On Friday, October 19th, 1999, eight death metal bands from London, Toronto and Montreal areas descended on the Kathedral for a benefit concert for Lethal Mayhem, the death metal show on the ailing CIUT. I had a chance to sit down with Kevin(Drums), Shawn(Bass) and Justin(Guitars + Vox) of Endless to discuss life, the universe, and of course extreme metal.
The Interview was carried out in the bar and in the entrance to the Reverb, meaning we had no shortage of interruptions in the conversation.
Chris: So, tell me about the Ottawa show with Immolation
Shawn: We actually took the place of some other band.
Justin: We took the place of some band from Quebec, or somewhere, because they couldn't make it, and then Gutshot broke down about two blocks away, so they didn't make it.
We played to, ummmm.
Kevin: Ten people
Justin: the harshest crowd. And they just stood there like this (goes stone faced), right in front of us, I was like "Holy shit."
Shawn: The guy that was doing the interview was freaking out the whole time...
(The conversation drifts a fair amount, and eventually settled on computers)
Kevin: Justin's still a computer virgin.
Justin: Just got my computer, so I've been playing like crazy... Child porn...
Kevin: Shawn's the fag, Justin's a diddler...
Justin: Kevin just gets nothing.
Chris: Just gets his female friends to try to set him up with their friends...(This is the truth, happened about 20 minutes before the interview...)
Kevin: Yeah, pretty much.
Justin: Oh, by the way Kevin, (Name omitted to protect the innocent/guilty/?) has a girl for you
Kevin: Yeah, I know, she told me
Shawn: You're taping this now? Oh...
Kevin: A day in the life of Endless... Kevin's lonely and desperate, and he's gotta get his friends to find him girlfriends...
You're gonna put this on the website, and everyone's gonna be pointing at us and going "Bwahahahahaha"
Chris: Anyways, how long has Endless been around for?
Justin: Since '92?
Shawn: Since '92.
Chris: And you've just put out your second CD, "Beauty, Tears and the Setting Sun", do you think you've come a long way with it, since the release of your EP "Life Drawing"?
Justin: Yeah, long ways, new members, new music, better scene I think...
Kevin: Record deal...
Chris: So, who are you guys with?
Justin: Pavement, with Vader, Malevolent Creation, what's that other one? The really fucking good band?
Shawn: Bloodrush
Kevin: Kreator
Shawn: Prophecy
Chris: The Canadian metal scene is generally a lot of death bands, why do you think that's been the genre bands have gone for?
Justin: I think it's exposure, like imports didn't come, like really good imports didn't come around for a while, so a lot of the influences in Canada were like the grindy Florida death metal, so I think that's about as aggressive as it can possibly get, so it's something that every band will hear, and only hear. So that's wht they'll want to play. Then, in the part couple years, you get some really good European bands and whatever
Kevin: I think it has something to do with us being a big city, I mean that's where all the CDs are... HMV down on Yonge Street there, it's got everything, where if you're out in the middle of nowhere, you won't find anything, except Metallica.
Justin: Also, when you go to small towns, you notice that the scenes for, like, death metal scenes are always gonna be the most extreme, because there is nothing else, so they make it almost like an occult membership to this kind of group, and they really pull the strings so that everything is just so intense and right there. I mean, when Summetime Daisies were going, I mean, they were aggressive, grindy death metal, they had their own crowd, who would come and see them play all the time, see them with Blood of Christ and whatnot, and it was just intense.
Shawn: It seems to th the thing in general in North America, the more extreme death metal... (At this point, NecronomicoN began their sound check, forcing us outside to continue the interview)
Chris: What I was actually trying to get at was why you think the more extreme music, such as black metal, hasn't caught on as much in this scene as death metal has
Justin: I think that's because, in Europe, the scene is so big right? But that's stuff they take it from their own history, and stuff, because Canada doesn't have the same history, it's harder to indetify with it, or even understand a lot of what they're saying. The big black metal fans here are just taking the sound, and it is, the words are amazing, and just unbelievable music, but, I don't think that they really understand, I think that's why there are si few that are actually listening to it.
Plus, I think most black metal bands have a whole theatrics, the face paint, the stage show, and that's just very attractive. It's sort of like, I know people who don't listen to this kind of music at all, but they;re gonna go see Gwar, just bcause it's Gwar, right? It's a nice(?) stage show. They get totally right into it. I think it's the same thing.
Chris: The concert tonight is a benefit for CIUT, and in particular Lethal Mayhem, so you're doing your duty for the scene, but what are you hoping to get out of the show tonight?
Justin: Just more exposure
Kevin: More than five people showing up.
Justin: This is just part of helping out the scene, which has just in the past few yeas, just taken a nose dive for the worst.
Shawn: Well, recently though, with all the shows that have been booked here(The Big Bop complex), I mean, this summer, we've had Cradle of Filth, and Emperor, and Dimmu Borgir
Kevin: Samael
Shawn: and Samael... Yeah, you know, I think Toronto's come up a bit, and I think it's great that we can have a show that's made up of just a bunch of the Ontario and Quebec bands, and stuff like that, cause I've never really seen that before - An all death show like that, with this many bands, and hopefully it turns out to be pretty big.
We just love to play, and we're just looking forward to playing and getting any extra exposure that we can.
Chris: How did you come to know Lori (host fo Lethal Mayhem)?
Justin: Actually, at our first show, back in '92, she was talking to my old drummer, and that's pretty much where it started, and you know, she's a big supporter of everybody in Toronto and she's got us some great shows over the years.
I mean, she got us a great night, and she plugs all the local bands and all the bands outside TO and whatnot, you know, she's doing a great job.
Shawn: She puts a lot of hard work into the music scene, she's one of the people that's really helped me get back up a bit.
Justin: We see her at all the shows... The more you see her, the more you talk to her, she always lets you know when she's played you on the show, she sold the CD when she has the store open
Shawn and Kevin: She's a good gal
Chris: You've opened for a lot of big named bands, like Cradle, etc., what did you gain from those experiences?
Shawn: Most recently, yeah, the Cradle of Filth show, I mean, that was pretty well one of the biggest crwods we've ever played for. That show was just incredible. You really feel the difference when there's a lot of people there, as opposed to like nobody.
They've really helped us along, gotten us out to a lot of people, and you know Noel (from Inertia Entertainment) is our booking agent, he's done some great stuff for us.
Justin: Yeah, adn then there's the fact that when we started out, we were always just playing to the 10 people in the bands, and then all of a sudden, you get a big show with a couple hundred people, and you get nervous and we were shitting our pants and it's like very shaky.
Kevin: Speak for yourself
Justin: Yeah, his (Kevin's) first show was just absolutely terrible...
And then now, all of a sudden, we're playing some great shows and we're getting comfortable on stage.
And having the good crowd response helps with that. I mean, you get a good crown response from a big crowd when you're opening up for some big band and it reall gets your confidence up. And when you play with a bigger band, it's always cool to see the guys from the bands watching you play.
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