new interview with DECREPITAPH!

Interview with Elektrokutioner and Sinworm from DECREPITAPH!

1. The new DECREPITAPH album, "Beyond the Cursed Tombs", is heavier and more catchier than the first album was. Did you guys plan this or did it just come naturally? How long did it take to write and record the album?

Elektrokutioner: I knew I wanted to make the next album heavier than the first, and I think we succeeded at that. The first album was definitely heavy, but this new one is just pushing the limits of heaviness recorded with cheap gear at my house! But, hopefully I can find a way to make the third album even more over the top. As far as the catchier aspect, I guess it wasn't done on purpose but it's always in my head to make memorable songs with repeating parts rather than just 4 minute songs of wanky garbage just for the sake of showing off.

Sinworm: I think it came naturally for us as we are on the same page being in pursuit of making the heaviest music possible. We recorded it in a few sessions, one for drums, one for guitars and bass, then one for vocals and leads. It didn't take relatively long since we've been making a habit of recording.

2. I heard that you guys actually had over 20 songs written and then you just picked the best ones from that. What became of the other songs you wrote? Will they be used for splits and EP's?

Elektrokutioner: We had around 18-19 I think, since we ended up using a few of them for the Father Befouled and Meathole Infection split 7"s we did. I think 2 or 3 of them will be totally scrapped as neither myself or Sinworm really thinks they are up to par with our other material. We kept two of the songs for the upcoming MCD on Archasm Releasing in mid 2010. They weren't written specifically for that release, but once we had all the songs written and we went through them and decided on album songs, we saved two for the MCD. We will probably write one new one and use one of the leftover songs for that as well. As far as upcoming splits and 7"s and stuff, we have already recorded 3 new songs for a 4 way split CD, as well as new songs for split 7"s with Offal and Eroded that will be coming very soon!

3. Speaking of splits and EP's, it seems like you have a bunch of them planned. Please tell us all about them and which ones will be out first.

Elektrokutioner: First up is the Offal and Eroded split 7"s I just mentioned. All those songs and artwork are ready to go. I estimate they will be out in early Spring or so. We also recorded for that 4 way split CD in early December, but I'm not sure when that will see the light of day. Starting in a few days, we are going to start rehearsing for the MCD on Archasm and then we will probably record for it in late February or early March. We expect that to be out by early Summer if all goes well. After that... well, who knows!! We hope to get another 7" or two at the least. Hopefully after this new album comes out, we'll get a little more interest in the band and will be given some more offers to do stuff.

4. I know you're doing a MCD soon also called "Conjuring Chaos". Tell us about this release.

Sinworm: Some of these songs are ones that unfortunately couldn't fit on the new album, so consider it almost like a missing chapter to Beyond the Cursed Tombs.

Elektrokutioner: That is the one coming out on Archasm Releasing, who also did our split 7" with Father Befouled. It will have 4 new and exclusive songs and maaaaaaaybe a little surprise or something else on there too. We haven't exactly decided yet. It will probably be limited to 500 copies or less and it should be out by the Summer.

5. Nobody writes death metal songs as fast as you it seems like! How are you able to always write so much high quality material in such a short amount of time?

Elektrokutioner: Well, when it comes to playing music, I'm not lazy. If we want to get a CD or 7" out, I just sit down and write it basically. It all comes naturally to me at this point. I throw away a lot of stuff that I don't think is good enough, or if the style starts to veer off into something different, I just use that for a different band/project. Our songs are anything but complex, so it's pretty easy to write them fairly quickly if you know what you're doing.

6. Tell everybody about the house you live in with guitars hanging on the walls, amps in the dining room, etc. I'm sure lots of people would love to know! How many guitars and amps do you have....and WHY so many?

Elektrokutioner: Yes, that is all true! Music gear is an obsession and something you must spend money on to get the sounds you want. In these days when any jackass can download a bootleg drum program and plug his guitar into a pod and run it into his computer, I think there are some people out there that can appreciate REAL cranked amp sounds and REAL drums being played by REAL people. I'm not into that digital processed sound at all, so we record all our stuff with mics in front of loud amps, the way it should be. I know I can tell the difference between real sounds and fake sounds and I think a lot of the fans can tell too. As for the amount, I think I'm down to 20 guitars after selling off 15 or so.. but I mainly sold them off to buy MORE AMPS! I think I'm at 10 high gain heads and around 15 4x12 and 2x15 cabs I believe.

7. What makes DECREPITAPH different from all the other bands you're involved with. Is it harder to keep it different and separate or is it easy since it has a distinct sound?

Elektrokutioner: I think it's different because it's the most natural thing for me to play. When I decide to do a side project that is thrashier or something, it's different than my normal playing style, so I have to try harder to create it. I also love playing real punk/grind, and that is why I have Bastard Cross. That is the other style that comes naturally to me. Everything else where I'm trying to make something different ends up being way harder to do. But, I still do it because it's usually a challenge to make myself thing differently. You'd probably never guess the same guy that wrote 'Beyond The Cursed Tombs' also wrote the Bastard Cross album, or the Skincrawler album for that matter. I hate people that do 4422489 bands that all sound the same.

8. The first album was loved by death metal fans but also doom fans as well, and yet there also seemed to be some doom metal fans who thought it "wasn't doom enough", which is ridiculous to me. What are your thoughts on this?

