Any good stories from your days in Soulstorm?

NICK: I think the tours were great and a lot of fun. The early soulstorm days when it was the core line up. Oh, here’s a lovely story I would love to share; in ’93 we played at the Milwaukee Metalfest (#7), well, this was the same year that metal blade released our cd, so this was their actual first opportunity to see us live. It was so long ago I forget who was on before us but there were the two stages in different parts of the Eagle auditorium(?). somehow, after the band before us finished, the guys from Testament (needing an ego boost) took all of the amps that we were all sharing on our stage, their stage was all fully equipped and went well for all the other bands before them but Excrement, I mean Testament, wanted more fuckin amps, for what? You can only plug into one fuckin head! So, I’m left scrambling just to find a guitar amp let alone my own bass amp, finally after some pleading Frank from Suffocation let us use his guitar head and next thing you know we’re on, I didn’t even get a bass amp, what was left onstage was this little stupid combo amp with, seriously, 2” inch speakers that were blown. When we got offstage I got into this huge yelling match with Buck Chilly and his entourage, I had to get pulled away by my band, the looks on their self-righteous faces when I stood up to them was priceless. We still got offered a deal with Metal Blade but that’s not the point, when everyone is sharing the same back line as in festivals, you don’t fuckin pull that sneaky shit! I don’t care what band you are! This unfortunately affected our good friends in Thought Industry as well who went on after us, because Ice-T was so impressed with all of the amps Testament needed just for show, he had to use them too. So, fuck them for pretending to be all hardcore and down with the scene and end up fuckin bands over! (whew, what a rant, but I’ve never really told too many people (and never media) about that bullshit, you can use it if you want, I could care less what any of those bands think.

MONSTER VOODOO MACHINE:

GT: How did the whole thing with Monster Voodoo Machine come about?

NICK: I’ve known Adam (Sewell) since just before we did the Overthrow demo. He worked at the Record Peddlar where Brian Taylor also worked, and Ron and I would go and talk to Brian about the demo and every time we’d restock when the demo sold out, they really helped push it in the early days. I was also already good friends with Terry Landry who I met through Rick long before we were all in bands. I also knew Jason Cuddy who ironically I met through another friend and they went to school together and we ended up working at the same shitty job when we were like 16 years old. Darren (Quinn) is actually the one who hooked me up with the job; we started hanging out maybe around ’94, and especially once we toured together. When Soulstorm went on hiatus in Sept '95 and I moved to North Carolina for a year, I kept in contact with Darren and when I came home to visit he helped out on a recording then I got the offer to play keyboards for Monster Voodoo Machine which resulted in “The Pirate Satellite” cd and the side project – def.con.sound.system. for which we did a Canadian tour with us ending in L.A. for Foundation Forum 7. Darren went to play with Raggadeth and did not participate in def.con – I think due to this and doing a stripped down metal record, which Darren recorded on, somehow there was a miscommunication with them and I went from the not needed keyboard player (I went back to a stripped down non-industrial Soulstorm) to playing bass on the Ozzfest ’98 tour as well as across Canada on the first Queens Of The Stone Age tour. (the bassist at the time being Chris Harris who played on the second Soulstorm cd and toured with us in support of MVM in ’94, he switched to guitar for the ozzfest MVM shows).

GT: Was it nice change of pace to be in a band where you weren't the main man?

NICK: Very, very much so. At that point in my life I knew I could do both Soulstorm and Monster Voodoo Machine, I still had my outlet and knew my position in MVM. I never intended to be a singer, I wanted to be a bass player. The singing came out of necessity that we needed it to be done and since I was writing lyrics anyway, it just happened, and the fact that I could scream too was a bonus, haha - my really early influences were Steve Harris and Roger Waters, even Gene Simmons – what impressed me was the fact that they wrote most of the songs and lyrics, even if they weren’t the singer like in Iron Maiden or some of the stuff David Gilmour sings that Roger Waters wrote. Writing was a big part of what I wanted to do as well as play bass. The singing all happened out of necessity.

