The year was 1989, Aragon Amori, Paul Ledney, Brett Makowski and John McEntee joined forces to form a Death Metal act by the name of INCANTATION. Prior to INCANTATION, Aragon and Brett were involved in a band called BLOOD THIRSTY DEATH, while Ledney and McEntee played in REVENANT. Due to artistic differences, Paul, Aragon and Brett left the band to form PROFANATICA the following year. Influenced by such classic cults as VENOM, NECROVORE, SARCOFAGO and BATHORY, the unholy trinity together had a passion to create raw and sacrilegious Black Metal.

Tell us about the very earliest days of PROFANATICA – writing, rehearsing, all that.
"The early days were tough – no shows, no help, etc. But writing material was always a great time. Piecing the riffs together in our own way is something we still look forward to. Our rehearsals were fucking crazy. We played really hard to mimic a live set. Always people there with us watching, live blaspheming. At the time, we thought we were the best new thing, because PROFANATICA was coming along just how we envisioned it."

Was PROFANATICA initially what you wanted INCANTATION to be? Or did you simply have a different vision from John McEntee?
"Both. This is what I wanted it to be back then. Very similar sounds and idea, but way different in looks and how the band was to be viewed."

So, why the name PROFANATICA?
"We made it up, so we would have full control over it. Many bands at that time were using the same names, meaning there were at least three bands all using the same name hailing from different places, and there were more than a few of those situations."

In the summer of 1990, they unleashed their first demo entitled “Putrescence Of…”. After receiving much praise in the underground from this tape, PROFANATICA released a second demo called “Broken Throne Of Christ” in December of the same year. Brett Makowski was unable to participate in the recording of this demo, so the band recruited an old friend, John Gelso, to step in on guitar. John was previously involved with Paul in the Black / Death band TOTEN during 1987 – 1988.

It’s shocking to think of the context in which “Putrescence Of…” was released, what with Death Metal from Florida and Sweden in full flow. Did you receive any hate mail, simply for how different PROFANATICA were?
"Yes, but not for how different we were. The other Death Metal bands ignored us, mostly. The Euro Black Metal bands came out a good year and a half after us, and we knew it. A year and a half is a long time in the music business. There are a handful of bands that separated the first and second wave of Black Metal. A few of those bands are SAMAEL, SARCOFAGO and BLASPHEMY. By the way, NECROVORE were first wave."

Why exactly did Brett leave PROFANATICA?
"Differences in opinion. His influences were not the same as ours, and his goals weren’t like ours. He also listened to a lot of what we called CRAP!"

What did John Gelso bring to the band in the early days?
"He brought everything. Gelso pretty much came up with the entire concept of PROFANATICA. Most of his best ideas, songs and riffs were when he wasn’t in the band. He was the first one to bring the concept of blasphemy into the band and was always there to help and teach the riffs to whoever we had filling in on guitar."

Both demo tapes eventually caught the interest of After World Records and PROFANATICA signed a deal with the label. In 1991, they released the infamous “Weeping In Heaven” 7” EP, strictly limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. Following the success of this EP, After World chose to re-release it on cassette with two bonus live tracks the following year. Also in 1992, the band signed a deal with France’s Osmose Productions (a fairly new and uprising label at the time) to release the “Tormenting Holy Flesh” split 12” LP/CD with the Colombian band MASACRE.

“Weeping In Heaven” and the split with MASACRE have long been considered PROFANATICA’s most legendary work. Why do you think these works are so enduring?
"I guess the answer is, we just went for it full on and didn’t care what anyone else said. Our old saying was “what you think of us is none of our business”. After we recorded the split and sent the tracks to Osmose, we were not happy at all. There was lots of turmoil behind the scenes. I felt that that should have been an EP with just us on it. Osmose insisted on the split. While we liked MASACRE’s side, we still think it should be pressed with just us, like two separate releases."

Surely, during this time, you merely recorded these works without any thought about how they’d be viewed decades later – right?
"Correct. I mean, everyone was questioning how I was doing things – the other members, studio engineer, friends, girlfriends, etc."

