Scott Carlson on grindcore, Repulsion, Church of Misery

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, speed game I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, speed game I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say I'm a speed game, you gotta hear me say Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Over to the dark guitar solo guitar solo Standing her body The sacrificial night We send this spirit Born into the eldritch night Ancient world Forgotten Her life to pagan rites Now our hymns fill the air Our prayers without light Again Oh mercy We will remember night guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo That's my Christmas I've been sent My love holds us to thy face Pray for things you've got in life Born into the eldritch night guitar solo We've been sent by such a! Well we started off with the best band in the whole entire world for me, The Clash, White Riot. Oh rest in peace Joe Strummer man, Jesus. Joe Strummer, anniversary of his death, 13 years. Unbelievable. Then we heard Church of Misery, a song called Brother Bishop. Then we heard Lucifer, a song called Sabbath off Lucifer. Then after that we heard a band called off Rise Above Records, Blood Ceremony, Eldritch Dark. And then we ended with a band some people might know. I mean they're pretty good. They're pretty good. I think the men to my left will like them. A band called Repulsion and a song called Acid Bath off their fucking iconic record Horrified. 1984. 1984, fuck I can't believe it's that bad. 86 actually, 1986. In 1984 I got a demo tape from a band from Flint, Michigan. And it wasn't Repulsion at that time, I think it was Genocide. Genocide, yeah. And before the term Grindcore. Before the labeling of that type of music. This is way before anything was even recognized as that. I think in Los Angeles Terrorizer was somewhat doing that but it was a little after the fact. Let me introduce my guest here, the innovative and extreme Scott Carlson. How you doing there Scott? Thank you for being here. I'm staying alive Jimmy. Staying alive. Staying alive. You're a very sexy man by the way. Thank you. 1980. I'm surrounded by sexy men so it's good that I can hold my own. By the way what moisturizer do you wear because you look fucking amazing. It's called Grease. One of the things that's interesting for me, let's lower that bed music. Talk about fisting. One of the things that's very interesting for me, by the way hey happy, yesterday was happy national fisting day. Did you know that? No. What is it with this holiday? I mean you know it's revolutionary. I'm glad I got mine in. 1984. One of the things that's interesting for me, Flint, Michigan. When you think of Michigan, when you think of Flint, Michigan, you think of bands coming from that whole era like what Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Iggy, right? Michigan, Detroit. Down the road in Detroit. In Flint, we have the We actually had Grand Funk Railroad who are from the city of Flint. When you started playing music, what were your main inspirations at that time? When I started playing music or when I started making bands like Repulsion and Genocide? Well let's start with both. What were you listening to at that time? Because I mean 1984, that was a pivotal year for anyone in the underground scene. Okay in 84, I was 18 years old. I was listening to a lot of hardcore. And by that point, I guess Metallica had a couple records out. Slayer had a couple records out. I was a first day buyer on Kill Em All and things like that. I was into trading demos and I bought a lot of demos from fanzines. Remember Metal Mania? Oh yeah, of course. From up in the Bay Area. I used to send away, you know, three bucks for I think it was $3. Yeah. And he would fill up a 90 minute cassette or something. Did he give you the shitty Maxwells or did he give you a good TDK? I think they were TDK, the cheap ones though. The ones that like a three for a dollar TDKs. They weren't good tapes. But what was important was the music that he put on them. Which was Merciful Fate live soundboard recordings and Metallica radio appearances from San Francisco. And all of Metallica's demos and Megadeth demos. And Exodus. And Exodus live gigs from down the road, you know. And that stuff was amazing to hear. And, you know, it made you feel cool because you were the only guy in the neighborhood that had it. Because everybody else was just going to the record shop and buying, you know, combat records and Megaforce. And that seemed underground. And then when the tape trading thing came, you know, when that came into the scene and started exploding with all the fanzines that sprang up. You remember Brian Slagle's fanzine called The New Heavy Metal Review. Oh, wow. You're really going back. You know, the magazine where I first heard of Cryptic Slaughter, Brain Damage zine and Guillotine magazine from Florida. And Death and Destruction. All these fanzines. That sort of just got the ball rolling. And I think Metal Mania and Kick-Ass Monthly from New York as well have to be given early credit. Sledgehammer Press from Michigan. These were some of the earliest fanzines. And they covered all this underground music that wasn't on record. It was only on tape. Right. And that just sort of, you know, I was obsessed with that. It was like any time I came home from school and there was a package hanging out of the mailbox, it was like Christmas Day. Wasn't that a refreshing and very exciting era at that time? Because everything