First off, I want to apologize to everyone who I was suppose to do a review/interview for and kind of just fell off the face of the earth. Not only has my life changed personally, I wrote all of my reviews/interviews on my now-destroyed phone. Luckily, I have this and another interview available and will post them accordingly. I am also saying that I will not be open to do reviews/interviews for the foreseeable future. I have no way of playing the material to review and no drive to write anything adequate for your music. I hope you enjoy this interview and keep doing you and I will do the same...
1. First off, your current release "Romanian
Abattoirs" was certainly one of my favorite releases that I came across
last year. Do you find yourself surprised that you are still receiving great
praise on the album?
Romanian Abattoirs is
my favorite piece of music I have ever created. I have never felt more attached
and elbows deep in the creative process. I put every bit of my heart and soul
into that record and I still feel 100% happy with it to this day. It is the
first album that I produced myself in my home studio (with some vocal
recording and editing tech help from Zach Guttowsky and Per Nilsson.) I spent
the better part of three years, conceptualizing, writing, recording and
piecing this beast together. I had slowly been integrating more industrial
and textural sounds (i.e. adding synthesizers and such) into tracks on
releases, but then decided on taking a sink or swim chance and just decided I
was going to do whatever I wanted to, regardless of what comrades or
listeners were expecting from me, so I just went with my gut. I decided on
releasing the album myself (along with fellow USA-based experimental label
Fusty Cunt, run by Jim Haras of the mighty Deterge) and figured that no one
in the scene was going to get it, like
it, or accept it. But, something told me that I knew this was the right move
and that I had something special. It was released, sold like crazy (much to
my surprise), and was widely well received. I started getting dozens and
dozens of emails from buyers everyday, people from all over the world who
purchased the album and telling me that it was a fresh step for the US scene
and a breath of fresh air, but they didn't expect it to be so matured. That
was worth it's wait in gold and to this day, I still get a lot of praise from
it. It fully gave me the confidence as an experimental artist, as well as the
natural musician that I am, to keep trusting my instincts and take risks that
would represent RU-486 in it's current sonic state. I never expected to sell
almost 500 copies of this CD. I literally expected it to bomb.The latest full
length I am finishing up is going to blow away RA and has even more surprises
and sound experimentation.
 2. You have a new album coming out soon called
"Empower The Sentient". Could you shed some light on this and will
this be a continuation of where Romanian left off?
Where Romanian
Abattoirs was a very dark and personal record, Empower the Sentient embodies
the being that I am today. It is the most structured RU-486 album and
definitely my best work, in my opinion. I felt so strangled keeping the
project within the confines of the noise and experimental scenes. I always
knew I wanted to do something on my own, different from what others were
doing. I am a musician first, so composing and writing “songs” is what I am
best at. I still love noise and experimental music to my core, but I prefer
to listen rather than to participate these days. RA was it's own monster,
whereas Empower the Sentient embraces all of the changes I have made in my
current stages of life and also deals with a multitude of subjects such as animal
rights, animal cruelty, humanity's descent into modern technological warfare,
the defiant and awkward balance of man versus machine, machines and animals
bought and sold as slaves and also discusses the knowledge I have learned
from seeing this world consistently and slowly decay in front of my eyes.
This album means more to me than anything I have ever recorded, and features
some guest appearances that I will reveal as the album nears it's completion.
Expect a lot more beat oriented, tightly composed and well oiled machine.
3. You run a label called Destructive Industries.
What do you look for when you release something and do you still enjoy
pushing artists into peoples ears?
