Sikfuk is a brutal death metal/pornogrind one-man machine with an aim to soak us all in his feces-spewing music. He is about to release a split with EFRO, another one man pornogrind project on Splatter Zombie Records.
The Vociferator – Your new split album will be released soon, how do you think it turned out?
Nikfuk – I'm super fukken happy with it. I believe this is some of my best and most original/diverse music to date.
Scott Creekmore did a great job recording and mixing this shit like he did for my 2013 split with Demented Retarded. Of the 3 studios I have worked with Scott Creekmore at Mercenary Digital Studios has been the best to work with and done the best job for the Sikfuk sound. If you don't know about Creekmore he's recorded bands like Broken Hope, Putrid Pile, Lividity, and Waco Jesus to name a few. He knows what he's fukken doing when it comes to recording brutal shit.
Lou Rusconi did the artwork for the shared cover for the split and an extra Scatman piece inside the booklet for me. He did a great job and was spot on with everything I asked for. He added in his own great twists, flavor, and humor. The artwork is great and I don't think I could be any happier with it.
EFRO's music for the split is some of the best shit he has ever done in my opinion. He comes at you with a super heavy, bulldozer/slam, gore/pornogrind style. He also has a handful of killer ass goregrind styled guest vocal spots from the singers of projects like Clitorape, Anal Sauages, Toxicologist, SMES/Butcher M.D., and Creamy Anal Pie. They all did a great job. I think that will help a lot with promotion of the disc since those guys will all want to promote their spot on the split when it is released. I am really happy with how everything has came together.
The Vociferator – Did you try anything new musically for this new release?
Nikfuk – I started doing stuff out of the ordinary for Sikfuk on my 2013 split. Older SikFuk was more brutal guttural death metal with my own whacked out twist of odd tapping parts and a lot of diversity in my guttural tones. So for the 2013 split I added more crust/grind influences. I Added shouts, screams, and pig snorts to my 8 tones of guttural noises. Then went more crust/grind with some of the guitar work then my usual shred, turd tappin, slam brutal death style, which I still use as well. For this release I kept the style more like my last split but added more of a goregrind twist to it.
More Gore groove styled riffs, dance styled goregrind shit, little pitch shifted vocals here and there. Even have a 44 second song that is more of a gorenoise style. Having a really good time with my new music. I'm up to about 12 or so different vocal tones which is the most I've ever used on an album.
The Vociferator – By now, you have released albums on several different labels such as Comatose Music, Goregiastic Records, and now Splatter Zombie Records. How is SZR working for you compared to the others? Anything special about how they operate?
Nikfuk- SZR is the most diverse label I have worked with as far as releasing anything for old school DM sounding shit to pornogrind and goregrind. The other labels, which are or were great labels, were primarily brutal death metal. SZR and I have really great communication and work really well together and bounce a lot of ideas and thoughts off of each other. Even just talk as friends about life shit. Haha! The only other label I have worked with where I had a good relationship with them similar to that was Comatose Music.
The Vociferator – What bands and styles of music are typically on your personal playlists? How do they influence the music you make?
Nikfuk- I have been really into Goregrind, Gorenoise, and Pornogrind lately. Those genres have been my biggest influence over the last few years so I am constantly looking up new bands and making playlists on YouTube and have more than a couple hundred full albums on them to check out at work besides music I own and have on my iPods.
I still check out the early 90's death metal shit I got into as a kid. Other genres of extreme being some grindcore, a little power violence, and I still have lots of guttural brutal death metal. I'm getting back into BDM right now so that style with my gore/porn/noise are my most played shit.
It's seems like what I am more into at the time, as far as music genre, I now tend to blend it somehow into my Sikfuk sound. I always thought SikFuk fit in and was a part of the brutal death metal scene with the music I was creating and my influences. Then when I did kind of a big style change up on my 2013 split I added some power violence/gore/grind elements to the SikFuk sound. At the time bands that were a big influence were Demented Retarded, Despise You, Spazz, and Gutalax to name a few. When Sikfuk started in 2001 my main influence were releases to that point from Devourment, Disgorge, Fleshgrind, Cephalic Carnage, Skinless, Dying Fetus, Brodequin, etc. So adding the new grind-like elements was a pretty big change and I feel was the beginning of a whole new Sikfuk. Now with this 2015 split release I've taken my style from that 2013 release and upped the level of goregrind to the music, like I stated earlier, with the new things I did on this release. Bands that are a big influence with this new sound would be shit like Ultimo Mondo Cannibal, Gutalax(again), Anal FisterFuckers, Ass Deep Tongued, Anal Grind, Fecal Body Incorporated, Gore Anus, Cannibe, Cock And Ball Torture, Foetopsy, Fucksaw, Nuclear Monstrosity to name some shit I often play at work or something. With now getting more back into BDM I'm already thinking of blending that and more gorenoise into my style for new material. Haha.
The Vociferator – You've been in the brutal death metal scene for over ten years now, how has it (d)evolved in your perspective? Do you like where it is heading or where it originated?
