I titled my review of "The Book of Lambs" as 'Too much anger, what's that?' I tried to answer the question of how a guy playing in bands like Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal forms a side project and still rips the shit out of my speakers. The answer is simple; Internecine was formed well before Jared Anderson (guitars, bass and vocals) ever hit the stage with either one of those bands. Why he dedicated "The Book of Lambs" to the time of destruction and how people can leave Morbid Angel are all answered below.

Chris


You are a very busy man; the new Hate Eternal album and a solo project... any complications splitting the time between the two?

No, not at all. Actually, I recorded Internecine later than I was supposed to. I wanted to record it in February of 2001 instead of October. It got pushed back a little but not because of Hate Eternal but the label.

Can you introduce us to the band and tell us when and how did it start?

I put together Internecine in 1996 in Cincinnati, Ohio. We jammed together for about 3-3.5 years something like that and that’s when we broke up. We did couple of demos and the name started to get around, we did some shows with Morbid Angel and Incantation because Vader had to drop off the tour and we did like 5 shows than. Now I got a chance to record it so I went ahead and did it. Four songs on the record are between 96-97 and the rest of them I wrote through a few months' period of time.

Where did the name of the band come from and what's the meaning behind it?

The meaning behind it is the destruction of both sides. I'm not religious; I'm not a Christian, I'm not a Satanist, I'm not either and in death metal scene everything seems to be evil, Satanic, whatever and Internecine is not satanic. It's dark but it's not Satanic at all so it's kind of a destruction of both sides. To me any organisation is just nonsense. That’s why I like this name so much cause I'm not into it and it's about total destruction of both sides.

And that's why your lyrics are focused on the total destruction of the whole world rather that one side?

Exactly, that's what it is. You nailed it perfectly. That's what everything is pretty much about. The disgust, the arrogance of mankind it disgusts me...

You already explained it a little but you dedicated this album to the 'time of destruction'... would you care to explain in detail?

It's every day life... As a kid I grow up in Chicago and all I saw was filth, just people so disgusting, arrogant, sneaky, total betrayal... it was all bullshit. That's what I grew up seeing, that's what I've been seeing my whole life and that's why it's dedicated to the cleansing of the earth. Not necessarily the earth blowing up into pieces but just the cleansing of all this bullshit. It's all disgust in everything I see... I believe one day there will be a massive cleansing and that's why I did it, that's what I dedicated it to.

You sound like a very pessimistic guy?

[Laughs very hard] Yeah, I guess you could hear it.

Anything good you see in this world?

Oh yeah, I mean there are good things in my life I'm just talking about things around me. I'm not talking about my life and how it looks like but things I see in every day life, growing up and seeing the way people are. Not everyone but most people and what it is coming to. I'm totally happy with my life, I have friends like everybody [laughs].

Why solo project? Are you unable to release your visions in Hate Eternal?

No, this project like I said was born in 1996 way before I was in Hate Eternal and all material was already written. It's not really that I wanted to come up with something new cause I don't need anything new, this is my original band that I put together, that's where I started from. To get a chance to record it was awesome and if I can continue doing it I'll definitely do it because it's a part of my history. That's what got me into Hate Eternal, that's what got me in Morbid Angel and that's what got me everything was Internecine. I definitely want to pursue it cause it's something that got me long ways. Now, people can get a chance to actually hear what I did before Hate Eternal: before all that stuff.

With that response you actually answered a little bit of my next question; why extreme death metal, why not something like Eric's Alas where you could show us your softer side, if you have one?

Oh man [laughs hysterically]... Yeah, it's extreme death metal but in totally different vein. The riffing is different... I mean it's the way I write with my influences from the time I was young. Internecine is my natural style of writing. I adapted to Hate Eternal cause I've been playing it so much and there's just a certain guideline to each band you are writing for but with Internecine I can write whatever I want. It's nothing I would ever use for Hate Eternal cause it's so much different from Hate Eternal as far as the riffing.

Since Eric Rutan left Morbid Angel to concentrate on Hate Eternal and to make it a fully functioning band, doesn't it mean more work for you too? How will it affect Internecine?

Sure, it's going to be more work for me but I was in Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal and had Internecine so, I mean that was chaos... We definitely are going to put all our time in Hate Eternal now. That's why I quit Morbid Angel for Internecine and Hate Eternal also. It will affect Internecine a little bit as far as I'm not going to be driving it like full time band you see on the road with CDs coming out every year. It will probably be more of a CD every couple of years in my off time. And there's always off time. After you do all the tours for the record like for the new Hate Eternal record there will be plenty of off time for writing and stuff like that. I'm already writing right now, I always write anyway. During that time if I could do some tour festivals in Europe and do like three week tour here in the States that's what I would do. I just got to put together a band and that would take most of the time cause I hadn't have a chance to actually put together a full line up.

When you write do you right away know which riff or song will go to one band or another?

