UN: How did you first meet Billy and Jill from Razorback Records? Were you a fan of the label before they had signed Fondlecorpse?

Silvester/vocals: Actually we go back quite a few years. We started talking around the release of one of their first cd, I missed out buying it in a store, dug up who released it and wrote Billy to buy a copy and I wondered if the label name Razorback was taken from the Aussie killer boar movie Razorback. Which to me was an awesome movie that always stuck with me (Hell we even did a song about it on the hive compilation including a sample from the movie, because I dig the movie and it kinda symbolizes how I got to know Billy and Jill). It ended up we both were like bloody hell! We didnt know other people knew about that flick, so we hit it off pretty much right there and then. So I guess it is correct I was a fan already. I did tons of zines, bands, distro and was very active in the underground so was always excited finding new cool labels. Over the years we kept in contact bullshitted about horror, 80s thrash culture all the good stuff with them both. As to being signed well that went rather funny. I was very active and doing my own thing. Most our first stuff I just released myself with the help of a buddy of mine called "treeman". We were and are very DIY orientated. I know me and Billy talked about being signed and joked about it but I always wanted to just do shit myself and first go through the demo stages with the 7" records and just work on our sound more. I think we got "signed officially" around start 2003 ish, but I always said that we would do something when the time was right and we had our shit in order, we always had a lot of line-up problems and I was always pretty busy with promotion, zines, that at first things didnt go very fast. We did the "From beyond the Crypt" collection CD of our old stuff which we probably could have done on Razorback but didn' find that a proper first CD release. So we did that on Posercrusher records (which kinda ended up going belly up cuz of personal problems of the label guy right after the release of that cd). Over the years I did a lot behind the scenes on lay-outs and helping out fellow hive bands get set while trying to get my own band up to recording speed and get a release going. We wrote enough material for two split cds one was to be released 2004 but fell through (we still need to record those 5 tracks) and a second one we wrote 5 tracks for later, but also fell through around 2005 so after waiting for so long we decided to say fuck this and release it as a MCD so we recorded the material end 2006 and it got released 2007 and thats how it came to be. Our first hive release about 6/7 years late hahaha. So basically I was there when they started and now there for the 10 year anniversary.

UN: How has the response to Blood and Popcorn been so far? You mentioned that a lot of reviewers seem to miss the point of the band.

Silvester: Fanwise the response has been great and thats kinda all that matters in the end, that and us being happy with it. But most webzines totally missed the point about what we are. I have a feeling they don't understand bands who operate under the old school ways and are more into the weirdo techy scream like a girl bands. I've also seen a few of them saying its too bad I used vocal effects, yeah asshats it says in the booklet I dont use shit. I only doubled parts and did backings on my own shit, fuck off... they insult me and my hard work when they insinuate my voice comes from a box. Means they totally didn't research shit. You can love us or hate us I don't care, but don't talk bullshit. To me that's poor reviewing if you can't even get your facts straight. Too many webzines have reviewers who only like one style of music but they get tons of promos so all the shit thats not their genre they just make bullshit reviews to get a new review up.

UN: Blood and Popcorn marks the first Fondlecorpse material with an actual drummer. Is it more satisfying to have a human drummer over a drum machine?

Silvester: Totally. We always meant to have a drummer, but as many older metal freaks will attest to, death metal went through a bleak time in the mid/end 90s and it was impossible to find any drummers, and phrases like "death metal is dead" went around a lot and in the metal press, we did have a few during the years but most couldn't cut it. There is actually an unreleased demo I recorded mid 90's with a full line-up but that fell apart. I continued with my buddy Rogier (he drew the logo for the band). We saw Mortician doing their thing for a while and figured fuck it let's get a drum machine so we can at least play our music. Shortly after though he also left to start a family. Took me till 1999/2000 to find Bas we joined up and did our first releases with a drum machine then we added Mathijs. But still couldnt find a drummer who could cut it so we did the Limbless EP, again without a drummer. We did try to somewhat program it nicely but we always missed the feel of a real drummer. Then we finally hooked up with a session drummer Paul and were able to record our first release with drums. Now we actually have a new session drummer Robert Kovacic and a freshly joined permanent drummer since a few weeks Ronald. So you could say we are now fully functional at long last.

UN: The MCD features artwork by three of the best artists around right now. Did you have specific ideas in mind for the artwork or did you give them free reign to create?

Silvester: Well firstly they're good friends of mine and I have been a fan of their work for a long time and consider them essential to the band, I always want my releases to be a unity, artwork - music - lyric wise. They know what I am about so I just usually give them a concept to work with, shoot some ideas back and forth and then pretty much let them do their thing. They know better than me what they can achieve and usually I find when you let an artist have freedom they will create something awesome. It's good to give the artist some room to use their own initiative and have them show me what they can do without having to be an anal art dictator involved with every small damn detail. Actually I keep giving my artists more free reign, now I am more like do something nice, just surprise me. Mostly we are on the same level so we don't need to discuss too much more then a simple context and idea for them to work with.

