Table Of Content“‘7 MORE SHOPPING DAYS TIL ARMAGEDDON’
was the most important thing I wrote in
college.” is a comment I found made by
Lawrence Tripp on the youtube from The
Walls of Barrington Hall (1988) video. I missed
out on Barrington Hall, but as someone who
has lived communally, squatted, done some
and admired much graffiti, been to a bunch of
DIY shows and even helped put some on, and
have read a fair amount of history and maybe
even helped make some; it seemed like
something fun to snag for a writing project,
even if this ends up just being a one off.
After being a shit worker for a print project for three and a half years, I thought I was ruined as a
writer. When I first started writing for The Collective, it was just another radical media outlet to me. But
I ended up hopping freight, hitchhiking and walking back to the San Francisco Bay Area from Eugene,
Oregon via the White Castle Timber Sale Blockade in 2013 to join The Collective, and squat in an
abandoned house. It was one of those, what I call Choose Your Own Adventure Moments, that went on
to totally shape how the next three and a half years of my life went as my work for The Collective became
completely central to my being.
Now it has next to nothing to do with my life, and it’s been kind of hard to figure out what I want
to write about, if I even want to write, where to get published, etcetera. I suppose it’s a blessing in
disguise, and though re-starting my independent writing and research has been a huge pain in the ass, I’m
here to float some ideas by you!
The only articles I’ve actually been solicited for lately have been about communal living, at least
tangentially. I rarely get good feedback on those, and feel like they have mostly just been filler for begging
letters for various intentional communities. I’ve often thought about doing a ‘zine about Punk House
dwelling, and have sort of distributed Cometbus since Aaron’s basically the best ‘zine writer in the US now
and covers the topic well. I have also reviewed Kids of the Black Hole (the original draft was about 5,000
words, at least one comrade thought that was overkill) and Cometbus elsewhere, and my ‘zines on
squatting have already, essentially been about at least one form of Punk House dwelling, so do I need to
keep adding to this pile of literature?!
Too many people in the US only know one T. Rex song, and that’s a crying shame. Too few people
in the US listen to The Pretty Things/The Electric Banana. Maybe I should just surrender on every other
front and write about something that actually makes me happy, good music?
There’s a new Vegan Straight Edge Punk
House in Tucson, and they didn’t even know about
the other one! My all-time favorite Tucson Punk
House, forgotten?! Perhaps I should be archiving a
music scene I’ve been mostly happy to be a part of
for over eight and a half years!?
I’ve also been dragging my feet on publishing
some research on logistics. Art by Alec Dunn from
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative was asked for that.
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Old School Clevo Style Death
Metal and the Printing Industry
An Interview
with Michael Perez
One fall day in 1995 I went to a local record store on the other side of town, where many if not most of the
local hardcore, punk and metal bands had their recordings on consignment.
It was a good five or so miles from my house, and pretty much not accessible by public transit, so
whenever I went to Perry's Rock Pile, it was sort of a big deal.
This time, Shawn Hapney, the drummer from a local death metal band, Descend, was there, and
asked the guys I was with and me if we wanted to check out his band's then new Demonstration
Cassette. Actually called that, it's how I learned what demo is short for!
I can't remember who exactly was there except this kid Chris, because he was the one who
drove. We were with at least one of the other guys we were jamming with at the time. These sort of "band
field trips" happened often enough that some of the details blur. But at least a few of us piled into Shawn's
car and I flipped; Necroticism era Carcass styled high pitch shrieking combined with low end death growls,
blast beats, fancy enough guitar work and... spitting?! At least a couple of us bought tapes on the spot.
As the tape played, and more importantly to me, Shawn told us how all of the band's members
were printers, all worked in the industry, and did all their own printing. It never would have occurred to
me on my own, but as I looked over the tape cover's layout, I imagined flyers and stickers, and became
fascinated by the idea. Within two years I was taking Graphic Communications, my high school's
vocational printing class.
Shawn also told us about a tape sharing network Descend was a part of, and encouraged us to hit
him up about it when we recorded. Not doing so is one of my big regrets from that time in my life.
Michael Perez played bass for Descend, and is currently in Curse of Denial.
AI: How did you become interested in printing?
MP: I became interested in printing because all of the other members of Descend (Nate, Shawn
and Gary) went through the
graphic arts program at Lakewood
High School. Nate was the first to
get a job in the field and a driver
position opened up at the shop he
was working at. So, I wound up
getting the job and after a little
while worked my way up and
became a press helper. Every
member of Descend eventually
worked in that shop.
