A machine: even colder and more ruthless
MASTIC SCUM are true veterans of Austrian Death/Grind and recently showed with their new album “Icon”, which is raw, brutal, but also profound, that even after 30 years you can still count on them. We talked to singer Maggo and guitarist Harry about the past, but also about bleak future prospects.
So, step by step, this unstoppable machine has evolved, learned to stand up and is now ready to kill!Maggo
Hey guys, you’re still busy touring to promote your current album “ICON”. To get a little sense of what to expect: How were the last shows? And what else is new with you?
Maggo: Servus! First of all, thank you for the interview! We’ve had some really cool concerts in the last few months and had a lot of fun doing it. Chronical Moshers Open Air in Germany, Nice To Eat You and Obscene Extreme Festival in Czech Republic, last week we had a sold-out show at Rockhouse Salzburg with OBITUARY and TERROR, that was awesome… to name a few. I think we have put together a fat setlist for 2023 with a lot of old classics as well as new material from the “Icon” album. A good mix of brutal grooves and frenzied grind attacks. See you in the pit!
Harry: There are also a few smaller festivals coming up in autumn, the Berlin Deathfest, Massacre VM in the Czech Republic, Deathmetal Vol 7 in Fischamend and the Rockshock Theater in St. Martin in Upper Austria. And we also have a new video at the start. We shot a video for the song “Create And Destroy” which will be released later today. The song is from the current album “Icon” and is about development and destruction, every development builds on the process of creative destruction and this destruction is therefore necessary for a reorganization to take place.
Almost ten years have passed between “Icon” and its predecessor “CTRL”. Did it take you that long to come up with a new four-digit title? Jokes aside: there was the “Tape” compilation and the EP “Defy” in between – still not much material in such a long time. Why was that?
Harry: Good things come to those who wait! Songwriting as well as four-digit titles… haha… We just wanted to take the time for it and Corona also got in the way of the album release. On the one hand we took the time to be really 100% satisfied with it – songwriting, production, concept, lyrics, artwork – and on the other hand it wouldn’t have made sense for us to release the album during Corona and not be able to play concerts. It all worked out really well, the release planning and concert planning needs quite a bit of lead time.
Last year you celebrated an unbelievable 30 years of MASTIC SCUM. How do you feel when you think about it?
Maggo: Since I’ve only been here for 15 years and can’t really remember at least half of them, it must have been really great years ha ha…
Harry: It’s very surreal when I think about it. A very, very long time where we have experienced a lot. A lot has changed, but a lot hasn’t either, and the love for metal has remained. For me personally, not that much has changed over the years, I still enjoy music and the band just as much as I did in the beginning, I still make and, above all, listen to music with the same passion as before. Basically, I’m still the same music fan as I was 30 years ago and I’m always happy about new albums from my favorite bands, which I still celebrate from the past to this day.
How and when were the songs created? Rather spread over the last few years, or did you finally pluck up the courage and pull the whole thing through in a short time?
Maggo: Harry first came to me around 2018 with some new ideas. You have to think of it like a T-800 skeleton. It was all still very raw, but it already had this brutal basic structure. We then started working on this skeleton and gradually covered it with human tissue, which we continued to refine down to the last detail and finally installed the AI. So, step by step, this unstoppable machine has evolved, learned to stand up and is now ready to kill!
If you now compare “Icon” with its predecessor or maybe even with your early works, what has changed for you over the years, both musically and in terms of genesis, production, lyrics, etc.?
Maggo: “Icon” is the evolution of “CTRL”. It possesses the stable and brutal endoskeleton with the mutable shape of a polymimetic shell. “Icon”‘s CPU has been upgraded, making it sound even colder and more ruthless than “CTRL” already was. And each album was the best we could do at the time we recorded it. We continue to develop as a band without detours and compromises in order to always go one step further technically and in terms of brutality and I think “Icon” is the most mature and extreme album with the highest technical level in the band’s history so far.
What are your influences for the lyrics in general?
