SUICIDE SILENCE's CHRIS GARZA Says MITCH LUCKER 'Would Be Proud' Of What Band Has Done Since His Passing

In a new interview with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio, SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza was asked whether he thinks the group's late frontman Mitch Lucker would be proud of what Chris and his bandmates have done since Mitch's passing nearly a decade ago. He responded (hear audio below): "I would like to think so. When I think about him and that kind of subject and that stuff, I always [think about what would happened] if I flipped the script and what if I died and he went on? What would I be proud of? What would I want him to do? So I would like to think that he's proud, because ever since that day, I was the only one in the band at the hospital; I was the only one there. I saw it happen in front of me. And from that moment on, I've been kind of treating it literally that way: what would I want him to do [if I had died and he had lived]? And that's exactly what I do, regardless of the cost or the sacrifices, and I think he would be proud of that."

Lucker died November 1, 2012 after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle crash in Huntington Beach that Halloween night. He was replaced by Hernan "Eddie" Hermida, who made his recording debut with SUICIDE SILENCE on the "You Can't Stop Me" album, which was released in 2014 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.

Back in 2014, Garza told Music Feeds that he and his bandmates didn't make a conscious decision to carry on following Lucker's passing.

"We never talked about continuing and we never talked about quitting, so it was like an unspoken thing, 'cause with some people, a tragic happening, the last thing you want to do is talk about it," he explained.

Ultimately, Garza said, carrying on as SUICIDE SILENCE felt like the right thing to do. "I think keeping the SUICIDE SILENCE brand going and the name going keeps Mitch alive and I think it would be completely disrespectful to Mitch and everything that he worked for if we stopped going or changed the name," he added.

SUICIDE SILENCE's sixth studio album, "Become The Hunter", was released in February via Nuclear Blast. The disc was produced by Steve Evetts (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, SEPULTURA, HATEBREED) at The Omen Room and mixed by Josh Wilbur (TRIVIUM, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA). Ted Jensen (PANTERA, DEFTONES, SLIPKNOT) mastered the album at Sterling Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The artwork for the album was created by Adrian Baxter.

Photo by: Hristo Shindov