Absolutely killer goregrind from these Canadians. I don't think there's anything else to say. Just check them out!
We did the interview by e-mail. I sent the first bunch of questions on October 12th 2006, but after receiving the answers a couple of days afterwards my personal life interfered. So the original questions and answers were brushed up on March 25th this year and we finished it on the 27th.

Hey Mike! Let's just start by you presenting yourself and the rest of the band members.
Hello Kristoffer. My name is Mike. I am the Jim Morrisson of the band. I wear the ill-fitting leather pants, I write atrocious prose and have the nerve to refer to it as "poetry". My hair is long and dandruff-free and I once overdosed on heroin and shit my pants in a roach motel in France. (This was all before the advent of the EU, by the way). It's not important, but to provide you with some context, it was at this time that I had unfortunately soiled myself on account of refusing to learn how to properly use a bidet. As for the rest of the band, we have our muscle-bound drummer, the Dark Lord Skullbong. In addition to extreme skin-bashing, he is taking flight lessons so that one day he can fly a Cessna turboprop into one of the many fine one-story Wells Fargo Finacial institutions here in Winnipeg. They are natural targets for him being that they are among the tallest edifices in our grubby little hamlet. On bass guitar, the burley and introverted Necromagnon handles all the low end rumble, food tasting and doubles as our in-house movie critic. He is very valuable for presenting ourselves as a band who enjoys flannel clothes as much as old Suicidal Tendencies did. Grimmgore, one of our two guitar-players is back in the band, returning from a brief decapitation out East. And last, but never least, is the newest member, Colostomy Bag Darrell who plays a guitar. All we know about him is that he enjoys urinating (in a toilet) frequently, listening to old fucking Carcass and he also plays video games - although he has yet to go off on any serious rants about this subject that is popular with youths these days. We are four door-knobs of the zombie apocalypse committed to celebrating all things feral, deceased and quite possibly stuffed into a wall to be found in a grizzly state of decomposition a year later by a robotic police camera investigating a "foul odor".

Your story is not the longest, since you started out in 2003, but it has its interesting aspects of course. The fact that it didn't even take a week after you finished your "Occult Blood and Excrement" demo before you got offered a record deal seems a bit outrageous. What was your reaction when No Escape approached you?
I think that "outrageous" is probably the most accurate word to describe the first few months of our tenure as a band. Within that brief amount of time together, I had fallen down a lengthy flight of stairs during an attempt to have a band practise in the basement while suffering from the brutal effects of a powerful and compelling hangover. At about the same time, our prized drummer and short-haired guitar player had both lost their girlfriends, a couple of high class ladies who were understandably appalled by us as a band. Our bass player was the only person whose life was not horribly altered and scarred by the uniting of our metal forces. By the time our demo came out, and by the time the reefer-fuelled comedy gag that was our live show had worn thin on this chicken-rustling, one-horse town, we were ready to break up in order to experience romance and intimacy with women in ways that the band had kind of wrecked. Christoph and Dave at No Escape had no idea what the hell was going on, of course, for those days of drug abuse and funny hat-wearing was the private hell we had crafted for ourselves. A friend of ours down under in Melbourne who runs a radio show ended up passing the demo on to No Escape. It wasn't until earlier this year when I listened to it for the first time since late 2003 I had some insight into what they might have heard. It's probably our strongest recording to date. Goddamn those four track recorders, eh?

And what were your hopes when you released the demo? Did you think you'd get attention from labels?
For me, I really had no idea what the response would be. I am well acquainted with different schools of extreme music, but frankly the style was not my strong point at the time. I was very enthused with it, but I really did not have any hopes. I know that our drummer expected to maybe play a couple of shows and then possibly pack it in. I was quite familiar with No Escape from previous releases and so when they expressed an interest, I was able to lift my head from the overflowing garbage can filled with day old vomit and the faded, tattered�remains of my aura and feel alive once again. There were happy times for all when a label I respect took away the tension and the polarization within the band. Eventually, our drummer even started picking me up in his car to drive me to practice, he was so happy. I for one, was glad that the days of taking the bus to band practise were over.

