Death metal veterans Cannibal Corpse will release their fifteenth studio album, “Violence Unimagined”, via Metal Blade Records on April 16th. It’s yet another brutal slab of unapologetic death metal that, even 30 plus years into their career, sounds just as extreme and unrelentless as their early work which helped push the genre into new levels. We recently caught up with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz to talk about the new songs and working around the pandemic as well as the longevity of the band and those infamous windmills from Corpsegrinder Fisher.
Andrew: I had a chance to listen to the album last night and you guys don’t seem to miss a beat, you’ve been going for a long time for a number of years and still as intense and as brutal as ever. What is the key to keep doing what you are doing?
Paul: I think we just like what we do here. I mean you’re right, we’ve been around a long time and been fairly consistent I think and I think that just comes from how we started as kids wanting to play some crazy music and you get your foot in the door, you do something with it. We’re fortunate to have done the things we have done and you just kinda keep going with it and I think we’ve done that of course, we’ve always just tried to do the best we can do, write the best song possible, make the best album possible, try to push the limits and that kind of thing and this album is no different. If anything it’s getting more intense, right. I mean I think maybe even the older we get you would think it be the opposite but at the same time I think it’s also that, how much time have we got left? How many albums have you got left in you kind of thing. I mean really, you got to make the most of it and just push it to the limits even more so I think. But yeah, we just love doing what we are doing and love creating and love being Cannibal Corpse so we’ll just it keep going.
Andrew: We love you guys for doing it as well. Does it get more and more difficult or easier as time goes on as far as, not just the physical aspect but the creative part of it?
Paul: It seems to be just kind of rolling along, I mean I think we’re lucky that we got very creative minds in the band that when we need to pull it out of us, we do. How it works obviously we don’t spend too much time writing and recording, usually our window or time frame is about 6 months and then you have a specific time to do that in. It’s not like we’re sitting around going, ‘Oh when we’re ready’, we know how it works. We need to get albums out to go on tour and obviously we’ve been doing that our whole career. So I think we’re very fortunate and lucky that we have creative minds like I said that can just keep it rolling when we need to and that seems to be maybe the easy part because the physical part is not getting any easier. Especially I guess for what I’m doing here, really taking it to the limit here and probably being more intense than I’ve been in a long time and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh’ so I’ve really got to push, I’ve got to work really hard and that’s a little tougher these days of course. But like I’ve said we’re very fortunate to keep the creative juices for our whole career here so that’s a good thing.
Andrew: Just on that physical aspect as well, is there anything that you do personally to keep your chops up? Like do you work out and things like that?
Paul: I really never have too much in my life, I’ve always been an active person in general. Not like hyper but just ready to move. I do still play ice hockey, not that I’m playing a lot but I skate once a week and I have my whole life. Obviously I’m drumming a lot and really it comes down to I think a lot of the basics, you get good sleep, you try to eat well, you stay hydrated, those things are very important and just keeping up on the playing aspect. When I do go to practice these days, I try to push myself more than I ever have. Play that little extra longer, work on some more speed or something like that or some stamina or what have you that I was never one to practice by myself and I’ve learned to do that and I know how important it is to do that to maintain that longevity or to obtain that longevity. So I think it’s just a mix of everything here and knock on wood, I guess that I’ve been fairly healthy my whole life not dealing with anything of that nature where a lot of people get older and the ailments starting popping their head or whatever, back problems or anything can happen, right. So very fortunate that hasn’t happened and just gotta keep maintaining and keep pushing and it’s all you can do at this point.
Andrew: The other thing as well I guess is not just from a drummers perspective but Corpsegrinder himself, how long can he keep doing the windmills, honestly?
Paul: [laughs] It’s crazy isn’t it, I know. It seems like he can go on forever! Who knows, hopefully, I think he can. He loves to do it and he doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down any way so I know, it’s pretty cool he can keep going and doing that, that’s for sure.
Andrew: As far as the album recording process and all that kind of stuff, we’ll get into the obligatory covid question – was that impacted much at all during the past year?
