This interview with Larry Lalonde was typed by Marc Schmidt (mns@excite.de) from the magazine Metal Mania, vol. 1 no. 10. The interview was conducted by Andy Patrizio (a wanker, by the account he gives - I mean, who COULDN'T like Seven Churches?!?!)
These guys are heavy as lead, making serious waves, and they're not even 20 years old!
The first time I heard Possessed it left a very bad taste in my mouth. I mean, "Burning In Hell" was not the most sensitive piece of music I had ever heard. The guitar work put cracks in the walls of my room and the vocals sounded like Lemmy with bronchitis.
However, people change. I didn't, but Possessed did. Their latest, Beyond the Gates, is much more musical, better sounding, but still heavy as lead.
With this effort, Possessed show that they do possess (no pun intended) a great deal of talent. And at quite a young age, too. In interviews circa "Burning in Hell" guitarist Larry Lalonde stated he and his bassist/vocalist Jeff Beccera were still in high school, thus making a long tour impossible at that time.
However, all four members (Larry and Jeff, plus guitarist Mike Torrao and drummer Mike Sus) are now done and out of school ... sort of. "Mike Sus is kinda going to college so his parents won't kick him out of the house", says Lalonde. "It's a junior college. Jeff's kind of in junior college, but I don't think he ever goes."
In discussing the new album, Larry didn't think that Beyond the Gates was different from Seven Churches. I guess we're a lot tighter," he says. "There's no real change, just a lot better production."
As it turns out, Combat has taken their time in releasing the album. "The album was done right around Easter. We let them use their (album) cover so there wouldn't be any procrastination on our part, and it's still not out."
You would think that the band would want to get onto a major label, especially after hearing how good Megadeth and Metallica sounded with a big-budget production. And you would be wrong! "We didn't do any-thing to wimp out so that they´d like us, but it seems like a lot of labels now don't really care about the band's style. There's a lot of labels now that'll take a chance on bands, like Slayer getting signed by Geffen.'
One thing about Possessed that makes thern different is their management. Larry explained how they met up with Debby Abono, their manager. I used to go out with her daughter", he said with a laugh. "Before I as in ossessed, she was managing a band m and Jeff were in. Then Jeff left to oin Possessed, then I left to join Possessed, and she came along."
What she got was a band that was soon being touted as a "baby Slayer" by people at their record company, as well as in metal underground circles. The band themselves didn't see it this way, and try to downplay this connection. They see themseives as being more like Venom. One of the themes that ties all three of these groups together is their thrashing sound and their Satanic themes.
Sometimes, in reading the pen pal lists that run in metal fanzines, it makes a person wonder if these kids actually believe all this Satanic stuff. Do Possessed believe the Satanic stuff they write about? "No" laughs Larry. "I don't know what half of it is about. It's all Jeff, all his books." Books? "He reads all kinds of weird books. Not really satanic." The Satanic Bible? "Yeah, he reads that."
Nor does he think that the fans believe the lyrics. "Maybe a few really weird ones. We met some really weird people. They think that they're Satan and stuff."
Six months ago it was hip to classify yourself as "death metal", "speed metal" or "black metal." Nowadays bands don't want to be classified. Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth all dislike the speed/thrash metal tag. So does Larry. "I hate all those categories, ya know - black metal, thrash metal. lt's the band's music, whatever you think it is."
This dredges up the entire issue of rock and religion, a buzzing hornets' nest these days, if ever there was one. "I think it's all kinda weird", Larry asserts. "That's why we're trying to get away from all that, ´cause the two don't make any sense, metal and religion."
Rather than going after a big name to go on the road with, Larry said his first choice for a band to tour the world with would be D.R.l. (that stands for the Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), which is surprising, since most bands would give their collective right eyes to tour with Maiden or Metallica. Why D.R.I.? "Well, we just played a few gigs with them, we thought they were pretty cool." Why not a major band to get into the arenas?" I dunno. I don't think anybody would like us if we played with a major act."
When asked if he could see Possessed becoming a major act themselves, Larry seemed almost indifferent. "I dunno. lt depends on whether or not a lot of people get into it. Either way, it doesn't really matter to me, ´cause it's still gonna be the same thing to us, whether it's a real big thing or if it's the underground."
Could he see himself still doing his five or ten years from now? "Yeah. Well, maybe not this, but playin' something."
With an average age of about 20, perhaps what Possessed needs is about five years and a little change of attitude. Their ability cannot be denied. But after all, the music they play does not have mass market appeal. Perhaps they like being underground and under-known, but a band that is this good deserves better.