Metal Bulletin Zine: Seattle heavy metal band SKELATOR

SKELATOR

This is the second part of the interview with Seattle heavy metal Skelator, a band that knows that “just because you got the power, it does mean you got to rock.”

There are rumors all over the Seattle streets now that Skelator and its anti-poser street-fighting commandos have been attending poser shows in order to take them over and demonstrate that scumanity what a real metal band actually sounds like. Skelator has found its purpose amongst the night city clans that fight the garbage of humanity. Skelator will show you when you meet them!

Singer and medieval blacksmith Jason Conde-Houston von San Diego will show you the castle now. Skelator needs enemies!

Skelator is:

Jason Conde-Houston: air raid siren reification

Rob Steinway: power dive incursions

Robbie Houston: unit distortion projections

Patrick Seick: metronomical calculations

Rah Davis: thunder intonation commander

QUESTION: How was the metal scene in the medieval feudal realm of San Diego in the mid and late 90s when you started out? Was it a swampland of rap rock, groove thug metal?

Yeah, that era sucked ass. I didn't really go out to shows until I started Skelator and we mainly hung out with punks, so I didn't really have to deal with all that noise. Then we started playing with actual metal bands and being part of the Sdmetal.org scene in like 2002/03. I mean there were death and black metal bands that were cool, but there were no heavy/power/thrash bands at all.

It's funny, I met the singer of Fueled by Fire a few years ago and he freaked out when I told him I was in Skelator. He told me that he got one of our demos at an Iron Maiden show in San Diego when he was a young cat and it blew his mind. I'm not gonna say that we inspired the thrash revival, but it was pretty cool to get those kids excited before they started writing their own heavy metal to come.

QUESTION: Then, because you were tired of the awesome weather in San Diego, you decided to move to grey, cloudy, rainy and depressive Seattle because you are crazy or a masochist? Why?!

Mainly professional reasons for us. Patrick needed to go to Evergreen State College to finish his degree. Robbie had a degree is audio engineering and he figured there would be more musicians to record up here. I needed to get out of San Diego and become a man. But the scene here is just better all around for musicians and artists alike. We ACTUALLY get paid at shows here. Not like LA where you have to play to play and all that BS.

QUESTION: Some people might think that you are crazy because you talk about posers in your songs. Metal music is very trendy and there's a new bandwagon all the time and it is impossible to keep up. It's difficult to tell if a band is thrash one year, alternative the next year, and back to thrash the next one.

Heh, a friend of mine was about to go out to a show and I asked her “Who are you gonna see?” She responds, “I'm gonna see Red Fang.” I go, “Who's that?” Then she gets a little bitchy, “Uhhh a heavy metal band....” I reply, “Sorry, I've never heard of them.”

This is the kicker: she says, “They sound just like your band, you should know who they are.” So after she leaves I look them up and they are some fucking hipster band with really loud fuzzy bass and really boring vocals that go nowhere. Next time I see her, I say, “How was Red Fang?” and she replies, “Yeah, they don't sound anything like you guys.”

Hahahaha.... story of my life. Just cause it's heavy does not mean it's metal. But when I talk about false metal I don't even care about the heavy hipster stuff. What I care about is the mall-core rockstar Energy Drink white trash bullshit that people think is metal. Thanks Ozzfest for ruining our fucking fun and lumping us all up with a bunch of fake asses. But, honestly, let them be. Let them enjoy their noise so that we, the few the proud and the faithful, can get together and truly enjoy the spirit of metal the way we see fit. Sure, I'll write a song called “Death to the False,” but I'm not gonna go to a Korn show and start decapitating people in the name of the metal gods. Let them drink their Faygo and smoke meth in peace.

QUESTION: What is the worse thing ever in the history of the universe, in your opinion? Glam rock from the 80s, grunge, rap rock or hardcore?

The worst thing in the universe is fucking Metallica. Sure, it got me into metal and I'll always remember those first four albums for being my road map to real metal, but fuck, man. If I was stuck with all their other albums playing on repeat I would go completely insane. As a cruel joke we listened to “Load” on the road on our last tour. It's absolutely disgusting and that's not even their worst album. It just get's worse and worse. When people try to justify “Death Magnetic” I just laugh. Just cause it's “BETTER” than “St. Anger” does not mean it's worth a damn. Fuck, at least “St. Anger” is funny as fuck. But “LuLu” is far worse, it's not even funny, it's just terrible in every way. I'm not a Lou Reed fan, but for that to be your final record.... rest his soul. I used to hate buttrock because of Metallica, now I think it's fucking wicked. It's just fun and catchy with badass guitar solos.

QUESTION: Hey, if you had decided to spell the name of the band as "Skeletor" would that have brought you a lawsuit?! Which one is your favorite of these three shows: He-Man, Transformers or Thundercats? Which is more metal?

Honestly, it was a mistake, but when I realized what happened I figured it was a good thing. There are a few bands called Skeletor out there, but they have all folded over the years. He-Man is not a good show at all, the monster design is terrible. Transformers is the most metal, for sure, and I still love the 80s animated movie. But if you asked me as a 6 year-old I would say “Thundercats, Thundercats, HOOOOOO!!!!”

QUESTION: On Metal Archives the picture of Skelator has you, Jason, wearing a jacket with a Mexican flag patch. OK, how many people have asked you about that piece of trivia? Is this the first time?!

No, ever since I put it on people ask me why I have a Mexican flag on my vest. Well, it's ‘cause I'm Mexican. Why do I have a Star Trek command emblem on my vest? Cause I'm a hardcore Trekkie and Kirk is my boy.

I'm actually going to record the new Split Heaven album in Mexico later this year. This will help me become a better singer, practice my Spanish, get connections in Mexico and spread the gospel of Skelator across the land.

QUESTION: By the way, what can you tell us about your Hawkwind cover "Master of the Universe"? How did you get the saxophone in there?! You threw me for a loop!

I've wanted to cover that song since the year 2000 when I first heard that song. But it wasn't until this album when we were trying to find a perfect bonus track that Patrick brought it up and everyone was down immediately. We got our friend Nate to play sax on it and it came out really great. Nate plays in Patrick's other band Pratattack. But, yeah, Hawkwind is one of my favorite bands of all time. I especially love their late 70s and 80s periods the most. I know most people like their Lemmy era, but I think it's dumb to forget that they have like a million more albums worth listening to.

QUESTION: It is very good that Skelator is alive and strong after all these years.

Thank you, the road has not been easy, but it has been filled lots of fun. Many beers have been slain, towns have been ravaged, speakers exploded, guitar strings shredded and bleeding ears all around. 15 years of playing gigs has really paid off, let's hope for another 15.

I just want you all to remember...

Death to the Opposition

Death to False Metal

GIVE ME METAL OR GIVE ME DEATH!

www.facebook.com/TrueSkelator

www.trueskelator.bandcamp.com

Skelator - Necromancer