When I learned that NJ death metal band Deteriorot had reformed and was planning on releasing some new music I got the low down and whole band history from guitar player/vocalist Paul Zavaleta
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
PZ: Born and raised in NJ. Just around 15 miles outside of NYC.
What sort of kid were you growing up and did you come from a big or small family?
PZ: It was an average size family. Family of 4. I have an older sister. I was an analytical thinker as a kid. I sort of really just thought outside the box more and never understood the rest of the kids, or society. I never liked or understood their follower mentality, the kids caring more about name brands of clothing, and sneakers, and we all lived in a poor urban city. As a young kid, I was already judging the follower mentality and felt different.
What did you want to be when you were growing up and how close did it happen?
PZ: I wanted to be independent. I just didn’t see myself working for anyone. I wanted to be some kind of business owner. Be my own boss. I have been able to accomplish this, I have run my own business.
Now I know the band is from NJ, well originally from, but what sort of music did you listen to early on in your life? Was the radio a big staple and also MTV, which was HUGE at the time?
PZ: As a young kid I found some KISS records from my Dad when I was around 5 years old and was fascinated by the live show art before even listening to it. We had a lot of rock music on 45 vinyls. Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin. I liked the music when I played it. As a child, before we even had MTV we had music videos on NBC and I liked Billy Idol a lot, Quiet Riot, Motley Crüe, Ratt, KISS, and Twisted Sister. Also liked the New Wave, Post Punk, Brit Pop stuff like Duran Duran, Human League, and it was just a very diverse time to like music.
Now what led to you discovering heavy metal music? What were some of the 1st bands you heard and are you still fans of those bands these days?
PZ: Iron Maiden has to be my first metal obsession. This was when they had Powerslave as their current album, so I had gotten everything they released and the Live After Death double record was playing on my vinyl player for a few months daily. Metallica – Ride The Lightning was an album I heard at my friend’s house and the first song Fight Fire with Fire just blew me away and I thought it was the heaviest thing I ever heard. After I got Kill Em All, I just wanted to play guitar and be a vocalist like James Hetfield. I didn’t want to do one or the other. I wanted to do both, just like him, and Kill Em All really inspired me to learn guitar and to write in the same structure where we have an opening riff, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, guitar solo, and then back to the opening riff then end the song. A composition pattern I still follow today.
I’m still a fan and see both bands whenever I have a chance. Other bands that also did the same to me are Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.
Now how did the dark side (ha ha) of underground metal rear you in? What were some of the 1st bands you heard? Now did death and thrash metal take to it right away or did it take a few listens to really get into it?
PZ: Thrash for me at 12 years old was the big 4 Metallica, Megadeth, Megadeth, Anthrax. At 13 years old s friend I met ironically when I was at church with my family. I was wearing an Iron Maiden shirt and my new friend I met that day was wearing a Possessed Seven Churches shirt. His name is Renzo. He invited me over to his house after Church and he played some records of bands I never heard of before. Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, Sodom, Destruction, and Kreator. It was the start of my new love for more extreme forms of metal. Mixed with my love of Black Sabbath and Dio.
So when did you want to pick up the guitar? Were you self-taught or did you ever take lessons? How quickly did you take to it? What are some of your favorite guitar players?
PZ: I first wanted a guitar when I saw the Motley Crüe video on TV for Looks That Kill. Mick Mars playing this badass guitar which was a BC Rich Warlock. I thought it was the coolest-looking guitar ever. But it wasn’t until I got the Kill Em All album from Metallica that I truly wanted one and learned to play. James Hetfield was my guitar hero. His riffs, writing, and stage presence, mixed with his heavy at the time aggressive vocals was inspiring to me. I learned the guitar fairly quickly. I was self-taught. To me I just wanted to learn how to play Metallica songs, especially Kill Em All and I went to a guitar lesson at a music shop and it was a waste of $10. They just wanted to reach me about acoustic chords that go by letters like E or G or whatever. And I asked if they could teach me how to play this, and I played them Seek and Destroy. They said no. So I never went back. I learned how to tune my guitar. And I just self-taught myself from there. I just messed around and watched video performances of Metallica and just kept watching and after a while of daily messing around. Things just started to sound like the riffs. Within 6 months I was quite advanced and could play whole songs from start to finish and not sound like an amateur whatsoever. I was able to play speed Thrash riffs right and solid. I would go to the music shop and test out different guitars and amps, people would hear me play these Metallica Riffs and ask how long I’ve been playing. They would think I was joking when I’d say just a few months.
