Interviews - Live 4 Metal

Interview with Ross Sewage of Impaled
July 2008 by Chris Davison

For those of you who were born in a cave and have continued to live your pitiful cro-magnon existence there, Impaled (Oakland, USA), have been plying their gore-inflected take on death metal since 1996. I've been a massive fan since I got a copy of their debut, “The Dead shall dead remain”, but it wasn't really until their “odds and sods” collection, “Choice Cuts” that the production caught up with the music and made them a true force in metal. I'm as happy as a lunatic in a crowded shopping mall with a cleaver to finally be able to subject Impaled to my inane inquisition! I caught up with Ross Sewage via email, and vomited retarded questions in his vague direction.

Firstly, congratulations on “The Last Gasp”, which I thought was one of the albums last year (and indeed gave it a top 10 of last year in the end of year polls). Put me out of my misery – the title doesn't mean the end of all things Impaled does it?
I’m afraid the only way I’m going to truly put you out of your misery is by poking a sharp stick through your innards. I might have to do this several times. Oh, who am I kidding? Have to? I’d love to do it! Let’s see how long we can do it without putting you out of your misery! As for the title, I can only bring up Hypocrisy’s “The Final Chapter” and ask you to glean some enlightenment from that situation.

I confess, I was originally drawn to Impaled by your sound, which wasn't a huge mile away from classic Carcass in the beginning. As well as producing the best cover version on the Carcass tribute album by a considerable margin, you've retained much of the medical humour of the newly reunited Liverpudlian act. Just how much were Walker, Steer and Owen an influence on Impaled?
Let’s not forget Monsieur Ammot, who really did contribute quite a bit as well… some of my favorite songs, in fact. But more importantly in this whole reunion fiasco, where is Carlos Regadas? Of course, Swan Song is one of our favorite records ever. I think you’ll find we pay total allegiance to that record, wearing its influence on our sleeve and proudly shouting that Carcass really hit their stride just as they were in their final days. Keep on rotting!

Your cover art is almost as notorious for the “banned in over one trillion countries!” proclamations as they are for their gruesome depictions! Just how many countries is your album art banned in? I mean, really?
By last count, we’ve been banned in more countries than there are on the Earth. So, logic follows we’ve must’ve been banned also in the Martian colonies, Kashyyk, LV-426, Cybertron, and several moons of Mongo.

I have loved the evolving story of St. Juliens since the awesome Mondo Medicale album. Who came up with the idea of the twisted thanatologists, and how has the story evolved?
The term “thanatologists” comes from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Take that for what it’s worth. I’m not sure anyone really came up with “an idea,” it’s just a natural extension of our personas into our songs and the evil deeds spoken about therein. It sure is a lot more interesting to me than writing a song about Ed Gein or worse… just rehashing ‘70s slasher movies for lyrical fodder and claiming some sort of originality. Anybody who’d do that is probably just a loser who talks shit on the Internet, runs a crap label, and spends all the money he makes selling CDs of bands he doesn’t like on Prozac. As far as our own story, we’re older, wiser, and a whole lot more pissed off. St. Julien’s Hospital has gone from a place of some malpractice to a den of intentional malice.

On “The Last Gasp”, and on the video for G.O.R.E., there is a totalitarian vibe in the band photography and the inlay design. What's the story behind the uniform?
We’ve decided to give in to the dark side and truly stand behind American imperialism. We think that more medical atrocities, like the Tuskegee experiments or doctor assisted torture at Guantanamo, can be conducted in a climate of total fear and oppression. Just like the one we’re lucky to have right now in the States. Fuck Obama and fuck McCain… George W. Bush for iron-fisted dictator-for-life! Also, too many bands are wearing lab coats. We had to ditch that, or really look like tools when better bands like General Surgery and Haemorrhage walk into the same room. “I can’t believe Jocke is wearing the same outfit as me… the nerve!”

Alongside your trademark black humour, there's some more interesting ideas and (dare I say it), some more mature themes running alongside the usual tales of the operating theatre. “The visible man”, for instance, covers some of the dangers of increased use of DNA profiling. Was the songwriting procedure any different for “The Last Gasp”, and was the slightly more “serious” atmosphere a conscious decision?
We’ve ALWAYS been serious, can’t you tell? You thought songs like Faeces of Death, where we stuff a corpse full of poo to upset the bereaved funeral attendees was some kind of JOKE? On this last record, we’re just putting forth our plans for world domination. We know history, and we’ve learned from past mistakes. We understand how to destroy, torture, and make you all love us. Our intentions are all their in our lyrics, masked in pretty words, just as our government’s is there everyday in the newspaper. If the public wishes to ignore our obviously deadly intentions, then they get what they deserve. On the next record, we’re definitely going to have songs detailing our plans for a Pyramid of Darkness and maybe the Weather Dominator (if we can get our hands on some of that heavy water).

There has been a nasty, libellous rumour that some of the fine, upstanding members of Impaled might know something about the Ghouls of Creepsylvania [on a side note, I love Ghoul to bits – got all three albums!]. Can you confirm or deny these rumours?
I know something about Ghoul. THAT BAND SUCKS! That vocalist is obviously ripping off our own Minister McGrath’s unique vocalizations. What a turd.

“Death after Life” was a very cool album in terms of the strength of song writing, but the production was pretty muddy. A lot of extreme bands (and I can think of Vader, Testament and Anthrax lately) have re-recorded earlier work using their modern productions. Might we ever see that for Death after Life, or even for “The Dead Shall Dead Remain”?
Is that okay to do? I always thought there was fan backlash to such things. In fact, we’ve considered this idea a lot, as we don’t own the recordings of those old songs, but we DO own the publishing. Legally, it seems the only way we could re-release The Dead Shall Dead Remain. Also, maybe we could record it undrunk. That might help with the sound, playing, and amounts of vomit that got all over the recording tape.

Settle an argument for me. A long standing internet discussion, (which is to say that it's dumber than a bus full of special kids), has been over just how much money extreme metal bands make. Apologists for theft (ahem), I'm sorry, file sharing, say that extreme bands make no money from CDs anyway, and rely solely on merchandise. What's your take on the file sharing, freeloading mentality of these parasitic bastards?
I’m not worried about any of that bullshit. Sure, labels lose money from file sharing, and then in turn don’t push bands, and in turn can’t take out ads, and then in turn we can’t tour because no one’s heard of us without a promotional machine behind us, and then our CDs go on sale, we get kicked off a label, label goes out of business, label employees can’t afford new CDs, they start file sharing, but soon they don’t find any new Impaled records because no label can get us into a studio to record, we lose our practice place, and pretty soon we’re giving blowjobs on the street for food money. So really, it’s a win win.

Is there anything else you'd like to inflict on our hapless readership?
A: I have a pretty nasty cough I’d like to give them. I’m gonna cough germs all over this fucking interview! Take that, you fucking pieces of shit! STAY FUCK!