UN: Splattercraft formed a few years ago, but broke up and then reformed sometime later. What led to the band initially going on hiatus and what led to the band getting back together?

Brian/vocals: I was actually abducted by the Elite Ewok Guard of Endor while on a bounty hunting mission from Jabba the Hut. I was held captive in a tiny prison made of cinammon sticks and Ewok shit, but managed to convince a travelling caravan of wookies to smuggle me out on their ship. You can choose to believe that or the truth...which was just some random issues involving too much alcohol and some women. Petty shit when we look at it in retrospect. We got back together because we realized that the problems we had in the past were beyond retarded and we weren't going to let them stand in the way of us making music.

Matt/guitar: Brian fucked my wife....I got over it.

UN: I've only heard the three latest songs from the band. What else has the band released? If I'm not mistaken I think I read most of your early releases are out of print unfortunately.

Brian: Yeah, in 2003 Matt and I made our first demo, "Gore Soaked Date Rape and Other Terrifying Tales". That was just the two of us in a computer room with a shitty Death Metal distortion pedal plugged straight into a PCI sound card and some horrible live vocal mic. We didn't even have a bass guitar or a drum machine, we did the whole rhythm section using samples on a K-mart keyboard, haha. We got a drum machine and started playing shows, and eventually met Kevin. We got some better gear and recorded the second demo, "Senseless Virulence" in 2004. It was a huge improvement over the first and actually landed us a spot on a compilation from France. The 3 songs on myspace right now are our 2008 Promo, and I guess they were good enough to land us a record deal with Aural Offerings Records!

Matt: We have some other shit recorded....and some stuff that's not recorded, but those demos are the only releases out there thus far. Yeah...Aside from a few copies I have here....They're pretty much out of print.

UN: You've just recently signed a deal with Aural Offerings. Does it feel good to have a label behind the band now? Do they seem to really enjoy the music you guys play?

Brian: Yeah, Aural Offerings is great!! John is a super rad dude and supports us fully. It's funny, actually, because we weren't even looking for a label and one day John contacted us requesting a copy of our promo. He told us that he couldn't stop listening to those 3 songs and that it was the type of music he'd been wanting to release since he started the label.

Matt: It's nice to know that this shit's going to be released worldwide. They are a great lot, and we couldn't have asked for better conditions for our first release.

UN: When do you think we can expect a full length album from the band? The deal is still very new, but I'm hoping the wait wont be too long!

Brian: That's still kind of up in the air. We're going to begin writing songs immediately, but we don't want to rush this album because we really want to put out something fresh. We could turn out a recycled piece of garbage in a week if we had to, but we want to make this album something that will really stick with people. If I had to give an estimate, I would say the album will see light of day either late summer or early fall 2008.

Matt: I'm writing my ass off though, and what we have is turning out to be really great stuff for us. We're hoping for a late summer release.

UN: I know that initially you wanted Ed Repka to do the art for the album but you are now looking for an artist. Was he just too damn expensive? Any luck finding another artist just yet?

Brian: Yeah, we're huge fans of Ed's artwork, and who wouldn't be? The guy is amazing, you know? He's worked with so many thrash bands over the years and he's created what I believe are some of the most profound album covers EVER. As a result of that, unfortunately, the dude knows just how good he is and boy does he charge for it!! I've found several artists who have the same amount of technical skill and creativity as Ed, and they charge much less. We've yet to narrow it down to just one, though.

Matt: Ed's a good guy, but as Brian said, just a bit above our price range. I love the art, though. He's been the deciding factor in so many of my record purchases back in the day. I hope to work with him one day, but as an underground band, on an underground label.....It's tough. Many excellent artists out there, though.....It's going to be a tough pick.

UN: You guys just recently had a new logo made for the band. Are you guys happy with how it turned out? To me it looks like a cross between the Impaled logo and the old Entombed logo.

Brian: We love the logo!! Sean McGrath from Impaled/Ghoul did the logo for us, so that would kind of explain the similarities to Impaled. I spoke to him over the phone before he sent the logo and he said he felt very much influenced by Entombed while he was creating it. You've got a good eye for detail there! You know your shit!

Matt: Yeah, the logo looks good. Sean's also a great guy, and if we had any second thoughts about it, he would have done it over in a heartbeat, but I love the old school feel of it. He did a spectacular job.

UN: Would you say that the music of Splattercraft is mainly inspired by horror films? Do you think they influence the music as well as or mainly just the lyrics?

