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Tell a little about
Possession and how the band came to be???.
Back in 1991, Shayne,
Shane, and myself, were in a band who lost it’s two main songwriters so
after a short hiatus we got together and started writing songs under the
moniker Possession. Shortly after forming, Shayne was in an accident. While
he was recuperating, Mike joined as a second guitarist and then Lance joined
as we were recording our first demo, “Mad Crazed And Violent” in ’93. We
went on to record “The Unnameable Suffering” in ’94 and in ’95 we recorded
our first full length CD called “Eternally Haunt” which wasn’t released
until 1996 due to label problems. We left that label and then released
“Scourge And Fire” on our own in ’97 (Umm…I think he meant late ’96 but what
do I know ha -Dale). Lance left in late ’95 and we’ve been searching for a
permanent bassist ever since. Kansas City
is a rather dry well of musical talent, it seems.
At what point did you
discover the underground? First contacts and ‘zines you got into? Does/did
anyone in the band do underground activities outside of the b and???.
We didn’t really get
into the underground until ’92 when we started to look for ways to promote
the band. The first ‘zines we got into were Feh, Rubberneck, Open Grave,
Voices From The Darkside and Subversive Agenda. One of the first contacts we
made was Jarno from Impaled Nazerene as well as the guys from Angelkill and
Snowy Shaw from ‘Fate and Samael. Shayne has done some reviews for a few
zines that is about it.
Looking back at your
past releases are you happy with them and what is your opinion on them now?
What were sales figures roughly on “Eternally Haunt” and “Scourge And
Fire”???.
I’ve always been pleased
with the quality of our songs. I think that is proved, especially by
“Scourge And Fire”, which has a re-recorded version of one of the first
songs Possession ever wrote yet it sounds as fresh and powerful now as it
did then. Obviously, we have not had a lot of money to work with which has
lead to just o.k. production but not the best that we would have hoped for.
I suppose, part of the reason for that was our own inexperience in the
studio as well as working with people who were not familiar with death
metal. But as far as each song goes, we are very proud of them and are
excited for the people to hear our new material. “Eternally Haunt” has sold
around 2, 000 copies so far but we have plenty left so I think everyone
should order it! (Yes do yourself a favor at these dirt cheap prices for
such great music! -Dale). You will get “Eternally Haunt”, and “Scourge And
Fire” for only $11 us ppd. You’re not going to get a better deal anywhere!.
I am sure many reading
this have seen your full page ads in Metal Maniacs, considering the size of
it’s readership, how tremendous has the response been from it? What did it
cost, for said full pager!??.
The response was not as
great as we had hoped but we look at it as a building block, a stepping
stone to the next level of name recognition. Actually, the biggest failure
of the whole project was our inability to release another full length CD in
a timely fashion. But we are still moving forward-slowly but surely. I
believe each ad was about $700/issue but there were many factors involved in
that price.
Tell me about the scene
in your area? Some cool bands from there to check out? Kansas
seems to me, as an outside observer to be a little sparse as a metal scene,
is this so and has it affected or held back Possession in any way???.
Well, you hit the
proverbial nail on the head!. Kansas City is extremely sparse. We used to
think that it didn’t matter but in hindsight I know that it has adversely
affected us in three ways, 1. Not being able to replace members easily at
all 2.Not being able to meet and get to know people in the underground on a
regular basis 3.Not having the opportunity to play shows with bigger bands
in the underground. Word of mouth is still the best promotion in the
underground and we are missing that being in Kansas City. There is one great
band from K.C. (Come on there is more then one, how about Ares Kingdom,
Vulpecula, Nepenthe!? -Dale), that is Angelcorpse which has risen on the
wings of the bassist/singer’s former Order From Chaos. They’ve played a
European tour already and are preparing for another tour with Immortal last
I heard (Wonder if that happened I heard Demonaz quit Immortal!, cause of
cancer in his arms). But they never play in Kansas City.
Now onto one of my fave
questions, what do you think of the almighty album “Black Metal” by
Venom!??.
You are going to think
this is blasphemous but I have never heard Venom’s “Black Metal” album (Oh
my, blasphemous is a gentle word to use, all self-respecting metalheads need
that album!! However that is only my opinion, even if it is correct he he
-Dale), until I saw them live at the (Milwaukee) Metalfest last year I had
never heard of them at all. Sorry (You mentioned Cirith Ungol coming up so
you are surely forgiven! -Dale).
Please tell us about the
whole deal with Casey and Metal Merchant Records!??.
The whole deal is far
too lengthy to into here (I was hoping you would go deep into this and space
of no concern, use all you want bro! -Dale) but if you check out our website
every gory detail is there for you to savour (Well, actually I know pretty
much everything, I have heard your side and heard Casey’s over the phone,
but my readers may not know it, oh well do check out the website to see more
on it -Dale). In a nutshell, Casey is a rip off and we emerged victorious in
the end.
