Mortician (band)
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Mortician is a grindcore and deathgrind band from Yonkers, New York.
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[edit] History
Mortician were founded in 1989 as Casket, but after writing their first song, aptly called "Mortician," they decided to change the band name. They take their lyrical inspiration from horror movies, and most songs on their album start or end with an audio sample from that genre. Out of respect for their former drummer, and unable to find a worthy replacement, they opted to use a drum machine when recording their albums, but have a real drummer during live performances.
In January 1991 Roger J. Beaujard joined Mortician as a permanent guitarist. After getting great responses at several shows all around the North East US, Relapse Records contacted them to record a 7" EP. This later went on to become the Mortal Massacre 7" and CD EP. Mortician continued to play various shows and festivals and were getting prepared to record their first full-length CD. At this point in the band's history they had to let Matt Sicher go as drummer due to his excessive harsh drug use and lack of commitment.
In early '92, because of the lack of a drummer, Will and Roger began to experiment with drum machines. They recorded 15 rehearsal tracks for a full-length project that was sent to Relapse Records, 3 of those tracks where put on the Corporate Death Compilation CD in 1993.
After the compilation came out, Mortician spent most of their time trying out drummers and playing a few local shows with various stand-in drummers. Individually Will & Roger experienced many personal ordeals such as jail, fights, work, financial problems and other problems. By this time many fans thought Mortician had broken up, but the band was just on hold. Shortly after this break period ended, Relapse contacted Mortician to record a song for the "Death is Just the Beginning III" compilation. The song, "Blown to Pieces", was recorded in August of 1994 with the aid of a drum machine. At this point Mortician decided to continue using the drum machine for recording.
Relapse then approached Mortician about another 7" to let fans know they were back in action. In September of 1994, Mortician recorded 5 songs which resulted in the "House by the Cemetery" 7" released in early 1995. This led to Relapse asking Mortician to record bonus tracks for a CD EP release. Before the recording of the bonus tracks Mortician were asked to record the title track for the home video "Traces of Death III". This track is completely exclusive to the video and its soundtrack, it is available nowhere else. In July 1995 the bonus tracks were completed which included covers of "Scum" by Napalm Death and "Procreation of the Wicked" by Celtic Frost.
In January 1996, the "House by the Cemetery" CD was released. This marked the beginning of a new era for Mortician as far as coming across as a serious project. During this time Mortician recorded many rehearsal tapes for private evaluation in preparation for their full-length CD. Mortician signed a contract with Relapse for this recording and around April 1996 Will & Roger began preparation of songs to be recorded for the CD. Desmond Tolhurst, a bass player from one of Roger's other projects, Malignancy , offered to assist in the production and contribute equipment to the recording of this CD. Mortician readily accepted his offer, and were looking forward to recording the project digitally. The only thing missing from "House" was the frequency response found in digital recordings. Mortician recorded and mixed the CD in July 1996 and were very please to say the least with the outcome. The CD features 16 songs dating as far back as 1990 to 1996 that were never released before and 8 songs rerecorded, 3 from the 1st demo, 1 from Mortal Massacre EP and 4 Compilation tracks.
Mortician went on its first tour with Incantation and Anal Cunt from October 1996 to mid November from Texas up through the mid west and finished up in eastern Pennsylvania. Nine shows were played all together and the response was excellent. At this time Roger was unable to leave the state due to a legal matter and did not make the tour. At this time Relapse released "Hacked up for Barbecue" for mail order and later on January 28th 1997 worldwire in stores. At the end of 1996 Mortician started recording for their next album which was completed by October 1997. During this time Mortician recorded "Skin Peeler" for the New Line Cinema release "Gummo".
Mortician then released the EP "Zombie Apocalypse in 1998 on Replease Records and then in 1999 released a full length cd titled "Chainsaw Dismemberment. In 2001 Mortician then released "Domain of Death" and started recording "Final Bloodbath Session" with live drums.
In 2002 Mortician released news that they were leaving Relapse Records and their last CD would be "Darkest Day of Horror". During this time Mortician released 27 classic tracks with Roger Beaujard playing live drums and Ron Kachnic (Malignancy) on guitars, which was also their live line-up. While on tour Mortician release a lmited tour edition of "Darkest Day of Horror" months before the Relapse Records Release in 2003.
In 2004 Mortician signed an distribution agreement with Crash Music, Inc. to release their live cd titled "Zombie Massacre Live" which was the first official release under their new self label [[[Mortician Records]]]. Also in 2004, Mortician recorded and released "Re-Animated Dead Flesh" which came out in October 2004.
During the 2005 European tour with Blood Red Throne and Akercocke, Will Rahmer was arrested in Poland for assaulting a taxi driver and stealing a taxi. The band continued the tour without Rahmer, with members of the support bands handling the bass and vocal duties. Rahmer later was released a short time after the incident with all charges dropped. He further refrained from commenting on what happened.
[edit] Members
- Will Rahmer - Bass, Vocals
- Roger J. Beaujard - Guitar, Drum Programming
[edit] Former members
- John McEntee - Guitar
- Matt Sicher (R.I.P. 1992) - Drums
- George Torres - Drums (live)
- Desmond Tolhurst - Bass, Guitars
- Dave Culross - Drums (live)
- Ron Kachnic - Guitars (studio/live)
- Sam Inzerra - Drums (Live)
[edit] Discography
[edit] EPs & singles
- Mortal Massacre (EP, 1992)
- House by the Cemetery (Single, 1994)
- House by the Cemetery (EP, 1995)
- Zombie Apocalypse (EP, 1998)
- Darkest Day of Horror Tour Edition (Single, 2002)
- Living Dead (Split, 2004)
[edit] Albums
- Hacked up for Barbecue (1996)
- Chainsaw Dismemberment (1999)
- Domain of Death (2001)
- Darkest Day of Horror (2003)
- Re-Animated Dead Flesh (2004)
[edit] Compilations
- The Final Bloodbath Session (Best of/Compilation, 2002)
[edit] Live albums
- Zombie Massacre (Live)
