I quit! [laughs]
Erik: I have it worked where I'm in stereo, I've got minor/major thirds in stereo...
You have 2 cabinets right?
Erik: I've got 4.
Oh ok, you've got 2 on each side?
Erik: 2 on each side. I have minor/major thirds going over to the other side, got the [buzz-nian?] thing on my side... I worked out a lot of shit to incorporate a thick wall of sound. 2 amps... my equipment's pretty... legendary, a lot of shit. The only time that you really miss any guitar, is just a couple, about 2 or 3 counterpoint rhythms on the record, and the solos... but I've actually become "spoiled" with the solos because I've always played 2 guitars. Now when I solo, it's even more floating. That's always been my lead style, like a "floating" type of solo...the hanging notes, then a fast one for flavor, rather than just to show off, so the solo's a story. And now, the solo's even more of a story cause it's so dominant. And at first I was like, "ah...this is strange!" but now I'm actually becoming very fond of it.
So unless you find someone totally fitting, you're just gonna keep it as a 3 piece?
Erik: Yeah, I'm not in any hurry...
Are you gonna pull anybody in for extra shit...?
Erik: No. We've already got half the next record written, so we're probably going to record the next record in December and keep it a 3-piece. Unless the right guy comes by and it works out... I'm not in any hurry to try to find... I was originally.
I noticed at Morbid, Trey switches a lot between lead and rhythm sound, I didn't notice you had any pedals or anything, you have the same sound pretty much for lead and rhythm?
Erik: No, I switch constantly. Probably couldn't see it between the wedges, the monitors. I've got all kinds of shit... [to] incorporate the harmonies, yeah, stuff like that. Harmonies and delays, reverb, stuff like that, everything's controlled. I use the telefax, I use a sonic maximizer in stereo with two Marshall Artists, so it's pretty intense. I got the vintage [30?] Marshall cabs...
Tony (Pentagoria): Did you do tryouts for the "Florida Elite"?
Erik: Ah... I tried out a bunch of people. I'm not gonna mention who I tried out, but they just didn't work. Everybody assumed that it would work out really easily...
We heard Griffin [Brian Griffin of Broken Hope] was going to try out... I mean, Griffin is really good from what I've gathered...
Erik: He was working on it, I don't know what ever happened. So he called me and said he wasn't going to be able to play in the time we had...
Basically, you demo'd the stuff in '97, right?
Erik: I did all the stuff in '97, and actually on the Hate Eternal record, I played most of the rhythms... all my songs are my rhythms.
When did you start writing all the material?
Erik: '97.
Okay, so you had about 2, 2-1/2 years basically you've been doing this, hence you can play that fast. I was going to say, I don't know if it's the same case being on Earache, but a lot of bands on underground labels... you have to put a record out every year or so, especially underground bands...
Erik: We don't...
Okay good, do you have the extra time you need...
Erik: I have, we have, yes. The way I get contracts set up is usually... an excellent scenario, and that's why I've waited for Hate Eternal to get the right deal. Same with my other band, Alas, we just signed a deal with Hammerheart. I waited for the right deal... Gunter Ford, my manager, who manages Morbid Angel, Grip Inc... everything's in our court, otherwise it's not worth it. I've been around for 12 years and...
I remember at a point where if you had metal albums, it'd be every couple years, but they'd be solid metal albums...
Erik: For me, I want it to be every year. I want it to be fresh, especially now that we've had some lineup changes, I wanna push one out. Like I said, I dropped like 3 songs off the record for Doug to write his 3, so I had them sitting around. They're newer songs that I wrote towards the end, but I kept them aside for Doug to write. I've got a couple more, Jared's contributing to the next record also, cause he writes killer shit... so does Derek, actually.
Are you gonna record at your studio again?
Erik: Yeah, I think so.
Do you think this production did the material justice? Even though it's hard to hear... do you want it to be more subtle with the guitar, or do you want to be totally obvious?
