Cryptopsy interview with Lord Worm

(Originally from 4/03/05)

Thanks to Matt Cinatl, we have the privelege of hosting a very recent interview with vocalist Lord Worm who has joined back with Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy in these past few months.

MC – First and foremost I’d like to thank for the opportunity to do this interview. Alright, a great place to start would be right in the beginning, how’d you get started singing with Cryptopsy and were there any bands that made you want to get into metal? 

LW – Primarily, I guess, the two bands that really got me going were Montreal’s own Agression, and Sodom. That first EP, In the Sign of Evil, did so much for the entire metal world. I wonder if Angelripper knows that. I want to tell him if I ever meet him. But, no, the first guitarist on the demo and “Blasphemy”, Steve Thibau, and I started the band back in may 88.

MC – So did you play in any other bands before Cryptopsy? 

LW – Well, under different names, different incarnations of the same people.

MC – When you draw up a list of, say legendary front men it’s usually Glen Benton or George Fischer, what shaped how you sing, it’s a very distinct style obviously?

LW – That’s just the way it comes out (laughs). I remember back in Quebec we have this post high school / pre university, couple years, I took some history of art courses and eventually we got into expressionism including the Datist expressionism that just assaults all the senses. And I thought that was a good idea, let us assault the senses as much as possible.

MC – And even the name, Lord Worm, it’s so recognizable, was it a nickname or where did it come from? 

LW – That would be from a British sorcerer living in Montreal. He gave me that name back in early 90, I guess it was. We used to go around scavenging for dead animals and old food and whatever else we could in dumpsters and back alleys. Because we are garbage, and so we fit in. Well, he gave the name one day after I’d kicked him awake. Because I felt like it. Well, we were listening to Bathory at the time, how can you not kick someone awake when you’re listening to Bathory? “Oden’s Ride Over Nordland”, to me that says kick him now. (laughs)

MC – Aside from the voice, your lyrics are probably the most distinct out of everything, where does that come from? 

LW – The style of writing actually comes from Gary Neumann, he had a habit of keeping pen and paper with him at all times. If he was sleeping he had it on his bedside table, always in easy reach. I don’t know if he had it in the bathroom with him, but I would recommend that to. Because you never know when the thoughts are going to come up and you have to take it down now while it’s perfect. And then work over it later.

MC – And that’s what you do? 

LW – That’s what I do, and the words can come for whatever reason. It could be my dyslexia playing with letters or words and I see something really weird and think ‘Ok, that’s cool’ Or something that I’ll hear in a movie or something brief that just sounds really neat. It can be Shakespeare. Wherever it is, if I like it, I grab it and rework it in my blender and spew it out and there it is.

MC – 1995, Obviously “None So Vile”, What do you think went into that release that made it so special, it’s a landmark in death metal. 

LW – See, that’s weird to hear even now, a year and a half after I’ve rejoined. Because when I left, mid to late 96, I guess it was, it was just the second album we’d done, I hardly remember doing it. There was a lot of beer and whiskey in that studio. All I can remember is listening to post-production afterwards and the guys were thinking “Yeah, that’s good, it should turn a couple of heads” But that was it, there was no thought of it becoming a popular seller much less what it’s become. And here we were still freaking over Suffocation, Morbid Angel and Deicide at the time. There was not way we would be compared to them, we were early Cryptopsy, who’s that?

MC – So, after None So Vile you left the band for awhile, could you go into that a little bit? 

LW – Other than just working basically, and being part of the, how shall we put this, the statistical population. There was nothing happening in music for me, I mean, I wanted to but I’m a paranoid human, there aren’t very many people I trust. I can trust their talent but trust their outlook and there weren’t that many that I wanted to work with that would have worked with me at the same time and not engender some conflict of interest. I didn’t want to pull anyone out of another band. I probably would have worked with Steve Thibault, the aforementioned Steve Thibault, because he wasn’t doing anything musically either. Just would have gotten two to complete the lineup but it just never happened.

MC – There was a rumor about you leaving to join a black metal band, there wasn’t any truth in that? 

LW – Say again?!?

MC – You joining a black metal band? 

LW – No, for a brief period I managed one.

MC – Who was the band? 

LW – Frozen Shadows of Montreal. No, I am black metal, I’m as fascist black metal as you can find but I never joined a band or formed one. But if ever there’s interest, and there will be interest on my part. I like shrieking at people.

MC – Is there are favorite Cryptopsy song of yours? 

LW – Phobophile is probably the most fun to do at any given point, and it’s probably the on that’s got the most unique signature, the way it starts, the way it continues, the way it ends, and everything about it, it just works.

MC – By the way, who wrote the piano intro for that? 

LW – Eric Langlois, bass man, sitting right over there (points to a semi-comatose Canadian bass player)

MC – Other than Cryptopsy, did you have any other jobs, occupations? 

LW – Yes, I’m an English teacher.

MC – Very cool… Like a lot of other people I just stumbled across the news that you’d returned to the band, how did all that happen? 

LW – Flo gave me a call, it was just that simple. It was a Thursday night and he got around to “Oh, what are you doing Saturday night?”. Ok, I see where this is going. So, ok.

MC – This is the first US tour for you, how is it going so far? 

LW – Yeah, I like Americans. I have to be honest. I had misgivings at first only having met American band members, to wit, Internal Bleeding, Suffocation. And they’re all fine folks, but musicians and audience members are not quite the same people. I had misgivings, but so far no, reception has been really nice. Y’all good people.

MC – There’s a big buzz about the stage show… 

LW – You’ll have to see that. I guess it’s more the energy level and just the non-stop, frenetic action.

