The Downbeat - Cannibal Corpse (Paul Mazurkiewicz)

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

My guest this week is Paul Mazurkiewicz, drummer and founding member of death metal LEGENDS Cannibal Corpse. We spoke about everything from being asked personally by Jim Carrey to feature in Ave Ventura in 1994 all the way up to embracing technology to advance their live show in the 2020s and beyond...

Hello everyone. It's me again, the world's absolutely busiest man, coming at you to make another little podcast for you. Recorded it a while ago. This one's had a little problem. Right? I'm not going to, I'm not going to mess around. There's a problem. The problem is kind of now, thanks to the Patreon and the money that the Patreon brings in, the problem is now kind of an Easter egg. You're going to see the problem about halfway through. basically a camera died and by camera

I mean three cameras and by three cameras I mean the hard drive recording three cameras died but I have used the money from the Patreon to pay someone to make it look really good for the rest of the episode so just if you're listening to the audio

just ignore me if you're listening to the video with the eyes aka watching then just wait till that bit right the chat is insane so it's worth it you do not know how distraught I was when I looked over at the end of the episode and saw that the hard drive

recording the video had failed. It will never happen again. I've invested. This will never happen again. Trust me. Thanks to everyone on patreon.com forward slash the downbeat. You allowed me to hire Simon to animate. Oh, I'm giving it away now. Uh, and someone to do the drawing. I fixed it. I think I fixed it. Okay. My guest this week is is Paul Mzerkiewicz from Cannibal Corpse. The founder of Cannibal Corpse. Do I need to introduce Cannibal Corps? Legends of Death Metal, unbelievable band, unapologetically relentless.

He's only got better with age. I sort of guessed why that is, and I was right, so I was pretty stoked on that. We talked about them being in Ace Ventura. We talked about every little question that I have had in my head since being third. 13 years old and searching for cannibal corpse on MP3.com I asked all of those questions.

But first, a word from our sponsor of the Downbeat podcast. You might see them in the background. Those lovely, lovely little displays. Display is a poster company with a difference.

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We've got tons on there. They've got tons of other stuff. You can get 20% off any display using the code Downbeat. If you buy three or more, you get 30% off. I get a little bit of kickback. from that you can support the podcast you can support whatever i do and your rooms can look cool a f while doing it if you're interested in joining patreon dot com for slash the downbeat it allows us to make these every other week we pay simon the editor when someone messes up we buy new gear so it doesn't

happen again and animators and all that stuff patreon dot com for slash the downbeat or if you just want to buy some clothes by this point there's probably really nice merch out www www the downbbe dot a t there's a UK store, there's a US store, both of them shipped worldwide. It's Paul Mazurkowitz from Cannibal Corbs on the Downbeat podcast. Paul, thank you so much for coming on Downbeat. Hey man, thanks for having me. I went through all the appropriate channels and everyone told me Cannibal Corpse is not doing any press and gung-ho the day before this. Was it yesterday or the day before yesterday? Two days ago maybe? I was like, I'm just going to DM him.

Perfect. And you got, I must have got you on your phone because it was a media. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that you did. So it all worked out great. And then, here we are. So I'm glad it all happened. It's death metal royalty. Oh, man, I appreciate it.

You know, it's crazy to think we've been around as long as we have and we're still kicking. And here we are, about to play a show tonight and all that. I mean, amazing. If I remember correctly, Europe was your first tour. because what was the deal with that? That would have been for Butcher to Birth I guess 91 because we really didn't do any touring

for eating back to life and then yep we got an offer to come to Europe for our first tour and we did and it was us in Loudblast French band and that was amazing I mean incredible

what a time I mean all those firsts like that but right coming to Europe in 91 for the very first time and it was a dream come true. Was it in a van or was it on a bus? No, we were in a bus. We actually had a bus through,

the company was Metaleeze, and we worked with them for quite a few years after that for a long time, and it was on a bus, albeit more kind of a bootleg bus, not buses you're going to get like today, and I remember it was us and loud blast on the bus and everybody, and, you know, it was funny things to look back at that.

I actually had to share, I mean, albeit it was a bigger bunk, but I had to share a bunk with our guitar player. No, the fucking way. Yeah, it was like so bootleg when you look back at it going, I mean, but we didn't know any different. You know, we didn't know any better. How big was the bunk?

It was fairly wide. Obviously, it was wide enough for both of us to be in there comfortably in a sense. But that's just unheard of these days. You know, the buses aren't set up that way. So this was like a bus that, you know, I guess was set up that way, unfortunately. Very bootleg. But fun times. And, yeah, just when you're,

coming over for the first time, you're just, you're just happy to be in Europe, you know, and then obviously being on a bus. But it was pretty interesting. Because I was, because I started touring, I think my first tour was 2003. I'm 36. Oh, right. So my touring was at the, it was pre-everyone having GPS, but it was like you could go on a computer and you could type in where you needed to go

and then we had maps. Right, right, right. But 91, your bus driver's using a real-life map or just knows the road. That's right. I'm sure they were just using maps, like an Atlas or something. Maybe they did know the road because of them being in, you know, from Europe, say, for instance, on that first tour. But I definitely remember subsequent tours after that, like in the United States. Exactly.

You just got the Road Atlas. And that's how you're pulling out. You're pulling out. Where are we going, right? Get your route going. I mean, I know. crazy to think the times that we I mean and

just thinking back before that I mean the bands that had to do that back in you know the 70s or whatever but still we were at that tail end of no internet no cell phones no you know no nothing you're just you're out there and

pretty cool to have experienced that there's a this is a hundred percent true story the first thing I ever put into a search engine and I swear on my family's lives the first thing I ever put, I think it was Yahoo, first thing I ever put into a search engine,

Cannibal Corts. Oh wow. It was like, it was, I, amazing. I'd seen, because my dad worked in something that needed computers,

so we had the internet real worldy, like dial up stuff, and I'd seen Ace Ventura as a kid, obviously, the scene that you're in at Ace Ventura and I was like, well, this is amazing. Like, what is this?

Like, we talked briefly in the car, like when you're a kid and something's really heavy. Although my, my introduction to heavy music was heavier than your introduction. You did mine, thank you. Well, good to be of service. And I was like, I need to know, it was like, it was the first thing I put in.

And I think back then it was, there was an, there was an, there was an MP3.com was a website. Before, it was before Napster and everything. And it was something, I think, but at that point, it must have been, it must have been something off the Tomb and the Mutilated or something like that.

And I remember just being like, I remember being, going, I don't understand this, nor do I get it, but it's my favorite. That's amazing. That's a great story, man. It's an amazing story. And that's literally, I came in at the deep end on heavy music because of that. Yeah, yeah. Incredible.

I love it. The only thing I really want to touch on from the history of the band, because I've always just wondered because that was my introduction. Sure. What was being on the set of Ace Ventura like? Yeah, man, amazing, man. What a great experience. It really was. I mean, so surreal, really. Did I hear correctly that he requested Cannibal Corps? Yeah, I mean, I guess the story goes, I think he may have wanted napalm death first, I believe.