Erik: Well, I wanted the whole production to be dark. I didn't want it to be this bright, glossy production. I wanted it clear, but dark. I wanted the guitars heavy, and the guitars are super heavy... very much, deep, powerful, that's what I wanted. In order to get the clarity of the picking and stuff want, it wouldn't have the gain that I want in the overall sound, so it's kinda like a catch-22. I had to go in between to get the sound I really wanted. The sound I go for is cleaner than... say, the Mesa Boogie sound... that a lot of people seem to use, but heavier, more gain than, say the Morbid Angel guitar sound, which is more mid-range, different kind of sound. Somewhere between the Morbid Angel range and like the Cannibal Corpse type of guitar sound, that's what I kinda go for.
I haven't been able to see reviews on it, but do you see a lot of the Morbid Angel comparison?
Erik: Not really...
Do you think the reviews are doing it justice or people not gonna understand the material yet?
Erik: Oh, the reviews have been way beyond my expectations. When you're getting compared to Altars Of Madness and shit like that, I mean to me, what other bigger compliment can you get? To me, that's like the best death metal record of all time. We've been getting incredible reviews and done probably over 100 interviews. We've been featured in pretty much every mag now...
Did you write the songs in any order... do the songs appear in the order you wrote them, is it supposed to flow that way?
Erik: No, not on the record. They're in different order, pretty much. But the way I put them on the record is specific, the way I organized them was thought out. The whole record was thought out very methodically, planned... as far the way the songs went together, and even with our set, we planned it to be half-hour nonstop. That's why I wrote those couple interludes in between songs, just so I could tune really fast and take a sip of water, so we could just hammer... 2, 2, 2 and 2 [songs] connected, to make it even more aggressive than the record... cause the record is just non-stop [something]...
That's what I mean, you have to the thing like a hundred times to really, really...
Erik: The Hate Eternal, for the average listener? Yes, it's complex for some and to some it's not so complex, but to me the songs are there, they're good songs. To me, lyrically, as far as vocal patterns and vocal style, Deicide's always been one of my favorites... the high and the low and stuff like that. With Hate Eternal, I'm able to incorporate all that stuff cause I have another singer.
Does he [Jared] do some [vocals] on the album?
Erik: He did some, yeah. For me, that's been a big inspiration... musically, obviously Morbid Angel, and Ripping Corpse, their early stuff... Hate Eternal's what I try to incorporate a more direct, very much more direct path. I still want to incorporate songs. For me, I can write 50 rhythms, I can write super-technical, I'll do 28/3rd's and I can just fuckin' go off, and I've done that with Ripping Corpse. We'd have fuckin' 25 rhythms in a song and just peel it out, I've kinda been there. With Hate Eternal the focus was on song-writing, and creating really good structured songs within the confines of a very aggressive... attack!! Rhythmically... so I try to incorporate all of them into one big mass...
You notice how the drums are pretty much straightforward, a lot of blast and double bass... are you gonna try to get a lot more complex drumming to match the complex guitars?
Erik: Um... it'll never be a fusion record, it'll never be Cynic...
No...but stuff like say, Mayhem, or whatever, Hellhammer...drum wise he does a lot of weird shit, like they put guitars to his drums almost...not something like that complex. Rather than just straight-out blasting, is he gonna do a lot of goofy shit...
Erik: I don't know, I mean to me he does do a lot of goofy shit on the record... within the confines of double-bass, blast... it'll always be that, always... because Hate Eternal to me, it's supposed to be that way. I don't want it to be anything but that, I want it to be death metal. Derek has a lot of other ideas and incorporations he does, and different blasts and double bass patterns and shit like that. That's gonna happen, but it'll never be anything but those type of combinations, that's what I want with it. I don't want it to ever slow... I want Hate Eternal to be aggressive. I want the next one to be more aggressive than this one, and that's the goal of the [tribe?].
Is Derek still with Divine [Empire], too?
Erik: No.
What's going to go on with Alas? You've got Maria from Therion, I believe, right?
Erik: Martina, yes. She's singing on it. We just signed with Hammerheart and we'll record in June.
Nick (Pentagoria): [James Moore..?] gonna play on that as well?
Erik: No, he just kinda filled in for me, he has his own things going on. I'm doing all the guitars on the record. I realized that in many of those situations... it's just easier. The Hate Eternal and for me to do the guitars... [lost what he said]... with Alas, I've been working on it for a while, I figure I owe it to myself to do all the guitars. I've got all the solos in my head...
