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

Involuntary

Young Swedish director Ruben Östlund made a strong debut with "Gitarrmongot". It was a very personal way of narration. In "De ofrivilliga" he gives even more promises.

Five episodes, involving five very different kinds of Swedish people. But they have one thing in common and that is a very destructive group of personal pressures in very different ways. The acting is really superb, although you hardly have seen any of these people on the screen before, with the exception of Maria Lundquist.

Östlund works with very special camera angles. Sometimes you don't see the heads of those who are talking. Sometimes you will have to look around for a couple of seconds to find the main character, who is somewhere else than you're used too. This is a challenging movie in many ways, which makes you think and feel. And there are truly strong thoughts and feelings. It's an honest view of swedish life good and bad, for better or worse. It leaves a mark long after you watch it.

Merk One R.I.P

A West Kendall man who may have been spraying graffiti on a roadway sign tumbled to his death on the Palmetto Expressway.

Thursday night: Enrique Vincente Olivera dines with friends and heads to his Kendall home.

Hours later, the 28-year-old’s body is found sprawled in the southbound lanes of the Palmetto Expressway. In his possession: a can of silver spray paint. Above him: a green-and-white roadway sign marred with graffiti.

Officials think Olivera was killed after falling about 24 feet to the roadway, but they don’t know if he is connected to a group of local graffiti artists.

”There appears to be fresh silver writing on the sign above where his body came to rest,” said Lt. Pat Santangelo. The Florida Highway Patrol is trying to cobble together the last minutes of Olivera’s life.

I-95 SIGNS VANDALIZED

Olivera’s death came a week after ”tags” were painted on I-95 signage in Miami. On one sign, the tag Buk 50 was sprayed in red, white and black. Another sign had the moniker ”EDGE” splashed across it.

The shock of Olivera’s death spilled over to the Internet, where graffiti artists mourned his passing. The website MSGcartel.com — which calls itself an ”online exhibition” of graffiti art — offered condolences for “MERK.”

The site has a list of those in the ”cartel,” identified by pictures of their tags.

It’s unclear if he was part of the group or had contributed samples of his graffiti work. Images of the tag ”MERK” were posted under the words: “To our fallen Brother, Comrade, Friend . . . Rest in Peace homie, you will be missed but never forgotten.”

Friends and family members were well aware of Olivera’s love for art, but said they weren’t aware of a penchant for graffiti. ”He was an artist; that was his passion,” said Leo Machado, 25, who has known Olivera since they were young boys. “He loved to do that, that was his thing.”

Machado said neither he nor the family were aware that Olivera intended to climb onto a traffic sign catwalk early in the morning. “I don’t know why he did it.”

Police say Olivera fell off the catwalk over the Palmetto Expressway near Bird Road around 12:30 a.m. and was spotted by a motorist.

Alejandro Gonzalez de Mendoza was stunned to find a dead body on the highway. He was driving south on the busy thoroughfare when he saw what he thought was debris in the right lane. He tried to avoid it, but couldn’t.

”He stopped and realized it was a body, so he backed his truck up to protect the body,” Santangelo said.

The vandalized sign had visible black writing — the tag ”KOZMIC” and ”oooDe.” It was unclear if Olivera had painted on either of the two large expressway signs.

FAMILY `IN SHOCK’

On Friday afternoon, friends and family gathered outside Olivera’s West Kendall home at the Esprit community, a series of well-manicured mustard and white townhomes.

”We’re still getting over the shock,” said aunt Kathy Olivera, from outside the doorway. She would say no more under the advice, she says, of an attorney.

”Come back in a few days. We’re still getting over the shock,” she repeated.

”He was a blood brother,” said another pal who asked not to be identified.

The late Olivera worked for Sea Level, a Miami-based company, helping to do restoration work on cruise ships.

A woman who answered the phone at Olivera’s workplace Friday said, ”You are not the first one calling today and I have no comment,” before hanging up.

Records show Olivera has been arrested three times in Florida. None of the arrests were related to graffiti.

In 2002, Fort Lauderdale police arrested Olivera on a petty theft charge. He pleaded no contest and had adjudication withheld, records show.

In February of last year, he was arrested on charges of knowingly driving with a suspended license. He was arrested on the same charge again in December. He had several traffic infractions in Miami-Dade, records show.

His family released a statement condemning graffiti and reiterated that Olivera was a good man, always there when anyone needed him.

“We do not condone this type of behavior and can only hope this tragedy will keep others from doing the same. This isolated incident was out of Enrique’s normal character. . . Unfortunately, he made a mistake which ultimately cost him his life.”

Entombed MDF 2010