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Blaash, greetings comrade. I want
to go back to the beginning, at what age did you discover metal and the
underground scene? How long before you then graduated to trading and do you
remember the first fanzine you got your bloody stumps on? What inspired you
to start a fanzine and what year was Where’s My Skin? born (it has to be the
early 90s sometime, you old bastard)?!
++ It was around 90 or 91 I discovered the
“underground” as we now call it, basically by listening to SWEET NIGHTMARES
radio show hosted by Wes Weaver and Bill “The Master” Bates in Houston, that
came on once a week around midnight to 5 am… I would stay up all night,
writing down titles, rating the songs I heard myself, and keeping a listing
of what I found killer and what I did not. This was at a time when I knew
about CARCASS, BOLT THROWER, NAPALM DEATH, MORBID ANGEL etc, as the first
pioneers of death metal (for me, after POSSESSED) and I wanted to delve
further deeper into the cleavage of the underground.. I came across Billy
Nocera’s (Razorback Records) COVEN zine in the early 90s, and it came with a
comp D90 tape I believe, that had a fuck load of bands that I did not know
of like the DISSECTION (demo song), IMPALED NAZARENE (demo song), and
DEMIGOD just to give a wide variety of what was on the tape. Immediately the
hellish assault of IMPALED NAZARENE betook me, and I fuggin’ had to get hold
of Mika.. at the same time I also started seeing some really, really rank
shiate zines, full of the same questions like “so how many records do you
own”, “who is your favourite band”, “what is your favourite colour” etc – I
also noted that there was not a real razor sense of originality in a lot of
zines, and I fuggin’ wanted to see personality goddamnit.. so.. I said
fuggit, and around early 92 or so I started Wheresmyskin zine… At that time
I started doing a lot more tape trading, and I was spawned to many an
underground assault…
How did your first issue turn out
and how many were printed? What bands were in that issue? Are you glad it is
no longer for sale? Did you get much label or band support in the early
years?
++ My first issue was pretty goddamn rank full
of bad, offensive humour, and fuggin’ snipes at the goddamn life loving
liberal fuggin’ motherfuckers who were infecting the scene in the early 90s
– little did I know that you could play death metal, but not believe in
Death, nihilism, etc – that you only wanted to play heavy music – as I heard
more of this, I tried to move away from these bands.. but anyway, issue 1
had a couple bands, of which I can only remember IMPALED NAZARENE off the
top of my head – the rest of that historical shiate can be found on my
shiate website.. I didn’t actually sell the issue – I only asked for postage
in return – and it cost a fuckload back then to try to copy shit at the
local kinkos.. still does now.. Got a little support here and there, but
mainly I didn’t (and don’t) cater to the “masses” of the underground – I
tried to stray towards those who originally and severely mentally disturbed,
as they made the most interesting interviews in my opinion..
When did you pick up your first
instrument? Did it take longer than you thought to become semi-competent
with it? What were some musicians that influenced you at the time? Was
Bahimiron your first band and how did that come about? Is it true that
Grimlord was formerly a member of the mighty Imprecation?! The band was
started and then stopped during the 90s, only to pick it up again and go
full steam – correct & why?
++ I first picked up drums around 95 or so.. I
never, ever got competent with it, due to an inability to stay sober, and
that I would play for a year, and then stop for two, and so on and so forth…
I’ve been helped greatly by the KATHONIK (old and new drummers) and
IMPRECATION/ADUMUS drummers when it came to style/etc… Musicians that
influenced me at the time were of course all the early Nordic drummers – I
fuggin’ loved the simplistic yet droning ensnarement of the single bass
blast beat with accents off of the bell or hi hat – the master of this at
the time, and I believe still to this day, is Mr. Frost. I remember
meeting GRIMLORD after an IMPRECATION show around 92 or 93.. – I was trying
to find out why he had “Ceremony of the Nine Angles” instead of the “Nine
Angels” on their first demo…– shows how ignorant I was – after that, the
SATANIC DEATH METAL assault with vomits like “Shrouded in Gore” or “Vomit
forth floods of christian remains” (or something along that title) would
always incite a wrathful hatred in me that to this day is still evoked by
his vokills.. We lost touch for a while, as the devil took him down a
different path, and took me to Norge, France, etc. He tried, with a bloke
named BRIAN FERNANDEZ, to start BAHIMIRON in the mid 90s (see WMS backcover
issue 3 for the original art) as it was made clear that IMPRECATION was not
going to go black.. but drugs and unserious personnel plagued the early
formation, and Grim just dropped it.. until we re-met in the late 90s.. it
was at this time, that he decided he wanted a coven of like minded
nihilistic horde – not musicians first, but allies bound deeper then that..
