interview: Casket Robbery

Straight out of the original birthplace of Metal Bulletin Zine ten years ago: Madison, Wisconsin, USA, here comes the brutal groove metal of Casket Robbery. Evolution of Evil is the title of the new album. I’m not going to lie to you, this is not music for the whole family. Your dad might not be happy if he sees you really getting into this band. You know, your father had big hopes for you, and your mom wanted you to be a respectable member of society, but look at you now, you’re checking out a band with songs titled “Malevolent Milwaukee Massacre,” “Curse of the Night Stalker,” and “Undead Living Hell.” Hey, maybe the lyrics are positive and tell you to stay in school and do your homework, right? Nah, they are as anti-social as you can probably imagine. Ok, what do we have then? Brutal metal of grooves with sick lyrics, is that it, then? Yup, you got it. That’s it. Oh, well, there goes the neighborhood. Thanks, Casket Robbery!

How’s the life of your metal band in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin recently has been blowing up for metal bands. A lot of friends and familiar faces have been getting some label deals and/or getting out on tour. So, I think the scene here is pretty cool. The metal scene in Madison specifically is growing a little more. A few years ago (2007-2009) it was doing great when my previous band Luna Mortis was doing their thing. Then it died down a little after that band disbanded. Now it's growing again. Some great promoters are really pulling to get metal bands into town. Anyway, long story short it's getting really cool here. For Casket, it's been a great response. We have a lot of die-hard fans and the word is spreading about us.

Tell us about the history of Casket Robbery.

I am Cory Scheider, guitarist. I have a long history of bands before this band so feel free to look into it. I won’t go into it a lot. The band bio doesn't cover the nitty gritty of everything so I'll start from the beginning. The band started after I had been in the band Luna Mortis. That band was signed with Century Media records for a short time and did some touring, etc. We really hit it hard with that band, but ended up disbanding. I have been in and out of a few other bands since then. Signed and unsigned. A lot of the bands I joined already had an established sound so I had to tailor my writing to fit their style. I was getting an itch to write my own music. Casket Robbery started as a recording project. I had these really brutal riff ideas in my head for a long time and one night, Dustin Foesch (vocalist) and myself got together with a case of beer in my studio. I laid out riffs for what was to become the song "Everyone Dies: Sharon Tate" and asked if he could do harsh vocals. I don't think he ever had done anything like that at that point but he gave it a shot and it sounded great. The whole thing was just intended as a recording project originally. Maybe doing a couple songs or something. But people and fans really responded well to those early songs. The best response was that it was "catchy." A light went off in my head. I knew we could actually make a name for ourselves and market it in a good way. Somehow we have been able to make death metal songs catchy. That is why we started up a live band and the rest is history. A long list of shows and members and we are at this point. Releasing our debut album with Mortal Music.

How do you see the music of Casket Robbery?

This is definitely my least favorite question to answer, because I have no idea how to answer it haha. We have been saying brutal goove metal. There is more going on than that, though. We have a real world "horror" theme in the lyrics. My goal as a guitarist is to make the music visually represent the themes of the lyrics. I try to think what a serial killer would be hearing in his head while hacking up victims. Sometimes I sit and watch old horror movies while writing riffs. The death metal sound track to a horror movie. I try to set moods and feelings. It's all very visual, demented, dirty, but always staying catchy.

What can you tell us about your recordings?

"E of E" is our debut album. We are getting good, strong responses from it. We also have two older EPs release around 2012/2013. You can still find one online. Our latest album was recorded by myself mainly. But our drummer Greg Mueller recorded his own drums in his studio. From there we did rhythm guitars with producer Cody Ratley (Villains/Yuth Forever) and I tracked the rest in my studio. I spent a ton of time layering vocals and perfecting the production of everything. I think it paid off really well. We sent the album out to Chris Wisco (Jungle Rot/Novembers Doom) to mix it and had Cody Ratley come back to master it. They did an amazing job on this album. We had the best people working on this thing from beginning to end!

What did you get infected with the metal madness and forming bands?

My mom had a guitar in our house from when she was a kid. It started there and seeing a performer come to my school one day. He was a solo acoustic guitarist. I wanted to do that. My mom enrolled me in guitar lessons and from there I got into rock music and wanted to keep hearing heavier and heavier music. My greatest inspiration in metal was Megadeth. Then I sought out bands like Children of Bodom. Finding the right people to play with has been a challenge. It has been very difficult to find "pro" musicians in this area. Most are already tied up in their own bands doing their own thing. We have had some difficulties finding band members that want to go out and tour. Luckily, I have been able to rely on some awesome friends to fill in here and there for the shows. Right now, we have the perfect solid line up. Everyone is excited to get out there and get on the road.

What support would you like to see?

Come out to the shows and buy merch to support bands. It's the best way to support. If you cant make it to shows check out online merch stores so these bands can keep playing shows. If you really like a band make an effort to show them some support. Even sharing the band page online or "liking" a post. We love any fan engagement online. We like interacting with the fans.

Do you want to tour?

Yep, that is the plan. We are actively working on it right now and should have some news soon. 2016 is pretty heavily booked so check out our live schedule and see if you can make it out. 2017 will also be a big year for us to support the new album "Evolution of Evil." Expect more shows and then we hit the studio to do our next release which we are already working on.

How do you explain your devotion to making music? What does success mean to you?

Our dedication comes from our goal to be the most brutal and heavy band we can. We want to deliver an unforgettable show. We just have something to show the world. And we want people to see it. Life is too short to not do something great with it. We have something we love and that's all there is to it. I don't think we will ever make money doing what we do. A lot of established bands are not making money, either. If we can break even and book successful shows we will be happy. Our definition of success is to play to new people as often as possible and make them move. We like to fuck shit up and we do each show.

How does living in Madison, Wisconsin affect your lyrical approach?

Our lyrics our basically a warning about the direction our world is heading. All of the messed up things that have happened historically and what will happen if we continue down the road we are heading in. People are all evil. Every one of us has some evil deep down in them. Can humanity survive this way? Maybe not. It's something to think about. Take a look around you at what is really happening. Our location hasn't really influenced lyrics too much. Other than all of the weird serial killers around here. Jeffrey Dahmer, etc.

You live in Packer country. Do you think that the Packers would play better if they got hyped up on your musical brutality before a game?

Haha dude, if they listened to us we would hope that they would be punching each other in the faces during the game. None of us are huge sports fans honestly. But hockey rules. We all tend to lean towards the more brutal things in life.

Any other Casket Robbery news?

Tour announcements should be coming soon. Be prepared to see a lot more of us in the future. We have a lot in store. Check out our merch at bandcamp and bigcartel. We have a lot of new merch coming in and out of our merch stores. Always keeping things fresh. Stay brutal and keep the blood flowing.

www.casketrobbery.bandcamp.com/merch

www.facebook.com/casketrobbery

THE END