Summon: How did the band get started?
Sean: It was actually started just by myself and Mike jamming, we played more thrash but had noticed our music getting heavier and heavier, and eventually we found our unique sound.
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Sean: Death Metal.
Summon: How has the band response been?
Sean: We’ve had an outstanding response from our local scene as a band thats bringing the heavy back. Pure, relentless, old school death metal, which is something this scene really needs! We have also noticed a huge fan base out on the coast of south east Asia around Indonesia and other countries in the remote area.
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Sean: Funny story, it actually came to be from Mike and an old buddy of ours from school Devin, just messing around trying to come up with a wicked band name, and eventually the name “Display of Decay” was spat out. I found out around the next day by phone and ever since, we’ve just stuck with it.
Summon: Introduce the band members
Sean: There is myself, Sean Watson, i do lead guitars. Mike Turnbull on rhythm guitar, Nick King on Bass, Rob Pruden on the microphone, and Chris Van Beek on the drums.
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Sean: A lot of the music is written by myself and Mike, however we generally collaborate as a group like most bands and just piece parts together riff by riff and see what works the best where and how many times. In some cases, almost an entire song will be pre-written before we actually get to the point of collaborating, where small changes will only be made, whereas some of our best and most well known songs like “Blood Borne,” will be written all as a group. When it comes to lyrics, most of our old songs i wrote lyrics for, and Rob made the changes that he felt were needed, but when it comes to the newer stuff typically it will be Nick or Rob because they are far better at it then myself.
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Sean: For the lyrics i write it’ll usually be from something that i read and thought “damn thats brutal,” and just came up with something, or from experiences where i just got so over the edge that I’d think of these things. Generally, we try to stay away from the whole religion related lyrics, prevents unnecessary conflict. We like to stick to the gory and gruesome.
Summon: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Sean: To each there own, along with my lyrics, i try to keep my life free of any sort of religion. There is far too many clashes of opinion on the subject.
Summon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Sean: We have released one EP, which came out in May of 2008 titled “Blood Borne,” and began production of a second EP on October of 2009, but we had scrapped that due to line up changes.
Summon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Sean: On the demo titled “The Feasting” which we never released, it features Blood Borne, which has turned out to be one of our biggest hits, and a new track called Born of Rot. Blood Borne was a song that came by surprise, a practice session turned into a full on writing session, and we ended up writing and finishing this song in about a night. Born of Rot was a little bit of a change for us, still keeping our heavy tone but expanding our sound into a more technical side, with guitar and bass sweeps, and powerful breakdowns.
Summon: Do you have any side projects?
Sean: Not at this time.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Sean: My main influences would be Pantera and Cannibal Corpse, however i think Cannibal would be the biggest one for just about all of us in the band if i do say so myself, but there is so many different styles of music as well that influence our sound.
Summon: Which current bands?
Sean: Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Vital Remains, Dying Fetus, Devourment, Lord Gore, the list goes on. I could be listing bands for hours.
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Sean: We do take our stage show very seriously, but at the same time we try to have just as much fun as the crowd does. Sometimes there will be people jumping on stage and doing guest vocals, or Nick will dive off stage and mosh while ripping the bass lines. We try to make every show, not just a show for people to come watch, We want every show to be an experience for those who come out, and leave them even more anxious to see us the next time.
Summon: What was the best band you played with?
Sean: We have played with so many different bands that its hard to keep track, i would say another local act World Class White Trash was probably my favorite to play with, so much energy, and raw intensity.
Summon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Sean: Not yet.
Summon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Sean: It really varies, sometimes there’ll be 10, sometimes there’ll be 150, We do bring quite a large crowd usually.
Summon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Sean: The best, our fans are truly awesome, and they give it their all whether its banging their heads to “Maggot Feast,” or the circle pits to “Compulsion to Kill,” everyone is just going crazy.
Summon: What is your opinion on the conflict of Black Metal Vs Death Metal?
Sean: Personally i like both styles, i much prefer death metal, but i like them both. I find that they’re becoming such a similar style now that it will soon be hard to really classify some of the new bands that are coming out. the vocal styles are getting much more alike, the guitar work is still quite different, but getting closer with the sub genres of death metal that have come to be, but the lyrics are definitely what really keeps them separated.
Summon: What do you think of the US Black/Death Metal scene?
Sean: I can’t say I’m huge on some of the newer stuff thats been coming out of the US, i try to stick with my old favorites, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, you know, the stuff thats been around for a long time that everyone has heard of.
Summon: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Sean: The overseas scenes just look incredible, we were offered to play a metal festival in India but couldn’t make it, but the crowd that they had and some of the videos i seen were just incredible, these fans are some of the most die-hard metal heads I’ve ever seen.
Summon: What are some of new favorite Black/Death Metal bands?
Sean: Hate Eternal, Devourment, Fleshgod Apocalypse, all amazing bands.
Summon: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Sean: We have been currently writing a new set list, and preparations for a full length CD have come underway, and we hope to enter the studio sometime this year for an early 2012 release.
Summon: What does the future hold for the band??
Sean: Hopefully good things! we’re planning a Canadian tour for the spring of 2012, and if all goes well hopefully we’ll go even further then that!
Contact them at:
http://www.myspace.com/displayofdecay
http://www.facebook.com/DisplayofDecayOfficial
