FreeThought Interview RE: Chuck Schuldiner

On April 16th I was interviewed by Freethought Radio's Alex Fidel about Chuck Schuldiner, Death and Control Denied. We talked about my Metal Maniacs article ("Precious Memories of Chuck Schuldiner"), the state of heavy metal journalism (the demise of print mags) and the liner notes I recently wrote to the forthcoming deluxe reissue of Death's Individual Thought Patterns. You can download the entire FreeThought episode MP3 by clicking here. Past guests on FreeThought have included former Death manager and current President of Perseverance Holdings, Eric Greif (he overseas Chuck's intellectual property), Death/Control Denied drummer and all-around funny dude Richard Christy and Chuck's nephew, Chris Steele. Apologies in advance for all the "ums" and overall slowness of speech. The interview was done while I was fighting a head cold early on a Saturday morning. It was also before my daily dose of caffeine took effect.   

 

Me sporting an ITP shirt on stage with Destiny's End in Houston, TX, March '98

Pentagram & Bedemon - Unholy Duo

My feature on Pentagram and Bedemon originally appeared in the November 2001 issue of Metal Maniacs. In lieu of recent Penta-mania, I've decided to scan and share. Many missed the opportunity to read it the first time around. Variant versions, some including lengthy Q&A interviews with drummer/guitarist/songwriter Geof O'Keefe, guitarist Randy Palmer (R.I.P.) and Bedemon bassist/guitarist Mike Matthews, appeared in Snakepit, Snap Pop! and Psychedelic. I later interviewed axeman Vincent McAllister (R.I.P.) and bassist Greg Mayne between 2004 and '06, although those have yet to be published. Rest assured, they'll see the light of day soon. As for Penta-mania, I'll address that in an entry on its own later.

In some variations of this piece I referred to the lyrics to the song "Virgin Death" (aka "Pentagram"). Back in the days (daze!) there were no printed lyrics available, so I misheard some words. The gist of that first verse is: "Send me home to bust my back / Strap you to your torture rack / Out all night you sleep all day / When we talk I've got no say / There's five black points all chalked up for you / Got five of my own, I hope they'll come through / I'm gonna take you to your virgin death--you're gonna get it." When the song was called "Pentagram" the last line was "My life's a Pentagram!"

Enjoy and please share with your heavy rock 'n' metal brothers and sisters! At the same time, this piece is copyrighted material, and I must remind you not to plagiarize. Don't reproduce for profit without obtaining my permission first and acknowledging the source.

Text © Copyright 2001 By Perry Grayson

Photos as credited below.

Photos courtesy of Randy Palmer and Mike Matthews above.

Photos on pgs. 3-6 by Cameron Davidson