Let's go back to the old days, motherfuckers ! I'm sure when Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., D.R.I. and Cryptic Slaughter released their first shots, you were warmly confined deep inside your father's bollocks. It was around 1987 and the worldwide thrashers have all the same word in mouth : \"Crossover\" was the name of the game ! A genius mix between thrash-metal, hardcore & punk which later gave birth to the grindcore sound by radicalizing itself. Anyway, in 2005 a new band has decided to pay tribute to this glorious era of incendiary mosh-pits and headbanging fury. So i just wanted to talk to their vocalist Rid who answered my questions in july. Watch out, this Suicide will kick your ass !

>Ok, let's talk about the very beginning of Suicide Watch. Where/when did you decide to form the band ? Some of you have played in Stampin'Ground, am i right ?
We formed around the beginning of 2004, the initial line-up then was myself (Rid) – vocals, Simon – guitar, Ian – bass and Mark – drums. After about 2 rehearsals Mark felt that his commitments lay elsewhere and decided to jump ship. A few phone calls and discussions later we managed to bring Ade on board. Both Ian and Ade were longstanding members of UK hardcore giants Stampin' Ground, even I had a brief stint in Stampin' Ground in the early days as their first drummer and later I auditioned as their vocalist before Adam.

>Your first album \"Global Warning\" has more in common with 80's thrash & crossover scenes than brutal hardcore like Stampin' Ground used to play. It sounds like a sort of tribute to old-school spirits like Kreator, Exodus, Nuclear Assault & Cryptic Slaughter. Is it only an \"occasional band\" or did you plan to record more music in the future?

Yeah \"Global Warning\" does come across like a tribute to the 80's thrash scene, but this initially wasn't the intention. It kind of happened by accident by the way the four of us jammed together. We originally planned to be an old school hardcore band, but when the riffs started flowing we couldn't help ourselves, everything just turned into classic thrash, and it all seemed to come naturally like it was meant to be. At the time we weren't trying to emulate bands like Exodus, Kreator and Nuclear Assault, it is just how the end result sounded, in fact the end result from the studio is not what we expected, I think we were all shocked by the albums intensity. \"Global Warning\" is not going to be a ‘one-off' album in fact we are already writing the follow up, and we will continue to gig at a steady pace – we'll just tick over until we've nothing left to give.

>What bands did shock you back in these golden ages of the 80's? Were you found of european speed-thrash (Xentrix, Destruction, Assassin…) or US bay area style?
Personally I was more into the more underground crossover thrash of the 80's with the likes of the Accused, Raw Power, C.O.C, and Septic Death although there are still a few mainstream thrash bands I still fall back on apart from the obvious (Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax etc) such as Sabbat, Toxik, Defiance and Xentrix.

>This first album sound very powerful. Where/when did you record it? What kind of product

ion were you searching for when entering in the studio? Did you get what you deserve?
We recorded the album summer 2004 on a limited budget as we paid for everything ourselves. We chose the Whitehouse studios near Bristol because we had recorded there before and we know we could get a decent sound within our budget, although I think what we came out with exceeded our expectations. Everything was initially recorded live with 24 tracks onto two inch tape to get the final bass and drum tracks. Most tracks were put down in one take then all we did was overdub the guitar and vocal tracks. Quite a simple and old-school way of recording which we felt captured the energy we were looking for. In hindsight there are things that we would go back and change but is there any real need ? We will just try to make up for it on the next album.

>How is the composition process in Suicide Watch? Do you compose very spontaneously in rehearsal by jamming intensively? Or is it a \"more-thought\" process?
Apart from the lyrics, many of which were written before we formed, all of the music is spontaneous. Simon plays a riff, and 9 times out of 10 we use it, he literally can't stop the riffs flowing. When we start jamming the riffs together it just seems unstoppable to the point of laughing. It takes a little more thought when putting the words to the music. We generally record all rehearsals and I go off and do my homework – it has all seemed to work out well so far.

