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Hello Ross. Please introduce yourself to the readers? When
did you all form Helmsplitter? How did you all come up with the name of the
band?
Welp, my name is Ross and I play guitar for Helmsplitter, and its
2:33 am and I am baked as hell. Drummer Nate Boyd and I formed
Helmsplitter in the summer of 2008. Nate got the name from a video game he
was playing at the time. There is a weapon in this game that would like kill
everything in sight and it is called the Helm Splitter, we liked the sounds
of it and wanted to make music that was destructive and powerful so we went
with it.
What is the current line up of the band? For the readers who
have never heard Helmsplitter how would you describe the bands music?
Our current line-up is: Nate Boyd-drums, Lyndon Ehlers-bass, Blakk-vocal s, Jason Grevas-guitar, and myself-guitar. I would describe our music as
a violent roller coaster ride because there are a lot of unexpected twists
and turns. We combine a lot of genre’s but we always make sure that it
flows and doesn’t sound forced. One thing is for sure; its very fucking
heavy!
Helmsplitter recently released their new cd "Enraptured By
Suffering" how long did it take you all to write the songs for this release?
How did you all come in contact with Horror Pain, Gore, Death?
Well a handful of the songs on the album were on a demo we did years ago,
we decided they were too good not to release so we reworked them a bit and
included them. The rest of the songs are brand new, and I would guess that
they were written over the course of 3 or 4 months. As for HPGD, I had
known about the label for quite a while because I would order packages from
Relapse Records and since Mike (Juliano, owner of HPGD) worked there he
would put his business cards in the packages. I sent him a copy of our
first album, “Storms of Genocide”, and he liked what he heard and we liked
what he had to offer so we reached an agreement.
Does the whole band work on music or do one or two members
usually write everything? Who writes the lyrics for the band? What are some
topics/subjects you write about?
Well, I have always sort of been the main songwriter but getting the
songs solidified in a manner we are happy with has always been a team
effort. Also, we recently added Jason Grevas on 2nd guitar and
he is already becoming a big part of the songwriting, so future releases
will probably have a lot of his material in the mix. Everyone contributes
and gets to add their ideas. Lyrically it is basically all Blakk, he has
written all the lyrics on both albums except for a few verses I wrote for
“Aura of Suicide”. Blakk likes to write about topics that deal with the
dark side of life, which of course is almost a necessity considering the
style of music we play. He watches a lot of documentaries about sadistic
historical figures, war, witchcraft, that type of stuff.
How has the response been from the fans? What about the
press?
The reaction has been very positive. People seemed to like our first
album a lot and it got us signed to HPGD so that one was a success, and this
new one is getting great reviews thus far. Of course you can’t please
everyone, and we don’t aim too. We just make the music we love and if
people like it we consider it a bonus.
Does Helmsplitter play live very often? Who are some bands
you have shared the stage with? If you could set up a dream tour who are
some bands {past or present} you would love to play with?
We go through spells where we play live quite a bit but then there are
lots of times where we concentrate more on writing and the other aspects of
the band. A dream tour…hmmmm……well if I were picking the line-up it would
probably be Mayhem (the early nineties line-up with Euronymous on guitar),
Darkthrone, Morbid Angel (the early nineties line-up), Eyehategod, Electric
Wizard, and Us haha. There are about a million other bands I could mention
but those would be my dream bands to play with. Black Metal, Death Metal,
Sludge, and Doom are some of my favorite subgenres and that would pretty
much cover them all!
 Are
there any tours planned in support of "Enraptured By Suffering"? If yes,
where are some places you will be playing?
We are working on setting up a short east coast run with our buddies in
The Communion (amazing grindcore from NY). Other than that we will just be
doing a lot of “weekend warrior” trips. Our lives don’t allow for us to do
much touring.
In your opinion what is the best and worst thing about the
underground scene? And what does the term "metal underground" mean to you?
