MISOGYNIC SATYRIASIS & CHUNKY CEREBRAL CEREAL

Yea, another one of them abstruse, horrendously prolix and to all intents and purposes bullshit headlines that I reckon no one besides myself truly likes. Yet this time it feels more than apposite in the light of the ensuing… erhm, ‘interrogation’ of versifier-gone-vocalist J.R. Hayes from the postmodernist grindcore triad Pig Destroyer. Read on as our wonderfully loquacious interviewee leaves no stone unturned in his sweeping elucidation of what stark madness he, guitarist Scott Hull and drummer Brian Harvey have wreaked with their third full-length capriccio Terrifyer, recently released through Relapse Records. And remember, kids: ‘Speech is silver, silence is gold!’

# In what aspects does Terrifyer describe a musical progression from the previous full-length release Prowler in the Yard?

“Brian got really creative with his beats on this record, which enabled us to make the songs a lot more memorable without losing any of the speed or intensity. Also, Scott made great strides with his production this time around. I don’t think this record is quite as thick as Prowler in the Yard, but I think overall the sound is much more focused, much more striking.”

# What dark recesses of the mind have you traversed this time to create the lyrical content on Terrifyer?

 

“Just confronting personal demons… Trying to make sense of the world around me.”

 

# The band recently completed the filming of a video for the track “Gravedancer”. How did the entire process turn out, and how does the new video compare to the one recorded for the track “Piss Angel” off the previous album?

“Personally, I hate videos and I hope we never do another one, but all things considered it turned out pretty good. The two are similar in that they both have pretty, dark-haired girls wandering around in them, but they’re different in that the “Piss Angel” video was very dark, whereas the “Gravedancer” video is very well-lit. You can see everything that’s going on.”

# What was the idea and motivation behind the 37-minute DVD-audio track “Natasha”?

 

“Scott wanted to do something that was the opposite of the Terrifyer CD: something really long and slow, but with more dynamic to it. It’s got some really heavy parts but there are a lot of quiet parts too.”

# As far as I can understand, Matthew Barney is the creative hand behind the rather unique artwork for Terrifyer. What sentiments and overall message was he commissioned to bring out for the album cover?

“Actually, we didn’t work with Matthew Barney for this album as we had originally intended. I hope that we get to collaborate with him in the future, though. He’s an amazing artist. My good friend Chris Taylor did the artwork for Terrifyer. We worked very closely together. I was looking for something that was very direct, very stark. Like Pornography by the Cure, if you’re familiar with that album.”

# Rumour has it that the band was once called Cop Destroyer, and that the current moniker is a less-obvious, but not the least bit less assertive formulation of the same statement. What incited the band to settle on this moniker, and does the idea behind it stem from personal experiences?

“We came up with the name as a joke, and ended up really using it. It doesn’t have any deep, philosophical meaning to us. Personally, I don’t give a fuck about cops one way or the other; I just think it’s a good band name.”

# The compilation release 38 Counts of Battery contains the first Pig Destroyer album as well as the demo tape and various tracks from split releases. Since this material was written and recorded, the band has refined their sound considerably; was the basic idea behind this compilation to spell out the musical progression of the band?

“At that point I think most of those records were either out of print or going out of print, and it just seemed like the logical thing to do to put it all together like that. It’s very important to us that our music is available out there in some format or other, you know? I mean, that’s why we did the Painter of Dead Girls CD. For pretty much those same reasons.”

# Grindcore is the one music-label that is most often associated with Pig Destroyer. However, the sound of the band is quite a lot more than that. Is it essential for grindcore as an isolated genre as well as metal music in general to evolve from these well-defined style categories?

“You know, I never think of things in terms of genres or styles or scenes. Every band in the world is its own unique experiment. We just try to improve as musicians and songwriters and get more intense every time we do a record. What other bands are or aren’t doing isn’t really any of our business. We just try to focus on what we want to do.”

# Conversely, Pig Destroyer are featured on the soundtrack for the music book Choosing Death – The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. How does it feel to be part of such a release that seeks to encapsulate the perimeters of two music styles?

“I was very flattered to be included. I mean, Carcass, Napalm Death, Entombed. To even be mentioned in the same breath as those bands is the highest of honors.”

# Pig Destroyer have issued quite a number of split-releases since the formation of the band, and there are plans for further releases with acts like Orthrelm, Leng T'che, Cretin, Norma Jean and Zombi in the near future. What makes this format so attractive?

“I think splits are a great way to expose your band to new people, and at the same time expose the fans you already have to a band they’re perhaps not familiar with yet.”

# Scott Hull has done studio work for a host of different bands, notably from the Relapse roster, including Nile, Crowpath, Sunn 0)), The End and Regurgitate. To what extent has it been possible to use this experience in Pig Destroyer as well as Agoraphobic Nosebleed and all his other band projects?

“Scott’s got a great ear for music; one of the best I’ve ever encountered. He’s a workaholic, always trying to get better at what he does.”

# What does the nearest future hold for the ineffable war machine that is Pig Destroyer?

 

“We got a bunch of crazy shit going on. I think in late April we’ll be over in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. So maybe we’ll see you there – cheers!”

Conducted and written by Misereion.