ARIUS
Interview with Matt Moyer, by Dea
Evenbeck
GREETINGS MATT!! WHY DON'T YOU GIVE SOME BACKGROUND INFO. ON
ARIUS.
We're based in Toledo, OH. Arius was first conceived as Eviscerate in 1992, with
founding members: Matt Moyer (guitar), Shane McConnell (drums), Damon Conn
(guitar), and Lucas Kummer (bass). Lucas quickly stepped up to the mic, for
obvious reasons - his vocals could shred the side of a fuckin' tank!! (oh Hell
yeah! -Dea) We played a few local shows and honed our skills. We lost Damon Conn
due to his graduation from BGSU in '93, with a Bachelors in Music Theory! He can
be heard on one of the From The Depths recordings (a Cleveland local death act).
We forged on as a three pierce for a year, before we picked up close friend and
ex Ahriman guitarist, Bryan Autullo. I shifted all my efforts to lead guitar,
which I hadn't done much of in a couple of years. Bryan was a great rhythm
player, with killer chops! We played Toledo shows, got the name around, and
landed a spot on the Michigan Death Fest. After being hailed as one of the,
"Up and comers" we entered RT Audio in Detroit to record, "The
Last Suffer". RT was where the Gutted, "Bleed For Us To Live" was
recorded. The "Last Suffer" was recorded and produced in one weekend.
Thirty hours of hectic recording, and producing!! All done by Arius and engineer
Rob Tylak. This is where much of our personal philosophies about life and
religion intertwined with the pure violence and hatred and aggression lyrically
and musically. We were picked up by Relapse for distribution, but quickly
dropped, because we felt we didn't belong there at the time. They had a lot of
noisy bands back then, with bad production and many horror stories. We released
and promoted the "Suffer" with no support and no money. We did shows
in Cleveland and Detroit and broke out of our small scene. We then went on to
the International Death Fest V in Knocksville, TN. That was about the time that
death metal hit rock bottom. Bands lose their labels, labels folded. We realized
that we may never get signed. These developments forced Bryan to leave the band
in '96. We played on as a three piece scrounging for gigs as local clubs lost
interest and we lost Bryan; our main PR man!! Thusly, I took over the reigns
with a never die attitude! We found a new guitarist in late '97; Matt Davis.
Began gigging and developed Godless Productions to reiginite the Toledo scene.
We struggled through crappy clubs, all out riots, and even a gun fight! We then
began writing for our long time coming CD, "Mask of Sanity". We will
be entering the Studio soon to record a single and then a full length with a few
surprises from our last effort. This will be relased on the Loud N Local label
this winter!
DESCRIBE EACH MEMBER OF ARIUS IN THREE WORDS.
Lucas: High IQ Killer. Shane: Kills everything alive. Matt Davis: The driving
force. (how about shy and quiet? -Dea) Me: Cold, Calous, Calculated. (cold and
calous! no way Matt! -Dea)
WHEN WAS "THE LAST SUFFER" ORIGINALLY RELEASED? TELL US ABOUT ALL
THE WORK PUT IN BEHIND THE SONG, "KEIN GOTT".
"Kein Gott's" lyrics are all in German. "Kein Gott's"
translation is the act of there being no God. Being from Switzerland, where
there are no national religions, Lucas was brought up in a christian society in
America. These views went against the athietic views of the Swiss. So, this
track is Lucas's release of his views of years of Christianity being forced on
him by society when he wasn't brought up to beleive in Christianity. The
national language of Switzerland is German, so he very easily wrote lyrics in
German, and then poured over a German dictionary to make sure each word was
correct. "The Last Suffer" was originally released in '95. The
original name for the band was EVISCERATE, and the title track was the song
"EVISCERATE". Just prior to release, we were contacted by a lawyer
that said we were enfringing on the copyright of an Evicerate in Colorado.
Thusly, we quickly complied and changed our name to Arius, and then the title
track became "The Last Suffer". The name ARIUS came from a Roman
diplomat whose name was Arius. He was the first Roman to deny the divinity of
Christ, and was a principal entity in having him crucified.
