Fleshspoil – Thanks for Asking!

Fleshspoil – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: What was the very first reaction to your music, from the first person to ever hear so much as a practice jam or the demo of your first song?

Mike Van Dyne: Well, once Jeff Andrews (guitar/vocals) and I had rough instrumental demos of our songs completed back in 2021, Dan was the first person we sent all of them to because we were hoping he would want to beour bass player haha. So he’s the best one to answer this… Dan Saltzman: When I first heard those early demos I probably said something like “Dude this rips!!” haha. Even in its raw form, the music had this unique blend of heaviness and melody that stood out. It was hard to put in a box, which made it even cooler. Still to this day honored to have been asked to play bass.

RRX: “The best laid plans of mice and men…” I don’t really know the quote, but I know this one; sh*t happens. When we least expect it, calamity befalls us. Sometimes just comic inconvenience. Please tell us a story about some comic inconvenience that happened to you whilst performing?

MV: Fleshspoil never performed live, tragically our friend and bandmate Jeff passed away just days before the digital release of our album back in March. I’m still working on wrapping my head around all that, but I’m honored I could help him complete and release his final transmission. Dan might have a good story of some comic inconvenience
from his other band Illucinus though!

DS: Yeah a few years ago on tour Illucinus played a small club in Sacramento, and we hired a local buddy to run his custom light rig at our show and another friend to get some pro video for us. Of course we blew the power out multiple times mid-set because of all our ridiculous gear and then the extra lights running out of like two power outlets haha. It was chaotic but also hilarious in hindsight, and we still got some good footage in the end.

RRX: My singer punched my drummer out. Memorable moment, though nothing to brag about. But we have these things that, when summing up your endeavor, an incident comes to mind. What do you got?

MV: Fortunately, the writing and recording of our Fleshspoil album was completely drama-free. Going back to my previous band Arsis though, the guitarist/singer Jim and second guitarist Nick once got into a full-on brawl in Chicago after our soundcheck during a headlining U.S. tour we did years ago. That can definitely be filed into the “memorable, but nothing to brag about” category haha.

DS: Touring always brings some wild stories. A story that stands out from one run is when we (Illucinus) had an encounter with some unsavory characters in Albuquerque… a pistol was involved and thankfully nobody was harmed. Let’s just say I don’t need to visit that
town any time soon.

RRX: We have to play somewhere, and sometimes those places have more going for them than a stage and a power outlet. What is a memorable place you played, and bonuspoints if it’s not a well-known place.

MV: Too many to list from my Arsis days, but off the top of my head I’d have to say a gig at Circo Volador in Mexico City… rad show with Cynic in front of over a thousand people, and I got to watch Sean Reinert play the entire “Focus” album from the side of the stage. Honorable mentions to Innsbruck Austria and Bruneck Italy for being particularly beautiful places I was fortunate to play while on tours supporting Behemoth and Grave.

DS: One of my most memorable shows was at the legendary Slim’s in San Francisco with my high school band. It was one of my first shows ever, and we ended up winning a huge “battle of the bands” after playing in front of a couple hundred people… big deal when you’re 17. We were on top of the world and a lifetime of shred was sealed right then! Such a formative experience for me and it was the only time I got to play there — sadly the place closed about 5 days into the Covid pandemic.

RRX: Playing out is tricky because you never know what’s going to happen when you get there. Sometimes everything goes wrong. What was your worst show like?

MV: We never had a total trainwreck of a gig, but in the early demo days of Arsis before we got signed, we played some hilariously bad shows… my absolute favorites being a NASCAR pot luck supper, and also one of those “battle of the bands” things where we lost to a bunch of 13 year olds haha. To say we paid our dues and worked our way up theladder the old fashioned way would be a gross understatement!

DS: We once had a show aeons ago where another band sabotaged us by detuning all our guitars right before we went on stage. We hit the first note, and it sounded terrible, and the guy just laughed and flipped us off. Kid clearly had issues or maybe one of us pissed him off somehow… or maybe that was also a “battle of the bands”. I can’t be sure. It was brutal at the time but definitely unforgettable. In hindsight I should have just hopped off
stage and kicked his ass.

RRX: Would you rather have one of your songs blow up and make you a one-hit wonder and household name, or would you rather have all your songs be solidly received, but no chart-climbers? (You have to pick one or the other here.)

MV: Solidly received is fine by me, if I wanted to be a household name I would’ve chosen a different genre of music to play other than death metal haha. Ironically enough though, the last Arsis album I played on (“Starve for the Devil”) made the Billboard heatseekers chart for its opening week sales, that was pretty neat.

DS: I think I would choose “solid catalog” but for me making music is about the art and the creative expression, not about public perception. If someone loves it, great; if not, I can’t be bothered. I do it for me and the other musicians involved. Our collective satisfaction with the output is the only thing I’m truly concerned with.

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