Threshold of the Usurper: RS: For this one, if we could
go back in time I would have made it a full length album. I would have made
"Anno Satanas" an actual track and not a hidden track, which would
have brought the song total up to 6 songs. Then I would have just written 2
more songs and made it a full length album. I know later for the re-issue
(including the cassette) we did this, but we used 2 songs recorded years later.
But other than that, I feel "Threshold.." is a great release.
Skeletal Season:
RS: Just some production stuff. Dave Hellstorm insisted on recording his
drums a certain way, and we wanted him to record the same way we did Diabolosis
and Threshold. But since Dave was older and more experienced we let him record
his drums his way... big mistake! That would never happen again! The drums had
a weird tone. It worked with the dark mood of that album, but the overall
result was kind of muddy sounding. I know we were a little disappointed with
certain aspects of the mix, but we made up for it with good songs, good artwork
and good presentation.
4. On Diabolosis why wasn’t Soulstalker or Visions from
the gods included?
RS: We didn't want to have the entire demo on the first
album. Actually like I said earlier, if we had more time and money, we most
likely wouldn't of put any of the demo songs on the album. We just didn't have
the money to properly record 8 or 9 new songs, so we recorded a few new, and
remixed 2 demo songs. Dusk and Deep in the Forest fit better with the other new
songs at the time, so we chose those 2 for Diabolosis.
5. Could you share any stories about recording these
albums?
RS: Yes, I could make a book about those sessions. I wish
we would have taken pictures or video back then, because those were some
magical moments. This guy Brian Eaton had his own record label called Eatin'
Records, he put out actual albums and had his own band that he played drums for
called North. This was the early mid 90's. This was a time when "metal was
dead" in the mainstream. His label was not really metal. Mainly old hard
rock bands that shifted their style to more grunge. he also had some guitar
wizard artist at the time, some real progressive rock and then his own
band North which was sort of
industrial/dream theater style. It was a true independent label.
He was an excellent producer and excellent musician. He
was a fellow "long hair", but not some idiot metal head. Super
intelligent guy. He had this small house and he converted one of the bedrooms
into a recording studio. This wasn't some Pro Tools/digital computer home
studio, it was an actual home studio! Full on reel to reel tapes, giant mixing
board... all the stuff you would see in a regular big recording studio, only
crammed into this guys bedroom.
He used a closet as an isolation booth to record vocals
and to record the amps. He had this electronic drum kit, all these expensive
mics. So we would pile in someone's car, drive out to the west suburbs of
Chicago and record bits and pieces at time. Usually only 5 hour sessions 2 or 3
times a week. Then we would eat at Portillos and drive home listening to rough
mixes of whatever we recorded.
I remember Brian never heard stuff like ours. The
heaviest shit he heard back then was Metallica. He was blown away with some of
the stuff we were doing. He loved the double bass drumming and the meaty guitar
tone. But he also had a bit of a chip on his shoulders at times. It was a
really interesting relationship with him. He was about 6 or 7 years older than
us and was making a living with his studio and label. We would have a lot of
laughs, but also a lot of lectures keeping us in line. So when times were going
good with him, he would give us free set up time and do a lot of shit off the
clock; when times were tight for him, he would charge us for set up time and
round things up on the clock.
He liked us a lot and we loved this guy! We really looked up to him as like the wise
elder, but he also got really annoyed with us from time to time, which made
things even funnier. He was a world class ball buster! For example, if we
started goofing on Jon, he would jump right in and do an entire routine just
busting Jon's balls getting me and General laughing hysterically.
He used to also get real mad at General and Jon for
farting up his studio. He would be like, "hey motherfuckers, I have to
live here, knock that shit off". But General and Jon were both non-stop
farting machines, they can't stop! Telling those 2 idiots to stop farting just
made them go out of their way to fart even more. The toilet at Eaton Records
also had this big shit stain in it and he refused to clean it. When we would go
in to take a piss, he would always tell us, "Aim for the stain!" So
you can see, there was a lot of crass, low-brow humor during those sessions,
which balanced out the very heavy moods of the songs.
One time we were in a serious mix session for Threshold
of the Usurper. That album had a lot of complex arrangements and layers, like
the title track and "The Dead of Winter" ; it took a lot of
concentration to get things right... Well one night we were burning the
midnight oil working hard on the mix and General was in the corner farting.
Then the General took this recording industry magazine and began wafting his
own farts into his own face; smelling it with delight - like how people in
coffee commercials look when opening a can of coffee. We've seen him do this a
million times, so it was nothing new to us, but Brian was appalled! I remember
Brian turned around and had the most disgusted/perplexed look on his face, he
said something like, "What the fuck is this slob doing? This guy really
enjoys the smell of his own farts". Then general gave him his magazine
back and said, "i tried to read this thing, but it stinks". At that point Brian was finally like,
"forget it, I'm done for the night". That's just the way it was
recording those albums. A lot of long hours, then we would have to stop. Not
like typically how you record an album.
I remember during the Skeletal Season sessions, because
Dave Hellstorm wanted to record his drums a certain way. We needed to record
the drums and basic tracks at this different studio that Brian Eaton
suggested. It was one of Brian's friends
who was a doctor or something. He had a big house on a lot of land and his
studio was in a barn. We recorded it there and then we brought it to Brian to
mix. Brian was going through some issues in those days. I know he had this
girlfriend living there at the time, and for whatever reason his heart wasn't really
into recording us anymore. We brought the tracks to him and he was like,
"the drums sound like shit. your guitar tone sounds like shit. this
recording sounds terrible". We said, "it was your friend who recorded
us, what the fuck?" He said, "I told you what drums to use and how to
record them and Dave fucked this up! Rick, you should have used this amp and
this guitar" blah, blah, blah...
So we mixed at Brian's house and he was not really into
it. It was not a fun session like we had in the past. It felt like he was going
through the motions a bit. I remember leaving his house, we were downstairs and
his girlfriend had obviously moved some of her stuff in his house since the
last time we were there. She had this big glass cabinet with all these little
figurines on it right by his front door. As we were leaving one night, I lost
my balance a little and started tripping backwards. All I could think was I was
falling right into this figurine cabinet. I panicked and did like a twist to
avoid it and flopped on the ground right next to this cabinet. I missed it, but
did this big, elaborate prat fall just to avoid it. At this point Brian looked
at us like, "my god what a bunch of idiots".
But even with all that jack-assery, we really learned a
lot from Brian Eaton. The guy was really ahead of his time with his recording
techniques and really taught us how to get the tones we were looking for. He taught
me about guitar EQ and different ways to get different tones. he really shaped
those early Usurper releases.
6. Is there any future plants to re-release Skeletal
Seasons on CD. Also in the future will there be a re-release cassette wise of
Necronemesis, Twilight Dominion, and Cryptobeast.
RS: I doubt we will re-issue the CD for Skeletal Season,
but you never know. I know Necropolis re-issued it with Threshold of the
Usurper. The cover art is terrible and the packaging is lame. As for Necronemesis,
Twilight Dominion and Cryptobeast... there would be too much red tape with
Earache Records at the moment. (Damn you Earache! --- Metal warfare)
Ok thank you for your time and instead of asking for last
words I’m going to ask a stupid question. What pastry is better Pie or Cake?
(PIE FTW!!)
RS: Definitely pie! Pie kicks cake's ass. I never liked
cake that much. It was one of those things you were supposed to like as a kid,
but I didn't really care for it. I like Blueberry Pie, Cherry Pie, Pecan Pie,
Coconut Cream Pie... all of those kick cake's ass! I don't really like
chocolate too much in general, so I would choose pie over cake any day of the
week.
