Lucem Fero | Interviews | Evile

“Armoured Assault” - Evile frontman Matt Drake hails gargantuan Thrash masterpiece Enter the Grave

By Anthony Morgan

During the early millennium, Huddersfield college friends Matt Drake and Ben Carter jammed over old Thrash tracks. Matt's younger brother Ol decided to try out his older brother's guitar, and then the decision was made to form a band. An advert to recruit a bass player attracted the attention of Mike Alexander, who successfully applied for the vacant position. These comprised the humble beginnings of Metal Militia, a Metallica tribute act. Tired of playing cover interpretations, the group wished to usher freshly composed material into the set. Renamed Evile, things progressed from there. The self-released All Hallows Eve EP surfaced in May 2004, a somewhat mid-paced affair which saw the band discovering its feet. Its follow up, simply dubbed Hell, surfaced in May 2006. Pure Thrash in the eighties vein, it was a demonstration of the style Evile wished to live and breathe. A working man's live ethic also endeared the group to crowds, with the band firmly establishing themselves as a weighty live act.

Such efforts caught the attention of Digby Pearson, founder of Earache Records. Secretly witnessing the group play a gig at Junktion7 in Nottingham, Pearson then saw Evile headline the unsigned stage at Bloodstock Open Air in Derby during July 2006. A day later, an email followed. Soon enough, Evile inked a deal with the Nottingham label. The rest, as they say, is history. Playing a greatly acclaimed set at Leeds' Damnation Festival, and being voted number one unsigned act in UK's Terrorizer magazine, also aided the group's fortunes. Work begun on their debut album during early 2007, produced by none other than the legendary Flemming Rasmussen. Responsible for Ride the Lightning (1984), Master of Puppets (1986) and ... And Justice For All (1988), the name really needs no introduction to the astute Thrash buff. Cut at Copenhagen's Sweet Silence studios, the classic sound hearkened back to that eternally lost eighties period. Entitled Enter the Grave, the full length effort saw the light of day during August 2007. It promises to single-handedly instigate a UK Thrash revival, and prove to the world at large that Thrash's old frame still has some life in it yet.

Evile were chosen alongside Romeo Must Die to support Sanctity on their inaugural UK headlining tour, one which made its lone Welsh stop at Cardiff's Barfly on October 22^nd. Extremely flexible, Evile kindly let Lucem Fero choose both the time the interview was to begin and which member (s) the interview was to be with. The choices were made, the conclusive result being an interview with vocalist / rhythm guitarist Matt Drake. Scheduled to begin at four in the afternoon UK time, the interview proceeded ten minutes or so earlier than planned. The quirky frontman discussed how Evile got signed by Earache Records, Evile being voted number one unsigned group in Terrorizer, his usual day job, debut full length Enter the Grave, films that inspired songs he wrote, working with Flemming Rasmussen, the works of Metallica and Slayer, Blabbermouth and a host of other topics. A humble gentleman with a natural sense of humour, it's difficult to associate the interviewee with the energetic stage persona. A friendly individual who seems more of a mate down the pub as opposed to a musician, his knowledge of Thrash proves to be rather astute. A keen follower of the genre, Evile will soon be regarded amongst those legendary people should they build upon their heavyweight debut.

How are you, first of all?
Good. We're playing with Sanctity, so I'm really excited. We're all really excited to be honest, and the gig last night was ace. We're all good.
Has Evile been to Wales before?
Yeah - we've played in Newport twice. Evile came on tour with Severe Torture and Desecration, and played at TJs in Newport. We toured there again on our own; we headlined a gig there, and both times roughly twenty-five people attended (laughs).
Seriously (laughs)?
Yeah. I don't think people even know who we are yet. It's building though, and it's getting there.
Has Evile been to Cardiff before?
Never. First time.
What can the Cardiff fans expect tonight when they hear Evile?
They can expect to get their tits thrashed off, oh yes. I don't know... just a good dose of old-fashioned thrashing. That's the whole point; balls out fun, heads down thrashing and no pretentious posing. Just Thrash.
So there's no special theatrics, but just riffing like hell?
No makeup, no cloaks, no dressing gowns - none of that crap. It'll be heads down Metal; it's all about riffs, and speed.
Have the people who've come to the shows enjoyed that so far? Has Evile had a good reception?
Really good, yes. Last night we did the first gig of the tour.
Southampton wasn't it?
Yeah, that's right. Most of the people were there for Sanctity, and that's because they were the headlining band in their eyes. A lot of people still came to see us as well though, and that was really good to see. It went really well.
You've played TJs before, so have you met some of the Welsh fans?
Yes.
What are they like?
Very Welsh (laughs). Being from Yorkshire, we're very rubbish at understanding people's accents. We're just rubbish at it. There's always the occasional “What?”, especially when it comes to Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents.
Have you noticed peculiar phrases? Have you been been wondering “what does that mean?", or anything like that?
No, actually. Not yet. We have many weird ones of our own, and people just say “What the fuck are you on about?”.
So you don't notice people saying “Aye” and things like that, and wonder “what the fuck is he on about over there”? You don't get that do you?
We hear “Aye” all the time, and all we ever say is “Aye”. The worst one we use is “Watter” instead of “Water”, and people just say “What? Watter? What?”.
