A conversation with Glen Benton (Deicide) transcript

this is Eric retan of Cannibal Corpse you are listening to the scars and guitars podcast with Andrew McKay Smith good day everybody welcome to the show wow this is a chat that I've been hoping to bring to you for a long time finally materialized it's a conversation with the great Glenn Benton from deide now the Catalyst for our conversation is due to the launch of I believe it's lucky number 13 the album Number 13 banished by Sin from De side it'll be out later on in April now there are far too many topics that we cover through this almost half an hour chat but I will say I've been a fan and a follower of this band even when I stopped listing the medal for quite some period of time there in the early 2000s when I checked out and stench of redemption was actually the album that got me right back into listening to extreme stuff in 2006 so yes we talk about that their Brisbane show in the same year Taylor nordberg playing older materials such as Legion some of the lyrical themes on banished by sin Mark English from monstrosity and his tenure in the group Jeremy clling their front of house engineer so many topics of conversation I'm sure if you're a fan of the show and of course of deide and Glenn you're going to find a lot to wrap your ear around throughout this chat so here he is Glenn Benton from deers side thanks for making the time to to have a chat with this really appreciate it by the way oh no problem man if give me one second I can switch over sure well well just go ahead and do it man I'm really I'm really pressed for time today got a full boat today okay no worries mate how much time have we got uh I think 30 minutes cool okay well I'll get I'll kick straight into it then Glenn for you then it's uh sure I've got the press release okay accompaning the album and I've listened to the album and it certainly lives up to this boast that it proudly announces a return to 1990 style musicality which is a testament to the band's unwavering dedication to your craft so could you elaborate in how you've Incorporated modern elements into what I describe as a legacy sound well you know it's like everybody's kind of you know this you know with technology um everybody wants to pick and choose what technology they use these days and um for the record and the recording the last several records we've done I well like I say man I I've never been completely happy with the process um from you know because we lose a lot of sound quality and that between um you know rough tracks mix mastering and that and um I I just kind of found a few uh tricks you know this time around which is you know don't listen to anybody but myself and uh little compression as possible uh use actual real amplifiers and cabinets to you know with microphones and direct ends instead of letting Pro Tools do everything um and using plugins and you know modeling amps and all that kind of crap uh we took it old school okay even with the drum sound we use more mic sound than we use sample okay gotcha yeah old school we didn't go B say yeah we like I said man we recorded it right up the street from my house here at Jeremy's house um in his Studio there in his living room and I said man we took the old school route to tracking it because we want because Jeremy runs our Liv sound so he knows what we sound like and what we want to sound like and yeah man he did an incredible job AG great and I actually met Jeremy aboard 70,000 tons of Medal this year with uh Taylor and uh look he strikes me as a bloke who lives and breathes extreme metal so what what are the attributes that he brings to deide that make make your partnership with him so successful well Jeremy um we said we've been friends for a while now and he said man you know um you know what the guy he knows his [ __ ] man you know what I mean I mean no doubt about it Jeremy asked me cuz we we road bike in the morning sometimes and um there was a stress there we were doing and um he he approached me about doing it at his place at least letting him you know take a swing at it you know and uh and I was all about that because you know the whole you know the way we were doing it over in uh Sanford Florida that a three-hour drive for each one of us each way and by the time you get there you're so you know you're just so depleted mentally you know from that it really just you know it kind of it really made the process long and drawn and dragged out and I think that you know now we just a really Fresh Approach to it really I don't give a [ __ ] approach to it really it's really more like it we're like we really didn't take anybody's anybody into consideration but ourselves you know yeah and thank you for doing that by the way as an old fan yeah what what about I read in the bio as well sorry the press release that each band member contributed to the songwriting now how did how did you manage to strike what I describe as a harmonious balance between what people bring individually because you do have a new member in Taylor he's taken over from from Mark so the individual styles that people bring but the album still sounds extremely cohesive it's a deide record without a doubt so how did you manage that balance uh Mark um you know well say man me and Steve write what we write you know uh Kevy writes you know his stuff and uh Taylor you know he came in and uh you know not a lot of guitar I have never seen this level of professionalism out of any guitar player ever in this band but he took uh upon himself to record Steve's drum playing while we were on tour and then wrote songs based around Steve's playing style which is the dside sound so of course his Taylor songs are going to reflect that and I think Taylor did an amazing job at capturing that essence of what we uh you know this band is you know yeah yeah agreed from the perspective that I also met Taylor as I mentioned and I bought 70,000 tons of metal and I did get to talk to him a fair bit he's a very impressive bloke in addition to being an excellent guitarist and watching in Human Condition man