The iconic American death metal act Malevolent Creation delivered an unforgettable performance at Quantic on September 11th. Joining forces with Belphegor, the Americans shattered the stage during an intense night of extreme metal. Before the chaos began, we sat down with Phil Fasciana, the founder and front man of the band, to discuss the band’s journey, touring memories, life lessons… Also, what fans can expect from their upcoming album.
DinIntunerec: Hello! First and foremost thank you for getting on board with this interview. Malevolent Creation is a band spanning 37 years of sonic onslaught. Back in 1987, when everything started, did you expect to go that far?
Phil Fasciana: Hello, nice to meet you! It’s good to be here! The most candid answer is no, not at all. We just started the band for fun. Just a bunch of teenagers, me and the original singer Brett Hoffman. Before that, we had other bands, you know, playing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, Slayer songs. And in ’86, we started writing our own songs. And then we started Malevolent Creation and did our first demo in 1987.
Then, we lost our drummer. He was really an amazing drummer for 1986, 1987. I mean, we could play any song from Raining Blood, Dark Angel (another big influence) and Kreator. Well, when we lost our drummer, we could not find anybody in the area of Buffalo, New York that could do it. I had some cousins from Buffalo, New York. My cousins are my age and they love heavy metal. They turned me on to heavy metal, gave me my first Black Sabbath album when I was 12 years old. And they told me, Phil, bring the guys down here. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a million bands are playing heavy metal and stuff. In 1987, we all got into my van and we drove to fucking Florida and never came back.
DinIntunerec: Okay, that was my next question. When you started the band, you were living in Buffalo, NY, then you moved to Florida, why did you take this decision?
Phil Fasciana: Yeah, you know, we couldn’t find a drummer and, we were still 18 years old. So we said, let’s go and see if we can find a drummer and maybe something will happen. Luckily, when we came down to Florida, we went to see Nasty Savage and Death in 1988 in Miami. By going to that show, we were able to meet a lot of the bands from the Tampa scene. Scott Burns was there, he was doing the sound for Death. We met all these people and then we got a new drummer, did a second demo, got another drummer, did a third demo. And that’s when things started getting nuts.
DinIntunerec: Over the years you signed with various labels but most of the time you ended up disappointed. Can you walk us through the main hardships you had to overcome?
Phil Fasciana: Well, just the same hardships that a lot of bands go through. When you get offered a record contract, you usually can’t afford a good entertainment attorney… A good lawyer to look over your contracts and maybe negotiate a better deal. All the bands sign bad record deals. Then, you put out three albums and tour around the world… Sign autographs all over the world, thousands and thousands of them… Still, they tell you, oh no, there’s no money. You guys still owe us money. We’re like, how? How is that possible? You know, we record these albums very cheap. How we can sell 300,000 records and not make any money back? Well, bad record deals.
DinIntunerec: There were also a lot of lineup changes. Having so much to deal with, have you ever thought of giving up? What kept you going despite all hardships?
Phil Fasciana: I did, you know, a few times I was very frustrated because a lot of the guys thought they were solid. But I did everything. I had to write all the music. I had to pay for the rehearsal place. While some of the guys were living in the rehearsal place because they wouldn’t even be a man and go get a real job. I was the guy that wrote all the music and stuff, that’s why I had just never wanted to give up. I was like, fuck these guys ain’t going to fuck it up for me. I’ll just keep playing.
That’s been and still is the way I feel, you know. Sometimes I am disappointed and I feel like maybe I should not do this anymore. But then, some time goes by and I’m like, no, I have to play music or I’m going to go crazy. I don’t want to just play. I could have joined a lot of different bands but I never did. Because,I just wanted to play my music.
DinIntunerec: Who came up with the idea of naming the band Malevolent Creation and what is the story behind the name?
Phil Fasciana: When we first started the band, we had seven songs when we played our very first show. We were opening for a Canadian punk rock band. They were well-known in the Buffalo, New York area, because Buffalo is right next to Canada. We got offers, it was in our hometown and they said, they wanted us to be one of the opening bands. But they said, what’s the name of your band? And we didn’t have a band name yet, but we had a song called Malevolent Creation that our singer Brett wrote the lyrics for. I said, what the hell does Malevolent Creation mean?
It was a cartoon called, The Transformers. Remember The Transformers? That’s where Brett got the story from. The evil robot was Galvatron. He was creating evil robots which he said he was calling his malevolent creation of robots. That’s where the title came from. I remember I looked in the dictionary and I looked up the word malevolent and I said, oh my God, that’s awesome. I was like, that should be our band name. We agreed, so that remained the band name. That was it. After that show, I thought the band’s name was really awesome and we kept it.
DinIntunerec: Can you tell us how the creative process goes in your case? Does everyone chip in or how does it go?
