Little Sap Dungeon

All around us are a lot of almost unknown dark Electro/Industrial bands, which produce some marvelous stuff that is worth buying and checking out. Hailing from the dark Salt Lake City roster, here comes the scary duo LITTLE SAP DUNGEON, consisting of Alan Wilson and Kevin J. Cazier, who is also head of Dungeon Recordings (www.dungeon-recordings.com). If you have considered acts like VAC or SPLATTER SQUALL already to be influenced by the horror/splatter movie genre, then you haven’ t heard the dark and rough atmospheric layers of LITTLE SAP DUNGEON! Time to squeeze out some facts about one of the most promising acts in our lifetime….

Chain D.L.K.: Only a very short time after the release of “Silent Entities” your band surprises us yet with a new release, the split-CD “Geist” in cooperation with BOUNDLESS. Please tell us a bit about the idea and concept behind this release and your friendship to Xon/BOUNDLESS….
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: Well…I was introduced to Trevor (aka Xon) about 4-5 years back. At the time he had been working in some local projects and was also helping promote bands in the local industrial scene. He has always been a great promoter and supporter of our band and others in this area. He’s always been helpful in showing us the ropes as far as production and mastering go. He came to me a while ago and had an idea for doing a split CD. Both BOUNDLESS and LSD had material that had been reworked and remixed. So…for cost efficiency reasons, as well as good diversity, it seemed like a good idea. He wanted to do something creative with the [CD] cases and had an idea for using aluminum. I threw in some of my ideas with it and before we knew it…”GEIST” was well on its way.

Chain D.L.K.: “Geist” is limited to a numbered edition of only 100 copies. Please tell us a bit about the reactions to this release especially around your area. Is “Geist” already sold out and will it be gone for good, or will you think about doing a re-release? If there are still a few copies available, will they ever find their way to a distributor like DSBP?
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: The hype was really nothing too big here, locally. The support from the scene in this area could be much better than it currently is. Most people think that if you are local and you’re not signed to a major record label…it must not be anything worth bothering with. We have sold a few copies to a few local supporters, as well as a nice majority count that’s out of state and out of country. At this point…I’m sure we might re-release “GEIST”. However, it won’t be the same casing. The casing was fun to create, but very time consuming. DSBP has begun to help distribute this album…and it’s going fast!

Chain D.L.K.: How did you come up with the idea of using these original handmade aluminum cases and how does your father (Kevin) help you here?
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: Xon brainstormed the idea of the aluminum cases and the artwork. I thought up the nuts and bolts and how to keep the CD contained. My father helped with all the drilling and bending of the cases.

Chain D.L.K.: For their part, L.S.D. presents us with four tracks which were already released on your very first CDs. Please tell us here a bit about the tracks. Why did you both decide to rework them? Can we expect to hear reworked stuff from you in the future? Also, how is it with stuff taken from “Sickness Beneath Transparent Beauty”> — do you have plans also to rework tracks from your third CD?
Little Sap Dungeon: Alan: “Through the Abyss of LSD” and “The Love/Hate Vortex” got a start on our very first album. At the time these tracks were recorded, Kevin and I had a very basic setup. At the time, we were recording with my 4-track minidisk recorder (which has long since passed away), a keyboard, sampler and guitar with some effects. I basically recorded the programming for both tracks on my Korg X3, while Kevin put samples and guitar where needed. The recording left a bit to be desired. Kevin has always had a great ear for mixing, though, so it could have been worse. With that in mind, later we chose these two songs to remix because we wanted to put our new sound into it (mainly Kevin> ‘> s masterful mixing). It was fun to do, and maybe in the future we may decide to remix a few tracks off SBTB.

Chain D.L.K.: Please give us a look behind the track “Accident and Ascension”, which seems to be the only really new piece on “Geist”. I find it quite surprising that you recorded vocals that clear without the use of too much FX here. A hint as to a new and upcoming stylistic change in the music of L.S.D.?
Little Sap Dungeon: Alan: Actually, I created “Accident and Ascension” all by myself, but I can’t sing at all. I created this song way back, somewhere around 5 or 6 years ago. It laid dormant for a long time until I played it for Kevin and he expressed some interest in doing vocals for it. I was excited to hear what he would add. Needless to say, he used lyrics in that song to express exactly how I felt when I wrote it. If I do some solo stuff, you may hear more like that. I doubt that LSD will have anything like that in the near future.

