The Agathocles are less of a band than they are an institution. They have a discography that is beyond expansive and daunting. It is the textbook example of when fans say "I don't know where to start." But aside from the size of their discography, Agathocles is much more important for their political grindcore that has been staunchly committed to supporting and bringing attention to animal rights issues, political and social justice, and environmental causes since their inception.

They also have remained steadfastly committed to DIY ethics throughout their entire career, even during the late 1980s and early 1990s when grind became commercialized and saw many bands jump at the chance to sign to bigger labels (with major label distribution), mainstream press, and whatever other "opportunities" they could get. With that in mind, Agathocles probably don't get the credit they deserve for eschewing such dangling carrots and remaining anti-commercial.

We thought it was time to give Agathocles some recognition for that, and founding member Jan AG was willing to give this interview regarding the first Agathocles LP which was a split with England's Drudge released by Deaf Records in 1990 (recorded 1989). Jan gave excellent replies with some great detail here and reminisced about how AG came to the attention of Deaf Records, recording for the split, and some other funny tidbits.

All photos from the collection of Jan AG.

NI: Who ran Deaf Records and how was it connected to Peaceville?

Jan AG: It was ran by Johny, that was the person I was in touch with. And he was also friends with Drudge. Johny was also friends with Hammy from Peaceville and had some deal with him to press vinyl through him, or something like that.

NI: How did you get in touch with Deaf?

Jan AG: Too be honest, I really can't remember exactly. It's quite possible that Johny heard the "Cabbalic Gnosticism" demo from Phil from Extreme Noise Terror because I gave Phil some copies of that demo when we played with ENT in Mol, Belgium in February 1988. Or it also could be that Johny got hold of a copy of the AG/Riek Boois split 7". Anyhow, he wrote me a letter after hearing some of this early stuff. And I think Johny also had something to do with Acid Rain Records, who released the first Sore Throat 7" "Death To Capitalist Hardcore," because in 1988, I traded many copies of this 7" with him. And if I recall well, the first idea was to release a full AG 7" on Deaf records, not a 12".

NI: Had you been writing and tape trading with Hammy from Peaceville at this point?

Jan AG: I was never in contact with Hammy, I was only in contact with Johny from Deaf Records. Yes, I did some vinyl trading with him, for our distros, but not much tapes.

NI: Were you writing a lot to bands like Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Repulsion, and other early grind acts at this time? Can you talk about the feeling of excitement that was going on internationally?

Jan AG: Writing letters and trading tapes was the way to get to know exciting bands and to spread your own noise all over the world. Lovely days. Yes, I was trading tapes with Mick Harris from Napalm Death and also with Oscar from Terrorizer/Nausea/Majesty. I was never in contact with anyone of the Repulsion-crew, but got heaps of great sounding rehearsal tapes of them, when they were rehearsing for their amazing "Slaughter OfThe Innocent" demo, later released as "Horrified" album. I got those by tape trading with people who were close to them.

*Agathocles and Drudge split LP master tapes for Deaf Records*

NI: Where were Drudge from? How did you get to know them?

Jan AG: Drudge were from England, I think from the Leeds area, I am not really sure. I did not know them; I only got to know them from Johny, when he sent me a tape of them. I totally loved them. Killer raw grind/punk in the finest 1980s UK-tradition. After Johny sent me their tape, I started to write with their singer. This penpal relationship lead to the Drudge/Agathocles minitour in Belgium and Holland at the end of 1989. Brillant days. I think I still have some Drudge and Agathocles recordings from this tour. Raw minimalist grind/punk by both bands.

NI: Did you select them for the split or did Deaf Records?

