CR: Why don’t you introduce the band to all our readers, what can they expect from the music of Intestinal Strangulation?
Damien: I am the guitarist and I do all of the high vocals. I write the lyrics and on the debut album that is currently out I did all of the vocals due to our vocalist/2nd guitarist leaving the band in the middle of recording the album.
Jesus is the man behind the artillery. He’s the backbone of the music, holding it down on the drum kit. He’s pretty much referred to as “The Machine”.
Nick (loves cheeseburgers and pizza… hahaha) is the bass player and does all of the low end vocals. He’s the newest member to this band and will also be the last added member. We’re going to stay a three piece. It just fits and works well that way.
You can expect Intestinal Strangulation to touch on all of the finer aspects of all the great death metal acts that inspire them. Take a dash of Cryptopsy, a hint of Necrophagist, a teaspoon of Dying Fetus, sprinkle some Suffocation, and finish with half a cup of Monstrosity spiced with a pinch of Origin… served raw with a tall glass of freshly squeezed originality.

CR: I must say thanks to myspace and you guys sending me a copy of your latest album “Pathological Brutalistic Fermentation” I would have never heard of you guys (thanks for the copy by the way) is all the promotion of the band done by you guys? How many copies of the record did you guys send out?
Damien: Indeed. Myspace can be a huge waste of time, or it can be a very valuable tool in which to network. Unfortunately, I’m caught in between! Hahaha… I do all of the promotion, booking, myspace, distribution, etc, etc. We’re a very independent band. A lot of labels are out for their best interest, or are really cool but can only offer so much. We just wanted to avoid all of the headaches and do everything ourselves. We get all of our own merchandise (shirts, stickers, buttons, etc) and we printed 1,000 copies of our debut album. We trade with labels and what not, so it still gets distributed. Although you will be the very first to be informed that we are now working with a Canadian label known as “Prodisk” which will be doing the official release of our debut album “Pathological Brutalistic Fermentation” once we are finished RE-recording it as the current line up that we are today.

CR: What’s more important for a band like Intestinal Strangulation, brutality or melodies and why?
Damien: Both are very important to us. The most important thing is how to blend the two as one. We love to be technical and heavy, but we also love to blend that with groove and melody. It’s very important to do this precisely right. I respect all bands and their vision and music… but I can’t listen to blasting or grinding for a whole album. I can’t listen to chug-chug riffs and gurgling vocals for a whole album. I can’t do much of anything in prolonged periods of time. Moderation is best. And we try to moderate all the best aspects of death metal in our music. A lot of new ideas and influence form newer leading death metal bands, but with the strong song structures and well thought out composition of the older death metal foundations. Too many bands focus on being the heaviest, the most technical, the fastest, and totally lose sight of quality of actual song structure.

CR: In your bio it says that the members of the band had different music backgrounds, but decided to put together this project, what kind of backgrounds are we talking about here, any previous experience from any member on other band?
Damien: Ha… All different. I played in a black metal band before I formed Intestinal Strangulation with Jesus (drummer). We sounded like a mix of Dissection and Emperor. I never played death metal and was also just getting into actually creating it. Our drummer was in a band in the vein of Cryptic Slaughter meets Meshuggah. Our bassist was jammed with various bands and stuff, but never played in a performing active band. And never played a long the lines of what we play now. None of us did. We grew from the idea of, “hey… let’s play death metal”. lol. We sucked at first, trying struggling to find our sound and to even figure out how to get the ideas in our head out through our instruments. We had very poor musicianship when we formed. We didn’t understand the dynamics of good death metal, the blast beat and all of it’s variations and how it works with different styles of guitar riffs, and stuff like that, and now we all understand our parts in the band and come together quite well when we write music together. We’re very happy with the new material that we are making for our follow up album.

CR: What can you tell me about the gigs you guys played this year, how many where there?
Damien: Wow, we’ve played so many shows this year. The biggest probably being the California Metal Fest. It was two days, featuring Necrophagist, Suffocation, Decrepit Birth, Arsis, Disgorge (US), Neuraxix, and a whole lot more. We also had 2 successful tours this year. March was a 3 week tour of the western side of the U.S. and we recently came back from our first full U.S. tour. We were on the road for a month. It was such a great new experience. I also put together our tours independently as well. It’s tough, but it works for us.

