When did you serve and what was your job in the military?
I went to Basic Training in July, 2005. I am still pounding sand and kicking ass to this day with nearly seven years, time in service. My job is 19D, Cavalry Scout. It’s a combat arms Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) designed around reconnaissance, but in my deployments I have done a traditional infantry role kicking in doors and whatnot. As for my rank I am currently a Staff Sergeant (E6) and my current duty position is Section Sergeant, which is being in control of half a Platoon basically. I will soon leave to attend Drill Sergeant School for my next assignment.
Where and when did you go?
I spent 2 years in Korea, up by the DMZ. I trained all over the US doing Airborne School, Master Gunner School and some other training. I am currently stationed at Ft. Riley, KS, though I am leaving there soon. While at Ft. Riley I was deployed two times to Baghdad, Iraq for two year-long tours. While in Iraq my unit was in control of basically all the battle space west of the Tigris river in Baghdad.
Which came first, your interest in metal, or joining the military?
I’ve been into metal since I was probably 5 years old. My brothers were big into DRI, Slayer, old Metallica, SOD, Iron Maiden etc. I have been doing this shit for life.
I know you’re active in Cobalt since you’ve been in the military. The military is more than a full time job – how do you figure in writing, practicing and recording?
It’s a huge pain in the ass honestly. Erik and I collaborate through phone/email and we record our parts usually separately. In the early days, before the Army, we did the normal band thing and practiced together all the time etc. Now we write, bounce ideas off each other and I trust that we will make unique music based off our diverse personalities.
The metal that you play and are interested in is pretty far from what the mainstream considers heavy metal. Were your peers and superiors aware of your interest and that you were involved in a metal band? What were their opinions?
I don’t go around pushing my band on people. I don’t like the attention and it’s distracting from my professional duties as a leader. There are people who know about Cobalt in my Chain of Command and they’re cool with it. They like to ask questions and ask if they can get CDs for free, ha ha. There have been a few guys who have recognized me from Cobalt in the Army and it’s cool to shoot the shit with them about music, but I don’t let it get in the way of my role as a leader. They are not my friends, they are my subordinates and my role is to train and mentor them.
The military is pretty conservative both politically and religiously. Did you ever experience any backlash?
I am politically and religiously offensive in many ways so it’s nothing new for me. Their insistence on relying on a fairy tale for moral support is not my fucking problem. I’ve dealt with bullshit religious politics in the Army just like everyone else and I’ve stood my ground. I don’t let it get unprofessional but I won’t pander to that shit either. As for politics, I keep my mouth shut for the most part because people are too stupid in general to see what’s right in front of their faces. I believe in the overman and the underman, period. Want to know my politics? Read Nietzsche.
How has the metal community responded to your military background?
I have gotten lots of support from good people, some of it seems fake to be honest. I think some people feel compelled to say thank you over and over. I don’t need it. I am a lion doing lion’s work in service to myself, paralleling the aims and traditions of the mighty US Army. There have also been some pussy ‘metal heads’ calling us baby killer music etc. Those losers can drink their cruelty free coffee, wear hemp underwear and ironic tee shirts and get the fuck out.
How did your time in the military and/or deployments affect (or not affect) your writing?
It’s put a serious damper on it. Plus I have a family and kids now too, so it’s hard to make the time. The thing with Cobalt is that it will endure no matter what. We don’t rush to make stupid albums for the sake of making a new album. We will be patient and we will consistently make amazing albums.
Many people in bands are also involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. What is your opinion on that?
Flies in the marketplace. Fuck them. Cobalt has nothing to do with that weed smoking unemployed hipster trash.
What is next for your band?
Aggressive invasion of defenseless countries with a bloodbath of cruel indifference. And maybe a new album later this year.
Interesting interview and I am a fan of Cobalt, but his military machismo rings hollow. His opinions on occupy wall street are equally asinine.
Yeah… this interview brings me down on cobalt.
One of the more interesting interviews I’ve read in a while. Honest and refreshing. Getting people to cry into their cruelty free coffee is icing on the cake!
J, I think you mean his factual statement regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement. I see a bunch of people complaining about a lack of jobs and money who aren’t willing to bust their ass to make something of themselves. I guarantee most of those people didn’t have jobs. Otherwise, they would have been fired for not showing up to work. They are a bunch of kids who still live off of Mom and Dad. How many people out there have even a single trade under their belt? Most of those people went to school thinking they were going to graduate and not get their hands dirty. That’s not the real world. The real world doesn’t hand you shit, you have to take it.
who knew someone that ate hemingway’s shit trail into Iraq would be a loving servant of the warsmen? Fucks sake. frag this guy already and spare us another colbalt album (black metal, but without all that black metal)
I agree with Beaver – Hemingway would be rotating in his grave when reading this crap. Normally I don’t care what musicians do besides their music – and war and everything going with it has always been a part of Black Metal (although I think the better bands are always the ones not dealing with that shit). But the saddest fact for me is, that McSorley shows that he is one of million people that misinterprete Nietzsche in a disastrous way. Nietzsche himself never did claim any of his theories as political, instead he hated politics – if McSorley would truely have read him as he claims, he would have known this. The ubermensch is only a theoretical construct – a kind of ideal, anyone should reach to be a better man. When McFarley writes about the untermensch, he proves that he has not the glimpse of an idea about Nietzsche, ’cause Nietzsche only used this term once recurring to non-human creatures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch McSorley’s way to read Nietzsche is the one the Nazis established by strongly misinterpreting his work to make it fit into their own bullshit views. that lead to nowaday’s opinion Nietzsche was a nazi, which is definitely wrong. Hopefully erik Wunder is not into this bullshit too.