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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Graeme Flynn, vocalist for SLAVE ZERO. Interview done 3-1-07. |
| I AM NEW TO SLAVE ZERO, SO CAN YOU GIVE SOME OF THE BANDS HISTORY UP TO THIS POINT? ANY PREVIOUS BANDS MEMBERS WERE IN BEFORE? We are a Hardcore/Death Metal band from Ireland that has been together since 2001. We are united through our passion for extreme heavy music. Our fight like many of our predeccessors is to work as hard as we can in order to develop SLAVE ZERO & become an internationally recognized band. We strive to take what we do to higher levels both in terms of musical creativity & professionalism. This is our third release & one which we consider our most accomplished to date. WHY WAS THE NAME SLAVE ZERO CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THA BAND? SLAVE ZERO is a name that we've had for the past 6 years & for us, it represents the constant struggles that we have gone through as a band since we started, with line up changes, difficult personalities & uncompromising ignorant people. It symbolises our efforts & developements & it reminds us not to take anything for granted. In addition to this, there is an element of non-conformism attached to the name - we are slaves to nothing but brutality! |
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| WHO OR WHAT HAS HELPED INFLUENCE YOU IN LIFE & IN MUSIC? I am influenced by everything around me in different aspects of my life. Lyrically I drew influence from experiences or lessons that life has taught me. Our main influence as a band would range from Death Metal to Hardcore to Sludge to Black Metal to Grindcore. We have a huge range of including but limited to CARCASS, CROWBAR, DEATH, PANTERA, DYING FETUS, NAPALM DEATH, |
| SANATORIUM, SEPULTURA, SUFFOCATION to name a few... We try to avoid letting ourselves be pigeonholed & restricted by genres. We come up with the majority of our ideas through practicing together & developing & adding to each others musical & creative ideas. HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLE & SOUND OF SLAVE ZERO TO SOMEONE WHO HAS YET TO HEAR YOU? We play an aggressive mix of Hardcore / Death / Grind & Thrash Metal. It is very heavy & the tempo of the music ranges from very fast to very melodic to very slow & very chunky. We don't like to pigeonhole our sound & we definately don't feel obliged to slot into specific genres. YOUR NEWEST RELEASE "THE PAIN REMITS" HAS BEEN OUT FOR A WHILE NOW. hOW WELL HAS THE UNDERGROUNDS RESPONSE BEEN TO IT SO FAR? The response to the CD has been exceptional! We have gotten some very good feedback from some very distinguished & recognized sources. We were short listed for the BWBK demo/indie record of the year & we have gotten exposure from media all over the world. The reviews & messages on our website & myspace have been very empowering & we sincerely thank everyone who has made the effort to contact us & review our CD. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE COVER ART WORK MEANING & WHO DID IT? The artwork on "THE PAIN REMITS" took three months to complete as we were constantly revising & improving upon imagery that represented & symbolized the themes of the CD. We worked closely with Paul McCarroll from UNHINGED ART to come up with the final concept of a faceless person that is controlled by two puppets. These two puppets represent to two sides of the human mind, which can often make decisions that go against the heart. This is shown by one of the puppets dragging on an artery with a hook. Each of the puppets has a sewn on face, which further inforces the front that people contrive on the surface in everyday life, yet this often contradicts the morals & beliefs on which they have built their lives. We chose shades of rad & balck to allude to the dark side of human nature that can poison & contort even the strongest people. On the other hand, the blood red is also suggestive of rebirth. WHICH SONG OFF THIS RELEASE DO YOU FEEL BEST REPRESENTS SLAVE ZERO & WHY? That's a hard one Burt. I personally think that each song stands out on it's own. We tried to give each track an identity, essentially attempting to give that piece of music it's own individual feel. In saying that, 'SOUL OF RUIN" would certainly be one of the more intricate tracks of the record, due to the innovative & off beat drum patterns, groove laden rhythms, plus the riffs are more technically minded when compared tothe title track of the EP. The use of harmonies adds an additional dimension to the overall feel of the track & the lyrical input is given from a narrative perspective. Vocally, I think it differs from the rest of the record due to the wider vocal range used. |
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| HAVE ANY LABELS SHOWN INTEREST IN SLAVE ZERO? IF SO, WHO? We have had some interest from labels since the release of our latest EP, but at this point we are keeping our cards close to our chest! We are constantly working very hard in what we do & are confident that the right label will notice us if we persist with our musical passion. IS THERE A NEW ALBUM IN THE WORKS YET? |
