INTERVIEW WITH SCOT DUNLAP AND CHAD WALLS OF

TEUFEL: How did BesiegeD get started?
BESIEGED: Besieged was started by Jason French and myself hooking-up to do a recording project. We at first only wanted to do a one time studio thing but, we clicked and began to search for a drummer.

TEUFEL: Were you in any other bands at the time?
BESIEGED: Yeah, I had a speed metal project going called Elegy. (But) I pulled out to form BesiegeD. I have stumbled through different speed, death and groove bands for the past 10 years before BesiegeD.

TEUFEL: Anything people may have heard of or just underground bands?
BESIEGED: Just underground stuff. Never really distributed the other stuff aside from BesiegeD.

TEUFEL: How many recordings have you made so far with BesiegeD?
BESIEGED: As BesiegeD, three. The first was with the original Drummer Shannon Collins, the other two were with Chad.

TEUFEL: You had a drummer before Chad??? How/When did you get Chad to join the band?
BESIEGED: Shannon the old drummer developed heart problems, so it was decided that he should resign and we began to advertise for a new drummer. Chad had just gotten out of the Army, he answered and add. We were recording with a drum machine between drummers, we tried Chad out and he blew us away he had the spot right away. Chad was the only drummer we tried out that was capable; not one other.

TEUFEL: Capable of playing full out DM?
BESIEGED: Yeah, and plus the weird timings that Jason and I write.

TEUFEL: Chad most definitely knows how to play drums....
BESIEGED: (Chad thanks Teufel) He IS the man. His jazz background helps a lot with our stuff, especially the off-time rhythms we write.

TEUFEL: From jazz to DM... how exactly did you guys get 'into' DM?
BESIEGED: It was my fault (laughs). I sort of started cramming it down Jason's throat and he just slowly got into it. It grew on him. Chad was already into it for years before me. Jason's background is in Classical, he's also a classical guitar teacher.

TEUFEL: What are your biggest musical influences?
BESIEGED: Mine personally are: Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, J.S. Bach, Tychovsky (sp?), Perimecium...
Chad is into: Suffocation, Entombed, and some jazz stuff
Jason is into: Al Dimeola, Segovia, Malevolent Creation, Believer, etc...
I'm into Suffocation also (just not as much as Chad)

TEUFEL: doh!
BESIEGED: (laughs)

TEUFEL: What bands would you say have influenced the sound of BesiegeD the most?
BESIEGED: Morbid Angel and various classical composers (musically). Vocally, I would say Chris Barnes. I'm really into Dark poetry and art also, that is a big influence for me. Like H.R. Geiger for instance.

TEUFEL: I take it the 'Dark poetry' has influenced the lyrics of BesiegeD as well....
BESIEGED: Yes very much so! I am the primary lyric writer and it has shaped my writing most completely. Stuff like Poe, Alister Crowley, H.P. Lovecraft, etc.... have also had a hand in the lyrical influences

TEUFEL: I've noticed your lyrics are actually quite intelligent, unlike many other DM bands (Cannibal Corpse and Deicide to name two), do you try to be as original as possible lyrically as well and musically?
BESIEGED: Absolutely! That is the primary focus of BesiegeD. When we can no longer be original we will probably abandon the project.

TEUFEL: that will be a sad day....
BESIEGED: Yes, very sad for me. I practically live this band. The world needs no more "derived" DM.

TEUFEL: Ok... how has the response to your band been so far?
BESIEGED: Pretty good so far. It has been a slow process distributing the material, but X-Treme Records of Sweden are picking up the distribution now so I expect it will pick up dramatically. Also Underground Metal Distribution will be doing the US distribution. So, hopefully we can reach more people.

TEUFEL: Whoa!
BESIEGED: I have contract in-hand with X-Treme (only distribution though). We are not on their label

TEUFEL: Any interest from major labels yet?
BESIEGED: None. We have mailed to all of them practically, and the same response....

TEUFEL: Huh? No interest?
BESIEGED: Death metal is dead (they say). They say create something more marketable and resubmit. Matt Bower of Metal Blade was cool enough to pass the tape on to someone who would use it though; Steve Miller of "Extremities of Death Metal".

