1. Metalized hails Bryan!!! First of all, it's a great honour for me to have a chat with one of the oldest veterans from the South African Metal ''scene'' Haha. Seriously, I was like ''holy fucking shit'' the first time I laid ears on your former Death Metal band called INSURRECTION! I did not think that a band from my own country could actually produce truly bone-sawing and UNIQUE Death fucking Metal the way INSURRECTION played it, thus I would like to ask you to please give us a little background on your past involvement in INSURRECTION and how you got involved in Metal in the first place.
Thanks for the kudos James and always good linking in with the underground. Personally it all started for me when I got a dodgy tape of Manowar and Iron Maiden back in 1986. From there i was addicted to metal. I was pretty much sold on trying my hand at playing something that gave me the same feeling of power metal gave me. I grew up in a town called Springs on the East Rand and it was here in 1990 where I picked up my first guitar. From there it pretty much became a relationship. Now Springs was a very backward town, so going out and partying was always a death defying act if you were wearing a metal t-shirt. So basically I spent a lot of time practicing and drinking with like minded metalheads, all of whom also started messing around with instruments. Out of this Resurrection was born. We released a demo called "A good day for dying" soon afterwards. Back in those days it was all about tape trading so we managed to get some attention from outside the town and had a song or two make it to radio. We then realised that the name was already taken and so Insurrection was born. At about this time things started heating up politically in the country and it was a fitting name. Soon after a second demo called "Truth", our drummer moved away and bass guitarist left and the line up of myself (leads and vox), Jimi (drums), Dean (rhythm) and Morgan (bass) was born. Together we seemed to gel as both friends and musicians and basically started bringing in all our respective influences. I was very much into punk, psychobilly, thrash and death metal, and this started to mould what I started playing. We then released a demo called "Trinity" and after some great reviews, we started to take off. We then decided to add a more African flavour into the material we started writing and that's where a fair amount of uniqueness came to rise.
2. Did South Africa actually have a scene back in the early 90's? If so, was it any good? How would you compare the scene of that era to the one of today? Which bands from the old scene do you remember and which ones would you recommend for our readers to check out?
I started going to live metal gigs at 16 sometime in 1988. Back then a good turnout was 20 odd headbangers living the religion. The first real sign that there was a scene growing was when Odyssey played at the Standard Bank Arena and there was a pretty big attendance in the early 90's. From there on it seemed to grow exponentially with Urban Assault playing on the skateboard tour of Tony Hawk. Then there was Napalm Death, a true eye opener and an insane mosh. A scene was born!!! Considering I was living in Johannesburg the scene was pretty cool. There were always faithful attendees and everyone was headbanging and moshing. That crowd participation was what made every effort that much better. Venues at one stage didn't want us to play because railings were being smashed in moshpits and people were getting injured. Despite this, the scene really grew to the point where we were playing to at least 300 people a show. The biggest turnout I remember was greater than a 1000 at a music fest at the old Doors in Johannesburg. I would say that during this time there was great camaraderie between bands and fans alike. I cannot say how it is in Jhb at the moment but I find that here in Cape Town there are too many chiefs and too little Indians. Fan support is so segregated and there in an air of elitism between bands. The odd thing I find is that there can either be a good turnout or a shit turnout at a gig which indicates that some people are more interested in partying it up than actually supporting bands. The diehard fans are there but there are also those that shy away from watching anything that hasn't come from overseas. Personally I have watched pretty much every band that has come out of the area... I just sometimes wonder how many of them can say the same. Metal to me is a lifestyle and I find that some of the bands that arise are doing it for popularity and to get laid rather than to live it. After the band ends you never see those guys again as if swallowed up in a 4th dimension. I just truly hope that people will eventually see the light and create a genuine brotherhood as we did with Metalmorphosis, Jaded Jane, Retribution Denied, Sacrifist, Groinchurn and Pitt amongst others. I would check to see if you can find any of those bands.
3. What was the reason for INSURRECTION to split? Do you have any idea about any of the other member's whereabouts?
Well, in 1996 we started considering going overseas to try and make our mark. By then Morgan had decided to leave the band so we were using Andre from Sacrifist on bass. In 1997 Dean and I hopped on a plane to the UK to start getting set up. Jimi, our drummer was meant to join us once he got his car sold. Sad to say he never did, and Dean and I started to drift apart. There were some very good opportunities on the horizon for us. We had pitched a concept that a few bigger name record companies liked and it was a case of doing a few shows in the UK to see how it goes. It just wasn't destined to be and by the time I got back to SA, Jimi was on his way to the UK. All a fuck up in timing I guess. These days Jimi lives in the UK and plays for a band called Neverborne and Dean lives in Cape Town but his taste in music has very much changed and I haven't seen or spoken to him in about 4 years. I speak to Jimi all the time.
