Death Angel's Rob Cavestany on His Signature Riff, Latest Album & That Damn Burger Ad

Image lifted from deathangel.us

A while back, I had the pleasure of interviewing Death Angel’s Rob Cavestany for High Times magazine and was truly impressed by how friendly and chill he was. Before we knew it, our conversation exceeded what could ever be committed to print, so below are essentially the outtakes from our talk. Most surprising tidbit I learned? Apparently Rob thinks the riff to “I’m Bored” is overrated. Read on!

ZT: What were your expectations for Death Angel when you first got back together?
RC: We had no goals at all. It was only the immediate goal as to why we reunited in the first place, which was to play the benefit show for Chuck Billy [2001’s Thrash of the Titans]. We didn’t even exist when that benefit show was being set up.

Then we played the show, and, of course, it was so killer… Then we started getting offers and offers. Still, we were just going to close it up, then all of a sudden we got asked to play the Dynamo festival in Holland –we headlined that thing in 1990 on the Act III tour, so for us, it was one of monumental shows of our career. So then we were like, OK, we’ll do the one show in Holland, and that’s it. Then it just went on and on and on. We couldn’t stop after that happened.
 
What does your latest album title, The Dream Calls For Blood, mean to you?
The title is kind of our mantra at this point; the dream being our band, and the blood that it calls for is the sacrifice. The blood, sweat and tears, the ridiculously hard work and your life that you pour into the efforts of something that you really want to make happen very badly. Anybody can put their story to that kind of thing. 

For a long time, you were used to playing with family. How is the vibe different now?
At the beginning, it was extremely different and very bizarre, because I was used to playing with the original members for most of my life. In time, I grew to be familiar with the different styles that these guys play, and their personalities. Now, it’s like they are family, they just look different. They’re our less brown family members.

Do you still see the ex-members of the band at family gatherings?
I actually hung out with Andy [Galeon, original drummer] a couple of times recently. Andy’s got a couple of kids, I've got one kid, and our kids don’t even know each other, which is really sad because we were the closest of brothers. 

Our entire relationship revolved around our music, so now that we weren’t in the same band together, there was just an uncomfortable silence of nothingness, of trying to avoid discussing music when we’d see each other. They know I'm still doing all this stuff. In the end, it caused us to lose complete contact with each other. I practically didn’t talk to those guys for a year straight or more. We’re now starting to say hi… Andy’s oldest daughter is as old now as he was when he was already playing shows.

Technology has changed the music landscape in the last decade or so, do you think it’s helped or hurt the scene?
Obviously, the Internet helped with the ability to download and share files quickly, and has helped spread music quickly. But it hurts the recording musician and the songwriter, in a way that you just can't sell music very much anymore. So it depends on how you use it, but it’s unstoppable… so you gotta figure out how to play the game within the rules that have been shed forth.

What was your experience with having a "viral" demo back in the day?
The Kill As One demo was produced by Kirk Hammett. We played with Slayer and Overkill in New York at the Ritz [nee Webster Hall] before we even had an album out based on our demo tape. And when we got out to NY for the first time and played, all these kids were singing the lyrics to our songs! That was only possible because of tape trading… because we mailed it to them - one by one. I was sitting there duping off them tapes and mailing them from my house. That was a little bit more magical… everything felt more exciting when you finally did hold your first album. Now, every kid can make a CD out of their bedroom, no problem.
 

Any thoughts on the current thrash revival?
The style and the music holds its own because that energy doesn’t go away. The same reasons that we were drawn to it all those years ago is the same thing that can happen to any fucking kid of that age now, then, whenever. It’s got that youthful angst, but its also got musicality for musicians who want to geek out. My kid loves thrash, and he’s 7 years old.

Tell us about the signature riff to Frolic Through the Park's “Bored.”  
I wrote that riff as a joke.That song was never even going to be on Frolic, it was completely a joke. Friends of ours were like, "You have to put that song on your album!" At first we were laughing at the idea of it, like, "That’s not a metal song at all!" But then we did, and now it's become the song that we get defined by. Its not my favorite song of ours, but I'm glad that we have at least something like that at all. 

When you see old performance footage or listen to old live albums, what goes through your head?
When I see videos of us from back then... obviously we were way younger, but we’re way better live now. And we pay more attention to playing better. We used to swing around our hair a lot back then, but we actually go off on the stage much more so now. We’re in way better shape than we were back then. Back then we were just skinnier, we have stamina nowadays. 

And I can't let you go without bringing up the Carl's Jr. commercial that used your song, "The Ultra-Violence."
Carl’s Jr. –  Yeah, haha. I still haven’t gotten a free jalapeno turkey burger out of it [laughs], but seeing it on TV was such a kick. Everybody was blowing up my phone. I never got down to the bottom of why us and why that song. It seems pretty coincidental that we were touring for the 25th anniversary of our debut album, The Ultra-Violence. We re-released it and we were playing it beginning to end live.

