今天采访到的是一支来自美国的Slam/Brutal Death Metal乐队Open Flesh Wound，最初乐队由贝斯手Tristan、前吉他手James、歌手Aidan组建，Aidan当时以鼓手的身份加入乐队，后来更换为乐队的歌手，2023年乐队发行了第一首单曲“Laparoscopic Colectomy”，随后这首单曲也被收录在“The Scent of the Decayed”重置版中，重置版本的“Laparoscopic Colectomy”要比原始版更加成熟，录音效果也更加完美，2023年乐队与Mass Killings在Cavernous Records厂牌发行了一张Spilt专辑，限量200张，今年乐队发行了他们的第一张正式专辑“Vile Putrefaction”，这张专辑刚刚发行就受到了广泛的关注，这张作品也更加的成熟，在新专辑发行之际我也联系到了乐队进行了一次采访！
（V: 代表笔者 A: 代表Aidan T: 代表Tristan J: 代表Josh D: 代表David）
Today we are interviewing Open Flesh Wound, a Slam/Brutal Death Metal band from the United States. The band was originally formed by bassist Tristan, former guitarist James, and singer Aidan. Aidan joined the band as a drummer and later became the band's singer. In 2023, the band released its first single "Laparoscopic Colectomy", which was later included in the remastered version of "The Scent of the Decayed". The remastered version of "Laparoscopic Colectomy" is more mature than the original version, and the recording effect is more perfect. In 2023, the band and Mass Killings released a Spilt album on the Cavernous Records label, limited to 200 copies. This year, the band released their first official album "Vile Putrefaction", which has received widespread attention as soon as it was released, and this work is also more mature. On the occasion of the release of the new album, I also contacted the band for an interview!
(V: on behalf of the author A: on behalf of Aidan T: on behalf of Tristan J: on behalf of Josh D: on behalf of David)
采访对象：Aidan（Open Flesh Wound乐队歌手）
采访时间：2024.07.04
V: 你好兄弟非常感谢你参加这次采访，我想这是你们乐队第一次接受中国杂志的采访，首先向你们的中国粉丝问好，Open Flesh Wound成立于2022年，当初是谁提议组建这支乐队的？
Hello brother thank you very much for participating in this interview, I think this is the first time your band has been interviewed by a Chinese magazine, first of all say hello to your Chinese fans, Open Flesh Wound was formed in 2022, who proposed to form this band in the first place?
A: 中国的朋友，大家好！我们非常自豪和感激在海外拥有粉丝和支持。乐队由贝斯手Tristan、前吉他手James和我组成。乐队最初由我担任鼓手，我创作了“Esophagus Fleshlight”，这是该阵容中唯一一首收录在唱片中的歌曲。该阵容曾一起合作过数年的项目并决定朝更重金属的方向发展。
Hello to our friends in China! We are super proud and grateful to have fans and support overseas. The band was formed by our bass player Tristan, former guitar player James, and me. It initially started with me on drums who wrote “Esophagus Fleshlight” which was the only song from that lineup to make it on record. This lineup had worked on previous projects together for a number of years and decided to go in a heavier direction.
V: 你们乐队基本保留了原来的阵容，但在2023年你们换了一位新吉他手David Thomas，他是怎么加入乐队的？第一代成员是如何退出乐队的？你对新成员满意吗？
Your band basically kept the original lineup, but in 2023 you replaced it with a new guitarist, David Thomas, how did he come into the band? How did the first generation of members exit the band? Are you happy with the new member?
J: 乐队的第一代成员是鼓手兼主唱Aidan（我们的主唱）贝斯手Tristan和我们之前的吉他手James。我们现在的鼓手Josh正在寻找一个slam/brutal death项目并在Facebook上找到了这些家伙。有一天，我们一起出去玩，一起即兴演奏，大家都觉得这很合适。我们之前的吉他手喜欢更快的即兴重复乐段和音乐流派，所以我们决定分道扬镳。我们从David的其他项目（Mucous和PISSSHITTER）中认识了他并开始和他谈论加入我们作为新吉他手的可能性，他非常乐意这么做。Dave最终不仅成为我们新吉他手的绝佳人选，而且是乐队创作、录音和制作不可或缺的一部分。他做了大部分工作，以确保一切顺利进行，听起来尽可能残酷。
The first generation of band members was Aidan (our vocalist) on drums and vocals, Tristan on bass, and our previous guitarist James. Our current drummer, Josh, was looking for a slam/brutal death project and found the guys on Facebook. We hung out and jammed one day, and all decided it was a good fit. Our previous guitarist was into faster riffs and genres of music, so we decided to part ways. We knew David from his other projects (Mucous and PISSSHITTER) and started talking to him about possibly joining us as our new guitarist, and he was very happy to do so. Dave ended up being not only a great fit as our new guitarist, but an integral part of the band with writing, recording, and producing. He does a majority of the work to make sure everything runs smoothly and sounds as brutal as possible.
V: 你们乐队通常如何创作歌曲，能描述一下创作过程吗？
How does your band usually write songs, can you describe the process?
D: 我们的歌曲创作过程有点混乱，但我们在为 Vile Putrefaction 创作时真正专注于此。通常，我们的贝斯手 Tristan 和/或我会有一些即兴重复的想法或整首歌曲的段落的想法。它总是从一个简单的想法开始。我们用即兴重复的段落想出一首歌的粗略创作，然后把它带给 Josh，让他即兴发挥鼓点的想法，感受歌曲的流畅性。如果它不流畅，我们会继续努力，直到它流畅为止。这通常是我们创作大多数歌曲的方式。 有时我会开始创作，创作出整首歌，然后我们做同样的事情：互相展示各个部分，即兴发挥，改变它，让它流畅。我们还喜欢录制歌曲的未完成版本，以便回听，听听我们喜欢或不喜欢的内容等等。
Our songwriting process was a little all over the place, but we really honed in on it while writing for Vile Putrefaction. It typically involves our bass player, Tristan, and/or me having some riff ideas or ideas for entire sections of a song. It always starts with a simple idea. We come up with the rough composition of a song with our riffs and bring it to Josh to jam out drum beat ideas and feel the flow of the song. If it doesn’t flow, we work on it until it does. This is generally how we write most of our songs. Sometimes I will get on a writing kick and get a whole song out and then we do the same thing: show each other the parts, jam on it, change it up, make it flow. We also like to record the work-in-progress versions of the songs to listen back, hear what we like or don’t like, etc.
J: 实际上是先用鼓谱写了“Stoma Necrosis”，然后我们一起在上面谱写弦乐，最后一起即兴创作。不过通常我们只是根据即兴创作的即兴想法创作我们认为很酷的歌曲。
actually wrote Stoma Necrosis on drums first, then we wrote strings over it and did final arrangements while jamming together. Usually though we just jam on riff ideas and make songs we think are cool.
V: 你们乐队的录音工作非常出色，我很喜欢你们的录音方式，你们在哪个录音室录制了这些歌曲？哪位制作人参与了你们的专辑？
Your band's work is excellent when it comes to recording, I love how you guys record, what studio did you record the songs in? Which producer worked on your album?
D: 非常感谢！我们在Josh家的练习室和我的小录音室录制了这张专辑。我们在Josh家以“现场表演”风格的录音设置录制了所有的鼓，当时只录制了鼓。后来我们在我家录制了吉他和贝斯，最后在Josh家录制了人声。Josh和我负责工程鼓，我负责吉他、贝斯和人声的设置和跟踪。我还编辑和混音/掌握了所有内容。每个人的表演都很棒，只需要很少的后期制作。我们选择不使用点击来保持歌曲的活力并以更自然的节奏演奏，所以你在专辑中听到的是我们在一个房间里一起演奏的声音。 对于任何感兴趣的人：Peavey amps. Darkglass. Metal Zone. Tiny snare drum.
Thanks so much! We recorded this album by ourselves at our practice room at Josh’s house and my little recording space at my crib. We did all the drums at Josh’s in a “live performance” style recording setup, only capturing the drums at that time. Later, we recorded guitars and bass at my place, and then vocals last back at Josh’s. Josh and I handled engineering drums and I handled guitar, bass, and vocal setup and tracking. I also edited and mixed/mastered everything too. Everybody did an excellent job on their performances and minimal post-production was needed. We choose not to play with a click to keep the songs lively and to play with the tempos more naturally, so what you hear on the album is how we sound playing in a room together. And for anyone interested: Peavey amps. Darkglass. Metal Zone. Tiny snare drum.
V: Gore是你们乐队的音乐主题，这种音乐主题在death metal中很常见，你们为什么选择这种音乐主题，你们想通过这种音乐主题表达什么？你们有写歌词的部分吗？他的灵感来源是什么？
Gore is the theme of your band's music, this kind of musical theme is very common in death metal, why did you choose this kind of musical theme and what do you want to express through this kind of musical theme? Do you guys write any lyrics parts and who writes those lyrics? What are his inspirations?
