ESCAPE THE TORMENT

This time we have something a little different from our regular blog material. This blog installment consists of an interview we did with Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster.

Alex is one of the gentlemen of the scene, and has supported our efforts with Glorious Times since before we even went public with our plans to produce the book, and when he pledged his support and desire to participate, he kept his promise. That sits really well with us, and is in keeping with how it used to be a hundred years ago too. The rock-star virus has proven impossible to latch onto this man.

Beyond Death 1988 outside the River Rock Cafe

(photo - courtesy of the Buffalo 1980's Underground Metal page on Facebook)

GT: Back in 1989 I was starting up Chainsaw Abortions and you were among my first interviews. Could you have imagine that 21 years later Cannibal Corpse would still be going strong and that you would have had the career that you did? In your wildest dreams when you, Jack and Darrin were forming Beyond Death in 1986 could you have imagined that you'd go on this long in death metal and be so influential?

ALEX: We definitely had no idea that all of this would happen. At that time death metal was less than 5 years old and even heavy metal had been around for less than 20 years so the thought that we could have a band together for over 20 years (let alone a decent career) was something that never crossed our minds. If somebody would have told me then what was going to happen with our band I would have laughed at them. We were hoping at most to release an album and maybe do some touring. Everything else that's happened is beyond anything we could have imagined at that time.

Alex in his Beyond Death days, 1988

(photo - courtesy of the Buffalo 1980's Underground Metal page on Facebook)

GT: Do you ever get the urge, particularly when you play Buffalo, to get Darrin to come down from Toronto and just burst into an old Beyond Death song like "Waiting to Die", "I'm Sick" or "Mr. Yuk" for the old timers in the crowd?

ALEX: I'd love to jam those songs with Frank, Jack, and Darrin again. I don't know about doing any shows since Beyond Death is still active with a different lineup, but getting together in a practice room sometime and jamming just for fun would be awesome. I loved playing those songs. Not sure how well my singing voice has held up though....I guess we'd have to see!

Flyer for Cannibal Corpse's first gig

GT: I was there at your first gig at the River Rock Cafe opening for Dark Angel. Could you describe what that show was like for you? Did you feel the pressure of opening for them on your first gig as Cannibal Corpse?

ALEX:  It was an incredible rush to play in front of so many people. In our old bands we'd never had the chance to open for a major national band like Dark Angel, so the 450+ people in the River Rock for that show was probably the biggest audience any of us had played to at that time. There was some pressure for sure, but when you're young you just throw caution to the wind and go for it. If I was in the same situation now I'd probably be more aware of just how important the gig was and feel a lot more pressure.

One other cool thing I remember about that show was that for some reason I was unable to use my own bass (I can't remember the exact reason, maybe it was broken) so Gary from Baphomet (who were also on the bill that night) let me use his white BC Rich Warlock bass, which was really cool of him. That's one of maybe 4 or 5 times in my whole career I've used someone else's bass for a show.

Flyer for the final show at the Skyroom in Buffalo, NY

GT: How special were those years in Buffalo to you, from your first gig in 1989, to playing in front of 600+ at A Day of Death in 1990 to playing the final show at the Skyroom in front of 700+?

ALEX:  Buffalo had such a great scene during the late 80's and early 90's. We were proud to be a part of it and we remember those shows well. The Day of Death was truly amazing, I've gone into detail in Glorious Times about how special that show was to us, and the final Skyroom show was awesome as well. Although Buffalo maintained a strong scene for a few years after that final show, I think it might be the show that marked the peak of the scene there. It's the biggest all-local band show I can remember from Buffalo (I was told there were over a 1000 people there, but I never heard an official head count).

I think everyone in the Buffalo scene at that time had the feeling we were part of something pretty special, something new. Death metal was a fairly new form of music at that time and there were a few really strong scenes internationally that helped it grow like Tampa, Stockholm, New York City/tri-state area, Montreal/Quebec...I feel like Buffalo was one of those strong scenes as well.

Paul in his Tirant Sin days

(photo - courtesy of Dennis John Glinski)

GT: Cannibal Corpse has gone through a few members, with only you and Paul remaining from the original lineup. Which other original member was it hardest for you to part ways with - Jack, Chris or Rob?

ALEX:  All of those guys had a lot of creative input in the band while they were members so it wasn't really easy to replace any of them. We worked hard to try to make sure each lineup change resulted in what we felt was an improvement in the band (that's subjective of course). Kicking out Bob was hard because it was something we did because we felt we had to, not because we wanted to. It was strictly done to improve the band musically. With Chris, we had had a few personal problems so that made it a little easier to ask him to leave the band when the time came, although by then the reason was also musical, not personal. Replacing him was the probably the hardest because singers are generally the face of the band, and that was certainly the case with Chris. He did most interviews and wrote most of the lyrics, so many people thought we were taking a big risk by replacing him. We had confidence in George though, so we really weren't that worried about it. That's probably another case of us being too young to be cautious!

