CARCASS Guitarist: 'It Felt Natural To Me To Begin Working On New Material'

September 30, 2013

Jason Roche of LA Weekly recently conducted an interview with guitarist Bill Steer of reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On former CARCASS guitarist Michael Amott's reluctance to make a new studio album with the band:

Steer: "Michael was very vocal about it being a questionable thing to do. Personally, I was disappointed [with the dissolution of the 2008 touring lineup], as I was the last person to get onboard for the reunion. But once I was in there, it was really fun. It felt natural to me to begin working on new material. "

On writing and recording the new CARCASS album, "Surgical Steel", in secret with new drummer Daniel Wilding:

Steer: "When we were writing this stuff, no one outside our really close circle of friends knew about it, so at any point, we had an escape. If we lost our nerve or decided it wasn't strong enough or didn't sound like CARCASS, we would go our separate ways, and no one would ever get to hear anything."

On how much CARCASS' legend grew during their hiatus:

Steer: "I was out of touch with that scene for a number of years. It was only when speaking to Jeff [Walker, bass/vocals] and Michael during that time that I became aware that our records were standing the test of time. To put things in perspective, 'Heartwork' wasn't considered a successful record when it came out. A lot of fans and reviews were very denigrating when it came out."

On former CARCASS drummer Ken Owen, who nearly died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999 and was subsequently hospitalized for almost a year:

Steer: "Occasionally someone will ask, 'Is Ken going to rejoin the band?' It's obvious that person doesn't understand what Ken has been through. You have to remind people to temper their expectations. It is clear he won't ever play drums like he did when he was 21, but... the fact that he is around walking and talking and leading a wonderful social life is amazing. In our minds, he is still a member of the band. We involve him as much as we're able to. It's very much a family vibe."

Read more from LA Weekly.

Find more on Carcass
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).