so he chose JenOside, fresh off the boat from the Parisian black metal
scene, and myself,.. Bahimiron was vomited Oct. 31, 2002, and we later added
one Mr. Krag Dagon – one fucking diepressing, hard motherfucker. .. we all
fit first as allies, and the music comes after that…
Since we are talking about firsts
here, at what age did you first masturbate and what did you pound it to? Did
your mom ever catch you? Tell us about the first time you had sex with
something other than the family pet? Did you last long and was it as good as
you imagined it would be?
++ HA!!! That is by far one of the goddamn best
goddamn questions I have ever read, or even laughed through the goddamn beer
and vodka I am drinking now – xrist on a popsicle stick, I didn’t know you
and I were best hand holdin’ circle jerkin’ booofoo lovin’ bi fag boys
hehehe.. ANYWAY.. No mother of mine ever caught me! And the family pet
(doggies) are more sacred then humans, so none of that dog embuggery for the
devil. .. I did not get along very well with females when I was younger, I
really only would go to shows to entrance myself in the musical hatred that
spewed and then go home and fuggin’ play with sharp things while loading
guns.. I figured I had porn, so who the fuck needed women right? They bitch,
whine, and certainly did not know shit about metal.. BUT, as I grew older,
things changed a bit.. and I started trying to find women who could relate
to metal, especially what I saw as the rising shotgun to the nuts of
xtianity, black metal – so I left the U.S… but as for firsts, shit, son, you
gotta remember I’m old, and this ole Johnson don’t have a memory like you
canucks do hehe.
Let’s move on to the first
recordings of Bahimiron. You quickly started out of the gate with a studio
demo in 2002, followed up with a rehearsal demo in 2003. Tell us about your
02 demo “Funeral Black”, what are your thoughts looking upon it, the
recording process and the general atmosphere within the band?
++ We recorded FUNERAL BLACK driven only by the
venom in our blood – the music was simple, and not supposed to reinvent the
goddamn wheel – I am still proud of the droning hate it spews – we released
that rehearsal to show the “improvement” if you will in musicianship of all
in the band.. we had become a little more competent, and we were looking
forward to our first EP release on BLOODFIRE DEATH… The recording process
was not overtly evil, in the dark evil dank basement surrounded by hellfire
sent daemons – it was at some guys house, in the middle of nowhere, where we
recorded and mixed our shit in Houston… though Grimlord’s vocals scared the
living shit out of the guy recording us at the time…
 The ’03 reh. demo “Terror Division
Bloodstrike”, was there much planning involved or did you record it for band
member purposes and decided to release the plague to the scene? How come
only 50 copies and will this recording ever, be available again in the
future? All tracks from this session have been released now I believe?
++ There was little planning involved for the
“Terror Division Bloodstrike” reh demo – but it was really meant as a promo
of sorts, just to show that we were still amassing the blood ready to spew.
Its really only for die hard fans, and I don’t think it will ever be
available again.. It had the two forth coming EP tracks and the demo tracks,
all recorded at The Maggot Colony in Houston fuggin’ texas.. All tracks have
been released, but only the song “Funeral Black” has not been re-released or
rerecorded (how many goddamn re’s is that..)
I seem to recall a story in an
issue of Where’s My Skin? back around 94/95 I think (?) where you made a
trip to Norway to be around the black metal scene there I assume. Anyway, if
memory serves (I just moved and had trouble locating the issue in question)
you were supposed to stay at one of the guys from Dimmu Borgir’s house and
as it turned out his Daddy would not let you guys stay, correct? Tell us
about this trip and where did you end up finding lodging? Is it true a
Norwegian man was forced to use his own warm body fluids to rescue you from
a locked rehearsal room – do tell?
