Wednesday, May 7, 2014

interview with towards global holocaust.done by patrick

here is a new interview i did with a great and VERY UNderrated band {in my opinion anyways} towards global holocaust. the band embraces what metal is truly about violence,hate and pure aggression. on the bands debut cd "fuersturm" the band unleashes it's strongest material to date combining elements of black,death and a strong thrash element combined with their own ideas to make a great cd defintly a MUST hear for fans of violent,war/extreme metal that defys being thrown into one specific genre.
thanks for all the great support over the last few years and expect ALOT of great interviews,reviews and whatever else we can think of for 2011.
patrick and winter torment
http://www.myspace.com/winter_torment
http://www.friendburst.com/wintertorment


interview with R.F vocals,bass,guitars and blaash druns,vocals for towards global holocaust done by patrick

1.metal hails brothers!! how is your december going? are you ready for that jolly-fat man in red to come and visit in a few weeks? ok we're not here to discuss greedmass so lets get to it.please introduce yourselves to the readers.



Blaash – If one “googles” the term “blaash” the definition will come up as a “giant radioactive moth for gamma world” this is not correct… the Blaash is a non descript degenerate and drunk, failure at most things in life, and seeking to spray those within range with a whiskey tainted assortment of my rotting blood. Said entity also handles the ramshackle percussion on TGH, as well as some chaotically placed vocals.. I also handle drums for Bahimiron and am the sole person that can be held criminally accountable for Wheresmyskin Zine.

RF – I do not happen to celebrate “Happy Jewbag Speared in the Guts Whilst Hanging on a Wooden Instrument of Mockery and Torture Day”, but the effort to spread traditional seasonal cheer is certainly appreciated. I have been known to play guitar (poorly) and screech randomly (even worse) for the ramshackle assault that is towards global holocaust. Also it is rumoured that I am the leader of a nefarious global operation that is bent on world annihilation as well as being involved in various other music projects and “artistic” endeavours.




2.when did you guys first discover metal? who were some of the first bands you listened to? who are some of your "current" favorite bands?


Blaash – Metal for me oozed into my ears in the mid to late 80s with the thrash assault .. I was very much into Slayer, Metallica’s early stuff (all the LPs up to And Justice…), Possesed, Megadeath, Anthrax, Rigor Mortis (still very much into this band even today – cannot beat that first lp they put out)… I was always looking to find more extreme and obscure bands, which is why I would listen to an underground radio show “Sweet Nightmares” run by Wes Weaver here in Houston on KPFT 90.1… it was there I first found some of the first death metal bands I really liked.. MORBID ANGEL, GRAVE, ENTOMBED, CARCASS, PESTILENCE.... my first exposure to the extreme Texas scene was KATHONIK, NECROTIC VOID and IMPRECATION.. first vomits at the 2nd wave of black metal would be a TDK 90 compilation tape I received when I traded/ordered Billy Nocera’s (Razorback Records) Zine “Coven”… IMPALED NAZARENE was on that tape with a track from their demo “taog eht ot htao”.. (there were other bands like DISSECTION, DEMIGOD etc)…

Current favourite bands.. varies.. I listen to a diverse amount of material… Really like all of INQUISITION’s work.. BLACK WITCHERY/BLASPHEMY… TEITENBLOOD, URGEHAL, SARGEIST, LIFELOVER, FUNERAL MIST, ONDSKAPT, ABYSSIC HATE, BETHLEHEM (prefer them without kva whatever, but that’s just me), HYPOTHERMIA, the old school Swedish Death metal bands a la GRAVE, ENTOMBED, CREMATORY, and so on… a few more obscure bands like TRUPPENSTURM, NEKROKRIST SS, CULTE DES GHOULS (POL), BLASPHERIAN, MORBUS 666, IMPRECATION, and of course just to throw a hand grenade into it all, HANK III gets a lot of playing time when the whiskey flows…

RF – I vaguely recall first getting into metal back in middle school. Somebody that I knew had gotten a Judas Priest tape and passed it along to me, WASP tapes were also in the small collection. It carried on from there with an assortment of mostly crappy metal bands. Slayer and old Megadeth and Metallica began to change things for me during the mid 80s as I began to listen to less and less puss metal and only wanted to listen to heavy stuff that was “real”. Imagine my shock and dismay when it became apparent, through adult eyes, that it is almost always less than genuine.

Favorite bands over the past 20-25 years would include Dissection, Bethlehem, Morbid Angel, Grave, Entombed, Dismember, Kreator, Agalloch, the Cure, Depeche Mode, Silencer (SWE), Skepticism, Abyssic Hate, Immortal, Katatonia, Lifelover, Hypothermia, A Flock of Seagulls, Ulver, Eurythmics, Exodus, Inquisition, Neptune Towers, Maeror Tri, Mortiis … and loads of other random crap including whatever I am working on myself.




