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Interview with Donald Tardy of
Obituary
July 5th 2007 by James Young'
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Obituary are a band which have carved, cut and
chopped a legacy for themselves in the history of death metal. With a
new album out next month entitled ‘Xecutioner‘s Return’, it was my
honour to speak to drummer Donald Tardy on a rare sunny morning on the
day of the Camden Underworld show to discuss all things brutal and
old-school, as well as the current state of the band and metal as we
know it.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak for Live4Metal. How long have
you been stationed in London so far?
We got here on Monday so we’ve been here for about three days now I
guess.
So you’ve been enjoying the weather?
Yea actually it hasn’t been too bad; it’s been on and off. We saw some
sun, but of course we saw rain.
Tonight’s show is a bit smaller than the usual
venues you play in London. Is there a reason for this?
This was the record label setting up this show for us, so I don’t know
the reason they would have such a small venue but that was their
decision and that’s cool with us. We really do like small venues where
everyone’s crammed in there and you’re face to face with the kids. I
think for the people that makes a cool show.
The last show you played in London was making up
for a last minute cancellation in January 2006. What happened there?
Our ex-management group that we used to use was supposed to have work
permits waiting for us, and these permits weren’t ready in time so we
were not allowed to come into London.
Do you enjoy playing for an English audience and
how do they compare to those in the States?
I like them. They’re violent, very vocal and they really appreciate
metal music. They really respect Obituary and what we’ve done in the
past, and when we come here the godfathers of metal make us feel like
we are somewhat part of that.
The supports for tonight have been announced as
the legendary Onslaught. Was this a decision of Obituary, perhaps
showing some influence, or was it the label?
It was a little bit of both, because the label brought them to us and
we were more than excited to have them be a part of this show, because
as you say they have a great history also, so it’s going to be a good
bill.
The recent departure of Alan West must have hit
the band hard. Under what circumstances did he leave and do you think
he’ll ever return?
He left because he got his fourth DY (Drinking and Driving in
America). He was arrested for the fourth time so he literally has
prison time to serve. So he’s in jail right now and it did hit hard
because he’s a great friend of ours, and obviously we’ve been together
forever. I think for anyone following the band for the last few years,
it doesn’t come as much of a surprise because they know that we’ve
struggled with Alan and his drinking. So it’s sad and it sucks, but as
band members we tried everything to avoid it but he couldn’t focus
enough to not get himself in trouble.
Do you think he’ll return?
I’m not sure yet. Alan’s a great friend of ours and he is part of
Obituary, but right now Ralph [Santolla] brings to the table an
unbelievable guitar style to the line-up. The solos on the record show
it did put us to another level when it comes to the respect that
people will have for the song writing and the solos that fit this
album. So I’m not sure about the future of Alan but right now we’re
focused on this album and its promotion.
Has he provided any new ideas?
Well all he did was solos on this record. Me and Trevor [Peres
(guitar)] wrote the whole album, which was already finished. We were
recording it when we realised Alan was going to jail and we needed
help. Ralph was a good friend of ours and an unbelievable guitar
player, so we knew that it would work, but I just didn’t realise the
magnitude of how good Ralph is. He really did put stuff on this album
that is in my opinion unbelievable, and I’ve never heard and felt the
style that Ralph has in any other guitar player. We were lucky to have
Ralph do stuff on this album that fits so well with the music that we
play; his style is metal but it’s almost blues-based playing and as
we’re a mid-paced groovy band, the two blend together perfectly. |
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The new album, scheduled for a
release next month, is called the Xecutioner’s Return.
Is that a reference to the band’s original name?
Yeah. We’re happy because we were finally free from a
record deal that we signed in 1986. It was a long time
being on a record deal which was not very good for us...
…Roadrunner?
From Roadrunner, yes. We signed as teenagers what was
probably the world’s worst record deal and there was
really nothing we could have done about that but fulfil
the contract, and that’s what we did with Frozen In
Time. After that, we were happy to leave the record
label and find a label that was happy to work for us and
basically put their neck out and fight hard for sales
and promotion of this band. It’s a really important
thing that a record label’s there to really promote,
help and look out for you |
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and
that’s what we’re hoping for.
So what was the recording process
like? Are you back into the swing of things after the
hiatus?
Yeah man, this was album was cool because we did it
ourselves. We literally bought a Pro-tools HD rig, turned
our practise space into a studio, and we tracked all the
songs on our own. Once the songs were recorded, we took
them to Mark Prator, our engineer, and mixed the album
with him. He did all the editing - all the cross fades,
reverb - all the magic, and then we went to Morrisound
Recordings and mastered it there.
The artwork on the new album shows a
hellish scene depicting a monster with a bloodstained
knife. What was the inspiration for this and what does it
tell us about the lyrical content?
The lyrical content is still Obituary. Over the years,
John has always progressed in his lyrics when it comes to
having words and songs written down when compared to the
first albums. Nothing that John wrote preached to the
people or had lyrics that told a story or anything. John
had cold sayings, slang, sentences and stuff that are gory
and hellish, but it didn’t have anything to do with a type
of story or anything. The artwork itself was obvious. We
wanted the Xecutioner’s Return, and that’s what we told
Andreas Marshall, our German artist. That’s what he came
up with and we couldn’t be happier with it. It’s a really
cool, beautiful piece of artwork that really matches the
idea of the Xecutioner’s Return.