Sinworm: I was surprised at how many people said they really liked the album. However they want to call it, don't really matter. They could call it "Hippie Devil Music" and it would still be heavy to me.

Elektrokutioner: The last thing I care about is pleasing narrow minded doom fans haha I really don't care who likes us or who doesn't, honestly. We sound like we sound because that is what Sinworm and myself want to play and if you think we "aren't doom enough" or we don't have some stupid gimmick to our band just so we sell more, then we don't want you as a fan anyway!

9. What are some bands you'd like to do splits with in the future? Any cool new bands you like today or do you mostly just stick to the older stuff?

Elektrokutioner: Hmm.. This is a tough question. I'd like to maybe do a split 7" with Grave Ritual, even though we basically already did when they were called Meathole Infection. But after their album comes out, I would love to do a "Razorback split" of sorts. I could also see us doing a split with Horrendous as they are a cool band and Damian from the band has been helping with the mixing of our 7" songs as Patrick from Crypticus has been busy. There are definitely good bands around now, but it's hard enough for me to keep up with all my own releases, I'm not doing as much genre exploring as I used to.

10. Are you fed up with myspace or do you feel like it still serves a purpose? There seems to be more bands than ever on there now and lots of them seem to be focused on just trying to sell stuff rather than making new music. You guys always put out lots of music. Is this a reaction to the laziness of bands today or something that just comes natural to you?

Elektrokutioner: I hate MySpace, but it's important from a band standpoint. I'm in this to get cool releases out there and that is basically it. It means more to me getting an email from a fan saying they loved our album than it does selling 8494398 shirts to faceless "fans". I mean, the point of being a band is to play music, which is what I love to do. If people like it and buy our albums, that's cool.. But if not, I'm still going to scrape together the money myself to put out a 7" or a demo CD or something like that because it's an accomplishment to get your music released and available to people that want it.

11. You guys also print up your own t-shirts and put out your own record as well, which is rare today considering most bands just rely on other people to do stuff for them. Do you have fun putting out your own stuff and doing mail/orders, and keeping up with all of this stuff? Does it ever get boring or annoying to do it? What keeps you going in the metal scene after all these years?

Elektrokutioner: The only annoying part is the price of shipping haha The way I look at it, if you're not willing to invest some of your own money into doing shirts and stuff for your band, then you are playing music for the WRONG reasons. If you honestly don't care about that stuff, then you shouldn't even bother recording your music and trying to get someone to release it in the first place. If you can make money doing it, that's great. If you lose money.. oh well! That is part of the deal of being a Death Metal band. I guess what keeps me going is still having ideas that I want to get out, still hearing new bands that I think are cool, and still hoping one day the metal scene will be as cool as it was 15-20 years ago.. even though I KNOW that won't happen.

12. Will the band play anymore live shows or are you just focusing on recording and new releases?

Elektrokutioner: It's possible, but we don't have anything lined up right now. Playing live once in a while is fun, but doing it too much severely limits your rehearsing and recording time, so it's not worth it. I'd rather have a cool release out that will be around forever than play some lame dive bar show every weekend to 5 people.

13. Feel free to talk about any of your other bands here and what releases you have coming up with them.

Elektrokutioner: Wow, this could take a while haha Well, in terms of what is coming out soon.. The debut Encoffination 7" is at press now and should be out in March sometime. We also printed up limited shirts for it. The Festered album has been out on Razorback for a few months now and we have plans to record another CD and possibly a 7" on Archasm this year. I think we've found a label for the Skincrawler/Old Bones split, so hopefully that be coming out this Summer. Also, the first Skincrawler album 'Lair of the Foul' will be pressed on vinyl LP soon. I recently did drum tracks for the Beyond Hell demo and album, and once the final mixes are done, the demo CD will be out, then the full CD shortly after. In March, we plan to record the debut Scaremaker album for Razorback. I'm looking forward to that a lot! Stone Evil with Lasse from Hooded Menace will have a flexi 7" (remember those??) on Doomentia Records sometime pretty soon. I'm also getting ready to record the drums for the debut Foreboding album, which is me and Rogga from Paganizer/Ribspreader. I'm also going to record a Goatstorm split tape on Archasm, which is a solo project of very primitive and barbaric black/death. In the most exciting news yet, it looks like 2010 will finally see the release of the Tombstones album as well! I can't wait to hear that finished up! Sooooo, I think that's it for now haha

Sinworm: Decrepitaph is really a side project to my main band consisting of my wife and two boys! No but really, I have a one man project called Sinworm and a 7 song release is on the way this spring followed by another full length release later this year.

14. Isn't HARD ROCK ZOMBIES the best film ever, or what?!?

Elektrokutioner: I'm more fond of Black Roses and Rocktober Blood, but Hard Rock Zombies is a classic!!! I love how when they die, they bury the band 3 inches underground and not even in a coffin! hahaha!

15. Any last comments?

Sinworm: Thank you Billy for your help and support, and now to continue with the Ancient Death Metal.

Elektrokutioner: Thanks to you Billy and Razorback for sticking with Decrepitaph all this time, and we look forward to opinions on the new album!!!!

*joke question: Is the cover of your album yellow, or green? Some say green. LOL so stupid

Sinworm: Definitely yellow
Elektrokutioner: It's YELLOW!!!!! hahahahah

Band contact:
http://www.myspace.com/decrepitaph