Čurby and Chymus on OBSCENE EXTREME 2005 before ISACAARUM show

Chymus - living dead

Jimmy grinds bass

F.C. - guitar

Monthy checking his drums

Bambus - ex ISACAARUM

Chymus - argh!!!

Jimmy once again

Chymus starts the show

Angry Jimmy

Chymus and fanatical fan during OEF 2005

Jimmy again - bass like killing machine?

1. What´s associated looking back to what you have done with ISACAARUM. Which moments have remained in your memory? And what´s that was the most essential things for this band?

That seems like you ask me what´s remained of something that´s still alive. The essential moments? Me joining ISACAARUM, the band joining the Obscene Prod., „Cunt Hackers“ CD, the first European tour, the underlying gig in Wunstorf, the stort story of me finding the sanity again, the „Sibari Kata“ album… The most essential moment should be actually described by Monthy – if he agrees – it was me joining the band in 1997, when the biggest transformation came down to the band. The idea to unite the inunitable has opened the door to wider constituency of listeners. There´s no need to say more, I don´t like to refrain…

2. Let´s take a look at the purely Black metal beginning of ISACAARUM. Did you know and watch the band from the very start, or where did you come to registrate it? How do the early recordings „For Blood is Life…“ and „Die Verwandlung“ feel like to you, listening to them today? And one question more, why did the original singer Graf Cornier leave the band?

To be sincere, I knew about ISACAARUM just within the context of what came to me through the band INGROWING in 1995. I personally met the ISACAARUM members a little bit later, actually in the same time, when I was offered to play in CLOSING, where the original ISACAARUM´s member played the bass. You can say, that my knowledge of ISACAARUM started in the time, when I started to write the lyrics for INGROWING – which appeared to be another degree for me to become the ´renaissance man´. I liked the „For Blood is Life…“ demo – it felt IMPALED AZARENE and a little bit early CRADLE OF FILTH like. „Die Verwandlung“ is not bad record, but of all ISACAARUM´s Black metal recording I mostly like the „Meditaton is Dark Green“, the 7“ split with SORATH. It´s unambiguosly the peek of ISACAARUM´s Black acts. As about Graf Cornier: sometimes I think that he actually didn´t leave the band, he just ceased from going to rehearshals. I personally met him at the tax office about a year ago. He didn´t look like someone interested on music at all. What more can I say?

3. Remember the time when you yourself jumped the ISACAARUM train. I know that they picked you over from CLOSING in a way, and you were singing in NCC even before.. Do you remember the tour with AGATHOCLES, in 1996 I think. Was NCC the first band you tortured your vocal cords in? How did it come that you got into it with such energy and enthusiasm? We know each other for a long time and you have always been a good pot companion (just like me in that time), then you have disappeared in Budweis and suddenly you became a rock star…

Well, it´s hard not to remember that crazy whirlwind about NCC and AGATHOCLES gigs, and I have met my good, and now longtime mate Lepra from ABORTION. Thinking of it all around, NCC was my first attempt at singer´s performance – not mentioning the first two unofficial attempts before I´m ashamed of. You know very well that I have always been good in writting reviews and interviews (and remember how much we used to drink up during the long nights…), but I always wanted to know how does it feel to stand on the stage sowing wild oats. When it finally came down, I felt that was it, this feeling can´t be compared to anything else. That´s how my singers career started. My escape into Budweis was due to Vlakin, INGROWING and ISACAARUM bass player (Crescention), who were the cause that I met my wife-to-be, my ex-wife now. During that time CLOSING had demised and I joined ISACAARUM, which led into the band´s transformation I was talking about before. You pay me a compliment caling me a rock star, but I´m gona kick your ass when we meet, anyway…

4. How proceeded the band´s changeover from nordic Black metal to SM/Black grind? Have you just join the band and said: „Hey, guys, this band is going to rock!!“ and this was it??

Well, mate, nothing´s going so easy as it seems, especially when you look back and find out with dismay it´s going for almost eight years now. This question use to appear very often, so I excuse for my cut ´n´dried answer. Month-end october 1997 me and the other guys from ISACAARUM met in Budweis´„Na Kubě“ pub and were talking about how do we imagine our colaboration in a band. What they said made clean they knew for sure that just orthodox Black metal can´t hold anybody´s interest anymore, and that they were seeking for something really novel. So two types of experiences have increased in value – the Black metal experience of theirs, and the grind core one of mine. The stage show – thats what I was going for clearly, there was an imagine, the ideas were born as the possibilities and a good-will ratio were growing to find the way where the others are just staring over the fence of their own inner constraints. At the beginning it was raw pre-amateur thing, now we know at least what to set up to reach the ultimate efect. Actually it was our common desire to find our own way and do things as we feel.

