Interviews

Seeds of Perdition Interview

When I heard the new release by Seeds of Perdition on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. I sent off my friend singer Chris Natalini some questions to answer:

Chris thanks for doing this interview with my local music friend ha ha. So correct me if I am wrong, but you are not singing in Blood Feast anymore and your main and only band is Seeds of Perdition at the moment right?

CN: Thank you so much Chris for asking me to do this. You are correct…I am no longer a part of Blood Feast. Just to also be clear that was not my decision.
Yes, Seeds is my only focus.

Have you lived in the Phila, PA area all your life?

CN: I am originally from Norristown Pa and moved to Philly [Delco] about 8 years ago. Far suburbs to almost city…LOL

When did you start to get into music and what were some of the early bands you heard, not metal?

CN: WOW, my first memory of music was watching The Monkees on tv. I also remember my grandparents always having music (45’s) playing all the time. Jim Croce, Barry Manilow, Dean Martin you know…the classics

When did you discover heavy metal and not underground metal yet, if you discovered metal like Priest, Maiden, etc first?

CN: I guess my first step was VH although not metal but it had that raw, rock sound. Kiss also and with that I got into Priest, Motorhead, Sabbath. I guess that would have been very late 70’s

Now when did you end up discovering underground metal? Did you like it right away or did it take a few spins to get into it? What was the first underground metal concert that you saw if you remember?

CN: I don’t remember an actual time, but getting into Exodus and the Bay Area Thrash scene opened me up to Lizzy Borden, Mercyful Fate, those kinds of bands. And with hearing them, you just sort of fall in deeper to the scene, right? So then, you discover bands like Cannibal Corpse and Obituary which leads you to the Nile and then to Exhumed…LOL…it’s like a vortex of metal. You just start searching out more and more bands and of course the more extreme players. And then you end up with Mortician, Putrid Pile etc.

I did love it right away, especially the real underground raw stuff. I actually do not remember my first underground show. Being from Pa/Philly I was lucky enough to have Relapse records in my backyard so to speak and they always had some underground shows in the area that I was always going to.

Did you ever try and pick up an instrument to play at any point in your life? In all your past bands were you just the singer in them?

CN: Ugh yeah. My parents had me take guitar lessons but the only issue with that was I didn’t understand why I could not be EVH in a week. So that fell to the wayside quickly. I was young and didn’t know better about practising over and over.

I have been super lucky to always be surrounded by way more talented players than me so I was always the front guy

So how did you end up becoming the singer in Seeds? Were they already a band and they asked you to sing for them because the singer that had was awful or did you sort of help for the band?

CN: I asked my Band brother George Cathers to help me out here. So, you can get both sides:
George: Dan Loughry and I started Seeds while we were in Polterchrist. We basically had an open rehearsal room next to our rehearsal room and we just started writing riffs, then Dan would actually get on the drums and we ended up creating songs. As time went on, we made that our main project and we told Polterchrist that we were leaving the band and in, I think, 2010 we started Seeds of Perdition.

Matti Frost was the singer for probably the first two years of the band. Dan and I always had a thought of how the vocals should sound in Seeds. Matti’s direction was probably a little cleaner style of vocals and kind of different, I guess, to what we were thinking. But, at the time, Matti had also started his own project, Frost Giant, so he was putting a lot of time into that and that’s when we told him that we were going to go in a different direction. There were no hard feelings, we even played one last show with all of us together, after that the search for a new vocalist started. We had ads up everywhere and we tried out so many singers it was pretty painful, LOL. We did have an ad up on craigslist and Chris contacted us; after his first tryout he was pretty much in the band but we didn’t tell him for about a year, LOL! I think, jokingly, I remember us doing an interview at Saint Vitus while playing a show there and during the interview, I remember Chris saying they never told me if I was in the band, yet LOL! So, I think I remember us joking around and going oh yeah you got the part.

Back in 2013, my band Dawn of Correction was coming to an end and I was looking for something else close to home. I was still in BF at the time but my calling to do death metal needed to happen. It really was as easy as scrolling through Craigslist when I came across an ad that said, Philly band in need of a singer, so I emailed the contact and have been with them ever since.
They were looking for a singer because Matti Frost the original singer had left to do his own thing. I can’t speak on the guys they had before me, but I can tell you hands down, Matti was badass. Still is, but I know he was just looking to do his own thing.

