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Hey sickos, believe me that was awesome to meet a band from New York in Uzhgorod, Ukraine! MUCOPUS was the first US Brutal Death Metal band that entered our country and kicked-out a killer tour with Donetsk brutallers from DATURA! Hope they will return soon to make some more shows for our crazy fans. Until then have a good reading and stay tuned to MUCOPUS. Interview answered by guitarist Justin Knipper.
First of all, please tell us how was the Ukrainian part of your almost 2-month long Euro tour. What place(s) you liked the most (crowd-, treat-wise)? Where you met the most insane fans?
- I thought the entire Ukrainian part of the tour was pretty insane - it was quite an honor to be the first brutal death band from the US to do a full tour there. Kharkov and Donetsk were particularly crazy in terms of people saying crazy things... But our collective favorite was our first show in Il'ichevsk. Very surreal.
How did you feel yourselves in the tour-bus alongside with DATURA? What is your opinion about their kind of musical activity?
- Riding with the DATURA guys was great, really cool guys with a really brutal style of music. They play a very solid US-style of death metal in the vein of old DEEDS OF FLESH... I liked it very much. They rule!
Any funny stories you've got involved altogether?
- Maybe Kyle accidentally ripping the tiling off of Anton's (guitarist of DATURA) apartment while taking a piss. That was pretty good.
Also point out the most memorable gigs in the countries of Western Europe? Is there any big difference between the fans, e.g. if you compare Ukrainian fans to European and/or US fans?
- I think the ethics and show etiquette is much different in Ukraine compared to Germany or the Czech Republic. For example, playing a show in Germany you kind of know what to expect as an American, as opposed to Ukraine where you have no idea what will happen just because the people are so hungry for death metal and shows don't seem to be as constant there as other Western European countries.
You've played a lot of big festivals this year as a headliner band, like Deathfest (Germany), Slovak Deathfest III, Ludwigshafen Deathfest, etc. Which was the best-organized one in your opinion?
- I think that all of the festivals we played this year were excellent, the organization was great at each one... But in particular my favorite was the Ludwigshafen Deathfest - there were tons of people we knew there and a big crowd of people that was itching to see us and hadn't yet. It was a really good time.
Your debut album "Mulch?!?" was released by Japanese Amputated Vein Records. How this deal came about? Are you satisfied with the label's job? Don't you mind to co-operate with the label further? - We met Amputated Vein through playing the first ever Tokyo Deathfest in 2005, and after our performance we were immediately signed. We are quite satisfied with the hard work and professional ethics from AVR and we couldn't ask for much more for our debut release. We hope to work with them in the future somehow.
What is the meaning of the word "Mulch?!?" and how it sticks to the cover artwork?
- The cover art and the album title don't really go hand-in-hand. The album cover we used was drawn by original guitarist Ernie Rau that was intended to be used for a split with fellow NY band CLITORTURE. CLITORTURE broke up as the split was about to be released so we just decided to take their name from the picture and use it as our own. The one thing we plan on for the new album though is to have the artwork and lyrics to go together well, not just be randomly placed as they were a bit with our debut album.
Your music is quite groovy and technical at the same time. On "Mulch?!?" I would describe it as an awesome mix between DYING FETUS- and CRYPTOPSY-like brutality, of course, spiced up with a big amount of originality. What do you think about it?
- Thank you so much for the compliments - we all were weened on FETUS and CRYPTOPSY so it is an absolute honor to be compared to them. It is hard to say what we sound like coming from my personal view, just because I feel as though I hear something much different than anyone else hears because I am the one writing the stuff... I think any musician would know what I am talking about. I feel our new material is traveling to a different area in terms of sounds but we will definitely keep our definitive "Mucopus" stomping sound, just adding new textures and feelings to the mix.
What inspires you to write such killer songs? Name us your influences (be it music, books, movies, whatever you think might inspires you).
- Everything inspires us, definitely books and movies as well as other bands (peers or not). We feed from lots of different sources as we all have different personalities.
Most of you still or were involved in other bands as well. You play in WASTEFORM, Kyle played a tour with INTERNAL BLEEDING, Corey doing ORGAN HARVEST, Adam is a member of GORATORY. Tell us more about these co-operations (future plans and info that could be interesting for the readers). - Not too sure what is going on with our other bands - in a few weeks we will continue writing the new MUCOPUS CD slated for a summer release next year. Adam is also working hard with his other band SEXCREMENT and hopefully some new GORATORY will resurface next year as well. 
