Well right now all the members from IMPETIGO are leading pretty normal lives and none of us are playing music anymore. Stevo is living in Louisville, Kentucky now and he's got two daughters and is going to college while he is working full time at a company which is making customized display units. He is the second in charge there. Of course he still listens to underground music but he doesn't have the time to follow much of the scene today. Scott is still working a computer job as some type of manager for computer security or something like that. He's got 3 children to. I've not spoken to Dan now for about 2 years but he does various jobs like delivering lumber, or cement or something but he's always looking for a new better job! As for me right now I just finished living in Singapore for three years and I recently got divorced and I'm moving to the Philippines to be with my girlfriend there and look for some work opportunities there. I don't play music anymore but I still follow the scene today quite a bit. I still go to shows when I can and I saw a lot of good ones when I was in Asia. There is a pretty good local metal/crust/grind/hardcore scene in the Philippines and I have a lot of friends in the bands there.

2. You formed IMPETIGO back in 87, can you compare underground scene in the past and now??? What do you miss on today’s scene???

Well I think the scene today is quite a bit different than it was back in those days. Today there are so many different labels and so many CD's coming out it's hard to even keep track of things. Back in the late 80's/early 90's there were really only a few main labels and them some self releases but it was a lot easier to keep track of the releases. Also you didn't have so many big tours with underground bands and you didn't have the big glossy professional magazines covering underground metal as much as you do today. You had to rely more on fanzines for information. One thing that I think is better today is that many of the labels are run by real underground fans who are actually into the bands they sign and the music in general. In the old days these labels like Combat, Road Runner, New Reniassance etc seemed to be staffed/owned by posers who didn't know and care about the real scene but only about selling records and making money!! For today's scene I miss real fanzines as they almost don't exist anymore and most everything is a webzine now! I also miss somewhat the letter writing and passing all the ads through the mail! I do think however that e-mail is really a valuable tool in keeping in touch quick and makes things easier. It just seemed in the earlier days of the scene there was more of a network of friends and people helped each other more but today is more competitive and business oriented due to the immense amount of labels and the number of records some of the bands these days can sell. But just like everything there is good things and bad things but the scene today is still good!!

3. We have now a lot of re-union comebacks bands like REPULSION (one of the band that you played with years ago...) , is here any chance for real reunion of IMPETIGO or absolutely no??? As I remember we never can’t invite and hug you here in Europe, why??? And believe me, we would love to do it...

Around 1999 we did consider reforming to do a mini-CD with the original line-up. But we felt that too many bands reform now and they never live-up to the expectations you have for them. Once you break the continuity it's tough to capture the feeling and sound back! I don’t think we’d consider ever getting back together as most all the bands that have reformed these days (and there are so many) never live up to their past and it’s a bit sad. They are good people and it’s good to see them back in a sense but it’s always pretty much a disappointment when you hear them, at least if they do a new recording. It’s hard to capture the magic of that moment from the past and to get the sound (especially in this high tech age) that made you love the band. Most of the bands are really best to leave the past as the past and that is how we feel. Maybe seeing us live would be satisfying for some people but I can’t help but feel it would be disappointing at the same time because the scene has really changed since the days of IMPETIGO and we don’t really fit in today’s extreme metal scene. Our music can’t compare in extremity to the stuff that is coming out today. So let the extreme bands of today have their time because we had ours and we are thankful for the time we had and the mark we left and we can’t ask for anything more from the listeners or the underground scene. Also I plan to live in the Philippines now for maybe the rest of my life so that makes doing IMPETIGO next to impossible. We would never consider doing anything with IMPETIGO if we didn't have the complete original line-up. It is sad that we never made it to Europe and especially the Czech Republic and Germany as I would say that is where the most fans of IMPETIGO are! We've always had amazing support from Czech Republic and Germany and we are very grateful for that. I'm sorry that we never made it to Europe but if we would ever reform I think it would be a must that we play there!!

4. The best record of IMPETIGO for you??? And also let me know why???

I’d say “Horror of the Zombies” is my favorite record as it really represents what IMPETIGO was trying to achieve. It’s much more consistent

than “Ultimo…” as all the songs were written close to when the album was recorded. It’s darker and more somber than “Ultimo…” and definitely has more of a horror atmosphere. We tried to create homage music to the movies that we loved and we came close to doing that with “Horror…”. It’s basically a horror film put to music in our minds. “Ultimo…” has a lot of merits and seems to be a favorite for the listeners who prefer grind. The music on “Ultimo…” is all over the place because we recorded all the songs we knew at the time from the very beginning of the band up until the last few songs we wrote for it (such as Red Wigglers). As far as a favorite song would go, I'd say “Boneyard” as it’s really catchy or “Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue” as that song has the perfect horror atmosphere!!!

