Terror In His Presence

      Chicago death metal/melodic thrash band, Terror in His Presence, was very much like most bands when they started. They had members and an idea, they just needed a name. "We wanted something that would stick out in your head. So after many trial and error names, we decided to sit in our old guitarist's basement and start looking through books for inspiration." Since the band's from the 708 area, they decided to look in the bible and turn to the page, in hopes of finding something interesting. Terror in His Presence stuck.

      The band has been through several line-up changes, but Ed Messina (lead guitar) and Kevin Gecan (bass) have stuck around since the beggining. They came across current singer, Zack Hnat, while searching for a new guitarist. The band's then drummer had suggested they ask Zack to play guitar. They taught him one of the songs on guitar and since they had a PA, he tried vocals as well. "When I heard his voice I knew he was our singer. " Recalls Ed.

      After the departure of their drummer, the band recruited Dan Valente, who they had known for a long time. "Originally, he was only a fill-in because he was in another band. Then after a while we asked him to play full-time and he said yes." Through a friend, Ed got into contact with former Calignosity band mate, Joe Sperlak, whom they recruited on rhythm guitar after clicking well with his attitude and abilities.

      The band tries to combine the sound of The Black Dahlia Murder with their "old school heroes" like At the Gates and Carcass. Then, the band takes the aggressive fast thrash sounds of Metallica and Anthrax and mixes it into the band's own unique leads, harmonies and vocal patterns to create Terror in His Presence.

      You can typically find the band playing death metal shows, but the band does enjoy playing for hardcore crowds because they enjoy the challenge and feel as if they can earn their spot. "We have to play harder and put on an amazing show so that we stand out from everyone else" The band's performance is fairly active. "We all do our own crazy things to get the crowd into the show, whether it be Kevin running around in the crowd and making people mosh, or Dan throwing his sticks up and doing crazy stuff on the skins, or Joe and Ed making funny gestures at each other and trying to one up each other on stage, and I definitely like to move around the stage and scream at the crowd to get moving and get into it" Says vocalist, Zack Hnat.

      The band's new EP, No Saviors was produced by Armando Terrazas and Jim Nicademus. "They have both been a huge help in making this EP sound amazing and have both been a pleasure working with" says the band. A lot has changed since the bands first EP, Quarantinatorium. "No Saviors features 2 tracks off of Quarantinatorium, No Saviors and Crucifixion, but are very different in sound (and) our writing has changed. We are a lot more technical and aggressive and have more hooks to bring the listener in and wanting more. The No Saviors EP is our current Golden Achievement and we are very proud to have had the chance to work with the people we did."

      Chicago-based heavy metal and tattoo culture magazine, Rock Scars Magazine, featured the band in an issue after the band was voted by their fans to make the magazine's cover.

Message from the band: If anyone wants to check us out, send us a hello, or set up a show with us, then go to our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TIHP1

Put Her In The Trunk

      Imagine this, the band Slipknot is driving down a busy road blasting The Misfits on their way to a Motley Crue concert. They are coming from seeing a George Romero zombie movie and the car crashes. That's how the death metal/punk band from Milwaukee, Put Her In The Trunk, describes their sound. "(We're) heavy and pissed off, with some punk elements and a few breakdowns." adds the band.

      The name, Put Her In The Trunk, came from a conversation between band guitarist, Jon Brem, and a friend at a bar. When the band was brainstorming for a band name, the conversation was brought up and the rest is history. It helped that the band was having little luck finding a name that had not been used yet.

      The band formed when the band Floating Face Down broke up. Brothers Jon and Doug Brem and their former bandmate, Scott Sweet wanted to continue making music together. The band then recruited Dan Kubinski of Die Kreuzen and Decapitado and started writing. The band went on without a singer. When the time came and the band wanted to put music online, they still didn't have a singer, so they turned to cookie monster.

      "We didn't want to put up an instrumental song, so we used a cookie monster toy for vocals. It turned out pretty cool and the cookie monster thing stuck with us for quite awhile. We (even) have some shirts with him on it." says the band. When Matt Schmitz, of Sleestak, joined the band, they started playing shows.

       Matt was a huge fan of horror films, like Doug, and their first CD, Guinea Pig, was based on four seperate japanese torture/horror movies. After Matt's departure, the lyrics got more violent and the band ditched the movie themes (but kept a few references). The band's overall influences range from death metal to The Beatles, giving the band an "anything goes" pass. The band tries to stay heavy, but they make sure that they have just as much fun as the listener.

      The current band line-up consists of Doug Brem (drums), Jon Brem (guitar), Anthony Kuehl (guitar), Scott Roth (vocals) and Mike LeBeau (bass).

      The band is very proud to say that Kane Hodder, actor who played Jason Vorhees in Friday The 13th 7, 8, 9, and 10, is a fan of the band. Doug, being a huge horror film fan, often goes to horror film conventions where he met Kane on several occasions. Doug gave him several band t-shirts and the actor once told him that he enjoyed the stares that people gave him for wearing the shirts. Coincidentally, one of the band t-shirt designs has the mask Kane wore in Jason goes to Hell.

      "Devil's Experiment", the song by the band is featured in the film, Brutal, directed by Nuna Minch. The band also has songs pending in upcoming indie horror films Night Of The Living Dead 2012, Midsummer Nightmares, and possibly, The Zombie Movie. They accomplished this feat, again, through Doug.

      "I give our CD's to indie movie directors at conventions. I'm constantly looking for new independant horror flicks to watch. I have some friends that act in indie horror films. I'm a horror film junkie." Says Doug. "When people see your stuff at lots of conventions and online, the word spreads. We never get paid for any of it, but thats not why we do it. When you watch a movie, and hear your song play during a scene, thats payment enough for me"

      Check out the band who has stayed alive in an overcrowded scene on Facebook and check out their latest release, They're Coming To Get You.
    

~ joeEFFINGmayo