Adam Sewell (Monster Voodoo Machine) and Nick Sagias

MVM reunion show June 2010; Photo: Brian Pattison

GT: Did you record anything in studio with MVM or did you just play live with them?

NICK: The only recordings with Monster Voodoo Machine I did was on the “Direct Reaction” cd, I just did a bunch of backing vocals and a few other vocal parts that we worked on specifically.

GT: Any good tales for us from this era?

NICK: Here’s another crazy story; while we were recording the vocal parts for the MVM cd, it was around midnight and I was coming into the room to hear the tracks I just recorded and then, out of nowhere 3 guys with ski masks and a gun come in and tell us to put our hands up. Well, we thought it was a joke, that was quickly shattered by one of the guys saying, “this isn’t a joke” and they took us into the office and tied us up with duct tape and proceeded to rob the studio. Two guys robbed the place out of the back while the guy with the gun watched over us; it lasted about half an hour. That was fucked up.

Monster Voodoo Machine reunion June 2010

Photo: Brian Pattison

GT: Was there any temptation to join them on stage for a song or two at the recent reunion gig?

NICK: None at all. If they asked me, I would’ve done it or do back ups for a song I really like but that was the defining Monster Voodoo Machine line-up. The 1994 “Suffer System” line up who did the first Marilyn Manson tour and toured with Fight and did some Carcass dates and who Soulstorm toured Canada with in ’94. That was the strongest most cohesive line up of MVM, so I just like to sit back and watch them do their thing.

CLEANSE YOUR DEMONS

the drive to creativity

CYD live 2010, Photo: Brian Pattison

GT: Why start a band again after some years away from metal?

NICK: Well, when Soulstorm finally imploded in Dec '99. I stopped playing live and writing (sort of) and didn’t even barely touch my instruments, let alone rehearsing with anybody. So from that time until around 2006, I was trying to get out. Quit music. The only thing is, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stop doing what I was intended to do. At this point in my life and having talked with many other artists of all styles and mediums, I realized that what I do is a gift. It is also a curse in some sense because it can torture you on many levels, but you can never forget that not everybody can do this. Everyone is great at something, and sometimes these things aren’t what we love to do but knowing now that what I do is driven from a deeper place and desire really puts it in perspective. For example I can paint hundreds of art pieces and write a hundred songs but if nobody sees them or hears them, then what’s the point? I ran into Wayne in 2006 by chance, and he asked me if I wanted to jam. So, with no agenda, we began rehearsing and writing all different styles, fucking around basically. I had some ideas of what I wanted the new band to express and the moods I wanted to create but it took some time to get comfortable with and actually figuring out and doing what that band has become AntiTrust Division. When I started rehearsing with Wayne there were heavy songs, Sabbathy songs, and some kinda Ramones kinda punk rock thing we assembled but I wanted it to be much more than a rock band because at the time, this is all we were writing and rehearsing, it was raw. When I started adding keyboards and some loop based songs is when it all clicked for me, musically and lyrically and the art I was doing at the time. Then out of nowhere, I got an email from Rick asking if I wanted to record vocals for a track of his. The furthest thing from my mind was metal (much to Wayne’s disappointment but still heavily into what we’ve created with ATD). I thought it would be fun to do and I wanted to return to the really sick brutal style of vocals like on the first Soulstorm cd but without any kind of 'singy' clean vocals. Just sick and raw. After I finished the vocals at Rick’s he sent me the track all mixed and it sounded great and then he says, “ok, here’s the next song” and I went into this thinking it was a one off but we did the first three songs that make up our first demo recordings in 3 – 3hour sessions. Then he wanted to take it to the next level, at which point Wayne already had heard it and was on board immediately. So, there we were, playing metal again and it felt great, not forced or contrived.

GT: Did it bring back memories when you started jamming with Wayne again?