It is obvious from your
music you guys are fans of ‘80’s power metal and deathrash, care to list
some old favorites and maybe an obscure band or two, my readers should
search out!??.
Yes! That is our
genesis, ‘80’s metal like the old mainstays, Slayer, Sabbat, Metallica,
Anthrax. But I also got into Worrior, Warlock, Toxik, Q5, Apocrypha, Armored
Saint, and of course old Testament, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and old
Fates Warning, Oh, and how about Cirith Ungol (ah yes, the “Frost And Fire”
& “King Of The Dead” LP’s!! -Dale) !?!.
What do you know about
my country,
Canada!? What is
your opinion on the Canadian scene? Any bands or mags from here you dig? Do
you find there is a ‘Canadian sound’ so to speak???.
I grew up in North
Dakota so I took
more family vacations in Canada than I did in the
States. Mostly to Winnipeg (Manitoba) but I have been all the way to B.C.
(Cool I am directly in the middle of those two provinces -Dale). I don’t
know much about the “Canadian scene”, the only bands that I remember from
being from Canada
are Obliveon and Annihilator (Ugh! I thought being such an ‘80’s metal fan
you would have heard of Infernal Majesty, Razor, Exciter, Slaughter, Voivod,
Sacrifice ect… guess we always get over looked though he he so what’s new
-Dale). And the only sound that comes to mind when I think of Canada is “eh”
(That was a shot, eh!? Ha -Dale). Sorry.
What were the recording
and pressing costs of your brilliant 3” mini CD “Scourge And Fire”?. How did
those recording sessions go, possibly you could describe your schedule on a
day you recorded!?. Is the new material in the same vein as that release???.
 The
recording ran about $800 but the entire project ended up at about $3000 for
1000 CD’s. We had the original artwork done and then had to have custom dyes
cut to print the cover because of the size (For those who have not scene it,
the cover is cool it is like a one piece modified and enlarged match book
cover almost, very cool! -Dale). The sessions went rather well and it turned
out better then any of our other recordings to date although we were
extremely unhappy with the snare sound on it. A typical day of work
recording was to get up about 3pm,
begin recording around 7pm, work until about
5am and then go home and go to bed. Rather exciting, huh?. Well, “Scourge
And Fire” is the new song on that CD but as I hope you’ve noticed each of
our songs has a style of it’s own. Some of our new songs are faster than
anything we have played before and yet a couple new ones are slower than
anything we have done before. The vocals are still varied and I will try to
layer them a little more next time. Also, the lyrics will cover a broader
range of subjects than our first couple CD’s did. But when you put it on
your CD player you will know right away that this is still Possession!. We
are planning to do a demo for some labels soon and we will release a full
length sometime this year (1998) with or without label support.
Are you planning on
staying independent (possibly with Euro licensing?), or as I often wonder
when a active band such as Possessed was in ‘95/early ’96 becomes sort of
quiet, that you are fielding offers from labels and if so which labels have
shown interest!??.
We are just now starting
to contact some labels in order to get them a demo of new songs and we would
like to hook up with someone for the next CD but we are not going to wait
forever, when the time comes to record the next CD we will do it regardless
of label support. Licensing will be imperitive in order to properly promote
the next CD.
What do you do in your
spare time for enjoyment? What are some of your favorite movies, novels and
mags???.
I love playing soccer
and my movie favs are Exorcist III, The Prophecy, The Hitcher, The Ninth
Configuration, and anything from Monty Python, oh, and the Red Green show
from Canada
is great! (Ha cool, “if women don’t find you handsome, they should at least
find you handy!” -Dale). I enjoy reading books on demonology and the occult
and even the Bible. As far as mags go I read The Christian Research Journal,
Metal Maniacs, PIT, and The Grimoire Of Exalted Deeds.
Seen any good live
shows/bands as of late? Fave show of all time? What bands have you not seen
live that you would die to see???.
Lately, I’ve seen
Cannible Corpse, Testament, Nevermore which were all great but the best ever
were Mercyful Fate in ’93 and Samael in ’95. The two shows that would die
for are 1. King Diamond 2.Manowar (Oh shit man, those are two absolutley
fine choices!! -Dale).
Thanks Nyk for the
interview, last comments to the readers of Canadian Assault? Future plans
and merchandise available!??.
Thanx for the great
questions!. I would encourage everyone to order “Eternally Haunt” and we
will send you “Scourge And Fire” for free all for only $11!. Also, we just
got new Possession long sleeves with the Possession symbol on the front in
gold, it’s $15. Write us at: P.O. Box 3031, Olathe, KS. 66063, USA or E-mail
us at possess@eternallyhaunt.com As king says, “Stay Heavy!”.
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