Interview: Richard Medina from Occision

\

Band: Occision

Genre: Death Metal

Year Formed: 1991

Location: Arizona

Members: Richard Medina- Vocals
Charles Watson- Guitar, Vocals
Josh Cummings- Bass, Vocals
Jesse Johnson- Drums

Myspace

Facebook

 

Interview Though Email With Richard Medina



 

 

Why was this band started?

     "The band was started in 1991 by a group of good friends to create its own unique form of death metal. Of course, that is when death metal was really starting to come into its own and we were influenced by a lot of the bands coming out at the time, bands like Suffocation, Carcass, Immolation, Autopsy, etc. Being such good friends is the reason for the bands longevity and why we are still going at it harder than ever today, even more determined than we were in the early days. I mean, the band has had its different eras, so to speak, but the main core of the band has always been friends and has always been together.

     The original line up consisted of Charles Watson- guitar, Byron Watson- bass, Jesse Johnson- drums, and Shawn Brian- vocals, I joined the band in 1995 when the band amicably parted ways with Shawn. In the really late ‘90’s, the band went on hiatus for while and came back in the early 2000’s as a 3 piece with Charles, Jesse, and adding Josh Cummings on bass. I rejoined the band in 2010 and we have been working hard at it ever since, playing several shows and recording a brand new album “Defying Temporal Limits of Existence”. This is a new era for the band and we plan on doing whatever it takes to get our name back out there and be successful."

What is it like being signed to a label?

     "Actually, we are not signed long term to our current label, Anopsys/Inherited Suffering Records, we are just working with them on this new release for now, with the possibility of future releases. Our main goal is to get this new album out there and give ourselves a chance to possibly work with a bigger label that could get this band to where it wants to be. Anopsys fully supports this and will do whatever it takes to get our name back out there and promote, they have been great to work with and we certainly wouldn’t mind doing more releases with them in the meantime."

What is the overall theme of the bands music?

     "Well, being death metal, our main theme for a lot of years was murder, which is pretty typical of the music. It started that way with the first album “Creative Butchery”, then really went serial killer, in the first person, for the second album “Killing is Instinct, the Pleasure Lies in Murder”, but we have really grown throughout the years and have changed it up a bit, not so gory and little more story driven. I actually think that the name of our albums have really described our overall theme very well, so in this new era of the band, our new album “Defying Temporal Limits of Existence” really describes our current theme. Basically, human extinction and transcending death to become more than human, that sums it up pretty well. Of course, it will be ever changing as we like to keep things fresh, but the core theme, death, will always be part of it."

How do you feel about the bands last album "Defying Temporal Limits of Existence"

     "We are actually extremely proud of this new album, it is very different than anything we have ever done, and by far, the best production we have ever had on an album. I think that we really showed our versatility on this album, its not the straight up brutal death metal like it used to be, we have added different elements such as thrash, black metal, and acoustics, to go with the brutality. We have come a long way from our last album, we have matured a lot musically and believe that this album shows that we are capable of different things and that we will continue to grow."

How does that album differ from the music the band was making in 1991?

     "It is like night and day, we have grown so much over the years and are just writing better music now. Much like I said in my last answer, its not just about being as brutal as we can be, we are much more diverse now and are trying different things, incorporating different styles, giving the listener some variety instead of sounding the same every song. We have also incorporated multiple vocals, our guitar player Charles contributes his high vocals in nearly every song and our bass player Josh has also added his vocals to a few of the songs. In all of the previous albums, there has only been one vocalist, so that has also added to what we do now. I listen to our other albums and it doesn’t even sound like the same band, we are so happy with the direction the band has taken."

When should we expect some new music?

     "Right now we are working in a new second guitarist, so once he has learned all of the songs and we do a few shows, we will begin writing new music. We are already excited to start recording again, and we just finished this new album, we are talking about maybe doing an EP early next year with a few new songs, rerecording an older song off of our second album, and possibly a cover. That will probably lead to recording a brand new album as well, hopefully for a bigger label, if we just don’t do that anyway instead of the EP. So yes, we will definitely have new music out in 2013."

Doing any touring?

     "Right now, there are no plans of touring in the near future, but we certainly hope to be on the road sometime next year. We would like to try and find us a touring agent, which may come with a different label, as we haven’t had much experience in DIY tours, that way we can get on the road and promote our new albums. In the meantime, we will do local and out of state weekend shows, as well as getting on some of the festivals in our area."