NICK: It just felt really comfortable and we know how to play off each other. Of course I’m following Wayne but it’s to the point of, I know his style and what he’s gonna do, most of the time, (fuckin drummers, haha). Even after all these years, it just feels natural and I never have to worry about him not being there behind me holding it down.

GT: When did Cleanse Your Demons form and how did you come to meet the other guys and convince them to get CYD started?

NICK: CYD started in January of 2010. I guess it could’ve started in December but because of the holidays we didn’t get together until the new year, which turned out to be quite fitting for the new band we were about to create. The funny thing is; I didn’t have to convince anybody, they had to convince me. Rick and Wayne wanted to play some loud metal and Wayne had been dying to for a while, so when he heard it & a few other close friends really liked it, I decided to go for it. There’s a whole other dark side that needs to come out,  and this was the perfect outlet. Also maybe some of the excitement of re-issuing the Overthrow cd played some part in wanting to have an outlet for heavy, crushing and aggressive music to be played.

CYD live; Photo: Brian Pattison

GT: For people completely unaware, can you try to describe the Cleanse Your Demons sound?

NICK: Doom, dark, death, crushing. We wanted this to be straight forward metal, heavy and direct. No clean vocals. No keyboards. No industrial anything. Just four guys hammering out crushing riffs. Not a continuation of Overthrow or Soulstorm but it’s own entity. I think it’s proving to be as such already, some of the new tracks we’ve begun writing will show that.

GT: How did the band settle upon it's name?

NICK: The name came from the song “Kingdom Of Rats”. That was the first song we recorded and when Rick wanted to do more songs, he wanted a name for the project, so he suggested “Cleanse Your Demons” which was a line that really stuck out for him. We threw around a few other names but nothing had quite the same ring and kind of really express what we were doing.

GT: What are shows like in Toronto compared to the Overthrow days 1989-1991? Any bands from those days stick out in your mind...specifically Alan wants to know stuff about "Sons Of Ishmael", as he used to write to Tim Freeborn (vocals)..

NICK: It’s always tough to talk about a scene. There are always a lot of bands at various time periods. Some overlap, some continue where another has left off. Local bands have decent draws, it’s up and down. The bigger out of town bands – those shows are usually packed but harder for local bands to get on due to the large package tours. It’s kind of tough for me to gauge also for the fact that I’ve kind of limited myself in metal shows in early 2000 until about 2006 when Celtic Frost came through and Sacrifice reunited. Since then I’ve been to a lot more shows, big and small, and the turn outs have been great. Metal really made a great comeback.

GT: So far, how has the demo been received? Getting any airplay?

NICK: So far we’ve had very enthusiastic feedback for both the demo and the latest track we recorded (”Soulless”). It feels like people are very receptive to the fact that I’ve returned to playing and singing metal again. It felt very natural right from the beginning and I think that is conveyed in the rawness of the first for songs that represent what we are about. As far as airplay, we’ve only had the demo available at the shows and have not sent many out really, mostly to a few industry people.

(since doing this interview Glorious Times has decided to change this and lend a hand to promote this band, already having been successful in getting the band some air time and into the hands of various zine editors, both paper and digital)

GT: Are you guys planning any live dates outside of Toronto?

NICK: We’re working on doing some out of town shows. Right now, we are focusing playing a few local shows maybe a few just outside the city and kind of start building the name up from our live shows, so when we go out of town people will want to come out.

GT: Any final statements Nick?

NICK: Well, I remember reading an interview with Martin Van Drunen a short while back and he was talking about how the vocals are better and stronger now than when he was younger and when I first started rehearsing with Wayne again we were doing heavy stuff and the screaming just felt natural and I noticed I had more control over what I wanted to do and knowing how to do it. So working off that, I would apply it to the whole band. We all know exactly what we want to do musically and know how to execute it. We look forward to playing a lot more now that we’ve been writing more material as well as recording it. So you can at least look forward to hearing a few new tracks very soon that will be crushingly heavy as we begin to define our sound.