Oh yeah, definitely. Before I even start I'll sit around and play for a little while and play some stuff but when I'm actually trying to concentrate on writing a riff I either put myself in Internecine mode or I put myself in Hate Eternal mode so, I know what barriers I'm up against and that way I don't go too out of hand. I stay within the lines and whenever I sit down and jam or I feel like playing that day I'll say 'OK. I'm working on some Hate Eternal stuff' and I totally focus on Hate Eternal techniques and stuff but when I write Internecine stuff I sit down and kind of write what I'm feeling instead of worrying about certain type or style.

To most of us you are known as handling bass guitar duties only, but on "The Book of Lambs" you show very impressive craft on both guitars (bass and lead guitar). Do you prefer any of those instruments over another? Do you play anything else?

No, I don't play any other instrument. I started playing guitar before I did bass. I've been playing guitar for like 11 years and bass for about 9 years but once I started playing bass I loved playing it so much, I never quit playing guitar I always played it I just didn't practice it like I was. I've always been playing guitar but just not constantly. It was cool to do guitars on the Internecine record and it was cool to show people that I can play guitar. It was not the way that I originally planned because my original guitar player and other vocalist was going to do this but since everything got pushed back from February to October he had to go back to collage, get back to his graduate school. So, I kind of got forced to do guitars on the record. I had five weeks to get my chops up and figure out all those old songs... it was pretty chaotic [laughs] but now I'm glad I did it.

Was decision on picking Erik as a producer based on your long time friendship or other factors?

It was based on our friendship plus I know he's a good producer, plus he had a studio starting out. It was back when his studio was just getting ready and he was getting all the gear and stuff so it was kind of like I was helping him out by putting a record in there for him to do it and he was helping me out by doing a record cause he has a great ear. He's an awesome producer. From everything I've heard he has done has sounded great. That is the one thing I didn't have to worry about recording with Erik. I knew he would do a great job with it.

You were responsible for everything except drums and few solos on this record how was it working with Erik as a producer and not a band member? Are you satisfied with the final outcome?

I'm definitely satisfied. He did a great job, he had a lot of input and he helped out tremendously. Him and Shawn Ohtani (his engineer), they totally helped me out and helped making what it is today. It was a really relaxed atmosphere; working with Erik in the studio is fun. Once the drums were done it was just me and him in the studio all the time. It was awesome working with him as a producer. It was a killer.

Since it seems like Internecine is not a studio project only are you going to promote "The Book of Lams" with a tour?

Yeah, I don't know if I'll do a real long tour like Morbid Angel or Hate Eternal does but when I do have time I'll try to get on some festivals in Europe and I will try to make like a week's run here in the States couple of times. So, Internecine won't be a band touring constantly but if I'll have a chance do a few weeks I'd definitely love to do it to help promoting it a little more.

Just team up with Morbid Angel and Hate Eternal and you'd have everything pretty much covered.

[Laughs] Yeah, no shit. Eric and me we'll just switch the sides on the stage and change the banner from Hate Eternal to Internecine [laughs].

There you go. Congratulations on a very good album and I hope to see you around very soon with either Hate Eternal or your own band Internecine.

Thank you very much man. We'll definitely be around. With Hate Eternal we'll be around very soon and hopefully I can put something up with Internecine too. Don't be surprised when it happens because it's definitely going to happen sometime.

Before we end this interview I have a question that really has bothered me for quite some time... Why are you guys leaving Morbid Angel? Do you really want to take care of your own projects or is this a sign of something terribly wrong going in the Morbid Angel camp?

It's all about happiness man. I did a shit load of Morbid Angel tours and I just noticed that I was happier when I was doing Hate Eternal and writing for Internecine. I was having a much better time doing that than just endlessly touring with Morbid Angel. I mean it was great and Morbid Angel is still my favorite band and being able to play in Morbid Angel was awesome. It was a hard decision. It wasn't something I come up with one day like 'Oh fuck, I'm not happy'; I had to do a lot of thinking. It was just taking a lot of time away from my creativity and to me whether it is Morbid Angel or Creed or whoever, it doesn't matter. It's not about any kind of money and it's not about being in one of the greatest bands but about doing what makes you happy and this is what makes me happy.

It's understandable. It's hard to be just a musician and do what you have been told rather than creating and performing your own music...

Exactly. You see, when I'm not being creative I feel kind of useless. When I'm just doing whatever somebody told me to do it's just… I feel I'm worth more that that, I can do more that that. I'm a writer and I'm a composer that's what I do but I can't expect to jump into Morbid Angel and start writing right away cause it's not going to happen. All the best Morbid Angel songs that I love the most were written when I was 15 years old. I can't expect to write in that mode right away but I have to be able to have some kind of input on a song and with Hate Eternal and Internecine I have all kinds of freedom with what I do and that way I'm much happier with the outcome.