CR: For an underground metal act (if I may label you this way) you guys have already shared stage with some great names in metal like Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse, Aborted just to name a few, how important will you say is for a musician to be able to hear and share experiences such as concerts in order to grow?
Damien: We are indeed an underground act. It’s a huge experience to grow and learn. If you can share the stage with a band like Behemoth and still have people talking about you after the show and wanting to support and buy merchandise, then you know you are doing something right. A lot of times I go to shows and after the show is over I’m so amazed or hyped about the headlining band that I wanted to see that the other bands tend to slip my mind. Unless they catch my attention when I see them perform, I will forget. If you do NOT get the desired feedback from the crowd after the show, then you can still use it as a positive learning experience. “What were we missing from our show, or music?” You can ask yourselves stuff like this to help improve your band.

	Pic courtesy of: The Adversary "Too many bands focus on being the heaviest, the most technical, the fastest, and totally lose sight of quality of actual song structure."

CR: Let’s talk a little about “Pathological Brutalistic Fermentation”, brutal yet technical, how important is this for a band like Intestinal Strangulation; to really show people that you guys know what you are doing with your instruments?
Damien: It’s probably the most important aspect of things here. This is why we are going to RE-record the whole album when we release it on Prodisk. Our ex-vocalist/guitarist left the country in the middle of recording the album without telling us he was leaving. It obviously showed in his guitar tracks that he didn’t care anymore. Plus I was left to record all the vocals last minute and I never fully sang since 2004. We want to capture the energy we have on stage in our recordings, but still keep it very tight and clean. I love listening to Pantera, because you can feel the energy in their recordings. Same with Necrophagist. Also when I hear the new Vomitory and stuff like that. We’ve come such a long way from our 2003 demo to now structuring our songs with a lot of thought, picking the right riffs to blend, adding sweep picking and arpeggios and tighter blast beats. Our bassist also follows all of my sweeping and arpeggios and also does some of his own.

CR: Your brutal death metal contains in its lyrics pretty much a huge bucket of perversion and a fascination towards death that really enhances the music you are playing, what would you say is the single most important factor of motivation when it comes to writing lyrics about dismemberment, murder and torture?
Damien: I think it fits hand in hand; Death metal and Gore. I wrote the lyrics for all the songs in the debut album as a story line. Each song is like a chapter in a book in order. That is how I took a different approach to the typical senseless gore and violence. It’s a story about a guy who is good at heart, but has a fucked up mental state that he is constantly fighting with that causes him to do obscene things. He feels humans are all sin and ultimately evil and so he kills them and creates artistic pieces with their bodies. Art is a beautiful thing. So he feels he is doing something good by turning the negative into positive in the morbid way that he does. Well, when his good mind comes to play, he knows he is doing wrong, and begins to hate himself and blame god for creating him as the monster that he is. So he then turns on religion, the virgin, the priest and followers of the church and finally, after he feels he has achieved his revenge, turns on himself. I’m very happy with the story line, the lyrics, and the songs.
Although, nothing at all contained in the lyrics reflects the beliefs of myself or my band. Too many people get that mixed up. It’s only lyrics, stories, etc. Music is entertainment. If you want to breach your beliefs then get a radio show.

CR: If I’m not mistaken the album contains 6 tracks and 2 bonus from your previous demo “Intestinal Strangulation”, why do you think it was necessary to include this two tracks?
Damien: Well, we had 8 songs to start with, but one of them didn’t make the cut. And we would have missed our release date. The other song was an instrumental in the vein of Death. We were running short on time and due to our ex-vocalist/guitarist leaving in the middle of recording we had no choice but to drop those two songs and easily re-record the 2 most requested songs from our previous demo CD.

CR: How about reviews and sales, how’s this, your first full length doing for you guys?
Damien: Our reviews have been mostly good. The only negative thing being said at times is the overall production needs to be better to bring out the energy and technicality of our music and that the vocals can be a lot better. But I expected this already. The album was really crunched together due to the problems we faced during the studio time. The sales are doing great. A steady positive spread of people buying it at all the states around the U.S. when we are touring, and orders online every week. But other expenses keep our budget steady still. Buying more merchandise orders for shirts, promotion, postal expenses, etc. We hope the next release will bring up the sales and our band to a new level. We can’t wait to take our brutality over seas!

