Interview with Chris Reifert, Vocalist and Drummer of ABSCESS, AUTOPSY and many other bands

- Conducted by Baz

Diabolical Conquest (Baz): Hello Chris! How are you? I hope this intie reaches you in good health and high spirits. What have you been up to recently? How was the Maryland Death Fest?

Abscess/Autopsy (Chris): I'm doing damn well, thanks. Got the coffee flowing and the new Bone Gnawer/Bonesaw split CD in the background so all's cool. What have I been up to? Got the 8th Abscess album assembled and ready for release in March so all systems are go on that. Maryland death fest was awesome. Killer bands, killer crowd and a good time all around. Looking forward to this year's MDF as well.

DC: All sounds very good indeed. Now, as many of our readers will know, you've been performing a highly distinctive brand of filthy, decayed death metal for decades. Everyone reading this will of course be very familiar with Autopsy, Abscess, The Ravenous etc, and they'll be aware of your work with the embryonic Death (not to be confused Embrionic Death) and possibly your early band, Burnt Offering. Were Death and Burnt Offering your first (un)musical projects, or did you do something else afore that? What inspired you to acquire your first musical instruments and perform upon them the music that you do?

A: Before all that I was in a band called Guillotine from around '83 to '84. It was thrash metal pretty much and great start. We had a few original songs but never got into a studio to record them. My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to play something and picked up a cheap used set of drums from a flea market. I was super excited about that and wasted no time getting familiar with them. Before that, they got me a drum pad and had a teacher show me the basics of the drumming approach to see if I would be interested at all. I was into the heaviest things I could get my ears on at the time and really got started by putting on headphones and playing along with records that I thought I could figure out.

DC: Good old ma and pa eh? Now then, rather than do a rigid, systematic set of questions that trundles chronologically over your back catalogue, let's approach this bit from where you last left off and have a chat about your most recent work under the name Autopsy, ‘Horrific Obsession'. Did you enjoy coming back? Did you record anything else at the time, or just that pair of tracks? Is this the first snifter of a reunion, or has Autopsy gone away again now?

A: Those were the only tracks we recorded, but they were lots of fun and seemed really natural to play and record. Autopsy is actually playing Maryland Death Fest this year, so we're not dead again yet!

DC: Superb! I find the lyrical style and content of your works, especially the stuff on the first two full length Abscess releases, and also filthy Autopsy fave ‘Shitfun', to be highly inspirational. On the now expired lyrics site for the band in which I currently do vox, Noxious Coitus, I put you into the influences section alongside Rabelais, the 2nd Earl of Rochester, de Sade, Apollinaire and Walker. Who or what inspires you to write so putridly? Is any of your writing taken from personal experiences?!

A: When I write lyrics, that's just the stuff that comes out. In the early days I would get inspired by gore flicks and stories, but soon it seemed better to write strictly from my own subconsciousness. A lot of the time I won't try to think ahead and I'll let the pen do what it wants to do and go from there.

DC: Ah yeh, that good old automatistic brain-disgorge method can often work a treat! Moving on from lyrics to the medium through which you repulsively vomitate them, tell us a bit about your vox techniques or methods. On the earlier Autopsy stuff, you had a higher, screechier style, which developed into a more diverse style as you went along. Can you describe for us how you achieve such sounds, and also tell us if you use anything to enhance or assist them (liquids I mean, not post prod trickery). I find such beverages as stout, porter, Irish cream and amaretto to be rather beneficial.

A: The early vocals are a bit higher and screechier as a result of being 18-20 years old. After I got comfortable with being a vocalist, I let my voice go where it wanted to go, which was deeper and more from the gut. I prefer whiskey as far as drinks go, but vocally I sound the same regardless of what I'm drinking. It's just how I sound.

One of the funniest things I saw recently was an ad in a magazine that pushed some spray that is supposed to help you scream more clearly. Man, that shit cracked me up. If you need something like that, there's truly no hope for brutality. I also found it really funny when bands were talking about taking screaming lessons.

DC: Oh dear. I can imagine a product named something like Clearascream, which the kids can also use as topical treatment for adolescent acne vulgaris. What d'you make of brutal slamming death metal and all that chugging gubbins? And what about heavily coiffed deathcore?? Are you of the ilk that thinks it's good to move forward and try out other ways of interpreting the genre, or are you the nostalgic sort who thinks it was much better back in the day? Or d'you not mind either way? Reeeeeeeeee.

A: Good is good and lame is lame and that's that. I can safely say that any band with a sentence for a name, 6 members or more and carefully combed to the side hairdos are not metal no matter what distortion pedal they have for their guitars. That shit is just plain laughable.

