WHERE ARE THEY FROM: Trondheim, Norway
FOR FANS OF: Skitsystem, Master, Extreme Noise Terror
LATEST RELEASE: "Demo 2012" (self released)
WEBSITE:- .Website http://skullgrind.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/skullgrind
In recent years more bands have emerged onto the extreme music scene
playing a brutal heavy mixture of old school death metal and crust
punk or what some people and some of the bands themselves are calling
"Death Crust". Sküll who hail from Trondheim in Northern Norway are
one of the latest bands playing in this style who have obliterated my
ears and who are just as influenced by bands like Extreme Noise Terror
and Skitsystem as they are by old school death/grind bands such as
Master and Repulsion and that hybrid of influences is showcased
perfectly on excellent their 2012 Demo which should appeal equally to
the crust punks and old school death/grind heads out there! I sent vocalist Leif some questions:-
Hi, please give me a background history on the band and introduce the members?
The band consist of: Me (Leif) on vocals, Christian on guitar, Trond on guitar and Tomas on drums. Basically what happened was that Christian wanted to play crust and asked me to join in on vocals. Tomas also wanted to play crust and Trond wanted to play death metal. So we started a grindband. Since we don't make grind music we eventually became a crusty death metal-act.
I came across you guys via another bands website after they posted
about you, up until then you were a completely unknown entity to me
but I must say I was fucking blown away by the song I heard which was
a track from your demo, please tell the readers about your debut demo
and the music contained on it in your own words - what can they
expect?
Thank you very much for the kind words!
Excpect early swedish death metal mixed with some grind and a helthy dose of crust. The production is raw, but not to the extenct where you can't tell the instruments from eachother.
Do you have plans to do another demo or maybes an album in the near
future? Have you written much new material since you recorded the
debut demo? if so will the music continue in the same vein?
We've already written four new songs, but since we're all busy with fifty other projects it's hard to find the time to rehearse. With the first demo we only rehearsed six times before we recorded it, so I bet we'll have a new demo or 7" by late summer or early fall. We got our own studio so if we feel like it we can just record an album whenever we want. For free!! The new songs will be faster and heavier and better than anything that ever come from Norway.
How can people get hold of the debut demo? What has the overall
response from people been like to your demo/music so far, have you got
much of a response from people outside of Norway?
The response been overwhelming. People from all over the world have contacted us just to tell us how great the music is, and downloaded the demo from bandcamp. Many have also uploaded it on their blogs and they're talking about it on russian message boards and shit. I've never used google translate this much in my entire life. The reviews have been very positive and we're eager to see how people will react to our new stuff.
People can order the demo from Prostata Records. We only printed 80 copies so people ought to be quick if they want it on tape.
It's free, and always will be, to download from our bandcamp-site.
Has this demo attracted any label interest yet? Or maybes you have
already worked out a deal with a label for the next release?
Currently we're on our own. We released the demo on Prostata, which is a great label, and if they want to release our next album that'd be awesome, but it costs a lot of money release an album and he's only one guy running it.
There was one label that wanted to release a 7", but I havent heard from them in three months so I guess the deal is off. If there is any label out there that is interested in releasing our stuff you can reach us by our bandcamp-site.
You describe your music as "brutal death/crust" I would say that is a
perfect description and you perfectly blend both genres together, what
bands shape and influence the sound of Sküll? Which bands really
inspired you guys to pick up instruments, get together in a rehearsal
place and start playing such a style/mixture of music?
Why the band name?
We're from Trondheim. We're not the most innovative people in the world. We like skulls and we like umlauts. I guess that's about it.
Lyrically where do you draw inspiration from to put pen to paper?
Please tell us about some subjects your lyrics deal with?
I've got a radio at home that is fine-tuned to the worlds suffering. I just write whatever it speaks. Mainly it speaks of angst, alcohol abuse and suffering.
