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Hails my friend! How is life going for you?
P lease
tell the readers a little about yourself.
Hails Patrick. Thanks for this opportunity.
We are used to forwarding interviews on to our bands to complete, so this is
a totally different situation for me. A little about myself… I’m a father of
two awesome kids (daughter age 6 and son age 4), married, and I work a
full-time job in addition to Regimental. Everything is going pretty good, so
no complaints from my side.
When did you first start listening to
metal? Who were some of the first bands you listened to? Some of your
"current" favorites?
I
grew up listening to a lot of my parents’ music, lots of Classic and
Southern Rock, ALLMAN BROTHERS, CREEDENCE, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, ZZ TOP, etc. My
father was into music so we used to sit at the stereo and play vinyl all
day. I remember him putting on BLACK SABBATH “Black Sabbath,” holding the LP
jacket and thinking to myself that this was unlike anything I had ever heard
before. I feel that was my first introduction to metal. I was probably 5-6
years old then. I used to walk to a big store at the time called Bradlees
and I’d buy cassettes: MEGADETH “So Far So Good”, SKID ROW, all the
METALLICA releases. My resources were limited being 8 years old, with no job
or transportation. My parents never minded what I listened to though, so
that was encouraging. Some of my current favorites are SAMAEL, KVIST,
KAMPFAR, HATE FOREST, AMORPHIS, and of course, WARLUST.
When did you get the idea to start
regimental rec.? Are you happy with how things have been going with the
label over the years? How did you come up with name for the label?
Starting Regimental was an idea from my wife actually. I was manager of an
independent record store called Vintage Vinyl here in NJ (A legendary store
here in the Northeast US – Dale). I was store manager and metal buyer for 9
years. I bought a CD called WARLUST “The Final War” on a small Dutch label
called Happy Holochrist. I heard so many excellent, terrible, and average
bands working at the shop, and WARLUST really stood out to me. I remember
coming home telling my girlfriend (now wife), a black metal lover too, “You
have to hear this!” I couldn’t believe that this band was not better known.
I said people needed to hear this. So, my wife, Kim, said, “Send them an
e-mail and ask to release it.” A suggestion so simple is what started
Regimental. I am happy with the way Regimental has been going over the
years. We started as an attempt to give underground metal bands a chance,
and I believe we still do that and are known for that. I have been
fascinated with military history for many years, so the name came naturally
to me. What I was doing was planning assaults with these releases, these
bands were battalions in my eyes, and each release would be a weapon.
Do
you own/run the label on your own or do you have some friends/staff that
helps with everything? What would you say is the hardest and easiest part
about running a label?
I
could never run the label myself. Don’t get me wrong I have tried, but it
has grown too quickly, too fast. My wife Kim helps the most with handling
most of the shopping cart additions, administrative paperwork and, most
importantly, gives me a good kick to the ass when I come home and I am being
lazy from my fulltime job. I have made great friends through the label as
well. Our main designer, Josh, has been doing layouts since I met him, when
I released the XASTHUR “A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors” CDr with Ma-Kharu
(Profane Productions). We’ve been close friends ever since, even though we
live across the county. He is even a member of OPEN GRAVE now as well. Chris
(New Jersey) and Cis (Netherlands) are also amazing designers who always
help out and give plenty of support. It’s pretty easy running the label. I
stand behind every Regimental release 100%, so I only have to speak the
truth about the release and people have come to trust our releases. The
worst part is the lack of needed time to get everything done that we need to
complete.
Do you have any advice to someone
reading this who might be thinking about starting up a label? In your eyes
what makes a label great?
The only advice I have is only release what you honestly like. My method is
to only release what I only want to listen to and have in my own personal
collection. I’ve never followed any hype or trend and it has been working
for over 12 years, and over 70 releases.
I know you have released some great
releases over the last few months. Please tell the readers a little about
them.
We recently released 3 new CDs, all of which I feel are some of the best
stuff we have
released.
IUGULATUS – Call of the Horned God, which is Polish Black Metal, with
a slight thrash element.
SAD / SAPTHURAN – Black Winter of Desolation, a Split CD release, by
two bands that need no introduction.
FORLIS – Tissue of Life, very dark and haunting music. It’s not
exactly Black Metal, but it is extremely dark with Black Metal vocals.
FORLIS features members of some very well known bands, who wish to remain
unknown.
What do you have in store for the rest
of 2011? Any upcoming releases you can tell the readers about?
2011 is booked solid with planned releases. Actually we are booked through
2012. Some releases lined up are, BURIAL HORDES, N.I.L., NOMMAM ERYTZ /
PARALLAX, OCTAGON, with Pest of GORGOROTH on vocals, PESTIS, plus some more
that we are still working out the details to.
Looking over your web-site and name of
your label etc.. You seem very interested in history and past wars. When did
you start reading / studying about war / military history?
I’ve been interested in history since middle school. I always found it
interesting, all kinds of history not just military. I actually wish I had
gone to college to study more of history, maybe one day I’ll go back.
