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| Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Lyrically, Cattle Decapitation write with “real” issues in mind straying away from the traditional standards of death metal writing which normally lean towards fictional subject matter. A couple tracks that I could relate to closely would be “Chummified” and “Men Before Swine”. If people could “really” see first hand what these animals go through just so we can eat, the whole world would become vegetarians. It’s bad enough what they go through just to die but some are mistreated beforehand in the process. What’s the band’s position on this and what would you like the songs of the album to convey as shown in one particular track “Lips & Assholes”? Josh Elmore: We just hope that by espousing our views on the meat industry people will begin to take notice of what really goes on in that business. "Lips and Assholes" is a perfect example of this. Lyrically, the song delves into territory that articulates the repulsive nature of the slaughterhouse and the song segues into the 9-min. "Men Before Swine" outro, which presents some pretty disturbing audio samples layered of ambient drone. The rest of the record delves into humanity's role in the destruction of itself and the Earth. “Humanure” as a whole is more of a collective commentary on the humanity equals shit equation than a statement on animal rights. We are not vegans that hand out pamphlets at rallies we are simply vegetarians who believe that humans have mistreated their position as the most highly evolved, yet destructive ape. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I know you have a slew of tour dates in the US to support “Humanure”. But I’ve noticed that the band has never played overseas and the album is actually banned in some countries for distribution due partially to the artwork. Will this problem ever be rectified and do you foresee the band ever doing a European tour? The Euro people would eat this stuff up over there and it would be a great opportunity for the band. Josh Elmore: We would love to do a European tour and plan to go as soon as it makes sense both financially and when sales increase there. SPV banning distribution of our albums in Germany certainly does not help our efforts to travel there, but hopefully interest amongst European fans will continue to grow. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking of the artwork, you had “Wes Benscoter” design the cover which I thought was great in keeping with the album title of “Humanure”. (Laughs) What provided the inspiration of this? Josh Elmore: We originally approached Wes with a completely different concept for the cover. However, he asked to be able to run with the concept that was tied in with the album title. In our opinion, the cover art for “Humanure” is excellent. Wes did a fantastic job and we are more than thrilled with the image. He created a perfect visual companion to the association of our band name and the album title. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: For this release, the band brought in well-known producer “Bill Metoyer” of whom worked with some of the best names within the industry. How did that influence your decision to appoint him as a producer? He really captured the bands sound at its best! Josh Elmore: Bill approached us at the Metal Blade 20th Anniversary party in December of 2002 and we talked potentially working together. When it came time to start talking about the follow up recording to “To Serve Man”, we threw a few names around as possibilities and his name came up. He has extremely close ties with Metal Blade and they thought that he would be a perfect fit for us. After corresponding with him over several months, we decided that he was the man for the job. We were surprised and delighted when he actually agreed to do it! All I can say is that Bill is a class act. He is very patient and his years of experience were definitely an asset during the recording process. We all are very happy with the recording and think that it outshines our previous efforts by a fair margin. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Cattle Decapitation has again had some personal changes within the band with the departure of drummer “David Astor”. How do you feel the constant changing of members affect the band? Josh Elmore: Well, we've had Michael Laughlin (Dave Astor's successor) for over a year. There really haven't been that many line-up changes. I think the metal media kind of fed off The Locust connection and when both Gabe and Dave were replaced, people seemed to wonder what was up with that. A lot of folks considered the Locust association as our card to pull for attention. However, I believe we are stronger now as a band with our current lineup than ever before. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The bands been quoted as saying that David left due to the “inability to live up to the obligations of touring and the regular necessities of the band”. Can you elaborate in more detail being that he has been with the band since its inception back in ‘96? That had to be a difficult decision to make. Josh Elmore: Actually, the decision to replace Dave was a long time coming. His interest in the band had started to wane and creatively, we found ourselves on two different pages. On the business side, it came down to him not wanting to tour. Every time we went out with him, it seemed that he was unhappy because he was out of his comfort zone. He wished to be accommodated in a manner that did not jive with our financial resources. Sorry, but we cannot afford to get a hotel room every night and sometimes we must do overnight drives in order to get to the shows on time. Basically, it came down to him being accustomed to a sedentary, lax lifestyle at home and work, being foreign to him, did not suit his tastes. On the creative differences, well, let's just say this, records with nothing but blast beats for 40 minutes tend to get a little monotonous. Granted, we still love blasts, but Dave's creative abilities have died down over the years and he only seemed to want to do what was comfortable for him. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You recently recruited “Michael Laughlin” to replace Dave at the throne. How is working with Mike different and perhaps better than before? Josh Elmore: Michael's technical and creative talents are definitely more in our ballpark that Dave's were. He has a good intuitive sense of what beats to put behind certain riffs. Dave's answer to everything was to put a blast behind every part, regardless of the feel the riff had. Mike has a much keener sense of dynamics and composition than Dave does. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Tell me about the writing chemistry of the current line-up and how long did “Humanure” take to write? Josh Elmore: Early on Troy (bassist) came up with a couple of the songs on “Humanure”. As the writing progressed, the rest of us took a more active role and everyone ended contributing to the writing of the record. I think it is great group effort. We had two songs for about a year before completing the last seven songs in approx. nine months. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: How would you compare “Humanure” to its predecessors, “To Serve Man”, “Homovore” and “Human Jerky”? Josh Elmore: “Humanure” is by far the band's finest work. I'm really proud of it. “Human Jerky” and “Homovore” are both great albums, but of a more gore-grind sound than we have now. “To Serve Man” has some great songs, but the recording and drumming isn't really, what we wished it could have been. With “Humanure”, I think all our influences and energies finally culminated in a creative effort that all of us are pleased with, which is pretty much all I could ask for. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The Metal Web! will definitely be covering either a NJ or NY date and am looking forward to experiencing the brutality of Cattle Decapitation live. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Josh Elmore: Felch.Mung.Gore. Come see Cattle on the road in July and August with The Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore and Watch Them Die and in September and October with Deicide, Goatwhore and Diabolic. Thanks! OFFICIAL SITE “CATTLE DECAPITATION”: http://www.cattledecapitation.com HOME |
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