I have ran and solely
operated Destructive Industries since late 2005. I started the label out of
my bedroom once my black metal band got fucked over by the first record label
we were signed to. We put so much effort and blood and sweat into the album which was released, only to have the
label rip us off and not fulfill all contractual obligations on their part,
when we wrote, produced and recorded everything ourselves, saving the label
tons of money, only to have them make a bunch of money off of our music and
our album's master was sabotoged by a piece of shit heroin user named Blake
Judd. This whole scenario, among many other issues in the metal scene, and
other future bad dealings with record labels left me bitter and jaded so I
decided to open up my own label to release my solo work and Octagon and
various projects, thought it quickly became something that I wanted to run
releasing other artists whom were those I already respected but also
searching through massive amounts of demo tapes people would send me until I
would find gems in the huge stacks and then release them to the world. I am
super proud to have worked with so many amazing artists and bands such as
Jarboe (ex-SWANS), Richard Ramirez, Rudolf Eb.er, Thurston Moore, Grinning
Death's Head, Lussuria and many more. However, as the years went on and on, I
found myself becoming less interested in doing releases for other artists, as
I really only have the time to focus on RU-486 these days, so, now it is
merely a means to focus on RU-486 and release albums in a proper format that
can be spread as far as possible to as many who will listen.
4. You are a vegan. Have you ever received any flac
for this in the experimental scene?
I receive flac from a
lot of different people for being a vegan and hardcore animal rights
enthusiast. In 2013, I was in the worst health I had ever been in. I weighed
200+ pounds (which for me, was insane considering my size), I wore glasses,
took tons of medication for high blood pressure, anxiety, depression,
digestive issues, you name it. I was depressed and miserable. I had always
felt a strong connection to animals and to the earth ever since I can
remember as a child. I always felt an overwhelmingly sensitive connection to
animals and was always angered by reading and hearing of people doing cruel
and inhumane things to them. I started realizing that veganism embodied
everything I felt as a person, but maybe was too wrapped up in my own ego to
admit, although, I knew deep down that I wanted to focus on becoming as
healthy as I could be and also fight for animal welfare. Plus, I wanted to find
inner peace. Although it may sound cheesy, I realized that I needed to focus
my main energies on fighting for their cause and to keep on bettering myself
inside and out. Within four months of becoming vegan, my weight started to
drop off (in a great way), my vision got better, I became ten times more
energetic, I started seeing the positive sides of things, I stopped taking
all of the medication I was on and it has only been uphill from there. Things
are constantly improving and only getting better. Point being, I stopped
being a shitty human being and actually did something with myself for the
better, so certain idiots in the “scene” attacked me for it, claiming all
sorts of nonsense. It's quite alright though, as they don't even realize how
much that just fuels me to keep striving to better my life and my music. I
get tons of dirty looks and comments said to me when I am seen wearing my
PETA or animal rights shirts (even tonight at dinner, a couple assholes
talked shit to me because of a shirt). I think those who criticize secretly
wish they had the will to change themselves for the better but they won't
because they simply are not able to let go of the lies that the meat and
dairy industry have brainwashed them with. That being said, I am not against
carnists. Most of my friends are not vegan at all. There is a significant
difference between someone who chooses to be a carnivore and someone who is
inherently cruel and heartless who inflicts pain and suffering on living
beings for pure selfish gain.
5. As a fellow Houstonian, could you tell the
outsiders what the experimental scene is like?
Houston has had quite a
rich history of varying experimental music, some of which hides in the bowels
of the city, other kinds more noteworthy and some more easy to seek out.
There are tons of extremely creative and great individuals making really lush
and textural sounds. I am lucky to lay alongside a large group of talented
folks in the long running 20+ year Houston group known as Black Leather
Jesus, which is my only real connection in making harsh noise these days.
Some of the best experimental shows you will see here pop up in all sorts of
places such as record stores like Vinal Edge and Sound Exchange, art spaces,
cheaply rented warehouses, abandoned buildings with a generator hooked up to
a car to power the sound and more. It's always exciting and always moving in
various grooves. It's just a shame that parts of the scene are so overlooked
and others are more focused on.
6. Rewinding back to your new album, will your new
material have outside artists collaborating with you?
