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Diabolical Conquest (Baz): Hello Dany, and a warm DC greetin' to you and Dead. How are you? Dead (Dany): Good, thanks. A little bit tired from working (as usual) but quite ok. The great Maryland Deathfest in the States is almost 2 weeks passed & now I am doing that interview with you.
DC: Not countin' your hiatus, Dead have been together for almost twenty years, with a lineup that's remained more or less the same throughout. Have you had a rich and Dead: We never changed our line-up until we split up 1998. It happened only once – after our first Japan Tour 2004 (it was an in-official reunifying). It was unavoidable as Peter DEAD (drums/v) decided for the 2 nd time to leave the band, but Uwe DEAD (bass/v) and me (guit/v) didn't want to give up again as the response was really great, and we felt again that “Dead-spirit” pumping in our pricks. That's why we needed a drummer immediately to fill the gap and found a good replacement in Ali DEAD. He really fits to us – he drinks even more than us (!!) - which was always the problem with Peter, because everytime when we did a gig he always had to drive while Uwe and me were completely wasted…the only thing that differs is that he's a vegetarian & is somehow a little bit PC..but share's also the same humour like us. My favourite recording – if I think about all the stories and fun at that time – was the “You'll never know Pleasure” album. If I think about the best material I like the actual Split CD with Haemorrhage most – but I think that's quite normal as it is the “newest” one, although we have recordead it already in Feb 2007.. Talking about bawdy backstage bondage experiences I have to quit. There are too many…
DC: Let's get the basic line of questionin' out of the way. Musically, what influenced the formation of Dead? Dead: Well obviously our main influence was Carcass for 95% mixed with 5% of old Pungent Stench and Rocco Siffredi.
Dead: The main problem of "Dead“ since the 1st Demo and 1st 7“ep in the early 90's was that we always had no real idea what to write in our lyrics. We were just “young, free and shameless” – no bad guys identifying with mass murderers, Satanism, etc. but we had to write “something” in any case for new songs ! After, respectively before each rehearsal we swapped some pornomags each week. At one day, one of us (was it me?) said: “ What about writing down some lines from these zines and use them for lyrics ? They are already written in English so we don't have to exert ourselves!!” Of course we didn't copy everything 1 to 1, but that's how it started…but, we're no sexists at all. We just like to fuck and drink beer. Like every man though… Since the “you'll never know” album , we started to add more humour to our lyrics which became more and more relevant for us. In our new songs we even joke about ourselves – or those macho behaviour. Just take a look at “sloppy seconds ( the egoshooter)” and you'll know what I mean. We insist on each release to print our lyrics as we really take care about our stupid thoughts – honestly! We're not one of those countless bands pretending to have lyrics (but doesn't print them) and just squeals like pig in the microphone – with a big help from friend “harmonizer”.
DC: You've had considerable influence upon what would eventually be labeled Porngrind or Pornogrind, motivatin' other bands such as Mucupurulent to get together Dead: Did we have that much influence? I never thought about that…In my opinion it was Robert “Meat Shits” Deathrage who really was the first to blame for the nowadays popular genre called Porngrind, but ok.. To be honest we want to keep distance from those kind of bands. When we “came back” to the scene we recognized that many many porngrind bands are now existing. Everybody wants to be more disgusting, sexistic, extreme, badass or whatever than every band before – but is there any serious music, or even lyrics ? As far as I can see it's just taking the most possible extreme cover for the release, entitling tracks as vulgar as possible, playing ridiculous poor shitty “music” with vocals that sound like a squeeling pig. It's just poor and makes us yawn! I could “write” tons of those “songs” within a few minutes…but there are not just bad bands. Some of them I like also – musically CBT – but not their vocals, as I hate harmonizers…
DC: As well as being originally cut from a similar semen-stained creative cloth, Dead listeners are aware of your connection with Sperman Porngrind veterans, Gut, what with your split release in 1994 and the 'Live Jam with Gut' track. Are you still in contact with them and what do you think of the cod-Hip Hop/Electronic direction they've taken? Dead: When we did the split 7”ep, respectively the “Slaves to abysmal perversity” 7”ep I was a lot in contact with Oli from Gut. Nearly every second week we had a telephone call & changed our filthy thoughts,hehehe.. But somehow we lost that contact, but I don't know why. Maybe we got older? Busy? Boring? Brave? Who knows? So I haven't met the guys for many years again, but started to get in contact again with Oli. I wrote to him via mail for several times but received no answer..god knows why. Some of the new songs from Gut I like, but it's just 2%. With the remaining 98% I cannot get along..but that's just my personal taste.
