Abbas: Greetings Andrew, what's new with you and Sarcophagus lately?
Andrew: We have stopped working with Diehard Music Worldwide. They have turned their backs on death and black metal. I guess they'd rather spend their time with bullshit muscle metal... Fuck 'em. Anyways, we are back with a new CD which should be released in January 1998, called Requiem To The Death Of Passion...8 new tracks of wrath and blasphemy!!

What has Sarcophagus been up to since For We...? You've taken a long "break" it seems, you didn't do many live shows and there have been lineup changes...
Andrew: Shortly after the recording of For we... we did a couple of live shows then kicked out our drummer Tony Bettenhausen and guitarist Steve Savage. It took 1 1/2 years to find our new drummer, Duane Timlin. We did not want to take such a break, but we had no choice, since Sarcophagus requires a drummer with insane speed and loyalty to grand master SATAN.

Is this a much stronger lineup? Where did you acquire Duane Timlin from? He is a fucking speed-injected necrothrasher indeed.
Andrew: He played in a Milwaukee based death metal band. We offered him to join with us so he moved to Chicago. Yes, he is fucking fast!!

How was the overall response and perception of For We...?
Andrew: Mixed. Some people loyal to us from the demo days were amazed by the debut album, others found it as a shock. All we intended with For We.. was to do something new with black/death metal. Anyways, I like only a few songs on For We.... The songs from the Uebermensch demo on the album we redone without the aggression of the demo, and that was a big disappointment. Anyways, the new album is approaching the sound I have dreamed of for Sarcophagus.

I know you received a lot of criticism for such a change, and were labeled bandwagon jumpers (admittedly the impression I first got when I came across the album first long ago). You've been strong to your beliefs and stuck with this since the beginning, and emerged with a new album that is very dark and ruthlessly brutal. What impressions do you wish to break away from and instead create with this new record?
Andrew: The funniest thing was when For We.. came out all these people all of a sudden decide to show everybody of TRUE they are, calling us false when we have been playing a brutal form of music for years. Whether we play brutal death metal or brutal black metal doesn't matter because we have always HATEFUL and BLASPHEMIC. To call us bandwagon jumpers is ridiculous, considering we have turned down offers from NUCLEAR BLAST and METAL BLADE in favor of staying underground. Anyways, may the wrath of satan fall upon them. I have not forgotten those who backstabbed us, and their bridge with me will forever be burnt. I will always revere those proud individuals who stuck behind us. Satanic brothers like Randy Williams, Shaun Glass, Miika Kuusinen, Jim Bethel, Lance Gifford, etc..

This whole fucking "trueness" thing is so dumb it hurts, however I feel like venting some energy built up from recent frustration. Where the fuck did this shit begin about trying to prove your "trueness"?? I mean you have your "fucking metal" bands like Manowar (hail) talking about how "metal" they are, but that's a totally separate faction, they've been doing that forever. All these kids who suddenly rave about being "true" and constantly talking shit if you don't like this band or that band and don't own Sodom, Bathory, Possessed, Venom, Celtic Frost, etc...I think perhaps this may be a bastardization of what Darkthrone and other such bands had going with "True Norwegian Black Metal" or perhaps the whole "anti-trend" thing, which turned into a trend itself. Again, this is so utterly retarded it is hard for me to make sense out of. Could you perhaps add some comments to help degrade these fucking halfwits...?
Andrew: Rob from Elegy put it best,"I do not even bother with those people. I just tell them straight out that I am false and I listen to Tom Petty." I mean the whole thing is a joke. Usually the people who are so concerned about being true are those newest to the death and black metal undergrounds, and feel they must gain some amount of respect. I see right through them.

Who has written the new material? It has a very ferocious Marduk/Dark Funeral feel to it...
Andrew: I do not understand why everybody compares us to Marduk, because I hate that fucking band! Dark Funeral is OK, there are some songs on Secrets... that are ok, but mostly it is mediocre. To answer your question, the material was written by myself and our bassist Marcus Matthew Kolar.

The reason for the comparison was due to those bands being at the height of speed and anger in this genre. After getting a better feel for Requiem... it becomes obvious you have your own sound. Timlin's fast double bass with the grind-speed snare is so fucking heavy and pounds your head into oblivion with each blast...
Andrew: Yes, I agree... Satan was on our side.

