INTERVIEW WITH CRUCIFUCK, 666 STRINGED BLASPHEMY OF HELLACAUST
1. HAILS CRUCIFUCK! WHAT'S GOING ON MAN? KEEPING BUSY THESE DAYS?
I try to keep as busy as possible at all times, I feel useless if I don't. Right now, the main thing is obviously the new Hellacaust album due out in the winter. Between that, playing drums for 2 other bands and guitar for the very occasional Slayer cover gig (War Ensemble, we play the annual 'Halifax Slayer Day' in the summer as well as a few parties here and there) and the dreaded day job...yeah it's busy!
2. GOING BACK IN TIME NOW, HELLACAUST WAS ONCE A GORE-SPLATTER-GRIND BAND KNOWN
AS "AGORTION". WHY DID YOU GUYS CHANGE TO BRUTAL BLACK/THRASH METAL?
Well, Agoretion was started as a complete joke. We played grind for the soul purpose of annoying people and for some reason they liked us. We kept getting billed with all the crust/punk bands, who thought the band was great. Halloween was coming up and we wanted to play a gig on our rightful instruments, just as a one time thing, totally dis-associated with Agoretion despite the fact that it was the same 4 guys. We played all our favorites which included Slayer, Sodom, Bathory, Mayhem, War...even an old In Flames song and At the Gates. We wrote the song 'Hellacaust' for that gig, not knowing that we would continue the band afterwards. We just had a great time and decided that this was much more fulfilling than noisey gore-grind.
3. IS AGORTION R.I.P. OR DO YOU GUYS STILL PLAY UNDER THAT NAME ON OCCASSION FOR
THE HELL OF IT?
We were still playing shows after Hellacaust was formed, but it eventually just went down the toilet after we started getting really serious with Hellacaust. We occasionally record songs for the hell of it, but as for shows, it's not of much interest...to me anyway.
4. HELLACAUST IS IN THE PROCESS OF RECORDING A NEW FULL LENGTH CD. IS THERE A TITLE
PICKED OUT FOR IT YET? WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT INFLUENCE WISE THIS TIME AROUND?
The title of the album is 'Inevitable Dementia'...the album pretty much summarizes our frustrations with the human race and what sets us apart from the rest of the pack. I think we have really come unto our own with this one, obviously we have our influences, but we have more successfully culmonated it into our own sound. This album crushes all of our previous work ten-fold but is still in the same vein. Speed metal with more intensity, more brutallity and better song writing than the past. Considering that this is 4 or 5 years after writing 'Dark Age...' you can expect a change, but it's all for the better. We are more mature as people, and especially musicians and with the addition of our (not so much anymore) new drummer, who is completely pumbling on the kit...I think this will impress people weather you liked us before or not.
5. PLANS FOR A CROSS CANADA TOUR TO SUPPORT THE UPCOMMING NEW CD? IF SO, MAKE
SURE YOU PLAY IN TORONTO!!
We have to tour. That's it. This is the album that I hope will propell us away from just being an undreground secret to the rest of the world. We plan much better distrobution and of course a tour has to be done. Toronto would be at the top of the list of cities to hit and we look forward to bringing our live show to the masses.
6. NOVA SCOTIA, WHERE HELLACAUST HAILS FROM (AS WELL AS THE TRAILOR PARK BOYS),
HAS A AMAZING U/G METAL SCENE. SUFFOCATION RECENTALLY PLAYED NOVA SCOTIA WITH
YOU GUYS AND THY FLESH CONSUMED. DID HELLACAUST RECIEVE A GOOD RESPONCE FROM
DEATH METAL LEGENDS SUFFOCATION?
Suffocation headlined the annual Maritime Metalfest which was an all day event, showcasing the best of the Canadian Maritime provinces. Having a band like them was a completely mind-boggling experience, last year we opened for Cryptopsy and this year Suffocation. It just keeps getting better. Unfortunately Suffocation didn't arrive at the venue until just before their set, so despite the fact that we were high up on the bill, they did not catch us, but they did come and party at our jamspot until the sun came up the next morning. Mike Smith (Suffocation drummer) lent his vocal stylings to our Slayer jam, and they were blown away by how cool everyone was to them and they had a blast drinking and smoking all night with the maritime hardcores. The scene here has always shown out of town bands a good time, leaving a lasting impression on the big guns. In November we'll have the pleasure of supporting Behemoth for 2 shows, so we aim to leave that impression once again.