3.how did the two of you meet? was it long until you formed towards global holocaust? how did you guys come up with the name for the band? for the readers who have never heard t.g.h how would you describe the music?

Blaash – I believe we met sometime in the mid-90s through a mutual friend.. we were supposed to work with another bloke, Brian Fernandez.. but as it turns out nothing came of it… I’m not entirely sure how we came up with the original name for what eventually became TGH – firstly we were going to announce our commencement of audial warfare as Holocaust SS – not with the intention of proclaiming our glorification of any reich or any such thing, but our general disdain for life in general produced the following logic – Holocaust means end of life – and these blokes in the SS carried out genocide – so we thought at the time it would be an okay moniker.. That was back around 1996 or 1997.. not sure.. but when we reformed in 2008 we decided in our bitter elder age to make things a little simpler to not misinterpret and just go with Towards Global Holocaust – that way all will know we are not affiliated with any organized cults, religions, dogmas and/or other socio-political groups.


RF – As mentioned by the inestimable FMoH, we met in Houston during the mid 1990s. I try not to describe tgh to people. When forced to do so, I usually say that it is metal of dubious merits and even though it is generally considered less than stellar, that it should be purchased along with an official tgh Department of Death patch simply because I am a selfish, egotistical asshole.

4.the band recently released it's debut full-length "fuersturm"through scattered to the winds rec. how long did it take you all to write/record the songs for this release? are you both happy with how everything turned out? how would you say the music on "feuersturm" is different from the bands previous e.p and split cd?

Blaash – I think RF has been working on the writing process for at least 1 and half years I believe… its taken us a little bit longer then we wanted to finish up this release…

I like some parts of this release a lot and others not so much… some of the drumming and vocals (by me) could have been done much better I think… and will hopefully be corrected in the future…

This material is more coherent, furious, and in some places thrashier and for lack of a better term epic then the previous material I’d say.. Then again, I don’t know, heh, find a review or something and see what they say…

RF – All told it took about 18 months or so to get done, which is overly long in my opinion. I think that it is an improvement overall compared to the previous two releases, but still has far too many flaws to be fully satisfied with. In the future, the mixing and mastering should be better as should the songwriting, instrumentation and vocals. This one was difficult to do because I am trying to transition away from the old way of playing and writing that we used to employ. Maybe the next one will see us deliver more on the potential of things instead of falling short of the goal once again.



5.how has the response been from the press and fans?



Blaash – not a lot of response at the moment – detractors believe us to be just a godawful mess of incoherency and sloppiness.. Supporters believe in the fury of the Feuersturm and have given humble praise.


RF – I would describe the response thus far as tepid at best. Most people are just not into this style of music even if they like metal in general. We have gotten some good reviews and a couple of bad reviews. Then again if you think that Camel and Opeth are 10/10s, then you probably should not be reviewing Feuersturm in the first place in my estimation.

6.if i am not mistaken you both live in different states. do you find it difficult when discussing band business or working on new song?

Blaash – band business is not so hard, as we have email etc.. Now creation of material is a bit more difficult I’d say.. again, lacking the ability to create and write music in the same locality of each other requires a lot of work, and then a lot of revision.. so it takes a bit longer to get material crafted in a fashion we deem acceptable to cause the proper conflagration of life down to the microbe.

RF – Band business is not an issue. The distance makes actually completing a song a fairly long and drawn out process, but as far as the songs themselves go, I pretty write all of the music and almost all of the drums, then the mighty FMoH revises the drums to suit his own particular arsenal and depraved predilections. Exact lyrics and vocal patterns (yeah right) are finalized after all of the music is done.


7.like myself you guys have been involved with the underground for 15-20 yrs. now how do you feel the scene has changed over the years? i know some people say the underground is dead or dying would either of you agree with this statement?



Blaash – This is a question I’ve asked others in interviews since 1994 or so… I received responses back then that the underground was “already dead”.. I will say because of advances in technology (that has resulted in home grown terror sects and a variety of deviant pornography for would be college graduates) that the “underground” is easier to “get into” … but then again, I don’t really care.. so what if some trendy little bastard hops into the underground with his plastic sword and three little scars he manages to get on his chest.. or some little goth girl thinks she wants to be evil and takes pictures of her private parts so she get gangbanged a day before her prom date picks her up by “evil black metallers”? Those who want to be part of the extreme scene will stay and ignore the chafe that has and will continue to inhabit said scene…

RF – The scene has been dying for 20 years now and I wish it would hurry up and get it over with already. In the end it is irrelevant really. The popularity of metal waxes and wanes and until western civilization is completely eradicated from the planet, then somebody out there will still choose to make metal music instead of rap or techno or ethnic percussion. Mostly it is just a bunch of dumbass kids or clueless bald guys with huge guts that make up the scene, although there seems to be more hipster guys lately jumping in on the fringes…either with a combover or a flannel shirt depending on if they are from the pacific northwest or not.