Over what course of time was the material on Requiem... written?
Andrew: Over the course of about 6 weeks. We got Duane into the band and immediately started writing songs. We were not even sure that we would be putting out a second album because we kicked out our last drummer. FUCKING METAL.

When listening to music, what do you find yourself paying attention to mostly? Eventually you absorb the entire piece as one, but are you more partial to any particular elements at first?
Andrew: Yes, I definitely pay attention to the collective unit of the song. I really do not understand these people who listen to an album and only comment or listen for how fast and precise the drummer is playing, for example. The quality of the songs is the most important.

How has working with the new drummer been? Did you seek him because you wanted to move into a very fast, holocaust-speed direction or is his style that introduced this idea?
Andrew: He has been fine so far. We have always lusted to play fast as fuck!! IT FILLS ME WITH ANGER!!

Are the lyrics all yours again? What themes do you envelop this time?
Andrew: I wrote 7 songs lyrically, and Marcus wrote one. The lyrics deal with nihilistic bloodthirst for power and honor...it worships the philosophical death of god and the coming age of intelligence. Here's an excerpt from The Dark Lord Of Impurity:

"Fire, across the sea, the bleeding hearts in hell..
Torture, be my name, writhe in the wings of my pain...
Blasphemy and hatred, contempt in utter hell...
Fall into my wasteland, praise the darkness, eternal...

My pagan land, my pagan heart, I vomit christ from my soul...
The frozen sky infernal pride, lust for the glory of hell..
I live in Satan's wrath, to glorify his name...
Beauty in the death of god, rise, Satan rise..."

What do you think of black metal in America? Has it yet to grow or is the "extremity" not going to hit has hard here? America is a christian society but there are thousands of different sub-societies that have their own ideals and there is a vast mixture of cultures here, satanism seeming to be merely "one" of them now. It's not so tightly ruled by christianity as some European nations...and while the war against christianity is always a good thing, it doesn't seem too "threatening" here anymore because of how desensitized most people are. Musically, death metal reaches the same extremes black metal can...many people aren't ready to jump onto something they don't find any more extreme...that and they just plain don't like the 'sound' of black metal...which is the point in some aspects. Fuck it, I don't know...do you get what I'm saying?
Andrew: On the contrary, I think christianity is much weaker in WESTERN Europe than in America. The morality of christianity still remains dominant in most of America while west-European countries Holland, France, and Germany are more liberal in their embracement of other philosophies. East-Europe, however, is much more conservative (backward) and christianity still governs the lives of most. Peoples of eastern Europe are bound tighter in the chains of christian enslavement, and maybe that is why bands hailing from East Europe like Graveland and Infernum are so extreme and rebellious.

That has become a stupid topic, but I see you as being one of the more leading black metal bands in the U.S.A. should attention shift towards it. This new album really illustrates an enormous amount of anger and hostility, and for some reason it seems to be a big deal when a damn good black metal band emerges from the U.S...
Andrew: Yeah, well, America does not have too much to offer these days. The generic gore-metal bands have ruined the integrity of our scene. The anti-christian movement in America is much more passive. I doubt that many East Coast gore-metal bands consider themselves christian, but they will not glorify its destruction through their music. However, there are some proud warriors in the USA, including Enchanted Sorrow, Black Funeral, Usurper, Cianide (FUCKING HAIL!!), Corpsevomit, Blood Ritual, Wind Of The Black Mountains, Acheron, etc..

Why did you choose to work with Chicago based Pulverizer Records again? Did you receive other offers?
Andrew: A few... We stayed with Pulverizer because Randy has been a trusted comrade of mine for years... Pulverizer has good underground credibility and that is all we want. We are still, however, searching for a new European licensing partner. We will see what the future brings.

You told me previously you aren't planning too many live shows...do you plan to rehearse much more instead, or what will you do with your time? How did the show with Broken Hope and Macabre turn out for you?
Andrew: I would rather spend time rehearsing and writing songs... Live shows are fucking lame. I would do a tour if the bands were decent, but playing stupid bar shows is senseless. The Broken Hope show (we never played with Macabre), was pretty good. Even though our two bands are not at all alike, I get along with a few of them. Shaun (bass player) is a true metal brother and Brian produced our album. I don't know the others too well at all.

What was the basis of Fuckpig?
Andrew: HATRED FOR THE BASTARD CHRISTIAN PIG-SCUM!

