• "Money, time, drugs  or pharmacia. These are some of the most important things in our society. You’re lookin in a  mirror, which is broken. You can create your own answers..." - Steff
• Well, yes! Mastic Scum are open mided people and invite all of you (us) to join forces with them and listen to their music.
• Grind till death!!!

• I can just say, that through all these years Mastic Scum exists, the band turned into a big part of our lives. Not only our sound changed, also our way of living. We`re looking forward to spending most time and energy into music and free thinking generally. We had just one line-up change in our bandhistory. Our current line-up is the same since 1994:  Harry – guitar , Steff – bass , Man – drums , Will – vocals.

2.WHY HAVE YOU NAMED THE BAND MASTIC SCUM? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO THE PEOPLE?

• It has not a „special“ meaning for us. We took the name in 1992 when we started and at this time we just wanted to have a brutal name for a brutal music.

3.WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO PLAY GRIND? IS IT CAUSE IT'S CONSIDERED TO BE AN "EASY" GENRE, IS IT BECAUSE IT'S FAST AND HARD AND TAKES AWAY THE STRESS? WHY DO YOU THINK?

• When we started we played fast Death-Metal. After a time we wanted to bring more different influences in our music, because we also listened to different styles of  music. So we changed our style automatically into grindcore – brutal stuff mixed with some easy shit ha,ha!!

4.WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE MORE AND MORE START LISTENING TO EXTREME THINGS? WHERE IS MELODY? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THAT?

• I just can say listen to the stuff you want and be open-minded also for other music styles!!

5.WHICH BANDS ARE YOUR INFLUENCES? CAN YOU LIST ME YOUR 5 MOST BELOVED ALBUMS? DO YOU REMEMBER WHICH BAND AND SONG IN SPECIFIC MADE YOU REALISE THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IS PLAY MUSIC?

• We`re mostly influenced by old Hardcore, Grind or Punkbands like the Dead Kennedys, old Napalm Death, Terrorizer and much more... My favourite bands are No Means No and the Hanson Brothers, Big Black, Primus, Dead Kennedys, PJ Harvey and so on...

6.IF YOU HAD A PROPOSAL BY SOMEONE TO PLAY IN A NON EXTREME METAL BAND, WOULD YOU GO? WHAT I MEAN, IS ARE YOU INTERESTED IN OTHER BRANCHES?

• I like to make music, so I´m also interested in other styles of music. I make also music with other people together, but it`s just for fun...

7.TELL US SOME GENERAL THINGS ON THE BAND RELEASES AND ESPECIALLY ON YOUR LATEST RELEASE. COMAPRE THEM. ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH IT OR IS THERE ANYHTING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?

• We released many split tapes/EP`s/CD`s on different labels. Our latest recording is a re-release of the ZERO-CD which is an enhanced version with 4 bonus tracks a live-video and a re-mastered sound (Demonware Rec. 2001). We have finished now (Feb. 2002) the recordings of our new full lenght CD which we’re very satisfied about!! It’s the best shit we’ve ever recorded ha,ha,ha!! We will release the CD on the german label Cudgel Agency. I hope it`ll be out in autumn. Also we recorded some more songs, which we use for a split 7“EP with Rotten Sound. This EP will be also released by  Cudgel in september – for details just look on our homepage.

8.YOU HAVE DONE MANY SPLIT CD'S. WHY? DO YOU THINK THEY HELP THE BANDS? DO YOU LIKE THEM? WHICH BAND OF ALL YOU'VE COOPERATED DO YOU LIKE MORE AND WHICH WAS THE FRIENDLIER?

• It belongs to both, sometimes we ask a band, if they want to make a split-release with us or we have some stuff to release and the label says, that they want to make a split with that band. I like this split-stuff, because you can get two or more bands with one release – it’s good for the fans and also for not so well-known bands to become more popular..

9.YOU HAVE DONE MANY LIVE SHOWS. WHICH DO YOU REMEMBER THE MOST? IS THERE A FUNNY INCIDENT YOU COULD TELL US ABOUT DURING A LIVE SHOW OF YOURS? CAN YOU DESCRIBE A TYPICAL MASTIC SCUM LIVE?