You are from Trondheim, please tell us about your hometown and also
the local scene up there..are there many places to play, which other
local bands would you recommend to the readers out there? Would you
say your local extreme music scene is healthy? What is your opinion on
the Norwegian extreme music scene in general? Any bands you feel a
bond or affinity with?
It's a boring little town in the middle of Norway. The winters extremely cold and the summer's rainy, but there's a lot of places to play and a lot of good musicians.
The scene is good at the moment. With a lot of new interesting bands. Just check out; Victimised, Mørkt Kapittel, Katechon, One Tail One Head, Sexy Police, Mare, Mabuse, Kaos SS, Sunswitch, Yodok, Laserguys and Hellstorm.
How active is Sküll on the live front? do you play live much locally
or elsewhere in Norway...have you ventured outside of your home
country to play any shows yet? What can people expect from a Sküll
live show?!
It's hard to find time to play, but we're all really interested in seeing how far we can take this band. We've played three shows altogether (last one with Cannibal Corpse) and we've heard rumours about playing with a big band in Trondheim in Semptember. We'd love to do shows outside Trondheim and Norway. If anyone is interested in setting up a show feel free to contact us.
Describe the band in 5 words only!
Raw, talented, brutal, intelligent and rocking!
Who are some of your vocal influences/ fave growlers? Which vocalists
made you want to start doing such vocals in a band?
I'm not sure. Noone ever made me wanne be in a band, but I do appreciate the work of Apollyon of Aura Noir and Dean Jones of Extreme Noise Terror.
There seems to be quite a few bands in recent years appearing playing
"death crust" and mixing up strong old school death metal influences
with Crust/D beat Punk - which other bands have you heard who play in
a similar style to yourselves? Any that you could recommend to people
who like the music of Sküll?. Why do you think there is more bands
coming out playing a mix of death metal and crust punk? It seems to be
a growing subgenre in a subgenre!
I can't say I can remember the names of bands that play similar to us. I know there's a lot of bands mixing black metal, thrash, death with crust. Which is really cool. I love the sound of black metal and I love the angstridden doomy feeling crust brings. Death brings a lot of energy into the mix and it seems to blend well with crust.
I think there are many talented punks and metalheads who feel as much at home with Bathory as with Amebix and Skitsystem and people tend to make music similar to what they like. That's propabky the biggest reason for the surge in this kind of music.
What is your opinion on the worldwide old school death metal scene and
also the worldwide crust scene in general? What bands have caught your
attention in recent times from both scenes?
There's a shitload of good bands out there to be discovered. I'd say it's really alive and kicking the shit out of the new technichal, melodic, triggered shit-music that pretends to death. Crust is crust. It will always be there.
The new material too Summon The Crows is kicking and I really enjoy Filth Of Mankind. Other good bands are Warcollapse, Hellshock, Obliteration, Execration, Diskord, Martyrdöd and Police Batard.
What other bands are members currently involved with? What other bands
have members been involved with in the past that you would like to
tell the readers about?
Christian: Katechon, Kaos SS, Hellstorm, Laserguys
Leif Ottar: Victimised, Katechon, Kaos SS.
Tomas: Yodok, Doffs Poi, Sunswitch
Trond: Sunswitch, Cadillac, El Doom & The Born Electric
What are the plans for rest of 2012 - what do you currently have in
the pipeline? Where do you want to take the band in the coming
year(s)?.
We're planning to release a 7", besides that we're not sure what the rest of the year brings. Hopefully we'll play some festivals and weekend-shows next year, since touring seems like an impossibility with this gang. But never say never. We'd love to do a tour of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica etcetc...
Thanks for answering my small interview please plug available merch
and also let people know where they can hear music/check out more info
on the band.
No merch, but the tape. Visit this pages to keep up with us and to listen to some tunes.http://prostatarecords.blogspot.no/2012/03/4-new-tapes.html, http://www.facebook.com/skullgrind and http://skullgrind.bandcamp.com/
Takk!!
Tusen takk! Cheers!!
Awesome band!
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