GT: I remember back when cannibal corpse first started you were a real big fan of steve Digiorgio of Sadus, what other bassists impress you these days?

ALEX: Yes, Steve is still one of my favorites to this day as a matter of fact. He's one of the main influences that helped me develop my style of playing.

These days there are a lot of killer bassists in the death/extreme metal scene, like Mike Flores from Origin, Jeroen Thesseling of Obscura, Novy (ex-Vader, ex-Behemoth), Patrick Boleij of Severe Torture,  Jeff Hughell of Reciprocal (ex-Brain Drill), Mike Poggione from Monstrosity, Derek Boyer from Suffocation, Erlend Caspersen from Blood Red Throne....there are really a lot more bassists making themselves heard these days in death metal, and naturally I'm very happy to see that. In the old days, with the exception of a few legends like Steve and Roger Patterson (Atheist) bass players were almost an invisible member of the band for most death metal bands. I'm glad to see that's changed.

George

(photo - Alison Webster)

GT: When you parted ways with Chris was it a conscious decision to go with a more old school death metal vocalist in Corpsegrinder rather than another gutteral singer like Chris had become?

ALEX: Pretty much. George had a voice that was more like what we had always wanted in the first place. The bands that influenced us a lot often had really fast singers, bands like Dark Angel and Slayer. Either that, or they had the more gravelly voiced type singers as opposed to the ultra-low guttural approach Chris adopted for our 2nd and 3rd albums. For example, just to give you an idea of what we were looking for, two of my favorite singers in death metal are Ross Dolan from Immolation and Martin Van Drunen from Hail of Bullets (we were all really into his singing on Pestilence's Consuming Impulse album in particular). We felt that George had a really good combination of Doty or Araya-like speed and the gravelly/guttural (but not necessarily ultra-low) character of some other death metal singers we liked. Besides, we were all big fans of George's work with Monstrosity. When it came time to make a change in the vocal department, George was our first choice.

GT: You've been touring off and on for about a year now in support of "Evisceration Plague". How have the various tours (Australia, Europe, America, South America) gone?

ALEX: Everything's been going really well. We've been traveling so much I'm going to need some time to digest it all when we're all done. It's really great to see this much interest in death metal worldwide. It really is an international form of music.

Alex and Paul with their copy of "Glorious Times"

GT: Keeping with the concept of “Glorious Times”, do you have any good stories/memories to share from your "Evisceration Plague" tours?

ALEX: We've had a lot of good experiences over the past year and half while touring for this album, but I'd say if I had to pick one as a favorite it would be doing the Mayhem festival tour which featured one of our all time favorites Slayer (and around a dozen other bands as well). Touring with a band we've been influenced by since we were teenagers like Slayer was truly incredible, and being able to hang out with them a little bit during the tour was really great. Throughout the tour some of the bands would host parties and BBQs in the parking lots of the venues after the shows. There would always be a few members from each band on the tour at these parties, so everybody had a chance to hang out. It was definitely a great time, it was like a traveling extreme metal circus or something.

GT: What's the writing process like for Cannibal Corpse these days? Do you write on the road and in rehearsals or do you write all your stuff in studio now?

ALEX: Usually the songs will be written at home by whichever band member is writing the song and then he'll show the song to the rest of us as it starts to take shape. That's how it works most of the time, although each album might have a song or two that's written more spontaneously at the practice room. We pretty much never write on the road or in the studio. On the first 2 albums most of the songs were written at the practice room, often with all three string players contributing several riffs to each song. We started writing things more individually during Tomb, and even more so on the Bleeding. By the time Gallery of Suicide came out we had pretty much settled into the songwriting system we have now.

Dennis John Glinski (Grave Descent), Paul, Jimmy Link and

Rich Ziegler (Grave Descent) at the

Cannibal Corpse show in Buffalo, December of 2009

(Dennis and Rich were in Tirant Sin with Paul)

(Photo courtesy of Dennis John Glinski)

GT: How much fun was it to come back in December and play to your hometown crowd in Buffalo?

ALEX: It was great to be back. It was particularly cool that time since Hatebreed was headlining. Once we finished our set we had plenty of time to hang out with our friends during Hatebreed's set. Normally when we play Buffalo we headline and often have to leave in a hurry to make it to the next show. So, we had a good long hang that night with a bunch of our friends, it was killer. We'll be back this November too so hopefully we'll see everyone there again.

GT: What's your favorite track on "Evisceration Plague" musically and what's your favorite track from that album to play live?

ALEX: I like "Skewered From Ear to Eye" the best, it's one of the songs I wrote so I guess I'm biased. I like it because it's a little bit different from some of our other stuff and also because Pat does some really cool leads in that song. My favorite song to play live from that album is "Priests of Sodom". It's just a really fun song to play.

GT: Once the tours for "Evisceration Plague" are done are you guys going to take a break or are you jumping right back into the studio?

