Cannibal Corpse – Alex Webster Interview

Cannibal Corpse – Alex Webster Interview

Dictionaries define “brutal” as 1.  Savagely Violent.  2.  Punishingly hard or uncomfortable.  3.  See:  Cannibal Corpse.

Musicpix’s own Doc Metal catches up with Cannibal Corpse bassist,  Alex Webster, to talk about their latest release on Metal Blade Records, Torture.

Doc:  Alex, been a fan of your music for a very long time now, what can you tell me about Cannibal Corpse’s Torture?

Alex:  Torture is our 12th studio album, we recorded it in September and October 2011, and the songwriting occurred from January until August 2011 in our Tampa practice room.  We wrote the songs at home and practiced them over that 7 to 8 month period.  We recorded it around El Paso, Tx at a place called Sonic Ranch in the October period of recording, then finished up in November at Manor Studios in St. Petersburg, FL.  The producer for both sessions was Eric Rutan, who also produced our last 2 albums.  We are really happy with what he has done and love working with him.

Doc:  I’ve listened to Torture, and holy brutal it is amazing!

Alex:  Thanks, yes we have been receiving a lot of positive responses.

Doc:  I see you’re releasing a special collector’s edition of the new album with a figurine.  What can you tell me about that?

Alex:  Well, in this day and age it is so easy to obtain music illegally.  The record companies want to create and sell something to the fans that is worth buying.  I am not exactly sure what company made the figurine, but the figurine itself is based on Torture’s cover art, which was made by Vincent Locke.  It is something cool, something fun for our fans to collect, and the package also comes with a limited edition T-shirt.  The record companies want to keep people interested in buying a physical product.

Doc:  You mention how easy it is for people to obtain music illegally.  I know some artists that are for piracy, and some are against it.  What is your stance on music piracy?

Alex:  First of all, I appreciate anybody buying our record.  It helps us to finance the creation of a new record.  If a record does not sell anything, we cannot make another one and the record label would drop us.  We have to continue to keep selling records to keep making new records.  An album costs tens of thousands of dollars to make, and it comes out of the band’s pocket.  We basically take a loan from the record company for the financing of making a new record.  We really appreciate if the fans can pony up the 10 bucks or so to buy the new record.  But looking at it from another angle, illegal downloading has helped us as well.  By having the music so available, it has made our band bigger and more popular.  We aren’t the type of band you would usually hear on the radio, so if someone sees our album, or someone wearing our shirt, they can immediately Google us and start listening to our music.  That is not something that could have been done 20 years ago.  Back then you were enslaved by what the radio played for you.  The internet has made so many different types of music readily available to become popular.  There has to be people that buy our records, and there has to be some of our music floating around out there that people can get a hold of to check out.  Otherwise, they would have never heard of our band.  Digital downloading has not necessarily hurt us, it has actually kind of helped us in the long run.  I can’t explain exactly why, but our band is doing better now.  People still continue buying our records.

Doc:  What is the current track you are promoting from Torture?

Alex:  We just released the video for “Encased in Concrete,” the fourth track on Torture.  The video was done by David Brodsky.  He recorded the band footage in Florida and the rest of the concept footage in Brooklyn.  It is what it is.  It is about somebody being encased in concrete (laughs)!  It turned out really good.  He made a great video for a relatively low budget and it is available now (watch the video below).

Doc:  What is your tour schedule looking like?

Alex:  Well this year so far we did the 70,000 Tons of Metal tour.  Then we headed over to Europe and did the Full Hate Festival tour in February with Behemoth and Misery Index, which was killer.  Then we followed it up in the UK with a 5 show tour that we just finished up with Tryptikon, Enslaved, and Job for a Cowboy.  Now we are starting a tour with Exhumed, Archaic and Abyssmal Dawn until early May.  We go back to Europe in June, doing a bunch of festivals and some shows with Amon Amarth, some with Children of Bodom, and then when we get back we are playing the Summer Slaughter tour.  We are looking forward to being a part of that.

Alex Webster is the bass guitarist for the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. The band’s latest release, Torture (Metal Blade Records), can be purchased here!

Jacek Leja, aka Doc Metal, is Chicagoland’s local radio personality for WARG 88.9FM. The Doc spins the best local metal bringing to you what’s brutal now! Join him on Facebook!