Interview with Frank Cardassia From Beheaded (Malta based Death Metal Band)

I guess i don't have to say much about Beheaded as well. They are Death Metal Giants from Malta and these guys are also conducting Malta Death Fest and this year its going to be the third edition.  Recently there vocalist Frank was featured in one song (Stuck In Homicidal Awe) on vocals for Narsamhaar Album Genocide.

To know much about Beheaded you can go through there page.

Facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/BeheadedMT

http://www.myspace.com/BeheadedMT
http://www.twitter.com/BeheadedMT
http://www.youtube.com/BeheadedMT
http://store.beheaded.eu
http://www.reverbnation.com/Beheaded

Greetings Frank!! How are your days going back there in Malta?
Hey, thanks for this interview first of all and a hello to all Nepalese death metal fans, things are good here same old same old busy with music, work and personal life.

Beheaded formed in 1991 and if I am not wrong you joined in 2009, like how were you approached?

For starters I’ve been friends with the Beheaded guys since the 90’s and played in different side projects which also included some old Beheaded members. Before joining Beheaded in around 2008 I was involved in a band called SLIT since 1999. Following the release of ‘Ominous Bloodline’ Omar had parted ways with Beheaded for a while and joined Slit in 2006 which kept us both rather busy up until around 2008 when things slowed down. Omar resumed his contact with Beheaded round about that time and having played with me in SLIT he was confident I could do the job as Beheaded’s vocalist so he asked me to join.

As far as I know frank this is your (Beheaded) 3^rd interview for a Nepalese zine and I hope that you guys are pretty much aware of the scene back here in Nepal.

I believe it is yes, I myself do try to follow a little of what’s happening in the extreme and underground scenes around the world but I’m only familiar with the Nepalese scene through what I can find online. Would love to have the opportunity to play Nepal someday and see some of your country and bands.

Frank can you describe Beheaded and your music in short?

Death Metal

Recently you guys (Frank) featured in one song on vocals for Narsamhaar Album Genocide. What was Beheaded reaction when you guys were offered to be featured in one of there track. Because in your previous interviews you guys had mentioned that you guys are interested to play with Nepalese Acts.
The collaboration with Narsamhaar is something that involves only me specifically not the rest of Beheaded as I did the vocals for this track. Obviously the rest of the bands are totally cool about it. Personally it’s a pleasure to be able to do collaborations such as this with different bands as long as I dig the music I’m happy to work with them.

The Song Stuck In Homicidal Awe is written by you and Zivon. What does the song mainly talks about.

Actually I was given the recorded instrumental version of the song and lyrics to it which I tweaked around a little so that they would fit the vocal lines I composed. As a lyric writer myself I understand that the lyrics of a song can be subject to different interpretations. The way I interpret ‘Stuck in Homicidal awe’ is an intense expression of extreme anger and hatred which leads to an urge to committing the most vile acts towards another human being. Hatred and it’s consequences is something which is part of everyday life and the expression of it is something which in many occasions we are forced to suppress. Another interpretation of the final verses ‘I am your evil god…bow down and feed me with your soul’ can also relate to religious references to the god figure that gives life and take it away in an almost sadistic fashion. Interesting concepts and similar in ways to things I am currently writing for the new Beheaded songs.

Coming back to Beheaded, the band is one of the extreme metal bands who started the entire Death Metal scene in Malta. How the scene is now compared to the time when the band first started.

It goes without saying …the scene has changed both locally and beyond but that is a very normal thing in my opinion. The way we are exposed and perceive music is different simply because the world we live in and communicate is different. I believe that the biggest difference from back than to now is the way music (and anything else really) is ‘available’. Undeniably that is something that gives a different ‘value’ to things.

Without going into the debate of whether it is good or bad I will just say there that some things were probably better back in the day whilst some others are better now but then again it is all subjective as with anything else really. I’m in my mid 30’s and like anyone my age or older I do feel a sense of nostalgia for the ways some things were back in the 80’s, 90’s but the world evolves, things change and you move along with it.

You guys have been organizing Malta Death Fest as well; tell us how come the band got involved in it?