I was with my parents, my wife and my kid watching the Golden Globes and they cut away to commercial, and that’s the commercial that came on! When it happened, it was a glorious moment in achievements…. My music being played on a Carl Jr.'s commercial!

The Dream Calls For Blood

What an insane whirlwind this month has been! Working on a recap of all the marquee artists I caught in September. I also filed my High Times profile of Death Angel, more than a year after I first spoke with founding guitarist Rob Cavestany, who was a blast to chat with. Look for the outtakes Q&A here as well.

Until then, check out the trailer for their new album, The Dream Calls For Blood. Having listened to it on repeat, I absolutely co-sign for it.

Leftover Sludge

Photo by Samantha Marble

As much as I love the instant gratification of digital media, there really is nothing like seeing your name in print. And though I've kept busy reviewing records and doing the occasional filler piece, it's been a while since I had time to write a full page worth of copy. 

What got me out of my slump was one of my favorite all-time bands, Eyehategod. Though nothing pleased me more than getting them ink in HIGH TIMES, it was much harder than I imagined to craft the article. I wanted to give them their proper due, but I also knew I had to make them a little cuddlier for the HT crowd. (This is the same audience that doesn't always understand why you'd want to taint a photo of giant nugs with a chick in a bikini.) In the end, I hope I succeeded and the band digs it, then goes on to make the comeback record of 2012.

But, of course, there were word restrictions. Naturally I dorked out on Jimmy Bower and Michael Williams during their interviews, and probably have enough material for a hefty Q&A outtake post... which I might do eventually. But for now, I wanted to keep it light—and with all respect to the band—present five completely random Eyehategod omitted quotes without including any context. It's just more fun that way.

"I never thought we'd have a tribute album. I kept thinking, 'Why did they want to do this?' That's a really cool thing to have right there." — Michael Williams 

"The first time we went to Amsterdam in ’93, we got really high on Northern Lights and walked around. Eyehategod’s a really short band, and everybody in Holland is very tall with those ching, ching, ching bicycle bells." — Jimmy Bower 

"Yeah, the guy from Eyehategod likes cats..." — MW

 

"I used to read that magazine [XXL]... It's an easy magazine to get in jail." — MW

"Not to sound egotistical, but maybe newer fans think we’re like the new Black Flag, kinda? But I don’t want to pat myself on the back. When we play, it’s like, 'let’s Flag this bitch off.'"— JB

 

For the full Eyehategod feature, check out the November 2011 issue of HIGH TIMES, which also includes an interview with Phil Anselmo.

Props to Samantha Marble and Earsplit PR.

Eyehategod Tuesday

Now that I've pried myself away from the latest Charlie Sheen meme, I'm settling in to start on one of my most dreaded tasks ever: transcribing. But it's all worthwhile, since it's for a feature on Eyehategod. Besides getting them a much-deserved full page in High Times, it presented an opportunity for me have a good long chat with frontman Michael Williams, someone I've admired ever since my internship at the pot mag at age 20.

I also used to stalk him from afar. OK, not really. During the '90s in NYC, there was a district flush with magazine publishers that stretched along Park Avenue South, from Union Square all the way through the lower 30s, and west to 5th Avenue. Through a piece of misdirected mail, I discovered that the iconic Metal Maniacs was directly across the street from HT, a mere three-minute walk away. This was during the classic Katherine Ludwig era, with Alicia Morgan and Williams rounding out the editorial staff. While I never saw the elusive Ludwig, I'd find myself running into Mike at the deli between 16th and 17th streets that once housed Max's Kansas City (all the while avoiding Source staffers who stuck out like sore thumbs with their giant diamond chains). And though I never had the balls to dork out on him while on line to pay for my salad bar plate, I'm almost certain at one point he shot a "the fuck you looking at?" look my way.

We've crossed paths at several of his shows since, but I still never got to ask him all the stuff I've always wanted to as a journalist and fangirl. And the interview went better than I could have imagined. So while I suck it up and transcribe, enjoy some Southern-style sludgecore on me.

Karma to Burn: The Long Version, Pt 3

Check out Parts 1 and 2, then get 'er done here.

Which one thing do you wish you knew back then?
RM: What we didn’t know back then is you really can’t force lyrics onto an existing piece of work. We went in and recorded a record instrumentally, then Roadrunner’s idea was to get someone to sing on top of what was already there, rather than have us sit down and rewrite all the songs and record them for vocals. We worked with a couple of producers, and no one ever suggested that as a thing to do. [Laughs.] We had no idea.