7. WHAT EAST COAST BANDS SHOULD WE CHECK OUT?
Fuck man, there's so many...I recently joined Terratomb (www.terratomb.com) on drums, this is the band that I looked up to when I was a wee lad...they are the so called "local heros" and I now have esteamed pleasure of joining them on kit. There's also Thy Flesh Consumed (www.thyfleshconsumed.com) whom you mensioned, currently working on a new album...and I tell ya, if you want violence, that's them, the Death/Black/Grind machine! Gruesome Feast, from Prince Edward Island represent the tech Death Metal. Canadian BM legends Burning Moon recently joined forces once again, as well as the heaviest band every to come out of Halifax, Wohedness (now featuring ex-Hellacaust drummer Myles Deck) also got back together. New Brunswick is home to Black Frost (www.blackfrost.net) and Funeral Fog www.funeralfog.net), both BM elitists. The list is endless, check out www.maritimemetal.net for more.
8. DO YOU STILL PLAY IN OTHER BANDS? IS "SIDEWALK SLUTZ", THE DRUNK AS FUCK PUNK
BAND YOU PLAYED IN STILL AROUND?
I've been dubbed a 'band whore' by many. I like to play whenever I have free time. Like I said, I play drums in Terratomb, as well as the oldest band in Halifax, System Shit. Again, I play guitar in a part-time Slayer tribute called 'War Ensemble', which includes myself, Hell Spawn (Hellacaust drummer), Quinn (ex-Terratomb) and Jeff MacDonald (ex-Burning Moon). I play drums in a project called Maelstrom with Gruesome Feast's Paul Barrenger, Ross Vickers (Thy Flesh Consumed, ex-Terratomb) and Marc Robichoud who I used to play with in a band called Realms of Despair. Sidewalk Slutz ended about a year ago when our singer moved to Yellowknife. He has since moved back, but the band is now dead........or is it?
9. "DARK AGE DESCENDING", HELLACAUST'S MOST RECENT CD, IS VERY PROFESSIONAL
SOUNDING AND LOOKING ALL AROUND. WHO DOES HELLACAUST'S ARTWORK, LAYOUT'S
AND RECORDING?
The recording for 'Dark Age...' was done by our singer/bassist Necromancer (John MacDougall) when he was attending a recording arts course. We stayed at the campus for a couple weekends and did the album there. The upcoming album will also be recorded by him, but he now has his own equiptment for us to do it ourselves, with better quality. Now that there is much more experience behind him and us, you can expect scathing production. The artwork was done by Kreegor Furtado, who also did the artwork for Terratomb and Burning Moon in the past. He is a brilliant graphic designer and will likely work with us on the new album with the help of a local tatoo artist whom we plan to do the main bulk of the album cover.
10. WHAT STYLE BEST FITS HELLACAUST? I HEAR LOTS OF OLD THRASH METAL INFLUENCE
Speed metal. We have the overtones of Black Metal, I've lately had it with all the subgenre pigeonholes and just said 'Speed Metal' whenever anyone asks. We are all fans of all true metal (except the gay stuff). I am mainly a fan of Black Metal and Thrash, but there is still influence from everything from Black Sabbath to Exhumed. This is extreme metal the way we want to hear it.
11. YOU GUYS STILL WEARING CORPSE PAINT?
No. I accually was the one to initiated the loss of coprse paint, which is odd considering I listen to mostly black metal and am a huge fan of alot of bands that do it. My main problem with it was the fact that we were being pigeon holed into being soely 'Black Metal' even though we never considered ourselves just a Black Metal band. The corpse paint, to us was a way to enhanse the visuals to meet the brutallity of the music. Even though I'm sure we gained alot of fans because they see a band with corpse paint and are immediately like 'hey! cool! black metal!'...they really didn't care about what we were playing, what feeling we were trying to portray. Eventually, our song themes were changing, we seemed less concerned about satan and war, the message became different. I felt that if we were moving in a direction that doesn't need corpse paint to portray it well, then we shouldn't wear it. I like to see BM bands that do the aesthetic well and are completely serious about the image and theme they want to portray. I didn't want to wear paint because it was what people expected from us, I wanted to wear it for the feeling I got from dawning it and becoming a completely different being on stage. When that feeling was gone, so was the paint.
The feedback we've recieved after losing it was 'you don't need it'. That's what I expected...everything is just as brutal, intense, dark etc. When singing about ourselves and our own experiences (which is what the newer songs deal with), it would be silly to be putting off a persona of a different person.
12. HOW MANY COPIES APPROXIMATLEY OF HELLACAUST'S 2 DEMO TAPES TITLED "IMPLEMENTS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION" AND "PREMONTIONS OF WAR" WERE DISTROBUTED?
Honestly, I have no clue in the world. Those demos were made as they were needed. We put them out as fast as we wrote the songs. The second one, 'Premonitions of War', was not as well distributed as the first.
