This was a lot of fun to do. I drove to Centralia, Illinois to sit down with three members of Lunatic and pick their brains a bit. While I can't print everything that was said (It would take entirely too long.), here is the majority of my time with these guys. Long time friends of mine, and an extremely professional band that is as easy to work with as they are to hang out and drink with, Lunatic has been around since 1994 and preparing for their 10th anniversary as a band. They are just finally starting to
receive the attention they have deserved, and I am proud to be friends with them. Read on and learn more.
OK, so it is Thursday. We are sitting here with Jerald (Bass), Andy(Drums), and Jim(Guitar) from Lunatic...
Jim: Thaaat's me! (Laughs all around)
I wanted to ask you guys a few questions, first off...
Andy: Shoot
Shoot? (laughs)
Jerald: How 'bout shit?
Jim: Shite
Jerald: "Shite..." (laughs) I have been shat upon!
(laughs all around)
Ok, Lunatic was formed in 1993, or 94?
Jim: I was formed in 76 between my mom and dad
Now I ain't asking all THAT...(laughs all around)
Andy: Officially, Lunatic was born February of 1994.
So approaching your ten year anniversary, how does everything feel?
Andy: Good, good.
Jim: Yummy
Jerald: We're getting old (Laughs)
Jim: We're getting our walkers in the mail next week.
Did you actually think when you were forming Lunatic that it would go this far and for this long?
Andy: Not really, honestly
What was the main drive to form the band?
Andy: Me and Harry (Wadley...Guitarist / Vocalist) got together and were writing music; We just wanted to write our own material and write heavy music that you could groove to. We jammed, just like goofing around you know? And we just decided to take it serious and see how far we could take it, and we are still doing it.
Jerald: What's that? Goofing around, or...(laughs)
How many releases do you have total? Including compilation appearances, etc...
Jim: Oh that makes the number go up...We've done a lot of comps...Well, first and foremost, "Empty Promises".
Andy: "Empty Promises", "Uncontrollable Hatred", and now "Determination", with "The Lost Years" on it, which it's kinda two-in-one.
Jim: Yeah, a double EP.
Andy: Even though it's no officially out yet, cause we're dumb asses (laughs). Uhhh...The "Panther - A Tribute To Pantera" compilation
Jim: The "Metal Underground 2000"
Andy: One from Milwaukee Metalfest in '96, "Monday Night Metal" from Extreme Radio, and so on and so on and so on...
Jerald: The SIMC comp...
Andy: Yeah...All kinds, so...
Right on, so I know you had "Uncontrollable Hatred" out on CD for a while but you are out, which bums me cause I don't have one...
Andy: I don't even have one
Do you have any plans to re-release "Uncontrollable Hatred" and "Empty Promises" on CD?
Jim: At some point, just not currently.
Andy: We have thought about putting both on one CD. That's crossed our mind, but realistically, I don't know because we don't even have "Determination" out yet
Jim: We have to worry about the present right now, so...
Andy: I mean, it's something we have actually talked about, putting them on, like...two on one, so...
So, the Pantera tribute, the "Panther..." album; How did that all come about?
Andy: Disarray, the band that is on Eclipse Records, we've known them since they started. We started around the same time through the underground, and they were on the CD also, and they recommended us basically.
Jim: They got signed to that label, and after tape trading, they recommended us to the guy from the label. They gave us a call, and the rest is history.
Cool. Now I know throughout the history of Lunatic, it has always been four guys...
Andy: Originally it was three...
Jim: On "Empty Promises" only.
Andy: On "Uncontrollable Hatred", we added Jim, and Aaron Edwards as the bass player.
OK, well (laughs) I didn't know there were three to begin with, but NOW, with the addition of Aaron (vocals), you've got five guys. How has it worked out so far?
Jim: Well, it really helps when we juggle (laughs)
Andy: It's awesome, really, 'cause there was a lot of stuff we wanted to experiment with, but we never really could because we didn't have anyone that could actually sing.
Jim: It gives us a lot more flexibility and range in so many different ways, 'cause Aaron's got more range vocally. Plus it frees Harry up so he can concentrate more on his guitar so we can go further in that direction.
Andy: He still does a lot of vocals, though, so it is kinda like having two vocalists in the band, which is...
Jerald: It's great, 'cause it's given Harry room to improve his guitar playing ability. Which is what he really wanted in the first place. And with him still doing a lot of the vocals, it's kinda...I don't really know how to put it. It's almost like a 60/40 mix, ya know? Like 60% Aaron, 40% Harry, I mean, so Harry is still a big part of the vocal process.
This next question is more for Jerald. Now I have been friends with him for years, and he has always, always...
Jerald: What? Who are you??? (laughs)
Gee, thanks man...
Jerald: Who is THIS guy? (laughs all around)
He has always told me that it would be a bit of a dream to play for Lunatic, so now that you ARE a full fledged member, how does it feel for you?
