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DECEASED
- Addicted To Metal
By Adrian 'The Energizer' Bromley
Deceased drummer/singer King Fowley loves metal music. Well, good
metal music, that is.
Fowley has been an avid follower of metal since the early days of
the genre, a loyal fan who has stuck by metal music for its sheer
aggression and power. His disgust for bad metal runs deep. For him
it's not about image or how fast you can play your guitar or what
label you are on. It's about being true to your music and making
sure you play it for the passion rather than the dollar sign.
His band, Virginia-based metal outfit Deceased, has been a true
testimony of his plight to keep metal alive and well in the halls
of high schools and the smoke-filled basements of America. Hell,
the world should pray the way of metal, for in his mind it's the
most honest form of music out there. Its attitude tremendously overpowers
any fake or disguised music that acts such as Britney Spears or
Creed shove down our throats.
While not the most popular metal act worldwide (we'll save that
for the Dimmu Borgirs and Emperors of the scene), Deceased has been
one of those underground metal acts that people within the metal
community have respect for. They are perceived as noble warriors,
spreading the cause of metal through tight musicianship and an eager
blend of killer riffs and pent-up aggression.
The call goes through in the late morning to King Fowley at home
where he has just been cranking some old Girlschool. His voice is
very loud down the line and he is eager to talk. It is as if he
has already had about 20 coffees. Relapse Records PR guy Carl Schultz
has advised me that King Fowley will talk my ear off. He ain't kidding.
But more than me? Impossible.
As the chat begins to heat up and we get into interview mode I kind
of feel pressured to keep up with the King. All I have to say is,
God have mercy on anyone who should ever be holed up in a room with
Fowley and I. We'd talk you to death. We begin:
UNRESTRAINED!: A lot of people have been awkward to the way
that metal music has changed so much over the years, yet Deceased
continues to play with somewhat of an 'old school' feel to your
music. With the last record (1997's Fearless Undead Machines) and
the latest, Supernatural Addictions, you have managed to carry on
the sound of an older metal generation, but still make it appealing
in the '90s. Tell me about the new record and the mindset going
into it.
King Fowley: "I think the new record is a logical follow-up
to what we did with Fearless... A lot of people got me annoyed with
their comments of that record, saying that we went back to a more
traditional sound with that record. That was not true. It was more
of a vicious record, I think. I think a lot of people didn't really
see what we were trying to do. When we (the band is rounded out
by bassist Les Snyder and guitarists Mark Adams and Mike Smith)
added some old school ideas and melody people thought of it being
retro when in fact it was the real deal. Death metal got too vicious
in the early '90s and I think with all the Earache type of bands
(i.e. Entombed, Carcass) surfacing they made big changes to it.
I was more into the old school of death metal like Venom, even though
they were black metal, but it really wasn't known at the time. I
was more into bands like Dark Angel and Slayer who were death metal
but wrote songs that were memorable. I looked up to those bands.
This record we played what we wanted, rather than be forced to play
and compete a certain way with what others were doing."
U!: Do you think a lot of metal bands nowadays buckle under
the pressure of trends?
KF: "I sure do. They go with the flow of what is hot
and what is not. I see a lot of bands molding themselves around
certain styles of music. There are a lot of bands out there that
go out and try all of these styles and sounds and mold it together,
and people think it is original 'cause it sounds different. That
shouldn't be the case with metal music. Metal music, or any type
of music you play, should show off some roots of where it came from.
You have to get your roots somewhere. One year a band is death metal
then black metal then another time they are thrash metal. Now this
whole Bay Area thrash scene is coming back. I just wish people would
go out and do their own thing so we would have a whole world of
different styles and ideas running through the music scene, instead
of trends popping all over the place with all these bands jumping
on board.
U!: Any new bands or albums you into right now?
