Please find in here some interviews from Bandmembers....

Click on the interview you want to read.

2006 : Frank Healy
interview by Thomasz 'Rolnik' Klimas from Poland (thanx mate !)

2002 : Dave Hunt
interview by the Russian e-Zine Darkside










Frank Healy - Bass -
Questions by Thomasz 'Rolnik' Klimas, Poland

Hey Frank! How are you doing, how is new album record progressing?

*slowly but surely ! the delay has been caused by death’s, damages, and a host of other catastrophes !.the main reason is that we are overloaded with songs and are still arguing between us what songs should be used or what bits of one song will fit with bits of another.it is never an easy writing process with us as we like to live with the songs for a while to see if we really like them but all in all we are nearly there at last.



Your new cd will be titled ‘Killing Music’, why you picked up that name?. I have to say that Benediction’s albums has very non-comformistic titles, such as ‘Grind Bastard’....

*we just liked the sound of it !!!




How can you describe music on upcoming ‘Killing music’ release? Should we expect typical death metal, or maybe you’ll include some experiments on that?

*as with all our releases there will be typical death metal,that is what we are ! but there are a few songs that stray from the benediction style and we hope will keep you interested,me and nick have been working on some strange offbeats and time changes and time will tell if they work.as a rule we do not like to make songs too complicated but you have to throw in some new ingredients to keep it tasty.we are still not big fans of guitar solo’s though so don’t expect too much guitar wank from daz or rewy,we live for the riff !!!




What about the tour? Have you got any plans already? And do you think about visiting Poland ? I hope that last events in Poland [canceling metal shows by goverment] won’t discourage you?

*at the moment the priority is to get the new album out.of course we will tour on it though.Poland is in fact a priority for our touring agenda.the last time I remember playing there was on the transcend tour of ’93 and it was amazing,total chaos,we loved it.something has always gone wrong since though,booking agents,government,war etc !!!




Nick Barker is new Benediction drummer. Before joining you, he played in Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, two of the most popular Black Metal bands. As far as I know you aren’t huge fans of ‘pandas’? I’m sure he’s a good drummer, but doesn’t his black metal experience influences your music? Can we expect some BM motives in ‘Killing Music’?

*there will NEVER be blast beats in our music ! as for the “panda” thing,that is more to do with the make up not the music.all of us listen to,and like,a lot of the black metal bands about.as for nicks drumming,he knows our style and he performs it brilliantly,the drums are a lot busier on this album because that is nicks way and it seems to work with us.he writes WITH the band as opposed to just adding drums at the end of the songwriting process.he has a fantastic ear for the riff and how to structure it well so we flow.it works great.on the subject of the black metal thing,3 of us have, and some still are involved with ANAAL NATHRAKH,you cannot get more extreme and black as that band can you !!! so as I say the bm thing is the make up, NOT the music that we don’t have time for.




Where do you find inspiration when it comes to compose new tracks? I mean, what kind of music inspires every one of Benediction members?.

*we could go on forever stating individual influences on our writing.ALL the genres of metal/punk/hardcore/ influence us.not only music but books inspire some of us as well.




On the upcoming album there’ll be 3 bonus tracks, coversongs. You’ve announced that Karl Willetts from Bolt Thrower and Wattie from Exploited will perform vocals. Can you reveal who’s gonna shout on the third track? And why did you chosen those three songs to cover?

*at this point these people have only been asked and said yes they are interested,we shall have to wait and see who is available at the time of our recording.nothing is confirmed until we have laid the tracks down with them on the songs.they all have their own bands so sometimes the logistics and timescale might not fit their itiniarys so we will have to wait and see on those tracks.as for the song choices themselves.they are just songs we love to play,simple as that.it is like a diary to us as to what we were listening to at the time the album was made.we like to let people know that.that is why we release them with,or around the time of an album release.that is why there are a lot of cover songs that have been done over our recording history.its good to pay tribute to the bands that have made an impact on you.we have enough of our own material,we do not struggle.we add these at the tail end of our writing process.




As far as I know, Benediction is strongly connected with british punk scene. What are your thought about UK punk scene through the ages – is it still growing, or ‘punk is dead’? How does it looks like nowadays?

