Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Interview with Ohio's Ton done by Patrick on 8-12-15

Metal  Hails
Here  is  a   new  interview  with  the  Ohio  death  metal  band  Ton  who  recently  released  their   newest  cd  "Bow Down To  Extiction"  through  the  mighty  Ossuary Prod.   If   you  are  a  fan  of  this  long-running  death  metal  band  then  defintly  give  their  new  cd  a   listen.
Regards
Patrick
fiendformetal@live.com



Interview  with  Dan G.  Guitarist   of  Ton  and  owner  of  Iron  Gates  Entertainment  done  by  Patrick





1. Hello  Dan  how  is  your  summer  going?When  did  you  first  discover  metal  music?Who  were  some  of  the  first  bands you  listened  to?



Summer has been going great. I discovered metal in the eighties. I was in high school in the mid and late eighties. That was when a lot of the great thrash bands were active. I was into all the classic thrash bands. Metallica, Slayer, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Exodus, Vio-Lence, Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, Sepultura, Nuclear Assault. Anything that was heavy none of that glam shit.






2.Ton   originally  formed  in  1993   when  did  you  first  meet  the  other  members  of  the  band? How  did  you  all come  up  with the  name  Ton  for the  band?
 
 
 
 
Kevin and I went to high school together. We weren't really friends then because he was a couple years younger than I am. I met Jeff in about 1990 I think. His cousin gave him my phone number because she knew that I played guitar and Jeff was looking for someone to jam with. Jeff and I started jamming together and played with another drummer for a while. Just by chance I ran into Kevin and he was looking for some new people to play with. Kevin had a practice spot so the 3 of us got together. Very shortly after that Paul Bennett started playing with us too. We knew Paul from another local band and Jeff and I also played with him for a short time before TON. We called ourselves TON just because it sounded heavy. We weren't really a death metal band when we started we just wanted to play heavy music.




3.Why  did  ton  break up  in the first  place?  did you  all stay  in  contact  with  each  other?


 In late 2000 and early 2001 I guess there was a little tension between us and we lost focus of what was important. Having fun is the most important thing. I have been playing with Kevin pretty much non stop since 1993. We had several different bands over the years. Jeff formed Fully Consumed in 2003, I think. He has played in FC since then. Jeff played bass in a couple of the bands that Kevin and I had and I later joined Fully Consumed. After our Blind Follower/Point Of View cd was re-released by Fresh Blood Management we decided to reform. The 3 of us were playing together already in another band anyway. We got a lot of positive feedback after the re-release so we decided to give it another go.



4.Ton  reformed  in 2014  what made  you  all decide to  give  ton  another  chance? How  has  it  been  going  so  far?


 With the positive feedback we were getting I guess we just felt the time was right. We started learning some old songs and writing some new ones. It just felt great to do it again and we were having a lot of fun. Things have ben going great. We signed with Ossuary Industries when we only had about half of the songs written for the cd. That really motivated us to keep writing. To have a great label behind us and the opportunity to do our cd release at the Las Vegas Death Fest was such an amazing experience. We have played quite a few shows already and plan to do plenty more. We have a couple of big fests booked for 2016.



5.What  is  the  current  line-up  of  Ton? How  would   you  say  Ton's  music  has  changed  over  the  years?


Jeff Shepler-Bass/Vocals, Kevin Kraft-Drums/Vocals, Dan Gates-Guitar/Vocals and Paul Bennett is working on songs to rejoin the band. All 4 original members and its awesome. I really look forward to stepping on stage with Paul being back in the band. Paul left the band in about 1998 so we did shows for a few years without him and to this point we have been a 3 piece. Paul should be ready by the end of the year or the first of next year.




6.Ton  recently  released  their   new  cd  "Bow Down To  Extinction"  through  Ossuary   Prod.  how  did  you  all  come  in  contact  with  this  great  label?
 
 
I was talking to Chris Williams on the phone and mentioned that we hoped to get a label to release it. He hung up with me called Brian from Ossuary Industries and asked him if he was interested in releasing our new cd. He said yeas and he was completely on board with doing the release in Vegas. We had a few labels express interest but Brian was the first to actually send us a contract and tell us exactly what he intended to do. We are very happy to be a part of the Ossuary Industries family.
 
