Interview with Jeff Riddle, Crucifer

- Hello, Jeff! Let's talk about the very first days of Crucifer. How did you meet each other? How old were you? And how did you decide to create a band and who came up with that name?
- Stevie and I were friends in elementary school and all three of us went to the same high school. So I met Stevie when we were both about 8 years old. Stevie and I would cross paths here and there through middle and high school and that's where Stevie met Brian. During high school Stevie and Brian played in a band together call Platinum Axe and I was in a couple different bands with a few different musicians. At some point I jammed with both of them at their drummers house on his set. I believe it was just for fun and didn't expect anything to come from it. It wasn't until sometime later that we would get together officially with a singer they were using named Roy Hicks. We called ourselves Killer Instinct a name that I took from a band I was working with prior to joining. At this point I started to realize how talented they both were but I didn't think our singer was the best fit for what we had in mind. He was older than us and I think we knew he wouldn’t be interested in moving in a heavier direction. So we made the split as a three piece death metal band. The name was a group decision, though we actually wanted the name to be Cruciform. A local group of guys had a band with that name, so we looked in the dictionary for other words close to Cruciform. We found Crucifer which means "carrier of the cross" and though it wasn't our first choice, it sounded good. Stevie designed the logo.

- What was your first rehearsal place? What bands did influence your musical taste and make you wish to play Death/Thrash?
- We practiced in a non-air conditioned/heated tiny shed in the back of a family members house. Our influences started like most others, Kiss, Van Halen, Ozzy then Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer then Morbid Angel and Death. Of course there was an onslaught of death metal bands that came out at the time that influenced us.
 
- Your first demo, "Beyond Realms", was released in 1991. How and where did you record it? How did you do the prints and the copies? 
- Beyond the Realms was recorded in a very small studio in Fredericksburg Va. A friend of Brian recorded it for us. The production of the cassettes were done by a local printing and cassette company.
 
- How did you distribute your tapes? What kind of feedback did you receive?
- We distributed it through the underground by tape trading and flyers. We also sold it at shows and to any record store that would have it. We sent out a ton to underground zines for review and advertising. Feedback was pretty positive, though we did get some grief over the production and recording quality. As early as Beyond the Realms we started getting the "are you a christian band" question because of the cassette cover and the song "Pray for the Dead." Which was originally titled "Cremate the Dead"

- And already next year you recorded your first full-length, "Festival Of Death". Originally, it was released by the label B.T.R. Tell us a bit about this label. What does this abbreviation mean? As far as I can see, B.T.R. released only your material and then gone.
- B.T.R. stood for Beyond the Realms, the title of our first demo. It was our own "company" if you will, it was not a real record label.
 
- Back to "Festival of Death". How did the recording sessions go. Where did you record it? Who produced it?
- Festival of Death was probably our strongest and best example of what we were capable of. We recorded it in a small studio in Fredericksburg Va. A friend of Brian recorded it and he and Crucifer produced it. The recording went very well and we were never tighter or more focused than during the making of Festival. The only regret on Festival of Death was the lack of guitar. For whatever reason, we buried it in the mix. The drums are louder than everything else. Though I think by far it's our best release, the mix has always been a thorn in our side. I would love to have Brian do the guitar over again so that we can actually hear how great the guitar playing is on that release. 
 
- In 1994, it was re-released by Wild Rags on CD, but already with a different cover, why? Who is the artist of the new cover? Is there any difference in those editions? 
- The cover for Festival of Death really didn't change. The first copies released by us were white/blue or green with the original artwork. When Wild Rags Records picked us up, they released it with the full color cover versus the black and white version. There are no differences with the song line up other than I believe the Wild Rags Records version includes one additional track from our 7" called "Post Nuclear Dream". I don’t remember the actual artists name, but he was a friend of Brians.

- With this release, did you notice any changes in the band's status? Did it bring you any kind of fame in the underground metal scene? And what did this release mean to you as for the band?
- I will say that "Festival of Death" did help establish us an underground metal band, but I would not go as far as to say any fame came of it. I handled most of the incoming mail and shipping of the merchandise and I will have to say that the mailbox had something coming in and going out every day at this point. It was a very important release for us and it is probably our most well liked and accepted CD.
 