was not only so underground, but there was this whole connected network of underground music. There was this whole network of underground fans that were really pre-internet. You had to work at it. Now you just go online and, you know, it's easy. I mean, I don't mean to sound like a crotchety old dude. I do it all the time. Feel free, please. Back in the day. But, you know, it's like, it's true. Nowadays, you don't have to put any effort into finding information about, like, if you tell me about a band. Go on YouTube. I can find their whole discography by the time I get home. Yeah. Back then, it was like, you know, you'd hear about a band. Yeah. And it was like, you know, this spoke about in hushed tones. And you had to find somebody who had the demo. And then you found them. And, like, you waited two weeks for the demo to come in the mail. And your pulse started racing as you tore it out of the envelope. And that sort of thing is gone. And also, you know, just music in general. Back at that time in 84, 83, probably from, like, 82 or 80. Start with the new wave of British heavy metal. Going up until thrash metal started to get stale. Every time you went to the record shop and bought something or got a new demo in the mail, the band could be, there was the potential there to just change the fucking world. Yeah. Change everything. Absolutely. You're not going to hear a band today, like a heavy metal band. There's still great heavy metal bands. Don't get me wrong. But you're not going to hear a band that's going to blow your fucking mind and change the world. You're not going to hear another band. You're not going to hear another Metallica or Slayer or Voivod or Hellhammer. Iron Maiden's first album. Def Leppard's first album. You know, Motorhead. Yeah, we could go on and on. All those bands. Like, every week there was a new record coming out that just completely leveled everything that came before it. And changed the way music was going to be made going forward. And I don't think that you hear that in, at least not in heavy metal. In general, I don't think people's dedication to music, at least listeners. I know there's musicians that are still very dedicated to music. But the listeners are not engaged the way they were in order for a record to just completely take over the world. Now let me ask you this. How do you feel when they mention you and Repulsion being part of that innovative, such a pivotal and inspirational band event? A band of that era that created what is now this whole grindcore scene. How does that make you feel? I'm just proud of it. At this point, the shock of, you know, the longevity is worn off. There was a time when I just couldn't believe it. You know, Matt and I would sit there and go, I can't believe people are still asking us to play gigs. I think it's gotten to the point now where we don't take it for granted. But it's like, it's just become part of our lives. Where as long as we want to play Repulsion gigs, it seems like if we're capable of doing it, we should be able to just keep going playing gigs. And we're both doing other things with music. But we always have fun when we get up. When we get up to do the Repulsion thing, it's like, it's always a blast. And it's always kind of the same in the sense that like, we always keep it real light and fun. And we always have a good time. We always have a good time with it. The shows rarely go, every once in a while you have a bad gig. But it's hard to have a bad gig when the audience is so fired up, you know. Something about that music just really brings out the goofball animal in people, you know. And it's not in a negative way. People get, we have people heckling us, like yelling jokes. It's all in good fun. But it's like, our audience is really goofy, which is cool because we're goofy motherfuckers. So we like that. We like that. Does it blow your mind though that the music has remained timeless? Yeah. And still inspirational till this day? Yeah. Because who would have thought that that type of music would have the kind of legs that it does? Like, you know, Scott and those guys, Cryptic Slaughter, they were there as well. There were these bands, Hyrax is still around. Oh, don't get me started with Caden. You'll call in right now. These bands that are, you know. Yeah. These bands that are, you would have thought would have been long forgotten by now. Not that they weren't good bands, but, you know, it's a different level from Slayer and Metallica. As far as popularity and professionalism, you know. And the, also, you know, part of it is that those bands had enough success where, you know, they became a business. And it just keeps growing where bands like Cryptic Slaughter and Repulsion never really got to that level. So, you never, we never created a business out of it. You know, it just became like a hobby. And it is crazy that people still are influenced by that music or there's young people still picking it up. But, you know, I think we have to thank the internet for that because it's much harder for, or it's more difficult for things to fall through the cracks. You know, like when stuff was on record, if it went out of print, you would never see it again. Yeah, it was out of print. Like the New York Dolls, for instance. I remember reading an interview with Kiss where Gene Simmons, this is probably in like 77 or 78 when I was a big Kiss fan. And Gene Simmons was talking about how much the Dolls influenced them. It took me five years to find a New York Dolls album. I walked into a record store one day and I saw it. And I bought it. And in fact, I was not even into Kiss anymore. It was like, you know, probably in like 83 or 84, they reissued it on vinyl. And I was working in a record store. I was working in a coffee shop in a mall. And I walked into the record store and I saw the Dolls album. And I was like, I have to have this. I've always wanted to hear this. Gene Simmons liked it. