Originally published in ‘zine issue #7, 1993
Here’s an interview with Exterminance, a local heavy band from Maryland that’s been keeping busy playing shows and recording. Paul Folk is the guitarist for this extreme “Appalachian core” band.
D.U.: For those not up with your sound, please explain what you mean by “Appalachian core.” Is it fair to call you death metal?
Paul: Well, it’s supposed to say that the music is a little different from death metal/grind, although it is fair to call it death metal. Appalachian is the region we live in, so we stuck it with “core,” hoping that people would be interested to hear it [and to know] what the hell it is. The title has helped us a lot. People are always asking, “What does Appalachian core mean?” Our sound is basically grind with a sick vocalist. It’s a little different.
Do you still have sort of an environmental stance in the lyrics, or would you not characterize your lyrics that way?
To be honest, we never really wrote a song about the environment. It was always what religion does to the environment and what people’s beliefs did to the world, such as the killing of wolves only because people fear them, and the constant downplay of atheism and Satanism by religious fanatics who are more or less scared to death of such beliefs. We always write songs with some sort of downplay of all religions. Our demo titled Environmental Execution has thrown people to think we are into the environment. I can understand why. I would characterize our lyrics as atheistic views or our symbolic beliefs of the soul, etc. You’d have to read the lyrics to actually understand, but then again, they may only confuse people more.
You put out a lot of demos. Which ones and for how much are you selling?
We are trying not to sell too many, cuz they don’t give a good representation of the band. We would really like people to hear us live or check out our split 7” cuz the production is good there. We have only officially released three demos, which are Descending, Decomposing, & Dead; Environmental Execution; and Hatred Knows No Discrimination. We sell them for $3 or a 90-minute tape and return postage, but I recommend the 7”. Hopefully by ‘94 we will have an LP out.
What happened to the video and ‘zine you were doing?
Aww, the video is pretty much done, except for a few things like the packaging needs to be worked out and we want to put two more songs on it. The ‘zine has blown me away. I have so many demos to review and shit and I have little to no time to do it, but I will get it out before the year 2000. Hopefully by mid-‘93. I’m doing Skullcrusher ‘zine for Angela now if anybody is wondering.
What’s the story on your distro service? What do you sell?
The distro service is coming along slowly but surely. I’m mainly only selling stuff for friends, cuz they know I’m not out to make money and they understand that this is no major undertaking and that it takes time to get shit moving. I sell 7”es, CDs, demos, cassettes, and my favorite ‘zines like Disposable Underground and Exhume.
Are you still gonna do the comp. 7”?
Yes, I’ll be releasing the comp. 7” as well as some other goodies sometime this summer (I hope!).
What can people do to improve the scene in the area of Virginia, MD, and Washington, D.C.?
Good question. I think what we need is clubs. The ol’ clubs in D.C. have closed doors, so there’s not much left to play in D.C. MD has very few places to play and VA is lame on [this] except The Cave, but who in the fuck has time to sell your own tickets to only get to keep, like, $1 or $2? Fuck that ticket sale bullshit and making the club money off the door—door money should go to the bands, all 100 percent! Other than the club situation, the scene has great fucking fans and great bands. I say we chip in and rent halls out and put on our own shows or hope for new clubs to open soon.
Do you think American society is patriarchal and keeps women down?
No. That’s a cop-out to me, or an excuse for women to bitch. Fuck that bullshit. I see no real issue there.
Last comment, Paul?
Thanks, Richard, for the cool interview, and hello to everyone in the VA/MD/D.C. scene. Check out our split 7”. We’re always up for trades too. For any info, write to us. ■