++ HEHEHE.. yeah.. I was in contact with
Brynjard Tristan, bass player for DIMMU at the time, back around 93 or 94 or
something around that time, and I said, hey fucker, I’m coming to Norway
with my friend Thrugg – a fellow a bit larger then me, that would come in
handy if I had any problems with the locals – I mean when I was there, there
were guys wearin’ spikes AND black nail polish – I mean I understand the
spikes, but in texas, you’re askin’ for a beatin’ if you’re wearin’ nail
polish and you’re a guy.... xrist, I don’t care what colour it is..
Anywho, it seems Brynjard either a) didn’t
think we’d show up b) planned very badly once we did heh – we were met by
Aldrahn and Tristan in 95 (or 96.. I’m old, and fuggin have a bad memory)
at Gardemon or something airport in Norway – and we were told we did not
know where we were stayin – oh well. We both had sleeping bags, and December
in Norway wasn’t that cold, was it?... Uh, December in Jessheim, was
Fucking COLD.. ..
A short story – yes, we were at the DIMMU and
OLD MANS CHILD rehearsal room that year (about 10 years ago I guess), and it
turned out that’s the only place we could stay, so, Thrugg and I stayed
there, whilst the nords left to collapse at their respective homes.. It
was.. A bit chilly in there, but oh the fuck well. I believe the toilet was
not working, so bottles made good filling devices for Ringnes processed piss
– eventually a knockin’ comes to the door – and finally they arrived to come
fetch us – BUT… The door’s lock was goddamn frozen or some such thing – so
we started battering that door, until it was finally flung open – we were
told that Mr. Aldrahn had to exorcise some urine himself to convince the
obviously xtian lock to let us out of our prison…
It was amusing at the time…
Now I read recently you not only
made a second trip back to Norway but actually moved there and briefly
married a Norwegian woman – truth? Was this woman connected with the black
metal scene, how was the transition moving to Norway and why did the whole
thing not work out in the long run?
++ I wanted to get as close as I could to the
Norwegian black metal scene, to see what the fuck was it about – were they
maniacal heavily armed axe wieldin’ terrorists, or random murders over
various subjects littered however with dedicated individuals.. so .. I made
contact with a young lady there, we eventually became involved, and I
decided to move there in 98 after a couple years of dating (i.e. flying back
and forth overseas)….
It did not work out, and I will not go into
it…
Did you hang out with any known
bands, people from the Norwegian scene and did you have the chance to play
with any musicians or thoughts of forming a band while there? Do you think
the music of Bahimiron is very loyal to the sound of the early Norwegian
scene or at least what used to be a great Norwegian scene?
++ I had some of the best times (besides the
last four years with my Bahimiron horde) of my metal existence at Elm Street
in Oslo from 95 or 96 to 98 (not straight either, I was still traveling back
and forth)…, as I spent night and day, drunk as fuck, watching fans show up
every day to meet people and then go home, knowing that heh, fuck that, I
lived there, and it never crossed my mind to create any kind of music – I
mean I saw a couple shows, I went to a couple practices – but mostly I
really just liked talking metal to all the bands that I had so admired in
the early 90s.. all the known bands of the early 90s from Mayhem to Mysticum,
Garm and Ulver to me getting to see the first time every Gaahl would sing
with Gorgoroth at Rockafellers in Oslo.. best was always just talkin’ to
Fenriz coz he had a really cool sense of dark humour..
To me BAHIMIRON is a GUN platform for
Grimlord’s vocals – plain and simple – we all hail the early Nordic scene,
especially GORGOROTH, but the music we do is nothing new – the ferocity with
which the vocals spew, however, are to me, renewing, though not new
themselves.. For me the VOCALS always meant the most – it was the mouthpiece
of the devil – that which must entrance, that which would move one to
violence.
There seems to be this running
theme with both Bahimiron and Where’s My Skin? revolving around guns and
ammo. Is this something you enjoy visually or is this something you indulge
in a lot in your personal live and does being from Texas have anything to do
with it? What brand of firearms do you own?
