DECEASED - Interview with King Fowley by Dave Wolff - Music

What’s up. How are DECEASED and Fearless Undead Machines doing?
It’s doing good, we’re doing aright. We just came up here to play the show and just hang out, and we’re just doing these little off-weekend gigs right now and keeping busy. The album’s doing good; we still got a little bit of a buzz going on with it. We’d like to get out and play some more, but we’re kinda taking it as we go along, stuff like that. We’re writing new material at home and piecing it together. We’re also working on a double compilation CD coming out on Still Dead Productions in Poland. We’re still with Relapse but we’re doing this thing and we’re working on that little one-off thing in the studio right now. It’s gonna have a lot of old songs redone, you know, with better production and better playing. It’s also going to have a lot of covers; METAL CHURCH covers, HIRAX covers, EXCITER covers. Classic Heavy Metal, y'know?

Were you guys satisfied with the last show you played here at CBGB?
Yeah, I had a good time. It was kinda fucked up with how we were supposed to play after that again here with EXODUS. The fuckin' owner... or not the owner but the promoter Tyler told us to come up and play. I called him up the day of the show and he all of a sudden says we’re not playing, so we didn’t come up here. People then told me they showed up to see us play and he told everybody we didn’t show up or something, that we dogged him out, and we never knew we were supposed to be here. But that last time we played here was kick ass; the one where we took forever to here. When we finally got here, it was a good show. I thought it was cool; it was a short set but it was short and sweet; everybody got fuckin’ Heavy Metalled out, y’know? It was fun. I like this place... good sound.

Best sound system in all of New York.
Yeah, oh yeah.

Fearless Undead Machines is based on George Romero's Living Dead trilogy. How did you go about writing all the lyrics?
I’ve just been a fan of those movies for a long time, you know the Horror genre in general, and I’ve had the idea back to the demo days in '88 and '89, of Perfurdiation and Nuclear Exorcist. We wanted to get around to doing it one day and finally we did. And now that we’ve done it, I’m real happy that I got to do it one day and actually put it out. I just know the movies and wanted to do a little bit of fiction together with some non-fiction and mix real life and not real life and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Do you consider Fearless Undead Machines a Heavy Metal Opera?
Yeah, yeah, it’s like a Metal Opera, a concept type of thing, y’know. Each song takes it further and deeper and then you get a conclusion so there’s nothing left hanging with it, really. So it has a start and finish to it; there’s not like a "leave it hanging at the end where the killer pops his head out of the pillow" in there or anything.

Which is your favorite movie out of Romero's trilogy?
Mine? Night of the Living Dead. Night of the Living Dead is the darkest one, Day of the Dead is probably the most serious one and Dawn of the Dead is the most cartoonish one. I love them all for different reasons but Night of the Living Dead really was haunting, especially since I was the youngest when I saw that and I was at the age where it really fooled me. It’s just a great tale.

What happened between you and Jeremy Wagner from BROKEN HOPE, if you don’t mind my asking?
(Laughs) We just don’t get along; we didn’t get along for a long time. People asked me questions about bands and their name got brought up here and there. They were at a show we played and we were asked what we thought of them and I said I thought they sucked, y’know, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They kept hearing this and that and they asked me what I thought and I told them. Then Jeremy had a problem so we confronted each other and he wanted to beef it out or whatever. I told him to get out of my face and he wouldn’t so he got busted in the nose (Laughs), he got a broken nose and they fuckin’ canceled the tour and went home.

You’re generally cool with people, though, regardless of what happened.
I fuckin’ love everybody, man. I’m a fun guy; I’m not here to start no trouble with nobody. I just tell it like it is and people don’t want to hear it like it is sometimes, y’know? I say what I feel and people don’t have to agree with it at all. They may think I’m an idiot, an asshole, or both, or they may agree with what I say. But I’m saying what I feel. If more people spoke out loud what they felt, maybe we’d have a fuckin’ better world, y’know?

