MORDRED

MORDRED… a typical love or hate type of band for many I guess… As for myself, well I have always been a fan to a certain level of that early Bay Area act -1986/ 1991 being without any doubt my favorite era- because just like many of their counterparts from the Bay Area, those boys could deliver high energized yet catchy Thrashing stuff with a good dose of originality thrown in their material via the addition of a DJ guy. For that feature, I absolutely wanted to have the only member that had been in the band since day one until to this day and many thanks to another one time MORDRED member, Sven Soderlund, I've been able to approach bassist, Arthur Liboon for the job! But that wasn't enough for me as I always want to bring nothing but the most complete stories that I can and I did manage to have former MORDRED singer, Stephen "Steve" Scates, later singer, Scott Holderby and finally guitarist, Daniel "Danny" White to answer to my numerous questions on a career that didn't start with "Fool's Game" unlike what many people around think. There's way more than this as you'll find out now!

As far as what is known regarding the MORDRED story, the band started around late 1983 with Alex Gerould (guitar), Lee Altus (guitar), Steve Skates (vocals) as nucleus but it seems that soon after Lee left to form the first mouture of HEATHEN with local guitarist Jim Sanguinetti, so Art even if you weren't yet in the band at that very early stage, do you know more about those very early days like how they all got together etc …?
Art: "Almost correct. In 1983, Alex Gerald and Steve Skates planted the seed of the band by writing the first MORDRED songs: "Mordred", "Labyrinth", and "War Of The Ring". Josh Juska (guitar) was next to join. That is when Alex and Josh approached me and I joined on bass. Slade Anderson joined in on drums soon afterward. I however was replaced (temporarily) because I blew out my speakers at rehearsal and was not able to afford replacements until later. A bass player named Keith Chatum joined for a short while. Using borrowed equipment, I played with Lee Altus, Carl Sacco (drums- ex- THE LEWD, MURDER) and Jim Sanguinetti in what later would become HEATHEN. Playing in this early HEATHEN incarnation ended when I got some new equipment and MORDRED came crawling back. Keith Chatum left and later formed a band called 100th MONKEY. After a few more months of writing and practicing, Josh was out and Sven Soderland (guitar) joined to replace him. It was this line-up that MORDRED played its first three shows at The Mab. To recap, MORDRED was Alex, Sven, Slade, Steve and myself. Before 1985 ended, Sven and Slade were replaced by Jim Sanguinetti (guitar) and Eric Lannon (drums). With this line-up, MORDRED recorded a four track/ four song demo engineered by Doug Piercy. The demo included "Sever And Splice", "Mordred", "Spellbound" and "The Chains Are Off"." Stephen: "You're on the right track here. Alex Gerould, Josh Juska and myself (as well as MORDRED's later head roadie -Erik Hajek) met in high school in S.F. in 1982. We were all about 16 years old, and just starting to meet people in the emerging S.F. Metal scene, which was a direct off-shoot of the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement in northern Europe. We all grew up listening to SABBATH, RUSH, DEEP PURPLE, AEROSMITH, RAINBOW, BLUE OYSTER CULT, AC/DC, ZEPPELIN, etc. but like a select group of people in town that were really drawn to the harder, heavier stuff, we were totally blown away when we started hearing bands from Europe like IRON MAIDEN, MOTORHEAD, GIRLSCHOOL, SAXON, JUDAS PRIEST, SCORPIONS (old stuff with Uli) and BUDGIE. We met Lee Altus at Metal parties in S.F.'s Sunset district in '83. His family had moved to the US from the Soviet Union when he was younger, so he spoke with a heavy Russian accent. I remember him as a powerful rhythm player who was developing a distinctive lead style -he also had really, really long hair. We were basically jamming and learning how guitars and vocals came together. Like anyone else, we started with cover songs, probably SABBATH."

But shortly after the original line up took place it seems Alex have recruited Brian Douglass Gilbert on drums and Josh Juska as second guitarist?
Art: "Brian Douglas Gilbert was a drummer who lived near and sometimes jammed with Alex and Josh. He was never in MORDRED however." Stephen "Josh was a good friend from school, and was seriously into the Metal scene, he acquired a Gibson SG and a Hi-Watt full stack at some point and was a perfect candidate for MORDRED, he was well-connected in the S.F. scene. Before Art (whom I still consider one of my most respected and like-minded MORDRED cohorts) we played with a great Metal/ Punk bassist named Keith Chadham. Keith was into the emerging skate/ Punk scene in S.F., but equally loved Metal as well, and was more than eager to contribute to whatever sonic mayhem was afoot. Keith had this great, huge panel delivery van that we used to roll around in -great for equipment etc. One particular memory from this time. Probably in 1983, was an appearance by King Diamond, then of burgeoning MERCYFUL FATE fame, at the hallowed Record Vault Metal music store in SF. MORDRED showed up to pay homage to K. Diamond -I was a huge MERCYFUL FATE and VENOM fan and was thrilled when King signed my hand-crafted leather/denim/fur stage vest with his signature, and the letters "STAY HEAVY!" - I've never forgotten that, and I have, and always will, remain heavy!! King was signing autographs for a huge crowd of S.F. bangers, more than was expected, and was getting dangerously close to missing soundcheck at the Kabuki Theater in S.F.'s Japantown where MERCYFUL FATE was appearing that night. When it got crazy, and no cab could be found, Ron Quintana, of KUSF "Rampage Radio" and S.F. Metal scene fame, suggested that we might shuttle King to the show in Keith's panel van, we did, and I still have murky memories of this very cool experience!!! I saw MERCYFUL FATE that night, and later raged to VENOM, Yngwie Malmsteen's RISING FORCE, and ANTHRAX at the same venue over the next few years."

Was it for all of you your first band experience or had you already played in some high school acts or something?
Art: "MORDRED was indeed the first band, for all of us to play shows and rehearse regularly. We were all still in high school at the time so this was a high school act." Stephen: "I can't speak to the others with much detail, but I came from an experienced musical background, having sung as a chorister in a world-class and recorded Anglican, cathedral choir in S.F. ( Grace Cathedral - circa 1980) for three years, and also studied and played classical alto/ soprano recorder, electric guitar, flute, piano, and synthesizers."

When you've joined this second mouture, did Alex have some originals written and do you recall how those early originals sounded like?
Art: ""Mordred", "Labyrinth" and "War Of The Ring" were the first songs written by Alex and Steve, those of course are the first tunes I learned, as MORDRED's first bassist then came "Burned At The Stake" and "Black Vigil" which I co-wrote. All of these early songs were medieval as fuck and very up tempo. Having come from a musical background heavily influenced by the local Punk scene, I was quite stoked on this Thrash, Renaissance, hybrid Metal. The first song to break away from the fuckin' Hobbit Rock theme was "Sever And Splice" which described the actions of local serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng." Stephen: "Alex was a an incredible lyricist and song writer I was passionate about writing material that spoke to the same kind of anachronistic fascination with fantasy, history, mythology, occultism, etc. that Alex had. He and I collaborated on songs (melody and lyrics) about J.R.R. Tolkien's sublime world, 16 years before it became popular culture. We also explored classic Greek mythology like the Labyrinthian (minotaur) myth. We also had a healthy respect and glory for all things Arthurian - thus the name of this band, MORDRED, culled from an understanding of the wonderfully archetypal, and continuously relevant symbolism contained in this particular confluence of celtic mythology."

What were your influences as bassist? Considering the skills/ talent that you've showed on the MORDRED records, I guess that you had wider horizons than the usual Steve Harris, Jimmy Bain etc as influences…
Art: "My influences originate from many places. My first instruments were violin and piano and before I ever touched electric bass I had been influenced by early Rock, Soul, Funk, Jazz and Classical music. When my older brother eventually gave me his bass guitar to play, I was heavily into IRON MAIDEN, RUSH, SCORPIONS, BLACK SABBBATH, MOTORHEAD and of course numerous Punk bands. I don't know who Jimmy Bain is but Steve Harris is probably the main reason I actually wanted to learn about playing Metal. Since growing as a musician, I always incorporate past influences into present context."

This line up lasted until late 1984 until you recruited Slade Anderson as newer drummer and very shortly after you parted ways with Josh who was replaced by Sven Soderlund, do you recall those times?
Art: "I can't recall exactly why Josh was replaced by Sven I think it had something to do with Josh not wanting to learn the new material as quickly as we had wanted or something. He may have simply moved to a different county and could not practice with us regularly. I do recall however how sick it was when Sven began playing with us, Sven is a sick guitarist. His contribution to MORDRED was a tune called "Doors To The Deep", I believe it is still played today by his band MERCENARY." Stephen: "Slade added the bottom end to the MORDRED sound that had been missing -he had a thumping double-bass drum technique that was becoming very popular at the time. Josh moved out of town and Sven entered, with a definitive, crafted guitar style (a la Yngwie/ Uli), dripping with arpeggios and great whammy bar/feedback tricks."

Would you say that this line up was really way stronger and you felt like MORDRED could really start as a real band and not remain a garage band?
Art: "I never doubted that we would play shows and record, even from our first practices without drums, I was confident that the band would play out soon. I had an early exposure to nightclubs in S.F. so I knew, based on the material and drive we had that we would play shows. 1980's in San Francisco, the music scene was fucking booming. You could go out and see virtually any kind of live music you wanted. Clubs and halls were everywhere and getting on a bill was not too difficult. I had been sneaking into shows from age 15 on up. I saw BLACK FLAG, THE LEWD, DOA, BAD BRAINS, CIRCLE JERKS, to name a few." Stephen: "At some point during this incarnation I remember thinking to myself that we were starting to really create an original, dark and energized sound that was becoming tighter and more authentic -in the classic European Metal sense."

According to Sven, it seems MORDRED's first show did happen with POSSESSED and LEGACY at the Mab during February 1985, do you recall what was probably your first live experience?
Art: "Yup. We had a smoke machine. Steve Skates wore animal pelts and sang to a human skull. Jim Sanguinetti was our roadie because he had a van. I played a ¾ scale Fender Musicmaster. Ness Aquino was there. The audience was comprised of friends, family and musicians. From the edge of the pit, Gannon Hall (MORDRED drummer 1987-1994), who was 14 years old, was in awe of Steve Skates' evil posturing. Scott Holderby (MORDRED singer 1986-1993) may have been there as a roadie for POSSESSED. My brother in-law took photos, I'll e-mail them." Stephen: "That sounds about right. We molded what would later become the MORDRED live experience at the Mab - early shows sucked, bad sound, excessive drunkeness, etc.. Compare these first shows with those a year later? Night and day."

