• I think that the title  Al Hodge gave to this interview speaks for itself and for their music. ladies and gentlemen I have the privilege to present you TUNGSTEN: Heavy Fucking Metal!

1.HELLO! GREAT ALBUM YOU'VE RELEASED THERE!!! NOW CAN YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS THE BAND'S STORY AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE UP TO THE READERS?

• Al Hodge: “Thanks for digging our stuff! Mark Talamo (drums/engineer) and myself met in high school back in 1985. We both played in cover bands and we both hated that shit. We wanted to play our own music. All of the other band guys down here couldn’t write their own music. They played in shitty cover bands, which is the worst thing to be in my opinion, so we got together and wrote our own songs. We made a few tapes and passed them around, a few years later we got signed to some independent labels and stuck out a few records and got some notice. The line up has been the same since the beginning. Mark Talamo plays drums and he also engineers the records. He’s like the Carl Canedy (THE RODS) of the next century, but he’s not as fat as Carl (haha). He also engineered the first 3-song DOWN demo in January of 1992 and the second CROWBAR record in June of 1993 as well as a hand full of other local bands from the New Orleans scene. The guy is a genius and makes our songs come alive! Steve Talamo, is Mark’s older brother and has played bass with us ever since 1994, before that Mark and I were just a 2 piece band, from 1985-1994. Steve is a great guitarist, but handles the bass with us. He has some side bands where he really let’s loose and tears the shit up on the guitar. So he gets the best of both worlds with the regular guitar and the bass. We all have some sort of side projects whether it’s another band, work or family, but this band is like a marriage. The music that a band makes is the sex and the records that come out are the children. So far we have 4 “kids” together. You can tell if a band is getting along by looking at their “kids”. I think this is our best one yet”.

• “When I was in college learning how to take x-rays and at the same time Mark was in college studying electronics, we came across the name and we thought it was cool. It’s a heavy metal that has a high melting point. It was way different than everybody else’s name, so we went with it. So many bands back then and even now will go looking for a band name in a medical dictionary. We knew better than that even back then to use a dumb band name like “Sacrificial Phlebitis”. I like our name, because it’s a metal, and it’s not obvious. People have to look it up”.

3.IN MY OPINION YOUR SOUND IS CLOSE TO BANDS LIKE METAL CHURCH, WARDOG AND HOLY MOTHER. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS INFLUENCED YOU AND NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS.

• “I think we do have some elements of METAL CHURCH in us, Mark and I grew up on their first 2 albums. I’m not familiar with WARGOG or HOLY MOTHER, I’ll have to check those bands out. When Mark and I were starting out, it was JUDAS PRIEST, the first 2 OZZY records, IRON MAIDEN, BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA stuff like that. I liked bands like CARNIVORE and THE MELVINS too. It’s hard to say who influenced us, we both jam to different kinds of stuff. I think anything that a musician listens to will influence him some way or another. I like what we do, because you can’t throw us in a category. We have elements of traditional metal, like METAL CHURCH and BLACK SABBATH, and some doom stuff and stoner rock too. On songs like “Nectar”, it’s stoner rock for drinkers! As far as my most beloved albums, here’s my Top 10:
• 1. TURBONEGRO: “Apocalypse Dudes” (total rock ‘n’ roll through and through)
• 2. MOTLEY CRUE: “Shout At The Devil”
• 3. WITCHFINDER GENERAL: “Death Penalty”
• 4. METAL CHURCH: “Metal Church and The Dark”
• 5. OZZY OSBOURNE: “Blizzard of OZZ/Diary Of A Madman” (The original versions. Sharon Osbourne is a total fucking idiot for having the rhythm section re-recorded. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even took the pictures of Ozzy with his first wife and cut her out of the pictures and glued a picture of herself next time him. She’s a loon!)
• 6. THE MISFITS: “Beware” (ep)
• 7. BLACK SABBATH: “The first 6 albums”
• 8. JUDAS PRIEST: “Stained Class/Hell Bent For Leather (all the Rob Halford albums really!)”
• 9. SLAYER: “Reign In Blood”
• 10.PARADISE LOST: “Draconian Times and all of the current albums”
• I also dig MOTORHEAD, CARNIVORE, FEAR, the first RATT album, early ROLLINS stuff, and some early KISS probably ‘Rock and Roll Over’, the first 5 IRON MAIDEN records, the ‘Animal (fuck like a beast) single by W.A.S.P. and the first 3 EXCITER records.

