1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new ep?
Anthony Lustmord: We've had a lot to do recently. We just wrapped up a mini tour with Green Jello. We're members of Green Jello for when Bill comes to Arizona. So that was fun and very hectic and chaotic but everytime we work with Bill it is a huge learning experience for us. We're also working on new material for a new album.
2.Recently you have released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical sound of the new recording?
Anthony Lustmord: The music is a mix from older songs and a couple of new songs. We had 4 different guitarists on this album, so each one brought their own style onto the album. We have elements of Raw black metal, old school death metal, east coast thrash, and melodic death metal. All of the different guitar styles
are brought together with our signature drum, bass and vocal style. Daniel Beck and Rock Rollain play so tight and have a distinct sound it doesn't matter what the guitarist is playing we're going to make it sound like us. I'd say we managed to come up with a solid album within the old school blackened death metal genre.
3.There has not been much new material released in the last few years, can you tell us a little bit more about it?
Anthony Lustmord: Honestly we've had a hard time keeping guitarists. They either quit or we have to fire them. That's one of the reasons why we called the album Trapped In Purgatory, as the band has literally been trapped in purgatory in a sense. I was also very ill for a little over a year, where I was nearly dead and bedridden. So that took up a big chunk of time.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Anthony Lustmord: Mostly grief, loss, death, murder, love, occult/horror topics.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The Lustmord'?
Anthony Lustmord: As of this time I cannot comment on the band name, we are currently involved in a legal dispute over the name right now. I do apologize for the situation.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Anthony Lustmord: After every show we discuss our show and give it a little rating. We all have different ideas of what makes a successful show. We've played shows infront of 10,000 people and others infront of 5 people. Some of my favorite shows have been ones where I've surprised myself. Such an example is last year we played with Nile, we went on right before them, we were having member issues at that time and we were about to fire our guitarist and he knew he was on his way out, so we didn't get a lot of practice in and he was playing things incorrectly. We sort of figured we would have an issue at the show, but when it was all said and done we played our set perfectly and the crowd was louder for us than they were for Nile and had a bunch of the crowd yelling at Nile between songs to bring us back up (which I don't endorse doing that, especially to a band as great as Nile) but it's one of those cool moments that happen every now and again. In terms of our stage show, we're a straight forward band, we don't wear matching outfits, or do any back to back synchronized headbanging or any of that. We get up and we perform. Each member does something specific to them that brings their own flare, but honestly we're a no gimmick band, we get up and put our intensity out there, and people seem to like it.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Anthony Lustmord: We're working on touring plans for this summer/fall. With our current legal situation it has caused a little delay but we have some things booked. We're playing May 3rd at the Wild Wild Fest and then later that night at a VIP show. We're co-headlining the fest on the "metal stage" with Murder Death Kill.
8.The new ep was released on the bands own label, are you open to working with other labels again in the future?
Anthony Lustmord: We're open to the idea depending on the situation. We had a couple labels that wanted to release the EP, but none of them could do anything for us. Lustmord Entertainment has distribution through Universal Music Group, so when you have the largest label in the world pushing your music you really don't have any reason to work with any other label especially when they can't offer us anywhere near the distribution we have on our own. Then you have to think about finances, why would we give a label 70% or more to do less than we can do on our own. Even larger labels can't compete with our distribution.
This album has proven that we have the ability to sell a lot of copies and we have pushed it and we're working with a great PR company so we have everything available to us that any of the top labels have. So there would have to be a large financial deal in place from any other label we would work with and they would have to be able to match or allow us to retain our distribution rights. Now that being said, it is a goal to work with METAL BLADE RECORDS. They have our favorite bands, and have been the best in metal since the 80's so if they ever offer anything we would probably take it.
9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death and black metal?
Anthony Lustmord: So far we haven't heard any negative feedback really. There was one review that listed our album 5 out of 10, but for the most part we took that as constructive criticism. We can't please everyone, and we're really not trying to. But we listen to all reviews and fans and like to hear everyones opinion on our music, this way we can see what we need to work on, and what we can keep and perfect. But so far, people have reacted in a positive way and been nothing but supportive.
10.What is going on with the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are involved with?
Anthony Lustmord: Our guitarist Ivan and fill in bass player Katt are in a band called Element A440, they won the Project Independent contest for 2013 so they were put on tour and won a ton of endorsements. They play fairly often in Arizona and neighboring areas. They have an album out now you can get more info at http://www.facebook.com/elementa440.music
Rock Rollain is waiting around for Allen West so they can do more work on Southwicked. He is also doing two cover bands called Never 2 Strong, and Sneaky Pete.
Daniel Beck is also drumming in a traditional heavy metal outfit called Crimson Reign they're currently working on a new album as well. Daniel and myself also run Lustmord Entertainment so we are looking for some quality bands and would like to invite any bands reading this interview to submit material to us.
11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Anthony Lustmord: There isn't any doubt in our minds that we're going to be making the billboard charts soon, if not with this album then with our next one. Our music will only get tighter with time. Our line-up is the best that it's ever been, we have people in the band that actually want to be in the band and they work hard to do what needs to get done. We're going to keep getting better and evolving. We're working on coming up with some video ideas as we plan on pushing 1-2 videos for Trapped In Purgatory.
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Anthony Lustmord: Old School bands like Acheron, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Dismember bands like Laaz Rocket, The Loudness, Wasp, Kalmah, Catamenia, Six Feet Under, Danzig,
Motorhead. All of those bands and hundreds more has some form of influence on the band.
I don't like to listen to metal when i'm working on a new album, so stuff I listen to are bands like Nine Inch Nails, Bootsy Collins, Slyfox (I'm a big Mudbone fan) Taco, Daniel is an all metal all the time kind of guy, he is into Chris Holmes, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Ratt, Motley Crue, Kiss, Cannibal Corpse. Rollain, well he's just the bass player so no one cares about what he listens to... and Ivan listens to a little bit of everything, he is kept pretty busy between us and Element, but I know he just saw Kataklysam, and Carcass over the last couple weeks.
13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Anthony Lustmord: All the usual stuff I suppose. We all go to concerts, go out to movies, fine dining. I'm trying to teach these guys the value of wearing fine clothes. Ric Flair taught me how to dress pretty much, I contacted him one day and asked him to teach me how to style and profile. So ever since then I've started a nice suit collection. I'm also very into gaming so that is something I spend a lot of time on. Day z, GTA 5, Fallout series, Elder Scrolls, I'm into all of those types of games and it keeps me fairly busy.
14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Anthony Lustmord: I'd like to thank you for taking the time to interview us. We would like to thank your readers for taking time to read this interview, and for hopefully purchasing our album Trapped In Purgatory. If you want to add us on facebook you can add ANTHONY LUSTMORD or facebook.com/alustmord you can visit our official site at www.thelustmord.com the label site is www.lustmordentertainment.com you can find our album on Sony Music Unlimited, iTunes, Amazon, and hundreds of other online retail stores you can find a list of direct links at www.lustmord.us/store.html
Thank you again for the interview, anytime you have any follow up questions we're happy to answer! If anyone reading this wants to gig swap or book us or would like to set up a split album get in touch and we are happy to make it happen.
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