Legendary Death Metal masters of gore Cannibal Corpse took a moment on their recent UK tour to chat with PushtoFire about the past, present and future of all things brutal.
You’ve been in the band from the very beginning?
Yeah, that’s right
What was it like in those early days- what was it, 20-odd years ago?
21 years this December actually, and yeah back then of course, guys getting together playing some music, that’s what it was all about you know? And it’s still is all about that, and we were fortunate to have some things happen to us- getting signed relatively quickly in our career in ‘89 and it was just us getting together playing music and songs that we wanted to play. If good things can happen from that, and luckily they have, then it’s awesome.
It’s been one of those projects which has turned into something crazily long and extremely successful, what I wanted to know was given the success, the Ace Ventura appearance, everything else, what’s it like having that on the one hand, and being banned from playing material from your first few albums?
Well, that was in Germany and we had a problem for a few years not being allowed to play anything from the first 3 records in Germany. I mean, yeah there’s a few things that have happened that didn’t affect us in any way- I mean here we are. We’ve played Germany, we’ve played shows and we just keep on striving. You know, we do what we do, luckily good things have happened, obviously there’s going to be some controversy along the way with a band name like Cannibal Corpse and the subject matter we have.
I was going to ask is there such a thing as “bad press”?
No, no there isn’t.
And it obviously hasn’t hurt you any…
Yeah exactly, and there isn’t really. Obviously if something is censored the kids are going to want. You know; ‘what’s the big deal? I want that, I need that!’ of course. But we just take it all in our stride, we’re just fans of death metal, playing death metal music and that’s all we are. And like I said, all the good things that have happened with us, to us, for us or what have you is awesome, obviously there’s going to be some negativity along the way, you have to let it fly off the back and go about our business, that’s really about it.
With the tour you’re out with Trigger the Bloodshed…
Well for the UK run yeah. For the whole of mainland Europe it was, Obscura, Evocation and Dying Fetus and the 5 shows here in the UK it was us and Dying Fetus, Trigger the Bloodshed and Annotations of An Autopsy.
Do you have an opinion about the current crop of death metal fans at the moment?
I’m not personally into a lot of new music, so I don’t really know what’s going on for the most part, you know. We’re old school and I kind of stick to what I listen to. But all I know is that heavy music is probably more popular than ever. If a lot of these young bands can come out and do great… I think it’s just great that heavy music is doing so well these days.
Do you have an opinion about the new school vs. old school debate? Awhile ago I went out to see Behemoth from Poland and the support were supposed to be Kataklysm but they pulled out and we got Suicide Silence. And straight away you noticed there was a bit of a divide shall we say…
I guess with young bands there’s going to be old school, there’s going to be new school, and a lot of these young bands are influenced by the bands that play with us, like us, or even have been around for a few years like Behemoth, Deicide, Morbid Angel or ourselves. Maybe it’s not going to work in all markets and all countries, but you know, it’s all heavy music and it’s all coming together in one way or another. A lot of these tours have been mixed up like that.
We’ve talked about the longevity of the band, baring in mind the stick Cryptopsy got for changing their style can we expect maybe anything slightly more…different in the future?
Nah, I think you know it’s Cannibal Corpse. I mean a lot of albums, 21 years and we’ve been very successful at doing what we want to do and what we want to do is play this kind of death metal. I think you can listen to all 11 of our CDs and yeah they’re all different, but all the same sound.
So it’s more going to be different sides to the same coin?
Of course, of course; it has to be otherwise it wouldn’t be Cannibal Corpse.
The new album I heard for the first time the other day, and before that I’ve heard Kill… how do you see it in comparison because you said there’s that sound which is almost like a Cannibal Corpse brand, how do you see it, is it different as such?
Yeah, I mean you take all 11 albums and go right back to the beginning it sounds different, still sounds like Cannibal Corpse…you know the years go by, things change or get better in your head or whatever. A lot of refinement just happens really and you get a stronger sound.