• I usually write most of the lyrics. Mark and Steve and I all bring music to the table and they do bring in some ideas for the lyrics, but they usually let me write a bunch of it. On this album there was a general theme running through it. It was about losing at the beginning, them overcoming all odds and winning in the end. As far as “Just Another Junkie” goes, well the lyrics are about the typical doper chicks that hang out in the clubs. The bars are full of them and they all seem to end up leaving their mark on me one way or another. It’s like some advise one friend gave to me, be careful where you stick your dick and where you sign your name. This tune ain’t about signing your name”.

5.YOU DECIDED TO GIVE YOUR ALBUM TO EVERYONE FOR FREE. WHICH ARE THE REASONS THAT LED YOU TO SUCH A DECISION? WHERE CAN THE METALLERS PURCHASE YOUR ALBUM FROM?

• “Over the last few years most people have been getting their music for free from different sites like NAPSTER, WINMX, KAZAA, stuff like that. It’s no different than the tape trading that was going on in the 80’s, it’s just now nobody gets a really shitty copy of the songs, they don’t lose anything when going from computer to computer. Most people stopped going to the record shops. The little mom and pop stores have closed and only the chain stores in America like WALMART will have CD’s. But they charge an arm and a leg for them. The record companies are in an uproar because they can’t fuck the consumer any more like they did for the last 50 years. The music fans are sticking their middle finger at the industry and we are right next to them doing the same thing! The record companies only pay their artist about a dollar per sale, so the rest goes in their pocket and when bands like us do this, it causes big problems and I like that! What we are doing is the future plain and simple. What we did was give our fans the option to either download it for FREE from our website or they can buy the CD direct from us if they want the whole package. We do this because we love what we do and there is nothing that can be done to stop us!”

• “I think what we’ve done will cause other bands to open their eyes and see that they don’t need the record companies anymore. This was done by HENRY ROLLINS, IAN MACKAYE (MINOR THREAT) and THE YOUTH BRIDGADE in the early 80’s. These guys were the original masters of “Do It Yourself”. So it’s not anything new, it’s just that with the advent of the internet, bands like us don’t need a distribution system like the old hardcore/punks bands needed back in the day. If you have the drive and are not lazy and are willing to hustle to get people to find out about your band anybody can do what we did”.

• “Probably not. We’re not interested in a label at all. We didn’t even send this album out to any labels this time. What’s the point? We can do a better job at promoting the thing than a label can. I remember one time back in 1996 an A&R guy from Geffen records came to New Orleans to scout EHG at a show. The guy was passed out in the corner drunk out of his mind before the band even went on. EHG is a great live band and the dude sleep right through it! These are the idiots with the business degrees that are making the decisions of who gets signed and who doesn’t. Our goal is to help destroy the record companies one song at a time and send these clowns that are running the offices back to McDonald’s where they belong!”

• “Well it was not done on purpose that’s for sure, but looking at it now I can see where you are coming from. The cover to us represents a door that anybody can go through on accident or on his or her own. What’s behind that door is very ugly, but if you can make it through there you’ll come out of the other side a changed person with a lesson well learned or a few new scars to boast”.

• “I think Lemmy from MOTORHEAD said it best, ‘Stick your flag up and see who salutes’. The best thing to do is get together with guys or girls that have the same outlook that you have. If they are dope heads don’t mess with them. If they have the same desires and goals as you, then carry on. Write your own music, don’t waste your time learning cover songs and make some tapes or CD’s and send them to everybody that you know. Don’t send it to other bands because they don’t give a shit, they see you as competition. Send it out to magazines, friends, chicks and radio stations. If you make enough noise other people will start talking about your band for you. It has more merit coming from a mouth that is not your own”.

