Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 970 - Kallohonka’s James Magruder Talks Slug Metal and Lazer Blood
Transcript
- 0:00Based on a finish, the finish finish paganism.
- 0:03They were bear cults, right? So they would hunt bears and
- 0:06they would shoot like kill the bear.
- 0:08I mean they have a gun. Clearly we're talking like, you
- 0:10know, free Christian air. And then they would have a feast
- 0:13and they would sing songs to the while they're eating the bears
- 0:15flesh, they're singing songs to the bears spirit about how they
- 0:19weren't the ones that killed them to try to convince them
- 0:21that they could be his friend in the next life.
- 0:24And then they would take his skull and put it on top of a
- 0:27century pine so that his spirit were return to the stars and be
- 0:31born again on earth. What's up everybody, it's Kefi
- 0:41of Ghost cultman.com. I am super stoked and actually a
- 0:45little scared to interview James from Kalohanka.
- 0:48How are you doing today? What's up bro?
- 0:50You just partying in the woods somewhere?
- 0:52Hey man, sometimes you got to go to the mythic forest, you know?
- 0:55The Mythic forest in Texas. So so many things to unpack and
- 0:59luckily I have therapy later today.
- 1:02But umm, let's talk about Laser Blood, the brand new album
- 1:06coming out. Oh yeah, Memory Terminal
- 1:08Records. What is Slug Metal and what is
- 1:12the origin of the band? Because just from the bio and
- 1:15the photos my brain is already like tingling.
- 1:18So I started this band like 10 years ago with my friend Eric.
- 1:23We were used to be in a grind band called The Feeps.
- 1:26And you know, we lived together for a while.
- 1:28We started a band when he got married to a lady and we weren't
- 1:31hanging out as much. That was the first iteration.
- 1:33It was just bass and drums with a singer.
- 1:36We went through a couple lineup changes until we find Amy Carson
- 1:39from Bread and Water. She's a great front person, so
- 1:41much energy. She's great.
- 1:43And then we've made some albums. You know, we've always, I've
- 1:46always any costume bands. I like doing the costume thing.
- 1:49It get weird, you know, and you know, slug metal is just what it
- 1:52is, man. It's metal for fucking slugs.
- 1:54I always personally find slugs. I'm from the New York area
- 2:00originally. I live in the Bay Area now, and
- 2:02I spent a lot of time in New England where slugs are a real
- 2:06thing. They are like an invading army
- 2:08and a lot of, you know, colonial homes with no baseboards.
- 2:13So slugs come in your home and they kind of scream, actually,
- 2:17if you get real quiet and you just kind of focus on, they kind
- 2:21of, yeah, they scream, they scream at you.
- 2:24OK, somebody is creeping in the background, but nothing.
- 2:29Don't pay any attention to that. So anyway, yeah man, music for
- 2:32slugs and people who listen to music for slugs.
- 2:35I mean, have you ever seen a video of leopard slugs mating?
- 2:37It's like the most beautiful thing in nature, so.
- 2:40I have not. Psychedelic sex with leopard
- 2:43slugs. Highly recommend.
- 2:45Yeah, men. So yeah, the music is an amalgam
- 2:48of things. It's clear you got, you know,
- 2:49the grind makes sense now, but also like super, you know, just
- 2:54super straight up screamy punk that we need right now, I think
- 2:58in the world. Oh yeah, and some other and some
- 3:00other weirdness, let's just say. So you it's kind of a whole
- 3:05collective of people. And I know you lost a member.
- 3:08My condolences there. But like, yeah, just wild.
- 3:13A wild album to listen through a few times for sure.
- 3:15Yeah, I mean, you're, you're talking about Dennis Gazelles.
- 3:18He's the father of very close friends of mine.
- 3:21He was a patriarch to like our little weirdo scene in Dallas.
- 3:25He was kind of free jazz legend, especially in like Eastern
- 3:28European circles. And also like the free jazz guys
- 3:31from Fort Worth. He played a lot with them and we
- 3:34were thankful. Hey, look, there's some
- 3:36gunshots. I love this neighborhood.