UN: Hand drawn artwork seems to be less common these days. Does it piss you off to see all of the photoshop and slick album covers these days? I think it just doesnt fit really. To me hand drawn art just fits for underground metal.

Silvester: Well good art is good art in the end, BUT the problem with photoshop is the HUGE amount of crap it produces, everybody and his momma can make covers now and sadly they do and it shows haha. I just miss all the old school art that compelled you to buy a cd in the old days. Kinda like horror movies, how many times did you see a bad ass painted sleeve in the rack and thought damn that's cool that MUST be mine. I feel its a big loss that there isn't as much proper artwork around anymore. Photoshop can do a lot of cool stuff but sadly people just mostly use it as a shortcut or cheap alternative and make ugly useless crap with it. To me painted and hand drawn art will always be number one!

UN: Which do you prefer, Gremlins or Gremlins 2? I like the second film for the all out insanity and Christopher Lee but I think as a whole I like the first movie a bit more.

Silvester: Damn that's a hard one hahaha. I am partial to one because it is set during Xmas and for some reason I like carnage in the snow, and has a lot of memorable shit like launching the old hag with the stair chair lift. But the second one had the brain gremlin, and like you said Lee I am a big fan of Lee and of course Gramps. It's hard to choose, I think nostalgia dictates I like the first 1% more, but they're both awesome in my book. I think they both work well and are totally awesome, we have a tribute song to them on the full length, be warned!

UN: What is your favorite film out of the Critters series? I would probably go with the original myself although the sequel definitely has its charm as well. Do you enjoy the third and fourth movie? They aren't amazing but there are much worse movies out there.

Silvester: Definitely the first, I used to watch it over and over and even got a critter prop from my uncle when I was younger ordered from a Starlog magazine. The second one is a good sequel and I dig that one a lot also, I watch them back to back a lot. Part three....... I dig the critters but the story was kinda weak and iffy and part four well I did like Brad Dourif always a fan fave for me, but overall it's the worst part in the series and even for me hard to watch and I didn't like several plotlines and choices they made in that one and the ending totally rubbed me the wrong way. What a waste of potential!

UN: While on the subject of puppets, what do you think of the Ghoulies movies? I have the first two on DVD but havent seen the other two movies yet.

Silvester: I love the little fuckers hahaha my bro Wazze made me a prop of the original small waterfountain ghoulie and it rules, part one is kinda weird but I dig it and the second one at the fairgrounds with them killing people off is pretty cool but my fave is 3, the best animatronics and they go and fuck up a collage get drunk and watch titties it's kinda like an 80's comedy with horror elements, I dug it. I know lots of people who dont well fuck off I don't give a shit I love this shit. Ghoulies 4 was a let down for me since the ghoulies are now two midgets in a suit, I found that cheap and was missing the animatronic ghoulies I dug so much, I do think they have two small ones in there somewhere but the puppet action is next to non existent.

UN: What about the Munchies? Are you a fan of the series? Its pretty much a Gremlins rip-off but it is all in good cheesy fun!

Silvester: Munchies part one is pretty cool and I got it on DVD but it definitely is among the bottom of the barrel of Gremlin rip offs only enjoyable for b-movie cheese addicts. But if you like this shit it's pretty cool, I know there are a few more installments but they have nothing to do with the first one and are more real kids movies from what I've seen and heard. And their supposedly shite. But I never saw them so I don't know; the pictures I saw made me cringe though hahaha.

UN: Any other puppet movies you'd recommend for people to check out? There seems to be a ton of them made in the 80s.

Silvester: I am a nutter for any kind of these movies and they seem to have been mostly an 80/90s phenomenon since they dont really exist anymore in that form, but I've always been a fan of creatures (kinda also because I always liked the mid-evil art depicting hell and it always was tons of weird creatures) and I am a big fan of Jim Henson that guy was a puppeteer god and I'm not only talking about the muppets he did millions of other things and nobody did puppets like he did. As for crazy other creature features I'd say Troll, Cellar Dweller, Hobgoblins, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Basket Case, The Gate, Puppet Master though the puppets were cooler then the movies....... Terrorvision, That's a few off the top of my head.

UN: What are your thoughts on the use of computer graphics in movies these days? It seems like all the time and effort they put into animatronics and puppets was pretty much pissed away. I'll take a puppet over CG any day of the week.

