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BACK
 Late
Night with Fleshgrind
By: Aaron McKay
Maybe it is my sense of humour, involvement in media, or lanky physique,
but for some reason I seem to remind Steve Murray, the guitarist
for the Chicago death metal syndicate, Fleshgrind, of the self-effacing
late night talk show host, Conan O’Brien. While I never hosted
the Emmy Awards, I did, however, manage to catch the incredibly
busy guitarist for the interview you are now reading. While you
won’t see Steve playing backup with the E Street Band like
Max Weinberg, you will hear a staggering performance by Mr. Murray
on the newest Fleshgrind brainchild, Murder Without End. Enjoy the
interview, but rest assured, you’ll find no mention of the
Pimpbot 5000 or The Masturbating Bear anywhere below!
Murder Without End is certainly an album a band could work their
whole career to achieve and might never accomplish. Undoubtedly,
Fleshgrind has with this one. What brought everything together?
"Thanks a lot, Aaron," Steve begins. "You’ve
been a fan of ours for a while now and a fan of metal in general
for quite some time, so that means a lot coming from you. What brought
it together was pressure from Olympic actually. They gave us a date
to have it all completed by, and it wasn’t much time, especially
by Fleshgrind standards." He continues, "We had to write
over half the album, and then have it recorded, laid out, artwork
and all in a little bit less than three months. So with the goal
of getting it accomplished in mind, we set out to get it done. It
came out better than anyone expected, so we’re happy grinders
over here!"
More Steve, "There was a lot of pressure, deadlines, et cetera,
but that added fuel to our fire, which we needed. It was recorded
and mixed and mastered in nine days. So big thanks to Roger from
Mortician, Chris Djuricic (www.studiooneracine.com), and to Trevor
at www.mastermindproductions.net for the late nights."
Whatever it takes, I suppose. The end sure justified the means with
this album, but the cover concept reminds me a little bit of Pig
Destroyer’s Prowler in the Yard. Fleshgrind must be really
happy with the representation on the cover with this effort.
"Yes," acknowledges my considerate interviewee. "We’re
very happy with the album cover. Mike Bohatch (www.eyesofchaos.com)
did a great job. I sent him the lyrics to the song ‘Murder
Without End’ and told him some ideas that I had in mind. We
wanted something more disturbing psychologically rather than just
something gory. He added many of his own ideas, and I couldn’t
be happier with the results!"
Wasn’t the "Holy Pedophile" track on Murder Without
End a newer version from 1993’s Holy Pedophile demo?
Mr. Murray comments, "Well, some people think that we’re
just taking advantage of current events by re-recording that song,
which isn’t the case. Anyone who has seen us live a few times
might know that we always play that song."
If memory serves, the demo it came from did very well—upwards
of 2,500, right?
"Yes, that demo tape did very well," states the guitarist.
"Many of our current fans weren’t too familiar with that
song, however, yet we play it every show. So the best thing to do
is re-record it. We wanted to have it on our last album, The Seeds
of Abysmal Torment, but we ran out of time." Steve remarks.
"Not to mention our drummer at the time, Alan, and Brian Griffin
[producer/engineer] didn’t want to do it either."
It seems to me that Fleshgrind does a very good job at self-promotion.
Do the four of you just view it as a necessary part of Fleshgrind’s
success?
"It actually has to do with our early days, the demo days before
Rich had United Guttural," Steve said. "We were a promoting
machine at the time. You have to take into account that there was
an actual underground back then—the Internet explosion hadn’t
yet occurred. Most everyone relied on the Postal Service. So we
wrote to everyone and either traded demos, sold demos or just passed
along ads. Do that enough and your name is everywhere, so it worked
wonders for us. We knew back then that we weren’t the greatest
thing goin’, but we were all right, so we worked extra hard
to get our name out."
Speaking of United Guttural Records, they’ve re-released Destined
for Defilement, right?
