Skewered took their name out of a film
intie with Mark done by Rick, September 2007
Hey there Mark, glad you could join us today for a little 1 on 1. Welcome.
Hey Rick, thanks for taking the time out and I appreciate the interest.
Well we have the name out of the way, please tell us what you do in Skewered.
My roll is vocalist and I suppose front man as well.
Please give us a brief run down of how and when Skewered got started.
Myself, Fred and Sal were looking for a guitarist to continue on in a band we had been a part of for a year or so, Andy seemed to fit the bill perfectly and we got writing new material straight away, we just felt that a name change at that point would benefit us as we had taken a considerable break in the search for a guitarist and that would be the birth of the band as it is now.
How many total releases are available and where can we get them?
Currently there is only the one official release, but we should be starting the recording process on the next one soon. As for the availability of the CD, it can be acquired from ourselves, or one of the local metal shops in Dublin, Sentinel Records. (www.sentinelrecords.com).
You guys have a new record out called ’Homegrown Brutality’. Sickening stuff!!!! From a musical side what inspired you guys to get up and write such whipass music?
We are all big fans of music and heading to gigs. Music was always just a big part of our lives so I suppose the next logical step in our heads was to make some for ourselves, as far as bands go though, who influence or inspired our direction in music would be, well there would be a lot but the most obvious ones that spring to mind would be Suffocation, Immolation, Skinless and Cryptopsy..with a sprinkling of Disgorge (US), The Berzerker, Meshuggah and Hate Eternal to top it off.
I have said in other interviews that lyrics are just as important as melody, or brutality for the purposes of our conversation. Its unfortunatley the most neglected part of music in most cases. On 1 hand its cool because it proves that music is universal and you dont nessecarly have to understand the lyrics to get into the music. On the other hand people actually have something to say, and that sometimes never gets across. So for those who dont read lyrics or dont try to listen to what your talking about, what are some of the topics covered by the lyrics?
Well the lyrical content of the CD would range from blasphemic to misogynistic to good old gore obsession, some might say the typical death metal criteria, but what we're working on now might be a bit different, but in keeping with the brutality of the music...definitely with an undertone of humour, which was hopefully noticable on Homegrown.
And living legend here in Texas. Underground legend the world around. Jon Zig did the cover art. How did Skewered cross paths with Zig? Did you guys seek him out or was it the other way around?
Well we went in search of him, we became familiar with his work from another Irish band (Putrefy) of which he had done work with before and after checking out more of his work online it really was an easy decision, the man truly is a legend, and was really easy to work with, taking our ideas and recreating them perfectly and even had some great suggestions for it himself.
As far as writring material, is it a all for 1 and 1 for all kind of situation or does say for example Sal come to practice with a riff that you guys expand on?
A lot of our songs came from jamming out riffs that someone came up with or sometimes Fred has a kick ass drum bit and we try progress forward with that. Most of the time songs are a joint effort, but if someone comes in with the bones of a song done, well then thats good too and we see what we can add to it.
How 'bout lyrics, is that a calaborative effort or does 1 person handel those duties?
Most of the time I write them myself, occasionally I'd go to the others for ideas on lyrical content.
And of course Skewered is from Dublin, Ireland. Fuck Yeah!! This is a really silly question that just now came to my mind, please dont take offense. Not too sure if anyone is going to see this as disrespect, but its a retarded question I have to ask. Are there any Norte Dame fans in Ireland? I am just curious. Because here in America everyone is Irish 2 days out of the year. St. Patricks day, and if Norte Dame ends up in championship American Football. For those who dont know what in the blue fuck I am talking about....Norte Dame is a university in Michigan (U.S.A.), whos slogan is, ’The Fighting Irish’. This is why I ask...
Ah I'm sure there are, there are a good few bars throughout the city that show NFL games, can't say I follow it that greatly myself, but it is good to watch now and again.
Speaking of which.. does it get fucking nuts on St. Patricks Day there in Dublin?
