Deadman's
Blood was formed by me in 2011 as a solo studio project. I wanted to have an
outlet for my love of old style Death Metal so it didn't interfere with my
Black Metal band Witchclan.
My
favourite decade for Death Metal is 1985 - 1995. I love the Swedish sound from
the Sunlight studio in the late '80's and early '90's and so that had a massive
influence on the sound, musically. I recorded a demo entitled 'Tales of the
Darkside' which sold out within two weeks. Among the people who got hold of a
copy was Kam Lee who took a great interest in the band, and played it on his
internet radio show.
The
following year I recorded the now sold out EP 'Product of a Deranged Mind'
which had guest vocals from Kam Lee and Mike Browning plus guest lead guitar by
Brian Werking. That's pretty much the history of the band so far.
Most one man bands are Black Metal based, you’re
greedy and have two different bands, one Black Metal (Witchclan) and Deadman’s
Blood, which is Death Metal. Do you create the music differently for each band.
And which one’s easier to write for?
That's a
hard one actually. I suppose they're just as easy as each other but I have to
be in the right frame of mind, and have to have been listening to the right
music for inspiration for the days running up to a recording session. I can't
write classic sounding Death Metal quite as well when all I've been listening
to is Burzum and Darkthrone.
The general
writing process is pretty much identical for both bands - I map out a general
drum pattern and then just sit down and start jamming out some riffs and see
what sounds good. Once I'm happy with a bunch of riffs, I'll start recording
and get the song flowing, seeing which riffs work best with others and so on.
Once I have
all the guitars and bass recorded, I go back through the drums and edit them,
adding sections out and adding things in here and there until that sounds good.
The last thing is always the vocals - but this is also one of the most time
consuming parts.
I use three
or four different tone vocals in Deadman's Blood so I have to sing each song up
to four times so I can blend them all together and remove the parts I don't
want to use. The overall vocal effect is great because rather than just one
monotone growl, I end up with a much fuller sound and the dynamics of it all
make for a very demonic sounding effect.
I grew up in the golden age of horror films and
watched most of them before I was 18. I think the one that scared me the most
was The Burning, mainly as it made me jump like hell. A lot of Deadman’s Blood
is influence by this genre. What’s the big fascination with horror? And as
these kind of films don’t scare me at all these days, what do you recommend to
the old heart pumping once again?
Well I'm a
70's child, and grew up in the '80's so I just about remember the huge scandal
in 1985 here in the UK where the government banned 39 movies and dubbed them
'Video Nasties'. I used to go to the video store with my Dad in the late '80's
and hire out films to watch over the weekend. I got into Horror at a very early
age. I had a fascination with the macabre, and loved imagary such as skulls and
zombies so Horror movies were an instant attraction to me.
The first
Horror I saw was A Nightmare On Elm Street and from that moment I was instantly
hooked. In the '80's I went on to see The Evil Dead and The Exorcist and so on.
It was in the late 80's that I moved onto Thrash Metal having been more into
stuff like Ozzy, Guns n Roses and Alice Cooper on the years running up to
discovering it. I'd already got into Megadeth and Metallica but for me, the
real Thrash came when I purchased Slayer's 'Hell Awaits' in 1988. This to me
was like listening to a Horror movie. The lyrics were the most extreme I'd
heard so far and this fueled my desire for more extreme Metal and more extreme
Horror!
By 1991 I
had watched as much Horror as I could get my hands on and I had discovered
Death Metal - Bolt Thrower's 'Warmaster' being the first album I bought, in its
week of release. At this point - a new magazine called Thrash n' Burn was out
and I was quickly able to discover other bands - two of which were Autopsy and
Cannibal Corpse. Being a Horror fan - the lyrical approach of these bands were
ideal for me and it's stuff like this which gave me inspiration for Deadman's
Blood.
Since you
mentioned me recommending some good Horror - good lord, I'm not so sure I'd
know where to start - the list is endless!