Mentioning POSSESSED, LEGACY leads me to ask you this: to which extent were you familiar with the S.F. Metal scene as a whole between the first wave dating from the late '70s/ early '80s with acts such as BLIND ILLUSION, TRAUMA, GRIFFIN? PARADOX/ HEXX ,LEVIATHAN, VIENNA, METAL CHURCH, THUNDERHEAD/WARNING, ANVIL CHORUS, EXODUS, VICIOUS RUMORS etc and the second wave which was more Thrash orientated with POSSESSED, HEATHEN, BLIZZARD, DEATH ANGEL, LEGACY, MURDER…?
Art: "Approximately 1981 is when I began going to shows, mostly underground Punk and Hardcore bands. I liked MOTORHEAD and MAIDEN while learning bass and playing Punk covers. It really wasn't until about 1983-84 that I began an interest in underground Metal. When I saw METALLICA and RAVEN during the "Kill 'em All For One" tour, my hair began to grow at an alarming rate. EXODUS was a band I began to see regularly. I dug SLAYER and DEATH ANGEL. The first HEATHEN show however was indeed one of the best local Metal shows I'd ever attend. Sam Kress sang, Lee and Jim Sanguinetti on guitars, Carl on drums, no bass player. They did not use a smoke machine. They burned a plastic doll inside a small barbecue grill for environmental effects. A friend of mine lifted the owner of The Mab above his head and tossed him to the dance floor for protesting the unexpected doll cookout (the stage of the Mab was only about five inches tall so no one was hurt, physically). The band rocked it." Stephen: "We were a bit young for the "first wave", although my wife, DA, went to grammar school with Aaron Zimpel (ANVIL CHORUS lead singer) and I later met Thaen Rasmussen and Doug Piercy (originally ANVIL CHORUS) in the HEATHEN days. I did listen to BLIND ILLUSION, METAL CHURCH, WARNING, ANVIL CHORUS ("Blondes In Black"), and EXODUS. I will go ahead and say that I was never a flag waver for the Thrash/ Speedcore camp. I have always appreciated classic European Power Metal more. Don't misunderstand -I have a MÖTÖRHEAD war pig tattooed on my left arm, under a US Army Infantry combat infantry crest (Panama 1990), I just felt that Metal became diluted and uninspired during the Thrash/ Punk crossover period - lots of noise and angst, but no real talent/musicianship/theatricality."

It seems you've recorded a 13 songs garage demo that wasn't really spread around, would it happen to be the same thing that a 45 minutes rehearsal apparently dating from 1984 that found its way in the tape trading underground back then which contains songs like "War Of The Ring", "Mordred"…? If so do you recall what were the song titles on it because they still remain unknown til today?
Art: "There were actually two reference demos recorded, The first one had the Alex, Steve, Sven, Slade and myself as line up. The second recording was the Hyjak demo and maybe the one you're talking about. A friend of the band named Eric Hyjak came to practice and recorded our session. This recording was made on a boom box like cassette player. The band line-up was the same as recorded on the Doug Piercy made demo. At this point, I do not have this demo on hand. I can only guess at what the songs might have been. I don't know the song order anymore but if you have this demo, I think Steve actually announces the title of most of the songs before they're played. "Mordred", "Burned At the Stake", "Black Vigil", "Labyrinth", "The Siege", "Sever And Splice", "War Of The Ring", "Stage Fright (Shattered)", "There And Back Again", "Death Or Glory" (HOLOCAUST cover), "Disturb Thy Neighbour" (instrumental bass/ drums possibly), "The Chains Are Off", "Spellbound"." Stephen: "I wrote the lyrics to "War Of The Ring": In Middle Earth the quest begins/ The halfling takes the ring in hand/ Hiding desecrated sins/ A kingdom reels in Sauron's might/ Elrond deems the Elvin lore/ A rhunic message known by moon/ The seven rings were known before/ The Nazgul seek the final key. . . (continued). I also wrote the melody for the song "Mordred" (later arranged by Alex Gerould) and penned the lyrics as well. MORDRED fans will appreciate the full lyrics to the original namesake song (which was later dropped from the song list ?!?!), so I include them (cheers!!): Marching towards the castle/ A figure he doth ride/ Draped in flowing regal gown/ His bearded face he hides/ Once inside he finds her/ She who guides his lust/ Sorcery and magic/ His passion is unjust/ Forgotten by the monarch/ The lowly child doth grow/ Being taught of evil things/ His wicked mother knows/ Enslaving all the country/ With his evil hold/ Awaiting final conflict/ With his father in control (CHORUS) Hell's Pawn, death's dawn/ Mordred is Born/ Hell's Pawn, death's dawn/ Mordred will reign/ SOLO/ CHORUS/ The moors are dark and misty/ Two armies they doth meet/Steel collides with steel/ Their carnage is complete/ Mordred spies the monarch/ Their eyes doth meet with hate/ Breastplate hewn by spearhead/ He seals his father's fate/ CHORUS. This recording might have also included the songs: "Burned At The Stake", "Spellbound", "Labyrinth", "Black Vigil", "Persecution", "The Last Judgement", and "Sever And Splice"."

Do you feel like the material was really not strong enough on this one to be spread around considering that other small bands were doing their best to have their rehearsal, demos around to build a fanbase?
Art: "No, not really. I don't even think we were thinking that competitively about it. We made recordings like the Hyjak demo simply to have some form of reference for ourselves and friends. Mainly it was used to monitor ourselves outside of the actual garage practice environment." Stephen: "Not so, we fucking thundered very hard and enjoyed a loyal local following -our problem was distribution (solved later). If it ain't gettin' out, no one is hearing it!"

Were you familiar with the tape trading scene at that point and the strength it could have to build a band as it got proved with METALLICA, EXODUS and others?
Art: "Indeed, much my Metal friends and I were into was almost exclusively recorded cassettes of bootlegs and poorly recorded copies of shitty cassette copies. By the time I actually heard MERCYFUL FATE on vinyl, I was surprised to hear that King Diamond's speaking voice not as high pitched and sped up as I had previously thought." Stephen: "Yes and no, I know I was always on the prowl for material that was coming from Europe. However, I (we) never actively pursued moving MORDRED material to an overseas market."

Also it seems like you guys were badly into underground music just like many other Bay Area musicians such as Lee Altus, Sven Soderlund, Gary Holt… as I remember seeing some of you sporting TANK, AGNOSTIC FRONT shirts early on and you were doing that HOLOCAUST cover, "Death Or Glory", tell us more about this as that stuff wasn't the usual stuff that the majority of people were listening to…
Art: "I still listen to TANK every now and then. The underground music scene in the 80's whether it was Punk, Metal, Alternative, electronic or whatever, was healthy and vibrant. If SAMMY HAGAR wasn't hard enough for you, you could tune your radio to a college station that had VENOM in its play list, thanks Ron Quintana (KUSF radio). So many types of bands rose from the ashes of the 80's underground that changed music forever." Stephen: "THANK YOU!! We (as a whole) really did honor the real shit (TANK, VENOM, RAVEN, MERCYFUL FATE, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, ACCEPT, DIAMOND HEAD, THIN LIZZY, HOLOCAUST, ANGEL WITCH, RIOT, SAXON, etc). We did cover HOLOCAUST's "Death Or Glory" - a great Metal standard from one of the ONLY Scottish Metal bands ever in existence! We got this music from word of mouth and tape-exchanging (a lot from KUSF - Quintana/ Kallen). It was, at the time, like nothing that had ever been heard before-ELECTRIC!!"

Were you toying with some covers besides "Death Or Glory" back at the time because it seems it wasn't the case as I recall that live sets dating from March '85 contained only originals…?
Art: "You're right. MORDRED's first cover was of HOLOCAUST's "Death Or Glory". On occasion I would play Rick James "Superfreak" at practice and a friend of ours would break dance to it. "Superfreak" became MORDRED's second cover tune years later. I guess in the early days we were mostly concerned with writing originals than playing covers." Stephen: "We played exclusively originals for our first few regional tours out. Later we folded selected covers into our set."

So during mid 1985, Sven left the band being followed by Slade to form MERCENARY, do you recall what happened? Would you say that Sven was finding MORDRED's stuff at that point maybe a bit too limited comparing to the advanced material that he wrote in MERCENARY?
Art: "I suppose it's possible that Sven needed something other than what MORDRED had to offer at the time. He never really stated anything to me personally regarding why. Basically, Sven stopped coming to practice regularly so we got someone we knew was an absolute music fiend, Jim Sanguinetti. I remember when Slade left quite well. It was summer and baking hot outside, we were in the rehearsal room when Slade who didn't want to practice, broke his drumsticks in two just so he couldn't continue. We all laughed and kicked his ass out of the band soon afterward. I should also say, we did practice a lot. Sometimes if we had a gig, we'd practice seven days a week. At the time I loved it but not everyone did." Stephen: "I will go out on a limb and say that MORDRED had always suffered from a bit of an identity conflict -"which way do we go?!?" -I think Sven was looking for something a bit more directed, perhaps more traditional? Jim Sanguinetti and Eric Lannon were a breath of fresh air (yet again). Eric was a long-time friend from the S.F. scene, seasoned and professional (I later roadied for PANTERA and the ALLMAN BROS. Band when Eric was stage manager at the Warfield in S.F.). This line up was pretty fuckin' solid- we sounded like real Metallers!"

With Eric Lannon replacing Slade, you did a four track demo/ rehearsal featuring "There And Back Again", "Mordred", " which was done during 1985 done with a portable recorder and got reviewed in a few fanzines? What can you tell us about that tape which despite some flaws showed that the band was developing into something way more interesting than what the not that so hot 1984 rehearsal led us to believe?
Art: "There's not much to tell about that recording except that we made it so we could analyze our material outside of the garage."

The band from that point was starting to incorporate many tempo changes, technical parts ("There And Back Again" comes in mind mainly being a ripping instrumental!) instead of coming with more Thrash for the sake of it type of material, what have changed within the band to change the musical direction at this point?
Art: "No real changes within the band occurred when "There And…" was written. I suppose that as we grew musically by playing alot, so did our musical vision. The Hobbity ass, Ring Lord song title indicates little change." Stephen: "This was the beginning of the end for me -it pains me to say it- I knew that the band was striving towards a more contemporary and inner-urban sound, incorporating scratching and hip-hop . I dig it -I'm an S.F. boy- it's just not where my focus laid."