Could you give a short (if possible) list of people you'd like to kill & why? What are you preferential methods of death?
Andrew: I have a mental list I will not forget...I am a vindictive bitter bastard and they will get theirs one way or another...A preferable method of death is a SLOW ONE! Keep your victim alive as long as possible and drain is very spirit. Watch him writhe in agony!!

What have you been listening to lately?
Andrew: Here's some of my current favorites... Avenger Shadows Of The Damned advance CD tracks, Graveland Following The Voice Of Blood, Fullmoon United Aryan Evil demo, Blot Mine 1997 DEMO, Intestine BaalismAnatomy Of The Beast, Kraina Bez Waitru/Perunwit split demo, Thy Serpent Lords Of Twilight, Tartaros The Grand Psychotic Castle, Lux Occulta Forever Alone, Immortal, Mortifier Darkness My Eternal Bride, Sorath/Unclean split CD...

Where did you record the new album and are you satisfied with everything? The tape I've heard is a copy of a copy (of a copy perhaps), it sounds very, well, "underground"...this sound seems extremely suitable, is this close to what the CD will sound like?
Andrew: We recorded with Brian Griffin, who has a good deal of experience with metal. I was concerned that he would overproduce our album, though. I told him early on to make sure to maintain a raw sound. I am pleased with the result, although I have yet to hear it on CD.

How many guitar tracks are on the album? it sounds like you'd need more than one other guitarist if trying to do some of these parts live...
Andrew: There are two guitar tracks on the album and yes, to get a full sound we really need two guitarists. Our engineer suggested using more tracks but that just makes the sound more muddy. We needed a crisp guitar sound to expose the sinister rage!

I have always liked the vocal sound from the things I've heard come out of Choice Recording Studio. There don't seem to be any "typical" effects (i.e. reverb, delay) used on your vocals on Requiem..., save for some occasional dual tracks. They are raw and harsh and feel like you're in the same room. Do you do any sort of preparation to get your voice this harsh?
Andrew: I fill my mind with anger!! I think of the dead cunt falling from the cross!!!! HA!!!

Do you agree that HATE IS STRENGTH?
Andrew: My hate burns within me and becomes pure fucking WRATH!!

What about apathy? Hatred fuels a lot of retaliatory action, and although it can be hurtful, it's still some sort of reaction. The christian church among others still view some hope of "redemption" in this since there are feelings still present. Apathy is seen as the worst, because regardless of good or evil, there is no thought nor care of what transpires at all. The apathetic don't fucking give a shit, and there really isn't anything anyone can do about it. Although I cannot encourage hatred enough and I always back activities that help SPREAD THE HATE, it's still dignifying the enemy with a response. Then again... without HATE where would we get inspiration...do you think hatred can grow and grow and burn itself far from any thought of "redemption" or do you think it will eventually end in apathy - apathy backed by hate?
Andrew: I think Apathy exists at its most potentially harmful form in christianity, and christian dogma, which teaches its followers to embrace weaknesses and accept the problems of the world as "god's will". It is really pathetic actually. Inspiration can come from a simple acknowledgement of the truth. The path of the overman is the path to the truth, and consequently the search for the truth will lead to the dismissal of false philosophies such as christianity. My inspiration to spread anti-christianity is the predecessor to hatred for said philosophy.

Christians are taught to turn the other cheek when assaulted. Muslims carry guns to their mosques (obviously not ALL but I have seen this). Would you agree that attacking ISLAM and other militant religions is far more "brave" and even "dangerous" (i.e. Salman Rushdie - hail) than christianity, seeing how they are so much more controlling in their respective regions of the world?
Andrew: Islam is merely are more coercive way to control its people. The religious man is even more dangerous when he is given coercive power, giving subordinates less of an opportunity to follow their own path. In the age of intelligence and strength, the vast super race will take coercive action to free minds from philosophical and moral enslavement. Those who resist or stubbornly cling to their pathetic morality will be subsequently exterminated.

Where, when and how did your hate and contempt begin and develop, if you don't mind sharing?
Andrew: As long as I can remember I found religion to be of the weak and cowardly. Subspecies like those have always disgusted me.

What would you say your natural order of emotion would be... that is, do you think you are naturally skeptical and pessimistic of others, or were you driven to it from once being a content or even "happy" person through dealing with other people's stupid shit/life in general?
Andrew: Since most people on this earth are naturally stupid, it makes sense that I will be naturally skeptical. I have never been a liberal benevolent. A man's worth is proven to me by his strength of character and his acceptance of a moral duty; to destroy the cunt christ forever.

