MORTIFY based in Tokyo, Japan and their musicstyle is Swedish Style Grindcore! The band consists of Adam (vocals), Tak (guitars) and Ryo (drums). Back on November 26th, 2017 they released their debut 5 tracks demo, simply entitled “Demo 2017”. MORTIFY is basically a new name in the GRIND scene but the demo was really awesome and show us their potential. Here’s an interview with Mortify, answered by Adam.
Tell us the history of Mortify’s existence and who’s who behind the band lineup? The members came from different bands right?
Hello! Thank you for the interview. Yes, so I met Ryohei when my band Disrotted came to Japan in 2015. We did a split cd with his band su19b. We became friends and stayed in touch, which led to Disrotted returning in 2017 to do more shows with su19b in Japan and Korea. I let Ryohei know that I was planning to move to Japan, and we thought it would be fun to start a band together. I moved here in June of 2017, and he introduced me to Koreeda. I am in Disrotted and I have also played in Sick/Tired, Paucities, and Winters in Osaka. Ryohei is in su19b and also Final Exit. Koreeda plays in Trikorona and was also in Coffins.
Please clarify further about your musicstyle and what sort of bands that truly influenced your music? Why you chose Swedish HM-2 style Grindcore?
It was Ryohei’s idea for us to try and capture the sound of old Regurgitate mixed with the HM-2 death metal tone. I think my idea originally was for Mortify to be something weirder like later day Disharmonic Orchestra mixed with Disastrous Murmur, but I am very happy with the sound and concept of this band. This is pure, old school grindcore sprinkled with a hint of death metal to spice it up.
Let us know everything about your Demo 2017 especially about the recording sessions and the first cd-r version by Y Records?
Right after I moved to Japan, Ryohei sent me the demo tracks. I was living about an hour and half away from him and Koreeda at the time, so I wrote the lyrics and practiced all of the vocals at home. They recorded the tracks and sent me the final versions, which I then sent my vocals for mixing. We weren’t in the same room together until many months later when it was time to practice for our first show.
I am humbled that so many labels from all over the world have wanted to work with us, and believed in the band so early on to want to rerelease it. All of the different versions look amazing.
What are you talking about through your lyrics? Do you think that lyrics is as important as the music?
The lyrics are a homage to bands like Impetigo, Haemorrhage and Dead Infection and Regurgitate. All of those bands have influenced me since I was young, and I wanted to do lyrics that were strictly gore related, but also in a campy, tongue in cheek sort of way. The lyrics are very important to the band, even if the listener cannot really understand the vocals. The entire sound of Mortify is meant to sound gross and nasty, so the lyrics need to match the sound we have chosen.
Please share with us some of your live shows and gigs? Do you intend to tour outside of Japan?
We have played some really awesome shows so far! Our first show was in support of Men’s Toilet, which comprises of members from both Japan and the US. We have also gotten the chance to play with Necrophile and Rotten Sound and recently we opened for Heinous too. We have a busy schedule this summer, opening for Fubar in a few weeks and then travelling to Nagoya for the annual Grindfreaks show which is being headlined by Wojczech. I am also excited to play with Whoresnation this summer too. No plans as of yet to play outside of Japan, but we would all love too.
What’s the next plan and upcoming releases from Mortify? What can we expect on your new tracks?
There is a new track called “Rigor Mortis Teens” that can be heard on the Grindfreaks compilation. Anyone interested can check out the Unholy Grave FB for info on how to buy it. I am not sure if the compilation will end up online. And we are working hard on finishing up our first LP which we hope to begin tracking this summer. The plan is for the LP to be 20 songs, plus we will record a few bonus tracks and covers in the same session.
Tell us in brief about current Grind/Noise scene in Tokyo?
There are many awesome bands here and it is a real pleasure to be able to play and see these bands on a regular basis. Self Deconstruction plays every week (sometimes several times a week) and is the tightest and craziest grindcore band, hands down. Endless respect to them. There are some other great bands like GFF (Euro goregrind/groove), Cunts (insane noisecore), Oniku, Butcher ABC (legends), In the Weeds (ex Facialmess), Asocial Terror Fabrication (crusty grindcore), Needle Contaminated Pork (one man slam)... I can go on and on. There are tons of shows always going on here and the scenes; whether it be noise or grind or death metal or hardcore etc etc are all healthy and full of nice and incredible people.
Well, are there any merchandises such as t-shirt, patches, etc available from Mortify?
Yes! If you go to our Facebook page, you will find information on how to pick up some merch. We have stickers, buttons, short sleeves and longsleeve shirts at the moment.
Few last words please?
A true thank you to everyone who has supported Mortify so far. We are happy with the response to the demo, and we are working hard to wrap up the Lp, which will promise to be faster, darker, more gruesome and disgusting than the demo. Cheers to all the fans and thanks for the interview! TASTE OUR SWEDISH BUZZSAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
*Replied on April 26, 2018