I heard deide straight away so I know Jeremy's doing sound and is also the singer in that band there but he just gets what deide is all about but that's one thing so beyond that and as I mentioned I think he he comes across as a tremendous what other qualities does he bring to the band Jeremy uh no Taylor sorry oh Taylor what do you mean like what he brings to the band I mean dude the kids a phenomenon he's a phenomenal guitar player man he plays from his he plays from his Essence in his spirit and his soul man he doesn't play from a melb guitar lesson book you know what I mean he's uh yeah man he's a really deep person and uh I mean he's educated in the the ways of a recording Studio he knows how to engineer and you know having him and Jeremy both you know having two Engineers involved in the band now I mean yeah man it's incredible yeah incredible gotcha look Mark English from from monstrosity another tremendous guitarist and another phenomenal talent and and I really L the last album as well by the way a lot of people did and uh but can you share why he was he he exited the group um Mark just really man you know it's like listen I I run this band this this is my thing since 1987 I've been doing this for 37 something years man you know and my job here um being what you know what I bring to the table management wise and everything my job is to keep pushing this thing to be the best thing it could ever be like like any sports coach would uh you know pick his best players and his best people to make you know the team the best it can be that's really what I do okay so if you're not you know if you're not pulling your weight you're not fitting the bill or your material is not strong enough you know there's you know Life's too short to be sitting in the shitty marriage man you know what I mean so um I just move forward with it you know so U Mark had his uh you know Mark has his uh you know issues I really don't like to talk [ __ ] about people man so I'm not going to so I'll just say that Mark just wasn't a fit for the band and and that's just how it worked out it worked out in my favor honestly I mean Chris Chris came in after him to fill in for a while and then Chris you know they say Chris has got a full plate working for Dean guitars and and everything and that so I I have to think about you know me and Steve and our future and you know and uh you know our happiness you know before others yeah yeah I get you yeah just talking about Steve then what are the key features of your relationship with Steve that have made that partnership so successful for so long um you know what we we have the same you know we we think alike man as far as you know we want to go with this and that and um I mean we've known each other since we were kids man you know so yeah yeah gotcha I mean we had the same goal you know the same common goal you know what I mean and we've had to deal with a lot of [ __ ] you know with you know the uh Personnel changes and all the other [ __ ] that's you know we've stepped in over the years and now we're past all that you know so indeed yeah hey just I've got a couple more questions about the album actually I I put it out there to people who follow the follow the show what was a good question for you and there was a lot that came back there's a lot of interest in this album I'll let you know that now and there's uh there's a lot of people that are looking forward to it so a a user by the name of I think it's Justin Lozano I think he's from your part of the world too so in on Insta there but uh he's got this question for you you have played the first three albums in full at Philly and Philly metal and Beerfest I think it is so has learning some of the older and in the case of Legion more technically complex material has it given you a kind of musical Freedom where you feel comfortable T tackling more technical material which is what it sounds like it is on the new material um well you know I I can say this like when Co hit and we started you know working on the legion stuff um it was actually you know you become you you know that was 19 what ' 92 or some you know time back and you um you find out real quick that you become a better musician when you go back and try to you know when you go back and relearn some of this stuff you're like wow what you thought was you know had a difficulty level of 10 is now more like a two you know so um it was kind of fun like you know going back over that stuff and you know think you know I mean it's a real uh morale booster you know so it was a good time and like going back and like relearning some of the stuff for the Philly festival and that trick- or betrayed and Carnage and all that it was kind of fun man I haven't done those songs in a while and like I say it's we're gon to probably bring those in the set a little more frequently and yeah what about with the the uh the lyrics on banish by sin so the new album they described in the presser as spiritually antagonistic now if you guys had a if you guys had an elevator pcture it'd be that but where there any other were there any other themes or messages that you hadn't that are brand new for the band that you that you introduced on this album well man I write from my inner self and that and you know Kevy and everybody you know you know they write their songs and then I come in and tweak them and [ __ ] like that but um because I want everybody to get an equal you know share of publishing and everything like that so I let everybody contribute as fully as possible and that um like I say everybody's we're all in the same frame of mind here and that um for me when I like I when I write man it comes out of my soul and you know I do a lot of writing you know like for the other guy stuff do a lot of that at the mic stand you know when I go to record it you know there's things that you know that you know just say I I I make I make sense of it all if you want to say that you know what I mean so and um and um yeah man like I say messages wise and that I mean I'm just like everybody else man I I live through