JUST TO SATISFY MY CURIOUSITY, WHY DID YOU NOT DO MUCH PROMOTION, AS FAR AS
SENDING THE DEMO OUT TO 'ZINES, AND THAT SORT OF THING?
Back then, our money situation was totally drained, by the cost of recording,
and cutting the first 200 copies. So, we didn't have much money to send out free
copies and such. Another contributing factor was that I was not in charge of
promotions at the time, and a lot of the copies allotted to promotions, went out
to record companies, as this tape was really never intended to be released by
Arius. When death metal took the big dive and no death metal bands were being
picked up by labels, and many labels were folding, we realized that a recording
deal just wasn't going to come our way. Godless Productions was then formed to
promote the band and the death metal scene overall, especially in our area. By
the time this occured, and I took over the reigns, it was '96, and the tape was
already getting dated, although still a great recording. (4 years later, it's
still an awesome recording! -Dea)
I'VE HEARD RUMORS ABOUT YOU GUYS WORKING ON A NEW CD FOR OVER A YEAR NOW.
WHAT'S THE SCOOP ON THAT?
The new CD, tentatively called, "Mask of Sanity" has been on ongoing
project for about a year now. There are eight new songs written, and ready to
go. There has been talk of re-recording a couple of things off, "The
Suffer". The primary barrier in getting in the studio has been cash flow.
The initial fee's for recording and money has been better to wait and make sure
it's done right. We've also been in discussion with independent labels to help
financially in this venture.
ARE YOU STILL WORKING WITH DOUBLE M PRODUCTIONS? HOW'S IT GOING SO FAR?
We will always have an ongoing relationship with MM. MM has become one of our
closets friends and allies in the underground society. We've done some great
shows with MM, and I'm sure there will be many more to come as long as the fans
keep showing up to these shows!
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE NEW MATERIAL?
The new material is strongly rooted in the throes of old school death metal. It
is a brutal tempo change to the days of early death. It has some of the most
powerful heavy stuff Arius has ever done. True fans of the form will not be
disappointed. The only major style changes are the vocals which are ten times as
brutal as before, and there is a lot more mood to these cuts when an explosion
of brutal simplicity combined with technicality to create completely written
songs with balance in tempo, and groove.
THE STYLE OF ARIUS CLOSELY RESEMBLES THAT OF OUR NEIGHBORS, GUTTED. DO YOU
TAKE A LOT OFINFLUENCE FROM THE GUTTED BOYS?
This may be quite surprising, but no! The only real resemblence is the simple
fact that we each recorded at the same stuido using the same techniques during
the same general time frame. This, unfortunately, can make bands that have
totally different attributes sound the same overall. Case in point: I can tell a
Scott Burns recording from a mile away. There's great recordings, but within the
strict stylitic confines of death metal, it is very hard to achieve originality.
Gutted's songs are much less technical than ours, and tend to be more groovy and
contains typically 3-4 riffs. Our songs typically contain more riffs in a wider
variety of tempo changes. A blungt observation would be most of Gutted's lyrics
rhyme, whish ours typically do not. All hail Gutted! Too bad they dropped the
ball when they did!
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SCENE HERE IN TOLEDO? WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS, THAT
ALL OF THE GOOD DEATH METAL BANDS AROUND HERE END UP BREAKING UP?
The Toledo scene is small, but quite strong. We love the fact that every time we
do a Toledo show, that there will be a couple of hundred metal hungry death
heads. Most of whom are our close personal friends. Toledo is hungry for metal,
and a change from the every day hardcore. That's one of the reasons I work so
hard to book shows here in town, where as soon as you book a good club, it turns
into a gay dance club. Each Toledo band has broken up for its own reasons,
butyou have to remember that it is much harder to keep slaying here, than it is
in a big city, like Chicago, or Cleve., where there are more musicians for
replacements. The scene's in these places are huge and can support more death
metal.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE VIOLENCE THAT HAS OCCURED IN THE PAST AT TOLEDO
SHOWS? i.e. riots, guns..etc. WHAT WAS THE STORY BEHIND THE RIOT AT THE MASTER
SHOW LAST YEAR? DID YOU ENJOY GETTING HIT OVER THE HEAD?