I'm not sure on that. I know there was him being, Jim being on some talk shows, talking about napalm death and all that. And then I'm not sure if I know that's true or not about wanting Napalm first. but he definitely when we came into play he wanted us in the movie I mean the story goes right we're still living in Buffalo New York of course at the time

and we get a call from our record label and they're saying hey Jim Carrey wants you to be in his movie and we're just like what I mean this is amazing right I mean just not the call you were expecting to hear right and we were just blown

away by that thought we were all fans of his with the in living color that he was on, you know, the TV show. It was so huge at the time. So, you know, we were like, wow, well, this is so weird, bizarre because of it being, you know, him being a comedian and all this. So we actually had to turn them down initially because we had a European tour booked, I remember.

And we were like, man, we want to do this. You know, it would be pretty cool, something different. But, oh, man, we got a tour lined up, and we didn't want to back out of that. You know, we already had it booked for months or whatever. actually declined at first. And then they came back to us with, well, we'll work around your schedule then. Because he really wanted you. Yeah, he wanted us. And we were like, okay, well, if he's going to do that. So they did. And then when we went down there, flew down from

Buffalo, New York to Miami, Florida for the movie. It was all done there, I believe. And we went on location when we first flew in and we met Jim and the director and everything. And it was just, Right, a surreal environment. I mean, here we are on a movie set. We're just kids from Buffalo, New York, you know, out of, you know, not L.A. or not New York City, for that matter. You know, we're a small town kind of thing, small town guys in a sense. And here we are in this movie set with this famous actor here already. And it was surreal, really surreal.

I mean, a great experience, of course. But, you know, yeah, you still think back to this day and go, did that really happen? it's insane it is it is one of the three biggest movies of the year that year plus the other two were his movies anyway yeah amazing I mean right it was we're so lucky to have been in a movie

that big you know that it was a hit and then so many people of course got into death model or cannibal corpse we've heard this over the years obviously countless amount of times of I saw you in the movie for the first time I was like whoa what was that who are you I you know pique their interests

and then they go and seek us out And I mean, so it was a, what a milestone, really, what a stepping stone. I mean, we were obviously doing fairly well for ourselves at that point. But having the movie and millions of people just having to see that or see us was, it was huge, right? I feel like more people need to be putting like a live band into movies to get that because it literally, it would have changed my life. Look at the fucking decor of my house. Right. Death metal.

Like, I'm a death metal guy. Yeah, you know, you're right though. I mean, the what ifs or, you know, you look back and you go, what if that didn't happen? I mean, you'd hope we'd still have the career we've had because we were set already established and we're going along. But, you know, with that catapulting us even more so and getting people interested, I mean, such a huge thing, you know, you wonder what if we weren't in the movie, you know?

I mean, so. Do they pay? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we were paid as actors, actually. You want IMDV? Yeah, yeah. I believe we are.

And we actually had to join the Screen Actors Guild. Really? Because of us being billed as actors and paid as actors. So that was kind of interesting because, yeah, I think, you learn a little bit more as you go. And, you know, you got your extras and the people that were in the movie, you know, the fans and all that. It was a couple of our friends, actually, that are moshing around. Really? And they got paid as extras, you know, and an extra, I mean, you get like a flat fee, a minimal fee, you get fed or whatever.

And, you know, you're just happier in a movie, right? And they told us, well, we're being treated as actors here. So we have to join the guild and sign the papers. And then you're getting what the pay that an actor would get for minimum or whatever for the day or what have you. Nice. Yeah. So pretty crazy that the residuals still actually come into this day, albeit they're very minuscule. But just the fact that you still get anything.

I didn't know you get royalties as an actor. Yeah. We get royalties. We still get part of that. still get a, even if it's... Even if it's literally like a 250, you know, like... Because Netflix will renew it for something

and all the actors have to get a little bit of pay. That's so cool. It is pretty cool. It's pretty cool. Amazing. Okay. Obviously, you're a drummer. You know, credited really with creating the bomb blast. You sort of...

You're like shaking your head. Is it now the bank? of your life having to perform the bomb blast? Well, no, you know, it's just odd to me, I guess, to think that if that is the, if that is true, which I guess I do my own style blast, right? And I guess it was named the bomb blast and I was doing it different than anybody else at the time like Pete Sandoval or, you know, Mike Smith from suffocation and all that. So it is, it's just weird to me, you know, to think that I would be this guy that came up with

anything, you know, because who am I in the scheme of the world, I suppose? I don't look at myself as being some amazing drummer or anything like that. I'm just, I'm just me doing what I do, but I suppose I was there in the beginning to create something new in a sense. So very, very, very, weird to think about that. For when, for some of our listeners, there's a lot of our listeners that aren't actually drummers despite me being a drummer, a lot of drummers being on here. Could you explain? Explain the, so I remember back in the, uh, so I remember back in the, they, it would be called the cannibal blast and then at some point someone called it the bomb blast. Yeah, I think so.

I don't know how that was. I'm not sure. Could you explain how the cannibal blast, your... Yeah, I mean, I guess it's, you know, like if you took the traditional one-foot blast, that, say, Pete Sandoval was doing, you know, and that's really what I did was when we, you know, when you listen to the first cannibal record, there's really no blasting at all on that record, you know. and we heard altars of madness, I think around that time when we were just before we were going to record

Eaton or whatever. So when we first heard the morbid, we were just all blown away, of course, one of the best bands of all time, Alters of Madness, you know, one of the best,

right? Pete's an amazing drummer and, of course, an innovator and, you know, all that, everybody knows, but he was doing the traditional

just one foot blast, one, two, you know, super, I like that. And, me being the un-technical guy that I am, and I've, you know, self-taught myself,

I never took lessons, I just, I didn't, always self-taught, and I just did it by feel. I did everything by kind of feel and just what I, you know, trying to mimic what I hear. So I remember when we started writing for Butchard at birth, then of course we incorporated the blast. You know, you listen to that record, it's all over the place. But I'll never forget just being up at the practice room

going, okay, I'm gonna do a blast beat. beat. I'm going to think of what Pete's doing in my head and just, I'm just going to do it. And that's what ended up coming out of me. It's so weird. It's not like I sat and thought and go, okay, what do I got to do? You know, what's the mechanics behind it and all this kind of thing? I didn't think of that whatsoever. I just sat on the drum set and I did a bomb blast. Can you remember the time that you did it? I remember it was in Buffalo at our practice facility. And I can't remember, and maybe we were writing the song gutted, perhaps maybe because I can't recall fully,

but I do remember just sitting down and going, okay, I'm going to do a bomb blast. And I didn't think about it. Somebody might have played a riff or whatever. I just did what I did, which is what I still do to this day. You know, the fast double base with the snare over the top of it like that.

