=== The band's name is !T.O.O.H.!, acronym for The Obliteration of Humanity, but are the exclamation marks mandatory? Why? How fitting is the band's name to your music after all these years? ===
Hi Adrian, those exclamation marks really form part of our name. It was a great idea of how to highlight a rather common abbreviation while drawing attention to ourselves. The band’s name is too long, and it looks cool with those exclamation marks.
To be honest, I see our name more as a brand. The meaning of the abbreviation is not so important. What is important is the content of our production, and it is still the same. Extreme music with incorrect lyrics.
I would also like to mention that officially those exclamation marks were often excluded from our name, especially on the domestic scene. Fanzines, posters, flyers… Some people probably had some personal problems with it.

=== You have returned last year with a new EP, Komouš, after a silence of 6 years. What happened in the meantime? Has the Democratic Solution album risen to yoru expectations? By the way, what are your expectations when you release a new material? ===
In 2013, we ceased playing because my brother contracted paranoid schizophrenia while preparing the DS album. The music then immediately was sidelined. When my brother returned from the sanatorium, he was not interested in playing music at all. He took very strong medicine, slept more than half a day, and was always physically restless. Many people may not realise, but although schizophrenia is a mental illness, its treatment is accompanied by physical suffering.
It’s a miracle that we finally recorded the album. I was only a drummer and backing singer, it was my brother who did the real of the work, and under potent antipsychotics. The whole recording. We didn’t have high expectations because of the reactions to our song Právo that we released first. People were shocked by our new songs. In retrospect, we still like that particular album. It’s completely different from our previous production, total DIY.
On April 1st, 2017, we announced on our website that we intended a studio return and preparation of a new album. Meanwhile, the brother composed electronic music under his own name in 2013-2017. In 2013, I put away my drumsticks and did not use them until four years later. I didn’t want to play the drums (e. g. in another group) and did trolling, stalking, scouting, and windsurfing…
In 2019, we recorded three times in the studio, and we posted the first one - EP Komouš, on May 1st, 2019, on the International Workers’ Day. We would like to publish the recording this year (2020) on physical media. We have the highest expectations, such as positive feedback from our old fans, laudatory reviews, and as many new listeners as possible…

=== Please tell us what happened in 2005 with the Order and Punishment album that led to the band's demise. The album was released in the end, correct? Were you under contract with Elitist, or with Earache? How did you recoup after this situation? ===
First of all, I must say that the problems with the publisher did not lead to the group breaking up. It’s is misinformation.
Sometime in late 2003 or early 2004, I don’t remember precisely when, Lee Barrett (founder of Candlelight Records and then Elitist Records, which was a sub-label of Earache Records) contacted us and wanted to re-release the album Pod vládou biče (Under the Reign of the Whip) he liked. We wrote to him that my brother and I had some new group members (because we wanted to play live performances) and that we were preparing a new album and asked him if he would like to publish our new songs. Lee agreed. Thus, we signed a contract with Earache – this brand covered his new record label.
When we recorded the album Řád a trest (Order and Punishment) in the studio at the beginning of 2005, we found out that they sent us only half of the agreed money for recording. We had to pay, therefore, the rest from our own sources. The amount was not staggering, but it was a rather strange approach from such a large company. They also rejected our own artistic concept and recommended their individual artist to us. Finally, we agreed to that (though reluctantly) as we didn’t want to complicate the release. Lee had nothing to do with it, and eventually closed his record label.
But the truth is that the group disbanded well before the album was released. After the Prague concert in June 2005, when we opened for Cephalic Carnage, we announced to our teammates that we were disbanding the group. There were several reasons. The feeling of burnout and futility (caused, among other things, by changes in our personal lives), a realistic view of the group’s position on the music scene (we played for travel expenses, including festivals), and finally, the teammates who said to us after the album recording that they favoured other things to the band (which was quite understandable).
My brother and I wanted to go live abroad and clear our heads. In the fall of 2005, we travelled to England. We wrote to Earache immediately after the release of the album that we had disbanded. Earache then paid us the rest of the money for the studio recording even though we had to send a few reminders to them. They never sent us the CD, and we first saw it in 2019 on a visit to a friend.
Still in England at the turn of 2005 and 2006, we composed music for our new rock project called Gemini Gem. Back in the Czech Republic, we toured with Gemini Gem and recorded one demo and album from 2006 to 2008. At the end of 2008, we disbanded.
In 2009, my brother and I engaged in an electronic project called §§, and I participated in the first album (I programmed the drums). Afterwards, my brother composed solo. In 2011, we announced our return and you know the rest…

=== This album was your first English titled, how come? Was it a request from the label or your own decision? ===
The label didn’t discuss it with us. We named the album Řád a trest (Order and Punishment). Since we provided them with a translation of that title, they chose the English version for promotion. And it’s okay with us. I would just like to remind you that if you buy this album, you will not support our group in any way.