Now there were tons of clubs in NJ, were you going to many shows at all before you joined any bands? What was your 1st arena show you went to and your 1st club show? Also, did you ever get a chance to go to Madison Square Garden in NYC, NY for a show?
PZ: Yes, my first show was Billy Idol at Garden State Arts Center in 1984, then I saw Megadeth in 1987 at Passaic Capital Theater when I was 13 years old. Metallica at Meadowlands Arena in 1988. My first club was when my own band played at Obsessions Night Club in 1988 when we were called Mortuary. Then afterward I went to Lamour to see Death with Anvil and Overkill. I have been to Madison Square Garden many times too. Too many to count. I’ve seen Iron Maiden numerous times there, Robert Plant & Jimmy Paige were a huge memorable experience. And besides music, I’ve been there for a bunch of WWF Wrestling Events, Knicks Basketball, Rangers Hockey.
Now you and 2 other members of the early line-up of Deteriorot, were members of the band Mortuary before that band formed. How did the coming Mortuary come about? Were you all friends with each other before the band formed?
PZ: No we were not. I met Rob and Kevin at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, NJ and we were all wearing underground metal shirts and started a conversation. They mentioned they are musicians. Rob is a drummer and Kevin is a guitarist. I mentioned I play guitar and brought up the idea of getting together and I had a few songs I wrote. We got together and it sounded great. We needed a bass player and 4th member. We asked my friend Renzo who is a fantastic lead guitar player. He said no. He wanted to start his own band. Kevin was okay on guitar but was unable to fully play some of the riffs I wrote. I suggested he play bass instead. He refused to, so I decided to switch from Guitar to bass temporarily until we figured something out. We played some shows and Renzo was impressed. He joined us on lead guitar then.
Now in 1988, Mortuary released a demo/rehearsal as a lot of bands did back in those early great days of the underground. Was this for the purpose of having something to send out to fanzines and also for tape traders to trade? Did you ever do any tape trading back then?
PZ: I did some tape trading but really wasn’t involved that much on the fanside and I was more about creating my own music and being an artist. The demo was to promote our music and get it out there to labels, radio stations, promoters, and fans. I was already extremely busy answering fan mail daily and getting our tapes out to fans. I had no time to try to get other tapes or write to other people besides the dozens that I had to respond to and reply to on a daily basis. It was truly overwhelming at times.
Did you play many live shows back then in NJ or even NY?
PZ: We started playing shows when I was 14 and it was non-stop. NJ/NY was our home base
Now in 1990, you released another demo called “Infernal Torment”. Did you go into an actual studio for this? Was it a blank tape to blank tape release or did you have them professionally done?
PZ: We went to a professional studio and it sounded really great. We didn’t have the money for professional print. We just made them on blank tapes.
What was the response like from fanzines and the worldwide death metal scene at the time?
PZ: The response was always great and we had lots of overseas mail.
Did you play many shows behind the release of this demo before the band sort of broke up and became Deteriorot?
PZ: We were constantly playing shows. We grew a big following at the time. We were headlining our own shows at just being 15 and 16-year-old kids. We weren’t opening for a big touring band. We would be the show. The band didn’t break up. We transitioned into a new name while being Mortuary, we found out another band is called Mortuary out of Mexico and they were going to release an album soon so it was an opportunity to just come up with a name that would be an invented word. So I came up with the word Deteriorot and we figured this was it won’t be an issue for another band to ever have this name because it is unique to us. While doing so, we could just start Deteriorot with a newer, heavier, sound and evolve it into its own metamorphosis from Mortuary.
(there was also a 3rd band called Mortuary and they were based in South New Jersey, near Phila, PA that I was managing at the time they released one 8 song demo-Chris)
Do you still have copies of the 2 releases of Mortuary that came out?
PZ: I don’t have the rehearsal whatsoever, but I have a cassette of Mortuary Infernal Torment. I don’t have the sleeve for it.
