Metal Maniacs: You and Geoffrey have been involved in the Dallas scene for quite some time. Though Rape Pillage And Burn was begun 12 years ago, we’re just seeing your first release in 2008’s Songs Of Death…Songs Of Hell. You’d put out a few Infernal Oak things, you’d done (and have now reformed) Divine Eve before. Was Rape Pillage And Burn originally just a way to play some old-school death metal, or was there always the goal of taking the next step?
Micheal Sleavin: In the late ‘80s/early ‘90s when we were kids, it was a small, insular scene. At that time, there were maybe 30 people at any given time, but within that small group were us (as Divine Eve), Absu, and Morbid Scream, so there was a huge amount of music coming out of a tiny amount of people. Tape trading got us hardwired into extreme metal, and I think that holds true for most people our age. That’s one of the cool things in metal that you don’t find really anywhere else – this extensive network of underground tape trading. We’d been around as RPAB for a long time, but things really started once I joined Geoff’s band, Infernal Oak, which was really bombastic, really involved compositions. We found ourselves wanting an outlet for the more primitive, brutal death metal sides of our personalities, thus RPAB was officially born.
MM: The DFW area (and Texas in general) has always had a thriving music metal community, from Morbid Scream, Torture, and Rigor Mortis to the more current days of Absu, Averse Sefira, and Bahimiron. Something in the beer, maybe? How has the scene grown over the years?
MS: I was roadie-ing for Morbid Scream before I was even in a band. You’re right, though. The area we’re all from in North Dallas is an upper middle class part of town, but just because our parents might have had money, we were far from that world. Strangely, we don’t get a lot of the bigger shows coming through. They’ll hop right over Dallas on their way to Austin or Houston. We’ve had a few recently though, which is about the only way to see a lot of the newer blood as opening bands. The underground is here, but as far as true metal goes, it’s gone further so. You have to look harder, but it’s definitely around. .
MM: Richard Cabeza (Dismember, Damnation, Murder Squad, every other damn death metal band in Sweden) was originally planning on heading back to Sweden I know, but what’s the deal behind that? Either way, it got you a kickass bassist in the process. What do you feel he brings to the band as far as the history of the acts he’s been involved with?
MS: With him, there was kind a surreal aspect. I’d met him in the early ‘90s when Dismember was touring, because Divine Eve were friends with Entombed and lots of the European guys through the mail. We’d hang out when they came through on tour and shit. His original plan was to go back to Sweden, so it’s not really so much that he couldn’t go back. He’s got the wife, the kid, the job, and all that here, though. He goes back regularly with Unanimated. Having him in the band is a fantastic thing, of course; as a matter of fact, this incarnation of RPAB kind of formed around Geoff and Rich talking me and Matt into it. None of us have nearly the experience with touring that he does, plus he’s an amazing musician.
MM: You put out the EP on Ibex Moon, but prior to that it was released in 2007 for a whopping $3.99 for download. How did that work out as far as getting the name out, and do you foresee a time when bands will take more control back in the industry and start to put albums out on their own in this format before going to a label to get a hard copy released? It definitely seems you’d make more money on the front end of the deal by doing it that way.
MS: It was kind of a DIY thing we did to gauge if people would be interested to begin with. Doing it fully DIY is really difficult unless you have 24/7 to devote to the project, or can split the work up evenly between members. Working with John [McEntee, Ibex Moon Records] has been great. He’s very well known in the underground, and he’s one who looks away from the mainstream and more to thetruly intense sounding bands, supporting it at a really cool level.
MM: Case in point, the Resurrected In Festering Slime compilation that Soulseller put out (or have they yet?) where everything was done by the bands involved. Whose idea was that, and how did the whole thing come together?
MS: That’s something that evolved over quite a while. Andres contacted us, and the lineup at the time was primarily European bands. It’s also got a lot to do with me wanting RPAB to have something on vinyl. The song will be “1911”, and there’s not a set release date yet, but I know I can’t wait to hear it.
MM: I noticed a lot of Morbid Angel, even some Florida death ala Monstrosity especially in the song “With Venomous Tongues”. What were your inspirations early on, and what bands/musicians tend to inspire you now?
MS: It’s very apocalyptic, very poisonous. It’s something Richard wrote, and you’re right, there’s a definite Autopsy/Morbid Angel flair there. It capped off the EP in a good way, and goes back to the root of what we as a band feel is important. The surface of metal these days is not really that important to me. There are lots of bands that are safe, yet still considered important from an economic standpoint. There’s tons of going through the motions, and hardly anything is pushing the envelope anymore. The one thing that gives
us hope is that, while the commercial aspect has gotten bigger, the underground is still the same. I think it’ll really always stay that way, because the majors have always, always shunned the legit underground stuff.
MM: If you could, delve a little into the stories behind “1911″ and “Wolf Code Pagan”. Seriously, I can’t get the main riff in the latter out of my head. Thanks for that!
MS: “Wolf Code Pagan” goes back the furthest. Some of those riffs were around in the 1997 grouping of the band. It’s all about honor and loyalty to your comrades. Don’t ever leave your brothers on the field. As far as “1911″, it’s about a certain firearm that’s been around for just under 100 years. I enjoy having the freedom to protect myself, and find it comforting that the state in which I live allows its citizens to be armed. Not to go out and start shit, but if shit starts, I want to have that Colt near to speak the truth to whoever needs it.
MM: Do you think that being far from either coastal scenes has given the music of Texas a sort of hermetically sealed chamber in which to incubate, thereby turning itself into a creature with its own sound, its own defining markers. I mean, you hear Averse Sefira, you know they’re not out to follow a path set before them by others. You listen to Agony Column from the early ’80s/’90s, there’s nowhere they could’ve come from but Texas.
MS: I kind of think of it as small bands of people, like the old wagoneers, circling the wagons and shooting out audible hell. The New York scene was very mechanical, very percussive, and more about trying to write songs that outdid the next band. Absu is unique in itself, and Divine Eve – I can’t think of a Texas band that was doing what either of us were doing as far as metal. I’ve always thought that music (and especially the metal underground) should be a legacy. It’s got to be something you can sink your teeth into. It’s not about when it came out, it’s about what it is.
MM: You’re releasing your first full-length this year also through Ibex Moon, titled Audible Hell. How has the band grown since the EP? How are the songs turning out, and what can we expect when the bomb finally drops?
MS: There’ll be a huge difference. For the EP we chose 5 songs out of 7 or 8 that we’d been working on. At this point, we have 6 songs for the album, and I’m sure a couple-three more will end up there also. The material is far superior, and people should know what to expect from a band called Rape Pillage And Burn. The band has matured, and gotten more used to playing with each other under this banner. The new stuff is on the verge of black metal without diving wholeheartedly into a specific genre. There are many forks in the road, and we’ve always chosen the one that’s more extreme. We’re not out to make friends.
