Abomination

The story of Abomination begins in a rehearsal studio in Chicago called Ranger, Studios owned by a friend of drummer Aaron Nickeas. Aaron was in a band called Abomination already with original members Chaz Baker-guitar, and Mike Pahl-Bass, and vocals. I was in a band called Funeral Bitch, after Master had fallen by the wayside. I went to see an Abomination show at a local establishment, and was quite impressed with Nickeas. Late nights after Abomination and Funeral Bitch rehearsals, Nickeas and I began our own secret rehearsals with a fairly-well-known guitarist, called Mike Schaefer, from another local legend, called," Impulse Manslaughter." It was difficult after our own previous two-hour rehearsals, so Schaefer and I would normally use cocaine or happy stick to stay awake late into the evening. Sunday mornings were worst, Schaefer and I were nearly always hung-over for practice, although, we did manage to write several songs together. A song I wrote called, "Social outcast," and also a Schaefer track called," Doomed by the living," are included from the first red demo on this CD. After the recording of the red demo, we all decided to quit our previous bands and devote our time exclusively to this project. Nickeas, had a banner already and decided he wanted to keep the name. Therefore, we became Abomination. Original members Mike and Chaz joined (Assault, Funeral Bitch) guitarist Alex Olvera, and formed a band called,” Funeral Nation.” They recorded a demo by themselves called," Nuke'm," under the Funeral Bitch moniker. Just to set the record straight, I had already left Funeral Bitch by this time. In 1988 we realized that Schaefer was more interested in his girlfriend and parties, so he was subsequently replaced by Dean Chioles, (RIP), a friend of Mr. Nickeas. We began rehearsals for the black demo as it was called. Two songs appear on this CD called," Over the edge," and," Curses of the deadly sin." We played many local shows, and finally I received a contract in 1989 from Nuclear Blast Records in Germany along with a Master contract. After working all day moving furniture, my friend and I decided to drink a few beers and I actually ran into an old friend called," Joe Caper," from Righteous Pigs in the woods. I gave Joe the red demo, and Joe, Mitch Harris, and Slatko, (RIP) convinced fledgling label NBR to sign us. We went to DKP Studios in Villa Park, Illinois and recorded the CD with engineer, producer Bob Pucci. This was a very commercial sounding studio, and I suppose it can be heard on the CD. One quick note: The lyrics for.” The Choice,” were written by Aaron Nickeas, and I think he did a brilliant job at capturing a horrible situation at the time.On this second CD from Abomination we were reaching turbulent times again as the Gulf War was upon us. I remember watching Richard Jennings (RIP), speaking on the Nightly News where I lived, in Chicago, “This has been a Gulf War update,” could be heard regularly night after night. I was of course inspired to write Blood for oil. After all this chaos in 1991, who would have thought that the USA would still be involved in the Middle East conflict, and supposedly the Middle East peace process. One of my substitute drummers that still plays in Master today, was a child in Kuwait. He said that in Kuwait city where he lived, they were hardly aware the activity on the front lines. Who would have ever thought that a Bush would be in power in the USA, 17 years after this release? What a sad state of affairs even today. After the beginning of so-called success, many of my friends disappeared due to jealousy, They’re dead. Driving under the influence contributed to Pull the plug. Will they bleed was a war anthem as well as Soldier. Kill or be killed was about smoking, which I have never stopped, and will die eventually from this. Oppression is about the shitty society that we have and always will live in. It has only gotten worse in 17 years. Guitarist, Dean Chioles died of A.L.S. and is surely missed. Drummer, Aaron Nickeas is married with children, still living in Chicago, running a corner store that he bought. The bonus tracks on the CD were recorded in 1999 with Nickeas, Brady, and I and with Mike Konopka, the original Seagrape Recording, studio engineer. Mike and I produced Tragedy Strikes together! Paul Speckmann December 2007