*[Another band that I couldn't get enough of in the mid-late 2000s, and still now their best records are as good as ever! Seems that relatively few people know "Extermination Revelry", "Return of the Black Death" and "Hail Infernal Darkness" these days - highly recommended to any blasting dark death metal freak.]*
*I first discovered DRAWN AND QUARTERED quite a few years ago with Extermination Revelry. Since then, I've readily devoured everything you guys have put out. What is it that keeps you driven to write and play such vitriolic death metal, especially now that the band has existed for 23 years and released six full length albums?
Hails, I'm K.S. Kuciemba. I play guitar.
What drives this band is creativity. I like to make things. Finishing a creation is deeply satisfying. The day I make a record that can't be improved upon will be when I'll stop wanting to write and record more music. We perform as well, and I'd like to improve in that area. We haven't been able to perform that much in recent years. I'd like be a really good live band, but it can be hit and miss if you only play a few shows a year. Striving for perfection and the urge to create is what drives me, and likely Simon (Dorfman, drums) and Herb (Burke, bass and vocals) too.
*Over the years, D&Q became progressively tighter and seemingly more focused in vision. I often describe the band to others as taking the best elements of IMMOLATION and INCANTATION and upping the ante on the cut-throat viciousness. Did your main influences change at any point in between the beginning and now?
Not really. Our influences range from rock, metal and classical European music. Our downtuned guitars are inspired by Black Sabbath.
My guitar style is influenced by Van Halen. Jimmy Hendrix and Tony Iommi. over the years many death, thrash and black metal bands have influenced us from Bathory, Sodom, Possessed, Slayer and Morbid Angel just to name a few. Many bands from the '80's and 90's inspired and influenced how we approached our musical aspirations. Over the years I have always shoehorned various genres such as doom, black, and thrash metal into our songs to varying degrees of success. Our most recent recordings and some touring last year really helped me clear some songs that we'd been developing out into completion. I have been newly inspired and influenced by some of the bands and experiences from last year (2015).
*It has now been around four years since your last full length, Feeding Hell's Furnace. Leading up to that one, there was a six year gap from album to album. Can we expect something new from DRAWN AND QUARTERED soon, or will new material be a couple of years off still? I think I read somewhere that some new tracks have been recorded, but I wasn't quite sure what for?
A 7th album had been in the works since 2010. We had quite a bit written and had begun some demos by 2012. Dario moved, but with the help of our friend Beau Galloway I was able to begin anew with creating some songs with his help on drums then later he played guitar with us when Simon joined. He helped record 10 tracks for a demo in 2014. That demo also went uncompleted, and we became a 3 piece band again. In between shows we were able to record some rehearsal demos in 2015 that I finally completed got mixed and mastered for a demo tape we are releasing June 2016 called "Proliferation of Disease". A CD and vinyl version will follow. I'll be developing our own recording techniques with a few more demos and a studio quality recording at some point.
*The Conquerors of Sodom EP was the first major release not on Moribund Records since the late 90s. I have at times wondered if the relative obscurity of DRAWN AND QUARTERED was due to a lack of promotion on Moribund's behalf. Would I be right in assuming that played a part in why you changed labels for Feeding Hell's Furnace? Did Nuclear Winter Records seemingly closing down in 2013 cause any issues?
Our relative obscurity is due to the fact that just aren't good enough to be better known. We've never had enough touring support or opportunities to get the experience to become a professional touring entity. The things we have done have been costly. Our drummer for 2002-2012 didn't want to tour. I hired our friend Steve Fournier in 2008 for a tour. Gas was $5+ a gallon. I made 200 shirts, we sold 50. I brought a band with us that broke up and hired our drummer to finish the tour. I couldn't do that again. There is a lot of driving between us and places interested in seeing us, especially back then. We are working on putting ourselves on festivals to get the most impact and networking to create some touring opportunities in Europe and South America. Our contract with MORIBUND had been satisfied, so we financed FEEDING HELLS FURNACE entirely ourselves with NUCLEAR WINTER manufacturing the physical products that we received a percentage of. That was the extent of that deal, that is pretty common. I have no information on what or why that label is gone but some legal or tax issues most likely. Would I like to be a rich famous rock star? Sure, I guess. But, I'm grateful for what I've been able to make happen so far and will work on doing on more. I'm fortunate to have people willing and able to move this band forward.
*Has DRAWN AND QUARTERED ever made the use of a second guitarist? Has this been a consideration at any point?
We have and we probably will again. Dealing with people is the challenge. There have 4 people who have played guitar with me since 1994. Most recently was the most promising, personal issues and opinions created a situation that was counterproductive for me. A band is a fragile entity. Herb and and I have made the choice to continue working together and Simon has chosen to join us. We completed a backlog of my song ideas until we began developing our own style and way of writing. We have grown a lot as a unit in the last couple of years. It has taken time to establish a foundation and way of intuitive musical interaction and communication that enables memorable and rich musical constructions. We are on the verge of creating a unique signature sound.
*Any plans for touring outside the US anytime soon?
No concrete plans other than Canada.
*Give us a few of your favourite death metal demos.
Infester, Disbelief, Wraithen, our 2002 Crusaders of Blasphemy, Rude, Defecated Corpse...
*How do you feel about the resurgence of cassette tapes in the death metal underground? Also, it has been 10 years since anything was released on the PLAGUE BEARER front. Is that project dead? And given that all but one of the releases for that band are very hard to find, are there any plans to put together a compilation?
It seems the cassette has made a comeback. We have our PROLIFERATION OF DISEASE tape coming out June 2016. I have a tape with 2001 PLAGUE BEARER and 2008 WINDS OF PESTILENCE demos coming out on PLASTIK MUSIK in 2016, I have a plan to release a tape of 1993 PLAGUE BEARER 'Bubonic Death' and 2004 PLAGUE BEARER 'Rise of the goat' with End of Music from Italy. That is the little tape series I had a vision to create as part of my PLAGUE PIT PRODUCTIONS concept to create merchandise around my 3 bands.
*That's all from my end. Feel free to add anything else below... cheers! Thanks for the interview!
A new era has begun for us culminating in the creation of our next studio quality recordings and demos, festival and international touring. We will be working independently and with label partners worldwide to immortalize some of our rare and unreleased recordings and crushing new creations. I really appreciate every person who has enabled me to do this band. It is an honor for me to be able to this at all and I'm inspired to create something worthy of this opportunity I have. Please look for our music wherever you can find it and support those distributing our products. HAIL INFERNAL DARKNESS!!!!