>Let's talk about your texts now. What do you deal with? Are politics something you're concerned by?
The lyrics so far have all been written by Ian (bass player) he has always written great songs, he has a lot to get off his chest and I have always related to his words, since days of old when we were together in Decadence Within. The lyrics generally take a politic stance and with the current global climate there is every reason to be pissed off. The main topics covered on \"Global Warning\" are based around the destructive nature of mankind for through, governments, war, terrorism, manmade viruses etc…

>What's the meaning of your band name? For english people, it may sound clear & obvious. But for me, it sounds a little bit strange. Where does it come?
Suicide Watch is a common phrase associated with prisons or mental health. Someone employed to keep vigil of at risk cases of Suicide. A friend of the band came up with the name when the whole band idea was much in its embryonic stage and I'm pretty sure Suicide Watch came from a song title but I do not know which band.

>You chose Ed Repka for releasing your cover artwork. He's one of the most famous painters of the 80's when talking about thrash-metal. Which ones of his past covers do you prefer?
Using Ed Repka for the album cover I think came as a result of the “Thrash or Be Thrashed” cover which is probably one of my personal favourites by him, although all his artwork on the whole is great and distinctively Ed Repka.

>I haven't saw his name very much through the last decade, except for the tribute album you just mentioned before (on Blackfish records). Did you ask him for a cover ? Or was it already done & you only

had to choose through his stock of unused paintings ? Did you meet the man ?
We got him to do it because we thought it would give the album the stamp that it deserved. We did have the album cover ready before we recorded the album and I think it probably gave us that extra boost to getting the album finished and out there rather than let it drag out like so many albums do these days. I've never met Ed, I'm not sure if Ian has, but I know Ian has been in contact with him on numerous occasions to discuss the possibility of him doing our next album. Since the “Thrash or be Thrashed” Ed has been a lot busier and I think we'll be seeing more of his artwork on future thrash albums.

>Will you soon play live outside England? Do you have plans for touring through Europe ? How did the audience react to your first shows ?
We are hoping to do some shows outside the UK although we haven't any plans to tour because of our family and work commitments. We are hoping to perhaps do 2 or 3 shows in Europe over a weekend, but nothing has been arranged as yet. The shows we have played so far have been really good and I think the audience has been more surprised really as they were probably expecting something closer to the Stampin' Ground sound – so far, so good as the saying goes.

>Does today's thrash scene interest you? Or you stay focused on the 80's? What kind of bands do you listen to? Do you know some french ones?
I must admit when it comes to the thrash and the punk scene I still seem to be stuck firmly in the past and I am not a big follower of thrash music these days, hence I guess the way Suicide Watch sounds. I suppose were trying to get back a period of our youth, and why not they were great times, why shouldn't we revisit them. I still get really excited when bands like the Accused and Raw Power release new albums. That's not to say that there isn't any great new bands, because in fact there are too many to choose from these days and there are so many great young musicians with exciting new ideas, but I think we all belong to different generation cycles of music and what's new today will be somebody's classic all time classic in say ten years. I don't really know of any french thrash bands but I have seen a lot of extreme grindcore releases come out of France on the Bones Brigade label, I'm guessing there is quite a healthy grindcore scene there.

>Why did you choose Mausoleum records as a label?
Ian had been in touch with Alfie at Mausoleum for some time before the band existed and in passing conversation mentioned the fact he was now in this new thrash band Suicide Watch. Alfie expressed an interest in hearing anything we recorded. When he received an advance copy of the album he emailed us back saying he definitely wanted to release it on Mausoleum. Obviously we could have sent the album out to other labels but somehow we were just happy with Alfies' enthusiasm and truly we are pleased with all the efforts put in by Mausoleum, they really did deliver the goods on this, our first release.

>Thanx for your time, last words are yours…
Thanks for the interview, and thanks to everyone who has given us a chance. Peace. RID.