5. Right from the start you are particular about stage show, a real theatre… where did the idea and the influences come from? Think of KING DIAMOND or even KISS? You went into it really frenzily, I guess that a lot of people remember your band for the concerts. Each records of yours brings a new show along.. do you still enjoy to fabricate the show, manufacture the costumes etc? Aren´t you tired of it, so many artist use the blood anyway..?

I just don´t know where it came from, I can´t answer even myself unless I lie. Fantasy.. that´s all I can say right now. I guess I have seen some image somewhere, and adapted it to ISACAARUM´s size subconsciously. Now we prepare something new for the tour with INGROWING… if the things will go fine, a lot of people are going to be seriously shocked. To be true, originally it was rather my privilege to disguise, but I guess the guys fancied to create a small stage inkognito, being Mr. Somebody Else plainclothes. So do I enjoy? Of course I do, and the guys support and inspirate me! They deserve my greatfulness.

6. Let´s go on. Durig the years 1998-99 there´s nothing special happeing in ISACAARUM, except Vlakin joined the band on bass in 1999. I think that the grind core soup started to boil quickly, didn´t it? By the way, the colaboration between Obscene and ISACAARUM stats right in that year… how do you judge our colaboration? Later that year the new record with a new line-up was released and named „Curbed“. I like this record, althought the sound is not so cutting yet. How do you judge this record in the course of time?

In fact, when Vlakin reinforced us, the rehearshals went really ultra frenzy, it was rolling as hell and we were looking forward how Vlakin was going to play bass on the oncoming record. You just can´t imagine, how half-hearted I was before I asked you for the colaboration in Hradec, I didn´t believe that you would agree. But seriously you know the definition of our colabortion today. „Curbed“ is such a raw stuff. It´s a half-way stuff, where there are some re-arranged old songs, couple of new songs and that was it. The output was no big deal also, but I like to remember these times…

7. The year 2000 was such a slack period, but a year later things got faster. „Cunt Hackers“, the favourite ISACAARUM record for many, included such immortal hits as „Teenage Cunt Powerplay“. How do you judge that move from „Curbed“ and is there anything on this record you´re not satisfied with?

Wow. This record was just break. Everything icreased in value here, and it moved us a new direction, that we keep going on with a slight variations for the last years. As about record cover, we changed our minds and now we´d make it some other way. But as about music – it was just a genuine mix of punk, black metal and grind core. And as about vocals, I tried some other tessituras than just raised and low voice. And „Teenage…“.. it´s just an anthem for many fans. Actually at this moment my favourite plays upon words started to appear on the surface and I started to turn my style well. In other words… to give it some other cover to be absolutely satisfied.

8. In the same year you started to concert intensely abroad, you were on the european tour with EXHUMED and INGROWING… remember it… I will never forget the gig in Wunstorf for myself. I remember how shocked you were, when local youth boycotted ISACAARUM and labeled you sexist and what else.. I think that it was the most crazy story on the tour, or is there any other shocking event to remember? After „Menses..“ you underwent another tour, this time with WACO JESUS, are these two tours comparable? Which one of these american bands were more insane? And where will you go to another tour next year?

The tour was really excelent, for spending almost a month with great people. Wunstorf was totally incredible. I have never met such narrow minded people before, and I would´t believe that there is somethig like this on Earth. More or less, from that time such objects as the left-wing squatts are forbidde for us. You know, I just can´t sit down under the fact, that someone politicize the music so much, searching for meanings where there are none. As if you can´t just make music for pleasure, yours or someone others. The intolerance… especially when you don´t abuse anyone in any way. It´s just like that stuff about freedom – your freedom ends where someone´s freedom begins. Comparing EXHUMED and JEUS WACO, EXHUMED are uniquely determined winners. They are so nice and cool guys that I felt like they were a long time friends next door. JESUS WACO are just typical Americans, whose were hard to get along with. I „thank“ them for breaking my psychics down. Planing he new tour – Vlakin and FC would like to go for a tour as ISACAARUM and INGROWING again, this time just us without any support. I´m looking forward the tour, because we know each other very well, so it´s gonna be a kind of familiar thing – a bunch of goofs cruising Europe and abroad.

9. At the turn of 2002 / 2003 Vlakin left the band… how did you feel? I know that you have found the substitute for him right in the moment. Where did Jimmy come from and what did he do before he joined ISACAARUM? He promptly came in concerts and creating new stuff itself… I guess he was the best possible substitute for Vlakin, wasn´t he?

Vlakin didn´t want to slow the fastering machine of INGROWING down, but ISACAARUM also wasn´t slowing down… We quickly start to think it through and FC contacted Jimmy, who was engaged in BIZZARE EMBALMING before… And of course, he´s got his own beat band TOMCAT GARFIELD´S EMPTY BELLY BAND, that´s where the ingenious rock riffs of later ISACAARUM came from. I admit Vlakin is a personality, but Jimmy got much more farther in this way and I think you can see it on the stage.

