DEICIDE Drummer On HOFFMAN Brothers: 'Those Guys Can F**k Off And Stay F**ked Off'

Australia's PyroMusic.net recently conducted an interview with DEICIDE drummer Steve Asheim. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

PyroMusic.net: Given all the things that have happened to Glen [Benton] in recent years, could you have chosen any other title for the album than "Till Death Do Us Part"?

Steve Asheim: (Laughs) I don't think so. You know, lyrics and titles is kind of his department, so I know where he's coming from, he's a double meaning type of guy. Especially, he loves to play on words and stuff like that. And like you said, knowing his recent past and what's kinda going on with him, this was almost an obvious, a blatantly obvious choice for topics and titles.

PyroMusic.net: Few things in the band's history have gone completely smoothly, yet the new album seems to have been written, recorded and released quite quickly. What enabled this to happen?

Steve Asheim: You know, like you said it was pretty much a miracle that this record got done under the circumstances. Because technically there wasn't really a band, because Ralph is in OBITUARY, Jack's doing the ADRIFT record and Glen is sidelined with his situation, so it kind of... I was just bored out of my mind, and thought that there's obviously nothing going on and I've gotta do something or I'm gonna go nuts, well I'll just write this record to at least get it out of the way. And you know, the writing process happened fast, I mean it went from not having a single idea to the record being completely demoed in about three weeks. Handed it off to the guys so they could get started working on it, and from that point it actually took Glen about another seven months to write lyrics for it. I had already started recording the drums. I got into the studio, started laying tracks and it was seven months until the record was done, yet we had only spent sixteen days in the studio with the studio time, which was stretched out over more than a half a year period. So it was kind of frustrating, but it came together easily just 'cause the material was assembled and ready to go. The process was just dragged out.

PyroMusic.net: A press release came out around the time of the album which said it was going to be "DEICIDE's most savage and aggressive offering to date". Do you think you've achieved that?

Steve Asheim: I think we've achieved that, yeah. I think we hit an area where we were able to maintain our core sound and attitude, yet tweak it a little bit to at least make a progression. And I think definitely the viciousness of the material and the attitude of the lyrics and the sinister feel, the less melodic feel of the leads compared to "Stench" or something like that, definitely made this record that much more harrowing and creepy than "Stench" was I think, but no less big in its scope of ideas. I think it's a better record than "Stench", I do think "Till Death" is our best record.

PyroMusic.net: You parted ways with the Hoffman brothers a few years ago. Do you still speak with those guys anymore, or not at all?

Steve Asheim: Not at all! (laughs) That was a pretty brutal split there. There were lawyers, lawsuits, threats and all this bullshit, it was pretty ugly. And in the end, they were all just making trouble for the sake of making trouble. So no, those guys can fuck off and stay fucked off. I say that harshly, but I'd say eventually we'll have some contact, but to what extent, who knows.

PyroMusic.net: To say Glen is a controversial figure in extreme metal is putting it lightly, yet the two of you have remained musical partners for two decades now. What do you think has kept the two of you together as a unit and working so efficiently?

Steve Asheim: Yeah, I think we both have so much time and effort invested in the band, it's like for both of us, this is our world, you know? It's almost like we're joined at the hip because of DECIDE and that has become a permanent bond. We've become good friends, and, you know, we annoy the shit out of each other, I'm sure too there's always that problem but you know, we've been through the fucking wringer together and that's something that just doesn't go away. So that bond is permanent, I think.

Read the entire interview at PyroMusic.net.