WM: We went at it as hard as we could in the ’90s, and people kicked us in the dick every fuckin’ time we had a chance to shine. We tried to do what we wanted to do, yet people always wanted to change that or manipulate us.

How do you feel about the term “stoner rock”?
WM: The first time we heard of the term, Rich and I hadn’t even smoked pot yet.

RM: I like it. I always liked it. I liked it for a different reason back in the day because people would always bring us weed, which was great. Now I enjoy it because it was its own little thing back then and it was cool to be a part of it.

The first single off Appalachian Incantation, “Waiting on the Western World,” features Year Long Disaster vocalist Daniel Davies. What made that song so special?
RM: We actually wrote it for vocals. It was our first time where we sat down and wrote a song with a singer. He also plays guitar on that song.

Karma to Burn and Year Long Disaster are touring right now, but Rob is filling in for drummer Brad Hargreaves in YLD [who had a conflicting tour with his “day” band, Third Eye Blind] and Daniel is playing guitar with KTB. What’s that like?
RM: It’s all merging into one band. [Laughs.] It was really fun to do that one song with Daniel, so we thought we’d try to do some more stuff along those lines and do it soon… like record a whole record this year. The four of us are really good together, so we want to pursue that no matter which name we use, it’s all the same guys. It’ll be fun.

What’s the oddest thing about being back on the road?
RM: The weirdest thing is we have so many kids at the shows, and I thought it would be all be older people. That’s kind of great.

What are you out to prove this time around?
RM: We just have musical goals. I just want to show that our band can do exactly what I thought we could do back in ’99, when everyone was like, “you gotta check this band out”… and take it to a higher level.

Read Parts 1 and 2 here.

Karma to Burn: The Long Version, Pt 2

Read part 1 first, then get back here.

What went through your mind during those weeks between exchanging phone numbers?
WM: It was burning a hole in me. [I kept thinking] even if we don’t get back together, I still need to talk to them. It had been seven years since I talked to either of them. But I did it on my terms.

What was that first conversation like?
WM: It went well. It was something I’d never done before. Getting back with Rich—especially Rich—I really had to sit down and face the facts: Am I gonna live with this anger all my life? And the answer is no. There’s no sense in going through life being angry at someone.

Rich started off apologizing. I said: We all know what we all did. If we want to do this, let’s just forget about it and move forward. I think the first words out of his mouth were, “Thank God.”

RM: I needed to talk to Will man to man, just about all the past stuff that I did when I quit the band. [Sighs.] Mistakes were made, bad decisions were made while high. I wanted to talk to him, but he didn’t want to talk to me and I knew it. I waited patiently.

What were those first new rehearsals like?
WM: When they got out [of rehab] and we started playing again, they reminded me of the people I played with in the first place.

Even though we hadn’t played together in seven years, getting back and writing with those guys didn’t feel like we missed a step at all. It seems like the material that we wrote recently would have happened if we could’ve kept our act together.

RM: We were so close [at one point], we had been together almost every day for about 10 years straight. There was so much history between us that it was just so easy to just go right back to the music. We pretty much grew up learning how to play together.

Now, go to Part 3!

Barbara Walters, I'm Not

I've never had any ambition for fame—power and money, yes—but I'd happily take those two if it meant never having to be recognized in sweatpants at CVS in the middle of the night. Perhaps this is the reason I've been so hesitant to capitalize my journalistic skills on camera, as opposed to the happy anonymity I enjoy with a simple byline.

Still, when a special band like Municipal Waste comes along, you just have to make an exception. So this past summer, I took a ride out to the Earache office in Queens so I could conduct a rare video interview for HIGH TIMES.



I'm fairly certain Barbara Walters never read her interview questions off an iPhone. Either way, enjoy!

Happy 420

Smoke 'em if you got 'em! And if you're in NYC, don't forget to check out HIGH TIMES' official party. More info available right HERE.

SxSW '09: The Sights and Sounds, Pt. II

Here are some snapshots of notable shows I saw last week... For the full set, click here.

The Bronx at the Brooklyn Vegan Party / Emo's


Mariachi El Bronx / Red 7 Patio




Kylesa at Full Metal Texas / Emo's Annex


Hull at The End Showcase / Ale House




Earthless with J Mascis/ Habana Calle 6



Year Long Disaster / Red 7




Tricky/ Austin Music Hall




Devo / Austin Music Hall


Gallows/ Latitude 30


Blower at the HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards / Red 7


Mario/Earthless at the HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards / Red 7


Triple 6 Reunion at the HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards / Red 7


Bang Camaro / Beauty Bar


Priestess at the HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards / Red 7


Explosions In The Sky / Auditorium Shores


PJ Harvey & John Parish / Stubb's

SxSW Recap

Before I head out to the airport to resume my life in brick-cold NYC, I wanted to share a quick breakdown of my recent Austin activities.

