Albums of Purgatory Interview Circle of Dead Children's Joe Horvath

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, what's the band up to?

Joe Horvath: We recently picked up a new drummer, Meat, and have been working him to teach him a lot of the older songs as well as working on new material.  Our old drummer lived 5 hours away from the rest of the band so it was really difficult for us to get together and write music, let alone play shows.  Right now we have about 9 or 10 new songs.  We plan to hit the studio again soon and record a new ep, probably with about 12-15 songs.  The title of the ep will be “CUT and RUN”.

AoP: How would you describe the CODC sound?

JH: Free-thinking fast metal.  I have no idea.   I guess we’re more grind than anything else, but we have a bit more deathmetal to the mix than standard grind.  We also incorporate a lot other styles into the songs such as thrash, doom, noisecore, and touches of black.  There is no set formula to our music and no two songs really hit you the same way, but they all possess the Circle sound.  We don’t really discriminate on our music… if it sounds good and fits the song and emotion, then it’s in.

AoP: Who are your inspirations?

JH: Musically I’d say that Assuck was a big influence, especially initially. 

AoP: Where did the name come from?

JH: The name was actually conceived about a year or more before forming the band.  It came from a vision I had in my head while daydreaming one day.   I was just in normal nihilistic thinking mode and had a vision of a huge circle of flags from all over the world and upon each flag was a dead child’s body from that particular nation or country.  I was telling Andrews, our guitarist, about the picture I saw in my head and called it a “circle of dead children”.  We both agreed that we would call our next band that. 

AoP: Do you get a lot of criticism and categorization, being called Circle of dead Children?

JH: The criticism seems to be positive for the most part.  There has been at least one booking agent who refused to do shows for us and a couple tee shirt printers who refused to do any work for us based solely upon the name of the band… they didn’t even take the time to see what we were about or what our designs were, et cetera.  I think most music fans automatically think we’re a gore-grind band or at least a straight up death metal band.  We don’t really give a shit what they think as long as they take the time to listen to the material and then make up their minds.  I think one of the best feelings a person can have is having a pre-contrived notion of something only to find out that it was totally wrong and much more to their liking than they would have believed.

AOP: How did the band begin in the late '90s?

JH: Andrews and myself had been in a few different bands over the years prior to CODC.  At the time we were trying to get a deathmetal band started but were having problems with bass players, a second guitarist who wanted to play that style, and a drummer who could keep time well.  At the same time Kubacka, Dave and Jon (all ex-members at this point) were all in crust punk bands over the years and trying to get a crusty-grind band started but they were having trouble finding a second guitarist and a suitable singer.  Our paths met and CODC had its first practice on Halloween, 1998.  Ten practices later we recorded 6 songs that became a demo, then were remixed and remastered and used on ‘Starving the Vultures’. 

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

JH: Our first show was at a local spot called Pancake.  They were having a Battle of the Bands at the time.  We were never about those types of events… trying to prove who is the best band and so on.  It’s just totally lame in my opinion.  So, without any notice, we loaded our gear up, went to Pancake and set up between some bands.  We weren’t on the bill.  We weren’t supposed to play.  It was a pay-to-play thing and we refused to pay shit.  We set up, played the intro to some popular Smashing Pumpkins song to get all the kids comfortable and into what they were hearing, then blew into our material.   By the end of our set there was a broken double-bass pedal, a broken drum head, broken bass stomp box, broken strings, broken mic cables and most members of the band bleeding.  Although we informed the crowd several times that we were not part of the Battle of the Band shit, people voted for us anyway and we won!  Of course we didn’t accept it, we just loaded up our gear and left.

AoP: What are your favourite gigging memories?

JH: Last summer’s tour with Phobia was a lot of fun for me.  I’ve been a Phobia fan for years and it meant a great deal to me to hang out, play shows and most importantly become friends with those guys.  Our show in Chicago, IL at the Fireside Bowl was very fun.  It was CODC, Phobia and a bunch of emo bands.  The promoter just put us and Phobia on the bill as a favor.   We played a very emotional set and I bled like a hose all over the emo kids.  Some ran scared, straight out the door.  Others stared in shock.  The funny thing was that they were really turned on by it all and we ended up selling more merchandise there than any of our other shows!  It was very ironic.   Pittsburgh shows are always fun as well, being able to play in front of your home city and seeing the faces and support of people from your home town.  We did a raffle one time in Pittsburgh and raffled off things like cookie cutters, Playboy and Playgirl magazines, a glow-in-the-dark dildo, styrofoam airplanes, et cetera between songs.  There are also the “noodle shows”.  I take a bunch of pool noodles, write stupid slogans on them and pass them out to the crowd at the beginning of our set.  The crowd goes into a fury and beat the piss out one another.  Nobody gets hurt and everyone is smiling. 

