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A mighty comeback, I
hear you say. A mighty comeback indeed, so does practice tell. Legendary
Death Metal fathers and instructors, whom countless bands look up to are back
with a fistful of blunt discharges of pure, unadulterated DM. And what would
you know, the New Yorkers are Back to the Grave as well – or so they were, on
the eve of the grimly inventive June 20th, Oporto, Portugal. BTTG – Hello, Frank. Would you please start
off by giving us detailed information on the mighty comeback of SUFFOCATION?
BTTG – I heard that this gentleman, Chris
Richards, said some pretty nasty things in the press about the SUFFOCATION
reunion. Do you have any idea why he said that? Frank
– Yeah, he did. Probably because he is just jealous or something, I don’t
know why! I mean, I called him and I left messages inviting him, but he never
called back, so it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like: if you didn’t want to
be a part of it, why would he do this at this point? BTTG – Your retreat coincided with a period
when DM seemed to be decreasing in popularity, i.e., Black Metal was becoming
the next big thing. Is this one of the reasons why you keep uttering the
scene was dying out by then? Frank – It could've been. I mean, we could say it was a combination of that and… the music was just not coming out. There was a lot of the same thing. There seemed to be nothing new or nothing fresh. The major labels like Roadrunner started dropping all their bands. We [SUFFOCATION] were dropped, DEICIDE, OBITUARY were dropped, PESTILENCE – all these bands were dropped by the labels, so I think it was just the scene itself. Not many kids were turning out to the shows anymore… BTTG – I can see that. Well, one of the
reasons why you disbanded had to do with inner tension within the band. But
now that you are back, you said you want to be professional. Do you think
there is a possibility of ever splitting up again? Frank – I don’t see it happening, no. I am that confident! [Laughs] BTTG – Is it possible for you to combine
music with income – i.e., to make a living out of music?
BTTG –You mentioned the Internet, but aren’t your afraid, what with the
advent of the Internet, that less people actually buy the CDs – instead, they
just burn copies or download the songs? Do you think it will affect you? Frank – Yes and no. It can, but you get the majority of the money from the concerts, on tour, with merchandise and things like that. Unfortunately, you can’t really do anything about it: one person gets the album and you can burn it to 15 of your friends and they won’t go out and buy it, but I mean, they can always go to a concert! You can’t burn a concert… BTTG – And you cannot burn a ticket! [laughing] So, could you please remind
us of the current line-up? It is literally a comeback to the very beginnings,
is it not, what with Guy being the first unofficial guitar player? Frank – Yeah, me and Guy and Josh had played at a very, very early
stage of SUFFOCATION. The other guys, Terrence, Mike, Doug Cerrito, Chris
Richards, they were in another band called MORTUARY at the time. They were
writing a lot of the stuff that became the Effigy of the Forgotten album. Josh and I went out on our own and
we started SUFFOCATION. Basically, I pulled off the name «Suffocation» off a
MORBID ANGEL song from the Altars of
Madness album. I said: “That’s it! That’s right to the point!” So, I
grabbed the name and, at that time, Guy Moshee put an ad out in the paper. He
played guitar, he was looking for a band and we called him and he came down
and jammed away for a little while, he wrote Catatonia, and then he went on his own, he went to PYREXIA,
INTERNAL BLEEDING and stuff like that. So basically, it is Guy Moshee (guitar
player), Terence Hobbs on guitar, me (Frank) on vocals, Derek Boyer on bass
and Mike Smith on drums. BTTG – Were you still active in music during
this break? I heard someone has done something with metal and rap… Frank – No, I didn’t do it! It was Mike. Mike messed around with that, he put together a CD himself and he was trying to get it aside to something else, but it just didn’t work out the way they wanted to, so… BTTG – Great, because SUFFOCATION is not
about rap anyway, am I correct?!
Frank – [laughing] No, no,
no. As for me, I was not really involved in music. After that, I focused on
my family: I worked, went home and all that stuff. BTTG – The good, hard-working parent!
Frank – [laughing] I tried
to, but she didn’t appreciate it the way we were supposed to and that’s why we
ended up divorced. BTTG – With Souls
to Deny you returned to your first official label ever – Relapse. Why did
you sign to Relapse after all these years? Frank
– Yes, we did. Just ‘cause we felt that they were the best one out there for
this BTTG – Right. There is already a video out – Deceit – what can you tell us about
it? Frank – Deceit was a video
done for free, at a live show. It wasn't like anything with a great
production behind. That video came out first and was played on Fused Uranium, but then we shot a
production video for Surgery of
Impalement on the new album [Souls
to Deny - Ed.]. That video was shot at Eastern State Penitentiary and
it's got all sorts of crazy camera angles, it looks really sick – and it
sounds great! BTTG – Where/ when can we see it?
