By Laurent Ramadier
This interview was originally done by SOUNDSCAPE MAGAZINE and posted on their website. This is only a local copy. Except for this paragraph and some necessary link reference changes, ALL work on this particular page was done by SOUNDSCAPE MAGAZINE. The original is posted at the SOUNDSCAPE MAGAZINE Website.
In the Metal world, there are bands that cannot be forgotten and POSSESSED is one of those bands. Of course, they were more Death Metal than Heavy Metal but who cares, that was TRUE Metal, no bullshit pseudo Metal like the stuff we had (and still have) to live with in the nineties. That's why I got in touch with Mike Torrao, who was the main man of that band. A few months ago, he was in an unnamed Metal band but he recently quit them. After putting my hands on one of their rehearsal tapes, I can't say I was impressed; Simplistic stuff mixed with some traditional Heavy Metal vocals, courtesy of the man himself. But recent news from the other side of the Atlantic looks more interesting for us since Mike and Jeff Beccera will certainly do some stuff together in the near future! So keep your ears open and here's your chance to get more unknown details about that great band.
—>Okay Mike,
let's go back to your early days; tell us how you got into Heavy Metal music
in the first place...<—
"KISS was like my influence to play guitar and stuff. I liked Ace
Freyley, the guitar player and then I grew up on IRON MAIDEN. After
that JUDAS PRIEST through high school and then I got into VENOM
and that's when the POSSESSED thing started happening."
—>Before
forming POSSESSED, did you play in some other bands? What about
Jeff, Mike Sus and Brian Montana?<—
"Okay, Jeff played in a band called BLIZZARD; it was like a Speed
Metal band, not that good. Brian Montana, I have no idea... Me? I just played
in some high school band with Mike Sus, that's about it. That was just a
bunch of cover songs."
—>I've just
seen on the official POSSESSED site on the Internet. There was an
interview with Larry Lalonde saying that there was a different singer in
the band before Jeff joined and that this guy had committed suicide... Is
that true?<—
"It wasn't in POSSESSED. There was no other singer... It was in that
high school band me and Mike had. We played JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN
copies."
—>That's what
you told me earlier.<—
"Okay, that singer did commit suicide... It wasn't in POSSESSED."
—>How did
you have the idea to form a Death Metal band? I mean POSSESSED were
the first band to use such growling vocals. Even if there was, at the time,
extreme stuff like HELLHAMMER, SLAYER or VENOM. But growling
vocals like Jeff's was something unheard of before...<—
"Well, we came out right after SLAYER and stuff... I figured, to do
that kind of music, played this fast... See, Jeff didn't want to do vocals
but I told him to do it and to growl and stuff like that... So he did it!
We kind of got a big influence from VENOM. We had no influence from
SLAYER at all. Everybody thinks we did but we didn't."
—>What's the
story behind the track "Fallen Angel", which was recorded during
the same sessions as your three track demo in mid '84 but never made onto
it.<—
"Okay, what happened is that we ran out of tape. The guy that was our
technician said we might have enough tape for that song, so we tried it and
we didn't let it out. But it got out somehow... We really wanted to have
that one on it but we ran out of tape, that's the whole story about that.
So we only put the three songs out."
—>I also want
to know if "Swing Of The Axe", which was used for Metal Massacre 6,
had been recorded in the same session as the one we just talked about. Most
of the tracks used on those compilations were taken from demo tapes...<—
"No, that was recorded at a different time. We have done that in Oakland
I think... Oakland, California. We got the contract to do it, so we went
there just to record that one song. That wasn't done at the same time as
the demo."
—>And was
it done with Brian Montana or with Larry? 'cause it's Larry's name that's
mentioned in the credit...<—
"It was done with Brian Montana but we put Larry's name on it because we
kicked him out. I've tried so many guitar players. I had to set with somebody,
so I finally set with Brian back then and it's like, he turned to be...
He was a fuckin' douche bag anyway, you know!"