*we grew up around the punk scene,it is a MASSIVE influence on our style.it is a bit like the metal scene as in it flows in and out of fashion but it never goes away.i think the punk scene is as good today as it has ever been.you’ve got THE EXPLOITED,GBH,DISCHARGE,THE RESTARTS.i could go on forever. What I have noticed in these latter years is that the two genres are more interlinked now.you can haveMAYHEM,THE EXPLOITED,SLIPKNOT,SICK OF IT ALL and BENEDICTION on the same bill and there will be the same fans watching ALL those bands,there is no visible division (bar the clothes) between them.a very healthy all round thing going on there.




What equipment does Benediction members use? I’ve seen some pics at your website, and your guitars reminds me a bit BC RICH’s with their characteristic shapes. Am I right?.

* oh the usual,knackered marshall  and laney amps and cabs. Gibson,fender,bc rich and ibanez wartorn and destroyed guitars.we will play any old shit if we can get a good live sound !!!




Several years ago you’ve toured with Death. It’s a tradition in our webzine, that we’re asking every interviewed musicians about his thoughts of the godfather of death metal – Chuck Schuldiner. Did he influenced you in any way?

*of course he/death was a big influence on us ! we toured with death twice in Europe ,he became a very, very good friend of benediction. A lot of people got the wrong idea about him because he did not say much,he was just shy and preferred to let his music talk for him.he asked for us personally to tour with death the second time.imagine that ? one of the most respected and gifted musicians of our scene asking for you to come out again with him !!! we had some fucking great times on the road with death and he is still missed by us,in fact one of the songs on the new album is for him.you’ll know its for him when you finally hear the new album !




Dave Ingram, ex Bolt Thrower and Benediction shouter founded new band called Downlord. They’re gonna release their first cd soon, what do you think about that? Is Dave’s still band’s friend?

*dave is still a friend,I am still in touch with him.i like his new stuff and I wish him all the best.as with all bands that last a long time,shit happens but you sometimes have to put the past behind you.there is no resentment about him leaving.we got a new dave who inspired us to get going again !!!




Tell me, what Benediction members do every day, excluding playing music? Do you work, study, watch soap operas or whatever?

* all of us are involved in the music industry in some way outside of the band.stage work,roadies,tour managing,other bands.but we keep that side of our lives outside the scope of benediction so I cannot really say anymore.we have houses,cars,kids.all these things need money so we do whatever we do to feed those things .




Last weeks few metal musicians passed away, such as Jon Nodtveidt from Dissection, Jesse Pintado from Napalm Death/Terrorizer and Otto from In Battle. What are your thought about that? Will this affect on the metal scene?

*when people of high profile in metal die it is always sad.all those you have named have been a big influence to somebody somewhere.jesse was the closest to us and him going has put the biggest hurt on us all.it is like losing a blood brother to us.as for jon,I loved the dissection stuff but feel a bit pissed off that he did what he did but I will keep my reasons private.they both left us with new material (terrorizer/dissection) so maybe people will go out and buy this stuff and take in what they left us.i didn’t know or hear much from otto/battle so I have no comment on it.




Benediction website was dead for a long time, and you’ve just relaunched it. To be honest – I was really waiting for that, mostly because I’m a huge fan of yours. New layout is really cool, it was worth waiting! Now when the new site is online, are you gonna interact with Ben’s fans, for example via discussion board? And will you publish any studio records, or maybe some exclusive stuff?.

*We will be doing all of what you have just asked ! me and dave go onto the forum everyday so if anything needs addressing by a band member then we will be there to answer.there will be studio reports.there will be exclusive downloads.




Okay, that’s all I wanted to ask you. Any message to Polish fans?

*we WILL come to Poland on the next tour.if they let us in then we will be there.thanks for the support and we should see you in spring/summer 2007.watch this space.

FRANK.


Other interview














Dave Hunt - Vocals -
Questions by Felix "the Comrade" & Roman "Maniac" Patrashov
(C) Russian Darkside e-Zine

I was shocked at seeing almost no information on Benediction dated 2001 - 2002 on the Internet. I mean I have found only one on-line interview and it was in Polish. Why did it happen? Don't you like being interviewed or is it that nobody pays due interest to the band?

Hmm, that's strange coz we've done loads of interviews with people from all over the place. At least this interview should help to even things up!




Here's the question that was probably already asked a million times but the interest is still there, you know - where did Benediction find Dave Hunt? Were you an old friend of theirs? Did they try to find a "throat" that would fit best in comparison with Dave Ingram? Please give us some background.

