Reverend Witchburner Destroying Scene Kids

I have been listening to Metal for some 36 years and in that time i have met thousands of Metal fans in 3 different countries.Most of them have been pretty cool people but i have met my fair share of idiots,posers and others that just give Heavy Metal a bad name.I have also had the pleasure of talking to hundreds of people and bands right here on Myspace.One of the coolest is the Reverend Witchburner is a obviously dedicated Metal fan who really knows his Metal and is well in touch with the history of Metal as well.He comes up with some of the most exciting playlist's you will ever find and always has a opinion worth listening to.Here is a interview with him and i hope people take note and go check out his page.

1.Well i guess you should start off by telling the readers a bit about yourself !

-Well I've been running this page for nearly two years, this is the second go as the original one got shut down by the "powers that be". This is pretty much my hobby, part time job, and obsession. My goal and ambition is to bring some of the lesser known metal bands that I enjoy to the attention of fellow metal fans.

2.So how did you get introduced to Metal ?

-My uncle was a big time metalhead back in the 80s and I remember seeing all the Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, Venom, etc records and posters and such so I was exposed to it at an early age. He also gave me Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" for my 8th birthday and Slayer's "Show No Mercy" when I was 12. Its been downhill ever since then.

3.How do you view the Metal scene as a whole.I must admit i love the underground forms of Metal but the mainstream sucks !!

-I think the metal scene like any scene has its issues. Its had problems since day one, but every sort of community has its problems. The mainstream will always be a fucking joke as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorry but Job For A Cowboy is not one the most innovative or original bands no matter what Myspace or whatever over priced magazine kids buy say. The underground has grown by leaps and bounds since the 80s thanks to the internet. You'd be surprised how much you have in common with people who live thousands of miles away from you in terms of music. There are still shitheads and clingers on who are just there to be part of something. You got your MPDS fan boys who will wash out of being metal fans within a few months. Eventually they will learn that there is more to heavy metal than eating pizza and drinking shitty beer.

4.Your Myspace site has always had some killer play lists,what inspires you to do those ?

-My girlfriend is the one who gave me the whole idea to start doing this. She maintains a Tori Amos page where she was putting up more obscure tracks which gave me this brilliant idea to do the same with all sorts of heavy metal bands. I do this because heavy metal is something I enjoy very much. Plus I always have plenty of down time at my actual place of business so I come up with playlists, ideas, etc. I think its a shame that so many stellar bands never got their due during their time due to whatever issues prevented them from doing so.

5.This one could get us in trouble but what the fuck,what is your opinion of Myspace ? It has become a really controlled environment these days !

-To me its a double edge sword. Its a great place to meet fellow metal maniacs and discover up and coming bands. However Myspace only promotes shitty "metal" bands. As of late too the whole cracking down on copyright infringements and photos that are "offensive" has become a joke. I have never made a dime off my page and always give proper credit where credit is due. I'm shocked at some of the bands who actually take part in this but I digress. Its their creation not mine. What really chaffs my ass is the whole offensive material enforcement. How is the Demon Flight EP offensive when I have album covers with exposed female genitalia and all sorts of gore? Likewise there are pictures of underage girls semi-nude and folks taking part in illicit drugs yet the "Fire Breaks The Dawn" cover is somehow offensive and was removed to comply with the rules? Come thee fuck on man!

6.Back to Metal,what about all the cliches in Metal like the fashion or the Black Metal bands with their make-up etc.Do you think Metal is becoming like a parody of itself or has always been that way ?

-I think the cliches warp people's perceptions of metal fans and metal bands. People are shocked when I tell them I have a college degree and no criminal record. The fashion thing gets to be annoying at times. So fucking what if you have a pair of high tops? They weren't cool in 1990 and they sure as hell don't make you cool in 2009! Retro-thrashers totally ruined thrash metal by making it about fashion rather than good music. Black metal is a very odd genre to me. The classic stuff like VON, Bathory, and Sarcofago is fucking sick and I will never get tired of it. Its more or less the three million black metal bands that have popped up in the wake of the Norwegian scene that all sound identical and cant distinguish themselves from the other bands. To me corpse paint is a gimmick much like something GWAR or Slipknot would use. If you need a gimmick, then your music probably isnt worth shit. The whole black metal fan base too fucking sucks. A bunch of whiny, pale angsty teens who think the world has wrong them somehow. Reminds me a lot of that whole emo scene at times.

7. Have you got any musical ambitions yourself ?

-I've played guitar on and off since 2003 and have provided vocals in a couple bands but I dont think realistically I have a future in music. If I was to form and maintain a band, my goals would be to play shows and maybe release an EP or two. From the musicians I've met, I hear that business is a nightmare and getting screwed over royally is the norm.

8.Name some of your favorite bands and why you think they are so good ?

-Angel Witch is my favorite of all time, they got me into chasing obscure metal bands to the ends of the earth. Carnivore is another personal favorite of mine. I dig that whole lets offend everyone and not be a bunch of PC pussies like everyone else. I've been digging the shit out of Heavy Load a lot lately, such an awesome band that never got huge outside of their homeland. Damn this list could go on forever.

9.Everybody has at least one skeleton in the closet as far as Musical interest is concerned.Is there a style of Music outside of Metal you like ?

-I dig the hell out of late 60s and early 70s music. I'm as likely to listen to Thin Lizzy, Icarus, and Mellow Candle as I would be listening to Oz, Venom, or Sodomizer. I take no shame in what I find to be good music. Mellow Candle is probably thee most oddball band I own an album from. We're talking late 60s folk rock with two female vocalists, total departure from what would be expected of The Witchburner to enjoy.

10.I was having a argument with a idiot on a music forum the other day and i will quote what he said to me and you can respond. " I have never heard any Heavy Metal band that isn't about stunted adolescence, half-assed rebellion, tongue-in-cheek stupidity, masturbatory pap, tuneless dirge, juvenile morbidity, retarded sexuality, or some nauseating combination of all those things "....By the way i let the guy have it which resulted in me getting kicked off the message board !

-He's just making a broad, uneducated generalization of heavy metal like so many others. Sure there are bands that fall into that description, but then there are bands like Voivod, Slough Feg, or Demilich that totally step outside of the confines of what people consider "metal". Everyone is entitled to their opinions no matter how fucking stupid they are.

11.How about talking about the bands you hate,that's always fun ha ha...

-Venting is always a nice thing, especially when its about shitty bands and or shitty fans. Pantera is my favorite punching bag just because they try so hard to deny their glam metal roots. It astonishes me that there are so many Glamtera apologists out there. The funny thing is they might in fact be dumber than your typical burn out,dipshit Pantera fan.

12.OK what is your plans for Myspace and beyond,have you ever thought about getting a official website together ?

-People have been telling me since day one to start an actual webpage but I'm not exactly web page savvy. But who knows, I've seen some pages on the internet that look like total crap so I figure I can't do too much worse. I'm going to keep doing this until I get shut down for good.

13.Any final words ?

-If you're not a metalhead you might as well be dead...words to live by.

http://www.myspace.com/thereverendwitchburner