OBITUARY: Starting Over Again

FMQB recently conducted an interview with OBITUARY frontman John Tardy. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

FMQB: The album is called "Xecutioner's Return" and the original name of your band was XECUTIONER, so is the title supposed to be a nod to your past? Are you trying to say you're going back to your roots?

John: It is. We were with Roadrunner for so long, and now that our contract is fulfilled and we moved away from them, it feels like we can start over again. It was a long time to be with one record label, and we felt like we could start over and do whatever we wanted to, however we wanted to do it. So it seemed like a fitting title since XECUTIONER was our original name. It's a bit of a rebirth for us. I think this new album is the best thing we've done. Before [the last album] "Frozen In Time" we had a long, six-year break and that was good for the band. It came at the right time. It was a good getaway for us and we feel recharged, re-energized and have lots of ideas. We're having fun with what we're doing.

FMQB: Did making "Frozen In Time" after taking that long break, and then getting on the road again, reignite your passion for being in the band?

John: It absolutely did. I would recommend to any band that's been together for a long time to get away from it for a while if they have the means to do it! It worked out great. The whole metal scene even died out for a little while and things got quiet, so everybody got busy doing other things. But one thing led to another and we started rehearsing again, and everybody had all these ideas for songs, and we were thrown head first right back into it again.

FMQB: With the new album, were you trying to tread some new ground or stick with the signature OBITUARY sound?

John: I guess that's what we try to do with every record. We don't want to lose our traditional sound, but we try to go off in a little bit of a new direction each time. It's hard for me to approach any record with any thoughts or expectations of what we're going to do. It's just fun to get in the studio and start jamming, and whatever happens, happens. A few years always goes by between records, so you start listening to different music and doing different things that influence you. Different things happen in your life that change your mood and the music that you start to create. So there are no intentions about what kind of record we're going to do. We always try to get heavier, that's for sure, but over the course of writing music for 20 years we've become pretty good songwriters, and I think that shows on this new record. It's got nicely written songs and also has the addition of Ralph Santolla, which is something untouched upon by us — to have somebody with so much talent playing leads and somebody that is willing to listen to what we want and try to really understand what our sound is. As excited as we are to have such a talented guitar player, Ralph is equally as excited to be with this band.

FMQB: After doing this for 20 years, what keeps it exciting and inspiring for you?

John: Not to sound cheesy, but the e-mail we get from fans and the fan reaction that we continue to get is a big part of it. If there wasn't that excitement towards it, it would be really hard to continue. But there are other things too — we just built our own studio. We recorded the new album in our own studio, and that has added a whole new aspect to things that we want to do. We're having an absolute blast. I can just walk out of my house and go into our studio, and to have it at your fingertips, to have everything set up to record at any given time, has made a huge difference in the way we think and go about writing songs. There have been albums that we put together when the guys would have never heard one thing I wrote. It was all in my head, and it wasn't until we were in the studio that they heard what I planned on doing with the record. Now having our own studio is a lot of fun. I wish we had done it a long time ago

Read the entire interview at www.fmqb.com.