Interview with Beneath The Massacre lead vocalist Elliot Desgagnés

Brutal Canadian death metal band Beneath The Massacre has released their latest disc, Mechanics of Dysfunction, and they have been touring non-stop in support thereof. A demonstration of pure destruction, this is a monstrosity of an album that dishes out a forceful display of aggression right from the very beginning. Mechanics of Dysfunction is a ferocious and visceral battering that any fan of death metal needs to own. The band is on a break from touring for the holidays and I was able to catch up with vocalist Elliot Desgagnés and ask him about the band and their new CD.

The name of the band Beneath The Massacre is interesting to say the least and sounds as if there is a story behind it. Where did the name come from and what is the story?
Elliot: We were thinking of something along the line of “Beneath the Surface”… but we needed something that would sound a little more aggressive considering our sound. We chose the word massacre to express our disgust toward the actual global situation, politically and socially speaking. That is why the first song off Mechanics of Dysfunction is called the “Surface.” It is a song that describes well what we mean by “massacre”.

What was the writing process like for Mechanics of Dysfunction? Did you guys all write together? How long did it take?
Elliot: The writing process always been pretty much the same; Chris (guitar) starts by throwing a few guitar riffs together, then shows it to me to work on the song structure and to see where vocals could fit well etc. When we have a few ideas, the rest of the band also joins and gives their opinion and gives ideas. I think it is important for a band that everyone contributes to the songs or else it is not a band to me, it’s people playing others’ music just like a cover band. But I have to say that it is much more complicated that way. Every song probably takes a few months to write, just because we keep on changing things on it.

Many of your songs are so hard and intense that I am sure they translate well into a live setting taking on a completely new life in front of a live audience. How does it make you feel when the emotion and power that you envisioned in the recording studio, come to life while playing in front of a crowd?
Elliot: Playing in front of a crazy crowd is the ultimate adrenaline rush; it is amazing! We really are the kind of band that will go crazy on stage and we sometimes need to calm down and remember that we are playing extremely technical stuff. So we pretty much hit the stage with as much energy we can and we can get even crazier when the crowd’s reaction is awesome. It is like if they would give us energy through their reaction and then we would bring even more intensity… it is a cycle that has no limits.

What was it like working with producer Yannick St-Amand (Despised Icon, Ion Dissonance); did he push you in directions you would not have gone otherwise?
Elliot: We always liked working with Yannick. He was with us since day one and we have always been satisfied with the results. He is pretty much the one choosing the people we will be working with for each album. For Dystopia, we wanted to step it up a notch, production wise, and after discussing a long time about it, we decided to ask Jason Suecof to mix the album. Jason accepted and we flew over to his Audio Hammer Studio in Florida. We loved the experience of working with Suecof. I think Yannick knows what we are and what we are looking for sound wise and he just makes the right moves in the studio to make us happy.

Playing such visceral music in a recording studio must be vastly different than at one of your chaotic live shows. How did the recording process go for your debut album Mechanics of Dysfunction?
Elliot: In fact, the recording process for MoD was more chaotic than anything we ever did. We had no pre-production or anything like that and we just wanted to make everything as fast as possible. I remember when I first heard the drum tracks for songs like “Better off Dead” and “Long Forgotten”, I was wondering how I was going to fit my vocal patterns because everything was so damn fast. We also ran out of time and I had to do crazy screaming sessions because of it… Mechanics of Dysfunction was a real nightmare to record. But at the end, it was all worth it; we learned a lot.

When you compare the early days of Death metal to the scene today what do you feel has changed for the better? What do you feel has become worse? How do you feel identify with the rest of the scene?
Elliot: It’s hard to tell. I guess only time will tell if things are changing for the best. I am also young to tell about how the scene is evolving. I am 24 and have only been going to shows for just a little over ten years. But I can already tell that things have been changing in the last few years. Personally, I kind of miss the old school pits.

When you are out on the road, anything can happen and often does. Can you think of any disastrous events that happened while out on tour? How did you solve the problem?
Elliot: We flipped our van when we were on our first tour. It was pretty harsh. No one was badly hurt but still. We were just starting as a band and did not have any money to buy another van. On top of that, we were real far from home. We had to find a place that could ship all of our gear and merchandise back home and then we took a bus on a 30-hour drive home. It sucked big time and I wish this to no one. But what are you going to do? Quit? Hell no! It took us a few month before getting another van and we went right back on the road. As bad as this experience was, I believe that it made us stronger as a band and it put our will to the test like nothing else could have done it.

When you are on the road for a while I am sure you see and experience many different things you might not even have known existed. Are there any stories that stand out in your mind as being exceptionally strange or odd?
Elliot: To be honest, I try to know a minimum about things in the countries we tour. So far, I do not think I have been too shocked by anything. There are always things I find out of the ordinary and that will always make me smile or other habit coming from Quebec that I must try to loose when I am somewhere else.

What is next for Beneath The Massacre?
Elliot: Right now, we are going to take a break for Christmas. We have been on a blitz of touring and after almost 4 months, we need a break. We are back in touring mode in February to direct support our friends from Despised Icon on their first American headline tour. We then go back to Europe in April and from there we will see. It has always been a work in progress thing and we intend to keep it that way.  [ END ]