1. Hey Ryan! What's up man, ok so I know both Dislimb and your side band Inextya are on hold now but I think I should still interview you to spread your sickness for my readers. First off, give us a brief history of Dislimb and why did the band split up?Well, first I just want to thank you for this interview. I haven't done one in quite a long time. Some people seem to think I just disappeared! Haha!
Dislimb was started by Rob Lesniak (ex-Nunslaughter, ex-Necrotic Disgorgement, now in Embalmer & Gutrot) and myself back in 2001. We came to the conclusion that there weren't any truly great death/grind bands in the Cleveland area at that time and decided to start our own. We got Steve Pedley (ex-Regurgitation) to play guitar and Jason Trecazzi (ex-Necrotic Disgorgement) to play drums and we set out to make a demo. We wrote three songs for the demo that was to be called "Abhorrent Defilement" but never got to record it. Steve and Jason are both phenomenal musicians, but Rob and myself seemed to be more dedicated at the time, so we sought out new musicians.
In early 2002 we recruited Mike Connors (ex-Dripping, now in Mourning) to play guitar and got the well known Chad Walls, (ex-Brodequin, Pustulated) to play drums for us. This is the lineup that recorded the "Bleeding Anxiety" CD and played the Brutalize Your Mind Fest in 2002. I fell ill later that year and Chad, Mike and myself all left the band. Rob got a totally new lineup and they played a few shows and recorded a two song promo CD, but subsequently never released anything. In 2003 Dislimb reformed with the "Bleeding Anxiety" lineup and played a reunion show in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 2005 Dislimb got a new lineup with Steve Pedley back on guitar, Don Wolfe (ex-Dislimb, now in Thou Shalt Not) on guitar, Armen Koroghlian (now in Shotgun Sodomy) on drums, Rob on bass and myself on vocals. We were in the process of signing a deal with Permeated Records and writing material for a new full length, when tragedy struck. Just as we were getting back on track, one of my best friends passed away in July of 2005. After that, we disbanded once more... which brings us up to date.
2. Dislimbs split CD with Dyscrasia through Comatose Music is one of my favorite discs! So how did you hook up with Comatose Music and did you actually talk to Dyscrasia about the split CD or did the label talk to them? And if you could give us the discography for Dislimb please.
Thanks for your thoughts on the split CD! As soon as we finished the recording of "Bleeding Anxiety" I sent promo CDs out to just about every label imaginable. We had quite a few responses, but we felt that Steve Green and Comatose Music was the right choice at the time. We really liked Steve's ideas and his down to earth attitude. Rob and myself were already good friends with the Dyscrasia camp, when another label (which will remain nameless) thought of the idea to release our demos together as a split CD with a release date to coincide with the Brutalize Your Mind Fest in 2002. I ran the idea by Steve and he thought it was a great idea, so the CD was released on July 19, 2002.
To date, the split CD with Dyscrasia stands as the only (official) Dislimb release. However, there are a few good quality bootleg recordings out there of our live shows. I have one of them and have just added two tracks from it (including a Sepultura cover) to our MySpace page. They are available to listen to and download for free.
3. What bands can you compare Dislimbs sound to? And what bands motivated you to create this kind of music? I'm guessing Devourment is a big influence?
I guess you could classify Dislimb as your basic American slam/death band. The bands that I've heard us most compared to (sound wise, that is) would be Skinless and Dying Fetus. I can hear some similarities, but overall I don't think we sound too much like one particular band. We are all fans of Devourment, but they are not a direct musical influence.
4. You have some pretty diverse gutturals that I cant really compare with others so in your opinion what's the big point of your gutturals and which do you use inhale or exhale gutturals? And what vocalists influence your current vocal style?
I'd have to say that my main influence would be Josh Pratt who used to sing for a band called Evilution (RIP) back in the mid to late 90's. That guy was so fucking godly with a microphone. He had a very broad range as well. A lot of the vocalists these days might sound "sick" or "guttural" and what not, but most of them have just one style. My favorite kinds of vocalists are ones that have range. If the singer sounds the same on every song, than it gets boring. That's like if the drummer played the same beats on every song, know what I mean?
5. I remember you signed up with Permeated Records recently to release Dislimb material but you canceled it, why was that?
Yes, Andrea from Permeated Records contacted us about a possible repress of "Bleeding Anxiety" and a new studio album. As I mentioned earlier, we had a tragic death change our lives for a period of time. Two days after we got the contract in the mail from Permeated Records, our dear friend passed away. I put everything musically on hold, but who knows what the future holds as far as a repress and future album go? As a matter of fact, I still have the contract from Permeated Records here at my house.
6. Rob, the ex-bassist of Dislimb is in Gutrot, Embalmer, Corpulate and some other bands too if I'm not wrong. and I noticed that some members from Regurgitation and Dripping were also in Dislimb so do you keep in contact with all of them and do the other Dislimb members have any other bands?
Rob is quite a busy guy. Right now he is in both Embalmer and Gutrot. Both bands are very cool and it's just something he enjoys doing. I've never been in more than one band at a time, but a lot of people seem to be able to handle it well. Our old guitar player Mike is now in a band called Mourning and they just put out their debut CD last year. I haven't heard from Chad in quite a while, but I would imagine he is still doing a few bands right now.
