So listen up. If the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse can call himself George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher then I want to change my goddamn name. From now on it's Daniel "Wusskiller" Epstein. GOT IT!
Anyway Corpsegrinder has a voice like ground glass. That wouldn't surprise anyone who's heard their music but usually these guys have smooth velvety voices, that's why they surprise people on stage. Cannibal Corpse has always been known as one of the more popular death metal bands but that doesn't mean that they deliver watered down mainstream metal. A live Cannibal show is like removing hemorrhoids with a chainsaw and these guys know. They deliver with each and every album. Since Corpsegrinder replaced lead singer Chris Barnes ten years ago they've still been ripping up at clubs and venues all over the country. Eight albums in and Cannibal Corpse have never defied their core fan base, continually strengthening their place as the most enduring, relevant and uncompromising Death Metal band ever.
Check out their website at CannibalCorpse.net
Daniel Robert Epstein: How's Florida?
George Fisher: Hot. There are afternoon storms happening right now.
DRE: What inspired the new album?
GF: Just the same old thing. We're leaving for Texas next month. We start recording again in Torneo Texas where we recorded the last two albums.
DRE: What's it like working with Metal Blade Records?
GF: They put out tons of ads, do great promotion; they're always hooking us up with interviews and keeping us in people's minds through magazines and websites. Brian Slagel [founder of Metal Blade] is like the king of metal. I grew up buying a lot of records that were on Metal Blade like Slayer and now we're on it. We have a great relationship with them. We just saw Brian last week and he always treats us right. I've heard tons of horror stories from other bands about labels and I've had problems with one particular one I won't mention [laughs].
DRE: How did coming out of Buffalo shape the band?
GF: I can't comment on that too much because I'm from Baltimore because three of the guys are originally from Buffalo. If you're from there or ever been there the thing about Buffalo is that's it's constantly under snowstorms during winter. Last year they broke the record for the amount of snowfall. In Maryland we don't get tons of snow or sometimes you get gypped and you don't get any. I love snow but the other guys hate the snow. We get constant heat in Florida and after a little while it kills your nerves. You go outside and you're sweating immediately. So I think being barraged with snow in Buffalo has made them a little bitter. We've played Buffalo a few times but I haven't gotten a chance to visit the city.
I love Baltimore. A lot of people go there and comment on what bad shape the city is in. With the exception of certain areas I think its great. Growing up in the 1980's all the bands came to Baltimore or around there. We used to go to the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. I actually saw Cannibal Corpse there twice and I saw them in Florida at a club called The Masquerade when it was called the Ritz. I think Bob Rusay was still in the band when I saw them. Everyone came to Baltimore, Testament, Megadeth, and Violence. All the Bay Area thrash bands. The scene was really good. We just played there recently, I was glad to be there but the show wasn't in the greatest area so there wasn't a great turnout. It's changed a little bit since I was there.
We had one cool record shop when I was growing up that we had to walk to. I look fondly back on growing up listening to metal in Baltimore. If you go to the wrong areas it's not a pleasant place to be but what city isn't like that? Baltimore isn't that huge which I like because the little things mean so much to people. When the Colts beat the Giants in what people say is the greatest game ever that was a big deal because they've never won anything. It's not like its New York where it's hard to impress people or Los Angeles where it's a little harder to rile those people up but in Baltimore the littlest thing can mean everything. At the shows you would see the same people in the audience constantly. It was more of a bond.
DRE: What's it like being a fan then becoming part of the band?
GF: It was crazy when I first got into the band. When I first started talking to those guys I had met [bass player] Alex [Webster] at the show at the Ritz in 1993. I was still in Monstrosity. I told him I was such a fan. I liked the band before I got in and I wouldn't have joined if I didn't like the music. Most people might join Cannibal Corpse because they were one of the bigger death metal bands but I was into them. I definitely couldn't be in band where I wasn't into the music.
DRE: Do you have a cold?
GF: No this is the way my voice always sounds. It's the wear and tear. If I had to make a FAQ that would definitely be the most frequently asked question. But even on tour when I'm talking to fans they ask me if I feel ok. I tell them, no I'm fine, and don't you listen to me on stage? I sound like this all the time. My voice gets beat to hell every night.
DRE: How do you take care of it?
GF: Well I don't smoke anything. I never even had a cigarette in mouth in my life. It doesn't help in a lot of the clubs we play in are smoky as hell especially in Europe. I drink water. I don't know if that helps but it helps me. I think that if I drank soda before a gig it would give me a sugary coating in my throat. I have to keep my throat wet and water is the only thing that isn't sticky. I don't sing always with my throat but it all has to come through there. I use my diaphragm to push out. Glen Benton [the previous Corpse singer] used to smoke but his voice is awesome so go figure.
DRE: Who gave you the nickname Corpsegrinder?
GF: That was the name of my first band in Baltimore. There was this band from Frederick Baltimore called Exmortis and their guitar player left the band and came to Florida looking for drummers and he met Lee Harrison [of Monstrosity]. So all three of us hooked up to come down to Florida. Lee got down there first and told people the Corpsegrinder was coming down to be the singer. He started calling me that. On the demo I didn't put a last name down, I just wrote George Corpsegrinder. My mother asked me why I didn't put down a last name. I told her that Corpsegrinder had a great ring to it. That's how it started. When I got into Cannibal they asked me if I wanted to keep the Corpsegrinder tag and I was like why not. People have called me that for so long and it fits great with the band.
DRE: How has the death metal scene changed since you started?
GF: One thing in particular which is positive is the way that people take the instruments more seriously. I think that in the early 1990's when death metal really started getting a lot of exposure and MTV was covering it. I think a lot of labels saw quick money and signed a lot of bands that maybe should have done another demo or two. Monstrosity did the demo in November and we were signed by March of the next year. But all of us had been in bands before. I think that nowadays you have a lot of bands that are around for a couple of years before they even do a demo. The bands tear it up and the drummers sound like they've been playing for ten years which may be the case. Now with metal is having a resurgence, even though death metal and Cannibal Corpse always had a fanbase, the media still shits on a lot of death metal because our music is still too hard for the average person. I still have a little bit of bitterness the way some video TV places won't push anything then when it gets big its all over that channel. They need to cover the whole spectrum all the time. We may be a bit unruly but we're still music. Isn't metal about being unruly? There are bands like Immolation and Mortician which have been around forever. There are hair metal bands that are coming back at age 50. I'm 33 and my fire isn't gone. I don't want to settle for second best. I love this music and its everything that I am. We deserve to be pushed. I'm not a fan of this new metal like Korn and Limp Biskit. They're not metal bands. When Headbanger's Ball was going strong the mistake I thought they made was to put sissy bands wearing sissy makeup. If you want to wear corpse makeup that's fine, that's freaky but not this sissy shit. Headbanger's Ball was our time and we didn't get the time. They at least played some Judas Priest and Ozzy but what about death metal. We got like a little bit at the end. Most of it was dominated by Bon Jovi and Poison which was also shown during the day. If they're headbangers then I give up. There have been a lot of times where the people "in charge" didn't push heavy music and metal.
DRE: Have you ever slept with a Goth girl?
GF: I don't believe so. I'm married [laughs]. Not that I can recall. I've been married for five years. Not that they don't look good.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
GF: That's hard. All of it.
DRE: All of it?
GF: Well not child pornography. But you know what I'm saying. Anal, oral, it's all good.
DRE: What's your favorite girl out of the punk, emo and Goths?
GF: I would say all of them too. I couldn't pick. If you had a gun to my head that would be hard. Maybe the punk girls.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
Anyway Corpsegrinder has a voice like ground glass. That wouldn't surprise anyone who's heard their music but usually these guys have smooth velvety voices, that's why they surprise people on stage. Cannibal Corpse has always been known as one of the more popular death metal bands but that doesn't mean that they deliver watered down mainstream metal. A live Cannibal show is like removing hemorrhoids with a chainsaw and these guys know. They deliver with each and every album. Since Corpsegrinder replaced lead singer Chris Barnes ten years ago they've still been ripping up at clubs and venues all over the country. Eight albums in and Cannibal Corpse have never defied their core fan base, continually strengthening their place as the most enduring, relevant and uncompromising Death Metal band ever.
Check out their website at CannibalCorpse.net
Daniel Robert Epstein: How's Florida?
George Fisher: Hot. There are afternoon storms happening right now.
DRE: What inspired the new album?
GF: Just the same old thing. We're leaving for Texas next month. We start recording again in Torneo Texas where we recorded the last two albums.
DRE: What's it like working with Metal Blade Records?
GF: They put out tons of ads, do great promotion; they're always hooking us up with interviews and keeping us in people's minds through magazines and websites. Brian Slagel [founder of Metal Blade] is like the king of metal. I grew up buying a lot of records that were on Metal Blade like Slayer and now we're on it. We have a great relationship with them. We just saw Brian last week and he always treats us right. I've heard tons of horror stories from other bands about labels and I've had problems with one particular one I won't mention [laughs].
DRE: How did coming out of Buffalo shape the band?
GF: I can't comment on that too much because I'm from Baltimore because three of the guys are originally from Buffalo. If you're from there or ever been there the thing about Buffalo is that's it's constantly under snowstorms during winter. Last year they broke the record for the amount of snowfall. In Maryland we don't get tons of snow or sometimes you get gypped and you don't get any. I love snow but the other guys hate the snow. We get constant heat in Florida and after a little while it kills your nerves. You go outside and you're sweating immediately. So I think being barraged with snow in Buffalo has made them a little bitter. We've played Buffalo a few times but I haven't gotten a chance to visit the city.
I love Baltimore. A lot of people go there and comment on what bad shape the city is in. With the exception of certain areas I think its great. Growing up in the 1980's all the bands came to Baltimore or around there. We used to go to the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. I actually saw Cannibal Corpse there twice and I saw them in Florida at a club called The Masquerade when it was called the Ritz. I think Bob Rusay was still in the band when I saw them. Everyone came to Baltimore, Testament, Megadeth, and Violence. All the Bay Area thrash bands. The scene was really good. We just played there recently, I was glad to be there but the show wasn't in the greatest area so there wasn't a great turnout. It's changed a little bit since I was there.
We had one cool record shop when I was growing up that we had to walk to. I look fondly back on growing up listening to metal in Baltimore. If you go to the wrong areas it's not a pleasant place to be but what city isn't like that? Baltimore isn't that huge which I like because the little things mean so much to people. When the Colts beat the Giants in what people say is the greatest game ever that was a big deal because they've never won anything. It's not like its New York where it's hard to impress people or Los Angeles where it's a little harder to rile those people up but in Baltimore the littlest thing can mean everything. At the shows you would see the same people in the audience constantly. It was more of a bond.
DRE: What's it like being a fan then becoming part of the band?
GF: It was crazy when I first got into the band. When I first started talking to those guys I had met [bass player] Alex [Webster] at the show at the Ritz in 1993. I was still in Monstrosity. I told him I was such a fan. I liked the band before I got in and I wouldn't have joined if I didn't like the music. Most people might join Cannibal Corpse because they were one of the bigger death metal bands but I was into them. I definitely couldn't be in band where I wasn't into the music.
DRE: Do you have a cold?
GF: No this is the way my voice always sounds. It's the wear and tear. If I had to make a FAQ that would definitely be the most frequently asked question. But even on tour when I'm talking to fans they ask me if I feel ok. I tell them, no I'm fine, and don't you listen to me on stage? I sound like this all the time. My voice gets beat to hell every night.
DRE: How do you take care of it?
GF: Well I don't smoke anything. I never even had a cigarette in mouth in my life. It doesn't help in a lot of the clubs we play in are smoky as hell especially in Europe. I drink water. I don't know if that helps but it helps me. I think that if I drank soda before a gig it would give me a sugary coating in my throat. I have to keep my throat wet and water is the only thing that isn't sticky. I don't sing always with my throat but it all has to come through there. I use my diaphragm to push out. Glen Benton [the previous Corpse singer] used to smoke but his voice is awesome so go figure.
DRE: Who gave you the nickname Corpsegrinder?
GF: That was the name of my first band in Baltimore. There was this band from Frederick Baltimore called Exmortis and their guitar player left the band and came to Florida looking for drummers and he met Lee Harrison [of Monstrosity]. So all three of us hooked up to come down to Florida. Lee got down there first and told people the Corpsegrinder was coming down to be the singer. He started calling me that. On the demo I didn't put a last name down, I just wrote George Corpsegrinder. My mother asked me why I didn't put down a last name. I told her that Corpsegrinder had a great ring to it. That's how it started. When I got into Cannibal they asked me if I wanted to keep the Corpsegrinder tag and I was like why not. People have called me that for so long and it fits great with the band.
DRE: How has the death metal scene changed since you started?
GF: One thing in particular which is positive is the way that people take the instruments more seriously. I think that in the early 1990's when death metal really started getting a lot of exposure and MTV was covering it. I think a lot of labels saw quick money and signed a lot of bands that maybe should have done another demo or two. Monstrosity did the demo in November and we were signed by March of the next year. But all of us had been in bands before. I think that nowadays you have a lot of bands that are around for a couple of years before they even do a demo. The bands tear it up and the drummers sound like they've been playing for ten years which may be the case. Now with metal is having a resurgence, even though death metal and Cannibal Corpse always had a fanbase, the media still shits on a lot of death metal because our music is still too hard for the average person. I still have a little bit of bitterness the way some video TV places won't push anything then when it gets big its all over that channel. They need to cover the whole spectrum all the time. We may be a bit unruly but we're still music. Isn't metal about being unruly? There are bands like Immolation and Mortician which have been around forever. There are hair metal bands that are coming back at age 50. I'm 33 and my fire isn't gone. I don't want to settle for second best. I love this music and its everything that I am. We deserve to be pushed. I'm not a fan of this new metal like Korn and Limp Biskit. They're not metal bands. When Headbanger's Ball was going strong the mistake I thought they made was to put sissy bands wearing sissy makeup. If you want to wear corpse makeup that's fine, that's freaky but not this sissy shit. Headbanger's Ball was our time and we didn't get the time. They at least played some Judas Priest and Ozzy but what about death metal. We got like a little bit at the end. Most of it was dominated by Bon Jovi and Poison which was also shown during the day. If they're headbangers then I give up. There have been a lot of times where the people "in charge" didn't push heavy music and metal.
DRE: Have you ever slept with a Goth girl?
GF: I don't believe so. I'm married [laughs]. Not that I can recall. I've been married for five years. Not that they don't look good.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
GF: That's hard. All of it.
DRE: All of it?
GF: Well not child pornography. But you know what I'm saying. Anal, oral, it's all good.
DRE: What's your favorite girl out of the punk, emo and Goths?
GF: I would say all of them too. I couldn't pick. If you had a gun to my head that would be hard. Maybe the punk girls.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
VIEW 25 of 25 COMMENTS
owenewowen:
Awesome! Glad to see a band I'm interested in interviewed.
naty:
corpse! fuck , love it