Yeah sure, I live in a small seaside village between Exmoor National Park and The Quantocks in West Somerset, which is a far cry from the busy city I was born and grew up in! I came here about 2 and a half years ago to get some peace and to get away from all the bullshit you get living surrounded by people, traffic, pollution and heavy handed police bastards. So now I spend my time looking after my animals, walking on the beach or in the fields, forests and hills and also going to the gym where I’ve recently got into Power Lifting! There’s 7 pubs here, which range from a really nice traditional country pub that does nice food, down to a proper shithole fighting den full of cut-throats, thugs and other assorted scallywags, so there’s plenty of mischief to get in to!

There’s me, obviously. I sing, or shout rather. Tim on guitar who I was in Gorerotted with, Trud on bass, he used to front Screamin’ Daemon, is a professional tattoo artist and is a legally ordained minister of no religious persuasion, and then we’ve got former Screamin’ Daemon drummer Nate on the drums.

My first favourite band when I was about 5 was Tears For Fears believe it or not! I still love them now. But with my dad being a huge Rock and Blues fan, it wasn’t long before I got into artists like Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Tom Petty, Black Sabbath, Joe Satriani, Thin Lizzy etc. Then when I was about 10 I discovered Guns N Roses, who were similar, but seemed like proper bad asses so I was hooked! From there I went onto Nirvana, then Anthrax, then Sepultura, Obituary and Napalm Death, then I discovered UK82/Anarcho Punk and Nordic Black Metal in my mid teens and was hooked from there on in.

I guess it all started when I got into Deicide, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse, I thought to myself “I can do that! I have to do that!!!” it sounded inhuman to me and really fucking cool so I answered an advert in Terrorizer to join a little known London based band. From there I eventually met the Gorerotted guys and joined them instead in 1999, and I’ve been doing this shit ever since.

 

Like I say, I met Tim back in 1999 and joined Gorerotted, so we’ve done 5 albums, 2 EPs and countless shows, tours and festivals together since. Then at some point in 2001 we met Trud who used to come to a lot of our shows and got to know him that way. Nate moved over from Israel to play drums for Trud in Screamin’ Daemon and we all became close from there, Tim’s wife put their album out on her label and Gorerotted and Screamin’ Daemon did many shows together, so the unholy union of both bands in the form of The Rotted was inevitable.

Basically, we’d written the 4th Gorerotted album and realised that we’d gone beyond what the band had originally set out to do, so a change in name was needed. We’d progressed as musicians and we’d allowed the music to develop naturally over time so we didn’t end up stuck in a rut putting the same album out over and over again. I was sick of writing gore lyrics, I was 18 when I started out, and in my late 20s the joke had worn thin, so I wanted to move away from that, and we realised we just weren’t the same band anymore, so we decided to change our name. I like genuine bands with integrity, who believe in what they’re doing and mean every word. I hate contrived, false crap so we knew that was it, we had to be honest with ourselves and with the fans. Our record label were supportive but pointed out that we’d effectively be starting from scratch, but that didn’t bother us. We believe in this music, we believe in ourselves so we just went for it. Someone in the band (I forget who) pointed out that we were known by friends and die-hard fans as The ‘Rotted anyway, so we went with that, but it seems to have got a lot of people confused. If I could go back, I would have announced that Gorerotted have split, then disappear off the face of the earth, then come back 6 months later and start afresh with a totally different name, but it’s done now and I think people have finally got the message!

Bands like Napalm Death, Entombed, Celtic Frost, Discharge, Wolfbrigade, Marduk, Immortal, Darkthrone, Motorhead etc. Basically, really fucking heavy stuff from the ‘80s and the ‘90s that we loved as teenagers!

It was literally a case of Tim writing to one of the organisers and saying  “Do you want us for your festival?” and her saying “YES!” We headlined the Sophie Stage in 2009 and it was a blast, such a great atmosphere with so many cool bands, and this year we’re back playing directly under Angel Witch and on the same day Immortal headline so it’s gonna be a riot again no doubt!!!

 

We’ve been all around Europe and the UK and it seems the more off the beaten track you go, the more rabid the audiences and more dedicated the fans! Touring Israel last December was crazy, the crowds were incredible, and this year we hope to hit places like Bulgaria, Serbia , Slovenia again and Hungary, then at some point I’d love to hit Asia and South America .

 

It was just a case of being blown away every time I discovered the next heavier thing as a kid and feeling a real sense of belonging in those days of fanzines, demo tapes and small but well attended DIY gigs at The Red Eye and The Braindead Club. It was a joy to be a part of that scene, and while things are easier now thanks to Myspace and Emailing, a lot of the magic’s gone and the scene's become more bedroom-based. I’m still incredibly proud to be a part of the extreme metal community though, and still a die-hard fanboy!

We wanted to put out a self-released EP like in the old days, we financed it ourselves and wanted to promote and distribute it ourselves too to get some of the magic of the early days back in our blood. Metal Blade were OK with it, but things have changed at that label –as they inevitably do. No one who was around when we were signed by them works there anymore and no one really gave a shit about us in the European or US offices. So when we got offered a get out clause, we took it! I can’t fault the UK office, those guys worked really hard for us, but it’s a huge relief to be away from Metal Blade now. We’re in the process of signing with a new label, one with some real enthusiasm for the new album, a host of similar bands that we really enjoy on their roster and they’re UK based so I’m assuming it’s all going to be easier now!

Finger crossed it’ll be out mid-September! I can’t wait to get it out there, it’s the catchiest stuff we’ve done in years and is the perfect mix of Blackened Death Metal and D-Beat Punk!!! Proper aggressive, very loud and VERY fucking heavy!

I dunno really, Drink Myself To Death maybe? It’s an aggressive, crusty grinding track and is a real high energy number. Of course, when the new album comes out we’ll be concentrating on those tracks as they’ve just taken everything to the next level, but obviously we’ll keep some old crowd favourites in the set.

I suppose Hacksore and Only Tools and Corpses from the Gorerotted days, The Howling from the Get Dead… album, and then the opening and closing tracks from the forthcoming album that are totally different to anything we’ve ever done before that I really don’t think anyone’s going to be expecting haha. I can’t say too much just yet, but keep your eyes on our news page for info!

 

I don’t know really. Impetigo and Master aren’t generally seen as being as important as or having as much influence as Autopsy, Repulsion, Bolt Thrower, Terrorizer etc, but the fact is, they were there, they helped kick start the scene. They have their cult following of course, but you wouldn’t see either headlining, say, PartySan or Neurotic Deathfest. To be totally honest though, as cool as both bands are and as much as I enjoy them, the other guys I mentioned have better albums, so maybe it’s all relative? They should still be given more recognition though!

It sounds HUUUUGE! We have only 1 guitarist but the whole thing still sounds enormous. We have the bass up nice and loud, the drums are the most diverse and intense Nate’s ever done, and every syllable of every word has been spat out with total rage and hatred. Song-wise, Russ our producer likened it to a journey through the ultimate teenage record collection! There's some real moments of nostalgia on there for all of us. Like I said earlier, it’s a sick mix of Black Metal, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Punk & D-Beat, and it’s catchy as hell! I like to think that THIS will be the work that defines us as a band! Keep your eyes peeled and your ears protected!