SUMMON - Interview with Xaphan by Dave Wolff - Music - http://maxpages.com/aeazine/SUMMON

What is the lineup and their positions?
Xaphan on guitars, vocals; that’s me, Ahkharu on lead and rhythm guitars, Ambusius on drums, and Necromodeus on bass and backing vocals.

What’s the story behind SUMMON evolving from MASOCHIST?
Well, me and Necro actually started about ‘91/’92. It didn’t really go anywhere; we were kind of more of a basement band trying to get going and it never happened. And then after that, he joined MASOCHIST and I joined a local band called LUCIFER’S HAMMER, and eventually it all worked out where we all got back together as MASOCHIST. Basically, we ran into problems with the originator of the band, Tchort. He was getting really fucked up on drugs, and just it was a bad scene, man. He would ditch out of practice... Eventually he just took off; he got into run-ins with drug dealers and shit, it was a bad scene, y’know?

So your last show as MASOCHIST was at the Wetlands?
Yeah, it was at the Wetlands. We played with ANAL CUNT, MORTICIAN... it was so long ago, FALLEN CHRIST. It was a pretty good show.

What made you decide to change the band’s name to SUMMON?
Well, we didn’t want to feel like we owed Tchort anything, y’know, since he had originally started the band. For the most part, he wrote the majority of the music, too. As I said, we didn’t want to owe anybody anything; we just wanted to start fresh and just to prove that we didn’t need him... more than anything, that we could carry on regardless of what happens.

How is Dark Descent of Fallen Souls doing?
That actually sold out. It did pretty good, you know, it got a good response in the underground and whatnot.

Are you on the road supporting it?
We never toured; we all have jobs, obviously, and we don’t have time to set up tours or nothing like that. We’re just trying to do shows here and there, wherever we can, hook up with other bands, promoters and whatnot.

Are you friends with a lot of New York bands?
Um, here and there; we know MORTICIAN and those guys. ABAZAGORATH are really good friends of ours, from the Jersey area.

What’s the inspiration for your lyrics?
It’s anything from a wide range of very personal experiences, interpretations of stuff that happens in my life or our lives. Anything from that to occult to just random babblings... poetic ramblings that just tie together depending on how the song forms. It’s usually always the music first and from there the lyrics are formed.

Do you have to deal much with religious nuts where you’re from?
(Laughs) Not really. The area we’re from is really college town, so it’s like... they preach so much about freedom of religion and all their shit, but when you bring something in there and it’s like us where we’re anti-religion and whatnot, it’s just... they freak out and totally don’t even support it and they’re supposed to be, y’know, full on for freedom of religion, freedom of speech and everything, but, when it comes to something that they don’t like, they make an exception.

When they don’t understand something.
Yeah, exactly. As far as playing in our hometown, we basically do a show or two and then we’re booted out again. (Laughs)

Do you have a big following in your hometown?
Yeah, yeah, we have a pretty good following. It’s really more of a younger crowd; we’re all like about 22-23 and whatnot and the crowd is a little younger than that, y’know, but it’s all good, it’s gotta start somewhere.

What bands are you into?
Old school stuff, y’know; BATHORY, VENOM, HELLHAMMER, a lot of the newer stuff, MAYHEM, IMPALED NAZARENE, EMPEROR... I’m really into the Norwegian scene.

What’s your opinion of the infighting and basic stupidity between Black and Death Metallers in the scene? Is it hurting the scene in your opinion? Do you think the underground is better off if fans of Black and Death Metal would stop fighting among themselves over whose music is "better?"
Yeah; it all started in the same place, really. If you look at it, y’know, there’s so much separation that it’s kind of how the Norwegian thing came along; all these church burnings were happening and it kind of blurred the focus on what was really important: the music. And now it’s all "what did you do to be so evil," you know what I mean, and "what makes you so evil," "how many churches have you burned" and "how many people did you kill." I just think it’s dumb that you have to stay in jail for a few months just to prove that you’re an evil band or whatever. In a way it is hurting the scene, you know, because you got the people who say "we’re into this group, we’re not gonna support nothing on this..." If everything was pulled together, it could be a lot stronger, obviously, because... it’s just pathetic. Y’know, and it’s all about playing music and having fun, really. Metal politics, I try not to think about them too much.