Yea..you could say that, theres a bit more of a spark about town that night, its usually good craic and there will definitely be a party on somewhere that you could hit after a lengthy night in the pub.
Now about the cultural aspect of that last question. My family tells me that our side of the Hawkins line comes from Ireland. I have never been and it is a place on my go before I die list. Are the Irish really brawlers? All the Irish (real Irish) I have ever met are cool as shit, seem like they will knock your teeth out if called upon, and have positively drinked me under the table. Again just curious.
To be honest not really, well at least not in the metal scene anyway, its about the same as anywhere really in that regard, but as a whole there is a great sense of camaraderie within the scene here.
Ok now when I go to Ireland, besides stoping by your place, taking you guys to a pub and get pissed, whats some other places in Dublin that have to be visited?
Theres a few metal bars to head to in the city, the best being Bruxelles, followed by Fibbers .Although in recent years (thanks to Dublin Metal Events) a lot of the touring bands have made Dublin a stop on their Europeean Tours, which is definitely a positive. Outside metal there is a great history to just about everything in the city and throughout the island for that matter.
Tell us about some bands in Ireland that you feel deserve some recognition, and that need to be heard by all of us Brutal Maniacs!
Irelands metal scene is vibrant and ever growing with more and more young bands growing and showing great potential, there are already some with international acclaim like Putrefy and Abaddon Incarnate that I'm sure some are aware of already, but other bands who deserve a mention are Morphosis, Sinister Demise, Overoth and Sarcosis. I would also definitely recommend the debut of two Dublin DM bands scheduled out this year also..Warpath and Nephridium, as said the scene is always growing here.
What shows do you currently have lined up?
The writing is a priority for us at the moment, but when we tighten up the new tracks, we intend picking up gigs home and abroad, the only show lined up currently is a small fest in the country with Death metal legends Desecration..thats not til December so there is plenty of time to get some up and ready before then.
What is the best show you have played thus far and why?
Dublins Deathfest for us was a great night, we all really enjoyed it and the quality of the other acts was immense, it was also the launch night for our cd which added a little something to it, the crowd reaction was more than we expected and it was one of those gigs where everything went right.
There is a posting up that you are working on new material. What can we expect from the new Skewered?
Heavier, faster more brutal riffing with a more grindy approach to things, one lesson learned is to take good care in the recording process and to get a better clearer sound on the next release.
That brings up another good question... give us the story behind the name of the band.
We used to go by the name Necrosis and after a quick look on metal-archives and seeing a long list of other bands of the same name we decided that a new name was a must and the longer we waited the more troublesome it would have been.
Skewered came from a scene in the movie Cannibal Holocaust , where a young tribal woman was seen impaled on a spike, obviously Impaled was out of the question..but we thought Skewered had a nice ring to it.
Give us the craziest fucking story Skewered has experianced! Like there was this one time ’at band camp...’ No I'm Kidding (laughing my ass off)?
Haha, I'd imagine the others would be the best to ask in that regard, I'm probably the one who gets too drunk and all the stories are about.
If you were given the chance and the choice.. who would you want to tour the world with? Jenna Jameson does not count!
Well if she was out of the question I suppose the Suicide Girls would do nicely haha. Seriously though touring with Skinless I'd say would be the shit, crazy bastards on stage witha slamming brutal sound, I've never seen a band tear Dublin a new asshole quite like they did!
Well I have about run out of retarded questions so as Twan would say.... LAST RITES?
Thanks for taking the time for this, we appreicate it and the radio show as well, seriously man. Keep an eye on the Irish underground as its a scene thats going to boil over with some of its great talent soon and for anyone else who wants more updates on us check out the website or myspace, which are in the review section here.
Thanks again Mark for your time. Hopefully we all can meet face to face very soon. Till then keep in touch, and I will do the same.
Yeah definitely man and thanks again, keep up all the good work there, and you'll definitely be hearing from us again man. Talk to you again and keep it brutal.
keep it fuckin' brutal everybody
cheers from Texas
Rick
Hey there Mark, glad you could join us today for a little 1 on 1. Welcome.
