Pizza Pie Do Or Die with Barry Cavener of Ancient Altar

Ancient Altar

Next week Ancient Altar will be unleashing their EP, Cosmic Purge/Foie Gras onto glorious vinyl. So now, instead of being able to listen to this striker anywhere you want, you've been leashed to your turntable.

Yeah!

For those of you old time hipster wannabes who listen to records, like myself, check out BANDCAMP to pick up this banger.

But for now, let's talk about another circular object Glacially Musical can't get enough of....

PIZZA!

1. Pizza is the world's most perfect food. This is not up for debate. Please define pizza as based on your geographical location.

In my area (I'm about 45 minutes east of LA) there are a few good mom and pop pizza places, but it's mostly chains. 

It's not just Dominos and Pizza Hut and places like that, but every "build your own", wood fired chain is opening up out here. 

LA itself on the other hand, has a nice variety of pizza from different regions throughout the country and even the world.

2. It's going to get controversial now. Pineapple on Pizza. Why or why not? 

I've been eating Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza since I was a kid. It was never controversial until some tidepod eating idiots decided to make it a meme. 

It's been on pizza menus everywhere since I can remember (and I'm old), and for it to be "controversial" all of a sudden is stupid.

(HOT TAKE ALERT! Note: I used to eat Canadian Bacon and Pineapple on pizza in 1997.)

3. For literally years, my family didn't order pizza from the take out places. We made Chef Boyardee boxed pizzas. 

After that, we only ordered St. Louis Style from Imo's. But finally in the LATE EIGHTIES, I had Domino's Pizza. Tell me your tale.

I was actually in the same boat as a kid; my mom always made those Chef Boyardee pizzas. I specifically remember Little Caesar's opening a few blocks from my house, and all of a sudden we started eating Little Caesar's on a somewhat regular basis. 

We didn't have a lot of money, so 2 pizzas for $10 was the perfect deal for us.

My life changed in the late 80's when I experienced peanut butter pizza for the first time. My mom had some cousins that lived a few hours away that opened up this pizza place called John's Incredible Pizza. 

We made the trek to their place, they put a bunch of different pizzas on the table, and we dug in. The thought of peanut butter on a pizza sounded disgusting, but my mom made me try it...and I'm glad she did. I don't know what it is but the combination of the cheese, sauce, and peanut butter blew my young mind.

If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.

4. St. Louis Style Pizza is the perfect pizza, especially if you enjoy bragging about how much pizza you can eat, but when I'm out in other parts of the country, I seek out Chicago Style Pizza. What do you look for?

I have to be honest, I had never even heard of St. Louis Style Pizza until this interview, but it sounds interesting (I had to look it up). 

I love pizza of all varieties, but I'm a huge deep dish fan. There's a place called Zachary's in Berkley that we'll stop at whenever the band is in the Bay Area; it's probably the best deep dish I've ever had.

(No one else looked it up, but I'll take any touring bands to get some in STL.)

5. Pepperoni, started giving me heartburn. So I switched to green peppers or onions. What's your go to topping?

I absolutely love sausage and mushrooms, but there's nothing like a good pepperoni pizza where the pepperoni grease becomes one with the cheese, and taste perfection is achieved. 

I also love Canadian bacon and pineapple, and have even thrown cashews in the mix.

6. What do you look for in pairing beer with your pie?

I'm not really a huge beer guy, so I don't really do any paring, but I'd probably go with a Blue Moon.