CYD live; Photo: Brian Pattison

CONTACT THE BAND THROUGH THEIR OFFICIAL MYSPACE PAGE

TO ARRANGE AIR PLAY, INTERVIEWS & arrange BOOKING, CONTACT:

glorioustimesdeathbook@gmail.com

Cleanse Your Demons 2010 demo (flac)

Cleanse Your Demons 2010 demo (mp3)

GOATCRAFT - YOUNG BLOOD, OLD SOUL

In the mid to late 90's a young man attended a private school in Temple Terrace, Florida. He was invited into the work shed of the school's maintenance man, and came out with a map to a path of life which changed him forever - and the young man would take up his goatcraft from this very point on.

Rarely does an interaction between the generations of extreme produce such dedication to the glorious times.

GLORIOUS TIMES is very proud to showcase Goatcraft - the current project by Jason Kiss, aka The Lone Goat.

GT: We understand that GOATCRAFT comes out of the ashes of ADVENT ABORTUS...

LONEGOAT: Advent Abortus was a project that I tried to get together for a year and half, and it never completely solidified. It was focusing more on fast oriented piano with black metal riffing. I ran through quite a bit of musicians, and never found a proper guitarist. Many people in the scene advise me to do a full band - It really falls down upon finding a guitarist educated enough. Goatcraft was created to just do the piano side of Advent. Some of the Advent material is being used in Goatcraft. The first opus was a 78 minute long song, done in one take, with no stops. No smoke and mirrors - you hear it as exactly how it was played.

GT: Most "metal" oriented musicians approach keyboards from the novice level, or after gaining a name for themselves expect notoriety to come from using keys when really they have little to no real experience. Some background to your experiences with Piano etc? For that matter - a bit of a history into your musical exploits...

LONEGOAT: My father was an organist. So I was always fucking around on organ in my youth. It was a great experience when he'd show me the stuff he'd written - I thought it was amazing how coordinated his fingers were. It was a shame after his death the organs all of a sudden disappeared. When I was 9 I got my first keyboard, around 15 I started looking at it more seriously. The first album I was ever on was when I was 19, and was asked to do some tracks for Gored's Incinerate the Vanquished debut album. They still remain good friends of mine, and once they're ready for their next one I will be aiding them again.

GT: How old were you when you were bitten by the music bug? Do you recall what it was, was it the heavier metal stuff that just knocked you back or was it listening to some classical piece, really listening to it and finding the intricacies in the writing, the depth of the music, the interplay of the different instrumentations?

The Lonegoat, on a cliff in Okinawa Japan 2008 (photo: courtesy Jason Kiss)

LONE GOAT: I remember listening to classical as a kid - but not getting into it as much as metal. Getting into metal then extreme metal engulfed my childhood. My middle school and high school backpack had an abundance of metal patches on them. I've been branching out lately into Classical just to enjoy - I don't think I'm really inspired by many people.

GT: You've been into this extreme music since around 12, which was your first real exposure - which bands/musicians inspired you to include keys and now to concentrate on them fully, as your currently primary means of expression?

LONEGOAT: What's odd is that I really don't listen to many bands with keys - Old Samael is great, some Emperor is alright. When Mr. Moses introduced me to death metal as a youngster - it was the usual bands like Morbid Angel, Death, Napalm Death, Obituary, and so forth that I soaked my brain in. Playing with After Death and recording those tracks that are on the 'Retronomicon' album was the greatest exposure I've had. The cd was actually released while I was in Basic Training - then they headlined a European tour (as Nocturnus) while I was getting a boot in my face by uncle Sam. For influences on the craft - It'd have to be the aggressions of metal and the lunacy of some modern Classical composers.

Uniquely eccentric, the 1999 'Retronomicon' album from AFTER DEATH, this amber vinyl being limited to 222 pressed on Iron Pegasus Records. (photo: courtesy Jason Kiss)

If anybody reading this has access to copies of this release in THIS format, and is willing to part with them for a reasonable price, please contact us by sending an email to glorioustimesdeathbook@gmail.com

IRON PEGASUS RECORDS

After Death flyer. We couldn't agree with the description about the band enough!