Also during this time, the American "Black Metal" scene was virtually non-existent. Did you yet view PROFANATICA as Black Metal by definition?
"Fuck yeah, we did! We would listen to recordings of other bands and felt, in a non-judging way, that they were not marketing themselves properly. Lots of Death Metal bands with way-evil riffs and never used that to their advantage."

During this time, PROFANATICA extensively toured the northeastern United States, often shocking many with their sick and blasphemous live act. As the end of the year approached, both guitarists officially left the band. Paul and Aragon invited their close comrade Wicked Warlock Of Demonic Blasphemy (these days known as Ixithra) of the band DEMONCY to perform the guitar work. The three of them played one gig together, and planned to participate in an American Black Metal festival that Halloween along with ORDER FROM CHAOS, VITAL REMAINS, ACHERON, etc. However, this gathering unfortunately never took place. Instead, they entered the studio together to record a full-length PROFANATICA release initially entitled “The Raping Of The Virgin Mary”. Sadly, the master tapes of these recordings were destroyed in the studio (there are conflicting stories about this), and the band parted ways quickly after. By then, Osmose Productions had also re-released the band’s first demo on a 7” EP entitled “As Tears Of Blood Stain The Altar Of Christ”.

Tell us about some of the most shocking PROFANATICA live shows in the early ’90s.
"Not so shocking, as we would get caught at the clubs with blood and urine. We were stupid kids at the time and thought it was normal to have two of us carry a huge cooler full of blood into the club, telling people to get the fuck out of our way."

This early American Black Metal fest with ORDER FROM CHAOS, VITAL REMAINS and ACHERON among others – although it never took place, did you get a sense that things were changing in the Metal underground, that there was something different than Death Metal rising?
"We did. There were many, many zines coming out at the time featuring bands with corpsepaint, etc. We always considered it warpaint. Our blend of Black Metal is from a different slant, as we had Hardcore and Punk influencing us, as well. USBM is a style of playing, and NOT meaning a band that is from America who plays Black Metal falls under that category. Most American bands are copying what has been going on in Europe for a long time. Doesn’t mean they are USBM."

“The Raping Of The Virgin Mary” is one of the most legendary "lost" Metal recordings. What can you tell us about how this potential first PROFANATICA album sounded?
"This is what I remember about that session. The drums were finished as well as the scratch guitar, and no bass, and there was a long time between the final guitar tracks, so I did all the vocals, to get them out of the way. There was only a very rough mix of it. It had a very DRY feel to it, similar to “The Return” from BATHORY – only in production, although played in a very USBM style. The vocals were a bit more higher-pitched than what was previously done before. Although at the time it was quite magical, it really can’t be compared to any of the full PROFANATICA albums, which, by sound and playing, totally crush this unreleased recording."

What were the circumstances then, of it being destroyed? And does Jim Stanic really have the only existing copy of the album?
"Not fully sure about the circumstances to this day, but to my knowledge, Jim Stanic does have the cleanest copy of that session. It is my tape, and he refuses to give it to us. Not sure what he is getting out of holding on to it for all these years. Maybe someone who knows him can convince him to give it back to us, where it belongs."

Paul formed HAVOHEJ in 1993 with some assistance from Brett Makowski on bass and guitars. Aragon pursued his Black / Death project CONTRIVISTI until his untimely death in 1996 and Wicked Warlock continued on with DEMONCY, who are still very much active in the American Black Metal underground to this day.

What led to the original dissolution of PROFANATICA?
"Our full album being destroyed is what led to it."

Although the differences should be apparent to any maniac, what did you aim to create with HAVOHEJ initially versus PROFANATICA?
"I formed HAVOHEJ so I could do it fully by myself."

In 1999, the underground U.S. cult label Samhain Productions broke silence with the “Unholy Black Death” split 7” EP with Singaporean cult IMPIETY. This limited pressing of only 500 copies featured unreleased tracks from a 1991 rehearsal and the final studio sessions. By early 2001, Paul Ledney recruited two new members and resurrected the black cult of PROFANATICA. Paul soon released, on his own label Necroscope Productions, the Live CD consisting of three live PROFANATICA performances from 1991 – 1992. This same year, the now-defunct War Hammer Records released the “Collection” on CD, and a 12” picture-disc edition under Necroscope Productions soon followed. Shortly after, the band had recorded two brand-new blasphemies and released the “Broken Jew / Fuck The Messiah” 7” EP on Metal War Productions in 2002. A 7” single crowned “Passion Of A Liar” was also recorded and to be unleashed on Supreme Art Productions although never surfaced.

