Krullur is a wicked death/thrash band and here is an interview I did with the drummer from the band Jay Langston
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
JL: Okinawa, Japan & Tokyo, Japan – later moved to the US.
What sort of kid were you growing up and what did you want to be when you were growing up?
JL: Quiet kid who watched a lot of TV superhero cartoons/live-action shows. Wanted to be Ultraman or Kamen Rider- Japanese TV kid shows ’em up. Moved to the US when I was around 10-11 years old.
Now when did you discover metal? What were some of the early bands you heard? Are you still a fan of those bands today?
JL: Not really ‘metal’ but seeing KISS/Ted Nugent on ‘The Midnight Special’ & Don Kirschner’s ‘Rock Concert’ along with early punk bands such as Ramones, Blondie, Devo
Yes- still spin Double Live Gonzo every once in a while (great album-cf)
Now when did you discover underground metal? What were some of the early bands you heard? Were you into it right away or did it take a few listens and then you were hooked?
JL: When me and my brother -Marty (guitars) were teenagers, we used to go to concerts every weekend about an hour’s drive from our small town to a larger city where the people had access to more underground/obscure bands than we did. We were still listening to Ozzy, Ratt, Scorpions, Triumph, etc. + classic rock bands.
Some of the bands they turned us on to were Exciter, Anthrax, Slayer, Exodus, Agnostic Front, etc.
We were hooked right away. The crunching guitars & double kicks.
Now what event or events led to you taking up the drums? Why not guitar like almost everyone else?
JL: Simple answer- Seeing Peter Criss with the ‘Cat’ drum riser & Clem Burke (Blondie)/Keith Moon (Who) on TV beating the shit outta their kits.
Got a ‘Monkees’ drum set for my birthday one year & my brother got a ‘Sears’ guitar/amp. I played his guitar about as much as he did. The Monkees drum set didn’t last too long. The heads were made of paper…
I don’t interview many drummers, so is it as hard as it looks? Did you take lessons or were you self-taught? Who are your favorite drummers?
JL: For me- not really. My brother used to jam with an older dude who played drums on a massive 12-pc. Ludwig kit. I got to sort of learn from him how to keep a steady beat/fills.
No lessons- my parents would’ve laughed if I asked for such a thing.
Man, too many to mention but here are a few-
Rock/Pop: :
John Bonham, Keith Moon, Peter Criss, Ginger Baker, Alex VanHalen, Clem Burke, Myron Grombacher, Matt Frenette, Bun E. Carlos, Gil Moore, Jerry Mercer, Neil Peart, Tommy Aldridge, etc., etc..
Metal: :
Witchhunter, Pete Sandoval, Charlie Benante, Dave Lombardo, Dan Beehler, Clive Burr, Nicko McBrain, Les Binks, Dave Holland, Mick Harris, Dave ‘Grave’ Hollingshead, Rick Colaluca, etc..
Jazz/Fusion: :
Joe Morello, Louie Bellson, Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham, Bernard Purdie, Dave Weckyl, Jo Jones, Elvin Jones, Gene Krupa, Terry Bozzio, Max Roach, Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, Steve Smith, Danny Barcelona, etc…
So now, and I am assuming the band has been based in Houston, Texas all this time, how was the scene there before you guys all got together? Did you see many shows around the 80’s era or so before the band formed?
JL: When we first moved here in the mid-80s, the scene was mainly hard rock/heavy metal with a few punk shows here & there.
A few years later, the scene sort of morphed into 2 factions: hard rock/pop-metal & underground thrash/death metal & crossover. We saw tons of shows. One strange show was when Black Flag opened for the glam band ‘Sweet Savage’ @ the original Cardis on Westheimer. Famous Houston club back in the 80’s. Must’ve seen Pantera there about 10 times when they were a cover band. A great one at that. Saw GBH/Accused @ PowerTools, Voivod/Celtic Frost, The Producers, Anthrax, Saxon, AC/DC w/ Bon Scott, Ozzy w/ Randy Rhoads, Triumph (4 times) – shitloads of shows in the ’80s.
So at what point did you decide you wanted to go out and either form your band or join one if a band you liked needed a drummer?
