Archaic-Magazine.com :: "...There’s another Larry Sapp lie..."

Carcass, Asphyx, At The Gates, Pestilence…reunions flying all over the place! For some a reason to throw away all the albums of the band because it will never be as good as it was, for others it’s great news. I categorize this reunion as great news as I consider Brutality one of the most underrated death metal bands of the world. Fortunately I (RM) found a partner in crime with Ron Salden (RS). Founding member Jeff Acres is telling us all about history, present and future…but first the early days.

The band started with myself , Larry Sapp, and Don Yanson. Many member and name changes later I came up with Brutality and the rest in history.

RM: What's your opinion on your albums nowadays?
I love everything about the "Screams of Anguish" album, it flows really well. We recorded it at Morrisound Studios . We got a lot of good feed back from it, people tell us to this day that’s one of there favorite albums. The production on the "When the Sky Turns Black" album is a little darker then "Screams of Anguish", but that’s what we wanted. We also did that one at Morrisound. The songs on that one flow as well but I think "Screams of Anguish" is our best album hands down. The artwork is great really dark and gloomy, I like it better than the "Screams of Anguish" cover.The feed back from it was great, people liked the black sabbath cover. I don’t care to much for the "In Mourning" album, I like parts but as a whole I don’t like it. We did that one at Morrisound as well.

RM: Larry Sapp told in an interview you disbanded Brutality because you weren’t satisfied with the “In Mourning” album. Could you tell us more about that?
Larry Sapp don’t know his ass from a hole in the ground, he didn’t know why the band broke up he don’t know anything. I broke the band up for other reasons. The real Truth? Things with some band members were going south. The other guys tried to kick Scott out of the band without telling me, and it pissed me off. So I broke the band up and Scott and I stayed together to do the band later on down the road.

RM: Then you guys decided to reunite in 2001. You were contacting all previous Brutality members and during rehearsing and recording demos, Brutality has 7(!) members. What the hell were you thinking ;) Seriously, was it a healthy working together with each other those days? I’ve read you all never rehearsed together.
There’s another Sapp lie, we never had 7 members there was 5. That guy told so much bullshit that we did not know about until after the band split again.

RM: Did Larry rip you off during the last reunion, as something must have happened back then…What kind of lies did he tell? The official homepage was maintained by Larry, according to your answers. Is there a lot of wrong information on that homepage?
Larry did some under handed shit. He sent out those songs to people without telling us, we never wanted that stuff to get out. It was pretty much a practice tape. The songs need to be worked on, he was all about getting his name out there. The only stuff that Larry knows about is the early demos days. He knows nothing after that so for him to even try to talk about anything else is a joke. And as far as that website of Larry’s it’s full of wrong information.

RS: The first obvious question about the reunion would be why did you resurrect the band again after the short-lived reunion a few years ago? I happen to know that Still Dead Productions turned out to be a rip off label (they also fucked Equinox over) after their initial formative years. Was this label crap the reason why you guys quit again (in 2005) so shortly after reuniting the first time?
No I stopped it because it was crap, the stuff that was being done was crap. This time it’s right with the right people and heavy as ever.

RM: But you were a bandmember in those days? Did you also thought the music was crap in those days? Did the style differ so much of the old Brutality sound?
Our early stuff did suck. We were young and trying to find our sound and get better. We started to get better when we put out our metamorphosis demo. Our song writing was getting and we were getting heavier, Larry wasn’t getting any better and got kicked out.

RS: Also, why is Jim Coker not part of this reunion? He was part of the previous reunion. Is he simply too busy with his other bands or do you guys prefer to bring in someone new and have a fresh wind in the band?
We just wanted to work with someone new with fresh ideas.

RS: It seems you did record a demo in 2003, was it ever widely distributed? In what musical relation is this demo with the albums you released in the 1990s? Was it closely related to one of them or did it show Brutality in a further evolved musical state?
That shit sucks!!! It was never to see the light of day. Sapp did that behind our backs after we split up, he needs a good ass beaten. but It’s not worth my time.

RS: How far were you in completing the 4^th full length album which was then called “Astaroth” when you disbanded in 2005? Will you be using some of this song material for the upcoming album? Or are you focusing on 100% completely new material?
The album was never going to be called "Astaroth". Our new album will be all new stuff.

RM: Can you tell us more about the new material? Will it be old school technical death metal like your first 2 albums or will you have other influences? Do you already have contacts with labels who are willing to release your new album?
The new songs are as heavy as the first 2 albums plus we will put a newer spin on some of the other songs we will be writing. We haven’t talked to any labels as of yet, when we get some new songs recorded we will start talking to them.

RS: It seems a few rare Brutality releases exist. A Best of compilation entitled “Metamorphosis/ Dimension demented” and a live album called “Brutality live”. How did these come into being and are they still available?
Those are bootlegs, the metamorphosis/dimension demented cd are 2 of our old demo’s. The live one is old when we still kind of sucked, we all have to start somewhere ha ha.

RS: In recent years two former Brutality members have unfortunately passed away: Bryan Hipp and Larry Sapp. How much have their deaths affected the band and the members personally?
Bryan’s death was a shock, but also wasn’t. He did a lot of drugs and it caught up to him it sucks. Larry is not dead, he became a woman. So in a way I guess he is dead.

RM: Say what? I’ve read everywhere he died in a car accident…
Who, Larry or Bryan? Bryan overdosed, and Larry became a woman.

RS: The website from the previous reunion has not been updated since 2005. Will you guys be using this website again or will you make a new one? Btw, did you take over the fan MySpace page?
NO, we will be getting a new web site going soon, that ones a bunch of crap. I run the myspace page now so you can get in touch with me anytime.

RS: I’ve actually caught you guys live but rather unintentionally haha. That was back in 1995 when you replaced Asphyx at the very last minute on the Cemetary and Bolt Thrower tour through Europe. That was still the era before the internet boomed so I was walking around with my Asphyx shirt feeling bummed haha. I still liked your gig but obviously had been looking forward to Asphyx so much.
We got asked to do that tour 4 days before it started Asphyx had pulled out, Nuclear Blast said you want to tour with Bolt Thrower? We said hell yeah.

RS: How do you guys look back on that European tour with Cemetary and Bolt Thrower? I remember that the place was really packed and when Bolt Thrower played the venue simply exploded.
It was great they are both really good bands and great people. They where great to tour with. The people we're into what we we're doing. It was awesome.

RS: It seems that the Florida death metal scene is still going strong with some bands that have been active all these years (such as Monstrosity, Deicide, Equinox, Morbid Angel) and several reunions of older bands like Resurrection and Brutality. How do you perceive its scene anno 2008?
It’s not as good as it was in the early 90’s but it making a come back. things back then we're better, more places to play and a bigger scene.