Nick (Pentagoria): You did do 2 guitar tracks on the album?
Erik: Yeah, I do 4. All the Hate Eternal is 4 tracks, I double each side. So that gets kinda complex, it's hard to match styles. When I did Domination, I had to match Trey's sound on his songs and he had to match my sound on my songs, as far as picking stuff. It's always, we're two players of the same, it's all a matter of how you can adapt. And I was able to adapt with Morbid Angel fortunately, on Domination the guitars are very... [smacks hands together]. There's 4 tracks on Domination, but they're very precise. You can't tell which side is Trey or me. I know I'm on the left... that's always a goal for me... to duplicate myself is the most efficient and easiest thing.
Just on that subject, I know he's really, really picky about who can play with him, so did he know your style from Ripping Corpse..? Did you pick up a lot of stuff while in Morbid, or was it already kind of your style to play that way?
Erik: No, I played in Ripping Corpse for 5-1/2 years before I got in Morbid Angel, and that's how I met Trey. We did some shows together before Altars Of Madness, we brought them up to New Jersey. We used to trade mail during like the Thy Kingdom Come demo in '88, '87. We wanted to bring them up, our manager Gunter, we had him contact Morbid Angel to bring up, we did like 5 shows, and then Gunter started managing Morbid Angel... and when Richard didn't work out, he just thought of me. He said... Erik, you're the perfect guy... Ripping Corpse broke up... it just worked out. I flew down, I learned like half the set in a few days, and that was it. I did all the tours for Covenant and then I became a permanent member after that.
Are you gonna tour with them in the future?
Erik: Yeah, actually I'll be on the next record, too.
Who would you say some of your favorite death metal guitarists are, then?
Erik: Oh, Trey is definitely like, the master, as far as I'm concerned. Definitely, Morbid Angel, it's always been my favorite death metal band. And then, Doug... Suffocation's always had great guitars. I like Diabolic a lot, I like Nile, I think they're awesome, the guitarists, they got some really good ideas. Solo-wise I'm into guys like Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, old Yngwie especially, stuff like that.
Are you gonna do any fests, then?
Erik: I'm not sure, man. We're trying to work on it. Right now it's all about timing. I play with 3 bands, so imagine my life right now. I just got back from producing the Krisiun record, and I also did the Morbid tour. So I come back for 2 weeks, practice for this tour, I'm on this tour for 5 weeks. I go home, then I go to Europe for the Deicide fest w/Cannibal and Marduk... as soon as I come back, I go into rehearsals to record the Alas record, and then the Morbid record, then I'll do another Hate Eternal tour probably in the summertime. So, to work out things in between, I'm planning 8 months in advance, everything, my whole life has to be that way. I'd like to play the Jersey fest, I'd like to work it out one weekend, just cause I'm in Jersey so I'd really like to play the Jersey fest.
You talked to Moyses about possibly doing the Hate Eternal tour, I heard?
Erik: No! I never talked to him... shit, he could play it, that guy's fuckin'... one of the best. I never thought to ask him when I was over there cause I knew Krisiun were getting ready, they were supposed to...
They're in Europe touring now or something...?
Erik: No, they're back home in Brazil, but I knew they were gonna be rehearsing for a tour coming soon so I didn't even ask him. But he, fuck... if I could find a guitarist like him, I'd definitely... be all right. He's a fucking maniac. Recording Krisiun was fuckin' awesome, besides the record came out great.
What do you think of the Great Kat?
Erik: I'm not too familiar with the Great Kat. I'd like to check it out, I heard she's a smoker. She's a shredder, right?
Oh yeah, total wankery, stuff like that...
Erik: I never heard it, I've just seen her pictures.
Nick (Pentagoria): I had a question about the vocals on the demo compared to the vocals on the album, seems like there were vocals on the demo a little bit more screamy, as opposed to the album...
