Castle Freak Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Castle Freak is a 4 peice 'grinding death punk' band from Philadelphia formed in 2012 by myself and Cape of Bats mastermind, Francis O'Kane, but now consisting of myself, bassist Dylan Zdanavage, guitarist Zak Carter, and drummer Pierson Roe.  We take the best elements from grind, crust & death metal, chew it up and spit it right back in your stupid faces. We support monster movies and dead things.

2.So far the band has released a demo and an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how do they differ from each other?
The 2012 demo is way more straight foreward, yet very simple, Repulsion worship with elements of Obituary and Slayer hidden inside. Still Rotting is much more complex and is rich in genre influence. Still Rotting has bits and peices of bands like Carnivore, Discharge & Autsopy sewn together to make a Frankentein's monster of an EP. While both great and sales worthy, the two are very different because the first demo was going to be released and that was it. The band was going to cease to exist... but naturally we just couldn't help oursleves and decided to keep at it. As most human beings do as we grew older our pallets grew as well. That is why you see much more variety and deversity in our music on the Still Rotting EP. (Which will b available through Tridroid Records come October 7th. [Though you can pre-order now!])

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
In the past it's mostly been a little cliche. We're just another death metal band who sings about zombies and exploding heads, and creepy crawlies (but never a date to the formal). I think as time rolls on and as our well of lyrical concepts dries up I think we'll be focusing more on zombies, exploding heads and creepy crawlies.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Castle Freak'?
Frank opened his mouth and out in came. The movie has nothing to do with it.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over  the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We shared the stage back in late August with some of Philadelphia's finest in Slutlust & Incisor to open for Michigan's Wastelander. It was our drummer Pierson's 21st so we took the liberty of getting pretty drunk and rowdy well before we played. I feel like I hit somebody with a folding chair but I can't remember. There's just something magical about kicking your friends in the face from a stage while trying to maintain your balance.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We have a show in Baltimore @ The Metro Gallery with Ilsa, Horrendous, Cemetery Piss & Bestial Evil on October 18th. That's all we have to announce at this time. As far as a tour it's something we'd definitely like to in the not so distant future.

7.According to the fb page the band is signed to Tridroid Records, do you feel this label has been a lot of help for getting the bands music out there heard?
The guys from Tridroid are all really good dudes, and for a young label they seem to be doing a pretty good job.  Obviously they're still a young label so they're still ironing out the kinks but they definitely have potential.  One good thing we can say about Tridroid, however, is through them we met our pal, Curt from Dewar PR, who's been helping us with getting our stuff out there. Sending it to cool places like Decibel & nocleansinging.com.  He's been a huge help and is an awesome guy to work with.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal, grindcore and punk?
As far as I can tell it's been generally positive, which is very cool. What's even cooler I think is that no one of punk, death metal or grindcore really likes it anymore than the other, it's got equal appretation on all fronts, which is what my goal was. Mass appeal madness with good intentions I guess.

9.What is going on with some of the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are involved with?
Our bassist Dylan currently plays in the bands Slutlust, Cape ov Bats and Krieg, and our drummer Pierson currently plays in the psych rock band Village.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We've been talking about a full length for a while but it's all just talk right now so I can't accurately give any time frame for that. I'd like to think we'll start working on it as early as mid-2015 but you never know. Our musical style will not be changing drastically anytime soon. I think we've got something good it's just a matter of shaping our mold.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We're very big on Repulsion & Carnivore, OSDM, Grind and D-Beat. I've been listening to a lot of Philadelphia's 'Coffin Dust' & Portland's 'Splatterhouse' lately (who are both absolutely incredible.)

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I'm an avid fan of pro-wrestling, which I feel like people might smirk at a little bit. I feel like most guys who are into death metal would be into Japanese hardcore wrestling. Nothing screams death and pain like a pirahna death match...

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yeah, Chris Kennedy from Philadelphia's Occult 45, I'm gonna knock you silly with a folding chair the next time we play a set together, buddy. You're gonna be seeing stars.