The Berzerker

With a rare string of Australian shows on the horizon, “The Berzerker”, or Luke as I’m sure his mother likes to call him was nice enough to chat to us about all things metal…

Interview w/ Luke of “The Berzerker”

Thanks for talking to us on

than talking shit with me. 

It’s all good mate. I’m just

at home watching The Simpsons, ha ha. 

What’s been keeping you busy

lately mate? 

I’ve been working on a new side

project with Ed Lacey, who was the guitarist on the self titled Berzerker

record.  

I’m also preparing for the upcoming

tour which is going to be a big one and I’m working on album number

5 as well! I’m just going through some new effects and sounds at the

moment and trying to pull it all together. 

Your most recent record

– are you happy with how the album has been received? 

Yeah, I love it man! We didn’t

get to tour much on it which sucks so we haven’t been able to get

that first person review and feedback from the fans. I love the album

and what it did. 

With our last record – World

Of Lies – we focused on slowing it down but we definitely cranked

it back up for Animosity mate, ha ha. 

What touring have you done

since April to support the record? 

England is pretty much all we’ve

done. We actually went there twice in the last year. We get out to England

a lot because the other guys are based over there but that’s about

it lately.  

Who did you guys play with

when you were last there? 

We headlined on the last tour…

we usually headline when we’re in England actually. We played a band

called Necrosis and um… fuck man, off the top of my head… some bands

from Europe, ha ha.  

We always bring a band from Europe

over but I really don’t know now, ha ha. 

Has the record had much of

a response here in Australia or is it predominantly overseas? 

Predominantly overseas man. Our

label is based overseas so that’s the way it usually goes. We know

it’s been selling well here and distribution guys over here are gearing

up to move some units off this next tour but it’s really hard to do

anything with it when you’re not touring. 

With the other guys living in

England it makes it really hard to do the same kind of thing in Australia. 

Do you ever get frustrated

Australia as you do overseas? 

You now, it does get frustrating.

I spend most of my time here and I work in the industry doing lights,

sound and recording bands so it does suck a bit. We’ve still sold

a lot of units here in Australia but its all good man… that’s just

how it is! 

Have you been able to maintain

“Animosity”? 

Yeah, we’ve had the same line-up

since Dissimilate and our last shows in Australia… which was actually

5 years ago! Except for our drummer who broke his foot so Dave from

Akercocke has been playing drums for us since then.  

“Festival Of The Dead”

tour? 

Oh mean, just the fans that we

haven’t seen in so long. We haven’t really been here in 5 years

and I’m especially excited to see all our underage fans who are probably

21 or 22 now… so I’m keen to see their energy and hear about how

many bones they’ve broken in the pit since the last tour, ha ha! 

These kids are the main thing

that keeps me out of the pit these days mate, ha ha. 

With so many extreme metal

we expect from this tour? 

Fucken full force mate… completely!

We’re not on the lighter side of the death metal spectrum you know?!

We’re on the extreme end so people know what to expect! 

Will Matt be pulling double

shift for you guys and Akercocke?  

Yeah mate… good luck to him,

ha ha! 

What have you got planned for

The Berzerker once this Australian tour wraps up? 

This will be the last tour with

this line-up. They’ve had enough of touring and they can’t really

get the time off to be on the road for months at a time – especially

overseas – so this will be the last tour with them and then I’m

going to suss a brand new line-up. Hopefully it will be composed mainly

of Aussies so we get to play more shows here! 

Like you said before, it is frustrating.

We’re finished with Earache now, we’ve done our 4 albums and now

we can walk away. We’re on the lookout for a new label and it’s

going to be The Berzerker version 2. New label, new line-up and we’re

working on new material. 

There’s going to be some exciting

times this summer! 

Who are some metal bands you’ve

heard this year that people should be checking out? 

To tell you the truth, there isn’t

anything fresh out there. There are lots of good bands and musos but

you know what, we have a different sound to everyone. I don’t know

man. You tell me and I’ll agree or disagree, ha ha. 

I’m struggling to think of

anyone as well man. 

In the early 90’s or late 80’s

I could’ve listed 40 bands but now… it’s a different story. 

You had Brutal Truth who would

out do the speed on each record, and Obituary would sing lower and more

guttural every time. People are now in a rhythm of what death metal

is, or is supposed to be. We like to do a few things differently man. 

If The Berzerker could take

3 bands on tour, who would you take and why? 

Carcass… 

Because they’re Carcass,

ha ha… 

Yeah, ha ha, and obviously they

are our strongest influence. They’re fantastic guys and they’re

so down to earth and they’re one of the few bands I haven’t toured

with that I really want to.  

The original Brutal Truth line-up.

Again, they’re a huge influence. They are a band I grew up listening

to and I know the guys really well and the other one… would be Napalm

Death! Brilliant bands and great guys. We’ve toured with them before

and we loved hanging out together and I just think all 4 bands would

compliment each other really well. 

We all have distinct styles in

the scene so there would be something for everyone! 

Oh yeah, Corey from In Name

– would you like me to pass a message on to the old c@#$? 

Ha ha ha. It’s my name so I’m

not really bothered but yeah… Corey, ha ha ha ha. 

That’s about all we have

time for mate, is there anything else you’d like to add? 

Thanks a lot for doing this mate.

Are you coming to the show in Melbourne? 

Yeah man. 

Cool. Well, make sure you come

and say hey at the show bro! 

For more info on The Berzerker

check out http://www.myspace.com/theberzerker