Y'all know who Cannibal Corpse are. If you don't, then what the hell are you doing here?

We were given the opportunity to inteview Alex before Cannibal's 8/1/98 show at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. Thanks to Bob from Metal Blade for setting it up, and to Alex for taking out so much time to chat. This is how it went down on the tour bus, with Alex sloshing back a half gallon of milk and the rest of the band and crew at one point or another eating calzones and chinese food that smelled really fucking good!!

Interviewed by Al Kikuras and Piston Rod. All photos by Al.

Al: Explain the concept behind the title Gallery of Suicide.

Well, you know what, at least from my end there is not a huge concept on it, really. It was Paul's idea for that song and the song title. The song, itself, is about a society of people that worship or admire suicide, and this gallery is where they go to either kill themselves, or view other people killing themselves or past suicides put on display. It was just this weird idea that Paul had for a song. But it is unrelated to the rest of the songs on the album, if that is what you are curious about. To us, it was the best sounding song title, so we decided that would be the best one for the album title.

Al: The cover art as well... it's really vicious.

Yeah, it's VERY good for cover art.... yeah.

Alex in the midst of CC's rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man"

Al: Are you still in touch with Chris Barnes or Rob Rusay?

No.

Al: Not at all?

Neither of them. Barnes occasionally... (laughing) well, the only contact we have with him is fucking writing nasty shit about each other on the walls of dressing rooms, really...and that's just, well, we were just fucking around really. When those people left the band, we were happy that they left. Both of them were kicked out, to make it official, but we were happy about it. We wish them no ill feelings, and we are glad that we got the people we have now.

Al: What was the worst thing you read on a dressing room wall?

(laughs)

Al: Read or wrote?

It's not even worth talking about, it's so juvenille... it's just, we're having fun, that's all.

Al: We're all about juvenille. We'd love to hear it!

(laughing) That's okay... I'd rather not...

Al: Has Chris given any thoughts on the new Cannibal Corpse stuff since he left?

(pauses) Ummmm....

Al: ...or has correspondance been that minimal?

(pauses) It's been minimal. I haven't talked to him. I've talked to Chris like twice since the band broke up. I don't think anybody gives a shit anymore, really. Like I said, we goof around a little bit. We'll pass a message.... we both work with the same tour arranger, so... Paul's like "Oh yeah, give a message to Chris. Tell him he's a fucking asshole!" and then the tour manager goes "Oh! I just talked to Chris today! He says eat his fucking ass!!" (laughs) You know, it's just really juvenille and completely harmless, but that is the also extent of our contact... we've made no effort to contact each other or speak with each other.

Piston: If you saw each other again, would it be cordial, or...

Yeah... it wouldn't be like we're going to party or something, but we'd say "What's up?" probably. I don't really care...

Al: What is your opinion of Six Feet Under?

I don't like music. I think Greg is a pretty decent drummer, but if I am going to listen to death metal, I want to listen to fast death metal and they're slow death metal, or slow metal... I think a death metal band probably needs to be fast to be considered a death metal band, so I don't know... they're more just like a metal band with Chris singing. If he's happy doing that, that's great... but it's not something I would listen to.

Al: What do you feel George brings to Cannibal Corpse that Chris did not, or that he was lacking towards the end?

George from Cannibal or "Vigo the Carpathian" from Ghostbusters 2???

Speed and enthusiasm (laughs). You know, I think Chris was good with low vocals but George is a lot faster and he's more enthusiastic about working with us and the kind of music we want to go for. One of the bands that was a big part of all of out musical growth when we were starting to play instruments, eveyone in this band, was Slayer. We always admired how fast Tom Araya sang. We were never able to do that with Chris. Chris did a lot of low, groaning kind-of vocals and George is able to belt stuff out at a Slayer speed while still having a death metal tone to his voice, which is a hard thing to come by. A lot of the really low-voiced singers can't sing fast, and George can sing fast and that's something he brought to the band that we had been looking for for a long time and that we couldn't get out of Chris. That's just not his style, he can't do it, that's why I think Six Feet Under is good for him, because it's slow and it's something that is more suited to what he likes to do.

Al: Have you heard Dave Lombardo's new band?

Uh huh.

Al: Fantomas?

Oh, he's got another new band??

Al: Yeah, he's in a band with Mike Patton of Faith No More and the bassist from Mr. Bungle and the guitarist from the Melvins.

Is Grip Inc. still together?

Al: I'm not sure, but I saw Fantomas in NYC at the Knitting Factory a few weeks ago. It's really weird shit. Just on a side note, I didn't know if you had heard them or not.

No, I haven't....

Piston: Here's a fun one. If you could have one person's existence wiped clean from history, who would it be?

Oh.. I don't know. There's a lot of people that shouldn't have been around. I think for everyone, immediately Hitler springs to mind. I think everyone would have liked to have not had him around, that is... unless you're a Neo-Nazi and then you like him (laughing)... that's one that is pretty obvious, but I'm not a very serious guy, so I don't want to talk about any serious political shit, but uhhh.. I'd say maybe, let me think... (pauses) who invented country music?? (laughter all around) That guy!!! Get him out of here!!

Piston: I'll have to agree with you on that one! (more laughter) Okay... where did you find Pat O'Brien?

That's kind of a long story. I had gotten a demo from his old band, which was called Ceremony, a while ago and that had some really good guitar playing on it, but I didn't pay very much attention to it. And then I heard about this guy who was playing in Nevermore that liked our band, and it was Pat. This was like three years ago, because our sound man also works for Death and Death had Nevermore opening for them on a US tour they did in 1995.

Al: I saw that tour.