Jerald: Man! My dream turned into a nightmare...(laughs) I didn't know it was gonna be this bad. No, no...In all seriousness, I am extremely happy to be here. Ya know? I've been
friends with these guys for a long time. I met these guys what? About 96? About the time Uncontrollable Hatred came out is when I really met these guys, and we kept in touch over the years, and this past year I got the pleasure of getting to jam with them. They're awesome guys, they're fantastic musicians, and I love being here.
Jim (gay voice): Stop it! (laughs)
So given Jerald's history with Fatality and Heavy Ground, and the Death Metal underground in general, do you see his influence bringing a more brutal swing to your style?
Andy: Not overall, but it'll definitely...we have always had a slight Death Metal influence anyway, so it'll maybe increase a little of that. But as a whole? No not really.
Jim: He is also a finger player, and this is the first time we have ever had a finger style bass player, so it's gonna change some direction a little bit.
There is definitely the Alex Webster influence there...
Jerald: Webster is a god...
Jim: Steve Harris, Cliff Burton...
Kinda on that same note, Lunatic does have a bit of a Death Metal influence to you, but you can't be called a Death Metal band ...
Jerald: No.
Andy: Not at all. We don't wanna be called a Death Metal band.
Right, however...in the underground of Extreme Metal where most people are like "It's gotta be Death Metal" or "It's gotta be Black Metal", you guys are accepted really, really well.
Jerald: It's kinda weird for us, cause we don't really fit in with the Death Metal classification, but we are heavy enough that we can still stand beside those guys, ya know? We do a lot of Metal fests and such.
Andy: We are just a heavy, heavy band.
Jim: We like a lot of the bands they listen to as well, so...
Andy: We just don't wanna be labeled a Death Metal band, otherwise I think you are limited. We just wanna be a Heavy Metal band.
Jim: We wanna be ready for anything that comes around.
That's cool, too, cause I have noticed...I have been listening to you a long time. Matter of fact, when I moved to St. Louis in 94, there were three bands that I latched onto immediately from the area. Travail, Lunatic and Conquest...
Jerald: Ya know, everybody gives Conquest shit because they have been doing this for so long, but people can't GIVE Conquest shit, because they are fuckin dedicated, man. All the guys are awesome guys.
Oh yeah. For sure, but the point I was getting at was all the bands in the scene have always floated along on some type of "trend" kinda thing, but you guys have always sort of bucked the trend all the way through. I mean you took the Pantera credo [Trendkill] before Pantera was around, almost.
Andy: We are influenced most by old Thrash bands. I look at this as being a next generation Thrash kinda thing.
And now, what is coming around AS the trend? It's more of an old-school thrash element.
Jim: It's all coming in a circle back around to us.
Other than getting it actually out and available to the public, is there anything you want to say about the "Determination" EP?
Jim: It's determined. (laughs)
It IS determined, I can say that...(laughs)
Andy: It's only three songs, and it is a taste of the new direction we are going into a little bit. Which is the beginning. I mean we're...
Jim: We are constantly going to evolve.
Andy: We want to be more versatile, we want softer parts to be softer, we want heavy parts to be even heavier and brutal. We want everything to just be better.
Jim: We want it to all fit like a glove.
Now on "Pathetic", which is on the "Lost Years" section of "Determination", you have Derek Viner...
Andy: Ex-singer of Heavy Ground; A more brutal, Death Metal voice.
Jim: Killer singer.
Yeah. How did that all come about?
Andy: Derek has been one of our good friends since the beginning, and we have just kept in touch with him. He wanted to do vocals on it, and we wanted him to do vocals on that song, cause we felt on that song it fit perfectly.
Jim: It suited the song. He used to come to shows from the very beginning, too, so it's not like he is some outsider. He knows what we are about. He made it work.
So you guys are really happy with the final version on "Determination" then?
Jim: Oh yeah. It sounds killer on there.
Which, by the way Derek...If you happen to be reading this? Come back. Come back, please?
Jerald: We miss you, bro...
Andy: We miss your voice, but most of all we miss your brutal intense stage presence.
Jim: He is amazing to watch when he is up on stage.
Which brings me in a way to the next question. The shows to see in the mid to late 90s was Lunatic with Heavy Ground. That show would always bring an ass load of people every time. Are there other bands that you see being...either past or present really good matches in that way for Lunatic?
Andy: In the beginning we liked playing with Travail a lot.
Jim: Also, Eleventh Commandment were killer. They were probably my favorite band in the scene back then.
Andy: Morbid Death had some pretty good shows.
Jim: There was Dunwich too.
So tell me about the SIMC, Heavycore, the different organizations you are involved with.
Andy: The SIMC is actually Southern Illinois Metal Collective, and we are from Southern Illinois, except for Jerald...
Jim: We play metal, and we collect it...(laughs)
Andy: We have kinda formed our own Metal scene in Southern Illinois which we never had before, and personally I think the quality of the bands is a bit better than the St. Louis area, as a whole. To me, a lot of the St. Louis scene...Not all, but a lot of it...is trendy.
Jim: Everybody is looking over everyone else's shoulder, where over here, nobody sounds the same. Everybody is different.