8. Obviously the biggest change in the underground is/was the creation of the internet/computers. do you feel this is a good tool for the underground or has it made it to main-stream for anyone to get ahold of the music?


Blaash – I’m mostly indifferent.. but I’d be lying if I said I didn't like the ability to hear a band’s material immediately.. However the internet is just a tool – so I guess it matters most on how that tool was used. If it is used to consistently create extraordinarily insincere crap, then spread it, and then create social network sites to praise said crap…. then heh, yeah its going to make things annoying…

RF – Seems to be a wash at best. Sure it is easier to get stuff out there, but it is simply overkill. There is no feasible way to get noticed these days (due to the sheer size of the shitstorm sea that constitutes the metal scene currently…I mean there must be a million metal bands at least) aside from word of mouth, which is just like the old days except that instead of looking through mail order catalogs one heads on over to the googlenets and enters the band name that they heard from a third party.


9.the band is highly influenced by war {both lyrically and musically} when did you begin to get interested in studying war? this might seem like a joke question {it's not intended as one though!} but do either of you feel the world goverments will achieve world-peace? it seems like they get close but then someone does something and their ready to nuke each other again.



Blaash – Its not necessarily war, but a means to an ends.. As I’ve become quite the bitter old bastard, and not one that takes well to the loveliness of life and consorting with other humans its come to my understanding that warfare seems to be the acceptable manner in which to rid life from the planet – not just human, but mammal, quadruped and microbial as well…

There is no way there will be world peace – we as a species are too self destructive… greed, jealously, anger, RELIGION, oh did I mention RELIGION heh.. see it (religion) does have some uses – the creation of jihads and warfare and general lead to an elimination of life..

There will always be those who have (money, property, power, etc), and those who have not – this unbalance will always cause friction.

RF – I started reading about war when I was a youngster. These days I am not actually interested in war, but the eradication of all life and the mysteries of the omniverse as it relates to finding a practical way of staying alive indefinitely and subsequently sailing through the various universes in search of ever more life to get rid of. Peace is an utopian illusion created by lay about philosophers, shiftless ideocrats and Jesus freaks. Governments are created and sustained to empower political bullies and to bring misery to both their own citizens and the population of the world at large. If humans do not end up destroying themselves through either conventional, chemical or nuclear warfare, then they will surely exhaust the planet’s resources and starve to death whilst eating contaminated dirt and counting jew gold and/or whatever currency is deemed most desirable at the time.


10.you both have some of the most disturbing and intense vocal styles ever to be recorded. when did you both become interested in singing? who are some of your influences/favorite vocalist? is t.g.h the first band either of you have sung for?

Blaash – I’m not actually interested in being a proper singer.. I guess I just like to add a bit of chaos to some of the material we have – I do believe that vocals themselves can add another level to the music that other instruments cannot .. for the record I believe RF’s screeches and especially his approach to vocals (he does all of “Approaching Global Genocide”, which some have called our best track) are much better and provide a sounder base at world elimination.. I have done some backing vocals for Bahimiron, but that’s usually only live…

The usual suspects for my vocal favourites are Nattramn, Henke Forss (niden187 especially), Arioch/Mortuus, Grimlord, Pest (for Gorgoroth), Nasko, Drakh, Torg, Magus Munkir.. a host of others as well…

RF – I have recently started practicing actual singing rather than screeching like a pterodactyl consumed in flames as it glides over the remnants of an ashen landscape and plan to record some things next year that feature clean vocals. As far as the metal vocals go, I probably have the same influences as many others with a couple out of left field that I will refrain from naming so as to not besmirch their fine reputations as vocal stylists with my shoddy attempts at emulating them.


11.do either of you do anything special to keep your voice/throat healthy?



Blaash – not really.. I don’t do vocals often, so its not necessary to keep my throat healthy…. Heh.

RF – To keep my throat healthy, I try to only record metal vocals once a year at most over a period of a week or so. I have had some problems in the past with that and it has led to difficulty speaking months after the fact as well as horking up gobbets of blood periodically. So, since I am now engaged in teaching myself how to actually sing, it is in my best interests to not destroy the voice before I have gotten proper usage out of it.




12.besides t.g.h i know you both are involved with other bands/projects. could you please tell the readers a little about your other bands/projects you are currently working with?