JL: My brother & I have played in bands since we were kids. The first band was called ‘Rising Star’ (Ha!-my girlfriend at the time came up w/ the name), then it was ‘Intruder’ (named after the Van Halen instrumental on ‘Diver Down’). My brother then joined a bigger band from another city called ‘Mach’. A few years later, we formed KRULLUR in the summer of 1989. At that time, Houston was saturated with too many Glam Bands-we wanted to go as far in the opposite direction as the posers.
So now take me through the forming of the band Krullur? How did the 4 of you find each other at the time?
JL: My brother & I had played for years in other bands. We found our first singer/bass player going to local metal shows in 1989. A big problem was finding a place to practice. Once we did, we were able to record our first demo ‘Enormity’ in late 1989. released in early 1990. It is now going to be re-released on cassette & CD via Goat Throne Records. No release date as of yet.
So now you go in and record your debut demo called “Enormity” in 1990. Why that title? Now were tapes done the old-fashioned way tape to tape or pro-done?
JL: Enormity – A great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as bad or morally wrong or a grave crime or sin. Just liked the title-Enormity
Tape to tape. Had 2 cassette dubbers going at once. Yeah- time time-consuming.
Did you know all about the tape trading, print fanzines, and college radio world out there? If so how many tapes did you send out? What were the reviews like? How many do you think you sold/got rid of? What are your thoughts on it these days and do you have an original copy of it?
JL: Yes – traded & sold tapes via zines all over the world. Crazy how we used to do these things. Sent/sold about 300 tapes.
Positive reviews all over. We were also on dozens of ‘home-made’ comps.
Still have to original ‘Master’ tape. It’s about to be re-released.
So now in 1991 you quickly went back in the studio and released “Embalmed with Hate”. Looking back how much of a step do you think it was from the debut? Did you do tape to tape or pro done with this one? Did you gather more of a fan base with this one?
JL: Embalmed w/ Hate was a ‘rehearsal’ demo recorded w/ a few mics in my bedroom. It was more of a death metal output-lower tuning. Was different from Enormity sonically. We try to alter our sound w/ each recording but keep the basics. This one was also tape to tape. This recording wasn’t as widely distributed as Enormity so it’s hard to say regarding the extension of our fan base but we’d like to think so.
Now were you playing out live much? How did you share the stage with?
JL: Yeah- during the early 90s, we played a lot locally with a few sporadic shows regionally.
During this period, we opened for :
Morbid Angel, Exhorder, Hellwitch, Grimple, Dead Horse, Nuclear Death, Anal Cunt, Incantation, Disharmonic Orchestra and more I can’t think of.
Now you took a 5 year break and your next release was a split with only one song on it. Why the 5 year break? Did the band break up at all?
JL: I believe you have some misinformation on this one.
(Blame Metal Archives ha ha-Chris)
Our next release was our full-length album called ‘Churlish Rubbish’ released on ‘Facepeel’ – our independent label in ’93. This one was professionally duplicated. Also took us in a slightly different direction with songs & some hardcore mixed in as well. The band did not break up.
Now in 1997, you released another demo called “Open Ass Surgery”. Why this title? I love the demo cover by the way. Now had your sound changed much your 1st 2 demos to this new release would you say? Was it harder or easier to promote the band at this time as the internet was starting to come around?
JL: OK- you’re referring to the ‘OAS’ rehearsal demo in ’97. There was an official release (CD) of ‘OAS’ in 2001- a different bass player/singer. Ha-ha, a friend of mine came up with the title. It derived from someone having ‘Open Heart Surgery’-we just made a play on the wording. Thanks for the props on the cover. The official release cover is even better. The sound evolved even more on these releases, more hardcore- less death metal.
Much harder regardless of the internet. Between the early nineties to the early 2000s- if you were a ‘metal’ band, hardly anyone had the time for you but we still played wherever we could. We even played a fuckin’ talent show (!)
We were the only ‘heavy’ band on the roster. They didn’t know what to think of us.
Did you have a steady line-up at this time and what were some of the bands you shared the stage with?
JL: No we did not. There have been several line-up changes throughout our existence but myself & Marty (brother) have been the constant. There was even a lineup without Marty with me as the sole original member. I always managed to keep the ship sailing after 3 decades (!) It’s surprising. I’m always bemused when we play out & people still turn up. Thanks to all of them!
