TOBY'S BLOG
1996 ‘Defile’
Black/Death Metal
In 1996 I was doing my Black Metal project 'Darken' with vocalist Necrotriton.
I was very much wanting to be in a functioning band so I formed 'Defile' with Sheldon Bare (vocals), Chris Payette (bass) and Bart Bartak (drums).
We wrote original music and played some old school covers by (I think) Celtic Frost, Venom, Slayer, etc. Our own brand of slightly technical Blackened Death Metal was just not going to go over well in our territories of Montana and Wyoming. Black Metal as a genre was pretty much unknown in our vicinity and the creepy factor and my "real world" living of the philosophies brought an aura to the band that not everyone was 100% enthused about.
We did record a four song demo, played a few gigs and had a bat shit crazy time. Within a few years bassist Chris Payette (R.I.P.) would join me again in Onward to fulfill the "Reawaken" touring cycle. We relocated to Las Vegas to be closer to the action.
I've mentioned in the past our "Onward "Las Vegas pad hosted rock royalty guests: Mike Varney, Metal Church's David Wayne (R.I.P.) Michael Schenker's vocalist Chris Logan, Apocrypha vocalist Steve Plocica , Loana Valencia from Dreams of Damnation and guitar great Adrian English (R.I.P.)
The particular time (2000-2003) contained an infinite amount of memories and adventures crushed into such a short window.
Ultimately, I needed to get my mind and health back in order- so I left it behind to pursue music with solitary focus.
I'll leave you with some secret Onward history. The mystical epic from Reawaken "The Seven Tides of Labyrinthine" features a rhythmic feel inspired directly from The Spinners 70's hit "I'll be Around". Check it yourself!
Toby
