Texas horror movie thrashers, Rigor Mortis, have made a triumphant return with their new album, Slaves To The Grave. Unfortunately, one of its core members, guitarist Mike Scaccia, is not around to share the excitement of its release. Scaccia died on stage from a heart attack on December 23, 2012 while performing at vocalist Bruce Corbitt’s 50th birthday party. Corbitt was the last person Scaccia saw before leaving this earth and the band was forced to immediately break up. Fortunately, the album they were working on was already fully recorded at the time of Scaccia’s death. But due to his passing, the album release was delayed for two and a half years. The record serves as a fitting testament to Scaccia’s importance within the metal scene as Rigor Mortis was one of the progenitors of this new sub-genre of metal called thrash during the early-to-mid eighties. They certainly were one of the pioneers in the burgeoning Dallas/Ft. Worth area thrash scene that eventually spawned Pantera. In the interview that follows, a forthright Corbitt discusses the early days of Texas thrash, the death of his bandmate and the last-ever recorded Rigor Mortis material.

BraveWords: Rigor Mortis was credited as almost single-handedly starting the Texas thrash scene in the mid-eighties. Can you give me a sense of what the experience was like back then and what were some of your fondest memories?

Bruce Corbitt: “I can’t say we should take all the credit for it. I know we were a very important part of it. But that period in ’86 was still a period when the clubs were wanting cover bands. So it was hard to find places for us to play when we were just starting to write these thrash songs. Rotting Corpse was coming out; Hammerwitch, Solitude Aeternus and a lot of other bands who were on the same wavelength that Rigor Mortis was. The next thing you know, a club called Joe’s Garage opened and we booked one weekend and they found out that we bring in a lot of people. And it turned into its own thing where suddenly the clubs didn’t want cover bands. They wanted to book bands that did their own songs. Back then, everybody stayed till closing; 2 AM. And we couldn’t wait to find where the after party was. It was exciting because we were creating something new for ourselves and no one wanted to miss any of it back then. Clubs had their own built-in fan base after awhile where it didn’t matter what bands were playing, you just always knew you were going to have a good time and see some great music.”

 

 

BraveWords: Was Slaves To The Grave completely finished before Mike died or did you have to piece together his parts from demos or random studio takes?

Bruce Corbitt: “We had finished the entire thing about eight or ten months before he passed away. It was completely done, but we didn’t get a chance to start getting around to start the mix until December. The reason was because right after we finished recording, I had to go into preparation for the Warbeast Destroy album that we recorded just a few months later. Then Mike and Casey (Orr, bass) started preparing for the long Ministry tour for that summer. We finished the album, but the mix got put off until we got finished with all the other priorities we had scheduled. Luckily for us, Mike was able to get in there with Kerry Crafton, our engineer who worked on the old Rigor Mortis albums. It gave us a blueprint to go by for what Mike had laid for us, because he was really the producer of this album. So we gave him total freedom to do what he wanted, then we were going to come in and concentrate on our parts. After I came back from a tour I did in January, we went right in with Kerry and worked really hard for a couple of weeks trying to finish the mix that Mike had started. Believe it or not, it’s been two and a half years since it was recorded.”

BraveWords: Why did it take so long after Mike’s passing? Is this the reason why you created Rigor mortis Records?

Bruce Corbitt: “The original plan when we went in to record was that maybe Al (Jourgensen) and the Ministry camp would be interested in putting it out for us. That quickly changed to where we wanted to shop and see what labels would be interested. We were going to wait until we mixed it before we started looking for a label. When Mike passed away, it changed everything for awhile because naturally, you’re not thinking about that (putting an album out). You just lost a big part of your life, and it just got put off. When we got in there and finished the mix, we started sending it out to labels. It’s hard to explain, but you don’t want to put an album out too soon after you lose someone like that who means so much to your lives and to the band. We didn’t feel right about it and we didn’t want to look bad, looking like we were trying to capitalize on his loss. So that was in our minds, too. We were going to look for labels, but we weren’t in any hurry to get it out. Surprisingly, labels would answer back and say they loved the album and gave us praise. Unfortunately, the way it is in this day and age with the illegal downloads, labels aren’t making as much or selling as many albums. And because we couldn’t continue as a band, they knew we wouldn’t be making another album. But we finally decided we should just do this ourselves. That way, we can pick when we put it out and maybe the fans would be behind us and want to help us to do that. And as I think you can see, they came through for us. We started that fundraiser and amazingly we reached our goal with time to spare.”

