Floridian death metal act Deicide (which is a word describing
the act of killing a being of a divine nature - namely Jesus Christ)
emerged onto the scene with plenty of high praise for their self titled
1990 effort, and only propelled themselves into death metal's elite
with their 1992 sophomore effort 'Legion'.
But they also courted an equal amount of controversy with
bassist/vocalist Glen Benton's over the top image (the self inflicted
inverted cross scar burned into his forehead), his bold proclamations
(his premonition of his life ending at the ripe age of thirty-three
amounting to nothing), the infamous bomb scare (a bomb went off at a
gig at Stockholm back in 1992 with a warning of more to come), the protests
from animal liberation organisations (following a somewhat misrepresented
'Animal Killer' article that appeared in N.M.E. when Benton shot a squirrel
with a pellet gun during the said interview) and the group's obvious
and defiant anti-Christian stance only fuelling all manor of negative/novelty
valued publicity for the group.
For the next six years, Deicide maintained a consistency
with albums such as 'Once Upon the Cross' (1995), 'Serpents Of The Light'
(1997) and their debut live album 'When Satan Lives' (1998), but within
two years, the cracks were starting to show.
Both 2000's 'Insineratehymn' and 2001's 'In Torment In Hell' were considered
weak efforts, which inevitably led to the dissolution of their long-standing
relationship with Roadrunner Records after twelve years together. Benton
contributed vocals to Vital Remains' fifth album 'Dechristianize' in
2003, leading many to speculate on the future of Deicide. But in 2004,
Deicide returned in fine form with their first album for Earache Records
in 'Scars Of The Crucifix'. Behind the scenes however, tension within
the band reached breaking point when guitarists/brothers Brian and Eric
Hoffman decided to leave the group (in November 2004) after nineteen
years of service.
Ex-Cannibal Corpse guitarist Jack Owen and Vital Remains
guitarist Dave Suzuki helped out Deicide (Benton and drummer Steve Asheim)
for the remainder of the tour (which was documented on 2006's 'When
London Burns' DVD). Upon completion, ex-Death/Iced Earth guitarist Ralph
Santolla replaced Suzuki as a permanent member of Deicide. With a revitalised
line-up in place, Deicide returned with their eighth full-length release
'The Stench Of Redemption' in August, which has since been hailed as
the best album to emerge from the death metal act since 'Legion'.
Sitting on his porch at his Florida home, I spoke to Benton
about the split with the Hoffman brothers, their move from Roadrunner
Records to Earache Records and the overwhelmingly positive response
to 'The Stench Of Redemption'.
"Man, after twenty years of getting my balls busted,
it feels good to finally start getting some recognition. Everybody has
been freaking about the album. It's in the charts everywhere, and it's
a nice feeling. It's very humbling and gratifying after all these years
of taking all the criticism and hits that I have to get some good press.
I'm thirty-nine and I finally have an album out that nobody has anything
too bad to say about it."
Benton isn't afraid to admit that Deicide's return to
form on 'The Stench Of Redemption' has a lot to do with the addition
of new guitarists Owen and Santolla.
"There's a greater emphasis on the technical side
of things on this album, and that has a lot to do with Owen and Santolla
now being in the band. I mean Asheim had to dumb down a lot of the stuff
he wrote because the Hoffman brothers simply couldn't play the stuff.
Now we have two guitarists that know what they're doing, which has in
turn made for what I think is a very good album."
Apart from giving the band a much-needed kick in the ass,
Owen and Santolla also bring a sense of harmony to Deicide, which is
in stark contrast to the last couple of albums when the Hoffman brothers
were part of the Deicide line-up.
"We've all known each other for years so everybody
fits in nicely. The whole transition of guitarists fell into place so
easily. I mean the day after we knew that Brian (Hoffman) was leaving,
Owen stepped in. And it was maybe a few days later that Eric (Hoffman)
stepped out, when Santolla stepped in. Throughout the whole change,
we didn't miss a beat. Since then, nobody has had anything harsh to
say. Everybody pretty much gets along for the most part. It's been enjoyable
because we all get along well. The entire band is now full of professionals.
You know how it is with musicians. They've always got a hang up. There's
always a major problem with someone, whether that be drugs, steroids
or whatever the case might be. So everybody has a problem. Sometimes
those problems after a while will surface into every aspect of that
person's life, and that's what was basically happening with the Hoffman
brothers. But with Owen and Santolla now members of the group, and all
four of us pushing forty years old, all of us have pretty much worked
out our idiosyncrasies. Santolla's a character - I won't deny that.