DC: Yeh, they certainly raise a chuckle as well as causing much cringing. When I was a pustulated youth, probably about fifteen, some of my earliest death/grind acquisitions were Putrid Offal/Exulceration split, ‘Scum', ‘Tomb of the Mutilated', and Autopsy classicks ‘Acts of the Unspeakable' and ‘Severed Survival', along with Abscess fave ‘Urine Junkies'. Got ‘em all second hand at a market in South Yorkshire. I remember reading the lyrics for ‘Aching Meat' and ‘Anally Impaled' and thinking ‘Oof!'. What were your first ‘extreme/heavy' albums when you were younger? Also (if it wasn't one of those) what was the first album you ever bought? (Mine was ‘Mellow Gold' by Beck).

A: I'm gonna show my age and tell you that the first album I ever bought was the Ace Frehley solo album when it first came out in 1978. I saw the TV commercial for it and knew it was for me. I still love that album to death! That is how rock should be played! From there, I got into a progression of hard rock to metal to death metal. I was always interested in heavy sounds.

DC: Excellent. I got the Peter Kriss one as a present once! Classic. Tell us how you met key folk with whom you've collaborated over the years in various projects, such as Danny Coralles and Clint Bower, and also Danny Lilker and Killjoy, as well as anyone else you feel ought to be mentioned.

A: Danny-met him through our friend Don Chandler (R.I.P.) back in early '88. Don was pushing for us (Autopsy) to meet up with Danny and we did indeed. Too bad Don didn't make it to see the outcome of the unholy melding.

Clint-met him through a mutual friend back in '86. He used to be in Hexx who we really looked up to. When Hexx and Autopsy split up, we jumped at the chance to work with Clint.

Danny Lilker-right around the time Severed Survival came out, I got a phone call out of the blue from him saying “Hey we're both on Peaceville records so I thought I'd give you a call and say what's up. He had a project called 'Extra Hot Sauce' at the time and they put out a hilarious record called 'Taco of Death' on Peaceville. I thought that was extremely cool as I'd known of him from Anthrax (on 'Fistful of Metal' which is the only Anthrax album I like). We'd occasionally bump into each other here and there over time which led up to jamming in The Ravenous later on.

Killjoy-I spoke with him the first time in '86 when I was staying in Florida with Chuck Schuldiner. We talked on the phone and he seemed really cool. That was great since I thought Necrophagia was killer and totally sick. We got in contact much later again (sometime in '99) and we thought it would be awesome to start up a project together.

DC: A few things about the album artwork. Some of my favourites from your back catalogue are the foldout inside cover of ‘Acts of the Unspeakable', which is like something Hieronymous Bosch might've come up during a harrowing come-down, the repulsive creature adorning the front of ‘Mental Funeral', and the graphic, shudderworthy cover concept of ‘Urine Junkies'. How much importance d'you think album art carries? D'you have any personal favourites? Whose jaws are clamped around the turd on the cover of ‘Shitfun'? What was the shite made from?

A: Yep, cover art is important for sure. It has to match the vibe whether it's epic death, total sleaze or whatever. I won't give up any details on the 'Shitfun' cover, sorry. Haha!

DC: Your music; drugs; alcohol. Are there many connections between the three? If so, please state your preferences and also your most memorable or amusing experiences! I imagine there are thousands, so tell us the first one or two that come to mind.

A: I am peace and love amidst all violence. Haha! We'll speak more about this in your next hallucination.

DC: Shall see you there. Think I did already actually, you were wearing chickpea chainmail. What have you been listening to/reading/watching recently? Good stuff? If you're into films, what're your favourite kinds?

A: My listening/reading/viewing tastes are all over the place. This is a question that I usually fail at with flying colors. Narrowing things down is the eternal struggle. But yep, all good stuff!

DC: The old Abscess album ‘Seminal Vampires and Maggot Men' is great fun! I find it's the ideal thing to play whilst having several drinks before heading out to a gig or club or wherever. Foul, stinking catchiness, lovely lyrical filth, hilarious vox...one of my old faves. Is it one of yours? As stated in the inlay, the recording and mixing process took only 24 hours to complete. What was that session like? Hectic?? Of course, you swapped instruments and shared lead vox duties among yourselves as well. Were the roles defined beforehand?

A: That album is such a drunken blur. I do remember it fairly well considering, though. We did do it in 24 hours from top to bottom and it was a wild ride for sure. It was at razor's edge where The Melvins did their stuff as well as Autopsy's 'Shitfun'. It was in an old house in San Francisco where supposedly Anne Rice wrote 'Interview with a Vampire' or something along those lines. We actually spent the night there so we could wake up the next day and continue the recording process. There was definitely a weird feeling about that house. Staircases arranged oddly and just something we couldn't quite put our dirty fingers on. Kind of unsettling, really but perfect for a fucked up record like that. We all had our hands deep in the grave for that and it's such a filthy trip.

