Interview with Rich Hoak

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Brutal truth split basically because of personal reasons: members of the band didn't get along, and haven't for a long time. finally the situation got to the point where we could not create and write new songs because of the bad vibrations in the jam room, no matter that we were playing really well live. rather then replacing one member or another(which we felt would have taken away from our unique musical chemistry), we decided to end the band.

-Are you still good friends after the split-up?

as good as we were before the split up, maybe a little more so now that business and other pressures are over

-Which B.T. album is your favourite? Why?

sound of the animal kingdom, because i think it is the cd that captures the energy and emotions of bt and our music the best.

-Did you play in some other bands before B.T.? If yes,what did you play?

i've been playing music since about 1983: i played in many punk/hardcore bands in the 80's, but they never were very serious as i was a bit drunk and crusty at the time. for a few years before bt, i played drums in a band called ninefinger with mike dean from corrosion of conformity. ninefinger's music sounds like black flag meets black sabbath, with some old C.O.C. crossover metal thrown in

-Who composed the song "Prey"? Did you ever listen to that song 'til the end?

PREY consists of a 2 second blast in 7/7 time that we sampled from the middle of average people and looped over 600 times. when kevin was working on song order, he got the idea to use a looped riff as a locked groove on the vinyl version. he had billy take this a step farther on the cd, making prey longer and adding other sounds. this song is about being trapped, prey for a predator, and id the final musical head pummelling for anyone who dares to listen that far in to the cd!! and yes, i have listened to this song until the end, many times. sounds of the animal kingdom is a complete cd experience and is meant to be listened to from beginning to end!

-Did you enjoy playing with B.T.?

of course: playing extreme music at high volume for a crowd of grind freaks is an intense emotional high for me. it was my favorite part of the bt experience

-I have never seen you live (....& I was happy that Iím going to see you on Grind over Europe,but unfortunately you split-up), so what can you tell me 'bout your live-shows....like with whom did you play, any funny stories, etc....

bt usually toured about8 months out of the year, since i joined the band in dec93, we toured japan and australia twice, europe 6-7 times, mexico, new zealand, canada and many usa tours. we toured with bands like deicide, 6 feet under, cannibal corpse, bloodduster, corrupted, hellchild, macabre, immolation, oppressor and a lot more. when we play live, our songs are faster and more powerful than on recordings(at least i think so). once we start playing a set, we don't stop for anything except maybe a mid-set hash joint. whenever bt plays shows, we like to make it more like a party for us and for the audience. i like touring with deicide best i think, glen bentonand the rest are very cool, Personable guys, despite what their bands image is, and fun to hang and smoke with.

-So....what are your future plans? In music/personal life....

at the moment, i am just hanging out and relaxing, working on my record label a little bit. i'm working on some projects that i started when i was in bt, but never had the chance to finish: caveman, a saxaphone/noise jam, and a band called total fucking destruction. i'm not in any hurry to go back out on the road for 8 months a year, for me to  get involved in a band that seriously again, i would have to be very very very into the music

-Do you know something about the future plans of the other members of the band?

danny's pretty busy with the SOD comeback cd at the moment, it is going to be pretty big! kevin and gurn are working and hanging with their families, i haven't heard any future musical plans from them yet

-Are there any chances that once you'll play together again?

i don't think so!

-Do you know any Czech/Slovak bands?

masters hammer is a band i've always liked, other than them nothing comes to mind at the moment. i've listened to a few plastic people of the universe records also, i think they are from prague.

-Do you like snowboarding? How good are you?

i'm not very good, my girlfriend is into snowboarding and since bt's breakup, we've finally had a chance for a holiday together. i've only done it a few times, but now i can at least get down the moutainside without falling much

-How many snare-drums have you damaged during your career?

at least 2 snares totally fell apart over the years, and 2-3 more were beaten until they were no longer usable. i've always thought that drums were made to be beaten on as hard as possible, if they break, too bad.

-Did you like to wear dread-locks?

i not really too interested in hair, after my hair grew long i got sick of combing it and it turned to dreads. with dreads i didn't have to wash or comb or cut my hair, so it was very convenient, especially for touring

-Kevin used to wear that hat....is he a western fan?

no comment

-I heard that you (the whole band) have played in a porno? Is that true? Do you like porno?

a guy named jef hickey used to be a roadie for nuclear assault, after that, he moved to los angeles and married alisha millions and got into the porno business. he was filming some movie that had some dorky characters who go
to L.A. to get into chicks and rock and roll. for about three minutes of the movie, they go to a heavy metal show and the band playing in the background is brutal truth. they filmed us while we were playing at the whiskey in hollywood as part of the cannibal corpse tour. we barely knew it was happening. i'm not really interested in porn, most pornography is boring, and the most perverse things i see have nothing to do with sex or porn. So perverted that it sickens me is the cruel things that people can do to other humans: war and oppression in yugoslavia, iraq, mexico, burma, american ghettos, and more. this is more perverse than any porno.

-Is there something that I have frogotten to ask & you would like to tell....? Any words at the end....?

thanks to you for the interview, thanks to all those fans of extreme underground music who have supported bt over the years. look out for a live bt cd to be released by relapse that was recorded on our last australian tour. the bt post office box in nyc has been closed, if anyone wants to write to individual members, they should write in care of  relapse records. you can always reach me at rich666@voicenet.com

grind on!

-r.

BRUTAL TRUTH (USA) -Extreme conditions demand extreme responses '92- The debut album of this great band...On this album BT plays fast DeathGrind...

BRUTAL TRUTH (USA) -Need to control '94- My favourite BT album...with this album they've left Death metal influences & continued with Grind with some psycho influences...

BRUTAL TRUTH (USA) -Kill trend suicide MCD '96- The most insane album in BT history! Cool!!! Including a Noise bonus...

BRUTAL TRUTH/RUPTURE (USA/AUS)
-Picture split 7"EP '96-
BT is here with 1 studio song...Vision (yes!) + 2 live songs... Rupture is a Noisy CrustGrind band from Australia...cool!!! Nice picture EP with pictures of pot...
 

BRUTAL TRUTH (USA) -Sounds of the animal kingdom '97- The most original stuff! On this CD you can hear everything...90% of it is Grind core, the rest is HC, Death metal, Black metal & Thrash!!!