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, that's the kind of stuff, you know, bands were, the Dolls were basically forgotten at that time. And now they're legendary, you know, and it's because people can find out about stuff and read about stuff and find out how important those bands were at the time. And, you know, when you listen to it, you understand why. You know, there's a reason why when you listen to something like Repulsion or Cryptic Slaughter or the New York Dolls or the Stooges or, you know, the MC5, you hear these bands and you go, you compare it to everything else that was around at the time. And you go, wow, yeah, these bands were. Revolutionary. They were cutting edge and they were definitely doing shit in a much wilder fashion than most people were. One of the things that I've always enjoyed about your band and then when I had the pleasure of meeting you is the fact that you are an avid music lover. Meaning that I see you quite often at different level type of shows. From underground to quote unquote mainstream metal shows. Another thing is the fact that you're very humble. Which I think a lot of it has to do too with the reason why your legacy in the bands has such an immense afterlife, so to speak. You've also been very active still. Talk to me about Church of Misery and Rise Above Records. Let's start with Rise Above Records. What's going on with that? Are you affiliated with this label? I am. How come I don't get no free shit? Let's start with that. Because you don't ask. We can work that out. We'll have to talk off the air about that. We'll go out, we'll do lunch. How's that? We'll do lunch, Jimmy. We'll do the alley. Now you're official. You happy now? I'm very happy. I became affiliated with the label when, you know, I have a long history with. And a friendship with Lee Dorian that goes back to the early 90s when Cathedral first started touring America. Incredible band. And, you know, Lee was in Napalm Death. So that we were sort of kindred spirits in a way. We both sort of drifted away from really fast music. And when I heard Cathedral, I was completely just blown away. Again, you know, we're talking about the era when there were still bands around that could, that were game changers. Yeah. Napalm Death, you know, I cut it off a little early. I said at the tail end of Thrash, but let's face it. Napalm Death, Carcass, these bands changed the game as well in the early 90s. That was still happening. All inspired by Raposa. Entombed. There were Godflesh, you know, look what they did for like, you know, industrial type of heavy music. You know, they took it to another level. And so I heard Cathedral and I was just like, this is the fucking greatest band. On the planet right now. I was blown away. They were my favorite band. Favorite new band. And when they toured, I couldn't wait to see them. I went to the show, met them. We ended up, you know, they were on tour with Napalm, Carcass, and Brutal Truth. So I knew all those guys. The only band on that tour that I had never met before were the guys in Cathedral. So that night we, I was living in Chicago at the time. We all went out and hung out at a disco club in Chicago. And I think Matt Olivo was in town at the time. Some of my friends from Michigan were out that weekend. And we all just went out and had a fucking blast. Had a great time hanging out with Lee and Gaz. And shortly after that, they were looking for a bass player. After they had recorded their second album, they were looking for a bass player. And a good friend of mine from Detroit was like bugging me to audition. And I finally picked up the phone and called the Columbia Records. And they hadn't filled the spot yet. Wow, I forgot. I forgot about that. Columbia Records. That's right. That whole earache. The failed earache Columbia experiment. That's when Columbia Records invested a lot of money in the earache, man. Yeah, I think they had the idea that earache was going to be the next sub pop or something. They were going to be able to sign up all those bands and make millions of dollars off of them. So I ended up in Cathedral. And I played with them for a few years. I was still living in Chicago. Lee was still living in Coventry at the time. So when we got dropped by Columbia, I had to make a choice to either move to Coventry, England or stay in Chicago. And no offense to anybody from Coventry that's listening out there, but Chicago just seemed like a better option at the time. And I was really bummed because I loved playing in Cathedral. But it just really wasn't feasible at that time for me to stay in the band. I would have been like completely flipping my life upside down to stay with the band at that point. So I, you know, reluctantly left the band and, you know, kept in touch and stayed friends with Lee and Gaz over the years. The lineup, you know, flipped here and there. And a few years ago when they were getting ready to do their farewell, you know, they announced that they were going to retire Cathedral. And they asked me to come back. Wow. So I, you know, dropped what I was doing. Rejoined