(Laughs) Last year, Evile was voted as the number one unsigned act in Terrorizer magazine. Can you tell me about that?
We were signed at the time (laughs). Only three months Terrorizer published it. We were voted the best unsigned band, and we'd been signed roughly a month or two before they printed it. People read it, and just thought “What?”.
Was that announced at the time? Was Evile being signed public knowledge?
Yeah, it was. I think we'd spoken about it for roughly a month. People then bought Terrorizer, and just said “Best unsigned band? They can't have that - they've just been signed. The cheeky bastards”. I think we got a bit of flak for being best unsigned band, when we were actually signed (laughs).
Did Evile get a bit of flak from other unsigned bands, saying it's a fix and things like that (laughs)?
I think some of them actually did, yeah. A lot of people commented on forums, but I can't remember which forums they were. I can't remember who the top ten were, though I think Speedtheory were amongst them.
Oh yeah? I've heard of them, they're a good band. In 2005, I think they got awarded demo of the year by Metal Hammer.
That's them, yeah. I think they were in the top ten, and they're still unsigned. They played with us in Newport.
That's right, yeah. I haven't got a fucking clue how they're still unsigned, to be honest.
Yeah, they're a good band. I think a lot of people gave us plenty of shit on forums (laughs), and said “they don't fucking deserve it”. We received many comments like that. As we were signed, they voted us as the best unsigned band (laughs). It was just bad timing.
(Laughs) Was it still nice though to receive that kind of credit from a well known Metal magazine?
We didn't expect it whatsoever, and we've never gone out of our way to really hunt down magazine articles. Now, it's different. We've got a product to sell now, and an album to sell. We want people to hear it, and as many people as possible. When that was published though, all we did was just play at gigs, come back home, work, and do gigs again. We just put our heads down, and kept on going.
Are you a full-time musician, or have you still got a job?
We're still in full-time jobs.
What's your job?
I work for the council.
What do you do for the council?
(Laughs) I just sit down, and type letters to people.
Administration?
That's right, and it's good as I can just leave whenever I want. I say “I'm off to Wales. See ya”, and they say “Bye”. I jump in the van, and we leave.
As you got a full-time job, does that make it difficult to sort out gigs and things like that?
No. Actually, it makes it really easy. It helps a lot, and that's since it gives you the money to be able to do it in the first place. I'm not saying to just put your own money into being a band, but it helps. If it makes you able to rent a van, drive it and get to the gig, then I'm all for it. If it helps make the gigs possible, then it's all good.
How long have you been doing that for then?
Hmm... working and playing at the same time?
Working in administration.
I've been working for the council for... five months? Five months I've been there now.
Did you have any work before that?
Yeah, I did. I used to work at HMV, and I'm a qualified upholsterer - I can make three thousand pound office furniture and things like that. I've done loads of jobs; I've carried boxes around for three pound fifty an hour. I've worked all kinds of shitty jobs, and everyone else has done the same.
Obviously, you have the dream to make it big and perform in Evile as a full time venture?
Strangely, we got asked this awhile ago. Actually, quite a few people ask us this. We never actually set out to sign to a label, and release an album. We thought it'd be cool for anyone to do it, but we never actually gave it serious consideration. I think I might've sent four or five demos out; I sent one to Earache, and some to other labels.
You sent one to Nuclear Blast, and they didn't favourably respond.
They didn't write a lot, but said “Thanks, but no”. We sent demos to Nuclear Blast, Century Media, a French label called Listenable Records, and some other label. I just thought “Oh well”. Earache got it though, and we were signed.
It may sound silly, but do you think the fact they said no is because Evile is a British group?
I don't know.
You mentioned Nuclear Blast and Century Media. They usually concentrate on Norway, Sweden and those type of countries.
Modern Metal, yeah. They seem to, don't they? They seem to sign all the best groups in Modern Metal.
And then you have Earache, who pick up on the UK scene in some respects.
Earache actually seem to put quite a lot of effort into going to actual gigs, and looking for bands. That's good to see.
Evile played Bloodstock last year, and then Digby got in touch a day later.
That's right, the day after. We actually got back on the morning after Bloodstock, and I checked my emails. “Digby Pearson of Earache Records? Who the fuck's this?”. I had a look, and it pretty much said “Do you want to be signed to Earache Records?”.
Did you know of Earache Records before that?
No. I think he secretly came to see us once, and that was when we played Junktion7 in Nottingham. I think this was roughly a few weeks before. I think he came to Bloodstock to check that our performance wasn't just a fluke (laughs). He didn't say anything though; I think he just walked in a tent, and watched. He was somewhat sneaky watching us as well - I think he walked past, and watched us. Somebody did.
Like a ninja was he?
Yeah. Phooott!! Gone past. “Shit, he's going!!”.
(Laughs) Did you think that email was your mates messing around? Did you think it was somebody having a laugh?
No. I actually believed it straight away, and just thought “Wow, that's ace”. That's the best email I've ever received.
Did you do your homework then though? Did do you do some background checks and find out some information about Earache Records before you said yes?
Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, we did some. Everyone's heard the horror stories.
Yeah, I know that. The most known story concerns Napalm Death, doesn't it?