ALEX: We'll start writing a new album pretty much immediately with the goal of getting into the studio by mid-2011. We try to avoid taking breaks longer than a month or so.

Beyond Death live at the River Cafe 1988

(photo - courtesy of the Buffalo 1980's Underground Metal page on Facebook)

GT: We want to again thank you for your participation in our book "Glorious Times". Several bands had told us they were "too busy" to spend 5 minutes writing down a favorite memory of theirs from those days, but you took the time while you were on tour to not only write down your story, but to get back to me a couple of days later to change some of it. We really appreciated that, it's something we will never forget and it's one of those things that we think makes our book special. Do you have any last words of wisdom to impart upon our readers?

ALEX: Well, it was our pleasure to be featured in the book, we really appreciate the opportunity. Even though we've achieved some success in the metal mainstream we are still a band that plays death metal and comes from an underground background. The zines, tape traders, and college radio stations that helped us out before the mainstream press would give us the time of day are people that we will never forget and will do our best to continue to support. So thank you very much for the interview, and thank you to all of our supporters, and all supporters of death metal. See you on tour!

Alex Webster July 23, 2010

CHECK THE CANNIBAL CORPSE PAGE FOR TOUR DATES

We wish you all continued success Alex, personally and professionally, and urge everyone who hasn't done so, to check out our GTCDR005 'A Day Of Death' - which among other bands, features 2 previously unheard Cannibal Corpse live tracks from that inspirational evening of October 20 1990. It can found on our blog, simply entitled: A DAY OF DEATH.

A DAY OF DEATH

October 20, 1990, the (Country Club) Skyroom in Buffalo, NY...if you were there you will never forget it, if you weren't there you wish you were. The pinnacle of the early death metal scene, the moment just before the majors noticed death metal and screwed up a good thing. A lineup of bands still unsurpassed some 20 years later - Radiation Sickness, Lucifer's Hammer, Deceased, Suffocation, Goreaphobia, Incantation, Mortician, Disharmonic Orchestra, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Baphomet, Repulsion and Autopsy. Two decades later A Day of Death is still talked about in international circles, and not just by those who were there, it has become the thing of legend to the newer death metal fans who were too young to have been there. The flyer for the show even makes its presence today in "Choosing Death" by Albert Mudrian.

Suffocation at A Day of Death, Photo : Brian Pattison

It started with rather humble beginnings. In early 1990 Joe Pristach (Mosh Central 'zine) and Brian Pattison (Chainsaw Abortions 'zine) began talking about possibly promoting a show of up and coming bands we knew. It was a long time ago so we can't recall if this was before or after the Michigan Death Fest was announced, but we make no claims to being the first death fest. We thought it would be great to put on a show with these demo bands who were friends of ours - Mortician, Deceased, Immolation, this new band from Long Island named Suffocation, Goreaphobia and a few locals. Somehow the manager at the Skyroom caught wind of it and decided they would jump on that, they decided to line up the bands and just use Brian and Joe as promoters.

Deceased at the Michigan Death Fest (Aug. 11, 1990)

Photo: Brian Pattison

The Michigan Death Fest was fast approaching and within a week of it Exmortis cancelled and Baphomet from Buffalo was added to the bill. At the time Brian Pattison was really good friends with Baphomet and they asked him to tag along. They got there, go past the Jesus Freaks picketing the show and begin handing out flyers for A Day of Death. This would be where Brian first met King of Deceased. Handing out flyers and this guy comes up to Brian and says "hey is this you?" and points to Chainsaw Abortions at the top of the flyer for A Day of Death. Then he says who he is and that Deceased is listed on there but no one even asked them if they wanted to play it. Brian started to explain how the club had taken over control of the show from him and Joe, when King interrupts and says no big deal they'd love to play it. It was also around the time of the Michigan Death Fest (Aug. of 1990) that Repulsion reformed, they were quickly added to A Day of Death's already amazing lineup.

Disharmonic Orchestra at A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

In September of 1990, Disharmonic Orchestra made the trip from Austria over to the United States for a short tour. One of those shows was to be played at the "Rotting Grandma Ampitheatre" in Belle Vernon, Pa. Brian made the roughly 4 hour trek with some friends from Buffalo to see the show. Turned out to be a rain filled day so instead of playing on a stage in the backyard as planned, Disharmonic Orchestra ended up playing in the basement (recorded on Don Crotsley's radio and Brian Pattison's cassette tape). Once back in Buffalo Brian talked to the guys in Baphomet and told them they had to get the club to add Disharmonic to A Day of Death. So, the 12th band was added.

Sharon Bascovsky (Derketa), Brian Werking (Exmortis), Jeff Walker (Carcass)

and Mary Bielich (Derketa) at A Day of Death.