GT: What was your musical training? Did you take classical lessons, learn music theory, take any classes on compositional writing?

LONEGOAT: I've sat down with a couple piano teachers, but the main influence on me was my father on organ when I was growing up. I haven't taken any classes on music other than attending private schools playing trumpet in school bands. I ditched trumpet a long time ago.

L-R - Belial Koblack, Demian Heftl, Pat Butcher, The Lonegoat, Brian Malone and Mike Browning. (photo - Daniele Leite)

GT: For the majority of us "Old Timers" really it was pretty much Nocturnus which really ushered in the acceptance of keys with the fledgling death metal style (late 80's)...yet you are a little bit at odds with the work of Louis Panzer - as an artist, can you elaborate on this?

LONEGOAT: I had heard Nocturnus here and there - but I got thrown into the Nocturnus fire when I was jamming with Mike Browning. Mike burned me cds of all his projects. Louis Panzer was a pioneer for what he did back then - that I can respect 100% - some of what he chose to do, I would've chosen differently. 'The Key' is a solid album - I think the band started the downward spiral after that - and of course how the other members fucked over Mike. I was shown a project Panzer was working on a few years ago - it was all acoustic guitars and I heard birds tweeting in the background... Maybe he's into yoga?

GT: As a "metalhead", what drew you to the works of Philip Glass?

LONEGOAT: Glass' compositions using repetition are superb. His Glassworks album gets regular plays here. I used to be on a diet of strictly metal. I started listening to a bit of classical and modern classical the past couple of years. There are levels that others have acheived in their own craft that are amazing.

GT: Any other modern composers that have influenced you that you think people should check out?

LONEGOAT: William Kraft did some great work - I'd love to sit down and watch his timpani concerto live.

1st and 2nd Gen extreme. Mike Browning & Jason Kiss, Tampa Florida 2005 (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Have you checked out John Zorn for inspiration?..in particular his cd "Cat O' Nine Tails" and also the last track on "Spillane/Two Lane Highway" in which he composed material for the Kronos Quartet. Really quite interesting stuff, specifically the track on "Spillane/Two Lane Highway" that has the string quartet along with turntable scratching and a Japanese singer.

LONEGOAT: I have heard John Zorn - Jazz is kind of hit or miss with me. I like his work with strings though. I haven't had the opportunity to hear 'Cat O' Nine Tails' yet.

GT: Was it difficult to find the time to continue your (goat) craft, whilst an enlisted man in the US military, and based in Japan?

LONEGOAT: Yes Sir! - I was really deprived. But once shit started to settle down and I had my own quarters and was allowed my personal belongings, I kept the flame going. I was deprived of metal as well. When I got back stateside from 3 days of traveling I immediately went to a show... It was great to be back having some beers and watching a killer metal show with a bunch of old goats from my past. Though however shitty it was being in the military, I did love Okinawa a great deal. The general US population doesn't realize how much Americans are hated overseas. I walked through a protest the Japanese held at the gates of the military base I was staying at.

The Lonegoat whilst based in Japan 2008 (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: You are an oddity of sorts since most people your age totally lack an understanding or respect for the pioneering times and personalities - are you conscious of this as you travel amongst your peers? I would mention having been working with Mike Browning was one of the highlights for a young man, what was it like working with him and ultimately taking part in a recording with him?

LONEGOAT: I have a great deal of respect for the old goats. There are actually a lot of people in my age range that do know where the roots to all this madness came from. I've had bandmates, roommates, friends all from the Glorious Times - and their crusades in that era is something worth admiring. Recording with Mike was real cool. I think I laid all of my tracks down in one or two takes, Demian Heftel is truly a fuckin' shred machine too. The overall experience was great.