He's a stereotypical guitar player. But his idiosyncrasies are nowhere
in comparison to what I was used to dealing with in regards to the Hoffman
brothers. We all get along, and it's a comedy show sometimes. We all
work off each other, get along great, have fun and laugh. I enjoy doing
it now. I used to hate my f**king job man, but now, I enjoy it. I don't
think about quitting every time I go out on the road now. It's made
being in Deicide a lot more enjoyable for me. After putting up with
the hell that I've been through for the last twenty years, I kind of
look at things now as a reward. Tours go by quicker, and we're playing
longer sets. Obviously the albums are going to get better too. It's
just great man. For once I'm really pleased with my life, or at least
the job aspect of my life."
The situation with the Hoffman brothers became so bad
that Benton seriously considered hanging up his role as front man for
Deicide in favour of taking up the vacant position in Vital Remains
full time.
"When I played with Vital Remains on their 'Dechristianized'
album, I was working my way out of Deicide. That's why I went out and
did that album. After all the years I had been playing in Deicide, I
had never done anything outside of the group side project wise. It reached
a point where I had finally had enough, so I announced that I was going
to do an album with Vital Remains and just see how it all worked out.
I got a really good response to it and that seemed to push the band
even further and further away because they realised that I didn't really
need them. Although my involvement in Vital Remains was emphasised as
merely a side project, I looked at it differently. I had had enough.
And that was because of the Hoffman brothers and their antics on the
way out. They were trying to sink the ship. I wasn't going to let them
sink the ship so I held out for as long as I could. When I did the Vital
Remains album, that sent a really profound message to them, and that
was that I didn't need them. And they got that message."
But the real reason for the Hoffman brothers' discontent
with Benton wasn't over Deicide's style, direction, or even Benton's
outside curricular activities, but over money.
"We were putting up with them, and babysitting them
on every tour that we did together. I mean they couldn't even rent themselves
a rental car. Asheim had do stuff like that for them! If you put the
two of them together, you don't have a sixth grade education. And Asheim
and I just got tired of it. But if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty
of the reason behind the Hoffman brothers' resignations, it was all
over publishing. When we were kids, and signed to Roadrunner Records
back in the day, our publishing was split four ways, regardless of who
wrote what. Now throughout those years, we lost a lot of money through
them constantly cancelling tours and everything else. So when our deal
expired with Roadrunner Records, Asheim and I signed a new deal with
Earache Records. Because Asheim and I do the bulk of the writing (Asheim
the music, and Benton the lyrics), we asked that the publishing deal
be that of industry standard whereby those who write the songs get paid
for it. So if you write the music, you get half the publishing. And
because I write the lyrics, I get my half. Because the Hoffman brothers
would only write a limited amount, when they got paid for their publishing
from Earache Records, they flipped out and quit the band. It was all
about money for them. And after all the years and the shit that they've
done to both Asheim and I, we really thought about why we should give
them money that is rightfully due to us. But it wasn't just that. We
also thought about the money they constantly lost for us through cancelled
tours, and some of the other shit they did that was wrong. One example
was when Asheim's dad passed away. The pair got onto the Internet and
started posting some derogative things about Asheim's dad dying. They
really did it all to themselves. They always have. They're their own
worst enemies. From what I've heard, Eric (Hoffman) has been in and
out of jail for who knows what, and Brian (Hoffman) is working a f**king
dead end job. They got what they wanted. They had it made. They had
a free ride for twenty f**king years with Asheim and I. They never had
to do much of anything, apart from just showing up, playing and being
happy. They couldn't do that. Now we have Owen and Santolla. They love
the f**king gig. They make killer f**king money, and they get a chance
to shine and display their talent. To be paid properly for your work,
and to be able to perform to the best of your abilities is all anybody
could want. The Hoffman brothers will never come back into this band
and I'll never perform with them live. Never."
While the absence of the Hoffman brothers signified a
certain amount of change in regards to the recording of 'The Stench
Of Redemption' over 'Scars Of The Crucifix', it was the absence of one
Neil Kernon.
