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KROM:
Death Before Disco! Krom is Pain!
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By
all my accounts Krom may just be the best metal band in the
history of Joplin, Missouri. Their debut Chaotic Evil album shows
confidence in spades and melds a myriad of extreme styles
without sounding contrived, forced or cheesy. Far from it, songs
like "Inherit the Wasteland" and "Reacharound Rambo", if not dug
and enjoy by many now, are surely destined to be dug up in
the far future by those with a bit of taste. So do yourself a
favor and dig Krom up. Guitarist Ritchie Randall answered most
of the questions. Read on and spread the word...
 - How does Krom
get together? Are you all from Joplin?
Three of us (Larry, Mike, & Ritchie) were in a crust punk band
called Initial Detonation. James was in H.R.B. and Idiot Savant.
Some of our other previous bands include Encrusted, Squirm,
Satan's Ice Cream Truck & Sekora. Another previous band called
Aether Bunny morphed into KROM with the addition of Ritchie on
guitar and Mike switching back to bass from guitar. We all
currently reside in the Joplin area.
- Is there
anything resembling a scene in Joplin? Any other bands we should
know about?
The scene is
much different than it was 10 to 15 years ago. There used to be
a lot more variety as far as bands go and more places to play.
Now there are more cover bands and not too many all ages shows,
with the exception of a place called Cesspool Castle, which
ironically enough is where the drums for Chaotic Evil
were tracked. Some cool bands that are doing good things and are
consistent are: The Coventry Sacrifice, The Itch, Brutally
Frank, Ben Miller Band & I Don't Want to Die in Texas.
- How does each
member of the band contribute to the songwriting of the songs?
We all
contribute to the song writing process. James writes all of the
lyrics though. Ritchie writes more of the metal riffs and Mike
is more of the old punk/crusty stuff.
- The music of
Krom definitely includes several hard genres. I am assuming this
is a combination of your personal tastes. Who contributes what?
Like say, the guitarist puts the punk, James puts the metal, or
whatever….
Ritchie is the
more metal and doom guy. You know 70's metal and 80's thrash.
Older punk and metal for sure. Basically the good shit before
1990.
- Lyrically,
where are you at? What territory is covered? Any lyrical
territory you would not want to cover?
It kind of
depends. I used to write kind of political stuff. Lately it's
more fantasy, monster stuff and history. Good, funny offensive
lyrics are always good too. Ha Ha! I won't write love songs or
anything about my feelings. Fuck that shit!
- You guys are
signed to Reality Impaired Recordings. How did you hook up with
them? I tried to even find an e-mail for the label and couldn’t
find one. Not even a MySpace. Are you tied in with this label
for further recordings?
We have been
involved in various projects with Reality Impaired since the
label started in 1995. It's ran by a dude, Stan Boman, and he
has been involved with the underground Black Metal/tape trading
scene since 1985. He wants to stay underground, hence no web
site. There is e-mail: realityimpairedrec@yahoo.com. This is
Reality Impaired's 15th year. Old school metal/punk guys tend to
find each other in small towns and Stan likes snail mail better
than e-mails. Their address is: Realty Impaired Recordings P.O.
Box 1285 Joplin, MO 64802.
- Please talk
about the recording of Chaotic Evil. Where, how long did
it take and who produced it? How happy are you with the results?
The drums were
recorded in a sound proofed basement. The guitars and bass were
recorded in our practice space, which consists of a detached
garage with moving blankets used for baffles. The vocals were
tracked in a finished attic with wood walls. We just wanted a
clean but raw sound with minimal effects. Everyone had a say in
the overall production of the album. Several rough mixes were
done until we all agreed on the final mix. We are happy with the
results and the response has been pretty good so far. All of the
reviews we have received so far have been positive and we sold
through the first batch of cd's we had made. So yeah, good
things so far.
- I was taken
aback by James’ vocal abilities. Like I said in the review, his
coarseness reminded me a bit of Tom G Warrior. Obviously, the
music in the back is far more dynamic. What can he or you say
about his performance?
It's a pretty
simple old school thrash approach. I don't know how great a
‘singer’ I am, but I like to think I make up for it with
enthusiasm. It's about conditioning and practicing though. Early
on I fucked up my throat sometimes. It's really not a problem
any more though.
- Who does the
high pitch scream ‘eviiill’ the song “Chaotic Evil”?
That's me
(Ritchie). I really dig Rob Halford and King Diamond. Judas
Priest are my favorite band. My wife, Bianca, my oldest son,
Zack, and myself went to see Priest, Heaven & Hell, Motorhead,
and Testament. We got to meet Priest and have a picture taken
with them. Glenn Tipton personally gave Zack a guitar pick after
the show. It was an awesome experience.
- In the album
you include a cover of Celtic Frost. Whose idea was it?
We used to do
this song back when most of us were in Initial Detonation. When
Ritchie joined up with KROM we wanted to do it again. Yeah, we
all love Celtic Frost.
- What’s next
for Krom? Touring, any other activities?
We hope to
record a new CD within the year. We have several songs and many
more ideas and riffs just waiting to be put into song format. We
mainly play local shows but have been playing more out of town
shows recently. Ohh yeah...and we're gonna maybe open for Poison
soon. No Bullshit!
- Last words…
Death before
Disco! KROM is pain!
MySpace
Read the Deaf Sparrow
review of
Chaotic Evil here.
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