++ Hehe. What, never heard of the magazine
called GUNS AND AMMO?? I don’t walk the walk, unless I talk the shit
associated with it. Yeah, I own guns, and persons in Bahimiron have
 killed
with them and spent quality time at the local penitentiary – I feel that
guns work much more efficiently then axes or little pitchforks or shanks and
such – I guess you could say I am rather soulless for the most part, I don’t
feel like taking the time to remove the skin off of humans very carefully
with a sharp knife – I believe the Waffen SS who simply wanted to be
“efficient” were what I would admire the most – the business of death that
is. Brands of firearms? You mean like Levi’s Jeans or Izod shirts? Shit
man, I own 9mms and assault rifles – look at the pix I have for a better
look I guess. I don’t have the money to get the guns and ammo + body armour
I’d really like, and besides that, then I’d go and use’em when I was drunk
and get taken down by a police sniper before I got even one kill..
Are you ever curious to feel what
it would be like to use a knife or gun on a person? Or do you already know?
Are you a war buff like myself? Are you into self-mutilation or any other
like perversions?
++ Hm.. am I into self mutilation? Well. Depends. What
kind? Chopping my arm off with a chainsaw.. No.. sticking my dick in the
oven .. NO… playing with razors. Yep. Who hasn’t been curious to want to
shoot or stab somebody? War buff? Well, I watch the military channel, CNN,
and the history channel, but I don’t own any regalia…
The razor has been calling to me since 91 or
92. And it has not stopped. The ole pistol in mouth has had a cup of coffee
with me once or twice to discuss viability, but to date, I haven’t taken
that rendezvous.
I believe your band mate, JenOside
is actually your wife and cums from France. How did you meet her and entice
her to come to the States? Did she play bass previous to joining Bahimiron
and if not did she pick it up quickly? Does she share the same sort of
philosophies as you and the band? Does she share your affection for porn?
Most importantly, does she swallow?
++ Jen is one fuggin’ hardcore (and I mean XXX)
metalhead who knows her shit and indeed comes from France.. I’m not sure how
I got her to come to the states.. I found out the hard way that Jen was
actually a proficient bass and guitar player BEFORE she came to the US – she
writes her own parts for all conjurations.. She shares all the philosophies
of the band, and fulfills my every perversion – if you have any of the pics
in my zines, then you know what those are. ..
Swallow? Hell that aint any fun – Facial Humiliation
here I cum!
Will Bahimiron ever incorporate
keyboreds or goth?
++Don’t know, do you take it up the arse? Heh.
Of course NOT. Man. C’mon for fux sake. Heh.
How do you go about putting
together Where’s My Skin? ? Are you a fan of cut n paste, do you get much
into the computer with layouts and photoshop etc…? Is there anything content
wise or genre review wise that you refuse to print in your zine? How many
copies do you usually press and where do you get it done? How much longer do
you think you will continue to do it, it has been well over a decade now –
no?
++Cut n paste + some photoshop/ macromedia
firefox/ pagemaker/ good ole fashion blaash sperm and blood is how things get
stuck together in WMS… Stuff I will not print = xtian bullshit, unless I can
use it to my advantage. I do not charge for ads, but will not cater to them
either. Never have. Never will. Master Othsan – an ally for 15 years has
assisted me since issue 5 in compiling the technical detail needed to
reproduce this in more then 5 or 10 copies. I’ve spent bloodshed and learned
the way of whiskey from him, and to this day consider him one of the closest
allies I could ever wish for in a gunfight at the locale police station. I
normally press very few copies.. maybe a hundred.. Most was I think 300 or
so for issue 4… I will cease to do WMS zine when I sincerely lose an opinion
on what I hear and/or see in what I consider the scene that I was razed in….
Do you ever think about just
turning Where’s My Skin? into a webzine? Do you find doing a print zine gets
kind of cost prohibitive? I think your wife does or did a zine, tell us
about it, is she still doing it and will you the two of you work on Where’s…
together?
++Webzine would not work for me.. I just don’t
get around to doing that much that soon. I do have a WMS site, but its more
for information then actual updates.. Jen did JenOside33 zine herself, with
a small amount of guidance on where to get it printed. She and I, though we
hold the same ideals, do have different identities – shit I didn’t want a
clone – bein’ gay aint fun.