AI: I'm assuming the
presses you ran were offset? Back
Descend Demonstration Casette 1995
in the '90s I ran a couple different
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kinds: an Itek 975 and a Shinohara. I miss hanging the plates, and the rush I got when the first few clear
copies came off the press.
MP: The presses I worked on were all Heidelberg sheetfed offset presses.
AI: I think it's cool that you got hired as a driver, but then became a press helper. Have you ever
taken vocational or industrial education classes?
MP: I didn’t take any vocational classes in high school, but the shop that we all worked at back in
the 90’s paid for classes if you wanted to take them, so I got involved in a graphic arts program at Tri-C.
Not too long after, I decided to leave the printing industry and get back into residential and commercial
painting. I was doing that prior to printing. Fortunately, I made the right choice. I’ve now had my own
painting company for 18 years.
AI: Have you done any silk screening?
MP: Never have done any silk screening.
AI: Descend had a stable lineup for years, and according to the Metal Archives, you've been in
two other bands with guys from Descend, this has to be the majority of your life by now, that's really
cool! How did it all start?
MP: Descend started out in January 1993 as a three piece. Nate, Shawn and I. We all knew each
other and hung out at school and shows. By this time though, I was already graduated and Nate and Shawn
were still in school. Long story short, I had left a band I was in, and about six months later, Nate and Shawn
left a band they were in called Miscarriage. They knew I was available and asked me to start a band
with them. About a year later, Gary joined up with us. He had been in the second incarnation of
Miscarriage after the other guys left. Another guy that was in Miscarriage was Rick Fleming who wound
up joining Embalmer as their vocalist.
AI: I noticed Rob Molzan from Decrepit and From the Depths sings for Curse of Denial. I
remember being really impressed that your first demo was on Decrepit's label, Dismal. What was
Descend's relationship with Decrepit like?
MP: Our relationship with Decrepit was really cool. We shared a practice spot for a while and
always went to each other’s shows. The first time we played out as a four piece was at a Musician’s Night
at the Red Eye Lounge hosted by Decrepit. That’s an event where random bands can sign up to play usually
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about three songs. So, we weren’t on
the flyer and nobody knew we were
going to play and it was a great time.
Dismal Records was Duane Morris’s
label. I dropped by his house to let him
hear the demo before it came out. He
liked it so much that he put it out on
Dismal, which was a huge help for us.
Duane was really connected in the
underground back then.
AI: Back in the mid-to-late '90s,
I remember being really blown away both by what Dismal put out, and also what they distributed. I
assume that's at least partially what Shawn described to us as the tape sharing network you all were a
part of. It seems this sort of thing is largely online now, can you compare and contrast what it was like to
be sharing musical recordings in the mail versus online now?
MP: The underground tape trading scene was absolutely incredible back then. I wound up getting
very involved, I made my own tape before Descend formed called “Alive in the Underground “. I would
bootleg every show I went to back then and it occurred to me that I could make a compilation with so
many killer bands. It also gave me something to trade. So I traded for demos and fanzines. I had two
volumes. The first was with all bands I recorded myself, a lot of local Cleveland bands and other bands
that came to town. The second volume was a mix of bands I recorded and other bands from around the
world that sent me live recordings so that they could be on the comp. I kind of wish I would have kept it
going. Who knows what it could have turned into by now? But, Descend formed, and all of my attention
turned towards that. At the peak of my tape trading days, every day was like a kid at Christmas. Like the
moment before opening a present. I received so much material, that I had to get a dedicated PO Box. The
daily walk to the post office was filled with the anticipation of what would be lying in wait for me there. It
was truly awesome. One really had to work and put in a good amount of effort back then to discover
unsigned bands. Nowadays it’s too easy, everything is just a couple of clicks away. The mystery is gone.
AI: I'm glad you brought up 'zines. I was going to write The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds was the
runaway best Death Metal fan 'zine in the '90s, but then it occurred to me I actually couldn't even name
another. Similarly, necrosismag.com was the only website I ever checked about Death Metal in general
probably closer to 2001 when I started using the 'net.
What were some of the best 'zines in the '90s?
MP: There were so many awesome fanzines in the 90’s. The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds was
definitely one of them, Descend did an interview in one of the issues. The best one from the Cleveland
area was The Scab Mag. They have a Facebook with pictures of all the interviews etc... Corporal Arts was
another. There were hundreds of zines from all over the world.
AI: Are there any Death Metal fan 'zines in print now and/or websites you would recommend?
MP: As for webzines, there is an endless supply. Check out the Curse of Denial Facebook page,
we have links to all of the webzines that have reviewed our material.