A: 写death metal歌词时，我基本上是在用3 分钟写一部恐怖电影。从恐怖电影中获得惊心动魄的感觉非常有趣，这也是我们试图在音乐中复制的东西。“Texas Chainsaw Massacre”和“Terrifier”等恐怖电影是我写作风格的巨大灵感来源。连环杀手的心理也一直是我的兴趣所在。我试图通过歌词来探索这些人的行为和心理。我的很多作品都与实际使用或消耗人体有关，比如Body Baggie, Consuming Surgical Waste, Catheter Strangulation等歌曲。从“Resident Evil”和“Diablo”等电子游戏系列中的血腥和黑暗元素对我启发很大。death metal是表达这些元素的有趣方式。
When writing death metal lyrics, I’m essentially writing a horror movie summed up into 3 minutes. Having the thrilling sensation of a horror movie is such a fun feeling and that is what we try to replicate in our music. Horror movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Terrifier are huge inspirations for my style of writing. The psychology of serial killers has always been an interest of mine as well. I try to explore the actions and minds of these people through the lyrics. A lot of my writing has to do with the use or consumption of the human body in a practical way like the songs Body Baggie, Consuming Surgical Waste, Catheter Strangulation, and many others. Video game franchises like Resident Evil and Diablo are super inspiring to me with their elements of gore and darkness. Death metal is such a fun way to express these elements.
V: 你们乐队的Logo非常独特，是谁为你们设计的这个Logo？你们的专辑封面也非常漂亮，是谁为你们设计的？
Your band's logo is very unique, who designed this logo for you? Your album artwork is also very beautiful, who designed this artwork for you?
J: 我们的鼓手Josh不久前设计了这个Logo。一开始我们用了几个不同的Logo，但我们觉得这个最适合我们的声音。Vile Putrefaction的专辑封面由Julian Mora（他的Instagram名叫 @julianmoraibanez）设计。他的作品非常残忍！
Our drummer Josh designed the logo a while ago. At first we had a couple different logos we were using, but we decided this was the best one to fit our sound. The album art for Vile Putrefaction was done by Julian Mora (his instagram name is @julianmoraibanez). He does some awesome brutal work!
V: 你们乐队与Cavernous Records合作发行了一张Spilt专辑，但发行量有限，你们为什么不选择发行更多的专辑呢？我记得你们的EP专辑"The Scent of the Decayed (Redux)"还发行了盒式磁带，你们发行了多少盒？你是如何与Cavernous Records联系上做这件事的？你对他们的工作满意吗？你今年的新专辑选择在哪个唱片公司发行？
Your band released a Spilt album with Cavernous Records, which was a limited release, so why didn't you guys opt for a larger number of releases? I remember that your EP "The Scent of the Decayed (Redux)" was also released on cassette, how many copies of this cassette did you release? How did you get in touch with Cavernous Records to do this? Were you satisfied with their work? Which label did you choose to release your new album on this year?
J: 与我们合作发行合辑的Mass Killings乐队联系了我们，问我们是否有兴趣发行合辑EP。我们与他们和Cavernous Records进行了沟通，他们表示愿意为我们发行正式专辑。他们给我们寄来了一些实体唱片，还在他们的网站上出售一些唱片。我们没有和他们谈及进一步发行的事宜，但我们很乐意这样做！ 我们对与他们和Mass Killings的合作过程非常满意。他们都是非常棒的人。对于我们的EP 复刻版磁带，我们只限量发行了25 张。这些都是由我们的吉他手Dave制作的。我们希望新专辑也能有一些磁带。
The band Mass Killings that we did the split with reached out to us and asked if we were interested in doing the split EP. We spoke with them and Cavernous Records, who offered to do the official release for us. They sent us some physical copies and also had some copies for sale on their website. We didn’t speak with them about doing any further releases, but we would be happy to do so! We were very happy with the process of working with them and Mass Killings. They are all very awesome dudes. For the cassettes of our EP redux, we only did a limited run of 25 copies. These were all done by our guitarist, Dave. We’re hoping to have some cassettes available for our new album as well.