4. Did you have any particular vision for the direction of INSURRECTION's music back then? What inspired you to play in a Death Metal band in the first place? How did you decide for instance: ''Ok, this is the type of music I want to play''?
I guess it was a case of what music I could recognise most with. I loved thrash but death metal was my passion. This was very true to the rest of guys as well. The fact that death metal was also pretty limited back in those days, made it all that more unique. Not everyone could get the guttural thing going without it becoming monotonous so there was a niche. I just really enjoyed the way it blended in with the music and all the other guys were very for it. Being from Springs we were an angry yet friendly lot LOL. So growling and playing really fast was always a good way of letting off steam.
5. I think it's safe to say that INSURRECTION had a personal identity of its own; do you agree? If yes, please elaborate on your answer, and tell us what you feel made INSURRECTION's sound diverse compared to most other Death Metal bands in those days?
Agreed, it drew influence from more obscure acts blended with African flare. The use of some of our local native languages added to that air. We were also pretty big on the occult and we brought some of that influence in to create a more mystic type sound. So, as jumbled as that all sounds, it seemed to blend well for us. As for other death metal, the Americans were good at finding originality; I just feel that after the first few legendary bands came out, newer bands drew too much influence from those acts. Pretty much the same can be said about many bands these days. I like quite a few, but love those who really stand out because of their originality.
6. Which bands influenced the sound of INSURRECTION and how did the idea came about to incorporate African elements within your sound? From a personal stance, I can detect some touches from bands like MALEVOLENT CREATION, SUFFOCATION, BOLT THROWER etc. Did any of the aforementioned bands influence you in any way?
All the aforementioned bands did have a great impact on us. I am/was a seriously big fan of those bands. The pinnacle of death metal for me will always be Malevolent Creation's Ten Commandments. To be honest we were very much inspired by that. I'd say some of the other bands that impacted us greatly would be Sepultura (prior to Chaos AD), Morbid Angel (especially Altars of Madness not the crap they've just put out) and Death. We decided to create a more unique element in our music much the way Sepultura did. Being African, it would only make sense to bring in elements of our continent and country into play. The most recognisable South African percussive sound would be that of gumboot dancers and it seemed like a cool idea to bring that feel in. So we went to the extreme of adding in gumboot dancers and African drummers which we sat and recorded at a flea market with a dodgy hi-fi and crappy mic.
7. What inspired the band's moniker and how was it chosen?
After we discovered our first name Resurrection was taken it was a bit of a bummer. It had a ring with the anti-religious theme we were going for and was meant to be a play on telling people to wake up. When we decided to change the name we wanted to keep the same ring in the name so that the change would be pretty smooth. Luckily Insurrection as a name was falling into place as an uprising against the political conflict in SA and was open to the religious connotation as well. Logo was however always a struggle and we eventually decided on a straight typeset.
8. Did INSURRECTION get to play many gigs back then? Who are some of the bands you've shared the stage with and what were some of the best experiences for you as far as playing live with INSURRECTION? Are there any funny or vivid stories you can share with us?
We probably ended up gigging most weekends from one side of Gauteng to the other. Then there were the odd few tours to Pietermaritzburg and Durban. There were very few metal bands we did not share a stage with and the list would be endless. We did however play a lot with the same guys, usually Metalmorphosis, Sacrifist and Jaded Jane. There were many great experiences; most memorable would be playing in Potchefstroom where the police raided with at least 50 officers and a K-9 unit. Safe to say there was a cop to every patron that night LOL. That night we did the trashing of the hotel room thing where we lifted a box of streamers and built a wonderful column from the ceiling fan to the ground....and proceeded to switch it on!! Almost a fire that day. Others include our first gig which was to 600 people, drinking blood on stage (don't laugh....we were trying to be extreme) while dressed in monk habits!! The drunken parties we had in the process have all faded in my mind but I can guarantee you, those were some of the greatest times of my life.
