This interview, with one of the coolest acts to hit the underground scene some years ago, was done quite sometime ago as you might notice from the answers. However we felt that it was still valid and very interesting so we decided to put it online. Enjoy...
Chaosbreed: Greetings Jon and the rest of Cryptopsy, welcome to ChaosBreed web zine, please start your interview by telling us who came up with the idea of starting Cryptopsy? I heard there was some line up changes lately, please xplain what were these changes and also introduce the new member/s.
Jon: Thanks for this cool interview, here it goes…
Cryptopsy started off as a band called Necrosis, back in the late 80’s up untill 1992. They did 3 demos. Flo (our drummer) was only on the last Necrosis demo, he was starting out. Lord Worm was on all those demos as well as Steve Thibault (our present manager). A lot of other members came and went in Necrosis but I won’t waste your good ink on it! In 1993, the guys decided to just change names and start off from scratch as Cryptopsy. They also decided to pursue a much more intense and extreme goal in in their music which gave birth to the "Ungentile Exumation" demo. Back then, Cryptopsy was: Lord Worm (vox), Steve Thibault (guitar), Dave Galea (lead guitar), Kevin Weagle (bass) and of course Flo (drums). Right after the demo, Kevin left the band for work and Martin Fergusson took his place on bass.
In early January 1994, Dave Galea left the band for a different music style not as extreme as Cryptopsy, I (Jon) replaced him shortly after he left and the band stuck together for our 1st album "Blasphemy made flesh". We were then: Flo (drums), Jon (lead guitar), Steve (guitars), Martin (bass) and Lord Worm (Vox). We recorded our 1st album inmarch and I joined the band in late January and had to learn 8 songs ready for the studio, with new solos within 2 months. In those 2 months, I wrote with Steve only 2 songs for the album, "Serial Messiah" and "Swine of the Cross" . One year later, Martin had to leave the band because he wasn’t able to free himself for touring, thing that Cryptopsy absolutley wanted to do, because of his school. So, a good friend of mine Eric Langlois, joined in to take his place on bass. We toured Canada once like that and a few months later in 1995, before recording "None so Vile", Steve retired himself from the band because as a guitarist, Cryptopsy was getting too technical for him. Because I had Eric at my side, well we started to write more complex stuff which resulted in our 2nd album "None so Vile" in 1996. We stayed as a 4 piece for the album: Jon (Guitars), Eric (bass), Flo (drums) and Lord Worm (Vox).
Right after we got out of the studio, we were lucky enough to find a guitarist who was at our level of musicianship. His name is Miguel Roy and believe it or not, he was fast enough to learn all the "None so Vile" songs and a few "Blasphemy made flesh" songs, just enough so he could do our album launch party with us. We were surprised because we finished the studio for "None so Vile" beginning of May and our launch party was June 23rd, so we never played live as a 4 piece, Miguel pulled it off perfectley!!
In late 1996, it was Lord Worm turn to retire himself from the band but before he did, he found his own replacment who is Mike Di salvo (ex-Infestation). Mike came in the band and learned all songs very quickly and added a whole new dimension to Cryptopsy which will result in "Whisper in Supremacy", our next album for which we’ll be in studio in april 1998! So Cryptopsy now stands as: Flo (Drums), Jon (Guitar), Miguel (Guitar), Eric (bass) and Mike (Vox)
Sorry for the long answer but now you know all the line up changes that Cryptopsy went thru all the years, it was hell!!
Chaosbreed: Let me take you back to the early days of Cryptopsy, in one of your "Love" letters you told me that Cryptopsy used to have a guitarist from Malta, right? What was his name and is he still in the Underground scene? Also, tell us if he is featured in any Cryptopsy releases so far.
Jon: Yeah, his name is Dave Galea and he is from Malta. He played on the "Ungentile Exhumation" demo in 1993. Nope! He aint in the Underground no more.
Chaosbreed: Listening to your material, one immediatley notice that Cryptopsy knows how to use their instruments very well. How long have you been playing guitar? Who do you consider the biggest source of inspiration for your guitar playing? If some day you will be forced to cut off your hand, what will you do?
Jon: Thank you for the Compliment, I’ve been playing guitar since I was 14, I’m 23 so 9 years would be my guitar experience. My biggest influence thru the years are: Yngwie Malmsteen, Al di meola, John Petrucci from Dream Theater. There are more but those are the major ones. As far as guitarist who have influenced my riffing in Death Metal that would be: Doug + Terrance in Suffocation and Rob Barret from Malevolent Creation (ex Cannibal Corpse), I love the work on Retribution and Solstice. Even though I’ve been influenced by them, I always try to keep my own style, I hope it is working.
If I must cut off one hand, well I’ll have to masturbate with the other and after I’ll probably kill myself, I cant see myself not playing guitar for the rest of my life.
Chaosbreed: These days Cryptopsy are quite known in the scene, what are your reactions to the response you’re getting from fans, mags and labels? Have you ever been ripped-off by anyone? If yes, you have the right to reveal this walking plague
Jon: Well, we’re very happy about it. We love doing our music and if people like it also well it best for both worlds. But, I must say that we are surprised to see that we are making an impact in the underground. Just in Milwakee, we coul;dnt believe how awaited we were out there, we didn’t expect that much attention from the scene, it’s cool! It pumps us up for writing more and better stuff in future, hopefully it will continue.