that [ __ ] called Co and and maybe there was a lot of that pent up and that and you know um I've had a pretty shitty decade you know and now it's all the smoke is cleared and [ __ ] and um I find myself by myself um all you know um you know my kids have moved off into the world and there's really not much to do except be Glenn again so that's where I'm at just being just being me without any without any uh you know PG13 warnings you know I can be as x-rated and R-rated as I want well here we go I always throw a bit of a uh uh we call it a flipper here in Australia because we play cricket not baseball so it's not a curveball but a flipper but here I go Glenn all right you're ready the the US the USA like the rest of the developed world has been under under the hammer of leftwing authoritarianism for some time now okay so it's almost a decade or so so you talk about what the last decade has been like for you personally but right across the developed world so the co propaganda thing with mask and vaccine mandates black lives matter critical race Theory repatriations Dei policies and other nonsense and you even had to go into uh Alexandria a CZ she called the handling of the process to fund Israel's Iron Dome which we saw in action this week shielding Israelis from an attack by Iran but it was a reckless decision by house leadership if you can believe it so my question for you after that is this can the USA and indeed the world survive another four years of Biden or do you think Trump is going to bring similar chaos man you know what I have a saying and I live by it um politics are for [ __ ] you know MH I'll leave it at that there you go all right the stench of redemption it didn't just reinvigorate your career it refocused death metal at a time when the Gaze on Extreme metal was primarily on metal core and death core okay so your partnership with Ralph Santa it's not it's crucial and it is vital and I I think it's fair to say soloing will just never be surpassed in extreme medal but what are your memories of working with Ralph well Ralph Ralph was a complicated individual man you know Ralph had his Ralph like all of us had his demons and uh you know Ralph could be one of the most funniest people on this planet man and uh like I say I've you know I we me and him had a really [ __ ] weird relationship and that but uh towards the end there we made peace with each other and uh yeah I you know I hope he's in a better place and he's happy now yeah fantastic yeah those three albums you did with him are just superb by the way it's not just the stench of redemption but I I proudly wear um the hell with God as a back patch on my jacket so there you go right um okay so I'm going to mention something locally you're showing Brisbane in 2006 it was memorable but probably for all the wrong reasons I love the show by the way but do you remember this you were spat on by the crowd and you had to skip songs does that ring a bell I don't remember but uh like I say that was the last time I was in Australia not many people know this but um my son had been taken um illegally removed from the state of Florida and um I had um the whole time I was in Australia doing that tour I was on the phone with attorneys and courts and everything uh making arrangements to get a court order to go retrieve my son and bring him home when I got back from Australia so um I had an option to cancel that tour and I didn't so if there was any kind of short givings or anything I my apologies and that but I had a lot on my mind if you know what I mean I don't blame you I apologize for the crowd behavior that night you put in a superb show uh nonetheless and I'm sorry to hear again that yeah will you that was the longest that was the longest Australian tour I ever did man it felt like [ __ ] eternity you know and when I as soon as I got home I got grabbed my court order and went up to the state of Pennsylvania and retrieved my son and brought them home forever yeah well good on you mate yeah I've noticed that I've read a lot of your interviews and listened to them over the years and you're you're a family man and look your legacy not withstanding look I'm Australian but Heritage is is Irish right so Catholic I'm Catholic but you're of Sicilian Heritage in the same way so do you observe any of the Catholic rights and practices still I don't observe [ __ ] dude except myself I observe the amount of weed I have left over in my container that's about what I observe yeah gotcha so no Seafood on good Fridays or Fridays at all for that matter my family used to do all the I I used to call it the dance of The Seven Fishes or whatever the [ __ ] they call it but um I yeah I don't man I I don't participate in these pagan holidays these [ __ ] up rituals of eating fish on the [ __ ] and nah man I really don't even I actually I'll just go to the casino have a martini and do some gambling there you go okay but it's good to hear you grew up in a household that was culturally Catholic in that way though I think it gives you well I you know what people don't real my mother was a Sunday school teacher my mother was Lutheran my father was Catholic so we uh we lived we lived at war with each other and um uh like I said my mother was a Sunday school teacher and I was subjected to that [ __ ] for several years and and yeah I mean people wonder why I am the way I am well I say man I I I was exposed to things at an early age that really were like creepy haunting and [ __ ] up at the same time okay there you go I've hinted at this next question you do you do have done a lot of interviews over the years you're very charismatic but what's the question that that come keeps on coming up that you're sick of answering ah you know I really well I mean there's one I think that probably I get it the most is that why don't I sing about other things besides what I sing about and I explained that you know really the answer to that is that um everybody has a purpose and a place and a you know reason and for some [ __ ] up reason mine is this and um I can't if I have to sing about