Frank – In the States, they are currently playing it on MTV and Uranium. BTTG – How have the reactions to the
SUFFOCATION return been like so far? There is a cult status you have to live
up to, wouldn’t you agree? Frank – Yes and no! The reactions have been great, our fans appreciate the music that we put out, I mean: we don’t try to do anything different, we don’t try to top somebody else, we don’t try to come out and say: “We’ll have to play blistering faster than everybody else” or so. It’s like: “We are here to give you SUFFOCATION music: brutal, heavy, fast, punch you in the face – that type of music!” and that is what we’ve always been about. BTTG – When such legendary bands come back,
many people, particularly those of the die-hard old school wing, wonder if
the ‘cult status’ will remain untouched. I mean, as with all reunions the
‘cult status’ seems to get lost in the way… and a select few will always
cling to ‘the old stuff’. Aren’t you afraid to lose part of this old school
cult with the new album? Frank – I don’t think so! I think our new album went back to a lot of our roots, to what SUFFOCATION is and to me that’s speed, technicality, the harmonies and the heavy breakdowns. And I think that’s what we deliver on this album, as we have throughout our whole career. That’s our formula, that we feel is the success for SUFFOCATION. That’s just what we want to continue to do. BTTG – Some of the new songs seem to be
approaching a more melodic vein…
Frank – Some of them are, yeah, but that just comes from the writing.
Terrence is very melodic, he loves to write crazy rhythms, a lot of harmonies
in them, you know – but there is a
lot of stuff on the album too that is just brutal, heavy, fast and this is
only the beginning of getting back together and putting out an album.
Obviously, we want to go back in and start working on another one, and we
want to put out another within two years. We’ve got to. BTTG – You cannot stop the money-making
machine!
Frank – [laughs] – Well,
that’s what I want to do, you know? BTTG – What is the message behind Souls to Deny? Frank – Souls to Deny is
basically just about no matter how good you have lived your life or how bad
you lived your life, if you do necessarily believe in someplace where souls
will reside, that your soul is already predetermined that it will never make
it to this place: it will be caught up like in Limbo or something, just
hanging in there and never making it to the other side. It’s like: you have
no way of changing the situation, because it’s already been predetermined. BTTG – So we could look upon Souls to Deny as «Limbonic Art»… Frank – [Laughs] Right, yeah
right! [Still laughing] BTTG – It is funny to look back and see that at the
very beginning your Human Waste and
Effigy of the Forgotten got bad
reviews all over Europe, remember that? Frank – Not necessarily! Maybe over here they did, because in the States we got good reviews all over. You're not the first person who said that over here. We talked to somebody over in Germany and she said the same thing: “Your first two albums got bad reviews and now you guys are considered like some sort of cult status” and, for us, in the States it wasn’t like that! We got good reviews on all the albums. BTTG – Would you explain that by the fact
that the music that SUFFOCATION played was innovative at the time, completely
ground-breaking and that some people really have difficulties appreciating
new things?
BTTG – So, what can we expect from the
SUFFOCATION lyrics? Have you managed to suffocate any of your readers through
lyrics? Frank – [laughs] Not really,
I mean, a lot of my lyrics deal with things that everybody can relate to,
whether it’s a personal tragedy, crazy thoughts that pop into your head, you
know: “Am I the only one who thinks this way or are there other people out
there that think the same way I do?” And then we hit on some religious
topics, basically people following it blindly. If you wanted to believe in
jesus, if you wanted to believe in everything that the bible talks about,
it’s like, when we wrote jesus Wept,
it’s just as if the last fifteen years have gone by and he would still be
weeping at the way the world just
continued to disintegrate. BTTG – Is religion a big problem in New
York?