So now once you were in the band, how long was it before you started writing original tunes? Are the writing of the tunes and lyrics a group effort or is one of 2 members doing the bulk of it?

CN: I started off learning all the songs they had already written, but once I was in, we started writing together.

Dan and George are the main riff writers with me penning the majority of the lyrics when we aren’t collaborating on them together. Depending on the song and ideas we have, sometimes they may already have lyrics written. None of us is married to anything we create which makes the writing process amazing and easy between us. It’s a real nice thing we have when we create as a band.

Who came up with the name and logo of the band?

George: The logo and band name was an idea that I just came up with within my head. I contacted Chris Horst and basically described what I was thinking as far as a logo and gave him our band name. Chris does really great stuff, so basically as soon as he sent back what he made we were like that’s awesome and it’s been our logo since the beginning

Now in 2013, the band released an EP on “Born of Chaos Records”? I see the label is based in Coatesville, PA, which isn’t far from neither one of us. How did you guys strike a deal with them? Did you send a demo or did they see you live? Spill the beans Chris lol?

CN: Ron and Aleigha were very heavy into the scene at that time and had some really great bands on their label. We had been playing pretty often with a few of their bands (plus Ron was singing for March to Victory at that time) on the roster so we always saw them at shows. They are very nice people who were helping to build a stronger scene and came to us and asked if we would like to be a part of the family. How could we resist, right? There was no demo…it literally was a conversation. They loved us and we loved them as people and as a respected business.

How was the reaction to this EP overall in the underground? Is it still for sale? What are your thoughts on your vocal performance on this and the music on it today here in 2021?

CN: It got decent reviews from what I remember. The guys were playing those songs for a while before I even joined them. But we needed to get something out. The songs are great, always have been. But I do wish we could go back and rerecord them. I know I could do way better. I’m older now so I see and hear those songs and lyrics differently now than I did then.
It is not available any longer but I know it is on Spotify

You guys also released a single on the same label in late 2013, which came out on CD! Don’t you think it is kind of a waste to release a single on a CD as I don’t think too many people would buy a CD single unless you were giving those away for free?

CN: Those were used as promotion only.

In early 2014, you guys did a split release with 2 other bands also on the Born of Chaos label. What are your thoughts on this release these days?

CN: We really didn’t have much to do with that split. That was also promotional material for the label. It was a good way to not only get the label name out there but to get 3 bands on 1 cd heard.

Now there was not another release from the band until 2017 and that was a release you guys did yourselves. Now was the bad fully active at this time or were things just kinda on hold and that is why you were singing in other bands at the time?

CN: To be honest it was originally supposed to be out on BOC records but the label folded as we were in the middle of recording. We had been fully active, playing shows and writing during that time. There were also a few roster changes which always holds things up…lol.

Now the release in 2017, did you try and shop it, or did you just say “fuck it”, we will put it out ourselves? How long did it take for the coming of the songs to come together? Now were there any member changes from 2014 till 2017?

CN: I don’t know if it was said out loud “Fuck it” but we definitely weren’t concerned about it. Would it have been nice if we got picked up? Absolutely, but we just forged ahead and kept moving. If it was meant to happen it would have. On that same note, this is where HPGD kind of comes in; if we could go back in time, we would have given it to him. He did have interest in it but we didn’t know that until later on as Mike Juliano and I got to do more business together. As far as the songs coming together, we are constantly writing and coming up with ideas, we don’t rush because we want to get the best out of what we write.

Now Phila, PA and South Jersey suck for metal venues. Did you get to play many places and what are some of the bands you shared the stage with? How good of a live band would you say you guys are?

CN: I don’t think that those areas are that bad. We have played some killer shows in some pretty badass places. Now, is it like the old days? No, but you do what you can with the places that are available. We have played with Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Deceased, Shark Bullet, Malignancy, Embalmer, Seax, Sapremia, All That Remains to name a few. That’s not really for me to say about being a live band because you can always be better.

How long were you in the studio, for the 2017 release? Were you pretty happy with the finished product? Now there is a Sepultura cover of the song “Territory”. What made you decide to pick that particular tune of theirs? How do you think it came out?