Will there be any lyrics this time?
No.
Why don’t you include lyrics with
your albums?
John realises that he has something special. All that
every band on earth knows what to do is to write songs on
paper first - they consider their lyrics a ‘song’. With
John, it’s all feeling and emotion. It’s almost like
another instrument in the band so it’s just one of those
things where it simply fit’s the music. It’s a gory,
horror-type feeling but the words aren’t important - it’s
the way John sings that’s important.
With this album title and the
previous one, ‘Frozen In Time’, there seems to be a strong
emphasis on sticking to your roots. Does this mean we know
what to expect sound-wise or will there be a new
direction?
I think people are happy to know that Obituary sticks to
their roots. I know I’m happy with it. It’s a
double-bladed sword - if you stick to your roots some kids
will always say it’s the same stuff, but if all of a
sudden we changed and we were Testament-sounding or
Slayer-sounding, why in the world would we do that? There
are already bands that sound like that. We are Obituary
because we sound like Obituary. We somehow keep this style
that not very many bands can emulate. They try, but with
John’s vocal style and the way we write, with mid-tempo
grooves, heavy Celtic Frost sounding old-school sound,
that is us, and we’re happy with that. I think the
important thing is that we don’t worry about changing. We
realise that we have something good here and we are good
at what we do, and that’s the reason why we stay with this
style.
What do you think of the current
metal scene with bands combining hardcore influences with
metal.
I honestly don’t pay much attention to it, but what I do
hear is a bit disappointing for me. Of course bands are
always going to try new things and make their own style,
but when you hear a band go from singing to screaming and
back to singing, for me it seems a bit hesitant in saying
what they are and believing what they are. I can’t really
speak for any other band except for Obituary and I know
that we keep our style of music that we play because we
enjoy and love it. For the other bands, let them try and
keep inventing new things, but sometimes a new invention
doesn’t work. |
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It’s clear that Obituary keep up
with technology. You’re constantly updating your website
with the band’s whereabouts and the new single is
available only on Itunes. How important is the internet
and technology in keeping and gaining fans?
It’s super important. We’re an old-school band and some
of us are almost intimidated a little bit. Trevor is
super computer-orientated - he’s actually a graphic
designer and does a lot of computer animation and all
our layouts for the albums. But when it comes to us and
the internet we are old-school, and we are older dudes.
Our website is not the most technologically cool;
there’s not going to be a flying dragon coming at you
spitting flames because we made an animation but what’s
important is information. We constantly update the
website because it’s not how cool the website looks but
how informed you are when you go to the website and how
many times my brother updates the website. I think kids
like to realise that ‘Man, it’s been updated daily’, so
people can go to the website knowing that it’s probably
going to have been updated and they can see what the
band did yesterday, and still today not many bands take
the time to do that.
Why did you choose Itunes as a
method for people to hear the new single?
Because we realised that the internet is a huge part of
promotion and marketing right now. It’s a good idea for
kids who are 20 to 25 years and younger who don’t have
Obituary records, and we want them to be able to invest
and buy one song. We hope that after hearing one song
they’ll die to hear the rest of the record. That’s why
we did this. It’s a good promotional marketing plan for
us to get the Metallica and Slipknot fans, fans that
love Soilwork and Meshuggah, that maybe don’t have
Obituary, that maybe aren’t ‘true’ old-school death
metalheads. They’ll hear the single and they’ll want to
go and buy the record, and if they did buy the Itunes
song the record will be at a discounted price because
people already paid for that song, so that’s another
cool promotion.
So will we be hearing the new
single or any of the new album tonight?
You will. You’ll hear two or three new songs tonight.
So otherwise a pretty classic
setlist?
Yeah man, we have so many albums and so many songs that
it’s hard to put setlists together because everybody
wants to hear something off every album so we try to do
that. It’s going to be a good show - there will be a lot
of old songs but there will definitely be stuff off the
new album.
And it’s a one-off show, so does
this mean that you have a larger UK tour planned?
Absolutely. January and February next year it’s going to
be a full European tour, with England in mind, lasting
for a full seven weeks.
Thanks for your time. Do you have
any last words for the readers of Live4Metal?
Yeah. New fans, we are super stoked with the idea that
you are going to ‘try’ Obituary, and I know that
everybody who loves any type of metal will love it. If
they are intimidated with the word ‘death metal’,
Obituary is not death metal in my opinion. We are a
metal band but we are a band that even if you don’t care
for the extreme type of metal, give this album a shot
and I guarantee it’ll be one of your favourite albums.
And for the old fans, you are surely gonna have to
change your underwear because it is heavy, good and
you’re going to be more than happy with this album. I’m
a fan of my band and I think it’s by far the best album
we’ve ever done. I’m confident in that, so cheers and
we’ll see you next year.
www.obituary.cc
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