7. Now let's talk about Inextya. so I've heard from you that Inextya is only a studio band and you will never get a chance to get the songs recorded right? The line-up for the band was you, Mike Connors (ex-Dripping), and Chad (ex-Brodequin, ex-Pustulated, ex-Dislimb). so how did you hook up with them and what was the main concept of the band?Inextya was basically a concept that I came up with while recovering from the health problems that led to my departure from Dislimb back in mid 2002. The concept was pretty much about what I had gone through over the past six months. My health had deteriorated so much that a lot of my friends thought I was going to die. Mike Connors and myself put a lot of time into the project and had the whole album from start to finished fully written. Chad had already agreed to play drums on it, but the three of us just couldn't get together due to scheduling conflicts. By the time we all had time to get together, I had fully recovered from my health problems and Dislimb got back together for the late 2003 reunion.
8. What was the bands sound and how is Inextya's sound different from Dislimbs?
Inextya had a lot of the same elements that the previous Dislimb material had, yet it had a lot of differences as well. It just had a more atmospheric tone to it. It's really hard to explain since I don't have a recording of that band to give you an example. If you think of Dislimb as The Twilight Zone (which a lot of people do for obvious reasons) than think of Inextya as The Outer Limits.
9. Mike Connors was in Dripping and Dripping is a cool slam styled guttural band that has a diverse sound, so did he bring some elements of Dripping to Inextya? And what about Chad?
Mike wrote all of the music for Inextya based on ideas and themes I had given him. I would say to compare the sounds we were going for as a cross between Dripping and early Morbid Angel. I know it sounds bizarre, but it would have been cool!
10. So you never planned on signing to a label to release any Inextya material at all? And did you have any merch for Inextya?
Inextya had a verbal agreement with Comatose Music to release the "Inexorable Dementia" CD. When the band was discarded to continue Dislimb, the deal was never brought up again. I'm sure if we ever recorded this CD that we would have no problems finding a label to release it. No merch for Inextya was ever made.
11. How's Ohio's scene? I really love your scene there's some sick bands like Necrotic Disgorgement, Heinous Killings, Cervical Dissection, Corpulate and etc. but are there any more that I didnt mention? And Heinous Killings was formed by Joe (ex-Clean Flesh) and Necrotic Disgorgement was started by Ben and Tony (both were in Regurgitation) and even Embalmer has reformed again so what do you think about that?
The scene in Ohio used to be great back in the mid 90's. Right around the new millennium it started to fade away though. But lately, things are starting to shape up around here! First and foremost, it is totally great to have Embalmer back. Those guys still don't get the credit they deserve though. They were playing shows before I knew what brutal death metal truly was. It's also great that Clean Joe is playing music again as well. His new material is the best stuff he's done yet. Corpulate is a young band to watch. I had the pleasure of producing their demo last year and plan to be at the helm once again when they record their debut full length later this year. The only thing that really sucks about having so many bands in Ohio is the fact that I can't find anyone to jam with now! Haha!
12. Do you know any bands from Japan? Disconformity and Rest In Gore are worth checking out, and what do you think of the Japanese scene?
I used to keep in very good contact with Keisuke from Vomit Remnants years ago. He is a good friend and I wonder how he is doing lately? I just heard Disconformity recently and I liked it a lot! I have stated many times that I favor the Japanese fans over most others. When Dislimb was first starting out, we had a lot of orders for demos and shirts come from Japan and I am very thankful for that! The people of Japan are truly some of the best supporters of the underground scene in the world.
13. Will you be able to reform Dislimb if you ever have a chance? What about Inextya? And do you have other bands as of right now? What's your future plans?
Right now I have just been focusing on my career on the amateur poker circuit. I hope to one day become a professional poker player. In the meantime, I am not totally sure what will become of Dislimb in the future. I would say there's a 75% chance that Dislimb will reform and do a full length album of new material sometime down the road. However, exactly when that happens remains to be see. The chances of the Inextya album being recorded are about 0.1% that it will ever happen. It's just not something I have on my mind much anymore.
I am a bit more interested in the production aspect of music now. After doing the Dislimb CD, remastering the Dyscrasia CD and producing the Corpulate CD, I am starting to get some studio experience under my belt. I look forward to working in the studio with more bands as a producer/engineer in the future. I haven't been in an active band since the last time Dislimb played together, which was July of 2005. I have had some ideas about starting a new project, but have yet to find the right musicians to jam with. I'm sure something will come up soon. If anyone has any ideas for me, I am all ears!
Thanks again Ryan! Any comments you would like to add like plugs, shout outs and etc?
Thanks again, bro! All bands, labels, zines and fans are encouraged to get in contact! Be on the lookout for a possible "Bleeding Anxiety" repress with bonus tracks sometime in the near future! Any bands that want me to produce them, feel free to get in touch. If anyone has any questions and/or comments for me regarding Dislimb or anything else, you can e-mail me at: dislimb@yahoo.com
Also, be sure to check out Dislimb's page on MySpace at:
http://www.myspace.com/dislimbband