"Rich finally got the rights to the album," Steve tells
me, "so we got it mastered and he re-released it on United
Guttural. Simple, really."
What was the connection to Chris Djuricic and opting for Chris to
produce Murder Without End?
"We had been recording with Brian Griffin our whole career,"
Steve explains, "so it was time for a change. Our drummer had
worked with him previously, and since drums are always a pain in
the ass, it all made sense. Chris had just gotten ProTools, so we
were curious about using that, too. It was a wise choice if you
listen to the results." He goes on, "Other changes included
another drummer. Alan got married, didn’t feel like jammin’
with us anymore, and we haven’t seen him since. But he was
replaced with Derek Hoffman who used to be in Gorgasm, so he was
quite qualified."
Do you find it challenging to change gears between Fleshgrind’s
material and say, playing with Avernus live?
"Avernus kicked Jimmy out of their band," Steve comments
matter-of-factly, "so without Jimmy, I wasn’t involved
anymore. But when I first started doing it, it was a bit difficult
to loosen up my playing for that stuff. Avernus is far from a lot
of palm muting and grinding, so I had to loosen up my playing and
play with a much different feel. It was an interesting experience
that I highly enjoyed."
There must be a solid connection as musicians between you and James
Genenz?
"Yes, definitely. We play off each other without saying much
or asking much since we’ve been jamming together for quite
some time now. [We] just kind of know each other’s playing
styles, so it’s cool."
I understand at this year’s Milwaukee Metalfest that you had
to borrow Noah Carpenter’s (from Skinless) guitar for the Fleshgrind
set.
"Ugh," sighs the guitarist. "A few days prior we
are practising and everything is fine. So Saturday we are setting
up to play and I plug my guitar in and I don’t have any distortion,
and it’s quiet. So I switch heads and same thing. So it’s
obviously the guitar, so I borrow Noah’s spare guitar and it
works. So I switch heads again and get ready to play. Then my sound
is going in and out, in and out, but mostly out. So it seems his
guitar is messing up too! We ran out of time and had to go on and
deal with it. Needless to say it was a fun experience," he
says, with no small amount of sarcasm.
Do you prefer a setting like the MMF to maybe a smaller, possibly
less diverse, crowd that might be there just for Fleshgrind and
one or two other groups on a bill?
"I like crowds that are more diverse because you make more
fans that way, plus it’s more of a test when you’re trying
to win over new people," says Steve. "But playing to your
own crowds are better for overall crowd response though. I kind
of like the Metalfest crowd because it’s usually a mix and
we always do well."
It seems to me that guitar riffs absolutely pollute this new effort.
What about Fleshgrind’s ability to pull off such riffs, their
placement in the song, and the process of developing them?
"When I write, I try to write for the song and not just write
riffs and piece them together," comes the reply. "The
riffs almost always relate to each other. Also, I try to make sure
there are some hooky riffs to be catchy and memorable. We are not
one of these bands who try to be ‘the most whatever’—we
just try to write songs that we’re happy with, and not a collection
of riffs. We have tried to pay more attention to dynamics and contrast
so when a bigger riff comes out of something, it is usually thought
out to be that way."
What about the brief musical interludes on the new album? Are they
to develop an atmosphere?
"They’re definitely for atmosphere. I wrote those on my
computer and messed around with it. I wanted something that was
very simple yet creepy, and they are definitely that. It drives
ya mad when you hear it looped for too long," jokes Steve.
"It’s in the beginning and in between each song, but very
quiet. It helps tie everything together, and since most of the lyrics
are more psychological, it fits." He elaborates, "We did
have a voiceover for the first interlude in the beginning—a
clip from the great movie Taxi Driver, but we were told at the last
minute that we couldn’t use it, so we had to take it off, so
now it’s just piano."
As Triumph the Insult Comic Dog might say, any last words…for
me to poop on?
"Just thanks for the interview, Conan!"
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