Oregon Music News

Death Angel circa 2011. Mark Osegueda seated.

Mark Osegueda and Death Angel have gone from teenage prodigies to thrash metal veterans. Death Angel consisted of five Filipino-Americans who were cousins. They were an anomaly as they were the youngest thrash metal band in the Bay Area. Metallica’s Kirk Hammett produced Death Angel’s demo tape. The band shopped the demo and it led to their deal with Enigma Records. They released their debut album, The Ultra-Violence, in 1987. Death Angel has had their share of ups and downs but has come out the other side stronger that ever. Death Angel made a stop in Portland on October 7th at the Hawthorne Theatre. Oregon Music News caught up with vocalist Mark Osegueda for a pre-show chat. In our conversation with Osegueda he spoke about the 1990 break-up, the reunion and their second appearance in Portland in 2011, and their new album, Relentless Retribution.

I dropped the ball on getting an advance interview with you to preview the show.

This will be a retrospect.

Funny you should mention that. I go back to the Frolic through the Park album. I was hooked when I saw the “Bored” video on MTV and come to find out you guys covered KISS’ “Cold Gin.” One of the producers on Frolic through the Park was Davy Vain. Is that the same Davy Vain from the glam band Vain?

It is absolutely the same guy. We were very good friends at the time and we had the same management. Kat Sudovsky, who managed Death Angel at the time. Davy had done a lot of the production on his demos with his band. Davy had a good ear for melody and we were on an extremely limited budget. We got him and it worked out. We got Michael Rosen to engineer it; he later went on to become a great producer himself. To this day I still run into Davy Vain when I’m in town.

How was it for you guys to have this video on MTV when you were still kids? “Bored” was on the same music channel with videos from Megadeth, Anthrax, and Exodus.

It was extremely exciting for us. I remember we were waiting to hear from MTV when the “Bored” video was going to air and our management called and said, “They’re playing it tonight!” I remember it vividly like it was yesterday. We shot a video for the debut album, The Ultra-Violence, for the song “Veracious Souls” that was supposed to air on MTV but never made it due to a lyric. It aired on Much Music in Canada and got airplay in Europe. So when “Bored” got played it was really, really exciting for us.

Then from there you created enough of a buzz that Geffen Records came sniffing around. They signed you and in 1990 you released Act III. You used Max Norman, who was establishing a name for himself in hard rock and metal, to produce the record.

That was a slick-sounding record, wasn’t it? (laughs)

How much say did you had in the direction of Act III?

Geffen pumped a lot of money into that project. It was our first major-label record; we had a lot of say in it but so did Geffen. Originally we wrote about ten songs for the album we said, “we’re ready to record.” They wanted to listen to what we had and they said, “No, no, no. You need to do some more writing.” We went back and wrote another five songs and brought them back to them and they kept pushing us. We did get frustrated with Geffen, but in the end we must have written something like 30 songs during those sessions. I think by Geffen pushing us like that we came up with an incredible album that we’re very proud of to this day. It was due to the budget that they gave us that we were able to move up from a Davy Vain to a Max Norman. We grew up listening to Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, so to get a guy like Max was incredible. Working with Max was phenomenal. He has a great ear and as you know, is an amazing producer. Max was able to bring out the best in all of us. Working with Max was the first time we were pushed in the studio.

The year after, in 1991, Death Angel broke up. What lead up to this?

We started off so very young . We garnered a lot of attention which lead to us being signed to Enigma Records and then Geffen Records. We didn’t have a lot of experience; we found our attorney in the yellow pages. We looked in the yellow pages and saw a guy that was an entertainment attorney and we said, “That’s our guys!” (laughs)

We didn’t know any better at that point. In short, we signed a bunch of bunk deals. It’s not a bunk deal if you’re the label. We signed a lot of bad deals and that haunted us for the first part of our career. When it came time to generating decent money, we weren’t seeing any of it. All that money was going to litigation; that ate at the band from the inside out. It was hard, we were packing venues while on tour, generating good money, but when we’d come home from the road we were living with our parents. Nothing added up. It ate at the core of the band. At the height of our rise we had a bus accident. For me, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I went up to the guys in the band and I said, “I’m out.” The guys decided that they wanted to continue without me and they formed The Organization. It was a departure from Death Angel but they did that for a while.

