Thrilled to Death: Metal legend Gene Hoglan shares thoughts on Mayor Tim Keller, Jack White and metal 'magic'

From their founding in 1984 until the passing of their frontman Chuck Scholdiner in 2001, Death transformed the heavy metal landscape. Although they did not singlehandedly invent death metal, they were one of the first in the genre, and Pitchfork magazine has called them "incalculably influential."

Death's legacy is carried on today in the form of Death to All, which consists of former Death members Gene Hoglan (drums), Bobby Koelble (guitar) and Steve Di Giorgio (bass), along with lead singer and guitarist Max Phelps.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Death's album "Symbolic" and the 35th anniversary of "Spiritual Healing," Death to All is on a nationwide "Symbolic Healing" tour with Gorguts and Phobophilic, making a stop at Sister on Monday, Nov. 24.

"We are in Baltimore currently, and we're about to play the Baltimore Soundstage tonight," Hoglan said. "The tour has been crushing it all over the place."

Hoglan joined Death in 1993, contributing to the studio albums "Individual Thought Patterns" (1993) and "Symbolic" (1995). Known as "The Atomic Clock" for his extremely precise drumming at high tempos, Hoglan's virtuosity shifted Death's sound into a more technical, prog-rock direction.

"Death were very early progenitors of three different genres," Hoglan said. "One is just brutal, visceral, bloody, gory death metal. The next was, they were — not the first, but an early band playing very technical death metal, where the musicians' chops were real high. Then, Death pivoted to a very melodic death metal, still with a lot of technical chops in the playing."

When Jack White of The White Stripes was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month, he gave a speech mentioning Death among other bands who deserve to be inducted. Hoglan wasn't sure whether White meant the metal band Death or the Black proto-punk band of the same name.

"One (the metal band) is very well known, and the other is very underground. However, they're also from Detroit, and I think The White Stripes are from Detroit ... Those guys were definitely ahead of their time, as well, so I back it," Hoglan said. "It doesn't matter which band. Put both of them in."

Hoglan said he got his start drumming at the age of eight, "air drumming" with drumsticks.

"I would just mime drums ... but I was very serious about it," Hoglan said. "With every one of my favorite records that I was playing along to — whether it be Rush or Kiss or Van Halen or Cheap Trick or Ted Nugent or Queen or Aerosmith or Black Sabbath or Gino Vannelli or King Crimson — I would really try to emulate, or pantomime, I guess, what the drummer was doing. And I usually had a pretty good ear for it, and I could figure out what his hands were doing and what his feet were doing."

By the time Hoglan sat down for the first time at a drum kit — his cousin's — at the age of 12, he looked like a natural.

"My cousin was like, 'Whoa, wait a minute, you don't even have a drum set, and you just crushed this! What?' I had been doing this in the privacy of my bedroom," Hoglan said.

Once he got his own kit the next year, he found that he could imitate any drummer's style. But mastery was not enough. In the end, Hoglan wanted to write beats that no one had ever heard before.

"Before I was in Death, like when I was in Dark Angel (starting in 1984), I was really trying to bring my own style to thrash metal," Hoglan said. "My peers were Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Charlie Benante from Anthrax and Gar Samuelson from Megadeth, and I knew all those guys' styles really well. I thought, 'Well, I don't have a style that matches any of those guys, which is good. So, bring your style to it, Gene, try to come up with beats that those guys aren't coming up with.'"

One of Hoglan's innovations was his use of two ride cymbals.

"By the time 'Symbolic' came along (in 1995), I was already playing double rides. I had two ride cymbals," he said. "I had started that in Dark Angel ... And with 'Symbolic,' definitely, I utilize that a lot. You hear a lot of double rides on 'Individual Thought Patterns,' as well. You can year two rides floating along there."

Hoglan has upgraded his drum kit over the years, and he is particularly fond of his current set.

"It is a brand new Pearl Reference One kit. They're the most vicious and violent and monstrous-sounding drums I've ever played," he said, "and it looks badass. My finish on the kit is just evil personified. It's matte black with black nickel hardware."

The "monstrous" sound comes from the types of wood used in the toms.

"Each drum has its own tone," Hoglan explained. "The higher toms have a couple extra layers of birch, then you got your maple laid in there, then a single ply of mahogany. As you get lower, they start sliding back. The 12 and 14 (-inch toms) are maple-dominated. Then, your 18 (-inch floor tom) is pretty heavy-duty mahogany, which is a very deep and resonant wood."

He uses many cymbals, as well, all Sabians.

"I've got two rides (22-inch Power Bells), two Chinas, three crash cymbals, a pair of high-hats and a couple of splashes up the middle there," Hoglan said. "And my high-hats, for the last decade and a half, at least, I've used 15-inch high-hats, which is an inch larger than most drummers tend to use. Usually, they're 14 inches. The fifteens just have that really heavy-duty timbre that I look for. It sounds beefier, more manly. I like that."

Death to All's "Symbolic Healing" tour offers a rare chance for Death fans to hear two of Death's most iconic albums played almost in their entirety.

"Because it's the 30th anniversary of 'Symbolic' ... we are playing 'Symbolic' in its entirety," Hoglan said. "We are playing the majority of 'Spiritual Healing,' as well, but since it's kind of an odd anniversary (35 years), we'll play an odd amount of songs from that one."

Their set list will include "super banger songs from the other albums, as well," Hoglan said.

"Everybody who is into Death is happy. You get songs from every single record," Hoglan said. "And the one thing that people have been saying about this band, and this tour — the word that keeps coming up is 'magical.' The emotions that this band evokes from the audience are magical. It's a very riveting two-hour set. Like, nobody ever leaves."

Death to All, Goreguts and Phobophilic are "some of the most kick-ass musicians in the genre," Hoglan said.

"This isn't a very bloody, gory, death-battle show at all ... So, if you're expecting a night of Cannibal Corpse or Obituary-style metal, that is not quite this. This is a little more melodic," Hoglan said. "Definitely leans way more on musicality."

Hoglan's mother-in-law, the Albuquerque-based fiction writer S.S. Bazinet, is a fan of Death to All. He said she might come to the show.

"She's turning 80 this year, but she turned herself onto (metal) bands like DragonForce, Nightwish and Dethklok. She got herself into all these bands," Hoglan said. "She's by no means a heavy metal grandma at all, but she just likes what she likes."

Hoglan hopes Mayor Tim Keller will come to the concert, too. Keller, a longtime heavy metal fan, gave the key to the city of Albuquerque to the metal band Judas Priest last month.

"Hopefully he will come out," Hoglan said. "If he knows his metal, he's not gonna miss this show."