George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher - 2004

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George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher is the lead singer for long-running death metal band Cannibal Corpse, having replaced original vocalist Chris Barnes in 1995. Since then, Fisher has had the opportunity to intone such hilariously disgusting pop hits as "Mummified In Barbed Wire," "From Skin To Liquid," "Dead Human Collection" and "Sanded Faceless." With the band preparing for the release of The Wretched Spawn, its ninth studio release (and fifth with Fisher), George was kind enough to lend me his voicebox for a half-hour on an otherwise miserable night in January.

I have to admit that I did a horrendous job with this interview - I had just woken up, was very groggy and had trouble coming up with anything but the most basic questions. Not only that, but - although it's true that I DO own every Cannibal Corpse release - I really didn't know that much about the band itself at the time (or death metal as a genre, quite frankly), and my ignorance shows something fierce. It's to George's credit that (a) the interview is still really interesting and (b) he didn't just call me a dumbass and hang up on me!

My questions are in bold; his answers are tiny evil stick figures of death.

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Hey George! How's it going?

How's it going?

Pretty good. I can actually barely hear you.

Really?

Yeah, unfortunately.

Ah.

Oh wait. Okay, you're coming in a little clearer there. Alright. So, the new album - how would you say it compares to the sound of the last few?

I think it's just a progression. I don't think it's very much of a departure from the past, even though there's a couple songs that are slower. But overall I think it's the same old sound, but slightly more advanced. I mean, I think it's a lot different than if you compare it to Vile. It's closer to Gore Obsessed than it is to Vile. I think it's definitely not rehashing anything though. That's the important thing, because we don't want to rehash the same old riffs. I mean obviously as far as ideas, we're still singing about the same things and we're still using the same kind of album covers as we always have. But musically it's not a rehash; I can definitely say that. I don't know. It's along the same lines, but with a slight progression.

See, I'm a little concerned because I can barely hear you, which makes me wonder if maybe my tape recorder might not be able to hear you.

Yeah?

I'm not sure what to do about that.

I don't know. I've kinda had problems hearing other people on some of the interviews I've been doing. I've had problems hearing them. Is it the tape recorder or -

Yeah, yeah. I've got a tape recorder going.

But is that the reason why you can't hear it?

No, it's not that. No, it's just through the phone. It's just really quiet is the thing.

Hmm.

Hmm. Where am I talking to you from?

I'm in Tampa.

Tampa? Okay. I just don't want to take up your time if I won't be able to use it is the problem.

Yeah, yeah. Well, you could, if you want, just call her back and then just tell her. I don't know! Heh. I don't know what to tell you. I don't have any other phone. I was doing interviews earlier with a cordless and it's already died on me. So you might have been able to hear me better on that one, but this one is the only one I have here.

Okay. Actually, let me listen to a little of the tape to see if I can hear you.

(*rewinds tape, listens to some of it*)

Oh! Yeah, that's loud enough. That's fine. Alright! I guess now I can interview you. So you don't actually write the lyrics, right?

No. Well, I wrote some of Vile and I wrote a couple of lines on Gallery Of Suicide, but I haven't done anything since then.

Is it because you're too busy to do it, with other things, or the other guys -

Busy!?

What's that?

No, I'm not busy. Nah, you know what? Those guys have been doing a great job with it, and it's always open for me to do lyrics if I feel like it. I would say it's a combination - I can be a lazy son of a bitch sometimes; I play too many video games during the day in my free time. But a bigger deal is that I'll get some ideas, I'll write some stuff down and then I'll go to bed or whatever. Open the book back up the next day, "Hey, let's work on that thing again. I thought of some pretty good ideas." And then I open it and I look at `em and go, "Aaah! Who told you that was good?" and throw the stuff away. I'm way too critical. If I would just take what I have in and say, "What do you guys think about this?" and they would say, "Oh, that's killer!" then I would keep it and then work it into the band more and more - keep it going myself. But I can be way too critical on myself, and these guys have been doing a great job. And it doesn't bother me to sing what they write, as long as what they do is good. There's no reason to try to fix anything if it's not broken, if you ask me.

How did they first come to invite you into the band? Or did you know them from before, when you were in your first band? (NOTE: This is a worthless question. I could have found the answer on a bio sheet. )

Well, my other band - my second band - was Monstrosity, and that's where I met those guys.

Oh, that was - what was your first band?

Corpsegrinder. That's the nickname Lee (Harris, drummer) from Monstrosity started calling me - "Corpsegrinder." Yeah, so that was the name of my first band, up in Baltimore, Maryland. Anyway, I had met Alex (Webster, Cannibal Corpse bassist) a few years before; they played down here before they ever moved down to Tampa. And I knew Rob (Barrett, Cannibal Corpse guitarist '93-`97) really well just from having been living with Monstrosity down in Fort Lauderdale. He was living in Miami; he used to play in this band called Solstice, and then he was playing with Malevolent Creation. So I'd known Rob for a few years, and then Rob replaced Bob Rusay (Cannibal Corpse guitarist '88-`93) when he left Cannibal. And when everything happened with Barnes, Rob was talking to them about it, and they had known about Monstrosity and they just decided to call me. They asked me what I was doing, and if it was cool with Monstrosity, but I talked to Alex and I agreed to come down and the rest is history.

How did the fans react to you in the beginning? (NOTE: Perhaps this would have been a relevant question NINE YEARS AGO.)

It was really good. It was positive. People were shocked that Chris was out of the band. I know there were probably some angry people, but every interview I did, my point that I wanted to make to the people was, "Hey. Just give me a chance. Listen to the album, come to the show. I sing differently than Chris. It's a different style of singing, but it's still death metal. It's still a brutal style of singing." It's different. The closest that he's done to what I do was on The Bleeding, as far as different ranges of vocals, so. It's not up to me to decide which is more brutal, but I just wanted people to come to the show and watch it. I mean, the band was still the same. It was still the same people that had played on The Bleeding and - with the exception of Rusay - on the previous albums. "So just believe in the band; believe in what their decision was - that it was the right decision and it was in the best interest of the band. So just give me a chance." And for the most part they did. I know there's still probably people that like Barnes better, but still like what I do. There are people that like me better, and there are people that just fucking hate me.

Ha! Are there?

But you know what? I just asked for a chance and for the most part - yeah, there was a few people who would yell his name every once in a while. But then I'd threaten to come off the stage and mangle them, and then they'd shut up. It still bothered me. I mean I wasn't really gonna mangle them, but you know what I'm saying. But for the most part, yeah, it was really positive. And now it's been - gee whiz, it's been so long now - almost nine years. I've been in the band since October of '95 or somewhere around there, somewhere in late '95. So yeah, but everyone was pretty good. The fans really got behind the band and me as well, which was really important because I can believe in myself all I want, and those guys can believe in me, but if the fans aren't buying it as far as the performance, then I'm in trouble.

(NOTE: In this next part, I was trying to "bond" with George by discussing a couple of old metal bands. But see.. AC/DC and Van Halen AREN'T METAL BANDS.)

I think you were a great replacement. There's a lot of ways a band can bring in the wrong guy and just ruin it. Like for me, I really like early Van Halen, but Hagar for me ruined that band. So I think of you more of a Brian Johnson than a Sammy Hagar.

(awkward silence where I hoped a rapport might be)

How big is the metal scene these days? I mean, there's been a big comeback I've been reading about, but does it seem like your crowds have gotten bigger over the past few years or has it remained about the same? (NOTE: I have NOT been "reading" about a "big comeback." Where the heck I came up with that comment I have no idea.)

Bigger slightly, and a lot younger, especially in the States. You see some younger kids coming to the show, you know? Because MTV2 is putting on a Headbanger's Ball - a new incarnation of Headbanger's Ball. Then there's Uranium on Fuse. I think now metal is starting to reach a lot of people - a lot more than it was before. So we're seeing a lot of new younger kids who are probably just going to every show that comes around, whatever it is. Hopefully if it's their first time, then they're into not just us, but the other bands that we bring out. I think it's getting better. The scene's doing really well. Even just death metal. I think that the older people that have been listening to us for the past ten or so years are just as diehard as anyone for this type of music. And they've been with us for that long or even longer, because the band's been around for 15 years. And that's really good, and obviously these TV shows aren't helping, or hurting rather. More bands are getting more exposure than was possible before. We're still doing good; a lot of death metal bands are still doing really good because the fan base has built up over the years. Those fans are the ones that deserve the most credit, because they've been dedicated and they've been around for that long, but you can't blame younger kids for not having been to the shows because maybe ten years ago, they were eight years old or something. But still, I do see - ah, it depends. Some places you get surprised. Usually we'll get a big crowd at most places - a really good crowd, and you're more surprised and sometimes horrified that the kids are younger. So you start milling to yourself, "Man, they're gettin' younger; we're gettin' older." And that's the way it is. It's time. It's really good. It's good that there are some younger kids out there getting into metal.

How old were you when death metal first came into existence? (NOTE: Now watch me interrupt him and never let him actually answer the question.)

That's kind of arguable. Some people would put Possessed in that category. Some people I've heard put Bathory and -

Venom?

Venom and bands like that in the death metal category, but I think a lot of people would say that's bullshit. It's an arguable thing.

Why is that bullshit?

I think if you were to ask me -

What would be your - sorry to interrupt - why would that be bullshit to some people? Because their music isn't technical enough?

Maybe not that harsh about it, but I just think some people have a - you know, obviously if someone called, let's say, Limp Bizkit death metal. I really doubt anyone, even someone who has no knowledge of this music, would call them that. If they did, then that's just bullshit. That's just obviously not the truth. They're not even close to death metal. They're not even metal, if you ask me! But some people might say, "Oh." Like black metal fans in general, "No! What the fuck are you talking about? It's black metal!" But I'm just saying that back then, there were categories, but they weren't quite as strict as far as definition. Because you could call Possessed a thrash band. Some people would call them a black death band. Some people would call them death metal. Back then, I really wasn't interested in what category they were. I wanted it fast and heavy and brutal. And Possessed was there in the early years. And Death was around - Death started I think in '83. Possessed was around then too. So if you want to count those bands - well, you definitely would count Death - then I would say around then. Nowadays, you have so many bands that definitely, without a shadow of doubt, they're death metal bands, you know? And that thing for the most - the explosion of so many bands that were basically gearing themselves towards that exact sound and music - was probably in the late `80s. And in the `90s was when it really started to take off. Or bands that had been around - I mean, look at Immolation. They were Rigor Mortis before they were Immolation. They were around in the latter half of the `80s. Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse started in '89. My first band started in 1988 - Corpsegrinder was formed in '88. So somewhere around then I would say was when it really started to kick off, but like I said, you could say it started back in the `80s when I first heard Celtic Frost. Early `80s.

(NOTE: Through no malice on my part, I have listened to each of my Cannibal Corpse albums no more than once or twice each. The fact is that I own somewhere around 15,000 albums, tapes and CDs - I've probably only listened to HALF of them more than once or twice! But how could I tell George that I'd only heard his CDs once or twice each? So, in this next part. I lied.)

I have copies of all your albums, except the new one I just have a few songs from. But I got most of them all at the same time, so they all kind of sound of a similar mind to me, as a listener who's only heard them five or six times each because I just got them about six months ago. As a person who's actually in the band, what would you say are - in terms of progressions, as you look back through the catalog, even the Chris Barnes stuff, are there some that stand out to you, as a member, as significant departures or significant steps up from what was happening before? Or different approaches? Or do you guys kinda have a style and try to stick to the style and make new fans through that kind of way?

I think if you look at, say, Eaten Back To Life, the first album. That's - and then listen to Butchered At Birth - they're two, you know, they're the same feeling but there's definitely a different style there. I think they went for a faster, heavy guitar sound and the drums obviously - they were putting blastbeats into the drums. And if you listen to Vile as compared to say Gore Obsessed, there's a night and day difference. I think musically, we've expanded as far as playing-wise, as musicians from - obviously from the first album, but even from Vile. You can listen to Vile, and I think, you know, the production has changed. There's a lot of differences in different areas. Like The Bleeding - some people thought The Bleeding was too mainstream for us, like it was too verse/chorusy, depending on who you talk to. But I thought it was really well written. I thought the songs were typically great, the vocal arrangements were well thought-out, and I think now we do an even better job of that. On every album, we have songs that are really crazy and have a lot of crazy parts, but then we have songs like "Severed Head Stoning" that are just as straightforward as they can be. There's no extras in there; it's just straightforward smash-your-face-in death metal. I mean, there's obvious diverseness in so many different areas. There's differences obviously, to me, among the past five albums as far as the vocals go. But I think when you look at production and playing- wise, like Pat O'Brien's guitar - the style of guitar he plays as compared to Bob Rusay's or Rob Barrett's is way different. Pat plays - he's way more technical; it's crazy how much more technical he is. But I think everyone's just gotten better. Evolved. I think that's what the main thing. I don't think we're really rehashed; we've sort of been on the same path as far as the lyrics go. And obviously we use the same guy to do the covers every time, but other than that, I think we've been on a progression. I think we strive to keep it fresh as far as keeping it to the standard that we've set for ourselves, as far as - the bar has been raised for us, as far as the first album to this one, musically. We wanna keep improving that way, but we're definitely gonna stay death metal. There's no way we can say, "Well, we're tired of playing that. We're gonna play this!"

Ha!

We love death metal. And there's always something new you can do. Those guys are always trying to come up with new ideas. It's in the same mold, but I think there are a lot of different things thrown in.

Are you surprised that death metal as a genre has stayed popular for this long?

Not really. Because there's so much you can do with it that hasn't been done. I mean, when you see the dedication of our fans, that's the one thing that strikes me is it's easy for me to understand why this music is still with us. Because we - it's what we like to do - we get together with the fans. We're not a band that just sits on the bus and pays no attention to our fans. We're very accessible. It's not hard to get us off the bus to sign something or chat. As long as we're not sick, we have no problem with it. We have a really good rapport with our fans. Not just us, but a lot of bands in this music are like that - just very down to earth people. Because it's fucking great to be playing for people the kind of music we love, and as an extra bonus, we don't have to work. And that's very lucky. There are a lot of bands that still go out on tour touring in vans; we tour in a bus. And they have to go back to jobs; we're in a bus and we don't. We busted our ass to get there, but all that is because of the fans. It's sort of like there was a big thing about us having sold more records than anyone else in death metal. And we're proud of that, but that is a testament to our fans - the fans that listen to our music. They've stuck with us. For us to have sold however many copies of all of our records, and for us to have been the biggest selling death metal band of the SoundScan era, that's a big deal, but the fans should be proud of it too because they're the reason. We didn't buy all those albums, you know? They did. They've stayed dedicated to us, and that's the biggest thing - the biggest reason why we're still around. We're accessible. We don't just sit around in the bus - we get out there and talk to people. Because I'm just a fan of music. I'm a death metal fan, and people who come to show are just like me. I ain't no better than they are, and a lot of us feel that way. We all do. I think that's why this music is so successful. Because all of the bands for the most part that play this type of music - this is the way they feel. They're not out there to be worshipped, you know? They'd much rather have a good time at the show, get into the spirit of the fans, sit around, listen to some metal on the radio.

How did you develop your particular vocal style and what do you feel you've added to the basic what is known as the death metal vocal style?

It's not really for me to say what I've added to it.

Oh, okay. Well, what is your approach? How did you develop it?

I basically sat up in my room, and I had my stack of metal records by different groups. And I'd just go like, "Ah man, I'll listen to this today." And I'd put in one and start singing the song. I had this 2x4 that my friends called the Rickenboard, like Richenbacher? And I would just hold it like it was a guitar and I would just start singing to Slayer albums, do a few songs off Reign In Blood. Some old Deicide, put that on. Put on Seven Churches, listen to that. Maybe finish off with Pleasure To Kill by Kreator. And there you go. Next day I'd get up and do the same thing. I always wanted to be in a band, but I never really looked at it like, "Okay, I'm gonna practice!" I just loved singing along to those albums, and trying to emulate the guys who were in those bands - trying to copy how they were singing. But when we first started Corpsegrinder, I just started singing and it was low, and I was really influenced by Chuck Schuldiner of Death, because he had those long screams, and that was my biggest influence. He was the greatest death metal singer ever, and he was my biggest influence. And he was the one guy that I always had the hardest time trying to copy. He used to do those screams, and I always wanted to do those. But then Chuck had such a - his voice was such that I always wanted to do those things, but lower and louder and make them sound vicious. It was really hard to try to recreate what Chuck was doing, but that's how I started singing.

Does it strain your throat?

Not anymore. That's the funny thing. People ask me like, "Well, how'd you learn to sing like that?" Because I put on the albums and started singing to them. And some people say to me, "But my voice starts to hurt after ten minutes." Well yeah, but eventually my voice got used to it. If you hear me talk now, people think I'm sick but I'm not. They think that I have a cold or I just woke up - this is how I always sound.

What's the tour schedule looking like for you?

Right now, next month we're gonna start in the U.S., and then probably a couple weeks off. Then we'll go to Europe and maybe we'll do another summer tour in the U.S. Maybe go to South America some time this year, and do the Wacken Festival in Germany. So we're gonna be definitely booked up this whole year. So we're gonna be coming around to. whatever town people are gonna be reading this interview in! We're gonna be busy. We're definitely gonna be doing a lot of touring this year.

Where's death metal the biggest? Like what country? (NOTE: I knew the answer was South America even before I asked it. I think I was trying to start some sociopolitical discussion about death metal being more popular in poverty-stricken areas, but I just gave up on it. Like the expert journalist that I am.)

Ahh, where is it the biggest. I'll tell you what, South America - all of South America - is really good. We get good crowds everywhere, but I would say South America is one of the best places. When we play out in California, in L.A., we always get a killer crowd. We get a good turnout in Chicago. A lot of places around the world. The Czech Republic - we do really good there. And we get really good turnouts in Scandinavia. So everywhere we get pretty decent crowds, but South America is probably the one that I'd call the biggest.

Do you have any idea why it's taken hold so well there?

Metal's been really popular down there for a long time. And I'm sure that just like when I was growing up, I'm sure that a lot of people down there were wanting it to be heavier and faster. That's the impression I get.

Were you into any of the black metal bands at all? Like the Norwegian ones?

We've toured with a lot of them. Immortal, Marduk. Sure, a lot of those bands are awesome.

I know I'm just jumping around here, but what is the purpose for you guys of putting out the "clean" releases. Is that for parents who wouldn't want their kids to get one that had a warning label?

You mean the ones with the censored covers?

Yeah.

It's just the cover. That's all it is.

Oh, they don't do anything to your - I haven't heard any of them.

No way. Fuck that. There is no way I would ever fucking let them touch the music.

Oh! Really? Okay! Because I'd heard that you had clean releases. (NOTE: Blame All-Music Guide for this one. They specifically state that each of Cannibal Corpse's releases was "also released in a `clean' edition, containing no profanities or vulgarities." NOW who hasn't done their homework? HUH??? WHO??? Well, still me. But THEM TOO!!!)

In Germany, they'll take a piece of the cover and sometimes use that as a censored cover. And some stores of course won't accept the covers, but now they usually have a sleeve that goes over it. A J-Card, they call it. They slide it over - like with Gore Obsessed, if you bought it at Sam Goody or somewhere, it would just have our logo and it would say "Gore Obsessed" in the middle of it. And then when you pulled that sleeve off, then you'd have the actual cover. A lot of places ask for that kind of thing. But in Germany, they want a whole different thing. They want either something toned down or something altogether different. But the music is all the same, the lyrics are all the same - it's just the cover that has to be dealt with. And maybe they don't print the lyrics. But no way; we would never do two versions. We would never agree to that. It's bad enough that they censor the cover, which is ridiculous as it is.

Yeah. I think I read somewhere you said Germany wouldn't let you play songs off the first few albums or something?

Yeah, the first three albums we can't play.

Why? Who decided that?

It's a long story.

Oh.

Well, not really that long. Some lady - I don't know if she was a teacher or working somewhere supervising children. She saw teenagers - Some woman was at a school, I guess she was a teacher or something, and some teenager came in where she was at, and he was wearing a Butchered At Birth shirt. And it horrified her and totally disgusted her, so she just started this whole big uproar about it. And eventually it came down to us signing some stuff saying that we wouldn't play songs from our first three albums. And now, as far as I know, it's illegal to sell or own them in Germany - our first three albums. It's ridiculous, because if you think about it, we cannot play "Born In A Casket," but we can play "Dismembered And Molested." You know what I'm saying?

So basically they don't have any idea what the lyrics on the newer ones say?

No. And I hope they never get an idea, because if they did, we would be in a lot of trouble. It may eventually come down to, if they keep pushing about it, it may come down to them not allowing us to play there. For some reason they just think that - it's partly because of the covers - they just don't want us to play songs from those albums.

Do you have any problems with picketing or anything in the U.S.?

Not really. We never have. I don't really care, as long as they don't touch me. I would love to see them getting in my way and trying to not let me get into the club, you know? I'd just be, "Listen. You better move or I'm not gonna be responsible for what happens." Well, I probably wouldn't do anything violent as long as they didn't put their hands on me. I'd just push them out of the way. We've never really had that kind of problem, and hopefully we won't. But hey, I wouldn't be surprised - it wouldn't surprise me if it did happen. Maybe not anyone getting in the way, but just people just picketing, "You're bad! Buh-buh-buh!" You don't even know me. These are the same people who sit around and go to church and praise Jesus and whatnot, but they won't even open their bible to see what Jesus said: "Let he who hath no sin cast the first stone." If you're any better than me, yeah you can throw it. There's a lot of places that I would assume there would be trouble if somebody found out about my band, but I don't go to those areas. Down here, it's pretty good. We don't have any of that stuff. But like I said, if they were picketing me, I would say, "You don't have the right to judge me. You're not supposed to do that! That's bad!"

(NOTE: This next "question" is so awkward and poorly phrased that George should get some kind of medal for figuring out what I was asking.) So it seems like there's some pretty - I mean it - a lot of uh, especially the older ones - it seems like there's a lot of - it's pretty humorous stuff. I mean, really dark humor. But how can you not laugh at something like "Fucked With A Knife" or something? It's, it's like - it - it's not like you're out there, you know, playing hate metal or -

We don't sing about politics. We don't sing about religion. We sing about stuff that - basically, all our songs are short stories that, if anyone would so choose, they could convert it into a horror movie. Really. That's all it is. We love horror movies. We like gruesome scary movies, and we want the lyrics to be like that. Yeah, it's about killing people, but it's not promoting it at all. Basically these are fictional stories and that's it. And anyone who gets upset about it is ridiculous. See - on this new album, we have a song called "Blunt Force Castration." The first line is "Smash his scrotum sack."

Ha!

Yeah! When I first heard that line - Paul (Mazurkiewicz, drummer) read it to me - I started laughing, you know? It was so outrageous that it was funny! Yeah, obviously - I mean, I'm not gonna sit around and go, "Well, how would you feel if that happened to you?" Gimme a fuckin break. And these people - if they really want to make the world a better place, they should stop people from robbing people and shooting them. And stop people from breaking in or going up to somebody at a stoplight and shooting them and taking their car. Stop `em from pulling women in an alley and raping `em. Stop real problems, you know? When I see these people bitch about movies like Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt - videogames, rather - like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Manhunt, and how violent they are. Hey listen man - it's fiction. It's fiction. "How can you do that type of music?" Because I know it's fiction! If some kid can't tell the difference between reality and fiction, then he's got a problem. And that could be attributed to his parents. It's time that people start taking some responsibility.

Yeah, I agree. (NOTE: Bold statement, Ol' Prind!)

We're not responsible for anyone doing anything wrong. Anyone who says that is just full of baloney.

It goes back to all that crap with Ozzy and Judas Priest and all that. Backward masking and -

Yeah, people don't wanna take responsibility if they've had a divorce in their family, or there had been some problems and the kids didn't want to deal with them and took their own life. It's just like what's the difference between someone who killed himself when they were listening to Judas Priest - let me just say this: what if that was the only thing that made them feel better? It was the one thing that made them feel so good that it was the last thing that they wanted to hear? Maybe they should think about it like that - not that people are doing it because of the music, because really - think about it - these people are probably, "When he started getting into metal, he started changing. He started being different." No, you know what the problem was? They didn't look the way that you wanted them to, and you made their lives miserable, and they decided it was better to not be living than to have to deal with your bull. That's the way some people think. Maybe the problems are deeper than that; I'm not a therapist. But I'm just saying that a lot of people kill themselves and some of them have never even heard Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse - none of those bands, you know? It had nothing to do with it.

(NOTE: I honestly DID have a valid point to make here, but the words simply would not gather together in the right order in my brain. Hence, this next batch of nonsense.) Not to mention that any metal fan will tell you: you don't listen to music that depresses you. You know? You don't purposely - I mean, if there's music that upsets these parents, they just don't understand their kids at all. Because if you -

Because the kids are doing things they don't want them to do, and they can't control them. And they want to control them. They think if they're bad - you know, my mother never gave me any flak for the stuff I listened to, because I never went out and got into trouble. I had my head screwed on straight because she raised me right, and that's what these people should be doing. If their kids go out and do some crazy stuff, it might not be because of the music. It might be because they have some actual serious problem. Maybe you did raise them right and they still act like that; maybe they have a problem. Maybe it's just their friends that listen to metal, and they listen to metal and they just want to impress their friends, and their friends have problems, and so they hang out with their friends and let their friends talk them into things. Maybe it's just because they want to be so accepted that they'll go along with it, but their friend is the one who has a problem. It's not really all attributed to metal - it can't be. I find it impossible to think that kids are out there doing stuff like that just because of heavy metal. Really, there's got to be some other problems there. Thousands of kids grow up listening to metal and they don't have any problems. But as soon as a killer like Richard Ramirez listens to AC/DC, "Oh - AC/DC's bad!" Nope. Like what did Ted Bundy listen to? Let's try to dig up what Ted Bundy listened to. What if he listened to Mozart? Is Mozart fuckin bad for people now? What if he listened to the band Alabama - the country band? Are they bad? But the fact that Richard Ramirez listens to AC/DC and has a pentagram on his hand, instantly, "Oh, that band is evil!" It's utterly ridiculous. It's absurd. You know what it is? It's people out there who use other peoples' fears of things they don't understand to get their way. And they use these people - they put these thoughts in their head like, "Oh, your son listens to metal? That's bad." And the parents don't understand it; they don't get it, so they just automatically assume, "Yeah, it must be bad. Pastor Joe is telling me it's wrong. There you go." And then the people around them just tell them who the band is, and that that's why their kid is bad. And so people start questioning the people that are putting out the albums and the people that are doing the albums, and the next thing you know it's on TV and everyone's blaming these bands! It's ridiculous.

Yeah. And nobody's blaming the bible for all these priests molesting little kids. No one's pointing to that. (NOTE: What in God's name does this have to do with anything!? Luckily, George went with me, wherever it was I was trying to go.)