anything other than what comes out of me natural I can't write I get a Al block and I cannot write so in order to do what I do I just have to open up my mind and let that do the writing and stay out of my mind's eyes way and and um just assist in what has to be done you know and I you know uh you know just like how uh you know Bruce Springsteen sings about his [ __ ] and Chuck Barry sang about his [ __ ] and um you know a lot of people you know sing about love and lost love and and all that [ __ ] I find that to be kind of weak and you know you know my mind's eyee so I just let my inside write it excuse me I thought it was going to be the question about the Hoffman Brothers that you you know you go onto the deer side if blabber mouth whatever it might be or YouTube thing you just see constant questions about where the Hoffman Brothers are does that question keep on rounding on you I don't I haven't spoke or heard or I I like I say man uh there I don't particip in their level of stupidity so I just avoid I haven't spoke to them in 20 years plus I don't have no desire to ever relive that nightmare ever okay yeah but look we are I I say man everybody knows that story that's an old that's an old yeah no I agree it's out there for anybody to read look I've tried to communicate with the guys and I got as far as having an email exchange but it wasn't it was a very brief one and that never went anywhere i' I'd love to talk to them I'm on the to saying that because I'm sure they've got a story to tell but yeah we'll see what happens in the I mean their story their story like I say man all I can say when it in regards to them is a um you say I mean there's been attempts you know um uh on their behalf to you know contact me and Steve Steve actually but um they tried sending messages through canel and stuff like that I I just don't have say man I have a saying in my life and I apply it to everything and anything in my life and I do not swim up [ __ ] River a second time all right yeah so I'll leave it at that there you go yeah well you you you've succeeded despite a lot of odds and look it's another your success I'm talking about you personally here by the way so your success is a great example that fantastic music and connection to fans through music it isn't enough to stand out you need to actually be a strong personality who is charismatic and and here's a key point isn't afraid of the media and can actually engage with fans so do you think in you you've been around as long as anybody doing this uh 30 odd years or so now if you can believe it is it fair to say that the internet killed the rockar so to speak CU I think Corey Taylor from slip Knot's about the last iconic extreme metal or heavy metal front man to emerge in the last 25 years or so yeah I think that it's uh um people have lost their individualism man you know I think a lot in a lot of ways you know people are so worried about competing with the next guy on Instagram and Tik Tock and all this [ __ ] that people just they're afraid to show their individualism and be themselves you know I mean you have the whole you know these goth movements and these people that I I say you have all you've had all these things over the years now but um people are too worried about you know we have we live in a really weird world now man where everybody and anybody thinks their opinion matters and so people I think are afraid to you know you know step outside the box because they're so afraid what everybody's going to say about them in these you know social media platforms so I think that really you know that suppresses a lot of people you know so you don't have very many you know you you know the lenies and the Aussies and the the Ronnie James dos and that they say man they're they're you know we're we're we're fresh out yeah agreed that's it mate I think once guys like you decide to hang up the the bass guitar that's it there's none really coming through I can't think I'm not afraid I'm just not afraid I say man I'm I'm I'm I just warn both of my kids man listen um I have nothing hold me back anym so there's a good probability I'm G to embarrass the [ __ ] out of the both of you so I'm just giving you my apologies now ahead of time because I just don't give a [ __ ] anymore man I I mean this world is just one [ __ ] up place this this country I'm in is one [ __ ] up place and uh yeah yeah it's yeah so I'm just out for me now gotcha what about uh look I'm a basist and uh I quite enjoyed your bass playing over the years I tend to focus on that as much as I do the rest of the music but what uh what base setup are you using for both recording and touring these SI I'm using two Subway 800s uh playing out of four 22 cabs mesaboogie and I have a Sans amp uh pedal that I run out of on my rig and that's really it man you know what about really you know on this album was great what the base that I'm using yeah fenders if I'm not mistaken isn't it yeah they made me I started I you know like I say man I when I was a kid my first bass guitar was a 71 Thunder Telly P Bas and um I love that guitar the way I played in that and and and with being with BC Rich and you know these you know iOS and these companies that make these you know crazy body styles and that it just got to the point where it's like it was really inhibiting my playing ability you know cuz you're you're fighting this neck heavy guitar the entire performance and um so I just said you know what at my age I kind of look stupid playing these these uh hair band style shaped guitars in my age I thought it was kind of like looking a little ridiculous you know so I uh started buying fenders and then I F you know made friends with the uh uh the manager of the place and um so I bought a Fender Custom I had it made David Gilmore's uh Luther made it for me and then I got um they made me the Pitchfork that I play now um and um the master W pickups and all I mean all that sh we brought four bases I believe into the studio and and my the devil's Pitchfork blew all of them away so there you go are you still are you do you