Maggo: It’s the daily grind! Politicians, large corporations, religions, etc. try to influence us every day, anytime and anywhere, and to get us on their supposedly “right” side. They laugh at you from billboards on the street. They spray their venom on TV and the Internet. Their echo resounds from churches and mosques. They want you to obey them blindly, follow them, believe them, worship them, or choose them as your leaders. They promise you a better life, a brighter future, or paradise… but in reality they divide families and turn brothers into supplicating enemies. And for their own influence, power and money, they will not hesitate for a second to send you to your death in their wars. It’s a very grim, dystopian future that we’re moving into. And that’s what a lot of our lyrics are about. I think we are at a crossroads and by the time we realize that we have cut our own lines it will be too late. The world as we know it will not exist much longer and when that day comes we will be obsolete. Humanity just doesn’t know yet…or does it?
And what do you want to express with the title “Icon” and the accompanying artwork?
Harry: The concept as well as the artwork described the possible further development of society or mankind, the balancing act between analogue and digital, it is a big topic and to what extent digitization will really help mankind remains to be seen. But it’s also about the inner turmoil of a society and that there are always 2 sides, which side you choose or think is better, everyone has to find out for themselves, we don’t want to impose an opinion on anyone, but you should really think about it to in to live or survive together in this ever-growing society and modernization, because growth also means that conflicts are unavoidable! We are TOO MANY HUMANS!
Not only are you stylistically old-school, you also make videos, which has become rarer in smaller bands, and tape and vinyl are still important to you. How come and how do you feel about music streaming providers?
Harry: For me personally, videos are simply part of a new album. We can now produce our videos ourselves and it’s always great fun, but also a huge challenge. From concept to shooting and then post-production. And as far as vinyl is concerned, it was actually clear to us that the new album would also be released on record. Vinyl has been booming again for many years and I am a vinyl collector myself. In addition to digital, CD and vinyl, a metal box with a digipack CD and other limited items such as bottle openers, patches, posters, etc. was also released… and it was extremely well received. Of course, streaming music is a must these days – that’s the way it is today – and that’s both a blessing and a curse.
On the other hand, the artwork as well as some of the sounds on the album are quite futuristic – did you consciously want to combine these two worlds?
Harry: Yes exactly, as mentioned earlier, the whole concept and the artwork is a kind of future vision between analogue and digital and we also like to have one or the other industrial or more modern element in the sound. We like to include different influences, but of course the whole thing should stay within a certain framework, in the end it should just be Death Metal.
Looking back, what would you mention as your biggest highlights and possibly lowlights over the years?
Maggo: Of course there were a lot of cool moments, but one of the best for me was the concert in Istanbul. There was a vibe all of its own in the club… almost frightening. As if anything was going to happen at any moment. And when we got on stage and started playing, all hell broke loose, literally. I’ve rarely seen such crazy motherf*ckers as these Turks. Whether man or woman, everything and everyone flew around! They sang, jumped and moshed with us through every single one of our songs. The stuffy air in the club seemed to burn and you could feel this insane energy in every fiber. After the gig, several security officers immediately took us to the backstage area, which we were only allowed to leave when the atmosphere had calmed down a bit. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Thank you Istanbul for this great experience!
Are there certain goals for the next one to ten years or unfulfilled dreams that you still want to achieve with the band?
Maggo: Playing in Bangkok or Tokyo would be great.
Harry: Yes, Japan would be amazing!
You already have so many shows behind you. Do you have one or the other entertaining story from tour life ready?
Maggo: There would certainly be one or the other weird story to tell, but… actually nope… we were always a very… brave and…. decent… band… … Oo
Is there a dream tour partner you always wanted to share the stages with?
Maggo: ROCK BITCH…. Well, there’s no such thing. Then FEAR FACTORY! 😀
Harry: Slayeeeeer!
Then thank you very much for the interview. Anything else you want to get rid of?
Harry: Thank you very much for the interview, thanks also to our fans and listen to our new album! BLAST!
Maggo: Thanks for the interview! Information and news can be found via Cyberdyne Systems on our Insta and Facebook pages. The new age of oblivion will rise and Skynet will take over. Be prepared or f*cking die!
Band-Links:
Band Biography (Source Wikipedia)Mastic Scum is a death metal band from Vienna. The band was formed in 1992 and originally comes from Salzburg. The brothers Harry Gandler (guitar) and Man Gandler (drums) live in Vienna, singer Markus “Maggo” Wenzel and bassist Pati Jay live in Innsbruck. astic Scum was founded in Salzburg in 1992 as a death metal band with hardcore punk influences and released a demo in the same year. The line-up consisted of brothers Harry (guitar) and Man Gandler (drums), vocalist Will and bassist Christian “Linga” Moser. More on: Wikipedia
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