AI: Back in the '90s I also liked U.S. Rocker a great deal, and was pretty bummed when it
folded. But I think the problem with more general music periodicals is sometimes reviewers obviously
don't respect the band and/or genre they are writing about, which I think is reporting in bad faith. How
has the music press treated your projects?
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MP: The press for Descend was black and white, no gray areas. We either got stellar reviews or
horrible reviews, nothing in between. Curse of Denial has had positive reviews for the most part, some
bad ones.
AI: I think Jessica Hopper is the runaway best music critic. Sometimes I think about making a fan
'zine including her material from Punk Planet since I think it's all out of print, and it's more fun than the
material she writes now. Do you have any favorite music critics?
MP: Honestly, I don’t have any favorite music critics. These days, I don’t pay much attention. I
only read reviews of other bands in the Cleveland scene.
AI: The Red Eye was great. The first Death Metal band I ever saw, Infested, was there in January
1995. Sometimes I tell younger people the first time I saw Mushroomhead was at a bowling alley in the
west suburbs of Clevo later that year, and I don't think they ever believe me unless they are from Chicago
and know of the Fireside Bowl's shows around the turn of the century.
Were you involved with the Flash's scene at all? I just missed the end of it.
MP: Yes, I was definitely involved in the Flash’s scene. That’s where I recorded most of the bands
that appeared on “Alive in the Underground”. Those were great times and that’s where I met a lot of the
people in the Cleveland scene. That was the first venue that Descend played as a three piece.
AI: Is there anything you
want to write about having played
in Pawns in Chess?
MP: Pawns in Chess was a
life saver for me personally. When
we started that band in January
2013, I had not even touched my
bass in over three years. I thought
I was done playing music. Shawn
and I had tried to jam with a
variety of guitarists prior to that and nothing ever worked out. But one day Shawn called me and was
pretty excited about this guy, Jeremy, that he had a session with and wanted me to come down the
next day. Long story short, it worked out. We clicked right away. We put out a six track cd in 2014 called
“Blood of Martyrs”. It’s just the three of us, no vocals.
Jim Konya (RIP) loved it and asked us to start a new
band with him in 2015, so we obliged. However, he
passed of a stroke shortly thereafter. It was devastating
to everyone in the Cleveland scene. He was the
ambassador of this scene and I don’t think anyone
could imagine it without him. But through the will
power and dedication of the great artists here, the
scene was able to recover from such a tremendous loss.
A few months later, we asked Rob Molzan of Decrepit
and From the Depths to join our band on vocals and we
changed the name to Curse of Denial. We’ve since
come out with two full length albums on Redefining
Darkness Records, “The 13th Sign” 2017 recorded at
Bad Back Studios and “Coming For Your Soul” 2019
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recorded at Track Six Studios. As of right now, the band is inactive, but we have all recently talked and
plan on putting together a third album or EP.
The Pawns cd is available through me. People can send a message to the Curse of Denial FB if they
are interested in getting a copy.
AI: The first time I saw Descend
was with Embalmer at the Phantasy in the
fall of '96. What was it like growing up in
a city where I assume you lived in walking
distance of record stores like Mind's Eye
and Chris's Warped Records, and clubs like
the Phantasy and the Symposium?
MP: Growing up in Lakewood was
great. I still live here. Chris’s Warped was
right up the street from my house. I spent
hours and hours of my life in there pouring
through records. I spent most of my
money there, but there was also
Shattered Records on Lorain and West
126th or 120 something. That was a killer
record store as well. I’ve spent a ton of
time at both the Phantasy and The
Symposium. I was just at the Symposium
the other night to see a couple of local acts, Assault and Subtype Zero. As for Embalmer, “Into the Oven”,
their first demo tape was a pretty big influence on Descend. Plus, they were instrumental in bringing a ton
of bands to Flash’s and were a huge part of that early scene. They’ve had some lineup changes since then,
are still active and recording a new album.
AI: One thing I've been glad to see about underground music going over to the 'net has been the
old video tape recording network. I mean, sometimes those tapes were expensive, then the sound totally
sucked, or even the picture quality was bad too! But they were still kind of cool, sometimes. In the '90s I
had good videos of Mythic, Carcass, Dimmu Borgir and I should probably be embarrassed, but one band I
was in watched Pantera's Vulgar Video maybe a dozen or more times taking breaks between practice
sets. Did any of your projects have videos on tape? Were you into that network at all?
MP: Wasn’t ever part of the video tape network. I know people filmed our bands, but I don’t have
any copies.
AI: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
MP: If you want to put any parting comments I’ll just say thank you to all of our supporters over
the years. If anyone is interested in Curse of Denial, our music can be found on the Redefining Darkness
Records bandcamp page.