 
 
 
7.Who   usually  writes  the  music  for the  band  does the whole  band take  part  or does  one member  usually  write everything?
 
 
 
 It is a group effort. Jeff and I write the riffs and start getting an arrangement together. Obviously Kevin writes his drum parts and he also contributes arrangement ideas. Once Paul is back in he will be contributing too. We put everyones ideas into the songs instead of each of us writing complete songs.



 
8.Who   usually  writes  the  lyrics  for  the   band  I  know  even  back  in the  90's  you  all wrote about  real-life  news  or  situations. Wheat  are some topics/subjects  you  all  have  covered  over  the  years?
 
 
 Jeff writes the lyrics. He has always been very good at it and always has good ideas. The lyrical topics are still pretty much real life stuff. We've written about everything from greedy politicians, suicide, execution of a child molester and lots of other stuff.
 
 
 
9.Does  Ton  have  any  plans  to  make  a  video  for  any  song{s}  off  of     "Bow Down To  Extinction"?
 
 
 We would like to make a video. We tried a while ago but it didn't work out. Hopefuly sometime soon we can make that happen.




10.I  know  the  band  has  played  some  fests  and  shows  over  the  summer  how  have  the  shows  gone? Any  wild  or  crazy  stories  from the  road?
 
 
 
Vegas was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We had a total blast and the show was amazing. While in Vegas we got stuck in a hotel stairwell briefly with Jimmy Javins, Bob Buchanan, Dylan Gordon and John Blose. After we got out we started thinking about how many Ohio bands we were all in and how a good portion of Ohio Death Metal could have died in that hot stairwell. Seriously though we weren't really near death but it was funny to think about because the guys in that stairwell were members of about 8 or 9 Ohio bands. Of course there are a few stories that are gonna have to stay in Vegas.
 



11.Do  you  all  have  any  tours  or  shows  coming  up  for  the rest of the  summer  or  fall/winter? If  yes  where are  some  places  you  will  be  heading  to?



 We will be Playing Full Terror Assault in September, we have one local show with Necrotic Disgorgement in   October and we are playing the South Jersey Metalfest in December. We will be playing Foothills Gutfest in Colorado and one other big fest we can't mention yet next year. I'm sure we'll be lining more stuff up too.



12.Besides  the  new  cd   "Bow Down To  Extinction"  does  Ton  have  any  other  merchandise  available  for  the  fans?


 Yes we have shirts, hoodies and our previous releases available at www.tonohio.bigcartel.com. We will have album art shirts available very soon. They might be done by the time this is published



13.Dan  besides Ton  you  also   own  and  run  the  distro/label   "Iron  Gates  Entertainment"  when  did  you  start  this label?


I basically started it because was trading our previous releases and I knew that I would be trading the new cd too. I figured since I would be accumulating other releases i should start a distro. I did do a joint release with Fresh Blood Management. We released the new cd from Indonesian Death Metal band Obeisance. I was selling guitar strings and guitar related stuff but I'm pretty much done with that. Just going to deal with Metal.




14.What  have  you   released  so  far?Any  upcoming  releases the  fans  should  watch  out  for?



 Like I said I did the joint release with Fresh Blood Management. I am thinking about releasing an ep from another project that Kevin and I are working on. We had a band called National Collapse that we played in together for a few years. I wrote a few new songs and may re-record a couple of the old ones. www.facbook.com/nationalcollapseband



15.If   any  bands  or  labels  are  reading  this  what  styles  of  metal/music  do  you  carry  in your  distro  just death  metal  or  do  you  carry  other  styles as  well?Where  can  they reach  you  at? Do you  have  a web-site?


 Pretty much just Death Metal right now but I'm open to anything as long as it's heavy. You can see whats for sale at www.irongatesentertainment.bigcartel.com and look us up on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ irongatesentertainment



16.Thank  you  Dan  for  taking  the   time  to  fill  this  interview  out  do you   have  any  final  words  for  the   readers?


 Thank you very much for the constant support. We appreciate you helping us get the word out about TON and our new release. Check us out and support Ossuary Industries.