Deicide: "the next 10 years might get rough."

Thrasher Magazine, March, 2004 by Sam Hitz

WHAT THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INTO?! I am standing outside Deicide's tour bus waiting to hit 'em with some questions 'n shit, and then it dawns on me--these dudes are from hell! They're huge biker looking fuckers with inverted cross brandings and evil tats, screaming about dead by dawn. Dead by dawn! What's the worst that could happen? Maybe be turned into an offering and be sacrificially disemboweled, then stuffed into some storage compartment with the last goon that tried to interview them? It's Deicide, Carnage In The Temple Of The fuckin' Damned! Well, I finally get the balls to knock on the door of the bus. Some Spinaltap roadie-looking dude opens the door. "What?" he says. I explain what's up and that they are expecting me. I'm in. Glen Benton and Steve Asheim are chillin' out. Steve hands me a beer and asks, "Wanna smoke?" All right, killer, the ice is broken and I haven't been stabbed yet. Smoking like true heshers, Glen is telling me stories about death metal road life and how he has got Hellspawn that skates. The roadie was reviewing some gorewhore footage that I won't get into. Before I knew it I was buzzed and cracking up with laughter. I could relate to their road tactics, all crustified and magnetized to trouble. I almost forgot about the interview, but somehow I grabbed the recorder and captured a conversation without spilling a drop of blood. But don't forget, the Necronomicon is old news to these veterans of death metal. Approach Deicide with caution.

So you had some trouble up in Canada coming back into the States? Sounds heavy, but you got lucky?.

Steve: Well, unlucky, but it could have been worse. We shot through Canada going to Detroit from New York. Coming back into the US they took a real big interest in us.

They wanted to check the bus?

Steve: Yeah, big time. They said they smelled weed. They sent some people to check on it and found all kinds of shit.

What's up with the state trooper being a Deicide fan?

Steve: That's what helped us out. He straightened things out with the DA.

When is the new album out?

Glen: February 8th, I think.

What's it called?

Glen: Scars of the Crucifix.

Is it done?

Glen: The producer is mixing it and mastering it right now. When we play a new song live it's hard for people to grasp. Plus someone is out there trying to tape it and then the shit comes out before the album. You gotta have some element of surprise.

How's Earache records going, and what happened to Roadrunner?

Glen: We got a good deal with Earache. With Roadrunner we did our deal, and just like every other band on Roadrunner we got out of there as quickly as we could.

Fuck politics. I can relate to that in this skate industry shit.

Glen: They rape ya. We watched a lot of things come and go. Grunge, we watched that go. I was happy to see that go; I predicted that death a long time ago. it didn't need Kurt Cobain to die to kill it. it was killing itself when it was still alive.

Have you guys had to ever scrap a rival band?

Glen: Ah, we've had incidents with other bands, but once we confront them they pussy foot out of it. Like "We didn't say that. We didn't do that."

No names in particular or what?

Glen: I knocked Wacko (the drummer of Raven) out of a show in Syracuse, NY, one night.

Some kids need to just go to bed.

Glen: I enjoy it when they get violent, it's fun. It intensifies it for me. I can be totally exhausted and totally worn out, but if the crowd's into it, man, l can snap out of it like that. Back to where it's supposed to be. But if the crowd is lame, I'll run through 'em like a machine and get the hell out of there.

So let's get this over with. The first time I heard Deicide my hair stood up on the back of my neck and I wanted to hear that sound over and over. What bands did you hear when you were younger that made your ears hurt for more?

Glen: Black Sabbath.

Steve: Definitely stuff like Slayer; gnarly thrash.

Brian: Sodom!

Steve: Celtic Frost. Hell Hammer back then. Early Destruction.

What turned you to promote blasphemy and hate?

Glen: When I write lyrics I just roll with what's in me. I couldn't write any love songs, never had that in me. So to compensate for the lack of talent I just say what I think. Where are the sketchiest shows for Deicide? What countries produce the most wicked fans?

Glen: It varies, but usually it's your third world countries like the Czech Republic. Poland and Spain are good. But then you got crowds in South America and Ireland where they spit at yon 'cause they like you. It's the sickest fucking thing you ever seen. I've seen Chris Barnes (Six Feet Under) come off stage with his hair just covered in loogies.

Great.

Glen: I'm up there just dodging loogies on stage. It's sick, man.

So do you have any predictions for the future?

Steve: The next 10 years might get rough. We've got troops out there, got to keep them busy.

Any last words for the readers?

Glen: Thanks for the interview.

Steve: Yeah, there's a bunch of sick kids out there and here's to 'em. Get the new record!