by Kenneth Morton

Impending Doom headlined Facedown Fest 2009 on a Saturday night in Pomona, performing their spiritual based brand of brutal death metal to a sold out Glass House. Prior to their set, we spoke with bassist David Sittig about their new CD The Serpent’s Servant. This interview features a sleepy guest appearance from their vocalist Brook Reeves. Read on…

Where is the band based out of and what is the music scene like there?
David: We’re based out of right around here – from Riverside, California. The scene is pretty strong – definitely have a lot of good friends in bands out in this area. It’s usually good times when we play home shows.

Are you nervous about headlining Facedown Fest tonight?
David: No, not really. We headlined last year, so I was kind of nervous last year. This year I’m not so nervous, but I might get a little butterflies five minutes before we go on. I’m not sure, but we’ll find out. It’ll be a good show.

So what exactly is gore-ship and how do you explain that to an old church lady?
David: Gore-ship is basically a word our singer made up. It’s just our way of worshipping God through our kind of gore-sounding music. I wouldn’t know how to explain it to someone that old – that generation really doesn’t understand this generation very well 0- but that’s probably what I would say anyways.

Is there any story or concept behind the CD title The Serpent’s Servant?
David: (Calling out to their sleeping singer across the room) Hey Brook!!! He always likes answering this one because I’m not good at it. Hey Brook! I’ve got a question for you about the meaning.
Brook: (waking up from across the room) There’s no meaning!
David: No meaning? Not true! Answer the question.

(As Brook is waking up) Hello there! I’m Ken from Highwire Daze, how are you? So is there any story or concept behind the CD title?
Brook: Um, yeah, um – it’s basically – I talk about the corruption and the stupid… I hate religion – and it’s like the corruption in the church I believe is derived from – there’s angels and there’s demons – and I think there’s demonic presence in the church sometimes. A church can have that corruption and I have a hate for that.

Where did you get some of the lyrics to the songs and what are they about. And good morning by the way…
Brook: Good morning, yeah… The Serpent’s Servant is about other Christians trying to put down standards on you – like you have to be at this level for God to love you – and I think that’s stupid. Say a Christian sins and another Christian – instead of trying to encourage you and bring you up, you’ve got those guys saying, “Aw, you’re not good anymore. Aw, you should feel like crap.” And that’s what that song is mainly about – not judging and holding standards because God demands perfection – and we’re not perfect at all by any means. We’re saved through God’s grace and we’re going to frick up in this life. So that’s what it’s really about – not judging someone. And then Anything Goes is a song I wrote – I don’t like the evolutionary theory and I can’t understand how people think we came from nothing – so that’s what that one is about – totally against that theory.

What was it like working with Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying and what did he contribute to the overall recording process?
David: We worked with Daniel Castleman – he produced and engineered the record. We didn’t work with Tim at all actually. We hung out a few times, but he didn’t have his hands in the record at all. It was just really us working with Daniel Castleman, which is awesome! He’s such a great dude. And Kelly Cairns – he helped out a lot. It was awesome working with those two guys.

So what did Tim do exactly?
David: It’s his studio. We wanted to record at his studio. He hung out with us a bunch of times. He’s a real nice dude and we had some good times – but he didn’t have anything to do with the record really.

With so many band members coming and going, how frustrating has it been to replace someone in this band?
David: So frustrating! It’s the worst thing ever. I hate replacing new members because you have to teach that person each and every song. It’s super-hard finding dudes – especially for this genre – because since we’re a death metal band that’s a Christian band, you have to find a dude who’s over 18, who’s Christian – who likes and who can write this kind of music – who can tour anytime in the entire year without having anything holding him back – and who has the skill to do it. So with all those things combined, it narrows it down to very few people – it’s really hard.

Are you an original member?
David: I’m not. Their original bass player did the EP, and then after that came out, five months later I joined the band. So I’ve been in the band pretty much the whole time, except for the very early stages.

Do you have any messages for Impending Doom fans out here in the Los Angeles area?
David: Thank you for pre-ordering our record if you did. It means the world to all of us. Hope to see you guys all in the future sometime soon – we love hanging out with all of our fans.

Impending Doom links

Impending Doom on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for Impending Doom!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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