Through songs like "Spellbound", "Sever And Splice" the band also had started to incorporate catchy choruses despite Steve's raunchy vocals and MORDRED was tending to sound already at that point different from the likes of FORBIDDEN EVIL, VIO-LENCE or DEATH ANGEL
Art: "Yes we liked catchy chorus arrangements. We liked bands like SATAN, BLITZKRIEG, SILVER MOUNTAIN, HOLOCAUST, MOTORHEAD etc… in addition to the latest in Thrash. Our catchy chorus exhibition must have been a reflection of those influences." Stephen: "We designed the original MORDRED around the likes of VENOM. Even though I had training in classical and liturgical musics. We strived to emulate Cronos, bombastic dark rage layered with featured elements of understood Order/ Chaos."

To which extent bands like EXODUS and METALLICA especially who were starting to enjoy major success did influence the band songwriting?
Art: "These bands were like a template for guitar tone and song arrangement. I would say these two bands had some influence for virtually all Bay Area Thrash bands that formed afterward." Stephen: "By the time that EXODUS and METALLICA were big time, MORDRED had migrated to its popular and recognized new identity."

Still the band issued their first official demo during early 1986, a four song recording featuring "Sever And Splice", "Mordred", "The Chains Are Off But The Scars Remains" and "Spellbound", recorded and produced by HEATHEN guitarist (at the time)/ legendary Metalhead, Doug Piercy, what do you recall from that first studio recording? How do you view it nearly 20 years later?
Art: "I like it. The production is ghetto but it still has a lot of raw energy in the way it sounds. Some of MORDRED's recordings afterward lack this energy I must admit. It ain't that easy, is it?!" Stephen: "We shared rehearsal space in a hole in S.F.'s Tenderloin. Doug worked with us to record a simple, but crafted demo that captured MORDRED. We actually recorded separate and mixed tracks on a 4-track for this one -the best recording of vintage MORDRED. We all really enjoyed working with Doug -he had (has?) an intrinsic sense for capturing the basics - this demo was a snapshot of MORDRED in 1985/86."

Did you shop it around back then at a time when Thrash wasn't yet that big? What sort of response did you get from labels and people as a whole?
Art: "That demo did not get far in terms of "shopping". As you know Steve Skates was on that demo and would soon leave the band to continue his academics. We all knew this and so just used the tape as a trading/ reference recording." Stephen: "As I recall, there was a bit of a buzz. We had an agent that was booking shows and negotiating recordings etc. I don't really recall- I was doing profuse amounts of LSD and mushrooms at the time (good old days -lead singer's prerogative)."

The band continued to gig quite heavily during 1986, having the chance to open during two nights for the newer EXODUS line up at the Farm with HEATHEN in July, is there any particular shows during that time when MORDRED was enjoying a good popularity in the Bay Area that sticks in your mind? Was it easy to get gigs back then at those legendary clubs (Rock On Broadway, Ruthies Inn, The Mabuhay Gardens…)?
Art: "We played some fun shows back then and it did not seem too difficult to get on the bill with a lot of great local bands." Stephen: "It was never easy to get a show in S.F./ Berkeley. 86' was good -we got some key gigs with EXODUS, HEATHEN, TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL, etc. We had an interesting road trip to a theater at the Russian River in Guerneville (Northern California), where we opened for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES."

Late '86/ early 1987 saw the band going through a new major line up change with Steve being replaced by Harley Scott Holderby and Jim S. leaving to join the reformed MERCENARY while ex- MERCENARY guitarist Danny White joined MORDRED, would you say that it was the next necessary step for the band's progress because it was obvious that Steve's voice weren't the best around?
Art: "I liked Steve's kitchen witch like voice. I liked Scott's better. Scott had a more realistic sound and his energy was more intense and less weird than Steve's." Stephen: "I left the band that I helped to create because it deviated too much from the original vision -I don't oppose what MORDRED became, with all the scratching/ hip-hop stuff, it's just not what it was originally intended to be -a classic European style Power Metal band with a gothic, medieval flavor."

So Stephen, what have you done after this? Have you been approached to join other Bay Area acts considering that you had forged a name for yourself with MORDRED?
Stephen: "I served five years in the US Army, light infantry (experiencing the real violence of war's conflict in Panama, 1989) and eventually graduated with a degree in graphic design, and have spent the last ten years working as a senior designer, illustrator and art director in the marketing and publishing industries in the Northwestern US."

Have you checked out what MORDRED did after the split with you?
Stephen: "I have -and I have only admiration for what they accomplished, especially their stalwart following in Europe and their polished recordings. No hard feelings on my part. I only hope that the creation of MORDRED in 1983 in the US -as a band that attempted to continue interest and mad "motorheadbanging" allegiance to the martial, historical, and mythological elements of our collective human experience has had some lasting effect in the worldwide Metal community. UP THE HAMMERS!!!"

Do you still have a look on what's going on into Metal these days?
Stephen: "These days I have a continuing interest in the Progressive Metal movement in the US -bands like QUEENSRYCHE, FATES WARNING, DREAM THEATER, KING'S X, BIG WRECK. I also always track MÖTÖRHEAD, JUDAS PRIEST and BLUE OYSTER CULT. I know that VENOM is releasing a new offering soon. Two bands that I have neglected to mention in my diatribe thus far are HELLOWEEN and BLIND GUARDIAN, both German entries. For any real Metal fan, HELLOWEEN ("Keeper Of The 7 Keys") is the shit!!(Except for me I guess Steve!- Laurent). BLIND GUARDIAN has chronicled the works of Tolkien like no other."

So what about Jim Sanguinatti, what went wrong again with him?
Art: "I can't remember why exactly but he knows what he did. That bastard! There may have been some issue that arose concerning either music or otherwise."

Have you tried other members before settling your choice onto those two guys? What can you tell us about Scott's previous bands?
Art: "We tried out some dudes from the scene but Scott and Danny seemed to fit in best. Scott had a fresher sound and Danny is an outstanding guitarist songwriter. Both were dedicated to playing in MORDRED. I had only heard some 4 track recordings of Scott. Those songs apparently have had no lasting impression."

So Scott, when did you start playing and what were your influences to become a Metal musician? What were some of your previous bands?
Scott: "I started playing guitar at age four, now I don't know how good I was at four, but I was playing...My first group was called JET, in 6th grade and we did originals not covers. JET sounded sort of like SABBATH with little kids playing it. That band morphed into FURY and that one went until the summer before 9th grade 1983.1984 I was playing bass and singing in my high school band REGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, we changed the words of the MONKEYS' song "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" to "I'm Gonna Break Your Bones"...(Knuckleheads).The high school I went to had alot of band guys, PRIMUS, BLIND ILLUSION, POSSESSED, BLIZZARD, EL DEBARGE ect. So I went to shows all the time, Punk Rock and Metal. I had recently escaped from a mental institution and was living in a house with other runaways. That is about the time I tried out for MORDRED. I was 16 and a junior in H.S., that was 1986...I still had another band with the drummer from FURY and JET, It was called UNGODLY… Kinda a bit like KILLING JOKE's first LP."

So how did you end up joining MORDRED? To which extent were you familiar with their material at that point?
Scott: "I heard MORDRED were looking for a singer from Alexis (Olsen), MORDRED's and TESTAMENT's manager. He set up an audition, they liked it, I got in that night and we all went to see the BAD BRAINS. I had never heard MORDRED's music before."

Danny, when did you start playing and what were your influences to become a Metal musician?
Danny: "I started playing when I was around 12. I actually started playing the alto sax in junior high school. I could play the theme from Casablanca -you must remember this! Then I started playing guitar. My mom bought me a Strat knockoff from some local music store. I started listening to bands that a friend Seth turned me onto-LED ZEPPELIN, AC/DC ("Highway To Hell" which had just come out!) and I became obsessed. It was Jimmy Page and Angus Young that started me playing. The first song I learned was "Stairway To Heaven" -so cliché now but oh man when it first came out. I used to sit around wondering what they all looked like in LED ZEPPELIN because I had "IV" and it was just the picture of the old man with the sticks on his back… I also listened to a lot of Hendrix."

One of the first band you've been involved with was MACHEN ASSAULT back in 1982, what do you recall from that band?
Danny: "I can't believe I'm even talking about this stuff it's been so long! Well, the line up was myself on guitar, David Foston on drums, Matt Jepson on guitar and vox, and Rob Mauffett on bass. Matty, Rob and I went to Mcateer, which has since closed. I think Dave was going to a secondary school and getting his GED somewhere… I used to go hang out with Matty over at his house and we'd play around with the effects boxes he had. He had a Mu' Fuzz, a Big Muff, a crazy phaser one, a Mutron phase shifter (???) I think, all these vintage (but current at the time!) pedals. We'd sit around for what seemed like hours and play and listen to RAVEN's "Rock Until You Drop". Now that was a cool fucking record! "Hell Patrol", "Tyrant Of The Airwaves". I'm gonna have to go buy that one again…We had a lot of fun, the name MACHEN ASSAULT was Matty's idea. He wanted the name to be about girls assaulting us. The funny thing was we got shit sometimes from the girls because they thought we were advocating violence against women! Good times…Our name was also SAVATAR for a while but we changed it because SAVATAGE was becoming popular and we didn't want to be confused with them. We actually got on TV one time in high school. We were on TV20 dance party! The show would have different San Francisco high schools come on and dance to top 40 music. It was hilarious. Of course none of us danced. I remember Matty couldn't make it because he said he was sick and had a fever. I always thought he was such a puss for that. So we had to find another guy to sing. I don't even remember his name but he sucked so bad. He forgot the words, sang off key. Anyway, we played a song Matty wrote called "The Fury" and my guitar E string was out of tune so my solo sucked. What a show, I still liked being on TV though…"

A demo was recorded during 1983 probably sporting six tracks or so as it was a 30 minute long tape, what can you tell us about it?
Danny: "Huh? I don't even remember recording a demo. We probably did but I couldn't tell you a thing about it."

Which style was playing that early Bay Area Metal act? I mean was it a Thrash act along the lines of EXODUS or much more a Power Metal act ala GRIFFIN, HEXX….
Danny: "I don't think we were quite Thrash then although we were heavy. Our stuff sounded like a mix of RAVEN, SCORPIONS (early stuff), ANGEL WITCH (awesome band)."