(if anyone has a copy of the rehearsal or a copy of the sleeve of the demo I’m sure Paul would love a copy-Chris)
So how soon after the name change was “demo 92” released? Was this the 1st 4 tunes you had ready to go or did this have bits and pieces of a Mortuary tune or 2? What are your thoughts on this demo these days?
PZ: We did a complete overhaul. We tried to work with the Mortuary pre-songs from our Mortuary release but it just didn’t fit at all. I had 2 working new songs with Jon Brody: The Afterlife and Eternal Darkness. It was around this time we transitioned these 2 new songs into what we would consider a new band, and these 2 new songs inspired us to just start over again it would have been easier to just stay as Mortuary because we had already been out for a few years and had a following. But we just thought these 2 songs were really the beginning of a fresh start. Demo 92′ is actually our 2nd studio release. We became DETERIOROT in 1990 as a 3 piece. Paul Zavaleta, Jon Brody, and Jim Hoffman. We searched for and auditioned guitarists for almost a year. We had met Will Kuberski at a party and heard from others that he was a good lead guitarist. He wasn’t interested. He was under the impression it was still a Mortuary. A few months later he stopped by a mutual friend’s house where we were rehearsing. He heard Deteriorot and said he liked this better. We told him we would still like to have him in the band. He joined and within a few months, we recorded our first studio recording for Afterworld Records called ‘Ceremonies of Blasphemy” in 1991. I really loved the production on this and unfortunately, this recording sat in limbo as Afterworld did a lot of promotion for this release, we had a good buzz and following going. Financial issues with the record label caused them to close doors before the record was released. Lots of advance copies floated around to many music traders in the industry and scene. A few months later we went into the studio to record Demo ’92 with the intent to get it out to labels and we knew we wouldn’t be free agents for long. (still s*cks-Chris)
Did you send this demi out to many zines and if so what was the response?
PZ: Yes, it went out to any address I got my hands on and the response was instant. We were so flooded with mail, we couldn’t keep up. We had to split duties to just write everyone back. I couldn’t do it by myself.
Did you even think to try and send it to any labels or did you feel you weren’t ready yet?
PZ: Of course, we sent it to labels. I don’t think anyone makes a demo to just give to friends. And if so, then that sounds like a huge waste of time. A band’s purpose when you’re making a “Demo” is to demonstrate your capabilities and marketability to make an album. To get signed to a record label. (I 100% agree-Chris)
Now in 1993, you put out a “rehearsal demo”. Was that to try and keep the name out there and maybe some label interest? Were you playing a lot of shows around this time?
PZ: We didn’t put out a rehearsal demo in 1993. We can’t go by Metal Archives. (sorry but that is what I went by-Chris) There is so much incorrect information. I know that in 1993 we sent the record label we were signed to Drowned Productions, the rehearsal recordings to show them how we were coming along with new songs we were writing for the album we were under contract to record “In Ancient Beliefs”. (ah that explains that now-Chris)
Also in 1993 you hooked up with Dave Rotten who at the time had a small label called Drowned Productions (it is now called Xtreem Music) and you put out a 7″ called Manifested Apparitions of Unholy Spirits. How did you end up hooking up with him and were these tunes recorded for the 7″ only? Do you know how many were pressed and was it ever re-pressed over the years?
PZ: It wasn’t 1993. 1993 was the year our record came out. Often times it takes anywhere from 6 months to a year for a record to come out. You have the deal. (yeah from working with bands over the years, I sure do-chris). Then you have to schedule studio time and that’s not like a doctor’s appointment. They don’t say we have time this week. When you book for recording, the next opening is several weeks to months down the road. Then you come in and see there all day just to get the drums all together, mic’d up. And you not even gonna have time to record guitars. Then they tell you the next time they have is another few weeks ahead. They’re always working with several other clients so you get 2 hours one day. Come back 2 weeks later for another 2 hours. Then 6 months later you have to then mix it. Then find someone to do the mastering. This is of course if you want a professional-sounding release. Some don’t care and just recorded their EP’s on a Tascam 4 track and I just didn’t want our record to sound low-budget. We were free agents for only a few months. Maybe 2 months. We recorded Demo 92′ and sent out press kits to all of the record labels, zines, and radio stations we had contacts of. We had lots of Finnish Death Metal bands, Amorphis, Demilich, and Demigod in contact with me telling me they had gotten copies of our demo from other tape traders. They had their labels reach out to us. We had around a dozen label offers. Osmose Productions, Drowned Productions, Necropolis, JL America, Wild Rags. Drowned Productions had actually become a big label and globally distributed. They had US Distribution as well. Demigod and Rottrevore were also on this label. They had gotten so big, that the issue was they actually signed too many bands and they were very generous with giving out advances to sign on and record. In the end, it caused a financial disaster to pay the bands so much before even getting to the studio. Our record Manifested Apparitions of Unholy Spirits had 1000 copies. The re-release of it was in 2022. We re-recorded both of those songs to appear in our In Ancient Beliefs album.
