Metal hails Dave thanks a million for taking the time to fill out this novel of an interview! Please tell the readers a little about yourself.
I play BC Rich guitars and backing voices for the porno gore death maniacs, LIVIDITY… I am a compulsive pornoholic, and female flesh is what I crave to satisfy my mischief ways!! I also lead sing for the band EMBRACE DAMNATION which consist of Garrett (drums), Jake (bass) and myself (vocals) from LIVIDITY as well as Tomek Spirala (lead guitar) from the Chicago based melodic metal band, ROSENGAURD and Joe Hoctor (rhythm guitar)… Joe and I had played in the thrash band SECTION 8 together in 1994, at this same time period the drummer, Tommy Davis (SECTION 8), and I had started working on the LIVIDITY project sending our demos from Tommy’s attic!! Here we are 16 years later, crushing up a storm with our brand of sickening death metal!! We owe it all to the bands that helped pave the way for the sick sounds we have today like IMPETIGO, AUTOPSY, DISMEMBER, DYING FETUS, CARCASS, DEADEN, DISMEMBERED FETUS, HYPOCRISY, INTERNAL BLEEDING, SUFFOCATION, TORTURE KRYPT, JUDECCA, NAPHOBIA, FLESHGRIND, MORTICIAN, INCANTATION… aaarrrrgggghhhhh the list is huge, but you get the point!!!
When did you first start listening to metal? Who were some of the early bands you listened to? When did you discover the metal underground? Who are some of your "current” favorites?I started listening to metal at the ripe age of 8 years old and I was in between 3rd and 4th grade of school!! My parents had split up at this point and started moving around with family members till things smoothed out, so that is when something more aggressive and exciting needed to be sought out!! The year was 1977 and it began with BLACK SABBATH "Master Of Reality”, real dark and gloomy… exciting piece of musical bliss I thought!! Then the next to follow were AC / DC "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, KISS "Alive”, "Alive II”, "Destroyer”, and "Double Platinum”… IRON MAIDEN "Killers”, JUDAS PRIEST "Unleashed In The East”, URIAH HEEP "Demons & Wizards”, NAZARETH "Hair Of The Dog”, and so on… I felt great listening to such heavy guitar driven music at a young age!! So growing up I always looked for the more obscure and metal releases!! To sooth the ravage beast that was growing inside me!! Then came the Speed Metal era when the coolest was SLAYER, MEGADETH, METALLICA, EXODUS, ANTHRAX, OVERKILL, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, SACRED REICH, SEPULTURA, BLOODFEAST etc… then arose Death Fucking Metal and I was hooked, I was a changed man when I got to hear albums like CANNIBAL CORPSE "Eaten Back To Life”, OBITUARY "Slowly We Rot”, HYPOCRISY "Penetralia”, IMPETIGO "Horror Of The Zombies”, AUTOPSY "Severed Survival”, SUFFOCATION "Effigy Of The Forgotten”, DISMEMBER "Like An Ever Flowing Stream”, PARALYSIS "Patrons Of The Dark”, DEICIDE "Deicide”, etc… The rest is history now and I had to get a guitar, learn how to play it and create some tunes I wanted to push!!
If I am not mistaken when you first started up Lividity. You were the only member, right? How long did you keep it a one-man band? What made you decide to add more members?
I started LIVIDITY in 1993 when I collected a 4 track recorder and a microphone!! The recorder had the built in drum machine!! So I prepared my ideas and sent them around as a promo to try and get some one interested to jam!! So that was my one man band era… I started to work with Tommy Davis when in SECTION 8!! So it progressed to the 2 man band when we released the demo tape "Ritual Of Mortal Impalement” 1995 as well as LIVIDITY / MORGUE FETUS split tape 1995!! This is the year that SECTION 8 and the local death band DESECRATION had split up and Tommy and I joined up with Matt and Aaron and we had a full line up June 1995!! We played our first gig August 5, 1995 in Urbana , IL . at Channing Murray Hall with DYING FETUS, DEADEN, INTHRONED, and a couple more!! We only knew 4 short songs and we were on and off the stage in 10 minutes time I believe, haha… During the 10 minutes of mayhem, there was a busted finger, busted lip and bloody nose from the frenzy!! I was never a fan of the 1 man LIVIDITY but was cool to get the songs out… I was really pushing hard to find guys to jump on stage with and be a band with every instrument secure and mastered by the one that owns it!! I still feel the same way today!! I would have to be in a band atmosphere!!
