This interview took place before a sold out Cannibal Corpse/Brutal Truth/Immolation show in Vancouver BC. The Front Line and I drove up there from Seattle for this show (For some reason metal bands just never see the light of day in Seattle). While talking to George, he was surprised to find out Cannibal Corpse hasn't done much US touring. They're first time up with George was last October on the Misfits/Anthrax tour.
Interviewing George was a pleasure, but at the same time it was hard. Being new to interviewing, my only source of getting information was jotting notes down on paper. And if anyone has ever spoken to "The Corpse Grinder," they would know, he likes to talk.
The first thing we wanted to know was why wasn't there a show in Seattle. George went on to explain how Seattle doesn't have many all age clubs today and sometimes it's better to play bars because that's where they get a lot of people to go. George said "Our booking agent goes down this list of places comparing they're occupancy and popularity and it almost always in a bar." Going through Seattle, they knew not enough people would show up, which costs the band money.
We had also asked George about C.C.'s MTV affiliation. This was a sensitive subject, seeing how they had made video's for MTV to play, only to be rejected. The Corpse Grinder seemed scornful towards mainly, the Headbangers Ball and how it is always a bunch of shit, saying, "Ricky (Ricky Rachtman, host of Headbangers Ball) disgusts me. Don't put anyone on MTV that says all this shit about metal, if your not really into it." However, he is looking forward to a new show they will be having called "The Pit." It is supposed to be a show dedicated to metal bands like C.C. He just hopes they get someone a lot better than Ricky.
Our next question, which was also our most curious, was how he reacted to Bob Doles attack on C.C., made during his campaign. We asked him if Dole simply wanted to gain something for his political campaign or if the man actually despised C.C. George said "It's a violent world out there. Necrophiliacs, rapists, ax murderers, etc., and Cannibal Corpse is just singing about it. I would love to be in a society of being raped!" (sarcastically). "I know that, that's fucked up shit, but it's out there. And I'm going to sing about it. The people that listen to our music know the difference between fantasy and fiction, and we're like a good horror flick." George also went on to explain how he would love to have Dole on tour with them to show him how much shit they go through.
The last thing we wanted to know was how the fans reacted to George being in C.C., seeing how all kinds of bands are changing and Chris Barnes was one of the founding members as well as the voice of C.C. George told us that the fans stay brutal, because the fans come for the music and the show. "No one ever really screams for Chris or anything, and if people think C.C.'s changed, well we haven't. We're still as brutal as we've always been." He also said "Our band label is evolving. It's a lot smarter career move to do what you've always done and not change your style. You can't mix R&B with metal, it's ridiculous, and bands are actually doing that. Cannibal Corpse plays death metal, and if we want to stay death metal, then we're going to stay death metal."
ATL