Chain D.L.K.: Another quite interesting piece is the new version of “Ask Alice”. It sounds almost like a new and complete track when I compare it to the original version. Please explain us your kind of work on this track. And what is Acidland 25?
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: To me, “Ask Alice” is almost like a trademark song for us. I thought updating an old song with our new sound would only compliment what the song means to us more. Most of the samples were taken from an old black and white propaganda school scare film entitled, “Alice in Acidland.” The ’25’ symbolizes the LSD 25…(pure uncut acid).

Chain D.L.K.: I read something about an upcoming remix album of mainly tracks from your last release “Silent Entities” with some surprises. Can you tell us anything more here about planned release date, remix comrades and so on?

Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: There is a remix album in the works that will not only contain remixes from some great artists, but will also include some new material. We have received remixes from four different projects so far. One of which has been a great honor, but will remain nameless until the album is finished. Let’s just say that this individual has been one of my idols for quite sometime and is practically a legend for many experimentalists out there. The album will be entitled, “Empty Rooms Breathe Heavily”.

Chain D.L.K.: You seem to also be very active with your label Dungeon-Recordings. You have two new bands under your wing. Please introduce them to us and tell us a bit about them and their music.
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: SAVANT GERDE: This individual goes by the name of JMOC 447. The music is as weird as he is. Oddly composed sounds and beats that make you feel like you are going into some kind of seizure. The songs that have been introduced to me are mind boggling and make me feel like someone slipped me a sheet of acid and didn’t tell me.
IN’VEKTIV: This is a project founded by Ian Cameron. His sounds and words have a very bitter sickness to them. Heavy loops with a dark gloom drone sound that surrounds you and makes the dark electro intensify. Awesome work!>

Chain D.L.K.: Also in the works seems to be a new 23 Extacy album. Any news about how/when/what for us here?
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: The 23 Extacy has been becoming more and more intense with each recording session. The new album will be entitled, “Angels Evolved”. The programming has become much more technical with heavier guitar riffs. Very chaotic and brutal material so far. This will definitely be a bigger hit more for metal heads than rivet heads.

Chain D.L.K.: Metropolis Records has announced the new signings on their huge label for 2005 (for example PSYCLON 9 and GOD MODULE…). Why the hell is L.S.D. not one of these newbies???
Little Sap Dungeon: Alan: That is a good question. In all honesty, I don’t think that the right people have had a chance to listen to our CDs. And if they did, they either think that we have no talent because we don’t sound like everyone else, or they are just blowing smoke up our asses by telling us how good we are. Honestly, the music business is hard to get into (I don’t have to go into too much detail). I have to give it to Kevin, though. He busts his ass to get us gigs and concerts. I need to take a more proactive approach to getting our stuff out there, but working and going to school full time takes a lot of time out of your day. In reality, I just don’t have a solid answer for that question. I think our noise is just as well produced and mastered (if not a little better) than most. Also, some of these bands are also pretty well established, so they have people working around the clock to make sure their stuff gets to the right people.

Chain D.L.K.: Finally, again, the question for your hopes and plans for the future (Soundwave Assassins Vol. 2, P.C.P.)?
Little Sap Dungeon: Kevin: Soundwave Assassins 2 has been getting a decent response from people all over. We look forward to getting more input and hopefully future comps. PCP has consumed my time for the most part these days. I have been draining myself over this and am very proud of what’s become of it so far. The new album will be entitled, “Cross-Cutting in Cold Frames”. This album has some very diverse tracks and additional artists appearing on it. I think that there will be a song on it for everyone. This is definitely some of the best solo work that I’ve ever done. Hope it hits well…. If not…???? Fuck it! I like it and enjoyed doing it.

Chain D.L.K.: Thanks for this interview and keep on with your great stuff!

[interviewed by Marc Tater] [proofreading by Benjamin Pike]