Photo courtesy of Sharon Bascovsky

The day finally arrived and was as much about the people in attendance as it was the bands on stage. It was a rare opportunity for many of us to meet others from various parts of the country, even from other countries. It was great just to walk through the crowd and talk to people like Sharon (Derketa) and Sam (Hideous Mangleus) who made the journey from Pittsburgh, talk to Jeff McClelland (Death Vomit 'zine) from Virginia, see Jeff Walker (Carcass) walking about in the crowd, to see and talk to Ed Farshtey (Book of Armageddon 'zine) and the NYC contingent, to see Domino Minchelle who came all the way from France for the show. Of course, the key one, the impetus for the book, the reason you're reading this now...the day when Alan Moses and Brian Pattison would finally meet. Between, and even during bands, if you were to meander over to the merch tables you would see one guy standing about 15' away just watching and enjoying the activities; that guy was none other than Chris Reifert. Looking out into the crowd and seeing 600+ death metal heads from all over converging in Buffalo was a truly glorious sight. There was a feeling in the air that this was something special, that we were all witnessing history. An unforgettable day for death metal and for Buffalo.

Repulsion at  A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

This wasn't a fest like the ones of today where you have 90 bands and all but 3-5 are mediocre, this was 13 of the best bands of the times. Each band came on, played their 30 -35 min set and raged. Every band was made of fans too, so before and after their sets they could be seen walking amongst the crowd or by the stage enjoying the other bands...that is unless (like King of Deceased) you got kicked out for sneaking your own booze into the club. Early on things were going really smooth and everything was right on schedule. Then came Goreaphobia, at the time they only had a handful of songs so they went through their quick set, then just a couple of minute break and out came Incantation, not even scheduled to play, just another bonus for all in attendance. The sound guy did not realize Incantation was not the next band scheduled (remember, the Skyroom was a country bar) and so began the lengthening of the day. Thinking Incantation was the next band scheduled and that things were apparently running well ahead of schedule he began to lengthen the times between bands.

Autopsy at  A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

All the added times between bands led to it now being beyond midnight and Autopsy had yet to play. Many of us had been in the club since 3 o'clock or even earlier. You could see the half-conscious look in everyones eyes during the break after Repulsion. The edges of the stage and all areas in back were filled with the bands from the day. As Autopsy took the stage everyone seemed to get their second wind to pay respect to the masters. From his vantage point on stage right Brian was able to take some great up close shots of Reifert. Brian was also able to look across stage and see his friend Alan Moses taking pics and enjoying the show from stage left. 20 years later digging through boxes Brian would find some of the pics he took that night and found that he had captured Alan in a few of them. Likewise, Alan had captured Brian in a few of the pics he took. We had even captured each other in pics we took at the same exact moment. It would be those pics that would start us on discussions and then the journey to making and releasing "Glorious Times".

Autopsy at  A Day of Death

(standing up across the stage is Alan Moses)

Photo: Brian Pattison

Autopsy at  A Day of Death, standing up across the stage

(black shirt, white writing) is Brian Pattison

Photo: Alan Moses

CRACKING THE LID OFF THE COFFIN ~ AGAIN!

Fans of death metal, and extreme music in general, are known far and wide to be tremendous gluttons for punishment. So this time we've enlisted some help from ex-Decaying Visions video zine co-creator John Verica, who has contributed something very special as we approach A Day of Death's 20 year anniversary on October 20 2010.

In customary Glorious Times style we've tapestried selected tracks provided by John, into another of our DIY CDR download packages - everything you need to construct your own title! Inserts, tray layout and both flac and mp3 versions to give you a representation of what the night was like: a peek into the sheer glory of it all.

Pure live audio and more unseen photos, plus special sentiment, await you on this unique celebratory project featuring selected tracks by a number of the bands who took part in this colossus of an event.

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (MP3)

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (FLAC PART 1)

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (FLAC PART 2)

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DOWNLOAD OR DIE!

JULY 2010 OFFERS & NEWS FROM GLORIOUS TIMES

Glorious Times has 4 new announcements to make you aware of.

THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT:

GT is now the proud distributor of CAISSON FILMS, they are a grass-roots film company that is making the movie "Deep Seeded" which will feature Kam Lee in his first movie role.

We have for sale 3 individual dvd's and also 1 dvd which has all 3 films. These are showcase films introducing the company's work and what they have done so far.

Individual films cost $5 US dollars (plus postage) and the dvd with all 3 films costs $10 US dollars (plus postage).

The films are: "Heart Of The Damned", "Slip Of The Ton...gue" and "Spare The Rod".

IF YOU ARE SERIOUSLY INTERESTED IN OBTAINING THESE MOVIES - AND HELP SUPPORT THE WORK OF CAISSON FILMS & IN SO DOING, HELP KAM LEE'S FIRST FILM PROJECT - GET IN TOUCH!

POSTAGE RATES FOR CAISSON FILMS ORDERS

USA - $1.56

CANADA - $1.75

REST OF WORLD - $3.12

THE SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT:

Glorious Times is now working in conjunction with Jim Nickles & Shredly Studios to make available PRE-PRESS orders of something very special for Malevolent Creation fans, and fans of the early days of extreme music.