DC: Sounds like a sinister session to me! Unfortunately, I've never seen any of your bands perform live. I've heard various stories of your stage capers, so tell us about some of your most outrageous onstage escapades. What sort of thing can we expect at a gig these days?

A: One gig that stands out in mind is one in Los Angeles in a supposed 'showcase' situation. We came out ready to kill and I had a shirt on that said 'Old But Still Swinging' with a pair of tassels affixed to the printed tits (can't remember where I found that shirt), my classic 'fuck you' collar and a picture of a pussy gushing piss taped to my leg. I had skulls taped to my drums and we spat blood and who knows what else all over the place. There was an apple computer banner stretched across the stage overhead and Clint ripped it off and threw it at the horrified onlookers. At the end, we totally destroyed the stage set with drums and gear being thrown in every direction. The two comments I remember hearing from the poor fucks who worked at the club were 'Who do they think they are, the who?' and 'You have 10 minutes to get your shit out of here and onto the street!' for some reason we weren't asked to come back and play again. Haha! Nowadays we actually focus on our music a bit more but chaos can still occur when it needs to. We have no control over that, honest! Hah!

DC: Inspired! Your outfit sounds like an absolute hoot. Now, the sound of Autopsy grotesquely metamorphosed as you went along, its knobbly, putrefied limbs clawing and tearing appendages from off of other styles such as grind, doom, sludge and punk, then stitching them onto itself till it resembled something similar to the slobbering beast on the front of ‘Mental Funeral'. For me, ‘Shitfun' exemplifies the combination of said styles, which was then pulled from the gutter and dragged into the sewer by Abscess. What inspired the punkier stuff and the doomy bits? Would you say Abscess is the ideal combination of the styles you played on different Autopsy albums?

A: Hhmmm, don't quite know what caused the shift in sounds but it seemed natural at the time and still does. Just more ways to express ugly brutality I guess. Limits be damned as long as the music is heavy and sick! The beauty of Abscess is we can incorporate anything that fits the demented vibe we're searching for. It's gotta be heavy and ugly though otherwise it just won't work.

DC: Absolutely. Around the time of your first few releases, many other death metal bands played the style in a more complexified manner than that of Autopsy, with a far less leisurely delivery and without quite the same wickedly black humour. Did this make you stick out like a sore digit? (In a good way of course!). What d'you think of technical death metal in general, especially the braggadocious stuff that's around these days? D'you think more convoluted compositions and rigid, machine-like delivery would have worked if you'd gone that way on an old Autopsy album?

A: No, because we followed our own vision which didn't necessarily apply to what the average death metal crowd craved at the time. It was one of things where either you got it or you didn't. The ones who got it really got it though and that's where the strength came from I guess.

DC: Can you tell us about the creative process through which a song (both its music and lyrics) is taken afore it is complete and album-ready? Has your writing method changed a lot over the years?

A: Usually, whoever has a song written just shows it to the rest of the band and we leave it as it is, or adjust little things to make it cohesive and complete. Lyrics normally come after the music has been written though there are exceptions sometimes. My writing method has been the same since '83 pretty much. Haha!

DC: What sort of equipment do you have? Is there any piece of kit that you've managed to keep ahold of since the very early days?

A: I play on a low end premier kit which is still a good one though it is falling apart from abuse and neglect. Heh. I also still have my old Tama set which I've had since the Autopsy 'Critical Madness' demo from '88. It's so covered in filth and crust I'll have to take a hammer and chisel to it someday!

DC: This cack-caked kit sounds ideal! A brief word about recording and production. How much of a hand do you and your fellow musicians at the time have in the process? Are there any specific studio techniques used to create that your distinctively filthy sort of sound? Of course, these'll differ quite a lot from album to album, so perhaps just tell us about the releases where you achieved the ideal production for the sound you were hankering for?

A: We all have full say in how our instruments and the overall album sound comes out. No specific techniques, just our ears and brains.

The new album 'Dawn of Inhumanity' has the sound we were looking for and we are very happy with it. I also love the sound on 'Through the Cracks of Death' and 'Damned and Mummified' in particular.

DC: As anyone who takes a brief listen to your works and casts an eye quickly over a verse of lyrics can easily deduce, you're not concerned with how people will digest your work, whether they'll happily gorge themselves on it, or baulk and boak at it. Either way, what were the worst or most laughable kinds of negative feedback you've had from non-fans over the years? Or do they all just leave you to it??

