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Obituary - John Tardy

11/01/05 || Global Domination

Obituary logo Introduction by Lord K Philipson: So, Obituary are back. Good for us, huh? We thought it would be appropriate to get a few words out of “vocalist” John Tardy, so myself and staff-member Chazz decided to do an interview. Well, that’s almost the truth. I didn’t do much but to set up a few questions, Chazz sorted the rest so blame the brilliance on him mostly, ok? I don’t know how many times I have wanted to write John ReTardy just becoz it’s fun as fuck. Countless I tell you, countless. Fuck it, here you go retardy’s. Excellence provided by me and Chazz.

So you guys are back, in all your gory glory with an upcoming album and US tour. Did you ever go away? I mean, what the hell happened after the Back from the Dead tour, did you actually break up as a band, or just put things on hold for a while?

We never broke up! We just took a break and it lasted longer than we planned but that is just the way it worked out! It was always just a matter of time before we started up again.

I know about Don drumming for Andrew WK and Al being with Six Feet Under for a while there, what did you do with your time away from Obituary?

I was working on computers doing small LAN work small companies…more of a hobby than anything else.

And by the way, isn’t Six Feet Under a very, very, very sucky band? What happened to those guys, with the lineup they have they should be at least decent?

Goes to show you can put the best musicians in the world together and doesn’t mean they will write the best music. I think that they were better when Allen was writing the music, but they are good friends of mine and they do what they do! I was just at the Bucs game this weekend with Greg Gall (drummer)!

What was it that made you guys finally decide the time was right to start recording again? I remember hearing you got up on stage at an Ozzfest date with Andrew WK and did a few Obituary tunes, the next thing I know I’m reading that you are back together.

Andrew was a big Obituary fan and Donald was drumming for him and they just came up with this idea to do a few Obituary songs. We did it and it was awesome! You’re right because we then did the FL Metal Fest and new songs just started coming together.

Naturally we have to ask… Are there any bands in the death metal scene of today that you really think stands out? Be it new or old. I mean, everyone else lists Obituary in their “favorite death metal bands”, who is in yours?

I still like the old Hellhammer, Frost, Venom and Slayer. With the recent passing of Dimebag the old Pantera albums have been getting some playtime. I have been mostly concentrating on our new songs!

Most metal bands don’t listen exclusively to metal music, do you have any guilty listening pleasures? Feel free to embarrass yourself and forget about “reputations” for a minute here. I think I may have heard you are a big Willie Nelson fan(?)

I do like Willie as well as a lot of country music. I listen to a lot of blues and southern rock. Good music is good music and I listen to a lot of stuff!!!

In the time since you have come back there have been quite a few bands out there doing what they describe as a “tribute to old school death metal” paying homage to bands of the early ‘90s, and Obituary is always mentioned as a major influence. I’m talking about bands like God Among Insects and Bloodbath, bands that have the production and songs done in a way to sound like what was coming out of Florida in those days. So, have you heard any of these bands, what was your impression?

I have not but I will check it out. It is flattering to read anyone who likes you music especially when you hear them call you an influence!

Of all those years you have spent on the road, what single event comes to yer mind in a glorious way?

Lots of good stuff, but playing with Black Sabbath was really awesome!

Do keyboards belong in death metal?

If they are heavy enough…I don’t think I have heard any work yet!

Last I heard you guys were pretty much done with writing the new album and just needed to get into the studio to record it. Have you decided on where you are recording and who will be producing this thing?

We will be working with Mark Prattor at the Redroom as well as at Morrisound. We hope to have Scott Burns come in and help out also. We still haven’t decided who will produce it yet but we are talking with a few different people.

About Morrisound Recordings… Do you have any idea as for why all their productions sound so extremely low volumewise? I mean, “Cause of Death” is one of the finest albums in death metal ever, but you have to crank the fucken volume to get some feeling out of it. The same goes for pretty much every other album recorded there.

Not sure! All the volume levels are set during mastering which Morrisound wouldn’t have anything to do with. I haven’t noticed it personally, but you may be right. One of the hardest things to do is get your music to sound like you want it to in the studio. You sit and listen to every song so many times that it becomes hard to think with a fresh ear. Through the years I think we have gotten better at getting this done.

How would you compare these new songs to some of your older work? Are you following the same formula you used on the classic albums, or will we be surprised with Obituary’s new sound?

I listen to the new songs everyday so it is hard for me to say. I think we have a very classic Obituary sound and feel to a lot of the songs.

What about a label, I’m sure there was a ton of them circling like hungry sharks when they heard you were doing a new album. Did you decide to go with Roadrunner again? Does Roadrunner even have an interest in death metal music any more?

RR seems interested in doing our new album and we owe them one more. We are still working with them and it looks like they will be doing it at least one more time.

Did you guys ever live off yer albums? Roadrunner’s been said to be a pretty sucky label when it comes to paying royalties and support their bands. What was yer biggest royalty-check for and what did you spend it on? Anything but drugs and whores will make us cry.

We do spend a lot of time in Amsterdam!!!! With any record label you have to look out for yourself and work at getting what is yours. I am not really happy with everything RR has done and it did have something to do with why we took so much time off. You can get real frustrated if you let it get to you!

Have you always worked even while you were in Obituary full-time? Has it been tough finding a job that lets you take off for weeks at a time to tour?

