US Grind Gods Brutal Truth are back with their first album in 12 years, so we thought it was high time we caught up with Danny to shoot the shit.

Brutal Truth initially reformed to record a track to help raise money for the Eyehategod dudes who lost all their shit in Hurricane Katrina. How did the reunion develop from recording one track to a full blown reunion?

It was all down to the reaction of the grindcore scene, who collectively flipped out when people found out that we were back even just to record an EHG cover. When we learned the cover, which took about 17 minutes, we then decided to use the remaining time to see if we could play our own stuff, which we could, so we booked a show. Then Gurn had to back out of things due to his being pretty busy on the home front, but by then our myspace was being bombarded with messages asking if we were gonna tour, and next it was “are you guys gonna make a new album”, so there ya go. Who are we to stand in the way of that fucking snowball, y’know? We would have been fools not to go for it full-on.

The world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, so it seems like the perfect time for a new Brutal Truth record, wouldn’t you agree?

Well thankfully we now have a president here with common sense, so hopefully things are gonna change. But hey, it’s always a good time for a Brutal truth record lol.

Your new album ‘Evolution through Revolution’ has just been released, how pleased were you with the end result?

Immensely. We worked our asses off making sure we had top notch material and also made sure that the recording was of a high quality, what more can we ask for ?

Well I moved to Rochester, NY 7 years ago and Erik’s from here, so basically we wrote the new album like this- Erik and I would get together at his place with a couple of guitars, a few beers and some weed and throw ideas at each other. We’d compile the basic skeletons of about 3 songs every time we’d meet up. After one of these sessions, Rich would come up from Philly roughly once a month (we have a good jam spot here in town) and we’d show him the riffs and jam the shit loud, Rich would chime in with riff and arrangement ideas, and then we’d record the tracks on Erik’s 16-track (this is where the “This Comp Kills Fascists” session was done) and send’em to Kevin. Eventually we had enough for an album.

Given the cult status the BT back catalogue has, did you feel any apprehension or trepidation when it came time to writing new material?

Nahhhh. I’d say that there was definitely a common and unspoken awareness that we’d better write some killer shit since a lot of people would be anxiously awaiting a new album by us, but it was not a stress factor, just something to drive us. Ultimately, it works like this- if we like it, we assume everyone else will too. If not, fuck’em.

How tough was it on you all given the geographical split of the when it came time to write the record?

It was harder on Rich travelling between Philly and here, a 350 mile trip, but since Erik and I are both here, writing the basics was not a problem.

How long were you in the studio and how was the atmosphere? Was it reminiscent of the old days or a totally new vibe?

Fuck it went fast. Rich did most of his tracks on the first day, finished them the next day, then he and Doug White (Watchmen Studios owner and engineer) did some drum editing by themselves for a couple of days, then I came back and did my tracks just with Doug in about 5 hours, and I wasn’t there for the guitar tracks or anything else after that. So I was in the studio 2 and a half days! No time for much atmosphere haha.

What was the thinking behind recording the album at Watchmen Studios (which is near Buffalo), then recording the vocals in Chicago and then mixing the record in Melbourne, Australia?

Kevin wanted to track with his old buddy Sanford, so we did all the basic tracks at Watchmen with Rich staying over my place (50 mile drive) so we just went to Lockport, NY a few days and did our shit there, Erik had worked with Doug a million times in the past and said he could do it really well, and he was right! Jason PC is a big fan of the band and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, so we took him up on it.

The album also introduces Erik Burke to the Brutal Truth fold. How did Erik get the gig and what has he brought to the band?

I’ve known Erik for about 9 years now, he actually filled in on guitar for Nuclear when we did some comeback shows a few years back, and when we needed a guitarist for BT, I knew he could do it. I had no idea at the time that his songwriting skills would move the band forward so much, I was just glad there was someone who could play our old shit! His twisted riffing fits in perfectly with our style, so when we write together we unleash grinding hell.

Since the bands reformation you have rarely been off the road. How has all the touring been going and do you have any plans to support the new album with a European tour?

The shows we’ve done since reforming have been killer, I really dug that UK tour in the winter of ’07 by the way. It’s tricky to go on long tours these days since a couple of the guys are new Daddy's, but we will eventually work out some jaunts around Europe way after festival season. I still want to go to fucking Russia and Hungary, not to mention Turkey.

The album is released via Relapse, as was ‘Sounds of the Animal Kingdom’. Was there any contractual obligation to return to Relapse or was it a personal choice based on the support they gave you first time around?

A combination of both. We knew they’d do a killer job, plus we were still effectively signed to them, so it would have been idiocy to fuck with all that.

In the time BT were away what lessons do you think you all learnt that will help you all this time around?