Devil´s night with DieMonsterDie

So how are things at the moment?

Meatwhistle: Right now things couldn't be better, we are fresh off a date here in salt lake city, with GWAR it was an amazing show, Gwar are great Guys, and we gained many new fans.
things couldn't be better.

Zero: Furthermore there will be an abundance of new releases from
Diemonsterdie in the near future.
Our new album is set for an early-2007 release and we also plan to re-release our extremely rare "Honor Thy Dead" album by next spring.
I think Honor Thy Dead is an outstanding piece of work and I'm excited that it will finally be widely available.
The first printing was very limited so if you own an original copy it will be a rarity.
The new printing will have a new artwork layout so you'll definitely be able to tell them apart.
Finally we'll be appearing on The Horror Of It All Volume 3 compilation with one song plus a video of the band.


Tell us more about your band DieMonsterDie?

Meatwhistle: For me DMD is my lifes blood, i love the band,my mates, and everything we do.
we have been together for a long time, and it still feels so new.

Zero: We've all been musicians for years and Diemonsterdie marks our return to the grand traditions of rock n' roll.
The songs all gotta have hooks and the band must have Presence.
The crowd only loves you more when they find you visually compelling.
Personally speaking, with Diemonsterdie it's as if the monster in me has finally clawed his way through the skin and gets to enjoy being in the driver's seat.
It's been building for years and now it's to the point where I barely exist as a human being in the 9-to-5 world.
That guy is more like a disguise I wear to blend in until the next show.
We set out simply to form a band that was impossible to look away from when seen live.
Since 99% of what I write has a dark theme or monsters or aliens we knew right off it would be a horror band.
It was surprising to find there is such a dedicated and widespread underground for this type of thing.


Biggest influences musically?

Meatwhistle: the entire band has a very huge music history,
I love everything from Ramones to Satyricon, Slayer to the Bee Gees,
Zero has a vast collection and eclectic taste.

Zero: GG Allin the ultimate rock n' roll madman influenced me a lot psychologically.
It had a lot to do with my state of mind at the time I discovered his music.
KISS and Alice Cooper made a huge impression on my young mind.
They were fucking superheroes to me because I owned the comic books they appeared in and there they were doing the biggest, most theatrical shows ever.
That kind of rock n' roll really appealed to me.
Black Sabbath, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost- that stuff was so grim I just loved it.
Ramones, Misfits, Judas Priest- the list goes on and on.
If everything I like to listen to influences me then I am influenced by one Hell of a lot of bands.


DMD is from salt lake, hows the scene up there?

Meatwhistle: I like to think of it as the west coast epicenter for horror bands,
the people here are willing to accept new ideas and music.
and with every show, the crowds get bigger and more devoted.

Zero: Horror's rising and it's become a thriving scene in Salt Lake City.
The variety of styles in horror music draws more people in every day,
it's just a matter of exposing them to it so they realize that this is something they will like.
Everybody secretly has that morbid fascination with death and thing forbidden and horrible.
Horror music gives them a way to express their inner demons and sinister urges to a snappy backbeat.


Your views about the horrorpunkrock scene these days?

Meatwhistle: it is definitely coming alive!

Zero: It seems to be growing steadily and there's a lot of great bands to represent it.
It's also becoming more of a community as it gets more organized.
Hopefully the scene will be able to maintain it's cool one-big-family vibe as it gets more popular and not fall victim to pop culture overexposure.


In your view, what´s the difference between European and North American scene?

Meatwhistle: Europe our fiends! they love horror punk/horror rock,
i think it is a much larger scene in Europe, the North American scene is growing by leaps and bound every day,
that is why we started worldhorrornetwork.com to bring the fans and all of the bands together in the US.

Zero: It's definitely larger in Europe but the US it catching on.
Europe also has all those ancient different cultures to draw upon for inspiration.
By comparison, the US only has a few hundred years of history and essentially one culture.


Let´s talk about you CD "ONLY THE DEAD WILL SURVIVE". Are you happy with the result and was it a hard project?

Meatwhistle: i dont think any band is every truly satisfied with a recording, i love the album,
i beleive it to be our best to date, we have sold thousands of copies, and i would like to think our fans, love the album as much as we enjoyed making it.
if you dont own it go BUY IT!

Zero: I'm very pleased with Only The Dead Will Survive.
Recording is never a hard process for Diemonsterdie.
We record within the boundaries of a strict budget so we are well-rehearsed before entering the studio.
The downside of a strict budget is not being able to experiment a bit more before deciding on a mix.
Vocally there's times you go with a take that's as perfect as you could get it, time permitting.
There's always going to be some things I would change but It's likely I'd never be totally satisfied.
We try and top ourselves with each new album.


Following the previous question, shed some light on your song writing process?

Zero: Songwriting usually begins with a list of what I think would make good song titles.
Most often the music comes during rehearsal when we're all freeballing it and the next thing you know we're all playing the same thing.
Occasionally someone will come in with something they had written outside of rehearsal but mostly it's during practice.
Within 5 to 30 minutes we'll have all the parts written and arranged and I'll pick a title from the list.
Vocally I will sing gibberish until I get a melody down and I'll fit the title in the chorus somewhere.
The band will practice the song like this a few times and lines of lyrics will come to me through my stream of consciousness gibberish spouting.
Finally I will sit down and finish the lyrics, filling in the lines that never congealed between the ones that did.
The entire lyric writing process takes me a while.
Left to my own devices sometimes I don't finish a song's lyrics until we're in the studio recording it.
I have literally finished lyrics while sitting on the recording studio couch and telling everyone to take a 10 minute break for drinks and smokes.
I work fast when the pressure's on but if there's no pressure, look out!

As horror is the theme here, favourite horror movies?

Meatwhistle: The Exorcist,Ju-On,TCM,The Elephantman

Zero: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Evil Dead Series,
Return of the Living Dead I&II, Day of the Dead, Frankenstein,
Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dracula, all those old black and white movies with mummies, The Ring, The Shining, American Werewolf In London, the Alien series

And favourite actors?

Zero: Horror actors- Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff......
Mainstream actors- Johnny Depp, Eugene Levy, the voice cast of The Simpsons, Art Vandelay....

Future plans with DMD?

Zero: Besides the albums I mentioned before we're writing new songs for another album, we're not in a rush with this one since we still have an album we need to finish mixing.
We plan to play some shows outside Utah in 2007, mostly west coast and midwestern states.
The stage show will always be a work in progress so expect a bigger better than '06 show next year.
We'd certainly like to get over to Japan someday....

Any plans for European tour?

Meatwhistle: we are very interested in touring Europe!
if we can line up the right booking agent we WILL be over there in 2007!
anyone know a great booking agent give us a call!

Zero: We are working on being able to visit Europe in 2007,
everything is in the planning stages but we are making progress.
If all goes well we'd like to be able to make a short visit late in the year.

Time to die, last words are yours!

Meatwhistle: Support Indie Horror Bands, BUY their music and merch,
download Britney Spears and U2, they can afford it!
support these bands and this genre and you will see amazing things start to happen!

Zero: I think the lunar landings were faked......

http://www.myspace.com/diemonsterdie
http://www.worldhorrornetwork.com

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