Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, the Melvins, Fantomas, Brujeria, Damaged. The list goes on for some 20 years of recording and a combined total of 80 years of punk rock history. I think it is safe to say we know what we are doing. We are the sum total of: Japanese, Swedish,
Finnish, English, West Coast... a nonstop assault of raw noise. From the Gauze riffing to the brutal abuse of the Discharge beat... the GISM inspired art to the Poison Idea attitude, we make no apologies... fuck you if you’re asking. Over the years I had talked off and on about doing a record with Buzz. My old band had done a split seven inch with his band, and I tracked some stuff with the Melvins, but it wasn’t until I
went out with Napalm Death a bit ago that the light switch went off in my head. A few calls later Venomous Concept was born. Its name, by the way, is a play on Poison Idea, quite possibly the heaviest punk band to ever grace a stage. Originally, Shane and I were talking with Mick
Harris - Shane’s old drummer. I had done some stuff with him in a bandcalled Pain Killer and it seemed like a good idea to ask him. At the last minute, Mick committed to a straight job teaching recording to the next generation and raising his family. Could have been a problem, but fortunately for us, Napalm’s Danny Herrera was visiting family in Los Angeles and seized the Discharge beat. We got together in October, and worked it out flawlessly.
We recorded our debut, Retroactive
Abortion in this LA sweatbox for pocket change on our own. As Shane says,
"You want perfection, fuck off!" I didn’t want any record
label dictating terms. "Oh you got to use this producer. and this
$1,200 dollar a day studio is a must." That is
an excellent way for some failed musician to enslave you to a contract
that can never be fulfilled. A bitter note in my past history with the
game. So we abused this freak engineer,
Huey Dee, with nonstop noise for I believe 5 days. It is raw, hurtful
and very true to the music that inspired us, but it is ours and I think
it’s beautiful.
Buzz suggested his current label, Ipecac Recordings, as an outlet. To
be honest, they were the only ones we considered. And given our past track
record with countless labels, none of which had a clue, Ipecac was obvious.
Patton had worked with Zorn in both Naked City and Pain Killer, as I had.
It was all in the family and better off that way. Let’s face it,
if you’re going to run a bowling alley, there is a good chance you
should bowl a game or two. Mike’s game is
flawless. He knows his shit and that’s good enough for me. Make
no bones about it, we are outlaws.. Ain’t a crime we haven’t
committed, drink ever refused and gig we never crushed. Believe it, we
are for real and Retroactive Abortion is the
rebirth of outlaw punk".
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