How and who came up with the Gorilla theme or idea and relate it to the band’s performance, merch and musical environment? “…Our vocalist has a tattoo of a Gorilla on his neck, and "BKG" which stands for Big Killa Gorilla. He would start pounding on his chest on stage like a Gorilla, while the rest of us up there aping around. It just kind of stuck, so we ran with it. Now we try and make it a point to act like a bunch of wild Gorillas on stage. Making jokes off stage and telling people to bring bananas to the shows. So far no one has brought any bananas, but the crowds seem to enjoy the Gorilla aesthetic, so we just keep doing it. Our main artwork has a Gorilla on it, as we feel it best represents our music, Gorilla Death. Just songs to beat your chest too, aint no one else using that…”

 

The band is very active when it comes to shows, but what about finding time to write music and record? “… When we first started, it only took us about a month or two to write a five-song set. We then used another two months tightening them up, because some of them are pretty fast. Jo had quite a few things written before he linked up with Brandon, but none of them were solid. Every song you hear sounds completely different then when it was first written. Eventually we recorded our first demo "Wrapped in Rope" which you can find on Bandcamp…”

“… Anytime we get some down time, be it between shows or a weekend to take a rest, Jo will write/record something at home and show the rest of the band for input, and Brandon will write something on drums, and then we just kind of toss the idea back and forth until it becomes something we like. Kent will write his own bass riffs to it, because he takes a different approach to writing. Instead of just playing the same notes, he'll add some flavor to it, like he's the left hand of the piano, and Jo is the right hand. Then once it feels like a complete song, we send it off to Bas. Him and Jo usually work together on the lyric writing because Jo also does back-up vocals. Currently, we are working on crafting a few new songs so that we can record a full length, and hopefully get into touring…”

 

There’s a lot that has been said in Death metal or Brutal Death as a genre. What's TORCHERED's approach to writing your music? “… We just kind of write whatever sounds good to us. Sure, we're all inspired by BDM and Technical Death Metal, with bands like NECROPHAGIST, PATHOLOGY, DEICIDE, CYTOTOXIN etc. but we all kind of bring something different to the table. We want to have technical riffs, but also, we want to have some groovy riffs in there too. Something people can really jam on their own. We just imagine what it would be like if a Gorilla listened to nothing but CANNIBAL CORPSE, drank beer, and played guitar. What would that Gorilla write? He'd write TORCHERED.