Paul Speckman – Interview With The Master

There are few remaining legends in the extreme metal scene, and Paul Speckman is definitely one of them. The bassist/vocalist is the man behind Master – one of the first death metal bands ever, the force behind legendary thrashers Abomination, and the voice of cult death metal outfit Krabathor. Paul was kind enough to answer our (many) questions in an interview about his past, present and future.

Hey Paul, I'd like to start with current events, I understand there's a new Master album coming out, how is the album going to sound?

The latest masterpiece is called Slaves To Society and will be released o the Twilight Vertrieb label on May 11th. Master will then headline a tou with various supports throughout Europe beginning on May 18th at this point. The tour will last from the May 18th until June 24th, but may be extended due to the fact of much interest. The newest Master is energetic, and angry as always, only the album is faster than the previous record. I also spent more time on the vocals for this CD, and there is definitely more energy here. More info can be found at master-speckmetal.com or www.twilight-Vertrieb.com

What's the meaning behind the title – Slaves To Society mean, and the cover art?

Today the world has really become Slaves To Society. We are forced to work, pay taxes and follow the rules that society dictates. Freedom is a thing of the past. The politicians make rules we must abide by, and freedom decreases every year. Terrorists like George W. Bush rule the world with their corruption and violence in order to make the world bend to his every whim. If the youth of today don’t rise up and take control of the situation, then all freedom will be a think of the past. This is a terrifying thought as the future draws nearer. On the cover art, the Devil is society, and the woman are the Slaves To Society, but this really means all people in general are the Slaves To Society. I recommend that all the youth of today stand up and be counted and take over this silly world. Changes must be made. Unfortunately, Anarchy is nearly lost!

What's the line up on the album?

Zdenek Pradlovsky on the drums, and Alex Nejezchleba plays the guitars. I of course play the bass and sing the vocals. There are a few special guests from the Czech Republic playing some additional solos and singing additional vocals. I enjoy bringing in a few friends every time we record a new record. The basic lineup of musicians on the record is the same as the last four years. This is the third CD together. It’s always a problem for me to keep a stable lineup, because money is always an issue with musicians, and Master makes just enough money to survive these days as the competition is enormous, and people always find crooked websights that make the songs available for free. Today is a sorry state in the music industry. The labels get richer, and the artists are often starving.

Are you currently only active with Master?

Yes, and no. I also work with a booking agency in Germany, and they keep on the road continuously throughout the year, every year. I travel on a bus with many different acts sometimes as a tour manager, or a merchandiser. This keeps me in the scene and allows me to sell Master merchandise every day on tour as well. It’s really a killer job that allows me to stay in touch with the real Metal troops. I will be leaving on the 27th of March to join Vital Remains next for 45 dates in Europe. In the past I have traveled with Benediction, Ill-disposed, Testament, Macabre, and several other killer Metal acts form throughout the genre. As I said Metal is a way of life for me, and keeps me busy every year. Master keeps me busy as well as we tour at least twice a year ourselves and travel to many other countries for one off shows as well as festivals through the summer.

Now back in history, you started out with metal way back in the early 80's, do you remember the specific moment when you got hooked?

I was actually hooked after singing in a band called White Cross when I was still in high school. I met this cat Ronald Cooke (Thrust), and he asked me to audition as a singer, and after the show at the high school during the lunch hours I was hooked. So much attention was drawn to me as well as the others. This was crowning achievement that year in1977. After this I began practicing the bass guitar, and never looked back.

How did Warcry come together?

I was returning home from one of my latest sexual conquests, Janice Bell, when I ran into Steve Ahlers as he was working in the driveway of his parent’s home on his old VW Bug. We got to talking, and he mentioned the fact that he bought a guitar and was learning songs from Sabbath and Judas Priest. I mentioned the fact that I was also practicing the bass guitar, and I suggested that we should get together and jam. We began practicing, and added Steve’s friend Marty Fitzgerald on lead guitar and began rigorously practicing. After a year or so we finally hooked up with a local, experienced drummer called Joe Iaccino, and we began. Warcry recorded the infamous Trilogy of terror demo, and began playing shows at a local club called Haymakers near the Palwakee Airport in Illinois. We opened shows for Mountain, Twisted Sister, Queensreich, and countless others.

