As a drummer you’veused a click track in your last album Evisceration plague for the first time.Was it a different experience for you?
It was different at first. I was always a drummer who didn’twant to use a click. I was self-taught and it never came across as something Iwanted to do. This time around we wanted to be as solid as we could be, andwanted to improve the band in any way possible. And I definitely wanted toimprove my playing in any way possible at this point. When that was suggested,I was for it. I said I’d give it a chance. It was definitely difficult in thebeginning, adjusting to it. But now I look back and wish I would have done ityears ago. It really helped my playing and helped tighten up the screws alittle bit more. It made for the tightest recording we could do. That was huge.We’re not going to use a click live, but in time I hope it will get a littlebit easier. But what a great help it was.
As aband, have the songwriting duties been spread out among the band members alittle more efficiently- especially in the last album?
Everyone is a good songwriter. Weknow they have the capability to write Cannibal songs. Over the last few yearsit seems like Alex had a lot of ideas, and a lot of them came together veryquickly. On Evisceration Plague Alex wrote seven of the songs andcollaborated with Rob on one other one. Pat wrote two, Rob wrote one himself,and I wrote one song. But a couple albums back Pat had four songs. It justdepends on the time frame and who’s come up with what at a given moment. Alexwrote most of this new one.
Yeah,It’s primarily Alex and Ithat write the lyrics. On Evisceration Plague Alex wrote all the lyricsto his songs, Rob wrote the lyrics for his song. I wrote the lyrics for thesong I wrote, and I’ve always written lyrics for Pat. Every song that Pat haswritten for Cannibal Corpse I have written lyrics to. Pat’s just not alyricist, and since Alex does so many lyrics with his songs I have no problemwriting the lyrics to Pat’s songs. That’s how it’s been going these dayslyrically.
It’s pretty much as written. Somethings might change here and there. If we get into the studio and somethingisn’t working syllable wise or isn’t coming across clean enough, they might bechanged. If anything is changed, it’s usually pretty subtle.
Youworked with producer Erik Rutan again on the last CD. What is it about hisstyle that clicked with you guys?
He did a great job on Killand we wanted to work with him again and see if we could do even better. Thebig thing is, he’s one of us. He’s a good friend of ours, and he plays guitarin a death metal band. What more do you need from a producer than a guy who’sin the thick of it like that? It’s key. He’s built his way up to be theproducer that he is today. Being from that death metal background is such a bigplus and hard to get from other producers.
Is agebecoming an obstacle in maintaining the brutality and extremity in your music?More physically than anything.Just playing it. We’re not getting any younger, and the songs aren’t gettingany easier. When it comes to the edge, I believe that we’ve been doing it longenough and we are set in our style of how we write and how we play. When wehave to write, everyone gets busy and it starts flowing. It’s somethinginternal at this point. But the older we get the harder it is going to be tomaintain stamina and that kind of thing. Knock on wood we’ve been fortunatethat everyone’s been relatively healthy. Nobody’s had major issues. Luckilynone of that has happened. We’ve got to use our maturity and brain more and usethat to your advantage. We have to be physical. It’s what we do and that’s theway we play. But you learn how to use your muscles properly, learn stamina.We’re playing better live than we ever have.
What do you think sets CC apart from other Brutal DeathMetal bands?
“We really work to make the songs memorablewhile simultaneously being brutal, and I think that is something thatsome other brutal death metal bands might have trouble doing. There may beother bands that are faster or more offensive lyrically, but I think we have alot of song-writing talent and that trumps just about everything.”
What was with JimCarrey specially requesting you guys for Ace Ventura? What was the reactionamongst the members of the band when that offer came up?
We were all quite shocked and happy aswell. It still seems quite surreal that he even knew who we were.
Why do so many politicians hate Cannibal Corpse? Have youever considered just writing songs about various politicians?
We're an easy target, that's why they target us. We don'thave the resources to fight back against their bullshit. Anyway, I don't knowif we'd want to have songs about politicians...murderers, perverts, maniacs,sure...but politicians, well that's just going a little too far.
Do you guys ever just look at your song titles and start tolaugh?
There's a couple that could definitelybe seen in a humorous light, although we really don't intend them to be so.
Out of the blues question- If you were a vegetable- whatvegetable would you be?
Well ,I got a few tomatoes from the market a while ago- so…Iwant to be a tomato for now. (laughs)
See, this is what I’m talking about- you’re such a normalguy- But, When I first saw you as a kid in the Hammered Smashed Face Live vid,I thought you’d be…
Yeah, I get what you’re trying to say-but what people don’tget is that our music, like any art-form on this planet is just an artisticthought and means of expression. When we talk about a goblin coming out of aperson. We don’t actually mean it, dude. These are just horror stories we buildup for our music. It’s like a canvas we paint.
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