Gore Gods Impetigo New DVD

If ever there was a cult death metal band whose influence transcended its commercial reach it is Illinois' IMPETIGO. One of the first late 80s acts that came to represent the kind of sample-laden gore metal that inspired a slew of bands, many of which call (or called) Razorback Records home, IMPETIGO impacted blood 'n guts death metal to much the same degree that REPULSION impacted grindcore. "Defiling the Stage" offers the viewer a look into the history of the band as told through four live performances from 1988 (The Gallery in Normal, Ill), 1991 (The Ritz in Indianapolis), 1992 (The Italian American Hall in Peoria), and the 2007 20th anniversary reunion show at the Central Illinois Metal Fest (Urbana).



Originally called SLOW DEATH, IMPETIGO's frantic crossover punk beginnings can be heard in performances at The Gallery, a show filled with comic commentary that had the band verbally abusing members of the mostly unfazed audience. Though it is the earliest show captured here, the sound and video quality is significantly better than bootleg. Those audio/video attributes are uneven at best during the 1991 and 1992 performances, but the sick and twisted death/grind for which IMPETIGO is known take center stage and come with bassist Stevo Dobbins' entertaining stage banter. The 13-song set in Urbana is in many ways the DVD's focal point due to its solid, though bare bones, video treatment and its far better sound quality. It is probably the band's tightest, most professionally played set of its career, though that hardly means that the quartet took technical proficiency to new levels. It is simply a rousing performance in front of a rabid crowd that also featured guest vocal performances fromKam Lee ("Boneyard"), Matt Bishop ("Bloody Pit of Horror"), and Zombie Rob ("Defiling the Grave"). A short hilariously DIY horror film called "Zombie Attack" made by a very young Mark Sawickis wraps up the video segment in most appropriate fashion.

 It is the comprehensive history of the band, including details of each show, included in the liner notes that is the icing on the fetid cake, and it guaranteed to fully satisfy the diehard fans. An interview segment sure would have been nice though. Putrid's front cover artwork is the icing on top of the aforementioned icing on that same fetid cake. "Defiling the Stage" is not the type of big budget, jam packed DVD you might see from one of the big metal labels and it wouldn't have seemed right if that were in fact the case. Rather, it is a labor of love specially made for the fans and an important video documentation of a band that has been so important to death metal.

New Shitfun With Autopsy

Words are limited to describe the influence Autopsy has had on Death Metal musicians and audiences for over 22 years. Preposterous to think that a group of brooding stoners has had such an impact on heavy music Reifert and his ghouls have. Influencing everyone from Nihilist, who quickly became Entombed in a matter of a week, to Napalm Death and half of the blossoming Swedish scene such as Carnage. The stench of the aura Autopsy has been spreading this year is highly infectious. Cover your eyes and open your nose.

What has the band been up to so far this year?

Chris: We've been pretty damn busy really, not that I'm complaining. We played Maryland Death Fest, recorded a new ep, played the Party San and Hole in the Sky festivals, all the while being filmed for our upcoming dvd and now we're working on stuff for the next album. Besides that stuff, we've managed to get some eating, drinking, smoking, sleeping and other assorted ordinary things. Maybe next we'll build a spaceship but we're probably too lazy for that.

Describe the new EP release ‘The Tomb Within” and how the music reflects the present day and recent reunion.

Chris: When you hear it you'll scream, vomit and fart all at the same time. . It's ten gallons of brutal in a five gallon drum. Need I say more? Well, maybe. How about buy lots of copies of it. One for each day of the week. Anyways, it reflects how we feel should sound whether it's 20 years ago or right now. The sound and soul of the band is exactly the same as it always has been. Dark and horrific.

Could you explain how the studio sessions went this time around?

Chris: It was a kick ass time as usual in the studio. There's the pressure to get it right, the endless listening to the same parts over and over again, but I love all that stuff. The whole studio experience is like magic to me and I never get sick of it. I can say we are all quite satisfied with the results and I hope other people dig it as well.

You are hailed as “Gore Legends” and “Godfathers Of Death Metal”, these are your dedicated and true fans opinions. How does that make you feel?

Chris: Like raising a beer in salute! Thanks for all the nice words and get ready for even more sickness and brutality! Cheers.....

Bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Deicide refer to Autopsy as a musical influence, what bands have influenced you the most?

Chris: Well that sure is nice to hear. Fuckin hell yeah! Again thanks. As far as Autopsy's influences, we try not to sound like anything but ourselves but I know when we first started the band we listened to lots of Death, Slayer, Repulsion, Terrorizer, Trouble, Master, Cream, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Candlemass, Pentagram, Robin Trower and other different things. Really, the most important thing has always been to keep it heavy, crushing, dark and brutal.

What is your opinion of the new trends in Metal? What stays and what should go?

Chris: I can only speak for Autopsy so it doesn't matter what other bands do that revolve around trends. We've always stuck to what we do best and are pretty good at ignoring stuff that is irritating. Haha!

In your opinion how do you think Metal has changed in the last 20 years?

Chris: I think the heart and soul of metal are the same. That feeling that you get when you hear a band that just kicks your ass. I still get that great feeling when I hear something heavy and special and I suppose other folks do as well. That's the main factor. Besides that, there are more bands than ever naturally and things can happen really fast with the internet. Metal is alive and screaming.

Name and describe the first band you have seen live..if you can remember

Chris: The first real show I saw was Iron Maiden, Saxon and Fastway in 1983. Hell of a show there! All three bands ruled. Due to my age (heh heh) I've been fortunate to see lots of shows that people would kill for.

lame question but..Name the best / biggest / most brutal Moshpit you have ever been in haha 

One that stands out to this day was Slayer on the Reign in Blood tour. I got in there for a few songs and got pummeled by elbows, knees, fists, feet, etc. along with everyone else of course. It was extremely violent and a killer show altogether. There have been others but that one was really insane.

If you could have been involved in the writing, production or recording of any album, which would it be and why?

Chris: The next Autopsy album. It's what we are living for over here and we can't wait to get that beast recorded and out into the world. It's gonna be a savage, foaming, bloody creature indeed.

Tell us more about future plans, new releases and upcoming tours for the band.

Chris: There's quite a bit going on right now. The new ep is almost out, we've been filmed for an upcoming dvd, we're working on the new album stuff, there's some reissues coming out, a few shows will be set up for 2011 and there will also be a special 20th anniversary edition of Mental Funeral later next year. We've been busy as fuck, you could say!

Thanks for your time. Any last words?

Chris: Thank you for all and cheers to all who are reading this. There's more death metal on the way! Yyyeeaarrgghhhh!!!!

Devourment

Recent Relapse signees and veteran brutal death metallers Devourment are one of the most well-known examples of the style, and have undoubtedly inspired countless others within the ranks of the slam nation. It's not much of a stretch to assume that many of the modern deathcore bands have taken some cues from their trademark ultra brutal approach.

Devourment spew out plenty of slow, grinding breakdowns and bass drops, but throw these Texas gorehounds on a stage and you'll watch 'em blow the heads off any stray Suicide Silence or Job for a Cowboy fans unlucky enough to wander in. Vocalist Mike Majewski weighed in, telling Noisecreep that, "It would be pretty arrogant to assume any band is influenced by us just because it's a similar style. We didn't invent that style, so who knows? I personally don't listen to much deathcore or whatever, but I have no problem with it; each his own. S---, I ripped off a Van Halen song on 'Anal Electrocution' [from 2005's 'Butcher the Weak' LP]."

You've got to wonder, though, what the death metalheads behind such top 40 hits as 'Babykiller,' 'Autoerotic Asphyxiation' and 'Anal Electrocution' make of the deathcore trend and its decidedly non-brutal hallmarks -- fitted hats, neon merch, uber-tight jeans, you know the type. Noisecreep inquired as to whether he sees deathcore/metalcore as gateway drugs to the real underground metal scene, or as something to be ignored/condemned/stamped out.

Majewski doesn't take the bait. "I honestly don't waste my time or energy giving a f--- what other people talk about or care about. I always have my 'Reign in Blood' CD close by. If it skips, that's when I get f---ing pissed."

Devourment are gearing up for an assault upon the European metal festival circuit this August, then they'll be returning to spread the plague across the U.S. with Cattle Decapitation and a host of young deathcore acts on the California Blood Tour. How does Majewski think Devourment's bloodthirsty fans will react to the other bands on the bill?