CR: How long did it took you guys to record this album, is there any specific instrument or process in the recording of a death metal album that takes most of the time when it comes to finally putting all your ideas into tape?
Damien: We recorded the album in like 6 to 8 weeks in the studio. Not going every day though. Maybe 3 times a week. Most of the time was spent on the drums. We ended up fucked with time when our ex member left. We’re still very happy with the outcome of the album. It’s a huge step forward for us as a band. We’re very happy to hear all the positive response from the scene.

CR: Is there any special meaning in the name of the band?
Damien: It can mean both meanings. I wanted it to be that way. Intestinal Strangulation can actually happen. It mainly happens to horses and stuff. The knotting or clotting of the intestines, resulting in death, but I mainly wanted the gory meaning of it. Getting your intestines ripped out, wrapped around your neck, and hanging you with them!

	Pic courtesy of: Intestinal Strangulation "I’d eat my own limbs and drink the liquids extracted from dead rotting rats as I squeeze them into my paper cup in a garbage can where I sleep under a bridge with newspaper to stay warm"

CR: What can you tell us about your demo “Intestinal Strangulation”, how would you describe that work?
Damien: It was a very good growing experience for us. It gave us ideas of working together to create music, gave us experience in a studio, something to offer the people when we played shows. It got the name out there. Although we probably stepped into the scene with two left feet, and it doesn’t represent the band for what it is now, but it was overall a good thing. It lead us to where we are today and we thank all of the fans that supported us since the demo showed face into the scene!

CR: Intestinal Strangulation seems to me as a very organized band when it comes to promoting itself, with the album, the stickers, the t-shirts (by the way they look pretty cool), just how much effort do you guys put on this side of the music business?
Damien: I don’t sleep. Hahaha… This band means the world to us. It is my passion. I try to keep everything organized as best as I can. Tony Koehl did a great job with the art work for the album, and thanx to that I can take from the art work to design the shirts, stickers, and other stuff we have available. I deal with that whole side of the music and the band. It’s very time consuming. It’s like working 3 jobs: The business manager, the musician, and my job outside of the band.

CR: Until now what has been the best gig for Intestinal Strangulation, and why?
Damien: Probably when we played a show with Behemoth, Suffocation, and Cattle Decapitation. I believe it was sold out and we played right before Cattle and the rest of the headliners. We’ve had other shows and fests as well, but I believe this was our favorite show.

CR: In the past you guys had some issues with places to play, how is that situation working out for you? Is it really hard to find a place for a band like Intestinal Strangulation to play?
Damien: It is a problem with the scene out here in L.A. You have to sell a ridiculous amount of tickets to play with national touring acts that come through town, and you get little hole-in-the-wall places for death metal shows that only last a few months before they don’t allow death metal shows anymore. Overall, the scene still thrives. It’s probably hard to find a solid line up for us to play with. When I go to shows I like to see a good mix of bands, but I also like those shows where all the bands are in the same caliber and style. I feel like we always stick out when we play shows. Like we don’t belong. Then we get sad and want to wear tight jeans and comb our hair in our face and cut our wrists with the end of an opened paper clip ?

CR: Until what point would you say the expression of sadism in art is healthy and prevents us from actually hurting someone?
Damien: To the fullest extent! It completely is a way of venting against the day to day struggles and conformities. I wrote my lyrics for this album as a story for the purpose of fulfilling a thirst for gore and also for entertainment. But when I wrote it, I put myself in the shoes of the character the story is about, and I let all of my aggression out as though I was in his shoes to make the story as authentic as I can in the eyes of someone as fucked up in the head as he is. It’s a great release when I play live as well. To scream the hell out of those lyrics is great.

CR: How far would you go in order to play metal music?
Damien: I’d eat my own limbs and drink the liquids extracted from dead rotting rats as I squeeze them into my paper cup in a garbage can where I sleep under a bridge with newspaper to stay warm.

CR: Well, thank you very much for the time, hope everything goes as plan for you guys, and if you will like to add anything else please do so…
Damien: Thank you for your time as well! All hail Leviatan Zine! Be sure to pick up your copy of “Pathological Brutalistic Fermentation” once it’s re-recorded and officially released under Prodisk later this year. If you can’t wait contact us and purchase it self released limited edition from the band ourselves! Visit our profile on myspace for updates on that and many other things as well. Be sure to also check out Prodisk on line (in our top friends list) to see what they have going on. Keep supporting and keep grinding!