Hi, RETCHED. Greetings from Germany! What are you up to these days?
What's up metalheads of Germany it's a pleasure to be here.
These days are busy as hell for me with working long hours at my full time job as a millwright at a mining operation here in the Mojave Desert in Southern California and working on my days off on new music and managing my house and family it can get crazy at times there's never enough time but somehow I do it.
Would you please introduce your band to our readers who are not aware of your music?
My artist name is RETCHED it's pronounced {recht'}
RETCHED is my official trademarked name now.
By definition in the English dictionary it means to vomit or want to heave like you are going to.
That's how I feel everytime I see or hear the world news.
I'm an old school thrash metal solo artist these days bringing to the world my new old school Thrash Metal sound because it's my favorite style of metal.
Check out my sound here at my latest video: Horrific by RETCHED out on every streaming platform and downloads.
Could you give us a little insight into the formation of the band? When and how did it happen?
Sure It's kind of a crazy thing how I got back into the scene so, I'll start back from 1988 this is the year that "The Overlord Messiah" EP was actually born.
At that time the band was called AVATAR but I always hated that name because it wasn't metal enough to me but, at that time our manager who owned the trademark for a sports car that he had on the market named "AVATAR" he convinced us it would be best to run under a trademarked name and it was the easiest way besides waiting months to register a new name so we went with it. We were all just kids then and had no clue.
All we knew is we were a metal band and we were trying to go somewhere.
Originally a five piece band the line up was:
Logan Makiah on rhythm and lead guitar
myself: David DerMinasian on rhythm guitar
Doug Jackson on Vocals
Mike Duley on Drums
Roger Guzman on Bass
We spent six months at rehearsal then went in and cut the EP in a huge commercial studio in our home town of Fresno California called Maximus Media Inc. That's why the sound quality is so awesome it has the analog tape sound because it was just that. Shortly after that we started playing shows in Fresno and Los Angeles Ca. Months later though the band started to fall apart because of management problems and things that went wrong, so we broke up and never got to release "The Overlord Messiah" EP at all.
Soon after we broke up I gave up on music and figured that it's game over for me.
I did however keep playing guitar just for my own enjoyment then one day in 2012 I began writing for the first time in decades.
I came up with the riffs for "HORRIFIC" which is my actual solo debut. I was so inspired by "HORRIFIC" that I chose to gear up and start building my own studio.
That took several years to perfect. I still had the master recording for "The Overlord Messiah" EP so as I was taking classes for recording I learned how you could release music yourself in the digital age.
Because "The Overlord Messiah" EP was abandoned for decades I did release it with Alone records for a short run and I had been trying to find my old mates the whole time since then.
I finally found Logan Makiah and Doug Jackson who both wrote all the music and lyrics for "The Overlord Messiah" EP and got them on board for their work on The Overlord Messiah EP release with Sliptrick Records which will be hitting stores any day now internationally.
At what age did you start playing instruments, and since when have you been into metal music?
I started dabbling with instruments at the age of five years old we had a piano in the house several violins and mandolins and my older brother Robert had begun to play the guitar and my older sister Anna too I was just fascinated that these things make sounds so I started banging on them and making noise. Eventually after I was about ten years old I began to try taking lessons and I progressed into the metal music in my teens around the early 1980's you know the original Van Halen - Scorpions - Judas Priest - Dio - Black Sabbath - Iron Maiden and the likes of those bands.
About The Overlord Messiah. Could you tell us something about it and walk us through all the track's lyrics and meanings?
"The Overlord Messiah" EP is A true metal sound with some thrashy beats with an influence of older Iron Maiden - Black Sabbath - and Judas Priest vibes.
Track 1: Black Leather and Me: This is a song about when your band is coming on stage and you are playing to the fans and living in the true spirit of what heavy metal music means. It’s about the anticipation before the show starts both between the band and the fans to perform and the energy shared between the band and the fans and the freedom of expression when you are in the moment and nothing outside the concert hall matters, all your pain and all your sadness disappears both for the band and the fans.
Track 2: Insane: This song is about one man’s obsession with this woman that has captivated his mind after making love to her just once. It has cost him to lose his mind even though she’s a one night girl and he knows it.
Track 3: Lost in the night: This song is about a man in the city of New York who is looking for his ex-girlfriend. He decides to go out and look for her and starts a mission to find her so he went out into the city streets to find her and asked around all over the city. When he finally finds out where she is he is sorry because he finds she became a hooker in the streets of New York City never to return.
Track 4: Metal Knights: This song is about how a metal band helps the fans by giving the sonic escape from the daily struggles everyone faces saying we will lead you through the fight.
Track 5: The Pharaoh’s Curse: This song is about coming across an ancient pharaoh’s curse and the evil that comes with it after opening a tomb that has been sealed for thousands of years.
Track 6: The Overlord Messiah: This is the tale of the overlord messiah who has set course for battle once he gets word that Arioch is rising to war against his neighbors he chooses to crush them.
How has the response been so far from listeners? Have you started working on new songs?
So far so good I guess. To be honest it feels like I'm not going anywhere and I'm beginning not to care and that maybe I'll just rot out here under my rock.
It's not going to stop me from producing and releasing new music. I have a new one coming soon. It's called "What Kind of World".
It's a new Old School Thrash Metal Banger I'm working on and it will equally kick you in the balls. It's my war cry against the political society abroad. The first line of lyrics asks the listeners: "What kind of World Did we inherit? and you'll hear the rest after I release it. I'm planning to release a 7-inch vinyl of: "Horrific" and "What Kind of World" when the production is done. I just have to work out the particulars.
When and where did you play your first gig? How was the experience of going live for the first time?
I played my first guitar gig when I was ten years old at my brother - inlaw's friends ranch house they were having a big ass keg party and they were in their early thirties and I was still the baby brother but they had this insane ass PA System and a huge stage and they were blasting all the good classic rock jams of the time then they put on a talent show of sorts and that was the first time I plugged my guitar into huge speakers it was a killer event for me I loved it. The crowd actually liked what I was playing and it felt satisfying.
Have you ever had an epic fail moment during a gig?
One of the first shows in Los Angeles with AVATAR when we were still very new and inexperienced. We took too long tuning up. It was pure kaos before we actually were ready and of course we lost the crowd so the room was very empty.
After that night we never did that again. Instead we tuned up right before the show and when they hit the lights we were on it and in their faces like we were supposed to be. That was a hard lesson.
If asked to differentiate RETCHED from other bands in California, how would you respond?
RETCHED is very old school thrash sounding, Other than that the rest is up to the listeners to judge.
Which bands/artists do you draw your influences from, and which are your favorite local bands?
Testament - Sodom - Exodus - Anthrax - Megadeth - Destruction - Warbringer - and many more.
RETCHED is a very promising formation. Looking at your future, where do you see yourselves in 3 years?
Thanks for the compliment, Hopefully I'll get to embrace my early retirement and work on my music full time but the future is uncertain and the end is always near.
Well, that’s it. Thanks a lot for your time. Could you speak out to all your fans and supporters?
I'd like to thank you all for reading this and if you want to stream or get downloads you can find it on most streaming and download services all you need to do is look for it.
retched-metal.com | retched.bandcamp.com | soundcloud.com/retched01 | Horrific by RETCHED / iTunes | The Overlord Messiah EP / iTunes