General Surgery - Your favorite surgeons
Intervju - 24.04.2012 -
General Surgery har akkurat sluppet ny skive. Kort forklart er jo dette en samling med mye rart fra oppigjennom årene.Jeg sendte dermed inn ett intervju til bandet -og i retur så viste det seg å være trommis Dr. Mitroulis som hadde besvart mine spørsmål. Name: Dr. Mitroulis
Equipment onstage: Drums, backing vocals
Favorite band: Bad Religion
Favorite album: Kiss - Crazy Nights
Beer of the century: Punk IPA by Brewdog
Hi! Congratulations with the new compilation disc «A Collection of Depravation»! Since this is the first interview I do with you guys in General Surgery this would be the golden opportunity for you to perhaps introduce the band for the unknown reader and listener. How would you describe the music and the other guys in the band?
Hi! Thanks. The band consists a bunch of drunken surgeons that wants to play brutal music and having a good time. And we will probably continue doing this as long as it's fun. And gory
death metal is fun for sure.
What does this disc really consist of? There is a shitload of tracks, including some coversongs by Carcass, Carnage and Repulsion... Could you give us some inside information about what releases this really is?
This compilation contains the sold out splits with The County Medical Examiners, Filth, and Machetazo. Also outtakes from the two studio albums and the Butcher ABC split session are included. It's a very cool compilation. Even the sound is better than the originals.
The amount of hours with work laid down in this magnificent prosject are extreme i guess. Who writes the music -and lyrics?
You are correct. The music is written by all surgeons and the lyrics are written by our vocalist Dr. Sahlström. The future is full of hours to lay down in our gore.
General Surgery has been loyal to Relapse Records since the Necrology EP came in 1991 actually. How does this work out today? How do you work together -and what is the memories attached to those early years communicating with Relapse Records?
The new compilation is the first thing on our "new" cooperation. A 7" EP will be out soon too and after that we're gonna try to put out our third album. We felt it was obvious to work with Relapse again and they felt the same way. They are easy to work with and so far we are totally happy. I wasn't in the band when Necrology was released, but Relapse is of course the reason of the great success at that time. Maybe the band did a great job with the songs as well.
You actually have been playing together for quite some time now. Can you first tell me why you had a 11-12 years break before continuing your work in 2003?
Maybe I'm the wrong guy to answer this one since I wasn't there, but I guess the members got tired of playing music and had other interests. And some of them had other more important bands.
After these amount of years I might think I would hit the wall and wouldn't be able to write any more. What are the inspirational force behind that keeps the song -and lyricist still write? What inspires the gore and filth in the band?
Sometimes I feel the same. There are periods when you are totally empty and you can't even write a bad riff. But suddenly the inspiration comes back. It can be from a good album or a band yousee live. The lyrical inspiration comes probably from our twisted brains. Ideas pops up and then Dr. Sahlström has to put words to the
insanity. Poor man.
All of you guys have a large amount of past and present projects on your resymè. Have this ever created problems for General Surgery or some of the other bands? I'm really not sure how much grind / death metal bands rehearse these days. Any problems combining these band and projects?
We haven't had any problems really. I have two other bands, and sometimes I play with two or even three bands at the same show. That's kinda tough, but that's my problem. We have learned to plan our rehearsals and put every show in the calendar so there won't be any problem.
[/b]Do you have some great stories to share from touring with General Surgery? I guess in this genre you see alot of strange things traveling around on festivals in Europe?[/b]
I wish I could remember all the shit that happens on tour, or maybe not. Maybe it's better being wasted so you can't remember what happened. One funny thing was when we went to Japan in 2006. We went to a restaurant after the show. Impaled and all the local bands were there with us and we drank like maniacs, snorting food, puking on the table, head butting the wall, spitting booze in each other's mouths. The japanese guys were just staring at us. The worst thing is that we are not like this at all. We usually behave like adults. But apparently not that night. I think we had a great time though.
Thanx for doing this interview with us. Got some last blasphemy, words to the reader or perhaps a cute poem?
Thanks for your support. All readers better get their copy of the new compilation. It's a must have! More gore will come from your favourite surgeons in a near future. Stay happy!