Vital Remains Interview

The Gauntlet: How's the tour been going?

Tony: It's been going great man, every night-awesome. A lot of people coming to shows, it's just killer touring with all these bands: I mean, Dismember, Grave two great bands from Sweden. So every night it's just been going really well. We're all selling merch, all having a good time out there, drinking, a lot of nights of drinking, having fun, hanging out with all the bands. Can't complain its' been great, I wish it were actually going longer.

The Gauntlet: How long is it going?

Tony: Only a two week run, and you know, I could do a month of this, easy.

The Gauntlet: How did you guys get hooked up with these gigs?

Tony: Century Media was contacted by some people, might have been bands, labels, and they were asking for Vital Remains to be on the bill. So, once we got wind of it from Century Media we pretty much said 'when and where', you know?

The Gauntlet: Vital Remains started out in Rhode Island, yes? It doesn't really seem like a hotbed for death metal, how was it back in the day?

Tony: Oh, man, well back in the day� It was like any other place, I guess. It's a melting pot, a small little state, obviously, and there was a little bit of metal scene, not much. It developed, got a little bit bigger�some bands stuck to it and kept going, a lot of bands dropped out of the scene and we were one of those bands that stuck with it. We were totally influenced by all kinds of metal, and it was just one of those things. Vital remains is basically from '89, 17 years now, but I've been in other bands, a death metal band, a thrash metal band, so pretty much I've been playing metal for over 20, probably 25 years now (laughs).
And it's like anything, you have a city where I live, a state with a lot of industrial shit and you just get really angry living in that kind of environment and you need a place or some form of music to vent with, and I started getting into the hardcore metal scene it just developed. There was always the big hardcore scene in Rhode Island, in Boston, Massachusetts and everything and it developed through that and the early thrash and stuff. Now, I guess it's getting a little bigger�for awhile it was more underground�now it's surfaced, gaining and everything, so that's pretty much how things are there.

The Gauntlet: Continuing on that theme of influence: it's obvious that Vital Remains are not particularly pro-Christian, and some bands use that as a platform for popularity�

Tony: Right, right, shock value. Well, for us it goes back to living in Rhode Island, New England. It's predominantly Judeo-Christian, the churches are everywhere, and we all went to Catholic school when we were kids, and we all questioned God and a lot of things, like most kids do, and we got kinda beat for it by the nuns and by the priests. And we realized from an early age that the Church was a joke, it was hypocrisy, and that they couldn't really answer our questions and as we got older and started getting smarter and wiser we realized everything and broke more from it. The hatred and anger came from just seeing them preying on all the weakest people: everybody that's looking for something. And we saw organized religion for what it is, just a cancer, so to speak, taking peoples lives and giving them false hope. As we got older we started seeing it and the music was a great outlet; to put the lyrics over the music, the anger and everything, so it wasn't something that was just overnight over just to sell record, shock value, it was really personal, you know what I mean?
Just like Glen in Deicide, he had a similar experience, also seeing all the of the two-faced hypocrisy, the way the church will show itself publicly in front and then you see something going on underneath the church's exterior. I'd see gambling and drinking, these priests just having done sermons, and all types of shit I would see. So I've seen what it was from an early age and I realized it was false, like I said, a disease. So I wanted to chip away at it, stamp it out, see it destroyed. That's how I look at it. I chip away at it, and maybe somebody else will carry the torch so hopefully we'll start believing in ourselves as opposed of this so-called God or something, a false God. If there is such a thing, he really doesn't give a shit, obviously.
I mean, look around, we're in a world of shit now, you know? We're pretty much now in a holy war, an unholy war, with the Muslims and the Christians. Our president, for example, says he talks to God on the weekends, I mean, what's he got a 1-800 number that he calls? "This is what's going on, what do you think I should do, Big G?" you know? It's just fucking a joke and I think that's the reason, I think people are gonna realize that religion is what's going to destroy man unless we start another way of looking at things and not allow the way the church has slowly taken over the government. They should have been separated, it's supposed to be separated, but it's not, and (the government) make their decisions based on religion. So, yeah, to go back to the question, my hatred and anger go way back, way back, and if I didn't' have this music I would probably have some other way of expressing it, whether it'd be writing or something, to vent, you know. But that's where it comes from, it's not something I just started doing. If you look at all the Vital Remains albums and you go back to the beginning, that's where it started.

The Gauntlet: Seems like the hatred today is as strong if not stronger than it was then.

