PLAGUE OF SHEOL

Death Metal from California

METAL SIDE: When did Plague of Sheol's members start thinking to form this project? Were you playing in other bands before Plague of Sheol was born?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Plague of Sheol was formed when Kirk and Geoff started writing stuff in Geoff’s room in January of 2004. Geoff was jamming with a band and met Brandon through that who later would come on to play drums for what would become Plague of Sheol. As far as prior bands Geoff was in a band called The Shotgun Message, Brandon was in a band called The Final Burden, Kirk and myself were in a band called Tharmusborne. The Shotgun Message and Tharmusborne broke us practically as soon as we started jamming and Brandon left The Final Burden shortly after. The Final Burden is still playing and doing well for themselves.

METAL SIDE: What motivates you to play aggressive and heavy music?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Growing up we all have looked up to bands that have played aggressive music in our own scene and out and I think that has allot to do with it because it is inspiring to push ourselves to go somewhere with the talents we have been giving. Also, there’s nothing better than an insane crowd going nuts to your music. The feeling of seeing your fans, mosh, circle pit and tear each other apart to your music is irreplaceable and is hard to find in any other genera of music.

METAL SIDE: What do you think of the bands which - like for instance Metallica or Entombed - changed the style to achieve bigger commercial success? Are such changes a move easy to forgive? Can you imagine a situation that you forget about your musical ambitions and start playing a style which you don't like but which is currently a trend and a good way to earn some money?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Well I find it interesting that you bring up Metallica because I personally grew up listening to them and looked up to them a lot. I still love their early material but really I don’t think there is any excuse for what they are putting out now, really there isn’t. As for us I don’t see us even being able to play something we don’t like just to make money. Trends come and go, the only way to be truly successful is to do what your best at and keep doing it and hopefully the trends will follow you.

METAL SIDE: How would you classify your style? When I listen to your music, I think that the best label is Melodic Death Metal. Are such labels important in your opinion?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: This actually was something that was hard for us to come up with ourselves because we didn’t know what it was, ha-ha. We did eventually all agree that it did fall mainly into the category of melodic death metal. It was hard for us to figure out though because our influences vary greatly. From death metal, thrash, to black metal, and so on. Though it is important to some small degree when it comes to having a label on the music, but for the most part it isn’t really an issue for us. We just play what comes out.

METAL SIDE: What are the biggest influences for the members of your band? Do you try to use some ideas of your favorite bands when you compose own music or do you try to forget about them working at Plague of Sheol's material to maintain the originality?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Well we all do have individual influences when it comes to bands. However, collectively we all really like and look up to bands like At the Gates, The Haunted, Amon Amarth, decapitated. And so on. To some degree I'm sure the music we listen to comes through in our writing but we don’t try and duplicate something that has been done before.

METAL SIDE: What is your songwriting method? Do you work on your songs collectively?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: When it comes to writing our songs it’s a group effort. The majority of the songs are pre prepared by Geoff where he will bring them to the practice studio, then Kirk will add his influence to the riffs then we will all add our ideas and influence as we go through the song a riff at a time as Brandon writes drums to them. Then when we feel we have a solid song we will record it live and sit on it for a week or so then come back and make needed changes. When we are all happy with the material I then will write lyrics to it.

METAL SIDE: You've just released a new EP. How are you going to promote it? Do you think that this material will help you to sign a deal with some independent record label? Do you try to find one?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: We are all really excited for the future and are happy with the way "Spoken Into Existence" came out. As far as promoting it we have found that word of mouth and the internet have played a huge part in pushing this band to where it is now. Locally the scene has been really supportive and has accepted our music well and for that we are grateful. With help from web magazines and online communities we have been able to take our music out of our own area and reach people all over the world, hence this very interview. As far as any type of record deal we would love to be able to sign with a label to be able to push the band even further and with that in mind we are in the process of putting press kits together and will be sending them to many different labels in the near future. Also, this summer we plan on touring a good portion of the United States, so to any readers, be on the look out for us. All in all we are all very excited to see what happens.

METAL SIDE: Where do you usually play your gigs? Have you any favorite venues?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: In southern California there are allot of different places to play. There are venues that are constantly putting on shows and our favorite out of those would have to be the Showcase (www.showcasetheatre.com), then there are small coffee shops, art galleries, bars, restaurants, churches and youth buildings. Our favorite place to play would have to be a place called Tithemi (www.tithemi.com) in Redlands, CA. The turn out at the shows there are amazing, the kids are really supportive of the bands that come through there and they bring the best circle pits I have ever seen.

METAL SIDE: Do you prefer the work at the recording studio or live performances?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Though recording is one of the most exciting things you can do as a band nothing compares to playing live. Both aspects are very important though because you really can’t take your music anywhere if you don’t have any type of media for people to purchase or listen to, but also if you don’t gig the band will not gain any type of credibility as a performing act.

METAL SIDE: Many people think that California is a dreamland for musicians who want to play different forms of Heavy Metal. They are convinced that in your state there are hundreds good bands, countless venues where Heavy Metal bands can play shows, numerous record labels, and thousands fans. Is such vision realistic?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: In some aspects yes and in others no. The scene out here is truly amazing to be completely honest it does make being in a band a somewhat easier task. At the same time though there are so many bands it makes it harder to get recognized. Getting into the music business isn’t an easy one at all, even though in southern California there are numerous labels and distros, again it is hard to be seen by them because there are so many bands out here, so as a band you have to push yourselves to be the best you possibly can be or it wont go anywhere.

METAL SIDE: Could you recommend some other talented California's Metal bands?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Yes the music out here is very diverse from one another so none of them will sound alike but please check out suicide silence (www.myspace.com/suicidesilence), the final burden (http://www.thefinalburden.net), oblige (www.obligemetal.com), the funeral pyre (www.thefuneralpyre.com), siani beach (www.sinaibeach.net), and bleeding through (www.bleedingthrough.com). As you can imagine there are many more but those ones came to mind first.

METAL SIDE: Do you think that Metal scene in the USA will be evolving in a right direction in the coming years or do you see any dangers that can weaken the underground?
PLAGUE OF SHEOL: Well I think the underground really isn’t underground anymore. Out here listening to metal or hardcore isn’t unpopular anymore so yes I think it can be weakened I think it has been. But like all trends they will go away and it will go back to the way it once was.

METAL SIDE: When should we expect a new Plague of Sheol's material? Do you already think of a new release?

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: We are always writing new material but we probably won’t record again until we can find a label that’s willing to put out a full length by us. But like I said we are currently writing new material so we hope that, that will be sooner than later.

METAL SIDE: Thanks for the interview.

PLAGUE OF SHEOL: thank you very much, it has been a pleasure.

http://www.plagueofsheol.tk/

June 2005

www.deathmetalside.com