Interview with death metal band from Japan - DEFILED.
Answered Yusuke Sumita (guitar), thank you!
Recenze/review - DEFILED - Horror Beyond Horror (2024):
Ave DEFILED! Greetings to the catacombs of Tokyo! When I was preparing for this interview, I found all the albums I have from you guys over the weekend. I found out (and a friend confirmed it) that the first demo that came to us was the 1994 recording "Defeat of Sanity". You know what's interesting? I haven't found a single weak record in your entire discography. How is that possible? Do you have a recipe for that? You've kept the bar of quality so high for so many years.
Hey there! This is Yusuke, the guitarist of DEFILED. Let's start this interview. First of all, I would like to thank you for your words. Our early albums were written when we were young, so we were not as experienced as we are now. But there was also a purity and power because of our youth. We may have changed and grown in a positive way, but our basic direction has not changed at all since the band was formed. We have had a solid musical concept and have been consistent with it for over 3 decades. Whenever there’s a line-up change, a slight change was inevitable because of replacing to the different players, but as long as the music is released under the DEFILED banner, the basic direction will remain consistent. If we want to move to a different style of music, we will use a different band name. We have no plans to do so at this time.
We've only been waiting a year for this year's full-length album "Horror Beyond Horror". You released it on Season of Mist, and I must admit I was very impatient. Even though I'm still listening to your previous album "The Highest Level". Did you have so much material composed or did you "suffer" from overproduction that you released two albums right after each other? Personally I'm glad, it just took me a bit to digest everything.
Thank you for waiting for our release. Having such loyal fans motivates us a lot.
Yes, we have tons of rough demos composed in stock. It is easy for us to make an album with 10 songs. But each album will be about 30 minutes long. Then people will complain that the album is too short. One thing is for sure, we don't write songs longer than 5 minutes. If the songs are 3 to 4 minutes long, you can keep your concentration and enjoy the content of the songs. Some people often point out that a 3-minute song is too short, and we find their complaints annoying. We want you to judge our songs by the content, not by the length. Even if the song is short, we don't play grind-core where we just scream for 20 seconds and that's it. Again, we want them to be judged on content, not the number and length of songs.
Anyway, the album "Horror Beyond Horror" is out and immediately ranked among my most played albums. Listening to it, you feel like you've stepped back on a timeline to the 90s. It is excellent! How was it made? And how does DEFILED actually create new material?
I am glad that you like our new songs. As the founder and composer of the band, ideas come from inspiration in my head. The golden time to get inspiration is when I just woke up in my bedroom. Nowadays everyone can easily record and edit their music with DTM, but I don't dare to do that. The instant composition by "copy and paste" in DTM is not pure creation. I repeat the ideas in my head over and over again and make a diagram of the composition with paper and pencil. Based on that, I jam a rough idea with the members in the studio to make the song solid. Sometimes the structure of the song is arranged drastically depending on the final vocal line. Regarding our songs, there are always surprises that are out of the norm. We are a twisted band, so we put in avant-garde elements. Of course there are also traditional elements. The fusion of these traditional and avant-garde elements is the key to our songs.
I always liked the sound of your albums. "Horror Beyond Horror" is no exception. Where did you record the album, it was again at Kenji Kikuchi's Nest Studio. How did you achieve such a dusty and dense sound? Does it look to me as if it was still recorded in analogue or am I wrong? Interestingly, I find the sound of the recording very similar to the previous record "The Highest Level". Do you have a lot of say in how the record should sound or do you leave it up to the sound masters?
Thank you for your words. We are sorry to disappoint you, but this was a digital recording, not an analog tape recording. But we are glad that you got an analog feel. We recorded the live performance without any clicks. We captured the real raw tone of the tube guitar amp and the resonance of the speaker cabinet with air, and the drums were recorded in a natural acoustic tone without any editing or triggering, and each part was recorded in almost one take without any editing. We wanted to record our natural and real playing as it is. Kenji Kikuchi at Studio Nest clearly understood our intentions before he started working, so he mixed exactly what we wanted. We liked the sound production on "The Highest Level" so much that we wanted to keep it that way. Also, everyone in the band is involved in the arrangement of the album. We work as a team.
I'm an old school fan and I'm very big on record covers. "Horror Beyond Horror" is signed by the always excellent artist Wes Benscoter. The theme is so cool to me that I put it on my desktop on my computer. Can you tell us how the motif relates to the music on the album? How did you guys get together and how did the cover for the album come about?
