USURPER
This is the very last interview of the late, great Usurper.
Rick Scythe and I talked a couple weeks before he announced the demise of Chicago’s best thrash band.
 It was indeed a pleasure to talk to Rick; I consider him one of the greats in metal and I look forward to his future projects, including his latest band Nightshade.



 

BAST (B): 1992 is when the band started, right? RICK (R): Yeah, it was myself and The General, the old singer. We were deciding on what kind of metal band we wanted to hear that weren’t out there. We were such big fans of the mid-80s thrash metal stuff and we figured let’s put together a project like that. It was just us two and a drum machine and we got a drummer, put out a demo and things just kind of escalated. B: Did you start out with a goal in mind, or did you just want to have a good time? R: Absolutely we had a goal in mind. I like to do that with everything, kind of the big vision first and refine it from there. But it was definitely for fun; we wanted to play music we wanted to hear. B: Do you ever think about how long you’ve been doing this? R (laughs): All the time! I’m doing my side project (Nightshade), so I’ve been thinking about it even more. Half my life I’ve been playing some sort of underground music. Time passes by really quick, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t just sit back and do nothing, I like to be active. You know, it’s been a long fucking time. I’m in it for life, so hopefully, it’ll be a lot longer. B: You have to be in metal for life. That’s what it is, it isn’t just music. R: Oh yeah, it’s the whole thing. When we started the band, we were so young. I just never understood the attitude of cutting your hair and not being into it anymore. How can you used to be die-hard into something and then one day you’re not? I understand real life gets in the way, but… B: If you get out of something, give it up, that means you weren’t into it to begin with. R: That’s what I think. Everything has a beginning, middle and end, you can’t beat a dead horse, but you have to give it all. We never worried about popularity or how we’re perceived; it’s always come from the heart. There’s not a lot of money in extreme music, so your heart has to be there. B: Exactly. We all have day jobs; we’re not making money off this. R: Yeah, all the money we make gets recycled back into this. I think of myself as a musician first, I take music very seriously. B: What are a couple of the important lessons you’ve learned over the years? R: I always think I’m learning a lesson. The thing I’ve learned is you can’t let friendships in the band get in the way of the good of the band. If somebody’s not pulling their weight; if their heart isn’t into it, you can’t let them slow you down. You owe it to your fans to play the best possible music. It’s a balancing act, you want to get along on a personal level, but it’s much more important to get along on a professional level. B: And no matter how much emotion is involved, it is a business. You can’t let anything else get in the way. R: No question about it. You put out albums, get money to play shows. I take that really seriously, we’ve had problems with other members, and I’m not singling anyone out ‘cause everyone falls off the wagon from time to time, but I feel the most important thing is to give it your all at a show. We don’t play many shows, we don’t tour 150 days out of the year. None of us are choir boys. We like to drink, we like to party and I make no apologies for that, but when we hit the stage, I don’t want anyone fucked up. If that means I have to babysit and pull beers out of guys’ hands, I’ll do it. I really do value everyone of our small legion of fans. You can’t control everything, but the things you can control, I want to control and do the best we can. B: And Usurper’s your baby. You’ve put your life’s blood into it. R: Absolutely. I’m not pointing a finger at anybody, but that’s one thing I don’t tolerate. B: How has your music changed over the years? R: It’s funny how things progress. With Usurper, we know each album is going to be different from the next. There’s bands like AC/DC or something, that’s the exception. And then there’s the bands who take it too far, who are playing great metal and then all of a sudden put out an album like Pink Floyd and get all pretentious. We like to think that our sound evolved naturally. A lot of it was trial and error. In the early days we didn’t play live, so we didn’t care. We’d have eight-minute songs, with lots of layers and depth. And then we’d hit the stage and they wouldn’t work. On a conscience level as the years went on, I knew you could still have those elements, so the songs just evolved more, trial and error, use what works best. B: You’re working on album number six? R: Correct. Yeah, I had to stop and think about it. B: That’s not a whole lot of albums for how long you’ve been around. R: No, but we put out some mini albums and re-released the demo with unreleased tracks. I guess some bands record at a quicker pace. We don’t tour as much as other bands. We want every tour to be something worth doing. We’re in no rush. This summer, we took the first time off in 13 years. And since I’m the only one who writes songs, some bands may all jam together so song writing in a lot quicker. But I’m so old, I don’t care