Cathedral. Toured the world with them. Made a record and was able to, you know, get closure on that part of my life that I was really, you know, unfortunate that I had to leave it in the first place. So it was amazing. It was a gift, you know, that those guys gave me an opportunity to come back into the band. I was, you know, moved beyond words to rejoin Cathedral. I absolutely adore that band. And I adore the guys in the band. Yeah. And so after the band was done, you know, Lee and I talk all the time. So he was looking for a new way of doing business in America. And previously the label was distributed by Metal Blade. And they did a good job, but Lee just wanted to kind of have a little bit more hands-on control over how things were marketed and delivered in the States. So I sort of came in to just, I don't do a whole lot, but I kind of help. Just kind of guide things in the right direction in America. I found a couple bands here in California that we've signed and things like that. So it may get bigger. It all depends, you know. I haven't left my day job yet, but. Are you enjoying, though, the fact that you've, for the last 30-something years, you've been so involved in music? Are you enjoying this aspect of your life now with Rise of the Bumblebee? With Rise Above Records as far as like the business element of it? Yeah, absolutely. Because I love, you know, hearing bands and helping them out. You know, there's a band that we just signed from Fresno. It's kind of like tape trading again, right? It's kind of like rediscovering. The excitement of rediscovering new music, new artists, and exposing it to the masses. Absolutely. So, you know, finding bands and then just helping them, like, you know, not make bad decisions in the early days when they're just trying to figure out how to get their stuff out there. And how to, you know, how to make that first move. Not that I've, you know, not that anybody really has a formula for that, for success. Because, you know, if we could do that, we'd all be millionaires. But, you know, it's just kind of helping out. Some bands don't need it. And some bands do look for guidance. And that's fun. Church of Misery. Fantastic band out of Japan. Incredible band. I think they're highly underrated. Very influential here in the United States as well. Talk to me about your relationship with Church of Misery and what's going on with that band. How are you affiliated with that? They're on Rise Above Records. So that's number one. When they went to, when they finished the tour cycle and everything for the last album, they, everybody sort of left. And Tatsu was left once again being the only member. When you say left, you mean they just bailed? Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure if they all left at once or if, you know, it was just one at a time. Does it have something to do with radiation poisoning or anything like that that's going on? Maybe Tatsu's just too heavy to handle. I think that sounds better. Yeah. I'm not sure why they all left, but it did open the door for some fresh blood. And this new album just so happens to have a bunch of old middle-aged white guys in the band. So it's a little bit different for Church of Misery, this album. You've got myself. You've got David Sulkin, the guitar player from Blood Farmers and also works with Grindhouse Releasing, the amazing Blu-ray DVD company that also distributes films. Wow. And Eric Little from Earth Ride, the drummer. You know, another American guy from another great band. So it's all great musicians. And then Tatsu wrote all the songs. And I got to say, this is probably one of the riffiest, grooviest Church of Misery albums. It's one of the grooviest Church of Misery records ever, which is great for us because we also had great players on it. You know, Eric's an amazing drummer and David Sulkin is just a fucking, you know, completely out there amazing guitar player. Now you're very gracious enough to bring us a new track. Talk to us about this track. We're going to play it right now, but tell us a little bit about that. The song is called Confessions of an Embittered Soul. And that's the title of a book about the woman that the song is based on. And that's the title of a book about the woman that the song is based on. And that's the title of a book about the woman that the song is based on. And her name escapes me at the moment. And her name escapes me at the moment. It's about a woman who went to see a fortune teller. These are true stories. All of the Church of Misery songs, if you don't know, are about serial killers. Right. So this one happens to be about a woman who, I should have written her name down so I could remember. But it's been a while since I did this research for the record. But anyway, she went to see a fortune teller. But anyway, she went to see a fortune teller. But anyway, she went to see a fortune teller. And she was told that her children were going to die. And she was told that her children were going to die. So she decided to make an offering. Wow. And she killed three of her friends that were neighbors. She invited them over. She was also a card reader herself. So she invited people over to get their fortunes told. And then she killed them and made them into soap and tea cakes. A perfect Church of Misery song. Yes. Why don't we listen to this track? This is off the Decibel Flexi? Yeah, this version we're going to hear right now is the mix from the Decibel Flexi series. Which if you buy the new issue, if you can get a