for
Painkiller Mag #8
May 2003
Interview
with Fred - Drums
by Yang Yu / Metalfan
all pics are linked from www.hammerheart.com
and http://home.swipnet.se/~w-28627/dismember.htm
by any problems refer to webmaster
We saw a release item in some distro’s catalogs named “Dismember Demos 88~90” that includes 4 demo tracks, I think its not an official release, did they get the permission form you for doing this?
I haven’t heard about such a demo compilation. Nobody got permission to put together or distribute that.
The 1st EP “Pieces” led you into a new direction of brutal styled development, but with “Indecent and Obscene” you turned back into the Sweden vein. You were also trying new stuffs out on “Massive killing…” but went back to roots in the end again. How do you see this development yourselves?
As a young band we wanted to try slightly different approaches and this is the way it turned out. I think it’s a natural way of trying to find the sound you want to achieve. I mean if we hadn’t done "Massive...." the way it is I don’t think "Death Metal" wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.
Your latest album “Hate Campaign” got lots of high rated
appraises from media, do you expect new changes for the next album?
Not really. These days we have our own sound and our own trade-marks, so the progress for the band nowadays is more in the vein of just trying to write better and better songs for every album we make. With the new album I磎 most sure about us achieving what we are aiming for.
The new bass player Sharlee D’Angelo (who join in for “Hate Campaign”) was also playing int other projects (WITCHERY), is he a steady member now or just guest musician?
He only played on the "Hate Campaign" album and played on one tour. After that he was way to busy with his other bands to be in Dismember. After the release of "Hate...." Richard Cabeza returned to play bass in the band.
I think it has been more than 10 years since you signed the deal with Nuclaer Blast. Why did you changed the label to Hammerheart Rec.? Your ex-label mates SINISTER had make the same choice but now they are back to NB again. Don’t you worry about to make the same experience?
No. The difference between N.B. and Hammerheart is the dedication and enthusiasm regarding raw music. Nuclear have their big bands to show off with and don’t need any smaller bands like us. About Sinister I don’t know why they went back, but for us it’s more important to be on a smaller label with dedicated people than being on a big label who don’t give a shit.
I think you're the serious band, you said you pay much attention to lyrics, what kind of message do you want to bring out to fans with your lyrics?
Think for your selves and believe in yourself. Be critical to anybody who want to run your life.Apart from that most of the lyrics are just storys about the dark sides of life and death.
Most of old Swedish death metal bands change their style into new trends or are disbanded, will you keep the Dismember Metal forever? (we are looking forward to this.) What is your intention to make music?
Of course! We don’t play music to please anybody. This is what we do best and what we are having the most fun doing!
DISMEMBER and ENTOMBED are often mentioned in one line (mags,
webs. etc.) when it comes to Swedish death metal roots, the number of Sweden’s
death metal fans has increased a lot. Are you still in good friendships with E?
Yes! They are great guys and we go way back.
Can you tell the Chinese fans more about the beginning days? DISMEMBER was formed even earlier then CARNAGE and ENTOMBED. Why the temporary disband doing a CARNAGE album?
We started in the spring of -88 and recorded demos and played some live shows until the fall of -89. Then I decided to join Carnage to be able to record an album and try to play with different people, but in the end Carnage became half Dismember just before recording the album. After that Carnage split up and me,Matti and David reformed Dismember and started out from the beginning again.
What was the most important metal bands or ablums etc. that shocked you for the whole life? Which new comer bands can still surprise or even influence you in the same way?
I磍l take it in my personal order from the age of seven years old. KISS, then moving to harder music like Judas Priest, Motorhead then hearing Metallica for the first time along with Mercyful Fate and Venom then the most definite band that made me wnt to play fast music; SLAYER. After that Bands like Possessed, Death,Autopsy,Xecutioner forged my influences of writing and playing this kind of music. When I saw Krisiun play live they fucking blew me away!