Tony: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because I see so many intelligent people and then when they bring up the religious thing, they just sound so stupid and you think, 'how can you be such an intelligent person but believe in such a fictional book?', And it just doesn't make any sense, and if you apply any sort of science, it just cancels out a lot of religion. It's dumb to me that in this day and age we haven't come further than that. We as humans in the last 100 years have obviously come a long way, but if we want to go even further we've got to cancel it out and we've got to take responsibility for ourselves. And people can't use this whole religion thing for their own gain and also to blame things on and have a scapegoat like the devil or something and it's just bullshit, and we just need to see it destroyed. You look around the world you see the Church has just infiltrated every culture. And that's pretty fucked up to me when you think about it.
I was in Estonia last winter, we did a 16 day tour in Europe, and that was one of the last areas that became Christianized, and it took them years to get around to it, but eventually they got to that one spot where you thought 'No there's no Christianity here', they said, 'No, we're building fucking churches everywhere, every corner, and you shouldn't believe in your natural ways, and your culture, whether it be pagan or whatever. Fuck, that's Devil stuff. Believe in this or we're going to suppress you.' And I think that's fucked up. And you look at this culture and the Native American people, for example, This country was Native American and the Church came here, pretty much cut all their hair off and made them stop speaking their language and stop practicing their rituals and the things that they believe in like the Moon and the Sun, things that we actually see. When you wake up in the morning, the Sun beats on your face and you actually feel good, and they would pray to that and they would get killed for it.
And all this shit that was done in the name of the Church and all its killing, The church has committed more cultural genocide�they have killed more people in the name of God and the Church than any wars put together, because they destroyed so many cultures. Like Norway, for example. When people talk about that, some of the black metal bands burning churches, and people go, 'Well how can they do that?' Well, if they had their own belief system, the Viking mythology, and if you go in there and infiltrate them and try to force something on them that's not their natural belief that they've had for a thousand years, how can you not expect someone to be angry and say, 'We don't want your shit?' I mean, they see right though the bullshit.
So, I can see it getting worse, becoming fucking total chaos, almost to the point where they think it's the Apocalypse where God's gonna come down� But it's not going to be that. It's going to be a lot of dead people. And then maybe we'll learn how to live together. But it's going to take a lot of work, and you're going to see a lot of mass genocide, mass killing, bombs, and just the worst nightmare you could ever think of, I believe, before it gets better. And again, all this religion, the sick radicals, both sides, you know, both sides, I figure we're not going to benefit from this life unless we start thinking for ourselves�what's bullshit, what's not, and that's the way I see it.

The Gauntlet: So, to shift topics on you here�

Tony: Yeah, sure.

The Gauntlet: I read that you were kicked off the New Hampshire stop of this tour?

Tony: That's true: affiliation with Glen Benton, can you believe that? Isn't that pretty stupid? "Bad publicity."

The Gauntlet: And then Deicide were evicted from their practice spot�

Tony: That's right, by the FBI! So, here I am, I left a message with Glen about it, I said, 'Glen, you'll never believe it, they kicked us off because we're affiliated with you, and they didn't want this kind of shit coming to their town.' Because the press supposedly came down and made a big stink about the whole thing and us coming and the whole thing down in Texas with Deicide, and we said, 'But Glen's not doing the tour, so why are you panicking?' And they said, 'No, we don't want this, it's bad press,'. Well, I've never heard of bad press, I mean, God forbid people actually wanted to come see it. And a lot of people actually turned away when they heard we weren't playing. So yeah, it wasn't us canceling the show, we wanted to play the show. We had nothing to do with it. We actually had our agent call the club and try to work it out and say, 'Hey, Glen's not going to be part of it, and the band just wants to play, they're not going to destroy anything.' And they said, 'If you call us one more time, we'll cancel Dismember and Grave,' so instead of us risking those guys a gig we said, 'Hey, you know what, we'll just not say anything until they get their gig and then we'll make a press statement telling the fans and everybody else that it had nothing to do with us.' Cause we're not a band that's known for canceling, at all, I don't ever want to have that on us. We're a band that shows up, plays, respectful in venues, we just totally fucking destroy, we just play our asses off 150%, the fans express themselves, they go off, everybody has a good time, and then we leave. So who knows, maybe it goes back to the suppression thing, who knows if maybe some religious people had something to do with that. They might have said, 'Hey, you know we don't want this, it could be influential to the young people and they might start thinking logically for themselves and we don't want that, we want our little puppets to move when we say to move.'
So you know it's all about that shit and if you think again in this day and age we still have that shit. It's pathetic. And I think it'll be too late, we'll either probably lose our freedoms if we continue to let it go. We have to stand up and some point and say, 'This is bullshit. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech, that's out fucking right.' And if you start letting them get away with it, before you know it's a totalitarian fucking state and you can't say anything against the ruler. Oops. And if you continue to let these people dictate how things are going to be, we're all going to be under control and it's going to be one fucked up country. And I love this country. We go to other countries in Europe and it makes you even more appreciative of the United States because they've got even less freedoms in some of those countries, like the Eastern countries. Great people, but you look at it and say, 'Wow, we can go anywhere we want,' and they say, 'No, we have to stop at the border and show what we've got in our bags,' and we say, 'Well, that'd be the day. Go fuck yourself, you can't see what I've got in my bag, fuck off,' you know? So it makes you appreciate things, but there's still room for a lot of improvement. We're into the next millennium and to better ourselves we have to work all this shit out, you know what I mean? It has to happen.