V: 首先祝贺你们今年发行的第一张正式专辑"Vile Putrefaction"，节奏缓慢整齐，但在细节上又有一些快速的段落，这使得你们的作品更加厚重、Sick，鼓手的表现非常精彩，各种节奏把握得非常好，吉他 吉他弹奏厚重而有颗粒感，人声也同样Sick，你觉得你们的作品如何？
First of all, congratulations on the release of your first official album this year, "Vile Putrefaction", slow and neat riffs, but with some fast passages in the details, which makes your work more heavy, Sick, the drummer's performance is very wonderful, all kinds of rhythms to grasp the very good, guitar The guitar playing is heavy and grainy, and the vocals are equally Sick, what do you think of your work?
D: 再次感谢！我们很高兴终于能推出这张专辑供大家聆听。我认为我们不同的品味和演奏风格为我们这样的乐队带来了独特的声音。我们想制作一些残酷、沉重，但听起来仍然有趣的音乐。回过头来谈谈歌曲创作，我喜欢在弹吉他时接受挑战，而其中的一些作品非常具有挑战性。我们努力写得聪明，并突出我们认为能加强歌曲、旋律等的部分。我认为我们这次很好地做到了这一点，但我们总能超越自我，做得更好。作为一支年轻、完全自主的乐队，我为我们的成果感到自豪。说到这里，我们已经迫不及待地要开始创作Open Flesh Wound的新作品了。
Thank you again! We are so stoked to finally have this album out for people to listen to. I think all of our different tastes and playing styles make a unique sound for a band like us. We wanted to make something brutal and heavy but still fun and interesting to listen to. To circle back to songwriting a little bit, I like to be challenged playing guitar and some of this stuff is very challenging. We try to write intelligently and accentuate the parts that we feel are strengthening the song, the riff, etc. I think we accomplished that well this time, but we can always top ourselves and do it better. I’m very proud of what we put together as a young, fully DIY band. With that being said, we’re already excited to start working on new Open Flesh Wound material.
V: 你们是一支非常年轻的乐队，但我看过你们的一些现场表演，能描述一下现场气氛吗？
You guys are a very young band but I've seen you play some live shows, can you describe the atmosphere?
T: 演出时的气氛是由观众推动的。我们相互促进，观众越投入，我们就越投入。采样、流派和我们的个性等因素也能营造氛围。
The atmosphere while playing creates a rush fueled by the audience. We feed off each other and the more the audience gets into it, the more we get into it. Things like samples, genre, and our individual personalities creates atmosphere as well.
V: 除了发行新专辑，你们今年还有什么新的计划吗？能向大家透露一些信息吗？你们愿意在中国发行新专辑吗？
Are you guys working on anything new this year besides releasing a new album? Can you reveal some information to everyone? Would you be willing to release your new album in China?
T: 我们今年下半年的计划包括为与Gangrenous Flesumption乐队的EP写新歌，以及参加很多演出。我们希望能有机会并在机会出现时加以利用。我们希望能在中国发行我们的专辑。
Our plans for the rest of the year include writing new material for a split EP with Gangrenous Flesh Consumption and playing lots of shows. We are hoping for opportunities to make themselves available and take advantage of them when they do pop up. We would love to release our album in China.
V: Open Flesh Wound是一支非常年轻的乐队，但你们是一支非常成熟的乐队，我非常喜欢你们的新专辑，我听过你们之前发行的所有专辑，我希望你们能发行更多的专辑，我希望通过这次采访，你们能得到更多中国乐迷的支持和关注，在采访的最后你们有什么想对中国乐迷说的吗？
Open Flesh Wound is a very young band, but you are a very mature band, I really like your new album, I've listened to all of your previous releases, and I hope you release more, and I hope that through this interview you will get more Chinese fans to support and pay attention to your band, is there anything that you would like to say to your Chinese fans at the end of this interview?
T: 感谢你们收听我们的节目并尽你们所能支持我们。正是因为你们，我们才能做到这一点。中国加油
Thank you for listening to us and supporting us in any way that you can. It’s because of you guys that we do this. Go China!!
Open Flesh Wound乐队主要作品：
Open Flesh Wound - The Scent of the Decayed（2023）
Open Flesh Wound - The Scent of the Decayed (Redux)（2023）
Open Flesh Wound - Vile Putrefaction（2024）
Open Flesh Wound乐队官方Bandcamp网站：https://openfleshwound.bandcamp.com/music
Open Flesh Wound乐队官方Facebook网站：https://www.facebook.com/OpenFleshWound
Open Flesh Wound乐队官方Instagram网站：https://www.instagram.com/openfleshwound/
Open Flesh Wound乐队官方Spotify网站：https://open.spotify.com/artist/3VGzYBqC6V20JIRVpgpgGs