First off, the HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards were a triumphant success. All the bands who played—including Year Long Disaster, Blower, Graveyard BBQ, Black Water Rising, Earthless and Priestess—were absolutely fantastic. And some notable locals like Nick Oliveri, Kings X's Doug Pinnick and the Sword guys showed up to party (and in the latter's case, it was a chance to pick up the world's only award you can smoke out of).

The Sword Accepting Their Doobie Award

Bobby Black Joins Blower Onstage

In four days, I managed to watch 37 bands play and saw Earthless the most, at three shows. I lost track of how many beers I drank, but I'd say the ratio of freebies to actual drinks paid for was 4:1, easy. And then there were the Flaming Dr. Pepper shots. There are also almost 300 snapshots on Flickr commemorating the sights and sounds of SxSW, with more short videos to come.



I also ate sausage for four days straight, mostly of the smoked jalapeno and cheddar variety. C'mon, can you think of a better snack than that to watch Bang Camaro with? I did miss migas, but we'll see if I can do anything about that at the airport.

Bang Camaro

That said, I wanted to give a shout out to Bobby Black & everyone at HT, Merilee 666, Doug Didgit, Mel & Patrick, Diane Kamikaze, Vegas Price, Pot Star, Sonya, Aaron Bush and all my favorite locals for making the trip a fantastic one. See y'all next year!

SxSW: Day One

My ears are still ringing from last night.

Even though I didn't rage into the wee hours of the night on Wednesday, the first day of the SxSW's music festival, I still managed to put in a solid 12 hours of partying and loud music. Partying really is such hard work.

After scooping up my badge and getting a breakfast burger at my beloved Casino El Camino, I was off to the Brooklyn Vegan day party at Emo's (and no, that irony was not lost on me) to catch a spectacular lineup of Annihilation Time, Young Widows and The Bronx. Unfortunately—if that's even the proper term—I missed Annihilation Time as it conflicted with a previously scheduled smoke session. Oh well, they'll definitely be around this week for more shows. I did, however, made sure to catch the spectacular Young Widows who were absolutely awing with their tight AmRep-infuenced sound. They were followed by a sweaty set from The Bronx, who did not disappoint.

No matter how intense the Bronx's set, it definitely seemed like everyone couldn't wait to check out their alter ego faux band—Mariachi El Bronx. But art always seems to come at a price, so I had to suffer through one of the worst bands I've ever seen (seriously who mixes a keyboard, a horn section AND a Flying V?) to watch the mariachi explosion. Happily, Mariachi El Bronx were a fun to watch and not an utter riff on Mexican culture (that is, if you don't count the songs dedicated to registered sex offenders and the one track comparing the similarities between Jesus Christ and Pablo Escobar).

Though it seemed most of Austin was determined to catch Jesus Lizards' David Yow jam with The Dicks at Austin Music Hall, I met up with HT's Bobby Black and Pot Star to watch the most exciting rock n roll band in years—BLOWER! If you like Kiss or Turbonegro, there's absolutely no reason for you to miss them when they open the [HIGH TIMES Doobie Awards |http://www.myspace.com/htdoobieawards|CLICK HERE] on Saturday at Red 7.

From there, Diane Kamikaze of WFMU (my official partner in crime) and I bounced between a ton of clubs on Red River seeing everyone from Oslo's Arabrot to Texas' own Iron Age—a young hardcore band more reminiscent of old school crossover than anything suffixed with "-core."

From there, it was time for my last session of the night. After all, I've got to be at four parties today: Alternative Press', Quack! Media, Full Metal Texas and Maggadee Records—all before 5 pm.


Bands Seen: 7
Beers Consumed: 7
Beers Paid For: 2
Smoke Sessions: 3 1/2

Pray for Mojo.

SxSW Countdown

It's 27 degrees in NYC, there's been a dire lack of good shows (though this week's Witch/Earthless/Children and Bloody Panda/Wetnurse extravaganzas might placate me) and I miss actual, good Southern food. Time to head to Texas.

And while this year's SxSW headliners (Metallica, PJ Harvey, Devo) are more nostalgic than cutting edge, there is one party I am most definitely looking forward to: HIGH TIMES' 2009 Doobie Awards show.

OK, technically, you do have to pay to get in—even with a badge—but, what you do get is two stages filled with some amazing bands, FREE beer, and some other fun stuff you know HT wouldn't do without. And, there may just be a surprise or two... the kind of epic, reunion surprise you can definitely brag about and get stoner rock cred for experiencing. Trust.


(CLICK ON THE FLYER FOR LARGER VIEW)

I'll be twittering and blogging for 420.com (HT's "everything but the weed" lifestyle site). Follow me!