Massacre
That's What We Do

28.03.2014

This old-timer band from the sunny state of Florida was there from the very start of the death metal movement on the U.S. East Coast. Their first album “From Beyond” (1991) is cherished by old-school headbangers from all over the world, so for such metalheads the news of the band’s reunion in 2011 and of the new album suitably titled “Back From Beyond” coming out this spring should work like a sip of their favourite tasty beverage. We teamed up with legendary bass player Terry Butler to let him talk a bit abot the new album, the band’s activities, his favourite drinks and more.

What time is it up there in Florida?

It is 2:12 in the afternoon.

Is it hot?

No, it’s starting to warm up. The last little bit of winter is leaving now. It’s not very cold in Florida anyhow.

Yeah, I guess it’s warmer than here.

Oh yeah, definitely.

You are probably being intensely interviewed around this time. Is it hard to answer the same dumb questions over and over again? I’m sorry I’ll be asking them.

No, all is good. No problems.

What do you think of the shit happening in Ukraine?

It’s pretty disturbing. I just wish we could go on and leave everybody alone, you know what I mean. Why can’t we all just get along and live in peace? I guess it’s human nature to be aggressive, so these things are gonna happen.

Do you think Russians are evil?

All people are evil. I mean, human beings are evil themselves, that’s everyone, but, you know, an individual can’t control what the government does. I wouldn’t say that Russians are evil, I think everyone’s evil.

All right. Let’s turn to Massacre. What was the reason behind the Massacre reunion in 2011?

Well, it just came about kinda casually. I was just talking to Rick (Rozz, guitar) one day and I mentioned it would be cool to do some shows to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “From Beyond”.

Why did you need that? To get back together with the old friends, to raise some money or what?

No, I mean, I was just talking to Rick, not even Massacre related and it just came up, I just said, “Hey, it would be cool to play some shows to celebrate ‘From Beyond’, it’s been 20 years”. All these years when I was playing with Six Feet Under and Obituary people would ask me all the time about Massacre, “We love ‘From Beyond’, I wish you guys would come back”, and I would tell them “It’s gonna be impossible, because Bill Andrews (drums) is in Japan, no one wants to work with Kam (Lee, vocals), so it’s gonna be impossible”. But, you know, I was just talking to Rick one day and I mentioned it and he said, “Yeah, that would be cool”. He already had a drummer he was practicing with doing another side project ('M') Inc, so me and Rick and Mike (Mazzonetto) got together and we started rehearsing. And it sounded amazing. We were like, “If we are gonna try this, we are gonna find a singer, who is powerful, has good stage presence, and can sing”. We found Ed Webb, and we started rehearsing, and it sounded amazing. So we started playing live, some local shows, and the reception was amazing. So we just kinda said, “Well, we can give this a shot, people are interested in it”. We got booked on the “70,000 Tons of Metal” cruise, Century Media saw us playing, we played a new song, they loved it, they saw some potential there and they signed us. I mean, we never reformed to say, “Hey, let’s reform and make some money. Let’s do a tour, make as much money as we can and then quit”, that’s not what we want or are doing. We are a band in the whole sense of the word, you know. We are together and we wanna put out more records and do more tours, and this is not just a reunion tour for money.

Still, how is it going in the terms of money raising? Do you earn your living playing this music?

It’s kinda hard to make a living playing death metal. I mean, you can, if you are busy and tour a lot, because a lot of people don’t buy records anymore, since the pirating and the iTunes and digital downloads, people just want to have the new album on their phone immediately. They don’t go up and buy a physical copy. But if you stay busy and tour and sell merch you can make a living doing this, yeah.

But you are just playing bass, you are not doing anything else?

Yeah, I play bass guitar.

All right. Could you describe the writing process of Massacre?

Well, especially for “Back From Beyond” everyone pitched in on the album. Everyone had ideas. Ed Webb brought all the lyrics, Mikey the drummer brought some rhythms, some really cool drum beats, Rick and I wrote songs, so it was a group effort from everyone.

Were you creating material while rehearsing or in the studio?

Both. We would come to rehearsal and somebody would have something already written, and we’d work on that, and sometimes we wrote something right there on the spot and we kinda built on it from there. I would say, 75% of the time somebody brought something to the rehearsal room and we worked on it, but some of the stuff was spontaneous, on the spot.

In what way is your playing for Massacre different from your sound in the other bands you play or played in?

Well, Obituary is a different kind of band, it’s a little more rhythmic, it’s got some more open spaces that allow for some more bass runs and stuff. Massacre is more of a straight-forward kind of a Slayer thrash/death metal band. It’s a lot more straight-forward. So the picking style, playing style is a lot more aggressive in Massacre, in Obituary it’s a little more open, more like a Celtic Frost feel to it.

Still, I listened to that song “Back From Beyond” you had on the “Condemned To The Shadows” EP (2012). You have some slow part with a lot of psychedelic bass lines.

Yeah, we wrote that part specifically for that, we just wanted to have something different. When the lead is going on, there is just always the guitar going behind, so we thought, “Let’s have it open, let’s just have bass and drums right there and have the guitar just doing the lead”. We kinda wanted to change it up. ‘Cause the song on the EP is different, there is a rhythm behind it, and I’m just playing straight-forward. So we just changed it up on that a little bit. I mean the bass playing style is completely different between Massacre and Obituary, but musically, you know, Massacre is faster, so there is a lot more fast picking.