Now how soon after the 7″ did the band break up or take a long break? What led to it?
PZ: The album In Ancient Beliefs was scheduled to be released in 1994. We were waiting for our funds for the studio. We had the quote and were waiting on $4000. But was told it would be in another month or so. Then another month or 2 turned into a year. By late 1994 we were told that the last release on Drowned was going to be Rottrevore. We were all crushed. It led to a much-needed break. I had some major depression from it and I just didn’t even reach out to anyone for at least a year or so. (that is enough to break many people)
What did you do with yourself over the next for years? Did you follow the scene, go to shows, etc? Did any bands ask you to join theirs? I was going to show up again after some time to myself.
PZ: I met up with Lee Dorian of Napalm Death/Cathedral in NYC. We were at the Limelight (a NY club, Chris) during the end of the summer in 1995. Lee had asked me to join Cathedral as they had just finished recording The Carnival Bizarre a few months prior and it was about to be released within the next month. They told me they were going to tour soon in support of the album but I truly felt insecure about myself and my guitar skills. I’ve never played for anyone else’s band. I’ve never been into even playing a cover band. I’ve only ever had an interest in playing music I’m writing myself. So it made me think “What if my playing isn’t good enough to play someone else’s music”. I felt bad turning down the offer, but I did so and let them know I didn’t think I was good enough. They insisted and offered me a residence in England. But I had to decline. I still feel bad for doing so. But my own anxiety wouldn’t let me do it. (amazing story-Chris)
Now when did you decide it was time to get the band back together? I see you got your old drummer Jon Brody, who had been with the band (Mortuary too). How easy was it to get him to join for round # 2 of the band? Did you try and get any of the other members to join?
PZ: I didn’t even think about it actually being a thing. I spoke with Dave Rotten in 1999 and he has always been a good friend and motivator. He said to me that if I wanted to still record In Ancient Beliefs, he would offer Deteriorot a contract and get it released worldwide. I contacted Jon Brody and he was down for it. We contacted Will Kuberski, but he was not interested. He did us the favor by coming to a photo shoot and recording 3 lead guitar solos. I’m forever grateful to him for doing that. He didn’t have to do it and he did it too because we needed him. I think he’s a great person for that.
How soon was it that you started writing songs and playing shows?
PZ: Immediately. Within a month. Jon Brody and I were getting together at a rehearsal studio and playing some new songs I had just written. We spent around 8 months in the studio recording the album and found a bass player O.D. Lallo. We were booked at a bunch of shows CBGB, Metal Meltdown Fest. We had travel offers and headlined a festival in North Carolina, Ohio. We were quite busy touring right after In Ancient Beliefs was released a year later.
So in 2000 you returned and released an EP called Unholy Return. Great name by the way. What are your thoughts on this release these days and what was the response like back then to the release?
PZ: It was one of those things where we had In Ancient Beliefs sent off to Repulse Records for quite some time and between the time we finally recorded it and it was released. It was getting close to over 2 years. So in between that time, we just released the EP on our own in order to have some press going and reviews online. It helped get a good buzz going for our upcoming album. Thanks, the Unholy Return name had a double meaning. The lyrical content is a fantasy story, and fans can initially think of Unholy Return as a comeback to the scene.
Now the underground had changed a lot since the band had last been around. Gone were a lot of print zines and the world wide web was rearing its ugly head ha ha and more indie labels were around, more bands were around, etc. How did you guys as a band use this new technology, I think some of it is for the worst these days.