It's a demo recorded in 1987, remixed in 2010 by Jim Nickles (founding guitarist)...remixed in the very house where Malevolent Creation was formed.

Containing the 3 tracks: 'Sacrificial Annihilation', 'The Traitor Must Pay' and 'Confirmed Kill', "Confirmed Kill" was performed live in studio.

These versions have never been released. 'Confirmed Kill' was never recorded in studio again.

CD layout will include rare photos of Malevolent Creation from 1987, plus liner notes by Jim Nickles.

$5 US dollars (plus postage) for prepress orders. Once the disc is pressed (mid to late August) price will jump to $7 US dollars (plus postage)

Jim Nickles with GT Xmas 2009

POSTAGE RATES FOR MALEVOLENT CREATION CD ORDERS

USA - $1.90

CANADA - $2.27

REST OF WORLD - $4.80

THE THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT:

GT is now a proud distributor of BUTCHERED RECORDS. Starting today we have 13 titles for sale, all $10 (plus postage). We'll be adding more titles in the coming weeks.

Current titles:

Abdicate - Forged In Ruin

Deception - Nails Sticking Offensive

Foul Stench - Eternal Rot

Human Mastication - Grotesque Mastication Of Putrid Innards

Hybrid Viscery - The History Of Torture, Execution And Sickness (Burning Dogma Recs)

Imposer - Divine Intolerance

Modus Delecti/Clitordis Invaginatus/Dismembermen Split CD

9th Entity - Diabolical Enticement Of Blood And Lust

9th Plague - Apocatastasis Reversed

Plague Angel - Stagnation Of Christ

Sufferatory - Pseudophilosophic

Yogth-Sothoth - Abominations Of The Nebulah Mortiis

Yogth-Sothoth - The Dark Waters Are Shaken

POSTAGE RATES FOR BUTCHERED RECORDS ORDERS

USA - $1.90

CANADA - $2.27

REST OF WORLD - $4.80

If you are ordering more than 1 cd or dvd or any combination thereof, ask us ahead of time and we can possibly cut you a little deal.

THE FOURTH ANNOUNCEMENT:

We have some cheap goodies still available in a limited run. These were made on the basis of requests from people, who wanted some kind of cool GT knicknack to buy and also expressed interest in seeing our old zines.

Glorious Times keychains $3.

CDR with pdf scan of Buttface #2 and Chainsaw Abortions #2, also tossed in alternate Nuclear Death and Malevolent Creation layouts; also $3. These zines being those of the GT editors from 'back in the day'.

Or you can get the keychain AND cdr for $5. USA dollars, through paypal, price is universal and includes postage.

All payments are to be made out in US DOLLARS and sent via paypal to this email address: glorioustimesdeathbook@gmail.com

SLATED FOR VICTORY

1995's 'Upon The Throne Of Eternity' on the German Silencelike Death label. (Photo - Alan Moses)

Pete Slate is a name that should not be unknown, having taken part in some killer acts from the glorious era of extreme music. Acheron and Incubus being the two most recognized bands from the time period. ANYBODY who has heard the resilient and time tested stand alone album 'Rites Of The Black Mass' by Acheron can hear Slate's DNA stamp all over the guitar work on this amazing debut album.

Ultra-classic Acheron featuring Pete Slate. Photo - courtesy Vincent Crowley.

Incubus featuring Pete Slate & Mark LaVenia, prior to Pete leaving. Taken in the Howard brother's family home in Tampa 1990. Far right is Invincible Force 'zine editor Bryan Daniel who was intrumental to the photographer's life in the USA. This photo, like so many others GT uses, are unseen until now.(Photo - Alan Moses).

Official band bio insert which comes with the very rare 1995 EP. (Photo - Alan Moses)

So what the fuck happened? When Pete left Acheron, he teamed up with drummer Stephen Spillers to form what our friend Jason Kiss (Advent Abortus/Emperial Massacre) termed 'a true hidden Florida gem' in the now long running band EQUINOX. The original core was augmented by the notorious Mark LaVenia on bass and "Darkness" on vocals and we cannot agree with Jason's comment enough - Pete Slate has stood at the helm of what is truly a band that missed the spotlight.

Equinox featured in Peru's TESTAMENT 'ZINE #10. (Photo - Alan Moses)

Amazing when the 2nd wave of signings took up many straight out mediocre bands that were happy, and in one bizarre case,  to leave their posts as Young Republicans and to clone the pioneers of their choice.

What kind of bullshit is this? Factory farmed extreme music spelled the death knell. Out with the original and in with mediocrity - the rallying cry of the new era!

As the commercialism of black metal became,and has remained a solid fact then, this may have forced Equinox further into the shadows, as many folks simply had had enough of the imagery and sound of the black metal style, leaving it to the trend followers - and just never gave Slate's new outfit a chance due to the imagery of the early period.