Do you think you have to be
Satanic and vehemently anti-christian to play black metal and have the
lyrics etc… deal in this area? Or is the scope so much larger than that but
how large, when do you feel things are out of the realms of what should be
considered black metal?
++BLACK metal should be violent and suicidal,
at one with the affirmation of the end to come.. BUT, that’s just my ideal –
I always thought it was supposed to be the most extreme, but that is not the
case it seems – now I can find this ideal in satanic death metal again – the
need and perseverance for destruction, the realization that there is no
‘happy satanic victory’ – that all is covered in Loss, Despair, and did I
mention Loss.. .. music is propaganda. Black metal has gotten to easy to
exploit it seems.. hell I give more credit to every fucker that straps
explosives to his body – at least they follow through..
Bahimiron’s music for me creates a
very cruel, cold & sinister atmosphere, how do you achieve this or does it
come out of you naturally? Ever compose a song and decide it does not sound
harsh enough? Do you have to be in a certain mood (i.e.- depressed, angry
ect..) or place (day/night/dimly lit surroundings/storms outside ect..) to
write your material? Did you find it hard to keep the cryptic atmospheres in
your music during the recording sessions in the studio or live?
“Bahimiron’s music for me creates a very cruel,
cold & sinister atmosphere, how do you achieve this or does it come out of
you naturally?” – man that’s just silly – you’re just one sick fucker like
we are and connect with the shit we do– for most people this only bores them
– if it affected you this way, increase medication intake – heh, because we
really only do this for ourselves – yes, it is nice to affirmation from
those we consider allies, and/or other whiskey hell death murderers – BUT IT
IS NOT necessary, at least not to me – I stop doing BAHIMIRON, when Grimlord
stops – as long as he continues to conjure vocals, I’ll assist and put down
a platform..
Cryptic atmospheres? What the hell does that
mean? (I call them like I hear them,
it is useless to attempt to make rhyme or reason out of me and my warped
thoughts. Do you know how hard it is to try to describe the emotion and
feelings great music brings out of you? Try to do a fucking fanzine sometime
you asshole and see if you can ...oh wait...hehe
:) ~ Dale)
We don’t record in caves or in basements.. Its just at studio, like
everybody else.. How the music is first conjured, is very personal to our
guitarists (and may be during more morbid or darker periods), and then it
goes through a revalidation with Jen and myself when we all get together in
one city…
Describe a Bahimiron live show
does it include smoke, spikes, props, corpse paint ect…? Do you like playing
live? What has been your best and worst live show thus far? Do you prefer a
more focused crowd, at say something like the …Nazarene Child fest in Texas
or just a local show with a death metal band, for instance? Any plans for
Bahimiron to tour and do your jobs and life situations allow for touring?
++ Well. .. our shows are very simple, and not
very complicated – there is the standard use of paint, to a degree, and then
just pour the goddamn whiskey over us as we vomit our set.. which I
guarantee is a wall of noise – Best show? Hell, we aint got a best show –
something always goes wrong, but we don’t care , and will plow through the
problems regardless… What crowd do I prefer? Well.. there have been very few
that actually pay attention to us playing live, but we seem to have affected
the sicker persons out there, and that is all I can appreciate. Bahimiron
touring? Very unlikely – we’re not in our teens supported by our parents –
its hard just to get together as a full band to practice thoroughly.. but
who knows… perhaps.
Analog versus Digital, which do
you prefer? Do you like Pro Tools and looping etc…? If you ever ended up
with a recording that was too good and too clean, would you scrap it? What
do you see as many black metal bands mistake when recording? Do you think
studios like Abyss become cookie cutter fluff or are you a fan of such
recordings?
 ++ Uhm, I hate to sound uniformed but I really don’t
have too much knowledge on recording or studios – I do know that Mike BBQ
from Big Door Studios in Texas, who handles our recordings has almost 20
years of metal knowledge, is a strong ally of our singer, Grimlord, and is
fucking cool to boot, and could prolly answer that.. other then that, I
cannot comment on what he uses, how he uses, or how he comes up with our
material – but hes got some fancy lookin’ stuff at his place, and I expect
it to be fairly multi syllabic of nature… (i.e. maybe pro tools and such)…
Mistake for black metal bands – using a drum
machine, unless you do it well. Like Mysticum, or Unchrist. I really, really
don’t like drum machines..