What do you see in store for the new millenium? Do you have any special celebration or other such activity planned?
Andrew: Sociologist expect a new religious upheaval in the next millenium. This bothers me. But I will continue to spread anti christian/nihilist propaganda until I turn to dust.

Do you have any thoughts on the advent of the internet in helping spread this music, such as mp3 trading/emailing & online chatting with bands, etc..? It's nice because the music can get out there so fast, but you will always have people who collect everything on mp3 or whatever and look to that as a first resort to trying anything out vs. tape trading or just BUYING the fucking album (although the average price of such can get a bit expensive when you consider just how much shit is out there)...
Andrew: I support tape trading, I am into it myself. The internet has proven as a great way to spread blasphemous music. I support it totally.

How much adrenaline is pumping through you when you scream "CRUSH THE WHORE DIVINE"?
Andrew: TOTAL FURY!!!

One thing I always revere bands for is the ability to stir memories with their music. I've only had this album a short time, yet I'm reminded of specific sentiments and moments from years past and I enjoy that feeling, it can be dark, lonesome or angry. In any case, it is a very personal feeling and one can feel themselves identifying with the band in a sense. What were you doing when you wrote the slower part with the keyboards that comes about halfway through From the Ruin of Paradise?
Andrew: It was written in the pit of despair. In total darkness and woe.

What inspired The Pagan Battlefield? Where and when was it written?
Andrew: This song was written as a battle cry...All call to heathen brothers to be proud and fight!!

What types of guitars do you own?
Andrew: I have a Carvin V custom... why?

[updated 7/19/98]

Abbas: So this new material, you gonna put it out on EP, CD...what are you gonna do with it?
Andrew: Yeah, it'll probably be an EP. I dunno, might end up releasing it ourselves if we don't get anything serious.

Have you talked to anybody else, other than uh... I mean have you sent this DAT, like have you sent demos of this new material anywhere, like...
Andrew: Yeah a few places, you know...

I mean any places, like even European labels or anything?
Andrew: Yeah, I mean labels that we feel can spread music, but are still like, have some sort of cult status...not like sold out, gay or commercial or something like that.

Did you build, you didn't build your V did you?
Andrew: No, no.

How long have you been playing guitar?
Andrew: Probably about 15 years or so.

How did you start?
Andrew: Um... I dunno man, it just seemed like the right thing to do, you know? Just kinda like lead to that... I started getting into metal, and fuckin'... decided I wanted to try playing an instrument.

(To Marc) how long have you been playing bass, then?
Marc: Um..since about 1990.

Oh ok. When did you guys meet, did you guys meet then or...?
Marc: Me and him met, I met him through an ad at Guitar Center. I was looking for a guitar player and he was looking for a band in about 1992.

Oh okay. (To Duane) and when did you start drums?
Duane: Hmm...about 14 or 15 years ago.

14 or 15 years ago? Who got you started?
Duane: My dad.

Did he play in a band?
Duane: Yeah, he did.

Oh that rules.
Duane: I basically got sat behind the set at a young age.

(To Andrew) Are you gonna do any more Jesus Fucking Christ?
Andrew: No, I doubt it. That's pretty much just a one shot thing just to piss people off.

I saw the 7" at Nightfall up in Minnesota, I was like "what the hell?" Ron mentioned something long time ago, he's like, uh... "yeah I heard he has a side project called Jesus Fucking Christ... we thought it was, we were just dying laughing...
Andrew: We're just fuckin'... you know, It wasn't ever intended to really be serious. It was just to be fuckin'... we were just pissed off at all these fucking bands in Chicago who sound exactly the fucking same, everyone bouncing around...

What year was it again?
Andrew: It was..'94. They all just wanna bounce around like apes, fuckin'..no originality. We're just like "fuck this." We're like, we wanted to do something that would be like... piss off the most people in the shortest amount of time.
Marc: Also it's stuff that we could, that we like to play as musicians, but not necessarily what we wanna do with Sarcophagus. Some bands try to do all their influences in one thing and it just sounds like shit. So... as musicians, you know, there was other things we every now & then wanted to dabble in.
Andrew: JFC was kinda just like a garbage band for everything we wanted to do musically but we couldn't do in the form of heavy metal.

How many did you press up?
Andrew: Of the demo?

Well, the 7" yeah, whatever it was...
Andrew: The 7" was like, I think 300... the demo was maybe, I dunno, 400... barely anything.