You also did some gigs with that act, like playing the Mab and stuff, what was your live set like?
Danny: "This was right around the time "poser" came into our language (1983?). So up until that point we wore parachute pants, hightop basketball sneakers. Matty wore spandex pants sometimes, hilarious. I wore an equally laughable referee shirt cut right down the middle. I don't remember the Mab gig but we played the Stone, not the one on Broadway (Keystone?), the other one that closed down. There was this stupid pole on my side of the stage and it was a pain in the ass cause I was already a little nervous, that was one of our first gigs."

How did the whole M. ASSAULT thing end up? Did you have a good following there and maybe had created a sort of buzz that had attracted record companies at one point?
Danny: "No, no record companies. We were too young I think and well for me, I couldn't get along with Matt any longer, at the time I just thought he was a dick and I didn't want to play with him anymore. I'm sure I could be a dick too but that's high school for you, I'm sure we've all grown up since then. I graduated from high school and went down to Hollywood to go to Musician's Institute for a year, then I came back to S.F.."

Was MERCENARY the band that you've joined back in the summer 1985 right after M. ASSAULT?
Danny: "Like I said, after my grandfather died he left us some money. My dad said why don't you go down to L.A. and go to school for a year. Actually he wanted me to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston but I thought that was too far and it was for 4 years which seemed so long. After I finished the program, I came back up to S.F.. Who knows how that would have turned out though…"

Do you recall how you hook up with Sven Soderlund and Slade Anderson who had just left MORDRED back then?
Danny: "Sven actually called me I remember when I was still in the M. Institute. He said he was starting a band named MERCENARY and had all these connections to record companies and got me thinking about record contracts and all the other Rock star shit that seems so important when you're 20. I liked the idea of going back to S.F. and Sven sounded like he knew what he was doing so I decided to come back up to S.F.. I met Slade shortly after along with a whole underground scene that had been slowly emerging."

So after working for like one year on the songs, you've entered the studio with Senesac to record that famous MERCENARY four track demo in April 1986, what do you recall from that demo which got praised almost everywhere?
Danny: "I recall how much fun it was to be in a band. That's all I ever wanted back then and I was doing it. We thought the demo was great. Sven was a great player and Slade had these wicked fast feet for double bass. I remember "From Napalm To Cinders", Slade named the opening drum riff Hop on top a ya, Hop on top a ya after the way it sounded. High energy shit, techno Thrash I think was one name we had for it. Mark "sell us your sack" Senesac, yeah I kinda remember him."

You guys had a huge buzz surrounding the band from that point and had label interest back then at a time when labels were hot after newer Thrash acts, how did you feel about this?
Danny: "We had some interest I remember, a lot of fan mail from Europe that Sven I think was responsible for. He made a lot of calls to Europe, god I wonder what his mom thought about those phone bills. I think he got the buzz going, MERCENARY was his baby. I paid for the demo from the left over money I had from my grandfather dying.. I bought a P.A. and some cabinets for vox as well I remember."

After two shows during late 1986 the band broke up right after, what happened?
Danny: "As far as I recall, I found out from someone that Sven was going to use the MERCENARY demo to audition for MORDRED. He wanted Alex Gerould to hear what he sounded like singing as well as playing guitar. MORDRED had a bit of a buzz back then as well. I didn't like the fact that Sven was using a demo that I paid for from my dead grandfather. I felt kind of used you know? So I went down and talked to Alex, we talked for awhile and one thing led to another and I tried out for MORDRED and got the gig."

What do you think lacked to MERCENARY to become the huge band that they possibly could have been?
Danny: "Sven at the time just didn't really have his shit together. Hopefully you can chalk it all up to youth."

What do you think about the fact that Sven essentially and Slade are trying to achieve something with MERCENARY again nowadays after having reformed the band in late 2001?
Danny: "I had no idea that was the case. Good luck Sven!"

To which extent were you familiar with MORDRED's material at that point?
Danny: "Just what I heard from going to their rehearsals which were in the garage under Alex's mom's house. I liked Alex's style of writing."

With that revamped line up, the band entered quickly the studio to record during the spring of 1987 a newer three tracker, ("Reckless Abandon", "In Cold Blood", "The Scars Remain") and as a whole this recording sounded way more accessible than everything MORDRED had penned before and out of all the newer wave of acts from the same period of time, MORDRED sounded like the most melodic outfit at that point to the point that some people were starting to say that the band had wimped out, would you say that it was a natural progression or was it a bit "forced" as you maybe wanted to distant yourselves from the other Bay Area acts?
Art: "People? Starting to say? Yeah. The only distancing we were doing was from our previous medieval Metal stylings. I think if Scott wore animal pelts, screeched to a human skull and sang about minotaur and snake men then "People" might "start to say" MORDRED is lame. It wasn't until, MORDRED shed it's previously all medieval motifs that people in the audience and even other bands took us more seriously. And yes dumping the medieval stuff was indeed a conscious band decision, although we did continue to play choice picks from our early sets for some time afterward. To simplify, we had Steve, he was medieval, and we got Scott who was not." Scott: "At the time of our '87 demo, we were playing gigs with all of the Bay Area Metal bands. We always had a bit different sound than everybody else in that scene even then. As far as wimping out, we were just playing what we wanted to, some liked it- some didn't...We had just started to turn into the MORDRED of the future...it took a little while..." Danny: "I think at the time Alex was listening to a lot of Glam Rock and going to a lot of those shows because of the girls it would draw. I think he wanted to bridge the gap to not play in front of sweaty 15 year old boys all the time. So it wasn't as Thrashy as the earlier stuff. I think I liked his thinking on that but I think Funk was the answer. You could be heavy but you could have soul and groove…"

Danny, how would you compare playing with Alex and playing with Sven, both being gifted musicians?
Danny: "Both great players in their own ways."

What type of response did you get for this newer effort as I remember that quite a lot of promotion was done for this demo and in fact it was the real first time that people started to be aware about MORDRED? Did the contact that you have at the time in Germany to distribute the demo helped the band a great deal as far as overseas promotion is concerned?
Art: "It was definitely the cleanest recording of MORDRED's material, at the time. It served to showcase our new singer (Scott) and guitarist (Danny) as well demonstrate a less niche marketing package for our music as with our early stuff. It was this demo that record labels heard and actually gave any real response to." Scott: "We had a great response to the demo, in the states and abroad. I do think having a contact in Germany got Noise to eventually hear of us and later sign us." Danny: "I think the buzz around the Bay Area in general laid the foundation for any kind of support for the band. Companies were picking bands just because the area had a buzz going. I think Europe has more respect for music than they do in the states. I always felt appreciated when we came overseas, they were more open to innovation, it was nice. You use whatever you can to get somewhere in this business, just hope that you're prepared to back up what you put out there once you get noticed."

So at which point did you replace Eric Lannon (who was later seen in AMERICAN HEARTBREAK) with ex- MERCENARY drummer, Gannon Hall? What happened with Eric as he was fired?
Art: "Lannon began to flake out on practice sessions for whatever reasons. His playing in the band did not seem to hold the same priority as with the rest of us. There may have been some personal issues between certain members, but essentially it was the inability to show up for band practice that caused Eric's parting. Gannon replaced Eric in 1987." Scott: "Eric Lannon was replaced because I couldn't look at him anymore. He hooked up with my girlfriend at the time and I nearly beat him down. The others restrained me but we were left with an obvious problem. That girl is long gone and we are friends again, it seems stupid now but to a 17 year old…you know...." Danny: "Aw you know, we were kids, young, dumb, shit happens life goes on…"

One can notice that there was a lot of common points with MORDRED and MERCENARY considering the history of the two bands with members going from one band to the other, huh?!
Art: "There were some similarities, since our two bands had like a revolving door for its musicians. Over time MORDRED came to have its own distinct direction and sound. MERCNARY became very distinct and different from MORDRED as time went on too." Scott: "We just kept interchanging..." Danny: "Yeah, it was all very incestuous, the scene was small enough that we all knew each other, at least as friend of a friend."

So 1988 was spent gigging and writing newer material I guess, were you getting label offers following the buzz surrounding the latest demo or…?
Art: "Yep. We pretty much wrote new material and became tighter with our new bandmates, practiced and gigged." Scott: "1988... Lots of gigs... New songs.... Good times.....We were talking to Noise Records…I think we signed in 88... Then Gannon got stabbed 11 times… or was that the beginning of 89? We had to postpone our recording so he could heal. I remember Art having to pull out the old gauze and put new ones in his stab holes. He was still doing that when we recorded "Fools Game"." Danny: "Like I said, the whole Bay Area was getting noticed, thanks to METALLICA of course, you just hope you can deliver when some company decides to take on a band that's from the area."

I guess it's during either 1987 or 1988 that you parted ways with the last member from the original line up, Alex Gerould who was replaced by that unknown guy Jim Taffer, what happened with Alex as he was a shredding guitarist judging by the material he wrote and played plus most of all, he had created MORDRED? Did you try out a lot of people before getting Jim?
Art: "Alex left the band in 1988 to attend law school. The demands of his studies required his full attention. We all knew this was going to happen eventually since Alex had always been talking about becoming a lawyer so it was not a surprise. He left the band just as record labels were starting to pay attention to MORDRED. Jim Taffer replaced him almost immediately. Taffer may have played with MERCENARY for a short time." Scott: "I missed Alex when he left. He was the bandleader and a great guy. It was his band. Art was an original member as well and he stayed on so is Jim Sanguinetti, who took over for Taffer. Alex still hangs around Sango and we all hang out from time to time. When we got together in 2002 we wanted him to play guitar as Danny is in New York, we almost got him to... Alex can still shred! We did not try out too many before we got Taffer. He seemed to fit and he was pretty good." Danny: "I worked with Jim at Guitar Center in S.F.. Alex was moving on, wanted to be a lawyer and make the big bucks. Jim and I became friends and we gave him a shot."

January 1989 saw the band signing with Noise international, a somewhat surprising deal since most of the Bay bands at that point had either choose Combat or major labels such as Mechanic, Megaforce… plus MORDRED happened to be the first American band on their roster, did you have to negotiate for a long time with 'em? Why did you opt for this company in the end?
Art: "Negotiation time was relatively short. Noise Records was the only viable offer made to us. The other labels had passed or could not consider us until a later time." Scott: "We negotiated for a bit before signing with Noise. We felt at the time that Europe was the place we want to be, so we loaded up our stuff and we went to Germany. They just gave us the best deal so we went with them." Danny: "I think Noise offered the best deal from what I remembered. We redlined the contract back and forth for a while with Barry (our lawyer) and took what was told to us a standard decent contract. Truth be told, I didn't know a whole hell of a lot about contracts in those days, didn't really want to know (wished I had known), just wanted to play."