His artwork is pure art. In our opinion, the album artwork has to be related to the theme of the album. In that sense, it is perfect artwork. There are a lot of weird characters in the artwork. If you read our lyrics and look at the artwork, you will enjoy both the artwork and our music more deeply. We could tell you about them in detail, but we won't because it hurts your imagination.
The last original member of the band is guitarist Yusuke Sumita. Is it hard to find musicians in Japan who want to play death metal? You guys also play quite technically, which puts a lot of demands on the individual members. Does that mean that Yusuke has the final say in everything? How are the other members involved in the running of the band? Do they compose new material? Have you ever had submarine sickness? Have you never changed your mind about how your music should sound? You know, some people like blondes, some people like brunettes. Then all it takes is a few more pointed words. Someone once wrote that a band is like a family. How is DEFILED?
Nowadays, it is not so hard to find musicians who can play death metal in Japan. There used to be few, but now there are many. However, most of them are unable to tour because of work, study or family issues. There are very few musicians who can tour for a month or two. There are a bunch of musicians who play in several local bands that only play on weekends. Especially drummers. We're not saying it's wrong, but we don't follow such a way. We don't have a single member who plays in other bands. We can tour for a month or two and all members are only committed to DEFILED. That’s very important for our activity. Some people have likened the band to a family. We fully agreed with that. The relationship between our members is exactly like a family. We play together, we travel together, we eat together, we sleep together. If we’re not like a family, touring wouldn't be possible.
The good thing about today is that we have the internet. I mean, I don't know about that, but at least I can watch your shows remotely. It's not the same, the sound on youtube is always so weird, but according to all the information available - you mainly perform only at big festivals? I'll be honest, I'd really like to see you live, but there's no place. You're not going on tour? I would imagine you, ASPHYX and maybe you can take AUTOPSY. It would be a dream come true. No, seriously - DEFILED and concerts? What would you say about a European tour with a stop in the Czech Republic?
We are happy to play anywhere, big venues, small clubs, etc. The sound on youtube is so weird, they have shitty filters that make the sound bad, especially their compressor kills the sound. We hate the culture of listening to music and judging it on youtube. We prefer to listen to music on CDs or vinyl with a decent audio system. Of course we want to tour Europe, but we have to be very careful because the "profit and loss" depends on the tour conditions and ticket sales. The last time we played in the Czech Republic was April 20th 2004 in Prague as part of a 5 week European tour with MAYHEM. We also played there in 2000 with DEMENTOR and had a great time with INGROWING, INTERVALLE BIZZARE and FLESHLESS. We will try our best to get back there, so stay tuned.
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend in the pub about how crazy everything has changed in the last few years. Everyone has the internet in their pocket, young people are more influenced by pictures and videos than music and lyrics. Nobody reads much, we agreed that a lot of things are more superficial. Maybe it's different in Japan, but here in the Czech Republic I encounter it every day. It's no different in music. How do you perceive the changes in society as a musician? We have a lot of new technology, recording studios are better equipped, ideas can be sent over the internet.
The advancement of technology has its pros and cons. The internet is a game changer and it's been a revolution to be able to easily send musical ideas and files to members who are far away. However, we believe that subscriptions like Spotify and Youtube are the worst platform that will eventually ruin the music industry and bands. We know there's a lot of controversy about this and we're not going to argue about it here. Sorry for the negative talk. We think a lot of people have less time to read books and think deeply for themselves and everyone has become so miserable slaves to SNS and their smartphones. As you said, a lot of things have become superficial. But that doesn't mean we should only care about the superficial things when we write songs. Even if most people don't need to read the lyrics and see our music as a disposable, one-off, free consumer product, we don't care about that. Besides, most death metal bands don't sing lyrics clearly, and fans don't expect them to either. They just snarl like dogs and pigs. That's cool for them. They can do whatever they want. On the other hand, there are loyal diehard fans who read the lyrics deeply and understand why we are committed to such a non-standard composition, unique sound production and style that cannot be imitated. As long as there are loyal fans who appreciate and enjoy our music, we believe our creative work is worthwhile.
It's a different world, also in terms of labels, publishing houses. DEFILED are a band that for me is synonymous with underground death metal. We have bandcamp, youtube, labels can spread your music faster and it reaches more people. But you know, vinyl is vinyl, cassette and CD has its charm too. Have you had to change your approach to releasing your music in any way? Or are you still going old school and the new stuff leaves you cold?
