So first things first, as you may know, not many people know the history behind FKÜ here in Brazil, can you tell us a little about the band's conception and how you guys developt the Thrash Horror Metal genre.
It was back in 1987 when Pat, Pete and our first drummer Theo decided to start a band that was very influenced by S.O.D. who had a song called Freddy Krueger so the guys thought it would be a great idea to combine horror and crossover thrash metal with a bit of humour and decided to name the band Freddy Krueger’s Underwear. The first line-up was completed by a a guy called Afro on vocals who was a Mexican chef. The band only lasted a few rehearsals until they went into hiatus. But 10 years later in 1997 they decided they needed to form the band again. Since Afro wasn’t really a good singer they asked me if I wanted to do the vocals, of course I agreed since we were good friends. We started rehearsing and writing songs like crazy and before we knew it we had written almost an entire album, the album that would become our debut Metal Thrashing Mad. And the combination of horror and thrash metal has stuck with us until this day.
So your soon to be new record is called '1981', which was a special year for slashers fans! Do you have any special movie memories of that year?
For me, I was so young back then, only 5 years old and had just moved to Sweden from England and I hadn’t even discovered heavy metal or horror movies yet. But a few years later, I started hanging out with a friend who had an older brother. When the brother was away we used to listen to heavy metal LP’s and pretty soon we discovered his movie collection. The first real horror movie, I had only seen Hitchcock before, was Evil Dead from 1981. I was hooked on scary movies from then on.
So far we could listen to 'Nightmares in a Damaged Brain', that music points out that you guys are comming back to the thing you were doing on Where Moshers Dwell, something like a more fast and angry record, is that right?
Yes, absolutely right. All we knew was that we wanted this album to be more aggressive and in a way, also a bit punkier. We wanted shorter and more straight forward songs that weren’t going to be boring. No mid-tempo songs were allowed. So we just started to write a bunch of songs and when we played them we just looked at each other and asked “Is this boring?” If the answer was “no”, the song could stay on the album.
On '4: Rise of the Mosh Mongers' you guys had a lot more of Heavy Metal influences, how did that happened?
I guess we we’re just more into Heavy Metal at the time. When we did that album we really loved it, but looking back today there are some songs that are a bit boring and doesn’t have that energy we always think is synonymous to F.K.Ü.
I need to ask about your vocal performance, as a thrash singer myself, every time I put on a FKÜ record, it really blows my mind! Please, tell us, do you do any preparation before open those pipes? And what are your influences in singing?
Thank you for the compliments! I don’t really do any preparations, unless my voice is feeling a bit tired, then I will do some basic vocal warm-up routines. I know my voice pretty well and cal tell straight away if I need to hold back or if I can push really hard. My influences are basically every great thrash vocalist combined; Paul Baloff, Steve Souza, Bobby Blitz, Sean Killian, John Cyriis, Russ Anderson, Chuck Billy. But also some of my favourite metal vocalists like Dickinson and Dio.
You also are the lead singer on Darkane, that does a really different kind of metal, how do you conciliate those two bands and do you have different influences when you are writing the vocals for a new Darkane album?
Yeah, with Darkane it’s a totally different approach and I try to use other aspects of my voice in that band. I like to sing with more melody and also do more aggressive screaming in that band. My influences are the same but there are many great sings I admire, guys like Chuck Shuldiner or maybe Devin Townsend. I don’t think I’m directly influenced by any specific singers when doing Darkane, I just do what is natural to me.
The last Darkane álbum was 'The Sinister Supremacy', released in 2013. How are the things with the band? There are any plans to release a new álbum?
Things are good. Some members needed some time away from the band but the new album is being written right now. It will probably be a while before it will come out though, there’s still a long way to go.
Here in Brazil FKÜ have a big fan base, and even some bands are influenced by your music. I will put here 4 underground Brazilian metal bands that I think are Horror Metal,
please tell me what you think about them! Be honest!
Cemitério - that is a Death/Thrash band, their lyrics are all about 80's trash movies
Very cool! Great guitarist or guitarists. The song was the same beat all the way and it becomes a bit repetitive. They should have put some breaks here and there brought it down to half tempo somewhere. But all in all a very solid band with a lot of potential.
Imminent Attack - their lyrics are not such horror related, but I believe I do hear and see some FKÜ influence there.
Very solid, very crossover sound. Reminds me of Municipal Waste a little bit. Seems like their live shows are fun. Cool band!
Cursed Slaughter - this band (my band) I know for a fact that they are huge FKÜ fans!
Yes! Awesome energy! I really like this, not a boring second in the song. If we played in Brazil I would want these guys to open for us.
Zombie Cookbook - Motel Hell
I really like this. More of a Death Metal vibe but I love Death Metal. Fun video as well, love the animations.
We recently interviewed the vocalist of the Polish band Thunderwar and asked him what his opinion was about refugees from the war in Syria. His answer was "there is no place for parasites in Poland." I know that Sweden is the European country that has received the most refugees from Islamic countries and I always see people criticising it. What is your opinion about this situation in your country?
I think we should all be more compassionate and less stupid. It’s easy to say things like that if you’ve never had to flee your own country in fear of being imprisoned or killed. Germany invaded Poland in 1939 with a lot of Polish people seeking refuge. How quickly we forget. There really is no “situation” in Sweden. We have accepted a lot of refugees, so what? The streets of Sweden look the same as they’ve always done.
Lawrence just to wrap this up, tell us, what is your favourite FKÜ album, which is your favourite 80's horror movie, and what is your worst nightmare!
My favourite F.K.Ü. album is 1981, honestly. I’ve never felt more satisfied after completing an album as with this one. Favourite movie has to be Evil Dead. My worst nightmare is going to get a cup of coffee and finding out that coffee doesn’t exist and has never existed. The horror!!!
Thank you so much for your time man! Hope to see you and your band soon here in Brazil, and please, get in touch with the labels here, we can't find your records anywhere! lol
Thank YOU very much! It was fun answering these questions. I will tell our label they need to find a Brazilian partner ASAP! Stay horror my moshoholic friends! Larry, signing out. ||||
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