SIX FEET UNDER - Destroying The Cemetery
January 24, 2010, 14 years ago
It was in January 2009 that Barnes announced via sfu420.com that work had begun on Graveyard Classics III. Now a year later, the disc is finally in stores. 12 months seems like a long time to record ten cover tunes. “Well, we took our time in the studio on this one. We had the ability to stretch things out and work at a snail’s pace, so we did it that way to enhance the performance. We lived with the songs ‘cause they’re really important. We felt that was the best way to accomplish the goal this time. I don’t think we really started hardcore getting things together until the middle of summer. We were on a more relaxed pace and really just plodded along. It was an interesting way to work. Just like it was interesting to work two other albums with nothing – just going in the studio and creating something that was just as good as anything we could have waited a year to write. It just worked out that way for us. It was definitely a positive vibe all the way through this one.”
When it came time to think about the follow-up to 2008’s Death Rituals, Chris explains what prompted him to go the covers route as opposed to another album of all original material. “It seems really harsh to go from one album to another. Our track record has been to do an album and then do some sort of release to kind of cushion the blow of it until the next full on original album. It’s going to be tough for KINGS OF LEON to top their latest record (Only By The Night), and it’s been out for a year and a half. So what do you do? We’re not on the same level but in the same respect, there’s a certain thing the fan has… I know I was always one of those fans… I wanted it to be a little more palatable to go from your favourite album from your favourite band to their next album. Sometimes it’s kind of hard to digest. Like going from NIRVANA’s Nevermind to In Utero, even though I prefer In Utero. It’s nice to have something in between. Instead of waiting two years for a band to write a new album, put something out in between.”
The two biggest tracks on GC III are undoubtedly the METALLICA and SLAYER covers – ‘The Frayed Ends Of Sanity’ and ‘At Dawn They Sleep’. Both bands have extensive musical catalogues; yet selecting a single song from each came rather easily to Chris. “Just favourites of mine. …And Justice For All, strangely enough, I enjoy that album more than I do Master Of Puppets. Just because it marked a certain point in time for me. I have fonder memories of that point in time than I do of when that other album was released. I think it’s the same thing with Hell Awaits. It speaks to me because of where I was at as a person and in my life then when Season In The Abyss hit. That’s where I derive a lot of that from. I picked seven of the ten songs on this album. That’s what I start from. There’s a feeling I get when I hear a song. The EXCITER song on this album (‘Pounding Metal’), that was the second song I ever learned when I got into a band with Bob Rusay. Half way through it, Greg (Gall, drummer) asked, ‘are you sure you want to do this song?’ I explained why and he got it. To me, it’s important as a singer to be able to feel that within someone else’s work and to portray it. People can interpret our intent and our final product any way they want, but I don’t know if the hardcore critics really understand it? They take it at pretty much surface value. But for us, it’s really deep and meaningful on a lot of different levels to do these songs.”
Exciter is one of three Canadian bands covered on GC III, the other two being ANVIL and BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE. “This is what I’ve been saying for a couple of years. People have always asked, ‘where did you grow up?’ I grew up in New York. They think New York City. No, Buffalo. They wonder why I don’t have a New York City accent and my answer is, we’re more Canadian in Buffalo than we are New Yorkers. I had to pick a couple Canadian bands. ‘Metal On Metal’ (by Anvil) is one of my favourites and (Brian) Slagel (Chairman/CEO of Metal Blade Records) picked the BTO song. He threw a curve ball at us and said, ‘try this one!’ We were like, really? Then I heard it and it was no wonder he picked it. It fits our sound perfectly, our rhythm and rolling bass thing. It’s cool to have that going on ‘cause I wish I was Canadian sometimes,” laughs Barnes.”
