1. I`m Talking to Matt from Feast Eternal, how are you doing bro?
Hello Dale. Everything here is fine. We have about 3 feet of snow on the ground and it is chilly. We are just waiting for spring and the big ice melt!
2.Describe Feast Eternal to people who may not be overly familiar with the band?
Well…..we are a Christian extreme metal band that started in 1993, and we are located in Northern Michigan. The only reason we play this music is to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us salvation and an eternity with him, so we owe Him our lives. What better way to devote time in your life than serving the creator and maker of the universe. By the way…did you know that universe is a neat word. “Uni” is a Latin numerical prefix that means “single or one” and a verse is a spoken sentence. So universe is a single spoken sentence! “Let there be light”? Pretty cool really.
3. How did you come up with the name Feast Eternal?
Well TJ thought up the name “Feast” and we almost went with that, but then we remembered the trouble Vengeance went through that resulted in them adding the “Rising” word, so we just added an Eternal. It means the Eternal victory feast in Heaven.
4. Where you guys happy with your last album “With fire”?
Yes, we are happy with the album for the most part. The production could have been better but we are still working on the recording thing. We are upset that it received almost no reviews in magazines except for the CD’s we sent out. We feel the album was not promoted correctly by the record company and could have done much better!
5. Tell us about what Feast Eternal is working on right now?
Right now we are working on two things. We are trying to write music for a possible future joint project with some friends of ours in another band, and we are also working on some new material for a full album as well. We may also be writing some music for a short film in the near future as well.
6. Will you guys be looking for a label for the new album?
Not really. We were very disappointed with how things ended up with our last record company and will never be signing with them again. If another label wants to help us out or pick things up for us, then it will be looked into. It is hard to be a band that can not do massive touring, and I really wonder how in this economy any band can really do so much. All of us in Feast Eternal have wives and kids and jobs, so it is hard to do 40 shows a year. That is something labels want, but we are not a big touring band.
7. Are there plans to play any live shows this year?
There are talks at doing a couple of mini tours with some friends of ours later this year. We really enjoyed playing Cornerstone last year for you Dale, but feel we need a year in between sets to do that again. It cost so much with the fuel prices and such, but it was well worth the experience and fun. We have a couple of shows planned in our home state of Michigan this year as well. Ripped Heart Productions has always been a great place to do shows and we have a nice draw downstate.
8. When you are playing a show what songs get the biggest reaction?
Well, everyone is different when it comes to musical taste. We got a ton more exposure to “Prisons of Flesh” and because of that a lot more people have heard it. People really enjoy songs off that album, but the new stuff off “With Fire” is more modern and they enjoy that as well. It really depends on what the individual enjoys and fans tend to like a wide variety.
9. I see you play some live shows with secular bands, how does that work out with you being a Christian band on the bill?
It really does not matter much for us. Our music is geared to the secular ear really. There is a difference in the way Christian death metal and secular death metal sounds sometimes. We actually listen to secular music as well because we want to be a viable force in the secular market. A lot of people respect us because we stand up for what we believe and sometimes find ourselves talking to a few people for 4 hours or more after a show. We don’t really preach from stage, but begin our set usually with the words “We are Feast Eternal and we serve the most high God”, play our set, and then be available to chat with people after the show. We find it better to get the people into you and your music first and then, once that bridge is created, introduce them to our beliefs in Christ.
10. Do you have any final comments? Thanks for the interview my friend!
Well….we really appreciate the Christian metal community for supporting us and for being a place to call home. God is always on the throne no matter what goes on in the world or our individual lives. Just pray for your brothers and sisters who are on the front lines in the music business. If you are not in a band, then get involved in supporting one or two bands with a street team or fan club. Get flyers posted and support them. When you do things for the band it makes it that much easier for the band members to just sit down and write more music. You also BECOME sort of an extension of the overall ministry they are trying to do and that is excellent. Do something for the Lord and always serve the most high God. We must decrease and He must always increase. Thanks!