Silvester: CGI looks like a computer game 99% of the time and like a BAD computer game too, it bothers me, it annoys me. A bad real special effect is at the worst very funny, bad cgi isn't EVER funny and annoying as fuck. I think it's because a real effect is still real. It's there even if it's a fucking puppet on a stick. But CGI is fake and smooth and just annoys the hell out of me, like nails on a blackboard. It's unnatural and your eyes spot it, things are too slick and inhuman. For some reason that shit just annoys me. I think it can be explained also by the movies where they use computer generated characters playing humans and people tended to find them creepy and remind them of soulless dead people because we don't register them as humans or real. It annoys us because our brains spot it's fake and unnatural and shit. Yes sometimes it works, in some instances I have to admit it might even work, but overall CGI is a mess, a cheap shortcut and just falls flat on its face and ruins a watching experience totally for me. (Especially toe curling sci-fi movies goddamn those are sometimes so TERRIBLY sucky.)

UN: How is the songwriting coming for your debut full length album? I'm assuming that it will be along the same lines as the MCD musically. Any artwork started yet for the album?

Silvester: Well the songs are all written and actually the drums are freshly finished and being pre-mixed as we speak, so that album is in full production. Musically we do what we always do, we dont really change style wise but we did give songs a bit more depth and I think theyre our strongest material yet. But it definitely is along the lines of the MCD. Adam Geyer has started painting our cover and I have been talking to people about the inside artwork. We will again also be working with Jeff Zornow and Putrid and maybe some others, we dont know yet, but this cd should be crazy artwise since that's always very important to us.

UN: Do you think a lot of newer death metal bands are kind of missing the point of the genre? The atmosphere that made the early bands so powerful is missing for the most part. The fact that most of the people in the bands probably never heard Autopsy, Massacre, Impetigo or any of the true death metal bands is sickening.

Silvester: I think a lot of bands miss the point and totally don't get it. For instance lots of technical bands that bore me to death since their compositions sound more like a musical math assignment or bands being so brutal they forget to make shit MEMORABLE. These days it's faster, louder, more brutal, and to me their shit ends up being enormously tedious. Sure people can be awesome musicians an amateur can't play some of the shit they do, however that doesnt make it good......... someone can do the most insane impossible solos riffs etc etc but unless its also memorable its just musical masturbation to show how good you are. Which kinda is useless, nobody likes a smart ass. Then again I mostly listen to the old bands anyways I dont buy too many new cds anymore not much out there I give a fuck about I am sad to say and Autopsy, Massacre, Impetigo, Bolt thrower, Misfits, Samhain, Dissect, Pestilence, Unleashed, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Sinister etc etc never bore me so I am good. However I still got some faith with bands like Cardiac Arrest, Cianide, Denial Fiend, Insect Warfare and our fellow Hive bands like Decrepitaph, Crypticus, Vacant Coffin, Blood Freak, Eviscerated, Hooded and right now I am jamming out to the soundtrack band Anima Morte who rule hard. So there is still hope.

UN: Do you miss the days of snail mail? It seems like the internet has completely changed the entire underground. I used to love getting hand written letters in the mail now everything is email. Even demos seem to be a thing of the past, people just make a Myspace page and dont bother spreading fliers or sending out demos.

Silvester: I miss it daily, I miss the correspondence when I did zines and bands and writing letters and trading tapes and horror movies and such. I still trade a lot of stuff with people but compared to the old days its like 2% of what it used to be (though also postage rates have become RETARDED I will admit). I definitely think the internet changed the whole underground. The internet did good things but also bad things. Two sides of the same coin. On the one hand it got easier to get your stuff out there and connect with like minded people but on the other hand it opened up the underground to an influx of lazy annoying people and morons. The thing about snail mail was you had to make an effort to get the music, so that kinda made sure no lazy fags got into it since then they would have to make an effort. Now you can get things with the click of a button and that kinda made people lazy and spoiled. We kinda lost the family/camaraderie feeling you used to have. As for demos yeah I think thats people being spoiled its easy to make cds now and nobody takes the time to grow they all want a full cd NOW. Bands forget to pay their dues and work for it to deserve a full length. And flyers I remember I got mail stuffed with flyers spilling out of envelopes, but these days I don't see any anymore. I still try to spread flyers but I am lucky if I have like two to stuff into an envelope with a trade. I definitely miss that aspect. And again Myspace made people lazy, one thing that damages music I think is bands popping up and disappearing as fast as they appeared. Tons of mediocre bands spoiling the scene and shitting out tons of shitty cds clogging distros and people getting fed up with mediocrity. It wouldn't hurt when natural selection returned. In the old days you had to bust your ass to get a demo done and paid for which weeded out most the crap that now flows unhindered around the music scenes. But the old man inside me abides and I'll try and trade, write, do things like the old days for as long as I can. At least some of us are keeping the aspect alive till we get buried and our bodies are collected by the Tall man, I wonder how life will be as undead midget.

Ok cheers for the Support man!

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