Antihero Magazine’s Scott Martin spoke with San Francisco’s Death Metal / Crust skull crushers Acephalix about their upcoming album Decreation, as well as the band’s early influences.
Scott Martin: Tell me about how the band was formed?
Kyle House: Dan and I met in 2006 in San Francisco and bonded on our mutual love for Sacrilege, Cro-Mags, Wolfpack, Nausea etc… I had some songs that I’d written when I was in Poison Idea that we started with. Sara joined as second Vocalist pretty soon after. We used a drum machine at first and tried out bass players and some second guitar players before finding Mike and Isaac to complete the first real line up. I think that lasted about a year. We recorded two demos with Jef Leppard (RIP) and played some killer shows before Isaac left and then Mike. I think Gabe joined somewhere in there and when Isaac left Gabe brought in Dave on drums. I was talking to Mike on the phone and he was like “I found this Italian dude on Craigslist who just got to America a month ago, his add says ‘Discharge, Venom, Motörhead, let’s do it!'” He gave me Luca’s number and he showed up to practice and fuckin’ killed it! He’s still killing it.
Scott Martin: How would you describe your music?
Kyle House: Bonehead, Neanderthal, Retrogressive Death Metal.
Scott Martin: What is the meaning behind the band name “Acephalix“, and how did you come to the decision of calling your band Acephalix?
Daniel Butler: Headless is the meaning. Anarchic. I’ve always thought the ‘x’ at the end of the name was a nod to some of our influences at the time, specifically metallic crust and punk bands (Amebix, Anti-Cimex, Acrostix).
Scott Martin: Tell me a bit about your new album you are currently working on?
Kyle House: It’s the best thing we’ve done. I am really fucking satisfied with it. I want to thank Dave Grave from 20 Buck Spin for inspiring and putting out this album.
Daniel Butler: It’s called Decreation and it’s ripping death metal.
Scott Martin: Where was it recorded, and who produced and mixed it?
Kyle House: EARHAMMER! Greg Wilkinson – The Evil Wizard.
Scott Martin: What were the biggest challenges you faced during the recording process?
Kyle House: It actually went really smooth. Greg got me such killer guitar tones. Everything sounds so different in the studio compared to practice, I often end up using different gear than I think I will.
Dave Benson: I’d forgotten how exhausting the process of mixing is. Hours are spent on seconds of music, and your ears and brain can start to play tricks on you. It’s all worth it in the end of course.
Scott Martin: Tell me about the songwriting process.
Kyle House: I mostly write the riffs and songs at home, and then learn them with Dave on Drums. Luca and Dan then do their thing.
Scott Martin: Who were your influences back when you started the band and now?
Kyle House: Wolfpack, Driller Killer, Cro-Mags, Sacrilege, Motörhead, Discharge, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Rottrevore, Cannibal Corpse, Convulse, Slayer, Slugathor, Grave.
Daniel Butler: Early influences I’d add to Kyle’s list are Anti-Cimex, Celtic Frost, Voivod, Death Strike/Master… Later ones I’d add are Baphomet, Morpheus Descends, Abhorrence, and Demigod.
Scott Martin: Current bands that the members of Acephalix are also in?
Dave Benson: Kyle is in Serpents of Dawn. Dan and Luca are in Vastum. Luca is in Necrot, and I’m in Depressor and I’m currently playing with The Rotten.
Scott Martin: What was the decision to release your 2012 release Deathless Master on vinyl in 2017?
Dave Benson: We’d always hoped for a vinyl release of Deathless Master since it was released on CD, cassette and digitally back in 2012. Italian label Agipunk recently reached an agreement with Southern Lord and it’s finally seeing the light.
Scott Martin: Will you be releasing Interminable Night or Aporia on vinyl at some point also?
Kyle House: They are both on vinyl. Aporia is on Prank records. Ken put out our first vinyl release, a 7 inch and then the Aporia album. Interminable Night was originally two demo cassettes we put out ourselves that I believe Nails showed Greg at Southern Lord and he contacted us. Southern Lord put out the CD and Agipunk put out the vinyl.
Scott Martin: Any plans for the remainder of 2017?
Dave Benson: Getting this album finished and released is the priority. I’m expecting 2018 to be a busier year for us in terms of playing out.
