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Instead
of going for the "next big thing" again, I figured it might be equally
(of not even more) interesting to have a little retrospect look at one of the
most brutal acts from the early 90s: Pittsburg's one and only ROTTREVORE! If you
missed out on them at the time you better make sure to get yourself copies of
their two EPs and / or the ir classic full length album "Iniquitous"
to experience sheer Death Metal brutality! Former guitarist / vocalist Mark
Mastro not only turned back the clock for us, he also introduced us to his new
band EVISCIUM in the following
interview...
The
first time I heard about ROTTREVORE was when you released the "The Epitome
Of Pantalgia" demo back in 1990... For how long had the band been together
at the time? Was that your debut release or did you put out anything before
already?
"Yes the "Epitome..." demo was the first studio release for the
band. I think we may have done some rehearsals and a live show or two that may
have been circulating through the tape
trading scene, but other than that, the demo was the first thing we recorded as
a band in the studio. Before the release of the demo me and Chris Webber had
been writing some songs for a few months until we found Chris Free to play bass
for us, Nick E. was a friend of Chris W. for a long time before that, so as a
complete band I think we were together for around 6-8 months before the demo was
recorded."
 What
have you all been doing prior to forming ROTTREVORE? Any other bands that you've
been involved in?
"Before ROTTREVORE was formed I was doing a zine called INFERNAL BLEEDING.
I only did two issues with some help of a few local death head pals. At the time
we were all huge tape traders, and it
seemed like the thing to do to get some exposure for alot of killer bands that
were out at that time. It was alot of fun and we met some great people and got
some contacts as well. Chris Webber was in a band called CHAOTIC PLAGUE before
we formed ROTTREVORE, they put out a few really heavy demos, they are very rare
so more than likely only the hardcore traders will have them."
Which bands did inspire the ROTTREVORE style or even made you form the band back
then?
"I think early on it was a combination of bands like slayer,
celtic frost, death, kreator, candlemass, bloodfeast, but as the mid to
late 80s started to really form an underground scene it was bands like autopsy,
carcass, nihilist, grave, dismember, morbid angel, bolt thrower, immolation,
necrophobic, crematory, macrodex... Basically it was any and all guitar
heavy catchy as hell time change bands from that era that was circulating in the
tape trading underground. Honestly it was so many I have to limit my list
because I could go on and on... Tons of kick ass old school shit."
 Your
next release was the "Copulation Of The Virtuous And Vicious" EP, that
got released by Relapse Records back in 1991. How did you hook up with them and
why didn't it work out in the long run?
"The Copulation..." EP was released on Relapse Records shortly after
Matt / Relapse relocated from Colorado to Pennsylvania. I used to correspond
with him (through snail mail of course back then). He asked us to do an EP with
them so we agreed. It was a good offer at the time and he did a great job with
promotion and layout etc. It wasn't an issue of not working out in the long run,
just after the release it was time to move on for both Relapse and us. We
probably would have done a full length for them if we were asked to, though no
hard feelings."
That EP featured three previously unreleased ROTTREVORE tracks and a
re-recording of the demo track 'Intimidation'... When did you write those tracks
and what made you re-record 'Intimidation'? Was that the band's most popular
tune at the time?
"The songs on that EP were new except for 'Intimidation'. We decided that
the demo version of the song wasn't as good as it should have been, so it was
re-recorded and re-mixed, much better I think. The popularity of all the songs
from the demo was great, 'Disembodied' got a good response too."
 How
about ROTTREVORE live shows around that time? Did you play any real tours in the
US (or even outside the country) or just one off shows here and there? With whom
did you share the stage? Any cool memories on certain gigs that you'd like to
share with us?
"At live shows we always got a great crowd response. At the time it was
hard in the Pittsburgh tri-state area to get a large crowd. Some were killer
though... Cleveland, Rhode Island, Buffalo were always good crowds, some bands
we've played with are Incantation, Mortician,
Impetigo, Sathanas / Bathym, Phlegm, Disharmonic Orchestra, Lethal Prayer,
Hideous Mangleous... to name some. The show that really sticks out for
us, is when we played an open mic night at some Heavy Metal Rock'n'Roll poser
club. We told the promoter that we're a Rock'n'Roll Metal band. When we got on
stage after the other bands who were playing like Pat
Benatar, Kiss, CheAp Trick, Mötley Crüe covers, we crushed them with
ferocity and brutal heaviness. They totally hated us - WE LOVED IT!!"
