Albums of Purgatory Interview the Berzerker

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, whats the band up to?

 

Berzerker: we have just completed our 2nd album for Earache called "dissimulate" more brutal then ever. We have started playing some dates in Australia (dates at the bottom of the page). Working very hard and preparing to set up our European and USA tours.

 

AoP: Have you had much response from the new album 'Dissimulate'?

 

B: Unfortunately The Album is not released until august 26th, but live the response has been great we've been playing quite a few new songs in our set and we're all very happy with how the new songs blend with the self titled album.

AoP: how did the band begin?

 

B: The original musical concept of The Berzerker was created in 1995 by myself. It was later named
The Berzerker in 1996. it was some what of a hybrid style of death metal of speedcore. in 1995 I

was involved in a car accident I wrecked my back. around that time music itself seemed
as if it would be something I was unable to participate in. I decided to sell almost all of my
drum kits and with the money I attained I purchased samplers and sequencers. My initial idea
was to make some sort of electronic death metal, so I could program the drums and sample all the
other instruments. It was intended to be a live group, but at that time there was only one,
myself.

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

 

B: yes it was Chaos in Croydon Metalfest 1, Melbourne, Australia. we played ok. thankfully we filmed it for future use on a dvd or something. i remember everyone in the crowd being very interested to see how we would pull it off live. but we did, we had the kik drums triggered with the gabba kiks that we used on the album and i was doing all the samples live. i remember foldback being a problem, because our music is so fast if we cant hear properly is very hard to keep in time with each other.

AoP: What are your favourite Berzerker tracks?

 

B: Deform, Cannibal Rights, Compromise, Principles and Practices of Embalming

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs?

 

B: at the moment "reek of putrefaction" Carcass, "walking corpse" Brutal Truth, "black to the blind" Vader

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

 

B: VYNAL "Iron Maiden" Number of the beast/ "Among the living" Anthrax, CD "Dr. Feelgood" single Motley Crue

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

 

B: Bill Steer (Guitar/Vocals-Carcass), Dave Vincent (Bass/Vocals-Morbid Angel), Charlie Benette (Drums-Anthrax)

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

 

B: its good to see bands with real instruments starting to make an impact on the charts instead of all the techno inspired rubbish, but the heavy bands need to make sure to actually perform their music LIVE, I switched onto the Pepsi chart show and saw britney "miming" "slave to you" fanatically and of course we forgive her because she looks and moves sooo good, but up after britney was a band named P.O.D. with their track Alive, and they were (wait for it) MIMING!!!! well if this is the line that guitar orientated bands are going to take, well I would say bring all electronic bands!

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

 

B: well the ladies that come to our shows seem to have taken a fancy to our on stage appearance, and after the shows are completed the masks are not always retired for the night shall we say.

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

 

B: well, once the album is finally released we are hoping to set out on a world tour to promote "Dissimulate". After some months of touring I think we will start writing material for our 3rd album for release in 2003. the stage production we continue to grow, and visually the appearance to the band should be enhanced. I see the band continuing to push the human limits of endurance and speed.