I still haven't heard the demo, so I can't say what kind of development has been made from then to now. But I do hear a significant alteration in between your debut album, "Mangled, Hollowed Out and Vomit Filled", and the follow-up "Dawn of the Necrofecalizer". Would you agree that you've sorta improved the sound of Putrescence in between albums? Was there anything in particular that you weren't satisfied with on your debut that you tried to correct for future recordings?
Oh, I think I might have a burn of it around here under my Fleetwood Mac and David Gilmore records. Let me see if I can't hook you up. My computer doesn't like to do anything for me these days, so it might take a bit of time. As for the time and space between the two full lengths, we once again lapsed back into drunken depression, crashing and burning from riding high from headlining prestigious events such as the Morden Corn and Apple festival as well as the Holy Redeemer Tea n' Crumpet Ladies Auxiliary Gathering 2004. As sick and brutal as those events were (hello "Skullfuck" Davey Schmidt and Shitfaced Howard Poindexter Esquire Livingsworth!! Sorry about your transmission!), there was some concern over the direction of the drumming. I still don't understand what our drummer's problem with not being able to hear the snare drum is. We had a lot of conversations with each other going into record the second record. Ultimately, we went the way of crisp sounding stuff the second time around. The band had lost faith in my leadership and I was busy researching the prophetic cosmic messages of doom being spouted by the crazy motherfuckers at Coast To Coast, a continental radio station devoted to exposing government conspiracy, alien cover-ups and of course, the impending fucking ice age set to kill everyone in the ass in 2012. My love for Anal Massacre and Gruesome Toilet was lost on the others by the time it we got around to mixing the second record. It took me a while to come to terms with this new direction. For me, I like the sounds of Pile of Eggs and old Squash Bowels. Still, some of the new riffs seemed to be calling out for special attention and we had no choice but to obligate them. I think it turned out well, but I'd be crazy to call it "an improvement". It's a different record that the "Mangled..." for sure. Fuck, I'm going to catch so much shit for this.

You've managed to become a top name for the international gore/deathgrind scene, at least to me. And you've played with big names like Misery Index, Neuraxis, Exhumed, Strapping Young Lad etc. Was this what you had in mind when joining the band shortly after its creation? Or should I say, were you confident enough in your material to hope for it?
Well thanks for saying so. As far as what we had in mind for shows when we started up, there wasn't really any conscious decisions made about what would happen. We have always subscribed to the underground DIY ethic of taking responsibility for ourselves and the decisions we make. Two of us in the band have been content in contributing to the underground scene through promoting shows and festivals here for years. We're happy to work with friends and would rather not deal with strangers and deadbeats. To a lot of people, DIY is a style of music, but we know better than that. Since day one, we have been in this band to have a good time with our friends, to create brutal tunes and to not cooperate with the police when they try to wreck our good times. We realized that we couldn't be so cynical, drunk or closed-minded that we would fail in our objectives. There have been nights where we were so terrible that we learned that it is important to use death metal to kick people in the face, not to insult our forefathers, Black Sabbath and Frank Sinatra. There have been other nights when grinding with friends from far away places is the only thing that matters. I'm not sure that I should have drank that last shot of whiskey.

You had to cancel a previous booking for the Maryland Deathfest, right? So I suppose it feels great to be booked once again for this year's addition. I mean, it is after all one of the biggest death/gore festivals in the world. So far there are so many wicked bands booked that I'd take out a mortgage on the house just to get there (if I owned a house, that is).
Oh Christ, Maryland Deathfest 2005. As much as I feel that it is important to not live in guilt and shame, words fail to describe the feeling of negativity I felt when I learned that we could not play in 2005. It was such a terrible thing to cancel and I punched myself in the face for a long time after that. I remember heading over to our guitar players' tiny apartment to scream, drink and smoke so many goofballs that in the end, I could only stare at his pathetic Cradle of Filth poster for two hours without speaking. Happily, him and I flew there anyhow and had a very fun weekend. I was amazed to discover that Evan and Ryan hadn't sent out a hit man for us. Now that we have been booked for MDF 2007, this reality brings about the feeling of happy times. Sometimes, this workable situation makes it difficult for me to walk through a kitchen door, on account of my fat head. It is exciting to play the fifth annual MDF. I have only been there once, but it is truly the sickest gathering of the sick. I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in May. Come say hello me, I will be the cock-eyed hockey helmet wearing stupid man concealing a fucking toilet seat for a hair-doo.

