For years, Vital Remains has been at the top of the death metal food chain. Never knowing what compromise means, they strive through diversity, member changes and the usual bullshit life throws at us to be one of the best bands alive. Dechristianize could quite possibly be their best work. This is an interview with Tony Lazaro, guitarist about VR, new vocalist Glen Benton (Deicide) and how Vital Remains is quite possible bigger than their home state Rhode Island.

How did the decision to add Glen come about?

Well, it started when I was one ht road a couple years ago, we had talked about him doing guest vocals, it wasn't the first time, asked him back in 94, but at the time he was going thru a divorce and he really couldn't do it. But at the time I asked him to do guest vocals and he said it would and what happened is the singer we had wasn't really getting it, it wasn't there, he wasn't ready for the studio and we had to make a decision of what to do. He didn't have the experience, we were being pressured by the label to get the record done we mentioned it to Glen and he said he'd do the whole record. We were blown away. He's one of the best voices in death metal, so powerful. It worked really, really well. I was blown away.

It must have been fun for him to do something different.

It was. It's not like we hadn't heard Glen before. I think a lot of people are going to be shocked; it's not like his style with Deicide. It's our songs and our lyrics. It's different but it's still him. It shows he has great range and ability.

How's that working for you?

Great. Yeah, it's been overwhelming, the response is really great; people are saying it's our best work, it's in the top ten of metal releases. I'm overwhelmed; we've worked so hard on it. It's good to get the appreciation back from the press and everything, but it's all overwhelming.

Is he able to go on tour with you guys?

He's stated if the demand is there he would. If the album is well received, we'll see.

It will be.

We're taking it one step at a time. We'll see how the record goes.

Dechristianize was supposed to be released earlier. Why the delay?

Yeah, what happened is when we signed with Olympic (Recordings), Olympic decided to sign the business over to Century Media. We they heard the pre-production of Dechristianize, they were in the process of buying out Olympic, and that just took a long time. We couldn't move or master it until everything was finalized. There were contracts, lawyers, all the legal stuff takes a while. Then when everything was taken care of, we went and mastered it and that's why it was late.

When you lawyers involved, it'll take more time.

Yeah, and we had to have things paid for before the reels were released, and with contracts, that just made it more of a wait. I think it was worth the wait, a lot of people said it was worth the wait.

I like Dechristianize a lot. It's a great album. But I've never been disappointed with a Vital Remains album. Is it difficult to keep up the quality?

Trying to outdo the last one?

Yeah, or keeping up to the same level as the previous release.

Yeah, I couldn't even see topping the last one (Dawn of the Apocolypse), I started writing at home, trying to put songs together. It took a little over a year, I really put a lot into it. It wasn't like a month to a couple of months to do it. I would start putting the best ones together and then tell Dave (Suzuki, bass, drums, lead guitars) about them. I'd call Dave and start jamming on his answering machine. Like I said it took a lot of time and then we put it on tape; we did a lot of pre-production. David started coming up with a lot of leads and harmonies, and we started thinking we have something here that's really brutal, like we've done it, we've outdone the last album. It was still a Vital Remains album, we just took it to another level. But again, now knowing we could do it, giving 110 % again, we approach it from different angles, but you know it's one of our records.

How do you stay focused?

I try to stay focused by giving it everything we have.

What inspires you?

It could be something I might have seen on TV, a religious thing maybe. Late at night these evangelists, you know the guys I'm talking about, they keep begging for money. That inspires me. I think the inspiration for one of the songs "Infadel", came from what we were called by the Muslims. This should have been played on loudspeakers during the Iraq war, this would have scared the fuck out of all them. They would have been shitting and would have surrendered right away. Oh shit, I lost my train of thought, what was the question?

Inspiration?

Oh yeah, It could be a book, like reading something; it could be something like that. I don't know if you know about Provedence.

I've been there once, nice place.

Yeah, I could be down by the water, sitting on the wharf, overlook the city, or just walking around when I start thinking about the beginning of a song.

You have a lot of Energy, you get it out onstage.

Yeah, this is my way of venting.

That's why metalheads are so mellow in real life.

Yeah, you get it out on stage or you go to a show and hit the pit. All your frustration is worked out.

Now that Century Media is distributing Olympic artists, has that gotten more exposure for Vital Remains?

Really, really cool, totally professional. They have the ability to get the record into the stores. We never had to big push in on our own country. The releases would be in the stores in Europe, but people would email us from the US and say they couldn't find the record here. They'd have to pay $20 with shipping to European distributors just to find the record. Marty with Olympic had us and gave us a great deal.

Marty's great.

Yeah, we like him a lot. We were hearing he wanted to get out of it, too much and all, it looks like he did the right thing.

What do you see in extreme metal's future?

It looks like it's getting bigger. Death metal is getting bigger, more popular. Well in the mid 90s it dropped out and back metal came out and grew, then in the last couple years, death metal has been pushing the boundaries. A lot of talented bands are starting to pull their way back, the scene is getting bigger, not that it's ever gone anywhere, it was more below the surface, so to speak, even the black metal stuff. It's something I'm proud of. With the rest of the extreme bands we're the most powerful music on the planet. It's great to be in this genre of music, it could be black metal, gore metal, death metal, we're all pushing the extreme. I don't see it getting any heavier, I was asking Dave can it get any heavier, he said I don't know. It's killer, we did do that some years ago.

What have you been listening to lately? Anything new you really like?

Uh, the Behemoth, they blew my mind, absolutely sick. They killed when they played. I haven't seen that kind of brutality since I saw Morbid Angel. Me and Dave were like thrashing away to those guys. The new Malevolent Creation, Marduk, is pretty brutal

The new Revenge?

Yeah, it's cool, it's pretty raw. I thought live, they were awesome, it was like Blasphemy from Canada

His voice is so distinctive, you know it's Pete (Helmkamp).

Yeah, I think they're even better live than on the record.

It's tax day, are your taxes all done?

I haven't paid taxes as haven't worked in two years.

How do you manage that?

Every time I go on tour, I put a little money away. I also was working on tour with Deicide. I was doing welding until we went to Europe, did that for three years. Then I told my boss "fuck off", see ya! That was two years ago.

All of sudden you're singing Johnny Paycheck.

(laughs) Yeah, before that I was doing property management. But metal first, that's the way I look I at it. Oh, I'm also designing a brand new guitar. It 's called the "Guitar Crucifier". Have you heard of it?

No, I haven't.

It's got horns and an upside-down cross and it's got horns coming out of it, with upside down cross inlays. Ken Patton with Yavcon.com revolutionize guitar building and really helped me with it. There are 90 different variations with interchanging body shapes. You can check out Ken's website for more information.

Cool. Great to talk to you, Tony.

You too! See you are a show soon!

Vital Remains website:
Vitalremains2000@aol.com

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