FRANK RINI

Frank Rini, the mastermind behind Internal Bleeding’s 1994-1997 album gutturals titled Voracious Contempt and The Extinction of Benevolence; and guest on the last two IB albums Imperium and Corrupting Influence. It was only imperative, of course, that I ask Mr. Rini if we could expect any future gutturals or another reunion. Also while in communication with Frank, I asked about his departure from IB. Let me tell you, this is an all-around interesting and in depth interview here. So now, let’s jump in this pit and thank you for reading.

By Analaura Saenz Hernandez

Developing impacts:

Who were or are your musical influences? Who else inspired you? “… When I first started out singing, which began in 1994, in some respects, I did not know what I was doing, other than to be as deep and brutal as humanly possible, as well as holding out my growls until I passed out. I strove for wanting to enunciate clearly as well.

I was singing brutal shit, I wanted people to hear the brutality in my words. I also had a very strong NYHC background from growing up in NY. Therefore, I loved the stage presence of bands such as Agnostic Front, and my favorite hardcore band still to this day: Biohazard. So vocally speaking, I was influenced by Frank Mullen (Suffocation), Mike (Sinister), Martin Van Drunen (Asphyx), John Paoline (Mortal Decay), Rick Fleming (Embalmer), Darryl Wagner (Pyrexia) Dave Hewson (Slaughter from Canada), and Evan and Billy (Biohazard)…”

“…My stage presence inspirations were always hardcore. Starting out in 1994 fronting a death metal band, this was unheard of, to have a shaved head, beard and doing hardcore moves. But there I was with my shaved head, beard getting in the pit and singing and getting the fans to join in while I slammed into them and sang as well as crowd surfed too. I came up with some hardcore moves while I did my ‘two-stepping’ and ‘picking up change’ slams on and off the stage. It got the crowd way more involved...’”

At what age and how did you first discover your vocal talents? “… “In the early 90’s I would frequent a lot of shows and always growled in between songs. Bill Tolley (RIP) would go to shows along with some friends, and he would say ‘Frank you have a sicko voice, you need to be singing in a death metal band.’ I was in college and blew it off. He kept saying ‘I’m serious, Frank, I’m drumming in this new band called Internal Bleeding and you have to try out.’ Since I was in college I waited until I graduated and then on a whim the band was looking for a singer in the spring of 1994 and I became their singer...”

Do you also play any instruments? “… I played the clarinet for a very long time, probably for close to 10 years. I tried out guitar for some time but I was incredibly impatient. I just wanted to pick up and play, but that takes time. However, I think if I would have had more patience, it could have worked out. I was able to read music but also had an ear for it and still do. So for example, my favorite extreme metal band of all time, minus the ‘Cold Lake’ album is Celtic Frost. I was able to, without reading any of their music, play ‘Into the Crypts of Rays’. I was also able to play Metallica’s ‘Fight Fire with Fire’. But as I said, I was impatient and this was all when I was around 15 years old. I was playing baseball for school and the county league and hanging out with friends a lot. Therefore, the guitar was never picked up again. When I was in Internal Bleeding, I would get behind Bill’s kit, at practice and just do blast beats. The rest of the guys would die laughing because I was so sloppy. Bill taught me some simple slow beats and once in a while I would give it a go, but let’s just say it’s best for everyone’s ears. Outside of Internal Bleeding no one has ever heard me get behind a drum kit…”

Will you please give me a list of your current projects as well as previous ones? “… The most recent guest vocals I have done is for the band Crushuman from Maryland on their self-titled debut album that just came out on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. I am not currently in any band. The only band I was ever in is Internal Bleeding…”

Which bands have you done guest vocals for? “… Oofa-let me try and remember from back in the day until now. Here goes: Immortal Suffering, Disfigured, Dystopia One, Dawn of

Demise, Defeated Sanity, Soils of Fate, Afterbirth, Bodysnatch, Fleshtomb, Ossuary Anex, Overdose of Bacon, Prophecy, Crushuman, Snipers of Babel, TON and guesting on my Alma Mata, Internal Bleeding’s last several albums. I may have missed some…”

What years did you perform with Internal Bleeding? “… 1994-1997 and 2018. Also some one-off shows here and there, coming onstage to do some vocals...”