I think it’s as strong as it’s ever been and with stronger recording and better production and all that. I think I just strive and strive to do better and hopefully that happens, and if it does happen hopefully people are going to feel the same way. So there’s always going to be the next chapter in the story and there might be some subtle differences and, like I said, we’re playing primitive death metal but we’re not going to rehash the same old stuff. A lot of the sounds might sound similar but you know, we’re really trying to do it that much better maybe a little bit more different so it retains that sound.
And Cannibal Corpse are a bit of a brand, it’s almost like Motörhead. You see a Motörhead t-shirt and it’s iconic, when you see a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt it’s the same. Do you think there’s more room for a more of a brand feel to it like what Kiss do…well, maybe not quite like Kiss do.
Mmmm, well I think we have gotten to that point to some extent. Not like Kiss or anything but yeah, we’ve had the same artists you know, our merchandise sells, obviously, we’ve ventured out into out into having more than just t-shirts, and the longer we’ve been around the more of an institution we’ve become I guess. So I can see that happening, you know and we definitely wouldn’t mind more of that and evolving into that kind of thing.
I was thinking about the comic book that came out with the new album.
Right, there you go. We put a comic out with our boxset a few years ago but that was just a song comic book. This is more like a graphic novel, 96 pages, tying in with the album, of course. All the visuals were just the songs and the text is the lyrics and, yeah, something different right there…and you never know what could happen after that. We’ve talked about it and you never know with the means that we have, and you never know what things could spawn. A Cannibal Corpse comic book would just be killer, or maybe even a Cannibal Corpse show; an animation.
Which brings us neatly onto Dethklok who have become a big deal and somewhat influenced by you.
Of course, they based Nathan (Explosion, fictional singer of Dethklok) on George (“Corpse Grinder” Fisher, actual singer of Cannibal Corpse), and they’re definitely big fans of death metal and Cannibal Corpse, that’s why they did the show. They’re just having that from being spawned from death metal music- it’s amazing and it’s so popular, so you just never know. But I think at this point definitely, 21 years later, whose to say, maybe 30 years down the road, I hope we’ll be looked upon, like you were saying, as a sort of Motörhead or something, that would be very flattering. There’s a lot fans and a big legacy and a lot can be done with it, so we’ll see.
How long till the Cannibal Corpse-Dethklok tour happens?
We did have an opportunity in the states to do a tour with them but there were too many options open and we decided to do the Mayhem Festival with Slayer and Marilyn Manson in the states.
Other brand names in some ways I guess?
Yeah, and that’s why we wanted to go out with them. It could happen down the line, we’ll see what happens.
With being banned in Australia and Germany, I recently went to a horror festival and watched Zombie Flesh Eaters and there was a presentation by the guy who starred in it (Ian McCulloch) and he was talking about that era of the ‘video nasty’ and I was just wondering how it was possible to get banned and it seems genuinely weird given, what seems to me, as relatively harmless stuff.
Nowadays it’s harder than ever, I mean it’s not new anymore. Horror movies are in at the moment, more over the top than they’ve ever been. We’ve been going for 20 years, death metal’s been around, you know, it’s not new anymore so you just do what you do and be horrific in your own way. So, yes it’s almost impossible to be as shocking as it once was when we started out, how could it be I guess?
You talked about the future and you’ve been going for a while, with Slayer and those other sorts of long running bands it must get difficult to maintain that level of intensity over the years. So I’m wondering…how long?
Day by day, man. Everyone’s older now, you know. We feel great which is good obviously, but you never know. I mean look at the guy from Evile, just dropping dead from an Aneurysm. With things like that you just never know. I might wake up tomorrow and have some major back problems and I can’t play drums anymore, who the hell knows? Obviously if we just take it day by day and things keep on going I’ll hope we’ll know when the end is in sight and when to call it a day, but right now that time isn’t even close. So it’s just take it as it comes and we’ll see what happens.