CN: We are always prepared to go into the studio so it doesn’t take us long. Most of the music was probably done at a weekend. Time is money so you always go in prepared and ready to work. We were just discussing different tunes to do from some of our favourite bands and that’s the one that came together with the quickest. I like it. I ALWAYS hear things and wish I could go back but, that’s being an artist.

Do you think by the 2017 release, the band was sorting of finding its sound so to speak? What would you say the band sounds like?

CN: Oh definitely. I was still sort of finding my voice, also. With every song comes new ways to approach them. Plus, we had lost guys that sang and had guys that sang things differently so it was always changing. We have been reviewed as sounding like Testament, Suffocation, Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse…

Now it took until just recently to see a new release from the band, the excellent “Suffering of the Dead” release on “Horror Pain Gore Death Productions”. Were all the members just busy off doing other things, including yourself?

CN: Not at all. We have always been playing, writing and touring. But in the same breath, we have always been plagued with lineup changes or losing rehearsal spots. We just have always had some kind of speed bump in our way. Yet here we are still doing it and still moving forward.

Is the line-up today the same as in 2017? If not do you think the new members have changed the sound of the band so to speak?

CN: No, it is not The lineup we have now is the original lineup from when I joined back in ’13. New members have always brought something different and awesome to the table, BUT, it’s the original 5 that we have now that is Seeds of Perdition. Nothing at all against the former members, all great musicians, it’s just that this is the formula that works for us.

Now with that 4-year break, how easy or hard was it to get these songs to come together?

CN: Writing is something we never have any issues with, songs for us come together pretty quickly. We are actually writing for the next record, we are always working. And when the pandemic hit there was no excuse to not get these songs finally recorded and out to the masses.

I think it makes sense to hook up with Mike over at Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. How did you two hook up with each other?

CN: Honestly Mike and I have known each other on an acquaintance level for many years. I have always been a fan of HPGD as a music buyer. Like I had said earlier, it was only later done I find out that he wanted to work with us. So, when Suffering of the Dead was done, we literally had no discussion other than let’s get it to Mike and hope for the best. HPGD, in my opinion, is one of the best labels out there. I’m not just saying that because I am a part of the roster, I’m saying that as an artist that deals with him all the time. He is so easy to work with, smart and does what he says he will do. It has been a pleasure to work with him. Mike is super respected in this genre which goes a very long way. He does things some major labels haven’t done or won’t do any longer.

How has the feedback been to the new release so far?

CN: It has been awesome. We are happy with everything!

With everything being online based these days, what are you doing as a band to take advantage of that?

CN: We have some YouTube videos we will be putting up now that the record is out. We plan to continue the occasional live feed from Facebook. Plus, we have two music videos that are out and we will keep promoting those with a third in the works.

With COVID making the 2nd round here in the US, hopefully, shows will still go on. What are your plans with that moving forward?

CN: Playing, writing and recording. Same thing we have always done. We don’t stop and have no plans to stop.

Now you have been singing in bands since 2003, coming up on 20 years soon. What has been some of the highlights of your personal career singing wise in bands?

CN: Actually, I joined my first band when I was 20 so I have actually been singing for over 30 years…LOL

OMG…I have so many. Twice in Japan, 5 times in Germany, Peru…all sold-out shows, met my wife while playing my first show with Seeds, met so many artists that I have admired through my life and have become friends with them…

Most importantly to me are the people that I have met. From around the world, people have expressed how much they have enjoyed my music; no matter what band I had been in at that time. It really doesn’t get better than that. From the Pirates Den in NJ to Osaka Japan…it’s the people that make all the bullshit in this business worth it.

Are all your past releases still for sale in one form or another?

Yes, I think so or I may have some laying around…LOLOLOL

Chris, I have known you for a long time and best of luck with the band and the fantastic new release. Horns up for all you have done and any last words to say to wrap this up?

CN: Thank you, brother, for asking me to do this. It’s an honour and a pleasure. It is awesome that you are still a part of this scene. Love it!!
Thank you to everyone that has ever supported me for the past 30 years. Words can not express the happiness you have given me all these years. THANK YOU.

Here is to 30 more!!! CHEERS

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