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The Right to Live in Peace (2019), translated by Cris,
[email protected] CristianCaceresPhoto.com
The Right to live,
Without fear in our country,
In conscience & unity,
With all of humankind,
No canon will shall remove,
The furrow of comradeship1
The Right to live in peace,
Liberty!
With respect & liberty,
And a new social bond,
Dignity & education
Let there be no disparity,
The fight is an explosion,
That fuses all the clamor,
The right to live in peace!
Peace! Peace!
Who wants peace?
Peace! Peace!
With Respect & liberty,
And a new social bond,
Let there be no disparity,
Feeling!
A tiny bit louder!
The students will not let you sleep,
If you don’t let them dream.
Everybody to the street!
Let’s go! Let’s go!
This is change!
“Viva Chile mierda!”2
It’s peace, our song,
It’s fire of pure love,
It’s dove dovecot,
Olive from the olive tree,
It’s the universal song, (x2)
Chain that’ll make triumph
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The Right to live in peace,
The Right to live in peace (x3)
1: I chose comradeship instead of “brotherhood” because the Spanish word for “brotherhood” is
actually gender neutral, whereas here it might be misunderstood, and they both have the same
intention.
2: I decided not to translate this since it’s a phrase that wouldn’t fit in English, since several
LatinxAmerican countries have a different way of saying “Viva their country” and a specific swear word
next to it. Examples are: “Viva Mexico cabrones!”, “Viva el Peru carajo!”, “Viva Chile mierda!”.
Spanish Version:
El derecho de vivir,
Sin miedo en nuestro país,
En consciencia y unidad,
Con toda la humanidad,
Ningún cañon borrara,
El surco de la hermandad,
El derecho de vivir en paz,
Con respeto y libertad,
Y un nuevo pacto social,
Dignidad y educación,
Que no haya desigualdad,
La lucha es una explosión, Víctor Jara, author of the original El Derecho De Vivir En Paz.
Que funde todo el clamor,
El derecho de vivir en paz,
¡Paz! ¡Paz!
¿Quien Quiere Paz?
¡Paz! ¡Paz!
Con respeto y libertad,
Y un nuevo pacto social
que no haya desigualdad,
¡Sentimiento!
¡Un poquitito mas fuerte!
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Los estudiantes no lo dejaran dormir,
Si usted no los deja sonar,
¡Todo el mundo pa’ la calle!
¡Vamos! ¡Vamos!
¡Esto es el cambio!
¡Viva Chile mierda!
Es la paz nuestra canción,
Es fuego de puro amor,
Es palomo palomar,
Olivo del olivar,
Es el canto universal, (x2)
Cadena que hará triunfar,
El derecho de vivir en paz,
El derecho de vivir en paz (x3)
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Translation of Concha Urquiza by Cris, [email protected] CristianCaceresPhoto.com
Caminos Roads
Oh dulce canto de viaje, Oh sweet song of travel,
mi alegría y mi caudal, My happiness & my river flow,
más que en las velas el viento More than in candles the wind
más que el surco en el mar! More than the waves in the sea!
Por los senderillos negros Yonder the black trails
nubes cargadas de afán, Clouds loaded with yearning,
por los senderillos rojos Yonder the red trails
alardes de tempestad, Bragging of a tempest,
por las llanuras inmensas, Yonder the immense plains,
soledad…, Solitude…
pero una canción de viaje But a song of travel
me llena de oro el morral. Fills my satchel with gold.
Cuán largo camino largo How long, long road
desde esta noche a la aurora! From this night to the aurora!
mas un cantarcillo alegre And a tiny cheerful song
los labios sedientos moja: Bedews the thirsty lips:
«¡Qué amor y qué amores tengo <<¡What love & what loves have I
allá en fronteras remotas! There in remote frontiers!
¿qué camino será largo What road would be long
siendo camino de bodas?» Being a wedding road?>>
La luna viaja de incognito The Moon travels incognito
tras las nubes borrascosas; After the tempestuous clouds;
y galopa el duro viento & the hard wind gallops
con el girón de su antorcha; With the trace of its torch;
en la soledad vibrante Within the vibrant solitude
se adelgaza cada nota, Every music key is made thing,
y siguiendo la Carrera & following the race
de la senda voladora, Of the flying trail,
como una cinta de onix Like an onyx ribbon,
la noche se desenrolla. The night untangles their self
Negro camino impaciente Black impatient road
cárcel que vuela hacia el mar; Jail flying to the sea;
hilillo de oro lo enfrena Small thread of gold that confront them
la música de un cantar: The music of a song:
«¿qué camino será triste <<¿what road would be sad
que a tus labios dulces va?» That to your lips leads?>>
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