An early Equinox shot from Spring 1995, Matt in foreground, Pete in background. (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

NOT so musically. "Black Fucking Death" is an apt description! So it's a shame this hidden gem laid neglected by many, despite the involvement of key-name figures such as Pete Slate, Mark LaVenia and Tony Blakk.

One of the earliest line up shots to feature Mark Lavenia - here in 1993. Not often seen since other selections from this shoot were used much more frequently. (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

STEPHEN SPILLERS (original drummer): "Mark was kind of like the elder, more experienced brother in those days. I always looked up to him because of his integrity both musically and personally. He was a phenomenal bassist and on the early recordings we were a four piece but Matt was only singing and we only had Pete's guitar so it had the sound and feel of a three piece. Mark's bass work carried the music. He made the single guitar sound work."

Some of the classic material you should be trying to locate right now. (Photo - Alan Moses)


THE IMMORTAL KIND CD CAN BE ORDERED HERE:

METABOLIC RECORDS OFFICIAL MYSPACE

OR

THE METABOLIC RECORDS WEBSITE


ABOUT THE CD OF RARE MATERIALS:


MARK LAVENIA: "Interestingly, all of our early recordings, including tracks from these demos, have just been compiled and released through Grim Nocturnal Records (www.grimnocturnalrecords.com), titled, As the Moon Swallows the Sun. It also has some really rough sounding live tracks. In addition to The Oath, it has several other covers that were originally on different tribute albums: Sabbath’s Hole in the Sky, Slayer’s Haunting the Chapel, and Mercyful Fate’s Gypsy. These were all recorded after I left the band. The exception being Hole in the Sky, where Pete asked me to make a cameo appearance and play the acoustic guitar coda, Don’t Start (Too Late). It’s fun too, after 15 years to have some of this stuff released, and the assembly of all of these tracks was really well done."


THE LASTEST CD OF RARE MATERIAL "AS THE MOON SWALLOWS THE SUN" CAN STILL BE PURCHASED HERE:


GRIM NOCTURNAL RECORDS

As rare as the band itself!! (Photo - Alan Moses)

Is it possible to salute the old world extremity, from a metal oriented approach, without losing integrity or personality? Fuck yeah, grab this band's recordings and the fact that it has been done without coming off as a total rip off will smack you right in the face. There's TOO MANY classic songs, but some are 'The Enchantress', 'Wretched and Nameless' and 'De Sacrificio Summo' -which come immediately to mind.

1994's classic 3-trk self titled promo Demo.

Tony Blakk, right from the above demo era, Summer 1994. (Photo - Mark Lavenia)

MARK LAVENIA :" I think we made some cool tunes. I think our daring to be slow—considering what many other bands were doing at the time—made for a fresh sound. Furthermore, I think we were able to capture a mood that was dark and eerie, without resorting to the low-hanging fruit of hateful, sick, and perverse themes. I know, many people probably think, ‘you say “sick and perverse” like it is a bad thing”’; LOL. Truth is, we love many bands that dwell in that realm; however, it just wasn’t the identity we wanted to convey. And for my part, it wasn’t a mentality that I wanted to purvey. I’m not sure if that helped us or hurt us. Nevertheless, I think our authenticity in that regard contributed to a recognizable identity.

In addition, what they’ve gone on to do since I left has sent the intensity of their song writing through the stratosphere. Although I really loved Steve’s drumming, the addition of Gabe to the line up had a transformative effect on the band: his technique gave them a sound that was ready for the world’s stage. Just to be clear, I personally like listening to Steve’s drumming just as well, and found it to be perfectly well suited for the sound we were going for in the early years of the band. However, Gabe’s highly technical playing and phenomenal chops gave them a sound that was less “underground,” if you will; and thus, was appealing to a broader circle of fans.



All that said, I think the secret ingredient to their success has been Pete’s unrelenting perseverance and commitment to the music. I am totally impressed with his ability to hang in there and keep plugging away month after month, year after year. Furthermore, his creative wellspring has not even remotely been depleted. Pete is the real deal."

Much of the band's music should be preferably listened to with headphones on, might we add, for there is yet another hidden layer waiting the more adventurous, who are NOT content with making this sort of music background in nature.

Matt June 19 2006 (Photo - Mark Lavenia)

Being family men and regular job workers, you'd think Pete would have laid his weapons down - not the case, far from it. The man has soldiered on creating some of the most vital and interesting song structures to come from the style worldwide, let alone nationwide or even Florida wide. And you bet the indelible forensic proof comes with Pete's immediate signature guitar work.

Hard Rock Live @ Universal, Citywalk - Orlando, Fl 2006 (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

At the end of April 2010 we got up again with Pete, and had a little chat to get his opinion on a couple things:

GT: As Equinox is an active band with material out and history behind it, what is the current status of the band musically and line up wise?

