Interview with Len MK (Pestilectomy)

1. How have you been? 

Not good at all, it’s been a very shit year so far with multiple deaths of people I loved very much, but I’d rather not discuss it. I’m just glad to speak to an enjoyer of Pestilectomy as we love the chance to do this the most. 

2. What are you currently listening to that you would recommend? 

Theurgy, Smokedope2016, Final Resting Place, Xaviersobased, The Garden, Full Body 2, Thaiboy Digital, Vampirska, Këkht Aräkh, Hi-C, Brawl Between Enemies, Disentomb, Relics of Humanity. Most mentioned has dropped, or are about to drop, very good releases that I can’t hype enough, so much good music coming lately. 

3. You recently released your new EP. How has the reception been and how do you feel about it now after some time? 

It’s the best the band has done yet.

4. What are your musical plans for the future and when can we expect new Pestilectomy music? 

No plans for the future as Pestilectomy is over. At least now we are. We may come back someday, but all of us knew we had to split up after this release. However, Pestilectomy will always be special to me, so who knows what the future holds. 

5. Damn, I had no idea you guys had split up. What happened? Is there any chance you might get back together?

I wish I could talk about that, but there's a lot of bullshit involved in Pestilectomy's break up that is not worth mentioning, so I'll have to disappoint you. The band could return at some point, but not any time soon. I'm just happy we ended on a musical high note with our absolute best release yet! STAER took almost 2 straight years of optimization and rewriting demos, so if nobody reading this has heard that EP yet, they really are missing out. I miss the band, especially since we were able to deliver 4 absolutely godlike songs at the end of its lifespan. But right now, I'm just focusing on doing production in my home studio. I want to start a grindcore band, it would be so fun to play some shows.

6. What is your favorite piece of art you have produced that has a special place in your heart? 

Probably all the compositions I‘ve done as Yen Vermilion, the lyrics I write in that are most meaningful to me. 

7. Can you tell us a fun fact related to your music that we may not know? 

There’s an unused intro track that we did for From Vulnerable to Funeal that didn’t make the final cut. It may still be in our archives somehere. 

8. What is the craziest shit that ever happened to you related to the band? 

Our name was originally Pestilent and a bodybuilding merch company tried to sue us for having the same name as his business. He never even contacted us, but instead he harassed our fans for wearing Pestilent merch. It was so bizarre. And I’m not going to lie, we did kind of mouth off a bit and make fun of them because we were really young and cocky especially since we didn’t take too kindly to him threatening to sue kids on Instagram for wearing our shirts. Eventually we did change the name because a label that issued merch for us couldn’t even access social media anymore because he got sued by bro just for selling Pestilent shirts. The situation was actually crazy, I remember the label guy was literally having to send messages to me through a middle man via his (the middle man’s) email account just to talk to me. It was at that point I realized how serious the situation was, so me and the others decided to change the name by that point. 

9. You had some merch directly based off of a grizzly gore video that was circulating the internet. Could you elaborate on the backstory?

Yes, a few years ago we conceptualizd a shirt be made that was inspired by a real gore video where a Mexican cartel is brutally torturing a man. The video in question is called "Funkytown", which is commonly said to be one of the most gruesome & barbaric torture/gore videos around. When I was a teenage student I watched a lot of shock and gore videos, but during covid lockdown when I got really bored, I guess my interest reactivated in them due to viewing gore video review channels like Plagued Moth, Ayy It's Jay or Badhouse. A lot of them either quit or got banned off the platform, which is unfortunate. We sent the Funkytown video to Indonesian artist Aziz Blackstory - but warned him of course and told him what the video contained - after viewing he said he was very shaken up about it, haha. But he was a champ, he made the most gruesome & detailed piece we've ever had on merchandise. Our hat goes off to him for traumatizing himself for some absolutely killer art, haha. 

10. What are your five desert island picks? 

I only need one: North Sentinel Island. Maybe we can play a show there someday and we can get through one song shortly before its inhabitants shoot an arrow through my temple.

Seriously, though, my picks would be:

• Three 6 Mafia – Mystic Stylez

• Dystopia – Human = Garbage 

• Funeral for a Friend – Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation 

• Gorefest – Mindloss

• Ken Carson – A Great Chaos

• Salem - King Night

11. What is your favorite slam intro/sample?

Probably the intro to Molesting the Decapitated - one of my favorite albums of all time, personally. 

12. Dream tour line-up and destination? 

Abominable Putridity being a touring band would be the biggest dream ever. But if I had to choose just any band at all, regardless of genre, I’d say Linkin Park because I’ve loved them since I was a little kid. And for destination, central europe – central Asia.

13. Alien invasion or zombie apocalypse? 

I’m from Nevada, so I’ll go with aliens. An alien invasion would probably feel more indigenous. 

14. If you have anything else you’d like to add, feel free to. 

If your drink too cold don't put ice in it to be more cold.

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A big thank you to Len for doing the interview and giving us such interesting answers.
Be sure to follow all his bands' social media linked below.

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