The Accüsed A.D interview by Rod Hunt
The Accüsed A.D. are finally touring Australia, for the first time. Formed in Seattle in 1981, The Accüsed singlehandedly spawned their own genre, ‘splatter rock’, by blending punk, hardcore and thrash metal with horror themes, revolving around a character they invented, named Martha Splatterhead. Crossover owes a lot to these guys.
The four piece features two former members of The Accüsed, namely vocalist Blaine Cook - a man with a truly unmistakable voice - and guitarist Alex "Maggot Brain" Sibbald (originally their bassist, when he was in The Accüsed).
Blaine Cook took time to discuss the band's upcoming Australian tour, his transition from The Accüsed to The Accüsed A.D., and how decades on, he’s enjoying playing shows more than ever.
This will be your first time in Australia. Have you had offers or interest from Australian promoters before?
We have not. I mean, we're The Accüsed A.D., right? I don't know what Tommy (The Accüsed guitarist Tommy Niemeyer) and his version have done. We were actually asked by Marty (Bleed Records) to come down a couple of years ago when we did a Japanese tour. He wanted to see if we could come down at the tail end of Japan. But when we do these kinds of tours, we're getting the cheapest plane ticket possible. Once you buy the ticket, you're in - you're not getting your money back. So, we weren't able to make it happen at that time.
Can you explain the evolution from The Accüsed to The Accüsed A.D.? How did that transition happen?
During the last reunion of The Accüsed , which ended about 20 years ago, we started Toe Tag. People kept saying, "Well, you guys are basically The Accüsed, right?" Which we really weren't, but we were flattered. Originally, we were playing the old songs, and we called ourselves Martha's Revenge. We did shows for a couple of years as Martha's Revenge. Then back in 2016, it was the 30th anniversary of the release of the "More Fun Than an Open Casket Funeral" record. So, we thought, how about if we learn that record and we'll go out and call ourselves The Accüsed A.D.? It's kind of a common thing for bands to do these days when there's a schism between the guys - people want to hear it, so you want to go out and do it.
Was there a falling out that led to the split?
It just wasn't really fun playing music with him (guitarist Tommy Niemeyer) anymore. There's a whole bunch of other stuff, but that happened 20 years ago. I could say a whole lot of bad stuff about the guy, but at this point in time, it really doesn't matter. Ultimately, it just wasn't fun playing music with him. He had had a taste of the big time - he was in that band Grunttruck during the grunge era, a Seattle band.
How does The Accüsed A.D.'s sound compare to the original Accüsed material?
Really, it's basically Toe Tag, because when we write new material, we're not trying to emulate the sound of The Accüsed. We're not trying to recapture 1986 or 1987. We've done two releases under The Accüsed A.D. name, but musically it's more of a natural evolution from where we are now.
You mentioned you enjoy playing music more now than ever. What's changed?
I think we have more fun doing it now than we ever did, just because there's not the same expectations. We just want to play as good as we can. Sometimes that means playing to 20 people, sometimes that might mean playing to 2,000 people. We don't look at ourselves as anything special - we're just like everybody else. We're going to watch all the opening bands. I might not watch everybody's whole set, but I'm going to watch a couple of songs of every band. I'm there if people want to talk to me, as long as you're not too drunk. There's always one guy who's going to remember that time he smoked a joint with me in the alley after some show, and I'm like, "I do not remember that."
Back in the day, did you have any contact with Australian fans through tape trading or letters?
I never had contact with anybody from Australia. No one wrote to me. That's terrible, right? I'd remember if someone had written from Australia. Never got anybody from Australia.
You recently played in South America. How was that experience?
We played in Mexico and South America, and the show we did in Santiago, Chile was incredible. It's like - I don't know anything about these countries, and they've gone through political and social and cultural revolutions over the past 20 years. It was the first time we've ever played a show where people are singing along to the songs. We're up there playing like, "What the fuck is going on? How do these people know the songs?" When we got done playing and went backstage for a beer, then came back down, I'd never had my picture taken so many times. I probably had my picture taken with half of the people that were at the show. It was just crazy.
That must have been quite a revelation.
Yeah, it was mad. And that's why we're going back to Chile in March to do a couple of shows with D.R.I. For us, we're doing this for fun. We realize it costs a lot of money to bring us places and do this kind of stuff. Everybody has day jobs. It's an experience for us at this point in our lives to still be able to have this connection, to be engaged with the world where you get these experiences. It's really something.
What's the current lineup of The Accüsed A.D.?
It's me and Alex Maggotbrain, and our drummer Chris Gohde. Chris has been playing music like us since the '80s. In the very early '80s, he was in a kind of pre-metal band from Seattle called Mistrust. Later on, he was in a grunge-era band called My Sister's Machine. He's been in a bunch of different stuff and has played in some different bands with Alex. He's been a friend of ours for the past 30 years or so - he's a real good guy.