Yeah, though I don't know what led to that. I've asked them once or twice, but I don't really want to even know. I'm not interested, and that's because Earache Records have been ace with us. I'm not interested in the opinions of the bands, and I'm not going to stick up for anyone. It's nothing to do with me. Record labels don't usually say things to people about these kind of problems, but the bands do. Everyone then gets the chance to hear the band's side of the story, but no-one ever gets to hear the label's side. You never know what's gone on.
I've actually heard Digby's side of the story because it was in a book.
Was it?
Yeah. It was in a book called Choosing Death by Albert Mudrian, though I don't know if you've heard of it?
Never, no. I'll have to check that out.
Yeah, it's a good book.
They've always been ace with us, and we've never had a problem. We've had a really good time with them. They're brilliant.
Have you had former associates of Earache say things like “You signed with those clowns? What the fuck are you on?” (laughs)?
A lot of people have told us to be careful, and said; “Oh, Earache? Watch out for them because they'll rip you off”.
I don't mean specific names. In that though, do you mean other musicians, people in the media, or..?
No, not the media. It's been people who've probably read it on the internet, and just said; “Oh, I've heard the stories. Don't sign with Earache because they'll fuck you over”. They've been ace with us so far though, and I absolutely don't a bad word to say about them. They've been ace.
Alright. All the contracts have been sorted, they're all above board, and you've made sure there's no swindling involved?
It's all sorted, yeah. We're happy.
Could you give me an introduction to Evile's debut album Enter the Grave?
It was recorded with Metallica's previous producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Denmark. The album is ten tracks of thrashy goodness. I'm actually really proud of it, and I'm really chuffed. We wanted to go into the studio and record an album that was modern, but with that eighties feel to it. We weren't sure who to get to do it, though we looked at people like Andy Sneap.
You said that Andy Sneap has a more specific kind of sound.
Yeah. He has a set way of approaching the production of an album. Well, he seems to. I don't know his tricks, but that's personally not what I imagined the sound being for this album. I didn't see it being that way, though I don't know about the other guys in the band. Tempo of the Damned (2004) is one example, and I didn't see it sounding like that. I wanted it to have a more looser, somewhat live'ish feel to it. For a laugh, we just thought; “Oh, Flemming Rasmussen.. Why not? Hahaha, let's email him for a laugh”. “Sure he'll record our album?”. “Yeah, fucking hell!”.
So you googled his name, and it came up with Sweet Silence Studios' official website?
It went straight to his website. I just emailed him, and he replied saying yes. We sent him some mp3s.
How quick did he get back in touch?
Well, I actually did it by myself about a month before. Just by off chance, I emailed him after we'd been signed. I asked him if he'd be interested, he replied the first time by saying “Send me some of the tracks over”.
Did it take him a week, or two weeks? Or.. ?
It was a few days. When he replied to me, I just went “Flemming Rasmussen just emailed me. He made ... And Justice For All, hahaha”. It was fucking brilliant. He said “Yeah, send me the tracks”, so I sent him some mp3s. He never replied to me though (laughs), so I just thought “Oh, sod ya”.
Who was that?
Flemming. He never replied to me after I sent the tracks. I thought he must've hated them, and thought they were shit. We emailed him again through Earache though, and he said “Yeah”.
What was he up to in the nineties then? He was producing Metallica, and then you didn't hear his name after that more or less.
After doing that, he stepped away from Metal I think. He did Blind Guardian in 1996 I think, or in 1995 (1995's Imaginations from the Other Side). I think he did Artillery's By Inheritance (1990), but I'm not sure if he's fully credited though. I'm not sure why, and I didn't ask him. Yeah, that was in 1990. After that, I think he kept relatively low.
What type of deal did you sign with Earache? Was it a three album deal, or.. ?
It's just basically a few albums, and we'll just see how it goes.
Is there a specific album deal, or not?
It's for quite a few, and is just your standard four album deal. That's just ace.
Some bands license the music to the record label. Is Evile licensing the music to them for a time period, or is it a different type of deal?
No. They own the rest of the Evile songs - we sold them to Earache. We have no problem with them owning the rights though, and that's as it gets us out there.
If Evile made a name for themselves, would you consider the option of licensing the group's music?
I don't know. That aspect is still somewhat new to us, so we're not sure how to handle that kind of thing yet. We haven't really..
It's like a distribution deal somewhat. You'd say call your company Evile Records, sign a deal with Earache, and they'd have the right to distribute the album for say five years. You'd then have to renew the deal.
No. We're more than happy to just let them take care of the CD side of it; we'll just let Earache handle promoting the record, and let them do it. We'll handle playing live; that works really well, and that's how we do it.
As you just said, Evile went to Denmark and recorded at Sweet Silence Studios. What's the atmosphere like in there?
Surprisingly laid back, actually. Denmark's such a really good place as well. I'd recommend anyone to go.
What's the scene like over there?
Metal wise? I didn't actually get the chance to go and check it out. They have one or two Metal clubs, and they had quite a few big Metal bands coming through on tour while we were there. I think Mike and Ben went and checked it out. I was too busy practising all the time; I just played guitar, so I don't think I slept for about a month. I just became busy practising to get my parts just spot on. It's a really nice place though, and there's loads of hot chicks there. Yes!!
