{"id":2026,"date":"1985-12-01T00:00:58","date_gmt":"1985-12-01T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2012-02-18T02:17:23","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:17:23","slug":"feature-stormtroopers-of-death-mf15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-stormtroopers-of-death-mf15\/","title":{"rendered":"STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH – Deadly Nightmare (MF15, 1985) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH – Deadly Nightmare<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nBernard Doe<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 15 (1985)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
S.O.D. with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund)<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

One of the most surprising bands to appear in \u201985 was Stormtroopers Of Death. S.O.D. (as they\u2019re better known) was the brainchild of Anthrax\u2019s guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante, with an intention of being the ultimate cross between speed metal and hardcore punk. But the success of the band\u2019s debut album, Speak English Or Die<\/em>, has also been met with a certain amount of controversy.<\/p>\n

Having been released in the US by Megaforce Records, the band had secured a major deal with Island for Canada which meant that MCA would ship the album into Europe for distribution. However, MCA decided to ban the album and then Canadian record stores refused to stock Speak English Or Die<\/em> because of the French \/ English speaking problem that exists in Canada. With A&M also putting a ban on the album after seeing the lyrical contents, Speak English Or Die<\/em> finally made it into the European market thanks to Cees Wessels at Roadrunner Records.<\/p>\n

I recently spoke to Scott Ian and vocalist Billy Milano about the controversy, but began by asking how the whole S.O.D. concept came together? Scott: \u201cWell, when we were in the studio finishing off the new Anthrax album back in June, we came up with the Sargent \u2018D\u2019 character that\u2019s on the album cover; it was really like a cartoon-type of thing. We had pictures of him hanging up all over the studio with little sayings like \u2018Speak English Or Die\u2019 under them etc. And I thought that everyone likes this character so much, why not start writing some songs and make a project out of it; because we knew we would have some time off while we were shopping a deal for the Anthrax album.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we started writing music, and I called up Danny Lilker, the old Anthrax bass player, and asked him if he wanted to do it with me and he said, \u2018Yeah, great!\u2019. I asked Charlie, our drummer, if he wanted to play on it, and we knew Billy from the New York hardcore scene; hanging out down at CBGB\u2019s from like a year ago. That\u2019s more or less how the four of us came together.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Danny wrote all the material in the span of about five days while Anthrax were still in the studio. Then once Anthrax was done, we recorded it in just three days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out as being like a joke kind of thing and it\u2019s ended up being pretty big.\u201d<\/p>\n

How serious is S.O.D. as a long term project? Scott: \u201cWell, put it this way: Charlie and I have Anthrax, Danny has Nuclear Assault and Billy has a band called Method Of Destruction, so we all have our first priority projects. But there will always be time for S.O.D., because I don\u2019t think any of us are gonna be at the point yet where we\u2019ll be busy 365 days of the year. I mean, we\u2019re already planning on doing another album to be released in June \u201986. So yeah, it\u2019s serious; we have like 16 songs written already for the new album. It\u2019s always gonna stay together because it\u2019s something we all feel pretty strongly about.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about playing live gigs? Scott: \u201cWe\u2019ve already done about seven gigs so far in the New York \/ New Jersey area, and turned down a gig with Mot\u00f6rhead at the Ritz, because we wouldn\u2019t open for them. But now S.O.D. will be put on the shelf for a while as Anthrax are now going out on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you anticipate playing any gigs outside the East Coast? Scott: \u201cOh yeah, definitely. We\u2019ll be going to the West Coast as soon as Anthrax come of the road, whenever that may be?\u201d<\/p>\n

I noticed on the album that Charlie played lead guitar on one of the tracks \u2013 \u2018United Forces\u2019. How did that come about? Scott: \u201cWell obviously his main instrument is the drums, but he\u2019s a pretty good guitar player. We\u2019re gonna have a song on the new album where we all trade instruments; I\u2019ll be playing drums, Charlie\u2019s playing guitar, Billy\u2019s playing bass and Danny\u2019s gonna sing. We\u2019re probably gonna call it The Confused Guys<\/em>, or something like that (laughter).\u201d<\/p>\n

Most metal fans know all about Anthrax and Danny\u2019s band Nuclear Assault. But what about you Billy, what kind of background do you have? You used to be in a band called The Psychos right? \u201cYeah, I quit \u2013 they were terrible. But as Scott said, I\u2019m now in another band called Method Of Destruction. Plus I\u2019m also running a label that\u2019s affiliated with Megaforce Records called Sargent \u2018D\u2019 Presents….\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
S.O.D. (l-r): Billy Milano, Danny Lilker, Charlie Benante and Scott Ian<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Is that promoting hardcore bands? Billy: \u201cWell, they\u2019re crossover; they\u2019re gonna be like S.O.D. The Crumbsuckers will be the first band on the label.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why do you think that there are so many punks getting into metal at the moment, and vice-versa as well? Billy: \u201cWell I think heavy metal is expanding to where it should be expanding, so it\u2019s falling towards hardcore and hardcore is going up towards metal. But the hardcore bands that can\u2019t play are trying to crossover and are just dying\u2026 but who cares?\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it an aim with S.O.D. to try and unite hardcore and metal as one, instead of the thin line that exists between the two at present? Billy: \u201cS.O.D. is the first crossover band. We play the instruments too\u2026 we don\u2019t just bang out noise. We are also like a social political band; we have messages that deal with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott: \u201cI think that the difference between S.O.D. and some of the other bands who claim to be a hardcore \/ metal crossover, is that lyrically a majority of them just-sing about Satan and all that kinda crap all the time. Whereas with S.O.D., the lyrics really mean something and in each song we try and get something across in it. Like all the new stuff we\u2019re writing is very satirical stuff, really ragging on about what\u2019s going on in the world at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two new songs \u2013 one\u2019s called \u2018The Death Metal Thing\u2019 and the other \u2018Satan\u2019s Cronies\u2019 \u2013 and they\u2019re a total rag on all these garbage death metal bands who can\u2019t even play their instruments; they just bang out a total noise for six minutes and scream about Satan.\u201d<\/p>\n

But wouldn\u2019t you say that it\u2019s true too of the hardcore scene, that there are a lot of bands who can\u2019t play either? Scott: \u201cOh yeah, it\u2019s the same thing. We have songs that deal with the hardcore side too. You see, everyone has an attitude these days. There\u2019s hardcore bands in New York who think that heavy metal is no good and they look at us as rock stars or something \u2013 what\u2019s wrong with being a rock star? On the other side, you get the metal fans who go around saying \u2018What\u2019s all this punk shit?\u2019. But then you get the people who are into both and that\u2019s why we\u2019re so good; we\u2019re just ragging on the people who don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many tracks on the S.O.D. album are very short, especially like \u2018Hey Gordy!\u2019 (five seconds) and \u2018The Ballad Of Jimi Hendrix\u2019 (four seconds). From someone who\u2019s into metal I can\u2019t really see the point of three and four second songs? Billy: \u201cBut that\u2019s the whole thing; they\u2019re pointless, so they\u2019re great and fun to do live. We did what we wanted to do and if anyone doesn\u2019t want to listen to three second songs then they can go onto another song on the album. We don\u2019t care!\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott: \u201cYeah, we do one second songs to piss people off purposely, because too many people take things so seriously. But the whole thing with S.O.D. is that we all have a sense of humour.\u201d<\/p>\n

You mean a sick sense of humour like on \u2018The Ballad Of Jimi Hendrix\u2019? Scott: “Oh, people love that song! When we do that live, we end up doing it five times in a row (grand total of 20 seconds) because people go crazy screaming for us to do again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut coming back to the attitude thing: A lot of the punk fanzines like Maximum Rock\u2019N\u2019Roll<\/em> consider us a fascist band because we called the album Speak English Or Die<\/em>. But the whole thing is supposed to be taken with a sense of humour. You\u2019re supposed to laugh about it; not accuse us of being Nazis.\u201d<\/p>\n

But looking at your lyrics, you seem to be going in two directions. Songs like \u2018Fuck The Middle East\u2019 are supposed to be getting over a message, whereas on \u2018Speak English Or Die\u2019 you say you\u2019re making a point but you\u2019re not serious about it? Scott: \u201cWell, we are serious about it but it\u2019s still funny. I mean, it\u2019s just everyday life here in New York City; where you come into contact with people who are doing a certain job and should be able to communicate with you, but they can\u2019t even speak English.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it is serious and we believe in everything we write, but we don\u2019t really care what people think because Billy is bigger than they are (laughter).\u201d<\/p>\n

Personally I do find S.O.D. very humorous, in the same way as I appreciated The Dictators back in the late 70s \/ early 80s, and I much prefer them lyrically to, say, The Mentors, whose vegetable attitude to sex gives them little scope of lasting beyond one album. However at the same time, I can understand people being offended by the lyrical content of S.O.D., like Jimi Hendrix\u2019s family and of course the French, who with a few exceptions are a fairly sensitive race anyway.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Metal Forces issue 15 cover<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

But S.O.D., indeed all forms of music, are there to be enjoyed by the people who like it. If you don\u2019t like it, then don\u2019t listen to it.<\/p>\n

As for the future: S.O.D. will have a track \u2018Ram It Up\u2019 \u2013 which is a cover of a song by German band Inferno \u2013 on the forthcoming Megaforce compilation album, From The Megavault<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I also understand that the band may be featured on the soundtrack of A Nightmare On Elm Street 3<\/em>. The A Nightmare On Elm Street<\/em> movies have taken the States by storm and feature Freddy Krueger, who\u2019s like modern day Frankenstein or Dracula, whom S.O.D. wrote a song about on their album.<\/p>\n

Freddy Krueger is played by actor Robert Englund, who is probably better known by UK audiences at the moment as the wimp reptile Willie in the TV sci-fi series V<\/em>. Well by all accounts, Robert Englund is a great fan of S.O.D. and has done publicity photos with the band as Freddy Krueger (see our front cover), so S.O.D. appearing on the next A Nightmare On Elm Street 3<\/em> soundtrack is a distinct possibility.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 15 (1985)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH – Deadly Nightmare Bernard Doe Metal Forces, Issue 15 (1985) S.O.D. with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) One of the most surprising bands to appear in \u201985 was Stormtroopers Of Death. S.O.D. (as they\u2019re better known) was the brainchild of Anthrax\u2019s guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante, with an intention of being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-stormtroopers-of-death"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4259,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}