about so much. B: The older I get, the more urgency I have to get things done. I guess that’s why I started the magazine up again, I just had to. R: Oh yeah. I really respect that. The internet is great, but there’s something about a real metal magazine, that’s what I grew up with and really respect. B: Are you still going to tour Europe this fall? R: Well, we were supposed to tour with Nocturnal Breed. Unfortunately, we’ve had problems with the label. We’re on the last album with Earache and we don’t want to sign a new deal with them. Basically, we’re between labels, so I don’t want to talk too much about that. And in the meantime, our drummer, he left the band for seven years. He joined again and kinda lost interest in the band. It was a little deflating and his heart wasn’t into it anymore. And we figured we’d take the summer off, audition some drummers and get all out business taken care of. In 13 years, we haven’t had any downtime at all, even with vacations. So, with all this, we had to pull out of the tour. B: Does it surprise you that thrash has made such a huge comeback? R: It doesn’t surprise me that much. It’s great, I love it. Things go in cycles. I remember when Usurper put out our first mini album there was a retro-thrash movement, they were calling it, when Osmose were putting out these bands and we got lumped into that. But we didn’t feel like we belonged into that. But the difference now is that the fans are really into. I think before, it was too early, but now it’s getting back into the old thrash stuff. B: It’s true, there’s all these bands out here, Dekapitator, Avenger of Blood in Vegas, Hatchett, and these 18, 19 year old kids look like the thrashers did in the eighties. R: I think that’s a very positive thing. The true feel of extreme metal comes from that era. It’s always close to my heart, so that’s good. B: The thing with metalheads, is that I can talk to someone on line, or in the old days, write a letter, and I can meet them all over the world. Or they come here, and we become friends. You remember your show at the Covered Wagon out here. R: Oh yeah! With Exhumed and I think Sadistic Intent. I’m diehard into it. It was really fun. B: Yeah it was! R: There’s something magical about playing in some of those little shitholes. I love it. B: Are there any musicians, in metal or not, that you’ve always looked up to? R: Maybe I’m the wrong guy to ask that question of, but I’ve always looked as the band as a whole. Ted Nugent was the first concert I ever saw. Regardless of politics, I’ve always liked that he never stopped playing. It doesn’t matter how old you are. B: Tell me about Nightshade. R: Basically how it started. We put out Skeletal Season. It was the first one we put out with Necropolis and the first time we had actual PR guys and they really wanted The General wrote a lot of the lyrics, and I started writing not only the music, but the lyrics as well. I’m really into the paranormal stuff, conspiracy theories, real American monster folklore. That’s my passion, that’s what I read about and I thought no one’s really doing that. I made a lot of songs around that, very dark and brooding with synthesizers and shit. Unfortunately, when it came out Necropolis hated it. It was getting OK reviews. It was the first time they were putting a lot of money into us and they wanted a really thrashy album. So, they didn’t like it, but we started getting a weird fan base that loved it, they got it. So, the next album was Necronemesis, I did the exact opposite. So, I had all these songs I wanted to do and this summer I had down time so I said ‘fuck it’ and started Nightshade. I started sifting through old tapes and listening to old songs. And I told myself ‘what the fuck am I doing?’ And I started writing new songs, based on the old paranormal events, with lots more fantasy. So, this summer, I’ve been working on this music. I was going to do it all myself, but I hooked up with a buddy of mine. He has a nice studio and we started laying down the tracks. It’s horror-oriented, the American aspect of horror. Things are taken shape. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since 1999 and I’m finally doing it. B: Everybody has a side project now. R: I always steered clear of that because a lot of times it’s because you’re not content with your band, not all the time. Sometimes you just want to keep playing. The Nightshade stuff stems from Usurper, so for me, it’s real natural. I have two outlets, I don’t have to hold back from either one. With this project I can do what I want. B: That sounds really awesome. I can’t wait to get a promo. R: The promos will be done in a few weeks. And we’re going to eventually do some shows, and they’re going to be a little different. Not theatrical in a cheesy way, but in a cool way. We have cool instruments, we don’t just use keyboards. We have chimes, and the Wurlitzer organ and banjoes. Not the country banjo, but we use it in a creepier way. You can’t do shit like that on a keyboard. The dynamics you get out of real instruments is so much more magical. Anyone who was into the Skeletal Season will like it I think. B: Thank you very much for the interview, it’s been a real pleasure! R: Thank you so much, Black Metal Martha, you’re a true fan, supporter and you do so much for the scene, I appreciate it! - Martha Hughes