UNBURIED Interview with Matt and Rebecca I remember that Mark used to be in Excrescent with his brother, but what about the rest of you? Have you been in any bands before Unburied? Matt- I was in a band in high school called Torment. We played thrash/metal. Rebecca- I've never been in a band before, actually I never even knew that I could sing until shortly before I joined Unburied! Is Matt as big a guy as he looks in his pictures? He looks quite intimidating. M -Thanks!!! R- Yeah, Matt's a pretty big dude. He's a nice guy to have on your side! A lot of people find him unapproachable, but I guess that's not a bad thing since most people are pieces of shit anyway. So who does most of the writing of the music for Unburied? M- I do most of the writing. I put a lot of care into the material. R- I help out with the lyrics and ideas for our material. I came up with the idea to do "Kill" and the outro sample from Sling Blade. Are you all fascinated by death and gore films? Some of your imagery on the demo are rather nasty (in the positive sense). Who comes up with all that stuff? M -I like gore/horror and mobster movies. I came up with the concept for the cover art on both of our demos and Mark drew them. I love the sight of gore and sickness. R- Mark does all the artwork, but Matt comes up with the concept of the drawings. Matt and I even posed for the "Tortured Remains" cover. He was the butcher and I was the victim getting hacked up. As far as gore movies go, yes I love gore! I'm particularly fond of old rotting decay and puss, but fresh death is good too. I've always wondered this about bands of this style: Are you trying to out-gross the other gore/death bands? Is it like a friendly competition to see who can make people want to puke the most? M -Personally, I don't think of it as a competition. I think a lot of the bands who think of their music as a competition lose the originality in their music. We try to be somewhat original in Unburied, though it's impossible to be 100% different than all the other bands out there. We do our own thing. R- I don't think of it as a competition. I just like seeing, hearing and thinking about gory shit, so why not have it in the music. Is Mike Riddick involved with the band at all or does he just take the band photos? M -Mike does the photos and he is also designing a web site for Unburied at this time. Mike is going to videotape the shows we're playing, he's supportive of the band in several ways. R- He also controls the fog machine for our shows!! Do you find it any harder to gain respect from the death metal community because of the fact that you are female? Do a lot of guys write just because there's a female vocalist? M -I think it's good that we have Rebecca, she fits the music perfectly. Some people don't like the idea of a female vocalist in death metal…fuck `em!!! I'm sure that some of the people that have written to us because we have a female singer. R- I think that I get more respect from the death metal community than I would if I were a guy. The only rejection I've ever had was from some dude in Texas who refused to review "Tortured Remains" in his `zine because he "doesn't trust females in extreme music". I think a lot of guys write only because I'm a chick singer, because it's something different. Which bands are you listening to lately? Any `zines you really like? M -I'm listening to Exodus, Unborn, Vader, Ataytsm, Crucifier, Hatred, Carrion Crawler, Landfill, Sacralis, Deceased, Next Step Up, Internal Bleeding, Repulsion, and a bunch of other shit!!!! D.B.N. Mag is great so check it out! I like Toxic Flyer Fanzine. It's mostly punk, but there's a wide range of music styles in the review section and Billy is cool. He sent me a Toxic Flyer pin and he gave me some M.D. club contact numbers!! Thanks Billy, I put the pin on my leather. R- Jesus Anal Penetration, Regurgitation, Vital Remains, Banished, Cyanosis, Depressor, Brighter Death Now, Sludge, etc. A couple of `zines I really like are Satan's Candy Basket and Endomedia Fanzine. What would you say distinguishes Unburied from all the other bands that are doing the gore/death thing? M -The style of Unburied has elements of Death metal, thrash, grind, sludge-core and industrial. We have a style that stands out well. We have a brutal female as a lead vocalist along with my blunt hardcore vocals, and Mark's sick spews. We use drums programmed of the keyboard, along with some samples from various videos. We play heavy, brutal grooves that are slow