CARCASS's BILL STEER: 'I Didn't Experience The World Of Real Work Until My Mid-20s'

January 8, 2022

Bill Steer of British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS spoke to the "Everblack" podcast about the various non-music related jobs he has held over the years in order to support himself when he wasn't on tour. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I left school at 16. I was already playing in bands around that time, and I guess by the time I was 17, I was doing NAPALM [DEATH] and CARCASS. I didn't experience the world of real work until my mid-20s once CARCASS had broken up. That was quite an education. Looking back, it was long overdue 'cause I just didn't have enough experience of the real world and people. 'Cause if you'd just been in your little music bubble, only kind of hanging out with and dealing with people who like similar music, it's a very narrow view of the world."

He continued: "[I ended up doing] everything you could possibly do that's low paid with low commitments. I didn't stick with any job for that long. I think initially I was working for a wine merchant. That went on for — I don't know — how many years? And then there was the odd thing like taking Saturday jobs in second-hand record shops. Probably the best stuff I did in terms of something that was kind of rewarding would have been working with younger people with learning disabilities down in south London. That just gave me a reality check, as it were. It's very hard to feel sorry for yourself about your situation when you're around people who can't do many things themselves. So it was a really good education. And then right before [CARCASS] reformed, I think the last two or three years, I was working for my friend's company in his warehouse. So I had a good situation there. If FIREBIRD had a couple of gigs or a little tour somewhere, I just had to tell him and I could go. But for the most part, I had a full-time job there. And that was actually loads of fun."

CARCASS's latest album "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.

The "Torn Arteries" title references an old demo created by CARCASS's original drummer Ken Owen back in the 1980s.

In February of 1999, Owen suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, leaving him in a coma for over 10 months. As a result, he is unable to play the way he used to. When CARCASS reunited in 2007, the drum stool was filled by Daniel Erlandsson and later Wilding.

Ken reportedly gave his approval to Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker to continue with CARCASS and was supportive during the recording process of the band's 2013 comeback album "Surgical Steel".

CARCASS played its first pandemic-era concert on November 6, 2021 at the Damnation Festival in Leeds, U.K.

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).