subscription issue of it, it comes with this Flexi disc. And a different mix of this song will be on the album that comes out in March, which is called And Then There Were None. All right, Chester, take it away. It'll be fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh guitar solo Hurt from the gypsy Dark fortune told Your children all will die Before their own Paranoia mother Must descend their lives Protect the babies Through human sacrifice Now step inside And drink the wine My confession guitar solo You come seeking fortune Within these tarot cards Now take my sage advice You won't get far, darling My eldest son Said to die at war Black tasks upon these lands Even the storm You put in a trance I swing down the axe My confession guitar solo! An unref fresh fresh Evil plan With bad fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh guitar solo I fought with my rusty axe To boil down, skim off the past A sainted child, I paid the price Consumed the blood of sacrifice Guitar solo Guitar solo Rage of the overdose Mountain top Black Life is free I'm huge Not the dead Guitar solo Running from inside out Black dirt and grays Hail the rage of youth Blood's being gained Guitar solo Sending forth the radiance Of a soul's cry Guitar solo How could you leave me blind? Guitar solo In this embrace of black midnight Playing for the toxic radiance Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo Guitar solo We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. So we were at a curtain. It was at the knitting factory. The curtain was down, and we were, like, tuning up. And people started chanting, repulsion, repulsion, repulsion. And Matt and I are looking at each other like, what the fuck is going on? This is weird, you know? Yeah, they're chanting for you. We had never played a show like that ever. And the curtain went up, and the place went completely insane. The whole place. I mean, I just remember it looked like a human popcorn machine or something. The whole place was, like, people were just flying through the air through the entire show. And we had the time of our lives. Probably one of the best shows we've ever played. And the whole time, we were just completely stunned. I don't even know how we managed to make it through the set. We were so completely blown away. So playing in L.A. is very special. We're going to probably keep playing in L.A. down to any town. We're not going to play anywhere. All the time. Because, I mean, let's face it. We have one album. So we're not going to come around every three months and play that set for you. So if we can get out there and play a show once in a while in different towns where there's a lot of people that want to see the band, it's always great. You know, like later on in the year, we're going to London and playing in Manchester. We're playing at Roadburn this year, which is going to be really exciting. But the show in L.A. is especially, you know, very special just because it is our hometown. We haven't played here in a while. And also 2016 is the 30th anniversary of Horrified. So we'll be playing that album in its entirety. That's incredible. 30 years. Yeah, yeah. We recorded it in 1986. It didn't get released on vinyl until 89. But we recorded it in June of 86. So we're talking 30 years since that recording was done. In January of 1986, we did our first proper demo, which was the Slaughter of the Innocent demo, which featured a lot of the songs from. Well, it's actually wasn't really called Slaughter of the Innocent. That was the first or actually what the Stench of Burning Death is what people call it, I think. But it was actually for us, it was called like the WFBE demo. Because that's where we recorded it at this radio station in Flint. It was a public radio station called WFBE. And our friend Kenny Roberts was kind enough to take us into the studio and record us for the first time with microphones and tape. And, you know, in a studio. So that was the first time we'd ever done anything like that. We laid that whole tape down live on two track. And, you know, that was really what got the ball rolling for us. We'd had a couple like rehearsal demos circulating out there. But that was the first studio recording. That was the one that drew the attention of Jeff Walker and Shane Embry and Lee Dorian and all these people that went on to, you know, kind of take little bits and pieces of it and incorporate it into their own bands and become worldwide legends. Yeah. And I think that's what we're all about. And I think that's what we're all about. 30 years. How is it when you think, when you were back in Flint, Michigan, starting out and to think where you're at now and the worldwide success as far as real success? Obviously, you know, it'd be nice if you had the dough, too. But the success of that music where it's so timeless and so inspirational, where there's somebody around the world. Listening to that and picking up a guitar and writing their own tunes. That's got to be rewarding in itself, no? Yeah, it is. I mean, what can you say about that? It's kind of just leaves you speechless, really, in a lot of ways. But it's cool. Yeah. It's cool. It's kind of interesting that that all came off of one record, you know. In a lot of ways, that may be the reason why it is that way. You know, I think that if Repulsion would have stayed together. I don't think that we would have. We would have pursued that fast style for forever. So maybe it's better that we broke up when we did. I mean, I know that Matt