You and Lividity have been a part of the scene for nearly 20 years now. How do you feel the scene has changed over the years? Do you feel it's better or worse now?Locally – worse… Internationally – stronger!! When I was in the band SECTION 8 and the early stages of LIVIDITY the clubs were packing, now it isn’t as exciting for them or everybody grew out of it and moved on and now it is a whole new generation of metal and those that follow it, that it has declined unfortunately, the way I have seen it, but since we have been going over to Europe since June 1999, the crowds have always been thick, dedicated and all there for the right reasons… METAL!!!! So we play less here in the states, more from outside the country!! If we have the opportunity to take the time to tour and there is a choice between doing something in Europe or driving through the USA to do something, usually isn’t a tough choice to make, and sadly that is the turn this has taken at the moment!!
While on the subject of old-school days I remember back in the late 80's.early 90's Illinois had one of the best brutal death, grind, thrash scenes in the U.S. would you agree with that? Who are some of your all-time favorite Illinois bands?
I think we had a great scene, and we still do for the most part, but there was more devoted underground fans then, everybody talked about the shows and everybody went to the shows!! Some of my favorites from Illinois were DEADEN, WACO JESUS, SARCOPHAGUS, CORPSEVOMIT, EUPHORIC EVISCERATION, FLESHGRIND, OPPRESSOR, CANNABYSS, BROKEN HOPE, MACABRE, MASTER, NUMSKULL, AVERNUS, BODY BAG, GORGASM, EL PECADO, ENFORSAKEN, BOUND AND GAGGED, MALAS, LORD BLASPHEMER, CUMCHRIST, TROUBLE, CYCLONE TEMPLE, ZEOTROPE, SINDROME, EVIL INCARNATE, REPROBATION, GUTTED PULP, SLOUGH, MORGUE FETUS, CIANIDE, MACABRE and many more…
What is your opinion of the current scene in Illinois ? Who are some of your "current” favorite Illinois bands?
I like the Illinois scene in general, Chicago has great tours and underground bands. Good support from the communities there. Peoria , IL . has a great music scene I think!! I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else!! The Midwest is great for shows!! The bands I dig today from our region is WACO JESUS, KOMMANDANT, HELL AWAITS (Slayer Tribute), ALTERED EXISTENCE, MALAS, YAKUZA, MINSK, BENEATH THE FLESH, DEAD FOR DAYS, NEKROPSY, MORAL DECAY, MACABRE, CRYPTIC FOG, AFTER THE BURNING, WHAT THOU WILL, NECROGRESSION, EMPYREAN SKY, THE EVERSCATHED, LORD BLASPHEMER, EVIL INCARNATE, DEGRADATION, WOUNDS OF RUIN, CARDIAC ARREST, ARMAROS CYGNUS LOOP, CONCUSSOR, VAGIVORE, HELLFRACTION, MORGUE SUPPLIER and many more…
Coming back to Lividity now what is the "current" line-up? How do you feel Lividity's music has changed over the years?
The band is Garrett Scanlan on drums, he has played with CORPSEVOMIT, CUMCHRIST, EVIL INCARNATE and still does with KOMMANDANT, HELL AWAITS, EMBRACE DAMNATION!! Jake Lahniers on bass and backing vocals, he has played with DEADEN, HUMAN ARTIFACTS and still does with ARMAROS, EMBRACE DAMNATION!! Von Young on guitar and lead vocals, he has played with DEADEN, CARRION FIX, PUTREFACTION and currently he owns his own metal record label called Epitomite Productions!! Me (Dave Kibler) on guitar and backing vocals, I am original member from the beginning!! I have played in SECTION 8, WACO JESUS and still do with EMBRACE DAMNATION as lead vocalist!! We just become better musicians over the years from the beginning in 1993!! So the song structures are getting more solid and defined than the usual demo slap together, haha… and with each album we have a different line up as well as tours and gigs!! So the inconsistencies I think has always held us back… could never get comfortable by always searching for a new member and getting that guy geared up to play live and write new material at the same time!! But we are at a very comfortable stage of our band life here and we can focus on writing quality death metal and get as sick as we want without baby sitting anyone else in the band!! The last change was replacing Chris with Jake this past January 2009!! He has great stage presence, is a part of our triple vocal threat now, and has a brutal background and maturity at a young age!! So today is the best this band has ever been, we are firing on all cylinders now and the opportunities are greater!!