Jerald: My god, over here, everybody is something like 40 or 50 miles away from each other, too, so...We're in the middle of nowhere over here.
Andy: They've got their own individual sound, and doing their own thing basically.
What about Heavycore? Anything you wanna say about them?
Jim: It's a great organization, first of all.
Andy: we went on tour this summer, and they helped us get a couple of shows, so...It's basically like SIMC, except it's nationwide.
Jim: They are keeping it from going commercial, and they are helping out the underground and basically Metal period. Whether it's Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash, they do just about everything except the gay stuff.
Jerald: Yeah, we gotta give Pete his props, man. He has done a great job.
You kinda touched on this a little bit, but what are your thoughts on the scene in the midwest? Just the regional scene? Illinois, Missouri together?
Jim: It's gotten better over the past few years. It's gotten a lot more diverse over the past few years, too. Because when we started out, everything north of us was just like brutal Death Metal, you know? And that's it. And then St. Louis kinda had their club scene going, ya know?
Andy: It was also more Alternative. Metal was at its lowest when we started the band, actually. It's circled back around...
Jim: It's reared it's ugly head and pissed off society again.
Any favorite clubs you like to play?
Jim: Pop's. Pop's is a great venue to play performance - wise...
Jerald: Pop's is awesome. I mean we still like the Creepy Crawl...
Jim: Creepy Crawl has a great family atmosphere.
Andy: Yeah, I like the atmosphere better at the Creepy Crawl.
Jerald: You know, we always bitch about the Creepy Crawl because the stage is so small, but we love playing there, I mean it's a killer venue. But after playing in Springfield last week, the Creepy stage is huge, man...(laughs all around)
Jim: And for those people that might remember Club 367, that was an awesome place too.
Touch a little bit on the tour that you just went on this summer.
Jim: Six Thousand miles...
Jerald:We had a blast. We made it all that way, and nobody got killed.
Jim: Ummm...Us and Gogotta (A band from Mt. Vernon, Illinois) hooked up together and planned this tour. Then we went over to St. Louis and picked up our bass player; this guy here with the hat type thing...
Andy: And the long pretty hair...
Jim: Then we had to stop for cigarettes and gas, and...
Just the highlights, guys (laughs)
Jim: We went down to New Orleans and played a show the day after a hurricane...you could cut the humidity with a knife. After that we went to
Albuquerque, New Mexico, then went to Flagstaff...
Jerald: Arizona was kill...
Jim: Then we went down south to Phoenix...
Andy: That's when Gogotta got off the tour. We went to Phoenix and played a kickass show with seven bands called "The Bash on the Ash", with Motive (Featuring Steve Buschart, formerly of the
aforementioned Travail from St. Louis)...
Jerald: Vehemence, Eroticide, who else was there? God, I can't remember...There was a whole slew of bands. Vehemence had just gotten signed to Metal Blade.
Jim: Those guys were cool as shit. They were probably some of the nicest guys we met on the tour. Especially the singer...
Jerald: Nathan
Andy: Then we played another show in Phoenix, we had another show in Tucson, played a show in Escondido, California, another show in California, then we headed home. We made a lot of good contacts, had a lot of good shows...
Jim: And we had a lot of fun.
Did the crowds accept you pretty well out there then?
Jerald: Oh yeah.
Andy: Pretty much, yeah. Basically the tour was a positive thing.
Jerald: Oh, it was awesome. We can't wait for the next one, which hopefully will be coming up after the first of the year.
Yeah, I was gonna ask you about your plans for the immediate and long term futures.
Jerald: It hard to say, 'cause thing are kinda up in the air for us, but we have several possibilities.
Jim: A lot of things are teetering on how we can get this release out, and once that is accomplished then we'll be able to focus our plans...
Andy: We're a little strapped financially.
Jim: You know, with X-Mas time, and then the tour set us back a little bit, so we're just working everything out.
Andy: Releasing "Determination". That's our number one priority right now.
I heard something about a possible Jagermiester sponsorship in the works for you guys?
Jerald & Andy: We're trying...
Jim: We've been applying...I've heard a few stories, but I don't wanna confirm anything, either positive or negative. Just some stories, so...We'll see.
Where do you see Lunatic in ten years from now?
Andy: We'll be dead (laughs all around)
Jim: Hopefully no one's got venereal disease, uhhh...
Jerald: You gotta have sex to get a venereal disease, Jim. (laughs)
Jim: You gotta have sex with someone besides yourself, Jerald...(laughs)
Well, that's all I really have for you. Anything you wanna say? Any last words?
Jim: Knowing is half the battle...
Jerald: Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Andy: Keep the faith; spread the word.
Jim: Check out the website
www.lunatictheband.com. It keeps you posted on our current status.
Jerald: Jesus is coming...Open your mouth (laughs) Yeah, just make sure you go to the site, check that shit out. Get registered, hit that guestbook, man...
Jim: The more traffic showing on the website helps us whenever people who wanna help us see the website, so...
Jerald: There's always something new going on there, just get in there, check it out.
