Anal Cunt interview

Originally published in ‘zine issue #8, 1993

Anal Cunt is a really crazy noise band from Boston that has been around for years and has put out many 7”es. I got the chance to talk to the guitarists, Fred and John, at that Relapse Festival after they finished their set, which was rudely cut short by the people working at the venue. Write to the band, addressed to “A.C.”

D.U.: First off, as they say, what’s your name and what do you do in the band?

Fred: My name’s Fred. I play guitar for Anal Cunt. I been playing guitar for Anal Cunt for three [pause] three and something years, here.

You still in Phlegm? Oh, they broke up, right?

Fred: Phlegm? Phlegm’s kind of like broken up now, yeah. John, introduce yourself, man.

John: I’m John. I play other guitar.

Just then King, the drummer for Deceased, which also played that day, came up to talk to these two about their set.

King: Beautiful fuckin’ stuff. I love it!

John: Thanks.

King: I thought it was the Powerslave tour all over again.

John: Thank you.

Fred: Tell them where you came from, Johnny. Your hardcore roots!

John: My hardcore roots? They always give me a hard time ‘cause I play with other bands. I play in bands called Toe Tag, a band called STP, a band called Oi Men, so …

So tell me what happened up there on stage.

John: They’re just not used to seeing things like that, you know?

They got all pissed when the mic got ripped out of the plug.

Fred: Yeah, yeah, well, fuckin’ the soundman was a dick. I was like, “Hey, buddy, why don’t you do this and do that,” right? He’s like, “You telling me what to do?” I was like, “What’s a-matter with you?” He was all Mr. Cool Rock ‘n’ Roll. So I knew shit was gonna hit. I know how our sets go, and I know that we break at least a couple mics, y’know, jacks here and there, fuckin’ trash things, and I knew that was gonna happen, so it was no big deal.


“I don’t know one fuckin’ band which truly fuckin’ says, ‘I don’t wanna get signed.’”


And it was all an accident, of course, right? You don’t try to break shit on purpose, do you?

Fred: No, we do.

Do you?

Fred: No, we don’t purposely, like, stomp on one cord. What happens—

John: We just play rough.

Fred: We try to stomp the crowd.

I guess it wasn’t working well with this crowd.

Fred: No, it wasn’t, but, like, musical equipment wasn’t really made for fuckin’ moving around, y’know? The cords break, fuckin’ things fall, things break so fuckin’ easy, it’s ridiculous. So that’s what happens at every one of our shows.

Photo of Anal Cunt performing

I read this interview with your singer [Seth] in Diarrheader ‘zine, and he’s like, “Nobody can like us anymore ‘cause we signed to Earache.”

John: That’s what people have told us.

Fred: That’s bullshit.

John: We just hear rumors, y’know. People say that different bands don’t like us because—

Fred: I haven’t heard it once yet.

Do you feel like they won’t say it to your face, but—

John: They’ll say it to, yeah, other people, and it will get back to us or something.

Fred: I don’t know any band that isn’t trying to get signed, that would like to get signed. It’s all bullshit. I don’t know one fuckin’ band which truly fuckin’ says, “I don’t wanna get signed.” Earache wanted to sign fuckin’ A.C. the second year A.C. was around, but A.C. didn’t wanta get signed, ‘cause [A.C.] had this stupid attitude, “Oh, that’s selling out and shit.” But as time progresses and you get older and shit, fuckin’ that attitude is really fuckin’ very thin.

So Dig from Earache’s been trying to get ahold of you guys for a while?

John: Not, like, constantly, but he had approached Seth a while back, around the 5,463 Song [EP].

Where are you gonna do the album at? Are you gonna do it on a little tape recorder, like that?

John: No, no, no, we’re in the studio.

Fred: But it’s not no million-dollar studio like Morrisound or something. We’ll just record live.

What’s next for Anal Cunt?

John: I wanna tour. That’s the whole reason, like, Earache was good, because, I mean, we know with them, as a big name, we can do things we want, like tour, not lose our shirts going over to Europe and living in peoples’ houses that’re putting the show on. We know it’ll be well-put-together and stuff, and that was definitely a major influence on why we signed with them, y’know?

