Mastic Scum
Wywiad przeprowadził Tomasz Osuch
What do you feel when you hear such great bands like Napalm Death and Terrorizer? I feel like somebody kicked my damn ass, I'm just smashed and raped my ears. Four crazy guys from grindcore Mastic Scum play music which is somehow connected with music of those two, mentioned earlier, classic metal bands! You can find such influences in Mastic Scum but they also have a lot of individual ideas for very good and really various grindcore music! Their recent album entitled "Scar" beat me as much as I wanted it! Let the Mastics rule your fucking life! Just read this intie with Harry, the guitar player, and don't forget to listen to "Scar"!!!
Hello Harry!!! You have recently been on an european tour named “Straight Into The Balls Tour” together with Master, Lividity and Damnable. I suppose this tour was very succesful for the band and you spent this time very well! What was the reaction to your music played live and especially to the new songs from your latest album “Scar”?
“Great!!! The reactions were really great, we enjoyed every day on tour. We travelled with 2 nightliners, had a lot of partys and everybody got crazy on this tour. All bands did great shows and the entertainment continued every day. We had a lot of great evenings together, there was great support and friendship between the bands and the management. The fans really love our new stuff and the CD was sold very well. We are really 100% satisfied with this release. „scar“ mirror the progression of the band of the last years. We tried to create an album, carrying forward the work on our debut album „zero“. We spent a lot of time to do this album, not just to create songs and writing lyrics, also for studio work, artwork, etc. Our fans ingest this album also with pleasure.”
A few words about concerts … In the past you played lots of tours in Europe, for example: Tourtour Tour, Hang Over Tour, Doner Tour. You said that the maniacs response to the recent tour was great. Is there any difference between current reaction of audience to Mastic Scum music and the reaction from the past concerts? Do people appreciate Mastic Scum alive nowadays more than previous years ?
“Yes, of course - and i think that more and more people are getting to know Mastic Scum. We try to do a lot of shows to get more popular and we can see and feel it. We really enjoy to travel around and to do shows, to get to know other bands and to meet cracy people.”
Just like I said Mastic Scum played lots of concerts, tours - tell me Harry which of these tours, you played so far, was the most succesful for Mastic Scum. And by the way, which one would you like to forget?
“The Tour with Master, Lividity and Damnable was the best. I don´t miss any moment, good and bad, of course we just had good experiences. But also bad experiences are useful to learn for the next time. We are open-minded to all situations, we like to get surprised.”
You come from Austria. I know that it’s a very beautiful country but I don’t know too many metal bands from there! Of course, we know classic metal bands and camps like Mastic Scum, Seeds Of Sorrow and Legacy Of Hate… How popular is the metal music in Austria, especially in Vienna?
“There is a great scene in vienna and also in other big cities in Austria. A lot of festivals, great bands are touring and also a lot of underground gigs. I live in vienna since 3 years, i love it!!! A really cool music scene there. Besides Pungent Stench, Disharmonic Orchestra and Disastrous Murmur are back. Belphegor is very popular and deathmetal dands like Seeds Of Sorrow and Punishment are growing up in the scene. And also a lot of new-metal bands - the new wave, but i don´t like it so much, but i don´t hate them, no, i just don´t like it.”
You founded this band almost 11 years ago! During this time the band recorded some demos, many split ep, split tapes and two full length albums. Which of these release was the most crucial for Mastic Scum career?
“Of course our latest release, the 2nd album “scar”. We put a lot of energy and time in this release. The reactions were great!! We didn´t know how the fans accept this release because it´s very disversified, but we didn´t get disappointed. We are also proud about all of our releases, it was very important for the progreaasion of Mastic Scum, especially to do split releases.”
Last year you signed a deal with German record label Cudgel Agency. Why did you decide to sign a deal with them? Did you have any other good offers?
“Yes, we had some other offers but for Mastic Scum the label “Cudgel Agency” seems to be the best deal for support and friendship. We are very satisfied with the cooperation. They also managed for us to go on tour with Master and are also doing a lot of other promotion for Mastic Scum.”
In the past you worked with many labels like Rodel Rec, Obliteration Rec, Ohne Maulkorb Prod, 
Capeet rec, Shindy Prod and others. Almost every Mastic Scum production was released through a diffrent label. Was it bad luck in the past or maybe those cooperations weren't satisfactory?