The early 2000s were an exciting time for PROFANATICA maniacs. First, there was the Live CD, and the “Collection” conveniently compiled most of your recordings to date, but best yet was the “Broken Jew” 7", which sounded like the ancient spirit of PROFANATICA but even uglier and more crushing. How easy was it to slip back into "PROFANATIA songwriting mode"?
"Way easy. No matter what I seem to write or how different I wish to make it, the recording always sounds like PROFANATICA. Some of our material has been freestyle, but still remained within the system."

Were you at all worried about people doubting your motivations bringing PROFANATICA back? That you had so much to prove with “Broken Jew”?
"Not at that time, because it was rehearsed and recorded before anyone knew about it. Nothing to prove. We do what we do and that’s it. It’s who we are. Us sticking to our guns for so many years, and not really caring what anyone else thinks.”

The track ‘Passion Of A Liar’ was recorded in 2002 and briefly hosted on Supreme Art’s website. Were there any other songs from this recording?
"No other tracks from that session, but that promo track was an extension of the “Broken Jew” line-up and recorded shortly after that."

After the original release of “The Enemy Of Virtue” sprang a lot of PROFANATICA activity, namely the “Profanatitas De Domonatia” LP in 2007 and the four-way “Trampling The Holy Faith” split the year after, as well as a rare performance at the final Sacrifice Of The Nazarene Child fest in San Antonio, Texas. Did this all seem like an entirely new era for the band or a continuation of what you originally wanted to accomplish with PROFANATICA?
"Continuation. Any lapse of time in the past was due to not having a stable line-up, people living in different areas, someone is not interested in playing shows and / or can’t do it because of time constraints. We never ever used the term “re-form”. If we go away for a while, it’s our business and nobody else’s."

Since then, PROFANATICA have released three full-length albums – “Disgusting Blasphemies Against God” (2010), “Thy Kingdom Cum” (2013) and “The Curling Flame Of Blasphemy” (2016) – and two EPs – “The Grand Masters Session” (2010) and “Sickened By Holy Host” (2012) – through Hells Headbangers. And capping 2016 with their first performances on European soil, there’s no slowing the immortal, timeless power of PROFANATICA.
"There is no slowing our ideas and concepts. They go on and on. All of our recordings have a similar thread or sound. Sometimes the production varies, but it’s always from the same source. Depending on what is going on at a certain time of life manifests itself in the recording. By far, the one I had the most trouble with was the second full-length. I redid the vocals twice on the entire album before finally getting it. That one also took a lot longer from start to finish. It seemed never-ending in the studio, and if you listen closely, you can hear the anguish contained. “Sickened By Holy Host” was extremely quick to record. Again, it’s because of the line-up. We completed that EP in three sessions, but that had a lot of pre-work to it. It shows the more ripping style of PROFANATICA. “The Curling Flame Of Blasphemy” is a very natural advancement to what we did in the past and are still doing."

www.facebook.com/profanaticausa, https://profanatica-us.bandcamp.com, www.hellsheadbangers.com

