BRUTALISM

Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Hey Twan, how ya doing brother? A belated happy christmas to you and the zine`s readers! We are brutal death metal band hailing from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, which is on the North-west coast. It's pretty fuckin cold up round these parts at this time of year, hahaha. It's more like bloody Norway in fact as it's snowing like a motherfucker. We play brutal death metal with a 90s feel but with hints of modern day brutal music.
 
Is it necessary to introduce your fellow bandmates?
Oh hell yeah, Jason on drums who started the band in late 92 and Aaron on guitar who is very new to the fold and has only played a handful of gigs. We are currently looking for a new bass player as we parted company with Jamie (bass) who played on "One Nation Under Gore" but however we have a few candidates in mind so watch this space.
 
If you have to explain the sound of Putrefy to a deaf person how would you do this?
We are a nice blend of the old and new schools of death metal. Our sound lies mostly in the 90s embracing Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Death, Pyrexia, Internal Bleeding, Mortician but we also like newer bands like Skinless, Brodequin and Hemdale. Even the "newer" bands as I've called them are some what considered old school now.
 
You are not with the band since the beginning so what did you do before Putrefy? How is the metal scene in Ireland?
Well come this January I will have been in the band 10 years so myself and Jason will definately be having a lil shindig to celebrate! I mostly jammed with friends and myself and another mate or 2 were trying to put together a band mostly in the vein of Strapping Young Lad and Meshuggah. I met Jason in a bar when I was 18/19 (I'm 28 now), I had known him previously to this so he was no stranger and he offered to help us out as long as I would help Putrefy, who were looking for a guitar player at the time, hahahahah. So basically I enjoyed playing much more brutal music than what I was playing with my mates so I joined putrefy full time and the rest as they say is history! The metal scene is pretty healthy in Ireland some of my favourites being Warpath, Morphosis, Abaddon Incarnate and Skewered rippin it up right now!

As you are a Irish you must be a redhair but I cannot check as you shaved your head...
hhahahahahahh I'm no leprachaun!!!! hahahah nah dude my hair is brown, I'm just gettin old and crap and it's starting to go bald so I keep it shaved!
 
Ireland is know about the rain, green grass, booze and U2. What is the most important thing for you and what makes you say abroad "I am fukkin Irish?
Fuck man, everywhere we go, everyone is fuckin Irish! I remember when we played in the States we had a dude tellin us how he was "quarter Irish, quarter Scottish, quarter Italian, quarter American". hahaha man thats some family tree!
Everyone on a global scale wants to be Irish! were from Northern Ireland, we sound more Scottish than anything, but thats a regional thing as the north west is more so Ulster Scots. Did you know in Ireland the accent changes near enough every 4 miles. Crazy huh?!
 
Your first album is released through Will Rahmers label Redrum. How did that deal happened? Must be a dream for you as Mortician fans.
awww man, Will Rahmer is the man! We have so much respect for him it's unbelievable! He gave us a real cool break and it done wonders for us and opened alot of doors! It came to be when we were demoing tracks for the 1st album. We sent him tracks and he was a fan. At the time he said he was very keen to hear the album upon completion and when we finished it we sent to him and he loved it. So he decided to release it on his label, Redrum. We're really appreciative of the work Will has done for us.
 
And not forget the artwork done by Zig. Another highlight for a debut album. Is Zig contacted by the band or did Will do it?
Yeah the mighty Skingraver!!! I love his work! He's now shot to the bigtime now what with doing the new Suffocation etc. We have always really liked Jon Zigs work though I do feel the cover he did for us is amongst his best work to date. It was ourselves who contacted Jon. We comunicated our ideas with him and he came back on a regular basis to show his progress. He was really into the idea at the time and at one point I dunno if he still has it as I havent checked in a while but he had the full album art in full the whole way across the bottom of his webpage. It looks awesome as a whole scene! It's very Day Of The Dead based on the old VHS cover of it where all the zombies are green/yellow in colour, it used to kinda freak me out abit when I was young so I thought this was a great idea!
 

After the release gigs followed. So what is the most memorable gig you guys have done? Any smooth details? Or things you are ashamed of?
For me possibly, the Suffocation shows we have played. It's an absolute honour to have shared the same stage with the godfathers of brutal death metal. NRW Deathfest in Germany was a very cool show too. It was absolutely crazy. There were huge swirling moshpits and the whole place was proper stompin`!!! We aint ashamed of anything man cause its gotten us where we are today and were proud of that!
 
Is there a place you really really really wanna play? Why?
We're dying to get back to the States man cause it fuckin kicks ass there, so any promotors reading this man, get in touch!
 
Putrefy opened for major acts like Nile, Suffocation, Grave etc. Did you had contact with them backstage? Are those guys down to earth or having attitude problems?
We have played with Suffocation both times they have been to Ireland and I gotta say some of the nicest down to earth guys ever! I was lil star struck to be honest but ye know, they're just regular dudes playing brutal music. But hey I can't help it, their music means so much to me. Nile on the other hand didn't really mingle with any other bands apart from their touring bass player and he seemed pretty cool he was quite into his really brutal music so that was cool, hahahah. And we smoked some real nice Portugese hash with Grave and Belphegor so that was badass.
 