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What was the experience like for you touring with Internal Bleeding in the 90’s? “… It was great. We were the new band on the block playing a different death metal style due to the massive amounts of slam and groove parts. We felt it best to play and sing music that most represented what we were feeling, which was usually anger, therefore making it a cathartic experience for us. It also is the type of music that gets the crowd moving which is what we set out to do. We did not want to play boring music where you just sit there and bob your head to and fro. We wanted it to be an active experience for us and the audience. We played all over the country and Canada. Our big tour in support of our debut Voracious Contempt was with Six Feet Under and our brothers in Immolation. Back then, you kept in touch as pen pals so to meet the fans who were writing to you and knowing many of them on a first name basis was just as much of an exciting experience for us as it was for them. And then to play with every single major band back then such as: Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Life of Agony, Biohazard, Slayer, Fear Factory, Pungent Stench, Bolt Thrower, GWAR, you name it, it was really quite memorable…”

Can you please tell us why you stepped away from Internal Bleeding in 1997? “… By then I had moved out of New York to pursue a different life in the DC/MD/Metro area and my career was beginning to take off. Going to NY all the time for practice and shows was starting to put a drain on me because I was working shift work, out of state, and traveling back and forth was eating into my expenses a lot. I was never reimbursed for any of my traveling back and forth. I was also soured a bit because we were hit with a 10 million dollar civil suit. The allegations dated back to May of 1994 when Internal Bleeding were playing a gig on Long Island NY, someone in the audience jumped off the stage which resulted in the person becoming paralyzed. The club was also sued too. The suck ass part of this is I was not in Internal Bleeding at that time, I was in College getting ready to graduate with my degree and I did not join IB until June 1994. However since I was now in the band I was named in the civil suit. This suit started in 1996 and was a downer for the entire band. We hired a lawyer because we were not culpable. It was an unfortunate thing to happen to someone but we needed to get this suit dropped. I was pissed, honestly, since I was not in the band when it happened. Without naming names, myself, and two other members of Internal Bleeding were the only ones who paid the lawyer fees. The other two members refused to pay and they were in the band when the incident took place. So here I am going back and forth, later on, from where I was living to NY to practice and play shows and in between our songs, at practice, I was bitter and I would go off on the other two members for not helping us out. I do not have a problem, never did, with speaking my mind when something wrongful is going on. My folks had to help me pay my portion of the fees, and it was several thousand dollars. So eventually the suit was in fact dropped, those two members never had to pay a fucking dime, while me and the other two members footed the bill. So, that also led me to leave the band in 1997. But I was not bitter when I left…”

“… I recorded the vocals for the second Internal Bleeding album The Extinction of Benevolence and worked very hard on my lyrics and tones which incorporated a lot more gutturals, inhale vocals, 2 minute long growls on that album and some hardcore type of power-violence tones. I still loved the members like brothers, I was happy with all my work and experience, however, the above items I spoke about are what ultimately lead me to leaving the band…”