—>I understand
now why that track was cut! Let's move on to something else; about a rumors
that I've seen in the U.S. fanzine Brain Damage, back in 1985. It was written
that Kerry King from SLAYER was interested in joining POSSESSED
since he was getting in fights with Tom Araya... How much is true? And
if that would have happened, how do you think the POSSESSED sound
would have evolved?<—
"About that situation, there's no way that Kerry King would have joined
our band and that was a crock of shit. I wrote most of the music in POSSESSED
and there's no way that anybody from SLAYER would have been in this
band because you know, it's like POSSESSED had their own sound.
The thing in Brain Damage was not true at all and as far as his sound
coming into that band, it would have been probably... It would have been
POSSESSED, but... Yeah, that's totally untrue... Whoever put that
out."
—>When you
got rid of Montana, described as a poser back in 1984, you hooked up with
Larry Lalonde and that was a surprise because BLIZZARD wasn't a Death
Metal band at all. Like you said, their stuff wasn't that good or original,
as far as I remember. So what motivated your choice back then?<—
"Well, Larry used to be in the same band as Jeff: BLIZZARD, of course.
Larry and I hung out for a while and we needed somebody at the time to play!
We were just a three piece at the time and Larry was really interested. We
had seven songs at the time; it's really early days... Larry got the songs
tight in one week and we started to play with him and after that, everything
happened."
—>How do
you feel when you see him playing in PRIM-ASS?<—
"I don't know... It's kind of an extreme change but I don't know..."
—>Let's talk
about those people who animated the Bay Area shows so well at the time, like
Toby Rage!<—
"Well, Toby Rage was our roadie and he used to be an EXODUS roadie
too. He came to us, so we had Toby for quite some time. Back in those days,
THOSE WERE THE DAYS! Today? It's nothing like the old days; that's
pretty much why, you know... I've been to a few shows and seen some really
heavy, fast bands. But it's just not like it used to be at all. It kind of
sucks now, really!"
—>I always
wondered if Brian Slagel offered you a deal after the Metal Massacre
track since that track was the highlight of the album...<—
"Well, Brian Slagel's deal was a pile of shit and it turned around for us
anyway, because he said we signed for a full length album with him. We didn't,
we only signed to do that Metal Massacre thing, so that was the situation
on that. We just went with Combat; we thought it just was a better deal!"
—>When you
released "Seven Churches", you put out one of the heaviest, deadliest
record ever recorded and honestly, I think you've never been able to recreate
that intensity later on. What do you think made that album so unique?<—
"For 'Seven Churches', we were all young. We just wanted to make a
bunch of noise (I'd like to hear more noise like that, believe me - ED) and
the whole time we've done 'Seven Churches', we were pretty much drunk.
So that had probably something to do with it! We wanted more of the distorted
kind of noisy sound, which we came across pretty good. I think it has a lot
to do with growing up, maturing on your instrument. In fact, we did it pretty
quick but that's pretty much the story about that... We were just young!"
—>During your
career, you've done quite a few shows with SLAYER. Did you get along
great with them? I remember some words from Tom, especially, which weren't
that nice concerning your music...<—
"We got along with them but Tom, it's like... He just talks behind your back.
That's the kind of person he is."
—>I also
remember that you lent them your instruments for a special appearance that
they did in October 1986 at L'Amour in Brooklyn, just before their first
major tour for 'Reign In Blood'...<—
"We headlined that night and those guys came in all drunk and wanted to
play a few songs. Basically, they ran into our thing... I didn't like it,
neither anybody else in the band but you know, what are you doing to do?!
But as far as Tom goes, I think he was jealous because all three of them
guitar players can't play!"
—>Staying on
the Live subject but on a happier note, you did the World War III
festival in Montréal in November 1985, along with CELTIC FROST,
VOÏVOD, DESTRUCTION and NASTY SAVAGE. I imagine it was a
huge party! And, still in Montréal, you played at the No Speed
Limit Festival a year later, just before that L'Amour thing... Any memories
of those killer festivals?<—
"Well, the World War III thing, that was a lot of fun! That was my
first time in Canada and I loved it!! All the bands who played that night
were great, everybody got along great! We all stayed in the same hôtel.
It was a lot of fun! That was the first time I ever tasted Canadian beer;
Waouh, it is good!! The No Speed Limit was a good show too! That
turned out real good! Real good! Everybody was friendly, there were no
problems at all. That's the way the Death Metal scene should have been, or
the scene back then should have been. It was great!"
—>Then "Beyond
The Gates" came out and that's a great album, despite the fucked up
production. The sound was definitively more Progressive; I mean the Death
Metal factor wasn't as much present. I wonder why so many bands have chosen
to include slower/Progressive parts in their music instead of staying in
a pure deathly direction, because even if you grow up and stuff, you can
still be as brutal as hell, like MORBID ANGEL for example!<—
"Okay, I know what you're saying. To start with, Carl Cannedy produced that
second album; He's done good with the drums but somewhere along the line,
the guitars got really fucked up! Yeah, it's got a lot of harder parts to
play as far as the guitar parts go but I don't know, I guess that at the time,
people said we were just like a bunch of noise and stuff, which we're not.
But they said that so we just tried cleaning up a little bit... It didn't
work out right, so I mean as far as that goes, I guess we just got older.
We just really didn't pay attention anymore. I guess that was the situation
with that."
—>But how
did the production get so fucked up? Cannedy had done some okay jobs before
with EXCITER and ANTHRAX!<—
"Yeah, because ANTHRAX do their own guitar stuff. The one guitar
player, Ian or whatever, does his guitars and back then, we didn't do our
own guitars. That's kind of what happened with that but I know now what the
problem was. What are gonna do!? It sounded good in the studio, I guess..."
—>I remember
that you weren't that keen of Larry's material, such as "Seance",
"Phantasm"... Does that mean that you thought that his material was too
closely sounding like METALLICA and not Thrashy enough?<—
"Yeah, that's the problem with Larry! Larry's guitar stuff was too much like
METALLICA. That's why I wrote most of the stuff because he had too much
of a classic sound to it, which I didn't really care for. He knew it! I think
that's one of the reasons why Larry quit because I didn't let him write more
of the songs. It was far from the POSSESSED sound... It was like
he was turning too commercial and shit. But you're right about that, it
was too METALLICA! That's what it was and I didn't like it."
—>Let's go
back a little bit on the Live front. After the release of that album, you
got to tour Europe but that wasn't a long tour since you did only four countries,
which were Belgium, Holland, Germany and England. Do you know why you've
never been able to do a more extensive tour with VOÏVOD and
DEATHROW?<—
"That was a good tour that lasted three and a half weeks. The record company
set that tour... I would have liked to visit France and Italy and you know,
Sweden, Switzerland... It was their firing and they told us we had to go
on, so... That's about it on that. But it was a really good tour! The bands
got along great! There ars lots of pretty German girls out there! (laughs)
I remember that!"
—>Do you
remember the riot that took place in Bochum, Germany during your show in
November '86?<—
"Oh yeah! That was right in the beginning of 'Holy Hell'. We had
to stop! Those German people are crazy! They loved us man out there! That
was a great show but what happened was, it really got out of control! I
mean really bad and the crowd was up on stage fighting with each other and
I'm like 'What the, hell?!'. What happened was they called in the riot
police and stuck us in a room. They kept us inside the room and the riot
police went out there; they had plastic shields and stuff and what happened
was that the club owner came back into the room and said 'Who's the spokesman
in this band?' Everybody pointed at me, so they said for me to go on stage
and the tell people; 'hey, stay out of the stage!' What I did was that I
went on there and on the mike I said 'We're going to try this song again
and let's keep everybody offstage okay?!' Everybody booted me! (laughs)
But as soon as it's got started, they loved it. I liked Germany!"
—>When you
got back from that tour, you did a U.S. tour in early 1987, co-headlining
with DARK ANGEL. But from what I read later, it wasn't that fun anymore
and tensions in the band started to appear with Debbie Abono (She was around
55 years old at that time and nowadays, she still manages OBITUARY
and EXODUS - ED), your manager at the time. Tell us more about that.<—
"Yeah, that's right! Me and Jeff started fighting; I mean literally fist
fighting and stuff on that tour. We went on Winter time back East: There
was snow, we got snowbound a couple of times, like in Boston. I mean, it was
just a bad tour all the way around. It was really terrible and Debbie...
Well you know, she just took all the fun out of it. It wasn't fun anymore.
She wanted you to drink before you went on stage and stuff. It just got
to the point where it was like bringing your grandma on tour or something."
—>Just after
that tour, you went into the studio with Joe Satriani as producer for the
"Eyes Of Horror" EP. Don't you think it sounded a bit too much
polished and less intense than your previous efforts? If you could do it
again, would you change something?<—
"No! I think that was the best firing we ever did! That's my opinion on
it. I think it turned out great! If I could do anything different, yeah
I'd get a new drummer 'cause Mike Sus sucked! But other than that, I think
the music was good. I think the guitars turned out excellent. That's my
opinion on that, but as far as that, I'll get a new drummer on that one!
(laughs)."
—>Following
that as far as I know, you did two shows in May 1987 supporting MEGADETH
and then, that was the end of the band. So why you didn't you try to keep
the band going even if Sus and Lalonde had left? I mean, you and Jeff were
the most important members of that band and you had achieved some good
success!<—
"Yeah that's true! You're right about that. Me and Jeff were the most
important part of the band. We wrote all the songs basically but the only
thing is, me and Jeff were not getting along at all. Jeff had to clear up
some problems and it just took time. I mean I don't know, back then it
was just... It wasn't going to work with me and Jeff at that time. So it
was the end of it."
—>How do
you see the fact that no band from that fabulous Bay Area made it big
except for METALLICA?<—
"Because METALLICA... Well, I don't know. They're commercial and
shit! I knew they were gonna do that. Back then, we were the biggest
Death/Thrash Metal thing I guess in the world but times change. I was really
shocked that EXODUS never made it! The other bands, I kind of figured
that they wouldn't but... Yeah, I was really shocked that EXODUS never
made it big. They were so good and you know, Gary Holt, I mean he's an
excellent guitar player. He pretty much controlled what was going on, he
was great! Great guitar player, great band leader, everything! It really
shocks me! But they're still a great band. They're still around too... All
the bands were good!"
—>Okay, it
took you a while after that before you got POSSESSED back in the
scene with new members, including ex-DESECRATION singer, Bob Yost
on bass. Does that mean you were really fed up with the whole thing and
you had no interest in getting back into music?<—
"Yeah, I was pretty much fed up with everything! It just didn't work out
the whole thing but I do kept going 'cause Bob quit and I had some other
guys. I did do a demo and stuff with me doing the vocals and lead guitar."
—>We're gonna
talk about that other demo later but before that, tell us what were your
feelings when you saw the Death Metal explosion that took place in the
early nineties, especially in Florida with OBITUARY and others, which
all gained more or less success.<—
"I don't know, I really don't have any comment about that. I just thought
that OBITUARY were just like POSSESSED anyway. I mean, I even
heard some of my riffs in there. To me, they sound just like POSSESSED.
That's my opinion."
—>With Bob
Yost, Walter Ryan (later seen in M. HEAD/drums) & Mark Strausburg
(guitar), you did a two song demo tape in 1991! It was supposed to come
out on a picture disc but that didn't happen...<—
"Because it was too expensive!"
—>What kind
of response did you get from it? I heard some not so good things about your
vocals at the time.<—
"The vocals sucked! They were really shitty, I just started doing the vocals
and stuff and you know, it sucked! But the second tape I did with Ryan and
Strausburg really turned out good!"
—>I definitively
agree on that! Talking about that second four song demo tape, which featured
a new version of "The Exorcist"; you had a new bass player I guess...<—
"I had a new bass player, Bob didn't do that. Paul Perry did the bass on
that."
—>Through the
hulk of material I heard at the time from the demos and the Live stuff,
I think some of it was played with the "speed for the sake of speed" attitude
because it was really hard to figure out the songs...<—
"I don't know. I guess I was going for that speed type of thing. It worked
out. In a way, it's kind of what I wanted it to be. I don't know what to
say out that really..."
—>From what
you told me before, you did three shows during mid 1993 with that line-up
in Fresno, Berkeley and Oakland. Did those shows live up to your expectations
in terms of having people interested in your music or did you find a totally
fucked up scene, more interested in going from one trend to another?<—
"I think the first show was in Oakland at the Omni. That was the best one!
The second two shows, they really sucked! I mean, it's just not the same
at all. I figured it would be good but it sucked!"
—>Did you
have any label interest at that time?<—
"I think there was a couple that did... I don't remember their names."
—>And what
were the reasons for the split that happened a bit later?<—
'The band broke up because it just wasn't going anywhere. Death Metal was
dead as far as I'm concerned. I still think it is too! That's about it."
—>By the
way, what's your views on the actual "Metal" scene? I mean either you
do pseudo aggressive shit or Black Metal crap but nothing really killer
in between...<—
"I don't like any of the music today. I mean as far as Metal stuff goes...
To me, it's a bunch of rehashed bullshit! I don't really care for any of
it, to be honest with you."
—>But how
do you feel about those Death/Black Metal bands around who don't have
a fraction of the talent you had and who mention POSSESSED as a big
influence on their music, along with DESTRUCTION and SODOM?<—
"There's a lot of shitty bands out there, that's for sure! As far as using
us as an influence, that's cool. I mean, I don't know whatever they try
to do... Several of those bands really don't have any talent. At least some
of those I've heard... That's why I'm not into the scene at all anymore.
I think it's just a real terrible thing now. The music just doesn't have
the balls to it like it used to."
—>Is there
any plans to re-issue the albums on CD again, since most of the stuff on
Combat Records is impossible to get on CDs nowadays!<—
"Well apparently Sony bought out Combat but somebody is supposed to be
re-issuing the 'Seven Churches', 'Beyond The Gates' and 'Eyes Of
Horror' (out by now! - ED). I'm waiting to see if that's going to happen. That is what's
going on with that."
—>Give us
some news about Jeff; I think he's back to college from what you told me
previously...<—
"Yeah, that's right. He's doing damn good! He's a lot different now than
he used to be... He's gonna be somebody someday definitively for sure! He
already was and he comes back again 'cos he's successful whatever he does.
He's still into music; he plays a lot of guitar now and stuff. As a matter
of fact, me and him might get back together too! I had just talked to him...
Produce three songs or something, some kind of a demo."
—>How is
the situation for violence and this kind of shit in your area right now?
(I ask that because for those who don't know, Jeff Beccera was shot by a
gun-shot, which left him paralyzed from the chest down back in July 1990)<—
"It has always been that way here. You have to watch your back!"
—>Well you
were in a new band not so long ago, which you recently quit. Your vocals
were done in a more traditional Heavy Metal way; what brought that change?<—
"Oh, everybody is doing the growl thing and I'm not into that anymore."
—>Tell me
what are your five favorite albums of all time.<—
"Okay, you got me thinking now. Well my first pick will be JUDAS PRIEST's
'British Steel'. See... JUDAS PRIEST's 'Stained Class',
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, the first album, the one with the really heavy
songs... IRON MAIDEN 'The Number Of The Beast'. What else?
My last one would be BILLY IDOL's 'Lovely Hell' with Steve
Stevens playing guitar. Yeah, I like that album a lot!"
—>And what
kind of stuff do you listen to now?<—
"I listen to some POSSESSED stuff. I like to listen to that because,
you know, I wrote lots of stuff. I listen to JUDAS PRIEST; I got
the new one with the new singer."
—>You like
it?<—
"I think he's pretty good."
—>But what
about the music?<—
"I like the music. It's pretty good stuff. I still like Halford doing the
vocals but he's not in the band anymore. I listen to... I don't know...
Like one of my friend came here yesterday and he played this band T.N.T.
from Norway and they suck!"
—>Oh yeah!
They are commercial!<—
"It's fucking commercial! I don't like that at all! So yeah, JUDAS PRIEST
and old POSSESSED stuff..."
—>VENOM maybe?<—
"VENOM yeah! Once in a while, I put on old VENOM stuff;
'Welcome To Hell', 'Black Metal', that's good shit!"
—>Anything you
want to add?<—
"It was good doing this interview and I'm glad I did it! Thanks!"