10. Now we get to the „Mences Exorcism“ album. I confess I like this record, but I hate it at the same time, my opinions are just ambivalent… what about yours?

I feel alike. I feel sorry for that mid-range output, it´s just fucked up from A to Z. But still I say that this record includes very strong songs. Some likes it, some don´t.. It´s no use to stick at this point, it´s just the way it is and we can´t change it…

11. Shortly after the tour with WACO JESUS, I guess, the biggest ISACAARUM´s crisis was set on. You left the band and came back again. Any comments?

You are one of the few people who knows the reasons of this crisis… Overload, fatigue, cut-off..
I think I can´t stand being in just one band from that time.

12. What drives you to write such wet lyrics? Is your sperm cumulating aunderhand and you push it off that way, or what´s goig on? Is there any move within the years, for yourself? How far do you wanna go in your lyrics? Are you searching for some total porn nirvana?

It just went itself in the time, when everybody was imitating CARCASS with the pathological lyrics… I know my lyrics are not world-shaking, nor breaking through, but they deal with love and peoples relationships (with a big exaggeration). I´m not too much into the political topics, it´s just not my cup of tea, althought I would be out of mood, if some bands start to sing about corpses instead of politics. The lyrics come from my fantasy, I used to collect everythig about the lewd movies, but now that stuff doesn´t inspire me any more, now I just play a games with insane ideas. It´s hard to describe, if you don´t kow me closely, you may think that I´m totally sick, but in fact I´m not and you know it the best, I guess. It´s just a pure fantasy, playing upon the words and distortion of meanings, all celloed and whipped. I try to light the imagination of people reading my fancies. I really dwell on idea of brutality latent rather than obvious. It´s easy to serve things straight, but to force the peple to think about things… it´s something else.

13. The photos and cover layout are the ISACAARUM´s delicate things. I see clearly that you love this job - where would be Obscene prod. now without you, by the way – but is it hard to objectify your imagination? It looks more and more perfect, record by record. What it felt like to work on „Shibari..“?

As they say: If you know where to go… I was happy to meet many people from the time when I started to work as a professional graphic artist and designer. And that´s why my possibilities beginned to grow, so it wasn´t so hard or extra expensive to prepare the images for „Shibari“.
I´ve got a bunch of professionals to help me, as I helped them before in some way, so it paid interest on ISACARUM now. The original idea of „Shibari..“ came last year in december, the short storyboards, rough-drawings, consultations with people mentioned above, and it started to fit together like a puzzle. Taking the photos took whole day, because there was an idea of a video-clip in my head, so I took some shots to use in it. The work on graphics itself took about
60 days, I was conteplating a ways and means, colour variations, prints etc. I believe that the graphics side of „Shibari…“ is unique amongst all the Czech bands of comparable style. But don´t worry, I will try to overcome myself on next record – I slowly fit things together in my head and I hope that it´s going to be worth to look at.

14. Well, the new record. Introduce it to us a little…. what´s it musically and lyrically about… what´s the difference between your spermetal and nihil metal… What´s Shibari Kata and what´s hiding under the term?

Just in short – because I hate that sort of questions. Why change something that works? That´s why we set on two things this time… Regarding the succes of „Cut Hackers“, where there is high frequence of low voices, we decided to follow this trend in the new stuff – cold cough bears meet crows with flu. The next thing, that can touch up many things, but also totally fuck them up, is the output, at that´s what´s the second ace of „Shibari…“. The output of this record is really good. And lyrically? Wel, I tried to write even worse bestialities, I hope I´ve done it well. I rather thought of an idea of incest and so on.. The lyrics came up with standard conditions, during the time from october 2004 – may 2005, so I really tried to turn them well. Spermetal? Nihil metal? Nothing but your favourite trade mark – the insaner the better. ISACAARUM performing nihil metal - that´s what I´ve red on the poster for OBSCENE SOCIETY FEST last year for the first time. So I guess that´s idea of yours or Barvák´s.

15. You recorded the album in South Czech, in a small studio Loco in Větřní. I have been there and I really got the familiar atmoshere. How did the recording feel like?

We wanted some change after the fuck-up in Hostivař, and we were hesitating about where to record for a long time. Finally we have heard some record from LOCO, and it just kicked our glutaeus maximus. And Réna is a friend of ours in additon, so we flipped up and hit the road to him. It´s absolutely useless trying to describe the ground-floor of the great villa, guarded by pack of dogs and one moulted cat. Familiar atmosphere, really. Réma turned to be really profesional producer, ingeniously tuned at the same tune like us. By and large: great!

16. Your tip to a hits on this record? What about „Blow Job Time Pt. 2“? Where did this ballad come from and who made it up?