I agree with that. How is your current tour going?
It’s just kind of in and out, playing shows more one off, y’know, than continuously touring or anything like that. We’re trying to get over to Europe and do some shows, that’d be fuckin’ kick ass. We got a lot of mail and a lot of support over there. It’d be great. So it’s all just been an uphill struggle to continue playing shows and get a pinch better every night, y’know? That’s all we’re doing. We’re also working in some new material and playing some oldies that we haven’t played live in a while, stuff like that.

Where are your favorite places to play?
I love CBGB's, man. I mean, we’ve only done this fuckin’ place once and we would have done it the second one but New York’s always been fuckin’ great. We got a lot of friends up here. It’s a tight knit thing, y’know; you got a lot of friends that you can get together in one place at one time. Other places I love and have always loved? Of course the hometown’s been great because you get to play...

You mean your native Virginia?
Virginia, Maryland, D.C., it’s all a triangle type of thing. We do good there and stuff. We just want to play anywhere. Anywhere we play can be good or bad; it has its ups and downs. We also got a lot of support in North Carolina. It’s generally been really good.

In your opinion, is the underground scene better or worse off than it was ten years ago?
Um... it’s the same, really. For a while I thought it was better back then than it is now, because the bands were new, it was a lot more down to earth and people were starting out and just feeling their way around. Now it’s been around the circle once and it’s starting over again. And you see people come and go. That’s how it is. People are into it now man. These are hard times for the scene and the people who survive it are strong and they’re here to fuckin’ prove a point, y’know? So I’m here for the whole time, y’know; I’m here for the duration.

Which Old School bands are you into?
Old School as in typical or off the wall or both?

Both.
My all time favorites are classics like IRON MAIDEN and BLACK SABBATH, I love all those old bands, especially KISS and AC/DC as well. Then you got your more obscure ‘80’s Heavy Metal bands like ACID, WARLORD, CIRITH UNGOL, old MANOWAR, JAG PANZER, stuff like that. I love that stuff. I’m also into more Death-oriented stuff like AUTOPSY, early ENTOMBED and the old Thrash bands like SLAYER, SACRIFICE, SODOM, and VENOM.

How about AT WAR?
AT WAR, he’s bringing in the old AT WAR. AT WAR was good...

I hung out with those guys a couple of times when they came to New York. They were cool to hang out with.
Yeah, nice guys. Before they turned into the KUNG-FU DYKES. (Laughs)

The KUNG-FU DYKES? Who are they?
That’s AT WAR; when Paul Arnold did his new band, he did a Funk band...

I never even heard about that before until now.
They’re flipped out. I heard he’s still doing some Funk/Metal project (Laughs). And then, as for newer bands I’m into now, one of my favorite newer bands is THE GATHERING. I think they’re fuckin’ amazing; it’s weird. I’m just into whatever’s good.

Are you still in touch with Paul Arnold?
No, not at all. I haven’t talked to Paul Arnold in a long time. I haven’t been in touch with Paul Arnold for years.

I haven't heard anything about the guys from AT WAR since they broke up…
The fuckin' Eat Lead demo, that's all I know… Ordered to Kill…

Retaliatory Strike…
Retaliatory Strike, the EP. "Rapechase" is my favorite AT WAR song.

What is your opinion-if any-of the infighting between fans of Black Metal and Death Metal?
I think Black Metal has got a real fuckin’ problem; there’s too much image and not enough music for me. I call it the glam of the ‘90’s. You like it? That’s cool; if you like it, you like it. I don’t see much musicianship; it’s just that the style of the genre is not appealing to me at all. There’s not much melody in what it is, it seems like there’s not enough brutality and there’s just not enough clever musicianship for me as far as Black Metal goes. But then again, there’s a lot of Death Metal bands that jumped on it so they have no better room. I’m not knocking either side or praising either side. There’s some good bands in everything, y’know? I mean, Black Metal-wise, some of the bands that I dug and still do is... I love MASTER’S HAMMER, a great Black Metal band. Then you got your classics that aren’t even considered Black Metal or even the same style now, like VENOM and MERCYFUL FATE. You can put MERCYFUL FATE and DARK THRONE together and they’re both considered Black Metal, but from different eras or different times, whatever.