Did you get up to any shenanigans while you was over there?
No, no, no. We were too busy recording, drinking and watching Chuck Norris films.
What's your favourite Chuck Norris film then?
We watched Missing in Action 2 (1985) (laughs), and it was fucking terrible.
You're not a Chuck Norris fan are you?
I can be occasionally. I watched.. what did I watch? Hellbound (1994) was quite good. I love really shit films; I just love watching naff, rubbish films.
Have you seen Delta Force 2? That's a Chuck Norris film.
Yeah. Is that the one where he's on the motorbike which shoots the missiles, or is that the first one?
That's the first one. Have you seen the one with the guy out of The Untouchables?
No..
Billy Drago? He's in The Untouchables, and gets thrown off a roof by Kevin Costner.
I've never actually watched it. I need to see that. It always seemed weird somewhat though, like a random gangster comedy film of sorts. I didn't quite understand it.
The Untouchables?
The Untouchables, yeah.
It was based on a true story, but they took liberties with the truth somewhat. They seemed to add their own bits to it.
Yeah, and that's the gist I got from it. I've got to watch it now you've said that. I'm going to go home, and just download it.. Ooh shit, I shouldn't have said that.. I mean, I'm going to rent it (laughs).
That's alright (laughs). What do you do? Use programs like Azureus and so on?
Just on the torrent sites (laughs).
Ah right. We all know about that, don't we?
Oh yes. Who doesn't?
I find that quite funny as Enter the Grave got leaked (laughs). Ol wasn't happy about it.
Blabbermouth took something that Ol said on a forum, and cut it up to make him look like a twat.
Really?
Yeah. You can see it on the actual forum. He wrote a whole item about how downloading is bad, and how people not buying CDs is going to kill the industry. It kills bands as they don't sell enough records to survive.
Did you read some of the comments from Blabbermouth users?
People didn't like it, did they? Some people agreed with him, and some people didn't. The bad thing was that they had cut out the bits where Ol had said things like; “but then again, we wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for the internet”. The whole reason why we're in the position we're in now is due to the internet. They didn't put that bit in there though, so they made Ol look like an absolute twat.
Oh right. So Evile has had a bad time from them as well then? As well as me I mean.
Well, no. We've had a bit of stick from it, but I'm actually fully for Ol because I think it's good.
I meant criticism as a result of that specific Blabbermouth article.
No, we haven't had any criticism.
Has Evile received any criticism from people.. where they can comment the article?
Yeah; “they're a bunch of wankers. They're a shit band anyway, and they're going nowhere”. They've said things like that, and we've had loads of comments of that sort. They totally left the bit out where Ol said that the internet is a good thing though.
What do you make of sites like Blabbermouth? Personally, I remember when my website first started. I had a Slayer review featured on there, and I wrote some negative things about dickheads in the moshpit who pushed people over etc. I said that they shouldn't be doing that since someone could get hurt. I got called a cocksucker, and all those kind of names (laughs). What do you make of websites like that?
It's just anonymous, isn't it? People can say what they want on the internet. I don't know, but I quite like Blabbermouth. It's quite good to read what people think; it's quite good, and interesting. You're obviously going to read bad things about yourself though. People can slag us off if they don't like Enter the Grave. Some people are going to hate it anyway, and you can't please everyone. For all the people that don't like it, there's always going to be people that enjoy it.
Do you like Blabbermouth? Of course, you have Kerrang! and Metal Hammer in the UK. Of the internet world though, Blabbermouth seems to be the main media.
I prefer Blabbermouth, which is like a heavy metal newspaper. It's great; you log on the internet in the morning, make one click and just read everything that's going on in the world of Metal. I enjoy that, and it's quite good to read. People's comments are just funny since people say some of the best things on Blabbermouth.
Do you think they're serious comments, or do you think these people are messing around and having a laugh?
I don't know. I think some of them might be taking the piss, but I think a lot of people fully believe what they are saying. They are dedicated to what they've said, and you can really tell they are.
Have you started recognising the usernames and things like that?
No, God no. I don't read it enough to be able to do that. I just scroll down for the occasional comment where someone's just said we're a bunch of fags, we're pretend Thrash, or something along those lines.
Do you check Blabbermouth when Evile has some news on there?
I have a look, yeah. It's actually fun to see. We're not on there often, so it's nice to see ourselves being featured. Yeah, it's quite interesting.
Sweet Silence is obviously known for the three Metallica albums, and some other material such as 1993's Covenant by Morbid Angel.
Yeah, he produced that.
When you got in there, you knew for a fact that this was the place where some of your idols had played. Did that put a lot of pressure on Evile?
We thought it would, but it didn't actually. For one, it's not the same studio. The studio has been moved from where it was, where Metallica recorded, to a hidden place now. It's still in Copenhagen, though I think it's just a few blocks from where it used to be. When we first got there, we were really scared. We just wondered; “What's going to happen?”. We'd never recorded a proper album before, and we've never actually had our playing scrutinised that deeply. We've never been told what to do, or that we should be tighter, or that we should try something else instead. Flemming was actually really really helpful though, and was so laid back. It was so easy, and relaxed. It was ace.