“The thing was that we got the offers for releases, we also had enough material, and so we did it. The other thing is that the band was growing and we were always looking for bigger labels. We also like to do split releases and of course, we love vinyl.”
Cudgel Agency released split Mastic Scum/Rotten Sound in Sept last year. Few months later after this split, they released your second full length album entitled “Scar”…
“As i said the reactions were great because the fans loved the split ep with “Rotten Sound” and they were awaiting our full length release. “Rotten Sound” is a fucking great band, they release 4 live tracks and “Mastic Scum” present 4 new studio tracks so I think it’s a very interesting split release.
Mastic Scum’s musicians are big Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Brutal Truth fans. So do I!!! Your roots originate from such genres of music like grindcore, punk, oId HC and death metal. I mean, some influences of the bands I mentioned before are present in your music. We can see it also on the recent album...
“Yes, of course the are a lot of this roots in our music. We often hear that fans compare “Mastic Scum” with “Napalm Death”, but it´s a pleasure for me to accord Mastic Scum with Napalm Death. It´s a fucking great band. But it´s not our intention to do songs like Napalm Death. Yes, our shouter Will is similar to Barney and also our production is the same style like Napalm Death, but it´s not our purpose. We don´t listen so much this kind of music, it just happens that we create this style, maybe because we grow up with this bands. We do our own thing - not copying any other styles and sounds - 
trying to have autonomy and quality. Anyway, you can always find bands to accord with another band, i don´t care...”
I'm not sure if I understand your lyrics properly, but it seems that lyrics on “Scar” are connected with some social and political problems?! Many bands used to write about these things in the past but not so often nowadays. Could you tell me something more about Mastic Scum’s lyrics, especially about those on “Scar”cd?
“Our lyrics are all about the daily shit that happens to us, good and bad ones. Of course also about social and political stuff but in our sarcastic way, it´s very important for us. Society overdose talk, some personal perverse macabre stuff and other interesting reality things written in a our style.”
There were those three long years between your debut album “Zero” and the newest “Scar”. What is the main difference in your music between these albums?
“The main differences is that we put more emphases on groove. There is also a progression in songwriting and at the production. It was very important for us to get a heavy, fat sound for this realease. The CD is very amazing and disversified. Tracks like „Face 2 Face“ and „Generation X“ are fast straight, grovy songs, tracks like „One-Track Minded“ and „Kiss Or Kill“ are high speed Grindcore-tunes and in songs like „Re-Progression“ and „Turn Inside Out“ we found a new stream, treating with different music influences based on heavy groove.”
Let’s chat about Napalm Death for a moment…. While talking about their great music, I would like to ask you about latest Napalm Death album - “Order Of The Leech”. Do you like it?
“It´s great!! Pure straight, dirty grindcore - the fucking enemy of the world wide music business.”
I realize that “Scar” was released a few months ago but I would like to know something about your next album. Are you working on it? Can you tell us a little bit about it?
“We will start songwriting in autumn. There are just some ideas and structures for new songs at this time. But I can say that our next release will be brute and heavy as fuck!! We will go the same way 
like at the CD “scar” with fat, heavy grooves and of course blast beat attacks.”
Do you plan any other releases for this year?
“For this year no releases are planned. Maybe there will be a EP with live stuff, but there is no new studio material. Next studio album, our 3rd CD should be out in spring 2004. This time we try to put all our energy in live shows. There are a lot of shows this summer and also some great festivals like the “Fuck The Commerce” festival in Germany, “Obscene Extreme” in the Czech Rep. “Reborn In Chaos”, “Kaltenbach Open Air” and “Metalfest Vienna” in Austria. See you…”
You will play on Fuck The Commerce and Obscene Extreme exactly… What can you expect for these festivals Harry?
“Well, i don´t expect anything, I always like to get surprised! We are open fore any kind of music, I like it disversified. Both festivals are fucking great with cool attitudes.”
I heard something that in the past you have had an offer from some French porno magazine? Is that truth or just a gossip?
“Oh shit, please let us know the contact, we are impatient waiting this offer!!”
Thanks Harry for the interview and have nice gigs in the summer!
“Thanx for the interview and for support!!! Don´t forget to visit our page at www.masticscum.com and to sign our guestbook. Today we stop to get back in evolution - the time is right to start a revolution! Express yourself!!! Cheeeers.”