Phil Fasciana: Everybody’s always welcome to chip in, when it comes to music and ideas. But I mean, for 90% of the time, if I don’t start it nobody does anything. I always come to rehearsal and show the drummer my songs, my music. Then I tell him… Let’s see if we can put some songs together and stuff. And that’s how it usually starts. I always like to work with drummers first. Because, you know, without the drumming, you have nothing. I was never the kind of guy that liked using drum machines and sitting at home.
I’d rather go into rehearsal space with the drummer and my amps and guitars and just make music. But, over the years, some guys wrote songs with me and stuff and they were great. I wish it would always be like that. But unfortunately, it’s not the case. Now, we’re getting ready to record our 14th album. And the guys are all chipping in. You know what I mean? Jesse, the bass player, Ronnie, our drummer, and Darren, the singer and guitar player. They are big fans of Malevolent Creation. They’ve been playing with the band for some time now. Now it’s time for them to record an album with me.
DinIntunerec: Can you tell us more about the album The 13thBeast? I read some earlier interviews and you said you are not very keen on it. Why?
Phil Fasciana: Well, you know, after our original singer, Brett Hoffman, died. I didn’t think I would ever want to do this again. But after some years went by, I was contacted by a singer. His name was Lee Wollenschlaeger. He was from, of all places, South Africa. He would send me these demo recordings of his vocals which were really intense. Even the music was pretty good. So I invited him to come to Florida and see if we could do some music together. When he first came to Florida, I was like… what the hack? You know, you don’t look like the same guy from the pictures. You look like a very old man, older than me.
Then, when we did the record, he just… he had problems. We tried to play live shows and it was horrible. This guy couldn’t stand up and sing and play guitar for 30 minutes. We did some shows in South America with him. He collapsed on stage twice in front of sold out crowds. It was very, very embarrassing. Then, luckily, COVID happened. So I was able to just say, ‘you know what, go back to Africa and this is it, I’m going to do Malevolent Creation by myself. You go back home.’
This was the best decision I made in quite some time. The guy never told us he had problems… He was on a lot of medication. When he showed up to Florida, he had a box of pills he had to take. You know, like 24 different fucking pills for millions of different bad things. We were like, ‘oh man, we already had enough problems with drugs’.
DinIntunerec: If you ask fans about their favorite MC albums, most mention The Ten Commandments, Retribution and Eternal. In my opinion an absolutely underrated album is Stillborn which is so much criticized because of its production. Will there ever be a re-recording of it? What do you think is the best Malevolent Creation album and for which reason?
Phil Fasciana: Well, every album for me is special and has something that I love. Yet, again, some of them are very old… I wrote them when I was 17 years old or 18 years old. So it’s strange when people say The 10 Commandments or Retribution. Everybody who always likes the bands earliest first albums, you know what I mean? But I know those songs are old. As the years went by if you listen to all the songs it gets more and more intense with each album.
One of my favorite Malevolent Creation albums is in Envenomed. That album is so relentless and the drumming is so intense. The music is so intense and the vocals… everything! The only thing I wish maybe could be a little bit better is the production… But I’m okay with it and we play a lot of songs from that album now. Anyway, all the albums have a little special place in my heart.
DinIntunerec: What’s next? There have been statements about a new album this year… You have even said something about it at the beginning of our conversation. What’s the status of your 14th album, when can we expect it?
Phil Fasciana: When we get home we have to start working on it again. Me and the drummer are demoing the songs and record them. Then, we’re going to do all the drum tracks and I’m gonna do all the guitar tracks. Jesse’s gonna do the bass. It’ll be out in early 2025.
DinIntunerec: Your history with Peter Tagtgren started when he moved to the States in the late 80s. Later your paths crossed again and Peter was supposed to produce your album The Will to Kill in Sweden at The Abyss.
Phil Fasciana: We almost did that! The story gets a little weird… Peter was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He came from Sweden because his girlfriend was working there as a nanny, taking care of the children. So she invited him to come to visit her and he ended up playing in a band that was in the same rehearsal building as Malevolent Creation. He was in a band called Meltdown. It was a Mötley Crüe type of band. He had never heard of death metal or anything like that. He used to come in and watch us rehearse and then a couple of times he said ‘hey, can I get on the drums?’ Because he was actually a drummer . So, we would play some Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.
He never really was in Malevolent Creation. He was just a friend of ours that played in a band with friends of ours.
A couple times he came into our warehouse and got on the drum set. We were really good friends and then he got deported. He got in trouble because he was stayed in the United States too long. So they sent him back home. When he went home he kept calling me from Sweden saying hey Phil I’m gonna start a death metal band and blah blah blah blah and I’m gonna send you some demo tapes pretty soon. And I said, okay, okay, but I was sure I’d never hear from this guy again. However, he started sending me demo tapes and they were pretty goddamn good for a guy that never heard of death metal .
