Occultist – Interview with singer Kerry Zylstra and guitarist Kent Jung

By Ron Senyo

On a hot and scorching day at GWAR B-Q outside Richmond Virginia we stumbled across a band that we were hearing rumblings about in the underground. We were told a few weeks prior to the show to make sure we checked out Occultist when we were there.  As luck would have it we were able to hook up with singer Kerry Zylstra and guitarist Kent Jung and share their brand of punk rock infused metal with the masses.

Empire Extreme: How’s it going today here at the GWAR B-Q?
Kerry Zylstra: Hot….
Kent Jung: Yes very hot! Another sweaty GWAR BBQ.

Empire Extreme: This is your guys’ 3rd or 4th GWAR BBQ.  How is it being sort of like the veterans here?
Kent Jung: It’s good. I feel that they always work hard to get continually, not just big bands, but more interesting and diverse acts.
Kerry Zylstra: Yeah, it’s cool. I remember the first time we played at The National. They kind of looked at us like, “What the fuck?” Now people know who we are and there are people waiting to see us.

Empire Extreme: You are from Richmond, how’s that scene? A lot of big bands have come out of there.
Kent Zylstra: It’s awesome! Whether it’s heavy or underground music, it’s thriving. We have a lot of good venues here, from big clubs to small venues.

Empire Extreme: Where did the name Occultist come from?
Kent Jung: Our other guitarist Jim Reed, he kind of came up with it. I don’t really know where it spawned from. I know it touches on the occult theme with the lyrics and stuff. I’m not sure if that’s a real word.
Kerry Zylstra: It sounds cool.

Empire Extreme: For those who have never had the opportunity to hear you, how would you describe your music?

Kent Jung: If you’re talking about as an emotion, aggressive would be a word that comes to mind. It does have some melodic qualities to it at times. It’s a mixture of punk and metal and all the genres in between.
Kerry Zylstra: Metal/punk , yeah individually we definitely take to different genres. All of our influences are combined, there are traces of punk, metal and black metal; like Scandinavian Japanese hardcore.

Empire Extreme: [To Kerry Zylstra]  Do you write all the lyrics?
Kerry Zylstra: Yeah mostly. I have a friend I like to collaborate with named Justin Ryan. We work very well together. Everybody comes up with the ideas, sometimes Jim comes up with something.
Kent Jung: If I read about something that’s cool, that’s a dark subject matter, I get the ideas and I’ll pitch it.

Empire Extreme: Is the band working on any new material?
Kent Jung: Yes, we are hard at work with a new full length album. We have been cracking away with that, hopefully we should have it out by the first two months of next year. I feel this is some of our strongest material yet. It’s got more of a thump to it.
Kerry Zylstra: I feel like our sound is a lot more polished, but still hard as fuck.

Empire Extreme: If you had the opportunity to play any festival, which would you like?
Kerry Zylstra: DeathFest. Maryland DeathFest.
Kent Jung: Hellfest would be cool. I would love to do a tour in Europe. I feel that we would blow up more in those areas.

Empire Extreme : Any shows big coming up?
Kerry Zylstra: On November 11th, it’s going to be a house show.

Empire Extreme: Anything you want add or say to your fans?
Kerry Zylstra: We love you guys.
Kent Jung: We really do. It’s so surreal to me. I’ve always been in bands that had little to no reaction at all and I stuck with them for years. So it’s weird being in a band that people enjoy and fans that want our autographs. We can’t say thanks enough to the GWAR guys. They have done a lot for us.

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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