INTERVIEW: Joel Stone of The Mortis Sermon

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or shirking on your duties as a fanatic of heavy music, you know The Mortis Sermon. Hate-filled, negative and heavy, these gentlemen have awoken from a long and mysterious slumber to bring a follow-up to their EP The Race of Faceless Liars, which took the world of brutal, bone-crunching music by storm. If you want the latest scoop on what’s been going on in the world of The Mortis Sermon, you’re in luck: Joel Stone, the group’s vocalist, was nice enough to answer some questions. Read on for more information and more than your fair share of butt touching, bodacious, big-booty hoes and brutality.

Connor Welsh: First things first, thanks so much for answering some questions for me! These are supposed to be fun, so go wild! Seriously though, it’s an honor to get to have these answered by you.

Well, might as well start with the serious stuff: The Mortis Sermon seems to have risen from the dead—or at least a pretty marked coma. If I’m not being too blunt, what was the deal with the “hiatus” that seemed to take place during most of 2012?

Joel Stone: So we pretty much did have a coma in 2012, We went through some personal shit that cause us to take a break. Also our drummer ken just found out he was having a kid. So we decided to take a break. So in the mist of that break a lot of us just kind of relaxed and chilled. Our old bassist joined a band called Dead Language. I got involved with some projects with Blake Moore (Ex. Demolisher) and some other bands doing quest vocal track that are going to be released soon. After about a year we decided to get our shit back on track. suck a dick swag swag.

Connor: On top of it all, you’ve recently stated that Compton Records is no more, which leaves a lot more of the recording/merch/tour process on you guys, right? Any words on that?

Joel: Well yeah Compton Records deiced to call it quits really after I Declare War got off of the label it wasn’t doing too much. Compton (which is the owners last name) helped us out a lot with promotion on his site. We still print merch through Holy Mountain Printing(Same people who make\run Seventh Dagger Merch and label). So we are good on merch. With recording Ken (our Drummer) has a studio that we record at as well as I do vocals at my friend Johnnys place he does Video Game Play through videos on youtube(http://www.youtube.com/user/FlippyTriks) so he has good gear, Everything we do is pretty much DIY. I also do all of the graphic design as well. Fucking typing. Tour is something we will look way down the road, but we have bands that we would love to join us.

Connor: Now that you’re back in action, what’s it like being back into the swing of things in the studio?

Joel: Its great. Ken and Joey always write awesome shit. I just throw my beautiful voice over it. Also having the ability to record at our homes and do it on our free time is amazing. We all work full time jobs with not a lot of free time.

Connor: What kind of stuff can fans expect from your upcoming release? Aside from the same punishing heaviness from The Race of Faceless Liars, I mean. In other words, how will this new material be different?

Joel: We are going to try taking it a lot more serious. Less bullshit, More deathmetal. We are taking more influence from Death Metal, Brutal Slam, Grindcore, Powerviolence. We are trying to steer away from cookie cutter shit that is flooding our scene. We are keeping the same Negative Mentality when it comes to our lyrics and just generally everything.

Connor: You guys have been compared—rightfully so—to prodigal deathcore acts like Rose Funeral and We Are the End. That’s gotta be pretty cool, right? Who and what would you say influence you most musically?

Joel: Its fucking awesome. When we have kids saying you guys sound like Rose funeral or I Declare War or what ever its a good feeling. We are knowing we are doing something right. When creepin on youtube to find pregnancy and breast exam videos its nice to see like breakdown or any death metal compilation videos with our songs on it. Shit everyone really. From big bands like TBDM, Oceano, and even shit like slipknot to local bands that we play with. We write music that we would listen to and like to see live.

Connor: If you could watch any two bands/musicians mudwrestle to the death, who would it be?

Joel: Iggy Azalea (dat ass doe) vs Ellen Degeneres (dat ass doe. thank you based god)

VS.

Connor: If you could put together any concert with five bands (existing or defunct), which bands and why? This time, no mudwrestling (at least not planned mudwrestling).

Joel: FIRST OFF ANIMOSITY, Animosity was one of the BEST bands around, I hate the fucking fact they broke up and you are a bitch faggot if you don’t like Animosity. Deal with it Animosity, Despised icon, Wu Tang (Original Line Up), xAFBx, Lil B Then Animosity again because fuck you.

Connor: What kind of stuff do you do for free time? When you’re not burning churches or creating devastating deathcore.

Joel: Touching butts. Playing Magic the Gathering, XBL, Touching butts. Hoodrat shit. Nerd shit. Ken produces beats while not recording and shit is dope: https://soundcloud.com/kenmgcurrin last but not least….touching butts.

Above: Big Booty Ho. More butt to touch.

Connor: What sort of news/light/insight can you shine on the upcoming release? EP, full length, title, timeframe, color of the album art…really anything goes.

Joel: It should be releasing soon. No official time or date. Just keep posted, promote our shit. It should be a full length with some extras for everyone. color will be poop dick black.

Connor: Last question: You have the opportunity to go back to any point in history and change it to your liking. When, where and why?

Joel: go back couple of days ago and buy better toilet paper and kidnap John Stamos