What's that noise?! (pt.2)He was responsible for Craig Ahead picking up a bass guitar, he formed Anthrax, played in S.O.D. and had his say in the infamous Phil Donahue Show about NYHC. There’s a huge chance that this dude saw all the great bands you wish you saw at their best, plus he has some cool things to say. Here’s the second part of the Dan Lilker interview.
S.O.D. or M.O.D.? Who had better mosh parts? I say S.O.D., but the mosh part in Aren’t You Hungry is pretty ridiculous!
Well, if I were brutally honest, I always thought M.O.D. was highly derivative of S.O.D. Aren’t You Hungry was actually written by me and Scott. For anyone who has seen American Pie 2, it’s like this: If S.O.D. was Stiffler then M.O.D. was Stiffler’s little brother.
Did anyone in S.O.D. ever get hassled at CB’s back in the 80s doe having long hair?
No, not really. The hardcore people were pretty friendly as I remember. There would always be, maybe a few, shit talkers, but they were a minority and were probably just trying to impress their friend, much like I alluded to before.
Speaking of that, when’s the last time you cut your hair?
I cut off most of my hair in May ’97 to get rid off the dreads I had for almost two years. But only a few times since then. It’s pretty long now!
What are some memorable shows you played back then? I have a flyer for a S.O.D., Motörhead, Cro-Mags show at Rock Hotel, that must have been crazy! Did you ever play with Metallica during the Master Of Puppets days?
That show ruled. Some of the first S.O.D. shows were done with Suicidal Tendencies when they still did a lot of stuff from their classic first album. Nuclear Assault did a show with Samhain, M.D.C. and Celtic Frost once. The only time I ever played with Metallica was way back when I was still in Anthrax at Kirk’s first show.
You still talk to or hang out with any guys from S.O.D.? What are you doing with yourself these days?
Well, S.O.D. just broke up for good due to some fatal misunderstandings concerning how much touring we were gonna do when we reemerged in ’99-’00. I still talk to the guys occasionally via e-mail. Now I am doing shit with Nuclear Assault again, ironically. I have joked that I have to reform all the 80s bands I played in because I’m getting sick of nu-metal, because I got to show these fuckers how to play real metal, which doesn’t involve jumping up and down and rapping.
What were your favorite NYHC bands to see back then? Favorite metal bands? And least favorite?
Crumbsuckers, Ludichrist, Krakdown, Adrenalin O.D. (from New Jersey), Agnostic Front, The Psychos, Cro-Mags, Murphy’s Law, Straight Ahead, etc.
What were you guys thinking when you wrote United Forces? That’s probably the most vicious song written in the last 95 years. It just puts everyone I know into a frenzy!
That was a song Scott brought to the band. He had already written like half the songs before I came into the picture. I helped writing Milano Mosh, Milk, Pussywhipped, Speak English Or Die, Chromatic Death and Fist Banging Mania. I can’t take credit for United Forces.
Could you talk a little bit about the Phil Donahue Show you were on in ’86? How did you get on that? Did you really get rejected from a deli?
Oh Christ, I did not really try to get a job at a deli. That was the first thing that came to mind only because I was contemplating getting a job at a deli. The reason the show was done was that New York Magazine did a big article on some teenage hardcore chick from Long Island and her crush on Jimmy Gestapo from Murphy’s Law, yawn… So, Phil somehow got wind of that a lot of us thought the article was gay and wanted to see what we thought. By the way, after the magazine came out the girl (her name was Bekka) got a really big head and did a column for some magazine dissing metalheads. Shortly afterwards Nuclear Assault dedicated Buttfuck to her at a show we knew she was at.
Who were your good friends back in the day? Was there anybody in the scene that you were scared of?
I had a lot of good friends in that scene to the point where if I start mentioning some I’ll forget others and feel bad later. I guess Craig, Billy Milano and pretty much everyone from the bands I mentioned before would be a good start.