Erik: Yeah, they were a little out of control, really. I'd just start singing like I didn't know. We recorded that a week after I started the whole band in general. I'd written a couple songs, and then, "man, I wanna do a band called Hate Eternal..." and I asked Alex, "Hey, can you play bass..," he said, "Yeah, well I had this song written..." or whatever so I said, "Oh... just put it on there..." So we just kinda winged it. Back then, in Ripping Corpse, I used to do backups, they're all shrieking like that, it's all high. It's aggressive, but for the record I wanted to have a lot more control. I've been working on my voice for a couple years. Now I have some lows, some highs, some low-mid, low-high, I try to vary it. All the different songs have different kind of pitches on the record, like Catacomb..., pretty low, but it has the high, and I did all the vocals on that song. There's the last verse, which is high and low, shrieking, but low. But for me, the low-high-low has always been like David Vincent, like clarity, I've never been the guy wanting to... the indescribable... it's always been cool, it's cool but in those confines of the band, for me, clarity is what's important.
Do you like singing and playing?
Erik: Oh yeah, I love it. I mean, it's hard to play the shit and sing it, took me months and months...
Is it hard to play that fast under a strobe light, too, when it's going crazy...
Erik: Yeah, that was fuckin' me up tonight. I'm not used to that many strobes so I was like... wow.
Nick (Pentagoria): What do you guys tune to?
Erik: C-Sharp. Step and a half.
It's a very dark tuning...
Erik: Yeah, it's not too low, not like Nile or Morbid, like 7-strings and... it's in between.
What kind of guitars do you play, anyway?
Erik: I play a variety of guitars. The ones I have now, I play some Ibanez, and I actually have a couple old Yamahas from 10 years ago, they're my babies actually... [something about those ones don't leave the house, he only uses them to record]...
How long have you been playing?
Erik: Um... 13... almost 14 years. Still working, man... I'm still trying to play better as a player...
Sean [Glass - Soil, ex-Broken Hope] was just saying, "Yeah, Erik's my favorite death metal guitarist." That's why I was blown away when I heard about the material. If it was that hard to play, I was like, "I gotta go see this."
Erik: Well, I didn't think it was when I wrote the shit, you know? I don't think about it. On stage, I don't think about the playing part, it's the singing that I'm thinking about more. Playing is just... it's there. I wake up and I can play the riffs, I feel it every day. When I did the Hate Eternal, I did all the rhythms for the whole record in a day and a half.
Oh really? How many hours a day?
Erik: Ahh... 8 hours. I went out and I hammered it... just "bam, bam bam".
Do you think your guitar tone influences how you come up with stuff? Like are you able to make stuff clearer because of the tone or...?
Erik: It's both. I've been using these amps for a long time, with Ripping Corpse until now. For Morbid Angel, I had a completely different setup, but with Alas and Hate Eternal, I use a very similar guitar tone...
The Alas is melodic, slower...?
Erik: Yes. I also use passive pickups with a mixture of amps, whereas in Hate Eternal I use EMG active, and just the Artists. With Alas I use Ampeg with Jacksons... and Artists. I used Ampeg for all the solos.
Tony (Pentagoria): So you're just switching amps when you go to lead, right?
Erik: Not live. It's just like... I have 2 Marshall Artists already in stereo, I'd have to have 2 Ampegs... I'd have so much shit. I'm opening the show, so you can imagine, I have 10-15 minutes tops to get our shit on stage and get ready. It's not like a Morbid gig where I've get soundcheck... we've gotta get on and fuckin' do it, so I try to make my rig as simplistic as possible, but still incorporate all these harmonies and all this other stuff. I need all this shit, cause I'm only one guy.
Do you see yourself headlining, maybe in a year or two at this point?
Erik: I hope. The record's been doing well. I can't tell you the satisfaction I've gotten with this record. More than anything, but I guess cause it's my baby. It's my thing, and when you actually tell me that, "the best record in years..," and, "it's helped rejuvenate death metal..," and stuff like that, I would say in interviews... the Hate Eternal is truly, solely based to like the true death metal fans out there. I definitely respect the death metal listeners who just want to revive the death metal 'scene'...
I don't listen to much new death metal at all. Centurian, Krisiun, that kind of stuff is fucking great. But, overall I have a hard time finding stuff I'll go nuts over. Just metal in general has sucked for a long time. Corpse was one of my favorite bands, but I don't like the last 3 albums...