Nikfuk – I have not really kept up much with it the last few years. When I got really into BDM in 2000 it became almost all I listened to for 10 years. I listened to some other genres of DM but not much. I kept up with the scene, new bands, and always said I was doing my brutal death homework. Just constantly checking out new bands. So I believe I just got really burnt out on it. I just recently started checking out some again and feel like I'm getting back into it. I’ve been listening to some of New Standard Elites 2014 releases and have been liking what I have heard. I've also been following Sick Reviews more recently and that has been helpful in finding new sick ass BDM. I like where it originated since at the time I heard of BDM it was fresh and new. There are way too many BDM bands that are completely unoriginal and don't add anything new to the scene. A lot of overuse of the same band name ideas, with all the -gorges and -ectomys, and overall themes. Not many bands seem to have a sound that really sets them apart from the others. Then album after album from most bands sound the same as their last one and the lack of diversity in the guttural vocals can get boring. One tone of gutturals for a half hour album doesn't do much for me. I believe there is a shit ton of talent in the scene and I'm not hating. I still love BDM I just wish there was more creativity and effort to find your own sound then be another band that sounds like the US Disgorge or an early Devourment rip off. 2014 seemed to have some good releases so I'm hoping it is heading in good places. I'm playing this year’s Las Vegas Death Fest which is more of a brutal death metal fest than anything so I'm ready to see what's been going on lately.
The Vociferator – Whatever happened to Kretan (or should I say Colostomy Bong)?
Nikfuk – Kretan was just a studio project I sang for in 2001. I practiced 5 times with the guitarist and drummer before we recorded. Their singer bailed on them a few weeks before recording. The guitarist and I wanted to keep it going but the drummer was not interested. That was when the guitarist and I started doing SikFuk but with myself doing vocals and guitar. The Kretan guitarist went to drums since he owned a drum set.
Colostomy Bong was band I originally was only filling in as their vocalist for a Minnesota Murder Fest since their singer had just quit. I decided to stay with them but it just didn't work out for me. Didn't really have the time and just wanted to focus on Sikfuk.
The Vociferator – From all the event invites I get on Facebook, it seems there is quite a goregrind and brutal death metal scene in the Midwest, is this true? Do you expect it to grow and expand elsewhere in America, or is it winding down?
Nikfuk – There really isn't a scene for BDM or Goregrind here at all. I've still had good local and regional shows. Promotors out in Chicago and Milwaukee seem to do well booking old school thrash and DM. Maybe more black metal and death metal in Chicago. Occasional BDM shows and bands roll through these areas and can have a great show but I just don't believe the following to be as big for BDM or goregrind as it is for the other shit I mentioned. I don't get out much due to work and family so I could be completely wrong. I just know I'd go to way more shows if BDM and Goregrind had a bigger following here. I don't go to shows much really because there usually isn't anything I want to see here. Sucks.
The Vociferator – I saw a post on Facebook about how you enjoy being in a solo project. Could you reiterate why that is. Would you suggest others to join a band or to make their own?
Nikfuk- Right now it works best for me due to family and work. I don't really have time for scheduled band practices and most full bands want to jam 2 or 3 times a week to keep their shit tight. Sometimes I jam my ass off like crazy and then there are times I don't play for weeks at a time. That wouldn't work out so well with other band members. I know it would affect how tight we would be as a band and in my experience full bands like to stick to a schedule or they become unhappy. Before going solo I played off and on in full bands for 15 years. They have almost always ended badly and friendships were destroyed or just not the same after people leave. Then there was always drama within the bands with members being unhappy with other members performance, motivation, or how seriously they take the band. A lot of shit talk behind each other’s backs instead of just discussing the issues. So overall it always ended up being a lot of bullshit for me in the end and doing things myself just seems to work the best in every way possible.
I wouldn't suggest going solo over being in a full band. I prefer it and I am happier with Sikfuk then ever. People would just need to figure out what works best for them.
The Vociferator – Do you enjoy doing solo concerts with audio tracks as accompaniment instead of actual instruments?
Nikfuk – when I perform live, it’s just myself singing and playing guitar over my actual drum machine. It's not on a laptop or iPod with additional guitars, bass, samples or whatever. I'm completely happy and cool with just using my drum machine. It is super fukken easy for me to travel with my gear. Plus setting up and taking down at shows goes by super fast. It's all good.
The Vociferator – Do you plan on releasing a full-length anytime soon to follow up the split with EFRO?
Nikfuk – I have not decided what I want to do next. The idea of another split has crossed my mind but a full length is sounding good, too. Not sure at all right now.
The Vociferator – Have you any last words for those getting into brutal death metal/goregrind/slam/etc?
Nikfuk – Not really. Haha. Just don't burn yourself out on one genre. There's a shit load of good goregrind, pornogrind, BDM, etc. out there so check out as much of it as you can.
Thanks to The Circle Pit for the interview and to those who spent the time to read this shit. Keep your juicy brown eye peeled for my split with EFRO that should be out on Splatter Zombie Records in March. Also I'm on two big fests this year. The Las Vegas Death Fest and the Full Terror Assault Open Air fest in Illinois. If you can be sure to check these two super sick ass fests out. Thanks again for everything.
Later!
Nikfuk – Sikfuk