The band recently released the new CD "to desecrate and defile". How long did it take you guys to write/record the songs for this release? Are you satisfied with how they turned out? How has the response been from the fans and press?I had a couple songs written for the album October 2007 (Mass Genocide & Funerary Chambers)… I was in a car wreck that I had surgery on my left shoulder, so I had to put the guitar down a few months!! That put the process to a halt at that point!! So we started back up with gigs and writing material April 2008… Wrote the album till February / March 2009!! Went to Mercenary Digital Studios ( Gurnee , Illinois ) the first week of June 2009 and start cutting it out!! Keep in mind that we did a 17 day Europe tour in April 2009, so we had to be stage ready with a set list and such also while writing!! Come back from the tour and tighten all the new stuff up and at the same time Jake had written a whole song while in Europe and came back home to show us and we have it on the album as well titled Orgasmic Flesh Feed!! This is a full collaboration of all 4 band members writing and organizing together for maximum results!! So we are very satisfied with the end result each day!! It’s very rewarding at the moment, getting to see the world and play for metal hungry maniacs!! The response of the new album, and the new tunes on stage have been fucking great to this point!! I haven’t heard anything negative yet so if everybody is speaking of it then that is a lot of great support!! We truly appreciate it to everyone… we have a few foot soldiers that are placing us in some great places!! World domination!!
Speaking of new music when the band begins working on a new song how long does it usually take to complete? Does the whole band work on the music or does 1-2 members handle everything?
Creating a song does not take long at all when you have riff freaks like Von and myself… haha… We literally can form a fundamental riff and create around it and sharpen the edges, before you know it we are 3 minutes into a song, so we ghetto tab our ideas and do our homework for the week at home!! We would put these ideas on CDr and send off to Garrett so when we get together he has ideas written and help organize!! We all live so far apart from each other in every corner of Illinois almost!! This is the only way to stay ahead of the game for us!! Von and I will meet on a weekday to go over last week’s song and to create a new one!! We would split the 2 hour drive up each week!! When we get them to Garrett and we schedule a Chicago trip for drums (2.5 hours from me and 2.5 hours from Von) that way we can work on a couple songs at a time!! But with each of us doing our home work we never fall back, but always progress forward to keep momentum in the right direction and we can meet all our business and personal deadlines!!
Does the band have any tours/shows coming up in support of "to desecrate and defile"? Where are some places you will be playing? Do you know some of the bands you will be touring / playing with?
We just did "Defiling East Canada Tour” October 8 – 16, 2009 in support of the album!! That was a blast!! We were on the road with MORTIFY and BLASTOMYCOSIS both from Toronto area!! We hit Chicago on the way up and came down from Montreal and play NJ Death Fest that Necroharmonic Roy put on!! That was the final MORTICIAN gig ever as they are calling it a day!! So it was their farewell gig!! Played a Halloween weekend festival in Collinsville , IL . on October 30, 2009… We had a home town area CD release gig @ Dragon’s Dome in Pekin , IL . November 7, 2009… We just went to Bogota , Colombia South America to play Bogota Grind Death Fest on November 14, 2009!! That was the last show to end our season so we will relax through the winter from the crazy busy year we had, and we have started EMBRACE DAMNATION rehearsals and getting a set put together as EMBRACE will play Central Illinois Metal Fest July 23 / 24, 2010!! And we will be ready if some other cool events pop up!! LIVIDITY’s next adventure that we have set up now is to tour Europe August 12 – 21, 2010!! I am not sure with who, but I know that COCK AND BALL TORTURE from Germany has been asked, so we will see if they are able!! When we toured Europe this pat April 2009 we were on the road with REQUIEM (Swiss), NORDOR (Gr), WARPATH (Ire), BENEATH THE FLESH (IL), ABHORDIUM (Fin), COFFIN SYRUP (SC)… we had to coach liner busses with bunks, back line, merch girl from Austria, sound engineer from Austria, tour agency Kraftevention Tours from Germany!! Always a great time!!
Over the years Lividity has played all over the world. Where are some countries the band has played? Are their any countries you guys have not played that you would like to?