And you have a new bass player?
Yeah, Eric (Thomas). We got him after we did the South America tour. Our other bass player was getting burned out with the whole thing. He was trying to hang on, but we had to let him go. We didn't really try out bass players - we just wanted to meet with people. We tried Eric out, he was good, and he had learned our whole set before he even met us. We really needed somebody because we had this stuff already booked - we had Australia booked and other shows. We needed somebody who was going to be able to step in and make it happen.
How's Eric fitting in with the band?
He did the US Midwest tour with us and a couple of Seattle shows. It's pretty cool for him because he's been in smaller bands and hasn't really toured before. He's been in this band for a couple of months, and he gets to go to Australia. He's pretty excited about it.
You developed quite a reputation as a cocktail enthusiast during the pandemic. How did that interest come about?
Kind of a COVID thing, yeah. We were making some drinks, and then I just realised I had a bunch of vintage cocktail books I'd bought over the years that I really never looked at. We just started gathering those ingredients and making some of those old drinks. Like everybody was doing during COVID, we were just doing Facebook Live in the kitchen and stuff. Then I set up a little fake bar down in my basement. Since then, it's evolved to a whole little bar in the basement. Actually, in our basement, we have the bar, and then right next to the bar is our jam room.
That became The Wicker Bar, and eventually led to a book as well?
Yeah, that is The Wicker Bar, yes. The book (Cocktails and Mixed Drinks from The Wicker Bar by Lord Zippy Blaine) came out of all that experimentation with those vintage cocktail recipes. It's been great, though I feel bad anytime people want to buy anything from us internationally (like the book) - it's like 25 American dollars just to send a t-shirt overseas.
Have there been periods where you've taken breaks from music?
There were some times near the end before we stopped doing The Accüsed after the first run. Tommy quit after we did one record, and we had a European tour and all this stuff. Back then you're doing it more as a job - there's expectations, you have to tour, you have to write new material. At that point in time, it was kind of a drag. There's been a couple of times when I've quit. I got married and had a kid, and I wasn't as involved in playing music. Even when I stopped doing The Farts, I was going to school and trying to be an adult. I thought I was going to go to school and straighten up my act, but I found that's not really for me.
The Martha Splatterhead artwork has been iconic for the band. Who's responsible for that imagery?
Tommy did some of the art. "The Return of Martha Splatterhead" record was a collaboration between Jeff Gaither and R.K. Sloan. Jeff Gaither kind of did the Martha Splatterhead ripping the head apart, and R.K. Sloan did the outer part of the cover. Since then, we had famous underground artist S. Clay Wilson do "More Fun Than an Open Casket Funeral." Another artist named KC Angel has probably done the most art for us and continues to do stuff for us right now. Their style changes and evolves over the years, just as the music and what we do changes and evolves.
How do you feel about heading to Australia for the first time?
This is going to be our first time, and all we know is the stereotypical stuff about Australia. I'm not going to say anything to make myself look like an idiot - that's all we know. It's going to be an experience for us. We have a couple of days at the end after the Melbourne show on Saturday. I think we fly out on Tuesday from Melbourne, so we'll see what happens.
Are you familiar with any Australian bands?
I know The Saints, obviously. I think I've seen them a couple of times over the years. Alien Weaponry - though I think they might be from New Zealand. The Hard-Ons, AC/DC, Kylie Minogue. I was asked the same thing when we went to Japan. Every country has this vibrant music scene, and I have a hard enough time keeping track of what's going on in Seattle, let alone the West Coast of the United States. When people ask about other countries, I could start dropping a bunch of band names right now, but then you could ask me what my favourite songs are, and it's like, well, I know the band names, but I don't really know the music.
What's coming up after Australia?
When we come back from Australia, we're going to do a few shows with Retox and Deathwish down in Southern California, then they're coming up and we're going to play with them in Seattle. We have a couple of things in Seattle, and then we're going back to Chile in March to do shows with D.R.I.
Any final thoughts on this stage of your musical journey?
At this point in our lives, to still be able to have this connection, to be engaged with the world where you get these experiences - it's really something. We're not looking at it as a job anymore. We just want to play as good as we can and have fun doing it. Whether it's 20 people or 2,000 people, we're just trying to enjoy the experience and connect with people through the music.
Catch the Accused AD around the country on the dates below...
The Accused AD - "Australia's Maddest Ever Story Told" 2025
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 4TH - VINNIES DIVE - GOLD COAST ( ONLY QLD SHOW )
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH - MARRICKVILLE BOWLO - SYDNEY
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH - STAY GOLD - MELBOURNE
