„ Just keep it fucking DEATH METAL!”

Interview with Robert Cardenas of Possessed

(Hungarian version comes tomorrow)

A dream of mine came true when death metal originator (the godfather of death metal) Possessed played in our capital Budapest. Everything was organized with Jeff Becerra, when we got the information that Jeff arrives only at 22 p.m. But, during Possessed’s soundcheck I agreed with bassist Robert Cardenas to do an interview, so after a couple of waiting Mr. Cardenas was so nice to carry us on the tour bus and we could do the chat. Enjoy!

László Dávid: Two days ago, you’ve played the first show of this tour at the Wacken Open Air. How did it go?

Robert: That was a good show. We usually have warm-up shows before we do something like this but we just went up there and did our best and that’s all we can do pretty much.

L. D.: That was second Wacken show of Possessed after six years, is that correct?

Robert: Yeah, that was with the other line-up.

L. D.: And you weren’t part of that.

Robert: No I wasn’t.

L. D.: What was the setlist like in Wacken? Which songs did you play?

Robert: We’ve kind of mixed it up because we’ve got two songs that we’re playing on the tour from the new album. It was kind of short because they only gave us a forty-five minute set.

L. D.: And how was the crowd’s response?

Robert: That was great. I haven’t seen any footage yet but the crowd’s response was pretty good.

L. D.: So were you totally satisfied with it?

Robert: How can we not be? We pretty much just went over there without playing a warm-up show and we’ve only rehearsed once unfortunately but that’s just the way it goes sometimes when people are busy with life. But we’ve been playing together for a while and I think we did pretty good.

L. D.: This is your very first Hungarian show. Have you ever been here before?

Robert: It’s my first time. I’m not sure if the others ever came here before.

L. D.: Did you have the opportunity to look around in the city?

Robert: We don’t really have time. We’ve pretty much had to show up here, set up all the gear, soundcheck. We’ve been busy since we got here. It’s been just one place after another, we’ve had a twenty hour drive from Wacken. Then from here, we’ve got to drive to Italy and from Italy we’re going back to the Czech Republic.

L. D.: Will tonight’s setlist be similar to the one you’ve had in Wacken?

Robert: No, it’s totally different. We’re not playing forty-five minutes here but an hour and a half. We’re playing two new songs. The last tour we did in December with the guys from Absu, we’ve had them and we played Abandoned. They’re supposed to come out on the Nuclear Blast album. And we’re doing Shadowcult, that’s another song that’s supposed to be on 30th Anniversary of Nuclear Blast. So we’re playing Shadowcult and Abandoned, we’re playing Confessions, Death Metal, Storm in My Mind, Holy Hell… I can say songs that I want but really Jeff is the one that determines that. When we are up there, sometimes he decides to take songs off the list. We just go with whatever Jeff wants to do. Sometimes it depends on our time, sometimes he doesn’t feel like singing a song. It’s Jeff and we’re all okay with it. Whatever he feels like doing, we accept it.

L. D.: Is your line-up solid and permanent now or is it just Jeff and his session musicians?

Robert: Yes, the line-up is complete, nobody’s leaving anywhere. It’s a solid line-up. We’ve got Claudeous Creamer on the other guitar now, he joined us last year, right before we came to Europe in December.

L. D.: In the end of May, you’ve signed a contract with Nuclear Blast. Were they the only label that was interested or were there any others as well?

Robert: When we were first approached, I don’t remember the person’s name but he worked for Music for Nations. He was interested in putting out the album and then, I guess, somebody that he worked for decided not to so he ended up handing it pretty much over to Drago from Nuclear Blast. That’s what I was told.

L. D.: How many records have you signed the deal for?

Robert: I think it’s for two albums.

L. D.: Can you reveal any details concerning the new album yet?

Robert: Let’s just put it this way, we’re going to work real hard on it. It’s not going to be an overnight deal, sometimes they want artists to put albums out quicker and quicker. That’s just the way it is, sometimes you’ve got record labels that want to put out an album quick and as an artist, you don’t rush it. Overall, we do have about nine songs completed.

L. D.: How did/does the songwriting process go?

Robert: Jeff writes all the lyrics and he helps writing some of the songs, too. He writes with Dan and we pretty much send stuff back and forth to each other.