The Gauntlet: So how do you balance the pressure to lighten up your message with your own artistic ideas?

Tony: I mean, I just live my life, I don't live in a cave, or sacrifice children, at least not on weekends (laughs). I just live my life the way I see fit and try to live it to the fullest, enjoy the music. I do what I do. I also see life experiences. You can't go through life without running into some of these motherfuckers. I mean, I get Mormons, I think people send them to my house on purpose, in the morning they knock on my door, 'Can we speak to you about Christ?' 'Come on in!', and they see me and get all nervous because they see me and think I'm going to slam the door, but I say, 'No, come on in.' And I sit down with them and they throw their shit at me they do their little presentation like they're selling vacuum cleaners, and I listen and then I say, 'Alright, you ready? Here's my shit to you' and they stumble right away and they're like, 'Uh, uh, we don't know�can I play your guitar?' and I'm like, 'You kidding me? Get the fuck out of my house.' (laughs) 'Go get something to eat, you guys too young to be trying to save me and the world.' And they're like, 'alright, we've got to go...you're going to Heaven,' they say, and I say, 'Sure I am'. And I laugh and they leave. So that's the balance, just having the normal shit that I do like everybody else. Working every day or whatever, and then having the music as well. I couldn't have one without the other, and I couldn't have life without music, then I would be totally off and who'd know what I'd do, something crazy. And it is my balance and it's my therapy as well. So that's what keeps me going.

The Gauntlet: So to stay on the music track, about the dynamics of the band�you're the only remaining original member. And there was a big line-up shift for 'Forever Underground', and that's when Suzuki came in�

Tony: Yeah, he came in about '96. He had originally seen us back in '93, way way back. We toured with Autopsy, and he lived in Las Vegas, and came backstage briefly and said he liked the show, it was great. And a few years go by, we start looking for a drummer, and somehow I had gotten his demo tape, I guess it was from Mitch Harris, Napalm Death, and our manager at the time wouldn't let us listen to the demo. And finally we got him to let me listen to it and I liked it, and we asked Dave to come up and audition, and he drove his car all the way out from Vegas, it was crazy, and he tried out and nailed every song and that's how he came into the band. I didn't know he could play guitar and then one day he picked up one and it was just some friends hanging out in the practice room and he started doing some leads and I turned around and said, 'Who's that?' I was blown away, I said, 'You're going to write all the leads now.' I finally found a great musician, and that's how he came into things. He's been with me for 10 years, we've done some really work together, the chemistry between him and I is really good. And because of our influences, like you said earlier, that's why the music is the way it is. Because I come from old school background, a multitude of things: Sabbath and Priest and Venom and Mercyful Fate, Destruction and Sodom and Possessed and Slayer, and all kinds of different things. And of course the Florida scene, the Morbid Angel, the Deicide, all that shit, and early Obituary. And Napalm Death even before that�'Scum', when I heard that album it was killer, and then Terrorizer, and then 'Altars�', and then Deicide, and I include all of that.
So it was a lot of bands influencing, and it just got heavier. And Dave also has a wide spectrum of music that he listens to, so he brings to the table everything. I write pretty much all the music and then he layers all the harmonies and leads over it, but then as far as performance, he does both drums and leads, so it makes things easier for the both of us. And then he also writes lyrics, incredible lyrics, and so the influence is there, there's just so much and I think we apply that to the music and I think that's why we don't sound like anyone else. When you listen to Vital Remains, it's like a roller coaster ride of dynamics and different things, it's brutality here one minute, melodic stuff, epic stuff, you've got everything in there. It's like a big pot of goulash, you're throwing all these elements in there, and you stir it up, and it wouldn't work if it I didn't listen to what I listen to, and Dave with what he listens to. And two people whose chemistry meshes together and he's on the same page as I am, and the work ethic together is really good, so it just really worked out.

The Gauntlet: So, I've noticed you've had some pretty long breaks between albums.