PZ: For us, it’s always worked out for the better really. Even when the internet was new and up to including today. We are very fortunate to have come up during a time that is known as the 1st Wave of Death Metal or the 1st Generation which is identified as the huge wave of bands that appeared from 1989 to 1994 and the terminology of being called DEATH METAL was something new in a sense in the late 80’s. Although Possessed made the song called Death Metal. It was never identified as a genre of music until the name was coined by this new generation of kids in the late 80s coming off the Thrash Metal movement and being influenced to top it, push it more extremely, and want to be heavier than Thrash and took a lot of the German and European Thrash influences of heavy growly distorted vocals into the next dimension. So Deteriorot being from that era has always given us a push even when we returned in 1999 after a few years of a hiatus. It’s still beneficial today. I’m grateful this is the only genre of music where older music is the one that stays relevant, and more popular than contemporary. Because really, that doesn’t exist in other genres of music where the popularity is in what’s new today. All other music is only viable on a short-term basis. Death Metal and even the more commercialized Metal Bands are the only forms of music where the artists from 30 and 40 years ago are still having kids discovering their music and becoming fanatics of this era vs newer bands. It’s something I’m extremely grateful for.
It didn’t take long for you to hook up with WWIII Records, who finally released In Ancient Beliefs. Did all the songs that were gonna be on that release all those years back go on this or did you remove some and add some new ones?
PZ: We had around 2 albums worth of Material. I had already planned out what was for In Ancient Beliefs and what was for The Faithless. By the time we were recording In Ancient Beliefs. We had just finished writing and rehearsing the final 2 songs for The Faithless and we just thought these 2 songs were so fantastic. On the day of starting to do our first drum recordings for In Ancient Beliefs, we decided to add our 2 new songs Unholy Return and Endless Hauntings of Demons and Despair which again were made for The Faithless album, but we added it last minute to In Ancient Beliefs. It turned out to be a fan favorite of anyone who talks to me about this album.
You must have been like a kid in a candy store when you 1st saw copies of this release. Am I right? How was it working with WWIII? I know the label is out of business, but has this been re-released or will it?
PZ: I was so happy and just couldn’t believe the major label distribution it had. I had seen it at every single retail outlet that sold CDs. It was in Barnes and Noble, Walmart, The local mall. It was everywhere. I just couldn’t fathom it like this. Any random store that had a music section. It was there. This just about has never been out of production. This is our best-selling album and it’s been re-released 9 times that I can count. Not including the album had to be repressed 4 times at 5000 copies within the first 3 years. Then we did a remaster, a new re-release with Brand New Artwork in 2015, then re-released again 1 year later. It’s been re-released twice in the past year. People still buy this record. I can’t believe it. If someone had told me that 24 years ago when we started recording it. Or even 30 years ago when we had it completely written, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Now I am to assume you played as many live shows as you could. Did you get to play Lamour’s much? What about the NJ club scene? How many places were you playing?
PZ: We passed through L’amour during the tour with Decide, and as far as the NJ club scene, I can name half a dozen places off the bat, Studio One, Obsessions, Fast Lane, The Pipeline, Birch Hill, Connections, Hartley’s, Club Bené, The Rat Trap, Gingerbread Castle, G. Willikers. The Silver Lining, Escapades, Mother’s, Passaic Capital Theater, Count Basie, Asbury Park Convention Center. NJ had the most venues hosting Death Metal. NY bands and fans had to come to NJ for the majority of the shows. (lots of great sadly closed, except for a couple of clubs-chris).
Would you say at this point in the band’s career, you think your sound has changed much?
PZ: I think evolving as an artist is good for my soul. I don’t understand why anyone who is an artist to not want to push yourself to be more creative and evolve, and be better than yesterday. At the same time while keeping the same DNA of a band to be unique still in their sound. I think if you listen to Deteriorot from 1991 vs 1993 there is a huge evolution. When you fast forward to 2001 there is an evolution. Forward to 2010 and there is another evolution. But we keep the same original essence while still pushing a creative direction to not tell the same story twice.
How did you end up being on the Direct Music Group’s Hell at Last: A Tribute to Slayer, with you doing “Read Between the Lies”? I have never even heard of this label and what did you think of your Slayer cover?
