Guts and gore, blood and vileness – one of the grandfathers of death metal, Kam Lee is back with a vengeance. Lee has teamed up with a company of blood thirsty wolves - more precisely a combo of Swedish death and black metal folk Rogga Johansson (Paganizer/Demiurg/Ribspreader), Morgan Lie (Naglfar) and Ronnie Bjornstrom (Ribspreader, Hate Ammo) - and formed the cannibalistically intense death metal machine BONE GNAWER.
The Power of Metal.dk’s Thomas puts his fangs in the death metal legend and hopes to get some answers before all the blood spurts out…
Hi Kam! Congrats on the release of a furiously cool album! I assume that you are receiving raving reviews from every corner?
Kam: Yes, great reviews indeed... here's the latest ones out of Germany.
Rock Hard - 8 out of 10 points /Soundcheck position 22 out of 44 /Heavy - 9 out of 12 points/Powermetal.de - 8,5 out of 10
/Mindestverzehr Online - 9 out of 10/Planet Heavy Metal - "first class Death Metal!" /Music-Scan - 7 out of 10 /Squealer-Rocks - "Killer Debut!"
Mega-Metal - 8,5 out of 10 /Necroweb - 7,5 out of 10 /The-Pit - 9 out of 10 /HeavyHardes - 5 out of 6/Burn Your Ears - 6,5 out of 10
/Neckbreaker - 8 out of 10 /Helldriver Magazine - 6 out of 7 /Whiskey-Soda - rating: very good/Evil Rocks Hard - "Killer Death Metal!" /Possessed Webzine - "good one!" /FFM-Rock - "Great Death Metal between US and Sweden style!" /Ad Noctum - "Sheer lunacy!" /Musikreviews.de - 13 out of 15.
I read that you met the Swedes via the internet. Did you in fact meet in person at any point during the recording of the album?!
Kam: No... not yet, but I plan to meet with them in March of 2010 - because BONE GNAWER is set to play some shows in Sweden then.
Where did the Bone Gnawer moniker come from? Is that a literary reference or just a figment of your own imagination?
Kam: While I was still in the band DENIAL FIEND, I began to write new lyrics for new songs. But then - once started to come to terms that my time in that band was limited and I really didn't want to waste my lyrics in a band that they wouldn't fit with. I started to think out side the box, and began to utilize my ideas for something different. I had a few tracks like the original version of LUCKY ONES DIE FIRST drafted out... and some ideas about cannibalism - and at the time was also doing pre-work with Rogga on another project that was called REVOLTING. but after some time, things with my involvement with REVOLTING really didn't work out, yet Rogga still wanted to work together with me on a band, as so we opted to create BONE GNAWER. The name came from an idea I had about a group of cannibal having a picnic - that song later became what is now the track "Cannibal Cook-Out".
Who came up with the entire meat hook/slashing/cannibal concept you revolve around? Is that the sick mind of one Mr. Lee?
Kam: Yep! this is 100% me... putting the hooks back into death metal is the band’s whole idea, but the lyrical content... the imagery... the theme is all me. As you say ~ the sick mind of one Mr. Lee.
Your voice is certainly no less brutal than it was back in the day. Did you ever feel the weight of age come upon your vocal chords or do you growl every day in the shower to keep the organ going?
Kam: Haha! I yell a lot - I come from a family of yellers... my father would growl and bark and yell at me daily! He was an ex-marine, and he is polynesian/asian - so I grew up in a very strict environment. Stuff I had to do as punishment - would be considered today as child abuse!
It's just natural for me to be yelling and growling a lot!
Will Bone Gnawer head out on the road? A team-up tour with Massacre could be an idea?
Kam: Massacre is DEAD... it's no longer going to happen, because of the jealousy of the ex-band members. So I'm no more going to do that band. BONE GNAWER has plans to tour, but we need financial backing, and our label doesn't give tour support. So this is a hard place for us. We want to tour but we need to find a promoter willing to take us out on tour. Because of my former ex-members of DF/Massacre that have connections from their other bands - they have spread rumors to the promoters, and promoters are refusing to work with me. It's these jealous types that are keeping me from touring and all the shit rumor spreading that they do. Because they fear me... they know my bands are better then they are - so they feel threatened by me, and use there connections within the scene to try and keep me at bay.
As far as I remember, you told the audience at Wacken Open Air last year that you are now a granddad. How does your family relate to everything you do with this band? Kids and gore go hand in hand?
Kam: I don't really associate with my daughter, that is by her choice not mine... so I've never really seen her child. I won't force her into trying to associate with me, that's not fair to her or her family. When and if ever she feels the need and she's willing to be a part of my life, then we will see, but for now she lives her life separate from mine.
Who would be your tip for some of the best metal names out there right now?
Kam: Mmmmm.... are you asking me who I like? I don't have a top 10 list or anything, and the stuff I like tends to be more underground and more obscure then the average. I like the bands that tend to have a horror element to their music like: ALTAR OF GIALLO, MACHETAZO, AVULSED, BONESAW, ABSCESS, FONDLECORPSE, ASESINO, GHOUL, CARDIAC ARREST, GRAVE HILL as far as death metal goes. I like almost all the Swedish death metal bands... as they are my favorites. GRAVE, ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, UNLEASHED... even newer bands like NOMINON. I like the Belguim band SUHRIM a lot (too bad they broke up). Also I only like old school Norwegian black metal like: ABRUPTUM, MAYHEM, DISSECTION, old EMPEROR, and MARDUK. I don't support any of that Cunt Grishfuck/Varg Vikernes shit - or anyone who follows him. I don't support or follow all that crap. And I don't like these new breed polished/ keyboard driven black metal acts either. I only like the old dirty raw sounding bands.
