1. Since this is the first time I'm in touch with you, I would like you to introduce your band.
Hey I'm Kevin and I play guitar in the band. Also their is Dave and he plays guitar and dose the vocals, Chris is our bass player and he also handles a lot of our live sound. And Jim is our drummer and he dose a lot of the backing vocals. Jungle Rot has been around for a long time like over 8 years and we have had many line up changes. We have 4 CD's out now and we are currently working on another.
2. Pictures of war, suffering, violence appear in yout production, why? Are you militarists?
No we play death metal. War, violence, and suffering go hand and hand when you play death metal. We could not call ourselves a death metal band if we had pictures of fuzzy little bunnies and wrote lyrics about peace love and harmony!!!! That would not go with the music at all. We are pure aggressive death metal the way it was meant to be, and we bust our asses doing it!!
3. Do you have any personal military experience? Could you fight, kill a man, what do you think about it? Or is there a high criminality where you live? Tell me about it.
No I have not served in the military, I have a lot of family and close friends that have sevred. We have a ton of respect for the US military. We have the P.O.W. logo on our guitars and Dave wears the shirt when we play out of respect for the people that have risked their lives and died for us. We respect the military but not the government. Could I fight a man, shit I have had to kick the fuck out of many people in my life!! Fighting is just something you have to do in this business. Everyone and their mother is trying to rip you off of anything they can and the only way you can defend yourself is to smack them across the face a few times to let them know who is in charge. I have never killed anyone (yet) but if it came down to me or him I would have no problem whacking someone if I had to. For Crime, yes their is a lot of crime in Milwaukee but not as much as Chicago!! It is every place you go.
4. I've heard that at a gig, I think it was IMMOLATION, INCANTATION, somewhere in the USA, there was a big fight, knives were involved and people were stabbing each other like crazy... Immolation singer is said to have caught some stab too... Is it true? I would also like to know if this is a common thing at gigs in the USA. I've heard a lot of shit about Chicago bands...
Ah yes that was fucked up. It was Mike from Incantation and he was stabbed in New York, he was in the middle of a fight (trying to stop it) and some ass hole who could not fight broke out a knife and stabbed him, luckily he did not die! He was in the hospital for a while I have not heard much more about it since. Like I was saying before crime is everyplace so violence follows. This kind of thing is not common at shows this was a isolated incident, this kind of shit rarely happens at shows. Most of the people are their to have a good time and mosh it up with their friends. 99% of the time going to shows is like hanging out with brothers.
5. Talking about war, what do you think about USA interfering in every conflict? Vietnam, Korea, Kuwait, Yugoslavia etc... it is true that if there were not for USA in the WW2, I don't know how things would have turned out... I know we will not solve this in one answer, but try to. Imagine a situation when the Russian would come into your country and dictate their conditions... I know you will not influence your politicians, but I'd like to know your opinion. Why do the American play the world saviours?
Why I have no idea it is fuck'n stupid if you ask me. We have people dying all over our streets and the country could give a fuck but if some ass hole with a gun in Africa is starving because they live in a desert we send in the marines to feed his ass! That is so wrong. We spend countless dollars helping people who want us dead, I saw a dude in Somalia dragging a dead US Marine in the streets after he was trying to help feed the people and he gets killed for it. And I'm suppose to feel sorry for the ass hole that killed him for he is hungry and poor...FUCK HIM he can go die I hope he rots in hell. If I were in charge I would let the world work out its problems on its own and worry about my own ass. I hate it when the US sends troops to "keep the peace" in the middle of a fucking war that we have no reason to be their. it just causes more problems in the long run. If Russia tried to come over hear and police the streets during the L.A. riots that would have been messed up. It would not have gone over very well. So I don't know why we do it to other people.
6. You released an EP before "Dead and Buried", haven't heard it, what is on it?
The Darkness Foretold EP has cover songs from Slayer, Carnivore, and Sodom. Also live tracks from our first release "Skin the Living" and a bonus track. It is also inside the Jungle Rot comic book. We have a few copies of the comic laying around but we have a lot of the discs!! It was a really cool release for how many death metal bands have a comic book and a CD inside of it? not to many!!