PZ: Because we were all under the same label parent company with Slayer at the time. We were on WWIII label which was part of the label American, which was Def Jam originally, then Def American. It’s common practice for major labels to release music under different names (they legally call this sub-label) in order to write off expenses and still show a profit to shareholders. These departments and divisions at major labels are all just different names even though they are the same company (parent company) in the same building and office. So one team releases rap or pop, and another team or department will be called whatever name they come up with to release Christmas songs for example, another will be called WWIII since the popularity of Death Metal has always shown that it can sell tickets and have a loyal fanbase to sell records. They had Enrique Chavez of Sadistic Intent running the WWIIi division. So all of these decisions are made under the same roof. So they want to release a Slayer compilation. They reach out to Deteriorot because we’re under the same parent label. They then make a label name specifically to release this tribute album along with a few others. So there’s your answer on why you never heard of that label. Because the boss of the label made it up for it. They shut down that division because they made the mistake of thinking that we sold so well on it, that they could sign 100 bands and sell a lot. They paid us all well with advances, tour support, and advertising. But they should have kept it smaller to make it work. Too many bands made it too much to advertise and promote properly. No promotions then no sales.
So what led to you putting the band on hold again as there was no new music until 2010? What did you do with yourself during this time off from Deteriorot?
PZ: Metal Archives has a lot of misinformation. So we had The Faithless Demo EP in 2004 after 3 years of a very successful run of In Ancient Beliefs. And appeared in that Slayer Tribute album in 2002. So after 2003, we did some tours and a lot of Festivals over the next 2 years. In 2005, I got married, and settled into my own business in the financial sector in NYC. My wife then had a very difficult pregnancy in 2007 all the while the financial market collapsed which led me out of business. Lots of life happened at that time. I became a Dad in 2008 and we relocated to North Carolina. By the time the dust was clearing. Dave Rotten told me through email that he was interested in doing a new Deteriorot album and that they are still getting big sales for the past catalog. So he made me a really big offer $$$ to reconsider doing a reboot, new album, and tours. So it was great timing and we had put out a great record The Faithless which I know you’re not aware of but Xtreem Music gets some really great global distribution. Today it’s still sold everywhere. You can even Google the album on Barnes and Noble and Walmart and they still sell it there. (that’s classic Chris)
So that leads me to my next question. “The Faithless” came out on Xtreem Music in 2010. Who did the great cover art for this release?
PZ: The label worked with an artist from Spain called Phlegeton. I really was blown away by the cover and thought it was better than I had even imagined
Now you pretty much did everything on this, from what I see and read ha ha, so is that true you did everything but the drums? If you did the bass, how long had you been playing bass prior to this release?
PZ: Well, I’m already a guitarist and know how to write and play guitar. So bass is also a guitar with 2 fewer strings in the lower octave so any guitarist can also play the bass. It’s less work. Unless it’s some really progressive music like Steve DiGiorgio. Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath said he was a lead guitar player but played bass for Black Sabbath because they needed a bass player and not another lead guitar.
I played everything string-wise on the In Ancient Beliefs album except for guitar solos on 4 of the songs from Will Kuberski and he did a pinch harmonic overdub on one song. I played all of the bass parts, both guitarist rhythm tracks, and the rest of the guitar solos. Some songs are dual trade-off guitar solos and that was where he contributed. I think the album wouldn’t have sounded the same without him. I wasn’t capable of doing the bends he can and his playing is so unique. He wasn’t interested in being part of the band, he had moved on from it, and him just being in the studio to partake in the recording and the photoshoot was a huge favor to me. I’m grateful for his contribution. So The Faithless was pretty much a similar recording process.
I imagine the reaction was great to this release. What sort of tours did you get to do behind it and did you get to play overseas and if you did what was that like for you personally?
PZ: The response was well received by old and new fans. Somehow fans respond well when I’m afraid that perhaps fans’ tastes have evolved where our music would seem not up to their standards, but we get the opposite reaction. Fans are hugely grateful for it not to have been changed to conform to contemporary death metal. We toured for a few years (around 4 years total with it) and headlined a few festivals in Europe and in the States too.
You also did a Sodom cover on this release, “Outbreak of Evil”, do you know if the guys in Sodom have heard it at all?
