CASEY CHAOS: 'I Would Jump At Doing' Another SCUM Album

Dr. Abner Mality of the Wormwood Chronicles webzine recently conducted an interview with AMEN/SCUM frontman Casey Chaos. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Wormwood Chronicles: Moving on to the lyrics of SCUM...are they totally nihilistic or is there some kind of hope buried in there?

Casey: "This record was such a labor of love. We worked on it as a unit. In the beginning, Faust [SCUM, ex-EMPEROR; drums] was still in prison. When he'd get out on weekend leave, we'd rehearse on the weekends. I'd fly in from Los Angeles to Norway to stay for a week. Once he got out, we became very, very good friends. What really hit me was that Faust was such a good person...he became inspirational to me in that regard. In the rapping world, they kill somebody and it's almost like a normal thing. People make mistakes throughout their lives. Faust and all the other guys in EMPEROR and the black metal scene were all teenagers when that stuff went down in the early '90s. The person that he has turned into is such an admirable person now. He's a very TRUE person now."

Wormwood Chronicles: The prison experience was actually beneficial to him?

Casey: "Oh, yeah. He did a 180. I never knew him before the incident but I know this about the man: he's a man of his word and he's not somebody that's out to fuck somebody over or make the same mistakes twice."

Wormwood Chronicles: I've heard he's quite a quiet guy...

Casey: "Yeah, very quiet, very soft-spoken and an incredible person. It was a real honor. I wanted to reunite these people who were family... Faust, Samoth [EMPEROR, ZYKLON, SCUM; guitar] and Mortiis. They were all in EMPEROR originally and they really are brothers. Watching them play together is very moving because there's so much history there, there's so much feeling. I was moved by that to write a lot of my lyrics. I was the outsider, I was the only American. I was almost jealous. They were so incredible as far as being people go and it made me, a person whose been playing music my whole life, re-evaluate what I do and why I do it. I had to step up my game to stay on a level with those guys and compete with them."

Wormwood Chronicles: Has there been any thought given to the next SCUM album?

Casey: "We played our second show in London and we have a couple of festival appearances this summer. I would jump at doing it. But now with EMPEROR back together, we don't know what the future holds. Samoth also said that he would love to do a second record, we all would, it's just a matter of scheduling. In London, we were asked during an interview, 'Is this a project or is this a band?' Everybody in the room said 'This is a band.' With that being said, I'd love to another album. Samoth said it could be in a year, two years, maybe more. I support whatever he says, I'll do it whenever they want. I'd love to make another record with those guys."

Read the entire interview at www.wormwoodchronicles.com.