DEATHPILE : news archive

12/12/03 :: Interviews ::

I have updated the interviews section with two brand new features. The first article is by a new webzine called HALLUCINATIONS FOR COMMUNISTS. The second article (an exclusive to this web page) is by Xavier from TIMELESS magazine. TIMELESS is a ultra-limited French publication that has released amazing issues dealing with WHITEHOUSE, PETER SOTOS, AMERICAN POWER ELECTRONICS, PROSTITUTION/PORNOGRAPHY and INTRINSIC ACTION. Hopefully some of the content of these publications will be available online in the future. Xavier also made a guest vocal appearance on the last BLOODYMINDED CD.

11/2/03 :: Green River Confession ::

Gary Ridgway has confessed to more than 40 murders, 38 of which were part of the original Green River Serial Killings. So far he has not admitted to the multitude of murders since 1984 that it is speculated he is responsible for as well. I imagine in time we will get a more complete picture of exactly what happened.

In the last song on the new DEATHPILE CD "G.R." (dealing with this very case - and the life of Ridgway) I wrote "You will never know, and I will never tell." I was wrong. I felt that if Ridgway kept quiet (for the most part) about these murders for nearly twenty years then he would never admit to them under any circumstances. Ridgway only confessed to spare himself from being executed.

Here's the Seattle Times Article from 10/30/03.

In other news, I have updated the DEATHPILE discography and added one for THE URGE WITHIN in the related projects section.

10/1/03 :: Greg Scott R.I.P. ::

As most of you know Greg Scott of HYDRA and FINAL SOLUTION fame passed away on September 9th. All I can say is that Greg and I were good aquaintences in "the scene" and he was always a really friendly, supportive and generous guy. He will be missed.

John Balistreri put up a nice little tribute at slogun.com.

Here's a link to Greg's Obituary.

9/9/03 :: Future Releases / Store ::
Over the last year DEATHPILE has been getting a steady stream of release and compilation invitations from labels around the world. Please understand that I am grateful that there are labels that appreciate what DEATHPILE does. However I will not be accepting any further release or comp offers for the forseeable future. I already have the next DEATHPILE release planned and I will be talking directly to the labels that I would like to work with when the time comes. This future release is just in it's beginning stages right now so I would not expect it to be out any sooner than Fall of 2004. Also, I have some other side project material to work on so I have more than enough to keep me busy for the next year or more.

The PAC/REC BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA CDR is completely sold out. I do however have the last four copies of my ANGEL OF DECAY - Implements demo CDR for sale. This release is limited to only 25 copies and will not be reissued in the future. For more information on AOD click here. Most copies of this demo were given to friends / labels but I made five copies available to fans. To order click here. It may be wise to e-mail ahead to make sure I still have a copy available.

8/24/03 :: "G.R." and the future ::
"G.R." is getting a very good response so far. I've heard everything from "killer" to "a landmark in the genre." I wouldn't go that far myself but I'm very pleased that fans are appreciating all the hard work we put into the CD.

It's getting to be about time to start on the next CD (we work very slowly). So, I've been contemplating where DEATHPILE will go conceptually on the next album. One thing I feel strongly about is that it's time to move on from true crime subject matter. "G.R." will be the final DEATHPILE serial murder related release. I feel that SLOGUN and BLOODMINDED deal with the subject far better than I do. Also I think it's important for me to deal with subjects that have not previously been explored in depth in the power electronics genre. I have become interested in moments in world history that make serial murder seem like child's play. I'll hold off on going into any more detail. Rest assured this means that the future lyrical content will be more disturbing than ever before.

6/23/03 :: "A Celebration of Misfortune" show review::

BRIGHTER DEATH NOW / SLOGUN / PROJECT HAT

Chicago 6.13.03

PROJECT HAT : I think I would have enjoyed this performance more if he was creating all the sounds live (he used multiple CD players through a mixer and maybe some effects). I know that live sound is not an easy thing to pull off due to the distance he had to travel. Still, the sounds seemed so simple to me. He could have done an all improvised performance using pedals with a tiny portable analog and achieved much better and more entertaining results. Simply put, I wasn't impressed.

SLOGUN : This was one of the strangest things I've ever seen or participated in. John/SLOGUN had Mark and Ed from BLOODYMINDED, Chris from SICKNESS, myself and several other people all doing vocals simultaneously. It was quite chaotic. John got as close to the audience as he could while screaming hatred directed at the event and it's attendees itself all the while battering himself against whoever got close enough. There was no rhyme or reason to what was going on. I don't really know what anyone was screaming. I just kept repeating "it's us against you" as that was the main SLOGUN theme for the evening. Later I just stood and observed after things escalated to John actually pushing and punching people in front, Mark throwing beer on a passed out girl, and Chris tackling and choking an audience member. Just as things appeared to get to the point where I thought the club was gong to shut down the show, most of those that were just being attacked were hugging their attackers. Nope, I'm not kidding. The people that got the worst of the abuse from the "band" seemed thrilled to be a part of the performance. I thought the whole thing was rather comical but both John and the audience enjoyed it so... I guess that makes it a success.

BRIGHTER DEATH NOW : Despite being pretty drunk and tired at this point I was still genuinely entertained by BDN. The PROJECT HAT guy was doing the "electronics" (again, multiple CD players with effects through a mixer) and Karmanik handled the vocals. I think that for this performance the use of the original recorded sounds from actual BDN songs with what seemed to be corresponding vocals on top worked well. I have an idea of how Roger creates his music and to replicate that live would be next to impossible. Anyway, the stage was decorated with black and silver necrose balloons and two banners with an old woman on the front. Later he turned the banners around to reveal the necrose repeated several times with different phrases repeated between (things like "Never Forget Death" etc). I was very pleased that the majority of the songs were from my favorite album "Inner War." Karmanik has an excellent stage presence, not at all what I expected. He was like a demented child, bouncing around pointing and screaming though garbled effects . My favorite moment of the set was when Karmanik grabbed a beer from someone up front, held it out in front of him as if saying "you want this back?" and then splashed it in the guys face (much to his delight).