Beheaded’s bass player Dave and myself are the organizers of Malta Death Fest and we’re putting on the 3^rd edition this of the festival year. The original idea of the festival was purely to get more people involved in the death metal scene locally and essentially that is the way things work in the underground. Many of those involved have their own band, put on shows/festivals, run independent labels, tour manage, do merch, drive vans etc ….a Jack of all trades sort of thing.

Since your formation you guys have changed 3 record companies. 1^st in 1996 with Sweden’s X-Treme Records for your 1^st full length album 'Perpetual Mockery' released in 1998. Then for your E.P Resurgence of Oblivion and the full length Recounts of Disembodient was released from the Danish label Mighty Music label. Why is it that you have switched 3 labels for 4 full length and a E.P?

Various reasons, some of which are contractual but I won’t bore you with those technical details which really nobody is interested in.  Essentially the point of moving to another record label has been due to terms that a label can offer which another one cannot which are more beneficial to the band.

You guys are under Unique leader Records as far as my study you guys signed the label in Aug 2004 for the album “The Ominous Bloodline” that was recorded in the Temple Studios, in Malta and was mastered at Imperial Mastering in the US. And again in 2012 worked on the album “NEVER TO DAWN” recorded at the same studio while your vocals was recorded at 16^th Cellar Studios in Italy by Stefano Morabito along with that the entire production was done by him.  Can we expect the upcoming albums from UL records?

The writing of the new album is well underway and we have the shell of almost all of the songs ready. Since this will be our first album with our new drummer Davide Billia who is based in Italy we had to adapt our song writing process to what the situation is, which led us to a lot of the writing being structured around guitar and voice. Plans are to release the album on Unique Leader Records once again tentatively in 2015.

So coming beyond Beheaded Frank tell us how your journey in metal music begin?

I started getting into my first metal at around the age of 11. I used to hang out with a friend of mine who had an elder brother who played guitar and was a metal fan, I remember going to their house and their bedroom was full of metal band posters Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, Helloween etc alongside a rather large collection of tapes. That’s where I started getting interested I borrowed a few albums and got hooked immediately…from there onwards it is pretty much the standard evolution of a young metalhead back in the 90’s. You start buying your own albums, going to gigs, buying magazines to read about your band, buying shirts, hanging out with other metalheads etc. I had my first go at being in a band when I was around 14/15 not as a singer but as a guitar player. I sucked big time at that, I can definitely do a better job as a vocalist J

What are you listening Nowadays?

Mostly it’s the death metal classics particularly from the 90’s I guess I will carry those with me to my grave. Aside from that I listen to a lot of stoner influenced stuff nowadays like Clutch, Sasquatch, Fireball Ministry, Wo-Fat, Down and other more classic ‘easy listening’ bands like AC/DC, Dio, Black Sabbath and Motorhead.

Beside Beheaded what do you guys do?
Well Death metal is something I am involved in purely because of the passion I have for it and so is the rest of the band. It doesn’t pay the bills even more with the way things are with in the music industry at the moment, so realistically you can either go on tour 365 days a year releasing a record every year and barely have any money to put food on your table or have a day job and use what’s left of your time to work on your music. Beheaded falls in the second category and we’re happy with things this way. I myself work graveyard shifts for almost 7 years. Now in am working in an online gaming company. I deal with gambling addicts which are the worst form of degenerates you can deal with…it can be a frustrating job at times which funnily enough is a good source of inspiration. I and Omar also play in a heavy desert/stoner band called IT CAME FROM THE DESERT. Between my music involvements, work and personal life I don’t have much time left for anything else.

Coming back to Beheaded you guys had announced tour for 2014 can you say us in brief about it?

We’re doing and 8 date tour in Europe playing at a number of really cool festivals namely Obscene Extreme, Grindtastic, Metaldays, DeathFeast and Stonehenge, plus a few other dates along the way. This will be our first tour with our new drummer David Billia who some of you might know from Antropofagus, Septycal Gorge and Xenomorphic Contamination. Very looking forward to it.

So almost at the end, any message to the Nepalese crowds and fans?
Thanks to you for the time taken to do this interview and for the support also to the Nepalese death metal fans which we really hope we can meet soon !

Lastly a space for you to say if we SNRMB team have forgotten to ask. You can ask us here?
Nothing that I can think of, Hail to all our brutal and extreme Nepalese friends !