Diplomatically as always, he muses, "Hard to say really, as this will be our first U.S. tour so everything will be a very new experience for us. We have played in the U.S. before, but very few cities so it will be exciting to see how it goes. I'm sure all of the bands on the tour will do great and have a lot of fun."

Pretty positive fare from a dude that spends most of his time writing lyrics like "she twitches with an ounce of life still /I stomp her skull to further the kill/her brain destroyed spews viscous fluid/I stab her face for my amusement" (from 'Over Her Dead Body,' on 2009's 'Unleash the Carnivore'). You can catch Devourment on tour this summer, and get ready to unleash the gore.

Devourment tour dates
9/29 -- Tempe, AZ -- The Clubhouse
9/30 -- Albuquerque, NM -- Launchpad
10/4 -- Fort Worth, TX -- Ridglea Theatre
10/5 -- Tulsa, OK -- The Marquee
10/6 -- Little Rock, AR -- Downtown Music
10/7 -- San Antonio, TX -- White Rabbit
10/8 -- Metairie, LA -- The High Ground
10/9 -- Tampa, FL -- Brass Mug
10/10 -- Stuart, FL -- Cruisers
10/12 -- Orlando, FL -- Back Booth
10/13 -- Raleigh, NC -- Volume 11
10/14 -- Spartanburg, SC -- Ground Zero
10/15 -- Baltimore, MD -- Sonar
10/16 -- Wilmington, DE -- Mojo 13
10/17 -- Patchogue, NY -- Karma
10/18 -- New York, NY -- Santo's
10/19 -- Poughkeepsie, NY -- The Chance
10/20 -- Buffalo, NY -- Club Paradise
10/21 -- Cleveland, OH -- Peabody's
10/22 -- Detroit, MI -- Harpo's
10/23 -- Chicago, IL -- Reggies Rock Club
10/24 -- Omaha, NE -- Sokol Underground
10/25 -- Denver, CO -- Marquis Theatre
10/26 -- Salt Lake City, UT -- In The Venue
10/27 -- Boise, ID -- The Venue
10/28 -- Seattle, WA -- Studio 7
10/29 -- Portland, OR -- Satyricon
10/30 -- San Francisco, CA -- Thee Parkside
10/31 -- Las Vegas, NV -- The Farm
11/1 -- Hesperia, CA -- The Seen

Necroharmonic

If you are familiar with the gutteral decaying blackened pus filled bile of Autopsy, or beastial raw satanism of Incantation, chances are you may have been listening to some of Roy Fox's stuff.

For the better part of 20 years, Mr Fox has been churning out blasphemous soundscapes that range from german cum spillers Gut, to swedish death metal such as Eternal Darkness and Gorement. We sat down over some bong rips and shot some shit.


Dope Attic: You have been putting out death metal for many years, 20 if im correct..what keeps you motivated to keep doing it? Besides the swiss groupies and million dollar royalty checks

Roy Fox : Death Metal is a complex form of attitude and music. It transcends all other music scenes(with hardcore coming pretty close), So Im not sure exactly what motivates me, but I can tell you I am motivated somewhat by spreading good music , from obscure sources , and times , and countries basically just broadcasting my own soundtrack for the current world (now 2010). The Million dollar royalty checks we use are to rent out planes on the weekends and act like big willies in a 1978 Italian crime film..I basically am just a "fan" of music who releases it.

For those who dont know how did you start putting out music for Necroharmonic?

Necroharmonic was spawned when I was spreading cassette demo tapes in 1990 with bands like Goreaphobia,( who couldnt find time to write back all the mail they got , or copy tapes), so I was running a small cassette distro selling to friends at minor mail order one sheets with lists of music, one day a friend of mine (singer Oscar - from Ceremonium) recorded a 7 ep recording , and was like "You should put this out", and I was like ok why not? I LIKE mail, the rest is history.

We tuned into the underground tape trading more, traded away almost every 7" ep vinyl record we made , got other peoples music from worldwide, and eventually turned format to CDs and starting releasing Cds. We started with AUTOPSY after the guys stayed at my small apartment when doing a tour with Incantation at the time.I was a great fan and was a honor(still is)to have released the pinnacle death metal band who basically with out them and DEATH, death metal wouldnt not have exsisted..anyway, the label grew(and grows) and I'm just dedicated to releasing music I love, demos and bands I bang my head to!


