Note: this interview was done in 2022.
The best thing about metal underground is that it is like a bottomless pit. No matter how many bands you have already heard, there are more to discover. Despite my passion to thrash metal I somehow missed Chemical Annihilation until they released "Ressurection" album in 2022. I immediately fell in love with their raw type of thrash and contacted vocalist/drummer Mike Pfau for an interview.
Why did you decide to resurrect the band after all these years of silence? Do you still have something to say to your audience? Or is it more like an attempt to sum up what you’ve done in the music field?
Mike: After being asked occasionally by fans and Paul (Nicholls, current CA guitarist) over the years to resurrect the
band we felt we owed it to ourselves and our fans to do so. Yes, we have a lot
left to say to our audience, a lot of unfinished business, more music to make,
songs to write, tours to play. We’re in it for the long haul and not planning
on going away anytime soon!
And as a follow-up to the
previous question: are you serious about the band now? Are you going to release
more albums, play shows etc.?
Mike: YES, YES, & YES!
Have you kept on playing
drums since the 80’s or did you have to re-learn it from scratch?
Mike: No, I didn’t keep playing, I stopped for long periods of time because
of life, family/kids, work/businesses. 3 of us Chemical members were part of
another band Crazy Like Me. We were active from the mid to late 90’s and again
from 2012—2016, the band started up again in 2019 under the name Sandy Mule
when Todd Hoffman took over on vocals, we’re still active and just released a
new album “Time”.
“Resurrection” was recorded
with the new line-up. Did you try to talk original members into doing it again?
Mike: Yes, there was communication with the original members about getting
the band fired back up. It wasn’t even an option for Kris as he was on the
other side of the country. Jeff (Vance,
guitarist, who now plays bass in the band) couldn’t do it at the time. The first
time we got together Ryan (McFarren, CA guitarist
in 1989—1990) was there but wasn’t able or wanting to remain a part of the
rebuild.
Could you introduce the new
guys, please? How did you find them and what convinced you that they were a
good choice?
Mike: Paul and I knew each other from the early Chemical days, our bands
played gigs together while he was the guitarist/frontman of Arachnid. We were
roommates during and after the first stint of Crazy Like Me. Paul and I knew
Tobe (Anderson) from back in the
early Crazy Like Me days. He was in a band called Tilting At Windmills with Kris
(Merkel, CA guitarist in 1988—1990), we
played a lot of gigs together and Tobe, Kris and the rest of their band were
all great. Kris always spoke very highly of Tobe. During our second stint of
Crazy Like Me when Wayne decided to leave the band while we were discussing replacements
his name came up and we knew he would be perfect.
Jeff Vance has returned to
the band recently but now he plays bass. Why did Bill Brewer leave the band?
Mike: Bill has been dealing with worsening health issues. They were getting
bad enough that playing was increasingly painful and difficult to the point
where he could no longer do so.
How did you pick up songs for
re-recording? Why are there no songs from the first demo on “Resurrection”? I
guess the demo deserves to be re-recorded properly.
Mike: We felt the songs off of “Why Die” were deserving of being
re-recorded. The sound quality on the first demo songs were even worse so I
think when we record the next album we’ll possibly take a couple of those songs
and re-record them also, if we all agree to do so and can agree on which songs/
Was it hard for you to sing the lyrics which you wrote an eternity ago? Or do you still find these lyrics relevant?
Mike: I don’t think singing/screaming the lyrics are any harder than it was
an eternity ago. Maybe a little easier now because I don’t have to do as much
with Paul taking on some of the responsibility. I think the lyrics are just as
relevant now as they were in the late 80’s.
Mike: Yes, “Covid-19”, “Virgin Blood”, and “Bastian of Evil” are all new. “Dying
Rights” was never recorded before now besides some bad video footage from 1989.
I think Covid-19 started in China, in the Wuhan lab. There were too many
Covid-19 conferences, etc… leading up to its release for it to be a coincidence
that it naturally started. I have mixed feelings about the lockdowns,
restrictions, vaccinations, etc. Lately everyone I know who has ended up with
severe cases and at the hospital were vaccinated and boosted, even one of our
band members. Our longtime friend & artist who’s been doing most of our
artwork since the late 80’s had a 20 year old stepdaughter who after being
vaccinated ended up with Myocarditis and after being hospitalized and suffering
severely for several months she passed away a few months ago. The risks of
complications in children and young adults from getting vaccinated are far
worse for them than getting the virus itself is.
