Insanity Alert’s Crossover Thrash Journey: From Suicidal Tendencies to Wacken and Beyond

0:04 Hi, you have done to censure? Wow, pray you. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio, and I'm here with Heavy Kevy and the Infiltrator. We are in senity alerts. Nice. That's not bad. That was That was pretty good, especially for somebody that wasn't good talk. He did a great job. It is. It is on. I'm just to reata out to play the guitar. Yeah, but you you probably say a lot with that guitar.

0:45 I don't know really, I just played the riffs that the other guy wrote, so yeah, there you go. I don't know. Man. Well, I gotta tell you, fucking Vakin, how the fuck did you get the Vokan? This is the Holy Ground car. Actually, oh well that's a good way to here. I get my train. But yeah, it's a fantastic for European metal bands. Just four or five dudes. It's it's it's it's the the top, It's the pinnacle, right, it's the coliseum. That's right. Here's where I'm going to start off. Right off the bat. I'm going to show you my eighties battle vest and I want you to find on there the band that you opened up for to launch your career.

1:32 If you can. If it's on there, let's see this. Fuck, dude, I didn't bring the glasses. There's your eyes. It's not your eyes. But dude, is it hand written there? It is there? It is there? It is That was That was quite the entrance that we made. I love right like, I'm thinking of myself. That's pretty. That's pretty bad ass. It's never been washed, so be careful. It's got blood as you can see. It's gone through some suicidal wars. Fucking good. I used to see them before they crossed over and suie boys. They would circle pit with switchblades back when they were punk punk and not thrash. But then I was at the first crossover show ever where you had punks and metal heads in the same room. And it was at an Elks lodge. If you could imagine what that is. It's like it ain't a venue, no no, and it definitely ain't metal and there was no security.

2:44 So on the metal side, the headliner was Possessed Dark Angel and then Savage Grace, which you probably don't know them, but you know they were one of my favorite flash bands back in the day. And then the punk side, coc pre Pepper, The Descendants. And Suicidal. Yeah, yeah, that is just wow. Right, I gotta tell you it's funny too. Where I lived during the eighties and the eighties, I lived in La so I was like all in that scene from the beginning. Went to Metallica's first show ever, Slayers first show ever. But that song Institutionalize was about all of my friends in high school because there was this mental hospital called Woodview Calabasas in Calabasas. And this is why Mike wrote the song, because it was trendy then for parents to throw their kids that they couldn't control into the mental hospital and that. Yeah, and now with that show, with that song like that, I have friends that got the exact same talk. That's why that song is a wild So what got you guys into thrash?

4:05 Actually it was a cassette. I was from the Netherlands. I had someone ve your country. Yeah, it's it's debatable. I like it too. I had a cassette with someone gave me gore Fest. I don't know if you remember Gorefest. It was a really it was really good yeah death metal, oh yeah. And on the other side was was a Slayer record, and at this point, I am fourteen fifteen years old before the Internet, so it is what people do not understand nowadays. But I'm from a small town. I got tapes, Boys and Ninas, Junior Dead Kennedy's everything mixed. But Slayer was really the first thresh band that I heard, So yeah, that got me into thrash.

4:51 But that's a good one. That's still my favorite, I think it except you guys. Oh now your number fifty, I know right. In us there we say get out. In fact, if you saw it, said Slayer on the back because they didn't have patches yet. Oh yeah, So I just got some velvet letters and put it on there. Jesus Dean. And in LA they thought I was a gang begger and that was my gang name. So they were all afraid of you, oh yeah. And it pissed me off when them and Metallica went up to the Bay Area because they left us with all the bullshit bands.

5:31 They didn't like the glam scene at all. No no, no, no no no. I like the glam scene too. Funny story though, when they went up there. Now, so me and my bro used to hitchhike up to a Bay area which looks like eight hours away from LA to give you perspective, just to go to that flash scene and oh my god, that was the serious shit. But when Slayer got up there, they used to wear the eyeliner to look evil. They were like merciful faith by them, they were Diamond. And yeah, Exodus and the rest of the Bay Area and Thrash were like, yeah, that shit don't work here in the Bay Area and they're like, it's just because it's evil, no, take it off.

6:13 So crazy enough, Yeah, did they do them a favor or not? I mean, I really like Exodus, but Slayer is h It's a different level for me. Especially Excellence was the first band because I don't know, but Gary was teached by Kirk Hamra so exactly the guitarist. I think it's well because it's pretty. The same in every scene. There was no thrash, not that many bands back then. I think no. And there was no term great thing, so there was no term thrash. No, it was like. Speed metal or heavy metal. They were all like three some Maiden fans and everything. Exactly, and like Metallica when I went to their first show ever and and Dave Mustain gets off the stage and he hands me his business card. Okay, and it says Metallica Power Metal.