Was the fact that they were distributed by CBS in America influenced your choice?
Art: "Maybe, we wanted to make records, Noise made that possible sooner than other labels could commit to at the time. We were pretty gung ho to get signed. In retrospect, we may have been rather hasty." Scott: "Probably, The CBS thing was a factor. Alexis, our manager handled all that stuff." Danny: "Yeah, but the prospect of going to Europe because they were Germany based had me thinking."

The album was recorded shortly after using the facilities of the Prairie Sun studios with Dino Alden at the helms, what do you recall from that recording and would you say that the result completely lived to your expectations considering the amount of originality that you wanted to include in your material?
Art: "At the time, it was like being a kid in a candy store. It was a lot of fun to record at Prairie Sun and we had not heard ourselves in the pristine recording environment until then. When I listen to that album now, it seems like a demo." Scott: "At that time, I did feel like we could have mixed it up more stylistically. Not everybody in the band was ready to leave the safety of straight ahead Metal. We played all kinds of different stuff live and in rehearsal, but it wasn't until "Everyday's A Holiday" got some play that everyone found the courage to try something new. At that time there were no Metal bands with a DJ. Playing Ska, Funk, Jazz, Country, Blues, Hip-Hop-Hardcore whatever music we were feeling, we would slip it in." Danny: "I just remember driving poor Dino insane, I think he became a shoe salesman after that or something. Actually I think most of that first record had the "Bay Area Metal" sound going for it and then there was "Super Freak" and "Everyday…"."

I remember that a lot of people didn't know what to think when they heard those two particular numbers "Everyday's.." and "Super Freak" (a Rick James cover), both tracks included a guess appearance of Aaron "DJ Pause" Vaughn, people were kinda fired up to see those funky sounds included in what can be called without any hesitation, a Thrash Metal record, how do you view this now? Was it the best choice to do?
Art: "At the time, "Super Freak" became a favourite to local fans and we liked playing with DJ Pause, because he added an element that was quite unheard of at the time." Scott: "No regrets with Pause, having him around made MORDRED more fun for me…playing and hanging out. I think he also gave more dimension to the sound, we were really into Rap music back then. EPMD, Eric B, Ice T.. Hard Funk.. Like behind those Hip-Hop tracks, that's what we were into… and THIN LIZZY." Danny: "It was like the old and the new on the same record. It was a departure, albeit immature but departure nonetheless."

How did that new Funkish influence did come into the band's material at that point? I mean, was it a shared influence or was it some specific members who brought that into considering it was like a new band memberwise? Did it happen that there was friction coming in regarding that subject?
Art: "It was as effortless as it was kicking out a guy that missed practice. In 1987 MORDRED recorded a demo for Noise International that included "Super Freak" with DJ Pause (MCM and THE MONSTER). Noise loved it, we recorded it on the album. As we continued to play together, various techniques found in other types of music began to blend with ours and this open minded approach kept our rehearsals from getting stale." Scott: "We were all into the Funk...We all used to hang out at the Covered Wagon while my boy John Essen spun old school Funk and Rare Groove. Tommy Guererro and all our S.F. skater crew hung out there...Those days were fun. Also at that time Danny and I were playing in THE CHURCH OF THE GRAND FUNK, a band that later became the MOFESSIONALS. We liked how Funk could sound hard with the right beat, like PUBLIC ENEMY, that was where we were coming from...Urban Metal...Urban Funk...Urban Hip-Hop...From SF. No friction… or is that fiction?!" Danny: "I remember it being Scotty's idea for "Superfreak", "Everyday…" was a joke, actually both were pretty much joke songs and not really looked upon at least by me as some deeply considered maneuver blah blah."

Also just like "Reckless Abandon" was on the demo, the band had opted to use melodic/ catchy backing vocals for most of the material, something particularly evident with "Shatter", "Sever And Splice" and others unlike other Bay Area bands and just like I've mentioned it before it certainly increased the fact that some people thought you had sold out somewhat considering that the band had started as an EXODUS/ METALLICA type of band , what do you think about this?
Art: "I think catchy is a relative term. What is catchy to me may not be catchy to say my Mom. I think MOTORHEAD has catchy tunes, same as MERCYFUL FATE, METALLICA, catchy lyrics, riffs etc…We did not take our own peer music groups into consideration when defining our direction. This was an unspoken, common understanding." Scott: "MORDRED never sounded like EXODUS or METALLICA, not to say they did not influence us. METALLICA did their own thing and sort of pioneered a sound, that was in a way what we were, trying to do. And certainly you can't deny the EXO-METALLICA Chunka-Chunka guitar riffs, we always be playing. As far as selling out, don't you need to get paid for that, we were really into THIN LIZZY, all of us, and those lyrics and those catchy choruses...What can I say, people can dig it or not......And the funny thing is, all the backups were done by the local Bay Area Metal guys, Chuck Billy ect. Anyway, we were a Bay Area Metal band, like it or not and our sound was part of the spectrum. We didn't sound exactly the same. There was no mould, we had to fit into. That was what the B.A. sound was… Punk Metal, Crossover inspired by bands like MOTORHEAD,DISCHARGE, DEAD KENNEDYS etc…" Danny: "I think we were carrying forth what was handed down to us and seeing it recorded almost so we could then start to think about what we wanted to do. Second album was a clean slate for us…"

Did you consider at one point to use some stuff like "The Scars Remains", "In Cold Blood" or even older material like "Mordred" or was it totally out of question?
Art: "I remember some discussion regarding the inclusion of the older tunes. It boiled down to this: although those songs were from our early roots, our newer material crushed those old songs and did not have the musical impact that we set out to create." Scott: "We were not playing "In Cold Blood" and "Scars" anymore, we were writing new stuff like "The Artist" and "Holiday"." Danny: "We sort of just picked out the ones we thought would go over the best."

Noise did issue a single for "Everyday's…" backed up with "Super Freak" and you also shoot a video for "Everyday's..", was it a deliberate choice to promote heavily this song instead of another one? How did the shoot for video go?
Art: "Noise wanted to diversify it's roster badly especially in the US. They wanted to showcase their new acts. We liked those songs so we went with it." Scott: "The record company hated those two songs. It was just the fact that everyone who heard those tracks got excited so we did it, the video, the single. The shoot was okay. They did use the cheesiest moments of that day to edit. And the directors old lady dancing...Fucking classic....We had a bit more control over the other two videos..."Esse" and "Falling Away"." Danny: "That was the departure, it was different. The shoot was hilarious, Scott had some crazy pants made with cut up mirror pieces, that was awesome. Pause got to pimp, it was just a gag, low brow and budget."

At that point the Bay area scene had kinda reached its peak as far as quality went as far as I'm concerned because the bunch of newer acts that were appearing in my opinion were just jumping on the bandwagon such as the likes of CONTEMPT, KAOS, L. DEAD, EPIDEMIC, P. THREAT etc, how were you viewing that scene at that point?
Art: "What? What bandwagon? Bands will form and play whatever music they fuckin' like. More power to the bands! It's unfortunate that the "music industry" defines what is happening and what is not. Bands that form after an "industry" trend dies and who don't get signed should feel lucky these days particularly. Go buy some digital recording software record your tunes and distribute yourselves. Destroy the status quo!" Scott: "The scene at that time was still poppin' off. All the bigger bands were getting popular and those newer ones were the support and opening bands. We played with a few of em." Danny: "Didn't care much, we were in our own world, not to sound egotistical, I just didn't like most Metal at that point."

Shortly after the recording of the album, Jim Sanguinetti rejoined the band to replace Taffer (who was seen in recent years with the revamped WARNINGSF incidentally with ex MORDRED/ MERCENARY drummer, Slade Anderson) for the second time following MERCENARY break and after having spent some time at the Musician Institute, what made you think that this time Jim was the right guy for the job?
Art: "I've known Jim since I was 13 years old, so there were no hard feelings. When Jim came back from L.A., we needed a guitarist and Jim was new, improved and ready to jump in. Jim was in. It was great that Jim was willing to rejoin." Scott: "Jim is the man. I have no doubts, no regrets. He is one solid cat…Top Drawer." Danny: "Once again, had no idea Taffer was playing or played in MERCENARY. Sanguinetti just fit, he just seemed cool and could hang playing, plus he had some crazy stories from L.A. which cracked me up…"

The band embarked for its first tour ever during late 1989 supporting NUCLEAR ASSAULT in the states for a couple of weeks, the band being even on the bill for the third Milwaukee Metal festival early December '89, what do you recall from your first touring experience ever? I heard that it was a rather hard experience for you guys as you caught colds and stuff…
Art: "We had a Winnebago with trailer attached. It got rough when some of us caught pneumonia, the band played on. We made a lot of friends on that first tour and it was a great experience. We brought Dirt back to the Bay Area." Scott: "First ever tour.... That's when we picked up the Der Der…In Detroit. He had a grip with some T-shirts and he used to steal my dirty sox...My long lost brother…We ended up with the whole crew working for us, and even took some of them with us on other tours....We all got pretty tight, I even used to crash over in the extra bunk on their bus…Danny (Lilker- N. ASSAULT bassist)and I stayed friends for many years after that, we lost touch now. He grew up in the same hood as my wife, Bayside, Queens. The rest of those cats are from New London. I work with a guy (John Menora- ex D.R.I. bass player from our tours together) who is from N-L and still talks to all those guys. Milwaukee...OLD SKULL...Lots of Metal, all day....Lots of photos from that day...It was cold as a motherfucker and our heat wasn't working in our Winnabago. There were two rounds of sickness, I was in the second wave. No big deal (codine3) we never missed a show, there was a fair amount of pills floatin' around. The show must go on and all. Chicago...The Hooker hotel, the Smart Bar, Cubby Bears...And the friends I made that night (nudge nudge) DC, Dallas, NYC, the most extensive US-Canadian tour we ever did...We had a pistol grip shotgun… Got into a little altercation in Syracuse, NY...T-shirt dude went to jail...Good times...They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada....Strong beer....I don't know what else to say..." Danny: "It was awesome! I loved it, it was like camping out. The country was wide open, the challenges were all part of the adventure to me. Everyday something new happened. I loved being on the road, I think I was the only one, it was what I had dreamed of my whole life. I never wanted to go home, just get better. Of course there were bad days, life is full of them, I'd rather have a bad day playing music than in any other job."