PZ: We did that same cover as well in the 1988 Mortuary Demo. It was kind of a way to bring it full circle. The fans really enjoy it because we made it our own, we played it the way it would be as if it were a DETERIOROT original so it isn’t at all in the same tempos, the drums are completely different with all the fills and blast beats. We just made it to be the same notes but the picking, playing, and dual guitar harmonies are all Deteriorot. I would love to hear the feedback of Tom Angelripper but I know all the German Fans love it.
Your next release was a 7″ that was going to be on Afterworld Records, but they went under and Lord of the Flies Records released this. I also saw you got the old band members back for this release or am I seeing it wrong? It is listed that you, then Jon Brody on drums, Jim Hoffman on bass, and Will Kuberski on guitar are on this release.
PZ: Yes, I think you misunderstood what it was. We did not get the old lineup back for a new release. The was actually would be a rerelease of our 1991 first recording ever under the name DETERIOROT. So of course it has the old lineup because the 7″ is from 1991. We had a deal with Afterworld Records for this 2 song EP on vinyl. The label went under shortly after the release of Putrifact in 1991. Lord of The Flies put out this 1991 record in 2016. (my bad-Chris)
Where are you still playing live much around this time?
PZ: Yes, we toured for 4 years during this time in Europe, headlined a few festivals there, and the same in the U.S. all headlining always.
Now we come to your last release, for the time being, a compilation put out by the fine folks over at Razorback Records out of NY. How did you hook up with them I saw there is some live stuff on it from 2 shows in NJ, just a couple of tunes. Would you ever consider doing a live album at some point if the quality was good?
PZ: Not really, it doesn’t interest me. Razorback did an excellent job with this release and I’ve enjoyed having this available for fans to have some of the rare demo stuff and some rarities like some TV show appearance performances. Good to have it on CD as some of the material was only ever available on vinyl or cassette.
So take me from 2016 till 2023. What made you decide to get back together and put out some new music on Xtreem Music, which is a perfect label for you guys as well?
PZ: it’s just that life passes so quickly it seems and often life can be overwhelming. Always something going on. I never expected it to be this long until the next release and at the same time, it also felt like maybe there will never be a next time. But it was just one of those things where I probably needed someone to nudge me and plant a seed in my brain to do something. I had some chats with some folks from the industry, Immolation being one of them and maybe the first one last year to ask me why am I not working on new music and the answer is always I just don’t have the time and work, bills, family responsibilities are the main reason but the more I thought about it, the more I really just thought about all of those things are never endless anyway and maybe it’s just excuses, maybe I just need to make the time and set it as a goal, and see it through. I did. It’s been an incredible year and I’m thankful for the interactions that helped me get myself focused on doing something I love again. The new album is going to be called “Awakening to the Rebirth” and should be out by the time you read this.
What keeps you going doing this year after year? Are you going to keep on going until it’s not fun anymore?
PZ: There are many times it’s not fun. So often times I thought I was done. But I rather just live in the now. I can’t change the past and I don’t know what tomorrow brings. It’s not promised to me or anyone else.
Please plug any merchandise you have and also social media link and I expect my shirt ha ha, just kidding.
PZ: All the merch I have available for sale is at
The social media pages can be found at
Out of all your releases, which are sold out and which are still for sale that you know of?
PZ: I have many out-of-print items on my Bandcamp site. They will be cheaper than buying used out-of-print from Discogs and all of my releases come autographed for the price.
Paul thanks for going through your whole life story with the band. Horns up for everything you do my man, any last words?
PZ: Thank You for taking the time to do some studying on Deteriorot and for taking the time to come up with the questions. Thanks for your interest in Deteriorot.
I hope to see many of our European Fans this summer as we tour with Ascended Dead and will be looking forward to meeting many of the fans and bands when we play Killtown Deathfest in Copenhagen Denmark as one of the Headliners.
Thank You to everyone who has supported me throughout the last 35 years, and to all the fans who have messaged, shared, liked, and commented on a post. To all the other bands in the industry that have been supportive, and have done cross-promotion. I thank all of you! Metal Forever to The Rot Fam.
Deteriorot has a new album on Xtreem Music called “The Rebirth