Erik: See, the last 2 are my favorite.
Gallery and Bloodthirst?
Erik: Yeah, I just love those two... I guess cause they were [more] diverse than the earlier Cannibal. I like George's voice a lot better. Well, Chris was cool for what their music was then, George is cool for what their music is now.
I think his voice sounds best on the newest record, easily.
Erik: They're awesome. And he always sings perfect, live. I wish I could sing as perfect as he does every night, he's always on.
Well, plus you're also...
Erik: Yeah, it's my first tour ever singing, I'm surprised I'm doing as well as I am. It's my 11th show.
Why would Earache start a sub-label to start signing metal bands again, rather than just sign them to Earache?
Erik: I don't know. I just know they said they wanted to start this sub-label, instead of put me on Earache section, which obviously Morbid Angel is the priority. They said they're gonna start a sub-label and make Hate Eternal a priority. The guy that's head of it, Dan, he was really gung-ho about Hate Eternal more than any other label.
I'm pretty sure the record's doing very well in Europe, too, right?
Erik: Yes, real good. All the reviews... I haven't gotten a bad review yet! Knock on wood, but... the reviews have been pretty phenomenal, so all I can do is be proud of the record, proud I'm out here on tour, 2 weeks tour in Europe... can't ask for much more right now. Everything's going my way, I've got 2 deals for both my bands, I'm playing with the biggest death metal band there is, the best death metal band there is, I think. It's taken me 13 years to get to this point and I'm damn proud of it, and I know that I'm gonna consisently put out quality records. The day I don't put out a quality record is the day I quit. Hate Eternal will never be weak, it'll never change styles like other bands. That's why I started Alas, I said I have all these other things coming out in my playing, I'm not gonna incorporate that into a death metal scenario. I'm doing that as a whole different thing.
And that's all clean vocals, no death vocals on the record?
Erik: No. It's something different. To me, if you start a band [that starts --], stay that. Because when the band starts changing into different things... I mean, it's all right to an extent. Like Morbid Angel, every record's been different, but it's always been death metal, always. Some bands... try to do other shit, that just doesn't... I don't understand it.
I think rarely bands do it well...
Erik: No, rarely. They change, and people are like, "What the fuck?" It's always let me down. So my promise to the fans of Hate Eternal is that they won't be let down, because I refuse to let myself down. If I don't feel that type of thing anymore, then I just won't do another record. I love death metal, I play, I write via death metal, so I know that I'm... I always chuckle around with Alex, "Death metal 'til 40!!!" We'll both be like the Adrian Smith of death metal.
What kind of stuff do you listen to?
Erik: I like a lot of shit... I listen to some Persian music, Indian music, classical... Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, stuff like that... I like Dead Can Dance, Enya, soundtracks...
Tony (Pentagoria): What happened with Tim?
Erik: He's young, he's got all of these other things that he wants to do in life... and totally committing to touring in a van with a bunch of guys wasn't really... we're out here for a 5 week tour, we're not making money, we're out here bustin' our asses doing what we have to do, but that's what it takes. He just wants to go to school and do other things and just can't commit to touring and everything. Derek, man... I got lucky with him. He's the only guy who could honestly I think besides Pete Sandoval play it the way I'd want. He just happened to quit Divine Empire...
Oh, so he quit first...
Erik: Yeah, he had quit... he happened to call me and said he heard that I was a good guy to work with and if I need a drummer, to let him know. Well, actually... I might need a drummer! I didn't know if Tim would do the tours or not... so...
Derek learned the material real fast, right?
Erik: Yeah! He picked it up, I went to do the Krisiun record, I came back and Derek was playing the record... *tape cuts off*
Erik had to jet at this point as we'd been talking for over 30 minutes already and I had plenty of information anyway! Nick had also asked who the artist that did the cover of the Hate Eternal album was, Erik said his name was Hans Mammelios. The album cover is actually just a portion of a much larger painting. Check out the album Conquering the Throne when you get a chance, and if you're able to catch Hate Eternal live, I highly recommend it!
