M.I.: Hello Rick, first of all thanks that you accept the invitation of Meta Invader , and secondly apologize me for my totally ignorance of your existence , but I think that the reissue of "Victims Of Science" cd , aiming that everyone must learn about GAMMACIDE , at last. Of course Demitrius, I welcome the chance for Gammacide to infect Metal Invader! M.I.: Please, introduce GAMMACIDE to our readers, and tell us a bio of the band. GAMMACIDE was formed in 1986. Our sound was forged in the scorching heat of our home state of Texas and fueled by the chemicals that were prevalent in the environment at that time. You may have been unaware of us, but we were well known throughout the metal underground of that time, we appeared in countless zines and metal radio programs worldwide. In 1990 we released Victims of Science on the Wild Rags label. We toured throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and California. We released a follow up tape Gammacide 1991 in that year. We disbanded in 1992 because it was too difficult for us to find the toxic chemical waste on which we feed. In 2005 we have reformed and reissued Victims of Science and many such as yourself have discovered this rare jewel of thrash metal. M.I.: Can you tell us more details about the material of "Victims Of Science" reissue , I think that included everything that GAMMACIDE done so far? The reissue features the entire Victims of Science LP along with the 1991 demo. This material has been digitally remastered and it is the first time that it has appeared in CD format. We have also included two new tracks, "Against The Grain" and "Vapor Lock", recorded by the reunited line up in 2005. M.I.: You released the "Victims Of Science" cd by yourselves (Gammarecords). I believe that this is a very daring move and also shows that after all these years you still take GAMMACIDE in a very serious way. We had some offers from labels to reissue it, but in the end Demetrius we decided to do it ourselves. This was a labor of love from start to finish and a gift to the die hard thrashers who were still interested in Gammacide after all these years. M.I.: What you done the time that the band was not in action? Varnam formed Cauldron, a thrash metal band with some doom metal touches. The released a CD called For The Love of Pain. I formed Puncture, an industrial band who released 2 successful CDs and toured the United States. M.I.: Your early material -the "Victims Of Science" lp and the 4 tracks demo- is really a very brutal stuff for that period of time. Honestly I believe that you were one of the first U.S. thrash metal bands that used blastbeats. You know - that would be interesting to figure out... who was the first U.S. band to use blast beats... it wasn't us, we were influenced by S.O.D. and D.R.I. The first Gammacide demo was released in 1987. There were definitely a few bands doing it before we were, but yes... we were one of the first. M.I.: The new material -the 2 new songs of the cd- sounded a little more technical, but not loosing any second of the band's aggressive trademark sound. Have you recorded any other new songs, are you schedule to release a new record? Actually the 2 new recordings are old Gammacide songs... they were written sometime in 1992, shortly after the 1991 demo. Yes we have new songs written. In fact we've got about 8 of them and they crush. You will be happy to hear that we have stuck close to our roots. The material is definitely in the Gammacide style of thrash metal. Maybe a little slower, but actually heavier I think. M.I.: The "Victims Of Science" reissue is dedicated to your bassist Eric Roy! Can you tell us more about him? Eric was a very good friend and bandmate for many years. He and I first met when we played together in the band Warlock (a band from Texas, not the German one of course). When Warlock broke up, he and I formed Gammacide. Man, Eric and I were like brothers... we played music together, hung out together, fucked girls together... everything! He left Gammacide shortly after we recorded Victims of Science, but we stayed good friends... he was a cool motherfucker. Unfortunatley he had some bad habits, and one night he was partying with some people he shouldn't have been with. He was murdered that night. M.I.: Along with Demolition Hammer, EvilDead, Exhorder, Incubus (just to mention a few) you belonged to the last thrash metal generation of the U.S.A. and we are talking about 17-15 years ago! So what was that, that made you started to play thrash metal in the past, and what is this ,that make you want to still play this kind of music until now? I don't know how old you are Dimitris, but in the early 80's the metal scene was still in its early days... there weren't subdivisions like thrash, glam, doom, etc... it was all just metal! Then in the mid eighties there started to be some branches coming off the metal tree... there were pop bands like Cinderella and Warrant that were being labeled as "heavy metal" by MTV and magazines. In my opinion, these cheesy clowns gave metal a bad name and they weren't even close to being metal! There came another branch of the tree in response to this. This was thrash metal.... It took the riffs and imagery of classic metal like Priest and Sabbath and merged it with the attitude and energy of hard core punk. The guys in the thrash bands looked just like the audience... jeans and long hair.... I would say that while MTV and the media were busy fawning over faggots like Bon Jovi and Autograph, it was the thrash bands who kept REAL HEAVY METAL alive in the 80's! M.I.: What you think about the thrash metal scene of today. I listen to satellite radio and I hear some good stuff. Lamb of God and Arch Enemy are cool. Destruction and Exodus are still putting out good CDs...and Slayer of course, they have stayed so fucking true throughout their career that they deserve a medal... M.I.: The title of your album and your lyrics are always evergreen. Of course we are all still victims, of this outrageous situation that some lunatics and warlust "BIG" presidents used science only to satisfied their crazy and greedy plans. We are not against science, progress and technology are awesome and we embrace them. But there are a lot of idiots in our government (and other governments around the world)... they sometimes misuse the awesome power of science and technology or they use it without considering the side effects. Gammacide's lyrics have always focused on the morbid aspect of technological progress. M.I.: As I wrote in the review of "Victims Of Science" I learned about GAMMACIDE with the supervalue help of Internet. I believe that Internet is a kind of replacement of the primitive "tape trading". Now you have the great opportunity to search and learn everything you want directly and effectively. Do you think that this modern way of communication will help not only GAMMACIDE ,but also some unfairly underrated bands? Yes you are exactly right... internet has taken the place of tape trading and underground zines... back in the old days I would sit and answer mail everyday, for at least an hour... hand written, mind you! Then you truck down to the post office and air mail to Bulgaria or Italy or wherever... then you wait a few weeks for the reply! Now everything happens much faster... the internet has made it MUCH easier for bands to get exposure, the problem is that now there are SO MANY bands that the choices are multiplied... and there is a lot of crap you have to sift through to get to the good stuff. But yes, GAMMACIDE has reached a whole new crowd as a result of the internet, it's great... M.I.: Now,one of the most common , but in the same time most interesting questions. Please can you tell us your 6 most favourite bands, 6 most favoutite albums and 6 most favourite musicians. Okay... Bands... Judas Priest Slayer Kiss Black Sabbath AC/DC Motorhead Albums "Stained Class" "Reign in Blood" "Hell Bent for Leather" "Sabotage" "If you want blood, you got it" "Alive!" Musicians: Rob Halford Glenn & KK (count as one) Kerry & Jeff (count as one) Dimebag Darrell (R.I.P.) Angus Young Piggy (R.I.P.) M.I.: THANK YOU VERY MUCH RICK. Close this interview as you like. Dimitris thanks for the interview and for your help introducing (or reintroducing) Gammacide to Greece. Anyone who wants more info should visit our website at www.gammacide.com for tons of pictures, flyers, sound clips, as well as ordering info for Victims of Science and T-shirts. I think anyone into old school thrash along the lines of Kreator, Slayer, Exodus or Vio-Lence cannot help but be interested in Gammacide. Thanks again and THRASH TILL DEATH! Dimitris Fotiadis

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