Dead: "Pipecleaner" & "Sloppy Seconds (the egoshooter)“ – both from the Split CD with Haemorrhage
Dead: As we had played before on the OEF we know what to expect – for the bands it's really stressing as you have a very short time limit to get all your gear on stage & play your songs. If it takes more than 10 minutes to prepare your stuff before you play, you have to deduct these minutes from your set without any negotiations – if you're not a headliner, of course. But nevertheless it makes a lot of fun and playing at this festival is also an honour as tons of bands want to appear at Curby's legendary festival. So, yes we're looking forward to it.
DC: Gut put in rather an embarrasin' performance when I watched them at OEF in 2006, spendin' an awful lot of time tryin' to get ladies onstage to participate in their 'Deep Throat the Dildo' antics, but failin' laughably. In contrast, what should spectators expect from the Dead set? Dead: I've heared about it – fuck that I missed this “show”!! But if you are going to see DEAD, just expect 3 more or less ugly old bags who want to "rock“ and play their shit ! We neither did a special “show” nor did we show porno flicks while playing our songs & never will !! – that's just poor and deflects from the band. It wouldn't fit to us. We're just into our music & that's what counts.
DC: Other than pornography, do the members of Dead also derive inspiration from drugs and alcohol? Dead: Hell yeah !!!!!!!!! You hit the spot !! Our newest song (planned for our new album) is entitled “Church of Alcohol “ Nuff said I think. 0% Sex, but 200% alcohol in our lyrics!!! This is our first song which is a total doom number – no grind, no midtempo. Just Sloooooow. But don't be afraid – DEAD will still be a grinding/rocking band !
DC: Have you ever landed yourself in any trouble with censorship issues? Death Metal cartoon characters Cannibal Corpse were of course prohibited from performin' anything from their first three records durin' gigs in Germany, so how do Dead get away with their sordid lyrics and porno-imagery? Dead: Last year and also this year we wanted to play some gigs with our pals YACOPSAE – but Stoffel from Y. told me that it's really hard to organize this combination as most of them hate DEAD for its reputation.. They just look at myspace & see our covers which became more and more harmless – only stylish naked chicks that's all. So, yes we still have problems with censorship..
Dead: Musically: All stuff from ANAAL NATHRAKH. We know these guys now since the MDF ( very private ;) , Dystopia (featuring the drummer from GHOUL) who we extremely good now since MDF (Dinooooo!!!), mainly the bands who played at MDF 2008 at these days… Movies: as it is beginning of summer I always watch Italian Spaghetti Westerns because of the hot atmosphere. In winter I cannot watch western movies as it wouldn't fit..call me weird, but that's the case..
DC: Movin' more towards imagery and packagin', how do you go about choosin' pics and artwork for your releases? I do like the fun bondage cartoons adornin' the covers of 'Wanted for Kinky Sessions' and the splits with Gut and Meat Shits. Who designed those? Dead: It was a belgian artist if I remember, but I am not sure. I still like those covers as they are cult in my opinion. But we changed our style now to only half-naked chicks on each cover as we're not a pure porngrindband anymore & want to keep distance from this crap.. just a bit sex and beer. On the latest release you can see how it will continue. For the next release (no label yet) we already have the cover which is almost similar but more stylish. Just to tell you something – it's the same chick as on the Haemo/Dead – split CD.