AoP: You have suffered a few line-up changes recently.  How hard has that been?

JH: First we lost our original bass player Dave and replaced him quickly with Alfie who we’ve had ever since.  Alfie is an excellent bass player and he adjusted very fast.  Then we lost Kubacka, our second guitarist.  That was a tough one for us because we all loved Kubacka a lot and admired his skill on guitar.  But things were changing in his life and he was no longer interested in playing that style of music.  We tried out a few different people to fill his void but later decided that it would be best to leave it empty and go on as a four-piece.  Most recently we lost Jon, our drummer.  This was a bit of a shock and his manner of quitting the band was tasteless and very cunt-like, but so be it.  We quickly replaced him with Mike (Meat).  Mike has taken the intensity of the band to a whole new level.  His personality, his playing method, his attitude, and his drive all exceed anything and everything that Jon had.  People are going to loose their shit when they hear him on the next release.  So far everyone has been very happy with him at live shows.   He’s only 19 and his main thing has been guitar until now.  He’s an insane technical guitar player, and his skills at drumming are only in the early stages.   I can honestly say that I’ve never seen somebody with as little drum history play like he plays.  He’s a monster.

AoP: What are your favourite CODC tracks?

JH: I’d have to say “Doom Farmer”, “A Wooden Heart Never Bleeds” and “Digestive Ceremony”.  Of course those are from what has been released, not including our newest ones!

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs?

JH: “Ibex Moon” by Incantation, “Elemental” by Thergothon, “Eternal Frost” by Winter, “Desolated Colours” by Dolorian, “Return Trip” by Electric Wizard, “Chapel of Ghouls” by Morbid Angel, and so many more.  This is so hard, even to just put my favorites in metal.  Let’s just say this is a very incomplete and unfinished list.

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

JH: My first record was Quiet Riot’s ‘Metal Health’ LP that my sister bought me when I was really young.  I was hooked on music from an early age.  I really can’t recall what my first purchase was… I think it may have been a Weird Al Yankovic record actually!

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

 

JH: It would have to be some union of Craig Pillard (old Incantation, Disciples of Mockery)on vocals, Landfermann (Bethlehem) on vocals as well, Damon Che (don Cabellero) on drums, Les Claypool (Primus etc) on bass, and some guitar hero like  Muhammed Suicmez from Necrophagist.  I'd maybe in there to play some air-guitar or air-vocals or something.

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

JH: I think there are too many boneheads plaguing the scene, but it’s always been that way.   It’s a nihilistic scene, but unfortunately nihilism isn’t always based upon more than blind hatred.  Too much shit-talking as well.  I think metal has some of the most talented musicians in all music and I would love to see some of metal’s musicians get some credit and acclaim for their hard work and talent.  The next fall of black metal is happening right now, and I think that is a good thing.  I’m a huge fan of black metal, but to me it shouldn’t be a scene plagued by COF type bands, big money and fame.  Give me more stuff like Demoncy, Judas Iscariot, Manes, et cetera.  It seems like there is starting to be a big shift toward grindcore and goregrind right now, but those scenes tend to only go so far before becoming stale as well.  There will always be groundbreaking bands and refreshing music just as there will always be too many clone bands and stagnant music.  I think this is true in any scene, not just metal.  

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

JH: Hmmm, I think so.  Our first record, ‘Starving the Vultures’ was recorded in a big old theatre which was converted into a bleak and dingy venue.  There was no heat when we recorded and it was only 9 degrees inside.  We had to keep turning on a torpedo-heater sporadically and then shut it off when we began to track.  This caused the necks of the guitars to swell and warp a bit, really making the process even more difficult.   ‘Exotic Sense Decay’ was recorded there as well, but not in the winter, with only the light of a few candles being used to light the place up.  And for more unusual and funny, I had an older fan who used to buy my shoes because he liked my vocals so much.  I dubbed him “Shoe Fucker” and he became legend.  He’d film us, mainly my shoes it seemed.  He since moved and to be honest, I miss seeing him at shows.  Also any time spent long enough with Alfie will result in a funny and/or unusual story.  Lets just say he’s famous for his self-proclaimed “poop tricks”!  

AoP: and finally, what do you see in the future for Circle of dead Children?

JH: With the addition of Meat, I see the songs getting faster and faster and more intense as time continues.  I see us switching labels.  I see honesty and sincerity as becoming more important than anything else in who we link up with in every facet of the band.  I plan to tour the parts of the US we haven’t been able to hit yet, as well as all of Canada, Europe and Japan as well.  I see hordes of obsessed groupies willing to do anything to spend some “quality time” inside our 45 foot tour bus… um, ok, I think I’m getting a bit ahead of myself now.  Haha!  In all honesty, I just see us having fun and making the best of it while it lasts and taking advantage of the time we spend with one another.