A: Nothing that stands out in memory. That stuff doesn't really faze me at all. It's great when people like what we do, but if they don't, then the beast goes on anyways.

DC: I'm unsure of where you have and haven't toured, but I'm sure you must've found yourselves in my homeland, the Shittish Isles, at some point or other. If so, what did you think of our quaint cesspool? Any plans to come over and play soon? I live in Leeds, so if you could play there that'd be good.

A: Abscess hasn't toured at all. Autopsy played a few gigs in the UK many years ago which went ok. I do remember the British press hated us! Hah! No plans on playing the UK anytime soon but we'll see what the future holds. I do miss the beer there!

DC: Perhaps you'll come back and guzzle some soon. You've worked with Peaceville Records for a long time. Cleckheaton (or simply, ‘Cleck' or ‘old Cleck' as it is often called), the town in which the label was originally founded, and Heckmondwike, where it is currently located, are both about 12 miles from here. Have you visited these places much? If so, what did you think of West Yorkshire?

A: We enjoyed our stay in England quite a bit really. We did plenty of pub visits and had a good time in general.

DC: Good to hear! I'd say Autopsy and Abscess are probably like the peculiar home-brewed real ale of death metal, volatile indeed! A brief word about your side projects. Although I imagine the project is still active and there may even be something in the slimy pipelines, The Ravenous haven't released anything for a while. Is there anything planned for that? Also, Eat My Fuk, the project that was thoroughly bespattered with the fluids of the late GG Allin, only has the one album. Are you going to do anything else with that, or was that just a one-disc fun-time drunken laugh thing?

A: The Ravenous is pretty much done with. Nothing's happened since '02, so I guess that's it though we had a blast with it and desecrated the studio and a few stages with it. A killer time for sure. Eatmyfuk is done too. A 3” CD came out last year called 'Fuk you, it's Eat My Fuk' but with the death of Wart Hog, that was the end of it.

DC: Ah that's a shame. Haven't heard that 3'', will have a look! A quick word about band names. What prompted you to choose the names Autopsy and Abscess? Were there any other ideas for names at the time that were not used?

A: Autopsy came about from a newspaper article about the band Bloodbath (not the Swedish band) and their manager being beaten to death with a lead pipe. This was Danny's band at the time (no, he didn't do it) before we knew him. The word Autopsy stuck out when that part of the article came up and there was our band name just waiting for us. Abscess was called The Aborted for the first month or so of our existence till we heard of another band who already had that name. Abscess worked out much better in the end and we are happy with the way things went.

DC: Luckily, you didn't end up sounding like The Aborted either. A few other bands around the time of classick Autopsy had a similar sort of fetid, reekish sound, for example Pungent Stench and perhaps Rottrevore, and maybe Telford boys, Cancer. Are you or were you fans of those acts?

A: Yeah, Pungent Stench and Rottrevore are both brutal and sick. Don't think I ever heard Cancer though I heard a lot about them at the time.

DC: To vary this thing a bit before we approach the end, d'you have any hobbies, interests, collections etc outside your bands that you can tell us about?

A: Nothing worth mentioning. Our music is what's most important.

DC: I'll start to make the Q's a bit briefer now for the purposes of winding up the innards of this intie more easily. Can you give us any idea of the direction you'll be taking with the next batch of Abscess (or The Ravenous) material?

A: Check out 'Dawn of Inhumanity' and digest that one for awhile. After that, stay tuned because even we don't know what's next yet. I'm definitely curious about what's coming up too! Right now we're just pleased that the album came out the way it did.

DC: What'd be the lineup of your ideal ‘supergroup' (of course, you can have either living, dead or undead musicians among the ranks)? And also the ideal bill for an Abscess gig?

A: I feel really lucky, as I am in two groups with the best lineups I can think of! I couldn't ask for better! As for the ideal bill for an Abscess gig, it would be great to play with Motorhead for one thing! Besides that, I can think of a lot of bands I would love to play with!

DC: Autopsy and Motorhead gig would be very good indeed. Now then, last off, what're your plans for the rest of today? And what's next for Abscess?

A: The rest of the day, hhmmmm. The beauty of that is I don't know yet. I'm making it up as I go which isn't always the case so this is nice. Haha! Tomorrow it's back to juggling everything that needs to be done in a day. What's next for Abscess, eh? Well for now, we're just waiting on the new album to come out and we'll see where it takes us. I'm very excited to see it all done with the packaging and everything. I never get tired of that feeling of seeing the newest album for the first time!

DC: Many, many thanks for doing this intie for Diabolical Conquest. All the best! Cheers!!

A: No problem, and thanks much for supporting our sick ugly noise! Cheers from this side of the planet and turn it up to 13 !!!

YYEEAARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!