In 2006 you had your first line-up alteration having Grimmgore leave the band for Fuck the Facts and Colostomy Bad Darrell replace him. You've stated that there aren't any hard feelings, but did his leave cause any kind of problems for you? Maybe with gigging and such�?
You have not felt pain for a good friend until he nearly falls head over heels in excitement for the idea of eating orange-coloured sugar water for dinner after playing for three fucking people in some boring US city. I would say that as supportive as we were for his decision to go, it was one of the hardest things we've had to deal with because Grimmgore is such a stand-up guy who is loved by and drooled over by beautiful women and compellingly ugly men alike. But he is young and stupid and like all young and stupid people, his mind reels at what Big Red's Steak Bar and Dead Hog Saloon in fucking Biloxie must look like from the inside. If it wasn't for the not-hard drinking and rarely-partying Live Journal defenders in Fuck The Facts, it would have been a sad waste. Fortunately for us, his stint with FTF has come to and end and he has come back home to play for us again. It's the first time that this band has been a five piece and so far, things have worked out wonderful with both cats playing the axe..

And also in 2006 you got the split 7" with Embalming Theatre released, a truly fitting band I'd say. And since this is your latest release to date, are you happy with the result?
Yes, what a happy pleasure to be fitted up with Embalming Theatre. I am very pleased to spend some time kicking the shit with those guys. I wonder if they chew tobacco. Maybe we could all say "shoot" and "dang" and make fun of cowboys together some time. I think I would like that very much.

What�s your view on splits? I, for one, am definitely a fan of them as it�s a great opportunity for smaller bands to reach a bigger audience being released together with a slightly bigger band. It�s that way that I�ve come to know loads of great new acts, but I also know that a lot of people think of it as a waste of time. So what�s your idea of it all? Would you like to do more splits in the future, and if so, are there any particular bands you�d wish for?
Personally I am a huge fan of splits for the same reason that you mention. A good pairing can be helpful to both bands involved. It makes for good cooperation between friends from halfway across the world. I think that splits as well as vinyl in general becomes problematic to people who have fast lifestyles and fancy cars. It's much more convenient to grab a bunch of shit off the internet and then into your�personal player�or jagoff sportscar, but where are the record listening parties? Hopefully nearby. But as a result of computer files, it seems that well-intentioned and generous label-fiends are becoming more reluctant to drop a bunch of money into these types of projects. But vinyl remains the true format of metal, and die-hards will not do without.
�As for bands that we could, in some wierd fantasy do a split with? I'd have to say Archagathus, Stinkhole, David Gilmore, Fistfuck, Final Exit, Journey,�Dio�or the fabulous Disgorge from Australia. Those guys are sick.

You've got a CD planned for the summer on Power It Up Records, but I haven't read many details about recording it. What's the dealio?
We would like something to be released in time for our European tour in October, 2007. We have decided to return to the four-track to try to regain past glories and to hopefully put out something that is foul-sounding. If there is a way that we could sound like the way a piece of cilantro smells on a fucking boiled egg left sitting in a cat litter box under a hot dun for a month, then I would like that very much. We also plan on throwing on some live tracks, probably some stuff from the "Mangled�" record that we've enjoyed playing again as a five piece. Either way we plan on digging a hole for Tom and hitting him in the face with coffeepots made of brutal death metal sounds until he falls into the hole that we dug for him, if you catch my drift.

Nope, I�m sorry to say that you lost me at hello!
But I�m curious as to why you decided to change labels. Care to shine the torch over here?
Well as far as I can tell, everything is on the up and up over at No Escape Records. Dave and Christoph seem busier than ever which is cool for all involved. For us, we thought that since we plan on heavy�metal blasting�of Europe in the fall of 2007 that it might make sense to have some music released in that region. Our attorney agrees. Tom seems supportive of/resigned to�the idea. 100 infernal hails from our shithole to him!

Do you have any other records planned as of yet?
As a result of the horse-fuckery with Grimmgore and Colostomy Bag Darrell shortly after "Dawn..." (do you mind if I call it "Dawn.."? We do that kind of thing all the time i.e "dude, let's fuckin bash out "Eyes..!". "No man, we have to do fucking "Vomitting..." before we play "Eyes..."...) we have only had time to write two new selections. We've finally gotten back into writing new numbers, but we don't have very much else planned for the time being. Evidently, we're busy sharpening our blades, getting ready to pay you all back in spades...