In
1992 Hollands Cenotaph Records released another ROTTREVORE 7"EP entitled
"Fornication In Delirium", which only featured
two tracks... How did that co-operation come about and why did you only use two
songs for that release?
"Well
as far as the Cenotaph EP, we only did two songs because the other releases had
alot of songs on it. I think if we could do it over again we would have only put
three songs on the demo and two on the first EP. We were writing kinda slow
because we wanted the songs to be done right and not just thrown together
quickly. I haven't spoken with Adwin of Cenotaph since shortly after we did the
EP with him... If you know of his whereabouts, please let me know."
(Unfortunately not, I lost contact either... But hey Adwin, if you should read
this, get in touch again, ok? - Frank)
As far as I know you always managed to keep your line up pretty steady
throughout the years, apart from the split with Nick Esquival, who was your
drummer at the time of your debut demo... So, was the chemistry between the rest
of you guys just perfect or how did you survive the usual line-up changes that
other bands constantly go through?
"Nick was our first drummer and probably the best as far as chemistry goes.
He was a very creative drummer and had super input. I haven't seen him in years.
Hey Nick!! The other two drummers Bob O. and Jason G. were also local death head
friends who filled the spot... but the input was shallow. Jason G. was a good
drummer though."
 In
1993 you finally unleashed the one and only ROTTREVORE album
"Iniquitous" through Spanish Drowned Productions... How did you hook
up with them?
"Well now you've hit a sore spot Frank, hah. The Drowned release was the
worst fucking nightmare company we dealt with. I mean, it was a totally funded
CD by them, but: the contracts on their end were never filled to their
agreement!! We only received 20 copies of the CD... That's it! The company fell
through the cracks and we got screwed, it was a very low pressing CD by (drowned
in hell!!!!!). The original copies did not have the Repulse logo on the back
cover, from what I found out later on. Dave Rotten had pressed them on his own
label. As far as I'm concerned they are bootlegs! Also who the hell is Mastercult
Records??? A bootleg of our demo, two EPs and a live show is on it, but I cannot
find Mastercult Records anywhere! If you do a search for it on the web, all
links go right to Repulse Records! I have no use for any of them rip off labels,
any info on the Drowned former owner, please let me know. Fuck all bootleggers!!!!!!"
The album was basically a compilation of all available ROTTREVORE material up to
that date, except for 'Intimidation', wasn't it? What made you do so? I mean,
have you been slow songwriters or was it more or less meant as a gift for all
the die hard followers of the band at the time, who wanted to hear the material
with a proper production after all? Did you exclude 'Intimidation' because it
was already re-recorded on the EP?
"The songs on the CD were definetly a collection of our better tunes, plus
we were a bit slow with new song writing. I think we had a few more that were
almost done, but not polished enough for the CD. 'Intimidation' was left off
because it was on two other recordings and it came out well on the other
one."
With 'Jesters Of Recession' and 'Incompetent Secondary' the album also had two
brandnew tracks... did they represent ROTTREVORE best at the time? When did you
write them?
"Yeah, I think they were a good representation of our style at the time. We
were trying to get some heavy parts that were catchy and fit the styye we were
playing."
It
seems that many people had problems in pronouncing the band's name properly as
you even had an explanation on the album's sleeve... Who came up with it and
what actually inspired that name?
"The name ROTTREVORE was a Chris Webber and myself creation, hah. It is a
made up word that does not mean a damn thing. We spent one night in a local
coffee shop over about two pots of coffee trying to come up with a totally
original name that was catchy, that was our baby. The original name was much
longer of an ending added on to rottrevore,
but it sounded stupid as hell, so we
dropped it from the ending. I won't say what it was, we'll keep that in the
closet, hah."
Are you aware of the fact that there's a record label and a zine of the same
name by now? How do you feel about that?
 "Now
you hit another sore spot... yeah I'm totally aware of the label's name. I wrote
to them asking where they got the name. They said one day they were looking
through a Relapse catalog and seen our EP on sale, so they just took the name
for their label. It's really a compliment I guess, but it's a made up fictional
name, damn guys, have some originality."