Would you say that it was a good bill to be in considering the nature of N. ASSAULT's music and the type of crowd they were drawing comparing to MORDRED's material? Were audiences kinda familiar with your stuff and how did they react? It seems that turnouts weren't good either….
Art: "That bill was great. Those N.A. guys were super cool. Some places did not have very good promotion for the show or simply did not have a fanbase for N.A. or MORDRED but overall the responses were good." Scott: "There were a few slow nights, but mostly the shows were packed and off the hook energy wise...We always sort of fed off crowd energy… and we was just hyperactive. The crowd was very good to us, alot of those people came back when we toured again. Good fan base. We were lucky, people wanted to hear some Funk in the Metal in '89...That was before there was such a thing as the later dreaded "FUNK-METAL"..I wish Art had never said those words...We had to call it something!" Danny: "That first tour we had bad gigs and ok gigs, it wasn't the best of tours but I still loved getting up in the morning. N. ASSAULT were awesome as people, they showed us the ropes and totally helped us out, but we were changing as a band and needed to play with other bands like us, but there weren't many out there yet back then, and the states didn't really care enough about what we were trying to do, we were young and our stuff was different, but not awesome…"

Next tour happened in February 1990 as the band supported OVERKILL -certainly a band whose music was closer to yours somehow- in Europe in some specific countries such as Germany, Holland and one off show in London, how did the whole tour go? Would you say that right from the start your material was better received in Europe than in your own country?
Art: "The tour we did with OVERKILL gave us exposure to bigger crowds mainly. It was also our first trip to Europe. I would say that our music was more widely known in Europe than my own country. Noise International, our record label was based there and did a decent job of getting our music marketed and distributed there." Scott: "I didn't think we really fit with OVERKILL ("Underlife" era), they were a more rigid traditional Metal band, where as N. ASSAULT was more, I don't know… cutting edge or not as much of a production. Not to knock OVERKILL, those guys were cool guys, I was just talking stylistically we were more in tune with N.A.. We all wore our street cloths to play in, it was more casual, OVERKILL had more theatrical Metal production, we just set up in front of their drumrisers, the lights were pointed behind us....We had a small strip in the front and you know we were going off, up and down, jumping around, trying not to skip Pause's needles...All over the wedge monitors, we had alot of energy… And we got to go to Europe...Once we went over there we didn't want to come back.. Home that is!" Danny: "Somehow, Europe "got us" and liked us. We got treated with respect, we got recognition."

During that tour, you've included many times "Death Or Glory" from U.K.'s HOLOCAUST at the end of your set and at one of your headlining show in Holland, "Burned At The Stake" was even performed which were two big surprises….
Art: "You are referring to the party at the Dynamo Club in Eindhoven. The party is more or less a staging ground event for bands that will be playing the Dynamo Open Air Festival on the next day. MORDRED played that party and the crowd wanted more. We played all of our material so we encored with "Death Or Glory" and played "Burned At The Stake" for a second time after having already played it during the set." (Wrong Art, it was a headlining show during that tour with OVERKILL in February 1990- Laurent) Scott: "Hey Rocky, wanna watch us to pull some rabbits out our hats?! Full of surprises!" Danny: "I got to take a break for "Death…" and Scotty played my guitar. Christ I don't even remember playing "Burned…!"

The band returned shortly after in Europe to perform some selective dates during early June 1990 including one at the prestigious Dynamo Open Air festival -which featured certainly the best bill ever- along with other Bay acts such as DEATH ANGEL and VICIOUS RUMORS, but MORDRED marked its appearance mostly because Scott was paint in blue (!!), what do you remember from this second European stint and that particular show?
Art: "It's fantastic playing that loud to that many loud people. The crowd of 25 or 30 thousand that assembles for the Dynamo Open Air is as astonishing as it is intense. Band after band of the sickest Metal you'd ever want." Scott: "Dynamo festivals have been some of my favorite gigs…ever! Yes, I was feeling BLUE...I just did it for my own amusement but it got us some good publicity, it got us noticed. Two years later we were alot higher up on the bill." Danny: "They called him a smurf, which I think he hated! I thought it was great, I was nervous as hell, that many people I never expected to play that big of a show. I liked the second Dynamo so much more, I could enjoy it more."

I understand that you went on tour with EXODUS at one point also in the states but I've never heard about this and always thought that you had only done one U.S. tour with N.A., was it a real tour or just a few west coast dates?
Art: "The 1991 tour we did with OVERKILL started in the US. 1992 we did a bunch of West Coast shows with EXODUS which were connected to some dates with SACRED REICH who we then toured select cities with." Scott: "We did a small tour with EXODUS, nice size shows. We did a tour with D.R.I. and a tour with MUCKY PUP in the states also. We usually played east coast shows before we would go to Europe. We always seemed to play with east coast bands as well." Danny: "We toured down to Mexico and played the Iguana? In Tijuana I think, got piss ass drunk and hung out with EXODUS, I liked travelling, I think V.J. (Benz- from DEATH ANGEL) was driving the van that tour. Some guy tried to cut in front of us at the border and ended up getting his car caught on our van cause V.J. wouldn't let him cut. We mangled his car."

Then you've started working on your second album with a new member, Aaron "Pause" Vaughn joining completely the line up, how did that come? I mean people had been destabilized by the somewhat Funky approach of some of your previous numbers and Aaron addition could be risky…
Art: "We were all for adding DJ Pause to the band from the get go. We were not concerned with the destabilization of people. By that time our vision was pretty clear to us in terms of what we were doing with our sound. We knew that our music alone would speak for itself and either fly or fry with our audience. The feedback we got from the majority of our concert attending audience was positive." Scott: "The absorption of Pause was inevitable...People had to deal...PRIMUS (my high school bros) had gotten pretty big at that point and it seemed like people were pretty open minded back then.We probably lost some folks-but we gained alot more. And Pause just made it more fun for all of us." Danny: "I didn't care, it's what we wanted."

In a live situation, you had to adapt the "Fool's Game" material to Pause, adding keyboards and stuff, do you recall the work you had to do to come up with something that sounded solid?
Art: "On the contrary, the keyboards and stuff were already on the "Fool's Game" recording and are mixed at low volume, "State Of Mind", "Numb" etc. Pause merely learned the parts and performed them live. If any enhancements were made to the "Fool's Game" tunes, I'm sure they were added with ease since Pause is an extremely gifted musician." Scott: "It took us a minute to work Pause into the old stuff. We were starting to headline tours and our sets were an hour and a half plus another 20 minute encore, sometimes more. We had to have alot of songs. We played songs that were never recorded." Danny: "We tried the best we could, it was a big switch."

This new record, "In This Life" was recorded with Michael Rosen who had worked with several other Bay Area acts at that point, and the album sounded killer as a result at least from a fan point of view, how do you view it now?
Art: "It certainly was a superior album compared to "Fool's Game" both in production quality and material. I'm proud of that album but of course as with most people who review their past recordings, there are always those little things that stand out for better or worse." Scott: "I like it, I would have mixed it differently today, but I think it's a pretty good record. I worked on Santana's new record with Rosen and a bunch of other stuff. He's my bro.." Danny: "I can't listen to any of our stuff now, I'm too critical of my stuff."

I've always considered this second album as somewhat heavier than the first while many could have thought that MORDRED would have became more accessible and closer along the lines of PRIMUS and stuff but it wasn't at all the case as the album showcase a harder edge as a whole minus the title track and "Downtown", how did you approach the songwriting for this album which is a crucial stage in any band's career?
Art: "The songwriting process was the same as always with MORDRED. The seed of a song was written by one or more members, lyrics would be started, we'd all work on the song arrangement, add and subtract parts and then the lyrics would be finalized. On occasion an entire song and riff structure would be presented to the band on cassette tape with rough lyrics. Danny White did this with "Falling Away" and "In This Life" to name a few." Scott: "We just wanted a good album so we all started writing. We worked very hard and "In This Life" was born… Heavy, Funky, with lots of other influences… still like it today...It is my album though." Danny: "We just wrote what we liked. I liked the idea of mixing Funk and Hip Hop with Hardcore so that's what I tried to do."

The musicianship on this record was also I'd say way higher than before, each musician doing outstanding performances- "Window" being a fine example to illustrate this…
Art: "I agree. All that damn practicing paid off. Additionally, the overall state of our direction was wide open. When you say the musicianship was better, you'll also have to take into account that the material we recorded was not limited by our previously genre locking medieval Thrash Metal handcuffs. It is this breaking of the previous mould that allowed our collective and individual musicianship to grow." Scott: "We practiced five-six days a week, I hope we were tight. That was our job, we took it very seriously." Danny: "Just tried out as many different things as possible."

Not surprisingly -but still somewhat surprisingly as Eps weren't a common thing in Speed/ Thrash at the time- "Falling Away" was issued as single of the album on three different formats and shortly after it was "Esse Quam Videri" which received the same treatment, would you say now that it helped the band to increase its popularity as a whole to issue that type of Eps or was it more like a Noise attempt at doing some cash in since MORDRED were becoming popular in Europe?
Art: "The EP releases were done to promote tours and to support LP releases. As I recall it was simply a matter of our business manager asking, 'Do you guys want to do an EP?', yes was our collective answer." Scott: "I like singles and stuff, and yes, Noise just wanted a buck.. It probably helped promote us…I don't know..." Danny: "Probably both, Noise were as opportunistic as any label is and the extra publicity didn't hurt."

The band came back in Europe during May 1991 to support the album as headliners and delivered solid 80 minutes sets at the time, were you feeling at that point that something between Europe and MORDRED was going on for sure?
Art: "The long answer is yes. At that time we knew that our records were being marketed and promoted in Europe more aggressively than in the US." Scott: "Yeah, I love Europe. They seemed to get what we were doing and we were kind of exotic there." Danny: "That was just a great time for us, what I had dreamed of."

While European crowds were hot on MORDRED, it seems that at this point U.S. audiences weren't ready at all to eat your stuff, looking back, to what do you attribute this? Would you say that Noise did a crappy job as far as promotion goes outthere or would you say that the people outthere didn't want that type of mix even if bands like FAITH NO MORE, PRIMUS were doing real good but it's true that MORDRED were fortunately much more Metal than those acts…
Art: "It's tough to speculate on why Noise was not able to compete in the US market with MORDRED. Some might say, the name MORDRED itself was the reason, yet others might say Noise did not have the resources needed to promote such a band whose eclectic sound was not easily definable. And yet others may have said, 'Fuck MORDRED, they're not from Seattle!'." Scott: "We really just concentrated on Europe, we stopped playing the states and just worked over there. I was staying in London. Not that we don't like USA, we do, we just did so much better over there." Danny: "I just think it wasn't in the cards. It was a strange feeling, I was doing what I wanted to be doing my whole life but it seemed like the differences between us as a band that helped us be so strange and eclectic also in the end killed us because we were so different as people."

