First, you seem to be very busy creating music as Gruntsplatter, Cinder Skin, Husk and under a host of different names. How would you prioritize these projects?

Gruntsplatter is my foremost musical priority, and in theory anyway Cinder Skin would be second, but because I have a habit of getting involved in a lot of collaborative projects Cinder Skin gets pushed aside. More out of necessity than lack of interest, by agreeing to do the collaborations I then have someone depending on me to get something done, and I feel obligated to do it in a timely fashion, so Cinder Skin gets put on the back burner. I am preparing to do the first full length for Cinder Skin right now, finally. The only other release under that name was 3 years ago. Other projects... you mentioned Husk, this is a collaboration with Stephen Petrus of Murderous Vision/In Death's Throes. The name for that one will actually change before the album comes out because it was brought to our attention that someone is already recording under that name, we haven't decided on a new one yet. There is a full length album complete, and there will also be a super limited edition release containing a CDR of a live performance as well as a corresponding video of the show, Both should be available by the end of Summer 99'. Other collaborations include Blunt Force Trauma, a collaboration I did with Deathpile back in 1997, with one CD out on Malsonus. This project isn't necessarily dead, but it's definitely hibernating. Triage is a collaborative project with Ruhr Hunter, and I am finishing up my portion of the album right now, that will hopefully be out this summer as well. And there are a couple of more collaborations in the discussion stage, One with Jason Walton of Nothing/Susurrus Inanis and the other with Derek Rush of Dream Into Dust, but I have to get some of my own stuff done before I can start on those.

And how do the recording techniques/equipment differ from one project to another? Any classical music training?

The equipment is pretty much the same for everything, Cinder Skin is a bit more traditional with the bass guitar and drum machine, but the other stuff is all done with the same gear. I do try and do different things with the different projects though, that's why I have so many side projects. If I was doing the same thing there wouldn't be a point really. It helps me keep Gruntsplatter from straying too far away from it's intent if I have all these other outlets for different things I want to try. Then I can incorporate some of that back into Gruntsplatter without it being the dominant course, if that makes any sense. While I take the collaborations very seriously, and think that some of the best stuff I have been apart of were collaborative tracks, I see them as a sort of sketch pad for Gruntsplatter because I get to play with a lot of ideas. Some of the collaborations have had clear directives going in, which steers what I try to do in a certain direction. As far as training, I took bass guitar lessons for about 6 month's when I was in 8th Grade, and it was a big waste of time, so not really, no.

The past year has been very productive for you, having released a split cd each with Ruhr Hunter and Slowvent. Seeing that most of your original recognition revolved around the Cinder Skin project, I am curious as to how fans of that sound reacted to the more experimental Gruntsplatter material. And how has the response been from the European Noise crowd?

Yeah, when the Cinder Skin demo came out in 1996 I got a few interviews and stuff from it, but I really didn't promote it that well because it had been such a trial to record and release, I was pretty disgusted when it was finally done, and it's still not what it should have been. Cinder Skin was marketed more toward the Metal Underground even though it doesn't really fit in to well with most Metal, it's difficult to pin that project down stylistically. As far as reactions to the more Experimental stuff that I do I had a couple of zine editors tell me that it was the Cinder Skin tape that prodded them to look into Experimental music, so that is good I guess. Most of those people only ever heard the Torture Chamber/Gruntsplatter tape from 1995 as I have fallen out of contact with a lot of the people from then, or the zines have folded. As far as the European scene, my contact is pretty much limited to the handful of distributors that I deal with. The Gruntsplatter stuff has gone over well as far as I can tell, I've heard some nice things from many of them, but as far as the general European listener I don't know what they think, I have really heard from any of them.

You are also co-editor of Worm Gear Magazine. Could you tell us how that came about and what direction it is going? How has being so involved in this affected your views on the black metal and experimental noise scene? And what do you see as the differences between these "dark musics"?

Worm Gear started back in 1995 and since then we have divided our coverage between Experimental music (which I handle) and Extreme Metal, Our first four issues were xeroxed and then with #5 we made the jump to newsprint and started offering the zine for free. Right now we are working on our 9th issue, and have a press run of 10,000 copies, we average about 56 pages and 2-3 issues a year. We have been trying to get to a point where we are quarterly, but day to day living has side tracked that repeatedly, I moved to a new city, then my house burned down at one point and then when I got settled again my co-editor got divorced, so that slowed things for the next one. Hopefully we can get this next one out before something else bad happens. It is available from a lot of the Underground distributors, like Relapse, Red Stream and a bunch of others, generally the distributors are more on the Metal side of things the Experimental labels aren't as open to the Metal coverage as the Metal people are to the Experimental coverage. I'm trying to change this, and have gotten a few more labels to service us for reviews and stuff, but not as many as I would like. There aren't many (any?) zines that I can think of with our print run giving the kind of coverage to Experimental music that we are. And not only are we covering it, but the zine is free on top of it. I see Worm Gear pretty much staying the course that we are on, we may eventually try and jump to color or something, but right now we have pretty reasonable ad rates for our circulation, This past issue I think was probably our most underground yet, to keep it that way and for the small labels to be able to advertise we can't get to out of control with our advertising prices. That is what pays for the zine is the advertising, obviously if we were to go color or something the rates would have to raise which would alienate the small labels, or we would have to start charging a cover price again and that is something we'd rather not do. Now when we do 10,000 we know that they will get into the hands of the readers. As far as my views on Black Metal and Noise, I have been a fan of Extreme Metal for a very long time, I'm a lot more selective about what I like now than I was when I was younger, but there are people doing some great stuff in that scene. Though I think Metal can get a lot more from Noise than Noise can get from Metal. Black Metal is based around ideology and atmosphere in many cases, same as a lot of Experimental music, and while I see some of the Black Metal experimental side projects as being of questionable quality there are also some that have proven themselves decisively as being worth the attention they have received. Then you look at a project like Dissecting Table, that stuff is easily as brutal as most Death Metal bands, stuff like Whitehouse is more ideologically extreme than say Cannibal Corpse, so I can see the more open minded Metal fans finding something they can appreciate in Noise, though it maybe a one way street.

