The End Complete
"Although we like all our records, and I think we’ve done good stuff throughout our career, we recognise that the fans do consider those three records to be the classic – quote, unquote – Obituary albums."
From day one, Florida's Obituary stood out. When all their swamp-dwelling contemporaries were attempting to outdo each other by getting technical, Obituary slowed down and churned out half-passed Celtic Frost-inspired riffage that grooved like a motherfucker. In short the Frosties have always done their own thing and it's this independence that has seen the band survive (with a few breaks) for over 25 years. To celebrate their survival and ongoing legacy Obituary have designed a special set for their upcoming Australian tour. Old school heads you've been warned.
“The idea of doing a 'classic' set of Obituary material has been floating around for awhile,” reveals Tardy, whose laid-back Southern accent makes it hard to believe that this is the man responsible for the most inhuman bellow in all of death metal.
“We had a few different ideas – do we play all of Slowly We Rot, or maybe all of The End Complete, which I think is twenty years old this year. Eventually, we just thought let's make the set up from the first three albums so we can cover more ground.”
So does the band themselves consider their first three albums (Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death and The End Complete) to be the best of their career? Do the three records together form a statement about what Obituary is all about?
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“Look, you're sort of damned if you don't and damned if you do when it comes to these sort of things,” offers Tardy. “It's the same for everyone really. Look at Metallica; when they play everyone wants to hear the material off Kill Em All and Master Of Puppets. It's the same when I go and watch a band like Slayer – I want to hear Hell Awaits and Reign In Blood. So although we like all our records, and I think we've done good stuff throughout our career, we recognise that the fans do consider those three records to be the classic – quote, unquote – Obituary albums. So we're happy to give the fans what they want and that's what this tour is all about.”
Reflecting upon Obituary's rise to death metal infamy Tardy reveals that the band actually evolved through their very own naivety.
“Man, we were so young when we did the first couple of records,” he laughs. “It was at a point in time when we were learning so much about a whole range of things – from our instruments to our own writing and the actual recording process. So I guess we developed along our own path because we were learning as we went. We weren't copying other people – we were just doing our own thing.
“Our career developed a bit like that as well. One minute we were playing in my mom's garage and the next we got asked to put some songs on a compilation and then Roadrunner came to us and asked us to do an album. I still remember the first time I held a copy of Slowly We Rot in my hands – I couldn't quite believe that we'd actually made an album.”
While primarily known for their concrete-heavy and instantly recognisable riffs, Obituary have also received attention for their less than traditional approach to lyric writing, in which memorable slogans such as “chopped in half feel the blood spill from your mouth” and “we're dying… for our souls to learn” replace… you know, actual lyrics.
“Yeah… well I don't think the lyrical content is what Obituary is all about,” laughs Tardy, who quite freely admits that he's always substituted monstrous roars and one-line wonders for complex wordplay. “We're not a super political band or a band where everything rests on the deep meaning behind our lyrics. When we first started jamming we always tried to get the heaviest drum sound, the heaviest guitars, so I just tried to go along with the music and sing as heavy as I could. Obviously, when everything is set like that, love songs or complex lyrics just aren't going work. Really what I've always tried to do is come up with some short gory stuff to go along with the music – the feeling in my vocals is more important than what I'm actually saying.”
One of Obituary's great strengths is that the core members of the band, John and brother Donald (drums), along with Trevor Peres (guitar) has remained the same all these years. In fact this core unit has been together since 1984 when they called themselves Xecutioner. However, others have also contributed to the Obituary story and Tardy gives Drum a quick update on where they're at.
“Our old guitarist Allen West was an important part of Obituary – he was with us from the beginning but obviously he had his problems and they've been gone over enough so I won't talk about them again. But he's been doing some recording lately, and I'm glad that things seem to be going ok for him.”
As for long-time bassist Frank Watkins, who suddenly quit in 2010, Tardy is more reticent and only offers Drum a terse “we're doing our thing, he's doing his.” Tardy is more forthcoming however about the mysterious Daniel Tucker, who legend has it disappeared after recording his bass parts on the band's superb debut album.
“It happened like everyone says it did,” laughs Tardy. “The guy played the session and then just dropped off the face of the earth. We'd call him up and try and find him and no one could so we had to replace him. Months went by, and then years went by and absolutely no one knew where he was. Then, like last year or something, I was at the Nasty Savage reunion show and a guy walks up to me sticks out his hand and goes 'Hi it's Daniel Tucker' – none of us could believe it.
“On the subject of bass players I should tell you all that we have Terry Butler in the band now on a full-time basis. He's obviously been in some great bands, like Death and Massacre, and we've all known him for a very long time. He's fitting in really well and the band's the happiest it's ever been – so things are good in the Obituary camp at the moment.”
This newfound wellbeing is mirrored in Obituary's plans to spew forth a brand new record.
“I know we've been saying this for a while, but the new album is coming,” says Tardy. “I'm going nuts over some of the songs we're writing for the new album and I can definitely say that it will be out early next year. We've got three of four songs we could record today and another five or six that are well mapped out – it's classic Obituary – heavy and full of groove: hopefully it will blow people away.”
Obituary will be playing the following dates:
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