Dark Hate Want to Make Dark Metal

LAKEVIEW, NEW YORK - I'm standing in a basement. I'm surrounded by kids with bad skin and low attention spans. In the back of the basement, in the darkness, there is a keg that is slowly being tapped by a group of older guys. Comparatively older. They're only about 19, younger than me. They're all wearing black. They're trying to grow their hair out and grow beards. They're all skinny. They're metal.

The other kids, ranging from 13-17, are all standing around, trying not to stare at the breasts of a few random girls that happen to be there. These kids are all straight-edge. Every once in a while one of them will jump up and down in a fit of energy. And every so often one will hit his head on the low ceiling. A ceiling covered in pipework.

I'm here to interview Dark Hate. Dark Hate is a black metal band from Lakeview, NY. The band has been around for 5 years. Originally starting off as a Matchbox 20 cover band, slowly dark influences began to filter into the members' lives. The singer and guitarist Marty Wigman describes one night waking up and feeling a presence in his room.

"I woke up, and, well. There was something in my room y'know? Like dark. It was night. So it was pretty dark," Wigman claims. "I mean, f - k, dude. Y'know? Like, I was tripping on acid but I wasn't. I felt like there was a beehive in my head. And I looked inside my head inwards, and, like, there was this. Like a moth. Covered in newspaper. And he had white eyes and a moustache. And he reached his elbow out towards me, and farted."

Shortly after, Wigman began his affair with the dark arts. 

"I-I think that evil, is very cool," says Wigman.

Other members of Dark Hate agree.

"Yeah," says lead guitarist Jeff Bittleman. "I've seen the Devil before. He's kinda, like. He's kinda. He smells like a cologne add. But only he's on fire."

"Yeah. He's a definite influence on my playing. I think, without the influence of Satan, or our families, Dark Hate wouldn't be what it is today," says bassist Gerald Spwig.