In my opinion the internet is both the best and worst thing to happen to
the underground. It’s great because you can make music and have it
available to the entire world in no time. It sucks because it allows for
every band under the sun to do this, which makes it very hard to get
noticed. People are so overwhelmed by bands bombarding their facebook pages
and shit that you really have to do something special to stand out. And
even then it might still not be enough. The term “metal underground”, to me
anyway, means more than just the bands. It’s the bands, the fans, the
labels, the websites, the magazines, and anyone or anything else involved in
heavy music that goes under the radar of mainstream media and the “suitable
for mass consumption” society that we live in.
Do you or any member of Helmsplitter play in other bands? If
yes please tell the readers about them?
Yes, we are all involved in other projects actually. Blakk has been the
mastermind behind Angelkill for over 20 years (no doubt all the way back to
the old days baby when I ordered their “Garden Of Crosses” tape from Wild
Rags! in the mid-90s… - Dale) and he is still going strong with that. He is
working on a new album that sounds amazing thus far. Jason has a project
with a drummer from
Arizona
that I don’t believe has a name yet. From what I have heard of it it is
going to be brutal and technical death metal. Lyndon, Nate, and myself are
in a sludge/crust punk/doom band called Obsidian Hammer. It is a new band
but we are off to a good start. We are opening for DRI at the end of this
month and are stoked about that. I am also working on a solo album that
will have R. Micheal Cook from A Hill To Die Upon on drums and vocals. I
haven’t got around to naming that project yet though.
Ross you play the guitars for the band when did you start
playing the guitars for the band? Are you self taught or did you take
lessons when you were younger?
I started playing guitar for the band upon our inception, since day 1. I
am almost totally self -taught. I actually started on bass when I was about
12, but honestly I didn’t take it seriously until I was like 18. I took a
few lessons here and there but I didn’t get much out of them. I learned
most of what I know by watching Soilent Green practice and perform when I
lived in
New
Orleans. I didn’t actually start playing guitar until I was around 21, I
was sick of not being able to find a guitarist that was writing music like I
wanted to play so I said fuck it and bought a guitar and decided to take a
stab at it myself. I always planned on being a bassist in a band but it
just didn’t work out that way.
Who are some of your influences/favorite guitarist? Do you
play any other instruments?
As I mentioned I play bass also, although I haven’t done much of it for a
long time now. I could list off guitarists who have influenced me for days
but some of the ones at the top of the list would be Brian Patton (Soilent
Green/Eyehategod), Morgan Hakansson (Marduk), Euronymous (Mayhem) Kirk Lloyd
Fisher (Buzzoven), Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel), Kirk Windstein (Crowbar,
ex-Down), Mieszko Talarczyk (Nasum), Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer), and of
course Tony Fuckin Iommi. And there are many, many more.
You come out of the
Midwest
metal scene what is your opinion of the
Midwest
scene? Who are your all-time favorite bands from the mid-west? Are their any
new bands you feel the readers should check out soon?
Well to be perfectly honest I have mixed feelings about the scene here.
I think I got spoiled by how good the scene was in
New Orleans
so when I moved back to the
Midwest it was kind of a let-down for me. On the
other hand I have managed to wind up in two bands that I am thrilled with
will living here so I am very grateful for that. There aren’t a lot of good
clubs where we live, RIBCO in
Rock Island
Illinois is the only club that brings in “bigger” underground bands. And
unfortunately it seems like attendance at shows is not what it should be.
However there are some good bands around; Angelust, A Hill to Die Upon,
Crater, and Disentegrator to name a few. So there are good things and bad
things about the scene here, like most places I suppose.
What do
you enjoy doing in your spare time when not working on band music or
interviews etc..?
Being a full-time college student, a husband, and a member of two busy
bands pretty much consumes all of my time. I enjoy sitting on the couch and
having a beer while watching a good movie when I have time for that, I also
enjoy fishing and being in the wilderness but I don’t get to do that very
often anymore.
Well Ross
we have reached the end of the interview do you have anything you would like
to add before we end the interview?
I
would just to thank anyone who reads this and takes the time to check out
Helmsplitter. The best is yet to come from this band for sure. I would
also like to thank you for the interview!
http://www.reverbnation.com/Helmsplitter
https://www.facebook.com/Helmsplitter
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