Fred: And the cash sucks. We’re, like, the cheapest fuckin’ band they’ve been paying. These bands that started yesterday, y’know, like stupid bands from Florida, fuckin’ they’re getting 300 times the money we’re getting.

I read in all these ‘zines early on that A.C. was gonna tour Germany and then break up.

Fred: Oh, that was a long fuckin’ time ago. Seth and Tim, and before, it was Mike, the original guitarist, they were very sensitive guys. Fuckin’ I dunno, their cat could get sick, and they’re like, “Oh, let’s break up the band,” y’know? They used to be like that. But now, since I came in the band, and a lotta shit’s happened, and I been in and out, and since we got Johnny, and Johnny’s been helping us out a lot, it’s not like that anymore. We’ve been pretty dedicated to sticking to a long-term type-a deal.

John: Yeah, exactly.

What’s still available from Relapse Records of Anal Cunt?

John: You can find the live [record], the split with Psycho, the split with Meat Shits, um, the unplugged, and then they have the new one, called Morbid Florist.

I read this other interview where Seth is like, “We were thinking of having song titles and lyrics, but then that wouldn’t be Anal Cunt.”

Fred: Yeah, no shit. We ain’t gonna.

John: Well, the Relapse thing does have—

Fred: The Relapse thing is, like, a fuckin’ goof. I mean, the name of the fuckin’ album is Morbid Florist, y’know?

John: It’s just to kinda poke a little fun at, like, “Ooh, we’re so scary of a band,” kinda thing, y’know?

Fred: Ooh, blood ‘n’ guts, ooh.

Is that trying to disassociate yourselves from the death metal scene?

Fred: Yeah.

Why is that?

Fred: Well, because the death metal scene used to be cool at one time, like right after Venom and stuff, cool bands, Sodom. But then what happened was, the metal bands started to get out of date, like fuckin’, y’know, Anthrax and fuckin’ Testament. So then what happened was, all the glam [fans] that were into fuckin’ them bands started making their bands and started, like, integrating with death metal. And you got the total glam [fans] that should be going “A-a-a-a-a-h!” But instead they’re doing the new “Urr urr urr urr” thing, ‘cause that’s the popular thing to do.

So you agree with the opinion that death metal’s getting trendy.

Fred: Hell yeah! Are you kidding? I mean, it’s totally obvious. You know, it’s not like it used to be. That’s why I even joined A.C. in the first place, ‘cause a long time ago, it was a progression of things. First it was, like, harsher and harsher and harsher, and A.C. was the harshest thing I could find that would be away from that fuckin’ glam thing. So far it’s been pretty cool.

Do you think that’s gonna become the next big thing?

Fred: I dunno. I have no clue if it’s gonna be big or not. I hope. It’d be cool if it was. The Nirvana fuckin’ thing, get on MTV and shit. [laugh] But I don’t think it’s gonna be. I doubt it. I mean, we’ll be, like, in our 40s by the time fuckin’ noise is gonna be fuckin’ the popular thing.

What do you have to say to those who say that Anal Cunt sold out when they signed to Earache?

Fred: Yeah, like you wouldn’t in a second. Print that. I don’t know any band that wouldn’t sign to Earache in a second if they could.

John: I think that it’s wrong, ‘cause if they knew anything about it, they wouldn’t say it, ‘cause I don’t consider it selling out in the least. It’s not we can now retire ‘cause we signed to Earache. Like, please.

Fred: It’s not like we’re toning down our shit either, as you can tell tonight, y’know? We’re not out there fuckin’ wearing peace, love, and flower shirts and shit, going, “Yeah, man, groove.” We still fuckin’ get kicked off every stage we play. We’re not toning down at all.

Do you have a last comment to throw in?

John: Uh, if people haven’t heard of A.C., I think if they heard us, they’d like us. And come see us when we go on tour.

Fred: Stay out of the sun. ■

Photo: Anal Cunt playing that day


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