 

 

BraveWords: Will there be a Rigor Mortis tour with a fill-in guitarist or was this album strictly about getting Mike’s last recorded material released?

Bruce Corbitt: “No, there won’t be a tour as Rigor Mortis. Because we all kind of said it, we didn’t have a meeting about it or anything, it’s just what came out. Immediately when Mike passed, even at the memorial we were saying that we were never going to play as Rigor Mortis again. He was just so big and vital to the band’s sound and overall driving force that created what Rigor Mortis sounded like to everyone. It was easy for us to say it’s not going to happen. We are going to celebrate, if you can call it that, when you release an album you like to at the release show to get up and jam and have a good time. So we have a fill-in guitarist for these release shows we got coming up. But we’re going to go ahead and change the name and call it Wizards Of Gore. We’re performing Rigor Mortis songs, but we don’t feel that it’s appropriate to use the Rigor Mortis name since Mike Scaccia’s not a part of it.”

 

 

BraveWords: You were on Capitol Records for your debut album. That was a pretty big deal at the time for a thrash band to be signed by a major label. What was that experience like?

Bruce Corbitt: “First of all, we were shocked. We’d been teased a few times by some pretty big labels; we came close. But when it finally happened, it was actually Capitol Records. Which you know about Capitol because of the Beatles. They had Iron Maiden at the time; Megadeth. We were just freaking out as you could imagine, because we went from playing these little dumps to going to a major label. It was a lucky break for our band. Then an unfortunate thing happened was, yes, we were on Capitol, but we were just one band among big money bands who weren’t thrash bands. We were just filling a category for them; filling this new thrash thing that became hot in the past few years. Yes, they threw some decent money at us with the record advance and they were behind us. But they didn’t promote us like if we were on a smaller metal label. Rachel (Matthews) ended up leaving Capitol the following year, that’s when things got crazy because now there was no one there that really knew what to do with us. By then, I’m getting fired by the band and it just went downhill pretty quick.”

BraveWords: Your song “Foaming At The Mouth” appeared in the 1993 Hulk Hogan movie, Mr. Nanny. It’s obviously one of the better things about the whole movie. Have you seen it or at least have seen the part that features your song and how did this come about?

Bruce Corbitt: “That song was recorded at the same time as all the other songs on the first album. And it intended to be on our first album. Rachel Matthews, who signed us, knew Penelope Spheeris who was making The Decline of The Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years movie. So she tried to get us in the movie, but it was almost near being finished filming so she was able to get our song on the soundtrack. So we chose out of nowhere to put “Foaming At The Mouth” on there. That was the very first Rigor Mortis song released to the world. And it’s on an album with Motörhead, Megadeth and a lot of well-known bands. That was a really great start and great exposure. So somewhere along the way, someone who was making that movie must have known that song from that album. To be honest with you, I don’t even know how it got on there. But it is a trip! Out of all the movies! We were writing about all these Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Re-Animator and zombie movies, thinking one day, ‘We’re going to be in a horror movie.’ And it turns out to be Mr. Nanny!”

 

 

BraveWords: What’s the word on Warbeast? Destroy was such a killer album. Is there a new album in the works?

Bruce Corbitt: “That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re writing for the next one. It’s already that time again, but I wish it would have already been that time sooner. In the end, that’s my favorite part of being in a band, is of course making new albums. I guess that’s because I went so long after that first Rigor Mortis album before I got to make another one. Think about it, this is only my second Rigor Mortis album, and I got two full-lengths with Warbeast and that little split EP (War Of The Gargantuas). It took me a lot of years just to get that many albums out, so I’m always anxious to get to the next one. I want it to be a full-length, but like many bands these days like to do EPs so you’re not giving away too many songs at once. But we’ll see. We’ll see how the writing progress continues and see what Phil (Anselmo) thinks when it’s time to come in. I’ll tell you already, the first two or three that I’m hearing out of (Scott) Shelby are impressive. Of course that’s what any band’s going to say. But if I like something and I’m a fan of it myself, then I know I’m going to have fun getting to sing on the songs. I’ve been lucky over the years to sing with Rigor Mortis and Warbeast and I don’t think I’ve sang on a bad song. And it ain’t because of me. How lucky am I that I get to sing for two great bands that write such great music?”