Death Angel reunited for Thrash of the Titans, which was a benefit for Chuck Billy of Testament who was battling cancer. Prior to your appearance at that benefit had you guys talked about getting the band back together?

It had been brought up a few times before, but I blatantly turned it down. It was brought up by the guys several times but I turned it down. I had closed the book on Death Angel. It might be selfish, but when I closed the book on metal, it died. I have since learned the opposite: Metal has gotten massive since we broke up. I’m more proud now than ever that I play in a metal band. I think sometimes you have to get the hell away from something to appreciate it and know just how much it means to you.

How was it getting back on stage with the Death Angel guys after a few years?

I had been on stage many times prior to that with Rob (Cavestany) and Andy (Galeon) in a band called Swarm. I love being on stage. The difference between being onstage as Death Angel and anything else is like night and day. It’s like comparing a rocket ship to a Yugo! (laughs)

The reunion lead to The Art of Dying, which was a terrific effort after being away for a while. That album certainly removed any doubt that you were back.

(laughs) That was the plan, but I’d be lying to you if I said it was an easy album to write. People hold this band and the name very close to them; we put out those three albums and then we were gone. No one held the name Death Angel closer to them than us. There was some pressure in writing that Death Angel record. We have five different interpretations of what a Death Angel album in 2004 should sound like. We weren’t always necessarily on the same page but in the end we put out a great record.

Sounds like you experienced a lot of growth as a band.

Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. We have all grown as musicians, people, and though we went our separate ways, it was an interesting mix, but it was good. I think the fact that we had mutual respect for one another helped in working things out from the past.

The follow-up was 2008’s Killing Season. That was an album that had people a little worried due to the selection of Nick Raskulinecz, who is known for producing stuff that is more in the rock arena like Rush or Velvet Revolver.

Right, he also worked with The Foo Fighters too. Picking him to work on Killing Season was a conscious decision as well. I should say he was the one that wanted to work with us; typically we wouldn’t have the budget to work with him. He made it happen so we could. It was something that we were looking for which was another big, polished-sounding record. He’s a great guy, he has a great ear. His albums have a very polished sound. I might say that Killing Season could use a bit more fangs to it than it has.

You’re on a streak with the latest album, 2010’s Relentless Retribution. You’ve dialed things up a couple of notches. You’re on roll.

Knock on wood. (knocks on tour bus counter)

I hope that’s wood.

It is! (laughs) I’ll be honest, with Relentless Retribution we have started a new roll. Let me put it to you this way: The two albums before it was us getting our feet wet. The stuff from Relentless Retribution and beyond will be us blasting the fucking door apart and us letting everybody know we mean business.

You brought Jason Suecof on board to produce Relentless Retribution.

Speaking of rolling! (laughs)

This guy is another big-name producer who has gone from working with The Black Dahlia Murder to just about everyone. He’s a musician himself and has showed off his skills in Charred Walls of the Damned with Richard Chisty and Tim “Ripper” Owens. He played on the track “Truce.” What was it like working with him?

It was a great experience and yet another incredible experience. The guy is an absolute freak! (laughs) He’s a great person and this was a incredible record that we made with him. This album needed to happen and I don’t think it could have happened without him. The songs were there, he was responsible for the sound. I can say that he added to the bite of the songs. He helped us change a few things around. Everything came together for a reason and he’s someone that I definitely like working with and would work with again.

Watch “Truce” here:

You added a couple new members to the band prior to the recording of Relentless Retribution.

We added drummer Will Carroll and we have Damien Sission on bass.

I missed you the last time in Portland, but I saw a still of Damien and I did a double take because I swore I was looking at Cliff Burton (Metallica’s deceased bassist)!

(laughs) I’m very good friends with Kirk Hammett (Metallica guitarist) and he says that too!

You’ll kick off your tour in Portland tonight, then toward the end of the October you hook up with Anthrax and Testament through November. What can we expect tonight and how excited are you about being a part of the tour with Anthrax and Testament?

We’ve done pretty well in Portland. The last time we were here we played at Dante’s. It was a small venue but it was jam-packed. Dante’s was around the corner from Voodoo Doughnuts if I recall. We love Portland and we’ve done pretty well here. So tonight you’ll get a complete headlining set with some surprises which you won’t get on the Anthrax tour. It’s a huge honor to go out on the road with Anthrax–we grew up listening to them and to tour with our friends in Testament is an added bonus.