Tony: The reason for that� a lot of people ask me that and I try to tell them, 'We're not a band that writes like an assembly line'. We don't go into the studio and say, 'Alright, we've got to make a record,' I'm the type of guy, I write when I write, how I write, it takes me a long time, 'Dechristianize' took me a year to write, a year just to write it. And then you've got to practice it, and orchestrate it, and I've got to play conductor. Usually when I write parts I write drum parts and I tell Dave exactly what to play. And so, I've got to get everything ready to go, and then we go to pre-production and that takes months, and then we rehearse, and then we might do a few shows, and then we get back into the writing process. So that's why. We put so much into it that it does take a long time, but they know one thing, and I get told this by a lot of fans� that they're willing to wait as long as we give them at the end of that time the best product as opposed of saying, 'You know what, it's going to suck quality-wise but we'll give you a record every year', I'm not that kind of musician and we're not that kind of band. And it's always been like that. It's not slacking or anything, it just takes me a long time to write, longer than most musicians, and I prefer it that way, because we're our own worst critics, we're perfectionists, me and Dave. Dave will play a beat and say, 'Aw, that sucks', and I'll say, 'No, that's great!' and I'll write a rhythm and say, 'Aw, that sucks', and he'll say 'No, that's great!' and then we go back and forth and beat the shit out of each other with all this stuff until finally we're practicing and we say we actually like it. If you don't like it, it doesn't go into the song, there's no filler. People ask me that, too, 'How come you don't have extra songs?' Because everything I write goes into the record. I don't write 20 songs and then pick out 10 or 12, if I did, I'd make two albums. Everything I write goes into the album, that's just the way I do it, and people have come to know that.
And now the next album is really anticipated. A lot of bands are like, 'Can you top 'Dechristianize'?' I'm like, 'You guys are going to be surprised, but I really think this is really going to give it either a run for its money, or it possibly might even top it.' And that's hard to say because I even told myself, 'I can't top 'Dechristianize'. But I say that every album 'I can't do better than that', but somehow you find the strength to push forward just a little more, get a little more aggressive or whatever, and each album just gets a little better. The new stuff is really really killer. It's got an awesome drive, a lot of brutality, but a lot of hooks a lot of old school stuff and influence in there. So it's another great piece, I mean, me and Dave are psyched. It goes back to almost a selfish thing. We write for ourselves, I don't' write for other people, they go, 'Hey man you gotta put this in there!' I don't like that, I write for me, what I like, and then you just hope that people like where we're coming from�

The Gauntlet: Worked so far.

Tony: Yeah, it's worked so far, and there're a lot of people anticipating this new album and I really think they're going to like it, man, because it's got a lot of really great pieces of music in there and brutality and it's all in there. Like I said, all the formulas and dynamics. And we're going for the best production on this album, so that's really important to us. We really want this album to be the best produced Vital Remains album. I told Dave, 'If we can't beat 'Dechristianize' at least they'll say the production is better than anything they've done!' We sort of joke about, but I think they're really going to love the music as well.

The Gauntlet: That's good. A lot of people were saying about 'Dechristianize' that they love the music, but the production�

Tony: Yeah, the snare or the drums. Well, what happened with that, we went to Morrisound, and we asked for certain drums, the toms, snare, you know, and when we got there they had a completely different drum set than what we asked for, so we were forced to trigger everything. They had these big Donald Tardy, Obituary drums they had, the big toms, and we wanted smaller toms, a certain kind of drum kit that felt comfortable for Dave, so we ended up having to put triggers on everything. And then when we were triggering with the engineer, he wasn't totally familiar with triggers on everything, he'd maybe just done kicks or something, so when we said, 'Hey look, we don't like the snare, we don't like the tom sound', he's like, 'Well, I don't know, I'm just the button pusher', and we're all, 'Well, great, well we certainly not the engineer, we're just the musicians'. So that's what's happened, we just got forced into using what was there and working with the secondary engineer who probably wasn't the best producer to be working with. It couldn't have come out any better than what it did from what we had to work with, so we're proud of it. With this new album, as far as the studio we're going to be picking, we'll be releasing that information soon, but we're confident that it's going to sound really good it's definitely going to be a person who knows what he's doing.

The Gauntlet: And Glen's going to be back for this album?

Tony: Yeah, Glen signed on to do this album.

The Gauntlet: I read that Deicide was actually upset that he was on 'Dechristianize'?