Ha ha, I love Buttsuck, Clitblaster, Shit Paintress, Bukakke Bitchbombers, Blow Job Time Pt. 2 and Perineum Battlefield. A ballad? Blow… is an echo of the tour with WACO JESUS… Watchin our concerts during this tour, you could see there was a scene, when Jimmy´s fork is filled with my mouth… I just blew him ?… This scene was framed with such slow riff. And it gave the birth to „Blow Job Pt. 2“ . I don´t wanna lie, but I guess that it was Jimy who came up with that riff.

17. Imagine whole „Shibari…“ creation process, what hides behind this album? How much satisfied are you with it, a several months after?

This album is framed with many circumstances… My comeback to ISACAARUM, a much bigger appetite to work, a lot of energy and pleasure, damaged a little by Bambus´s leaving the band. A plenty of wishes and dreams about touring out of Europe and especially the new point to start from, preparing the images and tracks for a new record. At least but not last so many hours spent in rehearshal room composing riffs and arranges… what´s there more to be said?

18. I haven´t noticed Monthy yet, althought his drumming is typical for ISACAARUM! Monthy definitely has a special style and due to it I always realize that I´m listeing to ISACAARUM, right? How does he the old man get along with you guys?

You know, some people can´t stand his style of drumming, but we never forced to anyone that we are the masters of the instruments as well, it´s still a fun for us, and that´s why we play as we enjoy it. It´s just us, if someone wants to listen to the brutal drum harakiri, then he should pass us by… We´re just like the punk-rockers, we do it our own way. He predicates of himself, that ´old hound can´t learn a new tricks´. I guess when Monty finds out you called him a old man, you´ll get punished… He´s only nine years older than you and me, what an old man? I like Monthy very much for his all-time stiff upper lip. .. just our Monthy.

19. After „Shibari..“ Michal, one of the founding ISACAARUM members, has left the band… any comments? For now you stay a four-piece, are you goig to find a substitute for him, or is this the final situation? I personally think, that this line-up may be the strongest one in entire band´s career. I see all the members engaging the affairs around he band, now it´s not all up to you yourself, which is good, isn´t it? For example, Fuckorák has really surprised me, he plays guitar as devil himself!!

No big deal… Before we started to record „Shibari“, Michal aka Bambus told as that he was going to leave ISACAARUM. We were really surprised, but I guess that it was for the family reasons, and it was useless to dissuade him from it. Finito. We made a poor attempt to complete the line-up, but finally we decided that four-piece is the best. One car is big enough for us with some seatig comfort, which gives us a satisfacton on the long way from the concerts. FC gave himself to band´s management, and he deserves my big greatfulness for it, because now it works again. As about his guitar playing – you see, he was left alone to play guitar and there´s nowhere to hide, so it was his business to deal with it… I guess that he managed with it very well didn´t he?

20. Now, for a while, back to you personally… I know that you have appeared on tour with AHUMADO GRANUJO, playing the wash-board, or what? You told me about your trip to Ukraine, what was it like, and will your colaboration with A.G. continue or was it just a friendly stop-gap? And to what else do you give yourself now?

AHUMADO GRANUJO is a strange phenomenal in my life. I passed few rehearshals with them, two concerts, and then it somehow faded away. I wanted it to be the regular band, but unsucesfully for now. I don´t want to comment it. I´ll see what will the guys come up with, if they will. And what do I give myself to? My girlfriend, my doggie… I have written some lyrics for a new FLESHLESS record „To Kill for a Skin“, I´m going to do the same and the cover layout for INGROWING and their „Cloned and Enforced“, lyrics for SATISFUCKTION, cover for LOCOMOTIVE, web pages for DESPISE, techno project AREA 51 and LITKA SYSTEM. And blah blah blah… it´s too much for a day lasting twenty four hours.

21. What´s GRAVIDAARUM, is it a rock´n´roll version of ISACAARUM? Will you play concerts with this band? Or you just have recorded one song and that´s all? Whose idea was this band and who takes part in it?

GRAVIDAARUM is a funny match with guys from punk band TĚHOTNEJ YEŽEG (can be translated as Pregnant Hedgehog, written with solecisms), with whom we recorded their song „Loutky“ (Pupets). Nothing more. If the guys appear on our gig, we play this song together. That´s all. It´s all about our fellowship and fun.

22. Well, we got near the end… What awaits for ISACAARUM till the end of 2005 and in the next year 2006?

Well… till the end of 2005 we are going to play three live shows, and the year 2006 will be in sign of tour with INGROWING, preparing of new material, and one special thing, that I won´t comment for now. But if things go well… it´s gonna be worth it…

questions : Čurby
answers : Chymus
translation : Marek
november 2005

http://isacaarum.wz.cz/