– Hello Matt, thanks for taking the time. What are you currently up to?

No problem, man. Currently, I have a little bit of downtime in between tours, so I’m just trying to relax and get prepared for the next batch of dates we have coming up, which is about six weeks worth between the US and Europe.

– Your new album, «All Guts no Glory» came out some weeks ago, so I guess you have read some reviews so, how has been the feedback for the album so far? What are your expectations from your fans?

The record came out in the beginning of July, and the reviews I’ve seen have been really positive. We’re stoked that folks seem to dig it. We were all really happy with the way the record came out and it’s cool that most people seem to agree. I mean, we don’t put too much stock in reviews, but it’s nice to see good shit out there. The kids seem to like it as well, so far, which is really the only thing that matters, aside from us being happy with it.

 

– And what does «All Guts no Glory» mean?

It’s kind of a statement on the path of being an underground band. It takes a lot of work, dedication, blood, sweat, grit and all that shit, but the rewards aren’t all that glamourous. We don’t make a lot of money, never have, don’t get a ton of chicks or have cool cars or anything. We’re just underground fans playing music, and doing it for the sheer love of grind and death metal. It’s

also sort of a summation of our philosophy and “career” thus far.

 

– Honestly, this record is awesome, it seems like EXHUMED haven’t aged at all. Have you came back whilling to show anything you couldn’t in the past?

I think we came back re-focused and re-energized. For me, my mental perspective is so much better than it was five years ago, especially as far as Exhumed is concerned. I think that Wes and I have a different chemistry than Mike (Beams, our old guitarist) did for sure. Wes is a lot more active in the songwriting, since he wrote 50% of the music for the record, so that colors things a little bit. But at the same time, everything sounds totally Exhumed, in fact I think we tried to sort of distill the essence of what Exhumed is and what we do with this record.

 

– And is this a definitive comeback? Do you plan releasing more albums or do you have any other projects in mind?

We do plan on more stuff in the future. First on our plate is finishing the DVD we started working on 6 years ago, then we’ll start working on more new material. I am also getting to work on a new Dekapitator record as well.

 

– Now that you can hold the album in your hands and listening to it carefully, is there anything you would like to change?

 

I always wish I had more time to work on the vocals, but I have a feeling we’ll correct that on the next record. But really, I’m totally happy with it the way it is. It is what it is and I enjoy the record on its own terms.

 

– How tends to be the recording process like in EXHUMED?

Well, this record was recorded in two different sessions. We tracked the drums in Orange County, California with John Haddad at Trench Studios. John and Danny have worked together many, many times, and we were able to plow through everything in two days there. Then Wes, Leon, and I flew to Arizona to track all the guitars, bass and vocals at Arcane Digital Recording with Ryan Butler. The atmosphere was pretty laid back, but the days were long and grueling. It was a great combination, and we sent everything off from there to Brian Eliot at Mana Studios in Florida to mix and master the record. We gave him a lot of info and guidelines, but none of us were actually present for the mix, which is usually for the bes.t

 

– What prompted that rest the band took and what prompted your come back?

Wow… I could give book-length answers on both those things. I tried to kind of address that as well as I could in the liner notes for the record, but the short version is something like this: By 2005, I had been doing Exhumed for 14 years, and I was burnt out. Too much touring, too little money, too much

line-up instability, and feeling kind of creatively spent and burnt out on the death metal scene made it impossible for me to continue on at that point. As far as getting back together… I had kind of explored a few different things in the 5+ years the band was split up, and was living in Hawaii at the time. I was getting ready to move back to California and also playing some heavier stuff, so I hit up Wes about doing something again. He half-jokingly suggested that we put the band together, and it sounded like fun, so we got started writing. Things kind of snowballed from there.

 

– I read somehwere you ended up being sicked of EXHUMED but not sicked of the music. Has this now changed and are you feeling once again attracted by EXHUMED?

That’s pretty much true. I always loved the music, just all the other stuff kind of weighed on me. I think I was able to get some perspective on how much I missed playing this kind of music and how much I missed touring, missed my friends across the globe, and just how much great stuff Exhumed has brought into my life. Ultimately, as much as some stuff about the band gets frustrating, the good shit totally makes it more than worth it.

 

– As I said, this is your «comeback» album, did this put some kind of pressure on you or has it been as back in the day?

We didn’t feel any pressure at all when we were writing the record. I felt pretty confident that we could surpass the old stuff. It wasn’t until right before we recorded when I realized that how the album was received could kind of determine what I would be doing for the next five or six years that I kind of felt a bit of pressure. Luckily, we were already done writing the songs, and we usually work best under pressure anyway, haha!

 

– The band changed fully remaining you as the only original member, what happened? And how did you find the new members?