9. What was the greatest achievement for you with INSURRECTION? I mean, of course the band wasn't very well-known outside it's home shores, but you still got great joy out of playing brutal as fuck Metal, didn't you? For me personally, I would say that ''Umnikelo'' was your greatest achievement, as it is one of the best Metal releases from this country ever!!!
Umnikelo was our crowning achievement and made its way onto 5FM and the likes. We were interviewed on Portuguese radio where they played the whole EP and interviewed us for about an hour. It was only meant to be for 15min. We used to get mail from around the world, mostly from Europe after a write up on the EP was done in Terrorizer magazine. We were extended an opportunity to go on tour with Sinister and Vader but because things fell apart...well you know the rest of the story. While playing, I loved every moment of it. I pick up a guitar from time to time to churn through some of the old tunes. I've also contemplated rerecording some of those tracks for shits and giggles.
10. What can you tell us about the ''Umnikelo'' release and the main concept behind it? What does ''Umnikelo'' mean and who was responsible for the lyrics on that album? It contains only 5 songs, although the songs aren't exactly short, so I think it's relevant to see it as a 'mini-album' - do you agree with me? Can you give us a synopsis on what the songs ''Anointed in Blood'', ''Inkosi Sikeleli Ukufa'' and ''Freedom Fighters'' are about?
Well when we started writing for that EP we decided that we wanted to introduce the overseas metal audience to the sounds of Africa. It is after all; the Dark Continent. We decided to throw in some of the local language as well for good measure. Umnikelo means sacrifice and it was used in the context of it being a ritual mix of European magick and African witchcraft. I wrote the lyrics on the album with the exception of "Ritual", which was done my Morgan. One could say it was a mini album time wise. Looking at some of the albums around that time you would find 10 song albums clocking in at about 30min. I wanted longer songs that meander between different moods. Anointed in Blood is about the political upheaval in the post apartheid era. There was constantly blood spilt by lemmings while their masters were lining up to climb onto the gravy train. "Inkosi Sikeleli Ukufa" is a take on the South African national anthem Inkosi sikeleli iAfrica which means god bless Africa. We swapped iAfrica for ukufa which means death. It was a song highlighting the world's ignorance to what was actually going on in the country. From 1994 on, we started seeing relentless corruption, unemployment rise, and crime soar, especially the murder rate. What's worse is nothing much has really changed, in fact more rampant nowadays. “Freedom Fighters” is about South Africa having 2 political parties of the same race fighting each other because of their predominantly tribal differences. In this era there was meant to be reconciliation not factionalism, but was all done under the guise of freedom fighters, a redundant term in a post apartheid country.
11. So now, years later, you formed the band ING - what can you tell the reader about your latest band and what inspired you to get involved in Metal again?
When I returned from London after seeing all the bands I wanted to on my bucket list, I moved to Durban in 1999. Before I knew it I was in a band with Henk, Jason (ex Desial) and Jaimie. We decided to call that band ING and that's where it all began. Metal is really a lifeline for me and without it I would shrivel up and die. So starting again was a natural step. At that time I was on lead guitar and vocals and we were churning some of the old Insurrection songs along with totally new material. It was heavy and fast and still very much death metal. For me it was really cool to play with the best muso's in metal in Durban at the time. Those were some seriously talented dudes.
I guess the main difference is that Insurrection had more a serious theme to it which predominantly covered the political and religious landscape at the time. There was also a pretty big occult influence. ING is more geared towards taking the piss out of everything. The days of taking everything so seriously had come to an end. Now we prefer paying attention to how silly everything has become. Politics, religion and culture has become so fractured that it's like walking into a shopping mall that sells all the same shit, just with different branding. At some stage you realise that if we take stuff too seriously, we end up being old miserable bastards. After the Durban chapter of ING, I ended up in Cape Town. I had a well deserved break before joining Sacraphyx on bass in about 2005. I was with them for about a year before we all went our separate ways. At least I made a cameo appearance with them on the Konkhra tour. It was then that Henk moved to Cape Town and we started ING again.
13. With ING, you recorded and released your debut offering in 2009 titled ''It's a Sick Thing'' which is quite a good first effort if you ask me! The style on your debut album is old school Death Metal with a good dose of Thrash elements; do you agree? How would you describe the sound of ''It's a Sick Thing'' to those who haven't heard it? Are you fully satisfied with the material on your debut?
