The Rockhouse Bar is one of the premiere locations in El Paso if you’re looking for heavy metal rock. They have recently been bringing in some bigger headliners, and this last week, they brought in Deicide. Deicide started in 1987 in Tampa, Florida, during the growth of the death metal genre of the times. Steve Asheim and brothers Eric and Brian Hoffman were a cover band, “Carnage,” performing Slayer, Exodus, and Dark Angel songs. They really liked the style of Slayer and wanted to follow in their footsteps. In their search for a bassist and vocalist, Glen Benton answered their advertisement. He was a good fit with the rest of the band, thus they formed “Amon”
By 1989, they changed the name of the band to Deicide, and by 1992, they were ranked the second best-selling death metal band behind Cannibal Corpse. Since their debut album in 1990, they have released 13 albums, one live album, and two compilation albums, plus two live DVDs. “Deicide” and “Legion,” were ranked second and third place respectively in best-selling death metal albums.
I sat down with Deicide drummer Steve Asheim at the Rockhouse before their performance and he filled me in on the 37-year career that the band has traveled. I asked him right from the beginning if Deicide always planned on being a Death metal band, and he said yes. When they were doing covers as Carnage, they really liked the sound of Slayer and they felt that was the right fit for their band. So, when Glen Benton, their bassist, vocalist, and lyricist, came along, they started taking on that Slayer attitude. By the time their first two albums took off, they were well onto stardom. They spent a lot of time traveling the southern parts of the U.S. from Florida to Texas, with Texas being the place they liked to perform the most. Through the years, the venues have changed, but the fans are always there waiting for them to return.
I asked Asheim about the early days when controversy followed them everywhere they went—from their Satanist and anti-Christian lyrics to throwing raw meat and blood into the crowd. While it was fun at the time, it didn’t help with getting invited back to many venues. So, they kept the lyrics but stopped throwing things into the audience, as by then the band Gwar had already cornered the market on making a mess at every venue they played. Deicide felt that not making a big mess in a venue was more inviting than watching the shock of things being thrown into the crowd.
Steve Asheim and Glen Benton, the two original members of the band, are continuing to keep bringing death metal to their fans. After the interview, I felt like I had just shared a moment with an old friend at a bar. Later that night, as they stepped on stage to a packed sold-out crowd of cheering fans, I realized that Deicide is a living, breathing death metal band, keeping the genre alive with every fist-pumping, mosh-pit moment, and drum-thumping beat.
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