=== Everything you released after this album is independent. Are you determined to continue this way, without a label? What's the toughest part when releasing an album by yourselves compared to releasing it with a label? ===
We are not interested in any publishing activities. We didn’t address anyone with the DS album and provided it free to download. My brother has back-ups of the projects in Cubase, and we are thinking of giving this DIY album to a professional to do a re-mix and mastering.
The EP Komouš song shall be included in our new album, which will be released under the Czech record label LAVADOME Productions, owned by our long-time fan Honza Fastner. We also think about the re-editions of our older albums. Whoever wants to complete our discography, will have the opportunity.
In the future, we want to focus only on rehearsing and composing new songs. We don’t want and are not interested in organising promotion, writing emails, and going to the post office… It is better if such activities are delivered by a person who wants to do it.

=== Also physical versions of your latest releases are missing. How come? Any chance for them to be out physically at some point? ===
As I mentioned in the previous answer when you want to release an album on physical media, there are always problems and things you have to deal with. And we are not interested in dealing with them.
As we now have a publisher, we believe that the DS album will also come out. The EP Komouš song will be a bonus on the new album. Moreover, the re-edition of our album Pod vládou biče (Under the Reign of the Whip) may also include our EP Z terária do kolumbária (From Terrarium to Columbary) from 2003 that has never been released.
By the way, we originally wanted to record both songs for the album Pod vládou biče (Under the Reign of the Whip), but we didn’t have time in the studio. That’s why we came back in half a year and recorded them with a different sound. Our previous publisher planned to use it for a split single with a bigger band.

=== In 2013 you announced your disbandment again, this time due to Humanoid's health condition. Is his health better now? Was creating music for !T.O.O.H.! affecting him in any way? ===
Currently, Humanoid is feeling better than in 2013. He takes his medication and is in contact with his physician. However, his health prevents him from working, and he receives a disability pension. For the same reason, our band does perform live, it’s not possible.
But schizophrenia partially changed his personality. I mean, he’s also interested in things that haven’t interested him before. He’s watching supermodels and actresses on-line…
It was a terrible time when he fell ill. Before he was taken to the hospital by rescuers, he was dangerous to himself and others. He armed himself with a knife, was paranoid and talked gibberish because his head was full of hallucinations and delusions. He protected himself by garlic, which he ate in bulk (he also had it under his bed). He even burned his whole body with patches full of crushed garlic cloves, applying them to all the marks and warts he found. He also watched the American actress Elisabeth Olsen, with whom he was telepathically connected… Madness.
We currently use a slightly different style of working in making music. My brother composes a song, which he then gives it to me recorded in a music programme as a WAV file. I upload the data to the drum module. We rehearse new songs by ourselves. For the new album, we didn’t play together as the band for a minute.

=== Was this after Democratic Solution was released? Is it possible the negative reactions to this album also affected your decision to call it quits? What led to this radical change in style on Democratic Solution? And how do you see the album after these years? ===
We decided to disband after the unsuccessful concert at the festival in Ostrava. My brother found out that due to his illness, he could not appear in front of people. He drew a blank and could not fully concentrate on his performance. So we announced the end and “posthumous” release of the album because we didn’t want to continue as a studio project.
The desire to do things our way has led us to a radical change in style. We didn’t rehearse any old songs just to get better, nothing like that. We started composing new music, unencumbered, and free. Maximum creative freedom. That’s why it couldn’t even sound like old albums, we took a different approach, and that’s why we used the new logo.
As I said at the beginning of the interview, we still like the album. There’s no reason to belittle it. We stand behind everything we have created in the past; and are forward-looking.

=== What made you get back to writing music for !T.O.O.H.! afterwards? Are you convinced now that this band is an integral part of your lives or a new disbandment is still possible? ===
My brother wanted once again to play the guitar and compose a new album. Of course, I agreed. Creating original songs is always exciting and especially for this band.
It was a challenge for both of us. We also wanted to please our hard-core fans and look forward to getting any feedback. We are delighted with the new material.
I can assure you that we plan to continue and record more crazy things… At the time of this interview (in May), I am rehearsing four new songs on drums, and my brother has four more songs. We think that our next album can be released in 2022.

=== From how I see it Komouš is somewhere in between Democratic Solution and your previous style, but not it does not "sound like proper deathgrind with pompous passages" as you mentioned before releasing it. How would you describe it now? ===
Komouš contains first songs we composed since our return, and they sound more straightforward than the songs from the Free Speech album. That description applies to the whole collection.
If the interview is published in the summer, we may already have some samples. The whole album has real depth and unique atmosphere, spiced with electronics.

