Interviews

Interview with Andy LaPlegua Of CombiChrist

Published

6 years ago

June 10, 2018

Ron

BALTIMORE ARE YOU READY TO GET YOUR BODY BEAT?

That’s right kiddos, it’s that time again that CombiChrist comes into town to have a good time, listen to some good music and just enjoy the company of insane like minded folks… oh ya and of course. Joe Letz..

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Singer Andy LaPlegua, about old things, new things and every oddball in between.

Empire: How’s the tour going so far?

Andy: It’s doing really good, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s a good package, we are all so different. There’s nothing worse than listening to the same style of band for every band throughout the night. The crowd has really good energy throughout the night, which is good for us since we are the 5th band to come on.

Empire: How would you describe the change of sound from old CombiChrist to newer CombiChrist?

Andy: It’s like life man, everything changes and evolves around you. It’s all about exploring within the same genre, I think that the album This is Where Death Begins I reached an end of that road on how far I wanted to go, I kind of turned around and walking back down the path. The new material that I’m working on now, it’s way more back to the roots, which everyone is thinking I’m going to do more like the first albums, but it has a lot more from that time era though.

Empire: So you are working on a new album?

Andy: Yeah man, I was actually supposed to do it with this run, but then we got a new management and new team around us, we just put a hold on it. After the summer we will go back and look at it again.

Empire: So more than likely early 2019?

Andy: Yeah.

Empire: Any chance of doing Icon of Coil or Scandinavian Cock again? ( which I accidentally said dick not cock)

Andy: I loved that you called it Scandinavian Dick, it’s great that will be the reunion name. I need to change that rooster emblem and put Dick Chaney instead (Laughs). Well it’s not dead it’s just not something I’m working hard on now.We did an Icon of Coil Show couple months ago in Berlin, every time we do it, it’s just me and one other guy, and we’re like “yeah man, we do this more it’s so fun and simple”. We are talking about a few show but nothing serious, we’re still working on the album that we have been working on for like 10 years (Laughs), One day it will be out.

Empire: What’s your favorite song to play from the CombiChrist catalog?

Andy: It’s hard to say, you’ll hear the songs tonight on the setlist are basically my favorite songs. We have 2 songs tonight, they are old songs but haven’t played them on tour before, because we never made it sound good before but some reason now it does.

Empire: Who would you like to see do a cover of a CombiChrist song?

Andy: I’m not sure, I wouldn’t want anyone within the same genre to cover it, I think that’s dumb when you have covers like that, but out of genre I would like to hear maybe Hank III would be fun or anyone from that genre or the folk scene. I think it would fit too. I always wanted to covered Wild Boys from Duran Duran that makes more sense.

Empire: Do you have any plans on doing a cover on a CombiChrist album?

Andy: If there is it might be out soon. (Both laugh)

Empire: Are you saying that there might be a cover on the next album?

Andy: There’s a possible one in the future.

Empire: With all the bands reuniting, what band would you like to see?

Andy: uh Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots.

Empire: Yeah those would be pretty tough. (Both laugh)

Andy: I’m actually no big fans of them I was just being a dick (Both laugh). I feel like that bands that went to Pass, they never feel the same. Seeing Misfits in an arena, come on, Misfits belong in a dirty small club, that’s the way you have to see them.

Empire: If you could bring back one dead musician who would you bring back?

Andy: That’s a hard one, I mean how long can they live though (Laughs) my two big ones would be David Bowie and Johnny Cash. But Cash his story is legendary and wouldn’t want to fuck with it, Bowie still had lots more to give us.

It was supper cool to just shoot the shit with Andy, drummer Joe Letz was on the bus and talked a little got a photo with them both and Joe told me to come meet them before the set to get a photo with him in his full makeup gear, which was amazing. CombiChrist put on one hell of a show, not a dull moment. As much as I love CombiChrist’s music to me, it’s always entertaining to watch Joe play the drums because even without the costume on , he just is insane and fun to watch, I do fill a little sorry for his drum tech having to pick up pieces of drums and sticks all the time. Andy runs around the stage like a madman possessed such a great front man, and such a killer band to see. I’ve seen them plenty of times and every time is just as exciting as the first. CombiChrist ended the set with What the Fuck is Wrong with You and invited the crowd to forget the barrier and come to the front of the stage and sing along with the band. It was a perfect ending to an awesome set. Can’t wait to see what CombiChrist brings to us in the future.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Related Topics:Andy LaPlegua Baltimore MD Combichrist Empire Extreme featured Joe Letz Soundstage

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

2 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

3 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.