What's Flemming like? If he wanted to be, he could walk around and say “I'm the producer who did some of Metallica's albums. I'm the main man”.
You don't get that whatsoever. He's happy to talk about them; he loves to just tell random stories about Cliff, or James being drunk and falling over things, or whatever. He doesn't come across that way at all, and is such a nice guy. He's a bit mental, and a bit off his trolley in a foreign way (laughs). He's great though.
Do you think he should write a book about his experiences in the studio with the bands?
Yeah, he's good. He really knows what he's doing.
Have he got enough stories to tell so that he could write a book, and it'd be very enjoyable?
Him write a book? His wife probably could as she has a load of stories about them.
Evile went back to their house, and she cooked for the band.
Yeah, we did the exact same thing that.. Flemming said that when they recorded Ride the Lightning in 1984.. I think it was then..
Yeah, it was 1984 it came out. That's right, and it was their second album.
He said that the guys were so skint, they couldn't afford to buy any food. He just took them home with him every night, and his wife cooked for them. She said things like they'd be eating away, and their hair would just go in all the food. Then, the food would just go into their mouths. She got fed up of cleaning all their hair from the plates, so she went around and just threw hairbands at them. She said “tie your fucking hair back while you're eating”, and made them do just that. It was just ace as we sat in the same chairs, and did the exact same thing. It was just brilliant, and a good feeling.
How did he approach getting the vibe of Evile on tape? The sound?
Surprisingly, another person got a microphone, and sat with it. We went in a room with that person, and played. Flemming was in the control room, and went “Right, play something”. We just played the guitar, and he'd say “Right, move it left”. We'd move it left, and then he'd say “Move it right. Alright, leave it there. Don't touch it”. We left it there, pressed record, and just played it. That was it, though I think we checked the sounds on the Marshalls. We had a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier as well, and tried that side by side with the Marshall. In comparison to the Marshall sound, the Mesa was nowhere near as good. Therefore, we just went “Right. Marshall”. We then put it in, and spent roughly ten minutes trying to get a decent sound. After that, we just pressed record, and started it. It was that easy. We spent a bit longer on the drums just so we could get them to sound nice, and so we could tune up everything. It was that quick though, since we opted for a looser, live feel. We just pretty much put our heads down, recorded it, played it and just did it.
So he doesn't mess around with special production techniques, and just prefers the live sound?
It's all microphones, but more specifically where you position your mike. That's the most important thing, and that's how we got the sound. That was it, and nothing special was involved; no buttons were pressed, no digital equipment was messed around with, or any of that crap. We just recorded it, then mixed it, and banged it out.
Do you think some fans concentrate on that too much though? The production and so on? Do you think it's best to concentrate on how good the songs are rather than how good the production is?
The sound of an album can put you off, or even discourage people from liking you. When you listen to some of the shit that people made in the eighties, it just sounds horrible (laughs). The production on those records is really scratchy, trebly and just makes you think “Oh, I wouldn't listen to that”. I think a good production is really important, but I'm really picky about things like that - it's got to be quite good in my head. We knew what we wanted to get, and I thinked we just about nailed it. The next one is going to sound way better.
Listening to Evile's music, your singing sounds like Tom Araya. Has anyone picked up on that?
A lot of people have, yeah. I get that quite a lot.
In a good way.
In positive terms, a lot of people say that it reminds them of Tom Araya. I've actually sat down though, and listened to it. I've then listened to Slayer at the same time.
They're not exactly the same, but similar.
He has a lot rougher edge to his voice, and you can spot him a mile off. You can tell if it's Tom Araya. If you listen to them side by side, then I don't sound like him. It's just the same feel. I just shout, so therefore it's the shouting. There's a tiny bit of melody, but not much. It's just shouting, and that's how both voices sound.
Are you a big Slayer fan?
Yeah.
Is Reign in Blood (1986) your favourite Slayer record, or do you prefer another album? I prefer South of Heaven (1988) myself.
Actually, I also prefer South of Heaven. I don't know why. My favourite Slayer record is South of Heaven, very closely followed by Seasons in the Abyss (1990). If I had to choose between the two, it's hard to. South of Heaven or Seasons? I'm not sure which. Reign in Blood was just speed. South of Heaven proved they can do slow material as well, whereas Seasons was just the perfect mix of them two styles.
So you prefer Seasons?
That's the bad thing though. South of Heaven has “Mandatory Suicide” and “Ghosts of War”, and I love “Mandatory Suicide”. Seasons in the Abyss has “Hallowed Point” though, and that does it for me.
South of Heaven has some slow parts like the title track itself, but then you have other parts such as the second song “Silent Scream”.
That's the one, yeah. That's just clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. Yeah, it's just speed. Actually, I couldn't choose. You've made me question my own thoughts.
Well you've been asked about Tom Araya. Who also influences you in terms of your vocals, and who are your influences when it comes to rhythm guitar?
It's the most obvious, and the one that everybody is actually inspired by with their vocals. It's James Hetfield.
I've heard so many people say that.