As far as getting Ripped-off, like most bands…yeah we did get ripped-off here and there but nothing significant. The one who ripped us off the most is Maja Majewski at Invasion Records, he fucked us up good back and put our band majorly in debt, gladly we just finished paying this debt after 4 years. Everyone, watch out for him. Recently, he fucked us again by selling the rights for "Blasphemy made Flesh" illegally to Displeased Records…..Displeased isn’t to blame at all, they got caught in Maja Majewski circus also. Displeased and us have reached an understanding and we’re in perfect relation with Displeased.
Chaosbreed: Jon, what are you listening lately? Have you heared of any kick ass demos/CD’s…etc!! of bands you can mention to the readers? Presently, there are a huger amount of Death Metal bands araound, what do you think about this and what about the underground in general? Is the Black Metal scene much stronger than the Death metal one?
Jon: I don’t really know if Black Metal is stronger than Death, it’s very hard to tell and personally…I don’t care. I do what I like doing and that’s all. I find it great that there’s a lot of bands but what’s better is that recently more bands are being original, you don’t always hear the same thing over and over again. It’s obvious that the scene isn’t that big as it was in early 90’s but for the past few years, it has been going up slow but surely and that’s fine by me!
Good new stuff I’ve heared recently would be: Vile, Devourment, Beheaded (who the hell are these crazy dudes?!?!), Autumn Leaves, Infernal Torment, Deeds of Flesh. Also, the new Suffocation kick ass as well as the new Morbid Angel! Check these bands out people!
Chaosbreed: What is the scene like there in Canada? I know that there are several killer acts, can you mention some bands that you really dig? Are there a lot of plaves to set up shows and that kind of shit?
Jon: The scene is pretty good, we toured Canada twice with good results both times. Good bands in Canada would be : Kataklysm, Obliveon (by the way, they have a new album coming out soon, I heared a bit of it…it’s sick!!), Rotting, Neuraxis, Pericardium, Summertime Daises, Blood of Christ and many more.
Canada produces a lot of good music if you ask me!!
Chaosbreed: Yeah!! Here comes the one…you’re captured by an amazon Cannibal tribe and they invite you for Dinner, Suddenly the leader walks towards you and say some non-sense words (you know that kind of Muawanga Chaikalala taha-cala-Chaika ala….sot of) then he offers you a big chunk of raw human flesh and a pint of freshly brewed Blood, what do you do?
Jon: Me being very difficult on what I eat (exept for pizza!) I’d prefer boiling in a pot for their new feast, just to tell ya…I’d prefer dying than eating spaghetti.
Chaosbreed: Well, back to some serious Cryptopsy shit, you played in the Milwakee metal fest, correct? It was the first time for Cryptopsy playing in that Festival? How did the audience react? With whom did you play and do you think it was worth it to play in the Milwakee metal Fest?
Jon: Yeah, we played in the Milwakee metal fest last year for the first time and I must admit that we didn’t expect to be so awaited out there, when we played the ravestage (downstairs) hall was completely packed. We couldn’t believe it, it was a cool experience. People were getting into our set with a lot of violance, it was great. As far as bands playing, ill do my best: Cradle of Filth, Venom, SOD, Exodus, Internal Bleeding, Broken Hope, Napalm Death, Obituary, Obliveon, Hypocrisy, Incantation, ABSU, Oppressor, Vital Remains, Mentors, Forbidden, Avernus, Earth Crisis and tons more!
It was definetly worth it, because of that fest, a lot of labels realized the impact Cryptopsy has so for our record deal, it made a lot of labels wanted to sign us. We went for the best deal in Century Media.
Chaosbreed: You re-released the well known "Ungentile Exhumation" demo late last yearm how is it selling? Did you use the same cover and artwork as it is on the original release?
Jon: The "Ungentile Exhumation" demo is re-released with it’s original artwork. The exact same thing. It’s selling better than we thought. At 1st , it was supposed to be a final edition of 500 copies but know we don’t have choise to make more so there will be a few hundreds more to everyone who wants it and that will be all for "Ungentile Exhumation" after that.
Chaosbreed: What can we expect from Cryptopsy in the year 1998?
Jon: We’re now signed to Century Media and we shall be in the studio in April for our 3rd release "Whisper Supremacy". This album will be as brutal as the 2 previous ones but again in a different way. People shouldn’t expect a "None so Vile" #2!! After the studio, our label is making a tour in the USA with Dying Fetus and the tour include us playing at the Milwakee Metal Fest 1999. Century Media are looking forward in putting us on the road in Europe so we’ll try to convince them to make us tour before the end of this year.
Chaosbreed: O.K Buddy…last words are yours, speak of anything you want.
Jon: OK, well thanks to you Dave for this great interview and I also want to thank everyone who took the time to read my boring shit, you rule!n take care of yourselves people and see you on tour soon!!
Interview done by David Cachia.