Violence goes with the territory in this form of music. Violent people enjoy
violent music. Often, in smaller clubs, the securtiy is very lax and bar owners
don't care who they let in to a bar, as long as they spend money drinking! Such
was the case with the shootout at KO's lounge in '97. The club owner decided to
let local "brothers" within one of the worst neighborhoods in Toledo,
into the club for free, for fear there would be reprocutions during the week as
this was his regular crowd. Don't get me wrong, I hate everyone, blue, purple,
white, and black. Ofcourse, one of our boy's bumped into one of theirs. Next
thing you know, some one was on the ground, getting the crap kicked out of them
and it was one of our boys. A huge mellee broke out, with chairs and tables
flying. When I went from one room to the next, the club owner had pulled out a
nine millimeter, in defense, while the locals also pulled guns. Everyone was
ducking behind anything they could, and shots began flying in every direction.
Luckily, no one was hurt, and all the locals scattered as soon as shots were
fired. Needless to say, that was the last time we every stepped foot in that
club. The Master show was a total mess, due to faulty management at the club.
When I arrived at the club that night, all the staff had quit the night before
the show. The soundman, doorman, lighting, bouncers, everyone except for one
female bartender. That left me in charge of everything, if the show was to go
on. Later on that night, a bunch of young punks were jumping the fence, and
sneaking in. They then proceeded to throw a pile of bottles, breaking them in
the street from the deck of the bar. When I went to try to settle them down,
they ofcourse weren't happy. What we didn't know at the time, was this was the
female bartender's boyfriend, and a group of about 50 of their friends. When she
asked her boyfriend, "What the fuck?", he punched her in the face, and
a huge mellee broke out. I was grinding some kids face into the ground, and they
smacked me across the back three times with a pool cue, not to mention the
kicking and punching just to get me off their boy!! I loved every minute!! Once
again, the last time we ever played in that club. (You forgot to mention all the
cops, Shane's blood all over, the guy from Refletions of Death tearing shit off
of the walls, and them pulling the plug on Master at exactly 2:30! -Dea)
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT GODLESS PRODUCTIONS. ARE YOU THE MAIN MAN BEHIND
SETTING UP SHOWS HERE IN TOLEDO?
Godless was set up to promote shows in our area, and the scene in general. Yes,
I'm the main man. We do shows, and promotions for our shows, and other bands
that we bring into Toledo.
WHAT BANDS ARE YOU HOPING TO BRING IN THIS YEAR? CAN BANDS CONTACT YOU ABOUT
GETTING THEM A SHOW IN TOLEDO? DO YOU EVER TRADE SHOWS?
We hope to bring in Fleshgrind, Internal Bleeding, Disinter, Regurgitation, the
list goes on. Yes, anyone can contact me about shows. Trading shows is the main
way we do business. The people who get us shows, go to the top of the list!
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR ARIUS? ARE YOU GOING TO BE PLAYING MORE SHOWS
OUTSIDE OF TOLEDO? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF PLAYING THE OHIO DEATH FEST? WHAT ARE
SOME OF THE LONG TERM GOALS FOR ARIUS?
The future holds a new CD with total world domination! We will be playing a fest
in Detroit on Labor Day weekend, and a fest in Cleveland, in October. The Cleve.
fest was the shit! As you well know. We loved every minute of it! Long term, we
would like to release the CD and do a mini tour.
ALRIGHTY MATT!! I THINK THAT IS ALL! THANK YOU MUCH FOR DOING THIS INTERVIEW!
ANY LAST WORDS?
All you fuckers that like the brutal shit, need to do what you can to support
the scene, and attend the shows, to keep the only true underground form of music
alive! Slaughter any fucker that doesn't stay true and starts listening to some
hardcore rap crap, or Goth, or something!!
ARIUS
832 Alger
Fremont, OH 43420
Arius@deathmetal.net