Do you think the internet has hurt or helped todays scene?

Internet is awesome! I think it helped the scene and music in general , even though bands get thier music stolen quick as lightning, the idea that their music is being heard by millions instead of the thousands, who got it via mailorder or mom and pop music stores in the 1980s thru 1990's. Think about the reach of the internet compared to these two former outlets. I think it had to help.


You have worked with everyone from Crematory to Incantation, Autopsy to Waking the Cadaver how have things changed in your eyes?

Death metal has morphed into alot of sub genre's including black metal, grindcore , Nu metal and other newbie religions.I think the main thing that has "changed" in music is recordings. Older recorded music was mostly spawned on "reel to reel" and Analog tape and technology, which with its limitations, is still a very pure and unfiltered and unforgiving technology..Music recorded with computers has a filtered technology which can either enhance a bands sound, or create something unusual as far as waves or sounds and not always in a good way.

The bands we release are just according to our music taste, we love old bands from the early 1990-era death metal so yeah your Autopsy, etc comes from that..the Waking the Cadaver is all about music expanding, a new era of death metal still expands.


What was your opinion on the Autopsy performance at MDF 2010?

Love Autopsy as band, have seen them several times and personally they never let me down. The raw sludge of death metal emmited by Autopsy cannot be matched by any band lets be honest here. Autopsy IS death metal !!!


Who were some of the people that influenced you to get on your hustle?

Ok great question. I am influenced by many people and some not so conventional as you think. I remember back in 1980's, I was at some independent music stores, and buying "fanzines" and "demo tapes" which were basically cheaper add ons to stretch your money. I pored over albums covers and T shirts at every music store, looking at amazing artwork kinda like painting masterpieces of stuff like old Iron Maiden records, etc I would say these are my most primordial influences. I wanted to somehow create something similar. Years later I noticed there was record labels who created a music I liked, like Metal Blade, Steamhammer Records and Earache was when I finally noticed record label's were releasing these great products. I was captivated. how can I do this ? I took a high school class in graphic arts and printing press and suddenly it all clicked together, this was possible to make at some point when I have resources (didnt come til well after), so I was into collecting records labels output, which started my hustle into being a business.

In your opinion who would you say is the most overlooked band and why?

Hmm overlooked is a strong word, again I hate to be a one trick Autopsy "ponyboy" , but I think Autopsy and Death were the two modern founders of death metal. Chris Reifert who also was the drummer on the first Death LP and basically made death metal drum beats what they morphed into in todays age. I would say that when you say a band that expands it, Blue Cheer was overlooked as a metal band..*and doom for that matter, they turned their amps out past 10, were fuzzy yet controlled mayhem within the song structures. They are one of the most overlooked bands of all times.

Top 5 demos?

My picks for demos tapes of all time favorites of mine
Necrovore - Demo 1987 ( aka "Divus De Mortuus" )
Funebre (Fin) - Demo II 1990
Abhorrence (Fin) " Vulgar Necrolatry " Demo 1990
Paradise Lost - "Frozen Illusion" Demo 1989
Dr. Shrinker - "Wedding the Grotesque" Demo 1989

Top 5 demos is way hard for me to choose I could easily put 20 more in that top 5 that are the best demos of all time haha

Yeah i was gonna say Top 65 demos.


Anything youd like to say to the dirtbags reading this or anything you would like to plug?

I love to speak with dirtbags. I wanna say something !! I accept donations !! I take paypal. Eat empanadas.Drink Pabts blue ribbon. Accept Devo as lords of electronic cozmics .Watch disgusting movies. Start a homemade meth lab. School yourself in Crowley ethics. Anton Levay played an organ, so can you...no homo

www.necroharmonic.com

The Godfather of Gore

These days Herschell Gordon Lewis has made a pretty penny for himself as a direct communicator - one might say a "shining light" - in the sophisticated world of general advertising and direct marketing. He is without peer. Nobody has written more books (more than 20 and counting). Nobody has written more articles (he writes monthly columns for a number of trade journals). Certainly nobody in his field is more respected.