5. I have to ask you for this...I simply adore all of our records, everything from IMPETIGO, but what is really typical for IMPETIGO it’s vocal of Stevo, how did he do that??? It’s unbelievable, strong, original vocal...I need just 1 second and I know that‘s IMPETIGO...maybe he could do some seminar for vocalist of today‘s scene ‚coz I really miss so original and brilliant vocal today, what do you think he,he,he???

I'm sure Stevo would really say thanks for the kind words on his vocals, I will forward you words to him!! I agree with you 100% too. I think you can easily identify IMPETIGO because of Stevo's insane vocals and I think it was the most original part of IMPETIGO because I've not really heard too many vocalist that sounds like Stevo's style. He used to drink lots of chocolate milk to really get lots of mucous in his throat and then he would sing. He even used to drink chocolate milk during the live shows!! Sometimes we did use the pitch shifter effects but most of the highs and lows were all done by Stevo! I agree that sometimes today there is too much of a single tone to the vocals and it's not as interesting. It's more brutal today but it doesn't have as much feeling or uniqueness. Stevo just did his best and sickest and I'm sure he is happy that others enjoy his vocals so much!!! Thanks again!!

6. One maybe sad question...why did you finnish with IMPETIGO???

The band broke up around the Fall of 1993 a few months after we did our final live show at the Milwaukee Metalfest in July. That was the last time we played together as a band, and after that we never practiced until we decided to split up as we had lost our practice spot. We originally planned to become a studio only band and just not do any more live shows. That would make things easier time wise if we didn't have to practice a "live" set and could always work on new songs. But then we just decided to stop the band. There were several reasons that the band split up, a big one was that the band had grown too big for us to handle and it was burning us out, especially Stevo and myself. IMPETIGO for us always meant to be a true underground band and be a big part of the underground scene. Meaning that I always answered every piece of mail I ever received, I did every interview I ever received and I always sent out free tapes to every zine, radio show, etc. So as you can imagine all this took so much time everyday and towards the end of the band I was getting about 60-80 letters a week! On top of all this everyone in the band worked a full time job and some of us were married. So the time constraints really got to be a burden, but at the same time we didn't want to do the band any other way than how we had done it from the start. So instead we decided it was best to stop the band and end on a very positive note. It was a tough decision but at the same time it really took a burden off us. Another reason also was at that time the underground had really started to split up and there was a lot of competition instead of cooperation and also there was all this who is "true" and who is not. We hated that shit and were pretty sad how the scene had become full of so much arguing and fighting so that was another factor that made our decision easier. Sometimes over the years I wished we would have done another recording or something, but actually we picked a pretty good point to call it quits.

7. Do you like our IMPETIGO „Buio Omega“ CD version??? What do you think about enhanced part of this disk???

What can I saw, it's a cool release! We did the great new cover from Timo in Sweden which is still inspired by the same film as the original cover! You've also got the live tracks from the split with TRANSGRESSOR as a bonus which is cool to see those on CD! But best of all is the CD-Rom enhanced part of the CD. We were really happy that you do this as I never imagined IMPETIGO would have a CD-Rom section. I think if you are an IMPETIGO maniac you MUST have this CD as the CD-Rom has so many rare pictures, the complete discography and most of all it has 3 live videos of IMPETIGO which I think many people maybe have not seen any video of us before! It's a very complete history of IMPETIGO and I think any maniac would need this just for the photos and video material!! Thanks again for the killer job you do on this release!!

8. Do you want to send a word to your faithful maniacs in Czech republic???

A big thank you to all the sick and crazy supporters of IMPETIGO in the Czech Republic. We know that we wouldn't be remembered today if it wasn't for all the support they have given us over the years and making sure that we were never forgotten!! We are always grateful to our diehard supports and friends in Czech and a big hello to Jakub Jodal, Roman(BLP) and the guys in INGROWING!! A big thanks to you Curby for the interview and for releasing IMPETIGO on Obscene! Congratulations on your new baby!!! Stay obscene!!!!

Mark / IMPETIGO