Brian: When I'm writing my portion of the lyrics I'm mostly influenced by comic book style storytelling, like you'd find in the old EC comics. That and horror movies. If I have to add on to the lyrics Matt has written I usually just try to find something that rhymes with the last thing he wrote, haha. As for the music, you'd have to ask him.

Matt: I always wanted to make horror films, but I could never afford a camera. I did have a guitar, though....and I was completely obsessed with thrash and the early death metal tapes that my friends were playing for me. I tried to emulate it the best I could all throughout my early years. I absolutely loved Obituary, Terrorizer and Sepultura, and I took the obvious step and started turning my horror ideas into songs. Unfortunately, growing up in the area I did, I couldn't find many like-minded people until later on.

UN: Heres a fun one. Who do you prefer Lucio Fulci or Dario Argento? Are you guys big fans of Italian horror?

Brian: Matt is more of a horror movie geek than I am. I prefer Lucio Fulci, just based on the original Zombie. I'm more keen on reading comics.

Matt: Well....I prefer Argento's giallo to Fulci's gore films, but I prefer Fulci's giallo to Argento's. As far as Italian horror is concerned, I am more a fan of Ruggero Deodato, Michele Soavi, Umberto Lenzi, Mario Bava, and Joe D'Amato...I'm also a big fan of Sergio Leone, as far as non-horror goes.

UN: What would you say was your favorite decade for horror films? Even though it was before I was born I'm fairly partial to the films of the 70s although the gore films and Italian schlock of the 80s are hard to beat as well.

Brian: There are things about every era that define the movies from that time, and give us something to love. The early films from people like Mario Bava have the intense and overly dramatized acting, the 70s flicks have the grainy special effects and the REAL horror atmosphere, and the 80s films give us the whole slasher scene and the awesome synthesized soundtracks. I love the 80s most, I think.

Matt: The Exploitation film era of the 60's and 70's is my all time favorite, and I am a big fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

UN: What are your thoughts on the current state of horror films? There are many awesome independent films but the mainstream films are a bit hit or miss. What do you think of the Halloween remake?

Brian: Are they still making horror movies? I thought they stopped after the 80s!! As far as I'm concerned there was no Halloween remake. That was just a very bad dream. Go back to sleep.

Matt: I really like the films of Andrey Iskanov and Neil Marshall. I'm a fan of Haute Tension as well, and I've heard great things about many others that I have yet to see. As far as the Halloween remake goes.....I can't honestly say I like what Rob is doing with his films. I never really liked his music, but as much of a horror fan as I thought he was, I figured he would know what to avoid when making his films.....And I was wrong. Turning a terrific, suspensful film such as Halloween into a teenage, violent for the sake of violence curse-a-thon was beyond silly to me. I just don't understand his ideas...but, whatever.

UN: Does the band have any other releases in the works? If I'm not mistaken I think the promo you sent me contained songs for a split release.

Brian: We're looking for bands to do splits with right now. Our friends in Artillery Breath are down for doing a split sometime this year, but we have no idea when it will be.

Matt: Yeah, we have a few splits we're wanting to do, but we've really been focusing on the album at hand. We have some friends and some bands we have not met that are more than willing, and if final word is given, I won't hesitate to spend more time writing and we won't hesitate to spend more time recording.

UN: There are quite a few bands playing horror influence death metal with thrash influences these days. What do you feel makes Splattercraft stand out from the pack?

Brian: A lot of those bands will tell you that they directly rip their lyrics off from the horror movies that inspire them. Most of them even use the name of a particular movie as the song title. We try to write our own stories and make lyrics based off of those. We've even gotten into making our own samples lately, and not ripping them from old horror movies. The zombie noises at the beginning of "Zombrigade" were just Matt, Kevin, and I moaning and gargling into the microphone!

Matt: I really am not sure how to answer this. I haven't heard a great deal of the stuff that's been released, lately. I really dig Ex Dementia's album, and Frightmare has put out some really good stuff in the past few years. I try to write my own original horror ideas down, and play what I know to play on top of it.....It's basically just us nerding out over the things we like the best, and if we're comparable to other bands....So be it! We're having fun with it.

UN: Does it amaze you how effective of a tool the internet is for promoting a band? Hell this interview and my exposure to the band wouldnt have even happening was it not for the internet.

Brian: The internet is kind of a double edged sword for music. On one hand you have the mass marketing capabilities at your disposal. You can reach a broad audience and really get your music out there. At the same time, once your music is out there, anybody can just download your shit and never think twice about helping the band out financially.

Matt: You said it best. "Hell this interview and my exposure to the band wouldnt have even happening was it not for the internet." Thanks for the interview.

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