Yeah, and Pat said "Oh, wow... you work for Cannibal? I like Cannibal a lot" or whatever and so when it came time to find a replacement, we already knew he liked us, and me and him have a mutual friend who used to be from Buffalo, which is where I am from, and he lived out in LA where Pat was living. That guy also told me that Pat liked us a lot, so it helped with our decision to get him... the fact that he said he liked our band even before the opportunity came to join, because a lot of people will say they like your band when they hear that there is a guitar slot open. "Oh yeah, you guys are great!" even if they thought you sucked two weeks ago, you know? They just know that they can get on a bus and tour if they join your band, but Pat was pretty sincere about it. So, we got in touch with him through our sound man and through a friend. The only hang-up with getting him in was that he had recently done a tour with our friends Monstrosity, and we were like "Oh, is he going to join those guys" because if he is going to join we don't want to fuck with it...

Al: Yeah, because you already got George...

Yeah, exactly... so I called up Pat and I was like, "Well, are you joining them?" and he said, "Naaah... I don't think I can make it happen." He's got a lot of debt that he needs to clear. It's very hard living as a musician unless you are lucky enough to be in a band like ours that somehow manages to make ends meet. He had a lot of debts... it had been like 5 months since that tour ended and he still hadn't been able to gather the money to move to Florida to join Monstrosity, and he didn't think he was going to be able to, so we talked it over with Lee (from Monstrosity) and Lee was a little angry for a while... well, I don't know if he was really angry at us or Pat, he was just angry about the situation because it's hard for bands like that. That was the only hang-up getting him in... I know this is probably a longer answer than you wanted, but people ask us about this a lot. They ask us why we would take another guy from Monstrosity, but we weren't taking him. We said "If you feel obligated to these guys, stay with them" but he was like "No, I can't..." We tried out a few other guys, but we almost knew Pat would get it because he's so good, and he likes our band and we had heard he was a good guy, and he is.

Al: And he wasn't in Nevermore at the time?

No, Nevermore he had been out of for a few months before he tried out for Monstrosity, and that was about a year and a half ago that he got the gig and did the tour with them.

Al: The Broken Hope tour?

Yeah, Broken Hope...

Al: Why did Rob Barret leave the band?

I think he had always had trouble expressing himself within the confines of our style. He wanted to do a lot of technical drumming stuff that our drummer didn't really want to do. I mean, if you listen to Solstice, which was his band... that's really his band, he wrote all the songs for that band, that was the band he loved... I mean, he's got a tattoo of Solstice. He joined us just to do a tour. Rusay got kicked out just three weeks before our big tour with Unleashed in 1993. Rob was the only guy we knew that we were friends with that would be able to learn it all right away. We had known Rob for years because he is from Buffalo too, like the rest of us, so he came up and did it, and it kind of fucked things up for Solstice. I think that those guys got impatient waiting for him down there and the band kind of just fizzled out. So, he wound up joining us, but I think he always would have rather been in that band. So now, I think he's trying to get his own band together and it will be something of a Solstice variety, which is really high-quality thrash metal, or death-thrash. And I don't mean thrash in a derogitory way, I mean it in the best way like of the Dark Angel, Razor, Exhorder...

Al: Razor!! I love Razor!!

Yeah!

Al: They're still together, you know...

You know? I didn't know that they were still together, but I love Shotgun Justice and Violent Restitution. I mean, I love the old stuff like Evil Invaders and all that, but the new stuff, from the early '90's, that's what I call the new stuff, like Shotgun Justice, nobody even knows about that and that's like an amaaaazing album!

Al: They just released another album called Decibels with that vocalist, Bob Reid.

Really?

Al: They just have a new drummer and a new bassist.

That's cool. I like him. I remember seeing a review of that album, with Bob Reid, and it was saying that he sounds like Nuclear Assault, but a little more brutal, and I would agree with that. That's the kind of stuff that Rob loves. He loves the really high-quality, high-speed thrash, so expect something like that out of him whenever he puts something out again.

Zachary (l) and Taylor (r) from Hanson

Piston: I understand you missed the metalfest this year... what happened?

Ahhhh... we got stuck about five, six hours outside of Milwaukee with no real way to contact anybody. We tried calling the Fest a few times and no one returned our pages. We paged John Findburg, our booking agent. What happened was, first our breaks went. They spent like hours fixing the breaks and we finally got driving again around four and we were just barely going to make it. Fifteen minutes after we started driving, this motor for a fan or something that cools the engine broke, and it was like 95 degrees, so we were rendered completely helpless, we could not move. He had to drive it a hundred yards, stop it, drive it another hundred yards, stop it... so that it wouldn't overheat just so we could get to a gas station, so we sat there while the biggest show of the year went down. What was worse is we had Angel Corpse's drummer with us so they sat in Milwaukee talking to everybody going "I don't know where the fuck he is! He's with Cannibal!!" (laughing) It was a bad scene for everybody and it was a big disappointment. Other than that, the tour has gone off without a hitch, but it's the biggest disappointment we could have possibly had, it's the biggest show of the year and there's nothing we can do to replace it. If we missed any of these shows, even a big show like New York, Chicago, Detroit, we could just put it a couple months later, but you can't move the Milawukee Metalfest around, you just have to wait 'till next year and next year we might be busy making a new album, so who knows if we'll even be able to do it. And we haven't done it in a year or two, so it sucked... it was a very big let down to say the least, it sucked!

Piston: Tell me about the groupies on tour, and any wild sex parties that you have had.

Ummm.. (laughs).

Al: This is where the porn side of our site comes in...