Frank – It’s not that it’s a huge problem, it’s just but they try to feed it to you so much, yet the people that are trying to feed it to you, the so-called “god-representatives” are the ones that are doing bad! So how can you believe?... BTTG – There is a good word for it:
Hypocrisy! “Do as I say, not as I do.” Frank - Yeah, exactly! “You are not supposed to do this, but yet I will go rape little boys, when the bible teaches you otherwise.” BTTG – “Let the children come to me”…
Frank – Right. So, it’s like: how are you supposed to believe in
something that they try to feed you when they are doing just as bad as
everybody else?! BTTG – Well… not everybody else. I for one don’t go
out raping little boys! [Laughs]
But it is funny you should mention it, because in Portugal paedophilia is a
part of the news now, and some years ago there was this priest from Madeira,
the centre of a paedophilic scandal: he just runs away to Brazil and goes
away without being punished. Frank – See? That’s the thing and it’s all tied into the overall picture of religion. BTTG – And now for some lighter conversation topics…
What are you currently listening to within the Death Metal scene? Which
national or international bands would you point out? Frank – I listen to a lot of the old school stuff. I'm a huge fan of
the old CARCASS (Symphonies of
Sickness: Descanting the Insalubrious). That stuff to me was brutal. I
love it still to this day. More old school like TERRORIZER, PESTILENCE with
Martin singing – Suddenly
the whole city was in uproar, as Portugal scored against Spain for the
quarter finals of Euro 2004. One could hear the mighty proclamations of
happiness immediately after the goal and both cities (Porto and Gaia) were
shouting their lungs out for the victory! Frank was by the way amazed at the
way people live the Euro, with such a festive spirit, having said so in the
concert as well. Frank – [Shouting and whistling]
Hey! I guess there was a goal here somewhere, haha. BTTG – Yes, Portugal has just scored against Spain
and if all goes well, Portugal – not Spain – will make it to the quarter
finals of Euro 2004. [And Portugal
eventually made it] Frank – Right. [Laughing) No
wonder there such a noise out there! BTTG – And you better be supporting the
Portuguese team, otherwise I will finish this interview off by suffocating
you! And that is the very least I can do… Frank – [Laughs] Yes, all
right. Portugal! Portugal! Okay, so we were talking about… BTTG – The bands you usually listen to. Frank –Yes, I listen to a lot of old school stuff, but the new stuff I
have been listening to is NASUM (I love the Burnt by the Sun and that isn't necessarily totally Death Metal). BTTG – I see you are more into the technical
bands. Frank - Oh yeah, always have been! You know, HUMAN REMAINS – I like
something that hits you. I like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, because it’s just
crazy, I don’t understand where they’re going! [laughs] I mean, I saw them live and it just freaked me out,
because they’re all over the place [laughs]. BTTG – They are sure to make an impact on
people! Would you say that the scene in New York is decreasing, increasing or
are the classical bands pretty much all that needs be known about NY? Frank – Right now, it’s pretty much like the classical bands. There are a few upcoming bands out there: STRAY FROM THE PATH, and so on. But there are not many bands for that matter. I mean, the shows are getting bigger and the scene is starting to build itself back again – BTTG – Venues and stuff?
BTTG – I always had this idea that New York
was boiling with activity – probably because most of my reference bands come
from NY. And I always had this idea that in the States DM was something
really huge. Frank – In certain places. In New York City it’s very big; California – huge. Huge!; Texas – very big; in Florida it’s big, Seattle/Washington, places like that. The West Coast is huge! Up and down from Arizona to New Mexico. They love it out there. BTTG – What are your expectations for
tonight’s concert? You have not played in Portugal yet, have you? Frank – I haven’t.
SUFFOCATION came through [with DEICIDE, 1995 – Ed.], but I wasn’t here for that tour. This is my first time
here in Portugal and I’m hoping it’ll be a great show! BTTG – Have you got any stereotyped image of
what the Portuguese audience might behave like? Frank – Just the guys told me that when they came through with DEICIDE
a few years ago, they said it was crazy, so that’s what I’m expecting! [laughs] BTTG – Of course!
[Laughs] And
that is pretty much what Frank got in return, for SUFFOCATION were
undoubtedly the band of the evening, having impelled people to move forwards
to countless moments of extreme mosh, headbanging and stagediving. A huge
crowd by all means was expecting to see such a cult band perform live the
hymns of atrocious suffocation. BTTG – Okay Frank, thank you very much for
your answers and good luck with the concert. There is a demanding crowd out
there waiting for your devastating live chaos! Have you any last words/
wishes? Frank – [Laughs] Thank you
very much to you and all our fans over here in Portugal for the continued
support that they have shown us when we were here and when we weren’t. Thank
you. Without you, we couldn’t be doing this. By Morgana - Back To The Grave June 20, 2004 Photos – Menthor & Suffocation 2004 |