They are inspired by him, yeah. The bad thing is that when everyone says this, people just say “Oh, for fuck sake. Not again”. It's true though; everyone is inspired by James Hetfield, everyone is. I'm just one of the people that are, and that's because he's just so fucking tight. I even asked Flemming, and said “How good is James Hetfield?”. He just replied “Fucking great”, and said “No-one is tighter than James Hetfield”. In terms of his guitar parts, I think he just completely double tracked eight tracks on each side. Each time, they were just spot on the same.
The album that got me into Metal myself was actually The Black Album (1991). Some people say “Oh, it's a shit album”, but that's my favourite of all time.
I love The Black Album. Actually, that's probably the best sounding album I've ever heard. People slam it for Bob Rock's involvement, but I think it sounds fucking brilliant. On The Black Album, the drums produce the best drum sound I've ever heard on any album.
Yeah, that's what I thought. As soon as I heard it, I thought others should have the drums like that.
Exactly. The drums were perfect, and so was the guitar sound. Everything about that album was just spot on.
Was that a bad thing to say in front of Flemming though, given the fact Bob Rock produced it?
Oh no; Flemming thinks it's good as well, and loves that album.
Does he wish he was the one who produced that album?
I think he might, though I don't know. He might a bit, considering how good the production on that album was.
Then after that, Metallica came out with Load (1996) and ReLoad (1997). They recorded both around the same time. If they whittled the best songs from both records down to one album, using the rest as B-sides, that would've made a really great album. The fact they spread the material over two albums let things down. What do you reckon?
I think Load is ace, and I absolutely love that album. I think it's really good, so I don't know. People just wanted it to be another ... And Justice For All (1988) didn't they? You've already had ... And Justice For All though - that's it, so you've got that. I think that's just the band experimenting with different styles. In my opinion, it's fantastic.
Was that a grower album?
No. From the very first listen, I loved that album. When it came out, I went to see them on that tour. That's the first gig I ever went to.
Any good?
It was stunning, and absolutely brilliant. I first got into them by listening to Master of Puppets (1986). The first time I heard “Battery”, I thought “That's it. I want Metal to be my love. All I want to hear is just Metal.” When Load came out, I thought I should check it out. “That's different”, I thought. “.. but I like it. It's good”.
What do you think of ReLoad then?
Not as good. I think ReLoad was let down by material like “Better Than You”, and “Slither”. I think they were a bad choice of songs, and the reason for this is the fact that they rammed so many songs on that album. As the songs are still quite varied, it works with Load. I love “The Outlaw Torn”; I think it's just epic as hell.
You listen to the first of half of ReLoad, and it's alright. Once you get towards the end, it gets a bit pedestrian.
It just gets boring. The material that saves ReLoad is definitely “Carpe Diem Baby”, a track I think is great. “Fixxxer” is good as well.
I'm going to say something that's really controversial now. I actually liked a certain album that came out in 2003, by Metallica.
Never?
You've spoken negatively about that album. To you, why was that a bad album?
It just sounds horrible.
Do you mean the production sounds horrible, or do you mean the songs sound horrible?
The production sounds horrible. I know what they were going for though, namely that raw feel.
What do you make of the songs? Songs aren't good?
The songs are horrible.
You don't like the songs either?
Not even one bit, no. I can't handle them. Fair enough, yes I think it's good being fast again. “Yeah, we're going to play fast again”, but it doesn't matter if you just durdle-durdle-durdle-dur-dur-durdle-durdle-durdle-dur-dur. With your playing, you can do so much more than that.
Kerry King said that they're trying to get into Thrash again, but if you've been away from the genre for so long, then it's not as easy to get back into that groove.
It seems that way, and I don't know if they can get into Thrash again. I don't know (laughs). I've never tried to go away from Thrash, so I wouldn't know. I've just always played it (laughs).. I don't know (laughs). They attempted to take it back to that raw vibe that they used to have, so I can see what they tried to do - to regain that Kill 'Em All (1983) vibe in some respects. Kill 'Em All had good riffs though, whereas St. Anger had no good riffs. Hetfield's voice disappoints. It used to be.. I think he's got it back now apparently.
In terms of Hetfield's voice, The Black Album is the best. It's between either The Black Album, or ... And Justice For All.
His voice was incredible.
On the first two albums, it sounded as though he was still gaining that raw voice.
He was still young, wasn't he? He was eighteen or nineteen doing that, so he was still quite young. He got into though. Have you heard the demos for Master of Puppets?
I haven't heard the demos, no. What are they like then?
Compared to the actual recording of Puppets, his vocals are nowhere as good on the demos. They still sound like the way they were for Kill 'Em All.
Does that show how good Flemming is?
I think that shows how much work Hetfield puts in. When he's in that mode, Flemming said that he works really hard. All he thinks about is getting things right, and he puts a lot of time into all the things he does.
When it comes to Metallica's untitled ninth studio album, the band said they're going to go for the vibe of Master of Puppets. What do you reckon? What's your thoughts?
(Laughs) It's going to have to be pretty fucking special to get that. I think a lot of people were let down by St. Anger, and the reason for that was them saying the same kind of thing about that album also. They said they were going back to their roots, yet they didn't deliver.
So what's your favourite album out of Metallica's back catalogue?
... And Justice. ... And Justice by a mile.
It's a lot better than Master of Puppets, to be honest.