Since you're the one responsible for the lyric writing in the band I evidently have to tackle the subject. While keeping the lyrics gory and brutal, like expected from a band of the genre, you also seem to distance yourselves from it. Sometimes gorebands can become a bit pathetic, taking themselves and their lyrics too seriously. But you add a humorous twist to it, without becoming ridiculous like Anal Cunt and such. Have I grasped your intentions lyrical-wise? Is it important to you to keep that distance from the lyrics (since most people don't really have the hots for getting poop in their mouth, eating cadavers, raping corpses etc, the ordinary gore topics)?
The ironies of this scene don't really bother me too much. I'm not sure why I am fairly relaxed when I hear four out of five bands at a show talking about sluts and cunts and bitches. These are people that seem to do either do without romance or dress up and decorate their blow-up doll girlfriends in a pretty convincing manner before bringing them out to the bar. It's either one or the other with these young people. This type of angst, a symptom of an understandable need for acceptance is fairly common for young angry men. As for me, I'm not sure how available or willing a vagina butchered with a forklift and chainsaw and then humped by ten dudes would be to/for me if I just expressed my desire for one by openly talking about it in a room full of dudes. Seems like my hopes would end up dashed if I expressed them aloud. Having said that, I listen to and am occasionally humoured by a well-named tune about poop or cadavers. I've been laughing all along, right from day one over fifteen years ago when I first heard the Dayglo Abortions' Feed Us A Fetus" LP. In this era of ordinary gore topics, I find myself keeled over in laughter at the truly ridiculous things in life such as learning how to light a fucking pilot light to prevent myself from freezing to death or how to change a goddamn spare tire on my piece of shit bike without having it burst in rush-hour traffic on my way home from work. There are more than enough (way, way more than enough) fetus filleting, cunt wrecking, dead-granny molesting and fly-banging bands in existence without us further diluting that Fort Knox of creative energy. I don't see the point of towing the ordinary party line when the rest of the band busts their ass to make this stupid band work. I don't even have a drivers licence to drive us to gigs for crissakes. The least I can offer them are lyrics that I am not ashamed of.

You mentioned a European tour earlier. I certainly hope you�re coming to the South of Sweden so I can get first-hands experience, of course, but what are your plans for it so far? Have you already started booking gigs, planned what countries to visit etc?
We have been talking about Southern Sweden with a few people, but local people might not enjoy the pleasure of our company. I guess we will see what happens. We are still trying to figure out how much time we can take away from our jobs for this DIY tour de rock. So far we are booked at Bloodshed Fest in the Netherlands on October 13th and at Moshfest in Poland on October 20th. In addition to Sweden, we would like to drink beer in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria�and anywhere else that would like to introduce us to the local ales and funny jokes. We have started booking a few shows so far, but the two fests are all that are 100% confirmed. Fuck, I think we need a driver.

Ok, so now it�s time for my standard issue questions.
Latest record you bought?
I think it might have been the Hellshock/Effigy 10". I am surprised I found a copy of it. I only scored it a couple months ago. I am very pleased.

Latest record you listened to?
Funerot's "Invasion from the Death Dimension" CD that came out last year. I like the lyric, "Lookin' for a corpse to fuck? Call 1900 DETH LINE!!" It's pretty thrashtastic.

Latest book you read?
I'm reading a book by John Waters right now. It's called Crackpot. It's a bunch of essays he wrote for several publications back in the 80's. Never had a chance to absorb his writing style until now, but I hope it's as exciting as the dialogues in a few of his old movies.

Latest show you went to?
I went to a local punk gig recently and saw too many synthasizers and�not enough�friends.

Crappiest record you've bought?
Hmmm, tough call. Either the first Coalesce 7" or something heavily influenced by that record.

If you ever decided to commit suicide, how�d you go about doing so?
I'd walk into a police station with as many automatic weapons as I could strap on and start cleaning house. Sorry uncle Ed, it won't happen in Victoria!

Well, as far as I know I think we�ve covered it right about now. Anything I�ve missed? At the moment I�m drawing a blank, so if not then I�d like to thank you for your time! It�s always appreciated when the answers aren�t just standard ramblings. However in this case you�ve really taken it to a whole new level of drugged-out, migraine inducing rants, hehe. Thanks and good luck, hope to see you at a stage near here!
Well thanks for saying so! It's been an extreme pleasure to get these issues�off my shoulders. Thanks for having a shoulder to cry on. I hope for all the best with your online zine, I look forward to dragging my monitor into the crapper on a Saturday morning very soon as always to catch up with the the latest in brutal scene developments and crazy personalities.




Related links:
Putrescence

No Escape Records
Power It Up Records

For a closer look at Putrescence's discography please click here