What are your next steps with
Chemical Annihilation? Have you already played live since the reunion?
Mike: We are getting ready to start playing live again, getting videos out
for songs off the new album and working on new material. Yes, we played a lot
live since the reunion before Covid hit but haven’t played since or with Jeff
since he rejoined the band.
Did it take long to record
“Resurrection”? What was your way of recording? Did you go to the studio on
weekends and day-offs or did you lock up in the studio for a while like it used
to be in the good old days?
Tobe: We started pre-production in early 2020 working out all the click
tracks for the 10 songs. That took a couple of months to finalize and get
right. The actual recording of the album was a different process than what most
of us are used to. We recorded scratch rhythm guitars and the bass at my home
studio and then Mike played to the scratch tracks in the studio. We broke this
up over several months. After the drums were done, and the bass tone dialed in,
Paul and I recorded most of our rhythm tracks in the studio over a couple
weeks. The solos took the longest - which we would do in our home studios and
then send in to be added to the tracks. It was nice to be able to take some
time with them. Last was the vocals and miscellaneous overdubs. Then mixing and
mastering. It was a bit weird not to play together during the basic tracks, and
making the clicks took a bit of time and patience, but it was worth it in the
end. All told the whole process, which was not done continuously, took about a
year to complete.
Now let’s get back to the very beginning of the band! Do you remember what or who turned you on rock/metal music? What was your first show which you attended as a fan?
Mike: I think I was mostly turned on to rock/metal music because of my own
desire to continually listen to music that was faster and heavier. I did have
some friends that influenced me a little and helped sway me. My first real
Rock/metal concert was Stryper!
How come you became a singing
drummer? Were you both into singing and drumming and couldn’t pick just one
duty? Or did you start singing because no one wanted to? Was/is it hard for you
to play and sing at once? Doesn’t one thing limit another?
Mike: I was into singing but cleaner, not like I scream in Chemical. I was
just the drummer but after unsuccessfully trying out a lot of singers I just
said I’m going to do it and that’s what I did. It’s always felt natural and
doesn’t seem difficult to me but doing both limits me for sure. I’ve always
felt like if I could focus on one or the other l could do a lot better at one
of them rather than both together. If I had to choose between one or the other
for Chemical I would probably pick the vocal duty.
Your way of singing has
always been closer to death metal bands like Death or Possessed. How did you
define your genre back then? Were you influenced by any death metal bands?
Mike: Back then we thought of ourselves as both thrash and death metal. We
liked a lot of death metal bands and I’m sure we were influenced by them. We
always tried to do what felt natural and never tried to sound like anyone else
though and just let people classify us how they wanted to.
How did you meet the guys
from the original line-up?
Mike: I answered most of that in a previous question except for how I met
Jeff. Around 1988 when we were looking for another guitar player we put ads all
over Portland on billboards at music stores, etc…. Jeff responded to the ad,
tried out, and fit in perfectly.
I guess the name Chemical Annihilation
is a reference to Slayer’s “Chemical Warfare”. Is this correct? Who and how did
you come up with this title?
Mike: The name Chemical Annihilation was just one of several names thrown
out in 1987. I don’t think it had anything to do with Slayer. We just thought
it sounded cool and better than any of the other ideas. Nobody ever came up
with anything better so it never left us.
Mike: Trying to
get a group of guys together that were 100% dedicated to making it happen was
hard and is what finally took us to a different level. There were long periods
of time we rehearsed every single day. Many months we would be lucky to have
one day off. Some of my earliest best memories were us playing at a high school
talent show because two of the members were still attending school there. We
were only supposed to play one instrumental song, no vocals. We got some mics
out there and just kept playing and screaming until they cut the power and
closed the curtains. Another fond early memory was showing up to gig at the
Starry Night (now Roseland Theater) that appeared to have more people than I
anticipated when I arrived. I entered through the back looked out over the
crowd that was way over capacity, probably 2000 people that were packed in like
sardines. My stomach turned inside out and I felt like I was going to puke but
it all went great and I was never that nervous again.
