Originally published in ‘zine issue #4, 1992
Virginia’s Deceased had its Luck of the Corpse record release party in Washington, D.C. recently. This death metal from the grave band has a 7” on Relapse called Gutwrench in addition to the album, and is preparing songs for the second album, The Blueprints for Madness. Here is an interview with Deceased that we did in the noisy backstage area of the club.
D.U.: Tell the story of the downtuning to D. Why’d you do it?
King: I’m against it.
Mike: Mark and I, we’re not tuning down like all the other bands, down to C and B. When I first started playing death metal like Venom, I had to tune down to figure the songs out. It has more of an evil sound. [Deceased] did it before, you know. The first demo was in D, and they, like, messed around over the years, back and forth.
King: I liked it in E. I see no reason to change. It was our original sound, and it’s so different.
Give a really rough release date for the second album.
King: I’d say January next year.
So what’s Relapse been saying about putting you guys on tour?
Les: It’s [labelmates] Monstrosity. It’s all up to them.
King: If we get more than two calls a week for shows coming up, then it’s like a little tour, y’know? We really don’t have nothing set yet, man.
Mike: See, Nuclear Blast [which Relapse works with], they go through a touring agency, and Matt [from Relapse] said that he can put our name on a list, and it’s a matter of time, hooking up bands.
Here’s a political one. Should we send money to the Commonwealth of Independent States as humanitarian aid, seeing as we’re in a recession?
King: I think they should give us some money so we can do our next album and shit, personally.
Mike: I think it’s cool. They’re trying to get started again. It’s real fucked up over there. It’s real fucked up here too. I think we should help them out a little bit.
Les: I don’t know all the details about it, so I really don’t know.
When a band’s playing a club, what’s some advice about not getting ripped off money-wise?
King: Don’t have Lonnie run the door. [laughs] Just joking. Don’t have Vinnie run the door. Don’t get ripped off. Nah, you gotta have somebody you trust that’s a real close friend of the band to do the door and shit.
Les: Sometimes there is no sure way, unless you have a contract.
King: Try to get something in writing. That’s the only thing you can say.
What steps have you taken to find a better practice space, instead of the self-storage unit?
Mike: None.
King: That’s where we’re practicing, man. We got a snowman in there. Come see it. It never melts. [laughs] Well, if Dennis wasn’t moving to Oklahoma, we could practice at his house.
It’s all Dennis’ fault!
King: Yeah, I know, what a dick! [laughs]
What’s up for Deceased in the future?
Mark: I think we’re gonna break up, and … [laughs]
King: I just wanna stay underground, just keep doing the same thing, putting out albums and just fuckin’ get as far as we can. I’m looking for fuckin’ parties and fuckin’ good shows, death metal fests, cool bands, stuff like that. I don’t care. I’m not out to play the fuckin’ Castle Donington. I could care fuckin’ less!
Okay, it’s wrap-up comment time. If you have something to toss in, go ahead.
Mark: Uh, well, um, you know, uh, it’s like, uh, man, um, y’know—
King: C’mon, Mark, we don’t want the same [answer] as last time.
Mike: Rap sucks. Nirvana sucks.
King: Thanks a lot for everybody’s support, and watch out for the [new] album. Wait for the tour. It’s gonna be faster’n anybody can ever imagine! I tell ya, it’ll be vomitus alotitus! That’s the way it’s gonna be. Deceased, death, speed, gore, hell, fuckin’ vengeance from the dead. That’s all I gotta say, man. ■