• We are just back from our „TORTOUR 2002“ where we played some gigs in germany and the netherlands. It went really fucking great, but also with some troubles ... like on every tour! Our shouter "Will" got hurt on his right leg and he had to visit the hospital after the first show. DEEP SHIT!!! But we didn`t throw up the sponge.  "Will" left the fuckin`hospital after one night, he got 2 nice crutches and he was keepin` on grinding... Thanx and greetings to all bands we met on stage and everyone who supported us. Also greetings to all who came to our shows, bought our merchandise and all freaks we met on this tour. See you next time... Our live gigs are full with energy, like our sound is. For us live gigs are very important, we`re not an „album-band“!! But the best way to make your own opinion is to come to our gigs!!!

10.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT? WHAT INSPIRES YOU IN WRITING LYRICS? WHY HAVE YOU NAMED YOUR CD "ZERO"? ARE YOU PESSIMISTS?

• Our lyrics reflect the daily, real shit that happens around us. We`re not the shit to write a happy mellow album. We write down things that we see in our own, sarcastic way. Our shouter Will is responsible for the lyrics – also Harry is writing some lyrics. We named our latest CD ZERO because when you look on the cover you can see things like: money, time, drugs  or pharmacia. One of the most important things in our society. You’re lookin in a  mirror, which is broken. You can create your own answer, but all these things are reflecting „important“ things for many people around us. We cannot write lyrics about a „nice life“. Switch on your TV and you can see all the madness on the world – there are too many people around, who don`t mind about this things, that`s very sad...

11.MANY EXTREME METAL BANDS EXPRESS RACISTIC IDEOLOGIES. WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

• I just can say Fuck off Fascism!!!!

12.HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC? WHICH SONG OF YOUR DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST IDEAL TO REPRESENT YOU?

• We hope to find a „big“ label which makes all the promotion-stuff for us – ha,ha!! 1 don’t think that we have a special M.S. Song. The whole stuff is M.S.! But we can often meet people on our gigs who are saying we had to play the song.... – it’s so special for M.S. I think this songs are our „Hitsingles“ ha, ha!

13.WHICH WERE THE REACTIONS OF THE FANS, MAGAZINES, ZINES THAT HAVE LISTENED TO YOUR WORK?

• There are many labels, zines, distributors around the world where we got big support from since all the years the band exists. There are so many people who work in and for the underground scene worldwide, so I just can say thanks to all these people for helping bands get more popular. Also the reactions of the audience is always great when we play gigs in other countries. Gigs are very important for us – you can see the „real face“ of the band when you see them live!!!

14.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION BE?

• Hey, can we play some gigs on an other planet?

15.MANY METAL MUSICIANS ACCUSE POP STARS FOR THEIR LIFE STYLE, YET WE SEE SUCH BEHAVIOURS IN THE METAL SCENE AS WELL (BANDS PAYING TO MAKE A COVER FOR SUCCESFUL MAGAZINES, HAVING A GOOD REVIEW, METAL LABELS PROMOTING SPECIFIC BANDS AND GENRES EACH EPOCH,ETC).IS IT MAYBE AFTER ALL TRUE THAT THE METAL INDUSTRY DOESN'T DIFFER FROM THE POP? WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

• Wouldn`t we all be a pop star ha ha ha?????? Big labels „design“ new bands where all members are models. Also you have to play the music that is „in“ to get a support from a bigger label. I think that the whole „music-buisness“ is a big pot „full of shit“!!!!

• I don`t want to get into another period of our world. But if I could, I`d  miss to look „the Simpsons“ on TV.

17.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

• äähhhmmm??!! „a small journey through ...“

18.THANK YOU!HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• Thank`s for your support! For all our fans over the world get in touch when you want some informations on www.masticscum.com or [email protected] .You can see there all our merchandise and planned gigs and much more. Keep the scene alive!!!
• Cheers, Steff.
Christine  Parastatidou