L. D.: Can you tell us any song titles?

Robert: Like I said, Shadowcult, Abandoned. But I can’t pretty much say the names of the songs because Jeff doesn’t want that.

L. D.: Have you thought of re-recording some of the old Possessed classics?

Robert: No, we’re not going to re-record anything old.

L. D.: Was it Jeff’s decision again?

Robert: Actually, nobody ever even brought that up about wanting to record old songs because we have too many new songs. Why are we going to go and record something that’s already been recorded by the other line-up? It’s not our music. It sounds cool, I wouldn’t mind but at the same point too it’s already been recorded so why are we going to spend our time recording something that’s already been done?

L. D.: When is the new record coming out?

Robert: We’re shooting for next year. We don’t know, we’re thinking maybe the summer but it might be before the summer, probably the first quarter of the year.

L. D.: It will be the highlight of the next year anyhow.

Robert: Well, we’re hoping so. We’re happy with the songs, some of the songs need work here and there but we’re going to go out of our way and make sure that the songs are done correctly and everybody’s happy. Everybody’s got to be happy with the songs. If somebody has any questions or doesn’t like something we change something about it. Whatever’s questionable we change it.

L. D.: How is it that you didn’t get to come to Hungary when you did that tour with Absu and Belphegor last year?

Robert: Nobody offered to book or I don’t know. It’s all up to the booking agent, we have no control over how he decides.

L. D.: And how did the current tour get organized?

Robert: The Flaming Arts is our booking agent that books our tours. They just send us wherever they are willing to pay for us to come and play. That’s why we’re here.

L. D.: Since my all-time favorite band is Agent Steel. Can you tell me about how Bernie Versailles is doing right now?

Robert: Bernie moved to Oregon. He was living in Denver or in Colorado, I should say. He was in a hospital when the accident first happened, when he’s got the aneurism and he was in a hospital for a long time. We were happy he didn’t die on those days. He almost died. Let’s just put it this way, he’s breathing and he’s walking. He’s not the same person unfortunately and he’s still recovering.

L. D.: And what’s the current line-up of Agent Steel?

Robert: We have discussed trying to do something with John Cyriis again. I’ve been in contact with John, we talk back and forth.

L. D.: Isn’t it a hindrance for you that Juan Garcia is also involved with Body Count?

Robert: The only reason why we’re not really going at was because what happened to Bernie. It kind of messed everything up because we were going to try to do some shows with John prior to Bernie’s accident.

L. D.: Is John still into UFOs and aliens?

Robert: Of course. He has always been so nothing’s changed, he’s the same person but we try to keep it positive so that we can function again as a band. Juan Garcia is really busy right now doing Body Count and he’s also doing Evildead, they will probably be doing some touring. As for who should be replacing Bernie if we did decide to do something, they were speaking with the original guitar player from the first album, Kurt Kolfelt who plays in Zeke and they’re really busy, too. So it’s kind of hard to get everybody on the same page. I’m not an original member of Agent Steel so if they get another bass player in, I’m cool with it too because I’m an Agent Steel fan and I would love to see them…

L. D.: …With Chuck Profus on drums perhaps…

Robert: It wouldn’t happen because Chuck has got some health issues and that keeps him from playing.

L. D.: Is there any chance for Agent Steel to write new songs and to make another album at some point?

Robert: Probably not. We’ve talked about wanting to do some shows. Rigo Amezcua will be probably playing drums.

L. D.: Hopefully you will come to Hungary then.

Robert: Oh yeah, when the time comes. If it ever comes together, it really has to do with the booking agent and it has nothing to do with us wanting to come here. I can want to come here but if nobody’s willing to pay the right money for us to come then it’s not going to happen.