Without revealing too
many cards, as some things are still being discussed with various
individuals, I am beyond proud to say that I got to collaborate with a man
that I look up to and have tremendous respect for, Gary Yourofsky. He runs
the organization called A.D.A.P.T.T. He is an animal rights spokesperson and
activist who travels all over the world educating people about animal
welfare, veganism and helps to reveal the atrocities that industries all over
the globe are creating. I wrote to him, while he had no idea about me or my
music, and reached out to him to try to collaborate together and help spread
the word through both of our mediums. The result turned out to be my favorite
RU-486 track to date, and I feel his contribution both poetically and moving
his powerful delivery really hone in on what this album is about. This is
action that needs to happen, the banding of different spectrums working
together to help make a change.
7. What influences you to continue producing music
after all of these years?
Hmm, that's a very
broad question with an even broader answer. It used to be anger, stress,
hatred, self loathing, pent up aggression and a general disdain for humanity
that drove me to create. These days, my sole intention of creating is to
spread a message. I feel I have learned so much in the past year, as I
changed my entire lifestyle. I have broadened my horizons to such lengths
that I see no wall in sight. I still love music more than anything. It will
always be
number one in my heart.
I am 34 years old (and 35 this year) and I feel like I am 21 all over again.
The difference between those years and now, is that I prioritize more
properly these days. I spend way less time in toxic situations with even more
toxic and negative people. I don't have anyone trying to pull me in the wrong
direction of distract me from my goals. I expelled a lot of negative people
from my life and they are not missed. I no longer associate with anyone who
will bring me down or be a rain cloud over my path. I feel there are a lot of
people out there who care about animal welfare but simply do not know the
extent of which the atrocities reach. I feel the need to help spread
information, videos, news stories about the horrible and inhumane factory
farming, meat, dairy and fur industries, as well as the most unnecessary
practice of vivisection. Slaughterhouses are the new Holocaust and I refuse
to stand by and not spread the word about their heinous and intended mass
genocide of the animal kingdom. It is raping our planet, wiping out species,
creating speciesism amongst human beings as well, teaching others that it's
ok to love one and eat the other, that it's not ok to love a pig or a cow the
same way you would love a family pet. It is no less bigoted and unjust than
human racism.
8. You are also in Tellurian Fields and the
infamous Octagon. Will there be more material we can expect to listen to in
the future?
Tellurian Fields
released one C-20 on my sub label of Destructive Industries entitled Nama
Karoo and will have a full length album, which I am currently finishing at a
snail's pace, called
“Sistema Ox Bel Ha”
(Mayan for “the three paths to water”). Octagon, however, has been done for a
long time now. I have tons of music recorded from the past 4 years that will
see the light of day, including a completely finished full length album which
features ex-GORGOROTH vocalist Pest on all lead vocals entitled “Truest
Offensive Gesture.” More details on it's release later on. There will be some
other mini cassette releases of new material I recorded myself coming out
soon-ish on Destructive Industries, so stay tuned for that.
9. What have you currently been listening to that
other should follow?
Probably too much
music, but I do a lot of back peddling when it comes to older influences.
Lately, I have been jamming a lot of old school 90's hip hop; Public Enemy,
Eazy-E, N.W.A., Onyx, Bone, Ice Cube.
Always been into the
Locust, saw Justin Pearson's new band Retox here in Houston not too long ago,
jamming them and his other band All Leather a lot.
Lots of black and death
metal, ambient, industrial, opera, score, grindcore. BEH, the list goes on. I
could write a book just on what I play on a daily basis. However, my workout
playlist on my iPod has all the secrets. I love so many kinds of music, it's
like a rolodex jukebox.
10. Is there anything else you would like to add?
I would like to thank
you for the interview. I am glad you sent me more intuitive questions than
most people do. This was actually a fun interview to do. I would like to
share some links with the readers.
-The world's leading
animal rights activist spokesperson Gary Yourofsky's organization:
-A very key and
important animal welfare organization that specializes in helping to prevent
and protect further victimization of domestic creatures:
-One of the world's
most important faceless heroes. I applaud them in all of their efforts
through the years of risking everything to save animal lives and disrupting
the inane and violent practice of vivisection:
Be on the lookout for new material from RU-486 (Destructive Industries), Octagon (Petite Soles), and Tellurian Fields (Perfect Hue).
The title track "Empower The Sentient" can be listened to here: EMPOWER |
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