Interview & Photos by Brian McLean
No Longer an Endangered Species
An Interview with Gammacide founder Rick Perry
When supporters of the Dallas, Texas underground metal scene reflect back some twenty years or so ago, several bands normally come to mind. In those bands, there were individuals that were leaders, doers and sayers in the scene and the followers were the avid and rabid fans.
There was Walter Trachsler who founded Rotting Corpse along with fellow Pantera roadie Jim Mulqueen.
Add to the mix John Perez who was also an original member of Rotting Corpse but changed direction into a doomier mode of music and founded Solitude Aeturnus.
There was an unruly bassist named Casey Orr who was an original member of Rigor Mortis, the first metal band to ink the major label record contract from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
And then there was an early 20 something guitarist named Rick Perry who was part of a four man metal outfit called Warlock with an early version consisting of future Rigor Mortis members, drummer Hardin Harrison and Orr.
Even though Perry wasn’t an original member of Warlock and was brought on board by Orr and Harrison in the band’s embryonic stages, he was the backbone of the band that kept it going after Harrison and Orr departed and formed the three man version of Rigor Mortis.
It wasn’t uncommon to see Warlock playing an all ages or 17 and up shows at venues like Joes Garage, Rascals, the Circle A Ranch or the Tombstone Factory, a cinder block structure that lacked any form of central air conditioning.
Along with Rigor Mortis, Warlock can be credited with being part of the first metal show at the Circle A Ranch, an all ages punk / skinhead club that was located on Commerce towards the eastern edge of downtown Dallas.
Warlock, Rigor Mortis, Rotting Corpse and other leaders of the Dallas underground would return several times individually over the next year or so to play shows at the three level brick building.
Eventually Warlock ran its course as a one of the better known and self promoted underground metal bands in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
With the final chapter written for Warlock, Perry and bassist Eric Roy gravitated towards a more thrash direction and formed Gammacide in late 1986.
During the band’s five-year tenure, Gammacide released two demo cassettes, one in 1987 and the second in 1991, and one full-length album in 1990 titled Victims of Science through Wild Rags Records under a one-album deal.
The first demo and the album received favorable reviews from the worldwide metal media community. It didn’t matter if the praises appeared in a major metal publication or a fanzine created independently, the praises were always positive.
The second demo was geared more towards generating label interest and really wasn’t made readily available like the first. But with a little networking and talking to the right individuals, a copy could be obtained.
According to Perry, Wild Rags had the rights to manufacture and sell VoS on vinyl and cassette formats for seven or eight years. It was at the time when compact discs were still in their toddler years of technology.
Perry said he asked Wild Rags to release VoS on CD but the label didn’t show much interest even though several of the later Wild Rags releases were made available on compact discs.
As for VoS finally seeing the light of day on disc, Perry said, “It was something I always wanted to do for a number of reasons. First of all, it was out of print and no one could get it, unless they bought a bootleg over the Internet. Secondly, the quality of the original release was poor and it did not do justice to the material.”
Perry said Wild Rags had been out of business for years and no one really knew how to get in touch with main person. Perry sent a registered letter with his intentions of releasing VoS on disc but the letter was later returned.
The main factor that pushed Perry to release the disc version of VoS is when he created www.gammacide.com. Once the site was up and running it was the 1980’s revisited just with an electronic twist.
“I started getting emails from all over the world. People started inquiring about Victims of Science so I knew it was only a matter of time. A couple of small labels wanted to reissue it, but I figured I would just do it myself and make sure it turned out the way I wanted it.”
And from the final results of the VoS reissue on disc, Perry did an outstanding job. Along with the original album cover photographed at a highway construction site in east Fort Worth, the back consists of the same original live shots.
It was actually Perry who was standing and drummer Jamey Milford in borrowed camouflaged attire and gas masks on the album cover.
Perry has fond memories of the photo session shot by his roommate Stewart Taylor, who was also photographing for Metal Forces magazine at the time, but it didn’t take long for the police to show up and inquire as to what was going on.
As Perry recalled, the whole session was causing a distraction to passing drivers. There’s even a photo of Perry and Milford unmasked speaking with the responding officer who instructed everyone to vacate.
As for the atmosphere of the front cover, Perry wanted a radiated polluted look.
Perry said that was accomplished by the printer swapping red and blue in the color separations during the printing process, thus the odd colors on the album cover.
The insert contains lyrics for all 15 tracks with a small portion towards the back dedicated to bassist Eric Roy who lost his life in 2001. Roy was the bassist from Warlock that followed Perry and formed Gammacide.
As expected, Perry kept the original nine songs from the album as well as the four songs from the second demo and then two unreleased songs, “Against the Grain” and “Vapor Lock,” which were recorded earlier in the year but written in 1992 before Gammacide called it quits.
The sound quality of the disc is much better than the original release on vinyl. It’s been cleaned up and a punch or two has been added. There is a noticeable difference.
The response to the release has been more than what Perry expected. He originally pressed 1000 on the initial first run but with half the responses coming from countries like Sweden, France, Germany, England, Ukraine, Australia as well as the China and Japan, Perry may have to place an order for another run.
“Gammacide will end up selling way more in Europe than the U.S. Metal is stronger there and seems to be less affected by trends. Real Metal Distro will be distributing Gammacide in Europe, and Marquee Records will distribute Gammacide in South America and Japan. In the states it will be mostly through www.gammacide.com and other companies like Brainticket.”
Perry originally was just going to put out the Gammacide CD and not play any live shows, but from the response Rotting Corpse was receiving, his mind was changed in one night.
“I went and saw them [Rotting Corpse] and got inspired. Then I found out Rigor Mortis was doing the same thing so the timing was right. Literally I was standing around at the Rotting Corpse show with Bruce [Corbitt] from Rigor Mortis and we said 'wouldn’t it be cool if…' and 5 or 6 months later, it happened.”
The “what if” that Perry was pondering in May at the Rotting Corpse show along with Corbitt from Rigor Mortis actually materialized five months later when Rigor Mortis, Gammacide and Rotting Corpse were all billed on the same show together. The show fell on the last Saturday in October, two nights before Halloween at the Axis Club in Fort Worth.
The three bands have shared billing with each of the others but the three bands have never play together on the same bill until that last Saturday in October.
It was show Perry was looking forward to, “We’ve done a few gigs already and we should be warmed up and ready to kill.”
And kill is what Gammacide did as a main support.
Rigor Mortis may have been the headliners but the command of the stage was in the Gammacide corner. All the elements for an incredible set were present when Gammacide was on the stage.
Several days prior to the show Perry said, “I am totally blown away by the positive reaction we’ve received. We are getting better reviews now than ever before. Maybe it’s part nostalgia.”
He’s not sure what it is but feels the timing for Gammacide is right.
“A lot of the people are older fans who had the vinyl and want it on CD.”
While Perry was working the merchandise table for Gammacide at the Axis show, he moved 30 plus CDs and a decent number of shirts that feature the original logo after the Gammacide set.
And while Rigor Mortis was on stage, Perry continued to move product. It’s just the way the band can cover expenses.
“We’re not making any money off these shows, in fact we’ll probably barely break even. It’s just a present to the die-hards who are still interested in this band and this era in Texas underground music.”