In Europe: Germany (’99, ’03, ’05, 07, ’08, ’09), Netherlands (’03, ’07, ’09), UK (’07), Czech Republic (’99, ’03, ’09), Slovakia (’99, ’03, ’09), Switzerland (’04, ’07), Austria (’03, ’07, ’09), Italy (’07, ’09), Romania (’09), Poland (’09), Slovenia (’07), France (’03)… Canada : Ontario (’06, ’09), Quebec (’09)… South America: Bogota , Colombia (’09)… I hope we get to see the rest of the world like Australia , east Europe like Russia , Ukraine , and the Baltic countries… Hope to see Japan as well!! Definitely more of South America and Central America !! We will see what happens in the near future!!
You handle the guitars for the band. When did you start playing guitar? Who are some of your influence/favorite guitarist?I picked up the guitar first time at the age of 12 - 13 years old!! My mom bought a Sears & Roebuck electric guitar and single speaker amp!! Didn’t take it to seriously… Plucked around a little to make noise!! I got serious after I heard the METALLICA album "Ride The Lightening” and Fight Fire With Fire blew me the fuck away!! From that point I started to practice in 1984!! Self taught myself and I used to hang out with my friends older brother who played guitar really good and to all the great ‘70’s / ‘80’s metal like RUSH, DIO, BLACKFOOT, JOHNNY WINTER, SCORPIONS, BLACK SABBATH, AC/DC, AEROSMITH, BOSTON. Etc… so this is the music I began to play to get the fundamentals of music down, then went to speed picking playing to METALLICA "Kill ‘Em All”!! Some of my influences are Ritchie Blackmore (DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW), Randy Rhoads (QUIET RIOT, OZZY), Uli Jon Roth (SCORPIONS), Leslie West (MOUNTAIN), Rik Emmett (TRIUMPH), James Hetfield (METALLICA), Kirk Hammett (EXODUS, METALLICA), Kerry King (SLAYER), Max Cavalera (SEPULTURA), Rick Holt (EXODUS), Tony Iommi (BLACK SABBATH), Terrance Hobbs (SUFFOCATION), Hoffman brothers (DEICIDE), Chuck Schuldiner (DEATH), Trey Azagthoth (MORBID ANGEL), Jack Owen (CANNIBAL CORPSE), Robert Vigna (IMMOLATION)… many more!!
Are you self-taught or have you taken lessons over the years? Do you play any other instruments besides the guitar?
I am self taught!! I went in for lessons 1 time when I was 17 years old, and just bought my first BC Rich Warlock in Champaign , IL . where I was born and raised!! I didn’t get to play 1 thing, and for 30 minutes or whatever, there was no satisfaction or step forward so I never went back!! I just went to my friend’s older brother’s trailer and we would hand the guitar back and forth!! Was the best results!! I seen it for my own eyes and he would show me and pass the guitar, then I started coming over with a guitar and letting him play the leads while I played the rhythms!! I don’t play anything else, I scream and can also play some basic bass!!
So many people come and go through the scene it is hard to keep up. But you and Lividity have been here nearly 20 years. What is it about the scene that has kept you and the band going strong for so long?
We just simply love rockin’ out on instruments and meeting people!! So the band life has never gotten stale for me because I am always hungry to get back out there and do it again!! It is like the coolest party you can go to every day!! And I always want to be there!! The hardest part has been the frequent member changes, we have been lucky and always filled the spots and was always a better situation because of it!! We have never stepped backwards, and as you said, we have never died and resurrected again later!! We have always been moving along with the scene since 1993, and have seen so much change from the snail mail, 100 letters sitting there you are promoting tapes, flyers, contacts… all the mail would be over lapping each other, so there was always a consistent rotation!! Then I got hooked up on internet maybe in 2000!! Now everything is moving at speeds of light and it is endless!! I think we are lucky enough to have a fan base when this started heavy, we were already able to jump in and go!! I still like sending the promotions with hand written greetings, kind of more personal as well… as to if we were just starting, we would have to do a lot more work to get everybody’s attention!! But I like the internet for business and promotions!! Not for gossip and "look at me” personal profiles!! Everyone can contact me direct on www.myspace.com/lividity or old school e-mail livid.66666@yahoo.com
When the day does come {hopefully not for awhile yet!!} you decide to put Lividity to rest and leave the scene. How would you like the fans and bands to remember you and Lividity?
Hopefully that won’t happen to soon… I don’t think I could ever leave the scene!! If I am not jamming with a band, I would have to get me a building to throw shows on as a promoter or something, haha… I’m having way too much fun!! I am not concerned with after thoughts for Lividity from people, I am having fun jamming and partying with the freaks I like to hang out with!! I guess if anything, I have always wanted to be a positive leader in the underground revolution, a soldier of metal, Lividity is only a fraction of this army and at the end of the day we feel rewarded to get great feedback of our music and performances!!