Paul: Not really, we got very lucky. When we went in the studio it was almost a year ago now, April of last year so we were just putting the finishing touches on the songs and preparing to go into the studio when the whole pandemic hit so it was everything was done up to that point and then it was more the worry was just, are we going to be able to record. Obviously the uncertainties of travel and all that, is the studio going to be able to stay open through all this and that was more of our concern. Luckily it did and we were able to do the recording kinda flawlessly, seamlessly other than Alex [Webster, bass] not being down here. He lives in Portland, Oregon these days and he wasn’t able to do his bass tracks at the studio but I mean that was just a minor thing because obviously it turned out great, he did a great job at his home studio and wasn’t really an issue. But we got very lucky that everything was kind of…I think that the songs were pretty much prepared up until then, now if that had been maybe after, we were working on the songs and then all of a sudden everything happened, maybe things would of been altered a little bit more maybe, I don’t know. But either way we got very lucky that it all came together.
Andrew: That’s good to hear. Obviously a new member has come into the band, Erik [Rutan, guitars] who has also been a producer for you guys for the last few albums as well. What was that like working with him as a guitar player?
Paul: Yeah of course we’ve known him for a long time as a personal friend and right, him producing four, now five of the CD’s and of course being on the road with us now thrown in and doing a couple of tours. So it’s great to have him now in that aspect of course, of being a member of the band. I mean the big thing was he of course wrote songs for the band, he wrote three songs on the new record and they were all pretty much his songs. So it’s cool to get another…going back to the creative output here, now we got another guy, a great guitar player and song writer and lyricist and we’re getting his take on what Cannibal Corpse would be coming from him. So it was cool to play Erik’s songs then obviously, it’s a new thing for me and for all of us so it was a fun and exciting time to do that and I think his songs turned out great and they fit in the vein of what we do so it was a lot of fun and awesome to have him of course.
Andrew: Yeah he did a great job on the album and it must have been easier to deal with someone who had already been familiar with your work and you guys personally as well as opposed to a new guy coming in to the band.
Paul: Oh yeah I think it was great for both parties. It was a no brainer for us and I think it was kind of for him too to be a part of this since like I said, we knew each other for so long and have such a great working relationship. I mean he was practically a member of the band already I guess at that point for all the albums he’s produced and all that so it was an easy transition in that kind of a way which was cool. I mean no getting to know each other and feeling people out or anything like that, just get down to business and that was that.
READ THE REVIEW OF VIOLENCE UNIMAGINED
Andrew: You’ve put out a couple of singles so far so what has the general feedback been so far on it?
Paul: Amazing really! I mean, very positive. When we put out “Inhumane Harvest”, I mean obviously a lot of people…pretty much everybody didn’t realize that a new Cannibal record was coming. We pretty much went dark for a while there and then you just ht everybody with this new song and details of the new record and everyone’s freaking out and really, it’s a good sign. I mean I know from what we’ve heard and read that the fans are really excited and happy to hear that song and then of course putting out “Murderous Rampage” last week, kind of the same thing. Just a great positive response and our pre-sales have been skyrocketing and you can just see the excitement among the fanbase that they’re gearing up for the release of this record. So far so good, we’re excited and that’s just the tip of the iceberg exactly, for people like yourself who have heard the record already, I think the fans are going to be blown away. They’ve only heard a few songs so far and there’s 9 more to go that are just wow. It’s a pretty intense Cannibal Corpse record and I think the fans are really going to dig it.
Andrew: Yeah definitely, I think those two songs, even though they are a good representation of the album, there’s so much more depth to this whole thing and obviously it has the trademark Cannibal Corpse sound. I mean at this point are you guys kinda conscious of that sound and are aware that is has to be retained in what you guys do?
Paul: Yeah for the most part. Obviously Alex has been there since the beginning and he’s our primary song writer so he knows probably more than anybody what Cannibal Corpse is. I mean we always try to of course do something slightly different like we have over the years but really, yes when it comes down to it, you know it’s Cannibal Corpse and I think Rob [Barrett, guitars] especially has kind of come into his own in the song writing department with us for the last couple of records. Obviously he’s been in the band in his second stint now going on 16-17 years that he’s been in and it just seems like he’s kind of honing his writing abilities and he’s just writing some really amazing, solid Cannibal Corpse songs.
So I think it’s just a part of us in general and then bringing Erik in while he knows what he’s gotta do in a sense, he knows what Cannibal is and he’s not writing for Hate Eternal, he’s not writing for Morbid Angel, he’s writing for Cannibal Corpse so he’s obviously conscious of that to be able to fit in there his own on what Cannibal Corpse song would be. So I really think we do what we do and it’s going to be Cannibal Corpse and I don’t think we think about it too much, like I said when we have to bring it out of us, we do and that’s what kind of comes out of us naturally, as musicians, as members of the band and what we’ve been doing for so long and that’s kind of a good thing I guess because we don’t have to just sit there and write. I mean it’s crazy to think, 15 albums in 32 years, that’s a pretty cool achievement I guess so we’re doing something right, we’re writing some cool Cannibal songs because exactly, it seems every album we come out with the fans know it’s going to be Cannibal Corpse and it is and when they hear it they’re like, ‘Yeah this is great, I love it’, this is Cannibal Corpse and this is the next chapter in the story so that’s what we do.
Andrew: Yeah definitely and also the other question I gotta ask is the touring aspect. Obviously it’s very difficult to get that started these days, you guys must be missing the road I assume?
Paul: Yeah definitely it’s weird because normally we’re on the schedule now of maybe touring for the better part of 2 years after you’ve put out a CD and that’s probably been our scheduling for the last 20 years or so, so it’s almost like it’s embedded in you. Put an album out, few months later you’ll be on the road, that’s just natural. So for that not to happen, it kind of just throws you off it’s course like, ‘Woah we should be out on the road right now, I feel weird not being on the road’. Maybe not that we mind being home a little bit, we’re never home but at the same time this is our livelihood and our profession and how we are making a living so of course we want to be out there as well. But yeah you want to be out there playing new music for the fans, this is what we do, we’re not getting any younger so you gotta kinda take it as you can still do it kind of thing so it is a little frustrating of course, I’m sure it is for everybody in the whole music world here that fans alike that can’t see shows and bands that can’t play shows. But I think we’re heading in the right direction it seems so hopefully sooner than later everything will be starting up and we’ll be hitting the road.
Andrew: What have you been doing to fill that time?
Paul: Just trying to keep active of course like I said, just keep my playing up and all that kind of thing. But if you’re going to ask me that, on a personal note I did start a side project back in kind of after I recorded the record when we were done like I’m done about May and Ok, I’m done with the tracks and of course the recording still happens and everything but we knew there was no touring in sight. I think we were realizing we’re not going to be able to put the record out when we wanted to, you still hope for that but it was like, ‘You know what? Let me revisit a…’, I had a project with Jack Owen about 20 years ago and we wrote some original rock and roll songs and he’s not a part of this reincarnation but it’s me and two other guys, the same guy, the bass player that played in the first incarnation.
We wrote some songs here and we got a good rock and roll kind of hard rock project, it was a lot of fun, something different. So we’ll see what happens with that, maybe if we’re lucky here, we’re still working on recording and putting finishing touches on some of that and we’ll see if we can get it released because it would be something cool to do. It’s always been something I’ve been passionate about, just good hard rock music from the late 60’s, early to mid 70’s. Something different, something fun to do so it’s really helped my mindset I guess just being able to sit back and kind of have fun, a little more so than the grind that Cannibal presents, to sit back and groove out and play some cool rock stuff has been pretty cool. So we’ll see what happens, hopefully that gets rolling sooner than later too.
Andrew: Oh cool, looking forward to that! Just on that subject because we have talked a couple of times in the past [and never posed the question], on those influences who would you consider to be the main influence on your drumming style?
Paul: Well definitely for the modern way of latter me obviously, it would be Dave Lombardo. I love Slayer, who doesn’t love Slayer, especially growing up like that when we did. I mean they were such a huge influence, everybody knows and I always say we grew up with Slayer of course in the mid-80’s and everything and when you heard Reign In Blood for the first time after hearing Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits which are great albums, totally into Slayer and then Reign In Blood takes it to that next level in all aspects – drumming and singing and speed and song writing – everything. But I will never forget hearing that album for the first time and just going, ‘Wow this is how I want to approach the drums, this is how I want to try and play’, and I think that’s been my attitude and my influence ever since hearing that back in ’86, ’87. That’s what I wanted to do, try to do anyways so that’s always been my driving influence, to play intense music and have intense drumming like that.
Andrew: Awesome, well it’s been an absolute pleasure chatting to you today and congratulations on the new album. As I said, it’s absolutely killer and you guys never seem to let us down. Appreciate your time, good luck with everything. We hope to see you on the road again, we really miss you.
Paul: Thanks Andrew, I appreciate it man. Yeah I hope to get over there sooner than later, it’s been a little while since we were in Australia so we can’t wait to come back. Hopefully it’s going to happen, I’m sure it will, it’s just probably going to be a matter of when at this point but we can’t wait. So thanks for all the support and all the fans of Australia for keeping the flag flying, supporting death metal and supporting Cannibal Corpse, we appreciate it.
