Blood Feast: Out for adventure
Blood Feast, a legendary American extreme metal band, formed in 1985, that continues to forge its own twisted thrash metal path. They broke up in 1991 but reunited briefly in 1999 and in 2007 and then after nearly 25 years, with a new line-up and a Youtube demo of a new Blood Feast song (“Off With Their Heads”) in summer 2014. A new line-up has been active ever since; the current one around founding member Adam Tranquilli (voc, git) features CJ Scioscia (git), Dave Kramer (b) and Adam Kieffer (dr). It was only this summer that after more than 2 years, their 4th full-length album Infinite Evolution finally saw its release. CJ tells us why it took so long, what’s happening now and where to catch them live next:
When and how did you join Blood Feast?
I joined in 2014. I was playing a show with my Metallica tribute, and Adam Tranquilli was on the bill as well with his Carnivore tribute. I got there early and ran into his drummer, who was an old friend that I hadn’t seen in years. I said to him something like ‘Adam must be stoked to be playing in Puerto Rico in a few weeks’, as BLOOD FEAST was doing a festival down there. The drummer said it was off, the 2nd guitarist couldn’t do it. When I saw Adam a little while later I told if the dude was out to give me a shot. By Monday morning I was in. My first show was 6 months later.
What is it like being in the band?
It’s been a lot of work, as not only am I the 2nd guitarist, but I’m also the producer and engineer. Also early on I started handling the business end of things. And with the line-up changes over the last couple of years I’ve even taken on our booking responsibilities.
What was the first band that you were in?
My first known band was the ‘80s NJ thrash band INSANIAC. We were contemporaries of BLOOD FEAST, and even played a show with them in Staten Island right when Kill For Pleasure came out. We did a lot of demos but never got a record deal. We did eventually make a proper studio album which could come out later this year, but there won’t be any shows.
Any favorite death metal bands?
Death, of course. Carcass, so good. Obituary, fer sure. Morbid Angel. I really dig later-era Immolation. They stuck it out and turned themselves into something pretty special.
Above all of these bands, though, is Napalm Death. Although they aren’t death metal to me.
What has kept Blood Feast going for so many years?
I can only speak for my time in the band. I believe we keep going because there are still fans that want to hear what we do, both the old and new material. Plus there’s the adventure aspect of going to new places and meeting new people.
What is the death metal scene like these days?
Unfortunately I don’t pay enough attention anymore. I don’t think the other dudes do either. Part of it is being in our own bubble.
What is a Blood Feast live show like?
As you can imagine lots of fast tunes, ha ha ha. But honestly we’ve never been as tight as we are now. Dave Kramer, our new bass player, has a lot to do with that. Like the stops in “Hunted Stalked And Slain” – we nail them hard. Ultimately we’re there to enjoy our time on stage and make the fans happy.
What was it like recording the new album?
Arduous this time. COVID was a big factor, but also as producer I made the somewhat radical decision to start from scratch a year into the process. I felt that Adam Kieffer [drums] had really grown into the songs after the initial drums sessions [August 2019], and was playing them with more of his personality. Now that the album is done I think it was the right move. And, obviously, we had some line-up turnover. Once those changes were made we plowed ahead. One last thing was at the mixing stage. For the life of me I couldn’t get the snare drum right. We wound up working that out at Bandmother Recording with Mike Sabatini of ATTACKER. He does some things differently than me, and it did the trick. No sampling, just some other processing.
Is Blood Feast currently on tour or planning to go on tour?
We are gearing up to support the Infinite Evolution album, fer sure, but we’re not doing any proper tours at this point. We’re currently looking into that for 2025, though.
Next festival show: August 31, 2024:
Who is supporting you on the live dates?
No-one specific at this point. Any show that’s not a festival date will be with local openers that the promoter puts on the bill. We definitely have a band in mind if we can get to Europe next year.
Any future plans and projects for the band?
We’re already working on songs for LP #5. There are about 7 in various stages of completion. One is totally ready, and we might even play in at this festival in Brooklyn at the end of August. I said to the other dudes last week that it’s the perfect place to blow-up the setlist.
Text: John Wisniewski
photos: Blood Feast
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