and I, the intentions were never to, like, be that fast. There was a time when we were pushing that. That was the agenda at one point, just to be really extreme. But that sort of was born out of an accident. It would be interesting to hear what would have happened if we just stayed together. But I think it would have changed. You know, we would have. We would have evolved into something else. We were definitely restless and crazy kids. So I can't imagine we would have stuck with one sound forever. You think there would have been a Turbo Lover type of transition in there for you? I think that's where we were headed. Yeah, you know, definitely. Turbo Pulsion. Yeah. Definitely, you know, a lot of puffy plastic jackets and short slicked back hair and dangly earrings would have been in our future. But seriously, I don't think we would have stayed that way. I think we would have stayed that way. But so it's cool that we that for repulsion sake, it's cool that we stopped where we did because now this it's just kind of frozen in time. Right. You know, and because of that, a kid can go get a repulsion tattoo. He doesn't have to worry that like the band's going to sell out, you know, like he went out and got a big Celtic frost logo on his arm and then cold late came out. Two weeks later. How do you feel when you see these kids with repulsion tattoos? Because there's there's a lot. There's a lot of them out there. It fucking blows my mind how many there are. I guess, you know, the first time I saw one was still back in the 80s, I think, or like the early early 90s. And the guy was from Russia. And he sent me. Oh, wow. He sent me a letter or maybe he sent the letter to Aaron, the guitar player in Repulsion. But I just remember we got the letter. It was probably around the time that Horrified was released on vinyl. And this guy had a coffin in his bedroom and he slept in it in the coffin and he had a repulsion tattoo. And he sent us photos of him laying. And the coffin with the repulsion tattoo. And the guy was from Russia. So that was the first time I ever saw a guy with a repulsion tattoo. And it was mind blowing. That was probably like. Let me tell you, I had the I was fortunate. And I know it's hard to believe, but I was fortunate enough to to have a bodily fluid exchange with a very young heavy metal young lady under 30 who had a repulsion tattoo on what they referred to as a tramp stamp. Wow. And let me tell you. Scott, it was very hard to concentrate. I see that fucking logo on her body. But did you match your one eye up with that other one eye with the one eye zombie? Did you give her an acid bath? Let's just put it this way. I had to focus on other regions of the anatomy to finish. Yeah, for me, it's not exactly the sexiest drawing. He has a new love for repulsion. Let's just say that. 30 years. Just placed an ashtray. Well, I could only imagine what it was like, what it must look like now. 30 years have gone by. January 9th. You're going to be playing the whole album in its entirety. That's right. All 29 minutes of it in its entirety. How do you feel when you're playing those tunes? Do you do you get like a resurgence of excitement? Yeah. I mean, it's just exciting reaction. Not any. I don't really trip out on the reaction. I like I said that time we played at the. Knitting factory. We were tripping out. Like I said, I'm surprised we made it through the show because we were kind of like stunned. But after that, it seems like all of our shows have been like that. So like, you know, people just have a really strong, positive reaction to the music and we feed off of that and we have fun. You'll see Matt and I smiling. You know, we're not like up there, like sneering at the. If I'm sneering, I'm sort of being a facetious. You know, it's like I'm having a blast the whole time and it doesn't take any effort. That's the weird thing. Like people go, how do you do that? How do you still play that music after all these years? And it's like it's just comes natural. It's fun, right? Yeah, it comes natural. There's no pressure. Yeah. You go to the gig and you're hanging out. You know, it's time to play. You go up, strap your guitar on, plug it in, turn on the fuzz pedal. People start screaming and it's just fucking on. It's like the old days. Exactly. It's better than the old days because nobody came to see us back in the old days. The last time I saw you guys was at the first Grand Corps Fest. Oh, yeah. And you guys were smiling at each other while you're playing. But there were people flying fucking everywhere, singing the songs, huge pit. And it I was there with Jimmy and it to me, I remember saying to him, like, it felt like an old show from the 80s. But that was a good one. There was no, you know, barriers or anything around the stage. Yeah. It's always good. That kind of stuff just, you know, L.A. in particular is one of the more, you know, stronger audiences for us. But it happens when we play in London. Everywhere we play pretty much these days. I think the reason why. These kids go fucking bananas. I think the reason why you have this reaction and why it's always so productive and healthy and positive is because you're not going up there as a quote unquote performer. You're not on tour. You're not on tour where you have the whole grueling touring aspect, the scheduling, the business side of it. You're going up there with your friends playing to a group of friends from different generations. Yeah, exactly. Who all love the music. You love being up