The South Carolina black/death metal group Primitive Warfare are this week’s featured Meet The Band artist. After a demo and a couple of splits, they have released their full-length debut album Extinction Protocol. Drummer Pu239 introduces us to his band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Primitive Warfare.
Pu239: Primitive Warfare began in 2018 with the intent to create music of regressive desecration. We wrote and recorded a demo that year and released it on Stygian Black Hand in early 2019. We then focused our campaign on the Canadian theater shortly afterwards on a split with Quebecois legends Complot!. After a weekend run with Bog Body in 2019, we also decided to release a torrent of audial torment with them also on Stygian Black Hand. We’ve steadily performed live since and finally decided to finish our debut full length.
Describe the songwriting process for Extinction Protocol.
Extinction Protocol was written over the course of 4-5 rehearsals at our various practice spots. If anything we wrote sounded like we’d improved on our old sound we scrapped it. This release is entirely focused on regression. Both of us contribute to every aspect of the writing process, but a lot of riffs and ideas are improvised while we record. We do not use metronomes.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Recording is a blur and not much sticks with us. It’s more of a grind to get it done and move on than something to remember.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
Recording the drums is always a challenge. I usually record them by myself and don’t do punch-ins so every individual song is a single take. Normally it’s the first take, but sometimes a mistake can be too obvious to overlook so I’ll start over.
How would you characterize its style/sound?
Audial homicide.
What lyrical topics do you cover?
War, the dawn of the nuclear age, the death and evolution of modern religion, the strength of the adversary, and extinction.
How did you come to sign with Stygian Black Hand and Godz Ov War?
We’ve worked with both labels before. SBH is the label that released our demo and split with Bog Body and GoW released one of our other bands Black Eucharist. They both work hard to make their releases the best so it made sense to work with them again.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
To prepare the population for the return of the morning star through nuclear detonation.
How was the video shoot for “Heretic Crusade”?
All of that footage was live footage courtesy of photographers at various shows. I compiled it along with war footage from the national archives to create the video we ended up with.
What has been your most memorable Primitive Warfare live show?
Every show we’ve played has been great, but our first one still stands out to me. August in South Carolina alongside Antichrist Siege Machine and Bog Body made for an insanely hot night, but every band destroyed. Another shoutout goes to the SBH Showcase in LA in 2022.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We’ll be playing with ASM, Impure, and Destruct in Richmond VA for ASM’s record release (and our unofficial/official record release) on Saturday May 18th. We also have a mini-tour coming up with Ares Kingdom and Black Eucharist on the east coast from June 18 – June 22 that will hit Atlanta, Charlotte, Richmond, Baltimore, and NYC.
How did you get started in music?
I started playing drums in the school band as a kid and it progressed from there.
Who were your early influences and inspirations?
Motorhead, Metallica, and Slayer were my first “heavy” bands I got into. It’s a rotating cast of inspiration, but over the years Lombardo and Sandoval have been there consistently.
What was the first metal concert you attended?
I’m not exactly sure. I didn’t go to many shows growing up, my first few metal shows were when I was already an adult. One of the earliest ones I remember is some shitty Summer Slaughter tour, but it had Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, and Exhumed at least.
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
Drinking, lifting, reading, and hitting the gun range. Currently making my way through some Cormac McCarthy that I’ve never gotten around to.
What’s currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Bathory (always), Panphage, Merle Haggard, ZZ Top, Heavy Load, and Abysmal Lord I’ve been hitting hard lately. The new ASM has been spun several times already as well.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Buy everything Stygian Black Hand and Godz ov War put out, check out our other projects in Demiser, Black Eucharist, and Gennembore, and massive hails to Spite and Fire Magic. BUY OUR RECORD OR FUCK OFF.
(interview published May 11, 2024)
Watch Primitive Warfare – “Heretic Crusade”
