Death Angel's Dennis Pepa
Interview by Keith McDonald
Death Angel were one of those young, talented metal bands to come out
during a time when MTV's Headbanger's Ball was still a credible outlet for
up and coming bands. Death Angel had their most success with Act III, an
incredible metal offering. Yet, the band broke up soon after, continuing
on as the Organization, which didn't last very long. The band reunited not
long ago and has released a new studio album 'Art of Dying' via Nuclear
Blast America. I had the opportunity to speak with bassist Dennis Pepa who
gave me the lowdown.
How
and why did DA reunite?
It all started with the Thrash of the Titans show (the Chuck Billy
benefit). For years after we broke up people kept asking us to do shows
here and there. A lot of the offers were for great bills and pretty good
money. But we never even considered it. We really didn't want anything to
do with DA any longer. But when we got a call from the Testament camp
telling us about the TOTT show for Chuck Billy we couldn't say no. We
always have been great friend with Chuck and once we heard the bad news we
knew we had to pull it together and help him out. From there things
started to fall into place for us. Shortly after we officially reunited
DA.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard of
DA?
That's a real tough one. I would say "Bay Area Thrash". In
the lines of old Metallica and Exodus. And if you haven't heard of the Bay
Area Thrash scene and you listen to metal, do your homework; there is a
lot of metal history in the 80's Bay Area scene.
Tell
me about the recording process of 'Art of Dying'.
We had Brian Joseph Dobbs produce the album. We recorded the album in
San Francisco at a studio called San Francisco Sound Works. The studio is
pretty impressive. We recorded all on Pro-Tools but ran the signal through
an SSL board. I believe that gave it allot of it's warmth and took the
edge off of the more common digital sound that Pro-Tools is known for. We
spent about 2 months in the studio tracking and about 2 weeks mixing.
Dobbs made us sound amazing!
Will you record a live CD/DVD in the near future?
A limited addition digi-pack will be released of The Art of Dying. This
will actually include a live DVD, which was taped from a show in Prattlen.
As far as a live CD, we have nothing planned as of now for one. Maybe
sometime in the future.
What are the tour plans?
Well so far we have a handful of shows on the West Coast of the states
starting in May. Then we're off to Europe to do festivals (BANG YOUR HEAD
Festival, GRASPOP FESTIVAL, With Full Force Festival, Tuska Festival, with
hopes of more). In between the festivals we play a few shows with Life of
Agony as wells as headline a few shows ourselves. In the fall we have
tentative dates in Japan and Australia with Testament. After that we have
a tour lined up in the US but I'd rather not say who it's with right now
because it might change. But there you go. That's roughly what we have
lined up. I hope we could tour for at least a year and a half for this new
album.
Who handles the songwriting and from where does it come from?
Different songs come from different places. While Rob is still the main
songwriter of the Band we all contribute to the new material. I think the
time we had apart let us grow as musicians in our own way. We all had
different projects and they we all different styles from each other. When
we finally got back together we all had different elements to bring to the
table to write this new batch of songs.
What ever happened with 'The Organization' project and are those
albums still available?
To make a long story short - We put 2 albums out and toured like mad
for them. During the Savor The Flavor tour we finally called it quits. We
had lots of baggage left over from the Death Angel days as well as our
musical tastes and interests were growing far apart.
How much did MTV and 'Headbanger's Ball' help the band?
Actually it helped A LOT! MTV is a very powerful tool. Back then you
didn't have the Internet to look for information about your favorite
bands. So the only this was Magazines and TV. A lot of people saw us on
Headbanger's Ball. Including people that never heard of us before.
How much has the metal scene changed since you came out?
The metal scene is completely different today. Back then you never
heard anything heavy on mainstream radio. Today metal is commercially
accepted music format. It's actually stupid to me (at least in America).
These bands are heavy versions of the Back Street Boys and they play shit
music!
How much has the music industry changed?
I think the Internet is a blessing to music and musicians. It put all
the major labels in check and helped the indies to out a huge dent in the
music world. It's still a shitty business to be in though. It's cut throat
and you can't really trust or rely on too many people, so that portion of
the business hasn't changed at all.
What do you think of some of the newer metal bands out there and do
you dig any of them?
Actually, I don't follow the newer metal at all. I'm starting to since
we got back together. I'm actually not very impressed with what metal has
to offer today. It lacks a certain genuine sound to me. All the new bands
sound alike with exception. But over all I can do without it. I like my
metal aged I guess.
What's the future for DA?
Tour, Tour, Tour, and Tour! Record the next album and Tour, Tour, Tour,
Tour more!
Death
Angel's Website