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| w/ALEX WEBSTER |
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Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: For your latest release Kill you had producer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal/ex-Morbid Angel) come in to record the album. He got such a clean production and yet was able to keep that Cannibal Corpse raw, death metal grit to it. Do you contribute that partially to him being a musician himself in knowing what you guys were looking for sound-wise?
Alex Webster: It has to be a factor. It would be hard for me to say exactly how it would affect. But, I think it’s probably a factor because he’s been on both sides of the recording business. He’s been a musician recording death metal and he’s also a producer that records death metal. He’s got a lot of experience on both ends and I’m sure that it had an affect on how well this record turned out. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: He really captured you guys well. I mean, Colin is a great producer, don’t get me wrong. (Laughs) The man knows his stuff! But, when you have a person that’s a musician, you have that added benefit. Alex Webster: Definitely! I think with Colin and with Neil Kernon, their both amazing producers and we definitely have nothing bad to say about them. But, somehow Eric managed to make everything audible and clear but at the same time, a little bit more raw than any of the other records with Colin and Neil. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You recently hired back old guitarist Rob Barrett as a full-time member. Did you find it to be an easy transition and what has the chemistry been like, especially since it’s been several years since you’ve played together? Alex Webster: It wasn’t that bad of a transition at all actually. I think for him, it was probably tougher than it was for us. (Laughs) Since we got Pat, we had really been pushing and pushing to play some stuff that was a lot more technical than what we used to do. So, the version of the band that Rob has returned to is probably a lot more challenging. The execution of the music is a lot more challenging for rhythm guitar players than when he left the band. He’s returned to an approved version of the band in our opinion and it took him a little work. I think if Rob answered this question, he’d say that it definitely was not easy for him to learn some of our newer songs. But, as friendship and as far as personalities and everything go, it was pretty easy. He’s our friend. So, when he came back, everything just fit and fell back together again. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: So, the chemistry was just like an “old” shoe. (Laughs) Alex Webster: (Laughs) Yeah, I’ve known Rob for a long time. We all have known him since back in the 80’s because we’re all from Buffalo, NY. It was a pretty easy fit personality wise. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: With Jack being gone and having a new line-up again, did you feel any pressure while making this album? Alex Webster: Not too much. I think that some of our fans were at least a little curious or maybe skeptical as to how we were going to do without Jack. But, we ourselves knew that we were going to be able to do something really brutal this time around and that everybody was going to like. With Jack, he had been going into a little bit of a different direction from the rest of us in the band and with Rob coming back in, everybody was really focused on doing the same kind of stuff as far as it being really fast and brutal. Jack had been going in a little bit more of a groove, slow direction with some of those songs like Festering In The Crypt and When Death Replaces Life and there’s nothing like that on the new album. We weren’t worried about it. We really weren’t and it’s nothing against Jack because he is a cool guy. But, I think that we knew that it would be a pretty heavy record. We didn’t know if it would be better than any of the other ones but we knew we would be happy. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When asked recently about the album title Kill, you were quoted as saying, “we’ve been in “kill mode” more on this album than any of the other ones”. Why was there more of an emphasis on this particular album as opposed to others? Alex Webster: Well, it just felt like with Rob back in the band, like I said, we were all going in the same direction It felt like this is really our chance to focus. It’s the same direction. It’s a aggressive, violent, brutal song-writing style. I think that’s where we all went. In the past, Jack was still writing heavy, really cool songs but they were a little different from what Pat and I like to do. Now with Rob in there, we’re all really pushing forward as a team in the same direction and it’s all aggressive, really violent stuff. So, it’s like “kill mode”, kill, kill, kill! (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: (Laughs) Perfect title! From back in the day until now, Cannibal Corpse has always remained one of the few established death metal bands, forever touring, making albums etc... How would you summarize Cannibal Corpse’s role in the death metal genre then and now? Alex Webster: Back then, we were just getting started and everything in the beginning. We were just finding our sound and finding our style and I don’t think we were that big of an inspiration on other bands at that time. I think once the bands been around for a while and you have a half dozen or more albums out, then you start to maybe become a little bit of a inspiration for younger bands. So, that would be a big difference. In the beginning, we were a young band and other bands like Death, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Kreator and Sodom inspired us. If we are like that to a young band, then it’s something that we’re very proud of. If a younger band is inspired by us, the way we were inspired by Slayer, then that makes us feel really good. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Besides the fans, what do you feel accounts for the bands endurance? Alex Webster: Well, I think that it really does all go back to the fans and the fans like us because we don’t really change. We try and do the same thing every time, we just try and do a better version of it. Like when we did our first album, we wanted it to be a brutal death metal album and our second album, we wanted it to be a brutal death metal album. (Laughs) So, every album we did, that’s what we wanted it to be. But I think over the years we got a little bit better and a little bit better on our instruments and as song writers. So, people have stuck around with us because they know that we’re going to try as hard as possible to make a great, savage, sick death metal record and that’s it. We’re not going to throw in some strange influences from other types of music or anything. It’s just going to be straight-forward death metal. So, I think the fact that we’re dependable in that way is probably one of the big reasons that our fans stick with us. They know they can count on us. They might not like one album more than the other, if you know what I mean, but they always know that what their going to get is a brutal death metal record. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Good answer! (Laughs) Alex Webster: It’s got to have something to do it. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking of endurance, being that Cannibal Corpse has been doing this for what like 18 years now? Alex Webster: Yeah, something like that. (Laughs) I don’t want to sound old, but yeah. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I thought we’d have some fun with my next question. Your probably thinking oh, know. (Laughs) I’d like to recap those years with you so I will name an album and you tell me your favorite track off the album and the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of that particular era. Alex Webster: (Laughs) Ok, I’m ready. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Eaten Back To Life Alex Webster: Probably my favorite song is Buried In the Backyard and everything about that era is about being young and excited about the whole idea of being signed and being in a band that might actually put out an album and do something. So, it’s just a lot of youthful excitement there. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Butchered At Birth Alex Webster: My favorite song on that one would be maybe Gutted because that’s a really good one to play live. With that album and around that time, we were starting to realize that people liked our band. You never know what’s going to happen. So, when Butchered At Birth came out, we were really started to make some waves and I remember starting to realize that people liked the band and that we were making some waves in the underground. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Tomb Of The Mutilated Alex Webster: Tomb? Let me think, my favorite song on Tomb... Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: (Laughs) I did this to Bobby of Overkill. He was like, oh, man we're going to get fourteen songs of me aren't we. He had to really think because The albums go back so much, you know. Alex Webster: (Laughs) Yeah, it’s hard some times but I actually remember most of them. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You’re doing pretty well so far. Alex Webster: I think The Cryptic Stench from Tomb Of The Mutilated as my favorite. That era, again, that all kind of blurs together with Butchered At Birth. Their a couple records that have a similar style. Maybe around that time too for Tomb Of The Mutilated, for me personally not the band, I started to really get interested in more technical types of music. I really tried to push myself as a bass player more around that time. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The Bleeding Alex Webster: Favorite song, let me think... Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: He’s probably pulling out his CD’s. (Laughs) I’m only kidding. Alex Webster: (Laughs) I remember them all. Force Fed Broken Glass is actually a really good one on that album because of the cool harmony parts. That album was pretty much the zenith of the Chris Barnes era. We were really doing well at that time. Everything was going pretty good for us. I also remember that recording for that album was very hard. We wound up nit picking everything to death. That was the hardest album I’ve had to record out of all of them. Even though the music isn’t as hard as some of the newer albums, it’s because we nit picked it so much it wound up being a really difficult album to track. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Vile Alex Webster: Maybe Disfigured. That album is the transitional period because we got George into the band so everything was a little different. Singers are sort of an important member of a band in the public perception. Maybe not so much in the actual song-writing but as far as the way people perceive the band, changing a singer is a big deal. We felt like we had a lot to prove at that time because we wanted to show that we could kick a lot of ass with or without our old singer. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I kind of asked you that question about Rob. That’s kind of what I meant when I said did you feel like there was a pressure but it’s worse with a singer because everybody has these different notions of what he should sound like or what he should act like. Alex Webster: Yeah, people are going to relate to the singer first and foremost when listening to a band, unless their musicians, because a musician might listen to a band just because of the drummer. But, just about anybody will listen to a singer. A singers a very important part and when you switch one, it’s not always easy to overcome that. Many bands just can’t make it without their original singer. But, we knew we could. The singer is just 20% of our band and the 80% of the band was still the same. So, we knew that it would be alright. Even if our fans were kind of wondering, we knew it would be ok because 80% of what made our band what it is was still intact. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, plus you guys are really good musicians too. That helps! (Laughs) Alex Webster: Thanks! We’re doing our best and definitely I think we put in a lot of effort and I think that helps. We’re very tenacious. (Laughs) We really stick with it and we just work and work and try and improve. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, it definitely shows. Your hear what 18-20 years later? Alex Webster: I guess we’re doing something right if we managed to put out ten studio albums. (Laughs) We must be doing all right. But, I do have to say, our best is yet to come. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Gallery of Suicide Alex Webster: That’s the first album with Pat and that was an album with a lot of experimental stuff on it. Probably my favorite song on there is From Skin To Liquid. That’s our second instrumental actually, we had instrumental on Vile called Relentless Beating. From Skin To Liquid I thought was a really good song because a lot of people associate our band with being fast and being gory and that song is neither. But it’s still a really heavy death metal song. So, I think that’s probably why I like it so much. We showed that we could be totally heavy in a different way and From Skin To Liquid definitely did that. As far as that era goes, that was when Pat got in. I guess that’s what I remember. Pat joined the band and Rob left when we were writing that album. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Bloodthirst Alex Webster: My favorite song would be Pounded Into Dust. That was a good album. I think actually a lot of people feel like it’s one of our best albums. The era, it’s hard to really say what was going on then. It was the first time we had recorded outside of Florida as far as any full-length album goes. We did demos up in NY but the only full-length stuff we did was in Florida. That was our first album over in Texas so that was pretty exciting. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Gore Obsessed Alex Webster: That was our first album with Neil Kernon. I think my favorite song would be Grotesque because there’s some bass stuff in there. A lot of the songs I pick as favorites are my own songs. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: (Laughs) Convenient. I’m just joking. Alex Webster: (Laughs) Well, you just end up liking your own songs because we each are writing our own idea of what our favorite song should be. Like Pat’s writing his favorite kind of music, I’m writing my favorite kind, Rob’s writing his favorite kind and so on. So, naturally, the one’s I’ll like best are probably going to be my own songs. But, probably Grotesque because it’s a weird one. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: It’s a weird one? Musically I’m guessing. (Laughs) Alex Webster: (Laughs) Yeah, it’s got a lot of weird stuff going on it. The lyrics are pretty weird too. But, musically, it’s a strange sounding song. At the same time I think it was still brutal and it has a little bass solo kind of thing in it. As far as that era goes, it wasn’t so much different than the Bloodthirst era. We kind of settled into a group and time will tell whether or not that was a good thing. A lot of people kind of feel like the records we did out in Texas all have a similar feel. Once you get older, you settle into doing things in a certain way. We tour and we record in a very consistent way. Their wasn’t really a shake-up on The Wretched Spawn either. I think the real shake-up has been with Kill because we did things differently. But, I bet The Wretched Spawn would be your next question. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: It sure is. (Laughs) The Wretched Spawn Alex Webster: My favorite song off of The Wretched Spawn would be... I’m just going to keep picking my own songs. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: (Laughs) It makes it easy. I was just thinking, wow, he really did good with this. Alex Webster: (Laughs) They Deserve To Die and again, it’s got a little bass thing in it. It’s a really cool song and I wrote it. As far that era, like I said, it’s not that much different than Gore Obsessed. We were touring. A couple tours in Europe. A couple tours in America, all headliners. We did do a lot of globe trotting for The Wretched Spawn tour and that was fun. We went and did our first real Latin American tour where we did five shows in Mexico and then eight shows in South Central South America. That was really fun. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Last but certainly not least, Kill Alex Webster: As far as Kill goes, Kill was where we finally have been able to shake things up and break out a little bit in that we recorded with a different producer and we were at a different studio. Also for touring, things are going to be different this time. We’re going on the Sounds of The Underground tour and we’ve never been able to do a tour like that before. So, things feel different right now than they have in the past. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You haven’t? You guys have played with bigger bands? Alex Webster: Not too much really. The only tours we did that weren’t headliners were with The Misfits and Anthrax back in 1996. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Oh, you mean not as headliners. I misunderstood what you meant. Alex Webster: Yeah. See, we don’t get very many opportunities to play with bands that are bigger than us. When we do a tour, we can expect there to be between 400-900 or 1000 people at each show. For The Sounds Of The Underground, their expecting 2000-3000 a night. We can only assume that at least 1000 of those people have never seen us before or wouldn’t like want to see us. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Oh, please, you guy’s are known (Laughs) What do you mean? Alex Webster: We’re known maybe but maybe people didn’t "want" to see us for whatever reason. (Laughs) We sort of have a captive audience where their going to be forced to check us out and hopefully, they’ll learn to like us after their forced to watch us. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Oh, they definitely will and they also put you with a couple of heavier bands too, which is always a good thing. Alex Webster: Yeah, we were happy to hear that Black Dahlia Murder and Behemoth were on there. Gwar’s really cool. The other bands are cool too, their just doing something different. I’m not familiar with those bands. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: In Flames? You know who In Flames is? Alex Webster: Oh, yeah. Their on that bill too. That’s another good one. So, it’s going to be a pretty solid tour I think. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Especially for the summer. Alex Webster: I can’t wait. We’re making a few shirts for this summer that are white and gray so that people aren’t roasting when they buy them because man, getting in an outdoor pit with a long black t-shirt on, your guaranteed to overheat. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Actually, I’m going to be covering one of your shows in New Jersey at The Starland which is outside. So, your right, it’s going to be hot! (Laughs) Alex Webster: We’re going to be sweating all summer. We’re prepared for it. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, Alex thanks for a great interview and see you at the Sounds Of The Underground tour in NJ. As I said, I’ll be covering the show, taking some live shots and so forth. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Alex Webster: Cool, thank you very much. We’re also going to be doing some meet/greet thing for Jägermeister so if you happen to see us hanging out, come over and say hello. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I definitely will! With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Alex Webster: Thank you very much to all of our fans and supporters and we hope to see everybody on tour this summer. OFFICIAL SITE: “CANNIBAL CORPSE”: http://www.cannibalcorpse.net HOME |