Terminal Death - Shaun Glass

The Chicago scene of the mid '80s was awesome. A lot of thrash/death bands were popping up, such as Solemn, Macabre, Mayhem, Death Strike, Devastation, Terminal Death etc. and it succeeded them in making a name for themselves among the underground tapetraders. Although they were at the right time at the right space, they never got that acknowledgement that they would have deserved, they were overshadowed by the Los Angeles and Bay Area outfits. Bassist Shaun Glass tells us the story of Terminal Death.

So Shaun, do you still remember how and did you start involving in metal and how did your way lead to discover metal?
yeh i think when i got into kiss, ufo that was my my first real start then going to see a local show from Zoetrope before they were signed. that opened my mind to a lot of underground metal/punk etc.
Were you always into small, underground bands or rather into known, established ones? Did you always prefer the raw, wild and brutal sounding bands?
i used to love finding new bands like SACRIFICE, RAW POWER, EXCEL, SODOM etc etc. heavy was my thing. never was the i only love raw,sloppy etc. i did like a few of those bands but i knew what i liked and that was that.
Under which circumstances did you pick up the bass and was it the first instrument that you started playing with? Do you play perhaps other instruments as well?
i began as a drummer but never really stuck with it so then i changed to bass for my first few bands then later changed to guitar as it was my main thing since 1997 to now.
Were you self taught or…? What were your influences to become a bass player?
i took a few lessons to get the basics down. i was really into steve harris, lemmy and cliff burton as a kid.
Being based in Chicago, do you still remember, how did the whole Chicago metal scene start or take shape?
yes it was an amazing era for new metal bands. chicago was a great place for bands to play,seeing megadeth on there first tours,exciter, all who loved our city to death.the club METRO really has a good booker who was putting rare shows in there and helped make the music scene diverse back in the day.
How about the former bands, such as TROUBLE, SLAUTER XSTROYES, WITCHSLAYER, ZOETROPE, WARCRY etc.? Did they put Chicago on the map of the US metal scene?
i would have to say yes more with Zoetrope, Trouble & Mayhem inc.those were the 3 best of the chicago early metal scene. warcry was Never heavy enough to us as kids.
Which clubs did start opening their doors for metal in Chicago? Was a healthy club scene in Chicago?
the metro as i said before also medusa's and a few other places. those were the places to play for touring and local bands. also a small club called snobs and the warehouse did a lot of underground shows
What about your early musical footsteps? What were the bands that you were playing with before you being involved in TERMINAL DEATH?
none T/D was my first band ever.
How and when did TERMINAL DEATH get together exactly? Did the line up consist of John Piotrowski – vocals, Ricky Aguayo and Nick Stevens – guitars, you – bass and Adan Contreras – drums right from the start or did you go thru some line up changes?
1985 i met john @ show. i grew up with RICKY in my neighborhood. and the other guys just sort of fell into place. Ricky me and John were the main core in a sense.it was the only line up ever
What about the musical past of the other members?
none to mention
Was it easy to find the suitable guys for the band? Were all of you dedicated to the underground movement?
of course we lived for it, old school parties. one thing also WE did not do a lot of shows as the band did not last too long. our demo did get a lot of praise and it still is good shit!
What kind of goals did you have with the band? Was it a kind of free time hobby or…?
we just went to metal/hardcore shows. no real goals til i joined with TROY and formed Sindrome
Tell us please about your rehearsals! Did you start writing originals or were you jamming rather on covers?
early on we did some covers. DR KNOW, SLAYER .black magic i think was the first song we ever learned and then we went from there to our own music. the first jamming we did was @ john/vocals parents house in the city then later on we moved to my parents house in the north suburbs.
You released the „Face Of Death” demo in 1985, have you practiced a lot before you decided recording the material? How was it recorded by the way?
well the demo really never had a name.we did jam hard before we went into seagrape studios. the demo was done Live on 2 tracks only.music on one and vocals on the other so not much could be done too it mix wise ha. and i think the songs we did were the only songs we had @ the time, too bad as a few other songs we wrote later on were sick as hell.
How would you describe the demo with your own words? Can you give us details regarding the tape?
it is fuckin raw old school death metal with a weird unique sound.
Do you agree with, that it is basically over-the-top crossover thrash with growled vocals?sure
i would be fine with that, it was very Raw
Do the tracks display wild Slayer-esque soloing, bolstered with furious hardcore frenzy?
yes we loved early Slayer. also Possessed was a fave and early Death and Voivod were mine
Do you think, that this demo is one of the earliest examples of what would later be known as death metal and the music can be compared to the better-known death metal pioneers Possessed, Death etc.?
for sure it was 1985! we were not following some trend we lived for it.
Do you consider the demo more complex and elaborate than Master, Sepultura and early Death?
i dont know but i think Master/Death Strike demos were lethal. shame the band never topped there original line up era. as for sepultura i was never a fan til schizophrenia. i thought morbid visions sucked ass.
How much promotion did you make for the demo? How did it find its way into the tapetrading scene?
we gave out ALOT of copies. we never made pro versions just word of mouth. we mailed out a lot to fanzines etc etc.the usual old school way.
Was it also shopped around to attract labels interests?
never we fell apart to soon before any labels really would of heard of our band
Did the demo help you getting fans for the band and introducing the band in the underground scene?
yes for sure i think so. we worked hard but again we were not around too long to really make a name
Would you say, that a lot of thrash/death bands started taking their wings in Chicago at this point, such DEVASTATION, SOLEMN, MACABRE, MAYHEM etc.? Were you familiar with them?
solemn wow they never really did show but i knew ED from his cool artwork.more than his music. devastation and us were very close. Mayhem inc and us were also very tight.one of the best bands in our scene
Was a good, friendly releationship among those bands? Did you share rehearsal places with each other, were you hanging in clubs, concerts together, lending instruments for each other etc.?
we all got along fairly well. we all did a lot of cool partying then!
In December 1985 (12/11/1985) you released a rehearsal tape (the demo plus 3 songs), does it mean, that „Intermission”, „Dying In The War” and „Chained To The Abyss” were new tracks and they were written after the recording sessions of the demo?
yes they were DYING IN THE WAR was our punk song which i actually sang vocals on haha, CHAINED TO THE ABYSS was a cool more technical song. had a very Possessed influence on it. shame that we never did record them proper.
„Dying In The War” was sung by you, how did it happen?
that 85 practice tape was never meant for anything but friends to have. it is 100 % live from my parents basement. yes i did Scream the vocals to DYING IN THE WAR. the song was more punk and a FUCK YOU vibe
Was this demo distributed, promoted too or did you record the tape to check out how the new songs sound?
we never made any pro copies of our demo it was all tape trading from duplications we or fans were making. the only recording of the newer songs were live recordings, nothing pro.
Were there any labels that started showing an interest in the band at all? Did you have any plans regarding to record a full length material?
nope we split up so fast and i began SINDROME w/Troy who parted with Devastation.
Did you start writing new material for a forthcoming album? Did you have more material written besides the tracks of the demo?
No
At which point and why did the band dissolve? What kind of reasons did lead to the demise of the band?
it was odd i still do not know why we broke up. i think we all were changing and some of the guys in the band did not want to be so serious and pro. which is kind of obvious as none of them really went into any serious metal bands once Terminal Death split up