Portland had a pretty healthy
metal scene in the 80's: Wild Dogs, Gargoyle, Glacier, Cruella, Wehrmaht,
Spazztic Blurr… Were you friends with any of these bands?
Mike: Yes, we knew them, some better than others and were friends with some
of them. Back in the late 80’s early 90’s we practiced at a huge decrepit Old
Town industrial Portland several story building, “The Palace”. Each floor had a
lot of practice space rooms, we were on the bottom floor of the dungeon. Thank
God there was never an earthquake! Next door to us was Gargoyle. The rooms only
had a single light socket in the center where you plugged in an adaptor &
all of your power came from that. We had a lot of equipment, power amps, etc..
When we were in the building everyone else in the building knew it, the lights
would dim everywhere while we were playing because we used so much electricity.
Amazing that the one light socket could produce that much!
The band recorded two demos
in 1989 and it says a lot about your level of enthusiasm at the time. What are
your best memories about recording these demos?
Mike: We recorded the first demo on a little 4-track cassette tape recorder
live on 2 tracks, and then vocals on the next 2 tracks in my 10’x12’ bedroom at
my parents house before we started practicing at The Palace. I believe that was
the first time I gave up on finding a vocalist and decided I would take over
the responsibility. That recording was the first time I started screaming like
that. Then I had to do so while playing the drums ever since then. The
recording of “Why Die” was the first time we recorded in a real studio and
recorded on 2” tape with 24 tracks available. Shortly after that time period we
went on a song writing rampage and I’m guessing we had a total of at least 30
songs. I wish we would’ve recorded all of them then. Any recordings we have of
the songs now are so bad it’s hard to decipher them.
Was the tape-trading circuit
still alive in 1989? Did you send your demos overseas or to some exotic (by
heavy metal standards) countries?
Mike: The tape trading circuit was still alive then and our tapes made it
around the world a little but not as much as they should’ve at the time.
Did the band play enough
shows back then? Did you have a chance to open for some established bands?
Mike: Yes, we played a lot, we opened for a few big established bands, like
Poison Idea, etc… but we grew really quick, had a large following and were
being asked to headline shows at the “Starry Night”, now “The Roseland” after a
short time period. That was the best biggest venue for our music and we played
there a lot. It was all kind of ironic, we were playing headlining shows there
in front of a lot of people while Nirvana was playing at the small club just
across and down the street, “The Satyricon”. Funny how that all worked out.
Mike, you are a hunter. People
tend to hate hunters these days. While I feel sorry for animals (especially
when I see pictures of these beautiful, majestic creatures laying dead), I
realize that there are some limits and restrictions and you don’t shoot right,
left and center as soon as you enter a forest killing every animal you see. So,
could you tell us more about it? What’s your points for hunting? What kind of
feelings does it give you? Why kill animals when you have plenty of food in
markets and stores?
Mike: I didn’t grow up around hunting, my dad hunted some but went with his hunting buddies. I only remember him taking my brothers and I along on one trip. It was probably for the best as I didn’t like the thought of killing animals at the time and don’t know if I could’ve actually pulled the trigger when the opportunity came. When I got older one of my good friends who hunted a lot since he was a child asked me if I wanted to go rifle hunting with him and his family. I tried it, enjoyed it and my perspective about hunting changed. After a few years I became almost completely an archery hunter intrigued by the challenge and the thought that by doing so I would give the animals a fair chance. 99% of what I humanely harvest is with a bow, it is not an easy task. I like knowing that the animals I’m fortunate enough to harvest lived a long healthy free life and the meat I get from them is free of hormones, antibiotics, etc… I work very hard to harvest the animals I do and the meat they provide my family. Yes, it would be a lot easier to go to the store and buy meat from animals that lived in a cage their entire lives in horrible conditions while being pumped full of things they shouldn’t be and executed in a production line where they are obviously smart enough to know they’re next in line.
Feel free to leave a message
for the readers!
Mike: Thanks to you all for all of the support. We will work hard to get more songs, albums, videos out and hope to have an opportunity to perform for you all soon!
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