The Lonegoat with HIS copy of Glorious Times! (photo: courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Taking that line of thinking, and you've championed our book Glorious Times in many mediums, even taking it with you to gigs to show people - how has the response been over all, from both the younger and older who've seen it?

LONEGOAT: The old crusties love the book, and I think they can really connect with it and it's a slab of their memories of that era. King Fowley was showing my copy of GT around at a gig. It's been in a lot of hands! If there is ever a re-print, I know some old crusties that would love a copy. The younger folk tend to just look at the photos. Rick Rozz in those short shorts.

GT: In keeping with the anecdotal element of our book, we invite you to share any sentiments about your own particular glorious times.

LONEGOAT: When I was 18 I was hanging out with the Thornspawn guys a lot, they pretty much got my hooves wet in the TX scene. Now there's two more bands formed from ex-Thornspawn members... HOD and Butchered Saint, both worth checking out! I threw 3 keggers in one week back when I was a minor - those parties were pretty fuckin crazy, a mixture of the metal and punk scene all in my apartment. We ended up just keeping the keg in the bathtub and took showers around it since it was being used so frequently. When I moved out of the apartment, I had to have professional carpet cleaners to get all the beer and blood stains out the carpet.

The Lonegoat timewarping with none other than Nokturnel Tom Stevens (photo - Eloisa Stevens)

GT: Can you give a few thoughts on what the inclusion of a new member will mean to the overall entity of Goatcraft?

LONEGOAT: After I finish the 2nd cd, the overall tone will change for Goatcraft. Instead of excruciating long songs - there will be "normal" lengths, and more dynamics going on - instead of 100% piano. The addition of drums will be a great asset to the craft!

GT: Your first song was quite long and really just an extended improv piece. As you continue writing do you expect your songs will become more structured and thought out?

LONEGOAT: The one I'm working on right now is not improv at all. I decided to go back and re-record some parts, and also add in some new ones. So it'll be delayed.

Generations Goat.  (photo: Eloisa Stevens)

GT: Bits of your first composition had an entropic flow, will you elaborate on those in future compositions and really play on the descent (or ascent) into chaos, possibly incorporating things that are not associated with classical music, such as throwing in the occassional blast beat (should you add percussion)?

LONEGOAT: I hope to continue the chaos - Adding in more elements are sure to extend the mayhem. All done differently than the first.

GT: Were you surprised at how many people wanted a disc of your initial recording?

LONEGOAT: Shocked and surprised! I decided to do Goatcraft 100% free for whoever is interested. I figure why make someone pay postage for something they may not even like? If doing this cuts into my beer budget, I might have to discontinue freebees for the masses.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE LONEGOAT'S KEYBOARD WORK HERE

GT: There's been mention of goatcraft performing live, possibly in a church. Beyond that performance, do you think you'd do more live performances, perhaps at metal shows? If you did perform as an opening act for a death metal band would you incorporate other elements into your performance...performance artists, a screen showing film fragments or montages?

LONEGOAT: I've talked to a few people. There might be an opening spot for a black metal gig down the road. It's hard to establish Goatcraft for live performances. I don't have the funds to do huge extravagant theatrics. The addition of drums will help out. I'd like to do that old church show and blaspheme the place - right now I'm focusing on recording, then start composing some material that'll suit well with drums.

GT: Will you be adding additional instrumentation to your upcoming works...string sections, horns, percussion?

LONEGOAT: Percussion yes. I have a drummer that I'm going to start working with. Doing this, the songs will be shorter as well. I'd like to add in many different elements on keys while it's just the two of us.

Military days of the Lonegoat. Physical training session prior to the 12oz curl 2008 (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Care to explain "minimalist" music? And what that train of thought means to Goatcraft?

LONEGOAT: Minimalist music is progressions built on repetition. I do this, but I focus a bit more on speed and darkness. I guess being into extreme metal has transfered over the aggression to piano - it's piano for goats!

GT: You've talked of writing in a minimalist style, do you believe what Miles Davis once said "It's not what you play, it's what you don't play"? Meaning it's not just the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play, the space in between the notes.