There is a little known fact that we had a release prior to "It's a Sick Thing" called "It's a Hate Thing". This was a very thrashy release and very much my first attempt at a home recording. Paul played with us on that release and he was adamant that the vocals be thrash/punk. I tried my best at it and it sounded like something but was all a bit off the mark with electronic drums and my attempt at recording. Some of the songs on that release found its way onto "It's a Sick Thing". I was very happy with the tracks but still pretty inexperienced on the recording side. A lot of work can still be done on that. On this release I did the guttural vocals again, and all music was arranged by Henk and me.
14. You have told me recently that you were planning to re-record some of the songs from ''It's a Sick Thing'' because ING have become more Thrash-orientated, and that you feel more attracted to this style; is that right? What can you tell us about the new direction of ING?
Now doing thrash type vocals, we are busy working on a new album that will have no processed sound influence in it. I want all the guys in the band to deliver their best performance and not sit afterwards and correct everything. I find bands these days are doing drum replacement of their actual drummer and not using real amps. It's one thing not having a drummer and then using a computer to make drums and totally another story when you have one but sit and replace him. To me that loses the whole humanity in a recording. So the idea here is to have natural everything with the sound coming from real drums and amps. Once we get that right we may redo all the old songs for release later. We just want to get this album under the belt and guarantee it will be the most aggressive stuff we've come up with.
15. I've seen some of your live pics here and there, which tells me that ING plays gigs quite frequently or just whenever the opportunity presents itself? Do you have a booking agent or do you organize gigs yourself?
We usually organise our own gigs and get invited onto bills with some of the other bands. It all remains pretty informal for us. Personally, until there is a huge attendance at gigs in big venues, the exercise of organizing booking agents seems somewhat redundant. Yes it's good to present yourself as professional, but until sponsorships, endorsements and radio play start inflating the scene, it's pretty fucking useless. Let's face it, booking agents aren't really interested because what would their cut be on fuckall? LOL. If you're doing this for the money in this country, you're just kidding yourself. Expenses are always going to be greater than income. If you stick around, you're doing it for the love of metal!!!
16. Doesn't it irritate you when people at your shows just stand upright all stiff and just basically nod their heads, as if they're headbanging?
Well you find those that nod their heads and those that go completely fucking insane. ING has become synonymous with violence and there has been a fair amount of blood and bruises. But a sad thing that I've started to see is people who are only in the scene to prove a rebellious streak or image rather than a passion for music. For me metal is a brother/sisterhood of like minded maniacs and there is nothing worse than weak minded twits, trying to piss off their parents, infiltrating our culture. We need them as much as we need a bad case of Herpes!!
17. Many foreigners are under the impression that the majority of white people from South Africa are all racists, when in fact, it's actually not like that at all -- the media paints it that way, so outsiders buy everything they hear on the news like sheep. If you don't mind, please explain to our readers what's really going on in South Africa, and who that piece of shit Julius Malema is... ING wrote a song about him, right? What can you tell us about the song and what it is about?
Would these be the same foreigners that believe we have lions roaming free in the streets of Johannesburg and Cape Town? I think in general, the white people that are left in this country are starting to feel disenfranchised. They are by far a minority at less than 10% of the population and suddenly find themselves at the mercy of racist words spoken by the likes of Julius Malema who has a made his hate for all white people pretty clear. He has been the most vocal on how he believes all white people own everything and that they are all criminals. This is the president of our own government's youth league, the same league where all our future presidents come from. He has done this with very little reprimand and continues to do so without actually understanding the power of published words. We only need look north to Rwanda to understand how misplaced words can start genocide. Personally, my share in the economy is paltry compared to that of Julius Malema who is building a multi-million rand home and whose watch cost the same as my house. Luckily we have some sensible people in this country of all races, and Julius is certainly not the voice of the full population. The fear here is that his words resemble that of Hitler and if we do not take action against him, we can expect the same outcome. This is why we wrote a song called Julius. If only to create awareness between people who really don't give a shit about what's going on around them. Yes there is a widening gap between rich and poor but to assume that only white people are rich is a fallacy. We have rich white, black, coloured, Indian and Chinese people in this country.......the vast majority of each group are not. It is far easier for Malema to sit on a podium and point the finger at white people because there is a charged history there. To do so to gain politically and financially is nothing less than irresponsible.
18. An imbecile is an imbecile, whether he be pink or blue; do you agree?
Agreed!!! An asshole is an asshole no matter what. We find them here in all races and all cultures...usually driving a BMW!!!