And that's what I was mimicking or trying to mimic what Pete was doing, but my own way of interpreting it, I guess. So, and then that's the, we have done it since you know i mean and literally created shaped a genre right right i mean who would have thought you know so crazy just yeah really crazy really crazy do you find with like no offense getting old how old are you i'm gonna be 55 coming up in september yeah 55 and still blasted um so like with that sorry i didn't mean that sound offensive there but like i understand

you're an o g you've been doing it unbelievable really do you do you do you do you find it's getting harder to do? You know, it's weird because I think I'm actually playing better than I ever have. So do I. Yeah, I think the older you get, you know, you end up using your mind more. You know, you really try to work on your technique more, you know, to be able to do it at this age, you know. I look back when I first started, like I said, it wasn't, it was very primal, primitive, very primal. It wasn't about any technique or anything. It's just, you know, it's just, you just about fury and adrenaline and going for it, right? And that's all the early cannibal records were. And then I think as we got up older and you're going, okay, you know, we're getting

more intense with our music and it's getting more cerebral, so to say, because, you know, some of the songs are starting to get a little more technical and all that. And, you know, I really worked hard in the last, say, 15 years of trying to refine my drumming to be more effective the older I get, I guess, you know? Yeah. Just working on minimizing my movements on the kit and singing properly and all these kinds of things. And so I feel that that has helped me tremendously. And, you know, I look at my playing now and I feel that I'm, yeah, arguably, you know,

playing the best I've ever played. I think you are as well. Oh, thank you. I check out the drum cameras. I check all that stuff. Do you still practice when you're at home? Oh, of course. I mean, that's key.

I think. That's key as well, the old. you get. You just give out. You can't. I mean, I think I look at it and right now, I always think about these things. Exactly. We're just going to be getting done with this tour in next week. We've been out, this is going to be one of our longest tours we've done in forever. Ends up almost being close to 40 shows. We're tired. We're beat. We want to, you know, I mean, they've been great. Of course, we give it our all no matter what. But at the same time, you know, we need to go home and recharge and all this kind of thing. And of course, mentally, I almost want to be like, yeah,

I don't want to do anything for a month, you know. But, but, you know, but. But I know I can't because if I wait around and don't do anything for a month, well, that's just going to be that much harder for me to come back to be at the point I need to be drumming-wise. So you just got to have that mental, you know, that discipline to go, hey, all right, I'll take a little time off. But then I got to hit it again, man. I got to hit it because I'm not getting any younger. It's not getting any easier in that way. So you do, I do have to keep practicing as much as I can.

Same. You know, and I think, yeah, that's key, you know, of course, right. like a sweet spot as well like I come off a tour and I'm like I'm definitely beat yeah I need one week yeah right right right but and then if I let that become two weeks when you come back I'm so rusty yep yep yep I totally agree and that's exactly what I've just been thinking about because of uh you know we still got things to do we're playing a couple festivals in May when we get home it's not like I can just see oh take off and then we'll you know resume just before the festivals I'll be like wow I have I do I know what I'm doing can I play

drums. Yeah. No, I need to take a little time off, but right, get back to it pretty quick just to be able to maintain, yes. Do you have like a specific practice routine? Somewhat. I mean, a lot of times, you know, I've learned to practice by myself, right? I never liked that growing up. I mean, I was always, I wanted to play music. I wanted to jam with somebody. I needed a band. And that's how early Cannibal was. It wasn't like I was up at the practice from practicing all the time by myself. It was no one. When I'm playing,

I'm playing with band, you know. So we're learning as we go and we're all feeding off of each other kind of a thing. Which was amazing. I wouldn't want to change it in any way. But at the same time, I needed to, I think the older, right,

how we just touched upon the older I got, I'm like, man, I can't just play like that anymore. I need to work on some things by myself, you know. And I had to teach myself to do that, to motivate myself,

to want to go to practice and just drum and not have maybe a band or anything around me. So I've worked on that over the years. So, yeah, these days if I go to practice, you know, be by myself, work on, you know, just some basics or whatever, just play. Metronymar. Yeah, yeah. I'll do the metronome to warm up just to kind of, you know,

work on some stamina or work on, you know, just to get it embedded kind of a thing. And then the good thing with technology these days, of course, I mean, I'm able to play a lot of the way. lot of the cannibal stuff by myself because of course it's click tracked in already you know I mean since we've incorporated that over the years I'm sure you know the story since evisceration plague everything has been written at the click for for us so I'm able to play the tracks off those records and I do that live as well so so at least I'm able to still play sorry you live right you play to the recorded tracks um yes some of the songs I'm hearing this so

much from people. And like, honestly, I feel like every other guest that comes in. They're like, no, I play to the album when I'm playing life. Man, yeah, it's such a weird thing to think of because I would have never thought that growing up, you know, starting out. I knew it. I shun the click track, didn't want it. You know, wouldn't have ever imagined I'd be doing what I'm doing today.

And I love it. I mean, really, it just takes so much of the guesswork out of it, you know. If I can play a song, which I do, you know, say off the new record or anything, like I said, from evisceration up, and we got the program guitars in my, you know, in my head. Is the click, is the click on as well? Yep, yeah. I'm playing. So when do you start doing that live? Well, we incorporated the click when we were writing evisceration plague, and that's all done to

the click for the first time. But I don't believe the tour after that for the evisceration plague tour, I don't think I was playing to the click just yet, because I still needed it to kind of absorb it and to get over. It's such a dick. You've been playing for, what, 25 years at that point? Right, right. So hard to, you know, to adjust to be like. Right, right. So it took some time. So maybe around torture, I think I started playing a few of the songs,

then to the click. So now we've gone back and found some click speeds. And for some of the older songs, we were able to click out a little bit and all that. I wondered, because I've seen videos. I haven't seen you guys in maybe five, six years. No, in fact, longer than that, maybe 10 years. Pandemic makes everything seem like short of me. But like I've seen like, I've seen like.

live videos, because I'm always watching live videos. I don't really care for studio videos because I like to see how a band really is. And I've been watching live videos and I'm like, Cannibal Corpse is tight. And that's it. Well, that's why. I mean, it tightens you up, you know,

you're a drummer, as a drummer. And any musician, I mean, it's going to tighten you up, of course. And it's always the adrenaline. Yeah, right, right. It does. It does. It's weird because I play, you know, we play 18 songs and I think 11 of them are clicked out.

So it's still some of the old songs. And when we get to those old songs that aren't clicked out, it's weird to me, you know. Well, it's not on a click. You know, the wretched spawn, gutted, jeez, hammer smash phase, skullful of maggots, devoured by vermin, unleashing the blood Thursday. So we were able to go back though and say click out a song

like say stripped raped and strangled. We found a click speed that would work and we were able to do that. So stripped is to the click, fucked with a knife is to the click. And then anything like that was written from a visceration up, of course, is to the click, because we wrote it to the click.

So we didn't have to go back and kind of figure something out, you know, which I'd love to do. I mean, I would love to play everything to the click and just tightens it up that much better. Exactly, I'm able to relax more as a drummer. Because, you know, when you're not playing to that click, there's just, I don't know, it's weird. If there's, you know, if there's main stage festival,

there's 40,000 people there, you don't have a click. You go up there, like, this song starts at this speed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just way too fast. Sure. And you haven't practiced playing at that speed, so you blow it. Well, I do anyway. I want to take a minute right here to thank the newest sponsor of the downbeat, Athletic Greens.

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I've paid Simon hopefully this still tickles your eye buds that's a new word I made up if not switch to the audio but you know Patreon.com 4 slash the downbeat they technically paid for this

it was quite expensive just enjoy it it's the rest of the episode but sort of looking like a cartoon Convierte your passion in a new with Shopify and batte records of

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your period of per per record's oh no I'm the same way and I wouldn't

it's so like That's odd to think these ways because I would have never thought that I would feel this way. Now I embrace the click. You want the click. And I'm talking to most drummers that do play to the click and play that way, or bands for that matter. Yeah, that's the way they want to do it.

I mean, and really, man, it takes the guesswork out of it. Exactly. You're playing exactly the same every night. You know, it sounds exactly like the record. I mean, some people may shun that like a listener, but I think, overall, I don't see how can you, you know, when you're hearing it. mean it? Yeah, I don't think so either, you know, because you're hearing it exactly the way it should be, you know, and I think as a fan of music, I would like that, you know.

I think it's cool that you embraced it. Yeah, yeah. A lot of bands that have been going for that long, especially bands that, man, like, Hammer Smash Face, you, the programmed click for that would be insane. Well, well, that's why we got to get to that. Yeah, we're trying to, you know, give me a go. I did it with all our old stuff, because I didn't want to program. We're going to give it a go because we want to, we want to, we want to, you want to. to get to that point if we can. It just takes a little more work, right, because it's going to be some BPM shifts, of course,

you know, that make it a little more tricky. But that's the goal, you know, so hopefully at one point in the future, we're able to play every song to click, you know. I did obviously a far less extensive back catalog, but I did the same thing. I joined my band straight from the path like seven years ago, stuff before that.

They'd never played to a click live. Right. We did main stage Hellfest, and I did a bit press afterwards, and the press guy, very Euro, was like, I noticed you played all of the songs far too fast. And I was like, and immediately I just, like, crushed me. And I was like, I got to figure this out. So I went through every song and programmed a click.

Right, right. And then went to the practice room, and everyone was like, this is too slow. So then I had to change things. Sure, sure. Yep, yep, yep. But then now, it's, I'll sometimes do, this is, insane behavior but i'll do if i've slept badly at home or i'm a little bit hungover or something like that

i'll make myself go and play the set in that state because then that's practice right maybe there's a day on tall when i'm sick no you're right no totally correct no that's a it's a great way to be right you know you you got to you never know what you're going to deal with on the road right you know like a lack of sleep uh hungover or something or sick or whatever you've got to still get up there and do it so i'm kind of the same way. I force myself. There's a day might go, you know, I don't want to go to practice, right? I only got four hours of sleep, but you know what? This is going to be good for me in the long run.

And one of the variables, the speed is not moving. Right, right. How you feel right? Right. Right. Right. It's moving. Yes. Yes. Yes. And then the confidence, I don't know about you, the confidence I get from that, like I go on stage, I'm like, I'm ripping. I feel fucking, I feel amazing. Exactly. So

confident, right. It definitely has boosted my confidence I'm tenfold you know I mean I'm playing to the click like that you know and honestly not just blowing smug up your ass I can see it when I watch videos I'm like I appreciate who's killing no I appreciate it no I appreciate it I think it's it's apparent I mean when you you know you can compare and you can see the progressions or what have you over the years and and that's why we you know started the conversation of me playing better than I ever have and that's that's that's key that's that's a big part of it you know of course the practice and all that But playing to the click, oh my gosh, it's a game changer.

And I'm just happy we do it. Fuck yeah. Yeah. So, violence, unimagined. Eric playing guitar in the band. He's been producing, Eric Routon, anyone doesn't know. I'm a massive Haytertonal fan. Oh, nice.

Huge Hay Eternal fan. Hey Eternal was like my post-cannibal corpse. like 90 I guess whenever the first haters album was 99 or something conquering the throne he produced everything now we have a producer that's very hands on

with our stuff to the point where he will write the occasional riff he will write the occasional lyric Eric has produced am I right since kill everything since kill? Other than a skeletal domain oh I thought it was everything no that was Mark Lewis we had Mark Lewis

do a skeletal domain. Great producer. So what I noticed on the new record is way harder for you. So what I'd love to know is it's like, has Eric always been like one of those more hands-on producers where he is bringing riffs

and stuff to the table and then now he's kind of allowed a little bit more? I'm sorry, I'm butchering this question. No, I know what you mean. Or was he very much just a producer helping you guys to make your music?

And then now he's in the band. He was like, I'm going to fuck these guys up. Because he's so, it's... Oh, I know. It's amazing. Especially for you. Yeah, no, my gosh. These guys have just, you know, they killed me

on the last record, you know, all of them. The three of them, you know, Alex, just writing what he wrote, Rob, and Eric, of course. But, no, I mean, having Eric be a part of the band. I mean, he's been an integral part, just being a producer. right, starting with kill other than the skeletal domain record. I mean, you know, he's our friend first.

I mean, we've known him for so long, of course, and then having them, you know, being in exactly morbid and hate eternal. I mean, he knows death metal. He knows guitar playing. I mean, just amazing to have a producer that can understand the music more, maybe more so than any of our producers, which everyone we've worked with has been amazing and incredible, you know. But they weren't a death metal guitar player, you know, kind of thing.

Right, right. And Scott Burns and Jim Morris and Neil Kernan. I mean, it's all of them. Who's who? Yeah, right. All of them. Yeah, right. All of them. All of them. Yeah, right. All of them are great but none of them are death metal guitar players. You know, and have the background they do of Eric that would know the music in and out like, like him. So, I mean, when we started, I mean, he would be there. And we always went into the studio regardless of we had everything pretty much what we wanted to. The songs are pretty much written. I mean, there's always going to be some. fine-tuning and things and maybe some things would happen in the studio that we'd have to maybe change like a beat or this wasn't working or something but minor for the most part it wasn't like anything that we had to go oh we need a couple of songs or or riffs or something so so Eric would help

though of course if there was any need to help any need to help I guess if there was a need for him to step in and have his opinion which we of course embrace um so I think overall I would say we had it 98% done and Eric would be the producer. Of course, he's going to make his suggestions, of course, and that's fine. But, yeah, until he became part of the band, well, yes, now he's,

it was an easy transition in that sense as well because we had such a great working relation with him, and he was allowed to, you know, right, he had his opinions and all these things, but now he's a part of the band and he's going to be writing a song. So that was, it wasn't much different other than now I'm having to play

right songs that Eric wrote, you know. He's in eternal morbid angel mode. Right, right. And, you know, and I think he did an amazing job of channeling him to cannibal corpse mode, of course, because now he'll tell you, I think, like a song like Condemnation Contagion, which was probably arguably the hardest song for me to play

and still is and playing live. It's just different with the whole drum fills and all this kind of thing and in his way of writing. But that was a different song for him to write too, because he wouldn't have wrote that maybe for Hade Eternal or, say, Morbin Angel, he's writing for Cannibal Corp. So he knows he's got to write a little bit different, which is, of course, what we need, right?

So I think, yeah, having him in the band and in his songs that he wrote, the three that he wrote were their intense songs. And then, I mean, everybody stepped it up, though, exactly. Like the songs, Alex almost killed me, really, with his because they're so cerebral, they're so mental. I mean, Cerements of the Flade, I, oh my gosh, I was ready to just like pack it in, you know, because it took so long to learn the songs. I mean, and it's not a speed thing.

It's not a tempo. It's just technical. It's the mental aspect of it. And man, that was, oh, geez, that was hard. That was very hard. That brings me on to my next question so, so easily. So how does a cannibal song these days, I assume back in the day it was jammed? them stuff. How does it get made these ways? So how does it get from Alex to you?

Is it, you get an MP3? Right. Yeah, these days it's way different, right? In the early days, of course, you're collaborative efforts. You know, we all got riffs. You're going up, all right, what do you got? You know, songs are created that way, five people. In the room. In the room, you know, everyone's got a couple riffs and you put them together. You make a song, and we wrote some great songs that way, of course. Kind of miss it because exactly, these days it's it's the individual effort for the most part which is which is great too because it gives every song you know the identity of the of the writer you know and and we luckily we got three amazing writers in the band you know so um yeah for instance Alex he'll write a song and go okay

here's the song he's and he's so technical savvy with the computer and the programs and all that like him and Eric um of course because Eric being you know a producer and he knows what's up. So we'll be getting, Alex will send an MP3, here's the program drums, you know, here's the song that I would like for it to sound like, you know. How good is his drum program? Amazing. Amazing. Alex, I'm both

them, Eric and Alex, but Alex is just incredible. I mean, when I get one, I'm like, I can't play this. Me too. No, there's a lot of times Alex will go, oh, hey, you know, you don't have to play it like this, but this is like kind of a reference, and I'm going, well, first off, you wrote the song and

this is what you're hearing for the drum department, And you know me all too well because we've been jamming forever. So you know my limits. And it's things that I can do. But more than likely it's going to be things I wouldn't have thought of. Yeah. So I listen and then I'm like, yeah, there's sometimes I'm going, oh my gosh, there's so much in here more than I can't do that. Right.

I can't do that. And then I simplify it a little bit, you know. But I'd say 90% of what Alex ends up sending me is what ends up being, you know, what we use, what I play. So, but it has done so much different than the early days. I kind of miss the early days, you know, just jamming, you know, just going to getting in the room and, you know, hashing out riffs. But, but it is. So time consuming, though, when you think of it. Well, it is.

I mean, we save so much time by just everybody writing at home and then you get your, you know, MP3s and then you learn it that way. And, you know, you come together, of course, when you're recording or I practice to fine tune anything, you know, and all that. So, but that's pretty much how we've been doing it for the last, I don't know, you know, 15 geez you know for a for a long time now you know so so have you got a set up to to can do you send back what oh here's what I would do or you just jam along with it and learn what he's learned right I'm so on tech I and I it's I wish I wasn't but I and I almost don't have an inclination which kind of stinks because I should be able to do stuff like that and I don't so I'm going listen to what he sent me and then

go, okay, I'm going to try to do what he did, and then I can do most of it, and there's going to be some things I'm going, okay, I just, it's not natural for me, or I'm not going to be able to do that. And then, and he's fine with it. You know, both of them, as long as it, as long as it works out, you know. Does he send you a version without drums?

Yeah, I'll get, I'll get everything. You know, get the version without drums, get the version with the drums. I mean, you know, so, so I'm able to, of course, play along without the drums. But, yeah, you know, so you're, you're, in essence, just learning a song that somebody wrote that you might listen to and go, you know, all right, let me learn that. And yeah, it's an interesting way to do it. But I think it works out great.

I mean, songs like, I think back at songs like, you know, priests of Sodom off of what, evisceration. I mean, I would have just never wrote drums like that, you know. I mean, but then when you listen to the finished product, you're going, it's total cannibal. Is that an Alex song? That's a Alex song. And I pretty much did everything that he wrote for the drums on that, you know. And I'm thinking if I would have gotten all those riffs and just did up my own, I would have never came up with more than half of that stuff. As technical as he would. Yeah, right, right, right.

Because he did that conquering dystopia around. Yes, yes. With a friend of mine, Alex, who's been on the pot as well. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And those songs ripped. Yeah, those were crazy, crazy stuff, man. I remember how stoked he was. That was a while ago now, maybe 10 years or something.

Yeah, yeah, it's been a little while. I remember how stoked he was just about like, I'm in a very, I'm in a with one of Cannibal Corpse. Amazing. So cool. You've got side projects, too. I do. I do.

Yes, I do. Reel them off. Yeah, man. I got one of, I mean, I got two I'm in right now. Who would have thought I would have been in any side projects, I guess, at this point. But I'm in a band, a rock project called Ombilicus. Ambilicus. And we released our debut album in A Path of a Thousand Suns in November.

And we actually just played our first three live shows in Florida that we ever played. in February just before we left to come on this tour with Cannibal. Nice. And, you know, just a complete rock and roll project. Change your pace, no goal. Oh, man, I love it. Ambilicus kind of sounds gory, though. It kind of does.

Yeah, it has that sense. What is umbilicus? But it's complete 70s style rock and roll. And I think, you know, anybody that's into, you know, the old school kind of just, that kind of music, rock and roll is what I can't explain it anymore. So, then, you know, we were going for that vibe. to me that's my passion that's been my musical passion

forever for the most part I mean especially when I got a little older then I'm like man I'm really embracing my past and you know the stuff I grew up with and all that and I love rock and roll I just love straight up rock and roll you know good melody good song you know good vocals and things like that what are the lyrics about

our lyricist wrote them and you know they're just about anything really nothing I mean you know I almost can't even answer that because I Right. End trails. No, no, no, it's far from anything. I mean, it's funny, I'm, you know, people that seek it out, and when they hear it,

then they come to me, they're like, man, you know, they wouldn't expect me to be playing stuff like this because I'm not, it's not about me. It's not about, I don't know, drumming for that matter. I mean, it's got its moments, of course, but, you know, we're really writing to have a good song. Meat and potatoes rocking. Yeah, totally, totally. You know, it's about, so I'm having a lot of fun with that.

man loving it hopefully we're able to do some things with that i mean it's all a side project of course if things happen great if they don't man i'm happy that i we lay down a cd for eternity kind of a thing and we're gonna try to keep it going here um hopefully we're gonna work on some new material soon and and you know work on album number two and um permitting with everyone's schedule if we're able to do some more maybe get a tour somewhere it'll be great so so that's that's a fun one so it'd be a nice I mean, it'd be a nice easy tour in comparison. Oh, my gosh. No bomb blasts.

Oh, man, it's so much fun. It's so different, right? It's so much, it's so different. And a little strange for me, but at the same time, I love it. I really do. So, yeah, I know just sitting back and grooving out, you know, and rocking out. It's, it's completely different. So do you find it recharges you to go back to Cannibal?

Totally, totally. Yeah, I love playing. I play jazz fusion. Yeah, no, nice, nice. Just, yeah. Off my head, right, right. And it just. It recharges.

Yeah, no, it's been amazing. It's been a great. recharging kind of a, you know, for everything, right? You know, but man, I love it. I do love it, which is what it was awesome to be able to show that in my, you know, to have an outlet to be able to do that because I never, never, never did really for the most part, you know, obviously been doing what I've been doing. So that's been, that project came out right after the pandemic and then another project that came

into play. I know I'm like, I'll set them in one, two bands and Tony from municipal waste. it's a hold of me and goes, hey man, you want to start a project. And I'm like, all right, you know, you only live once. And it's proper thrashy as well. It's more of that old thrash kind of crossover kind of stuff. And it was another passion of mine as well. Just that brings me back to the old school.

You know, how we just talked about like the early days of cannibal when it was just primal and primitive. Yeah, because there's some thrashy riffs. Yeah, yeah. Right in the star. Right, right, right. So not cannibal when you look back of it. Yes, yes.

But just, I love. the feel of that and that that um the mentality you know i mean um so we've uh we were just released our ep with that uh the heavensgate ep um oh i don't know not that long ago it's got a cool logo as well yeah it's a cool logo and man we're having fun we're getting some gigs we've played a played a handful of times we're actually we get home with this yeah i saw you got two two gigs yeah we're playing a festival in melbourne um florida and then we're opening for voivod actually on may 17th, which is pretty cool in Tampa or in St. Petersburg. And, you know, we got some other things in the works because why not, you know. But that's a lot of fun, man. That's a lot. You're busy.

All of a sudden, I'm busy. I don't know how that happened, but, you know, I guess, yeah, the cliche kind of mentality. You only live once and life's too short, you know, and. So during three bands. Yeah, why not, right? You know, because I guess I'm looking at it, well, I'm not getting any younger so who knows what's going to happen and might as well do it if it comes up so but that that should be it nothing nothing else i don't need anything else i got i got a question for you on the on these side project gigs so obviously you have a drum tech for cannibal right on these side project gigs you're setting your own drums oh of course i'm it's old school style man are you loving it or hating it well it's my least favorite thing oh it's it's i'm so used to not doing it right you know

and i got a pickup truck luckily so i'm been putting my kit in the in the pickup truck and then, you know, doing it that way old school style. Like, you know, and... It's so funny, like, imagining you turn up to a show like, you know, like how a weekend warrior turned up to show. So, this guy's in kind of cool. Right, right, right. Well, that's what...

Pick up truck, soft cases. Yep, and that's what it is. And I'm setting up my own kit. You know, my buddy was helping me a little bit, actually here and there. But for the most part, I'm doing it myself, you know. And... Have you scaled down the kit? No, I can't.

You can't do it. I can't do it. I wish I could. for both projects two kicks exact same setup exact same setup nothing's changing i mean i just that's i'm so used to being behind my setup you know so when i did the rock project when billick as we started i mean i thought of it kind of like man it would be great to kind of like change it up a little bit but then i'm like well this is what i'm used to playing you know you've been playing double double kick drums for forever forever right so like switching to double pedal it's not going to work no it's not going to work or even taking out the you know i play

with the two middle, you know, the two toms and then my one tom to the right of me. You know, I play a little bit of kind of unorthodox in that sense. And I always thought, well, it would be great to just go down to, say, two tombs and a floor or tom and eliminate that 14 where it is, but I'm going, I can't because that's just the way I play. And I don't think I'd be comfortable, you know, doing it any other way. So as much as right, an umbilicus where, you know, I could probably play on a, you know, it would be nice to play on, let's say, a four or five piece kit, you know, like that, and scale it down or even Heaven's Gate because, you know, all the bands were

playing with, right? You know, they're all playing these four pieces and I, you know, and I show up with my double bass, you know, cannibal kit. And, you know, it's like, with a little cannibal corpse name tag, just in case anyone forgets. So it's, but it's, it's been fun, man. I mean, you know, if it gets a little bigger, then I mean, have to figure something out because, yeah, it gets a little, a little tough. I'm about to go to, I'll choose to, I go to Australia. My drum tag won't come. Oh, that's, that's tough. And it's like, fly-ins and then figure out. the back line gear. Yeah.

And I'm dreading it. That's tough, man. I don't blame you. I don't blame you. We just got the most amount of stuff. It takes, one of the things that I loved about, this sort of started as a drum podcast, but now it's like, it's just musicians.

Right. But like, one of the reasons I can get on with, I think I can get on with every drummer on earth is because there's a humility, admittedly, I've probably lost mine by now, but like there's a humility needed to be the guy who loads in first, who loads out.

outlast, who has the most gear, who carries the most stuff, that just lends itself to like, like-minded people. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. But, having said that, I can't live without drum tape. Oh, I know, no, I'm so used to it. I'm fortunate to have that, you know, in our career and for Cannibal. I mean, it's been a... Did you get a drum tech early on?

I think we've always had somebody since day one for the most part, you know, which is we're very lucky in that way, like how we were saying. saying to do our very first tour in Europe and run a bus. I mean, for that matter, that's just, you know, unheard of, so to say, maybe, or even in the States. We only did one tour in a van, our very first U.S. tour. And after that, we moved up, excuse me, to at least an RV. And then after that, we had a bus.

So we, you know, we kind of moved up the ladder fairly quick. And then we've always had a minimal crew, you know. So I think maybe, yeah, maybe a tour in the beginning, I might have been a little more hands-on setting up. And I got, you know, which was no big deal, especially when you're younger and you know when you're new and you don't you know not caring too much about it but but it was it was short-lived and soon enough right we're always having some sort of a crew here to be able to help us out so and then here we are 35

years later of course i have a drum tech and he goes wherever i go and i got a great guy and man amazing you want to shout him out who is oh chris kirk chris kirk amazing amazing drum tech is he florida as well no he's a texan he's from austin texas and uh yeah he's been working with uh now maybe five, six, seven years, maybe six. I can't even remember. Did you steal him off someone else? No, we got lucky. I mean, I know he's been doing, he was doing a King's X, actually.

Oh, cool. He does them, and then he does some other work, but I don't think he was, I think he was done like a Nile. He did Nile maybe for a tour, George. Oh, so he worked for George. The man can set up a lot of drums. Yeah, yeah, he's a great tech. So I think when we were in that transitional period of needing a tech, all right, you know,

you get your names. You know, you find who's available, who can, you know, all right, well, hey, let's try this guy. He's got a decent resume and all this. And then, you know, he fits right in. I mean, amazing. I love him, man. I love having them. And he does such a great job for me.

And the band in general, you know, because we have such a small crew. He ends up helping out, you know, in the guitar department, you know, changeovers and things. Like a good, like dog's body, like helping. Yes, yes. So. The dream. Yeah. Perfect people.

Yeah, man, amazing. Now, we got a great crew. We really do. We've got a great crew, so we're fortunate for that. I got one more question on, like, cannibal pretty much. Because I know you're on a time crunch. And then we'll do your dream festival. Yeah.

I rarely get someone in who has not only, I mean, I always get people in who lived through this, but who were at the top of the game through actual C-Den CD sales to now I get people that were just before and I get people

who were in the middle or whatever was there did you know it's a change in royalties at like or like you don't have to give me figures

or like when you know Napster and everything 99 I my professional career happened after Napster

so everything I know from Spotify royalties and all that being crap is just all I've ever known did it really like crush royalty rates like they said like were you making bank in the 90s and then less and then back now that's weird because man I'm so you know out of the game of like knowing any of that for the most part you know like but for us all I can say is it just always seemed to I always like to say

we just slowly went up the ladder in every aspect you know in the finances of course in the popular of the band and all that kind of thing, you know, as us as musicians or what have you. So, you know, it's weird because you've lived through all these trends and, you know, the fads of bands and we just did our own thing, you know, and we were selling decent back then. I mean, the bleeding was a great selling record for us and it was huge, you know. So, I mean, I think death metal bands for the most part don't make a lot in the record sales. You know, you're not selling millions and millions of records, you know, where it's going to be noticeable, I think. So, of course, it was always, to us, it was always okay, that's just secondary,

you know, I mean, money's going to be generated. It's going to be touring and selling merch on the road. And that's all it's been for our whole career, you know. So in those regards, we noticed, like I said, just going up the ladder, just slowly inclining, you know, the guarantees are getting more, you're selling more merch. You know, of course, you're selling a few more records or whatever. So that's all, that's the only thing I can gauge it by or judge it by is just like, you know, I don't even know what was happening half the time with any of that. You're just focused on playing, doing the best you can, making your next record writing the better song,

and going out and supporting, you know. It's been a gradient. You didn't know it's like a 99 drop-off. No, no. Because I've fucking, I downloaded loads of Cannibal Corps. Right, right, right. Definitely illegally. Yeah, yeah.

But here I am a fan. Sure. However long later. Yeah, so it didn't really think of any of that, you know. So I can't actually answer that. properly actually. And the band's bigger than ever. Yeah, so, you know. So, yeah.

Piracy's fine. You heard it here first. Piracy is absolutely fine. Don't demonetize the video, please. Right. That's about it from all that question. Are you good? Are you having fun? Oh, man, it's great. It's been great. We haven't been fun

conversation. Thank you again. Oh, man, thanks for having me. Now what we're going to do, we're going to run through your dream festival. I'm going to talk you through it, so don't worry about anything. The only rule, and this makes people think slightly differently,

the only rule is that cannibal court is playing. So you can't have it somewhere. You wouldn't want to be or somewhere. You couldn't be. Sometimes you get somebody who's like, I'm not actually allowed in that country. Okay, well, we can't have it there. Right.

Okay, so where in the world would your dream festival take place? Well, that's an easy one, actually. it would be in Buffalo, New York, where we started. You go back there? Of course. But you live in Florida now? Yeah, but Buffalo is my home. Buffalo is our home, my home.

Alex, me and Alex being the two original members, and then actually Rob's from Buffalo. But that's where the original band started. That's where we started in Buffalo, New York. So I would want to play at the stadium where the Buffalo Bills, the American football team, That's where, you know, and that's where I've seen many a show growing up as a young lad, as a teenager and all this, going to the stadium to see a show was just incredible, you know.

So to be able to say play the stadium would be amazing. That would be my dream to play there, of course. Easy. Yes, that was an easy one. What time a year, Buffalo gets cold. Oh, it would be summertime. It would be summer because that's when they had the festivals. I remember seeing, you know, I saw a bunch of festivals.

And they were always in the summer, exactly. you're not going to have something like that in the winter because it's just, yeah, it's not going to happen. Not feasible. Not feasible. So it'd have to be in the summer. It'd have to be like in July, somewhere around there. What's the name in the stadium? Well, it's changed over the years, you know.

Yeah, right. When we grew up, it was rich stadium because it was a company rich products in Buffalo. So it was rich stadium. Then I think it then ended up being like the owner of the stadium of the Buffalo Bills was Ralph Wilson. It was Ralph Wilson Stadium for now. So I don't even. Well, hey, he was the owner, so hey, I mean, it could be worse with some of these sponsored names. You know, they're just ridiculous, some of the names of these places now.

My football team, Reading Football Club, I mean, loosely, my football team, used to be my football team, but I moved so far away now. It's the select car leasing stadiums. Exactly. That's just, oh, I know, I know. There was movies, like, joking about that. I'm sure baseball that, Trey Parker and Matt Stun. Right, but basketball. The basketball. I'm sure in that.

stadium is, they make a joke, but it's like because, whatever stadium, and now that's real life. Oh, I know, it is. It's ridiculous. It really is.

So, you know, the way of the, the cool, normal names of stadiums are, for the most part, gone. Well, it's your dream festival. What would you like to call the stadium?

Well, I mean, I'll bring it back to Rich Stadium. Rich Stadium. Just because that's what, that's what I remember growing up, you know, was going to Rich Stadium

to see the Buffalo Bills play, going to see the concerts play, you know, and all that. So we're in Rich Stadium. In July and, in Orchard Park, road where I grew up from. That was another cool thing. The stadium was right down the road for me.

And, um, you know, so of course we'd be playing there. And I, you know, I would look at it as, man, I'm just such a, you know, I look at our band and I love what we've done and everything, but I don't look at us as being some, oh yeah, we're the best, you know, the biggest band in the world, we're the best band and all that, you know, we're, we're cannibal corpse. We're happy to be where we're at and we're just, you know, thrilled that we're still around and we've done what we've done, you know. So I would look at it myself as probably opening the show, you know, I'd want to, probably want to open because I want to play with bands that I grew up with, you know. You want to be the small band.

If Cannibal Corps is the small band, then you know the other band. I want to be the small man. I want like Kiss to be headlining, you know, back in the 70s, you know. That was my first concert, doing my first band ever getting into was KISS. How old were you seeing KISS? I was 10 years old, saw KISS Dynasty Tour in 79. That was my first concert ever. And it wasn't at Ridge Stadium, though.

It was at where the Buffalo Sabers play in the auditorium. It was called the Memorial Auditorium. and seen many a concerts there as well. That must have been life-changing at that age. Totally life-changing. I mean, it was amazing. I mean, really, it was amazing. Being a huge Kiss fan,

and that was my first band that I really freaked out about, you know, and seeing them live and your first concert, it was amazing, and that was the start of it for me. So that, just because of them being the band they were to me, that would be amazing to have Kiss back in the 70s that stung, like Kiss 77, you know? 77 Kiss. You know, like you see him on Kiss Live 2 and the backfold cover like that. I mean, that would be, man, I'm kind of regret missing that because, you know, seeing him in Dynasty Tour was cool.

But man, if I would have saw him in that era, I would have been free. Okay, it's your dream festival. You can see him in that era. Yeah, yeah, I'm seeing him in that era. And also, like, time is a construct in this. You can grab bands from any eras. It's fine. Do you think Kiss, do you think seeing the shock rock aspect of Kiss? at that age subconsciously made you want a shock

because cannibal shocked banned in until 2006 in Germany and Australia awesome by the way fucking sick I mean subconsciously maybe you know

maybe because I was definitely drawn to that aspect too did your parents let you watch it were they cool with it oh that's I mean my parents took me to the show luckily I was freaking out I remember

you know I got into kiss and they were probably like what is this what is our son and liking, okay, well, they let me like it and let me put the posters up and all that kind of thing. And then when I remember when I was going to go to the show, I was supposed to go with a friend and his like aunt or something.

And then it fell through. And I remember crying basically to my parents like, oh my gosh, we got to go see a kiss. So my mom went, we went to the store, went to the, you know, back then you bought them at like a local like kind of department store. You know, you go to the ticket to the service counter. We bought kiss tickets for the family.

So it was my mom, my dad, and my younger sister. Wow, even younger than you. Yeah, she's three years younger than me. So then we made it a family affair, not that my mom and dad wanted to go, but they knew how important it was for me. So I always feel grateful for that, that my parents always supported me in my likes and my dreams kind of a thing. And this was such a big deal to me that they wanted this to happen for me.

So we went as a family. My parents never stopped me like buying Cannibal Corp CDs. And there you go. that and that's that's a great yeah we are and yeah and that's what parents should do you know they should support their their children of course no matter what i didn't read them the lyrics no of course no no i my mom didn't want to know anything about my lyrics and our stuff once we started going she was happy that i'm doing what i love to do and then the band successful and all that but that's all she needs to know you know exactly so yeah it was uh it was amazing that they let me uh you know that they took me to that

because they could have easily of course said no we're not going to that you're not going you know we don't want to see that. You might be an accountant today. I mean, you never know. You never know. But that was awesome that they let me listen to what I wanted to and put my posters up and just be myself. I'm sure right, they were probably sitting going, what

kind of music is saying? Exactly, right. What are my son listening to? I mean, my gosh, all these crazy bands and, you know, the imagery and all the subject matter and stuff. So that was, yeah, that's how it went. So. So cases Kiss is Headlining.

Yeah, I'm going to say Kisses Headline. Who else you got? In fact, normal, we've got to wind back a little bit. What's your accommodation? What's your dream accommodation? I'm not too big. You know, it doesn't... A bunk with your guitarist?

Yeah, it doesn't bother me, really, I guess. You know, just as long as we have a room back there, at Rich Stadium there, you know? I mean... Just to sleep. Just sleep. We've got a hotel? Yeah, I'll sleep at home, you know?

I'll sleep at my parents' house. Oh, that's cute. Because it was right down the road, man. I live right down the road from there. Be able to sleep at home, you know, sleep in my own bed or their house and then, you know, drive over to the stadium which is only like a mile away, you know.

So I think that would be my dream accommodation, you know, just being at my house, you know. That's a first, actually. No one there was at that. What is catering? Because you are a long-time vegetarian? I'm 20 years vegetarian now, so that's a tricky one, you know,

because I look at how I am now and I definitely have different likes And then I did growing up, you know, Buffalo there wasn't much of, you know, and I'm Polish as well from the Polish descent. It was meat and potatoes growing up. And there wasn't a lot of, say, kind of ethnic foods happening in Buffalo. You know, you're, you know, you're, I mean, the big thing is pizza and wings, pizza and chicken wings. It was famous wings. Yeah, right, right.

So that's what you grew up with. And I love chicken wings, of course, you know, and I love pizza. And you loved all the buffalo cuisine that we had. You know, we had a lot of good stuff that was from Western New York. and, you know, when I got older, moving to Florida and all this kind of thing, well, I'm getting into Thai food. I'm getting into, you know, you know. You know, I never did. Never ate alligator. But just getting more into kind of, you know, Vietnamese food, Indian food, Mexican food, you know,

Thai food, all that kind of stuff, which I really love now. I really, really love. So it's kind of a hard thing to say. It's almost kind of like I'd want a little bit of everything. Like being back in Buffalo, I'd want at least pizza. You know, at least cheese pizza or mushroom pizza Because being from Buffalo, you're a little biased You feel that we have the best pizza in the country Oh yeah Against

If you're from Buffalo, you're going to have this argument with anybody Throughout the country especially Trying to think if I've had pizza I must have pizza at every single place we have a place So I must have had pizza Well, Buffalo pizza is a little bit different It's not like the New York style pizza Well, how different is it?

It's a little thicker in the crust You know, like New York style But nowhere near Chicago. No, no, not like that. Not like that. I don't really like Chicago. No, me neither. Me neither.

Chicago is a whole different ball game. It's like, is it even really, is it even really pizza, right? And then New York City, of course, is great pizza, but it's that real thin pizza. So Buffalo is kind of like it's a thicker crust. And man, they just do it. I don't know. Like I said, we're maybe a little biased because you talk to any buffaloan, they're going to talk about how amazing the pizzas and how much we love it.

So, yeah, it's incredible. Every time I go back to Buffalo, too, I got to get pizza. You got a spot? Well, let's have the spot caterer it. There's a few spots. There's a new one I've been going to called Bocci Club. So we'll get Bocci Club to bring in some pizza, some mushroom pizza, some cheese pizzas. And then I'm going to think I'm going to probably go with maybe, you know, just to mix it up going, okay, there's a restaurant that I've been going to in Tampa for the last two years.

It's called Tin Ann, Vietnamese. And, man, I love that place. I can eat there every day. So I bring some platters in from Tinnan. Nice. And then maybe Gateway to India, there's a place in, in St. Petersburg. And, you know, I think that would do it.

What's your vegetarian option on an Indian that you guys do? The chana masala. Yeah, I'm going to go chana masala. Lovely. I'm in. What's the, what you're drinking? Do you drink alcohol? Guinness.

Guinness. Nice. You got Guinness? Yes, I love Guinness. Man, that's my favorite alcoholic. beverage. Not that I'm a lus or anything of that nature, but I love Guinness. Couple post show. Yeah, definitely a couple post show Guinness.

You know, that's huge. Of course, you know, coffee in the morning, you know, doesn't have to be anything crazy, but just coffee and Guinness for after, you know, throughout the day water, you know, just the normal. So, but Guinness would be, that would be a good, good end of the show kind of a drink for sure. And then what's, have you got a, I mean, usually we would say after party here, but like, what would be your dream end of festival like you straight home probably having friends and family around

you know just like to be able to you know the people that you know if your family was around your good friends be able to enjoy it with you kind of a thing I had that the other day the most special birthday of all time on tour for my birthday it was Wembley Arena

oh man obviously not headlining but sporting awesome my family lived pretty close so everyone came out of It's the biggest indoor show I've ever played. Incredible. It will never happen again. Yeah, that's amazing, man.

That's amazing. You know, if you can have that, I mean, that's what a, what a, what a great feeling, right, to have friends and family. So we're in the rich arena. Rich stadium. Rich stadium. We've got Kiss headlining, 77 Kiss. Oh, yeah. Headlining.

We've got various vegetarian delights catering. Yeah. Guinness. accommodation you're going back back home that's right and afterwards you're just hanging out with friends that's right that's it man lovely that's it that's it that's it thank you for coming on downbeat thanks for having me death metal royalty thank you so much thanks man thank you have a great show tonight thank you so much let's go all right