Gore, Grind, and Guts: An Exclusive Interview with Maniac Neil!
When you think death metal and horror movies combined, and the folks who link the two together on albums, you’d maybe recall the late and legendary Killjoy of Necrophagia. Perhaps even Will Rahmer of Mortician. However, there’s one name which gets overlooked usually, and it’s a fella who’s been working on the scene since the early 2000s.
Maniac Neil, the disturbed individual who blasted guitar, movie samples and more through Frightmare (who I reviewed a while ago – see Frightmare: Midnight Murder Mania album review here), Bloodfreak, Lord Gore (see Blood-Drenched Beats: Exploring the Album ‘The Resickened Orgy’ from Lord Gore here), Whore, and more recently, Dripping Decay.
Around the early 2000s, I found the Frightmare debut CD in a gloomy record shop at the top of the road. (I’ve mentioned this crusty, dusty, dark place before in a previous review. The proprietor had a bottle of pills under the counter, “…in case things get too much.” and once watched the owner of the restaurant next door out back of the building masturbating a dog). The shop specialised in hard-to-find albums and CDs. I’d already found Death, Cradle of Filth, and Gorerotted courtesy of his dusty boxes, so imagine my heart leaping with thrills and chills upon seeing the cover for this beauty.
Maniac Neil projects use horror samples carefully. They are not too over-the-top and connect to the actual tune itself. As for the music? Extreme guitars make your brain rupture, and the pace of the noise is just what you need.
Neil is currently between bands — Dripping Decay disbanded recently. He’s in the beginning stages of his next graphic chugging metal mutant.
Greetings, thanks for this interview. Welcome to Severed Cinema. First off, what have you been up to today?
Hey! Thanks for the interview! Lately I’ve been working on the debut full length by my new band Noxious Mutation. It’s disgusting goregrind/death metal. I do guitar, vocals, and drum programming and my buddy Damon does bass, vocals, and lyrics. It’s similar in style to bands like Mortician, Catasexual Urge Motivation, and early Gore Beyond Necropsy. Low-tuned blasting grind!
I’ll be buying it as soon as possible, believe me. Horror and metal are definitely two core ingredients that maketh you. You’ve been brilliantly mixing the two since the early 2000s from Frightmare onwards. Personally, I love the way the movie samples aren’t overlong unlike, say, Mortician, that sometimes drags, your sound bites also work with the songs. What made you decide to slap the two brutal genres together?
Well, I’ve been a horror movie fan since the ‘80s. My Dad was a huge fan of horror, and we’d rent VHS tapes and see them in the theatre all the time. I was watching things like Hellraiser, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Fly, The Shining, Dawn of the Dead, etcetera when I was like 7 and 8 years old. I started getting into metal when I was around 9 or ten. Bands like Metallica, Slayer, Judas Priest, and Sepultura. I started playing guitar at the age of twelve and around that time I started getting into heavier bands. I really gravitated towards death metal because it was like a combo of horror and metal, lyrically and musically. So, when I started my own bands, it made sense to add those elements together.
What’s the genesis of your guitar magic? When did you start, and which bands were the earliest to drill into your cranium?
I started playing guitar when I was twelve. My first electric guitar was a Cort “Effector.” My mom bought it for me at a local pawn shop. It was a cheap Gibson Explorer knock with a bunch of effects built into it, none of which worked. Haha. I got it because it looked like James Hetfield’s guitar. At that time, I was heavily into bands like Metallica, Slayer, and Sepultura.
What’s your go-to horror decade, or decades?
Definitely the ‘70s and ‘80s. About 90% of all the horror I love is from those two decades.
Same. Do you ever delve into the extreme horror genre, or real death documentary stuff?
I can get into some more extreme stuff. I like stuff like, A Serbian Film for example. The real gore stuff not so much. There was a time when I was around fifteen or sixteen that I got knee-deep into that stuff. I rented and watched all of the mondo gore films like Traces of Death and Death File: Black. I feel like I got that out of my system then and I don’t really have any interest in it much anymore. I like gore FX not real death. That stuff is depressing to me (laughs).
Speaking of depressing, what’s your opinion about modern horrors? There’s a couple of decent ones floating around but the scene as a whole?
For the most part I stick to the ‘70s and ‘80s stuff. But there are some exceptions of course. There’s usually a handful of great horror flicks that come out every year that I enjoy. For example, this year I really dug The Substance. It was over-the-top body horror with great practical effects. Some parts reminded me of Frank Henenlotter in his heyday. I highly recommend it.