I always thought that your lyrics would also be in the typical guts'n'gore type
direction, but then I read an interview somewhere and found out that you were
actually writing a lot more about things that were obviously pissing you off,
like rich fags, society, politics etc. – very Punk type lyrics... Tell us a
bit more about that and why you didn't like to write about Satanic or gory
stuff?
"Our lyrics were always a topic for alot of people. We didn't write about
much gore / black type because that's not who we were. Most of them were about
things that pissed us off, government issues, doomy... We didn't care for the
black / gore lyrics much because it's been done and it wasn't what we were about.
I think most Black Metal bands that have that stereotype about them aren't
really into that life style as though they portray it I guess. We decided to
write our lyrics about our everyday surroundings, likes, dis-likes etc..."
What is the story behind the song 'Clogged Sewer Pipe', which you never
recorded, but played live a few times? It pretty much seems like a fun track to
me, almost in the vein of S.O.D. and the likes...
"Hah,
I'm surprised you know of this song. It has only been played live a few times
and is a rare tune. We did the song for Slap A Ham Records. We were asked to be
on the compilation EP, but the song had to be no longer than ten seconds or so.
It was kind of a joke 7'' EP for all the bands to do such a short song, but fun
as hell. Also it was cool to do live, alot of people liked it... and sometimes
requested it."
I noticed that you are also a very talented artist and that you even did the
cool coverart for the "Fornication In Delirium" EP and also for the
album... When did you notice your talent, who inspired you at the time and did
you do anything else besides those covers?
"Yeah
I did all of the ROTTREVORE artwork from the logo, demo, two 7"EPs... But I
think the background art on the "Copulation..." EP behind my drawing
was done by another guy who Relapse Records had previous been dealing with. I
had no problem with it. They wanted more fill in behind my art. I also did the
logos for IMMOLATION, CHAOTIC
PLAGUE, DERKETA, EXIT-13, FUNERUS, ABOMINATOR (AUST)."
You already mentioned the ROTTREVORE bootleg CD on Mastercult Records, which is
entitled "The Epitome Of Vicious Fornication" and features all your
pre-album releases and a bunch of live tracks, so I suppose you're aware of
it... How do you feel about it?
"Yes
I am very aware of this bootleg. I found out about it shortly after it was
"distributed " through Repulse Records. The band nor I was informed of
it. I had to find out through other sources the hard way. The only place that it
was available is through the label I mentioned earlier. On the actual CD (I'm
sorry, it is a CDR copy and a very poor production CDR at that, with very shitty
booklet and xeroxed covers), it says it is put out
by Mastercult Records of Mexico. But I cannot seem to find any info of
the label at all. All web searche for Mastercult Records seem to point in one
direction. Seems very strange, if anyone knows of who actually put this out or
who bootlegged it, please let me know. A ROTTREVORE early releases will be put
out by Necroharmonic Records in a few more months with much better production, packaging, live
shows and some other stuff as well. Do not buy this shitty Mastercult Records
CDR. Die you fuckin' rip off pigs!!! I
obtained a copy of this bootleg from a real cool guy, Andres of the bands
GORETRADE and INTERNAL SUFFERING and the label Goregiastic through a trade we
made together."
What caused the break up of ROTTREVORE in the end and when exactly did you stop?
"I left the band around '95 I think. It was partly due to me and Chris W.,
the other guitarist having a bit of musical differences. We were starting to
head in different directions, plus I was going to start a family with my wife
Becky. I now have two great kids, a boy and a girl . Toward the end I was
starting to get a little burned out. I decided to take a permanant leave of
abscence. All is still good with the other members though. Everyone has their
own lives I guess."
 You
have a new band now, called EVISCIUM... Is that your first project after
ROTTREVORE's split or have you done anything in between as well? Who
else is with you in the line-up, what kind of musical style do you play, is it
musically in any way connected to the stuff you did in ROTTREVORE? Have you
already played any shows and / or recorded anything?
"Yes my new band is called EVISCIUM , it's the first project I've done
since ROTTREVORE. It is in the vein of older school early 90s Death
with the
brutality of some of
todays bands. We will be doing a
promo mini CD that Still Dead Productions will be releasing some time in the
early months of 2003. I guess after that we will be shopping for a good full
length CD deal. The members of EVISCIUM will be John Scagline (guitars), Jarod
Altamare (drums / backing vox), Sharon Bascovsky (bass) of DERKETA and myself on
guitars / main vox. We haven't played live yet, but I think we will be doing
some shows in early 2003 with a few local Pittsburgh acts."
