Rich: Brutal Truth is more of a what as opposed to a who, ya know? Brutal Truth has always been a band that is 4 guys who get together and are vibing more than anything. We have never been a band that goes, “Hey guys, let’s get together and write and be a totally grind band.” Brutal Truth is a work of art that can’t be helped. It’s like being sick to your stomach and really having a feeling like you have to get something out. Violently, you know? I don’t know, we just have a great time and try and make music that is worthwhile. More for us. I don’t know, we don’t think about it a whole lot, it just is what it is. It’s its own creation and we are just caught up in it.
Josh: How did it all come together in the beginning?
Rich: The first time, or when we got back together?
Josh: The first time, but I am interested in both.
Rich: Brutal Truth’s very very beginnings were as a bedroom band, just Dan Lilker in his bedroom with a four track. He was just trying to make the most extreme music he possibly could. Brutal Truth was a 3-piece for the first couple of shows. It was then Danny, Scott Lewis on drums, Brent McCarty on guitar and Kevin on vocals. Then Scott quit and I’ve played with them ever since. That lineup (Lilker, McCarty, Hoak, Sharp) took us from about 1994 on into our first break-up. It was probably 2005, or after Katrina hit New Orleans, and one of our friends approached us about recording a new song for a compilation to benefit EyeHateGod [For the Sick tribute album] after Hurricane Katrina. We said ok, because us and EyeHateGod go way back and then everything just felt right since then and we started working on new stuff. We got together one weekend and jammed and then got together the next weekend and recorded the one song. We all kept in touch after that and it just snowballed from there. Erik Burke (Lethargy) stepped in on guitar (replacing Brent McCarty). We didn’t want it to be the typical reunion album or just be like when a bunch of 80-year old guys get on stage and play the hits, you know. If we were going to get back out there then we would get back out there. I think Evolution Through Revolution (2009) is some of our best stuff in our 20-year history and we get together and play through all the songs those new songs and the new ones we have now, are some of the best shit we have. There wasn’t anything hanging over our heads, ya know. We just were able to get straight to work on amazing songs. I mean that’s basically the history in a nutshell.
Josh: That was pretty concise for that long of a time. For the record, what are some of the notable past bands that members of Brutal Truth have been in? I know we have Stormtroopers of Death for Dan, but what else?
Rich: Dan Lilker was in Anthrax, SOD, Nuclear Assault and so many others. Erik Burke, years ago played in the band Lethargy with members of Mastodon. He also has Sulaco and Kalibas. Kevin has a band called Venomous Concept with dudes from Napalm Death. I don’t know if Kevin really had another band outside of Brutal Truth.
Josh: You have Total Fucking Destruction as well.
Rich: Yeah, Total Fucking Destruction, definitely. I also, have another project called Peacemaker, which is noise, poetry, experimental type stuff, and I have a couple CDs out of that.
Josh: In the beginning did you all conveniently live in the same town?
Rich: When I joined the band I lived in Philadelphia. I just packed everything in storage and pretty much toured all the time, so it didn’t really matter where I lived. I don’t think I really lived anywhere, except for a tour bus from about 1993, when I joined on up until we split up and they dropped me off on a street corner somewhere. They were all New York State based and I would go back to Philly during breaks for a couple weeks and then meet back up with everyone. Usually I would just fly to Rochester and then we would jam from about Friday at 6pm then wouldn’t stop until Sunday around 11pm. We would just lock ourselves in and get stuff done. We usually will work on demos and then get together a few times and work things out. Somewhere in the process we will send the demos to Kevin so he can work on lyrics and whatnot. Then we get together a few times, all of us together. We work it out in practice and figure out which ones work best live as well.
Josh: What would you say is your favorite Brutal Truth Release?
Rich: The newest one definitely [The End Time]. I think it is the most fun to play and listen to.
Josh: Where do you feel Brutal Truth fits in with modern grindcore?
Rich: I don’t know, I don’t care (laughter).
Josh: Haha, Good answer.
Rich: I don’t know where we fit into in the scene. I am just at war with the drum set, grinding, ya know. I am grateful for the fans, but I don’t know where we fit in into the modern scheme of things. I can’t even tell you bands that are on the modern grind scene.