I haven’t seen that yet, I’ll check it. Off the top of my head, it’s only the Hatchet and Terrifier films of recent memory which have really brought that element of entertainment and gore back. Do you think one of the key missing ingredients to most is the ‘70s and early ‘80s anything goes, throw shit at the wall hope it sticks school of thought so long as it’s fun, no matter how nasty?
Definitely. I hope the era of safe PG-13 horror is coming to an end with more extreme stuff like the Terrifier movies and The Substance becoming so popular. I do think people are tired of the watered-down accessible shit. I personally don’t ever think it will get back to the heights of the ‘70s and ‘80s though.
What’s your top five movies?
It changes but right now I would say:
1. Robocop (1987)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
3. Street Trash (1987)
4. Videodrome (1983)
5. The Thing (1982)
Ever been offered a part in a movie or the soundtrack?
Not yet. Haha. I would love to do some music for a movie though. That sounds like it would be a blast!
Frightmare, Lord Gore, Bloodfreak, Dripping Decay — so many bands. What’s been your personal favourite band for music and overall experience?
Probably Frightmare. I had so much fun making those two albums. I got to combine my love for early ‘80s slasher movies, death metal, grind, punk, and thrash metal. I think those albums have some of my best songs on them as well. I was also in my early 20’s, and life was pretty stress free and fun (laughs).
I missed Maniac Killer. Tell us a bit about that early project.
Maniac Killer was a solo project I started back in the late ‘90s and lasted until around 2001. Just totally insane down tuned, spastic, sample filled, drum machine goregrind. A compilation of all the recordings came out on CD in 2004 on No Escape Records.
Other than guitar, what’s your other instruments of torture?
I play bass, keyboards/synths, do some vocals. I used to play drums, but I haven’t really much in the past fifteen years or so.
I noticed later Bloodfreak and Dripping Decay, the horror samples kind of took a back seat. Was that a way to explore more avenues?
The first two Blood Freak albums had quite a bit of samples. I started to pull them back a bit on Multiplex Massacre. I think I wanted the music to speak for itself a bit more. For the Dripping Decay stuff, I pretty much dropped them completely. I’m bringing some samples back with my new project Noxious Mutation though.
What’s the story behind Dripping Decay’s video for Sadistic Excruciator? That’s a bad ass fucking compilation!
I made that. I just gathered a bunch of gore clips from various old school horror flicks and spliced them together. I tried to make them follow the pace and structure of the song. It was my first time doing a music video, I think it turned out really well.
You’re like the Chas Balun of metal, your passion for your craft and art is so deep.
Wow! Thanks! That’s a huge compliment! I’m a huge Chas. Balun fan. I was lucky enough to work with him on the cover art to the first Blood Freak album. It’s sad he isn’t with us anymore. A true legend.
He was one of the best guides pre internet for all the best juicy horrors for me. All his projects were just so pure crimson. Speaking of which, what’s your upcoming projects?
Right now, I have a new project called Noxious Mutation. It’s a drum machine goregrind/death grind band with some cool horror inspired synth interludes sprinkled in. It’s in the vein of stuff like Catasexual Urge Motivation, old Gore Beyond Necropsy, and Mortician. Lot’s more ripping leads and dive bombs though. Ha! It’s me on guitar, drum programming, synths, and vocals, and my buddy Damon doing bass, vocals, and lyrics. I’m really stoked about how it turned out. It’s definitely the most extreme stuff I’ve done in years. The album is titled Chunkblower. A little tribute to Chas.
What’s the scene like around you for metal and horror?
The scene is fine, I guess. I honestly don’t go to a lot of local shows anymore. I much prefer the Portland scene back fifteen or twenty years ago. I just don’t have any interest anymore. I’m the same way with music as I am with movies, I stick to the old stuff. Repulsion, Impetigo, Pungent Stench, Mortician, Hemdale etcetera.
Do you ever get to any horror conventions?
Not really. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any in the Pacific Northwest where I live. It’s a shame because it would be fun to go to one.
Gruesome art is another thing you do. Have you designed most of the past logos and covers?
I dabble in art. I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid. I’ve done some logo designs, inside and back art on albums, t-shirt designs, and show fliers. It’s all mostly for my own stuff though. I have recently done a few tattoo designs and one album cover design for an outside band. That was pretty fun.
Away from music and horror, what’s your life filled with?
Working, that’s about it. Music and horror pretty much takes up all of my free time (laughs).
This has been brilliant. Thanks so much for taking the time out for Severed Cinema. Last question: who’s Neil Smith?
Thanks for the interview! I’m just some weirdo that loves old fucked up horror movies and gross death metal and grind. Cheers!