7. As the demo "Skin of the Living" was so successful, didn't you think about releasing it on CD? You have been through something after all, it would be cool for those who haven't had the chance to hear it yet.
Well in 1998 Pure Death records did re-release Skin on CD. We have been sold out of the discs for some time and Pure Death is not to easy to get a hold of for the man that runs it is in a band and he tours all the time. He is on the road with Sepultura right now so we will try to talk to him when the tour is done to get more discs!!
8. Why are not Rob Panoola or Mike Legros among you anymore?
Rob left for he got married and wanted to settle down. Mike left for he was in another band and wanted to devote all his time to it. We still talk with Mike he is a good guy in fact we just did a few shows with him and his band and they were killer. They will have a record out on Morbid Records soon.
9. The "Dead and Buried" album is exactly the king of music that I'm dependent on, I love the pace changes of yours! It is like a bulldozer, a meat grinder, or a tank rhythm! I have experienced something like that with BANISHED - BAPHOMET! I don't even know if the band still exists... I would lkie to know if any Banished member isn't by chance in Jungle Rot. Especially the drums really remind me of them. Great!!! Please feed my thirst for knowledge...
Cool you like the album that much, we are happy to hear that our work is appreciated. No one from Banished is in this band, I believe Baphomet is no longer around, I might be wrong thou. For the new album we tried to do exactly what you said you liked, keep the songs flowing and make the breaks seem tight and the tempo changes flow with the rhythm. Cool you like it!!!
10. I think itš the tempo and vocals that dominate Jungle Rot, I think it's a sort of a trademark. Where do you think the power of Jungle Rot is?
Yes for sure Dave's vocals are key in the Jungle Rot sound. He is the best vocalist and front man I have ever been in a band with. Dave's voice and the guitar sound is for sure the Jungle Rot trademark that we have been working so hard to establish. It is not easy to have a clear identity in this music for so many bands sound so a like. Having a identity and a tone of your own is very hard to do these days! The fact that you can put on our disc and know it is us after you listen for a few seconds, to me that is our power.
11. There are further more devastating motives on the US versions of your booklets, is it that you reach for lighter versions for Europe because of censorship? Or is it that you don't have anything to do with it?
Well it is a little of both. We had 2 different album covers for this and Olympic did not want to use any of them. We were getting close to our dead line and we were getting frustrated so we told them to go make a cover. So what you see is what they made and no we are not to happy with it. The US version is not to much more violent than the Euro-version. Season Of Mist changed the cover for they did not want to even try to get into trouble with any censorship. We totally understand for "Slaughter the Weak" was band in Germany until Morbid changed the cover art. So we were kind of already on a list so if the US version was released in Europe you know some one some place would have had a problem with it. So S.O.M. did the smart thing and avoided the entire situation.
12. I've overseen your web pages and I have to say they seem a bit too concise, don¨t you think about making them more attractive and pack them with more info?
Well I'm the web master and we put the important stuff on the site. We really don't need to put more info for everything is on it that you need to know. I update it as much as I can. I hate sites that have a 50 page bio and go it to detail about everything. A bio should be a summary not a novel!!! So what else would you like to see on the site? Also for the people that are reading this let me know what you would like to see on the site and we will try to do it.
13. Why have you gone from Pavement to Olympic, did they offer you a better deal?
Yes Pavement was very hard to work with and they fucked around with money a lot. Olympic is from Chicago and that is only an hour away from where we practice and Pavement is in Arizona. So the fact that we can go to the office and talk to someone face to face is a plus. And the fact that we have known the guys for a while, we are in the same scene really. They knew us and we know them and when we had enough with Pavement Olympic stepped in and offered us a fair deal. Plus they got our album licensed to Season Of Mist and they are doing a killer job with it.
14. What do you have to say for the end?
Bye DEATHER. Well thanks a lot for the interview I have seen your mag and it is great that you like the album enough to do an interview thanks a lot. Keep supporting death metal and keep the scene alive!!!! Everyone get in touch http://on.to/junglerot
Thanks again Kevin.
