I) Hells ! Your last album kicks ass! What are the feedback from now?

Greetings! Thanks for the compliment! We don’t get them that often. Actually, Cryptobeast has been getting reviewed quite well, so I shouldn’t complain. Its funny, we pour our black hearts into every album and every song that we’ve ever recorded. Sometimes you think that you’ve recorded your masterpiece, and then the fucking press tears the shit out of it. This time around we felt that we had a really strong album on our hands. The band just came together and got the job done. I have to admit that I was a little nervous when we released it that people would think its shit. But so far most of the responses have been better than usual for us so that’s great!

II) Your band is quite old. Tell us what was your story: line up, label turn over….What is your motivation to continue the band ?

Jesus Fucking Christ, this answer could take up a thousand pages! I’ll try to keep it brief. Yes, the band is old now. Old guys in an old band, drinking Old Style beer! Basically, Rigor Scythe and Diabolical “David” Slaughter started the band back in ’93 with Apocalyptic Warlord on drums. I joined in ’95 on bass. AW left in ’96 for personal reasons and was replaced by Dave Hellstorm until 2003, when AW returned to the band. Around that time D.D.S. quit the band because he was too fat to walk up a flight of stairs. We replaced him with our new singer Tyrantor, who is a far superior vokillist. Oh yeah, and somewhere along the lines we picked up Carcass Chris on lead guitar. 2000 I believe. He does a great job rounding out our sound. You should see the size of his pedalboard!! The guy uses 2 wah-wah pedals! INSANE!!!! We were 1st signed in ’95 to Norway’s Head Not Found Records. Then we were on Necropolis Records for 5 years or so. They really helped us out back then. But they started alling apart, so we left them. Earache contacted us in ’01 and we signed with them. We’ve never looked back since! Motivation to continue the band??? Fuck, I’m not even sure anymore myself! Seriously, we love this band. To us, no one else even comes close. This is the kind of music that is heavy to us. Its what we want to hear. If we stop playing it, no one else will….and then what the fuck are we going to listen to!? Its been so long, we don’t know any other way to live. Usurper is what keeps us alive.

III) I don’t know your albums (except the last) ; what were you playing at the beginning? What were the evolutions? For me, the last album sounds Deathrash in the vein of THE CROWN but more brutal…Do you agree ?

I never really thought of it as sounding like The Crown, but I think I understand where you’re coming from. Cryptobeast is probably one of our more aggressive albums. We had so much energy when we were writing these songs that we were fucking wired to kill the whole time! Plus, we like a little of the ol’ “white lightning” now and then, so I’m sure that influenced us a little. Nothin’ like some burnin’ nostrils to inspire an album! Our really early stuff was a little more atmospheric. Not in a faggot ass, weapy emotional way, but it was really dark sounding. Lots of subliminal type sounds and messages. We had more mid-paced and slower death dirge quality parts on the older albums too. Its part of the traditional Usurper Sound. As time wore on and we played more live shows our sound evolved. We love playing live, and we got more of a feel for what works. That fuels our fire when we write songs. We always think about playing them in front of a bloodthirsty mob. This is our 5th album and we’ve learned something from each one that we’ve recorded. It all added up to what Cryptobeast sounds like. Who knows what the next album will have in store.

IV) Your are now EARACHE. Why did you sign on this label? What do you expect from them ?

They were able to give us the distribution that we wanted. We had been plugging along with labels that couldn’t get the albums out where anyone could hear them. It was really frustrating. Plus, we’ve all been fans of Earache’s back catalogue, so we feel like we’re helping to ad to metal’s legacy by being on Earache. We were just looking for a label that would put out or albums and get us on tours. Unfortunately, we’ve never toured so little as we have now that we’re on Earache, but its something that we’re working on.

V) It seems there’s a concept in your last album. Tell me what are talking the lyrics about. Is there any message you want to make pass to the listeners? How important are the texts for you? What are the inspirations ?

Rigor and Tyrantor wrote 90% of the lyrics for Cryptobeast, so I’m probably the wrong guy to ask. I struggle enough trying to play the 4 strings on the bass, now I gotta analyze the fucking lyrics too?! Its typical Usurper fare. Songs about lycanthropy, true sighting, strange beasts and, of course, killing for metal!

VI) How do you compose? During rehearsal or one of you come with all the structures and give the indications? What are your main musical or extra musical influences ?

Rigor writes almost all of the music and probably at least half of the lyrics. He has a small home studio and he’ll lock himself in there for weeks. He’ll record demos of the new songs with all the guitars, programmed drums to get an idea of where they’re going, sometimes bass lines and sometimes vokills. Then he gives them to the band and we all make our mark on it. Everyone has free reign to move around in the song and make it sound as heavy as possible. Tyrantor will add some lyrics or change a vocal line, Carcass Chris writes all his own solos, Apocalyptic Warlord adds a total level of extremity with is drums, and I do my best Ian Hill impersonation! As far as influences go, at this point we’re really inspired by our back catalogue. We just have such a solid feel for what Usurper should sound like that we all know what to do without even thinking at this point.

