REVEREND KILL – Good ol’ Metal

Reverend Kill was formed in 2004 in Calgary, Canada. They have released 2 albums so far and the third should not be so far away. Eternal Terror versatile writer Sigve Torland did this interview with the band early 2010, but the band’s responses disappeared in the big nasty cruel internet galaxy. Fortunately, the band’s founder, Don Stenhouse was awake and sent the interview once more so that it could finally be published. 

First off, thank you for taking the time to let us get to know you.

Please tell us about the band members and what they do in the band. Could you please give us a brief outline of the history of the band?

Well the band is. Graham Harris on vocals, an import from Scotland, he used to sing for bands like Genepool and Rotschrek Then you have Teran Wyre on guitar and on the CD it is Kyle Farrell playing bass but he was replaced by AJ Kovar after the recording because of lack of dedication to the cause. On the Drums we have Vinnie Cardellini and last we have me, Don Stenhouse on Guitars. I am the founding member and main songwriter but Teran writes as well and Graham does most of the words with a little help from us with song ideas and titles.

The name of the band… tell us about it, how/why did you choose this name?

Reverend Kill was a character in my old Black/Death project Deimos, a Bible burning evil preacher guy then I called it the name of a production company I had putting on shows for a few years after that I just decided to carry on with the same name for the band. The picture I have in my head of Reverend Kill is that he is an old preacher from the West. Gone mad by all the atrocities the old days had to offer. He went over the edge and started gunning them all down and carving upside down crosses in the head of his victims to ensure their safe passage back to hell. 

The creative process of making the music… tell us a bit about how you create new music?

Well either Teran or myself will just sit down with the home recording studio and make riffs with the drum machine, sorting through them and placing them together till we have a tune. Then we make all the layers that go with it to give it some dimension, a cool bass line and program a drum line for it. Then present it to the band let everyone learn their part and put a bit of personal touch to it. Usually we name the songs when we hand them over and go off that initial idea for the words. But Graham also goes off on his own and find interesting subjects to cover.

Everyone wants to put a label on bands and bands usually do not want to be labeled…What about you? How would you label your music?

We are a Metal Band. With Death Metal style vocals. We like all genres but essentially we are just a good ol’ Metal Band.

Where do you draw your influences from, musically and non-musically?

Musically we are all into Metal obviously. We all like the older stuff and I especially like bands like Thin Lizzy and UFO and the 70’s heavy bands right before metal really took off. Mercyful Fate of course is a huge influence. And the Death and Black Metal bands like Marduk and Nile and stuff are all faves as well. Teran likes some of the newer metal stuff also but that isn’t really for the rest of us. Graham also listens to some hardcore stuff also and some of those bands like the Cro Mags and Madball likely have a bit of influence in there as well. Non musically we like to write about our Canadian heritage and different subjects through history and in the news. Sometimes it is just corny and gross (my lyrics) but usually it is something that is important and we always try to tell a story in our words. The next disc will be a concept disc about Wars and Conflicts all over the world and through time.

What if any is the key element(s) in your lyrics?

It’s just a good story man. We wanna give people a reason to check out the lyrics and help paint a picture in their mind of what the song is about so they can relate to it more. Give something for them to sing along with and give them a bit of a lesson in history and Canadian Heritage. Not so much blood and steel but more blood and sweat and hard work and sacrifice. Over here our ground is not blood soaked from centuries of warfare. People worked hard to build this country, and through the incredible challenges that this country can throw at you.

Could you describe with your own words the album "His Blood Or Victory"?

His Blood is a good disc of solid Metal tunes.  It is only our second disc and we hopefully will be getting better with each one we record. We learnt a lot from this experience recording with Joe Sikorski and we will put what we learnt to the next disc. But overall I think it is a good listen, Hopefully Reverend Kill fans dig it and endear it.

What is your goal with Reverend Kill? World domination or local superstardom?

Well right now we are cruising all over Canada (which is incredibly huge) getting our name out there. We are getting to be known better every time and it is a blast out there touring around, we love it. So locally we are doing ok but Worldwide Domination is definitely the goal. Reverend Kill is here for the duration (rest of my life anyways) and we will keep pumping out discs that are cool till we have so many we can’t be denied. We wanna be out there with the rest of Metal bands touring the world and doing what we love to do.

Could you please tell us a bit about the Canadian metal scene and compare it to the rest of the world?

Canada has a very vibrant Metal scene. It seems like every major city has a ton of bands and every small town have one or two. Each province seems to have its own style of metal also. Like Quebec is ultra-techno stuff. British Coloumbia has brutal Grind bands and all these bands touring around and playing with our bands influence us. We have a great metal scene in Canada and I am very proud of my friends’ bands and how great they actually are. We have a blast playing fests and big shows in other cities, it is all cool. Compared to the rest of the world I think we definitely hold our own. Metal is very big all over the world and we love it all. The Metal Underground Thrives everywhere.

What do you know about the Norwegian metal scene apart from the history of the Black Metal scene here?

Well I listen to lots of metal from over there but pay no attention to where it is from. We are very aware of the Black Metal scene over there and honestly that kind of stuff was going on here also but it was never publicized so no one knows, but believe me the evil was here too  J. But basically I know you guys love your metal and you have been pounding out the best with Bands like Enslaved and Immortal. I know we would love to come play there just hopefully everyone understands we aren’t a satanic band. Not to say we aren’t evil bastards because we fucking are. We choose to leave religion out of the picture it has been hacked to death. Be it god or the devil we follow only "metal" fuck the god and devil shit. Closest we come is that Reverend Kill is a pissed off Preacher that’s where the religion stops.

Every band has had a "golden moment", what would you say your finest moment has been so far?

Well honestly every moment to me is Golden. I love doing this shit and I always will. It is awesome that we are asked to play lots and that the pits are crazy and the kids are cool to us. We have opened for some cool bands. Right at the beginning we got to open for Behemoth which was killer. Back in the Thorazine days we got to take Vaders slot and open for Angel Corpse and Morbid Angel which was likely the coolest thing so far for me. Other than that every time we get together and play with all our brothers and sisters in the other bands out here, that is the golden moment. There used to be nothing now there is Metal everywhere. After all the work and sacrifice I cherish every moment we have in it now, it is all golden man.

Finally… what is your choice of Disney Character(s)??

Darkwing Duck, Donald Duck cause of my name and all the old jokes. And Jack Skellington is cool too my kid, Deklain loves him, so I love him too.

Thank you for your time and good luck!! I really enjoyed listening to the album!

Thanx for taking an interest in the band, we totally appreciate it and we appreciate the kind words for the His Blood disc. It is available on Itunes and other sources on the net. Also Keep an eye out for our new disc "War and Conflict" coming out soon and it will be on Itunes and stuff as well.  Take Care of yourselves and all Metal Mongers of this Earth Stand tall and Stand together and let’s make this world a better place to be. Metal will Prevail.

http://www.myspace.com/reverendkill