We’ve shared the stage with many bands during this stage:
M.O.D, Solstice, Hellwitch (again), Total Chaos, Lethal Aggression, Vader, Monstrosity, Warbeast, Destruction, Dying Fetus, etc..
We have 3 additional releases not mentioned here:
Grounds For Termination – HorrorPainGoreDeath
Failure To Comply- HPGD
Dead Live! (Live just released a few months ago)- HPGD
Available via the links below:
https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064156926367
(more on these below – Chris)
So now what did the band do up until your next release which was called “Grounds for Termination”? How did you end up hooking with Mike Juliano of Horror Pain Gore Death Productions? Did you find them or did he find you?
JL: After the Open Ass Surgery release, we played more shows locally. We also had more lineup changes. 2 to be exact. One where I was the only OG member. This was the early 2000s. This was pretty much the lowest point of the band. I remember it was difficult to find a replacement singer.
Around 2005-6, we became a 3 piece where we found a bass player/singer (Diego Garza) who is a guitarist. He is the one who hooked us up with Mike-HPGD. We then recorded the Ground For Termination EP. It was recorded on a laptop with ProTools in our rehearsal room which was a bedroom in my house.
You are back again with Mike and released “Failure to Comply”, which has a godly cover by the way. Who came up with the cover and at this time how much would say the band’s sound had changed from the early days?
JL: We played more shows after the Ground For Termination release but there was yet another lineup change. This time we were back to 4 pieces with our original singer from the early 90’s (Raymond Renteria). Thanks for the props on the cover. It’s a snip from an old German propaganda magazine from World War ll I found while searching online for ideas. We added some of our touches to the final layout.
I think we’re less Satanic-Ha! but the music is still aggressive & ‘In Your Face’. I believe all the releases are different from the prior but retain the same guitar crunch & pounding drums. At least that was the goal. We’ve thrown in some major curve balls on all of them though. We are still evil…
Now we come up with your new release, a live album with 2 cover tunes. The live sound is really good by the way. What made you pick that tune from Napalm Death’s “Musclehead”? How about Kill Ugly Pop (Lip Cream cover)? I have never heard of that band so tell me a bit about them.
JL: Thanks & yeah- the live EP ‘Dead Live’ came out great. During Covid, the ‘House Of Eyes’ guys (Brandon/Terry) who recorded it at one of our shows, contacted our bass player and sent him over the. WAV files. We couldn’t believe how great it sounded for a ‘Live’ recording so we decided to put it out via HPGD. We did not know it even existed until they got a hold of us. Fuckin’ nutz-
We all grew up listening to Napalm & always threw that song in our set as well as ‘Prison Without Walls’. As far as the ‘Lip Cream’ cover, we are also fans of Japanese hardcore. There’s a Japanese hardcore compilation called ‘Thrash ’til Death’ which features Lip Cream, Gauze, Outo & others that came out in ’87. We also play an Outo tune-check ’em out.
So have you been able to do any weekend tours or little week-long tours over the years? How would you rate yourselves as a live band?
JL: We’ve played regionally but not in a long while. Hope to pursue this more in the future. Playing ‘Live’ is where we sound the best. I can’t say that any of our recordings besides the ‘Live’ EP have harnessed the Live atmosphere. We are working on some new tunes so hopefully, the ‘next’ release will capture some of that.
So what is the line-up of the band these days?
JL: Marty Langston-Lead Guitar, Brian Lowden-Bass, Kirk Jureski-Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar & myself on drums.
Now please plug any merchandise you have. How many of your releases are still for sale?
JL: We have T-shirts, patches, stickers, CDs & cassettes, and all releases are still available for purchase but some aren’t listed on our FaceBook page/store. We’re working on that. The peeps can purchase from our FaceBook page-click the “Shop” button.
Please plug any social media sites you have.
JL: Contact us via the links below:
https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064156926367
Jay is up for doing this interview. Any last words to wrap this up?
JL: Thanks Chris! Appreciate your interest in the band and helping keep Metal alive. We’re working with Goat Throne Records for a CD release of our first demo ‘Enormity’. Be on the lookout for that. Death to posers-old and new…