DC: Followin' on from that, the Dead logo is one of my favourites, the kind of intricately grotesque logo that serves as a piece of artwork in its own right and looks as if it reeks of decay. Who designed it? How important do you think a band logo is? Dead: Logos are extremely important as they are at first eye-catcher that attracts. They make you curious about the band and its music. So, if you see a shitty logo, but haven't heard the music before, or anything about the band – then you will just ignore it I believe. The artist who made ours is a good old buddy of Uwe who really made one of the best logos I think. Even M. Gemmeth (Embalming Theatre) told us that it's 100% perfect in his opinion, which he could not say about any logo he has seen before.
DC: Also, why the name Dead? Dead: It's so simple and obvious for that genre. Just remember we started with DeathGrind – the only bad thing about our bandname is that if you want to google for DEAD you need good nerves and time..
DC: What equipment does Dead play on/with? Dead: I play a PRS Tremonti guitar and use a Vox Tonelab SE as I use different sounds like wahwah, Delay, etc. I also played a Grass Roots guitar (Kirk Hammet signature) and want to sell it in the next weeks on ebay as it is now too heavy for me, because I am now used to that Tremonti guitar. Uwe plays a BC Rich bass, but for Ali's drums I have no idea..
DC: From what I've read, Dead are based in Bavaria. Can you tell us something about your heritage/background? Dead: We live in Franconia (!!!!) which is sadly within Bavaria – that's a difference! We hate to be called bavarians! It was Napoleon who “sold” the Franconians to the Bavarians..but that's just an old history..
Dead: Yeah! Haemorrhage are really good friends of us! They are fucking nice guys (and girl)!!!! When we played with them 2 years ago – it was their release party for the “Apology..”-album, we asked them if they would be interested in doing a split album. They were really enthusiastic about that idea as they are absolutely DEAD fans – which I didn't know before, * ahem *… As we already had new material and enough time we just went back to the studio in Feb 2007. But it took a lot of time until Haemorrhage recorded their material, as their bassist was on tour as a soundengineer for several months. Luisma also had to write new material for that release and really gave his best! I love their tracks and also the sound which is really filthy and punky!! They did a great job!
DC: What are your plans for the rest of the year? Any other festivals, shows, releases etc in your diary? Dead: Until now there's just the “OEF 2008” and the “Bringer of Death”-festival planned (with NOCTURNUS!!). In the next months we want to visit the guys from War Anthem Records to ask if they are interested in a new DEAD – Album, for which we already have the title “In the Bondage of Vice”. Eight songs are completed, so there are just 2 songs left to write and we'll do a cover version for sure, too ;) As I mentioned before one song of the new material will be a total doom song – dedicated to our brothers “Coffins” and “Butcher ABC”. But the rest is still Death'N'Roll-Grind!
Dead: Thanks for your filthy interest in DEAD and your good Interview questions!!! See ya at the OEF – we'll drink some beers mate!!
- Interview conducted by Baz
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varied existence so far as a band? Tell us about your favourite giggin', recordin' and/or bawdy backstage bondage experiences whilst performin' with Dead. 
DC: The band began whilst traditional Death Metal/Grindcore enjoyin' its bulbous boom-period. Most of the Death Metallers penned songs about horror, violence, gore or mysticism, spirituality or the erasure of mankind, whilst the Grindheads ejaculated their various political views into our ears. In the meantime, over in Germany you and your band (and Gut of course) created a much sleazier, more lascivious interpretation of Death/Grind, comin' across like an exaggeration of the already rather vivid filth peddled by Autopsy and Pungent Stench around that time. What inspired you to add pornography and humour to your material? Does your lyrical content reflect your interests, hobbies and activities? 
and combine big chunky grooves with fun lyrical debauchery, who along with highly regarded Goregrind acts like your old split-mates Regurgitate, would ultimately inspire the formation of bands like Cock and Ball Torture and later, Rompeprop. What d'you think of the sub-genre that you've clearly had enormous influence upon? 
DC: Do you have a favourite Dead song or album? 
