Interview Dead Deceased

In this interview, we speak with Richard and Chris , two members of Dead Deceased. They discuss the musical style of Dead Deceased, influences, and the recent cassette release on Rotting Sun Records.

1. Can you tell us about the origins of Dead Deceased and how the collaboration between Richard Wilson, Chris Brandon, and Marc Williams came about?

Richard - I have been a fan of Black Metal for a long time. I never even thought about writing in that vein, but one day I was really angry and frustrated and thought I'd write the angriest song I could come up with. I wasn't even sure I could pull it off. When it was finished I kinda forgot about it. This was a few years ago. When I heard this band Eisige Venen I was blown away! They are more atmospheric but I kinda got to thinking about that song again. We have this really cool community on Facebook called Band together where I've seen many bands starting to collaborate so that's how I got in contact with them. Chris wanted to play bass and recommended his band mate Marc to play keyboards.

2. What drew you to collaborate on Richard Wilson's unfinished song, and how did you bring it to completion as Dead Deceased?

Richard - I think Chris and Marc should probably answer this.
Chris: I had been following Mourning Scars for a few months and really liked what I was hearing, not to mention that Richard is such a genuine person. I was pondering the idea of doing an Eisige Venen/Mourning Scars collaboration so that we could create something unique. Richard and I talked, and we agreed that when the time was right, we would link up to figure something out. One day, out of the blue, Richard hit me up and said he had a Black Metal song he was working on and was wondering if I would be interested in laying down a bass track. Once the bass track was complete, Richard asked me if I wanted to do some keys. I have done some keyboard work in the past, but it was more Cyber Punk than anything really grandiose like you find in modern Black Metal. Marc is a fantastic composer, so I offered to pitch the idea to him, and Richard was totally down. Marc said he would see what he could do with it, and everything kind of evolved from there.

3. With Chris based in South Korea and Marc in the USA, what were the challenges and advantages of working on the song remotely and exchanging files?
Richard - For me it was very easy. These guys are super fast and professional. The only thing is conversation with three different time zones but it seems none of us sleep much so it's not a big issue. I didn't tell them what to play because I wanted them to just have fun. I knew it would come out great!
Chris: The greatest challenge, hands down, is not having the ability to be in the same room with the other members. However, to bridge this gap, Richard was more than accommodating. When I get a track, I always ask for the BPMs and a basic understanding of the song structure and chord progressions. Richard stepped it up quite a few notches and actually sent me video versions of what he was doing (without distortion) which really streamlined things for me. I could see and hear exactly what he was doing, and I knocked the track out in about an hour. Most of that was trying to perfect the interlude.

4. Your recently released song is available on streaming platforms and has a video premiere. What can listeners and viewers expect from this release?Richard - Total annihilation of your ears haha! It's a very fast song with lots of aggression! The video will explain it self!
Chris: I am not sure what people will make of this release. It is bound to piss off the Black Metal purists and gatekeepers while being too extreme for the casual listener. It is an acquired taste for sure. However, if you can appreciate Black Metal that isn’t cast in a mold and doesn’t sound like it was recorded in the bathroom with one microphone, then I think there is enough appeal to reach a good audience.

5. How would you describe the musical style and sound of Dead Deceased? Are there any specific influences or inspirations that have shaped your music?
Richard - A black metal purist would probably not agree this is Black Metal because it isn't true or whatever! We don't burn down churches and shit. I would say it's definitely influenced by that genre but also thrash metal. It's just extreme music I don't know.
Chris: When I first heard the song, the first thing that came to mind was Impaled Nazarene’s “All That You Fear.” I am not really sure why, but I felt it had somewhat the same vibe, not sound, but feeling. That album had kind of a Punk, Thrash, Black Metal vibe to it. I suppose when Richard told me Dead Deceased was Thrash/Black Metal, this album came to mind. So, I kind of took that approach to the bassline.

6. The collaboration resulted in a cassette release on Rotting Sun Records. What made you choose this format, and how does it feel to have a physical release for your music?

Richard - It's a great little cassette label that releases small independent mostly Black Metal bands. I think Marc knew this guy and asked him to release this. Tapes are coming back in fashion and very much so in the Black Metal world which started with tape trading way back.
Chris: Josh has been such an awesome supporter for Eisige Venen, and the fact that his clientele tends to be of the Black Metal persuasion, the decision made sense. It is a win-win for everyone. It provides a “home” for the music so to speak.

7. Did the collaborative process with Dead Deceased influence your individual musical projects, Mourning Scars and Eisige Venen, in any way?

Richard - I would say I got to prove to myself I could get away with this. It will probably not influence Mourning Scars much, which is a more straight Heavy Metal band.
Chris: Not particularly. Eisige Venen is its own anomaly, and it is that way by design. It is an amalgamate of different influences and styles. While it could be reasonably argued that there are Black Metal undertones or elements within Eisige Venen, it does not have a definitive style. The two bands are so distinctly different that I doubt there will ever be any bleed over. However, I prefer it that way because I like to branch out into different styles. I think it would be boring if I kept regurgitating the same stuff under different banners.

8. As a newly formed band, what are your future plans and goals for Dead Deceased? Can we expect more collaborations or releases in the near future?

Richard - We hope to do more stuff for sure! Only thing is we are all very busy with other projects so we will have to make time for it.
Chris: The plan is to take this one step at a time, and just see where it goes. I think I can speak for us all when I say this is a true side project, therefore, our priorities will continue to be center stage. I remain wholly committed to Eisige Venen and (now) Anger Overdose but have finished some collaborations that have not yet been announced.

 
9. How does the experience of working together as a collective differ from your individual musical endeavors, and what have you learned from this collaboration?
Richard - I get to experience the power of being more than one person in a band. I make most of the stuff for Mourning Scars. It's fun to shoot the shit with these guys and help each other out!
Chris: Marc is the primary songwriter for Eisige Venen, so nothing really changed for me during this process. I am anything but a songwriter. I have always struggled to complete songs on my own. My strengths lie in generating ideas to improve on others’ ideas. This could be either in rearranging a song or just incorporating something into the music that wasn’t there before. A couple examples of this are the intro to Eisige Venen’s “Along a Barren Shore.” The odd sounds at the beginning of the track is my bass, believe it or not. It really gave the intro a very different, more haunting feeling. The interlude to The Black Flame is another example. The original track had a bassline that followed the guitar pretty close. When I heard it, I immediately thought of how I play “War Pigs” live. It has the same vibe to me, so I incorporated that moving bassline, and I think that really strengthened the song because it created a compliment to the strained guitars that Richard is doing. Hands down my favorite part of the song.

10. Is there anything else you would like to share with your fans and listeners about Dead Deceased and your music?
Richard - If you want to discover something new besides what you always listen to, take your time to search for independent artists! There are a lot of good bands out there! Start with Dead Deceased!

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