Josh: Do you feel…
Rich: I mean a lot of the shows we play and bands we play with aren’t grindcore bands. We did a west coast tour with Eyehategod, ya know?
Josh: I did an interview with EHG a while back and they mentioned how they don’t always go out with bands that sound just like them. Their thought on it seemed to be, “why would we want to play with a bunch of bands that sounded like us?”
Rich: Why would you want to, I think that is a newer thing that people want to do.
Josh: I agree.
Rich: Why would you want to listen to a couple hours of bands that sound the same, it baffles me sometimes.
Josh: If you had to pick a band early on that inspired you all with your sound, would you have one, or did your sound just happen?
Rich: It just kind of happened. We just wanted to play fast and it just snowballed from there.
Josh: You all did a split with Spazz, if you had to pick a favorite split what would it be, that one is probably up there for me?
Rich: Melvins was probably a little special to me since they asked us to do a song. Normally we would have a bunch of demos and those might have become a few splits around that time.
Josh: Here is a fun question we always like to ask. Metallica or Slayer?
Rich: Slayer, definitely (laughter).
Josh: What are some current bands you are digging right now.
Rich: Umm…
Josh: It doesn’t have to be punk or metal.
Rich: I don’t know man. I’ve been listening to Phillies games on the radio a lot. Ahhh, Gee wiz man, I really don’t know.
Josh: It’s alright man; I end up listening to a lot of podcasts, myself.
Rich: I don’t generally listen to a lot of music. I kind of got burnt out because of working around it. It just devours you. I still haven’t quite gotten over that still you know. When I get in the car I will probably listen to Slayer or Bolt Thrower, ya know? There are bands that I watch when Brutal Truth plays with them and I like ‘em. I dug Brujeria when we played with them.
Josh: I don’t think that is cool to know that you are out watching newer bands instead of being tucked away in a van or tour bus, ya know? I think that says a lot more than what you might be listening to. It shows that you are still connected.
Rich: Brutal Truth still watches other bands, especially smaller DIY bands.
Josh: Do you all still hold the record for the shortest music video?
Rich: Haha, I think Erik had a good publicist that year. I don’t know, haha. It got on MTV and all that. We have shorter songs, but not one that have been made into a music video. [Brutal Truth’s song, "Collateral Damage" clocks in at 2.18 second)
Josh: So what’s the story behind Kevin’s cowboy hat?
Rich: Haha, I don’t know man. He just started wearing it back in the day and just stuck with it I guess, hahahaha.
Josh: How has the reception been since the reunion and up until now?
Rich: It has been killer man, it has been great man, I can’t complain. We have a heavy schedule with all the other projects so it has been really great getting out there for a weekend or for festivals and people have been really generous.
Josh: I really feel like when Sounds of the Animal Kingdom came out you really paved the way for bands to expand their sound outside of the confines of metal and grind. You really helped bands like Burnt By the Sun and Relapse to expand the genre to new territories. That album has so much going into it and really expanded what before seemed like narrow confines.
Rich: We didn’t really know at the time what we had created, but I can see what you are saying and how that can be viewed. It’s cool man. It was a really difficult album to make for us and it was good that people seemed to get it. When Brutal Truth came around there was a wave of grind bands and then later on near that album and after there were a lot of cool heavy bands that we played with like Today is the Day and Pig Destroyer that were doing a lot outside of what a normal grind band might do. There was Burnt By the Sun and a lot of bands that Relapse put out around that time that were doing some cool stuff.
Josh: I feel like around that time there were a lot of bands that you could say had that “Relapse sound” and while it may not put it into one category it at least let you know that these bands were doing something different.
Rich: You could say that Burnt By the Sun was just a metallic hardcore band but they were so much more than that, they were just Burnt By the Sun. I think the same goes for Brutal Truth but with grindcore.
Josh: Sounds like you have a lot coming up with The End Time, sounds like you guys are going to hit that up as hard as you possibly can with festivals and the like and trying to hit the road in different spots during 2012. Any last words or comment you would like to make?
Rich: Brutal Truth just wants to send out the message to all of our fans that we are fucking ready to grind, ya know?
Josh: Awesome, thanks so much.
Rich: Thanks a lot man.
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