As former chairman of Communicomp, a full-service direct marketing agency with clients throughout the world, now renamed as a division of the advertising holding company Interpublic, Herschell Gordon Lewis now heads Lewis Enterprises, through which he writes and consults individually. Some of his clients include Barnes & Noble, Lens Express and CNA Insurance. He is arguably the best-known direct response writer and consultant in the United States. With a background that includes more than 20 years as adjunct lecturer to graduate classes in Mass Communications at Roosevelt University, Chicago.

Incidentally - though hardly - Lewis is also the Godfather of Gore. Ever respectful of his key role in the vanguard of exploitive cinema in the 60s, he embraces his past with vigor and enthusiastically spoke with me by phone about film projects past and future.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I appreciate your taking the time to wander down memory lane with me a little bit.

More like stagger...

First and foremost, I want to be clear that I'm aware that your current genius is in direct marketing, but I do appreciate that - as you say - you're willing to "stagger" down memory lane with me today. I was wondering if you have exchanged any meaningful glances with motel sphinxes lately?

[Laughs.] The Suez Motel, sadly, was torn down two years ago, so the little sphinx there is long gone. Somebody graciously - I think! - sent me some pieces of cement from the Suez Motel. Now what am I supposed to do which a chunk of cement from an ex-motel?

You could probably get good money for it on eBay!

It's probably floating down some river somewhere or sitting at the bottom. I'm not sure what your question means. Do you mean am I currently at anything or what?

I was just joking. No filmmaker has probably attracted more alliterative appellatives than you. You're the Guru of Gore, the Godfather of Gore, the Dean of Direct Marketing, and so on and so forth. Are there any particular nicknames that you like?



Well, I'm usually referred to as "Hey, You!" [Laughs.] That's a strange question. People have asked me whether I object to being called the Godfather of Gore. No, I don't! Good heavens. I don't want it on my epitaph but I certainly don't object to it being there.

I love something you said in an interview with John Wisniewski for Bright Lights Film Journal: "I see filmmaking as a business and pity anyone who regards it as an art form and spends money based on that immature philosophy." Clearly, your psychological motivations for filming these gore fantasies was the box office, where you did much better than anyone might have expected at the time. Though you were aiming for the immediate payoff, did you ever imagine your films would achieve the cult status they have achieved? Or the influence they've had on the horror genre itself?

No. If I had known that, I might have spent more time making them. But, you see, that's the chimera; that's the dilemma on whose horns I might have been impaled. If I had spent more money making them, then chances are that I would not have made as many as I did, and whether or not the additional money poured into it would have reflected itself in additional interest, either by gorehounds seeing them in movie theaters or by the critics attacking them - which has always been a very nice thing to have happen - that's questionable. To me, the concept was simply one of trying to make the kind of motion picture that someone would want to see and that some theater might show. You see, that's part of it, too. One reason that today we have so much stuff, the things that are shot on digital that are being sent directly to video, is that these pieces are made on an ego basis rather than on a business-like basis.

Of course I've become a firm believer in serendipity. I found a niche that had not been occupied. I jumped into that niche with both feet and yet with great caution because, what if I had made a movie of this type and nobody ever would play it? Then this would be another movie at the time - and there were plenty of them - that would be sitting rotting away in some film laboratory vault waiting for somebody to pay for it. That was a risk I didn't care to take. So, obviously, the combination of trying to make a movie no one had made before and trying to make a movie that would minimize the risk - those two things were not at all at odds in my mind.

My opinion is firm that no one has ever walked out of a movie because of a ragged pan. People have walked out of movies or sent them back after looking at 10 seconds of them, saying, "This is pretty doggone dull; I don't want to see any more of this." Word of mouth can break you in half or word of mouth can make you a giant. It depends on the entertainment value. It doesn't depend on the critics saying, "Gee. Look at the miserable level of acting in this movie."

Autopsy at Maryland Death Fest 2010

The newest incarnation of gore shitbags Autopsy. If you can hear these vocals you would know this is gutteral, classic death metal at it's finest and highly resinated as well.We hope Chris Reifert cuts his hours at the bakery and writes another 6 albums.