How did you feel about that whole situation being unable to tour anymore your own country?
Art: "We thought it sucked. This is when we realized that the Noise US office was not a successful business and would soon close forever." Scott: "I didn't loose too much sleep, at least someone somewhere was really into the Mighty DRED...." Danny: "Fuck em, you do what you can where you can."

The band was back in Europe during the Autumn 1991 for another extensive tour as headliners again with SCAT OPERA as guests, and that THIN LIZZY "Johnny The Fox.." was launched in a live situation after having appeared on the "Falling…" EP, how did that cover come about?
Art: "We were all fans of THIN LIZZY and chose that tune because we felt that it was suitable for us to cover." Scott: "THIN LIZZY was the one band we all loved, all of us. That record "Johnny The Fox" was one of our favorites. And it fit our kinda seedy urban sound...We sampled it early on as well." Danny: "Um, we listened to alot of THIN LIZZY?"

The band went back in the studio to record a new mini Lp titled "Vision" but much to many people's surprise- and disappointment- the material didn't live up to our expectations as it didn't sport those hooks and energy that previous material had, making most of it boring, how do you view that six song EP?
Art: "The songs on that EP are not Thrash. By that time we had begun to experiment way outside of the Thrash genre and into mixing up other genres such as traditional Hard Rock with Hip Hop ("Closed Minded"), experimenting with techno like sounds ("Vision"). One thing I have discovered regarding that particular recording is that the majority of people who give positive feedback for that collection of songs are either females or musicians." Scott: "Well I guess you didn't like it.....Sorry to bore you! We were just feeling those songs. Expressing ourselves, that album was my favorite. With all of our previous material those songs seemed to balance out our live show." Danny: "Funny, I thought it was our best record…"

MORDRED appeared for the second time at they Dynamo festival during June 1992 -a bootleg titled "Dynamo Open Air" with your set was even issued, would you say that the band was at its height and this particular show was a highlight for you?
Art: "In a sense yes, that was the biggest crowd we had ever played in front of. Estimates were at 25-30 thousand when we played. I remember playing the show and the audience about 15 people deep from the front of stage singing along to our tunes. It was sick. I'll never forget playing THIN LIZZY's "Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed" with Brian Robertson of THIN LIZZY in front of this crowd." Art: "I never saw the bootleg. Is it a video or audio? Our friend Andre got us in trouble with bootlegging in the past, sorry METALLICA...Got Rosen fired... Yes, probably the peak, that shit was off the hook." Danny: "Yup that was badass!"

Would you say that it's during live situations that the band's material was having its real dimension?
Art: "I would say that any band who plays live is exposing its true dimension. Unless they're lip syncing." Scott: "You definitely had to see it to get the full effect."

A video around that time called "In This Live" was released, showcasing a show that was shot during 1991 or 1992 in London, how did that idea come about? It was kinda unusual at the time for a half sized band like MORDRED to come up with a video…
Art: "On the contrary, by the time we made the "In This Live" video, we had already sold thousands in the UK. In the UK 1992, MORDRED was more than just half sized!" Scott: "I don't know who's idea it was, but I was into it. Noise made all the money on that one. I never even saw a copy of it until 2002. Half sized, Danny is over six feet man… I don't know why we did it, there was some remote trucks parked out front, some extra mics…No big deal.. Noise was FUN with a capitol F You." Danny: "Just seemed like a good idea at the time, to be honest I don't really remember how that whole thing transpired except for the fact that I think we sold out two nights in a row at the Marquee and we were doing pretty well in England at the time."

So what happened EXACTLY after that Dynamo show? Next thing we've heard is that you had parted ways with Scott, what happened?
Art: "The way I remember it, there were numerous reasons why Scott could not continue with MORDRED. The band's musical direction, touring schedules, conflict with the record label and possibly with band personnel all contributed to our mutual parting. It happened very quickly after we had played a local show." Scott: "We got home and were ready to start our new record. The songs we were writing weren't good. The record company was convinced that it was my fault -they never liked me. The band and Noise wanted MORDRED to go in more of a straight ahead Metal direction, even Pause, I wanted to continue experimenting...So that was that." Danny: "We were young, different personalities, conflicting ideas blah blah…"

Did you use that time to write newer stuff considering that 1993 was like a dead year for MORDRED? Or maybe you were doing local gigs?
Art: "Yes, we moved into a different rehearsal space, wrote new material, parted ways with our business manager and auditioned singers." Danny: "We just started growing apart as people, I was moving on, everyone was moving on."

How Gannon ended up drumming for EXODUS during '93 on their Japanese tour for "force Of habit" in 1993? Did he consider to leave MORDRED to join them?
Art: "Nah. He was a hired gun. He was merely filling in for Tom Hunting while Tom was not available."

At that point the Bay Area Metal scene was almost completely dead with only a couple of bands like FORBIDDEN, I4NI, INSANITY… trying to go on, how would you explain this? Would you say that it was mostly due to the oversaturation of the scene that had happened a few years earlier or was it because crowds were jumping from one trend to another?
Art: "I don't think there was any over saturation of any kind at any time. In the early to mid 1990's San Francisco's nightclub scene had undergone serious changes. People seeking their fortune in the burgeoning Dot Com start up circus began moving to San Francisco in enormous numbers. Places in San Francisco that had been previously zoned for entertainment became zoned for Live Work spaces. Clubs were closed left and right because people who now lived near the clubs complained of the noise at night. Police cracked down on nightclub activities to give the new money a nice hand job. The new S.F. crowd did not like underground music, they liked quiet muted crap so they could hear over their cel phones. Now to this day, all the clubs we used to play are now closed or remade to cater to the mild mannered." Scott: "I never heard of the second two bands. Metal shows died out because the Stone and the Omni closed down. The Stone died out when the quake knocked down the Broadway offramp. The people from the burbs couldn't navigate the city and they were the bulk of the people at the shows." Danny: "Scenes play themselves out, to be replaced by new scenes etc."

How did newer singer Paul Kimball who came from a Punk Rock background enter the picture early 1994 to replace Scott? If I'm correct it was following an ad put in a local music paper and he wasn't familiar with MORDRED material...
Art: "Yes that's true. Paul responded to an add. We held auditions, Paul was the best." Danny: "He was from Seattle, I liked how he sounded on a new tune we had written, I think we all did, then we rushed in to the studio."

Would you say that Paul had a wider range of vocals that Scott and allowed you at that point to explore new horizons?
Art: "Paul and Scott are both very different from each other vocally, yes. I can't say who has a wider this or that. I will say that I knew we could not replace Scott with some kind of Scott Jr. or Pseudo Scott. The one thing I noticed about Paul that I liked then realized about Scott is that neither of them were really "Singers". They could sing but they didn't fuck around doing "singer boy" exercises or try to get that ever perfect vibrato. They sang until it hurt and if they nailed it, it was great if they were off you didn't really notice because they're not really "singers". I don't like perfect singer boys. Our auditions were hilarious, though." Danny: "Totally different people, totally different vox."

The band also adopted a new "image" with the new album to come, as almost all of you guys had cut your hair and as a whole it was like a brand new band that MORDRED followers were re-discovering, what do you recall about this period?
Art: "Our image change was the result of drinking. Jim and I shaved each other's heads after a long night of drinking for laughs. Danny and Gannon followed soon afterward. Paul and Pause did not. It was not a big deal." Danny: "We were trying to reinvent ourselves which any band has to do in order to grow. It just didn't work the way we tried it."

Considering Scott's hot personality that he had proven to be, live and offstage, it was obviously a hard task for Paul or for anybody else to fill that guy's shoes, would you say that Paul filled them completely?
Art: "Unfortunately, MORDRED disbanded before we could truly see Paul in action. We recorded with him and did some local shows but that was it. We never got to see him get spit on by a mob of sweaty Metal Italians or anything." Danny: "We tried to go in a different direction with Paul, of course we had the best intentions (at least I did)…"

So "The Next Room" was released during 1994 and while there was still elements reminding old previous material, the whole affair sounded quite different than before- and unique for sure, how do you view this third and most eclectic MORDRED album ever?
Art: "I think it was our best ever. I still do. The sound quality, mix, material and performances were never better." Danny: "I liked "Pauper's Wine", I even liked "Murray The Mover" cause I got to meet John Popper, there were things I liked about that record, I was trying to move forward but I felt isolated from everyone and nobody seemed to really give a shit anymore."

How did the whole "Shut" experience come about? Now this is what I call a totally off the wall experience….
Art: "As you might know, there were a few guest performers on "The Next Room", Larry Ochs of the Rova Saxophone Quartet came in one night and laid down some sax and we basically put that song together in the studio. It's definitely something that is not so out there these days, where genres are copulating in almost every type of popular music." Danny: "Just trying to find something new."

There was some Grunge influences that found their way on this album too, were you hot on the Seattle scene and that whole movement which as it has been proven by now, that has killed traditional Metal during the early '90s?
Art: "Grunge you say? I don't think we set out to mix Grunge as a genre into our music. Paul's voice may have added some grunging effect to our sound though, after all he was from the Seattle area, Olympia to be exact. Come to think of it, he did wear a lot of plaid work shirts." Danny: "I loved SOUNDGARDEN, still do. I'm sure that came out in my writing. All bands get influenced by what they like, no one writes in a vacuum."

This new record was again produced by Michael Rosen, does that mean that he was the perfect producer for MORDRED's material?
Art: "Yes, that is precisely what that means. Also, Vincent Wojno is perfect."

Scott, what was your opinion about their last album "The Next Room" and new singer Paul?
Scott: "I never heard it, Sanguinetti likes it, he says he's proud of some of it." Danny: "We knew each other, it was comfortable, and as time went on, I think we all got better at what we did."

How did Noise acted during those later years? Were they fully supportive of the band during that 1993 "hiatus" era until that change of singer and new sounding album?
Art: "There was never really a hiatus, we simply took our time working on new material. They did not like the new material at all. As it turned out, when we split with Scott and sent them a demo with Paul, they liked us again. Go figure." Danny: "Nah they pretty much ditched us, whatever."

