Bill Zebub on Bill Zebub

 

What was your first real metal-related activity or production; the Grimoire..., or something antecedent?

I had a radio show on a college station. I pissed off listeners the same way I pissed off readers of the mag. I remember when Dave Mustaine's label sent out cassettes that had recordings of him answering the questions that were provided in the press release. D.J.'s were encouraged to record themselves asking questions, and then dubbing in Dave Mustaine's answers. I did that, but I made my own questions up. I asked Dave, "Are you massively gay?" and he answered, "Yes, without a doubt. And I work very hard at it." His fans were not amused, but they shouldn't have been listening to my show anyway.

I know that you continue to churn out the Grimoire (no longer the black ‘n’ white newspaper print that left smudges on my fingers), but what of your radio show? Do you still actively broadcast the show? What's the story?

I've had different kinds of radio shows over the years on various radio stations. Currently I am on every Saturday night on 91.1 FM from Midnight-3am. If you are outside of New York or New Jersey, you can hear the live stream on www.wfmu.org. I am on as a character called "Professor Dumdum."

I have your Stereotypes...Don’t Just Disappear Into Thin Air and Bad Acid DVDs, as well as your first Black Metal Documentary video, but am not always sure where to get your stuff. Is there a single place to find your videos, perhaps a Bill Zebub Foundation or Institute, or must I hunt them piecemeal?

Sometimes the movies are in big chains, like Coconuts and FYE, but they eventually get banned. you can pretty much go into any Best Buy and tell a clerk what you want, and the clerk will say that it's available on the Best Buy site, but if you order it in the store you get free shipping, or something like that. Netflix has a lot of my movies. The best bet is to Google the hell out of me.

Your interviews for the Grimoire... are generally amusing because of the tone you set from the start, not to mention the frivolously altered band pictures that you include. However, your churlish and puerile questions wear thin quickly, leaving the reader obfuscated by your unenlightening questions. Why do you waste so much of your time wasting others’ time?

It's interesting how you generalize your own reaction to the entire population. I know that others think like you, but I don't care about that segment of readers. People with good reading-comprehension understand that the questions that may appear insipid actually give you the real personality of the artist being interviewed. While YOU may ask, "what are your influences?" and get a weary answer that means nothing even though it seems like you are getting informative replies, my questions give you the soul. To quote the god Dionyses, when he was told that he made no sense, "WHAT MAKES NO SENSE IS TALKING SENSE TO A FOOL"

Alcoholocaust Deniers Readership Question - Oleg, of Brown University in Rhode Island, writes: Bill Zebub, what is your real name?
I can cash checks made out to "Bill Zebub" so that is my real name.

I read some non-entity’s review of your Stereotypes..., where he/she/it unleashed a moral rant, alleging, for instance, that your film was a “thinly-disguised propaganda film of the American far-right underground.” Do you think this mental midget just missed the opening disclaimer read by the guy with all the piercings, or that this person is just one of the typical American slobs that can’t think for themselves, but only react passively to external stimuli, enclosed as they are in their solipsistic religio-moral microcosm?

The fool was just typical of the brainwashing - these days people are trained to have a knee-jerk reaction to certain words, images, ideas, et cetera. That doesn't make you a moral person. A moral person weighs decisions after contemplation. I don't really care about those ignorant reviewers. It's just so funny to see how smart they think they are when in reality they are just showing their massive gayness. Anyway, I discovered, through the Grimoire, that people remember the insulting reviews, and that those nasty reviews actually sell more copies! I've noticed that in my own realm. The movies that get the highest praise sell the least, and the ones that get ratings like 1-out-of-10 sell astoundingly. I even started to make fake accounts on message boards and wrote ani-Billzebub threads. That stuff really works, believe it or not.
 

King Diamond has regularly appeared in your Grimoire..., and sporadically on your videos, e.g., following the credits of Bad Acid. How long have you been infatuated with King Diamond, and have you yet realized your elaborate fantasy involving King Diamond and Peter Steele having their way with your sequined person, set to the theme of the Christian Woman video?

I believe your question betrays your own fantasy about a threesome. My fantasies do not involve males.

What are your thoughts on the last releases by Absu and Beherit respectively? I ask because these are my two favorite bands. Also, feel free to comment on any other aspect of the Absu or Beherit histories.

I have never heard those bands. If I did hear them, it wasn't on purpose. I interviewed the drummer from Absu for my forthcoming BLACK METAL: THE MUSIC OF SATAN documentary. I recorded some live clips of their show, but I have absu-lutely no memory of it. Get it? I said ABSU,,,,,-lutely.