- 3:40And so he played horns on there for us.
- 3:42And he, unfortunately, he passed.
- 3:44And this is probably the last release he's going to be on
- 3:47posthumously. Yeah.
- 3:51Right on. Hopefully this guy lurking
- 3:52behind you is not going to cause you bodily harm in the middle of
- 3:55our interview. Oh, you know, we got some like
- 3:57little minion dudes around here, you know, they're just checking.
- 4:00Make it trading safe. There it is.
- 4:01Minions are important. Maybe they'll take a bullet for
- 4:03you or deflect it with their power.
- 4:05Yeah. Hopefully they don't come down,
- 4:07you know. Pleasant girl.
- 4:07What are you going? To do there you go and then
- 4:09cults being that we are called ghost cult and we were founded
- 4:13in 2012 and our sigil is a doomsday.
- 4:16You know, Mayan Doomsday Clock, because we had like a original
- 4:19co-owner was like had some Mayan.
- 4:21That's how we have that. We didn't appropriate it, but
- 4:23it's our thing. And so we love and understand
- 4:26and appreciate. Hey, it was a John Cusack movie,
- 4:28right? Hey, hey.
- 4:29Oh, what was that? All right.
- 4:31So, yeah, just, you know, is there a lure to the group in the
- 4:37group's music and the name is it is it cultish?
- 4:40Is it? I know it's.
- 4:41So it's based on, yeah, it's based on a Finnish, the Finnish,
- 4:45Finnish paganism. They're bear cults, right?
- 4:48So they would hunt bears and they would shoot like kill the
- 4:51bear. I mean, they have a gun clearly.
- 4:52We're talking like, you know, free Christian air.
- 4:54And then they would have a feast and they would sing songs.
- 4:57Today while they're eating the bears flesh, they're singing
- 5:00songs to the bears spirit about how they weren't the ones that
- 5:03killed him to try to convince him that they could be his
- 5:06friend in the next life. And then they would take his
- 5:09skull and put it on top of a century pine so that his spirit
- 5:13will return to the stars and be born again on Earth.
- 5:16Wild. And how does that does that
- 5:17factor into the just sort of the the band names and the music or
- 5:22is it just kind of this that is what?
- 5:23Specifically the name is, but you know, the music is about,
- 5:26you know, there's songs about cults.
- 5:28Cults are a lot of fun, man. I love cults, but you know, the
- 5:32songs are about having a good time at the fucking end of the
- 5:34world because we're staring down the fucking barrel of it, baby.
- 5:38I did. We're just trying.
- 5:39To have fun, make everybody have a good time.
- 5:42Trying to forget the fucking problems we're having right now.
- 5:44Get a little fucking weird. Let's go.
- 5:46Yes, Speaking of the end of the world, I love that the band camp
- 5:51is Carlo Hanca Kills Billionaires.
- 5:55OK, man. Because of course we need to
- 5:58like we really people who are looking trader cards, you know,
- 6:02like trading cards, like NFTS are basically trading card, like
- 6:05worthless trading cards. And people are obsessed with
- 6:08this like sort of very, if not real culture.
- 6:11Like, I love technology and I'm appreciative of it, but like,
- 6:14we're able to do this because this message is going through
- 6:17space and time. So I can talk to you in Texas
- 6:20while I live in San Francisco. But yeah, we live in a very
- 6:23weird and bizarre time. So weird and bizarre.
- 6:25People in music is where I want to live, you know?
- 6:28Absolutely me too man. That's the weirdos are the best
- 6:31ones man. And even the ones that get a
- 6:32little weird on the weekends. Come on out, man.
- 6:35Yeah, weekend weirdos are fine too.
- 6:37Some people have to be naughtless.
- 6:38I used to wear a monkey suit and a shirt and tie and go to work.
- 6:41Like zip up a human suit and pretend to be human.
