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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Will, singer for MASTIC SCUM. Interview done April 3rd 2006. |
| MASTIC SCUM HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 1992. CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND UP TO NOW? ANY PREVIOUS BANDS YOU WERE IN? ANY SIDE PROJECTS? Our Drummer "Man" played 4 years for BELPHEGOR & some sessions for G.F.P.M., but it was too busy for him because MASTIC SCUM went more busy. Our bass player Mike is actually the singer & guitar player for PATIOCRASH, guitar Noise Rock from Vienna. There are a lot of things to in the band, also a lot of live shows, so we all concentrate in MASTIC SCUM. |
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| WHY WAS THE NAME MASTIC SCUM CHOSEN AS THE BAND NAME? No details for this question, it's too long ago. All what I know is mastic comes from something like masticate & scum stay for his own you know. It was the idea of guitar player Harry in the beginning of the band. WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES & INFLUENCES IN LIFE IN GENERAL? I can say that I still like BRUTAL TRUTH, NAPALM DEATH & by the way HENRY ROLLINS, all what he's doing in generally. The band lives of influences of the daily grind, for sure there are a lot of old rules, but also new influences of today. |
| MASTIC SCUM BLEND TOGETHER ELEMENTS OF METAL & HARDCORE TO CREATE THEIR SOUND. HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLE & SOUND OF MASTIC SCUM? Something like Death Core. Actually MASTIC SCUM is influenced by Death Metal since the beginning early 90's as we started & for sure Grind Hardcore & Metal parts are still very important for the band. We like to bring originality, brutality & freshness into our sound, as well into the vocals & lyrics. We don't follow any trend, we just do what we want. We know how MASTIC SCUM should sound & we build on this, that's it. I ONLY HAVE YOUR 2002 RELEASE "SCAR", HOW WELL DID THAT ALBUM DO FOR YOU GUYS? WHAT WAS THE RESEPONSE LIKE? Great Responses for "SCAR" from all over the world. We were very surprised about this good reactions, we also did a European tour in 2003 with the new album & it was running well. But MASTIC SCUM is definately better running in Europe, I think the scen is better working in Europe for this kind of music. THIS ALBUM WAS RELEASED BY CUDGEL AGENCY. HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM? WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH THEM? The guys from CUDGEL AGENCY saw us at the Fuck The Commerce Fest in 2000 & they were pretty happy with what we are doing & so we got into contact & signed the deal for "SCAR". Since 2002 we're working together, it's running good for sure some ups & downs included. |
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| CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE CD COVER ART FOR THIS ALBUM A LITTLE? WHO DID IT? The cover artwork for "SCAR" was made mostly by Harry our guitar player & with a little help from my side we gave each song a special photo to the storys. On the front cover you can see the perfect eye & also a lot different scens & pictures around, for sure choosed in a destructive & also sarcastic way. The cover artwork for the new album "MIND" was made by Spine Artworks. The guy is called Gerhard Simader. The main idea is coming from him, but we gave him some strict lines what we're thinking about something like a "MIND front cover. A face with an open head, tubes & lines into the brain, it creates a special art of mind. So you can see a face mixed up with different industrial stuff. It's a mind flair. |
| MASTIC SCUM HAS HAD A BUNCH OF RELEASES OUT PRIOR TO THIS RELEASE. CAN YOU GIVE A LITTLE INFORMATION ON EACH & THEIR AVAILABILTY? There are so much releases, 3 CDs so far, some split EPs, some tapes & also our first EP "EPHEMERAL CEREBRAL BUTCHERY" from 1993. By the way, the new album is also out on vinyl version. Hurra! The old stuff is already sold out. There are plans to release old stuff off tapes & EPs on CD. We will see what the future will bring... YOU HAVE A NEW DISC OUT NOW CALLED "MIND" ALSO PUT OUT BY CUDGEL AGENCY. HOW WELL HAS THIS DISC BEEN DOING? Oh yes, "MIND" is out since September 2005. We got great responses till now & as well good critics from zines they are definately not into Metal. I'm proud of it. I think it's the best work of MASTIC SCUM since now, & we really got just great reactions, so we can't be wrong. HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU GUYS HAVE PROGRESSES AS A WHOLE UP TO THIS NEW RELEASE? It's a natural progress for us each 3 years a new album. I hope we can hold the high standard from the last album "MIND". WHAT IS SOME OF THE LYRICAL CONTENT OF MASTIC SCUM'S SONGS? We are talking about real social criticism things as we see it. Sometimes about bullshit relationships blabla what ever anti war songs, a lot of doom & so on. But we're definately not a band who is balbbering about some fantasy stuff. MASTIC SCUM HAS PLAYED OUT A LOT IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT PLACES OVER THE YEARS. WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED & WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE SHARED THE STAGE WITH? I really liked it to play overseas, we already visited Illinois, cause we never did it before & the dudes in the states are pretty fucked up to play in East Europe. It's great cause it's the best audience on planet earth, totally sick Metal fans & we played 3 great shows in Istanbul very strange! Take care, Allah is watching you!! We played with SOULFLY, NAPALM DEATH, OBITUARY, DISMEMBER, CANNIBAL CORPSE, IN FLAMES, NASUM & many, many more... |
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| ARE THERE ANY INTERESTING BAND STORIES YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? I just tell you that the most bands on tour taking too much drugs & alc cause they don't get enough sex?! Ha, Ha... WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS THE BEST & WORST PART ABOUT BEING IN A BAND? It's great to play music & I like to travel around, but the music buisness in general, managers, labels & so on is full of money sucking brainless fucking bastards. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF MASTIC SCUM DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? JOBS, HOBBIES, ETC? We play music, taking drugs, fuck around, you know...but I hate these kind of questions... |
| WHO DO YOU FEEL ARE SOME OF THE BETTER BANDS, LABELS & ZINES FROM YOUR SCENE IN AUSTRIA? There are some old bands like PUNGENT STENCH, DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA & DISASTROUS MURMUR. DISASTROUS MURMUR also signed at CUDGEL AGENCY for new CD, should be out soon. ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOUR CURRENTLY INTO? I'm totally in some kind of extreme Metal music. Sometimes I like to listen to Jazz stuff like Miles Davis & yes I like Industrial sound. WHAT WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU REMEMBER BUYING? WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER SAW? I bought "EL NUMBRO THE LA BESTIA" from IRON MAIDEN on a holiday trip in Spain. I was 13 years. The first real great gig I think was DEATH in 1989 in the Rockhouse in Vienna, Chuck was great. WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? A lot of guys are surprised cause I'm working in winter period as ski/snowbaord trainer. I like the cold nature, the risk, I love to ride on an avalance cause it could be always the last time. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE NEXT FROM MASTIC SCUM? We plan to do a split EP with some new studio tracks in fall 2006, the 2nd band is still not fixed, but be prepared! We also work on material for a DVD & in next months we alsowill start song writing for our 4th full length album. Maybe there will also be a compilation of old MASTIC SCUM stuff & I hope to jump over to USA again soon. |
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| WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S DONE? Skiing & now I roll a fat joint & then I go for a dance to look for a.... yes! THANX A LOT FOR ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW. FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO CLOSE! We stay on with our kind of music no matter what...we cannot say no to all that awesome shit! If you have some time visit our homepage. Thanks & stay healthy - cheers MASTIC Will. |
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| info@MASTICSCUM.com www.MASTICSCUM.com ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF MASTIC SCUM INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |