TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix, and we are here with Matt from Exhumed. Thank you for having this interview with us today. We appreciate it.
MT - Thank you.
TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
MT - We have brought out a new album since we were last there, and obviously, the setlist will be different. We brought a new record out in February called "Red Asphalt". As a wise man once said, it's still four guys trying to stay in tune and on time, but it should be loud and brutal with some Chainsaws and some blood spraying, so it should be a good time.
TM - What can fans expect from your setlist?
MT - For the first leg of this tour, fans have got around five songs from our new album, and then we mix up the songs from our previous albums to play live. We have so many albums out now that it is difficult to balance these sets. We are hoping to play most of the songs people want to hear and expect, and also give fans something new.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for your new album "Red Asphalt"?
MT - We are very fortunate to have our own guitar studio. Our guitar player, Sebastian, is on the East Coast, and he is in Baltimore, and he also has his own studio. We have a lot of flexibility that you wouldn't have if you were going to an external studio. It takes us about 3 months to record because we work on it when we want to. We have the drums done in one continuous brick, then we tackle the guitars, and it is very relaxed. We have our fingers in all parts of the project and a lot of control until we hand the record over to the mixing engineer, and it is a nice way to work.
TM - How did you come up with your Album cover for "Red Asphalt"?
MT - Ross, our bass guitarist, did all the album work and demos for our first album before he left the band. Once he left the band, we stopped doing that because none of us had an art background. When he came back, it hadn't occurred to us to do the same type of album cover again because we hadn't done it for so long. Then we thought we could do another album cover like we used to do, and once we settled on the album cover name, it was a very gritty street-level and grounded in reality type of theme. It made sense to do another photo cover album on that.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs, what band would it be, what song would it be, and would it be in your style or their style?
MT - I would like to see Carcass do one of our songs. They are an influence on our band, and we are constantly getting compared to them. It would be cool to hear them do one of our songs in their style. I would like to hear them play "Unsafe At Any Speed" because "Dan" is such a great blast beat drummer, and the solo section is bluesy, which would play to "Bill's" Strengths on vocals.
TM - Who was the first band or Artist you saw live, and can you tell us a story?
MT - I was thirteen, and the first gig I ever went to was in 1989 in an arena in California. It was Anthrax, Exodus and Halloween on the MTV Headbangers Ball tour, and the first thing that I remember is that I was a kid from the suburbs, and I was taking it in, and it was a whole thing. I think it was between Halloween and Exodus that they were playing music over the PA, and I think they were playing Ghosts of War by Slayer, and one hundred people just started circle pitting on the floor because they were playing Slayer over the PA. I was like, " Wow, that is the power of Slayer right there. Exodus were local heroes and one of my favourite bands of all time. I remember when they came on, and you could not stand still, and there were three Circle pits. I was 15 lb and getting moved around by the audience, and it was really fun and invigorating, and that was the band that I wanted to see.
TM - If you could go back in a time machine and see any band live, who would you see?
MT - Thin Lizzy would be one of the bands I would go back and see. The "Black Rose" era with "Gary Moore" and "Scott Goram" on dual guitar, with them being deceased, that is something you wouldn't be able to see, and I think Sebastian and I are dual guitar buffs.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
MT - We hope to see you all at our Gigs coming up. It is going to be a good time, it is going to be loud, and hopefully you will be able to smell the gasoline from the chainsaw engine and get some fake blood sprayed on you, and kick and scream and have a good time with us, so just come on down and hope to see you there.
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today. We appreciate it.
MT - Thank you.