- 6:44And. Then hail Satan and drink
- 6:46whiskey all night long and listen to metal.
- 6:48Ungodly value. So yeah, shout out again.
- 6:51You mentioned Amy. What a killer vocalist and great
- 6:54performance on this record. Really brings everything
- 6:58together, especially when you have all these moving pieces and
- 7:02and disparate parts. It's really cool to have like a
- 7:05unifying force like Amy. Vogel Yeah.
- 7:07Fantastic fish. She's great to work with.
- 7:09I mean, such a great front person.
- 7:10Really brings a lot of energy to the live shows.
- 7:12We try to keep the live shows, you know, pretty wild, you know
- 7:15you sometimes we we dress people up as Arby's sandwiches and
- 7:18threw Arby's roast beefs in the crowd.
- 7:21You know, we've thrown a lot of food out.
- 7:23Corn dogs, mini tacos, spaghetti for a Blade Runner show we did
- 7:27because of the one scene where he eats the noodles.
- 7:30You know, we just like to have a good time, man.
- 7:31Right on. Is your friend OK over there?
- 7:33He's great. He's great.
- 7:34Yeah. Yeah.
- 7:35You know, chanting, he's keeping it on.
- 7:36Lock, we got to make sure the bamboo forest stays safe, man.
- 7:39He's got a little dwarven, Dwarven Mace.
- 7:42Make sure we're safe. You know, not big gun guys.
- 7:44We're more than like the medieval.
- 7:47I would see that, yeah, I could see that.
- 7:48But also a nice Blade Runner reference, a big fan, and I even
- 7:51enjoyed Blade Runner 2049. It wasn't.
- 7:53I thought it was fantastic. They got me with the Twisted
- 7:55Man. Yeah, I also I also am the one
- 7:58person that saw and enjoyed Tron Heiress despite having Jared
- 8:02Leto in. You know, I kind of hate the
- 8:04guy, but he's in some great movies.
- 8:06He's he's gross, but if you want to go that hard and believe in
- 8:11yourself that much and be so method, then you know what, you
- 8:14might get some greatness out of it.
- 8:15He was a great villain in that 2049.
- 8:17He was a fantastic villain. Yeah, yeah, it really was really
- 8:20like underrated and not talk much about, but fantastic.
- 8:23So yeah, let's talk a little bit.
- 8:24You mentioned I know I don't think like people uncultured
- 8:28swine don't ever think of Dallas as like a multi musical place.
- 8:32Obviously known for Blues and heavy metal and thrash metal and
- 8:35a lot of great bands, Pantera, Rigor Mortis, stuff like that,
- 8:39but also like has a tremendous jazz background as a city.
- 8:44And so it's fun to hear that influence coming in along with
- 8:47psychedelic rock and other weirdness.
- 8:49Personally, you as sort of the linchpin of this project is, is
- 8:54that like your whole musical taste is also like a cassette
- 8:57tape in a blender or is it specific?
- 8:59No, it's kind of all over the place.
- 9:00You know, I like a lot of black metal and I like 70s Italian and
- 9:04French Prague. That's like a huge thing for me.
- 9:08And I mean, I just like weird Prague and it gets a little
- 9:10cheesy in the 80s. Frog in general, but except for
- 9:14in like, man, Turkey's got great psych in Prague right now, so
- 9:19does India. There's some really cool stuff
- 9:20coming out of Pakistan too. Dick, we're all about music from
- 9:23all over the world here. Yeah, you know, feel free to
- 9:26drop us some recommendations via the PR Shout out to Ear Split
- 9:31PR, our eternal besties in the music.
- 9:33Yeah, Liz, Liz and Dave love them, Love them so much.
- 9:37But yeah, man, just such a wild collection of songs and again,
- 9:42music for slugs and people who like slugs.
- 9:45I I am scared of slugs and they kind of freak me out.
- 9:48But also look, I get it. Man, watch that David
- 9:50Attenborough about the leopard slugs.