Well Leon has been in and out of the band a few different times. He was our guitarist in 1996-97, and he toured with us a bit for “Slaughtercult” and did most of the touring for “Anatomy…” as well as recording “Garbage Daze…” with us in 2005, so he’s not that new of a member, haha! Danny also did a lot the “Anatomy…” touring with us back in ’03-’04, so that was a pretty easy fit too. Wes joined back in ’05 and recorded the “Garbage Daze…” record with us as well, so no one was really too “new” actually. As far as the other members, most of them were just burnt on touring and the crazy scheduling of the band, the lack of real money, wanting to get married, have careers, etc. etc. We’re good friends with pretty much everyone who has ever passed through our ranks, so there’s no hard feelings or anything.

 

– As I said, you’re the only original member remaining in EXHUMED so, are yours all responsibilities or is everything in the band a team-work?

Wes and I split the music 50/50 on this record. It wasn’t necessarily planned that way, it just turned out that way. He and I are really the songwriting core of the band. I still write all the lyrics, but the music is definitely teamwork. Wes and I just naturally seem to have a good chemistry and the same kinds of ideas that work well together, so it’s a really strong foundation for us that I’m excited to keep working from on more records and whatever we come up

with.

 

– Beside those new members I mentioned, you are also working now with a new record label for you: Relapse Records. How did you hook up with them? Are you satisfied with this cooperation so far?

Ummm… We’ve been working with Relapse since 1998, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. They’ve been right there with us through all the ups, downs and weird shit along the way.

 

– You joined GRAVEHILL in 2009, a band that has an amazing success actually. What does GRAVEHILL provide you EXHUMED can’t and viceversa?

Thorgrimm of Gravehill is a really old friend of mine, and he talked me into doing a tour with them. The tour went really well, so I stayed on to help write the new record, which was a lot of fun. Gravehill is fun for me because all I have to worry about is showing up and playing guitar. With Exhumed, I’m involved in every decision, from designing the merch to ordering lunch to writing the songs, and with Gravehill, I just hang out and drink beer. Gravehill is also fun because it brings in some different influences from stuff that I enjoy but doesn’t necessarily fit in with Exhumed like Hellhammer,

Pentagram (Chile), Vulcano, Bulldozer, Massacre, etc. etc.

 

– You also have your other band DEKAPITATOR, and Relapse is now about to re-release «We will Destroy…You will Obey!!!». How much input did you have on this decision?

Well, realistically with all my attention focused on Exhumed, Relapse and I kind of projected forward to how long it would take to finish a new record and we wanted to get something going to kind of keep the name out there until then. It also was looooooong overdue as the album had been out of print for years.

 

– You’ve been for many years into the music scene and having different projects. If you had to pick both the best and worst moment into your entire musical career, what could they be?

Oh man… The worst would be when I accidentally wrecked Ross’ (Sewage, our old bassist / vocalist, now in Impaled, Ludicra, etc.) sister’s truck and

maimed Ross. That was one of the absolute worst days of my life. As far as the best… The San Francisco show we just did was a great homecoming for me, as was our gig at Maryland Deathfest this year. We just had so many great folks at both those shows that have been involved with the band for years and years, it was literally like being surrounded by family. Plus the shows were kickass and the kids were going mental, so that helps too, haha!

 

– I guess the Metal scene has changed a lot since you started. What could you say on this? Has this changed been for the better or the opposite?

I try not to think of things as “better” or “worse”. Really the bottom line is that kids are still hungry for violent, aggressive music and people in the underground still live and breathe this shit, just the way that people get stuff is different. Tape Trading has become downloading and file sharing. Trading

VHS tapes has been replaced by YouTube. Recording technology has improved so much, and the internet saves me countless dollars I used to spend on postage and IRC’s back in the 90s. As long as people still love this music, it’ll survive whatever changes in technology or anything else comes along and that’s what counts.

 

– Talking about the current scene but about other bands, this 2011 its being a nice year for reunions or comebacks such as yours, AUTOPSY or MORBID ANGEL for instance. What’s your point of view on these two works? Has surprised you the new MORBID ANEL’s work?

I love the fact that Autopsy are finally starting to get some of the credit they deserve as one of the greatest bands in the history of the Death Metal genre. It’s long, long overdue and I’m so happy for those guys that people have woken up to that fact. As for Morbid Angel, I haven’t really been able to get into their records since Covenant, maybe a couple of songs on Domination, so I wasn’t really paying too much attention to what they were doing until after the record came out. I’ll say this: I think they’re really doing what they believe in, which is commendable, but I don’t think most of the album sounds

like Morbid Angel at all. It’s pretty out of left-field.

 

– And finally, what are your near-future plans?

Finish this interview, drink a little scotch, and watch movies. We have three more weeks off and then we’re back in Europe October 8th for almost three weeks on the road with Cephalic Carnage, then we get back to the states for another three week run with Goatwhore, Cephalic Carnage, and Havok. By then it’ll be the end of November and we will have a couple months off to start working on new material, finish the DVD and work on figuring out what the fuck we’re doing next year.

 

– That’s all, thank you once more for your time: If you feel like adding some final words to our readers, take the last lines.

Thanks for the support! We really appreciate it! See all you fuckers on the road or at the bar! Cheers!

www.myspace.com/exhumed

www.facebook.com/exhumedofficial

www.gorefuckingmetal.blogspot.com

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

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