KF: "I am really having a hard time keeping up with
good music right now. Music isn't like the way it was back in the
'80s where I'd buy an album and like mostly all of the record. It
isn't like that right now. It's hard to get good music. A band that
I like right now is Defleshed. Their new music is so vicious and
traditional, yet it comes across real and convincing to what they
are playing. It has aggression and some great sound. I also like
The Gathering even though it isn't really metal, but I can see them
doing stuff that they want to do. Even though I don't follow them
much anymore, I still have respect for Cannibal Corpse because they
are still doing the music they are set on playing. Music of today
is hard to get into. I am still caught in my old 'Iron Maiden' days
of metal. I still have out my Saxon records and what-have-you. I
don't see myself getting too much into what is considered death
metal currently. To me death metal has lost its balls. It has lost
its intensity. That is why with Deceased even though we keep up
the intensity and conviction we try to find a way to shine the melody
in what we do. Some say our music has gone a lot more melodic. I
don't think so. I just think it has gotten a lot more catchier.
You have to have melody to have good songs. You have to have good
songs to have a good band. And if you don't have a good band then
what the hell is the point in
doing all of this?"
U!: It seems as though there are a lot of labels putting
out re-issues of classic metal records from the '80s and a lot of
younger fans are picking them up. Case in point Metal Blade putting
out the Cirith Ungol albums (which Fowley wrote the liner notes
for) and Century Media re-issuing all the classic Combat Records
stuff like Agnostic Front, Dark Angel and Nuclear Assault. Seeing
that you are a truly die-hard metal fan, what classic metal albums
would you recommend to younger metal fans?
KF: "One that meant a lot to me, and still does, is
Warlord's Deliver Us. I just think it so amazing. It was one of
the first Metal Blade releases. It means so much to me because at
the time it was off the wall. They had been influenced by so many
bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple and it took years for bands
to catch on and realize just how good their take on music was. That
is one of the great records. Besides the obvious stuff like Iron
Maiden's Piece of Mind or Sabbath's Mob Rules, I'd have to say Manowar's
Battle Hymns. I think they have never topped that record. I also
like Jag Panzer's Ample Destruction. That is probably the most vicious
power metal ever done. Then you have your speed metal like the early
Slayer records. Not Reign In Blood -- I find that very overrated
and cheesy. Show No Mercy was a great blend of Maiden and the new
speed metal era of Metallica back then. Anthrax's Fistful of Metal
is still a great one. And one of my all-time records has got to
be Overkill's Taking Over. Now that was a vicious thrash record
if there ever was one. It is so hard to pick a handful of great
releases. Those are some of them, I guess, that I really appreciate
and still love."
U!: Getting back to the record, how long does it take to
assemble an album? How much band work, or work from yourself, goes
into the making of a Deceased record?
KF: "After Fearless... came out we really wanted to
tour a lot, but it never happened. We had talked a lot of it, but
things didn't work out. We will tour this record. We were really
trying hard to think where we would take this band after the work
on the last record. People were wondering just what was going to
happen to the music of Deceased. A lot of the record was done very
sporadic. We just didn't have a set plan. It just came out this
way and unfortunately 'cause of that the record didn't turn out
exactly as we had wanted it to be. We would have liked to make the
record a little longer, maybe add another song, but we took the
eight songs we had and worked on it and brought it down a little
bit than what we had done with Fearless... We didn't want to go
out and barrage someone again with a vicious record. I think we
made a strong record that shows we put some real hard work into
it. We took all of the best eras of the band and worked it into
this record. We didn't follow the success formula that we had with
the last record and I am glad about that. This record is very easy
to digest and that is what I am most proud of. We play death metal
music, but not what most people might think. Our music is death
metal, but I don't mean that we play death metal music like Immolation
and Incantation. We play death metal music and in order to play
death metal music, it doesn't mean it has to be violent and vicious
with deep guttural vocals. It just needs to be real dark and have
a real morbid feel to it. That's all that matters when we go into
making a Deceased record. We worked hard and went through a lot
to get this material coming out and I'm glad we made an effort to
have it sound so good and, most importantly, the way we wanted it
to be.
U!: You've been doing this a long time and have been seriously
devoted to the metal cause. Has there ever been a time when you
felt just sick and tired of playing metal music or just being in
the business?
KF: "Never, man…every time I am getting down on
what is going on in the scene or wherever, I get more vicious and
become a motormouth against many bands. That is when I start getting
mad. I mouthed off about all of these fake black metal bands like
Cradle of Filth and the whole incident with me mouthing off about
Broken Hope. I really take the metal scene serious. It is like a
family to me, but when people go off and abuse it and use it for
their own success, I just don't like that…"
U!: What happened with Broken Hope? I never got wind of this.