play at all in the studio I know you play with a p live but do you do you play in the studio with your fingers at all I play home on my couch Bassy uh acoustic Bass H because it used I still play with my I still play with my fingers man I never I never I never stop playing with my fingers I just play with a pick because of uh you get more attack you know and uh you I don't like that from this kind of music I don't think that Blinky Blinky blink Seinfeld sounding Basse slap I don't think it fits you know no iend to agree and look I'm a singing base player as well so for the sort of music that you're doing it's it's it's still a universal so I reframe my question it's still a universal approach when you're singing and playing and so did you find it was a lot easier when you when you transition to a pleum or a pick on stage from playing with your fingers and singing at the same time it was weird man the first album second album I played with my fingers and um it was uh I can say I just didn't like the the tone you know what I mean it just the Basse didn't stick out it was just like it it it loses a lot of its Dynamic man when you're playing with your fingers it really does you know and um I was a rhythm guitar player before I played bass so it's kind of easier it was easy for me to transition okay gotcha yeah mate when's When's the autobiography coming out surely you've been asked about this before when the what what uh when when are you writing your autobiography when's it going to be released oh yeah the book question that's that's right up there there with the uh why don't I sing about other [ __ ] besides what I do that's right up in there with one of those questions yeah I you know I don't know man you know I'm a pretty private person and I don't know I I tell you know when I tell people I would rather tell my stories in a backstage area and make people laugh at them you know what I mean then to write it all down I think it loses a lot in trans trans ation man you know so maybe a spoken book or something I could do it you know yeah yeah yeah well it's stting the bloody obvious but people would love to read your story mate it would be a heck of a heck of a tale my yeah I get I get every ghost writer out there man I was like this weekend just you know at the Philly show and that yeah you know I I we you know Scott Burns was there and we were all telling stories and that and I can just see the the ears of the ghost writers in the room their ears were just and straight up man so yeah I know man people say they want to know I've got like I say I'm just not I don't know man I'm just never say if I could do the book Tastefully and that but be about me and not the whole you know I can say I mean from my perspective you know that's what where it would have to be you know yeah gotcha yeah M I'm I'm realize I'm out of time I just want to ask you a couple more questions quickly but I got the um the Road Runner years 9 LP box uh set and uh sounds great but my question for you was was there ever talk of adding a coffee coffee table style book like I just got the WASP one today and that's got a a big booklet in it but I noticed the deers side one didn't have one in it the cassette box set does ah [ __ ] really there you go okay I got the wrong one yeah the Box said that yeah the cassette box that we released their um that has a great packaging wonder why they didn't do do do it for the LPS as well anyway it's one of those things well yeah man I I you say man it's hard to get in the minds of those people because you know they they're like they thinking digits like the Matrix they do yeah all right here's my final question for you Glen thanks for your time but um last time down here as I mentioned was 2006 so when when might we see you in Australia again um probably probably this year sometime man we're going to try to you know set something up there and that because there's a lot of other countries on the way there and that we would like to hit you know so this time around I think yeah I mean it's uh I mean it's not the greatest of flights but um I enjoy being in Australia I enjoy the food and the people and that man we have a good time down there so I just would like to go back again because like I say the last time I was there I didn't really get to enjoy it because I was sitting on phones with lawyers the whole goddamn time so I like to be able to go enjoy myself this time you guys got some really great seafood places and yeah man I really enjoy the beach and stuff there killer well and it goes without saying mate that you're welcome down here any time and it's been a uh it's been fantastic to chat with you I'll just let you know one of the the very first extreme metal album I ever bought was Legion and it had a tremendous impact and I'm sure you heard that story many times but that's the very this is the irony mate I realized the subject matter might not be that positive and a lot of people tip of Gore and Beyond might find it unpalatable but you know the reality is mate it's had a very positive impact on many of our lives so there you go well when we come back down there we'll be sure to play the legion album for you guys there you go all right fantastic stuff thanks again Glen it's Glenn it's been a fantastic chat awesome thank you man cheers mate awesome brother thank you my man all right well they you have it a conversation long awaited with the great Glenn Benton from deers side I thoroughly enjoyed my time talking to Glenn I just wish I had more of it but that's usually the case now if you enjoyed that chat with Glenn there are many more just like it over at scars and guitars.com think about this if you like listening to extreme medal you probably like hearing from the members of the bands that create the music well that's what my show is all about think members of Morbid Angel death obit my dying bride Paradise Lost Cradle of Filth nocturnus they're all there all right so that's it from me my name's Andrew mikai Smith and I'm the host of Scar and guitars until the next one it's a goodbye for now