Originally published in ‘zine issue #2, 1991
I hooked up with Phil Fasciana and Jason Blachowicz, guitar and bass respectively, in Washington, D.C. while their band, Malevolent Creation, was touring with Demolition Hammer and Devastation in support of the RC Records debut, The Ten Commandments. In the last issue of Disposable, I gave this band a lukewarm review, but I appreciate it more now that I’ve seen its live performance. As I was talking to Phil before the interview, he pointed out that there’d been a lineup change that I wasn’t aware of, so we started off with this.
Phil: July 17th, we played in our hometown, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We kicked out our other guitar player, Jeff [Guszkiewicz], that’s on the album, due to the reason that he is a fucking poser, an asshole, just a pain in the ass, man. We were sick of his naggin’ and cryin’, can’t fuckin’ tune his guitar fuckin’ right. The kid’s just a poser, basically.
D.U.: So why was he in the band in the first place then?
Phil: We didn’t know it was going to be like that until we got on tour, man. And, like, a month into the tour, it was too hectic. Couldn’t take his posing. John Rubin from Monstrosity, he used to be in our band before; he’s filling in. His band just finished doing their album, and they’re, like, waiting for it to come out and find out whatever the fuck they’re gonna do. And then he’s going to Europe with us, and Japan, and finishing this tour with us, so we can fuckin’ be a normal band.
Since so many bands have recorded at Morrisound Studios with Scott Burns, why did you do that also?
Phil: Well, we were one of the first bands that recorded with him, ‘cause we did our demo with him too. You know, he had only done, like, Death, Sepultura, Obituary, and Atheist, and maybe another few bands, but that was it. It only made sense to do our album with him, since he was our friend and he does a good job. We’re not doing our second album at Morrisound. It’s not because of Scott Burns or nothin’; it’s just because it’s too cliché, man. Too many bands sound the same, shit like that. The way it looks like now—you might think it sounds kinda lame or something, but Michael Wagner, he mixed Master of Puppets and Megadeth and Skid Row, shit like that, he lives in Fort Lauderdale, and he’s gonna prob’ly be doing our second album.
How much of a thrash sound is in your music? Would you say there’s any element of that?
Phil: Oh yeah, for sure. I don’t say that we’re death metal.
What would you say you are?
Jason: Fast, brutal music. Music for mongoloids.
Phil: A cross between thrash and death metal. ‘Cause if we were just death metal, then we’d sound like everybody else going, “Rrh brhh rrh bhrhh rrr!” You know? Even though I like that shit, everybody does it. Everybody tunes their guitar down to C and everybody’s fuckin’ grunting [and trying to] see who can do the lowest vocals. We tune down, but we tune to D. But we’re gonna stay the way we are. I mean, our music’s still gonna be fast and super heavy, but our singer isn’t gonna, y’know, start gargling.
Jason: He has a range in his voice. His voice is low enough.
When you play in Buffalo, do any fans that remember you come out of the woodwork?
Phil: Oh yeah. We just played Buffalo and it was one of the sickest shows on the tour. It was, like, 600 people there. It was fuckin’ nuts. Sold fuckin’ massive merchandise. I don’t even consider us a Florida band. The only reason we moved down there five years ago was because there was nothing to do in Buffalo. We lost our drummer. I had some friends that lived down in Florida and they said, “Why don’t you come down here and check it out?” There was no bands. The only band that was down there was, like, Death and Nasty Savage, you know?
If there’s one popular misconception about the band, what is it, and what do you say to correct it?
Phil: That we are not a Florida death metal band. We’re from Buffalo, the majority of the band’s from Buffalo, and that’s where we grew up, and that’s where our influences are. Fuckin’ mostly like hardcore and Slayer and Venom and Mercyful Fate and shit like that. No, we didn’t fuckin’ grow up here listening to Death and Morbid Angel and going, “Oh, we wanna be like them!” Y’know, we’ve been around just as long as fuckin’ Atheist or Obituary. I mean, Morbid Angel, they’re older and stuff, they’ve been around a lot longer, and so has Death. But as far as [the others] or Nocturnus, I mean, Malevolent Creation’s been around since ‘87.
Who makes all the creative decisions for the band? Is it a democracy?
Phil: I mean, I do all the business talk and shit, all the bullshit, but I don’t just say, “Well, fuckin’ this is the way it is,” you know? If I had told those guys, “Man, I want [Jeff] out,” and they wanted him in, I prob’ly woulda just said, “Keep him then. I’m outta here.” [laughs]
Is there going to be more of a band effort in the writing on the next album?
Phil: Yeah. Well, see, the only reason why there wasn’t a lot of a band effort is there was so many bandmembers going in and out. It was fuckin’ impossible to keep a full band going.
How do you think the bands in Florida get along as opposed to Buffalo? Is there a lot of competition?
Phil: Between other bands. We don’t have no shit with nobody. The only person that maybe we have a little fuckin’ beef with is Chuck [Schuldiner of Death]. He slagged us for something a few times, but we don’t give a shit. But, hey, if he ever fuckin’, y’know, is man enough to say something to one of our faces, which I doubt’ll ever happen, he’ll definitely die.
What do you think is the ultimate band to tour with?
Phil: Slayer. [laughs] A Slayer tour would fuckin’ rule.
Jason: Slayer. I wish we were on their fuckin’ Clash of the Titans tour, man.
What was the event that made you want to start a band up?
Phil: KISS. Yeah, that’s how I met [Jason], was, like, fuckin’ little league baseball and shit like that. We were total KISS freaks, and my friends that I grew up with were all total KISS freaks. And that’s why we all went, “Oh, I wanna play guitar, I wanna play drums, I wanna play bass.”
Do you have any wrap-up comment to say to the people when the interview comes out?
Phil: Uh, buy our album. Send pot to us on our P.O. box number. We’re always up for fuckin’ donations. And look for our second album. It’ll be out in March, which will definitely be better, faster, heavier. Not necessarily fuckin’ grind, but it’ll definitely be Malevolent Creation. ■
Photos: Malevolent Creation playing that night
