Jeff Walker
JEFF WALKER On Next CARCASS Album: ‘What’s The Rush?’
Rock 'N' Load conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of British extreme metal ...
CARCASS Frontman Says Illegal Music Downloading ‘Can Be A Positive Thing’
Tarja Virmakari of Metal Shock Finland and TrueMetal.it recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.
Asked about his views on illegal music downloading, Walker said: "It can be a positive thing, if people download an album, hear it, enjoy it and buy it. The danger is that there is a hard core of people who download and never buy anything, and that's damaging to the music scene. They're not supporting anybody, they're not supporting the artists as fans. But for the most part, I think it's positive. Because I understand fully why people do it. There's so much music out there; people don't have the money or the resources to buy everything. And also people have probably spent or wasted money in the past on albums that have disappointed them. So it gives people a chance to test something before they buy it. I personally don't think it's any different to hearing music on the radio. But, like I say, it's that hard core of people, who… their attitude is very nihilistic and it's out of step with the idea of what being a fan is about. You shouldn't be trying to damage the artist who's trying to being people pleasure. We're not at war with the audience."
CARCASS' new album, "Surgical Steel", sold around 8,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 41 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on September 16 in the U.K., September 13 in the rest of Europe and September 17 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The effort was produced by Colin Richardson(FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE) and mixed by Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ACCEPT, EXODUS, ARCH ENEMY).
Joining guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker in CARCASS' current incarnation are new drummer Dan Wilding (ABORTED, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED) and guitarist Ben Ash(PIG IRON, DESOLATION, LIQUEFIED SKELETON).
In a recent interview with Chile's Radio Futuro, Walker stated about the new CARCASS CD: "We think we've made a good album, so it's gonna be very interesting when people get to hear the record. We can't wait to see what people think."
He continued: "It sounds like CARCASS. Even the drumming sounds like CARCASS. Everything about it… I think it's gonna shock people, how good it is. I think it's got all the elements that people like, yet it still sounds fresh. So that's all I can say, really, 'cause we don't really sound like any other band, and the fact that after 17 years, we wrote music and it still sounds likeCARCASS, I think it's good."
Regarding the direction of the new CARCASS album, Walker previously stated: "We've taken stylistic cues from all the albums because it's in our blood, but it's no rehash or mess of ideas. I think it sounds almost like the missing link between the third and forth albums but with some groove in there. I've jokingly christened some parts 'trad blast' and some 'death sleaze'… don't think for a minute this is just some nostalgic throwback album — we're setting up another 17 years of ideas for other bands to copy and clean up on. [laughs]"
CARCASS Frontman: ‘We’re Not Trying To Compete With Any Bands That Are Influenced By Us’
David E. Gehlke of DeadRhetoric.com recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of reactivated British extreme-metal pioneers CARCASS. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.
DeadRhetoric.com: With the new album ["Surgical Steel"], what was your "Hey, this is going to work" moment?
Walker: In the rehearsal room; it's that simple. Bill [Steer, guitar] actually was like, "Okay, let's try this out and if it works, great, if not, we haven't lost anything." My attitude was that it will work, like, "Don't worry, Bill." I have enough confidence in myself and him as a guitar player, and Daniel [Wilding] is a fantastic drummer and I was never under any illusion that we couldn't pull something great off. I mean, we're hungry and we have something to prove after 17 years and we don't want to disappoint people. We don't want to be one of these bands who come back after a long period of time with an album that people are like, "That album sucks!" We already made that album — it's called "Swansong". It's important we don't shit on our legacy. This is almost like making our first album. We've done this off our own volition, with our own time, and our own money. No one was dangling a carrot in front of us. We could have easily found a record deal, then made this album. But I think it was out of pride — especially from my side that it was more important we put our money where our mouth is. We kept it secret, and we didn't want to be accused of doing it for the money.
DeadRhetoric.com: There's no money in metal anyway.
Walker: I disagree. [laughs] Joking aside, it's easy to deal with those kind of snipes, but I don't want to give people ammunition.
CARCASS Frontman Says MICHAEL AMOTT Was ‘Too Busy’ To Continue Playing With The Band
Raymond Westland of Ghost Cult magazine recently conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker of reactivated British extreme metal pioneers CARCASS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Ghost Cult: Can you talk us through the point CARCASS reformed to the moment you actually started to work on the new album?
Walker: We got together in 2007 when Bill [Steer; guitar] finally agreed on doing a couple of gigs. We didn't play any gigs that year, because I walked away from the whole thing, due to certain business arrangements I wasn't happy about. In 2008, the whole reunion thing came about. It was never meant as a long-term thing. Then 2009 came about and we got more and better offers coming in. Same thing in 2010, including a couple of events and venues we hadn't played before. Last gig we did as CARCASSwas in August 2010 with Michael Amott and Daniel Erlandsson of ARCH ENEMY. That was the closure on the whole reunion thing, becauseMichael made it explicitly clear he'd be too busy with his own bands to even consider doing anything in the future with CARCASS. At that point, we hadn't discussed doing anything beyond the whole reunion thing, so that was quite a relief. At some point, Bill contacted me about whether I'd fancy doing anything with Dan Wilding, who was a member ofABORTED when they toured the U.S. Bill has a thing with drummers and he wanted to do something musically with Dan. As for me, I was really prepared and willing to do more music with CARCASS back in 2009. When you're in a band with Bill Steer, Michael Amott and Daniel Erlandsson, it would be wasting a great opportunity not to. Daniel would have made himself available if we would continue doing music with CARCASS, but when push came to shove, he had to make a decision and he decided to stay with ARCH ENEMY. It wasn't really a matter of choosing for him. If he stuck around for longer, a CARCASS album would have been around sooner perhaps.