Hells Headbangers

The year was 1989. Aragon Amori, Paul Ledney, Brett Makowski and John McEntee joined forces to form a Death Metal act by the name of INCANTATION. Prior to INCANTATION, Aragon and Brett were involved in a band called BLOOD THIRSTY DEATH, while Ledney and McEntee played in REVENANT. Due to artistic differences, Paul, Aragon and Brett left the band to form PROFANATICA the following year. Influenced by such classic cults as VENOM, NECROVORE, SARCOFAGO and BATHORY, the unholy trinity together had a passion to create raw and sacrilegious Black Metal. In the summer of 1990, they unleashed their first demo entitled "Putrescence Of…" After receiving much praise in the underground from this tape, PROFANATICA released a second demo called "Broken Throne of Christ" in December of the same year. Brett Makowski was unable to participate in the recording of this demo, so the band recruited an old friend John Gelso to step in on guitar. John was previously involved with Paul in the Black / Death band TOTEN during 1987-1988. Both demo tapes eventually caught the interest of After World Records. PROFANATICA signed a deal with the label and in 1991 they released the infamous "Weeping in Heaven" 7" EP, strictly limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. Following the success of this EP, After World chose to re-release it on cassette with two bonus live tracks the following year. Also in 1992, the band signed a deal with the French Osmose Productions (a fairly new and uprising label at the time) to release a second EP. The EP turned out to be a split 12" with the Colombian band MASACRE. During this time, PROFANATICA extensively toured the north eastern United States, often shocking many with their sick and blasphemous live act. As the end of the year approached, both guitarists officially left the band. Paul and Aragon invited their close comrade Wicked Warlock of Demonic Blasphemy (these days known as Ixithra) of the band DEMONCY, to perform the guitar work. The three of them played one gig together, and were planned to participate in an American Black Metal festival that Halloween appearing with ORDER FROM CHAOS, VITAL REMAINS, ACHERON, etc. However, this gathering unfortunately never took place. Instead, they entered the studio together to record a full-length PROFANATICA release initially entitled "The Raping Of The Virgin Mary". Sadly, the master tapes of these recordings were destroyed in the studio (there are conflicting stories about this), and the band parted ways quickly after. Paul formed HAVOHEJ in 1993 with some assistance from Brett Makowski on bass and guitars. Aragon pursued his Black / Death project CONTRIVISTI until his untimely death in 1996, and Wicked Warlock continued on with DEMONCY, who are still very much active in the American Black Metal underground to this day. In early 2001, Paul Ledney recruited two new members and resurrected the cult of PROFANATICA. A 7" EP of brand new material was scheduled to be released on Necromantic Productions from Michigan. The band also planned to do some shows in the Connecticut area… and then, there was silence?!

Paul, tell us a little about PROFANATICA’s history, and why you chose a Black Metal style?
"Well, me and Aragon used to be in INCANTATION with John McEntee and our other guitarist Brett, who played on the "Weeping In Heaven" EP. We just had different ideas about wearing make up and to try and be the blackest band. And McEntee didn’t want it. He didn’t really know anything about the occult or anything. He just wanted to play brutal music. So we just stopped calling him. INCANTATION was our name. He never asked us if he could use the name. He just reformed behind our backs. I had already had the PROFANATICA logo and concept ready. So we started it in June ’90, a week after we dumped John. I played drums and sang, Aragon played bass and Brett did guitar. We did the first demo which was called "Putrescence Of…" in June ’90. Two tracks which were ‘Raping Of Angels’ and ‘Final Hours Of Christ’. We rehearsed those two songs for like a month and then recorded it at the end of June. The 2nd demo was in October. That was called "Broken Throne Of Christ" and it was with the new guitarist named John Gelso. He did both guitar tracks. It was a 4 track demo. Like a rehearsal demo done on a 4 track. The songs were ‘Of Pestilence’, ‘Scorging And Crowning’ and ‘Weeping In Heaven’. Then we released the "Weeping in Heaven" 7" EP on Afterworld Records, with Brett again instead of John – because John was in school. It had ‘Heavenly Father’ and ‘Weeping In Heaven’."

How long have you been into Black / Death Metal?
"Since I knew about it, which was the early VENOM albums and the HELLHAMMER record "Apocalyptic Raids"."

What are some of your fave bands and LPs?
"My favorite LP of all time is "Rock And Roll Over" from KISS. It has the greatest sound. I also like the first three BATHORY LPs and "Morbid Tales." I can listen to those LPs and never get sick of them."

What bands influence PROFANATICA?
"Old VENOM, old BATHORY and HELLHAMMER."

Who writes the lyrics?
"Me and Aragon split the lyrics. Most of the time I write them. But I do most of the blasphemies and Aragon does most of the lyrics."