Sceptics are bound to think that the only reason Six Feet Under chose to cover an Anvil song is because of the recent success of their movie, Anvil! The Story Of Anvil. “It’s funny man, I thought of that too and it made me cringe a little bit. I almost made myself believe that,” chuckles Chris. “Really though, that was my first pick for this, back when we were doing Graveyard 2. I had it in the memory banks. That song always stuck out. Then I obviously heard about the documentary. When we got out of the studio, I saw it on a tour bus over in Europe. It’s just great man. It’s a real life story of SPINAL TAP. It’s sad and triumphant and disturbing all on the same level – and most of that is because of Lips! God bless him! He’s a character. I listened to them growing up and understood all that. I hope I haven’t inherited some of it, but I think I have. But that’s the way it goes. Just be careful what you wish for.”
Somewhat surprisingly, out of the numerous bands covered throughout the Graveyard Classics trilogy and other Six Feet Under releases, not one of them has offered any feedback on the death metal version of their song. “Oh no, never man. The closest we came to that was on a tour we did in Europe with EXODUS. I think Gary Holt heard the song ‘Piranha’ that we did on Graveyard 1, but I don’t think anyone’s taken note of it. If they did, I think they were probably told by their mothers early on, ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’ That may be why we haven’t heard from any of them in all these years. I’d like to hear from BRYAN ADAMS at least, to see if he liked our version of ‘War Machine’, ‘cause he did write that song. A lot of people think it was KISS, but it’s his.”
According to Chris, when guitarist Steve Swanson was laying down his tracks for VAN HALEN’s ‘On Fire’, “it was effortless. He is that good of a guitarist! When I threw that song at him I thought it was going to kick his ass and it didn’t even faze him. It kind of scared me. So I let him go all out and gave him as much time as I could in the studio. He proves himself on every album. If people don’t see that he’s a fucking master after this album, I don’t know what else I can throw at him to make them believe that Steve’s the fucking man! He’s amazing. He’s so much in the shadow of I don’t know what? If it’s Allen West, people should have known that shadow was crushed a long time ago. That was Maximum Violence. Steve’s written 98% of the riffs in this band since ’98 or ’99.”
Although the final cover on GC III, ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’ by PRONG is from 1994, it’s still quite new compared to the other nine songs, all of which were originally released between 1974 and 1988. “Yeah. It gets kind of close to where we started and that’s not really what I wanted to do. But that song means a lot to me. I consider (Prong frontman) Tommy Victor a close personal friend, even though we’re not the type of guys to talk on a regular basis. Even now, just thinking of that dude, he’s such a fucking good soul that it chokes me up. I love him to death. I love his music. I love what he’s done and that song to me is one of those perfect songs. That’s the one I hope I didn’t fuck up ‘cause that’s the one I was most critical of myself on. That’s one for old Tommy. I love that fuckin’ song, it just moves!”
Much to the dismay of fans, it’s been a long time since Six Feet Under toured North America. Barnes reveals the reason why. “I don’t have a booking agency that’s hungry enough to go out and make the realization that we have a huge fan base and there’s a huge market out there for us. We’re not able to tour because there’s not a guy out there willing to do the work and it’s a shame. In Europe we can do three or four different tours a year and do real well. Over here, the economy’s so bad and there’s such a high degree of laziness, it’s kind of a strange thing. We’re really fucking hoping to get out on the road. Hopefully this album sparks up some curiosity again."
At the end of the day, "it’s not even about making money. It’s about being able to sustain the amount of money it takes to be out on the road and be safe and be able to perform every night on a certain level that your fans expect of you. If I can’t do that, I’d rather not do it. That’s all there is to it. I’d rather spend my time doing something else positive with the band to move us forward. If that means going over to Europe every four months, hopefully we’ll be able to fund and book our own tour. We’re hoping our strong following in local towns will spread the word. It’s really been up to the bands to do most of the legwork as of late. I don’t know what it’s going to take other than putting it all together ourselves and doing it grass roots once again, going back old school.”
As for the rest of 2010… “We’ve got a few tours in Europe planned. We’re in the rehearsal studio right now, just kind of brainstorming and talking about things. Just getting started in the writing process for the next album. My goal is to get us in the studio by the end of summer/beginning of fall and put out a new one this time next year.”
