Albums of Purgatory interview Lava, Demitri & Phil of Afraid?

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, what are you up to right now?

Lava: We are gearing up to play a show at THE LUX, a club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We are going to start incorporating Tool covers into our set, and this will be our first show doing so. What song? not sure yet (Schism looks good) - Tool is just such a great band - their music needs to be covered.

Demitri: Playing drums in a band called EnVayne, doing vocals for some secret projects. I don't touch my guitar unless it's to add to anything EnVayne is conjuring up. 

Phil: Mainly school, trying to get my degree. 

AoP: How would you describe the Afraid? sound?

L: I would say we're power groove because our music is definately strong, but it very "listenable" (if thats a word) without being cheesy commercial like some of the stuff thats out there today. We're Old Metallica, Pantera, Fear Factory meeting Tool.

D: Pantera meets Metallica, with a hint of Tool. 

P: It's kinda heavy with great melodics. Not exactly main stream but well thought out riffs and lyrics. 

AoP: How did you get involved with the band?

L: I actually started the band years ago in High school - I was jamming this guy Duke at the time and we saw Demitri leaving school one day and thought "this kid HAS to be a singer" - so we approached him and he told us he played guitar - we tried to get something going but it didn't work out - so we went our separate ways - well, after I started to jam with this kid Phil who I met while working at the Wiz - he just picked up bass and was into the same music so why not? well it didnt go so well - Phil was inspired I guess to really get good so we continued to get together - once I saw we had something - I decided to give Demitri a call again but couldn't find his number - I had actually written it on my wall in pen 2-3 years prior and with the help of a bright light, I was able to read through the paint and got his number - sure enough, he still lived there and asked him to come come down and jam - and after 2 years of not being able to ffind a singer - Demitri found Dave online

D: Lava called me up, asked if I still play guitar, we got together and shit started to move albeit slowly, then faster then slowly, kinda like anything else in this world.

P: Everything kinda just fell into place, I met lava, he played drums, I always wanted to play bass, and he happened to know a guitarist and singer. the rest is history. 

AoP: Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?

L: I'll never forget - we were all nervous - we practiced like hell and put on a great show for like 90 people (one of which was Pete Steele) - the response was incredible - and our music was a hit man!

D: We rocked the fucking house, sold all our CDs, those were to good ol days.

P: Awesome, we got a great crowd turn out and response. What a rush!!...

AoP: What are your favourite Afraid? tracks?

L: I would have to say Human Olympics, And on the Eighth Day, and Yet unnamed - those three songs are our best representatives for their tempo/style and are just so damn fun to play and even more fun to listen to!

D: Heh, I like them all, but really I have to say I can listen to our ballad forever that would "yet un-named" or "view for two" 

P: Improvistation and 8th day. 

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs or albums?

L: I'd have to say Achtung Baby by U2 - amazing lyrics, music and EVERY song is great - and Tool - they are just so above and beyond anything anyone else is doing - I think Schism is phenomenal, and PissChrist by Fear Factory - unbelievable skill

D: Gee, anything Paradise Lost puts out even the new dance-techno stuff. Mike Pattons works, or Type O's crap (yeah Pete hope you are reading this, I know where you live and eat, please shave that silly hair you have on your face now, really I totally respect the scumbag LOL)

P: Mer de noms by A Perfect Circle and Eulogy by Tool

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

L: Hmm...I think it was Zooropa by U2 - good, but not great

D: I remember this one, it was Paula Abdul's SpellBound and the Prince of Thieves sound track. Yeah and I used to love the Fresh Prince too.

P: Shamefully so, the Spin Doctors, but don't tell anyone.

AoP: What would be your dream band line-up?

L: Raymond Herrera from Fear Factory on drums, Hetfield on rythym and Dimebag on lead, Cliff Burton on Bass and Maynard James keenan of Tool on vocals. I could only imagine wwhat would come of that man

D: band line up? I think Phil and Lava are a pretty good line up. If you mean to see in concert. Paradise Lost, Type O negative, Sentenced, Dream Theater, and Faith No More.

P: Maynard from tool on vocals, Raymond Herrera (Fear Factory) on drums, Me on Bass, and Dimebag (Pantera) on Guitar. 

AoP: What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?

L: It stinks - its more like Aluminum instead of metal - its cheaper, weaker, and used for way too many things man...I mean in whose eyes is Linkin park and POD a metal band man? It's sad because Metal in my opinion is like classical music in distortion - its timeless and its a genre that requires a lot of skill and its sad it doesnt get the recognition it deserves - as for music in general - its sooo lame - its sooo catered to short attention spans and in terms of metal seems to be going the route of rapcore with a chorus thats sung to open chords - WEAK - there is almost NO skill in ANY music anymore - I hope Afraid? can change that - mucis that's good, REALLY good will still be good 5, 10 years from now - and NO ONE is doing anything I can say that about...our kids will laugh at us for the music that was around "when we were kids"

D: Metal is dead, in america anyway. I listen to metal made in other countries where it has a chance to be scene and heard.

P: I think it's kinda laying low but ready to make a comeback since there is nothing too interesting out there these days. 

AoP: Which other bands in the scene really stand out for you at the moment?

L: Tool obviously, fear Factory for their relentless emphasis on technical skill, Perfect Circle, Testament - man they kick ass - maybe the least recognized AWESOME band out there and Slipknot, even though the whole "fuck everybody, I'm sooooo angry" thing is getting kinda old already - they're really talented and I'd like to see what they could do if they realize that everything DOESN't suck

D: I know of alot of Underground bands that I just love, but unless they break through to mainstream and give a big fuck you to their existing fans no one will know about them, I hope that covers things.

P: System of a Down and Slipknot, they have some good tunes. 


AoP: Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?

L: I remember this one time at a CBGB's show we were playing Third Man In The Ring and the singer at the time hit this note real hard - and I was supposed to come in with the next beat to lead to the outro and the note he hit was so loud in my monitors that I almost passed out behind the set from sound pressure and he wound up holding that note a lot longer then he expected because he had no idea that the drummer was on the verge of unconsciousness! It was scary at the time but it was so funny to talk about it later cuz no one in the band had any idea - and i remember knowing how I looked as I sat there almost brain dead, eyes crossed behind the set - LOL

D: Funny stories- yeah. When Phil didn't want to play a show with this singer we picked up who was tone deaf, Lava and I had to beg him to play, we started to pack the gear up including his bass (just in case he decided to go on stage) eventually he went on stage and we played well (not counting the tone deaf singer, who didn't know the words for his life, not mentioning names here)

P: Yes, when our old guitarist left the band, He said he was not happy playing metal so he went from playing creeping death to R&B

AoP: and finally, what do you see in the future for Afraid?

L: Man, I could see a day where Afraid? revives metal - and not just metal - GOOD metal - I really believe that we are just that band that has what it takes - and so does everyone who hears our songs

D: I don't know- There are a few options we have, I'm not holding my breath, but we've had long periods without activity before. I however don't believe anyone will get things going again.

P: hopefully we will become as common a name as metallica has become for the metal industry. I'd settle for someone asking me for an autograph lol.