| Interview by Burt Wolf with Kevin, guitarist, the guy who handles the interviews, most of the artwork, answers the mail & does the promotion for DEADFOOD. Interview done on March 29th, 2002 |
| I GUESS WE CAN START FROM THE BEGINNING. PLEASE GIVE SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON DEADFOOD & HOW YOU CAM TO BE? Ross, Erich & myself have known each other & played in a few bands together since high school. At one point, we were drummer-less & liked it that way; all we did was record songs with a drum machine & an 8 track. This helped in getting ideas out & developing a style. We then wanted to start playing live, but with no drummer, it's kinda...well... Something was missing, so we placed an ad in the RECYCLER, (this was around 1995), recieved one response, & have been arguing with him ever since. WHY WAS THE NAME DEADFOOD THE CHOICE FOR THE BAND NAME? Before finding Dutch, we were called SLURP (we released one 6 song demo). We then found a band in New York who was called SLURP. we checked 'em out, & surprisingly, they were in the same vein as us (music wise) but still, they had a CD out, & we had...nothing. We were sifting through Ross' lyrics one day & came across the word "Deadfood". We all kinda looked at each other & said "No one is stupid enough to call their band DEADFOOD." Except us. So, we started using it. WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN & WHY ARE SOME OF THE THINGS TO INFLUENCE YOU IN LIFE & CREATING THE SOUNDS OF DEADFOOD? Who: John Zorn, MR. BUNGLE, MELT BANANA, SLAYER, BLACK SABBATH, James Brown, THE RESIDENTS, BOREDOMS, BRUTAL TRUTH, the movie GUMMO, the list could go on forever. What: A desire to create music that doesn't sound contrived or commercial & whatever sounds cool to us, with no regard as to what anyone else thinks. Where: Our practice space... Why: Everything has already been done. We're just doing what we think sounds cool. At this point, nothing is original, it's just a blender full of sounds set on chop & then mince. DEADFOOD IS IN NO WAY AN EASY BAND TO EXPLAIN. HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE & SOUND? Short attention span world music played by 3 stoners, 1 heart patient, with a heavy dose of sarcasm & a Grind aesthetic. DEADFOOD SURELY CROSSES THE WIDEST SPECTRUM OF MUSICAL STYLES I'VE EVER HEARD IN ONE BAND? WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE STYLES MIXED IN YOUR SOUND & WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SPECIAL SOUND EFFECTS USED? Styles? Hmmm... Grind-Fusion-Ambient-Electronic- Country-Satanic-Cartoon-Golden Showers-Noise-Sludge- Egyptian Video Game Jazz. Effects? Well-Ross & I just got guitar synths which have hundreds of instrument sounds, so the new stuff were working on sounds kinds like what a Jazz ensemble would sound like if the were playing CEPHALIC CARNAGE songs. TELL A LITTLE ABOUT EACH OF THE RELEASES YOU HAVE OUT? Well, excluding the 2 demo tapes: "ME TIME" CD, 19 songs of pure selfishness. It has everything from Lounge Jazz, Punk (& I use that term loosly), Hardcore, Country, Improv, Children's songs, Ska, Noise. It was made over a 2 year period, & (to me) it doesn't sound like it was made to listen to. It makes you feel kind of uncomfortable. "WEIRD FELLINGS", a much more focused album, 13 songs that start to come into focus upon repeated spins. It's much more listener friendly, but that is not to say that it's easy to listen to. We learned a lot from the "ME TIME" recording & "WEIRD FEELINGS" is a more cohesive album that moves much smoother, but still jumps around as far as genres of music go. We just released a split 7" with IRRITATE from Finland. They do Sludge Grind, while our side is a weird Jazzy-Cartoony-slightly Grind enthused spy song, as well as a children's song being raped by GORE BEYOND NECROPSY. YOUR CD "WEIRD FEELINGS" IS THE ONLY RELEASE OF YOURS I HAVE. IT HAS BEEN OUT FOR A WHILE NOW, HOW WELL HAS THIS ALBUM DONE SO FAR IN THE UNDERGROUND? I have sent "WEIRD FEELINGS" to a ton of zines in the underground & we have recieved a lot of positive feedback on it.Yet at the same time, it's still an album that a lot of people don't get. Some reviewers have said that they don't like it, but still respect what were doing. On the other hand, reviewers have said that they aren't sure what were doing-because the music tends to jump from Grind (which they like) to Ambient-Jazz-Video game stuff, which they can't handle-but it's just an opinion. We've played gigs with full on Grind bands & Death Metal bands & some of the crowds dig it, while some don't. The people who don't like have come up to us & said that what were doing is really weird or fucked up & that they don't like it, but still respect it, because it takes a lot of "talent" or what ever to pull it off. The music we play is not for commercial radio & will never be popular on a large scale. There is no real outlet or "scene" for what we do. I love Grind, Death Metal, Noisecore, etc., & some people in these scenes have open minds & some don't. I feel we have just as much to offer to the "extreme underground" as anyone. in this scene, there are no rules & bend em so much that you become disoriented & frustrated. So much so, that you (hopefully) kill yourself-the world needs fewer close minded people. |
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