DESECRATOR
"Thrash is dead, and we are it's fucking tombstone."
EVOLUTION ROCK interviews Riley (vocals, guitars) for the Australian
thrash metal band DESECRATOR. Riley talks about the band and their
Southeast Asian Tour called D.I.Y.S.E.A. The tour will span several live
dates through out Southeast Asia which include the Philippines,
Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Visit the band's website at http://desecrator.com.au for concert dates and more.
D.I.Y S.E.A TOUR
July 5 Bali, Indonesia
July 7 Bangkok Thrash Festival, Thailand
July 8 Manila, Philippines
July 9 Olongapo, Philippines
July 11 Davao, Philippines
July 13 Singapore
EVOLUTION ROCK: Welcome. How are you doing?
RILEY: It's good to be here, man. We're doing well. It's a wet night in Melbourne, but decided to be here.
EVOLUTION ROCK: Who are the band members?
RILEY: My name's Riley. I'm the beer drinker. Screamer. Scream SLAYER! And all those other metal names. The rest of the boys are out desecrating their own shit out tonight, so they send their warm regards.
EVOLUTION ROCK: You guys say, "Some say thrash is back. DESECRATOR says thrash is dead, and we are it's fucking tombstone." What can you guys tell us about this shit?
RILEY: I liked the way you said, "dead", man. Had a punctuality and metal in it. I think that phrase is something we say a lot over the years. To us, thrash never died. It didn't go anywhere. So, it hasn't had a comeback. If you think thrash is back, you might as well think it's dead. If you think it's dead, then we are its tombstone because we ain't going anywhere. We're going to be here, forever. Thrashing 'til death!
EVOLUTION ROCK: What can you tell us about the shit you have out? You have the EP and the LIVE 'TIL DEATH record.
RILEY: Well, at the moment. We're still touring from last year from the LIVE 'TIL DEATH album, you mentioned. Which we recorded over here. A live gig that we played towards the end of the venue called the Art Houses Live which was an iconic venue in this town for a lot of metal, punk and cross-over. We were lucky enough to get to work with Harris Johns. He's done SODOM and KREATOR and a lot of big names over in Germany with the mixing and mastering which is a really good privilege; to bring it up the way it has; and I think, it's really brought us out a strong first release; and brought us out a good representation that people can listen to; and know about us on stage at home in their own CD players, I guess.
EVOLUTION ROCK: You guys are going to be on tour. You are going to be in Southeast Asia; Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines-three dates there, and Singapore. What can you tell us about the D.I.Y.S.E.A. Tour?
RILEY: Well man, in July this year is our first international tour; and our first tour of the Southeast Asia region which is a pretty cool thing. It's still our part of the world; not jumping all the way out to Europe or America like a lot of bands do. We really want to open up our part of the world. The closest place for us as Australians to go is Asia; so in July from the fifth until the thirty; we hit Bali in Indonesia, first then we are off to Bangkok to play Bangkok Thrash which is going to be a pretty cool day of local Thai metal and a few other; I think, some inter-country bands happening there too. And then we are off to the Philippines for three dates! And then we are going to end-up in Singapore on Friday the thirteenth for a finale show before we come home. So, it's going to be a whirlwind trip! But we are going to get sweaty and thrash; and it's going to be a fucking good time!
EVOLUTION ROCK: What can you tell the fans of Southeast Asia to expect from this fucking tour; from your live performances that is?
RILEY: From live? wow! Uh, carnage, chaos, thrash! We love it! It's what we live for. The band has always had our take from the road, uh, we've been around our own country enough times. This is what we do. We released our album because this is why we love it. That's why we did it live. So, Southeast Asia we're going to get there; we're going to have our best game on; and we are just going to thrash 'til death! It's going to be a really good trip man.
EVOLUTION ROCK: We are going to play a track from your record. It's a live track which I dig a lot. This one is entitled DESTROYING GOD'S WORK. What commentary can you give us about this recording?
RILEY: DESTROYING GOD'S WORK that one is the, uh, that's the set in the live album. It's the grand finale! Let's rip everything down; tear it apart. That one is the, uh, I guess it's the most assaulting out of them all. It's the one we are kind of fucked after playing it. We got nothing left in the tank; there's no fuel left; nothing in the reserve; so we give everything on that one. I think you can hear it in the recording when that track is done; we're done! So there, enjoy it!
EVOLUTION ROCK: Yo guys! Tell us something about your online store that you have at your website. The address is desecrator.com.au. Checking out some shit there, you got the records, you got some very cool t-shirts for the guys and for the ladies, and you also got these fucking thongs and the 'drink 'til death' logo, man for the beer.
RILEY: Man, "thong" means something completely different here! There aren't no thongs on the web store those are things you wear on your feet, though. Everyone's calling them different things when you are not from Australia. Yeah. We put the g-strings for the ladies and you'd be surprised how quickly those little suckers sell. A lot of guys at gigs buying them. Saying, "yeah, it's for my girlfriend!" And you always wonder...you always wonder. But now on the web store we got patches, we got shirts, we got the albums; the best and easiest way to get that if you are not in Australia or anywhere in the Asian region that we are going to be traveling; the best better be to grab it from the shop. Of course, we'll have shirts, discs and everything at the shows to be pedaling our ways in trying to earn some money for our dinner. But uh yeah, it's all in the shop; have a look and we'll post you all some shit.
EVOLUTION ROCK: Alright, thanks for being on the show.
RILEY: Thank you for having us on EVOLUTION ROCK. It was a fucking pleasure. We look forward to getting into Asia! Playing some thrash, so stay metal!
