Exclusive Interview: 20 Questions with James Oliver from Sadistic Force!

Taking influences from the New Wave Of Black Heavy Metal and the early days of Thrash, Austin Texas trio Sadistic Force burned down the barn with their debut album “Aces Wild” in October. Having introduced themselves with a pair of sharp shooting EPs in “Pain, Sex & Rapture” and “Black Moon Sadism“, they had established a sound that they described as Black ‘n Roll, but the album takes it to a whole new level. We asked guitarist and vocalist James Oliver 20 Questions and this is what he had to say…

1. What’s your poison? “Strychnine baby! And by that I refer to the 1988 song “Turn the Power On” by New York heavy metal band Stryctnyne!”

2. What’s your habit? “I certainly have of many of them! One thing I am in the habit of doing is listening to podcasts when I take a shower. I have a little shelf by the shower where I put my phone. I recently got up to date on The Motörcast”

3. As a band what was your highlight of 2021? “There was a real exciting couple of days where we dropped the album and the next day dropped a music video and then played a fantastic album release show. We headlined on a Saturday night and the response from the crowd was great!”

4. What are you looking forward to most in 2022? “Probably the release of our upcoming split with Hellrot! We also have a bunch of pretty exciting shows planned!”

5. How intense are your band rehearsals? “Oh it can get pretty serious. The room is pretty small and crowded and we demand perfection!”

6. Diner, Drive Thru or Dive bar, where’s your favorite place to eat? “We played a Halloween show at a bar down the street from where I live that has good food and they gave us a ticket for a free meal! That was pretty rad. Many of the dive bars in Austin serve noteworthy food”

7. Did you make any and have you broken any new year’s resolutions as yet? “I didn’t really make any. I guess my resolution is to reach more listeners with the band!”

8. When times get rough, what are you screaming along to on your headset? ““Miserable Failure” by Iron Reagan is not a bad option for this situation. I’m also partial to “Fuel for Hatred” by Satyricon”

9. Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust mastered your EP “Blood Moon Sadism” and Noah Buchanan at Mercinary Studios in Avon Ohio dis so for your debut album “Aces Wild“. If they went the distance in a bare knuckle boxing match, who wins? “I don’t really want to make take an official stance on that haha. I’ve seen Toxic Holocaust live and Joel seemed to be pretty tall which would provide reach and I’ve seen on Noah’s social media that goes to the gym so he has that going on. I’m sure it would be an absolute bloodbath”

10. If life is a box of chocolates, which one are you eating first? “The chocolate log”

11. Forget pre-gig rituals, do you have any post-gig rituals? “After we leave the gig I generally eat some kind of post-show meal and then count the money from the merch sales”

12. What has been the strangest moment Saditic Force have experienced? “Nothing yet! We’ll have to get out on the road and get into some rural areas where the strangeness awaits!”

13. If drummer and backing vocalist Jose Alcaraz wanted to leave the sticks behind and just scream for the shows, who would you pick to grace the drum stool in his absence? “The guy from the YouTube video “this drummer is at the wrong gig” for sure”

14. If you could go back 5 years and give a nugget of knowledge to your younger self, what would you say? “Play more guitar!”

15. Pizza and beer is a sensational award winning combination so what are your favorites? “I used to be a fan of BBQ chicken pizza but these days I might go for a meat lovers. The official beer of Sadistic Force would probably have to be Lone Star”

16. If someone asks you what Metal is, what would you say? “Heavy Metal is the Law!”

17. As a band who knows the scene and has played with a lot of other bands in all genres of Metal, who would you predict a bright future for? “Inhuman Nature”

18. What’s your favorite venue to play? “At this point we haven’t played too many places more than once besides Faust Tavern in San Antonio where we have had our rowdiest shows. It’s super small with no stage and the shows are free. My goal is to play more venues that have parking lots!”

19. What would mean more to you as a band, a huge one off festival appearance at Bloodstock (United Kingdom), Wacken (Germany) or Hellfest (France) or a 20 date European tour supporting opening for a band like Vader or Exodus? “I’m sure doing either of those things would be a huge opportunity for us but I think I would take the tour!”

20. Who would you thank in your Grammy Award winning speech? “I would actually do the opposite and ramble off a long list of people that can F*** OFF!”

“Aces Wild” by Sadistic Force is out now and available over at bandcamp