What are they like?
"To profanate anything sacred and holy. Everything white must be black. Like ‘Raping Of Angels’ is: "Masturbate on the throne of god, Crucifixion of a thousand saints, Stakes are mounted with the heads of angels, Nocturnal spells are casted, Heaven begins to bleed…" The lyrics are almost short stories, but they’re not. I don’t like to print or publish the lyrics, they’re personal to me. But the lyrics are all blasphemies. Things like ‘Masturbate Upon God’. It’s offensive, but true, in as much as I am saying what I mean or feel. It’s not for shock value, but it is shocking."

What’s the song ‘Weeping In Heaven’ about?
"It’s a little desecration thing. It was going to be called ‘Tears In Heaven’ at first. We didn’t change it because of Eric Clapton. ‘Weeping In Heaven’ sounds better. But if we had ‘Tears In Heaven’, we would’ve kept it. It’s just about spilling black vomit on the walls of heaven."

What about your music?
"Me and John do the music. Aragon’s really good if I humm him a riff or play it on a keyboard. He can play it right back to me. And he’ll teach it to John."

I understand that PROFANATICA is into total blasphemy and desecration of god and christianity. Could you explain why?
"Just after years and years of watching TV evengelists rip off people. It’s all so backwards and hypocritical. We have our own dark power that works for us. We believe that no God should stand before us."

What does the name PROFANATICA actually stand for?
"It’s Latin. It stands for the "Profanator Of Heaven". Our friend who teaches English at a college in Connecticut thought of the name because he studies dead languages and things like that. And we wanted a name that nobody else had the same meaning. So it’s "Profanator Of Heaven" or "Desecrator Of Heaven".

PROFANATICA is self-proclaimed as "the most unholy band in the world." Do you think that this image makes people actually buy your material, or would you hope that they buy it on the strength of your music alone?
"I don’t know. We just want people to know before they buy it what it is. And once they hear it, they should also know what it is. Because a lot of people said that we were the blackest band here in the US. But we play our music better than most of the bands in Europe. So, we’re definitely the most unholy band going right now. That is what I think."

In the trendy world of Black Metal today, what are your feelings on all of these bands proclaiming that they are the most brutal and Satanic bands around?
"Probably I think the most brutal band is IMPALED NAZARENE. Because they play good. And it’s so aggressive. The bands from Norway I think are kinda a joke. Anyone can take a lot of drugs and put on make-up, that’s what I think."

So, what do you have to say about all these "true" bands from Norway?
"Bands that claim they’re true aren’t true! That’s like someone saying how big their cock is. It’s definetely small! If they talk about it all the time. Except for us. I don’t really put a label on where bands are from, but the Swedish scene is definately retarded and Norway is not far behind that. There’s so many bands that play the same style and rip off from each other and other bands, that it’s just ridiculously fake!"

What about BURZUM?
"I’d like to say to Count Grishnakh that the only reason for his hatred is jealousy. That’s it."

If you had to choose a handful of bands that you think are true Black Metallers, who might they be?
"IMPALED NAZARENE, NECROMANTIA, ROTTING CHRIST, BEHERIT and BESTIAL SUMMONING."

What do you think about bands like DEICIDE and MORBID ANGEL in terms of the images they have portrayed over the past few years?
"I don’t think either band is Black Metal. Not only because of how popular they are, because VENOM was more popular than both of those bands. And they, VENOM, were totally Black Metal. I heard Glen Benton is really into what he is saying. I just think that MORBID ANGEL turned into another SLAYER. And I was never a MORBID ANGEL fan. Not even of the old stuff. Old influences for us are old BATHORY and POSSESSED."

How deeply are you into Satanism??!!!?
"We’re into our own deal. It’s that we are the most powerful and nobody can touch us. We’re into black perversion. We shit on God. We are larger than God and he is smaller than us. That’s the way we think. We put down false religions. But we have our own beliefs. So we kind of make our own Satanism."

Would you consider yourself a Satanist?
"I would, but a lot of other people wouldn’t. I believe I am my own God and nobody can judge me, and nobody is more powerful than me. I indulge in pleasurable perversion. People have so many different ways of looking at it, but I don’t believe Satan is an actual entity. It’s just a worship figure, but a lot of people do think of Satan as a real god. Maybe they’re crazy, why should their "master" care about someone like them anyhow?"