=== Komouš is Czech for "commie", and the whole EP is about the Communist times, like you previous album. Are the lyrics based on your personal experiences, or are they fictional stories? ===
I have to correct you, Adrian. The EP contains four perverse and fictional stories. I will explain the content briefly:
Song 1: A fake taxi driver pulls a gun at a young lesbian student in a car who is going to the airport with a suitcase. He ties her hands, rectally rapes her and strangles her like Othello…
Song 2: A supernatural being able to walk through walls is going to visit two underage sisters. He visits them at night, has fun with them, and releases his magical gametes, which disappear like this little man in the morning…
Song 3: A sniper shoots a young and proud girl Claudia in the meadow, the daughter of a wealthy villain (senior manager of the central bank) and her four dogs. Afterwards, he spits out from his prick …
Song 4: A communist has dreamt that he harassed imprisoned scholars in a uranium mine. He threatens them, visits the wife of one of them, and has anal sex with her. Then he paints a moustache under her nose with her own faeces…
The previous album, as well as all our previous works, have similar lyrics…

=== What do you try to express through your lyrics? Would you like your lyrics to have any impact on anyone, and if so, on who and what kind of an impact? ===
Since the beginning, we express our twisted sense of humour in our texts. All the barriers fell when we discovered, as young people, what metal “sings” are about and saw the names and album covers of the bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, Meat Shits, Gut, Gore Beyond Necropsy, etc.
Our lyrics are verse. We have, therefore, clear vocals from the first albums so that everyone can understand them. Unfortunately, the content can appreciate only experts in the Czech language. It is challenging to translate poetry. That is the reason why we “sing” in Czech. Our native language is beautiful, and the delight of using it prevails over the desire to be internationally understandable.
Music should be above all fun. We do not want to teach anyone with our texts or point out any flaws in the current society. It never occurred to me to look for any valuable information in the lyrics of a metal band.

=== I think you're both in your 40's now, that makes it you had a fair experience as kids and teenagers in Communism. How do you remember those times? Also how do you remember the fall of Communism in your country and then separation of Czechoslovakia in two? ===
I remember those times very well. My brother and I grew up in Prague 6 in a housing estate that was full of communists, police officers, soldiers, and employees of the Ministry of the Interior. When a primary school teacher asked the pupils in our class whose parents were members of the Communist Party, only about four children out of thirty (including me) did not raise their hands. The situation was similar in the class of my brother, who is a year older. From the fifth grade onwards, we learned Russian and were surrounded by communist propaganda. What we talked about in the family had to stay there.
I remember two funny stories. The first concerned my brother, who during an art class, painted a vehicle with a Pershing ballistic missile. He received an excellent grade, and his picture was placed on the notice board in the classroom. However, then a Czech language teacher noticed the American star during dictation and he was in big trouble. Parents had to go to school and explain why their child had painted an enemy symbol…
The second story concerned a strict teacher of music education (and, at the same time, of the Czech language), who was very servile to the regime. When the so-called Velvet Revolution took place in 1989, she didn’t talk about the events in the streets nor comment them in any way. When the regime fell, and they elected a new president, she suddenly came to school in a cap decorated with the tricolour once worn by our first president, Mr Masaryk, and held a discussion on him… She shamelessly reversed her coat like the others in our state.
Most people were members of the Communist Party only in name – because of the benefits the membership brought them. Nothing has changed since then. Previously, it was in to celebrate the Soviet Union, socialism and the idea of communism, now it is the United States, the EU, liberal democracies, and European values… Whoever has a different opinion, is immediately labelled as a fool, a ridiculous nationalist, a xenophobic, etc. Activists are loyal to the new regime and reintroduce censorship and want to prevent the spread of free information. Thank God for the Internet!
The collapse of the Eastern Bloc was not a spontaneous act of the oppressed people, but a controlled transfer of power that was planned in the name of unification. Besides, a huge market has opened up for the West. Nothing in the world happens just by chance.
But back to your question. My brother and I experienced the fall of the communist regime in the autumn of 1989 as boys (13 and 14 years old). We had long hair, completely torn jeans, and together with our friends, we dug an underground bunker at a landfill near the Břevnov Monastery. When people took to the streets and participated in demonstrations, we were hiding in a bunker… building fires, smoking cigarettes and fantasising about music and our own band. We also searched waste stations for loudspeakers from discarded TVs and radios to build our own sound systems. Then we moved directly to the area of the communist-ravaged monastery garden, and occupied the demolished workshop on the terrace…
The split of Czechoslovakia into two states was peaceful. From one pond they created two smaller…

=== Do you feel you lost audience after the release of Democratic Solution, more than you gained? Whom you got more feedback after the release of Komouš: old fans, or newer listeners? ===
I don’t know. Since we’re a studio band, I can’t talk about losing the audience. If somebody didn’t like the DS album, they can listen to our previous records and continue to ignore us. Anyone who is curious and remembers us will have the opportunity to listen to our new music. The old fans liked Komouš. I believe that the new recording will reach new and younger listeners. The EP Komouš had almost no promotion. With a new publisher, that will definitely change.

=== I know you've completed writing your next album, Free Speech, correct? Can you please tell us more about this album? Can we expect more changes? ===
It’s a great record, Adrian. Eight energetic songs, plus the EP Komouš as a bonus. Our new music publisher Honza described some passages as grandiose… We try not to repeat ourselves with each original recording because life is about changes. Without this change, you will become dull and predictable.
For example, I drum on this record in a different style than in the past. I use other techniques, and my drumming relies on improvisation. My brother thought a lot about the music, the guitar pieces are elaborate and imaginative. He plays everything to the last note as he composed it.

=== Your covers are Humanoid's art, correct? I have to say they are fantastic, from my point of view they look so profoundly Czech... I'm curious if his paintings are also presented outside of the band and what reactions do they get. ===
Thanks! My brother i