Today I am beyond excited to present the first Some Heretic Sect Interview! I am speaking with Matt and Pat of DICK MEDUSA, a unique and creative metal band from right here in Salem that I think more people should listen to. Matt is the guitarist & vocalist, while Pat's on drums.
Let's start things off with a brief introduction to RABBIT HOLE, the band's debut cassette. The description on Bandcamp sums up the vibe perfectly - "A Descent Into Hell...the day-glo version!" This is not your by the numbers neo thrash, nor is it another "new school old school death metal" band by any means! What I love about it is, on one hand, this is fun, accessible music that I would recommend for any punk, hard rock, or metal fan. On the other, this is also something that has a lot of niche appeal...There's big, catchy riffs and psychedelia reminiscent of 70's rock. We've got vocals that bring to mind 80s speed metal/NWOBHM, and of course plenty of chugging beats that appeal to those who are into hc punk, thrash, Motorhead, etc. What more could you ask for? I'm so happy to know them- we need more of this type of energy in the local scene!
S.H.S: So guys, can you tell us a little about how you started playing music together and a little about your backgrounds/influences?
Matt: We met in college in the early 2000s. Ordinarily I avoid talking to everyone, but Pat was wearing a Chaos UK shirt so we hit it off right away. For some reason it took nearly 20 years for us to jam. Background/influence-wise, speaking for myself, I grew up with a lot of punk, but I'm pretty much an obsessed metalhead with a focus on thrashing evil and 70s/80s hard rock. I've been lucky enough to play with a few of the cult metal bands that I grew up worshiping, namely Deceased and Dawnbringer, but mostly I've been holed up in Salem writing obscure black-thrash by myself.
Pat: Yeah, we first jammed together in college in Worcester. It wasn't for long, but we jammed on Pantera's Mouth for War. I love Cumbia and Indian music, but my foundation is punk rock; I played in a punk band called Red Scare out of San Antonio, TX for years, and I grew up on the shit. I love old school punk, hardcore, and 80s/90s Cali punk; I was definitely wearing a Chaos UK shirt the first time I met Pete and Matt and they were wearing some Metal shirts and we've been friends since. For drummers I love Vince Paul, Dave Lombardo, Dafnis Prieto and lots of shitty punk drummers.
S.H.S: I grew up on a lot of punk as well guys, and its funny, I also met one of my best friends and long term bandmates in a similar way. He was the only other dude around wearing the same eclectic underground band shirts! Without a doubt Dave Lombardo inspired me to play double kick too, as I'm sure he did for many others, and you've got to give credit to the local punk band drummers you've seen over the years for their influence too!
S.H.S: My favorite track is “Saint Necrophage,” as you may have guessed, for
both the lyrical content and the instrumental aspect. To me, this really
takes an early metal/70s rock sound and sticks a punk-rock pin right
through the middle, particularly with the drums.
Pat: Yeah man, it's my favorite song too! It makes me want to jump a motorcycle off a dragon's back into a flaming snake den!
Matt: I wrote "Saint Necrophage" in my head on my commute to work, while
listening to "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" by Mister Bungle, in
which they off-handedly mention a necrophage becoming a saint. I have
mixed feelings about Mister Bungle; I've always enjoyed them, but I have
unironic metal band tattoos, and I will probably never forgive Mike
Patton for saying he hates Black Sabbath. So, that song is me taking one
of their throwaway lines at face value in an extremely sarcastic way,
and turning it into a musical homage to The Triumph of Steel by MANOWAR.
Fuck you, Mike. 😽
S.H.S: Ouch, I had no idea he said that, I used to be pretty into Mr. Bungle...
S.H.S: How did the project really start coming together, it seems like there is a funny story involved with the name...
Matt: Well, after talking about how cool it would be to play together
repeatedly over the course of 20 years, we found ourselves drunk at 4 AM
at a small gathering, and started playing "Can Your Pussy Do The Dog,"
by The Cramps. Seemed like a good idea to keep it going.
We spent a couple months trying to come up with a name. Pat suggested
The Love Plugs, but I thought it would read better as "so-and-so AND the
Love Plugs." So I suggested Dick Medusa, picturing a Johnny Carson type
old-timey TV host with the Love Plugs as his backing band. Ultimately
we opted to keep it shorter and just went with Dick Medusa.
Pat: We thought Dick Medusa and the Love Plugs was too long!
S.H.S: Richard, I didn't know you were a dick!
S.H.S: I love the artwork and layout of the tape. We have a psychotic rabbit
eating something with chopsticks, (that looks familiar, what is it,
Roman?) a fly-headed babe with a space shuttle blasting off her, all
surrounded by a plague ridden burning city! It’s dripping with 70s acid
rock, and the album name exudes this as well. Matt, I know
you are en excellent artist. Would you like to speak a little about
that? You’ve mentioned I believe you are at capacity for commissions,
correct? What types of artists and artwork are you passions to about in
your personal projects, and does this spill over thematically into Dick
Medusa?
Matt: Glad you like the artwork! The rabbit is supposed to be eating someone's
"ba" (bird-headed representation of the soul from ancient Egypt). I've
had a really weird journey in art. 15 years ago I was doing photo-based
oil paintings, then at some point I abandoned that medium in favor of an
illustration style inspired by silver/bronze age comic book art. Right
now I'm wrapping up commissions for a few cool bands/good friends. Not
sure what direction I'll go in once those are finished and I've had time
to regroup, but I'll probably explore the intersection of mythology and
esotericism with trashy pop culture, i.e. really lean into the Salem
vibe :D For Dick Medusa, I'm just into drawing different versions of
what our name could mean.
S.H.S: Lean into it man! I love the idea.. Egyptian neon dystopia?!
S.H.S: What’s your songwriting process like?
How did your individual styles come together to make up your current
sound? How do you guys tap into each other’s strengths?
Matt: Our songwriting process is really all over the place. I write a goddamn
ton of songs, mostly for my solo project Ferrous Oxide (plug plug). It
doesn't usually work if I bring a complete song to the table, but if Pat
has lyrics, a beat, and a set of dynamics in mind, I can usually sneak a
bunch of my evil metal shit in. We are into a lot of the same ideas
from literature and history, and we're both determined to rock out at
high volume, but a weird mix of structure and spontaneity is required to
bridge our taste gap and come up with something that kicks ass.
Pat: For music, both Pete and Matt have written a lot of music and they're
good at it. That and it's a lot of fun to improvise. I like to use a lot
of thrash and Latin beats and throw them under the guitars. Or we write
songs and talk about them with each other and then have fun with
them.
S.H.S: I love that you guys pull from literature and history for inspiration, definitely something that resonates with me as well, as you know from our other conversations. It's cool to hear that improvisation is a big part of how it works for you, I love that sort of organic songwriting vs the more formulaic, strictly set parts type of approach.
S.H.S: Are you playing any shows soon?
Pat: The next show we have lined up is in April 22' at Faust in San Antonio.
It's a cool bar, looks like 1986 in there. We need to play near Salem,
MA, hopefully in the spring.
S.H.S: Yeah we gotta get a Dick Medusa gig set up at Koto!
S.H.S: I know the tape is available now at Residency Records in Salem. For
those that can’t make it to the store, is there a direct mail order buy
like that you run?
Matt: You can get the tape from The Record Exchange, which is the other
great record store in Salem! It's also available through our bandcamp
page, along with the digital version: https://dickmedusa.
S.H.S: Anything else you'd like to share with the blog?
Matt: I fear I've already said too much. Thanks for giving us the chance to
talk about ourselves. Fetish headgear enthusiasts get in touch, Dick
Medusa shall require interpretive dancers sometime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment