Buzzmonger Interview By- Shel Cooper
I'm here with Sammy, guitarist for Acid Bath from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Are you in the same vein as other New Orleans bands?
Sam: Yeah, guitars and screams and shit... Let me clarify that. We are not a New Orleans band, never was, and never will be. No offense to anybody. We're from the bayou , the swamps, as far south as you can go, that's where we're from, until you hit water.

What's the name of the town?
Sam: Galliano, Louisiana
I heard your house is on stilts, and that you have alligators in your backyard?
Sam: It tends to flood there every year during the summer. The storms come in and it gets real bad, so you have to put your house up real high.
How did your show go in Oklahoma City last night? Did you have some locals opening for you there, as well?
Sam: We had one local, we were supposed to have Daddy Longhair, or whatever, to open up for us, the Butthole Surfers side project band, but they didn't show up.
You had to cut your tour a little short?
Sam: A couple of people got sick, personal shit was happening, so we had to come home for a couple of weeks and take care of things.
We've just been joined by Mr. Dax Riggs, vocalist for Acid Bath, you are the primary lyric writer as well, is that correct?
Dax: Up until this new one.
You had some help on the new one?
Dax: Sammy did surgery on some poems and came up with "New Corpse" with alot of input of his own.
Does the band as a whole have a fascination with death, or did that start with you two?
Sam: I don't think a couple members of the band are into that type of thing.
It's not so much death, as what happens after you die.
Dax: It's more of a positive thing, more or less. That is what life is about. Death is just as natural as your birth, your death is coming. To fear it will twist you into something you don't want to be. Open your arms to it and know that it's coming. Every living thing dies, and always has.
Sam: Death is inevitable, everybody will face death.
Dax: At that moment, when you die, all the questions will either be answered, or your soul will be put to rest. Either way it's kind of like the jewel on the crown of life.
It's more about accepting and embracing death?
Dax: And about maybe a possible new adventure.
Sam: Who knows for sure what happens after you die. Who's to say you're going to go before this big white light, and it's going to judge you, and either throw you to the heavens or throw you in a lake of fire. Heaven and hell is right now.
Is it safe to say that you don't fear death?
Dax: Violently like a surprise yes. Of course, I fear that the same way as if you scared the fuck out of me. Not really. I know that it's coming, and I've lived with that thought pressing against my brain for so many nights. It took me a long time to get to where I was happy with knowing that death is a part of me and everyone. It's coming, but it's not a morbid way of thinking I don't find. I think it's really a positive way of thinking, this is one adventure and you've got to give it your best. Hopefully, after death, there is something coming.
What are you personal perceptions on afterlife, or after-death?
Dax: I really don't know, I just like to see what everybody else thinks. I'm into all different kinds of religious things, to find out what people believe. It's more than enlightening, it's saddening, all these religious organizations that have your destiny planned out. I don't agree with most of them. I haven't found one that I can believe. Just as insane as any thought I might have, why couldn't anything I think up be it. If everybody thinks it could be heaven, or it could be purgatory.
Do you think it's different on a case by case basis?
Dax: That's another theory, that heaven is different for each man, and hell is different for each man. That sounds good to me. If heaven is a place that you can't do all these things that I enjoy, then I don't want to be there. I'd rather be in hell, or purgatory.
Give me a brief History of the band.
Dax: They were in a heavy band, we were in a Heavy band. Sammy and our Keyboardist Tommy Viator, that didn't play on the last record, who is now in the band, he used to play drums for them, then he left to play with Disincarnate. At that time, we took our two bands and got rid of the dead weight.
What are some of your early influences?
Dax: The whole Thrash thing. When I was thiteen, that's what I liked. Before that it was radio music, it was John Lennon's latest songs, it was Duran Duran. Right now what I'm listening to is early David Bowie. Sammy listens to totally different stuff, but in the beginning we both dug Iron Maiden...
Sam: Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, KISS, shit that we saw when we were young and said, " This is totally crazy." Alice Cooper coming out with a big snake around his neck. All kinds of bands, Heathen, Bathory, Helloween, Celtic Frost, Venom. Celtic Frost is still one of the biggest influences on us.
Dax: Alot of those bands of course died away, and I can't listen to Heathen and Helloween anymore. I can still jam to Celtic Frost.
Sam: Slayer had a tremendous amount of influence on us.
Dax: Early David Bowie was heavy shit. I don't think people know that almost all forms of music ame from David Bowie, From Dead Can Dance to all kinds of pop music. I look for a new point of view, that's what I move on to. I'm looking for strange points of view, of melody.
Sam: That's what it all boils down to is melody, real melodic shit, instead of just blurting it out.
Dax: We don't want too much of that., then it would be a lullaby. Acid Bath is about the mending and this melding of things, things mixing together.
Sam: It's almost like a musical schizophrenia
Anything you'd like to say to the fans?
Dax: Determine your shade of deformity, and go with it. Understand that we are beasts. Don't ever forget that you are a beast, You have a brain that thinks, you have a soul, Beyond all that, nothing is proven. Just take the fact that you are a beast and live your life like you see fit, like it needs to be done. I won't pass judgement. I don't think anybody is going to pass judgement on you, so don't fucking worry about it.


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