Here's a
handful which, apart from the first three films that got me into Horror as I
mentioned a moment ago, are some of my favourites of the Horror genre;
Zombie
Flesh Eaters
Cabin In
The Woods
The Brood
Nightmares
In A Damaged Brain
August
Underground Trilogy
The
Possession of Michael King
The remake
of Evil Dead is awesome too - and I usually hate remakes.
You did a really cool limited edition tape for
Product Of A Deranged Mind, with 10 different coloured tapes. They sold out
amazingly quickly, aren’t you tempted to do another batch, or release something
similar?
Yes - the
tapes sold out within 45 minutes of going on sale - I was genuinely shocked.
There weren't a massive amount available but even so, I was very pleased about
that.
Next year I
will begin work on the first full length from Deadman's Blood. At this point, I
don't know whether that will be something that's self-released or if it will be
through a label but I do know it's going to be some of the best old style
modern Death Metal you will have heard in a while - and lyrically, it will be
some of the most gruesome and depraved stories you've ever been told.
You’ve been making music since what? 1990? What’s
the biggest difference between now and then, apart from the internet?
Well,
Witchclan was formed in 1990 but I didn't actually join until 1993 but even
before I joined the band I was writing lyrics and recording my vocals so I
could perfect my style so when you look at it that way you could say it's
nearly been a quarter of a century of composing underground Metal in one form
or another.
I suppose
the biggest difference is people's attitude. Back in the 80's and 90's there
was a real feeling of unity between the tape traders, bands, and so on. That
seems to have withered somewhat.
Bands
hardly ever write a letter anymore when they send you something. In the early
days, if you bought a tape or something from a band, you'd receive a
newsletter, hand written letter, bunch of flyers, maybe a promo band photo or
whatever. These days, whatever you've bought or traded just arrives on it's
own. It's almost slap dash in the sense that not many people seem to have time
to talk to each other.
I guess you
can blame the internet for that though - although you did say 'apart from the
internet'. But I think that's what the point is here - it's technology, it's
progression - a sign of the times. Life is faster these days, everything is
disposable, because everyone's on the move - everyone's going somewhere and
everyone wants to get there quicker than the next person.
I'm a very
old fashioned person - I like things to stay the same and I can be very
nostalgic. I look at the years between 1985 and 1995 as the best years - and so
this really all connects to the reason I started Deadman's Blood in the first
place - for the true love of the old school Death Metal sound.
And do you
think the scene is better off or worse off with the internet?
Well that's
a double-sided sword for me. I say that because it has its good points and it
has its bad points. The good points are that you can connect with people and
bands that previously would have been near impossible.
You get to
discover new bands and hear things you probably couldn't have done without the
worldwide web.
On the
flipside, it also has some bad points, like I was speaking about previously. We
live in a disposable society now and that means everything - even music. Kids
today are too quick to click a button and download something rather than buying
it. Okay so you get your bands and labels who enable downloads which you pay
for but it's these pirates who are killing sales for a lot of bands.
Now don't
get me wrong - I know what people say - the downloaders are the tape traders of
today, and in some respects I would say that's true to a certain extents but
what I'm getting at as well is that without downloads, record sales would be
back up to where they should be. I'm not in this for the money, I never have
been but there are a lot of bands who try to earn a living from music and it
pisses me off that people out there steal new releases. I mean, that's not
collecting music is it... it's all about buying the records. and the tapes and
showing your true support to the bands you follow.
Deadman’s
Blood have been quiet the past couple of years. What’s next for the project?
Yes indeed,
there's been nothing new done since 2012 but the reason for that was that I was
writing and recording my other band's new album. That's finished and is release
on 31st October so next in the pipeline will be a full length from Deadman's
Blood. This new record is going to be something very special so keep checking
the Deadman's Blood Facebook page and the official website for updates on that.
The new album will be in the works soon!
Deep Underground United Kingdom is available for just £2 from Bandcamp