KF: "Oh…(laughs) It was just something that happened
between us and Broken Hope. There was some words said here and there
and when we hooked up at a show, well, let's just say there was
some fisticuffs that broke out. And Jeremy (guitar player for Broken
Hope) took the fall for the band. It's all been cleared up, sort
of. It was just a vicious time in the scene. People were riding
this black metal wave and it pissed me off. Black metal is the glam
metal scene of the '90s. There is no real integrity involved with
what
they do. I think a lot of it doesn't do much for me. I think people
just go out and give Kovenant a break and I just don't get it. It
sounds like circus music behind really bad black metal. I think
my opinion means a lot because I listen to a lot of music and I
know what I am talking about. Metal music has seen some changes
and I'm not for most of them."
U!: The thing about music is that it goes in cycles. Who
would have thought that back in 1996/97 that a band like the old-school
metal act HammerFall would have been so big?
KF: "Oh, man…that whole HammerFall band is a bad
thing for me. It's a bad word. Oscar (guitar player for HammerFall)
had his own black metal thing going on with Ceremonial Oath and
now he is like, 'I'm into metal music and have been all along.'
Where the hell was he? I don't know, man. I can see maybe how a
16-year-old kid would look up to HammerFall like I did Maiden; I
just still don't get it. People from my era and people that appreciate
metal music like I do can see right through what they are doing.
You don't know how many people I know who hate that fake metal music
that is being played right now. There is no heritage and there is
no heart."
U!: So putting aside your dislikes for what is out there
currently, how gung-ho are you for the release of the new disc?
Just talking to you, you seem so riled up about it. Carl (Relapse
PR) said you'd be all excited about the new album and that I would
have a hard time keeping up…
KF: "(laughs) Yeah, but you have kept up pretty good.
I'm just so excited right now. I can't stop being excited. I think
this is the perfect record for this time and the perfect record
for us to put out right now. There is a lot of heart in this record,
and it shows. We're not mapping out our attack with Supernatural...
We're just ready to go out and play our music. The music is great.
The production is awesome. I just can't wait to take this on the
road like we hope to. I want to play the Wacken Festival in Germany.
There is such a great deal of excitement with this record, a definite
step up the ladder than what we saw with Fearless... We got some
great reviews last record, but we just move on from there. It's
not really a big deal for us, I mean getting great reviews rules,
but if we don't like our music then there is no point in doing it.
We have to please ourselves first and foremost when we set out to
make music. It's great to get respect from people and hope that
we go far, but to tell you the truth it is hard. We spend months
holed up in a basement of 120 degrees, yelling at each other and
trying to make things work to get the music out to the public. We
drive hours and hours to get to Boston to play a show and when we
get onstage and play it is worth it. All the hard work comes with
the territory and we are proud to be a part of it."
U!: What has kept you so involved with the metal community
over the years?
KF: "I just haven't lost my love for it. It seems as
though every year I get some more power and steam. I just want to
keep doing it. I am not getting old or tired of it. I'm getting
better at doing it, and it means a lot to me when all things start
to work out. I think Deceased has a lot of dedication to the music
scene and I don't think it will ever go away. Ever! I think it would
be impossible to kill the dedication that comes from this band."
U!: So all of these bad bands getting signed and touring
and making lots of money must get you a little annoyed. Right, King?
KF:
"Totally! We have seen so much shit and seen so many bands
rise to the top when they don't deserve it. I mean, yeah, money
isn't really important to us, but I won't lie to you and tell you
it doesn't hurt to see bands that we hate make it. It is just so
hard to digest, but we live in a cheesy world and those kind of
bands make it. It goes the same for other forms of music, movies
and television. They're all just puppets on strings being told what
to do and what choices to make. I mean it pisses me off, but the
more I see it happening the more it fuels the fire. All of this
shitty stuff going on around us just puts more coal in the furnace
and keeps us metalheads playing our hearts out. I can't complain...it
just keeps the momentum going."
Spoken like true metal royalty, eh? God bless the King!
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