When did you guys start becoming, like, I guess, satanic? Or anti-christian, let's say...cause I know I started back when I went to fuckin' schools and after...
Marc: From birth.

From birth?
Andrew: I never ever once considered myself a religious person. I dunno, I just hate people that fuckin' can't live their lives, you know... as just... this is it, you know? They have to have like some kind of stupid gay support. They can't... they'd rather believe in lies and fuckin' live as...you know...it's comfy. And that's always disgusted us, so...
Marc: I had those sorts of philosophies before I even started playing.

Well don't you get kinda irritated with a lot of these kids who start listening to like either black metal or whatever, and then they like, then they start becoming hardasses & they like hate everybody because they fuckin'...their favorite bands do, and it's kinda like, whereas lotta people who are like that and then they listen to the music, you know, it's kinda different...
Marc: Yeah I see what you're saying, it happens. What can you do?
Andrew: There's so many trends...black metal, this whole "true" thing became, fuckin'

I don't know where that started...
Andrew: ...A big deal and like it just spread like a disease, you know. Everyone thinks they're like they're fuckin' more true to music than the next person.
Duane: What about touchin' on the straightedge scene? That's a piece of shit.
Andrew: I agree. That's the biggest hypocritical thing. You can say that all the blackmetal kids are fuckin' followers " trendy, but dude, the biggest fuckin' trend, anti-trend is the fuckin' straight edgers. Do you know any straight edgers over 30? No fuckin' such thing. Cause they're a bunch of hypocrites. Just... they do it... some of them do it for years, but come on, dude... be real. They don't fuckin' not drink coffee, don't fuck before marriage and all that other shit, realistically, for very long. It's just a fuckin' trend when they're in their high school years apparently, and then they got a couple dorks who are their idols who made it out of high school and still do that bullshit.
Duane: Yeah but they're on a little christian kick too...
Marc: Yeah, they're christian and they're, it's so fuckin', they're just trying to do.. it's stupid, it's nothing something they really truthfully believe in, they're just trying to do the opposite of what they think, you know, "generation X" is into or whatever. They're just trying to be "anti" like everybody like.
Andrew: Just people trying to find an identity, you know? But as far as Sarcophagus being a satanic band, we're not really a satanic band, we're like more "satanic sympathizers", because satanism really is... to me, is just, LaVeyan satanism is pretty much just spiritualized nihilism. Cause it doesn't perceive Satan as a living god in opposition to a god that actually exists... it's like, nihilism and satan just kinda represent their opposition. Satan just represents their cause against christianity, basically, and they use ritual just to bring emotion into the whole thing. Cause nihilism is not a very emotional philosophy, it's very... very straight, you know.
Marc: Yeah. But we're definitely negative people. I mean, before any of us were musicians... if none of us became musicians, I'm sure we'd all be either in prison or you know, something.
Andrew: If we didn't have this band, we'd probably be very frustrated people waiting to unleash our aggression.
Marc: I'd be doing something negative anyway. Totally. I'd be drawing pictures that were nasty... or I'd be doing, you know, kiddie porn, or I'd be doing...(laughs)
Duane: He's scrubbing his sack and shaving it.

Hey, to each their own, you know..?
Duane: (laughs)

You look at...I keep bringing Euronymous up all the time, but you look at a lot of what he said...and he's just like, you know, things like when he said "it's always good when someone dies, no matter who" and things like that...
Andrew: Who's this, Euronymous?

Yeah. And the thing is, it seems like the guy was like, just anti-everyone. Like evil again evil, evil against good, blah blah blah...
Andrew: He was just an extremist, you know?

Well, right...
Andrew: I don't think he really knew himself what he believed, he was just an extremist.

He was just trying to piss people off?
Andrew: He was an extremist. He just...
Marc: Yeah, I agree with that.
Duane: I don't give a fuck.

Well, I kinda wonder, cause you have a lot of bands that, especially either... any hateful, satanic, death, black, whatever band. You know, they'll preach about [with] their lyrics... they want the rise of satan, they want a new age where their brethren will rule, and the christian will fuckin'... [remain] underneath. That's kinda like the similar thing, whereas the christians are ruling now, and they're ruling, you know, they're oppressing everybody else. But it's like, these guys don't really... the people who claim to be evil, they're not evil just for the sake of hurting people for absolutely no reason. They just want to hurt who they're against, and they want, you know, all the good things for their brethren. So it's like, it's, I think it's very rare...
Andrew: It's benevolence, but benevolence only to the people that are fighting on their side. Malevolence towards the opposition.