PETE: We are still together. I'm writing some new songs. Since we are looking for a permanent label to help distribute our music, we want to get either a demo cd out or a 7"ep. I'm a huge fan of vinyl and it's very popular again. So maybe that will happen. It's myself on guitar, Tony Blakk on Vocals/Bass, and Gabe Lewandowski on drums.

GT: Is it possible to judge the fan base's responses to the older material compared to the newer material?

PETE: That's a hard question. We still have long time fans but we get a lot of new hits everyday on Myspace of new fans that are just now getting into the band. All our albums have gotten a great response and most of the fans want the whole collection since the cd's are getting harder to come by.

GT: Has the band found more of a following in certain countries?

PETE: Well Europe in general has always been good to us. Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and course Mexico and parts of Central America.

Complimentary Equinox Poster (!) which accompanies Testament 'zine #10 from Peru. (Photo - Alan Moses)

GT: What's your reaction to the statement that Equinox is one of the hidden gems in the Tampa scene's crown?

PETE: That pretty much sums it up. We were always the band that got overlooked. It was because we formed back in late '92. Shit, by that time the scene here in Fl was just over saturated with Death Metal bands and everyone was getting tired of the FL scene. Even though we didn't sound anything like that, we got lumped into the whole FL thing. Had we been formed a few years earlier things would of been a lot different. I believe that whole heartedly.

A 1993 promo photo that remained unused until the release of 'As The Moon swallows The Sun'. (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

GT: Did you ever think this far down the road you'd still be writing and having your tunes published?

PETE: Well yes, in a way. I always believed in our music and I knew if we found the right label to help us get our music around the world we'd be very popular. Now we just need to find a well respected record label.

GT: How was LaVenia's wedding?

PETE: Great man. Mark has been a long time friend since I was about 19. We've been in countless bands together so to be at his wedding was an honor. He's like a brother to me. The wedding was awesome and his father played jazz guitar at the reception. We even had pictures with the Glorious Times book. THAT BOOK NEVER LEAVES MY SIDE!!!!!

Now we are talking. History WITH History! Mark & Pete were kind enough to have a photo taken with GT at Mark's wedding! We wish you and your wife all the best Mark, thank you both for such a cool gesture!
(Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

MARK LAVENIA: "It wasn’t until Pete Slate and I became friends that I became acquainted with the darker hues of metal. He introduced me to Slayer, Possessed, Celtic Frost, etc. I immediately loved the intensity and chunky grooves. Like Ride the Lightning before it, my first hearing of Reign in Blood was a game changer and, for me, completely recalibrated what it meant for a tune to be bad ass. Certainly we’d catch shows with Morbid Angel or Amon (now Deicide). However, bands like Kreator, Coroner, even Testament and Anthrax were fair game. Athiest or Obituary was just as likely to be in the tape deck as Destruction or Voivod. Pete was always more of an aficionado on the underground scene than I was. He would always have me check out this or that demo he just traded for; I can’t say that many the real obscure ones ever really stuck with me, though it was cool to hear the new sounds that were emerging."

"We were witness to the birth pangs and formative throes of Tampa’s death metal scene. And that was cool. As I think many people can relate, it is cool as a kid to know about obscure bands that are not on many people’s radar; it’s as if you have special knowledge. Add to that that the given band is more brutal or macabre than they thought musically possible, and it is as if to say, I live in a world unbeknownced to you, and it is not for the faint of heart. In the sage words of Beavis, “The only thing better than getting chicks, is scaring them.” However, that is all pretty much kid stuff, and I resolved to not get stuck in that. Thus, I enjoyed hearing new bands, but had no particular disdain for a band just because they were or became well known (providing they held to the integrity of the music)."

Gabe during 'The Immortal Kind' recording sessions, NEVER SEEN BEFORE! (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

"If you couldn’t tell already, Pete was and is one of my very best buds. So, he and I never lost contact. We currently talk infrequently, but the space doesn’t make us at all estranged. Anyway…after Incubus, Pete had met a drummer, Steve Spillers; they were talking about putting together a project that was in the black/death metal vein. Pete invited me in and I was totally into the idea. Although we all loved the vicious riffing and blazing beats of many of the bands of the time, we were all in agreement that something really old-school was what we were wanted to pour our energy into. Pete and Steve were much more familiar with the European black metal bands that they wanted to fashion the sound after, than I was. For me, my influence hailed from more fundamental roots—what I consider to be the pro-genesis to the entire scene: the title track off of Black Sabbath’s debut album. Moreover, we were all after the same construct, though were coming at it from slightly varied angles."

"The first band Pete and I were together in was called Blacke Rose (à la early Mercyful Fate). After a couple years, it was clear that Pete and I wanted to take the band in a direction that the other guys weren’t up for (and, we knew that the name had to go). The drummer stayed with us, but his heart was never really into it. Pete ran into Kam, told him about what we were trying to do; we all met, hit it off, and started writing new materials and rehearsing right away."

Mark LaVenia on Abhorrent Existence

ON THE NEW BAND DRUID LORD...

