Like Cap'n Ahab in search of his great white whale, the mystery of 80s speed metal band has long been shrouded in mystery and silence. But for those who heard their 2 amazing albums 'Terror and Submission' and 'Mind Wars', the magic and talent between these 5 dudes was something truly special and these guys could have been big man, really big. Almost 20 years on, other dedicated fans (like Scott W Lambert) have also yearned to find out more about the band and now with a dedicated site (with most of their early biog on there), it was finally time to track down mainman founder Kurt Colfelt!

-Shan Siva

So how did it all end for HT – the biog (www.holyterrorspeedmetal.com) only goes up to the escape from Germany (the same thing Dark Angel said to me funnily enough after their bassist Mike Gonzalez got arrested in Frankfurt!).

The end of Holy Terror began at the infamous band party house, that was also my house about the time we got back from the ill fated Euro tour in Jan 89. We were down one guitar player and I was doing a ton of speed ,weed etc I found out my girlfriend was pregnant, so I started fixing hotrods and muscle cars and bikes in my yard trying to build up a business that I could do instead or along with music because we were losing money left and right. We began practicing in a studio /house up in the hills of the SF valley, instead of getting another guitar player I tried building a more complex amp pedal board system with mixed results. We were just 8 months from the release of 'Mind Wars' and getting pressure from Road Racer Records to do a demo of new stuff. I gotta tell you they pissed me off there cos we just handed in what I thought was the best record we could do and they acted like it didn`t come out right and wanted to demo the band to see if they wanted to keep us or not. At least that`s how I perceived it...We tried writing but there was only a few incomplete ideas and so we weren`t ready when it was time to demo. A lot in fact all of the HT material took a lot of time and energy to get written and brought up to speed, plus the label just didn`t do shit for us to be honest, so we took time off and signed away from RR records. After continuing to do drugs and fix cars the neighbours were complaining so the cops were visiting my house and arresting me for too many cars and bikes, I kept ending up in jail for stupid shit, like erecting an illegal shed, no mirrors on my truck, then finally a loaded gun. Since LA was not my home I got ready to move up north back to Seattle. I talked to the remaining members Keith, Joe, Floyd and wanted to move the band so I had a family for my son etc. We agreed and Joe myself and Floyd moved and waited for Keith and waited and waited. He came up a year later and took off the first day....we had played a couple of shows as HT with me singing but then folded it - this would be in 91.

Would it be fair to say that HT pretty much collapsed (or would have sooner or later) due to the drugs? With hindsight is that something you regret or something that actually made the band great in terms of its creativity etc?

Holy Terror collapsed because of my drug use but we were also not from LA. I was from Seattle, Joe was from North Carolina, Floyd was from Reno so after a few years and some set backs the band didn`t truly have a home. It was like when we took a break people wanted to move back where they came from or we probably would have continued on. But by the time we had moved to Seattle it was too late to turn back Keith was in Cali and we never had any luck finding a new singer, I did an indusrial metal band for a year then joined Zeke on bass, I did all the early tours etc and played on Flattracker, but they were a perfect match for me cause everyone was a drug addict the band imploded and the first guitar player Dizzy quit. Then I got kicked out for being too out of control - oops! They continued on and I did a band with Dizzy. As far as the drugs and creativity, the first record was no drugs, well pot and beer, and most of 'Mind Wars' was written before the next relapse, the record would not of been the way it was without staying up all night and working our asses off so we kinda put a new twist on the term of Speed Metal!!

I’m interested to find out what makes you such a ‘fight n fuck’ person – and just what does a ‘super bender drug rage’ involve?

I don`t know why I`m a fighter it`s not like I`m that great at it although I've done a fair amount of it. My Mom says when I was 2 the kid down the street who was 4 kept picking on me so I smacked him in the head a few times with a strainer spoon. I think that`s where it all started. Also my heritage is Lithuanian / Irish so drinking and fighting go together like Jack and Coke ha ha!

I’ve never been to your hometown of Seattle but I’ve heard (and thinking of the sub pop generation like Kurt Cobain and also like that Tom Waits film “Streetwise”) that it has a pretty big drugs and subculture scene?

Well, I left Seattle after playing in every kind of band you can imagine: high school dances, bars, crappy top 40 joints, party`s etc At the time in 82 there was pretty much nothing going on. If I was smart I would have moved to the bay area but I didn`t, I thought there was nothing ever going to happen in Seattle - those were famous last words!! I came from an island in Puget sound so there wasnt`much subculture or anything until I arrived in LA in May of '83 and was living in my mini truck and then an apartment in Hollywood. By '84 after nearly losing my life and the use of my right hand in a car wreck and playing in a few different metal bands I joined Agent Steel. Once again my temper came into play, but I couldn`t stand John Cyruss,the exit from that band is on the www.holyterrorspeedmetal.com site

Can you give us an update on what the various members of HT are doing right now including yourself?

