DEATH ANGEL - Thrast-tastic Tactics Of The Seasonably Unreasonable Page 3
by Martin Popoff

"It ended up being an album where each song has its own identity," explains Mark, who takes more lyric credit here versus any Death Angel album of the scattery catalogue. "But a lot of it is just process of elimination. We overwrote for this record and narrowed it down to 11. But the majority of the ones that made it onto the album were written basically with just disgust at the state of the world today, particular world leaders of now. Basically we took a lot of world leaders of now, and in a sense, blended them or made an amalgam of dictators of history. You know what I mean? We could make this one piece and just attack that imaginary politician or leader/dictator, without actually naming any names or pointing fingers. But it tends to be disgust with how the world is being run or how various countries are being run."

Do you guys talk politics much?

"You know, I'd say in our private lives, everyone is a bit different. As a whole, when we are all together, it tends to be for a little bit, but it always ends up about music. I would say more than ever, politics comes out now. Which is really odd. I mean, everyone should be politically aware, and we are, but it's just now, everyone is hyper-aware - because I think everyone needs be. But I'm never one to preach, so we try to stay far away from preaching in our songs. That's where we just kind of draw the line there, so people can put their own ideas to what the song means. Maybe the song brings something else out of them, and if that's how they want to relate to it, brilliant."

With five guys in the band, do you all agree, or are there left-wingers at one end and right-wingers at the other?

"Kind of like the Johnny Ramone thing? (laughs). No, we tend to be pretty much on the same belief level, when it comes to politics. And I think one thing that is interesting, some people in the band are more on it because three of the five members have children now. So I think once you do, basically, more than ever you want the world to become a better place. And I'm seeing it through their eyes. I don't have kids and I'm pushing for it in general just because I do want the world to be a better place. But I can see how having kids changes that. And some people, I can see how it makes them more lighthearted about things, but I can see how we are fortunate enough that it adds more fuel to the fire that we want change and we want it now."

DEATH ANGEL - Thrast-tastic Tactics Of The Seasonably Unreasonable Page 4