I think music will die without own creativities, but lots of bands are cloning each other in the NWOSDM scene, how do you think about this?
Boring!
You needed three years to release “Hate Compagn”, now
another three years has gone by. When can we expect a new album? Why do you this
long to get things finished? What problems do you have to face nowerdays?
The new album is finished and will be out in October this year. We work kind of slowly cuz we have families and steady work on the side of the band. We are also more into doing a great album every second year instead of doing
something hasty every year.
How did “Hate Compagn” sell anyway so far compared to your earlier releases? Are you disappointed of the nowerdays death metal market? Will you ever accept compromises to fit the new needs of the changing market?
We will never compromise and remember we do this because we are into it not just selling albums.
For you are one of the oldest death metal bands of Europe may I ask a quiet stupid question? What do you think makes a certain kind of musik being death metal? I mean what is death metal all about?
It’s all about contributing to a different kind of music scene. The world needs brutal music!
As a long time band, you must have lots of diehard fans from all over the world, what kind of folks are these?
All different types with one thing in common; living with music they like and really feel for.
Most of your fans following you over all the years are really diehard fans because they think you are a never changing band, at least they think that you would never change into a way that would displease or disappoint them. Are you comfortable with this given image?
Absolutely. I much rather play in front of 20 diehard fans instead of playing in front of 5000 who just listens to us cuz we are a hype.
Do you feel somehow limited in useable possibilities to continuely do music that should fit the needs both of your fans and you self as developing musicians?
No.
One of my absolute all time death metal faves is ”Indecent & Obscene”, which DISMEMBER-release do you like the most. What kind of music do you listen nowerdays?
I think the new album will be my favourite so far. The music I listen to varies from Queens of the stone age to The Haunted.
It seems that DISMEMBER-musicians are not much interested
into doing side projects (beside voc Matti’s short appearance in early
CARBONIZED). But you also seem not to be that busy with DISMEMBER-stuffs. So
what do you guys do all the time?
Work and spend time with our families and friends.
1995, when I was visiting the popcom meetings in Germany, Nuclear Blast have offered all visitors a cane of DISMEMBER-beer. It was quiet funny, what kind of odd fan articles do you have beside that?
Not really. We
'll see what we can come up with now that we have a label that can help us creating some interesting Dismember stuff.You are one of the most famous death metal bands, but not much information about be found on the internet. Even www.dismember.nethas no content now. You don’t pay much attention to the web?
I know the site has been neglected by the guy who is taking care of it and it’s going to change soon. Of course we care about the web.
Have you ever been playing in Asia (beside Japan)? What impression do far east people make on you? Anything you want to say to Chinese death metal fans?
Unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity to play much in Asia. If we get the chance we would love to tour there. Asian people are no different to me than other people we met except for maybe customs, but hey don’t all nationalties have their own way of different customs? I just love to travel and learn from people who come from different places than myself! I really hope that we will get the chance to play China in the near future. Hold on and don’t stop listening to death metal!
Thank you for the interview. All the best wishes for DISMEMBER!
Thank you for an excellent interview! I really hope that we get to meet someday.
Take care!
Fred
www.dismember.net
Discography
Like an Ever Flowing Stream CD 1991 (Nuclear
Blast)
Pieces MCD 1992 (Nuclear Blast)
Indecent & Obscene CD 1993 (Nuclear Blast)
Casket Garden CDS 1995 (Nuclear Blast)
Massive Killing Capacity CD 1995 (Nuclear Blast)
Misanthropic CDS 1997 (Nuclear Blast)
Death Metal CD 1997 (Nuclear Blast)
Hate Campaign CD 2000 (Nuclear Blast)
Demos & Rares:
- DISMEMBERED-DEMO'88
- LAST BLASPHEMIES-DEMO'89
- REBORN IN BLASPHEMY-DEMO'90
- DISMEMBER - live 7"
- SKIN HER ALIVE-7"EP'91