Jan AG: No, Johny suggested this band. In fact, the first plan was to make a full Agathocles 7", then it changed to an Agathocles/Mutilations And Death split 12", but when Johny heard the original recordings of both bands (which were done in 1988 already), he wanted AG to re-record and he did not want Mutilations And Death (also from Belgium, killer raw grind) on the other side. He disliked the recordings because they were too raw, too chaotic, tool oud and too noisy, hahahaha. I love those original recordings, hahaha. Anyway, so AG recorded again, in May 1989 and the other band became Drudge. I guess the LP was released end 1989/early 1990. Funny story: all AG-members drove on their bicycles to the recording studio in Mol, the town where we all lived back then. Carrying our guitars and stuff on our bikes… We ended up in that studio in Mol, after having called all the cheaper studios around and being refused there because we only had 80 US dollar to spend on recording. They all refused us because of lack of money… So I said "Fuck, I will give a try at that expensive (and really famous) studio," expecting to be refused again. The guy of the studio (married to a famous Flemish singer) picked up the phone and I explained our situation. He was listening and then asked what kind of music we played. I said "We hate music, we make noise," hahahaha. He was very intrigued and said to my surprise "Hey guys, you can come over and record for four hours," hahaha. So we did. We learnt him as a very nice person. But he was not very happy after the recordings we had done because the bassy grindcore/noise we made had detuned this expensive grand piano which he had in his studio, hahahaha. He had to retune it by an expert, and that costed more than the 80 bucks we paid him, hahahaha.

NI: What was the reaction to this release? Did it get positive reviews?

Jan AG: Not really, hahaha, the guy of the studio hated it. Many people disliked the album and also the reviews were very bad, hahaha. One Belgian "alternative music" zine wrote something like the following: "What the hell is this? Is this music? The whole record sounds like a broken vacuum cleaner with distortion put on it." Hahaha, pure poetry, this review. I love it. But of course there were a bunch of crazy people out there who really enjoyed the album. Also I remember Johny telling me that it was a strange thing that the LP sold the most in Greece. From Greece, there was the biggest demand/sales for the LP. My theory about this is that it had to do with the first full LP of Greek punk band Anti Drasi being released at the same time. The crazy noise punks of Anti Drasi had similar guitar sound as Agathocles side of the AG/Drudge split LP. And Anti Drasi were big in Greece… Killer band and they are still playing. They are old friends and from time to time, I am still in touch with Spiros from Anti Drasi. Here's their LP I am talking about, a masterpiece.

NI: Can you recall how many were pressed in total?

Jan AG: As far as I know, Deaf Records pressed 2500 copies of this split 12" LP. I heard that also some cassette-versions were done by Deaf Records, but I have never seen one. If someone has a spare copy, please send me, hahahaha.

NI: After the split LP, did Peaceville or Deaf ever discuss or offer future releases?

Jan AG: No, they never asked again… I guess we did not sell enough and all was too noisy and too chaotic, hahaha. I guess not much later, Deaf Records also stopped and Peaceville was concentrating more on metal bands, not noisy grind/punk bands.

NI: As grindcore was getting increasingly popular at this time, bands like Napalm Death, Carcass, and others left the DIY part of punk for a more commercial direction. Did you ever consider or have opportunities to go in this direction, and what were your feelings on grind getting away from its DIY roots?

Jan AG: Grindcore was becoming "bigger" around 1990 and indeed, more mainstream/commercial labels found the way to more metal-orientated grindcore or metal bands who suddenly began to play faster and called it "grindcore," hahaha. No, it never crossed my mind to jump on that hype and go for mainstream distribution/recordlabels/festivals. It was just not my thing. I grew up when grindcore was PUNK… I mean, the roots of grind are definitely hardcore/punk roots, coming from bands like Cyanamid, Lärm, Ruido de Rabia, Rapt, Brigada Do Odio, Chaotic Noise, Wretched… Of course blended with old skool raw metal like Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Deathstrike, early Bathory… I would not feel comfortable in such a "scene" where sales, exclusivity contracts, managers, big audiences and competition are important. That just does not feel right for us, being a "protest punk" band.

NI: In retrospect, are you pleased with the direction you took? Do you think staying DIY has given you more credibility in the long run?

Jan AG: We never had to choose for a direction, we just continued what we always had been doing: making as much noise as possible, spreading this noise around the world as much as possible, writing down our frustrations in our lyrics, kicking the arsehole of commercial music business by building a huge network of friends and like-minded people all over the world to spread the ethics and practice of DIY-punk. And that's what we are still doing. And it's big fun to do it. It was never really about credibility. I mostly don't give a fuck about what people think of Agathocles or me. It's more about doing things you really like to do and be proud of them when you are doing them. And being anti-authority, anti-mainstream, it's fun and rewarding for myself to keep creating mince core with Agathocles and spread the noise all over this planet with help of this huge network of friends we have built up during these 35 years of existence as a band.

Agathocles/Drudge split LP on Deaf Records (1990) and anti-commercial grind

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