Yeah!! (laughs) I don't know... it really isn't as wild as you would think. I do have a girlfriend right now, so I am out of action, but when I used to not have a girlfriend, sometimes things would get pretty cool... occasionally things will surprise you. We're pretty normal, just reagular guys or whatever, so when something crazy happens, whe there's multiple women or something crazy like that going on, we're always like "God damn!! Is this really happening??" (laughter all around) But, most of the time it is actually surprisingly dull. I don't know what the other guys would have to say to that question, but for me the action was pretty exciting when it came but it was kind of few and far between, but every now and then something really crazy and excellent would happen with some chick, but now I have a girlfriend so I stay out of trouble, and that's the truth...

Al: Yeah, we'll put that nice and bold...

(laughing) Yeah! In case she sees it, you know, she'll be like "What??"

Al: Well, if she sees it, you know she's looking at a porn site, so you've got her....

This is true, yeah... actually, she doesn't have a computer, so I'm safe but, yeah, I don't cheat. But Paul and Pat are single, so they'd be the better ones to ask that question 'cause they are the ones that are on a quest for women on this tour, so... they have less competition now because George and Jack are married and I'm hooked up. But, yeah, we've had some fun in the past, we've done some interesting things. Sometimes if there's a girl and no one's really interested or no one wants to make the effort or the girl seems like she's not going to do something, one of the roadies on one of the last tours would do this thing where he'd be like, "Well, let's try to get a picture of her!" That was his goal, to try and get killer polaroids of the girl doing whatever or at least getting naked. I think most bands do this kind of stuff too or have road crew members that are into it. It's a way to pass the time for some of the guys.

Al: How does Gallery of Suicide hold up to Vile, in your opinion?

I think both of them are pretty strong in their own way. They're a little different from each other. Gallery's got slower stuff. Both of them, also I think there is stuff we could have done better. Vile might have been just a little bit too fast throughout. You know, when you write an album that is almost all fast liek either the thrash beat or some blast it is kind of a challenge to make all the songs really independent of one another to the average listeneer. I mean, we all know that they are all different songs because we wrote them, but some people have a hard time with that. Vile was mostly fast, so some people thought it kind of blurred together, where I think on Gallery the songs are all pretty individual and there's a lot more variety. That's not to say that in the future we might not just do another record of all speed again, because it's been weird doing slow songs on stage, some of the slower stuff. "Gallery of Suicide" is still mostly fast, that song, but the beginning's slow, so it's different. I am used to it just being full attack the entire set and now there are a couple ups and downs.

Al: Do you manage to keep tempo on the slow songs?

You know, that's a very good question... it's harder to play slow for a guy like me who's been playing faster, and for our drummer Paul. Playing slow and playing well is a lot harder than you think. When you're playing fast, especially if you are playing to your utmost speed, you are pretty much always going to be right on, or even if you are a little bit off it is too fast to for anybody to hear, but with the slow stuff you've got to be playing well. Like the beginning of "Gallery," there is a sliding bass part and it is easy to fuck up even though it's slow. I like the timing to sound nice and fluid and sometimes I'll be rushing a note a little bit. These are problems I never had before. We were supposed to be rushing the notes with all the other stuff, but with slow stuff you've got to have more finesse. I think that's something a lot of people don't think about especially people who play my kind of music.

Al: I ask because I have played in the past, and you play a song and after you get off you hear a live tape and it's like four times the speed because you are so pumped up on stage...

Yes, definitely, our tempos will fluctuate from record to live. We try not to, but it's hard....

Al: Can you rate Cannibal Corpse's albums from your favorite to your least favorite?

It's tough, because it is hard to tell which is my favorite right now. Probably the new one is my favorite, but there are things about Vile that I like better. Probably Gallery and Vile are the ones I do like the best. My least favorite is Tomb, just because of the production. A lot of people love the production on Tomb of the Mutilated, but I'm not really as into it. The Bleeding is probably my next least favorite, even though I really like the production on that because the bass is loud, but there is a couple of songs on there that I wish I could have done again.

Al: Which ones?

"Stripped, Raped and Strangled" I think is a good song, but I would have liked to have done something different with it. I can't really explain it... I would have to play it to show someone what I mean. I would have liked to have worked a few different things into the song. But everyone seems to really like that song...

Al: It's really catchy.

Yeah, so I'm not going to fuck with something that's not broken. But just, for me, I feel like I could have done a little better with it. Butchered (At Birth)... Butchered's okay, but if any of the albums had that blurring together problem, it's Butchered because there's an awful lot of the same drum beat on that album, just "pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop" (motioning with hand). Basically, the third and fourth song on side one are just that beat for 90% of the song. Now, I like that, because it's relentless and intense, but I think it wore out on some people. Now, a lot of people like that record too, but I wonder if they like the record or if they like the record cover and the song titles, 'cause people always yell for "Meat Hook Sodomy," so now we play it, and we'll play the song, and it goes over pretty well, but a lot of the time like two or three songs later, a kid will be yelling for "Meat Hook Sodomy" like he didn't even know that we played it, you know? It's just a blur, it's so fast, a lot of people don't even recognize the fact that we played it...

Al: The vocals on that album are really just very indecipherable...

They're super low, you know... I think those kind of vocals are more suited to like a really fast kind of grindcore band like Mortician or something like that.

Al: It seemed on Eaten Back to Life he annunciated a lot more...|

Uh huh.

Al: and on The Bleeding as well...

The Bleeding and Eaten Back to Life are my favorite vocals from Chris, and that's weird because a lot of kids think that Butcheredand Tomb are the best vocals from Chris, but I don't agree with them. I think The Bleeding and Eaten were his best performances.

Al: I agree.

Eaten was his fastest as well. That was when he was still really able to belt the stuff out, like "Mangled" has got some fast lyrics...

Piston: Okay, back to the pornography. Are you a fan of pornography?

Yes.

Piston: Okay, any favorite films or stars that you can remember off hand?

I like natural girls like Nikki Dial and Tiffany Minx, girls who aren't all lipsticked up and siliconed up, Christy Canyon...

The wonderfully enchanting Nikki Dial (r) and cock (l) Al: Christy Canyon is wonderful...

Yeah, everybody likes Christy Canyon. Ummm... who else? Definitely Tiffany Minx and Nikki Dial are excellent, definitely really good-looking women. I like seeing good-looking women, you know, doing their thing! Umm... who else is really good? Sometimes some of the unknown ones. Like I saw Buttman's Moderately Big-Tit British Adventure," or whatever...

Piston: I saw that one, yeah!

Al: (motioning to Piston) He's seen just about everything!

Yeah... that's a good one! I saw one with Ed Powers where he went to Hungary and he had some really gorgeous chicks in that.

Al: Ed Powers' Dirty Debutants?

Yeah...

Piston: Are you a Dirty Debutants fan?

I only saw the one... it was just these girls from Hungary. A lot of the girls are more like these siliconed-up, obviously American strippers that needed some extra cash and just decided to do it, (there is a knock at the door and Alex gets up as he continues) but some of the ones from Europe are really gorgeous women with great, natural bodies. I like that. One second (he talks to someone at the bus door).

Piston: Sure.

Al: (to Piston) He likes hairy armpits (they both laugh).

(Alex comes back). Piston: You were talking about Europe... the girls there?

Yeah, I guess it's weird because some placesmust have different views about pornography and whatnot, so it is more acceptable for a really good-looking girl over there to do something like that, while in America a lot of the really pretty girls over here are going to be using their looks to their advantage for some other thing and they're not going to feel the "need" to "stoop" (quotes indicated) that low. Over there I don't think it's necessarily viewed as stooping down as much, it's not as dirty of a thing so therefore some better looking girls are willing to get into it. In America there's tons of strippers. I can't really get very interested in silicone girls anymore... it's just not a look that I find appealing. I don't really like bleach-blonde hair...

Piston: The Jenna Jameson prototype....

Yeah, she's good just because her face is really pretty but I think she would have been much better off keeping her breasts the way they were in the first place. Now there's no turning back, they'd be all stretched to hell if she took the implants out, you know?

Piston: The trend is actually going back to the pretty girl-next-door look...

I think if guys are watching a movie... they're trying to like, you know, whatever... the reason... a guy watches a movie (laughing) is, you know, whatever, to fucking...

Al: Jerk off.

Jerk off to the movie, yeah... so it's like, if he's trying to imagine himself in that situation (laughing) which is what I think a lot of guys are doing when they're watching a porno, are you really going to be messing around with some like gigantic-breasted Wendy Whoppers-whatever? I don't really find that appealing, I don't find the Pamela Anderson look appealing... I like a girl with dark hair and a natural body, stuff like that is very good. When I was single, I was always happy to go to Mexico to play and places like Argentina because there is a load of beautiful dark-haired women down there. Alicia Rio is very good looking, a very good looking porn star.

Al: Stephanie Swift?

I don't know...

Piston: She's one of the new ones, she just won uhhh... (Al interrupts) Starlet of the Year last year at the AVN awards. She's got natural breasts, dark hair and she's very cute.. VERY cute....

I'd like to see her!

Piston: She looks like a kindergarden teacher actually, which is very cool in itself...

Hmmm... yeah!! That's very good!!

Al: Your lyrics beg the question... have you ever seen any snuff films?

No, no... not that I know of... I hope not! There is definitely an influence in our lyrics taken from real life events, but we've tried to create completely fictional stories out of them, and they all are, even if there is a little melding of some factual events in it...

Once again, George as Vigo posing with Do, Ray, and Egonnn! (and Alex)

Piston: So you've never killed a girl while you were fucking her...

(laughing) No no no... none of that...

Piston: (laughing) Well, you said completely fictional and I just wanted to make sure that they were...

No no... we're not actually condoning violence, although that may sound strange...

Al: You're not deviants?

At least not in the violent sense, maybe sexually deviant, you'd have to ask some of the other guys, but not violent. I definitely enjoy watching violent movies, I like watching fights, but we don't want to promote that kind of stuff. But, it makes for great stories... just the way I think when A&E do a story on Henry Lee Lucas, they are not saying that Henry Lee Lucas is cool and we want you to act like him, they're just saying this is really interesting shit and we want to write about it...

Al: Do you think he actually killed close to 400 people?

Well, he killed a bunch of them, I'm not sure if after a point it really matters how many he killed, you know?

Al: A lot of people think he was...

Bullshitting just to get some publicity or whatever?

Al: That the police handed him clues just so that they could close cases and stuff like that, I don't know if you ever read about him...

Really? I am sure he killed some people... one is enough to put him away for life.

Al: He was actually convicted of five, I believe... although it has been speculated that he only killed two.

Maybe he is reaching for stardom now that his life is over, but.. whatever. I am saying that all those guys get a lot of promotion on national TV, especially like the Discovery Channel and A&E. They do stories on that stuff all night, and those are real people that killed real people and they catch way less shit about putting that stuff on TV thatn we do about writing songs about people who don't even exist, or about zombies, which are completely fantasy things. Even "Gallery of Suicide" is as realistic as the Hobbit or something, it's like Middle Earth. A place that doesn't even exist. So a snuff film, that's someone getting killed.. I don't want to see that. Some people want to see that... I don't think anyone wants to see anyone get killed unless they are a sick fuck or they have an emotional reason to want to kill that person.

Al: I have actually heard that Gene Hoglan has a huge collection of snuff films.

Really? I think it's probably something that he'd keep to himself. I don't know anything about that...

Piston: Have you seen those Faces of Death and Traces of Death films?

Yeah...

Piston: Well, that's watching death, that's kind of the same thing.

I don't watch those as much, I do watch them and I find it interesting and everything, but to me its a little bit different than you've got some guy and his friend and they've got someone tied up and they're filming him and they're going to put a knife to his throat.

Al: Those movies are death ON film as opposed to death FOR film...

Yeah, that's pretty heavy-duty, man... that's not to say that we'd be above writing a song about someone doing that, because it's fucking gross and we will write a song aboout anything gross (laughs). So us writing a song about someone that makes snuff flicks is not something that's out of the realm of possibility because its brutal, but us owning them?? No... we wouldn't promote that sort of thing, but we would sing about it, definitely.

Al: How does it feel to be one of the few "bass heroes" in death metal today?

Well, I hope I deserve it! That is what I say, because there are a lot of really good guys out there that people don't know about and I always take any opportunity I can to promote some of my friends out there, like Suffocation's bass player, Marduk's bass player, Ross Dolan from Immolation... there's a lot of really good guys out there. I think, maybe, I'm more aggressive in the studio and that's why people know about me more. Especially on The Bleeding and Tomb of the Mutilated I was really making a nuisance of myself to get me louder in the mix and I think that is why people notice me more. Steve DiGiorgio ("Sadus" Al interjects) the late Roger Patterson ("Atheist" Al butts in again) from Atheist... all these guys deserve at least as much attention as me. I've just been getting some because I think we are more prolific, we do a lot of tours. I was lucky enough to be featured in that Bass Player thing. Steve DiGiorgio just got his own thing in Bass Player about a month ago and I was happy to see that because if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have played the way I did. I copped a lot of things from his style, he played a lot of big chords.

Al: Sadus fan?

Yeah, the first Sadus album.. when I heard that I wanted play bass like that. It was a big influence on me.

Al: On a song like "Chambers of Blood," you wrote the lyrics and the music and the vocal patterns. Do people usually come to a rehersal with an entire tune written like that or do you ever come up with songs as a band, just jamming?

I wrote a lot of those riffs at home. I will write 'em on my four track at home and then I'll be sitting there and trying to get it together. I'll get like a third of it done, take it up, listen to it and I'll tape it once I teach that part of the song to the rest of the band and then I'll take it home and think about what goes next once I hear it with the whole band playing it, because I am writing only on bass, I can't play guitar, at least not well enough to play Cannibal Corpse music... (Al belches and excuses himself). Oh, don't worry about it... So, I'll take the cassette home and listen to it carefully and think, "Okay, where is this song going to go?" and eventually it will get written. It takes a while and the rest of the band, they are a part of it even when I write the whole thing, 'cause I kind of ask them where they think it should go. They're not completely left out of it. I'm like, " Do you guys think it sounds good if we end it here, or there, or where?" So they will help a little bit on that, or same thing if Jack writes a whole song himself, or Pat. They write all the music, but we suggest things. And the lyrics.... "Chambers" was just one where I had some good ideas, or ideas I thought were good for how the vocals should be so I just wrote them all one night. I made it kind of like a mix between the inquisition, which is something real, and then just being in Hell. That's what I wanted that song to be, it is kind of like an inquisition in Hell. The image of that is some big, crazy building where people are just being tortured for eternity. That one came together good, so what I did was I wrote the lyrics and I'd sing them to George. We'll just talk them, like (lowering voice) "Enter the chambers of blood!!" like that, over the top of the riff, right George? I'll explain them to him by singing them over the riff when we listen to the rehersal tape we made of the music. That might be too long of an explanation, but the songwriting process is more complex than people think, at least for us. Maybe we make it more complex than it needs to be, but we do take our time with this stuff, we think about it a lot.

Al: By the way, if you have any time constraints, let us know...

No no, not at all, I just don't want this to be a boring, overly wordy interview.

Al: No no... if you get boring, we'll just edit you.

Piston: We'll edit you down to one word.... "YES. "

(laughs) Yeah, sure... that's what I tell everybody, because I am not ashamed of being edited because I will talk alot about something that I am interested in.

Al: We interviewed Trey from Morbid Angel recently (Alex whistles as if to say "oh boy!!") and we had like 90 minutes of tape that we had to edit. We'll go there... he talks very circularly with a lot of repetition. Anyway, we're not going to slam him... (Piston giggles) go ahead.

Piston: Are you a fan of black metal?

Sure, I'm a fan of all metal. Black metal, death metal, progressive metal, I like metal!

Piston: What are some bands that you are particularly a fan of?

Ohhh... Marduk, Immortal, Dark Funeral, I like the fast ones.

Piston: What about all that stuff that's gone down with the church burnings and the killing each other...

I didn't really pay attention to that because it's got nothing to do with the music. I am not going to listen to a band because of the stuff they do outside of their recording career. I just like bands because they sound good. A lot of the bands I like haven't really done anything fantastic, they're just good bands.

Piston: Do you think press like that helps a genre?

We have had some similar press problems, like not because we do crazy shit, but because some of our fans have done some stuff. Some guys up in the Pacific Northwest, I can't remember if it was up in Washington or Oregon, committed some violent crimes and they said they did so because they like our band and they like Deicide. We had some problems with that. The sad thing is it probably doesn't hurt the band at all...

Al: It helps the band.

Yeah, I think that the success of some of the bands that were involved with all those things is testament to that. I'd love to think that we live in a world where every band is judged solely on the merits of their music, but we don't.

Al: "No press is bad press."

Yeah, pretty much for an extreme metal band of any kind, no press is bad press. People are like, "Oh these guys commited a murder" and everyone is like "Great!! Let's go buy their album," you know?? (laughing) That's not really a good thing, but hey, that's the way people are.

Piston: What are your three all-time favorite death metal albums?

Altars of Madness from Morbid Angel, Dawn of Possession from Immolation and Mental Funeral from Autopsy. That was an easy one to answer... (laughs).

Al: Well, here's an easier one....

Piston: When was the last time you had a really good cry?

A really good cry?? (laughing) Oh wow...! I don't think I've ever had a really good cry... because I don't even cry when like a family member dies, I'm just not a crying kind of guy. I'll cry when I am really happy about something, if something amazing happens... if I won the lottery I would probably cry (tour manager Paul interjects: "He cried during Jerry Maguire. I saw him."). Yeah yeah... during which part?? I don't know... I'm not much of a crier. I'm not saying that because it's going in an interview either...

Al: Yeah yeah, sure...

I seriously don't. I think it is because you get it embedded in your head when you are a kid, "Don't cry, don't be a fucking pussy!!" (banging his fist down on the arm rest) so I just never did. If your dad going doesn't make you do it, nothing's gonna... so... I just don't. Then that Old Yeller thing almost got me (everyone laughs). Just kidding...

Al: What is the one album in your collection that a Cannibal Corpse fan might be surprised to know you own?

There's a bunch of stupid shit that I have that people would probably stop listening to my band if they knew I listened to it. Stuff like AC/DC is probably no surprise, let me think... I'll even listen to stuff like 311 because they have a good bass player. That's not my favorite band, but the bass player and the drummer are excellent. I don't think anybody would assume that I'd even give that stuff a chance. I like Medeski, Martin & Wood, some jazz, the band Tribal Tech. There's some I don't even mention. I have yet to throw away my Ratt albums.

Al: (singing) "Shot through the heart!!" (from RATT's "You're In Love")

Piston: Have you ever brought a Poison album?? (Be it known!! Piston is still a Poison fan!!)

Never!! (laughing) I never liked the really queer stuff. About as bad as I got in my collection is Ratt, and they were kind of heavy on Out of the Cellar (Piston interjects, "Oh... sure!!"). That was pretty heavy. I got the first few Motley Crue albums.

Al: Have you heard the last one?

No.

Al: Awful!

I heard the...

Al: (interrupting) It's awful. We don't even need to talk about it, it is awful.

It's awful, yeah??

Al: Every play a show with really bad diarrhea where you had to run off stage in the middle of a tune or between songs?

Never had to run off, but I have played shows where I am pissing out my ass before and after the show. That's what sucks, man, is that all these clubs there is never a convenient toilet, but today there is one. We're happy, we've got everything we need!! We've got a backstage and a toilet. (Jack Owen, Canibal Corpse guitarist, interjects: "Showers") Is there a shower here?? (Jack and Paul respond: "No." ) Okay, well, that's like heaven. If we can actually find a place that has a shower too! If we have a backstage shower, a backstage shitter stocked with toilet-paper and a lock-in door and enough room back stage for both bands to comfortably hang out to where we are not on top of each other, like getting in each other's way, we are happy as hell. Things like diarrhea are actually a big factor on tour. If someone's got the shits they're a miserable person.

Al: I would figure.

(laughing) Yeah, they'll ruin your day!!

Al: The bathroom here smells like ass. I don't know if you've been in there yet, I just want to warn you.

Well, there's an upstairs one here, so that's probably what we'll be using.

Al: Oh, well, we don't get to use that one!! Was it your decision to bring Angel Corpse on the tour?

Yeah, we asked for them. If you're going to be on tour with a band for 60 days, you'd better like the music or you're going to be really sick of their music, so we like talking bands that we like with us. Immolation was another band like that.

Al: Have you heard Malamor before, one of the bands that is opening tonight?

I'm not familiar with the other bands that are playing tonight, unless...

Al: Malamor, Malignent, and I think Shadows Fall or something like that...

Yeah, I'm not familiar with them. But I'll check a little bit out tonight if I get the chance. I'll try to get a look. So often they give us so little time and we are running around and trying to eat... and the opening bands play for so little time. I have missed a lot of local bands on this tour. Which is the band you wanted me to check out?

Al: Malamor.

Are they going on right before Angel Corpse?

Al: Yeah.

Okay!

Piston: Would you fuck Julia Childs if she offered to make you the best meal you have ever had in your life?

Ummm....

Al: If you didn't have a girlfriend...

Umm, I forgot what she looks like....

Piston: She's pretty bad.

Al: Like Mrs. Doubtfire, kinda.

Piston: Humped over, very old...

I don't know, does Nikki Dial cook?? (everyone laughs)

Al: Well, anybody would do that!!

I'd have to see her man, I'd have to be real hard up... (In the background, Jack Owen is mumbling in a high-pitched British accent, imitating Julia Childs as he takes something out of the microwave. He seems to be saying "Alex is having sex with me... ohhhhh, hohhhhh, ohhhhh....."). Maybe if I was 60, you know??? (laughs)

Piston: What 5 albums have you been listening to the most lately?

This album by a band called Krisium from Brazil, called Apocalyptic Revelation. Umm... there's a band called Krabathor from the Czech Republic. They have an album called Orthodox that I have been listening to lot too. This is some stuff that we picked up when we were in Europe the last time. The new Marduk record. I've been listening to that a bit... I just got all this stuff so it is what I have been listening to. I get CDs and then put them on cassette and it's what I listen to when I am driving around town. I don't listen to music a whole lot on this bus because I brought all my CDs and... (motioning around the bus with his hand) there's no CD player! No one's been listening to music on this tour. I just got the new Immolation album on tape, so that will be one we will be listening to a lot...

Al: Ohhhh... how is it??

It's excellent!!

Al: I heard the one track they did for the Mercyful Fate tribute and it was incredible.

Yeah, they're one of my favorite bands so I was not disappointed. They are excellent... There's a band called Deranged...?

Al: Rated X?

A friend of mine gave me a cassette. I don't know if it was Rated X or not, I just bought the CD. I had never really heard of Deranged before... but he gave me something and it was amazing.

Al: Sculpture of Gore is the EP they have...

No, it was a full album. I haven't gotten to listen to the Rated X CD yet so I don't know if it's the same thing. This kid in Belgium gave me a cassette. He had it in his car and he was talking to me about Deranged and how amazing they were and he was like "You've never heard them?? Well, then, I've got to give you my tape" because he had a tape he had made off the CD in his car so he gave it to me. I don't know what the song titles are or anything, I just know that it's amazing! I have been listening to it all the time...

Al: They do a cover of "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones that is just completely blasted out... it is the last tune on there.

Really? It's on Rated X?

Al: It's the last song on there.

Then I might have something that's completely new...

Al: Well, you probably wouldn't recognize it if you didn't know...

Really? Okay... either way, it's amazing. They're a really good band! There's a lot of really good bands out there. It's very positive. I've constantly got some new stuff to listen to and it's good! I love this kind of music, so it's good... was that five albums?

Piston: Yeah, that's five. How did your cameo in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective come about?

They had a spot in that movie... they just needed a band where there was going to be a pit, so it could have been us or it could have been... Bush, it didn't really matter, but Jim Carey liked us, so he was like "Well, why don't you try to get those guys... it'd be cool to have them in the movie." He also likes Pantera and Napalm Death, but Pantera was probably busy doing something else...

Al: You'd think he'd tell them to get the name right. In the credits, it says "The Cannibal Corpses."

Yeah, we're not going to complain, you know... we're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, because that's what it was. A complete gift. I got the call on it, the guys were like "Yeah! We're going to be in a movie!" So, we flew down to Miami, we were there for two days, we shot the scenes, we got to meet him, he was real nice. He was like "Yeah, man! I bought your albums and I thought it was totally crazy so I thought it'd be cool to have you guys in the movie!" It was totally cool, man! I got to talk to him a bit. It was totally weird, because they put makeup on us even though we didn't need it, it was just base makeup...

Al: Hair!!

Yeah, I know, I was just all hair anyway, so I don't know why they needed to do it, but it was just skin-colored makeup to keep you from shining because of the oil on your face, I guess they do it for everybody. So I am sitting in this makeup room and Jim Carey is sitting next to me and they are putting makeup on him and he is like "Oh yeah, you guys do anything last night? What's up? Did you guys have a good time in Miami?" I was like, "Yeah, it was alright. We went out... I know some people here..." and I'm just like, "I'm talking to somebody famous!!" (laughs) That's the first thing you think when you're talking to someone like that... you're like, "This guy's on fucking TV!!" and I'm sitting here talking to him like, just like we're talking, you know? IT was weird and it will never happen again, that was just luck that we got into something like that, and it was cool! And it was basically because of Jim Carey that we did it! If he hadn't requested us, they would have just got some jimmies with long hair that were LA actors just to pretend to be a band and they just would have put some stupid music over top of it.

Piston: How do you compare your cameo to Dee Snider and Twisted Sister's cameo in Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

I didn't see Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Al: (incredulous) You never saw Pee Wee's Big Adventure?!??

Everybody tells me I need to see it too... (Piston: "Oh wow!!") I saw like little chunks of it, but I did not see the whole thing... I didn't see the part with Dee.

Piston: So you guys weren't trying to compete with Twisted Sister to see who could make the better cameo?

No no... although we almost got into Airheads. Right around the same time, we got offered both movies and we didn't know which one to take...

Al and Piston (at the exact same time): You chose the better one!

(laughs) We chose the right one! Yeah!!

Piston: So you guys don't plan on making acting a full time thing?

Nooo... but any time anybody needs a death metal band in a movie (clapping hands together)... give us a call!! (laughs)

Al: You might get some porn work from this now...

Oh, do a lot of porn stars read this stuff??

Al: Well, we have five porn companies we work with right now that always check out the site and the reviews we do an interviews and stuff...

Well, you know?? We're willing to talk!! Let's put it that way... if anyone's interested in working with us on anything having to do with any film stuff. I think anyone that's done film things knows that it pays well. You know, like the royalties you get... like if you get a song on a soundtrack, probably not on a porno because they don't play it in regular movie theaters or on cable or whatever... but say you do a song and you're also featured in the movie, you get paid as an actor and you also get paid as the songwriter by BMI or ASCAP, whoever's publishing it... so the windfall from one little movie spot can give you lots and lots of cash...

Al: Did you make more from Ace Ventura than you did from most albums?

No... but it's more than you would expect from two days of work. The band has probably netted close to fifteen grand just off that appearance. Divided up amongst us, it comes out to a couple thousand a piece. If you're in a couple movies, you could probably live on it. Or not live on it, but it would suppliment your income very well.

Piston: I recently saw the NBC version with added footage, where Jim Carey was signing along with you guys. How do you rate his performance? Was that really his voice?

Well, what was really crazy is that when he was doing it there was no music playing behind him really, he was just like going nuts up there. He seemed really funny with what he was doing, but you can never tell how it's going to turn out. It was either going to turn out really funny, or really stupid, but I think it turned out pretty funny. He's a talented guy man...

Piston: Were you upset that your part was cut down in the final movie?

No, actually, I was a little nervous about it so I'm glad it was kinda short. I didn't want it to be as big as it was... I knew I couldn't turn the opportunity down. One thing I enjoy about the music industry is that people aren't always looking at you... like if you're a TV or movie guy, people are always looking at you. You know, how those stars must suffer, like if they're overweight or their hair looks like shit, then some magazine is talking about how they look like shit. I would not like that kind of attention being paid to me. I like playing music. I don't want to be famous-famous, so being in a movie too much, even that little bit was more than enough for me. We would be willing to do something like that again, just because it would be a great opportunity for the band, but we're not looking for it necessarily, just if something comes we'll talk. It was kind of cool with what was on the NBC version. We were happy to see it...

Al: It seems strange that NBC would show the additional Cannibal Corpse footage...

Weird!! (Piston laughs). It's weird that they re-edited the movie in a way to even fit that scene in. They actually had to change a little bit of the story just to make that work. It's weird!

Piston: Have you guys ever measured your penises and who has the biggest??

No.. (laughing, along with guitarist Pat and vocalist George that have since come into the room) nobody's measured their penises, man!!

Piston: You don't know?

No man! (laughing)

Al: (motioning to Piston) That's him... that's his question!

But there are probably some girls that could give a comparison at least between a couple of people... (looking at the other guys in the band... they all laugh. Pat adds "And our sound man!!") Anyway...

Piston: If a fight broke out between the members of the band, who would win?

(Jack asks, "A physical fight?" Pat says "Jack!" Jack replies sarcastically "Oh, yeah!!" George suggests "The oyster!!") Jack!! (Pat interjects, "You don't fuck with The Oyster!!") (laughing) I don't know, man.. we're not a bunch of tough guys, so... who fucking knows? (laughs)

Piston: What have been the best and worst places you guys have played?

Ummm... (pauses) the worst you never want to say because the kids that actually do show up, you're thankful that they're there and you don't want to insult them...

Al: But then the ones that were there will come back because they know you appreciate them being there, so I wouldn't worry about it...

Yeah. Well, we appreciated everybody in Albany and that kind of sucked... (laughs). You know, I am glad that the people that went were there! I don't know if it really sucked, I mean, we'll play there and it's a lot of fun to play anywhere, but like when you play a place like Texas where everyone's rabid... you can get spoiled playing a place like Houston. Cities where metal is just raging!! Cincinnati... Cincinnati's got a great club called Bogart's where you can get 900 people...

Al: Milwaukee??

Yeah... Milwaukee, but we wouldn't know this year... (laughter) But I like playing small clubs too, but if the crowd is small and unenthusiastic and something about the club really sucks, it can be a drag. We played a show in Belgium that really sucked once. It was at this place called the Bee-Bob, there was like 15 people. Again, we thank those 15 people for being there, but it sucked! It was a small club, it sounded like shit. Texas is raging. I'd reccommend it to anyone. Chilie, Argentina... as far as other countries go, those are a couple of great places.

Piston: Has Cannibal Corpse had any wars with other death metal bands?

Naaah. Unless the aforementioned silly graffiti wars with Six Feet Under can be considered anything. I think we're pretty easy to get along with and we don't like to say anything that isn't positive. There are some people we don't get along with, but I'd rather not mention them...

Piston: Who rocks harder these days, Hanson or Metallica?

Hanson's got longer hair! (laughs)

Piston: (laughing) That's a good point!!

I don't know... (laughing), shit... I like the old Metallica so much, I don't know what to say about the new stuff because everybody knows they're not what they used to be... but it would be tough for anyone to be as wimpy as Hanson, in all seriousness, so they are still heavier than Hanson... they're closing the gap though!! (laughing)

Piston: That's the best compliment they've got in a long time: "At least they're heavier than Hanson!"

Yeah... there you go!! (belches)

Al: We'd like to get your feelings on a few bands, we're just going to throw out a few names: Morbid Angel.

Great band. Favorite. My favorite band, actually.

Al: Your #1 favorite band?

Yup.

Al: Vader.

Also great.

Al: Master.

Not too familiar with them, I have the first album and it was okay.

Al: Manowar.

Great.

Al: You like Joey DeMaio?

Yeah, Joey DeMaio's great!

Al: Strapping Young Lad.

Not familiar with them... Gene Hoglan's a great drummer, so the drums are probably great.

Al: Death.

Their new album has a great drummer.

Al: Fine Young Cannibals.

The last word in their name is cool (laughs).

Piston: How about Possessed?

Gods. Ancient gods. One of the first death metal bands.

Piston: How about Deicide?

Ummm.. great, one of the bands that came up around us. A great band.

Al: How do you think the death metal scene has changed since you guys first started, since you've been around for so long and prolific for so long?

I think a lot of the bands that you hear about these days are better than the old ones. When things first got going when we were around there were a million bands and it seemed that anybody that did anything like death metal could get a record contract. Now, it's been weeded down to a few, select really good ones and the new bands that are coming our are of a higher quality. I think actually the music nowadays is better than it has ever been before, even if the scene is not as big as it used to be, it is only getting better.

Al: I think all genres that go through a period popularity experience that...

Yeah, there's that intial wave where every label in the world wants to get on the bandwagon and get a bunch of bands. The good ones will stick around. It will happen to everything. The black metal scene is going through the same growing pains right now.

Al: Who in death metal today would make the best prison bitch?

Best prison bitch, man... I don't even what to think about that... I have no idea (the other guys in the band laugh).

Piston: You already talked about this but what are the bands that influenced you guys starting off?

Yeah, Slayer is a big one... and Kreator and Possesed (George belches). Autopsy and Morbid Angel had records out right about the time we got Cannibal together, so they were a big influence as well, in the more modern style. Immolation too, actually.

Piston: Okay, last question which we kind of already talked about as well: do you prefer small real tits, or big fake tits?

Small real tits, any day of the week!

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