Hey Rick, thanks for taking the time out and I appreciate the interest.
Well we have the name out of the way, please tell us what you do in Skewered.
My roll is vocalist and I suppose front man as well.
Please give us a brief run down of how and when Skewered got started.
Myself, Fred and Sal were looking for a guitarist to continue on in a band we had been a part of for a year or so, Andy seemed to fit the bill perfectly and we got writing new material straight away, we just felt that a name change at that point would benefit us as we had taken a considerable break in the search for a guitarist and that would be the birth of the band as it is now.
How many total releases are available and where can we get them?
Currently there is only the one official release, but we should be starting the recording process on the next one soon. As for the availability of the CD, it can be acquired from ourselves, or one of the local metal shops in Dublin, Sentinel Records. (www.sentinelrecords.com).
You guys have a new record out called ’Homegrown Brutality’. Sickening stuff!!!! From a musical side what inspired you guys to get up and write such whipass music?
We are all big fans of music and heading to gigs. Music was always just a big part of our lives so I suppose the next logical step in our heads was to make some for ourselves, as far as bands go though, who influence or inspired our direction in music would be, well there would be a lot but the most obvious ones that spring to mind would be Suffocation, Immolation, Skinless and Cryptopsy..with a sprinkling of Disgorge (US), The Berzerker, Meshuggah and Hate Eternal to top it off.
I have said in other interviews that lyrics are just as important as melody, or brutality for the purposes of our conversation. Its unfortunatley the most neglected part of music in most cases. On 1 hand its cool because it proves that music is universal and you dont nessecarly have to understand the lyrics to get into the music. On the other hand people actually have something to say, and that sometimes never gets across. So for those who dont read lyrics or dont try to listen to what your talking about, what are some of the topics covered by the lyrics?
Well the lyrical content of the CD would range from blasphemic to misogynistic to good old gore obsession, some might say the typical death metal criteria, but what we're working on now might be a bit different, but in keeping with the brutality of the music...definitely with an undertone of humour, which was hopefully noticable on Homegrown.
And living legend here in Texas. Underground legend the world around. Jon Zig did the cover art. How did Skewered cross paths with Zig? Did you guys seek him out or was it the other way around?
Well we went in search of him, we became familiar with his work from another Irish band (Putrefy) of which he had done work with before and after checking out more of his work online it really was an easy decision, the man truly is a legend, and was really easy to work with, taking our ideas and recreating them perfectly and even had some great suggestions for it himself.
As far as writring material, is it a all for 1 and 1 for all kind of situation or does say for example Sal come to practice with a riff that you guys expand on?
A lot of our songs came from jamming out riffs that someone came up with or sometimes Fred has a kick ass drum bit and we try progress forward with that. Most of the time songs are a joint effort, but if someone comes in with the bones of a song done, well then thats good too and we see what we can add to it.
How 'bout lyrics, is that a calaborative effort or does 1 person handel those duties?
Most of the time I write them myself, occasionally I'd go to the others for ideas on lyrical content.
And of course Skewered is from Dublin, Ireland. Fuck Yeah!! This is a really silly question that just now came to my mind, please dont take offense. Not too sure if anyone is going to see this as disrespect, but its a retarded question I have to ask. Are there any Norte Dame fans in Ireland? I am just curious. Because here in America everyone is Irish 2 days out of the year. St. Patricks day, and if Norte Dame ends up in championship American Football. For those who dont know what in the blue fuck I am talking about....Norte Dame is a university in Michigan (U.S.A.), whos slogan is, ’The Fighting Irish’. This is why I ask...
Ah I'm sure there are, there are a good few bars throughout the city that show NFL games, can't say I follow it that greatly myself, but it is good to watch now and again.
Speaking of which.. does it get fucking nuts on St. Patricks Day there in Dublin?