10.WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A FAN TO CONVINCE HIM BUY YOUR RELEASE INSTEAD OF SOMETHING ELSE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU RECOGNIZABLE FROM THE REST OF THE BANDS?

• “This album is 14 songs of killer metal that will ruin and change your life forever. I think the thing that sets us apart from everybody else is that each song has it’s own identity. Ultimately the fan has to make that choice, it’s there for free on our website, so they have to judge it for themselves. I promise they will not be disappointed!”

• “I don’t think we’ll do any shows right now, but who knows. Mark Talamo got a bunch of old gigs that a friend of ours named Gil taped for us and transferred them from video to DVD. After the million hours of watching and editing those things at his house both of us agreed to just remain a recording band. Some shows were good, but some were bad. We just didn’t practice that much, we use to get bored playing the same shit over and over again. So we’d just get in the rock room and start writing new shit. So that’s where our heads are at the moment, but who knows, maybe we’ll get a desire to bash out some of the new songs in front of people one day. As far as weird or funny incidents, well on one of the tapes from 1994, we played a gig in Metairie, Louisiana. The crowd was all fucked up on booze, pills, pot, acid you name it. They were crazy. The singer of GRAVEYARD RODEO was in the crowd and got up on stage completely naked. He was drunk out of his mind. He started to flop like a fish and knocked down a few microphone stands, then the girl I was seeing at the time jumps up on stage and proceeds to start smacking the shit out of him. The guy running the PA system was freaking out and pulled the plug on the show until the GYR singer was escorted out of the club. So then the girl I was seeing gets back on stage and gets on all fours and starts licking my boots, then she laid on her back and started to play with her self. She ripped her pantyhose so everybody could see her pussy and my friend Gil got a gynecology close up of that on film. I then told the crowd that she likes for me to hump her in the ass and then she got up and threw a drink at me. Another chick then jumped on stage and started dancing around and was doing windmills with her long blond hair. She had a real hot ass. That was cool. So we finished the gig and packed up the gear and loaded it on to the trailer that I had connected to my truck. The girl I was seeing wanted to go to the French Quarter to get some more booze, which was in between the club and where we had to drop off the gear. It was about a 30 minute drive to get home and another 30 minutes to unload the gear at Mark’s house. This drunk chick was insistent on going to the French Quarter. So en route back to Chalmette, we were stopped at a red light in the worst part of New Orleans. She was kicking and screaming to go to the city to drink. I told her that I would bring her down there after I dropped the gear off. That wasn’t good enough so she jumped out of the truck and started to walk downtown and I just drove away. “Good luck” I yelled as I drove off (At that time New Orleans was the murder capital of America) Later that night after I dropped the gear off she left a message on my phone recorder and she was pissed at me. The next day she came over and fucked me. What can you do? That’s rock ‘n’ roll!”

• “If it were an emotion, it would be anger fueled depression, that turns into to a productive triumph in the end. If it were a painting, it would show a man being thrown off a building, screaming as he speeds to the ground, but at the very last minute he sprouts wings and soars over his adversaries and breaths a fire of vengeance at those who threw him over. Ah yes, victory in the end!”

• “Wow that’s a heavy question. I’d probably ask him why are we here?  And then ask him if masturbation really is a sin. Hopefully he has a sense of humor”.

• “Bring my Dad back and tell him how much I miss him since he died”.

• “I would love to go to the biblical times and see what really happened. As far as what I’d miss goes, I’d probably miss the deodorant, tooth brushes, shampoo, toilet paper and the issues of SWANK magazine. No, I’d miss my family, friends and the music that’s for sure. You can’t get your rocks off listening to someone play the Lute, like you can listening to TURBONEGRO.”

• “Tungsten: Heavy Fucking Metal”

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

• “Nick, this was a very interesting interview. I’d never been asked questions like this before and it was a true pleasure. I thank you for the time and for the chance to speak our words about our new album. Thanks again for helping us out”.