"The recording of 'The Stench Of Redemption' was
easier because we didn't have f**king Neil Kernon (producer) in the
studio wasting our money! Asheim and I had always pretty much done most
of the production work on previous Deicide albums and Earache Records'
decision to bring Kernon in was a big mistake I think. He ate up a lot
of our budget and he didn't really add too much as far as any input
to what finally came out. I would say that he didn't meet a producer's
qualifications. He dragged the sessions out for a long time and I wasn't
really happy with the end result. Adding to that, the Hoffman's tried
pulling some shit on the mixes with the guitar sounds. It was just a
mess. But with 'The Stench Of Redemption', we reverted back to what
we had done in the past. Asheim wrote the music like always, and I wrote
all the lyrics like always, and we got together and learned the songs,
went into the studio and bam, knocked them all out. We came out of the
studio with big smiles on our faces. Everybody enjoyed turning up to
the studio and we had a lot of fun. It was a good time. I was able to
get on top of my shit from the word go too. So I wasn't behind schedule
at all, and neither was anyone else. This album was really easy to make."
Having proven that they're able to produce themselves,
Earache Records also allowed Benton to take the reigns of their latest
promotional video clip for 'Homage To Satan' after the label's chosen
director failed to do the band justice with his interpretation of the
title track from their last album 'Scars Of The Crucifix'.
"I wrote a conceptual script for the title track
of our last album and Earache Records totally shot it down and went
with what they wanted to do. It made a good video turn into shit. Because
of all the harsh criticism Earache Records got for that video, they
let me do things my way this time around. I wrote the concept for the
video, as far as the storyline, and then allowed the director to put
his spin on it, and that's how it came about. I think I'm pretty happy
with it. Everybody seems to love the video. It's old-school style in
terms of what a video is supposed to be like. It has theatrics, and
some live footage, and I think it makes for a good video. I think that
everybody in making it did a great job."
Earache Records' involvement in Deicide's production and
their promotional video shoot of 'Scars Of The Crucifix' is understandable
when you consider that the album was supposed to be a simple one-off
deal between the pair. But with the deal now being extended, Benton
was quick to take control of his band's future, and the proof lies within
'The Stench Of Redemption'.
"You're right. We initially signed to Earache Records
for one album, and at the end of that deal, I renegotiated for two more
albums. Looking back, I didn't want Deicide to finish the way they did
with Roadrunner Records. It was the Hoffman brothers that wanted out
of that deal. So what they did was rush through the processes in order
to get out of the Roadrunner Records deal. The end result meant that
the albums really suffered. Personally, I didn't want out of the Roadrunner
deal. I didn't, and still don't have a problem with Roadrunner Records.
They always treated me right, and if I ever needed any money, or any
help, they were always there for me. The only reason the relationship
got the way it did was because the Hoffman brothers were constantly
calling and harassing them. I didn't want the deal I had with Roadrunner
to go out that way, that's why towards the end of the whole thing, I
had very little to do with the band. I just kept my distance, and didn't
put too much effort into the band, or the albums. I just threw it out
there. But now that everybody's heads are where they need to be, it
makes doing my job a whole lot more fun. I would rather write lyrics
to Asheim's songs, rather than have a bunch of shitty fillers on our
albums. When it came time to find a new label, I think Earache Records
were pretty much done. It took a year to negotiate that deal. I helped
them, and then they helped me. That's how I'll say it. They really didn't
have many big bands on their label at the time, and they were really
hurting for somebody to help bring them back out of the toilet. I think
we've helped to do that. We negotiated a deal for one album, and 'Scars
Of The Crucifix' did really well for them and us. It's fifty/fifty profit
share. It was a great deal, and the album did really well, so I wanted
to lock them in for a deal, more than they wanted to lock us into a
deal! (Laughs) Usually it's the record company that want to lock you
in for a bunch of albums. I said to the band that this deal is something
that we need to lock them into! So far 'The Stench Of Redemption' has
been doing really well, and both Earache Records and Deicide are doing
well."
In regards to the future, Benton sees a bright future
for Deicide as they announce their return to the stage both nationally,
and internationally.
"Things are looking good. We have a lot of cool things
on the horizon. We'll be starting our US tour in October, which will
run until sometime in November. We'll then be heading down to Australia
in the first week of December for a week. I'm really looking forward
to that. That should be a lot of fun. We'll be doing some seven shows
there. When we come back from that, we'll be going to Europe for a month
(in January) with Visceral Bleeding and Psycroptic. Things are really
looking good for Deicide, and you can take it from me, things are only
going to get better from here on in!"
For more information on Deicide, check out - http://www.deicide.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
