Purely Provocative: Castle Freak Guitarist Zak Carter and Vocalist Andrew Gigan on AIDS, Pet Peeves, and Pro Wrestling

Old school death metal band Castle Freak just released their debut EP Still Rotting on Tridroid Records this past week. While the band may not yet be a household name, Still Rotting is definitely one of the best death metal EPs released in recent memory. To celebrate the release of this new recording, we had guitarist Zak Carter and vocalist/guitarist Andrew Gigan answer some less-than-professional questions for us.

Most public situation you’ve projectile vomited?
Gigan: New Year’s Eve 2012 I allegedly stumbled through South Philadelphia puking hot wings for about a few blocks. I’m sure plenty of people saw that.

You now have AIDS. You can use it to shape future, world peace. Who are you banging and why?
Zak: Probably some super active pornstar. If I’m going down, I’m taking as many people down with me as possible.

Gigan: Flo the Progressive girl; she’s kinda hot but annoying as fuck so I get my one shot and then she’s gone too. It’s like a parting gift for society.

If you could choose, how would you die?
Gigan: Piledriver gone wrong or murdered by New Jack.

What scares the absolute shit out of you?
Gigan: Sharks. Sharks are cool in movies and shit, but they have such a blank, stupid permanent expression that to be pulled below the waves by such a retarded looking face is just a fate worse than death itself.

Have you ever been too wasted to play live? What happened?
Gigan: Summer 2013 I was on tour with a band called Cape of Bats, our second or third stop on tour was Chicago and I’d been drinking the night away and so when it came time to play, the laws of gravity really didn’t seem to apply so much. Nothing catastrophic happened, I just remember losing my balance a lot. I think I smoked a cigarette backwards or something. That’s kinda fucked up, right?

Your instrument/gear (drums, guitar, etc.) has a catastrophic failure on-stage and you have no back-up, what do you do?
Gigan: Find the nearest folding chair and swing at whatever’s coming.

Name some of your biggest pet peeves. You know… that ones that make you want to wreck shit!
Gigan: A lot of people think we’re named after the Stuart Gordon movie ‘Castle Freak.’ I get why people would assume that, it just so happens to not be true.

Name someone you’d like to punch in his or her stupid face, and why.
Zak: Dave Mustaine. He just needs to shut the fuck up and start doing heroin again and get back to writing good tunes.

If you weren’t a musician or totally in love with your job, you’d be…
Gigan: I’d like to think I’d be a pro-wrestler. A lot of people talk shit on wrestling because you know it’s “fake” but fuck y’all. So are Taco Bell and political debates, but that doesn’t stop normal people now does it?

You kick everyone out of the band because you can replace them with any musician you want. Dead or alive, who do you recruit?
Gigan: Bill Steer (Carcass, guitar), Scott Carlson (Repulsion, bass), and Mick Harris (Napalm Death, drums).

Zak: Tobias Forge (Repugnant, vocals/guitar), Shane Embury (Napalm Death, bass), and Pete Sandoval (Terrorizer, drums).

How often have you/do you pirate music? What about Movies and TV shows?
Zak: I once got 3 cease and desist emails from my internet provider after downloading ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,’ so since then I’ve been a little more hesitant to download shit illegally, but if it’s some obscure OSDM album that I can’t get anywhere else I’ll try and find a download for it. Most of the time I’ll download my money off of Bandcamp and give my money to the band directly.

What is your stance on the legalization of marijuana?
Gigan: I really don’t care either way, I’m still going to smoke it.

Describe when and how you lost your virginity.
Zak: I was asleep. My girlfriend at the time spent the night with me at my dad’s house after we went to some show, I honestly can’t remember what it was, but I passed out and woke up to my girlfriend on top of me. At first I panicked but when I realized what was happening I was all about it. I guess I was technically raped?

What’s your opinion on groupie culture?
Zak: Groupies are cool. Unless they’re ugly. Fuck that shit.

Check out the song “Sherm”