FERAL VISCERA - Interview with Phil Hampson

FERAL VISCERA is brutal, grindcore band from Phoenix, Arizona...
Here is an interview with Phil Hampson, former guitarist for legendary grind band NUCLEAR DEATH, and current mastermind behind FERAL VISCERA; which is a sick continuation of ND, but with a male vocalist...                       The Morbid Agenda: 

Hey what's up brother, for those new school metalheads, give us a brief story of who's Phil Hampson...

Phil Hampson: 

Greetings, Jay- and greetings to the new school metal generation . . . I’m Phil H.- former guitarist/songwriter for the underground death/grind band, Nuclear Death. I was in the band from 1986 to 1992. Our beats went from grind to off time to normal; the music I wrote was (and still is and will always be) dark and dissonant. The lyrics I write are morbid; demented; sick; twisted; horrific and pretty- to a gaggle of psychonauts, that is!

While with Nuclear Death, I was on the demos- Wake Me When I’m Dead (86); Welcome to the Minds of the Morbid (87); Vultures Feeding (88); Caveat (89) which was the Welcome Demo and Vultures demo thrown together with a bonus track. Then on Wild Rags Records we had- Bride of Insect (90); Carrion for Worm (91); and For Our Dead (92). That was it for me. I split because they wanted to change up the style of music.  From 1996 to 1998, I was in the band Eroticide (recorded 2 demos with them); from 2000 to 2002 I was in the band Whorror- recorded one cd- One Thousand and One Lesbian Nights. Now- from 2014 to the present- it’s been Feral Viscera. And Feral’s been busy! Recordings to date include: God Is Meat; XXIII; The Nuclear Death Cult; The Winter Sessions; Immoral Ever After and New World Odor; with Duck and Cover Songs and The Greenflies EP still to come . . . 

Besides writing music and lyrics, I do artwork as well. Let’s see, I’ve been playing guitar now for 34 years . . . Amps I use have been or are- Marshall, Carvin, Crate, Randall and Line6; guitars I prefer are Jackson, B.C. Rich, Ibanez, Hohner, Aria Pro II and First Act; Effects in the past were the Boss Metal Zone and Chorus; recently I use a Digitech RP150 guitar processor. Strings I use are Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky’s (.54 on the low E). So there you have a little bit of knowledge of who I be . . .  I dwell in the land of the strange with a whole bunch of dark and terrible things . . . and every other Sunday we shave bunnies and feed them watermelon with pitchforks . . .

TMA: 

Comparing the scene now in 2017 with the scene back in the Nuclear Death era, do you think the scene in better now or it was better back in the days?

PH:

Well, back then I do believe there was more of a “solidarity”. But then, it was a whole different time. When we began, there was no internet. Tape trading was done by mail- post office mail. Communication was by phone-landline phones.  Nowadays- there’s social media and dozens of other ways to get your music out there. Oh, and fanzines were actually made of paper; not online sites or blogspots. Don’t get me wrong- I dig the technological advances- it’s just much different than it was . . . like the man made of boogers- he’s gone . . .

TMA:

Speaking of that Nuclear Death era... How did people embraced the band back then, having a female vocalist and being such an extreme act when most of the bands had a more Thrash sound?

PH:

For the most part, we were taken seriously. But having a female vocalist/bass player did make us somewhat of a “gimmick”; at least that’s how some folks saw us. I being a fan of The Plasmatics (ya know- Wendy O. Williams) looked at us as being unique in our genre. I mean we were death/grind with a female vocalist that could pull it off. And besides that, our music also stood out as being different. Which was my goal- to musically be unique; to not sound the same as what was popular at the time. In essence, to stand out- which I think we did. I owe this unique sound and words of the dark fantastic to my morbid, over-active imagination- with a bit of weed and beer thrown into the cauldron . . . oh and monkey ears and deer balls and uterine nectar . . .

TMA:

 How was your relantionship with Wild Rags Records?

PH:

As far as I was concerned, we had a good rapport with Richard C. and Wlid Rags. As I recall, he did as he said he’d do. It wasn’t until after I left the band that Nuclear had problems. Yessir, they had them some issues . . .

TMA:

 You do all the artworks for the bands you've been in... Where do you get the ideas to make such gory and bizarre designs?

PH:

Mostly from my over-active imagination. I’ve always preferred the company of shadows. I grew up watching horror and science fiction movies. But it was when I was nine years old that I found The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft at the library. From then on, I was hooked on reading horror and science fiction. It helps to be well read or well versed in what you are writing about- that way you don’t write about something that’s been done before. It’s better to be inspired by someone or something- rather than to blatantly rip off someone or something. If that makes no sense, then take it up with my council of severed heads- they’re constantly moving their lips and talking out the holes in their necks . . .

TMA:

 Tell us more about your new band 

Feral Viscera...?

PH:

After I left Nuclear- back in 93- I put together Feral Viscera. But our rehearsal studio was broke into and all of our equipment was stolen. So as Fate would have it, I waited until 2014 to start Feral again. I look at it as continuing the music and lyrics I did with Nuclear but with male vocals .This is the direction I wanted to maintain with Nuclear; and as some of us know, they went a totally different way. Hell, I’ve recorded more with Feral Viscera in three years, than I did with Nuclear in six! But then you know- things are more technologically advanced now- meaning I do all the recording via my own studio- BloodFire Sound.

FV is just as dark and sinister as ND was; I’d say even more so as far as subject matter goes. Nothing is taboo; I push way past the limits deemed acceptable by society’s standards when it comes to the lyrics. The music is heavier and although there are blast beats, we don’t rely upon them.

TMA:

Besides FV, are you involved with any other band or project?

PH:

I was doing the band Whorror last year with vocalist Donn Sullivan- who’ll be doing vocals for Feral. In fact, he’ll be on the Greenflies EP. But distance played a major role in that project fizzing out. As Donn and I live in Phoenix and Mike Wyatt (drums) and Erny Almaguer (bass) live in Tucson.

TMA:

What are your fave bands and influences?

PH:

My two favorite bands were also my two biggest influences- The Plasmatics and Black Sabbath. Other bands I like are Venom, Exciter, Witchfinder General, Bang, Budgie, Coven-Lords of Acid . . .  newer bands let’s say- The Gathering, Lacuna Coil, Korn, Death Stars, Watain,- as for Death Metal- old school- Incantation, Immolation, Autopsy, Mortician, Impetigo . . .

However, my main influence in music would be horror movie soundtracks- a good soundtrack creates the atmosphere the filmmakers are trying to create. The Omen, The Shining, Psycho, It’s Alive, Alien . . . to name a few.

TMA:

Future Plans for Feral Viscera?

PH:

To have a steady line-up- which hopefully includes original Nuclear Death drummer, Joel Whitfield; vocalist Donn Sullivan; bassist Erny Almaguer and myself- and possibly a second guitarist. We’re getting ready to record the ND song “Greenflies” for an EP. Distribution of New World Odor . . . getting the name out there . . . and eventually tour . . .

TMA:

Social media and final clossing words...

_ Thanks Phil for taking your time to do this interview...

PH:

Though I’m not a real big fan of social media- cuz I don’t give a whore’s crabs what Jack and Jill Shitlick had for lunch- however, it does serve a purpose bandwise- so check FV out at the following:

www.wnevilminds.wixsite.com/nucleardeathcult

www. feralviscera.bandcamp.com (music available to purchase as download)

facebook.com/phil.nucleardeath

facebook.com.feralviscera

Thank you Jay- for the interview! Much appreciated! And as always- Stay strange- be morbid!

P.S.- Keep your eyes, ears, and minds- open . . .

Interview by: Jay Vile