SIX FEET UNDER vocalist Chris Barnes has revealed exclusively to BraveWords.com scribe Aaron Small that Kevin Talley (DYING FETUS, MISERY INDEX, DAATH) has been chosen as the band’s new drummer.

A mere day after the departure of drummer Greg Gall and bassist Terry Butler – who has joined OBITUARY – Barnes details what he describes as “interesting circumstances” surrounding the loss of Six Feet Under’s rhythm section. “It kind of came out of left field and I was kind of expecting it. It was a little bit of a surprise, but I had plans to kind of do something different on this album as far as different writing partners. Early on last year (2010), I could kind of tell that some folks in the band weren’t really too motivated to be honest, to start writing or start creating new songs. I have a lot of ideas for this, and a lot of drive and ambition to get this band to the next level and to keep pushing it forward. Nothing good comes from standing still or dwelling in the past. Terry and Greg, it just seemed like they really weren’t into it anymore. I could tell that they were just dragging ass on writing. I wasn’t going to stick around and wait on it. This band is my life. It’s too important to me to let lazy people kind of dictate what I want to do; that’s really the bare bones of it. Great people – I still consider Terry and Greg close friends. It was just stagnant water that needed to be flushed.”

To be clear, neither Terry nor Greg was fired from Six Feet Under; they both left of their own accord. “That’s right. They did leave of their own accord. I think they felt they weren’t going to be able to contribute what needed to be contributed on this record and put in the time and effort. I think they really thought it through, from what I got talking to them. I think it was the right decision for them – and for me too. I was glad to get it all out in the open, instead of waiting three or four months and doing it then. It’s more relieving now to be able to move on and take this thing to where it’s got to go.”

What makes Greg and Terry’s joint departure even more shocking is the fact they were both original Six Feet Under members, dating back to 1995 – that’s a 16-year tenure.“They were definitely the first guys in the band to play drums and bass. We’ve been together for a long time; it’s definitely a big step,” admits Barnes. “But I’ve taken a few big steps in my career, I think people know that. This is a baby step compared to other steps I’ve had to overcome. I’m really anxious because for the past four months I’ve been writing this new CD, kind of independently with someone else. So I know what’s in store. I don’t want to hype it up yet because I know how great it is for myself. I’m really, really psyched about this album. I know everyone kind of comes at you guys and the fans with that whole thing, but it’s interesting when you start writing with different people. You get more inspired through that. I can count a couple different times when that’s happened: after Bob Rusay left CANNIBAL CORPSE and we got Rob Barrett in the band, we came out with The Bleeding. After I left Cannibal and getting with a new writing partner in Allen West, we came up with Haunted. After Allen departed we got Steve Swanson and came up with a great album called Maximum Violence. I think this is another one of those steps where shaking up the pot is going to expose something pretty tasty.”

Chris’ newfound writing partner shall remain nameless for the time being. “Yeah, for at least the next week or so, he just wants to take care of some things on his own end and make sure everything’s cool. But we’re pretty happy. We’ve chosen our new drummer. We’ve got a couple different ideas for bass players, still waiting to hear back on that. But most likely there will be another guitarist added too.” Six Feet Under’s going to become a five-piece. “That’s the plan; a five-piece with Kevin Talley on drums. This thing’s getting reworked; it’s going to be a bigger, better, more powerful and a lot meaner machine than it’s been.”

An Eastern European tour had been slated to run March 30th through April 10th, although exact dates and venue information was still forthcoming. According to Chris, “It’s still going to happen. Actually a couple dates got cut so it’s going to run from April 1st through April 9th now. But we’re still on for it. The promoter’s really excited with the new lineup. It’s an interesting time; we’re trying to nail down a festival in India, hopefully in March. That’s going to be really cool; I’m looking forward to it. That’s another point to this whole thing; we want to reach out and do a lot of touring on the next album and play a lot of different places. I think we can accomplish that with this new lineup.”

In his statement announcing the departure of Greg and Terry, Chris stated that his vocal style will return to what it was like in 1993-1995; he was still in Cannibal Corpse for two of those years. “That’s right. There’ll be a definite variety and certain dynamics to each song… there’s one song we’ve got down and I kind of surprised myself on it because I haven’t really sang to a blast beat in a long time. The way the song was written, it put me right back into my old pocket. It was like going home; it was effortless. I really like the way it turned out; I think there’ll be more of that kind of thing on there as far as maybe some old Tomb Of The Mutilated style vocals, Bleeding type vocals. The music on this is lending itself more towards those styles, going back to that era I guess you could say.”

SFU guitarist Steve Swanson has been silent throughout this change in personnel. “Steve’s a basket of nerves,” chuckles Chris. “He’s on edge but he’s psyched. I think it shocked Steve more than anybody else. Steve’s excited because over the years, writing albums and stuff, we’ve both discussed what it would be like if we had this type of drummer here? We always kind of felt that was the weak link, as far as how we could attempt to do things – the drumming pretty much drives the band. I always thought we needed to up the horsepower on that somewhat. I think we’re really taking the right step; the record label’s 100% behind us, they’re excited as well. I just can’t ask for more right now. It’s really going to be something good. I wouldn’t think that if I didn’t already have three songs down on CD that I’m listening to, and I know there’s something special going on.”

New drummer Kevin Talley is quite a bit younger than Chris – 13 years in fact. “I think everyone’s younger than me at this point,” laughs Barnes. “It really doesn’t matter who I pick. They’re all going to be fucking younger than me. I’m just glad they’re all excited to play with this old man! I’ve still got some fire in my belly. I’ve actually been playing with younger guys than that. My nephew’s an amazing drummer; if he wasn’t 16, he’d be in this band – he’s that good! He’s a prodigy, seriously. He may fill in some dates here and there in the next year or two, just to get him out there. Having new fresh blood in the band is really exciting.”

In closing, Barnes shares another secret: “We’re going to be doing a US tour this summer. It’s going to be a big, big tour. It was confirmed about a week ago; can’t announce what tour it is yet but it’s a major tour and we’re looking forward to it. And there will be Canadian dates, we will be in Toronto!”