Your material always seems to have a dark and violent background to it. Is this a product of you being "evil" or is it more related to your taste in sounds? Jonathan Canady, with whom you collaborated with in Blunt Force Trauma, is known to be quite fascinated with these violent and sadistic themes. Also knowing that you will release a cassette on heavily anti-sadist German Verbrannte Erde Productions, i wonder what your feelings on the subject are.

Well, I don't know that I would agree with the assessment that it is violent necessarily. I think that that is left to the listeners perception, it is dark, that is intentional, but I wouldn't say that there is anything specifically violent that I try to weave into it. Perhaps with Cinder Skin, but not Gruntsplatter really. I guess since I never really perceived it as being violent it could be either evilness or taste (Ha!), something unconscious anyway. Alot of times I have more historical or esoteric sort of ideas in my head when working on stuff or titling tracks. All of this is not to say I'm opposed to violence in music, it does have a place I think, the world is a violent, degenerative place and it is to be expected that some music should reflect that. When I look at something like serial killers or whatever my personal interest is in the psychology rather than the body count. What the mind will let the body do. Psychology is what I pursued in college, and I actually worked in the field for about 3 years dealing with all sorts of folks, so I have always been interested in the tangents the mind is capable of. I have done a couple of tracks that have revolved around serial killers and violence, but I don't really think of them as being particularly violent because of how I was approaching it I guess. I also think there is a considerable difference between violence and sadism. The Blunt Force Trauma release is violent, but I would not say it was sadistic. As far as Jon Canady, he is one of the very first people that I really hooked up with in this scene, he shared the first release I did with his project Torture Chamber, he was one of the first interviews I did, and has been a supportive voice through all of my endeavors. When he proposed Blunt Force Trauma he had really just formed Deathpile, and wasn't the Power Electronics villain he's seen as today. We set out to make an album of vicious Harsh Noise that had dynamics and atmosphere, and I think we did that. The "controversial" artwork was a part of the package, and I think that it was handled as tastefully as it could be given the subject, it is not gore for the sake of gore. Part of why we chose to present it this way is that it was released during a time when alot of Harsh stuff that was coming out was pretty uninspired and we felt we could put something together that was a complete package of severity musically, graphically and conceptually. Jon and I aren't in as close a contact as we used to be, and he says some things these days that I don't agree with, but I have no regrets about anything I've done with him, and he is someone I can comfortably call a friend. As far as Verbrannte Erde, I have actually discussed these issues with Stefan, and he's comfortable working with me. Ironically, I first came in contact with Stefan when he asked me for a track about a serial killer for a compilation he was doing. He's changed his views on that sort of thing now, but he knows my thoughts on it all and doesn't seem to have any concerns about doing the cassette or affiliating his label with me. Bottom line is that, in my mind anyway, violence is not inherently sadistic.

And what is this fascination with plagues/sickness that I see on your web site?

I have always had an interest in that sort of thing, and in various ways chronic illness has effected my life, but I think that regardless of that I'd have the interest. It's that way with most of the stuff I'm interested in. Ever since I was little I've been interested in "dark stuff" of all varieties, I remember feverishly reading books about ghosts and haunted houses and stuff when I was in 2nd and 3rd grade. Epidemics are curious to me because they really hold the same threat now as they ever have, perhaps more so given modern transportation's ability to spread something globally in a matter of hours. We have eliminated some of them, but as progress sweeps through undeveloped land it will kick up new viruses and as we leisurely medicate ourselves against every little thing we are making ourselves weaker and the germs stronger. Not unlike cockroaches really, the more you fight them the quicker they are able to adapt and prevail. There is something fascinating about that, nature has the ability to take back the land at any point and there isn't much we can do about it. I think about how surreal it must have been living in the middle of some grand epidemic, especially a couple hundred years ago when there was no real understanding of the way a contagion worked. People falling and hemorrhaging all around, families and villages evaporated from history and nobody really having a clue as to what is going on. The pseudo scientific remedies that people came up with trying vainly to just do something that would help, there is just so much horror in a situation like that. The desperation, and fear, and guilt and confusion when logic is of no use... That intrigues me I guess, how people function when everything is upheaved. It's so far from most people's realm of experience, but the potential for it to happen again is as great as ever.