What kind of a metal scene was there in Chicago back then?

The Scene in Chicago was thriving with acts such as Trouble, Zoetrope, Znowhite, Witchslayer, Thrust, and posers like Hammeron and Paradoxx. Those were the good old days. All the bands at this time supported one another. There was real comradeship among the bands. When I read other interviews with these past rebels, they all mention the same thing. This was killer time period in the history of the Chicago Metal Scene. I think maybe it was something in the water from Lake Michigan. I would have to say that the biggest band from this genre to succeed was Trouble, and they are beginning to tour as well this year once again. I hopefully will run into them again somewhere on this planet. As much as I travel these days it’s likely we will meet up again. I of course look forward to seeing my old Chicago comrades. There was an old club called The Thirsty Whale, that supported music, but some years back the club was torn down and replaced by a gas station. They call it progress, I call it decline. The world is always building and taken up all space.

I understand that thrash band Forbidden were actually named after one of your songs, how did that happen?

I actually ran into one of the original Forbidden members at a Foundations Forum meeting in Los Angeles California, and I was told by this member that the original drummer Paul Bostaph named the band after the song Forbidden Evil written by Steve Ahlers for Warcry. If you look at the original album, which I have on vinyl, the album is called Forbidden Evil. So I suppose it’s highly likely that I was told the truth. As I always say, it’s a small world in the Metal Scene.

You had quite a tremulous relationship with Bill Schmidt, your ex-drummer, looking back on that now, what's your take on that now, in hindsight?

Bill Schmidt was a great drummer, and was filled with many great ideas, but unfortunately for him, he never had the money to implement them. So my money was used over and over again to try and bring these ideas to light. Many of the ideas in the end would end up to be pipe dreams for Schmidt, and he was subsequently fired after our short reformation in 1989 for the recording of the debut album for Nuclear Blast. I supported the bastard and his dreams from 1983 until 1986 when I finally got tired of supporting his drug habits, and left to form the short lived Funeral Bitch followed by Abomination respectively. Schmidt was a manic- depressive, and was afraid of his own shadow. The original incarnation of Master played 2 shows in the short run, and by today’s standards this is ridiculous. Today Master normally plays around 50 shows a year, and sometimes like this year, we will play around 100. Of course the goal is too play everyday, but that’s a dream for most. I read somewhere that Bill is playing with Diamond Rexx, an old Chicago wannabe Motley Crue type band, once signed to Island Records in the eighties. Original guitarist Chris Mittlebrun is playing Mick Mars in a Motley tribute band in Chicago as well. It hurts me too say this, as it’s quite embarrassing to me.

Is the story of how he and Kim Fowley lost you the record contact true? Can you tell us what happened there?

It was Kim Fowley, the once major record producer, who wrote and produced songs for Kiss, Joan Jett and the Runaways, as well as Alice Cooper. Yes, Mr. Fowley was a friend of the studio owners at SeaGrape Studios in Chicago, where we recorded the original Master 1985 demo’s released in 2003 on Displeased Records from Holland. MR. Fowley charged one dollar per minute to read the contract and changed the contract to read like we were a million dollar band. This was our first contract, actually the same contract that was offered and signed by Chucky from Death. So as I said earlier, I spent much money, and we made many mistakes in the beginning, and this is why I still reside in the Underground.

Why was Death Strike transformed into Master?

Master was only a dream at this point. Schmidt and I parted in 1984 because we couldn’t find a guitarist in Chicago that could play the first three songs Bill had written, including Master, Pledge of Allegiance and Terrorizer. Bill and I split up, and he joined a band now called on the web Mayhem Inc. I wrote a song called The Truth in my basement, just after my father passed on. It was agreed that I would live in my father’s home until it was sold. I wrote this song and began working on stuff in my basement. I looked in a music newspaper called the Illinois Entertainer, still in existence today, and found an ad for Chris Mittelbrun. I called with a smile. This mother-fucker auditioned for us a year before, but said he was still into the Judas Priest type twin guitar attack.

