Thy Feeble Savior is an awesome 2-piece death/black metal band and here is an interview with main man Francisco Pulido

At what point did you decide to put together Thy Feeble Savior? Did you look for members early on and not finding any decided to put a release out with you being the only member?
Been a while since that happened back in 04 but I just wanted to continue doing what we were doing in Sacreligious Torment, which was a project I did with my friend Ray Rivera starting in 1999. I never looked for any members. I live in a small town where nobody else is into this type of music. There were no plans of doing anything other than recording so I didn't even consider anyone else.

Being a one-man band at the time, how hard was it coming up with the songs, playing all instruments and singing, plus coming up with the lyrics?
It's wasn’t too difficult. I just wrote stuff at that time heavily inspired by Havohej and Profanatica. Wasn't looking to do anything other than recording a few songs so there's no pressure. Wasn't looking to be on any label. Just doing shit for myself.

What are your thoughts on “And the Vomit Shall Spill Forth...” demo these days? Can you still listen to it and how long did it take to put together from start to finish?
I still like it 14 years later after recording it. I wrote songs for myself in a style of music I liked and that I still like. Don't remember exactly but I'm guessing I did it all in the same day. Recorded it on a 4 track at my house.
 
A 2nd release came out, again you were the only member, a split 7” with the band “Jhesu Masturbator”. How did this split come together and did you entertain any thoughts at this time of finding any other band members or were you still fine with doing everything on your own?
That came about because my friend Jim Stanic of Desacration of God Productions really liked the stuff we did in Sacreligious Torment and he liked what Ray and I were doing at the time with our projects so he decided to release the split 7 inch. Still didn't need or even think of asking anyone else for reasons stated above. Recorded it the same way as the demo.

What was the response to the 7” like? What are your thoughts on the other band on the split and how did you hook up with the label that put it out? Are there any copies still floating around and if not could you see a re-release one day?
Back then I didn't really promote TFS. I mostly gave out my copies I received from the label. The few that got it then seemed to like it. Jhesu  Masturbator was a noisy evil project done by Ray who was in Sacreligious Torment also. As mentioned above the label owner liked what Ray and I were doing so he contacted us about doing a split. I believe Jim may still have copies somewhere. The split will never get re-released but the first Thy Feeble Saviour may get reissued on 7 inch.

The split came out in 2006 and the band didn’t put another release out till 2015 and this time with another member, Matt Heffner, who plays drums on the demo. How did you find him and what led to the return of the band?
Correct. I've known Matt since 05 and have always liked his drumming. He and I had worked together live in 4 different projects before. We had talked about recording some Thy Feeble Saviour stuff before we actually did it just never had time. Finally in 2015 we both had time and released the Blasphemic Disgust demo.
 
You Francisco, have been in several other bands. Is that why Thy Feeble Savior was put to rest for almost a decade? How did it feel when you started writing material for this demo the 2 of you put out? Did songs come together quickly and easily?
Pretty much. I always have kept myself busy making noise in other bands. It was fun to be writing songs for Thy Feeble Saviour again. The first two songs I wrote that ended up on the demo I originally wrote for Morbosidad in 2014 but it never happened. It actually came together really quickly once I showed Matt the songs I had written for the demo. He and I work very well together so there's not much time wasted.

In 2016 a split came out with a band called “Ruin”. How did this come about and what are your thoughts on this release these days? How did you end up hooking up with Hells Headbangers, who put this release out?
Just friends with Mike from Ruin. We both liked what each other was doing and decided to do the split. It's a good release for sure.  Ruin is such a great band. Easily one of the best death metal bands these days. Headsplit Records was the label that released it not Hell's Headbangers. 

In 2018 you released your first full length called “And Darkness Fell” on Hells Headbangers. How did the material for this come together? How long did it take to come up with the music for this and also the lyrics?
Same way as every release. I write the riffs and show them to Matt. We get together a few times to get the arrangements down and then recorded. Like I said we work very well together so it doesn't take too long. We know what we want our songs to sound like. As far as lyrics, there are only a few lyrics on tbe album. Most of it is screams, vomits, growls. I've always been into noisecore bands so I take that approach to vocals. Just scream as loud as you can. Similar to Seth from A.C. on the early stuff. Now I don't sound anything like him but that similar approach. 
 
Have either one of you ever thought of adding band members to do any live shows or on future releases? Is that something that could you could see ever happening?
We get asked often about playing shows and the answer is NO. Not sure we can capture what we want to sound like in a live setting.  Besides we both are busy with our other projects that play live.

For me I love the release as it is an unholy release of black/death metal at its finest. How has the feedback been so far?
Appreciate the words. So far it's been positive. People seem to like what we are doing. I did see a review on a German site where they weren't too impressed.  Hahahah. We don't really care. We do what we like and if you like it, cool, if you don't then that's cool too. We're not part of any popularity contest. We're here to make fucking noise!!

How did you come up with the band name and the name for this new release?
Band name comes from the song Golgatha by Incantation off their classic first album. The album title came from just ideas Matt and I threw together and both liked AND DARKNESS FELL.

How serious is this band and how long do you see the band being around or do you take things one release at a time?
We plan on being around as long as we both enjoy doing it. We have new stuff written and still working on even more new songs so we aren't going anywhere anytime soon. More blasphemy to come!!

Do you plan on doing any promotion for this release yourselves and if so what do you plan on doing? Do you or Hells Headbangers have any of your merchandise for sale?
I promote the band through social media sites. I've done a few interviews in the past few weeks and I'm sure Hells Headbangers will send me more. We both sell our merch on the road when our other bands are playing live. They, HHR,  are a promotion machine and have done a great job promoting the band.

As far as merch, we have copies of the cd version of AND DARKNESS FELL and should be getting our LP versions soon. HHR has tapes, cds and lps soon as well as t-shirts for sale on their site so support them!!

Are you in agreement with me that there are way TOO many labels signing GOD AWFUL bands, to contracts, thus making it harder for guys/bands such as yourselves to get noticed?
There are too many bands in general. We don't concern ourselves with notoriety.

For you, what makes a great song and what makes great vocals?
You have to have RIFFS that stay embedded in your brain. I like vocalist that put everything they have into it. No half-assed wimpy shit! !

Would you say your sound changed much with the addition of a 2nd member and for those who have never heard of the band, what would you say you sound like?
The drumming got way better. Matt is a beast!! The new stuff has more death metal influence in it as well. The original sound was heavily Havohej and Profanatica.  There are still elements of that with the new stuff but mixed in with more late 80s/early 90s death metal , which I grew up on.

Who came up with the band logo and also the cover of your new release?
The original logo was done by Paul Ledney which can be seen on the split 7 inch. The newer on was done by our friend Robert Mena. We may work on yet another one for future releases.  The cover art was done by our friend Daniel Shaw, who does a few vocals on the album as well. 

Where do you see the black metal scene in 5 years?
Not a clue.

How exactly do you come up with your lyrics and what are some things you write about?
As mentioned earlier, lyrics are minimal.  The few that I pen are just blasphemous lyrics. The death of Christ.

Please plug any web sites or social media sites you have and in this day and age do you feel even underground bands need sites like Facebook and stuff?
We have a Thy Feeble Saviour Facebook page. We use it to help get the word out about the releases.

Francisco, any last words and horns up for doing this interview and best of luck with the band going forward?
Appreciate the interview. Support Hell's Headbangers!!! FUCK THE WEAK SHIT!!!

Interview by Chris Forbes

March 2018