Summon: How did the band get started?
Dave: Dave Carrin (guitar/vocals) decided to start DEAD FLESH in mid 2003. Hooked up with SICASS on bass and the Tompkin brothers (Preston – Drums & Joe – Vocals) shortly thereafter for the birth of the band…
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Dave: Some form of Brutal Death Metal w/ elements of Thrash, Grind, and other forms of aggressive music.
Summon: How has the band response been?
Dave: Good as far as I’m concerned. From the early stages of the band we’ve always had local support, and eventually got some decent regional support, and now with some help from Barrett at Sevared Records we are getting some national/world support. Lately we’ve been getting many invites to shows and fests and we are very happy about that and we are having a good time in the process.
Summon: In your words describe the type of music you play
Dave: First and foremost I like music that has aggression, power, speed, anger, etc. and I’ve always loved any type of music that you can skank/mosh to so that is a major part of DEAD FLESH as well; finding that feel that makes people want to get up and hit something…or somebody.
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Dave: I started a band way back in the early 90’s called NECROCARNIS and the translation into English from that Greek/Latin combo is DEAD FLESH. No big deal or anything. I just think it fits the music of the band.
Summon: Introduce the band members
Dave: Right now it’s … Dave Carrin (guitar/vocals), Joe Tompkins (vocals), Kyle Sweeny (drums) …don’t have a bassist right now, but not really needed to do shows and I (Dave) can do bass in studio if needed in the future. This is somewhere around the 7th-9th different arrangement of DEAD FLESH since the beginning in ’03 and it is going quite well.
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Dave: Dave Carrin writes all the music and Joe Tompkins writes most of the lyrics with Dave doing some and a former member Brian Fitzgerald wrote a song (and he also did the main vocals for that song on the fully).
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Dave: Even though Joe writes most of the stuff, Dave comes up with many of the concept ideas for the songs. As does Joe as well. We both like the idea of pain, dementia, gore, insanity, sadism, death, and the like. So we write and come up with concepts based on suffering in many forms.
Summon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Dave: Over the first 5 years, somehow with all the member changes, money problems, practice space problems, etc. we were able to release 4 EP’s, all with different lineups. Finally, we got a full-length done “Returning from Decay” (with yet another new lineup) and are now being distributed at Sevared Records. With the dismissal of our last bassist it ensures that we will have even another lineup for the next recording. So, 5 recordings, but only one fully, but the plans are to have another fully in a year or two.
Summon: Tell me about some of the songs on the latest album?
Dave: Well, from a musical standpoint I like a lot of the early tracks for it’s a lot of the newer stuff. The covers we did by QUEEF HUFFER and BLACK FLAG were a lot of fun. And of course we have some shorts, samples (that we are obviously fond of), that add to the overall entertainment value of the CD. Lyrics include songs of brutal murder, genetic manipulation, sadistic deeds, sexual/violent perversion, self-mutilation, cannibalism, zombies, etc. All the good stuff…
Summon: Do you have any side projects?
Dave: I (Dave) have played in many bands, but right now I also play bass for DEAD CENTRE (death), drums for TOE IN THE TRIGGER (scumpunk), and bass for SATURNINE (black/thrash). Kyle Sweeny has done many projects as well, but is currently playing bass for LOKYATA and XAPHAN.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Dave: I love many forms of music, but in the “range” of DEAD FLESH I’m a big fan of NAPALM DEATH, MISERY INDEX, STICKOXYDAL, FUCK IM DEAD, PUTRID PILE, REPULSION, VOMIT SPAWN, etc. Bands like that…
Summon: Which current bands have influenced you, if any?
Dave: NAPALM DEATH still has it. I like pretty much everything MISERY INDEX does as well. I have a lot of interest in Goregrind so I love bands like SATANS REVENGE ON MANKIND, GOREANUS, AHUMADO GRANUJO, BIRDFLESH, FOETOPSY, etc.
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Dave: Joe Tompkins is a nutcase. He gets so energized on stage you can almost feel his adrenaline. He goes insane. I just have fun with it all. Smiling and cracking jokes with the crowd or my band mates. Kyle is usually catching his breath when not flying on the set.
Summon: What were the best bands you played with?
Dave: ORIGIN, ORIGIN, ORIGIN!!! PUTRID PILE, MISERY INDEX, VOMIT SPAWN, QUEEF HUFFER, CRYPTOPSY, IMPURITY, PHALLIC DECAPITANT, just to name a few. Did I mention ORIGIN? haha…seriously, we’ve played with them a few times and they are the most impressive live band I’ve ever seen.
Summon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Dave: Nope.
Summon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Dave: Well, for the local stuff sometimes only 40-70 people, which I hear isn’t bad compared to a lot of other places, but sometimes we can get 100+ for national acts sometimes. That’s not huge, but for our genre and location it’s not bad either.
Summon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Dave: I’ve always appreciated the crowd response not only here in town, but also in other places we’ve been. We seem to always have one of the biggest, if not the biggest pit on many of the nights that we play. And that says to me that people feel what I feel when I’m writing this shit. Pure energy that makes you want to get violent.
Summon: What is your opinion on the conflict of Black Metal Vs Death Metal?
Dave: I could care a less about teenagers thinking that their opinion is more valid than someone else’s. And for an adult to give a shit, well, they just need to grow up and not give a shit about what other people like. I personally don’t like a lot of Black Metal, but Joe loves it. I pick at him about it sometimes, but only in good fun and he takes it lightly as he should. I’m not religious and I have no “mission” or anything with my music so I could care a less what people not only think of my music, but of me as well. DEAD FLESH is obviously more death than anything else, but we have many influences from many different genres in our music and black metal would be one of them.
Summon: What do you think of the scene Overseas?
Dave: Well, Obscene Extreme is there so that’s huge. I don’t know a lot about it since I don’t live there or try to dig up much about it or anything.
Summon: What do you think of the Florida scene?
Dave: I don’t know how it is everywhere else, but down here the music scene is more about competition than collaboration for the most part. I hate that part of it and try to avoid it as much as possible. I think music is an art form, not a sport, and I’ll continue to look at it that way.
Summon: Any plans on writing any new material?
Dave: Hell yes. Now that Kyle has recently become our full-time drummer we are currently in the beginning process of putting new songs together.
Summon: What does the future hold for the band??
Dave: Well, if history is destined to repeat itself, probably many member changes with good times mixed with bad, but all worth it…
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