Before the original audition, he was in another Chicago legendary band called Transgressor, with another Chicago legend called Hawk. Apparently Hawk now plays with Scorpions former guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Mittelbrun and I put together a lineup for Deathstrike with my old girlfriend, Charlene’s brother, Kirk, and Mittelbrun brought in a drunk called John Leprich. We began practicing in the basement and wrote some arrangements. We recorded a demo in the spring of 1985 called Fuckin Death. Leprich had trouble getting the song I wrote called Pay To Die down, so I called and spoke with Schmidt about this. Fortunately Leprich succeeded in recording Pay To die after a second try. This was a new communication between Bill and I. By July 1985, Bill was calling and repeatedly begging to join Mittelbrun and myself. I finally gave in on July 4th 1985 and we jammed and changed the name again to Master. We went on to record the Master Demo’s in the fall of 1985, and split up one year later again.

Do you remember how you started out with the death growls?

I really just sang my own style, I don’t know about growls exactly. I just sang the way I felt, and I was quite angry after my father passed, and this is felt on the Fuckin Death demo for sure. When we recorded the Master demo, again this was just trial and error. It came out rather well anyway.

What do you think brought Master's status as a legendary underground act?

Of course the demo was sent through the tape trading underground, and bands like Benediction, Napalm Death as well as Dismember and Terrorizer got a hold of this. The Master and Deathstrike demos were well received and distributed through the underground, and this influenced so many including Evil Chuck from Death. The Florida Scene was influenced greatly by these demos and of course I have read this written by bands such as Morbid Angel. These demos changed the sound of the genre, and more aggressive Metal began. We as Master were listening to bands like Discharge, The Exploited, GBH, as well as Sabbath and Motorhead. These were our big influences. Of course the band plays on year after year, and so this adds to the mystique.

Why did you decide on forming Abomination?

After all the problems with Master, I felt it was time to take the reigns and control my own destiny. Schmidt was the unofficial leader of Master in the beginning. Abomination was my band. I felt more in control with Abomination, and we played shows in the hundreds after we were signed to Nuclear Blast. Master was offered a contract one week later, so I talked the original members into a short reformation as to record a CD. This Master reformation lasted a few weeks and then we broke up again. After being away from Schmidt and Mittelbrun for a while, I realized I didn’t need them anymore. After the stress of the studio album, we called it quits together for good. I put together a different lineup to tour Europe on the Fleishe Tour with Abomination as support, then Pungent Stench and Master as headliner. Nickeas the Abomination drummer, and I, played 26 shows as the musicians in both groups.

You were one of the first artists on the Nuclear Blast label, what do you recall from working with them at that time?

In the beginning times were good. NBR made a ton of money from the beginning, so they treated us very well. But, I am still waiting to get paid for many of the releases. They stole the money and invested in many other groups, as all labels do. I realize that I will never see this money, which is a sick joke, as the label is the biggest label in Europe, with the biggest groups. Money is the root of all evil.

How did your work relationship with Christopher and Krabathor start out?

I met Christopher while on tour with Malevolent Creation. Krabathor opened the shows every evening for 44 days around Europe in an old school bus without a toilet. These crazy tours have a way of bonding the inhabitants for years too come. Of course Malevolent, Master and Krabathor became great friends in the end. While on this tour, we hung out every day of course and spoke about a possible project together. When I spoke with Christopher over the phone in his broken English, he had just finished up his last shows with Krabathor, and the band was splitting up. Christopher was nearing his end with music when we spoke. We decided to record a project called Martyr in Czech. I went to visit Uherske Hradiste where I live now, and spent six weeks rehearsing and recording. They asked me to join Krabathor during this time in Europe. I returned to America and sold my stuff, worked six weeks and left the USA. I have been in Czech on and off for about seven years. I became a resident and live here without returning to the USA for three years now. Master will be touring the USA in December, so I will make my visit and see my old country.

