Interview with Branden/Drums

UN: I know very little about the history of the band. How did Ex Dementia come together? Have you guys played in any bands prior to this band? Was it fairly set in stone that you would be playing old school death metal right from the start?

Branden: Well, our old vocalist Jon had talked to Chris, our guitarist in an internet chat room (the tranny granny AOL chat room, if I recall correctly) and we tried Chris out, and it seemed to work. After we got Chris we recruited Zack on second guitars, and that didnt work out. So then we seeked out for a second guitar player, and an actual bassist, we then found Zak (bass) and Steve (guitar). Shit didnt work out with Steve, and we kept Zak. And then Jon left numerous times, and now he's finally out (the dude got busted with 3 year old child porn and went to jail for a minimum of 50 years... or he just lost interest in the band. But I choose the child porn story more..) And for almost a year now, it's just been me on drums, Chris on guitar and vocals, and Zak on bass and vocals. And yes, death metal was our main focus. We also wanted to switch it up a bit and throw a tit of thrash in there.

UN: Thou Shall Repulse is an extremely catchy and old school influenced album. Are you guys pleased with how the album turned out? How has the response been so far? I could definitely see fans of the Razorback Records roster getting into the album quite easily.

Branden: Yes, we're very much pleased with the way the album came out. We totally captured the sound we were aiming for. We wanted an older, more natural sound, but without sounding like shit. Because we have the technology nowadays, so might as well use it. But not to the point where everything is super-duper polished (which a lot of bands do nowadays). The response has been great! Most who have bought the album have told us that they love it. Hell, one of our anti-metal/hardcore punk friend loves the CD. But that might have something to do with us taking advantage of his lack of knowledge of metal, and us telling him that we're the biggest metal band in the world... he believes us.

UN: How did the deal with Kitchen Vomit Records come about? I have to admit that prior to your album I had never even heard of the label before.

Branden: Well, we had just been browsing around for a label to release our, at the time EP, and Kitchen Vomit Records made us an offer, so decided, fuck it. Let's make an album rather than an EP. So that we did.

UN: What are your thoughts on the current death metal sound? It seems like bands are just trying to play as fast as humanly possible and they lose the atmosphere that old death metal bands had. The catchiness has pretty much been lost completely as well.

Branden: There are 3 things that most death metal bands want: 1. 1 gillion Myspace friends. 2. Blast beats. 3. Scene girls. Personally, I dont care for blast beats. Blast beats are like masturbation, you do it too much, and it loses it's fun. So many bands worry about out-doing the other band member (cough Necrophagist cough), that the actual catchy music writing is lost. I guess you can look at it as an inner-contest. But we focus on what sounds right together, rather than out-doing the other guy.

UN: I was curious to ask who did the cover art for the album. It is completely sick but has a fun feel to it. Its gross but doesnt seem to be trying to be as offensive as humanly possible just for shock value.

Branden: Jeff Zornow is the guy who did our artwork. And he's the guy who will be doing our artwork until he... actually, he'll be doing it even after he bites the dust. The guy is great to work with. He makes a perfect depiction of our concept. And the way our old vocalist looked at it was it kinda' looks like a Garbage Pale Kids cover. I see so many album covers nowadays that try to have a hidden message in the art. we said, "FUCK THAT. THOU SHALL REPULSE." and that's what we got, a pool of puke and dead shit.

UN: If Im not mistaken I believe you guys will have a split CD with Cardiac Arrest coming out early next year. Will the next tracks be similar to Thou Shall Repulse?

Branden: We do indeed have a split coming out with Cardiac Arrest next year. But I dont know if you would say it's going to be similar to Thou Shall Repulse, because we were looking to sell out after Thou Shall Repulse. Let's face it, breakdowns and gurgles sell, good music doesn't. Ahh, nevermind, I decided that it's too soon to sell out. So yeah, it'll be in the same vein as Thou Shall Repulse.

UN: Is it hard to strike a good balance between memorable riffs and being heavy? It seems that every riff is extremely memorable but still very heavy.

Branden: Well, it's not too hard to get the right balance. The writing process for this band is very strange. I hum a riff, Chris transfers it to guitar, I say it sucks, he puts his head down, and we go out for a smoke. Then the process repeats until a non-suck riff enters my ears, then I give him a gold star sticker for effort, then we continue.

UN: Impetigo seems to be a big influence on the bands sound. Are you guys big fans of the band? I think they are one of the most distinctive and sick metal bands that have ever been around.

Branden: Impetigo is a pretty big influence to this band, indeed. But there are numerous others that influence us just as much. Such as Autopsy, Obituary, Bolt Thrower, and Dismember.

UN: Is there much of a scene for death metal in New Jersey ? I know that there are a lot of hardcore and metalcore bands from that state but it isnt really a state that seems to be known for death metal.

Branden: We have Bon Jovi.

UN: Do you guys get to play as many shows as youd like to? Would touring full time be something you guys would be into? I dont understand how bands can be on the road 8 months out of the year. It seems like it would be maddening.

Branden: We play a good amount of shows throughout the year. But we don't try to get one every single month. We're very lazy when it comes to booking shows (which we dont do). Luckily, we've always been asked, and never had to book one. Touring full-time wouldn't really be for us. the maximum I think that we would do, would be a month or a month and a half. But I can't see any other bands wanting to tour with us. Unless they can deal with our nerdom and movie scores playing all day long.

UN: Horror films seem to be a big influence on the band lyrically. What films in particular would you say you guys draw influence from? There are so many horror films out there to draw inspiration from.

Branden: Horror is our main influence, lyrically. Sometimes I'll write up some lyrics that would be cool to see in a horror movie. But for the most part, the basis is horror movies. We've written songs about Bloodsucking Freaks, The Deadly Spawn, Raw Meat, Return of the Living Dead, and a couple more. It's nothing completely original. But we're only doing what we love, not what's completely original.

UN: What do you think of newer horror films? Are you mainly fans of the old classics or have there been any newer films that have surprised you?

Branden: I'll be honest; there are VERY few horror movies nowadays that I even remotely like. After Grindhouse came out, I realized that there is no one way to satisfy me. Any new horror movie that comes out now, I probablly wont like just based on look alone. A horror movie has to have an atmosphere (as should any movie in general). Today, it's shot so crystal clear, and there's so much GC blood, and shaky camera shots, and it just blows donkey cock. But if you give me something like Grindhouse, which goes for EVERYTHING old school, it just feels so fake, and like a giant glob of homage. I liked Grindhouse as a movie-going experience, they totally nailed the marketing down, but I cant say it's great. It's just like saying, who are you gonna' choose Carcass or The County Medical Examiners. But I guess you gotta' look at it the way Tarantino said it, look at Grindhouse as a ride, rather than a movie. So fuck it...

UN: What would you say are the top five death metal albums of all time? Also, are there any death metal bands that you just cant stand?

Branden: Me, personally, I would go with Obituary's "Slowly We Rot" and "Cause of Death", Autopsy's "Severed Survival" and "Mental Funeral", and Dismember's "Like An Everflowing Stream". There is one band I cannot stand... Impaled (WHOSE NEW ALBUM "THE LAST GASP" COMES OUT NOVEMBER 6TH! WITH 11 NEW TRACKS OF FUCKING AWESOME! AVAILABLE ON WILLOWTIP RECORDS! WWW.IMPALED.INFO). Yeah, I fucking hate them.