TEUFEL: More 'trendy'....
BESIEGED: Yeah, more trendy. Fuck that! I'll starve first. That has been the major stumbling block for us so far; our unwillingness to give-up artistic freedom. That seems to be what the major labels are expecting of late and we won't change what we do just to get signed to a major label.

TEUFEL: Ok... so what's the BesiegeD game plan now?
BESIEGED: Find an independent label that will let us continue to play what we play and then we will be "represented" and the bigger labels will pay more attention. Most major labels will not even look at unrepresented bands. BesiegeD may remain indefinitely on an independent label...

TEUFEL: hard to believe...
BESIEGED: Yeah, but that may be the case in the end, given our unwillingness to bend.

TEUFEL: I still can't believe a band like Deicide, with little musical/lyrical talent, can be signed to a major label, and a band like BesiegeD, which, in my opinion, is one of the most talented DM bands around can't even get signed to an independent label.... boggles the mind...
BESIEGED: I know...it's pretty frustrating. We have had independent label offers but rejected them. We will find a label that we like eventually, we are really looking hard at X-Treme Records. They are having financial troubles though, so they are not signing anyone right now. The international labels have been much more open to our material so far.

TEUFEL: Europe has a HUGE metal following.... so does Japan...
BESIEGED: Yeah, that is the prime market for what we do... yeah, Japan is ever-growing, it still has some years left in the scene there. Germany is developing into a prime market also, we get tons of mail from there.

TEUFEL: Germany has one of the best metal markets in Europe...
BESIEGED: I agree. It has been the best for us at least. DM gets tons of air play there, we mail-out to German radio shows frequently. Brutality is a universal language.

TEUFEL: Do you have any plans for recording new material in the near future?
BESIEGED: Yeah, we are planning on being back in the studio early next year, maybe even late January, to do eight more tracks. Four are already written, the other four are in the works.

TEUFEL: Will it be released on CD or will it just be on tape?
BESIEGED: Yeah, I believe we will go to CD this time, the price has become more reasonable and I think we can market them.

TEUFEL: Most people/labels are looking for demo CDs, instead of demo tapes...
BESIEGED: Yeah, it's getting harder to submit material on tape. We generally send DATs to the labels. Once we get on a label we will probably re-release the current tape on CD, just because we all really like the material.

TEUFEL: Same here (even though I've only heard 4 songs....)
BESIEGED: Thanks man!

TEUFEL: Back to the new songs... how are they sounding? Heavier? More original?
BESIEGED: Heavier, yeah. Also more DooM type riffs, still a lot of guitar-bass harmonies and arpezios. More guttural vocal harmonies between Me, Chad and Jason. I think the material is more moody in general, but no less brutal

TEUFEL: That reminds me, where did you get the idea to have all three members doing vocals?
BESIEGED: Actually Chad had the idea to do it on a piece he started "Age of Malevolence" and Jason and I finished. He just wanted to do the chorus with a tradeoff type approach with me, Jason and him doing every other line and we liked it and did it on a few other tunes like "Imbued Dissent".

TEUFEL: I think it's a cool idea
BESIEGED: It just sort of happened....we all sing but Jason is much more powerful as a vocalist. It's great live...I think it adds to the show considerably

TEUFEL: Live shows, eh... have you gotten a good response at the live shows?
BESIEGED: Generally yes, but in this area DM has few followers, but people tend to jam to the material even when they do not "per-say" like DM.

TEUFEL: I like anything live and loud...
BESIEGED: We play a charity thing here for a Motorcycle gand called "Thunderbirds MC" to raise money for homeless children and those dudes like it. Most bikers just like "southern" type shit. Pretty fucked up!

TEUFEL: Sounds like it...
BESIEGED: The shows are a blast though, we usually do that once a year around Christmas.

TEUFEL: Ok, what were your best/worst shows?
BESIEGED: Worst was....hmmmmm... Mercury Theatre in Knoxville. We had to travel an hour in an ice storm and we played in front of maybe 30 people. Pretty bad! Everyone just stood there looking perplexed as hell, like they had never heard such shit before in their lives

TEUFEL: (laughs)
BESIEGED: The best.....uuummmm... was this bar called "Sharky's". The place was packed, I don't even know how many were there, but they were all jamming and the pit was a massacre! The pit really makes it for me personally. Even if the place is packed; if there is no pit the performance is boring.

