If you were to ask me to name a current band that is raw, unforgiving and down right brutal, then I would definitely give Pathetic as my answer. The band reminds me of wrestling legend Terry Funk, because just like Terry Funk the musicians in Pathetic are true metal maniacs that hold nothing back. Their full-length album that came out last year called, "Rat King," is a gruesome offering of blood thirsty savage old school death metal. The band's bassist/vocalist, AJ Kovar, who also plays bass for the legendary Canadian speed metal band, Witches Hammer, took the time to answer some questions I had for him regarding Pathetic, Witches Hammer and other projects he is currently working on. Here is the full interview below:
Q: Hello AJ, thanks for taking the time to do this interview and answer some questions. How are things going up in Canada?
Things are going great! I just moved to the west coast. Soaking up the sun.
Q: Before I get into talking about Pathetic, Witches Hammer and some of your other musical projects, I thought about getting some background info about your local music scene. When did you first start getting involved in the local scene? How has the scene evolved over the years?
I played in a band with the Pathetic drummer Duncan early on doing heavy metal thrash, played shitty all ages shows. Then discovered another local band that was playing in bars for awhile that I joined called Reverend Kill, which was actually one of the bands that original Witches Hammer bassist Steve Withrow played in. About 7 years later, Spencer, a long time friend had been playing in Reverend Kill also, and at some point in 2015/2016 we decided to quit to make more evil hateful music and formed Pathetic. The scene when I started sucked, it was full of metalcore and turned into a an influx of bad metal revival bands and is still a pile of shit with a few diamonds in the rough. Over the years I've learned that scenes are useless and hold you back, or give a band the false idea of being some local bar metal heroes. The idea of Pathetic was always to be an international act and it shouldn't matter how engaged we are locally in my opinion at this stage of the game. Especially with the internet making it easy to network. Our scene is now bands and like minded people all over the world.
Q: Now I was introduced to Pathetic through your split with Putrid that I reviewed here for the blog, but you guys had been putting out material prior to that split. When did Pathetic first form? What was the early years of the band like?
We formed between 2015 and 2016 as what was going to be a flash in the pan project with Spencer on drums and me on guitar and the more we got pissed off with our previous band the more it developed into a real serious thing. The influences back then were very basic, make music and lyrics that make people turn their heads in absolute disgust. We listened to lots of old New York death metal like Incantation and Immolation as well as war metal such as Archgoat, Blasphemy and riffing black metal like GBK and Svolder. When Duncan joined on because we decided it just made sense given we were all friends for so long, we recorded the first demo release and just never looked back
Q: When you came to visit the Bay Area last year you were beyond nice enough to give me a few Pathetic releases, one of those being the album, “The Dawn of Stupidity.” I was wondering if you could reflect upon that release and what was it like recording that album? I definitely hear early elements of what would translate over onto your later releases.
Like I said earlier the first half of that album has a very New York death metal influence behind it especially in the production. I still say it's almost a bigger production than some of our later stuff .We all had inadequate living arrangements at the time so we were rehearsing on electronic drum kits and practice pads till it came to record the album in my parent's basement. The use of samples came into play, also which was something we never used before in bands. It was a fun album to record we just didn't really know what to expect from it. The second half of that album is actually our 2nd album Blatant Retardation which starts with Black sun. We will be be recording every song in the second half throughout time. Similar to how Suffocation redoes all of Breeding the Spawn one song per album.
Q: Last year Pathetic released, “Rat King,” which I consider to be one of best extreme metal releases to come out that year. What are your thoughts about the album? What was the recording process like?
The process for that was interesting as I was working in the arctic for weeks at a time. So a lot of the songs were written alone and then shown to those guys when I came back or vice versa for Spencer's songs. "Going Postal," was one of the first songs we actually wrote together. Whereas before Spencer and I would write individually. It was also the first release we recorded 100% on our own without engineering help. The last half of the Dawn of Stupidity compilation (Blatant Retardation) is a horrible recording and the result of just things not working in the studio. We learned then we have to do it on our own to do it right. The guy who recorded us is a great friend we just needed to learn how to do things on our own also for the reason of time and not rushing things under studio pressure.
Q: Do you have any new Pathetic releases in the works and can you maybe give some details about what listeners can expect to hear on the new albums?
We have just released a concept album on the genocides occurred in the Ottoman Empire around WW1. It's called "Cleansing The Land of the Infidel". We plan on releasing it as a double CD album with another we have recorded called "The Pestilence Born of Unclean Acts." We also have a split coming out after with a black metal band from Quebec called Glorious Sarcofagik Desecration. They are just absolutely sick.
Q: For those who might not be aware, you also play bass in the iconic Canadian speed metal band Witches Hammer. When did you first start playing in Witches Hammer and how did the opportunity arise?
Having to learn the bass lines on the first Reverend Kill release introduced me to Steve Withrows incredible playing and also into his previous works which included Witches Hammer. I had conjured up a copy of the Canadian speed metal demo and absolutely was enthralled. I had known Marco through playing gigs with his band Tyrants Blood and I also knew Ray Prizmic through a former punk band he sang in briefly called the Epitomees. When I heard the band was to reform it only made sense to audition for it, understanding the uniqueness of Steve's bass playing and how much of a fan I was of the band. Couple years ago I just drove up in the middle of winter and it has been going great ever since. The other two members of the band Steve Sinned and Jesse I knew from their band Assimilation as well as their previous bands Red Kahn and Sinned.
Q: I was going ask because you and I were messaging each other a while back and you had told me that you are working on a new project. What is this new project called and can we expect to hear some material from it soon?
I cannot divulge the name of it on here, but I'm sure you will find out about it haha, it is 80s black death which basically I would say its very influenced by Bathory, Sarcofago, Von, early Blasphemy, Repulsion, Necrovore pre Altars era Morbid Angel. Just a fun piece of music I am doing for myself with the help of a couple friends. Plan on doing more musical projects not intended for live use as the years go on. I just enjoy making music.
Q: Looking to the future, which can be challenging right now with a global pandemic and turmoil around almost every corner of the planet, what are some of your musical goals? I find that you are a truly dedicated and hard working extreme metal musician, so I am interested in hearing what you want to accomplish on your future releases?
Honestly I think the best way to navigate these times is just to keep things relevant by putting music out regularly. All the scene drama and posturing by playing live shows with shitty bands or political nutcases means absolutely nothing and is a waste of time, if you don't have music to show for it. I think true metal needs to be pushed back underground and things that were once in the underground are now mainstream and its extremely lame. Maybe its good if it will be harder for bands to survive. It has been too easy for someone to just make a demo invite all their friends to a gig and be the next neighborhood Metallica for a week. I long for the days of discovery and obscurity in the 80s that I never got to experience.
Q: AJ, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and stay safe during these crazy times. Hopefully when this is all over you can tour out here in the Bay Area, because I think the metal community in the Bay would appreciate hearing some monstrous brutality that I know you and the other guys in Pathetic can deliver.
Thanks for the interview Robert. Always excellent chatting with you! Thanks for your questions and I hope to get more music in your hands every year!
Check Pathetic's most recent release "Cleansing the Land of the Infidel" below:
Pathetic Facebook page:
Enjoyed your interview with AJ. Mason said he dug the music, and he's a pretty tough critic when it comes to music.
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