Yea..you could say that, theres a bit more of a spark about town that night, its usually good craic and there will definitely be a party on somewhere that you could hit after a lengthy night in the pub.
Now about the cultural aspect of that last question. My family tells me that our side of the Hawkins line comes from Ireland. I have never been and it is a place on my go before I die list. Are the Irish really brawlers? All the Irish (real Irish) I have ever met are cool as shit, seem like they will knock your teeth out if called upon, and have positively drinked me under the table. Again just curious.
To be honest not really, well at least not in the metal scene anyway, its about the same as anywhere really in that regard, but as a whole there is a great sense of camaraderie within the scene here.
Ok now when I go to Ireland, besides stoping by your place, taking you guys to a pub and get pissed, whats some other places in Dublin that have to be visited?
Theres a few metal bars to head to in the city, the best being Bruxelles, followed by Fibbers .Although in recent years (thanks to Dublin Metal Events) a lot of the touring bands have made Dublin a stop on their Europeean Tours, which is definitely a positive. Outside metal there is a great history to just about everything in the city and throughout the island for that matter.
Tell us about some bands in Ireland that you feel deserve some recognition, and that need to be heard by all of us Brutal Maniacs!
Irelands metal scene is vibrant and ever growing with more and more young bands growing and showing great potential, there are already some with international acclaim like Putrefy and Abaddon Incarnate that I'm sure some are aware of already, but other bands who deserve a mention are Morphosis, Sinister Demise, Overoth and Sarcosis. I would also definitely recommend the debut of two Dublin DM bands scheduled out this year also..Warpath and Nephridium, as said the scene is always growing here.
What shows do you currently have lined up?
The writing is a priority for us at the moment, but when we tighten up the new tracks, we intend picking up gigs home and abroad, the only show lined up currently is a small fest in the country with Death metal legends Desecration..thats not til December so there is plenty of time to get some up and ready before then.
What is the best show you have played thus far and why?
Dublins Deathfest for us was a great night, we all really enjoyed it and the quality of the other acts was immense, it was also the launch night for our cd which added a little something to it, the crowd reaction was more than we expected and it was one of those gigs where everything went right.
There is a posting up that you are working on new material. What can we expect from the new Skewered?
Heavier, faster more brutal riffing with a more grindy approach to things, one lesson learned is to take good care in the recording process and to get a better clearer sound on the next release.
That brings up another good question... give us the story behind the name of the band.
We used to go by the name Necrosis and after a quick look on metal-archives and seeing a long list of other bands of the same name we decided that a new name was a must and the longer we waited the more troublesome it would have been.
Skewered came from a scene in the movie Cannibal Holocaust , where a young tribal woman was seen impaled on a spike, obviously Impaled was out of the question..but we thought Skewered had a nice ring to it.
Give us the craziest fucking story Skewered has experianced! Like there was this one time ’at band camp...’ No I'm Kidding (laughing my ass off)?
Haha, I'd imagine the others would be the best to ask in that regard, I'm probably the one who gets too drunk and all the stories are about.
If you were given the chance and the choice.. who would you want to tour the world with? Jenna Jameson does not count!
Well if she was out of the question I suppose the Suicide Girls would do nicely haha. Seriously though touring with Skinless I'd say would be the shit, crazy bastards on stage witha slamming brutal sound, I've never seen a band tear Dublin a new asshole quite like they did!
Well I have about run out of retarded questions so as Twan would say.... LAST RITES?
Thanks for taking the time for this, we appreicate it and the radio show as well, seriously man. Keep an eye on the Irish underground as its a scene thats going to boil over with some of its great talent soon and for anyone else who wants more updates on us check out the website or myspace, which are in the review section here.
Thanks again Mark for your time. Hopefully we all can meet face to face very soon. Till then keep in touch, and I will do the same.
Yeah definitely man and thanks again, keep up all the good work there, and you'll definitely be hearing from us again man. Talk to you again and keep it brutal.
keep it fuckin' brutal everybody
cheers from Texas
Rick