Military history is just fascinating to me.
This might seem like a joke of a
question but it's not. Do you believe their will ever be world-peace? Seems
like one country gets close then another smaller more pissed-off country
does something to fuck it up.
No, in my opinion there will never be world peace. With our animal
instincts, I think it would be impossible. It’s only natural. Religion
always helps fuel the fire as well.
Coming back to music / metal for a
moment besides running Regimental rec. you also play drums for the mighty
open grave. When did you first start playing drums? Is this first band you
played drums for?
Yes, I play drums for OPEN GRAVE and GRAFVOLLUTH currently. I’ve been
playing drums since I was 10 years old. I’ve played for several other metal
bands as well, KRIEG, THRALLDOM, NIBDEM, HORROBLE.
Are you self-taught or have you taken
lessons? Who are some of your influences / favorite drummers? Do you play
any other instruments?
I
am self taught mostly. I taught myself metal drumming and double bass by
myself. I did take lessons early on to learn to read sheet music. In school
I played in marching band and jazz bands, nothing that I’m proud of! Haha!
My favorite drummer is
Stewart Copeland from THE POLICE. He just amazes me when I hear the stuff he
came/comes up with, his brain must be wired differently. Other “rock”
drummers I like are Chad Wackerman (ZAPPA), Terry Bozzio (ZAPPA), John
Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN), and Ian Paice (DEEP PURPLE). I can’t leave out some
of the other great jazz drummers, Louis Bellson, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and
Joe Morello. I can half-assed play
guitar and bass and I mess around on the keyboard, but drums are my main
instrument. I usually will write some riffs or ideas and let whoever I am
working with perfect it.
You told me once you played drums for
the legendary black metal band Krieg. How did you come in contact with the
members? How many years did you play with / for them?
I
actually met Imperial of KRIEG when I released the KRIEG / OPEN GRAVE –
Resistance is Futile 7” EP. I was not a member of OPEN GRAVE at that time.
Imperial lives a few hours South of me, so he needed a drummer for a show,
and I filled in, and the rest was history, for something like five or so
years. I’ve played numerous shows across the U.S. and Europe with KRIEG, as
well as a headlining show in Bordeaux, France.
Coming back to the present you are
playing drums in the violent black/thrash/warmetal band Open Grave. When did
you and the other members of the band meet? What is the "current" line-up?
For the readers who have never heard Open Grave how would you describe the
music?
I
replaced the original drummer of OPEN GRAVE. I met God Vomit (Jesse) through
a mutual friend. They had met up at a local show and Jesse gave a CD to a
friend, who passed it on to me, knowing I was into Black Metal. It was
actually a HUMANICIDE release, which Jesse was a member of. Looking back,
that was probably about 12 years ago.
The line-up has gone through many changes, but currently it is: 
Jesse (God Vomit) - Vocals, Guitar
Bill (BH) - Guitar
Jon (MSH) – Guitar
Joe (Flakpanzer 38) - Drums
Josh (Nocturath) – Keyboards
The new CD “Fear” is exactly what you would expect from OPEN GRAVE, just
with a more refined sound. The addition of the keyboards added another level
to the music, which I think people will be impressed with.
Please tell the readers a little about
each of Open Grave's releases? Are any of them still available?
All OPEN GRAVE releases are currently Sold Out:
The Heavens Cry Black Tears MCD / Tape
Grace of the Unholy Demo
KRIEG / OPEN GRAVE - Resistance is Futile 7” EP
3
Song Rehearsal (all new material)
Fear (soon to be released)
Everyone has their own idea/opinion of
what black metal stands for. So I was curious of your thoughts. In your eyes
what does black metal mean to you?
Black Metal to me is a release, an outlet. Both listening to and playing.
Over the there been some new
"sub-genres" in black metal form like suicidal/depressive black metal,
drone, even some mixing in old-school rock or punk. I was wondering if you
liked or listened to these types of black metal or if you were more like
myself and preferred the more primitive, brutal black metal?
I
listen to what I like. Some people only listen to “depressive” or
“shoe-gaze”, etc. If I like it, I’ll listen to it. I like Black Metal,
sometimes I want something slow and others completely blasting. I’ve never
been a fan of genre labels, but maybe I’m not “TRUE” enough.
Well my friend I am finally out of
questions haha. I hope it wasn’t to boring for you? Thank you for taking the
time to answer the interview. Do you have any final comments for the
readers?
Patrick, of course the interview was not
boring for me. These questions really made me think. The hardest part is
putting my thoughts into words. I hope your readers think that my answers
are interesting enough to read the interview. Thanks again for this great
opportunity. Also, thanks to all the people who stop by the Regimental site
to say how good they thought one of our releases were and to the mail-order
customers, we couldn’t keep releasing music without all of your support!
Anyone who is interested can find info about
our releases and distro at:
www.RegimentalRecords.com
www.facebook.com/RegimentalRecords
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