Where do you draw your Satanic belief from?
"Mostly Crowley. His book of the law really opened my eyes. Satanism is anti-religion. I don’t believe in any Gods. I suppose it’s good that some people gather for black masses with their corresponding dark beliefs, but I think everybody should think for themselves. If everyone thought the same way then that would be hell on earth."

What do you think of Anton Lavey?
"I don’t really. I know he doesn’t look to good in that little devil costume he wears. I wore one of those costumes for Halloween when I was nine with the pitchfork and that’s all I’m gonna say…"

What do you feel about organized Satanic churches like the Church Of Satan?
"I don’t agree with them. Take the Church of Satan magazine – "The Black Flame". On the back they had this ad, I can’t remember the exact quote, but it said "Imagine your friends’ delight as they drink coffee out of their Baphomet mug." I can’t remember how much it was – around $15.95 – but it was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. There were copies of "The Black Flame" being handed out at our gigs and there were some of our roadies, who were Satanists, who wanted the mug and couldn’t appreciate what money-making junk it is. When that many people get together in a church, it’s hard not to get involved with cheesy stuff like that ad. Satanic churches and so forth are just more organized religion. I believe in hate, because hate is the strongest emotion. On the other hand, I don’t believe people can go on hating forever without lying to themselves because you’d no longer be able to function."

Do you think the "Necronomicon" was written by Lovecraft as a joke?
"Well, it was written as a joke – kind of. But I think it was 1/2 real and 1/2 fake. HP Lovecraft is a great writer. One of my favorites. But if someone believes in Pazuzu, then he exists. That’s the way I look at it."

Ever have any rituals?
"Yeah, we do our things that help us. And the definately work. We believe 100%, so of course it works."

Does your faith involve violence?
"Not at all. I believe if someone hits you in the face, hit him back twice as hard. There’s lots of people that I hate, but I just let it come."

Do you kill things???
"No, I’ve never killed anything. There are people that I want to kill definetely and maybe will kill. But I haven’t so far."

What do you think of love?
"I don’t know – I love sodomy."

Ever crave raw flesh??
"Flesh of nuns fat ass. That’s about it."

You like asses?
"I love ass! Ass is my main perversion. Sodomy is illegal and it’s definetely the best part of a woman. There’s no question about it! There should be no such thing as pussy! They smell and they’re only to pee out of. Ass is the real deal! I love ass!!"

Are you into oral-anal sex???
"YES!! I definetely eat ass. I eat shit and ass!!"

What does your mother have to say about all this?
"She knows we’re definetely the unholiest band in the world and the most desecrating! But she’s the head of religion in this area. Nobody wears a cross in this area without her knowing about it."

So are there positive aspects to your faith?
"Definitely. It is a way of getting out aggression but it has many hints of my personal beliefs – it’s not just some fairy tale. The positive aspects of my faith don’t all come out throught the band. My philosophy helps me get as much money as I can, get as much pussy as I can, drink as much as I can. But I try and balance all of it out. Indulge and compete."

Why is there so much nudity in your publicity shots?
"Besides that we have really big cocks – I think it’s totally pure. It symbolizes we’re totally for real and don’t need big armbands with spikes or upside down crosses. We can just play totally naked which is how we were born. And have it just as black and sick!! We did these publicity shots at around the same time as the other band, IMPALED NAZARENE, covered in cow’s blood. We came up with the idea of making the whole thing more black and perverse, because that is what the whole PROFANATICA project was about, the blood and nudity were symbols of that. If we play live, the whole band will be totally naked, bathed in blood, urine, and semen live. I want actual shit and worms gnawing at bibles on stage."

In a PROFANATICA video clip, your bassist masturbated on a holy bible and then you, Paul, licked it off. Can you enlighten us with an explanation of this?
"(loud laughter)… Well, those guys dared me to. I really just spit on it. It was really no big deal, just another joke. We had brought this video to that trendy Relapse Festival in Rhode Island and showed it to a lot of people, like Jeff from VITAL REMAINS and the INCANTATION guys. I just wanna add here – we’re definately not homos! A lot of people think we’re gay. We’ve had more pussy then any other band in the U.S.! And we masturbate on the cross in video and live in front of fans. We do shit on the cross. We stick crosses up our asses and shit them out. We drink cum, urine and blood. We do it for our shows, but we’d do it alone anyway. We believe in perversion and darkness and destroying the deceiver skinny jew bastard fuckin’ asshole Christ!!"