It is, and it's more progressive. I think it's brilliant.
I don't understand why Master of Puppets is considered better.
There's a reason why ... And Justice is better, that reason being the drums. Since every fill on that album is different, it's all about the drums.
Hetfield's voice from Master of Puppets to ... And Justice For All just improved by a mile.
It's good. You can see their albums as a progression; every album they've done is a progression, and it's got better, better and better. Everything about them became better, and better. ... And Justice is all about the drums.
I'm going to shut up about Metallica now (laughs). What's your most personal song on Enter the Grave?
There's no personal songs on that album - they're all about people getting killed (laughs).
What's your favourite then?
“First Blood”; I fucking love playing “First Blood”, and it's so much fun to play.
Lyrically speaking, do you opt for a more Slayer-esque style?
We all take turns. Mike wrote “Armoured Assault” and “Killer From The Deep”, while Ben wrote “Man Against Machine”. You can spot the difference as well.
As a lyricist yourself, what do you go for?
I'm really inspired by films, and all I do is watch them.
Horror films?
Every kind of film. Personally, all I do is just watch films. I'm in a (Stanley) Kubrick phase at the moment; all I'm doing is watching Stanley Kubrick films, and that's all I'm watching.
Do you like The Shining (1980)?
That's my favourite film.
Stephen King hated that one, didn't he?
Yeah, he wasn't too proud of it. He did his own adaptation, didn't he? It was just rubbish. As he's a genius, nothing beats Stanley Kubrick. His camera work...
Don't you think some of his films are just a bit “out there” though, and a bit mad?
That's how they work though, and that's why they're good. Lyrically speaking, I'm inspired by films quite a lot. Mike's just an evil bastard though (laughs), and is into some evil things. That's due to the fact that Mike's well into Destruction, Slayer and bands like that. Well, we all are.
Does he go for the Cannibal Corpse type lyrics?
I don't think we'll ever get that far. I actually wrote the lyrics for “Bathe in Blood” in the studio, and those lyrics came out while we were recording. When I penned those words, I thought I had gone too far.
What's that song about?
“Armoured Assault”? That's about a giant tank war machine.
So what film inspired that song?
I think Mike watched some kind of war film.
What films were you inspired by for your lyrics on Enter the Grave?
Obviously First Blood (1982). “We Who Are About To Die” came out when I watched Gladiator. “Bathe in Blood” is inspired by a local urban legend about Countess Bathory. Apparently, she killed virgins back in her day. So she could keep onto life, she'd bathe in their blood. She'd gain her youth from their blood, and I thought that'd make such a great song. “Burnt Alive” was just about...
Do you think song subjects like that are more Cradle of Filth type material? Do you like Black Metal, or you can't stand it?
No, I can't stand it.
Why do you dislike Black Metal?
It just bores me.
You don't like the concentration on atmosphere, and all the keyboard and synth aspects?
No.
You just want music to Thrash the hell out of you?
I want to be kicked in the balls by music, and don't want to be bored shitless. If it just isn't to my tastes, then it bores me. It's the same as Power Metal, which bores me as well.
Do you think Power Metal is a bit cheesy?
It's the ultimate cheese. Cheese really pisses me off, but especially if it's cheese for cheese's sake. For example, like going “Durll-dull-durddle-do-do”. Just piss off
Like “I killed the dragon”, and things like that. Just fuck off.
I can't handle cheese, and it really annoys me. I just think it's a lame way of writing music. They should put some effort in, and write something great.
You were saying about “Burnt Alive”?
Yeah. That was just about old fables about burning witches, but I thought I'd put a Satanic slant on it. I added about them going to Hell, coming back and then killing everyone.
Would Evile ever write the type of song like.. I'll refer to Metallica again..
A personal kind of thing?
... like “Fade to Black” or “Nothing Else Matters”. Those kind of tracks.
Like a “The God That Failed” type track, which is about James' mom? I don't know.
You have songs like “The God That Failed”, but then you have the musical side of things with more tender numbers like “Nothing Else Matters”.
The good thing about Thrash is that you can get away with that; you can put whatever you want in Thrash, and you can still get away with it as the contrast works. As long as it's not cheesy, it works. To reference Metallica again, “To Live Is To Die” is one such example. In the middle bit in that song should be cheesy; If somebody recorded that nowadays, that would sound cheesy and shit. As Metallica did it though, and at a time when... Did Cliff (Burton, late Metallica bassist) write that bit as well?
Yeah, I think so. Part of it was written by Cliff, and they finished the song.
They finished it for Cliff. That means something, and that's why it works. If that was done nowadays, it'd just sound cheesy and shit - you'd just think "Cheesy. Get off”. As they did it though, it sounds amazing. We might, but I don't know. We got an acoustic intro on “Man Against Machine", and we thought that was pretty great.
You love your Thrash such as Metallica, Slayer, the Big Four and so on. Although you're really influenced by them, how do you forge your own identity?
As in being Evile?
As in being Evile. Rather than some group who just pays tribute to the Thrash titans so to speak, how do you forge your own identity as act?
I think it's going to be with the songs, and it's got to be songwriting really. We listen to quite a bit of Death Metal as well, and we have a bit of Death Metal in there.
Any specific Death Metal?
