Feature / Interviews
Sabertooth Zombie

Words: Zed • Posted pre-2010

Pre-historic creatures and zombies kick a lot of ass. When the two are combined, a situation arises where the ass has been kicked so hard all that exists is the lack of ass. Sabertooth Zombie is that black hole you've been waiting for. But if you're really into ass, instead, Sabertooth Zombie is a million bajillion asses glued together.

Scene Point Blank: What is a Sabertooth Zombie?

Jay: It's a long story.

Jason: Sabertooth Zombie is Cody, Jay, Eric, Mambos, Jason, and sometimes Nug.

Scene Point Blank: What is the North Bay and what are your feelings on it? Why is it putting out so many great bands at the moment?

Jason: The North Bay is the northern part of the San Francisco Bay. My feelings for the area vary, its very love/hate. Why is it putting out so many great bands at the moment? Cause we have nothing else to do.

Cody: We all just like music. We like starting bands. We like to go to shows and kick it with the homies. We are all good friends and I think that's important. I don't know if it's JUST the North Bay putting out great bands right now; the whole Bay is doing good things.

Scene Point Blank: What does "Midnight Venom" mean?

Cody: We're all punks, we hate the world, and we spit nasty black venom in nighttime excursions. Fuck America.

Jason: It's a hybrid word.

Scene Point Blank: what song are you happiest with on Midnight Venom?

Cody: I feel like the last couple of songs we wrote before recording really show where we are heading: "Live in Hell Rot in Dirt," "Seven Swords," "Gallows" and "Black of Mouth." Lyrically, "Black of Mouth" or "Lady Death" are my favorites. I guess all around we are all really fond of "Black of Mouth," especially cause it's so fun to play live. It really slams.

Jay: My favorite tracks are either "D.O.A.," "Lady Death," or "Black of Mouth."

Jason: "Black of Mouth;" shit is straight raw.

Scene Point Blank: What about Midnight Venom do you want to improve for your next release?

Cody: We just finished writing three songs for a project with Spiderghost. The caliber of songwriting is far and beyond. The songs just pour out of us when we get together. I want our shit to be like oil. Just flowing, just slipping out. In fact I don't give a fuck about genres or styles, as long as it HAS style and is fun for us to make.

Jay: Yea I agree, the next three songs I think might be better then any song on Midnight Venom. As far as improving upon the release, I want more whammy bar.

Jason: No old tracks; up the raw.

Scene Point Blank: How much time did you spend recording Midnight Venom? What was your favorite moment of the process? If you had more time to record, what would you have done differently?

Cody: We had four days, and close to twenty songs. We wanted to do it live and just all groove. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources to do that. But it came out way better the way we did it. Real tight, cause Aaron at Castle Ultimate is our homie and he's part of our band when we're in there. He can rip on guitar. If we had more time to record, I would have liked to spend more time on trying to not do all the vocals in two days. My shit got all raw and some of the tracks came out a little weak. I couldn't talk at all the next day... I hate tea. We like to throw all kinds of shit in: cowbells, rattles, extra guitar tracks, stray screams, and All Bets Off covers. That's the fun part.

Jason: I believe it was a process of five days? My favorite part was recording the cowbell. If i could, I would add more raw.

Scene Point Blank: If you could do a split with any together band, what band would it be and why them?

Cody: Resilience is a punk band from the North Bay, we love them and we like their music. I like it when shit is all mixed up, when people are kept guessing. We feel like we are a real raw band, Resilience is raw.

Jay: Black Sabbath for sure, they are still together technically, right?

Jason: Earnhardt, #3.

Scene Point Blank: Any summer tour plans?

Cody, Jay, Jason: Yea, here's the plan: Tourâ?¦hopefully.

Scene Point Blank: If you had unlimited funds, what would the next piece of Sabertooth Zombie merchandise be?

Cody: Rollins Band/Sabertooth Zombie World Tour long sleeves.

Jay: How do you go after something like that is said?

Jason: Jay, why, beards.

Scene Point Blank: Why Twelve Gauge Records?

Cody: We wanted to put a record out and not do it ourselves. Jihad loved our shit, why not?

Jay: Well, I think Jihad does a great job with all the bands he has signed and he rules and it just worked out great.

Jason: Cause it's raw.

Scene Point Blank: If you had to fuck a character from any fable, who would it be and why them?

Cody: Aesop's got a fable called "The Ass, the Cock and the Lion". I'd fuck the ass.

Jay:��

Jason: The boys, cause they party.

Scene Point Blank: James Brown is dead. Who would you have preferred?

Cody: NUG DIED?

Jason: He will do, or my manager.

Scene Point Blank: Your lyrics are so. Awesome. What is your process of writing them? What would you say your biggest influences are?

Cody: I've been working meaningless jobs for almost ten years, with meaningless jobs come a lot of time to scrawl shit out on scraps of paper. For a lot of the newer songs I was into writing my shit in story form. Trying to paint a mental picture. I don't really know of any influences. If I could understand what Darby Crash meant in a lot of his songs I would cite him. I like the way his words look, but he's real cryptic.

Scene Point Blank: Now that Midnight Venom is released, what are your next plans for an album? What song are you going to re-record for it? (Just kidding)

Jason: Sabertooth Zombie/Life Long Tragedy split. Maybe some EP's, maybe some LP's, or even a live album?!?!?!?!?!

Cody: Like I said, we're going into the studio this week. Keep your eyes open. After that, Eric's going to smoke some weed, Mambos' going to listen to some Black Flag, Jay's going to get more Metallica tattoos, and Jason and I are going to try to learn to skate. We'll meet at the studio twice a week and flood the place with musical oil.


Interview: Zed

Graphics/Layout: Matt

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