- In 1993, you released your second album, "Pictures of Heaven". Why did you choose such a title? Is this album conceptual? What is the main message of the lyrics on it?
- It was not conceptual. I chose the title because I thought it was so powerful and would raise the eyebrows and curiosity of metal fans. The message across most of the CD was, if an afterlife exists, prove it to me. Use logic and reason to explain where we came from, why are we here, what happens to us when we die? Is there a God? Are we the result of evolution? This release caused quite a bit of heartburn. Some people thought we must be a christian band and wanted nothing to do with us. Then the Christians started to write to us and come to our shows! We actually didn't know what to tell people because we didn't want to turn anybody off.
 
- Regarding the music, how could you describe it? What are the main changes in compare with the previous album?
- Pictures of Heaven is a night a day difference from Festival Of Death. It was so polished, professionally recorded, much slower and the song writing and structure was different. This was to be our break out release, the CD that took us to another level. We felt like we had our "Reign In Blood" or "Master of Puppets" (Not that I am comparing Pictures Of Heaven to those two masterpieces.) Pictures of Heaven and 1993 brought us our most received success of Crucifer. This was our pinnacle moment and we would never get any bigger. This recording actually grabbed the attention of Metal Blade Records. However, nothing came of it.

- This album was re-released again by Wild Rags again with a little but different cover from the tape edition. Was it intended? Which one do you prefer?
- The first CD release had a smaller case with a clear back. The tape was black and white with a red logo. The cassettes were clear with a gold label. Later on, Wild Rags started packaging it with a normal size CD case. The completely different cover from Pictures of Heaven, the one that is red with the large eye on it, was for a remastered release with songs from Seperation as well. A small label contacted us about re-releasing it, so that was the cover idea for it. It was never officially re-released as the label went out of business. The original cover is the one with the tower on it and orange sky.
 
- Having already 2 albums released, did you tour a lot? Did you manage to play outside USA? Do you remember any special gigs?
- Regretfully we didn't really tour. We played quite a few local shows especially in Fredericksburg Va and our biggest gig was at the 1993 Milwalkee Metal Fest with Testament, Ice-T and Body Count, Flotsam and Jetsam and many others. This was at the Eagles Ballroom where the Metal Fest was held for many years.

- Was it difficult for you to play drumms and do vocals at the same time? At some point, did you want to choose to do only one thing or was it exactly what you liked? 
- The only thing that was difficult for me was playing that fast and singing would make me out of breath and the following day I would have massive headaches. Looking back as cool and unique as it was and probably helped set us apart, live we could have really used a front man. I think had we stayed together, we would have had to consider it.
 
- In 1996, "Sickly Divine" was released. But the information around this album is a bit confusing, as it was stated that this album wasn't official. Could you please clarify the whole situation? 
- Sickly Devine doesn't actually exist. It is a song that we released on "The World Dies" a collection of 6 new songs and several older songs. Sickly Devine was what we would have called our next release. We had six to eight songs written for it, but we disbanded before we completed the recordings. Six of the songs we hastley mixed and put on "The World Dies". Those songs could have been really good, but they needed a lot more work. Only one of the six I would consider worth listening to, the other five are terrible the way they are written and recorded. They weren't ready and I personally get embarrassed when I hear them.

- In 1999, the band spit-up. What was the reason for it?
- The band really broke up in 1994 when Brian left to attend school in Florida. That was a rough period as I felt that this was the time we needed to hire a manager, booking company and start touring. We could have obtained a fair degree of success had we stayed at it. We tried to hang on for dear life through 1997 when we had our final show at the Colonial Theatre in Fredericksburg Va. It was a somber reminder that when you don't put everything you have into it and you haven't really been together in three years, your following leaves as well. It was a very poor showing, we had changed our look and I started to actually try to sing. We had lost our way and our focus. It was time to end it.

- Are you still in touch with other band members? Did you consider any possibility for your reunion? 
- There will be no reunion. The best that would ever happen is that we would get together and write and record new music. But I don't think anyone really wants to do it and everyone is just too occupied with other responsibilities. We are all still friends and we text, talk and Facebook. Stevie and Brian still hang out and they both live close to one another.
 
- Thank you for this interview, Jeff. Would you like to add anything in the end?
- Yes, thank you for taking the time to reach out to me and show some love for Crucifer. I enjoy seeing how Crucifer, Festival Of Death and Pictures of Heaven have started to gain some type of cult status. I'm getting more e-mails, seeing more reviews and watching the prices go up on our CDs. People that listened to us years ago are looking for copies of our old releases and then there are the people that our hearing us for the first time. It's cool, it makes me feel like we left our little mark on metal back in the early 90's and people still have interest in it. Thank you so much for the interview Dima.