Crowd Control Activities has announced that they will be releasing future Gruntsplatter cds. Why have you decided to go through CCA instead of printing them on your Crionic Mind label?

I really like Crowd Control as a label, they release music that I personally like, the packaging is nice, and they sell for fair prices. James even gives deals if you order more than one title direct. I think that's really cool. He contacted me after he heard the split that I did on Glass Throat with Ruhr Hunter and asked if I would be willing to commit to a multiple CD arrangement with CCA because he was wanting to start building more long term relationships with the projects on his label so that each would ultimately benefit from the association. It's something you see in most forms or music but not Experimental and it makes perfect sense. After getting to know James a little I agreed, he's a great guy, and that made a difference as well. The other reason is that my funds are limited, and I would like to be able to release material for artists other than myself on Crionic Mind, if I had to release my own than that would greatly cut into my ability to release anything else. I will still be doing the layout and everything so it won't be much different than it has been, and it will hopefully be a little easier to get your hands on the albums.

Crionic Mind Distribution initially began to fund releases on the label. You have hand-picked the distributed titles to favor quality instead of quantity. How has this affected your contacts + income, and will the label be releasing anything soon?

Well, I think that initially this may have been the wrong way to go about it from a financial standpoint as it has taken me much longer to see any return than it would have otherwise, and why should I care if someone wants to pay me for a crappy record? But I do, I want to support things that I want to see continue, if someone does something I don't like why should I perpetuate that when I could give the support to something I do like? It again comes back to my limited finances. At this point I'm not putting any money into buying product to distribute. I would much prefer to put the money towards doing a release and then trading the release for additional merchandise. This allows me to keep my prices affordable for the people who order from me and release records which was the whole point of starting this. Right now there are no immediate plans, I'm upgrading my recording equipment, and so when I get that taken care of I will be able to get back to focusing on the label.

Each of your releases is beautifully designed by you. In addition, you have carefully constructed the web sites for Glass Throat Recordings and Live Bait Recording Foundation. Do you see yourself heading professionally into art and web design? Any artwork coming up? I believe that you are doing the layout for the Dissecting Table set on CCA...

I did the two split CD's, but the early cassettes were done by other people. From here on out I'll be doing my own stuff though. I do this stuff for a living as it is. I work in the Graphics department of a big printer here in San Francisco doing design, typesetting and some pre-press work. Unfortunately most of the people we do work for are law firms and banks and stuff, so it's pretty dry from a creative standpoint. This is definitely the career path that I'm headed down. I'm trying to get some freelance stuff going doing what I like to do which is music related projects, as a way to get more money to put into the label. A few things have worked out so far, I did just do the packaging for a 3 CD Dissecting Table that Crowd Control is releasing next month (June 99'), it looks like I'll be doing the Inanna CD for him as well which I'm excited about. I'll be doing the In Death's Throes CD cover when they are ready to do that, and the 3rd volume on the Dark Evolution of Electronics compilation series that AVA/ES1 releases. I think that is all that I on tap right now. And your own bad self has declared me the Troniks "graphics guy", so friends of Troniks will be seeing my layouts in the coming months I guess. If anyone reading this needs is looking for someone in the realm drop me a line I know budgets are tight for this sort of thing, so I'm willing to be pretty flexible. As far as the websites, I still don't know a lot of the bells and whistles, I have the books I just haven't had the time to learn it all yet. But I did the two you mentioned, the Worm Gear site and then my own.

Before I take up all of your time i will ask only two more questions. What happened to the anounced black metal project, Angrist?

Angrist is something that Marty Rytkonen, who is my partner in Worm Gear, has been trying to put together. He's a huge Black Metal fan, and has been wanting to do a project for a long time, but it has fallen victim to the time demands of all of his other commitments. We've been friends since 6th grade, and when I still lived in Michigan we played together in a project, so he thought this would be something the we could do musically despite the distance. Basically my involvement would be to add the electronics to it and maybe some vocals. I believe he has a couple of tracks written, but I haven't heard them yet. It will likely still be awhile before this project see a release.

Lastly, why the name Gruntsplatter?

Next you'll want to know what's in the secret sauce...

Feel free to add anything that I may have missed, and thank you very much for your time and patience!

Basically just thanks for the coverage, I really appreciate the chance to speak my piece. You know I wish you the best regarding the looming changes around the Troniks Compound and the rest of your efforts. For everyone else, be on the look out for the upcoming cassette on Verbrannte Erde, it's called "The Counsel of The Ungodly", there is a 7" in the works to be called "Pest Maiden" and the upcoming CD, due around years end on Crowd Control, will be called "The Death Fires" aside from those there are some compilation tracks floating around out there, and the collaborative projects will have releases staggered through out the summer if all goes according to plan. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions.