1-Hails, Joe!!! How are you ?  
Im fine how are you? 

2-Although Vital Remains needs no introduction, but a decade inside the metal scene the band have a long history and, of course, inumerous interesting things to tell, about tours, rehearsals, fans, etc...Give me a resume about this.  
The band formed in 1988 by Tony and Jeff getting into a fight with some other musicians at a local metal gig and it turned out that the guys they were going to fight were Paul Flynn and his friends.. and instead of beating each other to a pulp they decided to create a band together as vital remains.. and the rest is history!!! 
 

3-How do you see Vital Remains in 1989 and today ?  
Well the band has progressed greatly and matured into a very talented death metal group. Today we are stronger than ever! 
 
4-How are the divulgation and reception of your new release "Dawn of the Apocalypse" ?  
The response has been realy great .. we have had all great and possative album reviews in every magazine we’ve been reviewed in. We have received a lot of great letters and e-mails from fans all over the world who thank us for the album,this makes me feel realy good to know that there are true fans out there that truly appreciate our music. 
 

5-Are you satisfied with the final result (production and mix) of "Dawn of the Apocalypse"? And with the recordings at the Danger Multitrack Studio ?  
Yes, we are satisfied with the recording..it was very long sessions and a lot of work. 

6-Vital Remains include a new vocalist, Thorns, in this new album. How was your relation with the new member in studio ???  
Yes, Thorn did the vocals in the studio, and he did an amazing job but we did fire him from the band shortly after the recording sessions were completed. There were many personal problems involved with Thorn that kept him from maturing with the band. 

7-Tell us more about the lyrics of the "Dawn of the Apocalypse".  
The lyrics are all based upon the idea of apocalyptic happenings..each song represents something we vision to happen dealing with the apocalyptic battle of good and evil. 
 
8-Cryonics Records, from Holland, released Vital Remains' 1989 demo "Reduced to Ashes" on CD. Talk more about this.  
Yes Cryonics re-released the 1989 demo on CD format complete with new layout & photos (sorry no lyrics). It was discussed with between us and Cryonics to re-release it. They were doing a re-release thing of all first demos of some cool death metal bands and we decided to do it! It came out realy good and we are very satisfied with the CD. 

9-What elements are going to be different for this release as compared to the older material ?  
This release is the best Vital Remains album! It is more aggressive & brutal than our previous albums. It also has the 3rd different vocalist we used on the our last 3 raleases.. 
 

10-Talking about sales, how was "Forever Underground" done for you ?  
Last time I checked it was somewhere around 15,000. I don’t know what the totals are today.. 
  
11-Please give us a summary of where your collective minds were at when you recorded the following:   
- Reduced to Ashes   
- Excruciating Pain   
- Black Mass   
- Let us Pray   
- Into Cold Darkness   
- Forever Undergound   
All the releases were created with inner hatred of god and the pure love of creating brutal death metal! Each album there were feelings of something new and exciting. 

  
12- Who are some of your fave bands on the scene right now ?  
Right now I like Krisiun, Rebaelliun, Triumphator, Centurian, and other bands like Immortal, Marduk, Vader, Pandemia… 

13. How has your touring situation been? What are your plans to tour in the future?  
We will be touring europe begginning june 6th with Vader, Fleshcrawl, Rebaelliun & Pandemia we will do 30 shows then we tour with Pandemia & the undertakers (Italy) for 14 shows, then we will fly home and go strait to Mexico for 6 shows. 

14. How are your shows ? And your performance on stage ? What were the most memorable shows that you played ? 
Are shows are very intense and full of madness. You have to experience it for your self! We have done many shows all over the world, and we have had many memorable shows, but I believe the best tour we have done so far was our 1997 european tour with Malevolent Creation, Vader & Infernal Majesty. It was a very great tour. It sold out all shows on the tour except for 3..it was truly amazing! We are very excited to be touring europe once again. 
 

15. How do you view the actual metal scene in USA ?  
The scene here is good overall but some areas are much better than others. Usa is so very big and it has many many death & black metal bands. Too many bands flood the scene here. But there are very good bands here like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse, Angel Corpse, Incantation. 
  
16. What do you want to express or pass in your songs ?  
We express a lot of hate and anger. We use all the hate and form it into great death metal. 

17. What is your source of inspiration when you create your music, and lyrics ?  
Pure fucking hate! 

  
18. Could you describe if Vital Remains has a philosophy ?  
Live for today! Be yourself! Bow down to noone! You are your own god! You are in control of your own destiny! 

19. How do you see this news bands which mix metal with folk music, nationalist thought, aliens... ? How do you see the future of metal ?  
Im not realy sure what you are talking about! But I see the future of metal as being very strong and possative. As long as there are good bands delivering good music and as long as the fans still buy the albums metal will be around forever!! 

20. If you could sum up Vital Remains in a word, what would it be?  
Metaldomination. 

21. What kind of equipment does the band use ?  
tama 10 piece concert series drum set,mesa boogie heads with marshal & peavy 4x12 cabinets,ampeg svt 200 bass head with 4x10x15 speakers. 

22. How do you spend your spare time? Hobbies, interests?  
My spare time goes to spending with my woman and animals, my wife Meggan, my dogs (doberman pinscer & rotweiler) bear & zeena, my birds. 
  
23. What three books and/or movies would you consider essential ?  
My favorite books are the Satanic Bible & Necronomicon and my favorite movies include The Warriors, Highlander, Hellraiser, Nightbreed, The Omen, The Exorsist, Mark of the Devil. 
 
24. Could you tell us one person of the past whom you personally respect, and why?  
Anton lavey, he had a lot to write about and what he wrote has very true meaning to me as an individual. I respect his work & philosophies! He was a very influential man. He was the greatest philosopher of my time. 

  
25.  What do you expect to see occur in the next millenia, especially regarding religion and war?  
Eventualy things will turn very chaotic. There is too much corruption going on in this fucked up world. Politics & religion will destroy the planet along side of pollution.. 

26. How are the band relation with your record label, are you satisfied with Osmose ?  
Osmose has done a fantastic job with us so far and have been very supportive of us. We hope we can continue a good relationship with Osmose. 

27. Explain more about the plan to release the Vital Remains covers disc, called "Horrors  of  Hell".  
We plan on releasing the disc sometime after we return home from touring. It will be a cd with all the cover songs we have recorded through out the history of the band with songs of bands like Venom, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest. 

28. Recently news revealed that Vital Remains were forced to terminate the colaboration with Thorns, although the great work in "Dawn of Apocalypse". Explain us more about this case.  
Yes he was terminated due to his dependancy of chemicals & alchohol. He is a fool! He had the opportunity to sing for a working band and fucked it up for himself. 

29. Upon the termination, Vital Remains then proceded to contact original vocalist, Jeff Gruslin. Now, we want to know if is official that Jeff return to Vital Remains. Who are the last news ???  
We originaly asked Jeff Gruslin to sing again. He came to audition for a while, but things did not work out for him. His vocals were not up to our standards. So we gave him the opportunity to try but it did not work out! The line up now is: Tony/ guitar, Joe/ bass, Dave/ drums, Greg/ lead guitar and Rob/ vocals. 
 
30. Plans to the future ? 
We will tour then come home and work right away on a new album..and tour all over again. 

31. Thanks, Joseph, for taking the time to answer my questions, best of luck with the new album. Your final message...  
Thank you very much for your interest & support. We appreciate it greatly. Good luck to you and all your readers..hail to the true underground metal, for you are the future!!