How do you guys choose your stage names?
Just reading from books; mythology and whatnot, y’know, and all of them have meaning. Ahkharu is a term for "vampire," Ambusius is a demon of chaos, disturbing chaos, Necromodeus is basically a demon; that was made up actually. The rest of them we found from books. Xaphan means demon from the fires of hell. Just looking through books and getting ideas, what appeals to you.

Tell us of the lyrical content in some of your songs.
It’s hard to say; it’s just... we’re not really Satanists, I guess, we’re kind of more of a Luciferian thought where you’re your own god. It kind of embellishes off of that, y’know, stems off of that, from stuff that happens to me and how I interpret it and translate it to the audience. It kind of all revolves all around that, being your own ruler and taking control of your life, being responsible for what you do.

Are you working on a new full-length now?
Yeah... it’s actually done recording. We’re gonna put it out ourselves. It’s called "Realm of No Return." It’s got six new songs on it. We’re gonna redo do a song from the demo on it. The cover’s pretty much done, the music’s recorded and mixed; it’s just not a CD yet.

Do you have high hopes for it?
I think it’s a lot better than the last one. The last one was a one-sided guitar project, where it was just guitars played straight through, whereas this one has two guitars corresponding with each other, playing different octaves, giving it more depth, y’know, more feeling. It’s really cool.

What made you decide to do a cover of MAYHEM’s "Deathcrush" on your last album?
At the time we were on label and they wanted as many songs as they could get, and we just kinda recorded it as a warm-up song, and they said "throw it on there." We’re re-releasing it ourselves and we’re not putting it on there. It’s obviously a band we’re into, y’know, that we love, and it’s just something that we’ve always played live, just goofing around, having fun. It just kind of ended up on the album, on the first pressing. Like I said, we’re gonna re-release it, drop a song here and there. We’re eventually gonna put the demo on CD as well. It should be pretty cool.

What happens at a SUMMON show?
Fire breathing, corpsepaint, spikes, a lot of chaos, a lot of mayhem. We like to really try to get the crowd riled up, get ‘em going crazy. A lot of times, though, being a new band and somewhat unheard of, you got people just standing there with their mouths open not knowing what to think, know what I mean? But it takes time, y’know. It eventually’ll pay off.

What do you listen to besides extreme Metal?
I have a wide range of music that I listen to. I listen to anything from Classic Rock to Black Metal to... it’s just a wide range. Anything with Classical compositions... whatever the mood calls for. I don’t live my life just totally listening to Black Metal, and that’s all I listen to, y’know?

You can’t listen to just one style of music...
Yeah. I always felt that if you listen to too much of what you play, you’re gonna lack originality, because you’re trying to sound like everybody else. Whereas if you listen to some other stuff you can kind of dibble and dabble into other things and pull things from this one, kind of incorporate it into your own style.

Do you like Punk or Hardcore at all?
Oh yeah, definitely.

Which bands?
I would say the SEX PISTOLS, DEAD KENNEDYS, BAD BRAINS; I was really into those guys, old VOIVOD, CARNIVORE. We’re kinda more into Metal than anything. That’s the majority of my collection. But I have other things where I mellow out.

What do you hope for the band’s future?
We would love to tour with this new album. It’s just a matter of trying to work things out and hook up with people, y’know, any bands want to get with us, just contact us and whatnot. P.O. Box 24171, Lansing, Michigan 48909. We have an email address at splashofcolor.sprynet.com. We have a website as well: mich.com/*gothmog/summon

How did you like playing the Milwaukee Metalfest last year?
Oh, it was great, man. Fuckin’ awesome bands; EMPEROR, SODOM, MAYHEM... It was amazing to see those bands you’d never think you’d get to see in the U.S., y’know? We had a great set as far as that went too, y’know? It was really early, but... We plan on being there next year and maybe playing a little later. The new full-length definitely should be out before then and hopefully we should have good distribution on that. We’re gonna really push the new album.

Where do you see the Black Metal scene going in the next few years?
Um, it’s obviously opening up a lot, y’know? It’s almost getting mainstream in some sense. It’s almost to the point where it’s not underground anymore. But, there are a lot of people keeping the whole spirit of the underground alive. It could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing. It could make it where it’s so commercial that’s it’s just a gimmick more than anything, and there’s also the chance of it staying underground and nothing ever happens with it, y’know? It’s kind of a 50/50 thing, y’know? It just depends on how you’re gonna take it and how you’re gonna interpret it.

Anything you want to finish with?
Yeah, anybody interested in hearing some Old School Power/Thrash Metal, just get ahold of us.

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