EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TERROR’S SCOTT VOGEL

“MetalSucks?” Terror front man Scott Vogel asks Vince and Axl, a tad confused.

“It’s meant to be ironic,” Axl reassures him.

“But what if I really do think that metal sucks?” Vogel asks the intrepid journalists. There’s a moment of nervous silence before Vogel’s lips curl into a grin: “Just kidding.”

Axl and Vince should have known better. So they take their respective seats opposite Vogel, mere hours before Terror, leaders of the 21st century hardcore scene, are to hit the stage for the second night of their current tour with Chimaira, Kataklysm, and Divine Heresy, and grill him on the tour, the band’s new EP, the current status of their relationship with Trustkill Records, and what Japanese hardcore crowds are like…

How’d the first night of the tour go?

Good… everyone’s getting their shit together and we played a new set list and our bass player was on his honeymoon so he’s back today so we played as a four piece, but all in all, it was cool.

So you guys just put out a new EP, Rhythm Amongst the Chaos. How did that come about?

It came about due to the fact that our label, Trustkill, um… y’know, we had wanted to, maybe two years ago, do the EP. It’s a tiny label that put it out, Reaper Records, one of our really good friends, and our label [Trustkill] wasn’t so into the idea of us doing [the EP] with another label. So we’ve recently put out an album on Trustkill, fulfilled our contract, and we’re free to do what we want now. So we did it really kind of DIY – we recorded it in our drummer’s studio, like where we record our demos, and, y’know, put it out on a tiny label with our friends for fun.

And you have some cool guest appearances on it…

Vinnie Paz from the Jedi Mind Trick… I don’t know if anyone here at MetalSucks listens to hip-hop – maybe they actually do if the site is called “MetalSucks” (laughs)… Um, Jedi Mind Trick is a hip-hop group from Philly, and he’s our friend and he loves hardcore and he loves metal and we just thought it’d be cool if, instead of having him rap, we had him actually scream and he sounded great so…

So speaking of metal sucking, you guys are definitely unique to this tour in that you’re the only hardcore band on the bill. Do you feel like the line between metal and hardcore are dissolving now?

Well, we’ve done some tours, y’know, we’ve played with Behemoth, we’ve played with all sorts of bands… we’re very open minded. I mean, I listen to everything from Slayer to Hot Water Music to Gang Star and everything in between. Y’know, we’re definitely kind of the fish out of water on this tour, and I know there will be some people that will come to the shows that don’t really wanna hear us, which is totally fine with me – there’s a lot of bands I don’t wanna hear – but, y’know, I wanna play to anyone at anytime, any place. I definitely don’t wanna come to New York every time and play to the same people – that kind of defeats the purpose of making music, so… it’s a really good opportunity for us, and I just have fun, y’know? So we’re definitely down for whatever.

How do you feel about playing in New York? We hear it’s not the best place to play…

It’s kind of weird… it’s hit or miss. We’ve had some really amazing shows in New York… y’know, there’s so many variables: the night of the week, the venue, the ticket price, and those are things that we’re not really in control of – especially a show like this, where we’re second out of four [bands on the bill] – we don’t have much say in anything. We just roll with the punches. I don’t know this stuff – I don’t go around asking what the pre-sale is or blah blah blah blah. We just show up and play and have fun, and if it’s a hundred people or a thousand people, we do the same thing.

So what’s next for you guys?

This tour goes up to Christmas time, then we’ll all go home for a little holiday… January 2nd we go to Korea for the first time…

Wow.

Yeah, I’m kinda psyched. And then, Japan – we’ve been there a couple of times – we go back right after Korea. Then we hit the studio to do a new album on February 5th. Then it’ll be March and I’m sure we’ll have another couple of tours lined up.

Will the new album be on Trustkill?

We don’t know yet. We just wrote some songs, and we’re not ruling Trustkill out, but we wanna hear labels to hear ’em, and we want the label that’s really gonna get behind us – not the label that’s gonna give us all this money, ’cause, it’s not really… I like money (laughs), but I don’t think that’s really the type of music that we play, where someone’s gonna shill out a tons of money for us to be on their label – but [we want] someone that’s gonna really believe in us and push us and keep us out on the road and keep us paying our bills.

You mentioned a moment ago that you’ve played in Japan a couple of times… what are crowds over there like?

We’ve had some crazy incredible, incredible shows over there. Kids go crazy, they sing along but I don’t know if they know the words – they kind of just, like – I don’t know how to put this into words – they kinda just, like, pump their arms to the music (laughs). They know the words, but they don’t really, I don’t think, understand them. And it’s crazy, because they bug out and go nuts, and then in between songs, they’re completely quiet. I think they’re respectful, they’re like totally quiet – and then you start playing, and they go crazy again. And more than that, just to be there and explore and meet new people and stuff like that…

You ever get days off when you’re over there?

Yeah, once in awhile. It’s cool in Korea, ’cause we fly there and we have that whole day and then we play two shows and then we have a whole ‘nother day, so hopefully we’re gonna get some time [to explore]. But sometimes days off suck. They’re uh…

Boring?

Expensive. Expensive.

Alright man. Well, have a great show.

Thanks alot! And thanks for your support…

-AR

Terror play tonight at El Corazon in Seattle, WA with Chimaira, Kataklysm and Divine Heresy. For a complete list of tour dates, check out their MySpace page.