I was real lucky because though most of our recording and touring I worked for the same company that was really supportive of my traveling, and it made it possible for me to come and go. Right now I am only doing Obituary and it is great!

You guys run you own websites yourselves, with you running the official www.obituary.cc site and Trevor running the www.slowlywerot.net site. How important is it now for a band to have their own site and interact with their fans?

The only way I can do it the way I want is to do it myself. I am not the best web designer but I think the content is more important and the site’s appearance. I love it and it let anyone who wants to contact me can do so though the sites email and message board. I am learning a lot more about web design and plan on a lot of changes it the near future.

How come you didn’t wanna have Obituary’s official forums at our site? It would be an honour for us, you know, and we are after all, the best fucken site around, possibly the best site on the internet.

I get a lot of email and I am a little confused. Did I say I didn’t want that? We will have to talk about that further and you refresh my memory!

(Well, we ended up hosting their forum as John wanted us to after this interview was made. We then decided to kill the shit in less than a week since they didn’t fucken care whatsoever about it as promised, nor did they answer the goddamn mails we sent where we asked what the hell was up. Well, their loss. We don’t host unofficial forums. We don’t host forums for bands who don’t participate in them. We bow for no one. No matter how “legendary” they might be.)

You voice is unique to say the least. Where did you ever get the inspiration to sing like you do? Did you have to “train” yourself in any special way, did it develop over time, or is that just your natural voice?

Everyone’s voice is natural. You get what you get! I have been doing it for a long time and it has just developed into what it is though a lot of work. It is not natural to sing like that, but through the years it is just turned out that way.

Speaking about your vocals, it sounds like you put a lot of effort into them. How were you able to tour for so long without losing your voice or having problems? Most people would have serious damage to their vocal chords after doing one of your shows like you do. Obituary is known for smoking mad amounts of weed, wouldn’t that give you even more problems?

I really have to get myself in excellent shape (physically) before I got out on the road. When we are out, it takes a lot of resting of the voice everyday. Because it costs so much to be out on the road, you have to play almost everyday in order to afford being out so it is hard. I take pride in what I do and a lot of nights it is our fans energy that gets me through a show.

And while we are on the subject of vocals, who would be yer one fave-growler? Willie Nelson?

Tom Warrior during his early days and the old Venom is really good. Phil from Pantera also has a great voice!!

You seem like a fairly nice guy, and anyone that mentioned meeting you on this last tour of Europe reports your whole band is cool as cucumbers and always willing to chat with fans. So how is it that such a nice guy like yourself writes some of the most twisted lyrics out there? Where do you get your lyrical ideas?

I really am pretty normal and most people walk right past me at the show and don’t recognize me at all. If someone does come up to me, I always try to make time for them. The music itself is what inspires me the most. I hear that guitar and the drums and everything is just so heavy that the lyrics just fall into place!

You never have published or included an official lyric sheet have you? Why is that? Is there some stuff too personal to share in print? And to get this off our chests… How many percent of each album you guys recorded included actual lyrics?

We never have included lyrics and I am not sure why. It just didn’t seem important to me. Slowly has the least amount of lyrics, and every album after that had more and more. I still won’t hesitate to make up a sound instead of an actual word it that is what it takes to make a song feel right. To me it is the sound of my voice that is what it is all about and not the meaning of what I am saying.

Time for a game of “What’s Fucken Worse“...

...the NHL-season being locked-out or David Vincent dressing up as a girl?

Definitely NHL lockout! I am really hating no hockey!

...being Mike Poggione of Monstrosity or a full-on retard? (This one is a trick-question)

No comment!

...Nightwish or Within Temptation?

What?

...having lyrics sung in a way so noone can hear them or not having lyrics and people think they know what’s being sung?

Having lyrics that everyone misinterprets!

...having a 6-stringed bass and only play 4 of them or having 4 strings and only play 2?

6 strings and only playing 4!

...to work in a butter-company or be caught buttering?

Work in butter-company!

...free drugs or no drugs?

Free.

I think we have finally all heard the final reports on what happened in Ohio with Damageplan and Dimebag’s murder. I read the statements you and Trevor made and it sounded like you knew him, or at the least met the guy before. Do you think we are going to see big changes in shows now as fans with security and such, or do you see this as something so far out of the ordinary that it could never happen again?

I did know him and it is really sad. He will be missed and I wish his family the best. I think this does change things. Security is important to everyone’s safety not just the band members. Concerts are there for people to have a good time and let lose and clubs need to do whatever it takes to make that possible!

Chris Barnes of SFU made a surprising well thought out statement on the situation where he mentioned a time some deranged fan took issue with his lyrics and actually pulled a gun on him. Have you or anyone else in the band ever had problems with fans taking your work a little too seriously like that? No offense, but I’ve seen a few people in Obituary shirts who do look like nutcases.

Comes with the territory! We have no lyrics so I won’t have that problem! I never heard that before but it is scary. Anyone who takes it that serious has more problems of their own than just not liking your lyric content. They need help!

We would like to close this crap with saying that we love you. Do you love us?

I love you man! Thank you for your time and support. Best luck and lets talk more about that forum! Keep in touch.

That’s a wrap, and just for the hell of it. Tell us you love us again.

In a non-gay way ( Yeah, right…/GD )... I love you man!

Interviews