Back home, Peter and his friends wrote some death metal songs and recorded them. They ended up getting a record deal with Nuclear Blast. Then he became one of the most well-known producers and he still is. We talked about doing an album with him, but the record companies always said that would not have been a good idea. Malevolent Creation, such an American sounding band… with a Swedish producer… might have not sounded right! It made sense to me. However, I listened to what he did with the Immortal album, Sons of Northern Darkness. That’s one of my favorite black metal albums. I think it’s one of the best albums and the production is good…
But we never had that chance. Now Pete‘s pretty busy between Hypocrisy, Pain, and other stuff . He’s a pretty busy guy, but we still talk here and there. You know what? I love that guy like a brother. He’s a great guy and I’m so glad that he’s did so great. I mean from a guy that really wasn’t into heavy metal, especially not into death metal or black metal! He learned fast, he did good and I love Peter he’s a great guy and I can’t wait till the next time that we see each other!
DinIntunerec: What was the best or worst, an unforgettable incident, a memory that happened during your stage shows?
Phil Fasciana: I could talk about this for fucking hours and hours, but I’ll just I’ll get right into the worst thing possible. In 1998 we were in the United States on a tour bus. I remember our the driver saying there were five police cars behind the bus. We were gonna get pulled over. So, we all hid the marijuana as we had a lot of it. We hid it everywhere we could on the bus and the police came and started tearing the whole bus apart. Naturally, they found all the weed. We got taken off the bus, handcuffed, thrown in jail for four days, until my brother sent $16,000 to get us out of jail. We missed like four shows, but somehow, we finished the tour.
It was a bad bad thing as I had to pay my brother back And that was probably the worst because you know the whole band had to go to jail and our sound man and the roadies. We were all in jail together in Arkansas. I’ll never forget it because four days in that jail was pretty intense. That was the worst that I mean I could tell you a lot of other bad ones too,.
DinIntunerec: How about something special about interactions with the fans. Do you have a special memory about that?
Phil Fasciana: Well, when we played for the first time in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia… We had no idea how big the concerts were gonna be until we got there and we couldn’t believe it. I mean these shows were insane and we’re actually going back there in December, doing an Asian tour.
DinIntunerec: How do you see the underground metal scene nowadays? Apart from quantity, as it seems there are a lot of new bands emerging everywhere, do you think there is quality too?
Phil Fasciana: Yeah, there are millions of bands now, but the thing about is that there are a lot of kids… And everybody’s making videos in their bedrooms. You know what I mean? They’re sitting and making videos shredding and playing other people’s music. There are drummers doing the same thing and singers and bass players… I think all these people they need to get with their friends and start a band! We started bands when we were teenagers and little kids and that’s what made us better musicians. I mean if you want to sit in your bedroom and play Malmsteen songs that’s fine. But if you want to be in a band and play live shows you learn a lot more by playing music with other people. I think that’s what they are missing.
DinIntunerec: What is the most important life lesson that you have learnt so far?
Phil Fasciana: I’ll tell you that the biggest lesson for anybody that’s ever done stupid things like me is stay away from drugs. I mean some drugs make you feel awesome. But in the long run anything that makes you feel good is bad. You know what I mean? I had a bad problem with painkillers. Also, I don’t know how I did it, but I recorded like five albums… I did all these tours around the world… But it was crazy for me because I was smuggling drugs… Getting on airplanes and having suitcases and guitar cases full of drugs with me. So, I never got sick because if you are addicted to drugs if you stop taking them, you feel like dying.
So it was I always tell people, if you want to be in a band and you want to travel… Don’t… don’t be hooked on drugs. It’s terrible! The same thing with alcohol. Alcohol is just as bad and I try not to drink like I did when I was in my 20s because I can’t. I’m 56 years old now. Now if I get drunk the hangovers last for three or four days. I can’t do that anymore.
DinIntunerec: Okay, thank you for your time any final words for our readers.
Phil Fasciana: Oh Yeah, I just want to say hello and thank our fans here in Romania! We will have a new album out in 2025. When our new album comes out, we’ll have more social media stuff. Because the record company is gonna help us with that because they have a bigger reach. Just look for the album. It’s going to be called Return Fire, I don’t even know if I’m allowed to disclose that.
When we were watching World War II movie, it was a scene a really bloody scene where a lot of people got killed. I just remember hearing the soldier saying ‘return fire’ and I jumped out of bed. I had to write that down… That title just stuck in. I have seen a couple of other movies and I heard those same words. Then, I contacted an artist and I told them the idea and he sent us the artwork that he thought we would like. We all seen it and loved it. So we’ve been sitting on that artwork for over a year now… Now, we got to put the music to it, so, maybe around March 2025, I would imagine it’s going to come out.
DinIntunerec: Thanks again! See you onstage!
Phil Fasciana: Thank you very much.