LONEGOAT: Creating scales and chords there are always notes I avoid. It varies.. The repetition aspect of minimalist music is used in Goatcraft.

Warming up for the first Emperial Massacre gig in TX 2005. (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Has Goatcraft taken inspiration from anything other than composers and metal? In particular I'm thinking of somewhat obscure bands like Henry Cow, Throbbing Gristle, Controlled Bleeding, The Art Bears, etc.

LONEGOAT: I'm pretty unfamiliar with those outside of metal and composers. I stumbled upon a couple pieces by Marc Ribot which were real fuckin weird.

GT: Have you looked at old industrial bands for any influence or ideas? I'm thinking along the lines of bands like (old) Test Dept, Digital Poodle and Soviet France who used not only synthesizer, but non-traditional sounds from things like metal pipes, steel drums and other odd bit as percussive instruments.

LONEGOAT: I've never really gotten into Industrial. So this is foreign to me.

The Lonegoat took part in this 2005 recording for Forever Underground records: Gored's 'Incinerate The Vanquished' album.

GT: Do you draw writing inspiration from movies, novels, comics, the news, life experiences?

LONEGOAT: I like to load up on movies sometimes, and in between them start writing. I get completely relaxed. I draw upon memories while playing as well - sometimes I forget I'm even playing.

GT: Any thoughts to adding vocals in the future...operatic, spoken word,...maybe vocals as a true instrument with no words,

LONEGOAT: I was thinking of adding in some random screams - for when the movements get chaotic, but for right now I'm focusing 100% on the music. I'm not too keen on clean vocals.

Early Emperial Massacre group shot. Jay, The Lonegoat & Del. (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Any intentions on recording using a Grand, Baby Grand or at least an upright piano? The synth you used for your initial recording sounded ok, but there's no replacing the real thing. Us metalheads have better ears for instrumentation than the average person believes.

LONEGOAT: I would love to! I don't own a piano - And honestly the last time I played on one was 6 months ago. The Korg keyboards do a real good job, but I agree, there is nothing like the real deal.

GT: As you continue to write will you branch out and explore the use of disonant tones, maybe use eastern scales instead of solely western scales?

LONEGOAT: We'll see where the future lies. The 2nd one I'm working on is different than the improv.

Daniel (Gored), The Lonegoat, and Larry (Acerbus/Images Of Violence). (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

GT: Any plans on possibly working with death metal bands and writing intros/outros or getting them to incorporate a bit of classical such as Celtic Frost and Paradise Lost once did?

LONEGOAT: When I was 19 I did some filler tracks for Gored's Incinerate the Vanquished album. Recently I recorded an intro for Omneity's live performances. I'm in talks with doing some session work for a band. I'm unsure if it'll solidify. I've also pulled bass for Emperial Massacre.

Lonegoat bass assault. Here, whilst in Emperial Massacre. (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

THE FINAL WORD FROM THE LONEGOAT:

Thanks for the opportunity for the interview. It's my personal first and I couldn't have had it by anyone that means more to me. Alan you're a true brother and introduced me to Extreme Metal as a youngster. It's a true honor to be a part of this Glorious Times article - and I hope you and Brian have the best of successes in your many Glorious Times projects! Total Support! Horns held high!

Full Service Dress. The Lonegoat. 2007 (photo - courtesy Jason Kiss)

We'd like to extend those thanks back at you Jason, for years of friendship and inspiration, and carrying the flag and concept of Glorious Times with you, spreading the word to all who will listen. We are watching your progress with great interest and suggest that everyone get a hold of your recordings and visit your youtube and myspace addresses for further information and exposure to your craft.

VISIT THE OFFICIAL GOATCRAFT MYSPACE HERE

Glorious Times advocate, the legendary Tom Stevens from Nokturnel, flyers a recent HOD show in TX with The Lonegoat in supportive attendance. (photo - Eloisa Stevens)