19. So ING's music should be seen as an expression of unadulterated hatred and rebellion against what's morally "accepted" within this scum society; is that right? Would it be valid to say that there's some punk running in your veins? What would you say is the main ideology behind ING?
Well we all have punk running through our veins, whether you like it or not. If you have felt the need to tell someone to fuckoff like a boss or a cop, you have it. The world has become way too politically correct. Our whole ideology has been to have people go "ooooffff, he didn't just say that?". What we have to say is meant to make people feel uncomfortable and externalise their most inner thoughts. This may not be so present in all our lyrics but more in the actual show. We make no bones about whom and what we hate.....
20. Tell me what the following songs from your debut album are about: ''Martyr Master Blaster'', ''Fuck China'' and ''Jewish Nazis''.
"Kill, kill, kill, its Mohammed's will", Martyr Master Blaster is about those suicidal maniacs from the Middle East who blow themselves up in the hopes of martyrdom. It's not so much a dig at them as it is urging them to carry on doing so. The entertainment value is priceless.
"Cheap Chinese imports make my fucking life a hell", Anyone who is as much a gadget junky as myself will know that if it's manufactured in China, it's bound to break just after the guarantee runs out. Conspiracy maybe, who knows, but this is what happens when you decide to jail your workforce and have them pump out half the world's electronic goods. And these are the same people who have nukes and ICBM's..pfffft!!!!
"In the land of Canaan rise the infantries of Zion", Jewish Nazis is about how Israel has exerted force in Palestine my returning every attack 10 fold. If someone throws a stone, they pull a gun so to speak. Many innocent people have died through their bloodlust.
As you can tell, our subject matter is very much a mixed bag and doesn't really attach itself to any particular side. It's more a case of encouraging hate to sit back and watch the world implode. Cynicism at its best... but, fucking entertaining LOL.
21. What are your thoughts on conservative idiots that put censorship on Metal?
To be quite honest, if they can do it for Metal then they can do it for pretty much every other genre of music. Metal may encourage a few to do some pretty stupid things, and if they do, it purely highlights their lack of IQ and understanding the difference between what is right and wrong. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Censorship arose out of the need to blame horrendous acts on something. All they really need to do is look a little closer to home to find those answers. To take this one step further, pop, rap, hip hop, R&B et al encourage everyone to fuck mindlessly. With it comes the spread of HIV and AIDS. Which genre of music is indirectly responsible for more deaths? A weak argument I know, but valid when metal has become everyone's flogging horse.
22. What the hell does ING mean and how was the name chosen? Is there any metaphorical meaning behind it or is it just some random made-up name?
To put it in perspective, a name of a band usually associates itself within a certain subject matter. We decided to go for a very open name where we can explore a wide variety of subjects without being confined to anything specific. In addition, you can appeal to a wider audience. To cut to the chase, all good verbs end in "...ing", hating, drinking, fucking, killing to name a few. It also lends itself to the chaotic approach that everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Truthfully, we were all pretty fucked when we came up with it.
23. Please list 10 albums you can't live without.
Slayer - Reign in blood
Deicide - Deicide
Cannibal Corpse - Kill
Mad Sin - Survival of the sickest
At the gates - Slaughter of the soul
The Exploited - Beat the bastards
Sepultura - Arise
Soulfly - Dark ages
Slayer - South of heaven
Death - Individual thought patterns
24. If any maniacs or distros out there want to get in touch with the band in order to get your material -- how should they do this??
Well the easiest and most wide spread would be via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ingtheband, we are also on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/inghatesquad, and lastly we can be seen on Reverbnation at http://www.reverbnation.com/ingtheband. Other than that, they can drop us an email at ing.theband@gmail.com
25. I hope you enjoyed answering my questions, as I don't have any more left... Tell me, was this your first ever interview??? HAHAHA!! I wish you and your band ING success and hope I can smash a beer with you someday! Of course, you are going to buy me the beer :) Last unholy words are yours.
Awesome interview and thanks for entertaining all my bullshit. I've done interviews before, but not one quite this extensive......brought up some good old fading memories and thanks for that. I look forward to when we and your readers can all meet and wave a beer to some good heavy metal. We aren't a bunch of elitist twats. We are friendly and approachable. Come talk to us. All we ask, is that everyone spreads the word and join us on these social networks to keep up to speed with our comings and goings. Last but not least, we are all brothers, fuck everyone else......Cheers \m/
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