Briefly, or prolix if you prefer, tell me your thoughts on Christianity, and also on religion in general, or Religion at Large?

When I first began my exploration into the true origins of christianity, I started wondering about the falsity of other religions as well. I didn't have as much interest in other religions because I didn't feel that they really mattered. They didn't cause problems the way christians tend to. Well, things changed over the years and now moslems are causing problems. But the question remained - why do people believe in any deity or religion. As I pondered it I put forth a guess that maybe it's part of our brain wiring. Coincidentally I was studying the foundations of personality and I read some of Carl Jung's ideas. Not long after that I was exposed to MANY scientific explorations into the phenomenon. I will very soon have an article on thegrimoire.com about my findings. Bear in mind that no such information is conclusive, but it's very interesting. I've been totally addicted to buying all the books by Richard Dawkins. You might like to check out "The God Delusion."

Finally, have you managed to get approval for Welfare, and if so, have you been able to move out of your mother’s house, or at least upgrade to an eight-speed bicycle?

Who knows? Maybe I will be on welfare in the future. Or some kind of thing like that, ha ha. I was just thinking to myself that even if I had a million dollars I would never buy a luxury car. I have a strange curse with cars. The very first day that I buy a new car results in some kind of really stupid cosmetic damage, and after that at least one can of soda explodes inside. The last time I went to Canada, the border agents swabbed my ceiling because they thought the dried up soda was blood from a shotgun blast. I know that some people might think that I am a psycho when they see what my car looks like - it always requires a speech when I pick up an actress for the first time. I swear that I am not a lunatic and that I just don't have time to clean the car. If you saw it you might expect my car to be the only vehicle in the world that has cockroaches and mice. I like to think of that as "personality." When a girl overcomes her revulsion, then that means that she is the one for me, ha ha.

Q&A with Maelstrom of Angelcide - New Joisey Black Metal

Here is the first interview of the "new year," with Maelstrom of Angelcide, who my readers (all three of them) may recall from an earlier interview on the band Whorde - toxic waste isn't the only evil spewing from the Garden State!

I listened to Angelcide’s EP The Citadel, but by now you have a full album completed, do you not? 

Yeah, the album is "Twilight Carnage."  It expands on the sound started on "The Citadel" and is more technical and varied than anything Angelcide has done yet (as well as anything most other modern black metal bands have done).

In what relation do Angelcide and Whorde stand together, on which project do you focus more of your energy? 

It has differed from time to time, but most of the time Angelcide was the main focus (with the exception of when I was in Abazagorath, despite my lack of anything to show for it).  I'd like to release at least one more album with Whorde.


The music of The Citadel sounds, to me, like it comes from the, so to speak, New School of American Black Metal (if I may coin a term). I am instantly reminded of bands like Leviathan and, to a lesser degree, Xasthur. This style never quite caught on with me, but then my experience with it is rather limited. Do you agree with my observation?

I don't think there are many decent modern black metal bands from the US, that have surfaced in the last decade.  I see where you're comming from in certain characteristics in terms of style (such as choice of riffs), yes, more similarities to Leviathan than perhaps i noticed.  It can be hard to take American black metal seriously because most Americans don't take it seriously like they do in other countries.
 
There were some dissonant parts with rapid drum programming and anguished screams which reminded me somewhat of Manes’ Maanens Natt. This is not so much of a question, is it?

It's a compliment, I liked that E.P. a lot.  Yeah there were definitely some Beherit-styled riffs introduced on the citadel, and used on Twilight Carnage as well.  I try to take riffs that were from different styles of black metal, and those kinds of riffs that Beherit uses- dissonant note/chord progressions, usually notes that are all next to each other- yeah I try to incorporate them into the sound as well.  Beheirt was always one of my favorite and biggest influences, although Whorde is way more influenced by them than Angelcide is.  I'm glad you mentioned that E.P. because a surprising number of people are not familiar with it, it's so fucking weird but so fucking good.  Beherit rules!!!

What is your involvement with US Black Metal in general? Who are your collaborators and what other US bands do you perform with or contribute to?
 