As if Lividity was not enough to keep you busy you also recently started/joined Embrace Damnation. When did you guys decide to form this band? What is the "current" line-up? For those unfamiliar with this band how would you describe the sound of Embrace Damnation?EMBRACE DAMNATION is a band that Joe Hoctor and I have been trying to get off the ground now since mid 2007!! Looking for drummers in the area and writing the material (with drum machine) on a home digital 8 track recorder!! I had finally asked Lividity drummer, Garrett, to assist us in completing this album in the studio!! Sean Fraser of the band RESURGENCE, from Champaign, IL., had been asked by Joe to spark the album up with tasty solos and so we went to the studio from February 2009 to June 2009 completing this work!! Joe and I had been in the same thrash band called SECTION 8, from Champaign, IL., in 1994!! We had put this work together because Joe had written all this melodic and blasphemous metal music that inspired me to write the cryptic and anti religious lyrics that I have spewed forth!! It was a slow process but we started to make dead lines for ourselves in order to jump in and out of the LIVIDITY events that were going to take place!! So we succeeded in conquering all the dead lines!! We enjoy the music so much that we thought of taking EMBRACE DAMNATION to the stage and have fun with it!! Garrett, Joe and I were for it, but unfortunately Sean just wanted to put his stamp on the CD, so we have Tomek Spirala on lead guitar from the Chicago melodic metal band, ROSENGUARD!! And newly recruited bassist, Jake, from LIVIDITY!!
So the line up is Dave Kibler (lead vocals), Joe Hoctor (rhythm guitars), Garrett Scanlan (drums), Tomek Spirala (lead guitar), Jake Lahniers (bass / backing vocals)!! It is melodic and heavy death metal with blasphemous lyrics and full of hate!!
The new CD "glory of a new darkness" was recently released on Rotting Corpse Records. How long did it take you guys to write/record the songs for this release? Are you happy with how they turned out?
The songs were written in maybe 2 year span!! Some of the ideas didn’t make it to the album, maybe they still will!! The recording with mixing and mastering took 4 months, since LIVIDITY was doing the Europe Tour in April 2009, that took a month out of the equation!! We are very excited for this material to be heard, as always there are some stuff you’d wish could have been executed better or differently, but for a debut, and the response has been great thus far, I will not complain!!
You are the lead vocalist for this band do you like this better than playing guitar and backing vocals? Do you do anything special to keep your throat/voice healthy? Who are some of your favorite singers?
The freedom of singing is real cool, as I have never had the opportunity to till now, but maybe guitar is better suited for me!! I just didn’t want to play guitar as well as lead sing!! I would limit myself and something would get sacrificed in the performance I feel!! I don’t do anything special to my throat, I also don’t tear it up smoking cigarettes, so I do enough screaming with LIVIDITY to know what my ranges are and how to execute it!! I don’t think I have a familiar voice or style to relate with other singers, just try and do my own thing!! The singers I totally enjoy are Glenn Benton (DEICIDE), Helmuth (BELPHEGOR), Ross Dolan (IMMOLATION), Frank Mullen (SUFFOCATION), Peter Steele (TYPE O NEGATIVE / CARNIVORE), Paul Baloff (EXODUS), ALICE COOPER, and more…
Well Dave thank you for doing this interview hope it didn't bore you to death. Do you have any final comments for the readers?
Thanx for the killer support and spreading the LIVIDITY (and EMBRACE DAMNATION) seed to the masses!! Support the bands that support the scene!! Check us out when you get the chance!!
Cuntacts:
LIVIDITY: www.myspace.com/lividity (web), livid.66666@yahoo.com (e-mail Dave)
WAR ANTHEM RECORDS (Ger): www.myspace.com/waranthem (web), www.war-anthem.de (web), Mieze@party-san.de (e-mail Mieze)
EPITOMITE PRODUCTIONS (Illinois): www.myspace.com/epitomite (web), www.epitomite.com (web), Epitomite@yahoo.com (e-mail Von)
EMBRACE DAMNATION: www.myspace.com/embracedamnation69 (web), embracedamnation@yahoo.com (e-mail Dave / Joe)
Interviewed by Patrick
December 2009