Well I kept going but one thing I truly believe is that Holy Terror was a moment in time and the sum of all the parts so I was determined to keep the cult like status of the band although I never brought it up for over 10 years. Finally my girlfriend had a computer and I was found by a few die hard HT fans one of them being Scott Lambert who offered to build, take care of and run a Holy Terror site. I think Mike (Alvord - guitar) has a band try Judas Redemtion/myspace. I still do The Load Levelers although I retired officially sept 2006 this lasted for about a year and a half, just before that we did a Holy Terror reunion show and tried to restart the band. I kinda felt like I was playing in a tribute band [kiinda wierd]. Anyway Jeff Matz the bass player joined High on Fire and I took his spot back in Zeke for about 8 months, that was fun but I had to step out so I could retire and take some time off with my family and job. You can check out Loadlevelers/myspace or theloadlevelers/myspace [this one is me not the band so I don`t put bands on the second one] we play hopped up country bluegrass punk rock I sing and write most of the songs. Joe is in N Carolina and Floyd is in Denver, Keith is in Las Vegas and Mike is still in LA

It seems the spirit of Holy Terror is still there (as are the fans both new and old like myself) but I get the impression from the site that you would only want to regroup HT with the original members – what’s the reason for that? I mean, its always cool to have the original guys but if its down to logistics like it seems why not get who you can and get out there anyway….?

Well believe it or not I talked to Keith [who we hadn't heard from in 16 years and he brought up the idea ] but the reality is the band needs contant maintainance and nobody lives anywhere near each other,I think the chances are basically nil at this point although I`m sure glad some younger kids are still feeling the power.

HT has gotta be one of the most elusive bands even in the internet age – luckily this guy Scott Lambert has done the right thing and put out a site so were you aware people out there were still interested in the band?

Yeah, that's partly out of laziness, and when things blew up I knew I just needed to let it go. People grow up and change: I think the 'die young and leave a beautiful corpse' definitely applies to HT. If we went out and played it would be apparent that our singer is 51, our bassist is 50, drums are 49 and I`m 48 - see where I`m going with this?? And yes, many props to the self procaimed biggest Holy Terror fan in the world Scott Lambert for getting things organized

How did you guys hook up with artist Rick Araluce? On the face of it I thought he would run a mile but then again his art is pretty disturbed too ha ha

I found a piece of Rick`s artwork [a 6 foot tall very disturbing painting on the wall of my landlords apt and asked to be introduced and became an instant hardcore fan and wanted him to do some stuff for a band I was working on [HT]. Since then he moved to Seattle of all places and I still see him once or twice a year. What a great guy and what a fucking great artist he is, I also have Rick's art tattooed on my arms and chest. The cops at the jail thought I was a Satan worshipper but I informed them that I`m a Blues guitarist!!!

Ok, an Agent Steel question from one of my friends - why did you leave the band (having met Agent Steel and heard a few things about Mr Cyriss I can imagine but I’d still like to hear your side).

Ok, check out the story on the website or myspace/holyterrorspeedmetal for the Agent Steel story - they did ask me to write a song for the next record and maybe play a solo or something we`ll see ,once again logistics.

Can you tell us a bit about the ‘El Revengo’ release and if HT has any plans for the future (there’s gotta be a gig pleeeeease!)?

A guy I went to school with Jack Endino [who recorded single handedly most of the early grunge stuff for sub pop] told me he had a special way to bake old tapes and get the to play long enough to be loaded onto a computer and mixed with pro tools. I had been approached before for out takes and unreleased stuff but the taped were in bad shape and I couldn`t get Plastichead to send me money to mix some of them so I put up my own money. We remixed 4 songs off Mindwars, then took the remixes from Road racer of the first album remasterd them and found some old video that our roadie Robert took on tour in 87 / 88 and put that on there along with a video Mike made of 'Judas Reward'. I sold it and all the rights to the music to Plastichead for $2500 bucks I figure we`re not getting paid for the double disc so I might as well give it to some one to put out, I heard they spelled my name wrong (again) but I haven`t seen a copy of it. As for a gig...sorry man, the chances of a gig are slim to none but the legend continues so thanks for keeping that alive man - Kurt.