1. hey mike! i finally get the chance to interview you for my zine, i been wanting to do that ever since i got into devourment! and i really must thank you for putting my name in the butcher the weak thank list i really appreciate it! o.k on to the interview haha, first of all tell us about devourments new cd like how does the new cd sound, and what things do you want to appeal to us and etc?
The new CD is doing great man, getting very good response and reviews and selling very well too. One of the things we wanted to improve on, as far as production goes, was the guitar sound. On our previous recordings, the guitar was way to muddy and the fast parts were nothing more than noise. We needed to stay totally true to the sound but improve in that area, which I think we succeeded. We had to make the music more aggressive too, more vicious and relentless, basically take all the aspects that made Molesting good and make it twice as mean.
2. there's been some line up changes before the new cd was released so i thought ruben and wayne would do the vocals but finally you stepped up (your gutturals are really sick as fuck!)and ruben did guitar and bass parts for the recording. what happened to the line up?
Our original vocalist Wayne was gonna do vocals full time, Ruben was gonna be on guitar and I was gonna play bass. Wayne had to leave the band for personal reasons so I decided I was gonna try to do the vocals. It worked out very well and we eventually got a great new bass player named Chris Andrews so the lineup now is better than its ever been.
3. for the new cd you guys created a lot of cool breakdowns and slam riffs and it's well known that devourments brutal slamming parts have influenced tons of brutal slamming bands! so how do you create them now?
I think the key is to build up to them with a lot of intensity so when it hits, you really feel it and it makes you want to destroy shit. The challenge is to think of new ways to transition from the grinds to the slams.
4. as i said before your gutturals are sick as hell so how did you come up with them? did you learn a lot from wayne and ruben to? and will you continue to do just vocals or will you play bass again in the future?
I learned from the masters man. What better brutal vocalists on earth is there than Wayne and Ruben. I definitely picked up a lot of their techniques over the years, I tried to stay true to their style but make it a bit of my own as well. My approach is a little different in that I tried to add a little speed to the vocal delivery. I had a lot of pressure on me to replace the likes of Wayne and Ruben, but I think it worked out very well and the fans have been extremely supportive and happy with the end result.
5. devourment has progressed to more brutal and sicker sounds than ever before and you still have tons of breakdowns too so how do you want to improve the band's sound for here on?
We have to continue to up the intensity level and always stay true to our sound. I think as long as we don't stray to far from our foundation, our fans will be happy.
6. what's your main goal as the vocalist? and which do you like more exhale or inhale gutturals? and why?
My goal is to keep our fans satisfied and try to deliver the most brutal performance I can. I think as long as the vocals are low and guttural, it is true to Devourment's sound. I don't have a preference on inhales or exhales personally. I exhale but as long as it sounds sick, I don't care how a vocalist makes the sounds you know.
7. what bands and releases have you been into recently? i know almost all of the bands i've interviewed so far have expressed devourment as a big influence on them so i'm sure they'd like to know who you like
Huge influence for me is the old school NY scene like Internal Bleeding. Ruben and I are both heavily influenced by old school death metal and thrash. I think today the Japanese scene is absolutely amazing. The bands coming out of there are insane. My personal favorite band of all time is Immolation.
8. what kind of gear do you use?
Ruben plays Ibenez, his gear consists of a peavey profex II, alesis eq. I believe Eric uses Tama, but I'm not sure, his set is cover with stickers so I could be wrong. Not sure what gear Andrews is using.
9. how's texas scene doing now a days? and any sick new bands? i know infant jesus bukkake, eviscerated, exulcerate, grotesque formation and etc but is there anymore?
The Texas scene is great right now. There's a new band from Dallas called Aversion to Life with former members of Sintury, they are fucken awesome, they are gonna be big.
10. besides being a musician you are also well known as an artist of sick logos and art! you did the sick art and logo for my zine too as a matter of fact. so why did you start doing art and logos? and what's your main goal as artist?
I have been drawing my whole life and my passion is drawing sick gory shit. It just goes hand in hand with death metal so I have been fortunate to be in contact with so many death metal bands, many of whom need artwork. It works out great. My goal as an artist, first and foremost, is make whoever I'm doing artwork for 100% satisfied and happy with the final product. I want to continue to improve my skills and explore new mediums and creative ways to make sick artwork
11. do the other members (eric and ruben) have any other projects besides devourment? and as for past members do they still play this kind of music?
Yes, Eric plays drums in a band called Hyperion and does vocals for a band called Rhome. He is quite the band whore so music keeps him very busy. Our new bass player also has a one man project called Intestinal Fortitude in which he plays all the instruments, including drums! As far as I know, all of the other original members don't play in any bands. I know Brad Fincher has been involved with some bands but not death metal. I'm not sure if he is active in a band right now. Former members are still involved with bands though, Robert Moore is in Vitaly, Chris Hutto plays in Ingurgitate.
12. ok before we end this interview, tell us the plan for devourment in the future!
We plan to play as many shows as possible and get over to Europe as soon as Ruben is legally allowed to and write another album!
thanks again mike! any comments or plugs you want to give?
Thanks so much man, your zine has been such a great support for us and we greatly appreciate it. It is the best brutal zine on the internet, bar none!