GT: Druid Lord is the new side project (if you want to call it that) which is focusing on more the doomy side of things - can you give a little reasoning and info behind the band and what you want to achieve with it?

PETE: I've always loved old school Death Metal and Doom Metal. I've had songs and part of songs for years that I really couldn't use for Equinox. So I formed this band keeping the music style to bands like Autopsy, Dream Death, Hellhammer, but having some strange melodies like let's say Candlemass/St.Vitus. Lyrically we are dealing with ideas from old cult horror movies and the occult. I'm having a blast with this and it will fucking crush. Look for the demo soon.

STEVE: "I can't tell you how good it is to be playing music with Pete and Tony again. Nothing's changed and we all work together just the same as we did in Equinox. I've played in other bands just as they have and we will all tell you that what we have is unique. That kind of atmosphere makes it real easy to write good music and I think anybody who was a fan of Equinox will love Druid Lord."

GT: Given, at present, the line up for DL that's currently proposed consists of 3/4 Equinox, will you be attempting to totally divorce this project's feel and sound from the main band?

PETE: We'll that's the hard part. If you look back to the 2nd Equinox demo we were doing almost doom style music. There will be Equinox influence's but the overall songs will just be more darker and heavier. I'm tuning my guitar much lower that Equinox and the drum parts will be more structured with very interesting parts. Some fans of Equinox who have heard the Druid stuff have totally been into what we are doing. The three of us get along so well it's like the old days.

STEVE: "This has been one of my goals for a long time now and to have it come to fruition is great. I think it happened at the right time. When he decided to venture into a different area I was all for it. I personally think this is what he needed to spark that creativity again. Pete and I virtually started Equinox and the two main keys to that were a similarity in musical interests and the fact that we work perfectly together. When he writes the music and brings it to the table for some reason I have the knack of writing drum tracks that are usually exactly what he had in mind when he wrote the music. On top of that-and this is no small factor-our timing is identical. For instance, when a break comes up in a song neither of us have to count to know when to come back in. We've always just clicked. Even Tony was shocked at that-during the first recording of the first DL track he sat back in amazement that after ten years Pete and I are still spot on with our timing."

GT: Is it more of an outlet to get material not suitable to Equinox out, or just an expression of yet another side to the creative will?

PETE: Expression of another creative side. Writing slower heavier music gives me so much more ideas. But we are not all that slow. We will have some mid paced and a few faster parts to enhance the music.

STEVE: "In my opinion Pete is one of the best guitarists ever to play metal and I've always felt fortunate to have been able to play music with him. I've never been a very technical drummer but Pete's always liked my playing and because of that I've had the opportunity to make some kick-ass metal with one of the most creative guitarists I've ever met. The fact that he's been able to write most or all of four full length albums and countless demos with Equinox and then write excellent material for Druid Lord amazes me. When he first started talking about Druid Lord, though, I had no doubts the music would be fresh, heavy and creative. As a matter of fact, I knew when I left Equinox that at some point I wanted to be involved with any band Pete wanted to do and I knew that no matter how much time passed in between that whatever Pete wrote it would be great."

GT: Can we get a bit of a description of some of the weapons in your arsenal.

PETE: I've got a 100W Marshall head, a 50W Marshall Head, a killer old school distortion pedal, BC rich Iron Bird and Warlock both from the early 80's and a 1983 Gibson Explorer. Ton of pedals.

Part of the Equinox arsenal seen here in yet another mega-rare pic during recording of 'The Immortal Kind'. (Photo - courtesy Pete Slate)

GT: It seems to us as Editors of GT that many of the underlying concepts and

love of our mutual past are the same. Can you explain more of what the book

and taking part in it meant to you as a fan and also a musician of the era?

PETE: The book to me is one of a kind. It really captures the essence of what it

was like to be in a Death Metal band of that time. I was actually at a lot

of the FL gigs that were pictured in the book. It brought back so many

memories of hanging out in Tampa FL with our car packed with friends,

Drinking brews, trying to scam on Metal chics, and listening to bands before

they made it big time. I feel lucky and honored to be part of the book.

Since I was involved in the scene it meant that much more to me.

GT: What is it that the new age bands and scene lack the most, when compared to

our old glory days?

PETE: Everything. The attitude that you'd do whatever it takes to make it. The

money didn't matter. We all rehearsed our music all the time. We lived and

breathed metal. Of course the music was just more raw and aggressive. I

don't know even how to really answer that. It was just a different time back

then.

Pete and his two youngest lads in the patch, Halloween 2009. Photo - courtesy Pete Slate.

The first two albums are out of print and difficult to obtain. Pete suggests Ebay as about the best way to find them, and also cited "Hells Headbangers" as a distro that still currently has some Equinox material in stock.

To contact Equinox directly, for any reason, Pete suggests the official Equinox myspace page:

EQUINOX

Thanks to Pete, Mark, Vincent and Steve - class acts.

**Steve's comments were gathered after publishing