Ol's massively into Deicide and Cannibal Corpse.
I thought you would've heard of Earache due to Deicide.
Well, yeah. Deicide, and Carcass as well. We like a lot of Carcass; Heartwork (1993) is just one of the best albums ever. There's a lot of material like that which we're fans of. Actually, I think Enter the Grave is quite a bit Death'ish.
Is there going to be more Death Metal on the next album?
Yeah, a bit more. There's a lot of Death Metal bands who just put in some Thrash; they want to do ninety percent Death, and ten percent Thrash. We want to reverse that; I want it to be ninety percent Thrash, and ten percent Death. I don't wish to scream a “Rooargghhh”, and use any of the Death Metal vocals. That's not for me, and I can't be asked. I can't even do it, so I don't even try. In terms of riffs though, I want to get a bit of Death in there as I think it might work.
Like Carcass and Deicide?
Yeah, that kind of thing. I just want to work a bit of Death in there.
Are they your two favourites in terms of the Death Metal scene?
Death wise? I'd say so. Carcass were more Grindcore though, weren't they?
To be honest, the slower, more groovy bands are preferable.
Instead of just blasting all the way through?
I prefer the slower, more powerful groups.
Slower, like Deicide. Legion (1992) is just awesome. I personally prefer Deicide to Cannibal Corpse.
I prefer Six Feet Under.
I don't listen to them, but Ol's well into them.
They're a good band, so check them out.
Yeah, is that Chris Barnes?
Chris Barnes, yeah. He's a really really nice guy. I interviewed him for nearly two hours, over the phone. He can talk all day, and he's really philosophical as well. You can have a deep conversation with him. If you ever meet him, speak to him.
Yeah, I'd love to.
I read that there might be a tour during 2008 with Exodus.
Ooh, did you read that?
That's what I read.
Yeah, hopefully. There might be. There might not be that much chance of it now, but the situation is changing all the time.
Kirk (Hammett) was in the group at one time, wasn't he?
Yeah, and he was then plucked into the ranks of Metallica.
Do you like Exodus?
Bonded By Blood (1985). There's nothing like “Piranha”; if you're into Metal, then you should put on “Piranha” by Exodus. If that doesn't kick you in the balls, then you've got no taste.
How far have talks progressed for Evile to support Exodus in America?
It's at a really early stage, so it's just been floated around. We got told the following; “Exodus have got a new album out, and they're going to tour next year. We can probably get you guys on that”. We said; “Please God do because that'd be fucking brilliant”.
Would a tour of that nature get Evile's name out to the American Heavy Metal fans?
I hope so, and thought it would do. Exodus have got a big name; if we toured with them, then that would help us a lot.
Any plans for a second album?
We've only started writing it.
Can you tell me about it? Names, or anything like that?
There's no names yet. We're thinking of doing a song about ThunderCats (laughs). We're not sure, but we probably won't. It's a bit too cheesy.
Are there any films that you think you're going to write songs about in future?
Yeah. I want to write a song about Aliens (1986).
Sigourney Weaver?
That's right. I need to write a song about Aliens, but I want to do it in a slight way. I don't wish to write something like “Alien Queeee-een!!” thump-thump-thump as I want to get away from that.
Are there any dates scheduled for Evile to get in the studio?
It's going to be very late 2008, or early 2009. We want to make sure we're just touring.
Touring the hell out of Enter the Grave?
Gig, gig, gig, gig, gig, gig. Day off. Gig.
Like the old school groups?
Yeah. We want to just gig, and that's it.
Would you class just touring the hell out of Enter the Grave as your upcoming plans for the future?
True, yeah. All we want to do is just gig.
Do you think that'll help Evile's sophomore album a lot?
Oh yeah. The more we tour, the better we'll do.
Do you have a message for Evile's fans?
The fans? Just keep supporting Thrash, and tell as many people as you can. Tell them to grow their hair, and buy high-tops. Do that, and support it. Spread the word, and just make the UK thrash again. It's lost its way a bit, and we need more Metal. We need more of it.
Do you reckon that people who are curious about Evile should log onto the band's official MySpace, and then check the songs to see if they like them?
It's what good old MySpace is there for, and our official MySpace page is at www.myspace.com/evileuk. That's the one, so they should check it out.
So your message for the fans is to keep supporting Thrash?
Support UK Thrash, and check it out. Listen to Mutant especially - definitely listen to Mutant. Gama Bomb are really good as well, and they just signed to Earache... and what else is there? The more of them bands you look up, the better. There's MySpace, and links to other bands. Just look them up, and find out about them.
When Evile's in town, Thrash fans should come along?
Yeah. Check the website, and see where we are. The only problem is there's nothing planned after this tour, so there's nothing much on. There's one or two gigs up until Christmas, although there might be a tour in December with a special band. Don't say anything. We might have something cool planned for December though.
Is that a big band?
Yeah.
Are they on Earache Records?
No.
Am I asking too many questions?
Yeah (laughs).
(Laughs). Alright, well thanks for the interview.
No, no. Thank you, sir.
I really appreciate it, and I apologise for talking about Metallica so much.
I wouldn't be wearing the shirt if I didn't want to talk about them.
Alright, thanks very much.
Cheers.