Fred Whitacre: We are currently supporting our new disc, HANDICAPITATED. We have been playing throughout Ohio to support the album. So far, reaction and sales have been solid. While our first disc was handled by an indie label, we've decided to work alone on the new project so we can be in more control of advertisement and radio promotion. All of that is soon to come.

AoP: How would you describe the KKC sound?

FW: We call it stompcore. It's a mixture of hardcore and death metal--more the first than the second, I think, but who's to know for sure? Something to listen to while you punch grandma in the teeth.

AoP: How did the band begin?

FW: Johnny Kihm (the bassist) and myself (Fred Whitacre, drummer) have been friends since 7th grade...now we're old (24). But we have been doing music together for 12 years now. Johnny met our singer John Prosenjak through this whore he was having frequent relations with--and she informed us that she knew a kid that could do Max Cavelera meets Chris Barnes. We laughed and told her to shut up. But she was right. After one tryout, John P. was in the band, and we needed to find a guitarist. Jeremy Cibella had put up fliers that he was looking for a band influenced by Obituary and Cannibal Corpse...we knew we had our dude there.

AoP: Where did the name Kitchen Knife Conspiracy come from?

FW: Listen to Acid Bath's song "Graveflower" from their album PAEGAN TERRORISM TACTICS...you'll know where we got it from within the first minute of the song.

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

FW: We played at a "bar" in Girard, Ohio that was an alcoholics anonymous establishment...not a beer in the place. We played and two kids broke a pinball machine. As punishment, the old lady in charge decided not to pay us what she promised...so we called her dirty, dirty names. She called the cops, and we left. She thought she had won in the end...but she died three months later. Never rip off local bands, because if you do, you will suffer cardiac arrest.

AoP: What are your favourite KKC tracks?

FW: I really dig "V-8 Superpussy" and "Curbcutter"...one of those is on each of our albums. I'm really digging on our two newest songs, not yet recorded, "Porn To Kill" and "El Chupacabra"

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

FW: I think FAITH NO MORE's "Angel Dust" and LIFE OF AGONY's "River Runs Red" are two great discs. AGENTS OF OBLIVIONS' self-titled album was amazing as well. Johnny loves SKINLESS' "Foreshadowing Our Demise" and ACID BATH's "When The Kite String Pops". Jeremy digs CANNIBAL CORPSE's "The Bleeding" and John P. thinks BLIND MELON's "Soup" is the quintessential disc.

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

FW: The first album I ever bought was a single for Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown" and Kenny Rodger's "The Gambler" album. My first two CD's were Guns N Roses "Appetite for Destruction" and The "Ghostbusters II soundtrack". Johnny's first was SOD's "Speak English or Die"

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

FW: I would say that Dax Riggs is the ultimate vocalist (Acid Bath and Agents of Oblivion), and Mike Patton is right up there as well. Allen West always wrote killer riffs, so he's the axe-man. And bassist...Claypool is the man....Geezer Butler is the god. The drummer would have to be Mike Bordin (Faith No More, Ozzy, Cantrell) or Dave Lombardo...those two guys are the shit.

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

FW: Metal is in a state of stillness. Nothing new is coming out. Some people are waiting for eighties metal to come back...I certainly hope it doesn't. The rap-core thing was tired before it even started. Brutality is just waiting to push to the front...bands are needed to lead.

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

FW: One time, I took a knife and stabbed all of them in the throat. Then, I made a shrine out of their blood, and bathed two goats in it as a sacrifice to the god of death and as a sacrifice to Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo....oh wait...that's just a dream. I guess nothing funny has happened to us.

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