Two EPs were issued with songs taken from this album, one titled "Acrophobia" and "Splinter Down" was the other, but they were relatively hard to find especially the first, was it a necessary thing to do at this point? I mean were you expecting to regain the somewhat lost ground?
Art: "The "Acrophobia" EP was cooked up by someone at Noise who had some DJ friend who agreed to do a remix. The remix was booty and the EP remains hard to find to this day. Thanks Noise. I was not even aware of a "Splinter Down" EP. Again another decision by Noise. I would not have chosen "Splinter Down" for an EP."

How did that album get received from the press and fans as a whole? Did it reasonably do good saleswise?
Art: "I don't recall any good or bad press for that album. I think the press didn't want to commit to it either way until they could see us play the material live." Danny: "Um no."

There was a European tour planned for the fall of 1994 but as far as I remember, it never became a reality, what happened at that point?
Art: "Noise pulled the plug on the tour due to poor concert ticket presales and would not give with the tour support."

Were you still playing locally at that point or were you only like a studio band?
Art: "After playing a couple of shows Gannon and I left MORDRED to form a band called FOODSTAMP. The rest of the guys went their separate ways and it was over." Danny: "I don't think we played more than a couple."

What have you done after the split? I know that Danny moved to the east coast at one point, Scott was involved with DEATHLINE INT'L during 1995 on one of their albums… but that was all I heard about….
Art: "Gannon and I played local shows with our band FOODSTAMP with singer Gresham Taylor and guitarist Ian Smith. We recorded a demo then an EP on the Function 8 record label. I did some session work on the Function 8 label and am currently looking to form a new project. Gannon still plays and has a home recording studio. Jim is continuing to expand his musical repertoire with his acoustic studies and creates new material. Scott has always got some kind of new band happening and performs locally. DJ Pause spins records at local clubs, records music and produces, Paul Kimball MIA. Danny White lives out of state and from what I've heard become a successful studio musician/ composer/ producer." Scott: "Since the split I've been in DEMAG, UNGODLY, HEAT, BLUE SUN, HEADTONE, HARLEY SCOTT HOLDERBY with two solo albums. My current group is called HIGH SOCIETY and that record is almost finished. Check out my website at www.jazzfunk11.com ." Danny: "No one liked it, the label hated it, we all just gave up and scattered to do our own thing. I got into doing studio work producing, engineering, living. I bought my home studio and I have worked for companies and freelanced."

Have you remained in touch with the others?
Scott: "Yes, I spoke with Jim and Pause today. I'm supposed to see Art and Gannon this Saturday. We are all still in touch....The MORDRED Bros."

That lead us to 2001 and the whole Thrash Of The Titans event, were you contacted to be part of this? If not, would you have considered to reform the band at least for one gig if you had been asked to?
Art: "Nah. We were not on the top of the list for bands to play. MORDRED is and always will be the illegitimate bastard son of Bay Area Metal, and that's how we like it." Scott: "Sven from MORDRENARY called us all up to play for Chuck's cancer benefit, we all said yes of course but the bill had already been filled so we played anyway. Three shows and recorded some new songs at the old recording studio -I was working there." Danny: "It was considered at the time but I was right in the middle of a string of jobs for the studio I was working for and I couldn't get away."

Next thing I've heard is that a reunion show took place at The pound in your hometown on October 27th 2001 featuring the classic "In This Life" line up minus Danny, replaced for the show by Chris Powell, so how did the whole thing happen?
Art: "It came about because of the Thrash Of The Titans, a lot of bands did not make it on the bill so we got the idea to put together a show with all the other spill over bands that could not fit on the T.O.T.T. list. Then, the T.O.T.T. came and went and we just played our own show at the Pound SF. It was a load of fun." Scott: "We got nostalgic for the old stuff so did our friends. Chris and I had a band called UNDERWORLD that sounded just like MORDRED so we just absorbed Chris and played it."

Would you say that the T.O.T.T. was like an electroshock for a bunch of Bay Area musicians at that point (KAOS, MERCENARY, P. THREAT…..)?
Art: "I can't say for sure but I do see more Metal bands playing out more these days." Scott: "I think all of the old bands have reformed as a result. I don't know how long any will keep at it but maybe the bay can make a name for itself again...who knows... I don't think the music is as popular as it once was."

So how did you feel being on stage again and was it a successful show? I also recall that you did play some never heard before songs but it was radically different from MORDRED, tell us more about this unfamiliar material…
Art: "I liked playing those old songs again, it felt good. The "never heard songs" were slammed together while we rehearsed. Those songs are: "The Baroness", "The Empress" and a cover of PE's "She Watch Channel Zero"." Scott: "It felt great to play again. Sorry Danny couldn't be there. All of the SF skaters and our other good friends made it. Some folks came out from Japan and Europe just to see us. We played a couple new songs "The Baroness" and "The Empress" ,I don't know how radically different they are. They sound just like MORDRED to me...What do I know...And we did "She Watch Channel Zero" also… The woman makes the man all."

Following that show, it was announced that you wouldn't play again as MORDRED and you were considering going on with a new bandname but until now no further news came in…
Art: "There's not much to tell except what you said already in the previous question. Our new material was radically different from MORDRED. In my opinion, to keep the name MORDRED and be radically different from the band that we are most recognized as would not make sense. We've already undergone too many line-up changes while keeping the same name. Scott: "We said all that at the third and final show but we never changed the name. We won't do that unless we have to. Mordrama… You should have heard some of these names...We're a bunch of kooks!"

Still during March 2002, it seems you have played a few shows as MORDRED at Bourbon St and The Pound, is that correct and if so why have you reconsidered your decision to continue as MORDRED?
Art: "We did two shows in 2002 the one at The Pound which was a Halloween weekend reunion show. Secondly the show at Bourbon Street in Concord, CA. Currently, it would be impossible to continue as a working band with the amount of rehearsals required to get the live thing happening and gigging. Outside responsibilities now are prioritized, band members settling down, buying homes, working, having babies etc. Basically I would have to kick everyone in the band out for missing practice. Cause I'm the one who needs it most."

During January 2003 you had your THIN LIZZY cover included on a Nuclear Blast compilation titled "Emerald- A Tribute To The Wild One", how did that come about exactly? Would you say that it somewhat reintroduced the bandname around?
Art: "I had no idea of it's release. My answer is, no." Scott: "My friend Dennis Clapp from Spitfire records and I were jammin' out and we played a THIN LIZZY song. Dennis said he always liked our version and he was thinking about doing a THIN LIZZY tribute album for the label. I still need to get one of them. That guy has helped me out alot putting out my solo records...Thanks bro."

Then shortly after this, some band members announced via unofficial MORDRED websites that the band was working on a new record, so is there a chance to see it completed and how will it sound like if you compare it to the previous stuff especially if you carry on as MORDRED?
Art: "This is top secret information and dissemination of any such information is considered an act of treason!" Scott: "The record remains unfinished until we can work out what's up with Sanctuary records (our label or not). I would really like Danny to write some of it as well. Only time will tell...I would like to finish it." Danny: "Well, I'm trying to contribute with the time I have. I've written some stuff that may work but I have to send it out to S.F. and see how the vibe is."

So what's the current status of the band at this point as it remains unclear if MORDRED are still existing or not?
Art: "MORDRED does not exist, currently." Scott: "MORDRED will exist until one of us dies. We just like hitting together… We would like to do another tour of Europe, hit Dynamo, some other select dates so we're looking at next summer. We will see…"

There's three unofficial websites now that carry the MORDRED legacy, have you thought about launching an official one yourselves? How do you feel about the power of internet these days and the help it can be for newer acts?
Art: "No, as you can see by this interview I'm not much for chatting. I am however quite grateful to those who have dedicated their time to creating those sites. BIG Thanks Un-OFFICIAL MORDRED webmasters!" Scott: "I think the discovery of the sites kinda lit a little fire under me. Got me motivated again to write MORDRED songs. Some people trip out when they e-mail me, but I'm not too busy to talk to the peeps...I'll hollah at ya...Yes the internet...The power to connect…"

Have you guys remained in touch with ex- members like Steve Scates, Jim Taffer, Danny etc? Was it even considered for the reunion show to have Danny joining at least for that show?
Art: "Of course we contacted Dan, he could not make it due to other responsibilities. Steve Skates lives in Washington with his wife." Scott: "Danny is in New York so he couldn't make it. He said he would be down to do the Europe hang with us if it comes through… Taffer was supposed to call me up about playing and he never did... I never met Steve Skates."

Despite the reformations that have happened in the Bay and the newer albums recently issued by EXODUS, KAOS, DEATH ANGEL, do you think there's a future for the whole thing because it looks like that recent shows from DEATH ANGEL for example in the Bay weren't as much attended as they were when they originally reformed? How do you view the whole thing?
Art: "I can't comment on that which I know nothing about. This is one of those subjects." Scott: "I think you have a pretty good gut feeling. The whole thing may not last...But what the fuck do I know...I would like nothing more than to see all my friends come up....You can't gaudge everywhere else by what happens at home...I'll talk to Rob (Cavestany)when D. ANGEL gets back home." Danny: "Aw I'd just be doing it for fun. I'd like to play in Europe again. Let's see what happens…"

Have you been approached during that era of re-releases too, to re-issue your albums with bonus tracks or whatever?
Art: "No, not personally. Are going to make an offer? I was just over at Scott's home a couple of evenings ago and although nothing is finalized, there may be something in the nature of recorded material release on the horizon. I cannot comment any further." Scott: "No, I can't even get noone to call me back from Sanctuary homes. If someone had, you would have a finished album right now."

Any last comments?
Art: "Big shout out to Dredheads everywhere and to those who are forever in the SNAKEPITSSSSSS!" Stephen: "Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share retrospective from the last 20 years. Those of us who participated in the Metal scene in S.F. in the 80's know we were part of something much larger - Heavy Metal is not a time period, not a fad, not a dress code, not a fucking poseur L.A. thing -it is a STATE OF MIND- ad infinitum!!!" Scott: "I just want to thank everyone for making my time in MORDRED fun. The shows, the albums/ videoss...And now hearing everyone's funny stories...You all have been good to me...To us! THANK YOU." Danny: "Nah I think you pretty much got the gist guy. This was a great trip down memory lane, I haven't thought about this stuff in years, it's nice to see some people dug what we did. As Rosen used to say "Thanks for coming down"! Cheers. "

Laurent Ramadier

Discography:

Fool's Game -Noise/1989
Everyday's A Holiday 7" -Noise/1989
In This Life -Noise/1991
Falling Away 12" -Noise/1991
Esse Quam Vaderi 12" -Noise/1991
Vision -Noise/1992
Acrophobia MCD -Noise/1994
The Next Room -Noise/1994
Splinter Down MCD -Noise/1994