I forgot to post these and a few other special interviews for KJHK’s 40th Anniversary from about 5 years ago. Now, Malicious Intent has been on the air for approximately 25 years!
This is the second one in the series.
Who are you (real name and metal name) and what do you do now (occupation or other relevant information)?
Hi there! My name is Colin, but on the air I went by the name Wulf. As of right now I’m an English teacher in South Korea, studying for a master’s degree in TESOL, and playing bass in a rock band (unfortunately, not metal). I’m also trying to start an old-school black metal cover band (Mayhem, Darkthrone, etc.), but I don’t know how successful I’ll be.
What years did you host the show?
Hmm let’s see… I’m pretty sure I started hosting the show in Spring 2007 with Mark of the Beast and Vlad, and I think I stopped around Spring 2011 when I graduated and went to go study in Korea for the summer.
What got you into metal?
Oh man, it was actually a combination of a few things happening simultaneously. Although I was into garbage like Korn and Limp Bizkit when I was in my early teens, I had started becoming more interested in more “mature” music like Tool, early emo (Weezer’s “Blue Album” and “Pinkerton”, The Get Up Kids, etc.), and other stuff. Anyway, I was aware of death and thrash metal since some of my friends were into it, but of course I “didn’t like all the screaming”. However, that all changed around 2001 or 2002 when I bought an issue of Revolver and they had an article on Dimmu Borgir, who had just released “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia”. The title of the article was something like “Norwegian Nihilists Declare War on Black Metal” or whatever. Anyway, I quickly became fascinated by what they had to say… they apparently played this style of fast, brutal metal, but they also used a real-life symphony? And they were from Norway?? I decided to download some of their stuff on Kazaa (haha), and upon listening to classic tunes like “Kings of the Carnival Creation”, “A Succubus in Rapture”, and “Mourning Palace”, I was completely fucking blown away! I immediately started learning all that I could about black metal (and metal in general), and even went to the nearest bookstore and bought the controversial Lords of Chaos. Around that time, I also happened to run into Judge Dredd (who already been listening to metal for years) when I was looking at metal magazines one time and he recommended checking out Ill Literature (R.I.P.). That ended up being a great suggestion, because not only did it have a bunch of cool interviews with bands like Marduk and Dark Funeral, but it also had a shitload of reviews in the back and was the launching point for me discovering some really good stuff early on (Agalloch, Primordial, Ancient Rites, Summoning, and many others). I remember I was staying at my grandma’s house that night for some reason, and I stayed up all night reading that magazine and circling the reviews of the bands that I found interesting. Before I knew it, I was downloading extreme metal music videos on Kazaa, special ordering CDs from underground labels and distros, bugging Judge Dredd to educate me more about metal, and the rest is history!
What are some of your fondest memories as a DJ?
Oh man, there’s a lot, but some of my favorite times were when we’d have guests live on the show. Obviously, our friends came to hang out all the time, but it was great when we’d get bands on there! Hammerlord, Samothrace, and others were always a fun time. Sometimes the weather would just be perfect too, like when it was the dead of winter or when it would be really foggy and rainy. The new studio is really nice, but The Shack (the old studio) just had a lot more atmosphere and strange energy that really made doing the show a fun time.
What is the craziest story you have from your time as a DJ? Crazy phone call/on-air experience?
Haha besides wacky prank phone calls and shit like that, the one that really stands out in my mind was the time that these weird dudes called up who identified themselves as “The Vinland Iron Guard” or something like that (I really can’t remember the name at all), a “non-racist fascist political group” who I guess were really into metal and wanted me to give them air time or a plug for their website…anyway, those details aren’t so important, but I remember wanting to actually interview them for the blog because they sounded like morons and I thought it would be funny to at least see what they had to say. I put them on hold and was talking to my co-DJs about it and about how dumb they sounded, but then realized that I hadn’t hung up the phone all the way and they had been listening to everything I had said. The dude was obviously mad, and told me that if I was “going to play black metal, (I) at least need to grow some balls” haha. I remember after the show I was kind of scared that they were going to be waiting outside the studio to attack me, but that didn’t happen and I never heard from or talked to them again. I still don’t know what the deal with that shit was.
Another time was when I was trying to do an interview with Dragonforce on their tour bus while Vlad was getting a blowjob from one of their groupies on the back of the tour bus, but that’s a story he can tell! 🙂
Besides that, I just had a blast going to shows, doing interviews, making friends, and all that shit.
What was the regional/local metal scene like during your tenure as an MI DJ?