Sorry, I answered most of this question in the previous answer. 2024 is in a transition period where the music industry is in chaos. Things have changed with free music. We don't have to buy CDs or vinyls to listen to new music. CDs and vinyls are now for people who want to own their favorite music as a physical collection. So the situation has completely changed. People try to listen to the music they might like on youtube, and if they like it, including the artwork, they buy CDs and vinyls. Marketing has changed a lot. As for us, we still like to buy and listen to CDs and vinyls, yeah, we stick to the old school.
Japan is a country with a very old culture, with traditions. But what about death metal? Are the concerts also underground events for a few visitors like in Europe? What about your fans, when you compare them with the ones you’ve met at concerts around the world? Do they support you?
You are right. Japan is a country with old cultures and traditions. Thank you for mentioning that. As far as gigs are concerned, Japan is no different from Europe. There's a lot of underground gigs in small clubs, low attendance, but it's still fun because we're close to the audience and we can exchange energy directly with each other. The underground is probably almost the same all over the world. And everywhere there is a local metal community. They are enthusiastic and supportive. There is passion, there is friendship, there is energy. It's great. Their support has kept us going for 3 decades.
You founded the band in 1992. You were all at one time at the beginning of something new. I love the old school of death. I like that it’s so dirty, raw. What was the 90s and your beginnings like? Please reminisce for us. What bands did you like to go to, for example? Who were your role models? Feel free to add a funny story, I’m sure you have plenty of them.
I have been a diehard metalhead and hardcore punk big fan since my early teens. I was really into thrash metal. I wanted to start my own band and before starting DEFILED. I was a roadie for a band called LAWSHED. I used to go to the gigs of OUTRAGE, the hero of my youth. I was obsessed when the movement from thrash metal to death metal in the late 80s and early 90s went from SLAYER, POSSESSED, VOIVOD, DARK ANGEL, DEATHROW and KREATOR to SEPULTURA, NASTY SAVAGE and DEVASTATION and with them CANNIBAL CORPSE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, MONSTROSITY and SOLSTICE's debut album. My favorite European bands were MASSACRA, SINISTER, VADER and PESTILENCE. My biggest hero at that time was DEICIDE who had just released "Legion". I still don't know any masterpiece that surpasses "Legion". We have a lot of funny stories. But I am not sure if I can tell them here. Well, I'll tell you one story. It is about the US tour with INCANTATION in 1998. We tried to follow their van to Springfield. We got lost on the road and ended up in Springfield, Missouri by ourselves. But the show was in Springfield, Illinois. After we got to Springfield, Missouri, we realized it was a different city with the same name. So we hurried to Springfield, Illinois and made it just in time. At the gig we met Dave Kibler from LIVIDITY, Von Young from DEADEN and other local heroes for the first time. I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.
I ask this question to every band and I’m really interested in your opinion. What does death metal mean to you? How would you define it? On DEFILED records you can hear a lot that you put everything into your music, that it is played with heart. As a fan I feel that way. So death metal means to you...?
What does death metal mean to me? This is a difficult question for me. I don't deny that DEFILED is categorized as a death metal band. But what death metal means to me is not necessarily what other people think death metal is. I would define my death metal as an evolution of thrash metal. I don't hide the fact that my musical background is based on thrash metal. I think the death metal we play is a kind of thrash metal with a "progressive rock-like" composition and odd time signature, rhythm changes and lots of blast beats. In other words, it is like a toy box filled with all the things I love. Since my youth, my passion has never diminished.
Finally, a classic but important question. What are DEFILED planning in the near future? Possibly, and I firmly believe in this, will we finally see you somewhere on a club tour in Europe?
We have two things in mind. We want to play as much as we can to support the album "Horror Beyond Horror". We are also preparing for our next album which will be finished soon. Touring and writing the album are two wheels for the band. Both are important. We hope to tour Europe in the near future. We will try our best to do what we can. Let's meet somewhere in person and have a beer or two together. We look forward to it.
Thank you very much for the interview. I really appreciate it. I’m an old DEFILED fan and you actually made one of my dreams come true. I wish you a lot of sold out shows, let your fans rip your hands off with merchandise and I will be looking forward to more of your music. I hope to see you live as well. May your personal lives prosper as well. DEFILED RULES!
I feel very honored to have this great opportunity. This is the most passionate interview I have ever had. Thank you for your words. I am touched by all the encouragement. And thank you to everyone who reads this. Please check out “Horror Beyond Horror”. It will be released on September 20th via Season of Mist. Thank you so much.
August 26th 2024
Interviewer : Jakub Asphyx / DEADLY STORM Zine
Interviewee : Yusuke Sumita / DEFILED Guitarist
about DEFILED on DEADLY STORM ZINE:
Recenze/review - DEFILED - Horror Beyond Horror (2024):
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