- 9:51You can change your mind. All right, I love David
- 9:53Attenborough everything. So that's get high and watch
- 9:59like planet Earth documentaries. OK, stone dash slugs, let's go
- 10:02date. Does seem I don't know if Carlo
- 10:06Hanca is a drug banned or if there are drugs involved but it
- 10:10seems. Like none of us have ever done
- 10:12any drugs. That's amazing because you could
- 10:14have, you absolutely could have fooled me, you know?
- 10:19But yeah, I I don't know that I don't say that.
- 10:22I wouldn't swear that drugs don't enhance the listening
- 10:24experience. I'm pretty sure we thanked LSD
- 10:26on the record so. Oh, fine, This is actually the
- 10:29this is actually the best look. You have had the whole video.
- 10:32So keep it here because the focus is beautiful on this.
- 10:37But I'm, I'm down for whatever it comes out of this on top of
- 10:42your your bear myths, which we like bear myths.
- 10:46Here it goes called I don't know if you listen to a lot of the
- 10:49ancient Norse Pagan music like Wardruna and high.
- 10:53Yeah, they have a lot, yeah. I just saw them in Manhattan
- 10:56recently. Sick.
- 10:57Yeah, Wardrobe's latest album is literally about a mythical bear,
- 11:03but yeah, super fun. And you know, I even can see
- 11:07some of the, like, fans of that music, just anything
- 11:10unconventional, they think they would dig your band and didn't
- 11:12have to necessarily be metal or metal adjacent, but just like,
- 11:15the spirit of the album, the rage fullness of the music.
- 11:19But also, there's moments that are just kind of super
- 11:22unexpected that I think people who are willing to expand their
- 11:25palate would definitely dig. We definitely try to keep the
- 11:28audience guessing with every twist and turn.
- 11:31Yeah, so much, so, so much from every element, this interview,
- 11:35the photos, the album cover, sick album artwork.
- 11:39Let's talk about. I love a band with a visual
- 11:41sense and style that's unique. And there's so few because all
- 11:43the death metal albums start to look alike.
- 11:45I'm not a huge fan. Like I love technology and I
- 11:48work in in marketing, but I don't love all the AI of
- 11:51everything right now. So this album feels like very
- 11:54real to me, very organic and touchable, you know, not that I
- 11:58want to touch a a snail, I don't want to touch slugs.
- 12:01Oh, it's just a little slime man, you'll be alright.
- 12:03I know. I just don't want to get it off
- 12:05me. They're my favorite line ever
- 12:06from The X-Files is like the second episode of The X-Files
- 12:09with David Duchovny touches the bile.
- 12:11I don't know if you're. Oh, yeah.
- 12:12And he's like, how do I Yeah, exactly.
- 12:14You know, the tunes and squeeze. How do I get this off my fingers
- 12:18quickly without revealing my uncool exterior?
- 12:21He says, yeah, It's just like, oh, you can smell it through the
- 12:25screen almost. Oh yeah, and it seems like
- 12:27there's a lot of weight. Like you said, 70s music's a big
- 12:30influence on you personally among everything.
- 12:32But like, I do feel like there's a great B movie quality in a
- 12:36wholesome, best complimentary way.
- 12:38There's AB movie amazingness to all of this that I think is
- 12:42gonna like again. Yeah, absolutely serves.
- 12:45Music. The concepts.
- 12:46Me and the guitar player Jason, he's he would move to away so
- 12:51he's no longer in the band. And the current drummer we're in
- 12:54another band called Kolga KOLGA that was a surf black metal
- 12:58band. So and that's very BB horror
- 13:01movie like, you know, right up that alley, but like the cross
- 13:04between black metal and surf together.
- 13:07So yes, that is definitely in our wheelhouse.
- 13:10That sounds amazing, I'm gonna check that out too 'cause that
- 13:12sounds like something I would dig.
- 13:14Yeah, it's on otitis media that. One nice alright, the weirder
- 13:17the better. How?