What do you think of the really aggressive Black Metal bands like IMMORTAL or MARDUK?
I give them a little credit for fuckin’ banging hard and fast and loud. But for the most part it just... I don’t know, it just seems with the bands like the same song every album over and over and over and over and over. They throw the keyboards in, it’s mixed all clean, the guitar sounds like an electric shaver, the drums sound like a water sprinkler and usually the vocals sound too "eeeee..."

If you look at it in a certain way, it’s really just a case of different people being into different forms of expression.
That’s cool, y’know. Hey, I’m not knocking nobody; if you like it you like it. I don’t go around wearing a shirt that says "Black Metal is gay" because to me the genre is fuckin’ dead, y’know? I think everything’s melted and it’s moving on. Whatever bands survive, maybe they’ll be the leaders for a while.

What ideas do you have for your next studio effort?
Well, as for the next album, the working title is Supernatural Addiction. It’s a ghost stories album. It’s gonna be a lot of old folklore and stuff. It’s got a lot of new songs. There’s one called "The Hanging Soldier" which is about literature written by Ambrose Bierce, who wrote it back in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s; it’s ultra-old. It’s a weird tune along the lines of the Jacob's Ladder theory, you know, to see what would happen if you went on living your life when you were really dead all along. I got one called "The Chilling Heartbeat" which is about The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. "Mrs. Allerdice" is based on a movie called Burnt Offerings about this lady who becomes old before her time and becomes just this lady who lives in this house and nobody ever sees her. It’s just gonna be ghost stories and folklore. It’s gonna be fast and it’s gonna be loud, it’s gonna be offensive, deathly. No Techno, no fuckin’ Alternative, no Grunge, none of that shit. No fuckin’ weird remixes. It’s gonna be in-your-face Death Metal From the Grave.

Who coined the phrase "Death Metal from the Grave?" Is that yours?
Yeah, that goes back for years. I just always thought "yeah, we’re Death Metal, we’re DECEASED, we’re from the grave, so hey, Death Metal From the Grave." (Laughs) Put two and three together and make five.

What does DECEASED plan for the future?
The compilation from Poland is called More Death Metal From the Grave; it’s a follow-up to the Death Metal From the Grave CD we did, as I said it’s a double CD. Then we’re gonna put out the next record. We’re also working on a live album that we’re gonna be putting out. We have no title for that yet, but we’re gonna be putting that out, eventually.

What songs are going to be on the live album?
Um, all kinds of classics and off-the-wall fuckin’ classic pieces.

Have DECEASED had to deal with censorship groups at all over the years?
Maybe Relapse has. I don't give a fuck; they can all eat my ass, man (Laughs). I don't support none of that.

What do you do outside of the band, when you're not playing?
Um, I just listen to music, play a lot of basketball, a lot of sports. I love to get out and just fuck off, stuff like that. I collect horror movies, porno movies…

Are you into sci-fi at all?
Oh, yeah, yeah, somewhat. Not as much as a lot of people. I'm not as big on a lot of the sci-fi that's popular. I'm not a Star Trek fan or whatever. I love the old Star Wars, though. I'm more towards the sci-fi/horror thing. Alien is cool. I'm not big on the X-Files or whatever, though. But I respect it.

Any final remarks?
Um, just thanks for the interview, man, and thanks for the support and just fuckin’ be yourselves. I keep saying this year in and year out with the final comments. I say keep being yourself, man. We need some people to grow up and just think for themselves. I appreciate it, man. Take care and send me a zine.

DECEASED c/o King Fowley 5953 North 10th. St. Arlington, VA 22205 USA
Fax Number (703) 632-1389

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Page Updated Thu Jul 22, 2004 8:40pm EDT