How did the idea of your return for the 2018 tour come about? Did you personally feel any differences in the touring between the old school 94-97 era and the newer 2018 era? If so, can you please share with us your experience? “… “Due to the horrific and unfortunate passing of Bill Tolley, (RIP) in 2017, band owner and guitarist Chris Pervelis said, as soon as we found out about Bill passing away, in the line of duty as an NYC FireFighter, he said ‘Frank me and the entire NY death metal scene need you up here. I need you Frank.’ Chris and I always were in touch and I was on their 2014 Imperium album on several songs and even was onstage with them during their tour for that album, at a show. I was in NY for the entire FDNY services, we were all part of the eight hour procession, everything and it brought us back together in a multitude of ways. In 2018 their singer Joe could not do the North American Bloodletting tour which also included Arsis, Decrepit Birth, Pyrexia, Angelmaker and Within Destruction. The tour was coming at a time that would make our debut album Voracious Contempt 23 years old and Chris called me up April 2018 and said ‘Frank it’s a month long tour you can choose whatever you want.’ So, I moved some things around in my life to make it happen but not without challenges. I work in the public safety sector and the level I am at in my career my Chief would not give me the entire month off, although I still had more leave than everyone at my level. I went above her head to the Director and the two of them graciously gave me a little more time off, which amounted to almost the entire tour, minus like 5 or 6 dates. I did the prime real estate, starting the tour in California, playing in the south then, east coast, then up north, mid-west and all of Canada. Outside of all my guest vocal work I was concerned with doing an entire tour with not being in tour shape physically and vocally speaking. Chris said ‘Frank I am not concerned with your vocals coming back, you’re strong, they will come back, stop being a pig...”

“… I have many people outside of him to thank such as Brain Wynn, from Kill Everything and Patrick Mameli, from Pestilence. Because I was now…uhhh hummmm, (clearing of throat) older than I was in the 90’s. They gave me some tips which I then just bastardized it. I got back into lifting weights and cardio. This led me to drop a whopping 45lbs, in a few months, prior to the tour. Some of the things they told me I took to heart such as, hot box singing. I would put a space heater in a small room, then go in there 30 minutes later and do an entire IB set of what Chris recommended to me. I was singing many more songs than what was in the eventual setlist, but all the different songs were bringing back my vocal

memory and seasoning me as well as my stamina. I would finish the set and would be dripping sweat and I was singing to the songs without a PA system, just me belting out vocals. My next door neighbor one day asked me what the fuck was going on in my house because he and his family were hearing unearthly sounds coming from my place. I told him what I was doing but this blew me away, because I was singing without a PA system and he heard me in another house. Therefore, by the time I went to NY for my first practice with the band I knew my vocals were stronger than ever before. When Joe and I would do some opening duets together, in the rehearsal space, they had to turn my volume down because of how loud I sounded. That told me all I knew in terms of I knew I was ready…”

“… I continued to go back and forth up and down to NY to get my timing down and would practice on my own as well. I also, thank Patrick, I started to increase my intake of milk as a throat coat, which helped my vocals out a lot. I also incorporated honey, which I used to do and still do to this day when I sing. Also Keith DeVito, who had been in IB, during the Imperium album. I always loved his syncopated vocal style in Pyrexia and his work on the IB album, proved to be challenging to learn his parts. Syncopated patterns are difficult and those songs challenged me vocally as I had never been challenged before. Now, while I guested on that album to learn multiple songs in their entirety was another story. I learned new ways of singing and patterns and learning Keith’s parts, made me a better vocalist. Then prior to the tour the FDNY put on a one year benefit event for Bill Tolley and his family and IB performed and it was an outdoor event. I performed ‘Patterns of Force: III. Aftermath’ off of Imperium, which was one of the songs on the tour setlist. Then, soon thereafter was the tour. Suffice it to say, with many people who have never been in a band and or toured, touring is tough. A fan may see the band on tour or social media postings, but outside of the set you perform, there is a lot of traveling, sleeping, and trying to keep busy and not get on other band members' nerves, lol. I was in prime shape and still am, and I gotta say I did have a blast. Since I have a ton of equipment and a really heavy microphone (ha, ha). Seriously I did help, always have in the past, the band with their equipment. But right after our set, I rushed to our merch booth to be the face of the band to meet and greet fans, while dripping sweat, and sell merch…”

“… I got along with all the members, of course Chris and I are like two peas in a pod, but I knew the other guitarist Chris McCarthy really well and also had been bonding with bassist Ryan and drummer Kyle a lot, with all the practicing and hanging out we did. They are still my brothers to this day. Driving to shows can be rough, when you’re tired and we were in a big van, and each had a row to ourselves so we had some privacy. After sometime touring the van smells like feet, farts, cheese and beef sticks so yes we had to clean the van. Also repack and do new inventories. Touring was different than the 90’s, everyone now sticks cell phones in your face or when you’re onstage they take a picture of themselves with you behind them so they can post on social media. I ran with it. I would take their cell phones, and growl into them and sing, then give them back their phones so they had an up close and personal Rini face. They probably deleted it, ha, ha….”