- 13:19How does a band like this happen in a in in your scene, if you
- 13:23have a local scene in Dallas and what that's like and how are you
- 13:26viewed by everybody else? That's probably like ripped
- 13:29jeans, black shirts and just rips, right?
- 13:32You know, we, we, we played with a plenty of touring bands that
- 13:35come through. We played with Oozela and you
- 13:40know, a bunch of other ones. But you know, the Dallas scene
- 13:43is very accepting of other weird offshoots.
- 13:48We all come to the same shows, whether you're in free jazz,
- 13:50metal, punk, grind, electronic, you know, experimental vocal
- 13:57weirdness. I mean, we all hang out together
- 13:59and we all have a really good time.
- 14:01It's kind of falling off in the last couple years, but there was
- 14:03a incredibly diverse and vibrant sitting here for a very long
- 14:07time and I really hope some of the younger people will pick
- 14:11that back up. I think there's inklings that is
- 14:13coming back nice. But you know, after the Ghost
- 14:17Ship thing and all the DIY spaces got closed, like it was,
- 14:22you know, it hit the whole country.
- 14:23It changed the scene in the whole country.
- 14:25So we still had things going on here even after that.
- 14:28But then COVID, you know, it's just, it's coming back.
- 14:31It just needs a little more time and a fresh batch of eyes, I
- 14:34think. Right on.
- 14:35And maybe we need to take it back underground and do house
- 14:37shows and backyard shows again. I know.
- 14:39Yeah, absolutely. I forgot what like touring punk
- 14:43band that's pretty huge actually is doing like house parties and
- 14:46people's birthdays just for. Shilman St's still going.
- 14:49It's close. Yilman is still there.
- 14:50Nope, still there. Nice.
- 14:52There's been there's been times when it looked like it was gonna
- 14:55go out. I've only been out here five
- 14:56years, but Lynn was like one of my oh, I'm from New York and I
- 15:00went to CBGB's. I have to go to Gilman.
- 15:02I used. To, I mean, I know ABC, you
- 15:04know, Rio bit the dumps. A few years, yeah.
- 15:06Someplace we let some places go in New York.
- 15:09It's a shame what we let happen to our city.
- 15:12The former Roseland is now like a Trump apartment building.
- 15:15You can go fuck himself and that but like we lost some.
- 15:18Fighters guys are cool, yeah. So cool, and I'm sad they got
- 15:22shut down. I was literally there five days
- 15:25a week when I lived in Brooklyn, so yeah.
- 15:28And I highly recommend that coffee table book to everyone.
- 15:30But yeah, man, I'm just so. They're still doing shows.
- 15:33Yeah, they book shows. We cover them.
- 15:35We're cover one tomorrow. Yeah, but yeah, so fun.
- 15:40And like I said, unexpected in the best way.
- 15:42I I think like 2026 is already revealing some fruits.
- 15:46If the if the world is a dumpster fire, chances are
- 15:49there's going to be some interesting and fun bands.
- 15:51Let's go out partying, dude, let's go out partying.
- 15:54That's all. And the meteor hits.
- 15:55Let's be raising, raising our knuckles to the sky with, you
- 15:58know, something. Could be a bong, could be a
- 16:00booze, could be a coffee, whatever.
- 16:02You do whatever you know, vape, whatever.
- 16:04You do, man. We'll take everybody.
- 16:06But you know, we're gonna get weird, too.
- 16:08Is is this a project that can, like you said, you tour, you
- 16:11know, play open for touring bands?
- 16:13I know you got a release show at the double wide coming up.
- 16:17Beyond that, can you take this on the road?
- 16:19Is it something you can stage? Could it become like a whole
- 16:22play type of thing? Like expand out to, I don't
- 16:25know, other media comic books? You know we're gonna make a
- 16:28couple videos here. I'm filming one this weekend a
- 16:32little bit so that should be fun and we're planning on doing our
- 16:36debut tour in Australia just cuz fuck it, let's go dude, let's go
- 16:39have a. Good time.