7:05 No second demo was power what's the first time of the second was no LIFETI leather. Yes, yes, And I still have that somewhere. You can't hear shit on it though, because it was recorded over like fifty times. You know. And these were like eighteen year old fucker's drinking beer and making our music. And that even another circle. Turning to us, because we are pretty much the same to see. I'm eighteen year old and I like drinking beer ten years. Old, yeah, taking beer ins. I'm only like twenty five, you know. I don't think I've ever gone past twenty five. If it happened, I don't remember it, I know, right, So, like, what was it that? Really that moment that you guys knew that this is what you wanted to do for a living and as your life.

7:56 Yeah, the whole living thing. It was really it was really enough. But after that, the Suicidal show was kind of an accident. It was a friend of mine that organized that show and he heard that I was doing some thrash with some friends. He said, yeah, we have no we have no money. We have fifty euros to create the beer, but you can open and he said, yeah, who is it for? He said Suicidal. I said, okay, we do it. Then I called the other guys today, guys, in two months time, we have to play. We're gonna play forty minute set in front of Suicidal before Suicidals support. We did it. We played some of the songs three times, I think because we have pretty short songs, and then a yeah, yeah, it's also the crossover power violence thing that we like in the one minute songs.

8:41 And then after that show. That show was recorded on VHS, so that looked completely like like like like late. Eighties, early nineties. But that got on YouTube and went to Brazil, to Japan, and all of a sudden, all these random people started writing on MySpace well a kick ass band, and then we thought, wow. We have to do this crazy. I wasn't in the band by then, right, It was the same for me. There was all of a sudden there was like YouTube clips and it was like, do you know these guys, they're from your town. I don't know these guys. I just saw them the big crowd. I don't know how many people who were five thousand people and it was like, oh man, now we got like a big band in our little town.

9:24 What the fuck is that? So it was like and then I think you did very. Yeah, we got lucky because this whole crossover thing really picked up. Yeah, and thanks to bands like like Watte, Toxic Holocaust, Gama Bomb. But yeah, we're from a small country and there were just not so many bands doing it. Yeah, totally. We are all big music lovers, from punk, the hardcore to power violence to jazz, and I think that that that is a that makes a good crossover band. I think that's the key right there, because like in the eighties, I was a metal head that was also a punk but had long hair so I couldn't go to punk shows. So yeah, it wasn't until Mora and Slayer really, but you know, you got your ass kicked.

10:13 I mean, and if you were a punk and came to Amel show, you got your ass kicked. I thought it was stupid because we were both ating our asses kicked and bullied by the jocks in school and we were similar music banded together idiots. Finally, I think, finally it's normal. Actually really unites the people. I think, so it doesn't care if it's punk, if it's thrash, if it's metal, if it's at least you enjoy it and it's getting in your face and just do it. No doubt. And that was the whole concept of Slayer, because Lombardo was a punk, Hanneman was a punk, Terry King was a metal head, and Tom didn't even know metal. He didn't have a clue.

10:53 I know the interview, like I know he smoked wheat about baby. I mean, imagine having one of the most brutal metal voices ever and you never were into metal when you started doing that, Like it's it's insane, it is. But I was. Saying with Hatfield, maybe he listened to Aerosmith. And then Lars came over. It was a huge Misfits fan. Listen to I don't know. He was a punk as well. Yeah, it's GBH and everything. And then Lars came over and said, listen to diamond Head and I don't know. I know it's a trip, right, and you know, there's not much difference in my opinion. A lot of times that's why you have to cross over. And then dri I were the first ones to grow their hair out, you know, because that was sending a signal like fuck this division.

11:40 You know this division. But I had conversations with people in the ninth I grew up in the nineties, and now people say like, yeah, man, fuck to her moons. I only like misfits, And I said, dude, this exactly the same course, exactly. Well, I gotta tell you I've listened to your music and it's fucking awesome. Is exactly what I remember fresh to be in the eighties, which is the hugest compliment. Thank you for em that. And I'm a super fan. Now you're gonna have to send me all your MP threes. I'll put them in the rotation in the station. We're gonna do this as soon as you want, send them by email and or yes, I'll send you by email, and then tell everybody real quick how to reach out to you, connect you on socials, get your music, and buy your merch because they can't fucking listen to my show, and let's say buy your merch.

12:31 Fuck. Yeah. So yeah, it's nowadays, it's pretty easy. You just google insanity alert and you will get the Instagram, the band camp, probably all the Spotify and iTunes and whatever not. So in Santai, Alert Austria. I'm gonna learn it to your insanity and I love. Its Tyler, I love it too, And thank you for having us. Thanks for being on the Adventures and pipe Man, Yeah, don kashun. Go. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Tapemen on w f c u I Radio.

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