Yeah, which is...but that, that seems exactly what christianity is, even though it preaches against it. It's like, you know, "love your brother" but then again, they're always like... it's just kinda like they're both fighting the exact same fight, it just depends on what side you wanna support. Whereas, where evil people... it's kinda like, you just saw some guy walking down the street. You just fuckin'... you just went and beat the hell out of him, for absolutely no reason. Not cause you like him, not cause you hate him, just cause you wanna be an asshole.
Andrew: Well the thing is... our music, our philosophy... worships a kind of lifestyle that's not like, with the lies of christianity. We just don't agree with christian philosophy, basically. I mean, we feel that there's a better way to live and a better way for the world to be run, you know, and it doesn't involve mercy and the benevolence of christians, you know?

Yeah.
Andrew: And the thing is...there's so many other things you can talk about with christianity. I mean, it's destroyed all kinds of like, science & technology... it just resists anything that could possibly oppose it.

You think there's any hope that it's gonna be like, weakened, or no?
Duane: Never.
Marc: What's that?

You think there's any hope of it actually being weakened, or is that gonna involve people actually opening their eyes?
Duane: I think it'll be out and about for... forever.
Marc: What, christianity?
Duane: Totally...
Marc: ...Cause throughout history you've had all sorts of religions that lasted. The Romans lasted a lot longer than American civilization. There were religions that were a lot older than christianity that died. It's just the scope is so large...
Duane: Ok how about this... not in our lifetime.
Marc: Exactly. Sooner or later, it will die. Whether's it's because humans die or something else finally fucking comes about. If you look at history, there's more religions that were way more than 2,000 years old or 3,000 years old.
Andrew: Christianity has somehow has been able to survive from archaic times. It's got this remarkable ability to survive. I mean it's archaic religion, it's from antiquity. It managed to work its way out of the middle east and just fuckin' destroy the world.
Marc: Well it's got a lot of built in saving mechanisms. Its little doctrine has so many ins and outs in it that it can adapt to the next generation, you know what I mean? Where, like, when you have your older religions that had gods that were the elements, sooner or later people figured out that the wind is not a god, there's no... you know what I mean? That just became... It just didn't work for their lives anymore.
Duane: We gotta get rid of it all, not just christians.
Marc: Oh I agree.
Duane: Protestants, all that shit...
Andrew: Well the thing is, also...they keep revising the bible also.
Duane: ...Lutherans, fucking cocksucking fuckers...
Andrew: They keep revising it, then they revise it and go, "oh wait I thought-----
Duane: ...Fuck the muslims...and the fuckin' buddhists...

The muslims seem more militant, you know?
Duane: Well yeah, but they still got their.. it's still along the same path...
Marc: yeah but humans naturally are gonna want something like that. It's never gonna be nothing, we're all just gonna walk around atheists... it'll never happen. It's just the human innate nature, like you said, they need that comfort zone.
Andrew: But the ideal of nihilism is to overcome that need.

Well consider this, it's basically like, let's go back to musically, like...do you feel, when you argue stuff, do you try to get it more towards like younger kids to like basically open their eyes up? Cause it's kinda pointless arguing against adults now, you know? Adults are all set in their fuckin' ways...
Marc: They're already set in their ways...

Right. And so, if you try to basically, I just like, you know what I mean...all the fuckin' cops, the judges, everybody else that I have problems with...i'm like you know what, there's nothing you can do to like adults at this point, you're powerless. If you want to hurt them, you corrupt their children.
Duane: I think it's directed to whoever's gonna...
Marc: Whoever will listen!
Andrew: Whoever will listen.

Right, but I mean basically you have to...
Dan: It's good to tell kids, but I mean the kids aren't gonna cause they listen to their parents or...

I dunno, kids like rebel a lot, you know? So it's like, it seems like if you can get your message out to the kids, because...
Duane: Everybody goes through their own rebellion at one time.
Dan: It'll take 'em a while but it might...
Duane: Everybody rebels and gets rebellious at some point.

Everybody I come across is pretty, you know, they're kinda, much more much more liberal than their parents were, they're always pushing it, but obviously there's a lotta kids out there that are still like, you know they end up just like their parents when they're older which is not a good thing.
Andrew: They're still in the dark ages...

