Words by Peter Tanski
Since their inception in 2015, VHS have crafted a form of Hardcore/Punk and Thrash informed Death Metal with a penchant for home video’s golden era, the 1980’s. In those long since forgotten days, the big question was Beta-Max or VHS. Beta went to the TV stations as the format was superior, and the rental game (by way of “Blue Movies’ aka porn) favored VHS. Wistful for the content found upon the shelves of Video Rental Franchises, VHS (the band) injected their crushing songs with lyrical content paying loving homage to the films they adored.
Off Shelf: VHS create bludgeoning, classic Death Metal with enough Thrash and menace to satisfy the most discerning of us. Lyrically, this is far from the gore and viscera of old school Death. What was the initial que to create a concept recording based on Sword and Sorcery films?
Mike Hochins: I don’t remember exactly when the idea for a sword and sorcery album came into the picture. I remember I’d mentioned it in a podcast interview that it was a possibility for a future theme. I think they really go hand in hand with horror movies as being part of video store culture. A lot of the classics of the genre were directed by people who also made horror movies so… it did make sense in my brain at the time! I have a few themes on the back-burner at all time’s and I just see what sticks when it is time to start writing an album. This one definitely stuck when I started writing, and it was a ton of fun to put everything together.
OS: Which of these Sword & Sorcery films were your favorites as kids?
MH: I honestly didn’t see a lot of the movies when I was a kid. My favorite was definitely the Masters of the Universe, starring Frank Langella and Dolph Lungren. That one was released at the perfect time and just really resonated with me as a kid. I also remember going to see The Black Cauldron in the theaters and I really enjoyed that one as well. We haven’t really tackled any animated movies as far as lyrical inspiration but The Black Cauldron was definitely on the list of possible movies for the album. Sadly it didn’t make the cut!
OS: I see everything from Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster to He-Man is covered on this record. What other films/shows served as inspiration?
MH: We really wanted to make sure that we showed some love to the Italian sword and sorcery epics because they are just bat shit crazy and far from being good movies, yet we still love them. Conquest, Ator the Fighting Eagle, and The Barbarians were all easy choices for inspiration for songs. Our drummer, Andy, threw Highlander into the mix and it ended up being one of our favorite songs on the album. Aside from that we have songs about Red Sonja, Dragonslayer, Excalibur, and Conan the Destroyer. There was honestly so much stuff to draw inspiration from that we could easily revisit this theme again in the future. I guess we will have to see what adventures the future holds!
OS: Horror of all Varieties, Pro Wrestling, Santa Claus, and even Sitcoms have been fodder for your lyrical themes. What would you like to cover next?
MH: We always have a ton of stuff on the go, but it looks like the next album will be Satan themed. So, we will have songs about The First Power, Evilspeak, I Drink Your Blood, Demonia, The Omen, The Devil’s Rain and more! Don’t want to give away too many spoilers and I guess the plan could change but this is what we have been working on and, unless something changes, will be the theme of the next record!
OS: I’d imagine your live shows are wildly entertaining. How do you represent the concepts in your songs on stage?
MH: We don’t play live very often but I’d like to say our live shows are a lot of fun. We haven’t really had much of an opportunity to do any sort of elaborate stage shows or anything. We have brought on a TV playing VHS tapes before, various props and I have dressed up like Leatherface from time to time. We have a few record release shows coming up in July and August so hopefully we can come up with something cool for the shows!
OS: Musically, I hear early Carcass, Deicide, Suffocation… along with 80’s era Metallica, and even Mercyful Fate. What are the bands that inspired you all to create music?
MH: You pretty much nailed the majority of our influences. I would definitely add Cannibal Corpse to the mix, specifically The Bleeding. That album really made me realize that death metal could be brutal, but still very catchy. Aside from that, we are also very influenced by a lot of Punk and Hardcore. It might not seem overtly apparent, but NOFX is a huge influence on my songwriting. I think, even when we have heavy riffs, sometimes our structures lend themselves more to a punk kind of structure. We always try to keep things catchy and memorable. I also can’t talk about influences without throwing in Impetigo, Rigor Mortis, Mortician, and pretty much the entire early Razorback Records catalog. We have always been a melting pot of influences, and I really don’t see that changing any time soon.
OS: Your album art is always entertaining. Who is responsible for the concepts and creation?
MH: Usually the concept comes around the same time as the album title. We’ve been really lucky to work with amazing artists. Generally we just have to give them a basic idea, and then they work their magic. I’m definitely a firm believer in letting an artist do what they are comfortable with. You have to play to their strengths. You shouldn’t go to an artist that does mostly black and white and expect a full color cover from them!
For covers specifically we tend to use Nev/Gruesome Graphx and for the last few albums we have been using an awesome artist named Creepy Jason. He is a US tattoo artist that loves metal and VHS tapes so it was a perfect match and he has really nailed everything we have asked of him. Nev has really been working with us since the very beginning. He did our first logo, tons of shirt designs for us, a bunch of our album covers and is just basically the fourth member of the band. It was awesome this time around because we had two different covers for the album, so we got to work with both of our favorite artists this time around!
OS: Both creations of author Robert E. Howard, Solomon Kane or Conan? Why?
MH: I’m aware of Solomon Kane, and I think I even saw a movie from a few years ago about him, but I’m not super familiar with the character. But come on, no one can best Conan! The muscles, the sword, the loin cloth… he’s just one bad motherfucker!
OS: Were any of you table top RPG players as children?
MH: Absolutely! When I was younger I had a neighbor that was very into tabletop RPGs. So we would definitely spend a ton of time playing Dungeons and Dragons. It was a ton of fun and I have some very fond memories of this time period for sure. We also even dipped our toes into different things like Star Wars and Warhammer. Funny enough, I always found myself preferring playing this type of game as opposed to a video game RPG. The interaction between the players and world building was always super fun!
OS: What do you believe to be the ultimate Sword And Sorcery film, and why?
MH: I think the safe answer would be Conan the Barbarian. It’s pretty much a perfect film in every way. The casting is perfect. The score is perfect. The art direction is perfect. It would be hard to argue that any other sword and sorcery movie comes even close. There are a ton of awesome sword and sorcery flicks that I love for a variety of reasons, but not many come even close to Conan the Barbarian.