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OLD
SCHOOL DEATH YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Sharing
morbid demos from the old rotting past.
KEN'S
DEATH METAL CRYPT is a Youtube
channel about old school death that shares many morbid demos from the golden
years of the style. It is ran and maintained with passion for
morbidity by Ken, and a good amount of very cool demos are here to be discovered.
I had some questions to ask him about the way he runs a channel and old school
death metal, here’s the outcome!
1. Hello, how are you? Before all, can you briefly introduced yourself, and tell us about your music tastes? What are you favorites Death metal styles, and which eras or countries of DEATH are you the fondest of?
I’m well and all is filthy in the crypt. My name is Ken Escobedo, the crypt keeper. I’m no rock star or famous personality. I’m just a guy with a passion for metal music. I listen to METAL only. I really don’t listen to anything else. However, depending on my mood, I will listen to different styles of metal within the metal genre, but Death Metal is my favorite of all the metal sub genres and the one I’m most passionate about. I think the US has spawned some of the best Death Metal ever starting in the mid to late 80’s, but I also like the Swedish, Finnish, Polish and South American styles as well.
2. You run a cool Youtube channel entitled Ken's Death metal crypt, were you share many old school demo from the past... When did you start this channel and what was the idea behind it?
I started the channel in 2014. I have lots of good friends who are in bands here in the Chicago area and we are always talking about metal. I basically started the channel to upload some old demos and EPs and my intentions were to just share them with my close friends so we could talk about the material I posted. I never intended the channel to reach other people, but somehow people started finding the channel and I started getting great messages from people thanking me and supporting the channel, so I kept it going and have made it more of a sharing place for everyone.
3. For me this channel follows the spirit of the old tape trading era: The goal was to share obscure music, demos, rehearsals, bootleg recordings... I believe this is basically about nostalgia, but I noticed when I searched for old demos, that I also discovered old recordings that were great! So it's kind of NEW, and not only about being nostalgic... :) Where you into tape trading back then? What was so great about it?
Yes!!! I used
to get metal magazines at the local music stores around me, but
it weren’t until a good friend exposed me to the fanzine underground.
When I got my first fanzine in late 1989, I read the tape traders
section and immediately started writing bands and tape traders.
I still have all of my tapes (over 500) from my tape trading days.
Like you said, it was the only way to hear new bands since there
was no internet. It was always a thrill to wait for a tape to hear
what gems and brutality it would contain.
4.
How do you choose the demos to upload? Does it depend only on your
tastes, death metal envy of the moment, or you also upload on request?
I don’t follow any sort of format when choosing what to upload. I start checking my resources and whatever catches my ear at that time is what I post. No real recipe.
5. How do you proceed to rip the demos and convert them to videos? Do you plug your Hifi player in the microphone/ line-in of the computer, or there's a more specific hardware?
I have a separate tape player that is plugged into the Line-In jack of the sound board on my computer. This is what I use to transfer demos to WAV files. As for EPs, I record those on my stereo system to CD-R and then use the computer to convert them to WAV files. I use very basic software to accomplish all of the conversion and video making.
6. Some peoples complain about youtubers sharing music illegally and "stealing" money from bands... I guess since you share many obscure/ forgotten/ hard to find demos, this doesn't apply to your channel... But anyway, did you receive requests from bands who wanted the videos deleted from youtube?
(I also run
a youtube channel, it's small, but I noticed some obscure demo recordings
were legally registered by metal labels, and they get the incomes
from adverts... A bit strange since it's the deep underground, there
are almost no views, but well...)
I only ever had one band (will
not mention the name) contact me about how bad the recording sounded.
I explained that I do not modify the recording at all and it is
exactly as it is heard from the source. After a few messages I removed
the video. Other than that, I’ve only had 2 videos automatically
deleted due to copy rights, but the band did not contact me. The
videos were just automatically deleted shortly after I uploaded
them.
7. Do you pay attention to the amount of views the videos get on your channel? Which ones got the most views or comments?
I always try to reply to or at the very least like all comments to any video I post. It’s just my way of saying thank you to those who take the time to comment. I really don’t pay much attention to the views and any analytics of the channel. My intentions are pure, share and expose great death metal, so analytics are not needed.
8. Some peoples also scan old fanzines, and share it online... It's somewhat the same spirit, but for fanzines... SEND BACK MY STAMPS is a great website for this. Would you see yourself doing this kind of sites one day perhaps?
I have a few hundred fanzines as well, that I kept over the years. I think it’s a great idea that someone is doing it. I could always contribute if I’m asked.
9. What
are you favorite old demos from USA, from the end 80's and early
90's? (You could quote from 5 to 10). Which bands were very very
good, but got unnoticed for strange reasons, and you would need
to quote them now? It's strange that sometimes some bands record
very very good demo, but get unnoticed, and remain in total darkness...
Sometimes because of a strange name/ artwork, sometimes they're
a bit too late and their style isn't too "requested" anymore...
Sometimes they're a bit too early... Well, so many reasons...
Well, this could be a huge list for me, but I’ll mention just a few. Keep in mind that I really didn’t start collecting demos until the very late 80’s around 88-89, so demos that came out before I didn’t hear until around this time or later. Some that come to mind are:
DEATH- Death By Metal and Mutilation Demos. (What can I say about this demo that hasn’t already been said? Just simply amazing!)
NECROVORE- Divius de Mortuus Demo ( Dark, eerie and for its time, heavy as hell)
AUTOPSY- Critical Madness (A good friend lent me this demo in 89, although it came out in 87. I was floored by the sheer extremity of it.)
CARNAGE- Killing Spree Demo (One of the first demos I bought from a band at a show. Wonderful death/thrash)
IMPETIGO- Giallo Demo (Sickening grind never heard before this demo. A cult masterpiece)
As for the early 90’s:
CIANIDE- Funeral Demo (CELTIC FROST worship, but heavier. Need I say more?)
BATHYM- Into Darkness Demo (Palace Of BELIAL!!!!)
DERKETA- The Unholy Ground Demo (Just so heavy!!!!)
MORTAL DREAD- Rancid Disembowelment Demo (BRUTAL!!!!)
10. Did you play in bands in the past? During the 80's or 90's, perhaps you were involved in a fanzine, a distro, organizing gigs? Or perhaps you were a "regular" penpal/ tape trader?
I was never
much a musician, but I could growl a little, so I only ever did
vocals in a couple of garage bands in the early 90’s. The bands
never lasted long and we never recorded anything. I was in a band
called DISASTERIZATION with Brad Buldak (ABSCONDER/Ex-MORGUE). It
was a fun grind project we had and recorded a rehearsal, but that
was it for me as far as bands. I also helped Brad with his fanzine
called Grim Death. He did a couple of issues and then when I started
helping we compiled a massive issue with tons of interviews and
reviews that we were going to spread, but it never materialized.
We did do a comp tape called Grim Death Records Comp Vol I, which
featured tons of death metal bands we were in contact with at the
time.
I was involved with a couple of different labels in the
90’s called Metal Merchant and Lost Horizon records. I was a silent
partner with Metal Merchant for a release and was a 50% partner
in Lost Horizon.
In 2000 I started my own label called House
Of Death records. I had 1 release and due to Untrust worthy people,
I was never able to recover from my costs to keep the label afloat.
I ran a distro during this time and had this going for 3 years,
but then folded it up. I still think about doing a label again,
but it would be much different the third time around for me.
As
for tape trading. YES!!! I was very much into tape trading back
in the early 90’s with people and bands all over the world.
11. Now in 2019, I see you also play the Death metal band UNNATURAL, what can you tell us about it, so the readers can be interested?
YES! I’m the
vocalist of UNNATURAL. Ted van Tilburg (Ex- MORGUE/Ex-SUBLIMINAL
SLAUGHTER) writes all the music and plays all the instruments. We
play old school
death metal. That’s it. Nothing fancy and nothing ground breaking,
just old school death metal.
You can check us out on our band
pages:
http://www.facebook.com/unnaturalus
http://www.unnatural1.bandcamp.com
12. Do you follow what's up with the newer DM bands, or are you stuck in the past? There are many good new bands, but there were already so many good (And original) stuffs back then... Everyone might not need to hear fucking everything AhAh...
Oh Yes!!! I’m always searching for new bands that push the boundaries of the extreme. It was the same back in the 90’s, I was just always looking for a band that could push the envelope. Of course, I still listen to a lot of 90’s death metal, but I do listen and search for a lot of new bands and music as well that have the old school feel with a new twist.
13. You're located in Illinois, how are the Death metal and general metal scenes in this state? I know you have CIANIDE, USURPER, BONES... But what else?
Chicago is full of great bands and we have a great scene here. Other bands from the Chicago area your readers should check out are: CARDIAC ARREST, MOLDER, NUCLEUS, BEAR MACE, MORGUE SUPPLIER and the mighty ROTTED just to name a few.
14. We have reached the final question, feel free to conclude, and bring the rotting corpse :)
Thanks for the interview Gabriel. Support to you and Nihilistic Holocaust. Thanks for all of the support from everyone who has subscribed to the channel. There is plenty more to come so stayed tuned. Keep it Filthy!!!!
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Gorebedo
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kens_death_metal_crypt
