CARCASS Frontman 'Enjoyed The Hiatus' During Pandemic: 'It's Been Healthy To Step Back And Have A Break'

In a recent interview with AndrewHaug.com, Australia's first-ever dedicated 24/7 rock and metal online radio station launched by Andrew Haug, the former host of Triple J Australia's "The Racket" radio show, CARCASS frontman Jeff Walker discussed how he has been spending the coronavirus downtime in his native United Kingdom. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're kind of lucky that we had some reserves in the bank, so we could survive that way. I'm a bit of a squirrel; I always make sure there's money in the bank to see us through hard times. And luckily, it was enough to tide us over for this period.

"As far as me getting by personally, I've just been looking for small joys in life — small things locally or whatever," he continued. "Living a jetsetting life and having exciting times traveling the world and playing gigs, it's one extreme to another. I'm just looking for small things to keep me happy and finding solace in the smallest things. I've been walking and cycling a lot more. There's a lot of local history that I never noticed before — railway tracks and lines and really boring stuff, middle-age stuff like that that I've kind of got interested in.

"I've enjoyed the hiatus, to be honest… We'd been touring for seven years without a break, and it's been healthy to step back and have a break. I'd also say it's been a bit detrimental because we haven't played together for 18 months now. So we're gonna be incredibly rusty if we ever get to play again.

"It's been positive, but now it's starting to drag a bit," Walker added. "The novelty's wearing off because we just had a to cancel a European tour which would have been great timing for promotion of the [new CARCASS] album ['Torn Arteries'].

"There's no real end in sight for me. I wanna see things happen before I commit CARCASS to anything. We have confirmed a gig that we're gonna play in November in the U.K. But as far as touring is concerned, I still see people booking tours and they still get canceled. I think it's a bit kind of crappy to give false hope to people."

CARCASS played its first pandemic-era concert on November 6 at the Damnation Festival in Leeds, U.K.

"Torn Arteries" was released in September via Nuclear Blast Records. Drummer Daniel Wilding did session work in Sweden at Studio Gröndahl with David Castillo while guitars were recorded at The Stationhouse with James Atkinson in Leeds, England. Eventually needing some form of residential location to finalize vocals, bass, and other guitarwork, the band headed back to Studio Gröndahl in Sweden to continue work in a very relaxed atmosphere with Castillo.