I guess the KC scene was OK, but Lawrence at the time wasn’t too bad! I’d say it was probably better then than it is now, but I haven’t been back home in a few years. I remember there were almost always metal/crust shows going on either in Downtown Lawrence or at The Haunted Kitchen, a filthy crust punk house across the street from my old high school. I remember crusty doom being really popular back then, and bands like Graves at Sea, Middian (before they got sued), and Thou had come through and had a big influence. Besides touring bands from out of town, we had some relatively popular stuff coming out of the local scene like Hammerlord, Samothrace, The Esoteric, Diskreet, Origin, Ares Kingdom, Unmerciful, Troglodyte, and other bands. Show turnout was pretty good too!
How do you think your time as a MI DJ contributed to the regional/local metal scene?
Haha I don’t know if it did, although I hope it played at least some small role. Honestly though, I feel like I’d be a much better DJ now, at least in terms of organization and planning.
How do you think MI as an ongoing show has contributed to the regional/local metal scene?
I’m not sure about now, but I know for sure that Malicious Intent had a significant presence in the local metal scene back in the late 90s and early 2000s, around when Mean Dean was doing the show. Although I started listening to the show myself after he had already left (Metal Al and Rhino were running things at that point), I feel like that Mean Dean’s run was probably the pinnacle of the show just because he was such a legendary presence in the local music scene in general and ran the show before everyone having access to high-speed internet (which probably negatively affected the numbers of radio listeners). Anyway, the fact that the show has been around for so long gives it (at least) a bit of legitimacy and respect. I feel like the show would actually benefit greatly if the hosts a) made it into a podcast, and b) somehow made it possible for people to call or Skype in! Get with the times, bros! 🙂
Have you stayed active in the metal scene since you stopped being a DJ? How?
Haha yes I have actually! I continue to write for the mighty Malicious Intent blog, although I haven’t had much time recently due to school and other crapola. However, once I have more free time I plan on becoming much more active in my involvement.
What was one album that came out during your tenure as a DJ that stands out in your memory?
Oh man, there were so many! What a difficult question! I don’t know if I can pick just one! Haha I guess off the top of my head, I’d say maybe “Antichrist” by Akercocke. The reason why I chose this album is because at the time I thought it was a brilliant album, but I don’t think any of the other DJs were feeling it. I can’t remember if Judge Dredd was there when I put it on one time, but I definitely remember Mark of the Beast saying that some of the riffs from the song “Axiom” reminded him of Korn haha. I also remember playing the song “The Dark Inside” for Adam Mitchell (drummer for Hammerlord / The Esoteric) and his girlfriend at the time and they both started laughing because they thought it was so dumb. I haven’t really listened to that album in awhile so maybe it is actually bad music, but I really liked it at the time and was embarrassed that everyone else thought it was so dumb. However, it DOES have an 86% (out of 19 reviews) on metal-archives.com, so at least I can take comfort in knowing that IMNs are still into it.
Can you describe the average Lawrence metalhead?
That’s kind of tough to do because I feel like Lawrence metalheads kind of have “Midwest Metal Fan” syndrome. What I mean is like, if you go to any random metal show it’s always going to be a weird mix of rednecks, heshers, crust punks, obese goth chicks, deathcore/scene kids, and Guitar Center ponytail metal dorks. I guess it’s because the scene is kind of small, so any metal band coming through is usually going to bring out a random assortment of people. One thing I HAVE noticed though is that I tended to enjoy metal shows more in Lawrence (with the exception of The Riot Room in KC), but I don’t know if that has anything to do with Lawrence metal fans specifically because I’m sure plenty of people at those shows weren’t actually from Lawrence, so I don’t know.
How do you think Malicious Intent should be and/or will be remembered in KJHK’s history?
How do you think MI has survived as the oldest specialty show on KJHK (it’s been on non-continuously for over 20 years)?
Haha good question! I think maybe because it has such a specific niche, and luckily there has almost always been someone who was willing to step up to the plate and continue carrying the torch! Also, it’s the only real FM metal radio show that I know of in the area! There’s a lot to be said for that. I just wish we could swear on the air, I’m pretty sure we actually could and get away with it and that all the talk about it being against FCC rules is bullshit, but KJHK just doesn’t want to deal with it. Playing a Cannibal Corpse song about raping, dismembering, and killing someone is fine, but we can’t say “shit” on the air? Ah well. I feel like Malicious Intent will never truly die because even if it gets taken off the air eventually, I’ll always have some plan in the back of my mind to make it into a podcast / internet radio show, so then hopefully it will be around forever and will be accessible all over the world!
Any final thoughts?
What a genius idea to do this! Thanks so much to Judge Dredd and CJ (does he even have a metal DJ pseudonym?) for getting this reunion project together! Thank you to Mark of the Beast for picking Vlad and me as his replacements! Thanks to Mean Dean the Metal Machine for really transforming the show into something awesome! Thank you to Metal Al and Rhino for being a really big influence when I was just starting to really get into metal and also for letting me and my goofy friends hang out at the station with you guys on occasion even though we were still in high school and probably really annoying. AND FINALLY, thank you to Judge Dredd for really helping me get into metal in the first place!