and mid paced and we have fast blast beats, in our music too. The style we play is a bit different than a lot of the bands in the death/gore/grind genre. R- I think the drum machine is unique for a death metal band to use, and I've never heard any other band mix vocal styles like we do. How did you get into this style of music? What is it about it that makes you want to listen to it? Do you listen to any other styles? M -I love extreme metal music. When I was in elementary school in third grade, I started listening to bands like Motley Crue, Metallica, Twisted Sister, and Black Flag. In high school I started listening to some death metal, and industrial metal. Now, I like a wide range of metal. Metal is pleasing to my ears. I listen to death, gind, crust, thrash, sludge, industrial, hardcore….. R- I'm not really sure how I got into death metal. I guess it was when I was 14 or 15 and one of my friends introduced me to Cannibal Corpse….I was hooked!! Death metal expresses how I feel perfectly. I also like classic rock and classical/opera music. Where was "Tortured Remains" recorded? Who produced it? M -Tortured Remains, was recorded on Mark's -track in the dungeon! Demon lord Mark Riddick produced it. R- It turned out sounding a lot better than I had expected! The demo has two new songs and two old ones from before you joined right? Were the old songs completely re-recorded? Were there any changes made to the songs? M -The new Unburied songs are called "Tortured Remains" and the other song is called "Kill". We also did a song called "Abraxas Annihilation" by Integrity. The two songs that we have re-done and re-recorded are called "How You Died" and "Two Faced Murders". We did make a few changes in the re-recorded songs. The songs sound a lot better than they did on the first demo. The "Tortured Remains" demo is a big improvement and we are getting great compliments on the release. R -Matt added a new riff to "How You Died" and changed the tempo a little bit, but otherwise the songs are the same. Were you totally happy with how it turned out? Any changes you'd like to make? M -I think the demo turned out very well. R- I was very fucking happy with it! I kind of wish we had had a drummer. But there isn't any changes I would have made. Any idea when you'll release something new? Planning on shopping the demo around a bit to see if you get a deal of some sort? M -We plan on doing a seven inch. We plan on sending the "Tortured Remains" demo out to those who get in touch, but we're not sending them to labels unless they contact us. R- That's exactly what we are doing. I don't know when we'll release something new, it depends on our cash flow (as always), so right now we're promoting the shit out of "Tortured Remains". Any new songs titles? M- No, not yet. We have the music for a new song completed, but no lyrics have been written. We've been busy with mail and rehearsing the live set, etc. What do you have available in the way of merchandise? M -We have Tortured Remains shirts for sale. We have long sleeves ($18 US, $20 world) and short sleeves ($13 US, $15 world). The cover art is on the front along with a sick picture on the back! All art work is done by Mark Riddick. We also have the "Tortured Remains" demo for sale ($5 US, $6 world), and the first demo ($3 US, $4 world). I'm also selling one of the comps we have been featured on: L.M.N.F. Comp. ($2 US, $3 world). We've been featured on two comps since the release of Tortured Remains, the Mudball Records-Elemental Chaos and the Swamp Comp!!! If you would like a copy of one or both of these comps, please send a blank tape and $3. What's coming up for Unburied? M -We are playing a couple of shows this month. The first on is a basement show, the we play the Kremlin Core Death Fest. The fest is in Springfield, V.A. at Jaxx. I just got the latest update on the bands playing: Deceased, Unburied, Relentless, Hatred, Cyborium, Dying Fetus, Corpse Vomit, Tortured. R- We might be getting a drummer! One of my friends was playing drums for a local death metal band but they broke up recently. He saw our live set and said he would like to learn our stuff. I hope things work out, but if they don't, I still like the drum machine. Any final words? M -A serial rapist is near. The have been multiple rapes about fifteen minutes from where I live. Stay sick!!!!! Everyone, get in touch!!!! Support all underground music or die mother fuckers! Thanks for the interview! UNBURIED P.O. Box 301, Herndon. VA. 20172 U.S.A. |