Does Krabathor still exist?

I never left Krabathor. Christopher moved to the USA, and still lives there today. He will be returning for a Krabathor Tour, as well as new album in 2009 with me on board of course.
I will be using Christopher on guitar on the Master US tour, as he is a killer player, and he’s already there. It makes things a bit easier for me, as I don’t need to worry about visas for my Czech and Slovak players.

Your latest Master albums seem to deal in several subjects lyrically, what did "Let's Start A War" deal with, specifically such tracks as American Freedom and Purchase A New Handgun?

All my albums deal with what is happening in world at a particular time. The world is ever changing, and I enjoy keeping a personal record on CD. Every year the world changes and new tragedies strike, and I like to journal this in the music. American Freedom deals with the serial killer issue. In America, the most serial killers exist. It’s part of your freedom. Also there are serial killer trading cards available. Only in America could you find such a sick and twisted sense of values, where people profit off the murders of others. These sick and twisted serial killers live in the lap of luxury in prison after they are caught.

They paint, enjoy television, and live in their own private cell, courtesy of the tax- payer. Anyone basically can purchase a new handgun, and kill his or her spouse. This again is a part of freedom in the USA. At least here in Eastern Europe things are less common in these situations. I live in a city of 25,000 and it’s much quieter and at least at the moment, it appears to be safer. But as usual America is trying to infiltrate Eastern Europe with a new system of radar. The Russians are terrified. This big game will never end, and it’s definitely food for thought, so this is why I wrote these tracks.

What did the Spirit Of The West album deal with?

The Western ideology of course. Personal experiences of mine made there way onto this record. I have to look at the records for a moment after each of these questions, because I have moved on in life as usual. It’s another time and another place. The Spirit deals with Bush, doctors playing god as usual. Also Hilary Clinton is the Woman with the serpents tongue. It’s a terrifying thought that she’s running for president in the USA. But, on the other hand, who could do worse than the Bush’s, past and present. It makes me sick that a hand full of old men shape the destiny of an entire world with their antics and ideas. I went with a Western motif as a tribute to the legendary Johnny Cash.

You've stated publicly your use of pot, do you still smoke the stuff? Do you think if affected your lifestyle or music in any way?

Actually I quit when I was around 25 years old, but I do still partake on tour, on occasion, as it’s always available on tour. In the beginning the marihuana was very helpful in writing songs, and I suppose it still is today sometimes. I recommend that everyone must at least try it. There is definitely a freedom in marihuana, and I think it’s better to smoke pot and mellow out than go to war and kill helpless civilians.

So many years in the business, and with some many albums released, why do you keep on going? It's certainly not for the money.

There is nothing like taking the stage and playing to hundreds and also sometimes thousands of people. The thrill is still there after all these years. As you said if it was only about money, I would have quit many years ago. I still enjoy listening to my crazy aggressive old voice coming through the monitors, and watching the reactions of the people. I still read reviews, sometimes they’re good, and sometimes people say I suck. But, this doesn’t matter too me as I play this music for the feeling I get. I write the songs for myself, and if someone learns something by the lyrics, it’s thrilling. If they just enjoy the sound then that’s cool as well. It’s Rock n Roll baby.

Looking back on things, what are the things you would change with the way you chose to walk in your musical career?

Well hell, I never would have taken on a manager when I did back in 1988. What a mistake this was to take on a college graduate who really new nothing about the business. It was all about trial and error with him, and the errors outweighed the trials. We should have signed the Combat deal in 1985, but hindsight is 20/20. Maybe I am still alive today because we never signed that contract. At the time of the contract the whole band was severely hooked on Cocaine.

Any last words for the metal fans reading this interview?

Check out the new CD called Slaves To Society, and I am sure you won’t be disappointed. It’s a brutal CD of Aggression, and is a reminder of the state society is in today. And for the young people I hope they listen very carefully and a t least try an attempt at change. This is for the best. For more info go to my website (master-speckmetal.com) and if you have any questions about Master or merchandise you can write me, Thanks for the killer interview, it brought back some good and bad memories…