Yeah, and it's kinda disheartening, it's like, well do you actually wanna bother with it or do you wanna just kinda leave it alone and go do your own fucking shit, if someone asks then you actually tell 'em.
Marc: Hmm....

Well how often do you guys rehearse?
Marc: If we're lucky, once a week.

Once a week? For how long?
Marc: Maybe an hour and a half, two hours.
Andrew: Go through the set.

(To Andrew) And you still practice at your house?
Andrew: Yeah.
Duane: Depends on the day.
Marc: If we're writing, a little longer, if we're just rehearsing for shows it's going through the set once and that's it.

Oh okay. So how long did it take these two songs to be written, the brand new ones?
Marc: He [Andrew] wrote 'em pretty quick. We wrote them both in the same week I think.
Duane: Yeah we did it in about a week.

Are you writing new stuff all the time?
Andrew: No we go through spurts...
Marc: Spurts where it's tons and then it's dry spells.

Oh okay. Are you guys all working also then?
Marc: I work...
Andrew: Yeah...
Dan: *shrugs* Sorry...

Where'd you [Dan & the others] guys hook up?
Marc: He [Dan] just kinda started showing up...
Andrew: (laughs)
Marc: We said, "well, fuck, bring your guitar I guess since you're here already." How'd you [Dan] get in, anyway?
Andrew: He played in Euphoric Evisceration...

Oh okay.
Andrew: And he was at all the shows, so we decided on it.
Marc: It occurred he was a cool fuckin' guy and he said he could play guitar and we needed a guitar player...
Dan: I "said" I could play guitar...
Marc: And he was right...
Dan: Well that's good.
Marc: ...He rocks.

Now are you guys trying to plan to set something up... [At this point some guy name Jim who mentioned he was a member of a local band called Miscreants came walking by and began talking for a while about how much he liked Sarcophagus' performance and how he remembered them from "old school" and how he'd like to set up a show with them sometime. He wanted them to make sure they exchanged phone numbers later. He was rather drunk and kept going on for a while...it was fun while it lasted I guess, and I have no fucking clue why I kept the tape going other than to appreciate the moment. He had some cool stuff to say, though. In the future I may go and transcribe this part and add it on for a future version of this 'zine, but right now I'm just concentrating solely on the band at large. It passed after a little while and he went inside, whereupon I resumed...]
Duane: Yeah we'll be there in a little bit.
Jim: Yeah I'll be in there.
Duane: All right.

Oh shit, where did we leave off?
Dan: Sorry, I could not tell you buddy. You gotta rewind half the tape to find out...
Duane: No, we left off after talking about where he came.

Yeah, yeah where he met you guys...
Dan: I talked to this guy [Andrew]. I asked him if they needed a guitarist, he said no. And then I talked to him again, he said yeah. So he lied to me.
Andrew: (Laughs)
Duane: (laughs)
Andrew: Dude you played bass. We thought you were being a big joker.
Duane: We seen him at Smiler's with Fleshgrind.
Dan: Then I went to this guy Marc's house and I fuckin' learned a song or something.
Andrew: Marc calls me up, he's like, "man that guy sucks."
Dan: (laughs)
Andrew: (laughs)
Marc: But he fucks so good...

[that lead into an silly inside joke that I'm not going to bother printing]
(laughing) Holy shit. Are you down here every weekend now?
Duane: ahh...when I get down here, I'm here.

Are you going to school or then or no?
Duane: (shakes head) Just doin' my thing. Yeah...

You still practice every day on your own still?
Duane: Nope.

Oh okay. You get enough from this?
Duane: Yeah I know...

Can I take lessons from you still?
Duane: What's that?

Can I take lessons from you?
Duane: Sure!

Okay cool. What about plans after Metalfest?
Duane: Minneapolis.
Marc: Do a lot more shows... fuckin' jam, yeah. Hopefully come out with an EP or something in the future, soon.
Andrew: Yeah.

Are you guys in touch with a lot of other bands, too?
Duane: Ehh...sort of.
Andrew: I dunno, the splittings of the factions in Chicago has kinda like put us in the middle.
Marc: Very political around here.

Yeah. You're cool with everyone but it's like you can't really take, you don't take sides with anything.
Marc: We try not to get in these little squabbles that everybody has.

Yeah I know what you mean.
Marc: It's very silly.

One last thing...if I'm cool with someone, like friends with them, I'll get into their band a lot easier. I think they're a cool person so I'll just like their band, unless it really, really sucks. Then I'll be like, "ok I can't listen to this..."
Marc: You can't help but do that a little bit, sure...