What are the other old ROTTREVORE members up
to these days?
"As far
as the other Rottrevore members,
Chris Webber is a truck driver , Nick E. is missing in action, I haven't seen
him in years... last I heard he was in the Boston area, Chris Free is a cable
internet installer / tech, Jason G. is in construction and Bob O. is in some
kind of fashion design shit."
How
do you feel within the Death Metal underground these days? Has it still the same
magic for you as it had back in its early days? Do you prefer the good old days,
with xeroxed fanzines, writing letters, tapetrading and word of mouth promotion
or the current situation, with internet, websites, emails and MP3s etc.?
"The Metal scene is a different game now. Back in the late 80s - mid 90s it
was really intimate. The whole snail mail, tape trading, getting flyers of bands
, zines , shows seemed more magical than it is today. Almost like when you were
a kid Xmas morning. The mailman was your greatest hero. I remember getting
packages in almost every day with something in it: a zine, tapes, promos,
flyers, upcoming shows (you got upcoming shows via snail mail - wow!!! - Frank),
things for trade etc. I remember sifting through 1000s of hours of tape trades
to get a few good demos in. Today it's as if that underground feel is diluted a
bit. Things move at 1000000 mph. If you're curious about what a band sounds
like, just simply right click... download , in seconds you're listening to it. I
guess you have to go with the times. The old school days seemed alot more
special , everyone who went through it would aggree I guess." (yep! -
Frank)
Any new bands that impressed you lately? Do you still listen to any of the old
stuff from back then, when you originally started out?
"I still listen to the old stuff alot. I really need to convert my old
demos like NIHILIST, ABHORRENCE, DEMIGOD, DEMILICH, MACRODEX / CRYPT OF
KERBEROS, CREMATORY, NECROVORE to mp3, in fear of loosing them, of getting old
and eaten buy my tape player. Some of the bands I listen to these days are
UTOPIE, INHUME, MANGLED, DISGORGE (HOL and MEX), FUCK IM DEAD, FUNEBRARUM, LAST DAYS OF HUMANITY,
RETCH... and a ton of others that are drop tuned brutal heavy sewage core."
Ok Mark, I think that's all for now. Thanx for taking the time, all the best for
you and your new band EVISCIUM. If you would like to add something to this
interview, feel free to do so now. Keep it
brutal!
"Thanks alot Frank for the great interview
and interest in the old band! Look out for EVISCIUM sometime in early
2003. Also if anyone knows exactly who Mastercult
Records rip
off bootlegging dicks are please
let me know."
Frank Stöver
Here's a statement from Dave Rotten (ex-DROWNED PRODUCTIONS / REPULSE
RECORDS) regarding the things that Mark talked about in the interview above:
Hi
Frank,
I saw the interview with ROTTREVORE and there was some surprising bullshit
told over there... First off, the ROTTREVORE album was released on Drowned so
it's impossible that it would have the Repulse logo on the back... I never
re-pressed that CD on Repulse!! That's a huge bullshit!!
As for their
royalties... well, they were paid like 6.000 US$ (back then the dollar was
cheaper...) for the recording studio, so they were entitled to royalties in
money, not CDs, but we were kind enough to send them 20 CDs for themselves.
Shortly after I left Hard Vinyl in very bad terms, because they were the
rip-offs, they didn't let me run the label the way I wanted, so after that I
didn't have anyhting to do with that. The rights for the label name was owned by
them and of course all recordings!! If they have to claim something, they
should contact Hard Vinyl!! Their logo & address is on the back of the
fucking CD!!
I also must mention that there were only 1.000 copies made of
that CD!! Believe it or not!!
I kept a very sporadic but cool relationship with Mark Mastro through
the years, and he even wrote me back in March 2002 asking me about the
Mastercult CD-R bootleg, so everything was cool, but... after that I never
heard of him again until this stupid answer from his side...
As for Mastercult, well, the fact that I'm selling them doesn't mean I'm the
one doing them!! Apart of this, I have absolutely no time to do things like
this!! I don't own so many cult recordings myself and I cannot even pass a
tape to CD myself, so what the fuck is he saying?? Accusing with no proofs is
too cheap and easy...
Dave Rotten
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