“… Also the scene was not used to the 90’s version of me. Pervelis was like it’s a little harder to get people involved now and you used to say “I want to see body bags being carried out of here, rip up those floor boards and kill in the pit muthafuckers”. He told me to

pull back a bit on that. Well I was balancing that, many insiders telling me, “Frank you are back, do not soften your approach, the scene needs that back..” Suffice to say I was back to telling the crowd to bash each other apart and to carry body bags out of the club. I was back in the pit singing and picking up fans and launching these younger string bean kids across the pit. They kept coming back for me to pick them up and toss them around like rag dolls again and again and I obliged. Another cool moment was Matti Way (no intro needed) and his wife Sarah were huge fans of IB and my work with them. So, at the Arizona show he professionally filmed the show. It’s on YouTube. It’s killer. How we opened up every show with a monstrously heavy intro with me holding out a long inhale grow, it’s a great looking and sounding show, we were on fire. Towards the end of our set I was in the pit with Sarah getting her to sing “Inhuman Suffering” with me, but by then all the ground cameras got knocked down. So, the set was like 45 minutes but Matti made it like 35 minutes, because of technical issues when the fans started going rabid in the pit. There were many other great moments too. It was awesome…”

“… An unfortunate moment early on though was Bill from Decrepit Birth, snapped his leg in half when diving off the stage. Ambulance came and carried him out. Decrepit Birth was still onstage. I went up there and did an original Decrepit Birth song with them as well as a cover of “I Cum Blood” by Cannibal Corpse. Those are or were on YouTube at some point. You can find them. The rest of us in the other bands offered Decrepit Birth our vocal services for

them to remain on tour. All of us singers were going to do a few Decrepit Birth songs with them each night. It would have been killer, but ultimately Decrepit Birth decided it was best for them to leave the tour, making Arsis the headliner of the tour with us as direct support...”

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With the first two albums that were released during your time in Internal Bleeding, is there either one of those where you felt like you found a greater connection with? “… I love both the debut Voracious Contempt, from 1995 and follow-up The Extinction of Benevolence, from 1997, for what they are and were at the time of our writing and recording process. On one hand, VC is faster, and contained more of the previous demo songs, but on TEOB that had a collection of even newer songs, but saw us shift in a sludger musical and more guttural vocal style. The album is heavier than most death metal albums, past and present. I am happy about that! The album often gets overlooked, because I did leave and did not tour with the band for that album. I do own some live cassette tapes of us playing the extinction songs live though. My lyrics across both albums are very personal and I tell stories, I keep things reality based, for the most part, but then go off the rails such as on songs like “Genetic Messiah”. Take “Languish in Despair” off VC. My lyrics are a combination of watching documentaries and Traces of Death tapes regarding severe burn victims and their treatment interwoven with seeing my grandfather’s mind and body ravaged in such a short period of time, from cancer...”

