1. Which bands or artists inspired you to play music?
LEE HARRISON: The main band that got me into music when I was 7 years old was KISS. As time went on, I got into Van Halen, AC/DC, and Ozzy Osbourne. From there I moved into heavier stuff like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, and all that. Then came a lot of New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Merciful Fate, Exciter, and all kinds of other up and coming metal bands. Metallica and Slayer entered the picture at some point, and from there it was just a constant hunt for heavier and heavier bands to get into.
MATT BARNES: Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Morbid Angel. I originally wanted to be Steve Harris, but since there were my dad’s 6 string guitars around the house I started on that. Metallica really took over at And Justice For All, and the next step was Blessed Are the Sick.
2. Who came up with the cover art for the album Screams from Beneath the Surface?
LEE HARRISON: I had some ideas that I passed along to the artist Timbul Cahyono. He more or less took it from there and did the rest. We worked with him on the last album, so we already had a good working relationship. He’s also done numerous T-shirt designs for us over the years
3. Talk about lyrics for your new album Screams from Beneath the Surface, how did they come to be?
LEE HARRISON: A lot of times, I come up with lyrical ideas and song titles while I’m driving. Usually, I’ll make a CD with five or six songs I’m working on, and I’ll just run them over and over trying out different patterns and melodies. Sometimes I’ll plan a long drive specifically so I can bring a pad and paper. Then I’ll go over certain parts again and again until the lyrics finally click. From there, it’s just fine tuning, going back over the lines, reshaping them, tweaking words and phrasing until I’m really happy with what I’ve got.
4. Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether (Venues or festivals) and
LEE HARRISON: Obviously, the bigger gigs are better…you’re simply in front of more people. But really, it’s much more about the energy of the crowd than the size of the venue. Sometimes at the bigger shows, the crowd is farther away, which actually makes you less nervous and lets you play better. Other times, when the crowd is right on top of you, it can feel nerve racking. But at the end of the day, it mostly comes down to the energy the crowd is giving you.
MATT BARNES: Festivals are cool because usually you are billed with some bigger bands, and you get to rub shoulders with some stars, like the time we were hanging out with Trey Azagthoth, Phil Anselmo, Pete Tatgren, Voivod, and Jason Newsted at Hellfest. But some of the best shows have been smaller venues where the crowd is really having a good time – like many shows in South America. I hate those shows where the crowd is full of sober people with their arms crossed.
5. Which of your performances would you consider as the best?
LEE HARRISON: Usually when we’re on tour, we can play on the same equipment every night and kind of get to a comfortable level where we feel good about everything. Sometimes it’s hard to plan ahead, just because different venues have different sound systems, and the sound can hit you in a different way, which affects the way you play. A lot of times, even in the moment, you’re still not satisfied. It’s often only later, when you listen back after several months or so that you can actually appreciate a performance.
MATT BARNES: I’ve heard that our performance at Maryland a few years ago was pretty good. I don’t know why in particular so many have told us how great we were at that show, but I’d like to try to replicate that.
6. What is your songwriting process for the album Screams from Beneath the Surface?
LEE HARRISON: For this album, I wrote a lot of the material just because I was on a roll after the last one. I was trying to get ahead, so I actually came up with four of the new songs during the mixing sessions for the previous album. I was just trying to generate material so we’d be farther ahead of the game. As it turned out, covid hit in early 2020, so that’s around when I really finished up the main writing on the album from my end. Matt Barnes helped me with a lot of it too, sending stuff back and forth and taking my songs up a few notches by working on them together. He wrote the song ‘Fortunes Engraved in Blood,’ but the other nine are mine, with help from Matt Barnes.
MATT BARNES: Lee usually comes up with the meat and potatoes of the song, and I’ll add some salt and pepper. I think it’s unique to Monstrosity that a lot of the riffs are based on drum hooks and accents. I have a motto that if it’s too easy to play it is not Monstrosity, so I’ll push to make the things really hard for myself.
7. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
LEE HARRISON: There are a lot of guys I’d love to collaborate with. I was lucky enough to work with Pete from Terrorizer, and that was a blast. Working with Midnight from Crimson Glory before he passed away was definitely interesting and really sparked my creativity. One of my favorite memories was when I recorded Jon Oliva from Savatage doing a duet with Midnight right in my living room, that was a seriously fun time. Writing lyrics for the Suffocation album Pierced from Within was another cool experience. There are still so many talented people I’d like to experiment with… maybe produce for them someday, or just help out, consult, offer input, whatever you want to call it.
8. What are the main themes or messages in your lyrics?
LEE HARRISON: A lot of the themes of our songs are kind of always in the vein of apocalypse end of times type subjects. I’ve always kind of written like that throughout all the albums. Death is a common subject LOL
9. Do you have endorsements that you want to talk about or share?
LEE HARRISON: Yeah, a few years back I got hooked up with Axis bass drum pedals. They’ve been great to me, and they’re really fun pedals to play. I know a lot of death metal guys are known for using them, and I think there’s a reason why…they’re just super reliable pedals that are built great. As far as drumsticks go, I prefer Xcel drumsticks. I met the guy Torry and his wife at the NAMM convention years ago. They’re really cool sticks, the Speedsticks have weighted ends on them, which is awesome. But the ones I like best are the Power Sticks, which have kind of a hand grip type feature on them. It fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. It’s one of those things where maybe the first time you try them, you won’t like it, but if you play them for several days using them, you will never want to go back to any other stick. That’s exactly how I feel about those.
MATT BARNES: I don’t currently have any endorsements but some things I use and would like to share: First, for Screams I used an ESP guitar with an Evertune bridge. It will hold perfect tuning for months, if not years, and it was invaluable in the studio. I remember old times in the studio where you are tuning your guitar for each take, because the guitar keeps going out of tune. The Evertune is a lifesaver. Also, for live performances I will be using a newer Schecter guitar that I replaced the stock bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan Invader. That has been my go to pick up for years now. And Schecter is making some of the best guitars for metal now – great playability and sound – and they have those luminlay side inlays so you can see the fretboard on stage.