I played in Angelcide, Whorde, Abazagorath, Grafvolluth, Misanthropy Legion, Malstrom, and contributed lyrics for Ouroboros Borealis.  If you had asked me two years ago  about my invlovement in US black metal, my answer would have been a lot different.  I was set on establishing a name for myself within the scene, and was successful for a bit.  But, the love I had for this scene grew to hate because of a lot of the people.  In south/central Jersey, us black metal guys would just get wasted and raise hell and have a good time.  Members of Grafvolluth, Norsekrieg, Misanthropy Legion... we were distant from any other part of the black metal scene, we created our own special hell.  We didn't have rules,  didn't try to impress each other, just lived by our own terms.  No corpse paint, never.  And so much drinking. So much drinking.  Once I saw the scene on the outside though, it was different.  Everyone had their guard up when I met them, and tried to play a stupid role.  Fuck that, I'm sorry, that's not what black metal was to me.  Now I have completely, completely withdrawn from the US black metal scene.  A tragic end.

What are some non-metal musical influences of yours?
 
I'm glad you asked this.  I explored a lot of other dark music genres, weather or not it was cool for a black metal fan/musician to enjoy them.  Such genres include the obvious like dark ambient and drone, but also psychedelic trance, classical music, industrial, and other forms of electronic music.  Also, and probably most importantly, hardcore!  I'm talking about 80s and early 90s hardcore, the Boston and NYC scenes respectably (not that faggot metalcore shit, no no no, I hope people know better to think of that shit when they hear the word "hardcore").  There are so many raw, underground hardcore bands that whose sound is identical to black metal in all aspects except vocals.  There was once an interview with Eurynomous long ago where he said Mayhem was "a hardcore band."

What is your label/distribution scenario? Are you signed? Where can I get your stuff?

The label that put out "Twilight Carnage" sucks, just download everything.  Deadknife Records, the link is, www.deadnkiferecords.net and http://www.myspace.com/deadkniferecords all of our releases, including the new album, will be on there eventually.

I recently watched a documentary about snuff films, in which opinions were presented by those who believe and those who do not believe that snuff films exist; a former FBI agent denies that they exist, for example, while the creator of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre avers that they do, and they he’s not only been offered them by mysterious Asians, but has seen one. Do snuff films exist?
 
I know, for a fact, that they exist.  I have seen them, and with the freedom of information that exists today, there is plenty of real death available if you look hard enough.  Censorship is no longer possible in todays world. 

I asked a similar question of Marko K. (Deinonychus, Bethlehem), but, what are your thoughts on the digitization of music that is obviously superseding compact discs and other standard media? In that other interview, I explained that although I finally jumped on the digital bandwagon, after years of resistance, I absolutely continue to order original albums and merchandise from the bands I support. I sometimes buy digital metal albums through Mark Riddick’s excellent Metal Hit Records. All rambling aside, what are your thoughts on this issue?
 
I don't care about financially supporting bands.  Sorry, that's not what music is about to me.  However, their are certain albums that I do want a physical copy because of the great value it has.  I own some vinyls, some tapes, lots of metal CDs.  A lot of black metal isn't worth buying, but a lot of it is, too.  It was important that I owned a physical copy of "De Mystiis Dom Sathanas" and "Hviss Lyset Tar Oss" but albums by random, unimportant black metal bands are fine just on a laptop.  When concerning Angelcide, the lack of photos and actual copies leave more to the imagination... I want to draw out the dark world within you and have that be the reality you come to understand when listening to Angelcide.

Do you agree with my observation that metalheads, per capita, are proportionately smarter than representatives of most other musical genres? Of the people I am obligated to interact with on a daily basis, none that listens to (for example) modern commercial pop/rock, modern commercial pop/country, or (c)rap pseudo-music, demonstrates any higher-than-average intelligence or interest in intellectual pursuits. TV is definitely the common denominator with these people. I shouldn’t have brought this up, because I go on ranting about this for hours, but what do you think anyway? 
 
This is a very hard question to answer but I think I have to disagree.  In fact, a lot of metal heads are the most close minded, insecure and uneducated people I've ever met.  I've met some really intelligent ones, no doubt, as the ones I chose to surround myself were some of the smartest people I've ever met, but I've met so so many that were just so dumb, ignorant, and so desperate for acceptance within the metal community that that is all they strived for.  The black metal genre is a perfect example of this.  Some bands- Burzum, Emperor- showed a great understanding of so many things far beyond the mere mentality of people- and perhaps that allowed them to be successful.  However others have nothing to say but "HAIL SATAN FUCK JESUS'S ASSHOLE" and don't even have a good understanding of the satanism they are preaching!    To understand a band like Burzum or Beherit requires a lot, and that in itself is a testament to one's intelligence.  But I've met so many stupid metal heads that it made me want to just reject that whole community in general. 

Last words? Mine would be: memento mori.
 
"Last words are for fools that haven't said enough"