Abyss studios? Aint got nothin’ against them –
it’s a certain sound some folks want. If I don’t want to hear it, I wont put
it in the cd player.
Too clean? Well, we all have a good ear, so its by the
entire band’s agreement whether we scrap or keep something…
I think on your album you have
made the instruments a touch more clear and loud, still very grim but it
really suits your sound, did you spend longer than in the past in the studio
and are you pleased with the result? Is it true your label did the mixing of
the album? Do you find this as a risky situation giving up this control
(there have been some horror stories in the past) and how did they do in
your opinion?
++ Okay, I guess I need to clarify.. our demo
and EP were done at Shannon Taylor studios – we were going for bare minimal
sound assault there, and that’s what I believe we accomplished.. With our
full length, we actually spent more time with each instrument, to make sure
it sounded just horrid enough, and then sent it unmastered to France (our
full length) to have Aura Mystique master it.. Risky? Well.. I dunno, I
heard it, and it sounds good to me. .. we’re not a “clean” band by nature,
so the more vomit and misdirection (as long as its not super blatant).. the
better…
Tell us anything and everything
you can think of about the your new album “Pure Negativism” and also the two
splits you have released this year? I think I read in a recent interview,
that your album “is made in 1,000 copies”, is that a limited number or that
is just the first run? If a label says hey I want to release a split
Bahimiron 7 inch, does it matter to you what kind of label it is on and do
you care who the label chooses for the other side of the wax?
++Gonna be short I guess.. I like all our
releases – and our shit is not for every one – fuck, I mean we do this for
ourselves, there is nothing else we need to worry about – the full length is
a landmark in the sense that we collated our material into one .50 cal shot
to the head.. .. Limited number of Bahimiron releases? Uh, well, I don’t see
them runnin’ out any time soon.. Labels…. Well. We make a band decision on
that .. I’ve known tons of labels through my zine, but its different when
you have a band I guess..
Explain how you feel about the way
the scene goes these days, keeping in mind things like snail mail letter
writing, photo-copied fanzines, IRC’s, tape trading, flyers, the importance
of fanzines, demos
VERSUS short
impersonal Email, webzines, mp3s, demos on CDs (recorded on home computers)
that do not sound like demos, no snail mail contacts etc… Apparently it is
also no cool anymore to lose money releasing a fanzine – what the fuck is up
with that?!
++ I sincerely think the internet has made it
way too easy for fuggin’ faggots, and scenesters to infect, and become part
of something that they should not be – but, on the other hand, I like
technology – the infinite amount of porn, and porn, and bloodshed – there
are redeeming factors.. I don’t trade, or use IRCs, or do much of that now,
because it’s a dead cause.. emails.. are handy. .. but the way I used to
conduct correspondence is forever changed – you know this as well as I do..
so either you adapt or leave.. and some did leave.. I can understand that..
I choose to use technology for my gain – though.. I do not like the way
extreme metal is so accessible to the masses…. In 14 years I have never,
ever regained any money I put into either my zine or the band – I expect not
to – simple as that. This is not a money affair, and though I am not a
martyr – I do not mind paying for some bloodshed once and a while…
What do you think of Venom’s
“Black Metal” album?
++ Dunno.. I wasn’t an early VENOM fan – for me
it was Metalicker, Exodus, Anthrax, Possessed, Slayer and so on.. Somehow I
dodged Wenom (nord spelling) and Bathory…
Well I think I may have pestered
you long enough. Hails to you for doing this interview! It is about time you
were in the pages of Canadian Assault! Please fill us in on the upcoming
issue of WMS? and of course near future plans Bahimiron. Finally send out
hails to anyone you would like…
++ Dale Roy, it is an honour for myself to
grace the unholy pages that worship a furry bush and large bosom- I have
known and appreciated CANADIAN ASSAULT for a long period of time, and wish
to continue your long standing tradition of interviewing arseholes and
drunkards, of which I qualify as both. WHERSMYSKIN ISSUE 10 is out, by the
time you have this… BAHIMIRON rolls forward.. drunken and violently as ever…
Any contact can be made die-rectly
to me –
blaash@hotmail.com
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