- Hello, Brad! Let's start this interview with the question about the very first steps of your band: How did you decide to create Morgue? Who came up with that name and did you have any other versions? - Me and Darrell started a band called Crematorium with Tom and a drummer. we wanted to do more traditional death metal, needed a drummer who could do that, and Ted was in Subliminal Slaughter, and went to school with all of us. We got Ted, and started Morgue...I came up with the name as a natural progression from Crematorium, that was 89/90.
- First show was at fotches in Chicago with Num Skull/Thanatopsis/Fatal Violence, was before the demo was released, it was great! We also covered Cancer's "Bloodbath" and Terrorizer's "Injustice" at those first few shows. - One year later you released another demo, "Severe Psychopathology", which consisted of 4 tracks from the previous demo and one new song, "Personality Conflict". What could you say about that release? - Way more pro release, went to a guy's basement studio in Chicago to do that one, that was the last one with Tom in the band. Came out pretty good, the response for it was great in the underground. - How did you get signed with Grind Core International label? Did you get any other offers from other labels? - We actually signed to Olympic records which was run by a guy from the bands Metal Onslaught/Carnage(il) whom I was a big fan of. We had some other smaller offers, but Olympic had distribution thru Relativity and manufacturing thru Grindcore, so it made the most sense. - Finally, in 1993 you released your already classic debut album "Eroded Thoughts", recorded at Solid Sound Studio. How was it to work in the studio? Could you recall any interesting moments which happened during the recordings? - Recording was fun, Phil Bonnet (r.i.p.) was amazing to work with. We rushed a lot, had 2 different drummers play on it, and it was remixed multiple times, and sure listening to it there was lots that could be better (performance and production wise) but the sessions themselves were fun. we were still pretty young, and just psyched to be there. Things I remember from the sessions were Phil's micing techniques were really cool, and I remember both Ryan and Darrell just killing it when they were tracking their solos. I mean just getting after it. I was really proud of those fuckers.
degrees in sociology and psychology, so there was definitely a strong influence on my lyrics at the time. - What is actually displayed on your cover? The artist is Dante DeBartio, could you tell us more about him? How did you find him? - He was just an art student who went to my junior college. One day I walked passed the art exhibit that was displayed and that painting was up. I tracked him down, and asked to buy the painting from him. I told him it would be used for an album cover. The original painting still hangs above by bed to this day, and is even more incredible in person. - You had some great shows with Autopsy, Incantation, Vital Remains. How do you remember the oldschool metal scene of those days? How different were the metal-heads during the concerts in comparison to nowadays? - That tour was the worst tour ever and the best tour ever rapped into one. Can't explain unless you were there, but getting to tour with those bands at that time was amazing. Some of the turnouts, routing, length, booking was dog shit though. The van we had was good first day of tour, our van got side swiped and our driver's rear view mirror tore off though...hah...welcome to New York city....hhahaha. Best shows were out east, Cleveland and Chicago, Texas (divine eve and absu were openers down there) and L.A. and Frisco, very cool to play some legendary now defunct clubs like flashes,the stone and hong kong cafe where I was getting electrocuted by the mic that clearly wasn't grounded...hahaha - This album was reissued in 2014 by Dark Descent Records. What could you say about this edition? - Well, a couple years ago Ted from the Crypt had contacted me about doing a rerelease with Matt from Dark Descent doing the CD version. I was happy as shit since those are 2 of my favorite labels. I tracked all the Morgue guys down to let them know, and I was going thru some mega bullshit (i.e. divorce) in my personal life, but Ted and Matt were patient with me and were supportive in every way possible. I sent Ted a ton of flyers and photos and he and Matt did the rest. Super happy with the outcome. - Morgue existed till 1995 and then was disbanded, what was the reason of your split-up? - When the band ceased, we were going thru MORE line up changes, and it had taken its toll on us. - Currently, you are busy with 2 new bands: Wrist and Absconder. What could you say about these bands? - Absconder have been on hiatus for a year now. Since releasing our demo and split with Anatomia from Japan our drummer moved 3 hours away, so things have been tough, but I'm hoping we will be back in 2015. We have an album worth of unreleased material. Wrist is 3/4 (me, Mark and Matt) of Absconder more Venom/Motorhead influenced stuff. We have a bunch of stuff we recorded and I hope we release in 2015 as well. It's fun playing drumms in Wrist and quite a change from playing bass and singing in Absconder and Morgue. We just did a killer show with Derketa and Radiation Sickness, and have some other killer stuff coming up. - Thank you for the interview, Brad! Would you like to say a few words to our readers? - Thanks so much for the interview and staying true to the old underground, print zines, trading, old tapes still rule! Never forget the past!. hails and ales to you brother, and all those who supported Morgue, Absconder or Wrist in any way...cheers and beers!!!!! |