The problem is that people do evil deeds. And that's all I'm saying. You know? You can blame the bible if you want, but really in the end, the smart bet is - those people. They used the bible, they used the church to get themselves in a position - you can blame the church more than you can claim the bible. The bible is a book. And these people used that to conceal - there were people in the church that let these guys relocate from one place to another after they'd already been accused, and let them get away with it. "Well, maybe down there, no one will even know." And let them fuckin stay in there. That says something, and it's very scary that you knew they were doing this, but you relocated them. You let them keep this up, you know? You didn't try to reprimand them; you put them somewhere else where they could get to new kids. What does that say about the church and these people that are in it? It's not very good! But no, we're bad. We're worse than those people.

You have another interview coming up?

Yeah, I should get going.

Okay. I appreciate your time. I really enjoyed talking to you and hearing - especially at the end there, when you were talking about the differences between what they see you as and what's really going on out there. (NOTE: ?)

These politicians who wanna censor stuff and think it's bad for the kids - talk to the kids. Talk to the fans of this music. I mean, I'm sure a few will go, "Yeah, fuck you Lieberman! You go suck my dick!" but some of them would actually try to intelligently speak to you about it. Why don't you talk to them and see what they're about? But they don't get it - they say, "These kids are messed up and it's because of this," and not "These kids are messed up and we want to know why. Let's go talk to them."

Yeah, you're right. You're right. They don't talk to them. They send them away.

All it's about is about getting votes. You should be talking to them right now. Talk to the kids who are listening to this music, and you know what? If you realize there's millions of kids listening to metal and you've been all down on it, those motherfuckers will change their tune quicker than fuckin shit drops out of your ass into the toilet. They'll change it because they'll know that's a person that might vote for them. I could go on all day about those lying bastards. I've had it with politicians.

These particular guys in power now seem even a little more evil than most. They don't seem to care much about anything aside from their own power.

It's really crazy. I'd like to talk more about it, but I'm under constraints of time. But yeah, there's lots of shit going on in the world, and the United States is the least of the problems.

Oh okay. Alright, well thank you again. And we'll make sure that copies of this magazine get to your PR folks at the record label and get back to you.

Oh cool! Alright man.

Thanks again.

Thanks.

Alright. Bye.

Reader Comments

the_canadian_guy18@hotmail.com (Rayce Spence)
i'd like to say you did a VERY good job with the interview with corpsegrinder and the new cannibal corpse album. anywho, i really liked the end where you guys started talking about fucked up kids and how its actually the people blaming things that made them that way. take it from me: a 14 yr. old kid in canada who's a mental case and put on anti depressants. corpsegrindar was right: death metal would be what i wanted to hear last, cause its about all that makes me feel good. i'm going to send this interview to alot of people i know and try to get a voice out before i get more fucked up.

anywho, keep up the interviews i'm really enjoying them.

Declans@web.de
Hi Mark,

I´m a psychology student from Germany and very much into metal. I walked through town with my freshly purchased Gore Obssessed LP and people looked at the cover, looked at me and had a facial expression as if freshly encountered a three-headed alien or something. Corpse is a great band and stupid ignorant Germans censor their lyrics and restict their cover artwork because these old Germans are either mindless ignorant fascists or totally conservative nursery school teachers.

Death Metal rules

Charlie95 (Carlos Lainez)
I was pleased with your interview!
I got to know a lot about Corpsegrinder & his thoughts.
I am 15 years old, hispanic, christian & a huuuuuge death metal fan. I can't stand people at my church when they see me with a simple AC/DC t-shirt telling me they worship satan. & I've also recieved a lot of judgement from friends who say its satan music but I say Fxck You! . I try to explain to ignorant douche bags about how politicians blame music everytime they find out what a troubled kid listens to. But they refuse to listen because shit like rap, pop, or whatever is popular now has rooted ignorance in their brains.
Good Job & hope you have great interviews like this in the future .

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