How’d you hook up with Osmose? How are they treating you guys?
"Herve is a great guy. He’s into Black Metal. He’s not just a business man. But I get frustrated with payments and sending letters and materials back and forth. Sometimes I just want to say fuck it! Let’s just do a really sick rehearsal and not put out anything big. But, he’s definetely on our side and he wants us to profanate the heavens as much as we can. He heard one rehearsal we did in ’90 and he sent us a letter saying "What would you think of being on our label?". We just immediatley wrote back and said "We’ll do it!" We offered to pay for the studio time, but he said he’d definetely pay."

Tell us more about your split album with MASACRE.
"Well, at first we did not want to do the split… we were really upset because we wanted not to do a full length LP, but just an EP. It was only supposed to be limited to 2000 copies on 12". And that’s it. And then do a tour on that. So after argueing for months and months, we just had these tracks recorded. This time with Brett and John on guitar. We said "Ok, release it." We’re still upset our logo is on the front. It was supposed to be that faded picture of us on a white background. SPV said they wouldn’t take it without a logo. But we didn’t really give a shit about SPV. I say let the true fans get it and they’ll know who we are. The full length LP, we’re in the studio now. It should be out in September or October on Osmose. It’s going to be titled "Sodomy Of Sacred Assholes"."

Did you think of that title???
"Yeah, I thought of that name! It was going to be called "Raping Of Angels" at first, but we changed it. It’s all about perversion and total blackness and desecration. All new tracks will be connected with intros. It’s sort of a cross between "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" and "Seven Churches." It was totally our fault that the split sounded so bad. The guitar sounds were weak and there was a noise gap on the hi-hats that deepened it and made everything sound like it was going backwards. We just got bad sounds to begin with."

What songs will be on it?
‘Cries Of A Pale Saviour’ – that’s new! ‘Fucking Of Sacred Assholes’, ‘Golden Gates Torn Down’, ‘Disease Infested Cunts Of Dead Nuns’ – which is going to be the second song…"

Is it all new songs?!?!??
"Well, there’s ‘Scorging & Crowning’ from the second demo. That’ll be on it."

Is there any reason why you named the album "Sodomy Of Sacred Assholes"??
"That was the best title for it. The cover shows two white demon goats raping the angel right in the ass – of course!! That’s the only way to have sex! It just fits the picture. We wanted a title that was brutal that had to do with what we sing about… which is black perversion and desecration and raping fat nun asses."

Will the band always maintain its occult approach lyrically, or will you venture off in the future?
"We’re not gonna venture off. We’re just gonna get blacker. It’s gonna be the exact same subject… total blasphemy. I’ve had some new ideas though. Some of the new song titles are ‘March Of The Seven Priests Of Mockery’ and ‘Nazarene Decomposing’. It’s the same idea, but more brutal."

I thought the album was scheduled for a September ’92 release, what happened?
"Well, we had some recording problems with mixing. Something happened with all of the reels. We recorded the whole LP and someone sabotaged our reels. I can’t say who it was, even though we know. We have to go in now and re-record the whole thing. It might not be out until the beginning of ’93."

Give us an idea of what PROFANATICA is like live.
"It depends on where we play ’cause a lot of people make a lot of trouble in the USA about shows. But – we prefer to play naked, covered in blood, just like IMPALED NAZARENE! But, we’ve incorporated shit and urine into our live shows. We rub shit on crosses and drink urine and spit it on the book of Jehovah – which is the book of lies! We spit on the skinny Jew Christ any day!! Every show we definately do this and we have a bible with earthworms that come out of it. As much as we can do, we try to. If there’s one person in the club and he’s a true fan, we’ll do everything we can if the club allows us to!"