| We are currently writting for a new record & there is a definite progression in what we are doing. We have aspirations to release a new record towards the end of 2007 / early 2008, but we have more immediate intentions of touring internationally. The next record will definately boast more technicality, groove & aggression. We are very excited with what has been written to date. We fully intend on raising the bar for the next record. Keep an eye on our website & myspace for updates. HOW OFTEN DO YOU GUYS PLAY OUT? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE SHARED THE STAGE WITH & WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED? We aim to play a show every three to four weeks when we are not touring. It helps keep us on our toes & remain tight as a unit. We have probably played in most of the worthy venues that support Metal through out our home country as we did a very successful Irish tour last summer. Since then we have been playing shows every few weeks. SLAVE ZERO has played along side a wide range of internationally recognized Metal acts including SKINLESS, FOZZY, EXODUS & PRIMAL FEAR. We have also shared the stage with some of the best in home grown talent that Ireland has to offer such as ABADDON, INCARNATE, OLD SEASON, COLDWAR & SINISTER DEMISE amongst others! TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE HATEBREED SUPPORT SLOT YOU HAVE COMING UP? We are due to support HATEBREED on the Irish date of their upcoming European tour. This show takes place in The Ambassador Theatre on April 16th in Dublin. We re planning to demo some new material at the show & just cannot wait to hit the stage. It's going to be a crushing night! ARE THERE ANY INTERESTING OR FUNNY BAND STORIES YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? The last few gigs we have played, when we reach the end of our set if the crowd wants to hear another tune before we wrap the night up, we insist they chant Eddie's cars namesake...Jemima! If you could imagine 150 people screaming that at the top of their voices! It's not even a proper name... We always get a great laugh out off it! ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO HAVE YOU CURRENTLY BEEN LISTENING TO? I personally listen to all forms of Metal from Grind to Sludge, Thrash to Black, Doom to Hardcore, Crust to Ambience, Death to Noisecore. There are such a wide variety of bands these days that people are soiled for choice. I think it's great that there are so many new bands springing up all over the place. My current play list looks like this: MISERY INDEX "DISCORDIA", RWAKE "VOICES OF OMENS", NECROPHAGIST "EPITAPH", HATEBREED "SUPREMACY", ABORTED "THE ARCHAIC ABBATTOIR", DYING FETUS "WAR OF ATTRITION", GOATWHORE "A HAUNTING CURSE", FACEDOWNINSHIT "SHIT BLOODY SHIT", ED GEIN "JUDAS GOAT & DIESELEATERS", DESPISED ICON "THE HEALING PROCESS", SINISTER DEMISE "ELUDED BY ENLIGHTMENT", DORIAN GRAY "SELF TITLED". |
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| WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? Sinead O'Conner (infamous Irish singer who burnt a picture of the pope on live TV, but later became a nun) is a blood relativve of mine. WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER ATTENDED? WHAT WAS THE FIRST ALBUM YOU EVER BOUGHT? The first concert I ever attended was METALLICA back in 1993. I remember being just blown away by the whole atmosphere, not to mention pulling an older chick!!! The first album I ever bought was GUNS N ROSES "USE YOUR ILLUSION 2". I still ove it to this day. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF SLAVE ZERO DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? I work in credit management. Andy works in the metal fabrication industry. Eddie works in marketing & Bob is a media accounts executive. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF LIFE IN IRELAND? One of the more stereotypical misconceptions is that we are a nation of drunks who run around chasing leprechauns all day long. This is quite inaccurate as it is normally drunk leprechauns chasing us... |
| WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT FROM SLAVE ZERO? The year ahead certainly promises to be an eventful one! We are in the early stages of planning some European shows this summer & already have some Irish dates booked over the next few months. We are currently discussing the possibility of releasing a two track split with another band sometime this summer so keep an eye on our website/myspace page & any bands out there who are interested in being involved with the split, please contact us!!! WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S DONE? Before doing this interview I was on lunch with my special lady. Now that it's done, it's time for me to head across the city & meet the rest of the lads for rehearsal. Plenty of work to be done!!! THANKS A LOT FOR ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO ADD, FEEL FREE! We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported & stuck by us through out the years. Thanks to all the distros, magazines, webzines & bands that have helped to promote & have encouraged SLAVE ZERO. We hope to see you all soon on the road. To anybody who has read this interview, log onto our website or myspace for futher details. Finally, thanks a lot for the interview Burt, we really appreciate you taking an interest in SLAVE ZERO. Keep it brutal!!! |
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| info@SLAVEZERO.net www.SLAVEZERO.net ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS COURTESY OF SLAVE ZERO INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |