Another xeroxed basement fanzine, also from 1984.
Possessed are one of the fastest bands to come out of the San Francisco Bay area in a long time. Their line-up is Jeff Becerra (vocals & bass), Mike Torrao (lead & rhythm guitar), and Mike Sus (drums). Possessed recently parted company with guitarist Brian Montana, at the time of writing this, a replacement has not been found yet. They have a demo out, which is a true classic, it contains such destruction as Death Metal, Evil Warriors, and Fallen Angel, it's a must for all hardcore bangers. Possessed are currently working on their debut album for Metal Blade Records. I got the chance to interview guitarist Mike Torrao, here's how it went.
Q - Who does the writing for the band?
Mike - I do most of the writing, all music, some of the lyrics. Jeff
does a lot of the lyrics.
Q - What heavy metal bands influenced you in the past?
Mike - Definitely Venom and Exodus, we live next to Exodus, that's how
we got our start. I have never seen a show like Exodus.
Q - Where are the places you like to gig the most?
Mike - Anywhere right now, we're trying to get well-known right now.
Q - What was the best gig you can remember?
Mike - When we play with Exodus it's always a good gig. We play with
them a lot, sometimes we get Slayer up here and we have a killer show.
Q - What kinds of clothes do you wear at your live shows?
Mike - All leather and studs because in the Bay Area, no band has that. We are trying to be a different band from the Bay Area bands.
Q - What cover songs do you do live (if any)?
Mike - We don't play covers, we play originals. Covers are a pain in
the fuckin' ass.
Q - Who picked the name for the band?
Mike - I did, we needed a name to fit the band's image.
Q - How many copies of the demo have you sold?
Mike - We haven't started selling them yet, but soon we will. I don't
know why we should, it seems a lot of the people have it already.
Q - What bands have you supported in the past?
Mike - Exodus, we've only played about six gigs.
Q - What is the band's goal in the metal world?
Mike - Hopefully make money and someday be on top, but that's a big
fuckin' joke, because we are way too heavy to make the big money.
Q - What do you think of the state of heavy metal today?
Mike - It seems to me everything is getting faster, a lot of bands
today are playing fast and getting away from the commercial shit, that's
good.
Q - What do you think of heavy metal bands that sell out or go
commercial?
Mike - I think someday every band will that is worth anything,
because you can't be a fuckin' bum forever, you've got to go where the
money is. We'll probably go commercial when we're 30 years old.
Q - Have you been in contact with any record companies yet?
Mike - Yes, Torrid, we didn't sign with them, they tried to change
us. We will be on Metal Massacre 6, the song is Swing of the
Axe, that's on Metal Blade. They also sent us a contract for an
album.
Q - What should headbangers expect at your live shows?
Mike - The fastest fuckin' metal, I can guarantee we're one of the
fastest and heaviest.
Q - Do you have any last things to say to our readers?
Mike - Our album should be out after January.
- by Chris Nordon