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| Jogja Corpse Grinder community (left to right): Agung DETRITIVOR, Aryo DEADLY WEAPON, Dimex DETRITIVOR, Adin GENITAL CAVITY, Obet CRANIAL INCISORED, picture taken at the restaurant at back of the famous Avila recording studio in Yogya (where DEVO's The Prophecy album was recorded), 13 Oct 2011 |
My interview with Agung (vocalist) and Dimex (guitar) of DETRITIVOR (Yogyakarta, Indonesia brutal death-metal)
“We choose to play aggressive death-metal because we want to be different. In Jogja Corpse Grinder community, there are many styles so we also want to be different. We want our music to be colourful but still within the death-metal concept” – Dimex DETRITIVOR.
By Dr Kieran James (University of Southern Queensland)
Interview: 13 October 2011 at restaurant behind Avila recording studio, Yogyakarta
Extra comments and some language interpretation by: Oki, bass player of DEATH VOMIT.
DETRITIVOR is: Agung (vocals), Prima (bass), Dimex (guitar), and Anto (drums)
Kieran James: Thanks guys for agreeing to do the interview for my book on Indo death-metal. Oki will help you with language interpretation.
KJ: First question is: what type of music do you play?
Dimex: Aggressive death-metal.
KJ: Tell me about the history of the band...
Dimex: (this answer interpreted through Oki DEATH VOMIT): The band was formed in the middle of 2009 with the original line-up. There has only been two line-ups.
We choose to play aggressive death-metal because we want to be different. In Jogja Corpse Grinder [community], there are many styles so we [also] want to be different. We want our music to be colourful but still within the death-metal concept.
KJ: Have you had an album released yet?
Dimex: We have got demo, three songs and an Intro.
KJ: What is the response of the community and the fans here to the demo?
Dimex: We only made a few copies so the demo is not spreading here but it is spreading] in Bali and Jakarta. We were interviewed by Letters webzine [“Dapur letters”] and the response was good.
KJ: What are your main influences?
Dimex: SOLSTICE, SUFFOCATION [USA], SLAYER [USA], MALEVOLENT CREATION [USA].
Agung: KATAKLYSM [CANADA], VADER [POLAND], DYING FETUS [USA].
KJ: What is your goal and plan for the band?
Dimex: To release an album and spread the Jogja death-metal style and the music.
KJ: What are the good things about the scene here in Jogja? So far I enjoy hanging out here with Oki and Sofyan and visiting the music stores and Avila studio here. You know it was great today to get a picture taken with DEVO in front of the famous monument here in Jogja which is shown in the Flames of Hate DVD.
Dimex: Many different styles of music within death-metal [are here].
KJ: What are the main problems of playing death-metal in Jogja?
Dimex: The media, the newspapers, the magazines, their appreciation for death-metal is less or they don’t want to know maybe. The media is more concentrated on the big cities like Jakarta, like Bandung...
KJ: OK, you know Bandung is such a huge scene. Did you ever consider moving to Bandung to be with the scene there like CANNIBAL CORPSE moved from Buffalo to Florida to be part of the Florida scene?
Dimex: [No] because we were born here. The competition here between the bands is good and healthy.
KJ: What do you think of the Bandung bands?
Dimex: Good but almost all the bands have the same style.
KJ: What do your family think about you playing death-metal?
Dimex: My parents say it’s OK [Dimex is aged 26 and Agung is aged 19] as [long as] we finish our study.
KJ: What majors do you study in college?
Dimex: I.T.
Agung: Mechanical Engineering.
KJ: What are the lyrics you write about?
Dimex: About Nazi and Hitler, political. The lyrics of the new album will talk about all the crimes of Nazi and Hitler.
Oki DEATH VOMIT: The band put the swastika logo on their demo.
KJ: Why do you like to play death-metal?
Dimex: Why do you choose to make a research on death-metal?
[KJ: I gave Dimex an answer to this very good question but I didn’t write it down at that time. Ask me if you really want to know.]
KJ: Why do you think death-metal is so strong in Indo?
Dimex: We play death-metal; it’s like a natural selection. To play death-metal the ideology is “to be weak they will lose, to be strong they will live still”, the point is like that.
[KJ: At this point the chorus of “Master of Puppets” goes through my head. The meaning of that chorus is the same as what Dimex says: “To be weak they will lose, to be strong they will live still”.]
KJ: What do the strict Muslim people here think of death-metal?
[KJ: I ask this question because my book will be about the sociology of the death-metal scene in Indo not just about the music itself.]
Dimex: There is a Muslim community called FPI. I heard that FPI will go against metal music because of the lyrics. FPI thinks that all of the death-metal players are satanic worshippers.
KJ: Has anyone commented to you about the gore metal tee-shirts?
Dimex: Until today nothing like that has happened.
KJ: Did DEATH VOMIT help the young bands here and how did they help?
Dimex: DEVO supports the young bands and gives motivation to do the best in the future.
KJ: What do you think about JASAD singing about Sundanese culture and teaching the young ones the culture?
Dimex: It’s OK, there is no pattern that death-metal should or should not be like this. It’s OK if they don’t bother me. For example, if death-metal were to combine its music with Javanese culture it’s OK as long as they do not bother my music.
[The interview ended here. Thanks very much to Agung and Dimex.]
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