#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: A Look at Abysmal Piss

 

Mike Vanek Sucks: The Blog

A look at Abysmal Piss

By Mike Vanek

Dedicated to the memory of my grandma Dorthy Soult (Sorry for the absence of blogs the last couple of months)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to talk about one of the hardest working musicians on the face of this shitty planet we call home and a kid who flys the flag for CENTRAL VALLEY DEATH METAL with an everlasting sense of pride. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m talking about JT Letras and his band Abysmal Piss.

As everyone who knows me is aware of I spent a lot of time in my last couple years of being in the 209 scenes at the workshop in Ceres working with the CVDM and one of the house bands there was a group of kids called Abysmal Piss and the man in charge was and still is JT Letras... JT fly the flag high for Central Valley Death metal and is one of the hardest working musicians I have ever met in my life and years of hard work have paid off as JT’s band just signed to a label and released their debut album...

Formed in 2013 after attending shows the previous year at the legendary Workshop in Ceres California, JT Letras alongside original bassist Chris Michener they wanted to start a death metal/Grindcore style band in the vein of Aborticide, Decomposition, Incisus, & Newtdick among others, and Abysmal Piss was born and the duo put out the original demo with programmed drums in 2014...

In 2015 Michener left the band and Joe Marks (Dismembered Carnage) officially joined on guitar alongside good friend Reuben Mendez on drums (Slow & Low Ice Cream truck) with JT playing guitar and vocals the band took a more slam/brutal death metal vibe while maintaining their grindcore sound. Combining groove and heavy slam aspects of grindcore this cemented the Abysmal Piss sound.

This lineup lasted until the end of 2015 playing several shows and in 2016 JT carried Abysmal Piss on as a solo recording & releasing music on his own playing all the instruments,writing, and recording it all himself. In 2017 Eric Valverde (Decomposition, Aborticide) joined the band and carried on as a duo and in 2018 they released a demo entitled “demo 2018” after releasing the demo Valverde left and JT took the remainder of 18 off...

2019 brought new life to the band bringing in former Accidentally Murdered members Jose Mayorga (drums) and the trio came out blasting playing a number of shows and writing new material as well as bringing back older songs releasing the “2019 Demo” on Friday, September 13th of 2019 the bands first release with a full band and live drums...

2020 the band spent most of the year quiet writing new material and in November of 2020 the band announced that it was signing with the underground label PATHLOGICALLY EXPLICIT RECORDINGS who would release the band's debut full-length album “One with the rotting” in early 2021. In anticipation, the band released 2 singles and the recently released record was warmly received in the Slam/Death metal community receiving rave reviews, and the band plans on getting out and promoting the record and playing shows as soon as possible!! I’m the meantime Abysmal Piss is constantly writing new material with no signs of stopping waving the flag of Central Valley Death Metal wherever they go!!

I recently spoke to JT Letras of Abysmal Piss and here is what he had to say... First I asked, "So how did you feel after Abysmal Piss signed to the label and how was the overall experience recording the album??" To which he answered "After we signed to Pathologically Explicit, it finally felt like all the years of doing this band and sticking with it was all finally worth it, and people finally were starting to take us more seriously. The fact that a label from Spain, a country I’ve never been to, is willing to put out my band's debut album is still mind-blowing to me. The overall experience recording the album was one of the coolest experiences of my life honestly. The first time being in a legitimate recording studio and laying down tracks for the album was almost surreal. Some of these songs I wrote years ago alone in my room, and now I’m basically getting to hear them how I always imagined, if not better. Our studio engineer Nick Miller knocks it out of the park every time. The album was recorded in a few different sessions from 2019 to 2020 and every session was an incredible experience. Being able to finally release this collection of songs and have it pressed on physical media is definitely a huge life goal for me." I then asked "What is your favorite WORKSHOP story??" JT Answered "of all the crazy workshop stories and shows I’ve seen, my favorite thing I’ve taken from the workshop is just befriending so many of the dope people I’ve met over the years, some of which have become some of my closest friends that I wouldn’t have to know if it wasn’t for the workshop. I’ll always hold that place and the people I met there dear to my heart." a special thanks to my bro JT for his time!!

Until I heard the new Cannibal Corpse this was my favorite death ,metal album of the year and is by far the best indie death metal album I have ever heard!!! Major props to the kids in Abysmal Piss on this amazing album!!

For more information on Abysmal Piss follow them on all major social media platforms!!

THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO MY FAMILY IN CENTRAL VALLEY DEATH METAL