How did you find Vesgore? What should we know about his musical background (previous bands, projects, interests, etc.)?
- Vesgore was a very close friend of the band for many years and he also had a digital grind band called DROWN RETARDED CHILDREN that we played many shows with. He was pretty much the only person that could fill Ernie Rau's shoes and he has been nothing but an excellent edition to the band. If Vesgore didn't join forces with MUCOPUS, we most likely would have stayed a 4-piece. What do you do in your free time besides playing in different kind of bands? Jobs, hobbies…
- We are all going through different jobs at the moment, odd jobs until we go back out on the road. Corey is a plumber, Kyle is a waiter, Vesgore designs boxes and I am a security guard at a fashion store.
- I am not too sure what exactly will happen as far as doing more than just a split with Grindethic - we talked about releasing the split at Obscene Extreme 2006 and thought it would be a cool idea. Grindethic have a lot to put out before us though, like the new DEFEATED SANITY and new GORATORY. Hopefully the split will surface sometime next year... MINCING FURY will record some songs soon and we will compile some extra material for it as well.
What were the reasons to depart for your former members (Rich Manziello, Ernie Rau) and later on Jason Keyser ( SKINLESS vocalist)? - Well Jason is still the main MUCOPUS vocalist... He could not participate in the European tour this year as he was on tour with SKINLESS internationally... Adam was a very good friend of ours and we asked him to do it months before the tour, so his spot was only temporary and special for the European tour. Our original vocalist Rich Manziello had some issues with drugs and the like and had to be removed from the band in early 2005 directly after the recording of "Mulch?!?" and Ernie Rau quit in late 2005 for personal reasons (career in tattoo industry, etc.).
What is the Death Metal scene like in NY? Any newcomers you might recommend for us?
- It is quite strong in terms of number of bands - from the area we live in there are tons of great bands as well as down in NYC. Newcomers: ORGAN HARVEST, SEXCREMENT (Massachusetts), ANIMAL RAMPAGE (Massachusetts). Why did it take so long for you to record your debut CD? I mean you played the album's repertory for about 4 years. Was it due mainly to line-up problems or...
- Generally it was due to line-up problems... We had many changes within the first 4 years. We started to become a stable band as soon as Kyle and Corey joined in early 2004. By then it took us about 1 year to record the CD.
Is the current line-up stable? Will Adam be a part of MUCOPUS in the future?
- I am sure we will work somehow with Adam in the future, but as far as today goes, the line-up is Vesgore, Kyle, Corey, Jason and I. We will see how everything works out next year.
Who is the main songwriter in the band or you do it together jamming in the rehearsal room?
- We don't really have a main songwriter in MUCOPUS. We all have lots of ideas and equal contribution. Corey and I always have lots of riffs, and Kyle has tons of drum ideas so lately everything has been very collective. Jason has written most of the lyrics to the new songs and I have helped contribute to writing some as well.
Name us 5 of your all-time favorite albums, movies and books.
- I don't really have 5 of each.... But I can definitely name one of each - Movie: Izo; Book: Hyperion; Album: GORGUTS - Obscura.
Nowadays more and more people, bands, record labels, magazines, etc. using the growing services of MySpace! In my opinion it's an awesome opportunity to get known better and meet interesting people on the net, who might not be found otherwise. It makes people really close, sometimes you even get a "big family" feeling. How do you feel about MySpace and its possibilities? - It is the future of band-networking and has done a lot of great things for many bands. It is definitely vital for bands in the present. (Check out the band's MySpace site here - Ed.) What is your opinion about the Ukrainian metal scene and its bands in general? Any impressions from the bands you shared the stage during your Ukrainian part of the tour.
- I think it's slowly growing, and hopefully more and more great bands will spring up soon. The country is huge and still developing, so I can only see good things ahead for Ukraine and the metal scene.
Well, thanks a lot for the interview. Please finish it with your last mucous pus-addicted wishes to the Ukrainian MUCOPUS fans.
- Thank you for everything and making our Ukrainian part of our tour something we will never forget. Hopefully we will be back sooner or later. And thanks so much to Cornelius and ENCOMIUM!!!!!!
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