“… Then take for instance a song on TEOB, the song “Plagued By Catharsis”. That is a very, my most personal song I ever wrote. I was going through a traumatic moment in my life and those vocals convey those lyrics perfectly from the variety of tones of anger at one moment, but some self-discovery moments in another section. Fans will forever pick Voracious Contempt as the best Internal Bleeding album, though some of it due to the Scott Burns and Morrisound name with the mix, but you know as time goes on more and more people appreciate The Extinction of Benevolence with its ungodly heaviness and my vocal tones. This album influenced deathcore years later, especially with the overabundance of 808 bass bomb drops on that album, no one was doing that and then deathcore pops up and every song is an 808…”

What was your experience like working with Joe Marchese on the Corrupting Influence album? “… “‘Litany of Insincerity”, was a song written that had a huge The Extinction of Benevolence influence to it and Chris said ‘Frank this song is you. We don’t have the end written, write the lyrics and sing your parts.’ I did and it paired great with the other lyrics and Joe’s vox. Well, when I was going to NY to practice for the tour, I had Joe helping me out in the beginning, until then it was just me in the room with the rest of the fellas. Joe was tremendous with helping me to sing some of the newer songs and he was incredibly gracious. A true stand up man. I love the guy! ...”

Can we expect any guest vocals with Internal Bleeding’s vocalist Steve Worley and yourself? “… “The answer is yes, but I do not know my role yet. Chris has told me they’re fleshing out where I will be on the new album. My only request is that I can at least wedge in one of my patented Rini Muthafucka parts...”

What is your fuel for life Mr. Rini? “… “The important and special people in my life. If they are reading this, they know who they are! I love them. Fitness, my career, music, singing, going to shows, reading, roller coasters, spending time with healthy and good people that bring you up and not down, cooking, anything Italian, horror movies, gardening, my cat, fixing things, writing for Teeth of the Divine, traveling, and many other things. My anti fuel is doing laundry and making my bed! ...”

At what age would you say you hit your prime in your music career? “… It started in 2012 when Bjorn from Dawn of Demise asked me to sing on their Rejoice in Vengeance album on the song ‘The Immaculate Slaughter’. He got me back into singing and that led me to develop even more. By the time 2013 rolled around Lille Gruber, from Defeated Sanity, asked me to guest on ‘Verblendung’ off Passages into Deformity. By then my vocals and tones and experimenting with more growls were stronger than ever. My vocals today are stronger than when I came back to Internal Bleeding in 2018. A day no longer goes by where I do not do some sort of growling!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...”

Can you tell us about the writers forum, Teeth of the Divine, you write reviews for? “… I was writing for Craig Hogan for All About The Rock from the UK for a period of time with reviews and interviews. Then a few years later, I started to write for Erik Thomas and his Teeth of the Divine site. I love both gents dearly, but writing for two sites became too much and I made the decision to just write for TOTD. I know all the writers personally, and have met a fair amount of them in person or through video chats. Erik has been to my home last year and we shared in all things: metal, pizza and libations. I deeply respect him and the rest of the writers and we are like a little family discussing metal daily. I love reviewing albums and I write from a certain perspective from being in a band and knowing what it’s like to rehearse, write, record and tour, and therefore, I really do the best I can without taking the piss out of a band if I don’t like the album. I’ll add pointers in the review. I also will put some little jokes here and there in the review and I write like I talk. It’s a great site, it’s called teethofthedivine.com and we have a Facebook page too…”

“… Check out the page and site on a daily basis. All of us write and breathe the words and sounds of metal!” I also still write lyrics. I have helped one of my very closest friends, Dave Gregor from Morta Skuld on their Suffer for Nothing and Creation Undone albums by writing lyrics on songs for both albums. I am credited in the albums too and anything I can do to help Dave out I will, he is a dear friend whom I trust! That is hard to come by in the music scene…”

Is there another music genre you enjoy feeling out or taking in as a form of meditation? “… Nothing beats the classics of Maiden, Sabbath, Priest, Slayer, Metallica, Exodus, Manilla Road, Scorpions. etc.! In my opinion. I love all genres, from hip-hop/rap like Lil Wayne, Salt N Pepper, Kendrick Lamar, Run the Jewels, Cypress Hill, Eminem to CCR, The Reverend Horton Heat, Great Big Sea, Louis Prima, New Age Meditative Music to all things brutal in every genre and subgenre of death metal, black metal, grind, doom death, power metal, NWOBHM, thrash. My merch and music collection would knock people over literally; it’s a lot, quite heavy, like a ton of bricks, ha ha ha…”

Who are some of your modern day band/musician favorites? “… “Too many I will say, though for 2024, this new Eminem album, The Death of Slim Shady is his best in years and will actually make my metal best of list on Teeth of the Divine at the end of 2024. That’s how much I love the album. My front-runner is still Invincible Shield by Judas Priest. Other new albums from bands that are some of my favorites for 2024 are by Deicide, Hail Spirit Noir, Drown in Sulphur, Morta Skuld, Kerry King, Dread Crew of Oddwood, Ulcerate, Mad Hatter, Hulder, Cephalotripsy, Totengott; just to name a few…”

Is your mindset on stage being brought out by a whole enthusiast or is it a character represented accordingly depending on each song? “… I am energetic and very mobile on stage and in the pit singing. I’m referred to as a tank by fans, for when I’m in the pit and mowing people down. But I’ll crack some jokes in between songs, have my mean metal faces on and look at the fans while I growl and sing. I love the fans. It’s why I do what I do, whether singing, performing or writing. I love helping the scene out…”

What is next for you, Mr. Rini? Are there any words of encouragement you would like me to quote you on? “… Good questions, I take one day at a time! The old saying stop and smell the roses, believe in that. Over the last, close to three years now, I focus more on my present and future self as opposed to my past self. I appreciate life and its daily challenges. Be good to your fellow human, have empathy and don’t be a dick. Be transparent, be honest, trustworthy and most of all stop being a judgmental prick if that is who you are. Do not infringe on someone else’s happiness. If they lead a certain lifestyle or have a different political belief then your own. I will go back to what my mother taught me at a very early age: Live and let live! You have absolutely no right to be mean or try to hurt someone with words or worse, based on just differences. Help people out, pay it forward…”

“…The staff waiting to take your order at a restaurant or any other place of business, do not forget to always say please and thank you. Don’t be a demanding cunt, either. When you give a tip on a receipt at a restaurant, write something nice about the person who served you, as long as it was good service. Also, show grace to a fellow human. You never know what they are going through, before, during or after your interactions with them!...”

“… I also continue to write for Teeth of the Divine, bands and fans contact me daily for advice and I help them anyway I can, also check out Nightmare Cabin on YouTube. My buddy Joe Denby and I have done numerous video blogs together. You can go to his channel and look up the stories I discussed with him about Internal Bleeding, touring, Celtic Frost, Deceased, also Dave from Morta Skuld, Joe and I talk about the band Death, in one of the episodes…’”

Words of Encouragement for those stepping onto their very first stage. “… Do not be a cut throat cunt or liar in the music scene. I never have been and that is why thirty years later I am still around. Do it for the music and fans. If you’re getting into the industry for an ego boost, drugs, fast women or men (depending on your proclivity), notoriety, guess what fuck face? The scene and fans do not want you! Focus on your talent that brought you here number one and your band members. Also, you’d better get a side job too, death metal does not pay the bills. But I will preach until I am old and decrepit still wearing a metal shirt. Be there for the fans. Listen, I know what it’s like to tour and write and record. You could be exhausted whatever the case may be, but when a fan, club owner, sound engineer approaches you, give them the time of day. Be nice. Be gracious. If you need to set some boundaries, perfectly fine, but for chrissakes, that fan, they spent money to come and see your show. They may have bought merch, your music, shit they may have your poster in their room, and they want to chat about something, take a pic, sign something, give them the time of day. Wake yourself up, damnit, do not blow them off, be approachable and most of all be kind. If not for them, you and your band are nothing! ...”

*… For the fans: I love all the Internal Bleeding fans, past, present and future. As well as past and current Internal Bleeding band members. Thanks for this interview, Analaura, you rock! I really enjoyed this a lot!”

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