Well basically, I was in a band before - nothing special, just with a few friends here in Birmingham. Neil (Hutton, drummer - ed.) happened to see one of the gigs we did and thought it was good, and when Benediction were looking for a new singer, he thought back and suggested me. The audition was basically a month long tour with Death. Pretty fucking steep, but it turned out well.




How long did it take you guys to rehearse old stuff for the live shows?

That was the thing with the way I joined the band - I got a call at about 10am on a Sunday morning - I was still in bed! It was Neil saying 'We've got a European tour with Death in 9 days, do you want to do it?'. So we didn't have very long to prepare at all! For part of the first tour I did I had to have sheets of paper on the stage with bits of lyrics on them because I hadn't had time to learn all the lyrics. I think we managed to play ok though - that's what Benediction always is - Organised Chaos!




What was the fans' reaction to Dave Ingram's departure and Dave Hunt's inclusion in the band? Did it go through smooth? Especially during the your first live shows?

The first couple of shows were a little strange, because we were getting used to each other as much as anything else. Plus of course, many people were surprised not to see Dave Ingram. I think once we'd got into the tour though, things went pretty well. There will always be fans who don't like change, but there have been a lot of people saying how cool it is to get some fresh blood into the band. I think it's possibly a more aggressive live show now, and that's how I like it. It's been reasonably painless and now Benediction is as strong as ever.




Did you participate in the songwriting process for the "Organised Chaos" album?

I wrote all the lyrics, the rest of the guys wrote the music. Seems to make sense - if you're going to sing the lyrics you should write them, if you're going to play the tunes, you should write them. I know that's not how all bands work, but it works for us. The guys would go to our lockup and jam through stuff, piecing the songs together. When they were done, they went into the recording studio and recorded the instruments. I got a tape of that and listened to it while I wrote the lyrics. Then a couple of months later when they were all finished, I went into the studio and recorded the singing. All pretty straight forward, it was good to be involved in a professional way of doing things like that.




How long did it take the band to write and record the "Organised Chaos" CD? Where was it recorded? And why there? Give us some details…

Fucking ages! It took a long time to get everyone together and totally focused on the writing, but once they were together and working properly, things moved a lot quicker. I'd say the music was mostly written in a couple of months, then the instruments were recorded in about 2 weeks at Rhythm Studios. It's the place that Benediction have been using for years - a studio in the countryside outside Birmingham where we live. The guy who runs it, PJ, is a great chap and easy to work with so there was no reason at all that we would look for anywhere else to record. After that, like I said I took a couple of months to write the lyrics (it could have been less time, but I was at university writing essays and shit like that at the same time) then went into the studio for a couple of days to record the singing. Then there was some final polishing up before the tapes were sent to Andy Sneap for him to mix. And then of course we had to wait for them album to be released.




Are you satisfied with how Nuclear Blast works with Benediction?

Personally? No. It seems as though they have decided to concentrate on other bands. They have grown a lot as a label over the past few years, always signing bigger and bigger acts. So where Benediction was once a top priority for Nuclear Blast, now they have these really big bands they seem to concentrate on them more than us. That fucking sucks, no loyalty and no respect. Hardly any promotion for the new album, no support when we go on tour, no t-shirts. Fuck all. But then Markus, the head guy at Nuclear Blast came to one of the shows on our last tour and when we told him we weren't happy with their performance as a label, he said he'd sort things out, make an effort again. So far all the effort we've seen is a box and a half of our own CDs they sent us, but we're waiting to see what happens.




Tell us about touring. Do you like being on tour? You did a tour with Bolt Thrower. What was the overall feeling about playing on the same stage with them, the band where Dave Ingram is now vo-killing. Who was the first to play? Was there an intention to perform some old tunes with Dave I.?

Benediction love touring. That's it, end of story. We love getting out on the road, meeting the fans, drinking beer, playing fucking metal every night. How could you not love that? The tour with Bolt Thrower was great, some really cool shows, some great big sold out crowds. It really felt as if Death Metal was officially back. No, there was no thought of Ingram getting on stage with Benediction again. The way he left the band means that he burned his bridges, they won't share the same stage again, ever. Besides, that's my job now.




Benediction's previous release "Grind Bastard" features three cover versions. Why so many and why these particular songs?

It's all just extra stuff that the guys in the band thought the fans might like. The Judas Priest cover - well surely that's obvious - JP are gods, Ripper is a friend of Benediction's, and the song's a cool song to play. The others are songs that the guys in the band are fans of themselves. It's cool to show your roots sometimes, give the people buying the CDs an opportunity to see what lies behind the 'normal' songs on the album.