About being backstage. What are you doing backstage before and after the show? Or are you hanging out at the bar in the venue?
ahhh just the usual stuff, making sure guitars are in tune and making sure everything is ready to rock and not gonna breakdown mid set. I'd do maybe alil bit of stretching as normally I do the driving to gigs which means I be sitting down for a few hours.
None of us really drink as such. More so goddamn caffeine addicts! So cups of coffee and Redbull are certainly frequent occurence with us and perhaps some magic herbs will be smoked!
 
The new album "One Nation Under Gore" is released on Metal Age, after signing a 3 album deal. What is the advantage of such deal and is it not a rope around your neck? Does Metal Age pressure you in one way or another?
No No, we have a very strong work ethic within the band and as I speak we have 3 songs for album no.3 so delivering albums won't be a problem at all! Metal Age have been pretty good to us but everyone has gotta work together ye know in pushing the word out there so it doesn't necessary all come down to the label anyway
 
"One Nation Under Gore" is a parody to One Nation Under God. Do you have something with religion? And isn't Ireland always fighting about religions?
hahaha no we aint into religion at all, we dont give a fuck about it. The theme/concept of the album was moreso a continuation of the debut album art except the zombies have won and the humans are now the minority. There is kinda a lil jab at U.S. governments leading it's troops to it's demise and basically the countries leaders are the zombies and like zombies, the world follows suit to what the media dictates. Thats what the influence was anyway!
 
Did you ever saw the leprechaun with the pot of gold?
"I'm the leprechaun!!!!(in Waynes World accent). No I've never seen one but I wouldn't mind his pot of gold if I did!

The reviews for "One Nation Under Gore" are mainly positive. What leasons did you learn to make a more mature album?
Like any band, it progresses but in which way thats down to the musicians and their influences. We just kept our usual writing formula and intensified it which is the same for the next one. Our next record will be mega heavy. The big step for me was vocals cause as you know I was just guitar player way back then Dave (debut album vocalist), left to go back to London to start his old band (Infestation - UK (check em out), so I stepped up to the mic but myself and Jason are huge Devourment fans so we thought we'd go for that vibe but for the next album it will be the same with even more intensity and variety. One thing for sure with us that every release will absolutely surpass the last.

Obvious you learned to play tighter as an individual and as a band so more complexity in the songs so how did you approach the writing of the new songs?
Practice, practice, practice like all things I guess. We practice more as a band throughout a week plus we all play at home too. I write the riffs and then it's arranged by Jason and then I add any arrangement ideas I may have but Jason normally is spot on with the arranging anyway. We have written together for alongtime, myself and Jason and we both know exactly what we wanna hear and thats exactly how we write.
We play the music we enjoy and we wanna hear and thats kinda the way it should be in any given band.
 
Do you think you will able to write the ultimate death metal song? Is there a song that comes close for you?
hmmmmm I dunno man, doubt it but we sure will try and get close! I think too many of my own influences and Jasons too have already done the ultimate death metal tune too!
 
Are you musically educated? Do you still doing practice or just playing? And how do you manage to expand your skills?
I know a few bits and pieces but truth be told I know people that are totally musically educated but have admittedly said that they find that limits them to rules in the mindset of their own playing if you will and I don't like the thought of that. I believe songs should have natural feel and heart to them. I dont wanna have to play something because some textbook of guitar tells me to. If it sounds cool, it will be used. We usually write music for the moshpit! hahah

At the moment there is a lot of snow here in the Netherlands. I think in most parts of Europe. But I don't understand how it is possible as everybody is shouting that is it becoming warmer here on earth. Do you have an explanation?
Interesting, I was having a chat with a friend about this. Was it not the case that 2 high up government scientists leaked emails saying that global warming was bullshit? It's crazy ya know and it's definately the media dude. And how it's used to manipulate the minds of the masses and take focus off other issues i.e. the war on terror, then there was swine flu and all that sorta thing. The media sends the shockwaves of terror through nations and it responds appropriately.
 
What are the plans for the future beside the two remaining albums? How do you want to see the band in 5 years?
I would say probably get albums 3 and 4 out and tour and gig our asses off!!!
 
Any shout out to the readers? Don't be afraid of self promotion or censorship.
Thanks for reading, thanks to the people who bought the album and merch and shown positive support in anyway, it's appreciated! Any promotors out there get in touch as were looking to gig like fuck in 2010!
 
Last rites?
Cheers Twan and BRUTALISM for the interview! Be sure to go over to www.myspace.com/putrefy05 to have to listen to some of "One Nation Under Gore" and maybe buy some merch! Happy New Year to yourself and the crew and contributers! Here's to a fuckin awesome 2010! Stay brutal Putrefy fans! See you 2010! Cranium smashing brutality \m/ \m/