SFM: Hi Kevin! Let's start with your contributions to the album. You wrote a lot of music on the new record, despite it being your first time recording with Deicide. Did you find that Glen and Steve were pretty open to your suggestions even though they've written a lot on recent albums?
Kevin Quirion (KQ): Yeah, they were both pretty receptive. I've put together a couple Order Of Ennead albums with Steve, so we had a routine for putting songs together - basically Jack and Glen were added to the mix making it Deicide. I know Steve was a little burnt out on doing it all himself, and Glen doesn't write too much of the music – though he did write a couple riffs on this one, his first since ‘Legion’ – so another writer was welcomed. Jack had a lot more material on this album as compared to the previous ones he appeared on, also.
SFM: The songs you wrote sound like classic Deicide. Was it easy to come up with very authentic sounding Deicide riffs?
KQ: I grew up on Deicide, so their influence was always there. I just come up with riffs and if it sounds like it could be a Deicide riff then I'll show it to them – If one of the guys doesn't like a riff then I'll use it for something else. I know early there was concern that anything I came up with would sound like Order Of Ennead, but if you put Glen's vocals on something, it sounds like Deicide to me. It was never a concern to me (laughing)...
SFM: I believe this is your third stint in Deicide. Can you speak a bit about how you joined the band again?
KQ: It's not really my third stint. I've been used for live shows whenever they weren't getting along with the other guitarist. I was just filling in here and there since maybe 2008 – they'd make up with him, I'd get a regular job, and then before the tour or shows I'd get a call to start going over the material. It was... “interesting” is a word. One set of shows, I only had a couple days to refresh the songs and it had been many months since playing them.
SFM: You've played in bands with Steve Asheim before, but this was the first recording experience with Deicide. What was it like working with these guys in the studio, and how does it differ from some other bands you have recorded with?
KQ: Recording was smooth. There was never a time that everyone was there at the same time, so that was different. I was there for all but about a day of tracking vocals because I just enjoy being in the studio. So it would be Steve, Jason Seucof and myself, and then Jack, Seucof and myself, and then Glen, Seucof and myself. During my solos it was just me and Jason and we had a great time. I was adding different guitar parts and solos that no one had heard, but they trusted that Jason wouldn't let me get away with anything too out there. Jay even came up with some cool parts and did a solo or four.
SFM: The band recently completed a North America tour before the album came out. How was the reception and turnout?
KQ: The turnouts were all really solid, some of the best shows I've played with them. That L.A. show was awesome – great tour package and people were asking a lot about the album and wanting to hear some new tunes.
SFM: How do you balance putting new songs into the setlist before the album is released when fans wouldn't yet know the songs?
KQ: We didn't play any songs from the new album. There was talk about it and we were going to, but then didn't in the end. We could have played the title track because it was released online and had a pretty good amount of views, but we are saving them for next time. I can't wait to start playing these songs live and hope we play a lot of them.
SFM: These days it seems like concerts continue to get more expensive while bands play shorter and shorter sets. You guys generally seem to play about 18-20 songs, which is better than a lot of bands do. How do you guys determine the ideal number of songs to make sure fans are satisfied?
KQ: We try to play about 1:15 to 1:20. Some of their songs are short so that will add up to 18-20 songs. It will be interesting to see how many from the new album we end up playing and which songs get dropped. There are some that are must plays in their history for sure.
SFM: A lot of bands are starting to play albums in their entirety live. Is this something Deicide would do in the future, and if so, which album would be most likely? Most Deicide albums are short enough that you guys could do this and still play a ton of stuff from other records.
KQ: None of the older albums will ever be played in their entirety. If it ever happened it would be this new album, ‘In The Minds Of Evil.’ We will be getting all 11 songs prepared, but that's just in case a song gets requested live that we didn't intend on playing. We want to be able to interchange them. Maybe a song is great on CD but we lose people live, so we want to be able to fix that and not drop a song or play one of those for an entire tour.
SFM: How do you feel the older death metal bands are going to hold up over the next decade or so given the physical demands of the music? Thrash bands seem to be doing ok so far, but death metal is even a few notches higher in intensity.
KQ: The biggest concern I'd have is with the drummers, they are the ones pulling off a marathon every night. The rest of us can just stand there and chill as long as our wrist, arms and hands hold up.
SFM: Being in Deicide is a great opportunity to bring out some great new, young death metal bands on tour. Are there any specific bands you'd like to have open for you guys to get more exposure?
KQ: Well, I'm never asked about such situations, but let me see what I can come up with… I don't know if a band would be a death metal band, though. I like a mixed package, but not hardcore or anything like that. A black metal band or different genre of death... We'd like to take Disgorge on the road again, they were great to tour with. I got into Ne Obliviscaris, but I'm probably the only one that would enjoy that. Lecherous Nocturne are old friends from South Carolina, so that would be great again.
SFM: Any last words for the fans out there?
KQ: Thanks for reading. Give the new album a listen and come see us on tour – we'll be playing a lot of new songs and the classics you want to hear.