What is the meaning of the album title "Grind Bastard"?

Simple - Benediction's music always used to get called grind since the old days, and the band members are all bastards.




Are Benediction still in contact with Barney Greenway? What do you think of the latest Napalm Death records?

Barney can still be spotted round the metal clubs here in Birmingham occasionally so there's still contact, although I don't think there's a huge amount. Personally I've always liked Napalm and I think their new album ("Enemy Of The Music Business" - ed.) is a real return to form. I'm not into their more 'artistic' sides they've shown on the past few albums, but good old harsh grind aggression is great.




As far as I know, Benediction had a split with Pungent Stench before the first album. What songs did it contain? Are they available elsewhere?

I believe the songs were "Confess All Goodness" from us and "Blood, Pus and Gastric Juices" by PS. I've seen people say "Confess All Goodness" was on the "Subconscious Terror" album, but it's not on my copy so maybe it's only on some CDs as a bonus track or something. It's kind of cool because Nuclear Blast has just put out a new split single with us and Pungent Stench again, this time featuring a track each from our new albums. Back to the roots but new at the same time, a bit like some of the stuff on "Organised Chaos".




If we take "Organised Chaos" aside, what is the best album that you have done? Which Benediction album would you recommend to a person who has never heard your music?

Obviously I'd normally say "Organised Chaos", but here's one way of telling - Frank's son (reference to Frank Healy, bass player - ed.) is about 10 years old, and he only recently got to hear all of the albums Frank has recorded with Benediction. So he's got a totally fresh perspective. The two he picked as his favourites were "Organised Chaos" and "Transcend the Rubicon". "Transcend…" was the first Benediction album I got into myself too, so I'd have to go with that.




If you were asked to pick up bands for a Benediction tribute album, whom would you choose?

Tough question to answer. There are so many bands around that it would be hard. It would be nice to get bands from various different places to do it - maybe one from each country in and around Europe or something. It would be cool to do an ultra underground kind of thing, with some cult bands. Kind of like the Slaytanic Slaughter albums but a step further underground.




Will we ever see a new Warlord UK album someday?

I was speaking to Neil about them one night while we were on tour, given that he used to play drums for them. Apparently they've split up, so another album looks unlikely. But you never know, it might be cool if they did do another one.




Did you ever have any thoughts of coming to Russia with a gig or two? You have a lot of fans here! What do you know about Russia except for the traditional "vodka and Yeltsin" thing?

I think every interview I've ever done with Russian 'zines etc has always asked 'What do you know about Russia?'… Yes, we'd love to play in Russia. Like I said, we love going out on the road, and we'd especially like to get to some of the places that we don't normally get to play in. It's cool going round Germany etc. all the time, but we know there are other places we'd like to play too, especially including Russia. Nobody asked us yet! If someone wants to book a Russian tour, just speak to our manager - we'll play anywhere! I did some Russian history at school, and I've got a friend who speaks Russian and lived there for a while, so hopefully I should know a little bit more than just Vodka and Yeltsin…




Members of many metal bands tend to listen to non-metal stuff in their ordinary (off-stage) life. What kind of music do you prefer to listen to at home/in your car/in the studio? What music inspires you most of all?

The guys in Benediction listen to various stuff. Personally, I listen to stuff from extreme sludge and grindcore like Circle of Dead Children or Goatsblood to Black Metal like Mayhem and Anaal Nathrakh right through to non-metal stuff - have you ever heard "Play Dead" by Bjork? Fucking great. Most of the other guys in the band would say the music I like is shit noise, they like their Slayer, they love Discharge, Pro-Pain, stuff like that. Even dance music if they're in the right mood, if you know what I mean.




When can we expect a new Benediction album? Will it be in three years again or maybe earlier this time?

Hopefully not another 3 years! The last tour was cool, and I think it's given us a bit of momentum to get working on the next CD sooner rather than later. There's still plenty of ideas for songs floating around, and we're hoping to get back into the rehearsal studio soon to start sorting them all out.




Please, say some words to the Benediction fans from Russia.

Thanks for staying loyal to the scene, and we hope to see you soon. It can be difficult for bands like to us to get to all the places on tour that we would like to play - but believe us, if there is a way we can get out there and see just how crazy the Russian metal fans are for ourselves, we'll fucking get there! Plus, I don't think I've ever drunk Russian beer, so in the name of scientific investigation, we have to go!