Sauron is a 3-piece Blackened Thrash band from Michigan, U.S.A. Having released a rehearsal tape and a demo they plan to unleash a full-length album called "Thrash Assault" some time soon.

First of all, could you please tell me how Sauron came to be, who's who in the band and where do you guys hail from?

I originally met Victor in fall/winter of 2000 when I tried out for another band he is in called Hammer Head. They were looking for a vocalist at the time, but their sound was more of a melodic power/thrash, and my voice didn't fit too well. We all became good friends, however, and when Victor decided that he wanted to start an old school Thrash Metal band, I jumped at the opportunity. Victor plays drums in Hammer Head and he was getting kind of frustrated because he is really more of a guitarist and he didn't feel that he was able to do enough writing in Hammer Head as a drummer, and he also wanted a band that played his favorite style of music, raw old school thrash.

So I signed on as a bassist/vocalist, though when we write songs together we usually both jam on guitar. The two of us put out a bunch of flyers looking for a drummer and second guitarist and started writing songs. We had a lot of trouble finding other members to play with, especially people who are into this kind of music, but we knew this guy Mike Hudson who played in a local band called Somber. Somber was a huge part of the scene in Michigan at the time, but after about a five year existence they broke up and we were able to snag Mike as drummer.

We have been unable to find a second guitarist who has the ability to play with us as well as the love for old school Thrash and Black Metal that we all have, so we decided to continue on as a three piece, which suits us just fine. Many of the best bands out there are power trios (Venom, Destruction, Sodom, etc.). We all live in Michigan, and we practice out in Lansing, where Mike lives.

Your name is obviously from Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Are any of your songs inspired by it too?

Yeah, we are all huge fans of The Lord of the Rings, it's something that I have loved since I was a small child. When we were deciding on a band name it seemed obvious that we should use the name of the coolest, most evil character of all time, Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. We have a couple of songs inspired by Tolkien's writing, "Witch King" which is about the Witch King of Angmar, leader of the Nazgul; and "Dark Lord" which is about Sauron the Dark Lord himself. Other songs such as "Prepare to Die" and "Thrash Assault" have references to Tolkien's writings as well. Many more will be written in the future, as it is a subject that inspires us a great deal.

How would you describe the music that your band plays?

RAW FUCKING THRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could you name bands/musicians that influence you? And the other bands members?

I think probably our biggest influences, as a band, for all of us, are Kreator, Destruction, Exodus, Sodom, Venom, Darkthrone, Dark Angel, Aura Noir, Bathory, Burzum, Overkill, old Megadeth, Celtic Frost, Motorhead, Slayer, and old Metallica. There are many other bands that influence us, too many to list, but these are the main ones.

When did you get interested in metal and playing the bass?

I first got interested in metal when I was introduced to Metallica at the age of 14. I had been playing guitar since I was 13 but was mostly into Rock and Blues stuff such as Aerosmith and AC/DC. Once I got into Metallica I started getting into more and more underground stuff, probably starting with Manowar then getting into bands like Venom, Morbid Angel, Mayhem, etc. I tried starting bands unsuccessfully all throughout my teenage years, but was unable to find serious people who were into real Metal. I bought a bass when I was 18 or so because I was getting fed up with people and figured it would be one less thing I would have to rely on other people for. About a year later I met Victor, and the rest fell into place easily.

What's your opinion on the nowadays abominations of metal such as nu-metal acts?

I try not to waste my time thinking about such things. Mainstream music is almost always shitty, and although it is irritating in the extreme that they call this shit metal, I realize that most people know nothing about real music, because they have no passion for it. They just want something that is catchy and they can sing along to without thinking. Their music is not for me, and my music is not for them.

What about the true metal these days? Is it as good as it was in the 80's?

I think there will always be good bands and shitty bands. I think a lot of music today lacks originality and just rips off the sound of the bands back in the 80s, but I also think that many bands back then did the same thing. Only a few bands really came up with something new even back then, the rest are just imitators. That doesn't mean it can't be good music though. For example I am a huge fan of Exhumed and Impaled, but neither of those bands are really doing anything that Carcass didn't do ten years ago. Similar things can be said about Aura Noir, and Sauron as well. It doesn't bother me, I love the music and that is what is important.

I also think there are some great things going on nowadays in Black Metal, especially in the U.S. and Canada. Bands like Revenge, Krieg, Morbosidad, Summon, Godless North and Black Witchery are breathing new life into a music that many call dead. Metal forever!

How did you manage to open for the mighty Kreator and Destruction? Please do tell about the whole experience.

Well, here in Michigan there is a bar called Harpo's that is located in a shitty part of Detroit. Many good bands play there because it is a huge bar and there aren't very many good places to play. They will let pretty much any local band open for any show they have there, as long as the band sells tickets. Generally this means that any show you see there you can expect 4-8 shitty local openers to play, and maybe if you are lucky one or two of them will be good. Generally we try to avoid this because we hate selling tickets and Harpo's generally treats the bands like shit, but for the chance to open for Kreator and Destruction we were willing to do it.

We ended up being the only one of four local bands that sold all of our tickets, so we got to play last out of the local bands and right before the nationals (December, Cephalic Carnage, Destruction, and Kreator played after us). It was really cool to share a stage with some of our favorite bands, and we got to meet Schmier from Destruction and most of the guys in Kreator; but it still kind of sucked because we ended up having to sell 100 tickets and we only got enough time to play four songs. Also we didn't get any money for our efforts, so we probably will not play there again. Still, it was a blast.

I found out about Sauron through message boards and recieving your rehearsal tape "Unholy Invasion Of Thrash". I'm wondering how big your following is? Is the fanbase large in your hometown? World wide?

We can usually draw a decent bar crowd in Michigan, but our following is not really that big. Hopefully more people will find out about us through message boards and stuff, and get our demo tape. Also we are trying to get some shows in Canada and Illinois soon.

How does the band feel about commercialization? Will we ever see Sauron music videos on T.V? Haha :-P

Hah. Personally I don't care about commercialization. If people like my music it is nice, but if they don't then they can fuck off and I don't care. Sauron makes music because we want to, we don't make it for the fans or anything like that. I think it's the only way music can be honest. As far as music videos go... we would definitely enjoy making one, and we have talked about it, but we really don't have the option as we are on kind of a tight budget. Realistically, no Sauron video will ever be played on T.V. Our music is just too good to be mainstream.

What can one expect from your upcoming debut album? Will it be as raw as your demos/rehearsal?

The debut album will hopefully have a little better production than the "Unholy Invasion of Thrash" rehearsal tape, but expect from it what you can expect from any Sauron release... Raw, uncompromising, THRASH FUCKING METAL!

Which record label is going to be releasing it?

We haven't gotten any deals yet; a couple of small labels have expressed interest, but we haven't really been looking for a deal or anything yet. Maybe we will release it on a label, maybe we will release it ourself. Only time will tell.

That's it...for now! Thank you and best of luck to you and the rest of Sauron!

Thank you for your support! Stay Metal!