L. D.: Are Agent Steel and Masters of Metal two different bands or is it the same thing?

Robert: Let’s just put it this way, Masters of Metal was supposed to be an Agent Steel album. All those songs were supposed to be Agent Steel songs. Unfortunately, it didn’t come together like that and we wanted to keep our own stuff going. We didn’t want to have to go back and forth with the name because it’s basically John’s name. He and Juan did it together but we didn’t really want to keep going back and forth with that, that’s why we used Masters of Metal. Bernie’s never sang on an album in his whole life but he did an amazing job. AMAZING! He sang on the demos that we did because we were trying to find a singer and we sent them out to people. There were people interested actually that were going to sing for us but that just didn’t happen. And I liked the way Bernie’s sounded on the demos so much that I just told him to sing. So he ended up taking it on. We only got to do three shows with Bernie, which is fucking sad because he worked so hard to be able to play and sing, he was trying really fucking hard and it was not easy and we actually pulled it off. We did one show when we opened for Death To All at the House of Blues in Hollywood. It actually came out really good, it was a good show. We did another one with Hatriot at a small club in LA and that was really good. And then we did a show with Hirax in Los Angeles, in Hollywood, at a place called The Key Club which is no longer anymore and that one came out great, too. We have footage of it so we are going to put some videos for some of the fans.

L. D.: No offense but I don’t think you could go on without Bernie.

Robert: Masters of Metal was Bernie. We considered using other singers and other guitar players to take over the spots. It’s still up in the air right now. We’d love to do it because we feel like if we do continue the name and the legacy, we’re going to do it for Bernie.

L. D.: And haven’t you even started working on an album with him?

Robert: Okay, I’ll tell you the story. Basically, Bernie recorded the album. He had it on his hard drive when the accident happened so we didn’t have the files. He had them on his hard drive and we couldn’t get to his computer because he knew the password and we didn’t know it. And he was already in a hospital. So we basically had to go around another way and get the songs and have Bill Metoyer mastered them for us. And then we ended up sending the album to the record label. The accident happened literally a week before we were supposed to send the files to Metal Blade. It was devastating. Walking in there and seeing Bernie like that was fucking horrible, I hated that shit. We didn’t even know what to do, the record label was waiting for the files and we couldn’t get the files, everybody was freaking out. So we had to go around another way and get the songs and that’s what happened. The album, the songs were done, we had just barely finished the freaking album so we didn’t have any more songs, those were all of them.

L. D.: What was the reception of the record like? For me, it was the album of the year.

Robert: Thank you, thank you. Everybody liked it. It took us nine years of work actually.

L. D.: What is happening with Coffin Texts? Is there any chance for a new album?

Robert: We have four songs right now and we’re going to do an EP on Dark Descent. That’s on the shelf right now, waiting at home. We’re in the middle of doing this right now so when we get back home, we will still have to focus on the Possessed stuff but we’re still in the middle of writing one more song with Coffin Texts. The record label is pretty much okay with waiting for it because they know you can’t rush good songs. We have songs written, they’re waiting and we already know we’re going to record them with Bill Metoyer. So we’re just moving along. We’re doing this right now so we’ve got to get back home and then we’ll probably focus on Possessed a little bit and we wanted to try to record the Coffin Texts stuff for December but we’re so busy with Possessed right now we’ll probably have to move it back until January.

L. D.: Does this mean that Possessed is your main band right now?

Robert: Yeah. I love Coffin Texts, we’ve tried to come to Europe a couple of times and it just did not happen. We needed a certain amount of money for us to make it happen.

L. D.: It may be a stupid question but are you proud of playing with Jeff Becerra?

Robert: Yeah. I didn’t listen to Possessed until 1988-89. Emilio was approached by Jeff to do Possessed with the Sadistic Intent crew. I was happy and proud of him that he did it. And it worked for a while but I guess they had to go their own way and it opened the door for me so I’m happy to be on board.

L. D.: Would you say that the sheer aggression and brutality of Seven Churches can top Hell Awaits in terms of both sound and songwriting?

Robert: Yeah, I mean both albums are really good. Two big fucking monsters, can’t really say what’s better than the other one. Both are very great, very well written albums. I did a Slayer cover band for a little bit so it kept me on my feet. I sucked all that in, Slayer and Possessed. I know Jeff’s not too happy about that but it is what it is. I got influenced by a lot of different stuff, not just Slayer and Possessed. Growing up, all I played was Iron Maiden. I started playing when I was sixteen, I’m going to be fifty this year. I try to suck everything in.

L. D.: Thank you very much for taking your time, Robert. Do you have any last words or message to the Hungarian readers?

Robert: Thank you guys for the interview in the first place. I can’t wait to go up there and tear it up for Hungary. I want to thank you for all the support we’ve got from Hungary. Thank you so much, we will be back. Just keep it fucking DEATH METAL!