What clubs have given you trouble?
"Well, we just played that show in Rhode Island that was really, really, trendy! Bunch of asshole bands! Relapse Records sponsored it – of course! The kings of trends! But – we couldn’t do anything because they said we’d have to sign a paper saying we’d pay for the monitors, which was $20,000. Which I don’t believe ’cause the sound wasn’t that great there! We didn’t think it was worth it, so Aragon had soaked his white shirt in pigs blood that we got two weeks before and just wore that. Which was ok. Could’ve been worse. I was behind the drums, far back so nobody could see me and it was almost impossible for me to come in the front and spit on the book and drink the urine. Which I was going to do and eat the worms and spit them back on the book. But it wasn’t worth it. It would have taken me at least 20 minutes to get out of the drums."

Did you guys get paid for that show?
"No, we didn’t get paid at all! I just said we didn’t want any money, that they should bow to us and they were lucky we came out to Rhode Island. That’s what I told Jim Fleet!!!"

I understand that your band members slit their arms before a gig like MORBID ANGEL used to do. What is the significance with this?
"We just do it for fun, as a joke. It was really nothing big."

What about the tour in Europe with SAMAEL and ROTTING CHRIST???
"We were told we were going to be on the first Black Metal tour ever – which was IMPALED NAZARENE, IMMORTAL, MASSACRE, MASTERS HAMMER and a bunch of other bands. But SPV didn’t like the sound of our split. I don’t really blame them, but we were told we were going to be flown over there after that. We’re not going on that one now…"

Any country in specific you’d like to play?
"I would like to play in Norway because there seems to be a couple trendy bands that claim to be true Black Metal that came out of nowhere. All the true bands know who the fakes are in Norway."

When you rehearse, do you sing and play drums?
"That’s a great question! Nobody has ever asked us that. When we rehearse, I just play drums. The last half hour I sing. We do it like we do live. It depends on what we are rehearsing for."

How’s your mail?
"People who wrote to me and didn’t get a letter back, there’s a reason why. All the true people get answered. Anybody who sent me money for our demos, they where out early ’90 and ’91. Nobody should be sending me any money now! I’m not the record company! We’re in the band! We’re very upset with all the mail coming in from ‘zines that just want free CDs and demos and shirts and shit! You can get everything from Osmose. So do me a favor and don’t bother me, bother them! Because that’s what you’re doing – you’re bothering me! My address is no longer the band address because nobody deserves to contact us!!!!!"

What do you see in the future for PROFANATICA and your musical progressions?
"I think we’re untoppable and unstoppable. I’m just thinking positive. I can’t see the band ending. We are not going to put a damper on the lyrics or artwork. It’s just going to be brutaller and brutaller. I see us going on for a long time. Even as long as VENOM, which was pretty long – I think. Our music is actually gonna get a lot more simple and faster. Like the old fast tracks of BATHORY, like ‘Massacre’ and ‘Total Destruction’. The songs are short already, but there’s gonna be even shorter ones blended together with like one-second pauses so they’ll run right into the next. We had the idea of doing intro’s between each song, but ACHERON did that and so did IMPALED NAZARENE."

What do you see in the future for this Black Metal phenomenon we are experiencing?
"I think it doesn’t matter how many bands do it to make it trendy, if bands keep doing it good, then it won’t get trendy, no matter how much coverage it gets. Most of the bands, or 95% of the bands from Norway and all of Europe can’t play their instruments at all. I don’t even call it music. I just call it a sad attempt at Black Metal. At least the bands from the US know their instruments. I heard NECROVORE was reforming. Now there’s ACHERON, us and CRUCIFIER from the US. I think Europe is making it trendy with all of the bands from Norway. They use samples on the guitars and they just don’t know how to play."

Any particular way you want to die?
"I would like to die while blowing a load in a nun’s ass! By dying from a heart attack from too much excitement! That is the ultimate way!!"

Do you want to die?
"I don’t want to die now, but if there was a nuclear war, it would be the best way to die because everything would go at once. Instead of one person who doesn’t deserve it. The person who deserves to die the most is the Pope. He’s definately the fakest man on the face of the earth!"

Would you care to make any closing comments to anyone?
"Just to all the bands in Norway that think they are black, like EMPEROR, BURZUM, THE TRUE MAYHEM, DARK THRONE. I’d like to say that the "cold winds" have nothing to do with playing the music. Black Metal should be in the heart. The only band I like from Norway is IMMORTAL."