I know, I'm sure. But it's like, now if you dislike someone, like I was just...a friend asked me, "Why are you wearing a Burzum shirt? If that guy saw you on the street he'd just kill you." I'm like, "Yeah, I know..." I'm like...
Marc: But musically you like what he does...

Yeah, exactly. I put the image aside, I have to concentrate on the music. I had to stop listening to Burzum for a while cause I was getting so sick of the interviews. I'm just like, "this guy's so fucking...he's annoying the piss out of me," so I stopped. But then I'm like, you know, I can't cause this guy's music is so amazing. So it's like, if you dislike someone, do you find it hard to like, I mean do you have to stop listening to them, like, "fuck you, you're stupid, I'm not gonna listen to your shit..."
Marc: No, I know bands that I think that they're dicks but I like their music.

Okay, that's cool, you can put the image aside and be like...
Dan: Look at Deicide.
Marc: The thing that sucks is...
Dan: I don't know them personally but if they're big assholes, it's like who really gives a fuck?
Andrew: And who says if you're in a metal band, you have to be a nice guy?

Well, right, but I mean even then, I think the main thing is if you think...
Andrew: I mean I get turned off by the music sometimes if someone's a fuckin' idiot, you read their interview and they're some fuckin' asshole, you know? I get turned off.

Cause the music is like an extension of them...
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Marc: What's harder than that is when you're friends with people who are in bands, and you don't like their band. And, they don't like your band. And I can be cool with that, I don't give a fuck, but I have a lot of friends who apparently don't like my band, and I don't care for their shit. And then like, if they sit around and make jokes about my shit, I don't get upset. But then, fuck if I make one little fuckin' comment about their band, they flip out.
Duane: I see where that one's going...
Marc: No no, it's who you're thinking, either. There's a lot of...
Duane: (laughs)
Marc: There's a lot of people that I hang out with that I've noticed that. I'll get little shots all the time, they expect me to just be cool with it, and then you know if I make one little joke, then I'm some sort of fuckin' dick.
Andrew: Yeah we're completely confident in our music. I mean people are gonna do whatever the fuck they want.
Marc: Yeah dude I don't give a fuck about anybody if they like it or not. I know we fucking crush, dude. Just because we're not their thing, I don't give a fuck...
Andrew: No I respect somebody more if they come up and give me an honest opinion.
Marc: Totally.
Duane: Yeah.
Andrew: I hate sugar-coating fuckin' assholes who, when you turn your back...
Duane: Exactly.
Andrew: ...they say something completely different.

Yeah. Yeah I know that rather well.
Marc: How many times have I said to people that we know, where I was being honest, but I wasn't being a dick about it. And I get like little, "whoa, now you did it!"
Duane: You do it every day.
Marc: Okay.

[some last minute additions]

Have you considered getting a keyboardist for live performances?
Andrew: Yes, but we just have not found the right person yet. We have been struggling for the past months to get our live shows tight with what we have. When things settle down this winter we will try harder to find someone. It would be good because keyboards are a part of our music on CD so they should also be present live.

Would you be upset if I say that Requiem... is the album Dark Funeral fans should look to for more anger & aggression & this style of sound instead of the Vobiscum Satanas?
Andrew: No, I would not be upset. Strangely enough I would consider us to be in the Dark Funeral/Marduk vein even through I really do not like either band all that much. Dark Funeral does have some good ones on their debut, but Marduk always bored me. We really try to write memorable songs, but with the wrath of evil behind them!

Are there any particular guitarists & musicians you look up to or that inspire you/got you really interested in wanting to play guitar?
Andrew: Not really. I never really cared for the technical aspects of playing guitar. Flashy guitar gods don't impress me. I'd rather listen to someone who can write a song. I'd rather listen to Burzum than Satriani for sure.

Where do you write most of your music? Do you come up with most stuff alone & present it to the others, or do you just jam with the band and write stuff all together?
Andrew: Most of the songs I write are done on my own, then I bring the riffs to the band and we arrange it into a song. I am not sure how Marcus writes but I suspect it is in the same way. Fucking metal.

HAIL TO YOU and THANK YOU again. LAST WORDS OF HATE???
Andrew: Hail the true underground of metal! Fuck commercialism... Our music has nothing to do with that... no compassion... no mercy... just pure fucking metal.