MC – And you’re playing all of None So Vile? 

LW – Yeah, we open with all of None So Vile. That’s song one with four to follow.

MC – Could you go into a little bit about what your tour schedule is like on a day to day basis? 

LW – You mean the suicide tour? Generally, depending on how long the drive is between cities, we’ll spend the AM driving, arrive mid to late afternoon at the club, and usually wait until the place opens up. We’ll do load in, get everything ready on stage. If everything’s ready we’ll do sound check. And once we’re done we sit around and wait for hours and hours and hours until it’s our turn to play. Sometime in that time period we’ll have supper. Once the shows done, sit down, have a beer, relax for a little while. Tear down, load up the equipment and either drive because it’s long or find a place to crash.

MC – So is life on the road one big party or mostly business? 

LW – Depends on how long the drives are. If it’s not long we’ll allow ourselves a little leeway. And just relax, often with members of the other bands. If it’s a long drive, you got no choice, just go.

MC – Do you prefer playing live or recording in the studio, or even writing? 

LW – Writing, hands down. Writing new stuff, seeing how it works and reactions to it.

MC – About the new album, any date expected for release, how much of it is recorded? 

LW – We did three songs worth of pre-prod, one of which is available on the Cryptopsy website.

MC – Carrionshine?

LW – That’s the second one on the album. Nine songs, basically ready to record once we get off this tour.

MC – A lot of the Mike DiSalvo fans are worried that it’s going to be None So Vile II, is there anything you can say about that? 

LW – I don’t blame them for worrying because it would be tempting, for sure. But it’s not going to be None So Vile II. There are moments where it could resemble old Cryptopsy, but some will resemble the newer Cryptopsy. And there will be many moments where it won’t resemble anything we’ve ever done. So, it’s not to antagonize the many Mike DiSalvo fans, I’ve had to work on my delivery. So that I can incorporate some of his style into that. Just so we don’t lose any fans and hopefully gain a few more with the new stuff.

MC – Any secrets about the album, song titles? Artwork? Anything? 

LW – I don’t know what the art looks like, that’s going to have to be looked at eventually, I guess. (To Erik Langlois) Song titles, am I divulging those?

MC – I heard something about Adeste Infidelis… 

LW – Ok, well, if you heard that one, that’ll be the third song. The seventh song, actually, has a really weird title I like spewing at people, Angelskin Garden. Yeah, so, the lyrics are back as well.

MC – Is there anything Cryptopsy fans can expect in the future, DVD, anything like that? 

LW – DVD on sale right now. Flo’s instructional drum DVD, cross your fingers for a late spring release on that one I guess. Plans for yet another one, maybe two DVDs and more merch as well. Actually, just an aweful lot of projects.

MC – More touring? 

LW – Yeah, that too. Not enough days in the year.

MC – Where do you see the band in 5 years, 10 even? 

LW – Will I be alive? I’d rather not be alive so I don’t know. There’s rumors we could be around that long. There are still an awful lot of ideas floating around, a lot left to be done, a lot left to be said.

MC – Any advice to kids out there who want to start a band?

LW – Oh god…. I don’t know if it’s advice or just words from an old hand. If it gets tough you’ve got two choices, pack it up and shut up or keep on going no matter how stinky the crap goes that you’ve got to slog through. Do it anyway, eventually just by mere fact that you did it yourself things get done. People do notice. Once people notice, imagine a stair case, yeah, you’re tired when you get to the top but look what you’ve done. So either do it or shut up basically.

MC – Could you give us your best Cryptopsy story? 

LW – Mine?

MC – Yeah, I mean, I’m sure there are tons.. 

LW – Ok, (To Erik Langlois) Salami sandwiches and mosquitoes, is that a good story? Yeah, that’s a good story. It was truly horrific, that’s why I say if you can’t take the heat stay out of the kitchen. Well, we took the heat. And let me tell you (laughs) crap, we cooked. Ok, tour ’95, late spring early summer, we’re out in Western Canada at a picnic area and picnic table. All we could afford at that time was $5 per person per day food budget allotment. And what we would do was pool out resources and buy bread, cold cuts, butter or margin, lettuce if we could afford it, mustard and just make bologna or salami sandwiches. And that was it, that was the food on any given day. One meal, that was it, sandwiches. And once the bread was done, well, that was it. So we installed all the necessary stuff on the picnic table and when we were making the sandwiches we realized that the skeeters were out. And so what we had to do was basically jog around the picnic table and have a line of joggers making sandwiches and eating them. As much as possible keep these skeeters away. When we were done we lit back into the club wagon, slammed the door shut and all we had to our name, at this point, was one piss warm 6 pack of old Moosehead. Yeah, nice and pitiful. (laughs)

MC – (laughs) Alright, are there any bands out there right now that impress you? 

LW – Yes, impress me personally or as a band? Is there anyone we all agree on? It would probably be a non metal band whoever it would be. Hard to say. There’s a lot of stuff we listen to, sometimes often, sometimes not. We all probably love Queensryche, in particular Operation: Mindcrime. There are moments where Cypress Hill or Eminem will do the trick. Sometimes it will be The Doors or Led Zep. Other times, if it’s metal, it could be (Iron) Maiden or some of the newer bands. Suffocation is always good, so is Morbid (Angel). It depends on the mood.

MC – Alright, any final words?

LW – No, any from you?

MC – Nah

Special thanks again to Matt Cinatl and Lord Worm, as well as all the guys in Cryptopsy for making this interview possible. Visit the official Cryptopsy website at www.cryptopsy.net.