TEUFEL: As long as people are going nuts, you're happy.
BESIEGED: Yeah! Definitely! Even if there's only two dudes....if they are moshing I'm overjoyed!

TEUFEL: (laughs)
BESIEGED: Easy to please eh? (laughs) If there is only one then I'll jump down and mosh with him.

TEUFEL: (laughs) That reminds me of a concert I was at....
BESIEGED: yeah?

TEUFEL: I got thrown out by security for stage diving... it was funny... (note: I was the only person in the pit)
BESIEGED: (laughs) I've been thrown out of many shows. Stage diving should be a given, people should not be removed for diving. Remove those not diving :)

TEUFEL: not unless they are intentionally trying to hurt people in the crowd.. they should just be shit-kicked....
BESIEGED: yeah that IS not cool

TEUFEL: uh... what haven't I asked you?
BESIEGED: What type of clam chowder I prefer; the red or the white? (laughs)

TEUFEL: Chowdah! (laughs)
BESIEGED: (laughs)

TEUFEL: Anyway, what do you guys do when you're not working on BesiegeD? I know DM does not pay the bills...
BESIEGED: If only it did pay the bills..... I am a CAD Mapping Technician with an International Science Corp.

TEUFEL: A mad scientist! (laughs)
BESIEGED: (laughs) Jason, is studying to be a Electrical Engineer while working as an electricians apprentice and Chad tours with a band called Misery for money. He's too lazy to work (laughs)

TEUFEL: Misery? Never heard of 'em... what kinda music?
BESIEGED: Misery is his day job (so to speak). Misery is a Canadian Metallica Tribute band (laughs)

TEUFEL: Metallica tribute band.... lotsa Load in their performances, right? (laughs)
BESIEGED: (laughs) I think I could drum in that project. Well... maybe not.

TEUFEL: What does Chad think of Load? Load, to be honest, is the worst thing I've heard (2nd worst, next to Fishbone's "Chim Chim's Badass Revenge").
BESIEGED: Yeah, Chad hates Load. Misery does old Metallica, nothing past the black CD.

TEUFEL: Cool! "For Whom The Bell Tolls"... Metallica's best song (at least I think so)
BESIEGED: Hell Yeah! Even if they did plagiarize the title off of Ernest Hemingway (laughs)

TEUFEL: That'd be cool to hear that song with DM vocals....
BESIEGED: I guess we were all influenced by Metallica as well. Yeah I would like to cover that, we do 'Am I Evil' as a warm-up at rehearsal. Just screwing around. You kinda have to buildup to playing BesiegeD material.

TEUFEL: Start with the easy stuff
BESIEGED: Yeah, exactly. Especially for Chad because the drum work is very demanding.

TEUFEL: I like the drumming better every time I listen to the demo....
BESIEGED: That makes it for me. I wish the mix was better. The bass-work (bass drums that is) got kinda lost in the mastering

TEUFEL: Yeah... the bass guitar comes out very clearly though....
BESIEGED: Too prominent for me at times.

TEUFEL: I like it, it's cool....
BESIEGED: Thanks man! But that tape was done in one session of 16 strait hours in the studio. That really hurt!

TEUFEL: 16 hours in a studio?
BESIEGED: Yeah. Where we like to record it's hard to get time reserved and they only had one day open. So... we had to get everything laid down (in one day)

TEUFEL: are you planning on another marathon recording next time....
BESIEGED: Unfortunately all BesiegeD recording sessions end up that way. Even if we schedule 3 days, we will work one song for two and then realize we have to get moving on the others (laughs). We hope to spend much more time with the next effort though.

TEUFEL: I hope to hear the next effort :)
BESIEGED: Definitely!

TEUFEL: Woo hoo!
BESIEGED: I will mail it as soon as we get a master copy or even a head phone mix on tape.

TEUFEL: Cool!!!
BESIEGED: I usually keep all the headphone mix tapes because they sound more raw and live to me.

TEUFEL: Anyway, we've been at this for an hour and a half now, I'm completely out of questions... anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?
BESIEGED: Ok. Thanks for the interview dude (Chad waves to his evil twin)

BOTH: (laugh)