Blaash – as stated before, I handle skins for Bahimiron and am accountable for Wheresmyskin zine…

RF – I am currently working on a solo project called Ashes so Bitter and we are still deciding if Ever Adrift is going to be another solo project or a collaboration. We also have Eternal Ice Storms in the “might resurrect” pile. Additionally, I am working on the basic concept and framework for another, as yet unnamed, project. Next year should tell the tale regarding which projects are worthwhile and actually see the light of day or not.



13.R.F as if you were not busy with t.g.h and your other musical projects you recently started-up "scattered to the winds rec.". when did you get the idea to start up the label? do you currently work on the label alone or have some help?


RF – SttW was started primarily as a vehicle for our own releases as we were pretty sure that no other labels would be interested in what we were doing. Also, I am reluctant to sign away rights to the music and don’t really need the usual deal that most labels give as we can afford to record and press our own CDs. On the downside is that we have very little promotion, support or distribution as of yet. It mostly consists of trading around the world for what we can get along with a few sales here and there.

My brother contributes money for releases. Seth Bennett does some trading and networking in addition to being an artist and designer. Blaash contributes time, money and a lot of effort working on trades too.

It is small so far, but that seems as it should be as we need to learn as we go and not get into things too quickly. There is some small hope that Ashes so Bitter and Ever Adrift will be somewhat more accessible and easier to promote and garner interest in.


14.please give a brief-description of all your "current" releases. are their any upcoming releases the readers should watch out for? are you currently looking for any new bands to sign or release?

RF – So far we have tgh “Ever Onwards…” and “Feuersturm” out as well as In Death I Become “Black Wings, Grey Skies”. We also have IDIB shirts, patches and tgh patches with shirts coming in the near future. SttW will repress the split with Christ Dismembered “Upon Firmaments of Sacrilege and Genocide”, originally released by Jeff at Disease Foundry Recordings, soon.

I was supposed to already have Ashes so Bitter “Grey Emptiness” and Ever Adrift “Hopelessly” done in 2010, but I got behind and fell shorts of those goals. They should be done in 2011 and maybe the next tgh album will be done in 2011 too. More likely early 2012.

We are interested in working with other bands too. So far we have not been approached by too many serious projects and I am wary of investing currently. I have been helping out Hunter’s Ground recently, in an individual capacity, and maybe later this year I will be able to record their full-length release and carry it on SttW. As always, time will tell.



15.if any labels are reading this what stlyes do you carry/support in your distribution side of scattered to the winds? how can labels interested in possible trades get in touch with you?

Mostly we are interested in underground metal, but anything that is depressing is also fine. Interested parties can get in touch at: contact@scatteredtothewinds.com or sttwproductions@gmail.com.

16.blaash besides your musical projects you are the editor of the legendary "where's my skin fanzine". when did you start this zine up? how many issues have you released? are any of the past issues still in print/for sale? how can people get ahold of them.



Blaash – I wouldn’t quite say legendary heh… Think I started WMS up around 93 or 1994.. ‘round that time sometime in a drunken stupor… I’ve released 11 issues.. and will be starting work on issue 12 soonish.. I’m a procrastinatiin’ bastard as you can tell.. As of late 2010 I have issues 10 and 11 available.. contact me directly: blaash@hotmail.com for more information…




17.in your opinion what makes a good fanzine? what is your opinion of web-zines? any chances you will make/do a web-zine version of where's my skin with some older interviews from past issues?



Blaash – a good paper or webzine needs to me to have the same thing – extremely good personality – by that I mean I want to be able to tell the writer(s)/editor have put their own spittle and spent a goodly amount of time either creating/editing the content, coming up with well written questions, reviews, and/or other assets to the written item, be it on the web or written… What would be writers/editors have to realize is that no matter how much time you put into your creation theres a very good chance you will not get the feedback you want for it – so number one, you have to WANT to do the web/written zine for yourself.. I read and reread my issues.. I couldn’t care less if somebody wants it or not – I don’t create many copies, and I dont do a lot of promotion for Wheresmyskin…


18.well guys i think i have covered everything if not please let me know and we'll talk again soon!!! thanks for taking the time to do this interview.good luck with all your musicial projects,labels and zines. do you have any final comments for the readers?



Blaash - Burn. This. Fucking. Worrrrrrrrllllldddddd....

War Whiskey Sodomy..

RF – What he said. And be sure to Scatter the Ashes (ashes that have been burned again after being turned to ashes initially by the workers of the Holocaust State Inc.) for what is sown shall be reaped and eventually turned into Sustenance Packet A, which is the lifeblood of the movement at large.


towards global holocaust "official" myspace page.
http://www.myspace.com/towardsglobalholocaust

scattered to the winds rec. {besides the t.g.h releases he has a good selection in the distro/shop so be sure to check it out!!}
www.scatteredtothewinds.com