Overall it was a great show. Despite this, I think the highlight of my trip has to be attending the "Sleaze Fest" which was a festival of pornography put on in some art space in the hipster part of town. The main program was some good and more bad short films and old porn trailers which I only caught a little of. I preferred the back room where they were showing a selection of Alpha Blue Archives video collections of 1970's "roughie" porn on two televisions including "The History of Rape" and the very entertaining "Young Lust Vol. 1." The majority of the previous night's SLOGUN crew were there plus Peter Sotos and a resident "porn expert" named Pudgy. The Sotos vs. Pudgy exchange was nothing short of hilarious. Between the videos, the cheap beer, the comfortable couches and the company it was a perfect time.

Many thanks to Mark Solotroff for being the usual great host and to John Balistreri for asking me to be a part of his performance.

Check out slogun.com for photos from the show.

6/12/03 :: The Long Silence Part 2 ::

The page was down for a couple of weeks as menschenfeind.com had to find a new host. As always, thanks are due to Dustin from Menschenfeind for getting everything back up and running so fast.

I just got a couple of copies of the brand new BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA 1" CDR from PACrec. BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA is the collaboration project between myself and Scott Candey from GRUNTSPLATTER. This CDR is limited to 48 copies and contains the first new BFT song in over five years. I have to say I am very impressed with the job Scott did putting the track together from the source material I sent him. BFT "Weight of the Feeble" 1" CDR and the 1997 "Bled Out" full length CD are available in the DP store.

Today I'm heading to Chicago for the BRIGHTER DEATH NOW show tomorrow night. Since SLOGUN will be performing there's the possibility of a little DEATHPILE cameo appearance... I never know about these things until the last minute so I could be wrong. I'll do a show review when I get back.

5/21/03 :: The Long Silence ::

I was shocked to see it's been over a month since my last update. My day job has been consuming all my time and creative energy. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on schedule with updates and additions now.

As for the related projects section, it was brought to my attention that THE URGE WITHIN was missing from the line-up. I will be creating a simple page for that project as well as adding to the existing project's links/pages as soon as I can find the time.

The artwork for DEATHPILE's new CD release "G.R." is done so hopefully within a few weeks I'll have some finished copies of the CD. I'm not going to bother posting any more information on this release until I have it in my hot little hands.

4/14/03 :: Related Projects Section ::
I have created a new section for DEATHPILE related projects.

Each week I will try to add a little more to each page starting with DEAD WORLD.

4/1/03 :: DEATHPILE new MP3 availble for free download ::
I have posted the track "The First Whore" off the upcoming "G.R." CD here. The CD is a split release between Hospital Productions and Force of Nature and should be available soon.

Also, last week I was lucky enough to see the new Gaspar Noe film "Irreversible". This is simply a must see film if you're into this type of music or "extreme culture" on any level. "Irreversible" is the cinematic equivalent of power electronics. For information and to see if it's playing near you click here.

3/14/03. Last weekend DEATHPILE completed a remix of a song by LICKGOLDENSKY for an upcoming split 7" . The band INCONVENIENCE STORE (Philly heavy GODFLESH-esque project) mutilates another LGS song on the flip side of the split. It'll probably be a while before this release comes out but I'll post news about it as soon as it's available.

3/6/03. The Memorial Day DEATHPILE show with THE HATERS, BASTARD NOISE, and LOCKWELD has been postponed until Summer. I'll post the new date as soon as I get it.

To hear my new DEATHPILE side project check out two free mp3s here. ANGEL OF DECAY is a back-to-basics ambient noise project inspired by Maurizio Bianchi, Roger Karmanik, Marco Corbelli and Mark Solotroff. All the work is home recorded using one analog keyboard, and old cassette multi-track and effects. I will be creating a separate page for this project eventually. Your feedback on the two demo MP3s would be greatly appreciated.

Also, check out the store as I have a few copies of the limited DEATHPILE/DISCORDANCE Split LP for sale.

2/21/03. This Memorial Day weekend DEATHPILE will be playing live in Cleveland, OH with THE HATERS, BASTARD NOISE, and LOCKWELD. Thanks to Karen and Steve from LOCKWELD for asking us to take part. I'll post more information as soon as I get it.

2/11/03. There's not much going on this week. I've added a few new links and I finally managed to find the Self Abuse web page again.

There was an amazing episode of Mugshots on Court TV last night featuring the crimes of Edmund Kemper. I highly recommend keeping your eye out for it.

2/5/03 : Thanks to the people that gave me suggestions on how to improve the site. The overall response has been great so far.

For this week's update I added the inner-site links to every page for easier navigation, added a few new URLs to the links section and fixed the album minis on the downloads page.

DEATHPILE's "G.R." CD is tentatively scheduled for split release on Hospital Productions and Force of Nature sometime this spring. I am very pleased with the finished work. I am certain that DEATHPILE fans and newcomers alike will be pleasantly surprised by this release.

The official DEATHPILE T-shirt is currently available from Hospital Productions as well as the "Field Tales" compilation. This three cassette comp features an exclusive track from DEATHPILE side project THE URGE WITHIN as well as tracks from many other excellent noise and power electronics artists.

1/29/03 (first day online) : Welcome to the official DEATHPILE web page.

In order to get this up and running I tried to keep everything as simple as possible. I will be updating and adding more content on a weekly basis.

Be sure to check out the discography section as I spent a long time scanning original artwork from every release DEATHPILE has been involved in.