- 16:39Unbelievable. Let's let's pick the dumbest
- 16:42thing we could do and go for it, you know?
- 16:43It's not for money, clearly it's a long flight, but I bet it's
- 16:46beautiful. Fuck money.
- 16:49Yeah, I get it. No, I know.
- 16:50Well, you know, like on one hand, absolutely fuck money.
- 16:53On the other hand, you need to live.
- 16:54You have to even pay rent and you know, you know, take care of
- 16:59those who you need to take care of.
- 17:01I get it. But yes, money.
- 17:03And I'm fortunate to be, you know, I have enough money to be
- 17:06able to say that a little bit. So yeah, yeah, I'm very grateful
- 17:09for that. But you know, I'm not trying to
- 17:11be a fucking silly. No.
- 17:13And I think like our like blind allegiance to as a person that
- 17:18loves like physical media, books and records and things.
- 17:21And I have enough of these dumb hats and shirts to like fill a
- 17:24fucking lifetime already. But on the other hand, it's
- 17:28like, yeah, we've become really bad capitalist drones in the
- 17:31worst way. Like we're very beholding the
- 17:33brands and things. I hope it's the late stage and
- 17:36we're over soon. Seems like it people try to
- 17:38fight me on that and I'm like, no, there's clear evidence that
- 17:41this shit has been collapse like every time.
- 17:44Pompeii, the Roman Empire, you know, pre industrial revolution.
- 17:49Yeah, we. Need French Revolution.
- 17:50We're getting there pretty close.
- 17:51That's. The American spring.
- 17:53Where's the meteor? Because I'll take the meteor or
- 17:56the bear with my lady. Friends over neural link any
- 18:01day. Yeah, man, fuck all that.
- 18:04But this has been a lot of fun as I expected it to be fun
- 18:07because, you know, the weirder the better, James.
- 18:10But I always like to end these interviews with a wild card
- 18:13question and so I thought this would be a fun one for you.
- 18:16If you were hosting a dinner and you could invite 5 people from
- 18:19anywhere in time. Living Dead family stars,
- 18:22celebrities, not regular folks you know that are interesting.
- 18:25Who would you invite five people to dinner and what would you
- 18:27serve? Oh, OK, so Genghis Khan would be
- 18:30cool. I'm pretty sure that would be
- 18:32just crazy. Let's see.
- 18:33Who else? Well, let's see, probably let's
- 18:37do 4. So Genghis Khan and I would also
- 18:41probably go with man, I'm just such a Kurt Cobain fan that that
- 18:45shit that came out this week is pretty wild.
- 18:48So Kurt Genghis Khan, let's go with oh, Caligula might be fun.
- 18:53That would be a good time as long as he, you know, kept his
- 18:57shit in his pants, like whatever, you know, not, you
- 19:00know, leave the sister at home. But, and you know, let's round
- 19:04it out with Ursula, Ursula Le Guin.
- 19:07I think that that would be fantastic and.
- 19:10What would the menu be? Let's see.
- 19:12Well, it's got to be so there'd be like some forced in rice
- 19:16dish, I think a horse rice dish for Genghis and you know,
- 19:22probably, you know, I make a mean cottage pie.
- 19:24So let's go with cottage pie and horse rice.
- 19:27All right, I think Caligula likes his horses alive and
- 19:30presenting, but. Well, it's not made out of a
- 19:33senator, OK? Right, right.
- 19:36Yeah, absolutely. As expected, James, super fun.
- 19:40Kalahanka, new album Laser Blood coming at you soon.
- 19:44Kind of surprised there's no Laser Blood song.
- 19:46Maybe it's referenced in there and I missed it, but umm, you
- 19:49know, super fun getting to know you and meet you and chat with
- 19:52you today about this record and best of luck.
- 19:54Keep your head up out there and good luck on tour.
- 19:57Thanks a lot man, Appreciate it.