Tony: Yeah, I guess they were at first. I don't know why, they had even offered to help me out, but I think it's because when I asked Glen about talking to them about it he said that they would probably get a little angry about it so let him handle it, and he kind of waited a little longer, and then when they finally did hear about it, it had been so long had gone by they felt very angry, like, why didn't they know more? And we kinda had to keep it more of a secret. But I think at the time they understood that he was just trying to help us out. I mean, he wasn't going to leave Deicide. He'd seen me working so hard over the years, because I've known Glen since the first album, when I met him and I was just a young kid, and he was as well, and he's seen me working for years. And we'd open for them here and there, and I'd see him around and he said he had a lot a respect for me and he liked the music a lot, Vital Remains. And we had actually talked about doing something on the second album, not a lot of people know that, 'Into Cold Darkness'. He was actually supposed to sing on one of the tracks, so we had already talked about him doing some guest vocals, and we thought it was going that away again, and then he agreed to do the whole album, and we were blown away. And like I said they just got angry because he didn't come across right away and tell them he was going to do our record, he was kinda keeping it on the hush, not say anything for a while. And then when things weren't going so good with Deicide, and then when 'Dechristianize' came out he personally gave them each a copy. And should have maybe not said some things he of the things he said (laughs). And it kind of instigated them to get even more angry, you know.

The Gauntlet: Worked out though, they've got that new line-up.

Tony: Yeah, they've got the new line-up, and Glen's happy, and the new album's great, it's phenomenal. And I'm just glad he doesn't have to suffer with them, things weren't obviously going good with those relationships. But that's none of my business, I try to stay out of Deicide's business, I try to worry about Vital (Remains). Like I said, he knows that we did something good with 'Dechristianize', something special, something unique, something a lot of the underground people really loved it. And I told him, 'Hey man, the chemistry with you involved, even if you never do another record, that record is always going to be really unique. So why not try to give the fans something else?' the follow-up, 'Dechristianize II', so to speak, and he said yeah. So I sent him the music.
And Steve (Asheim) is over it, he actually likes 'Dechristianize', and even offered to help out and play, so he's not mad anymore. At first he was a little mad, but now he's cool. I toured with him, we did a run with Deicide and Vital Remains and Glen sang for both bands a few months back and it went over good on the West Coast. People loved it, sold out shows. Glen was actually telling me he'd like to do that again with his new album out, doing really well, so when our album comes out maybe we'll do the Vital/Deicide thing again. So I think everybody realized now that things are passed. The anger, I would hope, would be gone, and people realize that I was just trying to make a record. Having someone like him that's one of my favorite singers, like a friend would help out, like any friend would help out. You know what I mean, you're in a jam, you have a friend, they help you out. Needed help with the record, he did it, it blew up, and we were beside ourselves with the response�it was overwhelming. But it was a good thing, it happened for a reason, the way I look at it.

The Gauntlet: So can you talk a little bit about the custom guitar we all admire?

Tony: The Crucifire, right here, yeah I designed the guitar a few years ago. And I had this guy Ken, used to have this company called Yavcon out in Massachusetts. I got in touch with him, said I had this crazy design to have my own custom guitar, like again, the tool of the trade, I didn't want a guitar that a million other people had, I wanted a real�beast.

The Gauntlet: A true axe.

Tony: Yeah, a true axe, like, 'This is what I destroy with', so I had this crazy idea and drew it on a napkin and we met up and he built me this great guitar. And we were supposed to make my own signature series, but he ended up going under. He was working for Neil Moser for a little while, and Neil actually hooked us up with a couple of guitars as well, he's a good guy, used to work for BC Rich and now we've got these two guitars, this one (Crucifire) and that V before the European tour, so I have to give him praise and props to Neil and his wife, they hooked us up with these. I'm actually hoping to find a company that can produce some. The kids always ask me, 'Is that a BC Rich? I'd love to have one', and, hey, I think it'd look good in a catalogue.

The Gauntlet: Well, as a wrap up, is there anything that you'd like to tell that audience-an answer to a question that you just don't get asked?

Tony: well, I mean I've been asked every question in the book, it's kind of hard. I get asked so many questions, sometimes repetitively... I want to thank the fans, I want to thank you for the interview, best of luck to you, and all the fans, and say thank you for all the support over the years, the 17 years, we've got old fans and new fans, I thank them all the time. And all the people that came out on this tour and I look forward to you hopefully enjoying the new album. It should be out probably the first week of April, we're going to record it in December, and I really hope they like it. And we'll star this whole madness, touring will start up again for the new album, next year as well, and I hope to see everybody out on tour, so, thanks a lot, I appreciate it.

The Gauntlet: Thank you.


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Tags:  Vital Remains  , Tony Lazaro, interviews

Sam Rahn    October 15, 2006