there. It's an interaction going on. And hey, at the end of the night, if we want to do it again, we'll do it again. If not, so be it. And there's no pressure. Have you ever thought about writing new Repulsion material or have you been approached or coached or? You know, Matt and I have gone back and forth about this subject. And I think he finally he wanted to do it at one point. I think he just gave up on me because I've always been just sort of down on the idea for the most part. But he writes, you know, grindcore. He's very capable of writing stuff like that. He still writes. I think he's going to come up with some grindcore music in the future. Very near future. I don't know where he's at with that. But I do know that he's recorded some grindcore stuff. And, you know, he's played me demos. And it's great. You're going to love the stuff that he's working on. But for me, there's something about Repulsion that is like more than music. It's a time and a place. And it's this little youthful thing that I had this spark in me. And I'm like, I'm going to do it. It'll fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh when I'm writing, it'll pop out like a grindcore riff and I'll record it. And I've got some like, you know, three quarter finished, two minute grindcore type songs. And who knows, maybe I'll record them someday. But the idea of like putting them out under the name Repulsion seems unfair to the Repulsion name. Yeah, you want to protect that legacy. Just because, you know, people's expectations are so crazy and there's old fans, there's new fans. You could argue both sides of it. You could say, who gives a fuck what people think? Just make something. On the other side of the coin, there's the like, well, you know, it is what it is. It's kind of like perfect the way it is right now. We can go back and visit it and it's always the same and it always gets the same. Yeah, yeah. And like I said, all those kids out there that have Repulsion tattoos, they have nothing to worry about. January 9th at the Regent, here in downtown Los Angeles. Just listen to this bill. Municipal Waste, legendary Repulsion. Terrorizer, another fantastic band, head of their time. That's amazing live, Oscar Garcia. Ghoul, Grave Hill, Night Demon, and a bunch of other bands that are going to be on the end of the card there. This is a great event. Make sure you get your tickets for this. This will sell out. This is not only an amazing show to witness, but also to witness Repulsion, doing what they do best live. If you listen to the album, you know what I'm talking about. But that energy live is something that you can never, ever replicate except on stage. So make sure you check that out. Real quick, Church of Misery. Talk to me about their record. Do you sing on that whole album? I sing on the whole album. I wrote all the lyrics. It was, you know, something that Tatu and Lee came to me and said, hey, you know, would you be interested in trying this? And I jumped at the opportunity. I love Church of Misery. And I'd never sang on a slow, doomy record before. So I was like, yeah, fuck it. Let me try this. And then I realized, wait a minute, I have to write a bunch of songs about serial killers. So I had to go back and do a bunch of research. And I learned a lot. And I found my creative juices just started. You know, at first, it took me a little while to find the right gear to write lyrics like that. And then... Once I hit it, it was like, boom. I wrote all the lyrics in a couple of weeks. So it happened really fast once I got to that point. Do you think you'll tour with Church of Misery? I have no idea what's going to happen with the Church of Misery thing. It's kind of up in the air right now. I would love to see Tatu have a Japanese band, but, you know, who knows? I'm sure that... I'm not sure if Eric and David are into touring either. I really don't know. You know, because, you know, Tatu's in Japan and the other two guys are on the East Coast, we haven't ever, like, had a group discussion about the future of the band. And I'm not sure what Tatu's plans are with it. So we'll just have to wait and see. When is this album coming out again? Comes out in March. Yeah. On Rise Above. Rise Above Records. Yeah, it's called And Then There Were None. And I'm really proud of it. I think it's going to be great. The show your scars thing, I'd like to mention that. Tickets, definitely get your tickets in advance. You know, just type in... Show your scars fest. I didn't... I'm not prepared to tell you the website right now, but it's really easy to find. If you're on Facebook, it's all over Facebook. Show your scars fest. I believe the tickets are sold through TicketWeb or AXS, one of those, through whatever, however you go to the Regent Theater website and you'll find the ticket link. And it's only 25 bucks for a fest full of amazing bands. Wow, with all those bands? That's a great deal right there. Yeah. It's a really good deal. And the tickets are... It's selling really well. So, you know, I suggest people, you know, grab the tickets. Makes a great Christmas gift. And a Hanukkah gift. All right. Let's listen to some music and then we'll come back and say farewell. Chester, why don't you start us off with some repulsion there? Uh, you're... fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh fresh Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I give you all that I can You will never run That's alright I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run I'm on the run