{"id":7612,"date":"2012-04-07T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T02:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=7612"},"modified":"2012-04-06T16:42:34","modified_gmt":"2012-04-06T06:42:34","slug":"rob-barrett-of-cannibal-corpse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/04\/rob-barrett-of-cannibal-corpse\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Barrett of Cannibal Corpse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n<\/a>\u201cControversy is always a positive thing even if it\u2019s in a negative way, like any of that Government censorship crap where they try to stop people from doing what they want to do, it\u2019s just like putting gasoline on the fire and it always works in our favour in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Official Bio:\u00a0 Returning with the ceaselessly hostile Torture<\/em><\/strong>, Cannibal Corpse prove that when it comes to combining unrestrained maliciousness, involving song writing and technical precision they still have no equal, once again fortifying their position at the forefront of death metal. The twelfth full-length of their inspiring twenty-four year career, the Floridian quintet have never sounded so vital, the album building upon the wealth of powerful, dark, and memorable songs comprising 2006’s Kill<\/em> and 2009’s Evisceration Plague<\/em> and pointedly upping the ante at every turn. While this marks the latest progression in the band’s sound, Torture<\/em><\/strong> also witnesses a return to what drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz accurately terms “the frenzied attack of Butchered At Birth<\/em> (1991) or Tomb Of The Mutilated<\/em> (1992)”, infusing the band’s advanced musicianship with the raw savagery that haunted their earlier releases, and in the process conceiving the definitive Cannibal Corpse record.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Cannibal Corpse have ensured that the twelve songs comprising Torture<\/em><\/strong> are the very best and therefore cohere to make the best possible album, though they are not content to rest upon their laurels and they are as hungry as ever to unleash their distinctive breed of aural horror upon heaving mosh pits. “I haven’t been this excited about a release in a long time,” enthuses Mazurkiewicz. “We worked so hard at it and we hope that the fans feel the same way we do. Being out there and getting to play these songs live will once again prove to people we’re not going anywhere. We’re not going through the motions, we’re really trying to be the best band we can be, and we’re just getting better.”<\/p>\n

At home in Tampa Florida we had a chat with Cannibal Corpse guitarist Rob Barrett about the band, their new album \u2018Torture\u2019, touring and of course, controversy\u2026<\/p>\n

Firstly, I wanted to say, the album is so heavy, it\u2019s awesome, congratulations on it!\u00a0 I always like to ask artists, can you give us 5 words that sum up your new album.<\/strong>
\nOver the top, fucking heavy shit ha ha<\/p>\n

Were you aiming for a specific concept leading into making the album?<\/strong>
\nWell yeah when we started writing for the new songs we were just throwing around ideas for the album title and then the name Torture came up, we just thought it was a good title to write a bunch a songs that go under that category.\u00a0 Most of the songs on that album have something to do with Torture.<\/p>\n

How were the songs put together and just where does the inspiration for the songs come from?\u00a0 Was it solely based off the title?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m not even sure at what point the title came in to play really, we just started writing music as we always do and just started working on titles from there and it all just kind of falls into place by itself eventually.
\nI notice that once again there aren\u2019t any songs about rainbows and unicorns on this release?<\/strong>
\nYeah I think we don\u2019t have too many people that are disappointed about that ha ha.
\nYeah, the content is great and I was listening to it last night before heading off to sleep, perfect going to bed music.<\/strong>
\nHa ha ha.<\/p>\n

Do you guys write while on the road or is it all done in the studio?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s not written in the studio nor on the road ha ha, it\u2019s done at home, that\u2019s what we did for this album and what we did for all our previous albums is as soon as we decide to stop touring for that album cycle then which is usually around the holidays, then we\u2019ll take the holidays off and we\u2019ll reconvene sometime in mid-January and then start writing for the new album until we have enough songs that we think are enough to record.\u00a0 We usually kind of set a date, like a deadline of when we\u2019re going to go in and start recording, so at least we have a visual picture of how much time we have to write the material and so it\u2019s all pretty much done at home.<\/p>\n

How long was the process behind putting the album together?<\/strong>
\nWe started in January and we wrote all the way up until two or three weeks before September when we went o Sonic Ranch to start recording.<\/p>\n

A lot of emphasis has been put on where you recorded the album in Texas, what was the decision to head out there to record the album?<\/strong>
\nWe figured it was that the way that studio is set up it\u2019s out on a Pecan ranch pretty much in the middle of nowhere, it\u2019s a farming town, a town called Tornillo which is forty minutes away from El Paso, its literally a five minute bicycle ride to the Mexican border, I used to ride a bike down to the big fence there to Mexico ha ha.\u00a0 It\u2019s in a secluded area and all you have to pretty much do is concentrate on what you\u2019re there to do and record, like when bands go to LA they\u2019re like \u2018well let\u2019s finish up recording so we can go out and party\u2019 ha ha so there\u2019s no distractions out there which is pretty much the main reason we went out there.
\nJust a leisurely bike ride when you\u2019d finished for the day\u2026<\/strong>
\nExactly, and there was a gym there and a pool, it\u2019s pretty much like a little vacation resort but with a bunch of studios on the land.<\/p>\n

In the three years since your last album and in making Torture did you set out to do anything differently to previous releases?<\/strong>
\nWell song writing wise it was just a continuation of where we left off with Evisceration Plague Probably with just little elements of the older albums in there on a couple of songs like \u2018Demented Aggression\u2019 is a pretty straight forward old school style song.\u00a0 I think we pretty much went in to the writing the same way we always do, I think there\u2019s maybe a little more variety in these songs, they all kind of have their own identity because we split the writing up a little more evenly this time.\u00a0 Alex wrote five, Pat wrote four and then I wrote three.\u00a0 Paul wrote the lyrics for all of Pat\u2019s songs and then he wrote the lyrics for one of my songs too.<\/p>\n

Did you try anything different musically this time around?<\/strong>
\nI wouldn\u2019t really say that we did try anything differently; we\u2019re just trying to stay to the same style that we\u2019ve always been writing.\u00a0 I mean it\u2019s a natural progression.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve once again worked with Erik Rutan, what is it that makes him the right choice?<\/strong>
\nWell the last two albums came out really well and it seemed like the right thing to do, we were happy with how those albums came out and the only difference between those two albums and torture is that we took Erik out to Sonic Ranch in Texas to do most of the tracking.\u00a0 It just felt like the right thing to do, we\u2019re comfortable recording with him and it came out killer.\u00a0 I think in the back of our minds, we were thinking he\u2019s two albums in to producing us and third time\u2019s a charm ha ha.<\/p>\n

What are the touring plans surrounding the album?<\/strong>
\nWe already did a tour just as the album was released, we did the Full Of Hate festivals in Europe with Behemoth, Legion Of The Damned, Suicidal Angels, Misery Index and Nexus Inferis and that tour finished like about a week before the album was released.\u00a0 Then we did Destroyers Of The Faith tour which was five shows in England and one show in Scotland with Triptykon and Enslaved and Job For A Cowboy.\u00a0 Then we came home and we\u2019ve been home since then and that was two or three days before the album was released on the thirteenth, then we\u2019ve just been rehearsing, getting ready for this next tour coming up which starts next Thursday, the US tour with Exhumed and Abysmal Dawn.\u00a0 Then that tour, we\u2019ve got some European festivals that we\u2019re going to do in the Summer, we\u2019ve got a Summer tour in the States again, then we\u2019re going to do Australia and Japan in October and we\u2019ve got all kinds of touring we\u2019re going to do, so stay posted ha ha.
\nSo, you\u2019re coming to see us in October?<\/strong>
\nYep, it\u2019s looking like that, I mean no dates have been confirmed but they\u2019re working on it as we speak as far as I know.<\/p>\n

Obviously over the years there has been controversy in relation to your music and in some cases it\u2019s been banned such as here in Australia, are you still worried about that?<\/strong>
\nNo, I think it\u2019s awesome!\u00a0 Controversy is always a positive thing even if it\u2019s in a negative way, like any of that Government censorship crap where they try to stop people from doing what they want to do, it\u2019s just like putting gasoline on the fire and it always works in our favour in the long run.
\nIt probably makes you want to do it more!<\/strong>
\nHa ha yeah exactly, like that one comedian guy over there that did \u2018Rancid Amputation\u2019 on the Tv show ha ha, that was awesome man.\u00a0 He\u2019s pretty much showing how silly it is to try and ban a band because of their lyrics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now on to the cover art, what was the idea behind the return to the graphic imagery?<\/strong>
\nI think we never wanted to lose that, it just kind of went away on its own for a little while there and it wasn\u2019t intentional. \u00a0I think when we pretty much started working on the \u2019Kill\u2019 album, it was when I\u2019d just re-joined the band and so it was a new line up and things were changing a little bit as any band would somewhat when there\u2019s a line-up change, but the good thing is that I was in the band before, so I fit in to the formula and the chemistry.\u00a0 But with the artwork, the lyrics have never changed pretty much, it\u2019s just the artwork that everyone was disappointed with because it wasn\u2019t gory with the \u2018Kill\u2019 album, but for that album we just wanted to keep things simple and really test everybody to just focus on the music, the most important part you know?
\nAnd Torture just has imagery written all over it\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah it\u2019s always a good thing to have the gore stuff going along with it; it\u2019s the whole package when you\u2019ve got the graphic artwork like that.\u00a0 We just have to always keep in mind that we\u2019re going to have to have an alternate cover for certain music chains that don\u2019t want to carry it and certain countries that don\u2019t want that artwork in their country blah blah blah, blah blah blah\u2026
\nDo you ever get tired of that though?<\/strong>
\nDidn\u2019t I sound a little tired of it ha ha
\nI don\u2019t understand why people are so worried about it?<\/strong>
\nWell yeah for a band like us I think the artwork is an important part of the whole package because our type of fans they want to have the artwork and the booklet on the inside, we\u2019re not one of them type of bands where our fans are like \u2018Oh I\u2019ll just download it and don\u2019t need the artwork or anything\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s the whole package that\u2019s why we need to keep upholding our reputation by having the killer sick artwork to go along with the music.<\/p>\n

Hopefully that can continue for a long time.<\/strong>
\nYeah, we\u2019re feeling pretty good and I\u2019m sure the other guys will say the same, it\u2019s not like the end is near for us, we still have plenty of gas in the tank.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Alex Webster \u2013 bass, Paul Mazurkiewicz \u2013 drums, Pat O’Brien \u2013 guitar, George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher \u2013 vocals, Rob Barrett – guitar<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> www.cannibalcorpse.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Torture (Metal Blade \/ Riot! Entertainment)<\/p>\n

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