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| w/MATT HARVEY |
| Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Overall, each Exhumed album has its own unique insigne. In your opinion, what do you feel keeps Exhumed distinctive after all these years while maintaining growth within the band? Matt Harvey: First off, thanks for noticing. We do make a conscious effort to make each record different from the last, that's really important to us. I think at this point we have a pretty good handle on our sound, and know how to stay within the context of what Exhumed is all about, while at the same time, we've gotten a lot better at playing our instruments so we're able to do different things within our sound. We certainly aren't into the idea of recording the same album time and again. That works for a lot of bands, but it just wouldn't be us. We want to challenge ourselves and keep things fresh every time we work on new material. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I realize your current album “Anatomy Is Destiny” was just released two weeks ago, but what has the response been thus far to the new release? Matt Harvey: Thus far, the response has been overly positive. We've been surprised at how many great reviews we've gotten. So far all of our friends have dug it, and everyone that's into the band seems to like it that I've talked to. We'll be able to tell a bit better when we get out on the road and play these songs for all of the Slaughter cultists and Necro-maniacs out there. Though, so far so good. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: What is your view on how “Anatomy Is Destiny” differs from past albums and do you feel this is Exhumed’s best material to date? Matt Harvey: We definitely feel that it's the best Exhumed stuff ever. There has been a lot of growth in terms of the songwriting, the actual playing, and the production values as well. Our songs have gotten longer, and a bit more intricate, while still retaining the Exhumed trademarks. While the last album was probably a bit more in-your-face than "Anatomy is Destiny", this one comes out a lot more powerful, since it has a bit of variation in tempos, dynamics, etc. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Lyrically and as a band Exhumed have always leaned towards the extreme. When writing the lyrical content for the current release “Anatomy is Destiny” what concept did you approach when writing? Matt Harvey: The lyrics for this album turned out a bit more conceptually oriented than in the past. The title itself kind of sums up the approach for some of the material. Basically the underlying concept for the album was that physical death is the ultimate truth of human existence and that all life, no matter what achievements are realized in the course of it, ends in decay and repugnance. All of the feelings, thoughts, or accomplishments experienced throughout life really don't amount to anything more than a rotting human carcass and its component physical elements. There are other more straightforward gore topics on the record as well, like "Waxworks", "Consuming Impulse", and "Death Walks Behind You", but the more interesting stuff to me is a bit more introspective than stuff we've done in the past. "Grotesqueries" for example compares the life of a typical American obsessed with consumerism to the existence of a maggot gorging itself on the flesh of a cadaver, because both are equally disgusting, although the existence of a maggot is probably slightly more meaningful. So there's a variety of stuff on the album, again all within the Exhumed context. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The tracks that I favored off the album in particular order were “Nativity Obscene-A Nursery Chyme”, “Waxwork” and “Under the Knife” just to name a few. Can you give us a brief meaning behind each track? Matt Harvey: "Nativity Obscene" is about birth and death and what the difference between the two is, which really isn't much. "Waxwork" was actually inspired by the old Vincent Price movie "The Wax Museum", albeit a bit gorier than that film. Basically it's about murdering people by coating them in scalding hot wax that seals them over and then using them as exhibits in a wax museum that displays torture methods. "Under the Knife" is about the helplessness that a patient subjects themselves to when they go in for surgery, and also about the complexity and dexterity of surgical procedures. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: A couple months back your drummer “Col Jones” left the band to pursue other endeavors. What has it been like for Exhumed since his departure especially since he as well yourself are the sole contributors when writing and have there been any considerable auditions? Matt Harvey: Well, it's been a bit strange, but we've continued rehearsing together as a band to keep in practice. Right now, we haven't had any real auditions, but we're going to be touring with Danny Walker of Uphill Battle on drums, and rehearsals with him have been going really well. Actually Mike Beams(guitar, lowest vocals) and I both write the music, and I write the lyrics. Col's contribution has always been more on the arranging side of things and also on the visual side, both of which we will definitely miss. We hope to announce a long-term replacement by the end of the year, or that Col will come to his senses and re-join! Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: In finding a replacement for Col, what will that drummer have to possess to join the Exhumed camp besides the obvious? Let’s face it; Col has been around since the inception of the band and beyond so whoever fits the bill will have to have that little something extra. Matt Harvey: It will definitely be hard for whoever comes on board to match Col in stage presence, intensity, dedication, and general insanity. Col has an intimate knowledge of what the band is all about, having been there since the beginning and having known me personally since before I even started playing guitar. I'm sure whoever the new drummer is; he'll get a lot of shit from us. It'll be like an ongoing hazing ritual! Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: There is an up-coming tour to promote the new album in October 2003. Will Col’s departure affect any dates or will he be participating on tour until a replacement is found? Matt Harvey: Like I said earlier, Danny from Uphill Battle will do the tour, except for the San Francisco show, which Col will do. And to further confuse everybody, our resident bassist and projectile vomit enthusiast Bud Burke won't be able to come out with us either, due to his work schedule. So, Leon DelMuerte (ex-Exhumed, ex-Impaled) will be on bass with us. We definitely wanted to do the tour with the album lineup, but at the same time, we need to get out on the road while the album is still fresh and get out and do some shows, as we've probably only played 5 shows so far this whole year. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking of the tour, Exhumed are definitely known for a theatrical stage show. What can the fans expect to see on this tour? Matt Harvey: This tour should see some of the usual insanity, with some new surprises thrown in. It's going to be everything you love about a real metal show, except we're going to be playing grind core. The set we're working on is insane. 11-14 songs from all three albums, tons of new stuff, without neglecting the "greatest hits". There will be the prerequisite amounts of blood, fire, death, etc... Although we'll see how the fire-breathing goes over with the clubs after the Great White Rhode Island disaster. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: In the last 12 years Exhumed has done its share of touring. Are there any good “on the road” stories good or bad that you’d care to share with your fans? Matt Harvey: Oh man, there are way too many stories that could embarrass or incriminate various members of the band, mostly involving alcohol. We've played in the back of a truck in Slovenia; we've had to kick our bass player to wake him up to play due to extreme drunkenness. We've been postponed because of tornadoes. Mike Beams has run around without pants on and this was all on one European tour. It's always a fucking circus out on the road, especially in a band full of clowns like this one! Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You are currently in two other projects with Col, “Dekapitator” and “Cadaverizer”. Can you tell us a little bit about these projects and will these projects ever develop into a full-time gig? Matt Harvey: "Dekapitator" is a straight up old-school Thrash band. It's basically a cross between Kreator and Exodus, with a dash of Possessed, Bathory, and Destruction thrown in. We did an album a few years ago called "We Will Destroy... You Will Obey". We're working on new material. "Cadaverizer" is pure, simplistic, raw Death Metal influenced by early Death, Autopsy, Necrovore, Possessed, Pentagram (Chile), Massacre, Incubus, pre-Sandoval and Vincent Morbid Angel, etc. We have about 7 songs written at this point. We were working on this for a while in between "Slaughtercult" and "Anatomy is Destiny". Hopefully these bands can at least develop enough to record some albums in the coming months. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Who comes up with the cover artwork and concepts for your albums? I read in an interview that you stated, “The blood is real and the guts are real” when referring to your album cover’s. I have to ask if this is true. (Laughs) Matt Harvey: Yeah, it's true. We come up with all the concepts and did all of the staging and makeup for the photos. The actual photography was done by Alex Solca. In the past we've done all of the photography ourselves or with the help of friends rather than professional photographers, which accounts for the amateurishness of some of the stuff from the past. The cover for this album was from a book of surgical photos though. We saw it and really liked it. It actually embodied everything that we had in mind for what we wanted to convey. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: A couple years ago there was some animosity towards Ross from Impaled partially due to his departure from the band. Has that animosity been finally rectified? If not, that’s got to be difficult especially with their label being Necropolis Records and the very label you work for. Matt Harvey: He was pissed that we kicked him out of the band essentially, and then told people a lot of things like he wrote everything and that he was the prime mover in the band and that we would break up or already had broken up- all of which was complete bullshit. It was basically sour grapes on his part, even though he knew exactly what was going to happen with him and Exhumed and was already shifting his focus to Impaled and making them Exhumed part II as much as possible. With that said, Ross was an important part of the band during the good times he was involved in it and contributed a lot of positive things when things were productive with him in the lineup. No silly rumors could change that. These days there are no hard feelings though; it's all long been water under the bridge. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: After 12 years with several line-up changes the band always seems to bounce back. What do you think keeps Exhumed a household name in its genre? Matt Harvey: I'm sure the fact that we've been doing pretty much longer than any band currently out there in our little sub-niche really helps. I think that Regurgitate may be the only band out there that's been doing this longer than us. I think that we were the first "Gore Metal" band to break out of the demo / 7" circuit since the early 90's and that has paved the way for other bands to come up as well, which is awesome. I also think that we have developed our own take on extreme Metal which mixes the early Earache grind/death kind of sound with pure Thrash influences. When we first started to really incorporate those elements into our sound around 1994, people either didn't get it or just thought we were trying to be kitschy by playing shows in sleeveless Destruction shirts and bullet-belts. Now it seems that every Gore band that gets anywhere has a Thrash tinge or more focus on traditional Metal type arrangements, etc... Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Matt thanks for the interview. "Anatomy is Destiny" is a great release and I can assure you that drummer slot will not remain vacant for to long. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Matt Harvey: Thanks a lot for the interview and we hope to see all of you either on the road, at the bar, or in the morgue this year! OFFICIAL SITE "EXHUMED": http://www.exhumed.us HOME |
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