The Exhumed vocalist and shredder recently toured with the Death tribute, Left To Die. At the time of this interview he was driving through a tour with his other death metal band, Gruesome. And his main project of three decades, Exhumed, has another blood-and-guts-sprayed album called To The Dead.
The GRIM-1 spoke to Harvey back in 2019 about all things horror. Let's pick up the pieces where we last left off - splayed and mangled in chunks.
HELL-O Matt. So what tracks from the new album To The Dead stood out to you during the recording process? Were there any difficult moments or was it smooth sailing?
Mostly it's fairly smooth sailing especially because we have our own studio and shit. So with the pandemic, we're really able to take our time. The one that sticks out as being difficult was actually the last song on the record discussed it I ended up getting like weird hand problems while I was tracking the guitars like my hand kept going numb and shit. I was getting really stressed out about it obviously. I'm trying to finish the record that was the last time I recorded and I had to go get a massage therapy. I ended up changing my mattress and thank God that that was what was fucking cause. Not being able to feel the fretboard is scary s a guitar player.
How did your creative process progress from your last records to this one?
Iit was kind of like with Horror and Death Revenge before, they were both kind of like at the extreme ends of like, a little stylistic, our aesthetic, whatever you want to call it. And so we knew that this was going to be not as melodic and bombastic as Death Revenge, but also not as short and abrupt and compact as Horror. This one feels like an underground death metal record. I mean, technically all of them are, but that was kind of the vibe that I found. I think the biggest change, or the most notable thing about the creative process is that we, we brought in former members and asked them to contribute songs. I would go to what they sent and maybe make some arrangement changes or whatever, but just getting those people involved meant that the record was going to have a little bit more, a little bit more variety and a little bit more more depth and stuff. And it was also just really fun to kind of get their take on like what it is that we do. They'll have different perspectives some of the guys like, but played with us on death, revenge and then like, that wide, hadn't played have been in the band since like, 1995. So it was cool to to get their takes on on the band and to just to work with them again, you know, because we're all still friends and and I knew with the pandemic that everybody would have time to write a song.
Exhumed's been hacking at the gore metal for a quarter century! What is it like in 2022, to see death metal so much more popular than it was in the late nineties and early 2000s?
All of pop culture including metal, it's kind of like a cyclical. In 1998, when I was listening to Sodom and Destruction, and Razor and stuff, and people thought I was an idiot. And then eight years later, Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust or selling truckloads of fucking records. And I was like, well, I guess I'm not an idiot. And then, a few years back, it's like, with the death metal bands. We're kind of coming out a few years back, we're really harkening back to Morbid Angel, the early Immolation stuff. And now I think people are kind of going back and rediscovering stuff from the mid nineties. And even the late 90s, a little bit. And that's just kind of the generational thing...
...There's always great stuff and every era and people reach a certain point where they're old enough to look back really fondly on the stuff that they that they listened to when they were 15 or 18, or 13, or whatever. And also it's kind of been long enough that it's kind of cool for younger kids to rediscover as well, seeing this new wave of death and all.
You'll be embarking on a tour with Vitriol, Molder, Escuela Grind and Castrator shortly, but you recently fronted the Death tribute Left To Die. How does it feel to be back performing your original material?
Right now actually, I'm driving the van to start this Gruesome West Coast mini tour. So it kind of just never stopped once we did the Left To Die thing. But I always look forward to every tour for different reasons. It's exciting with Exhumed because we have a new album out and we get to play a lot of new songs we haven't played with before. I think that it's, it's a little bit different, because obviously, Left To Die, it's about me helping Terry and Rick. And Gruesome, even though we're an original band, it's still like, a Death tribute thing. So it's a little bit different. And with Exhumed, it's our shit from the beginning to end.
You're a big comic book freak as well. In the last few years you released a synthwave project The Last Son of Krypton about Superman's home world. What comic books have you been reading lately?
I try to watch pretty much every comic book related show. Like, it's very time consuming. But the one I really enjoyed the most this year so far is the Harley Quinn animated series. I don't really like Batman or Harley Quinn, but I love that show. Because it's just raunchy. And it's funny. And it makes fun of a lot of the things about Batman that I make fun of. Of course, because it's echoing in my opinion. I think it's tremendously clever. But you know, I watched you know, whether it's She-Hulk or the Hawkeye or whatever the fuck I got, watch all that stuff. It really bums people out because they're like "oh, you love horror movies? Are you watching new horror movies?" I don't have time because there's too many superhero shows.
...The Boys last season was amazing. But holy shit.
Who do you think one of the most impressive bands out there today is?
There's a lot of fucking great bands kind of across the spectrum. One newer band I think is really impressive is Yautja from Nashville. They're just, I don't even know exactly how to describe them. Aside from, maybe they're like, slow grind if that even makes sense. But they're just amazing musicians, and they have their own sound. And it's really kind of progressive without being too proud of itself. A lot of music that's really technical, it's just a guy showing, "I'm really good at drums!" Fuck off. They sound really like sincere and organic. And they're a great live band. And they're really good guys. They're just an all around fucking winner of a band top to bottom.
What's one song from your new album To The Dead that people should drop their shit and listen to?
I think I think the first single, "Drained Of Color." I think that's a strong cut. We try to write all singles. I think every song is worthwhile in its own way. But I do think the "Drained Of Color" single is kind of
a fairly good representation of the vibe of the whole album. It's still Exhumed, and the high speed shit, but it's not just about going fast, like the last album was just a million miles an hour, the whole time thing has a little bit more variety and a little bit spaced and dynamics. I think that's sort of a good summary tracks for the record.
How do you stay inspired to keep making music that deals with blood and guts and all that stuff in a way that is still new and exciting for you?
I think it's almost like a feedback loop. That's like self perpetuating. Because there's always shit going on with the band. We're always working on something or cooking up some shit for the future discussing some harebrained scheme. Everyone in the band always has a lot of ideas and opinions on stuff. And that kind of just moves things forward. I think one of the things that is the most fun, is the lineup of the band has really good chemistry. It's just like a sports team. If I can respect and care about not just winning and competing, but the people that you're out there with, you're going to do your best for them, too. So I think that, that makes it more fun.
There's plenty of bands I can think of that have their one founding member. And then the rotating cast of different members over the years throughout the eras, but I feel like there's a shorter list of bands where everyone is still on good terms.
We had a lot of different era, a lot of different lineups, and a lot of different ex-members. But this lineup has pretty much been together for like, almost five years now. Ross and I have worked together on and off for decades. And I've known him since high school, so it's kind of like, there's a little different vibe. So even the new guy, Sebastian, he's already been in the band for like, four plus years. It's definitely feels like a very established, stable kind of vibe. We all actually like each other and have fun.
Thank you Matt for going One On One With The GRIM-1!
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