13. ON OCCASION, I STILL GET FEEDBACK REGARDING THE TOXIC HOLOCAUST/HELLACAUST
SPLIT CDR I RELEASED ON MY LABEL "SKULLFUCKINGMETAL RECORDS". I BELIEVE THIS
RELEASE REACHED KULT STATUS. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK DID YOU RECIEVE REGARDING
THIS BRUTAL U/G RELEASE?
We got great reviews from that (and I really appreciate the support from you especially) and alot of people have contacted us just from hearing that release. The thing was though that it was released as the split just before 'Dark Age...' was released and it was originally released on cassette 2 years earlier, so people were surpised when they heard 'Dark Age...' (and some put off) because it was cleaner production wise and didn't have the raw, necro production that 'Implements...' had. Some people saw the full legnth as a big step up, some saw it as mis-direction because they thought we were going for a really raw, primitive sound (based on what they heard on the demo), but really the raw production was just a result of what we had to work with at the time. Going into a full studio for the full legnth gave us a chance to re-produce the songs with a more professional sound, some liked the older recordings, some liked the full legnth better. But I do think the new album starts a new chapter for us, as those songs are dated and don't properly showcase what the band is capable of.
14. SHOULD WE EXPECT TO SEE HELLACAUST ON A MAJOR LABEL SOON? ANY GOOD OFFERINGS
YET?
We've had contact from a couple great labels. The new album will likely be released by a proper label, but I can't say for sure yet as nothing is finalized. The goal for us is major (as major as extreme metal gets) label support, it seems as though things are going well enough right now to achive that.
15. COME ACROSS ANY GOOD U/G FANZINES RECENTALLY? I'VE NOTICED THERE IS A EXTREME
LACK FOR THEM IN CANADA.
There is nothing as far as 'zines go here on the east coast. Here everything is on the web now which has its good and bad sides. It's great to see that someone is still doing it true though, the internet I think gives too much opportunity for 'participation' in things that alot of people know nothing about. Someone can download a million albums by a bunch of black metal bands that no one gives a shit about and they consider themselve underground. Underground is the shows, the parties, the jams, the interaction with other like-minded people who thrive on this shit.
16. WHAT BANDS ARE YOU CURRENTLYLISTENING TO?
1349 hasn't left my CD player since I got my hands on 'Liberation', I think 'Beyond the Apocalypse' has made as much an impression on me as 'Reign in Blood' did when I was just getting into this stuff. Belphegor is another favorite, Summon has always been a big one, and their new album is probably the best they've done so far. Lots of Gorgoroth, Bathory, Marduk, Carpathian Forest, Thy Flesh Consumed, Burning Moon. Behemoth has been in there alot in anticipation of opening for them. I also love Black Label Society and I've gotten into Strapping Young Lad quite a bit lately.
17. WE MET VIA METAL MANIACS "SHORTS" SECTION, AND TRADED SOME TAPES/MOVIES.
DO YOU STILL TAPE TRADE THESE DAYS?
Not much anymore, I've gotten pretty slack with it. I still aquire as many live videos as possible, and I'm in the process of going through them all again as my archive hasn't been updated for ages. I'm finding that time for it is limited these days. I mostly have just gotten alot more local shows and shit.
18. TELL US WHAT CANADA'S U/G METAL SCENE IS LIKE. WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE
CANADIAN BANDS?
On the east coast the scene is very tightly knit. We all drink, jam together and support each other. There's something very honest and unique about the maritime scene, we do it because we love it, weather we're poor or not, and I think that goes for most of us here in the great white north, there's not much recognition for Canadian metal, but quality bands always pop up all over the place. Anhkrehg is probably my favorite. We've played with them a couple times and partied with them and they're cool as hell guys and are totally devestating live. I'd love to get a chance to play with Ecplise Eternal, we're going to be supporting Goat Horn this month. I look forward to the next Infernal Majesty album, they came through here a couple years ago and played some poorly promoted shows that went horribly based on the wrong people setting up the gigs. When they played Halifax, the show they were accually booked for was shit, but then they came to a bar where we were playing that same night and agreed to play a set and they fucking ripped the roof off the place.We gave them whatever money we pulled in to get them home since the original show flopped. That's what I think Canadian metal should be about, comrodary, supporting each other to make the rest of the world take notice.
19. WORSHIP SATAN OR AGAINST SATAN?
I agree with alot of the ideals behind Satanism, but I don't use such a symbol as a means for my living. I do what's best for myself, neglecting all forms of relgion. I worship no one.
20. TELL US HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU AND YOUR FINAL WORDS.
Thanks alot for your support Keegan, always appreciated...Your copy of 'Inevitable Dementia' will be in the mail upon completion.
Our site can be found at www.hellacaust.com . Email hellacaust@hotmail.com. Snail mail Hellacaust, 5667 Kane St., Halifax NS, B3K-2M2, CANADA
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