VII) Your kind of metal has big balls. When I was listening to the album I was thinking you were really metalhead, without compromise. Tell me what do you think about nowadays metal scene. You seem to like neo-emo-core, don’t you (hehehe)? USA are the cradle of the neo metal as I know…

Emo-core is the fucking gayest! That’s not true metal! Metal is about pissing people off. Its about anger and aggression. Fucking heaviness and bombastity. Its not about feeling sorry for yourself, or politics or any of that other weak shit. Metal is for the strong. The metal scene of today has been infiltrated by pantywaists and douchebags!

VIII) What are you listening to? Thrash I suppose, but what else? You have great black metal bands in your country, like ABSU, XASTHUR, KRIEG…Do you like them ?

Of course some US bands like Absu and Krieg are excellent. Other great bands like Nocturnal Fear, Sauron, and Nachtmystium are keeping metal the way it should be here in the US. If we’re not listening to old thrash, black metal or quality death metal, then we’re probably sleeping….

IX) Do you know some bands from France? What is the best metal country for you ?

We used to tape trade with bands from France all the time in the old days, but now, thanks to the computer, tape trading has become virtually obsolete. It’s a shame. To be honest, its been awhile since I’ve heard directly from a band in France. Not like the old days. Right now, I think the best country from metal is Peru. The bands from there are insane.

X) Your country is well known for Puritanism. Have you some problems for being metalhead ? Are you wearing leather, looking dirt and aggressive? Is it important for you to have long hair etc. when we are in metal ?

Of course! Is it important for a banker to wear a suit, or a priest to wear that stupid collar? When you see someone in the military, and the uniform that they’re wearing, you know exactly what they are all about. Same applies with heavy metal and the fans of heavy metal, because that’s what we all are: Fans of Heavy Metal. Its important to our underground community not to be afraid to show our true colors. Yes, the US is known for its Puritanism which is even a more compelling reason for us to grow our hair as long as possible, and not be ashamed to look like who we are. My leather jacket is the only jacket I own. I go to the supermarket wearing boots and a studded belt. My arms are covered in tattoos. I’m not ashamed of who I am. Some people are. It’s a shame. They must be emo fans…..pussies.

XI) Do the USURPER’s members play in side projects ?

No, Usurper requires all of our dedication….

XII) I suppose you’re a live band. How it is on live? What are the best or worst gigs you’ve done? Which country did receive you the best? Are you ready to make a gig with a neo metal band?

We love to play play live. Its in our blood. There’s nothing more fulfilling than getting up on that stage and delivering the goods. Touring is the ultimate. Nothing to do but drink and play metal for a month straight! What could possibly go wrong?? One of our best gigs even was in Strasbourg in 2000 on tour with Cradle of Filth at La Laterie. We were the opening band, but the crowd was with us from the beginning. It was a great night, and we love playing there whenever we can. Marseilles was also a brilliant show on that tour. There was no security so people were stagediving the whole time. It was hard to tell who was in the band and who the fans were on the stage. It was great. We’ll never forget those shows. We’ve also had some great shows in Poland, Portugal, and England. One of the worst ones was a few years ago when we were on tour in the US with Enslaved. They added a show about 3 days before we played, so no one knew the tour was coming there. We didn’t have a chance. Playing to your road crew is fucking depressing! But, we made the best of it and drank like fiends before and after and treated it like a rehearsal for the rest of the tour.

XIII) Do you like the old music supports, tapes and vinyl? Are you interested to put some release on vinyl? Do you think it’s a good choice to put music on net…perhaps in few years even cd will become obsolete and all our music will be sell via internet…Do you think a PC is a good thing to listen to music ??

I hate listening to music on a PC. When I’m doing anything at my PC, I have my stereo cranked extra loud (like right now). Listen to music on anything that doesn’t produce at least 100 Watts of power is a waste. Plus, mp3s sound super weak. They sound thin and that’s not the way metal is supposed to sound. All of our releases, except the last 2, were also released on vinyl, and Threshold of the Usurper was even released as a split cassette with War in Poland. Vinyls just help to capture that feeling of great rock music. The cover is the best. A nice big picture you can really look at, which is always better than thumbing through some small little cd booklet.

XIV) What are the last good or shitty album you’ve heard ?

The last good album I bought was Abscess-Damned and Mummified. I usually don’t buy shitty albums if I can help it.

XV) Well this is the end, thank you, conclude as you want !

Thanks for the interview man! Thanks for the support. We hope to make it back to France this year so we can have some new crazy stories !!

Contact :
http://www.usurper.us/