Ok. What makes the new Massacre album special?

Well, I think it’s a classic Florida death metal record. It’s straight-forward, the riffs are really memorable and catchy and you can digest them and understand them. There are some really cool vocal lines as well. We just didn’t wanna come out and say, “OK, it’s been 22 years since the last record and we are gonna be modern, we’re gonna do blast-beats, we’re gonna have keyboards and opera singers and all that stuff”. We were like, “No, that’s not what Massacre are”. Massacre are a straight-ahead Florida death metal band. That’s what we do. Rick wrote a lot of songs on “Leprosy”, he wrote songs in Mantas and Death, I wrote songs on “Spiritual Healing”, so that’s kinda our writing style and that’s what we do. And I think it’s a special record because it’s been 22 years since the last Massacre record and for us to be putting out a record in 2014 and to have the sound as it does – it’s just a miracle to me. I think it’s a great record.

You are not trying to say something new by this record, are you?

No. I mean, hey, this a new Massacre record. We are Massacre, it’s gonna be Massacre-like, it sounds like Massacre. There is no secret to it, it’s a Massacre record. Production-wise it’s gonna sound better than “From Beyond”. Songwriting is similar to “From Beyond” because the people writing the music also wrote “From Beyond”.

Do you think it’s even possible to say anything new by means of death metal?

It’s pretty hard. I mean, it’s all been done to me. I don’t know what you’re gonna do next, you know, like country death metal or polka death metal. (laughs) It’s kinda hard, you just have to do what you do and do it well, I guess. I mean, there’s a lot of bands coming out, a lot of them sound similar. So to me to break new ground – it’s gonna be hard.

Right. But you are still trying to make the new album better than the older ones.

Well, sure. You always try to top yourself with each record, no matter what you are doing. You want it to always be better and sound better than the record before. That’s just a natural progression. Sometimes bands can do that, sometimes they can’t. If a band has been around for a long time and has quite a big catalog, there’s gonna be a few records mixed in there, but it’s gonna be as good as the others, but it’s just a normal thing.

What do you think of the “Promise” album (1996)?

Actually, I listened to two songs back in 1996 and I’ve never heard it since. We kinda keep it hidden, on a shelf. (laughs) In the Massacre catalogue that was a record that Rick and Kam did without Bill’s and my knowledge, so we look at it as an unauthorized Massacre record, you know. It’s not Massacre in my opinion, musically it’s something else. And this new reincarnation, this version of Massacre we are doing now – we are not even thinking about that record, it’s not even part of our discography. Rick and I have talked about that record, we’ve made up our differences and we just wanna focus on the future.

All right. I was checking the past line up for Massacre and saw some names familiar from Obituary and Six Feet Under. It seems like everybody knows everybody in Florida death metal. You’re like a big family, is that right?

Well, from day one when the first bands started popping up, like Death, Mantas, Massacre, Xecutioner, Morbid Angel, everyone kinda knows each other, and at some point some people are gonna move around in other bands. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in some pretty big well-known bands and I’m very glad for that. It is funny, you know. Some people – band members - stay the same in some bands, and some members are switching around. I’ve known Obituary for over 25 years and when they needed help they called me and I helped them out. When I quit Six Feet Under I just merged into Obituary, so I landed on my feet, pretty good with that one.

It is said you are brother in law to Greg Gall, with whom you played in Six Feet Under.

Yes, he is my brother in law. I’ve known him for a very long time. I knew him way before he married my sister. He was one of the famous drummers and all the other drummers really looked up to him. Drummers like Bill Andrews and Donald Tardy – everyone kinda looked up to Greg. He’s a little bit older, but he is a really good drummer. So when we joined Six Feet Under I was glad because he had been in a lot of demo bands for a lot of years that never really got much recognition, but when we got into Six Feet Under he was able to get his name out there for people to see him. That’s cool.

Are you still in contact with Chris Barnes?

No, I’ve never talked to Chris since I quit the band and I don’t care too. I have no interest in what he’s doing and what the band’s doing. I’ve just moved on.

And it’s the same with Kam Lee, right?

Yeah. I tried to work with Kam Lee in 2007 and 2008 with the band called Denial Fiend and we put out a record and to start with everything was cool. Kam seemed like he was down to earth, humble about things, but he slowly started to turn into the Kam that I remembered – very arrogant, big-headed and thinking that the scene knows him a lot. In his mind he created death metal vocals and all that blah blah blah, and he started to undermine the band, started trying to ruin the band and became a cancer. So we kicked him out of the band. The last time I talked to him was in 2008. And again, I really don’t care if I see him or talk to him again.

You say you kicked him out of the band, but 2009 he tried to reunite Massacre without you and other guys.

Well, “try” is the key word here, because what’s funny is the reason he tried to start that up was because he had nothing. All he did the whole time when we were in Denial Fiend was – he talked shit about Massacre, about Rick Rozz, about Bill Andrews. He bad-mouthed them the whole time. And the second he was kicked out of Denial Fiend he tries to start Massacre up again. When Bill Andrews found out about them, he told them to stop it - “It’s my band, you are not reforming and it’s not gonna be called Massacre”. So Kam started crying, boo-hoo and that he can’t make a living because people are trying to shut him down, but the thing is, it’s not your band anyhow, dude. It was Bill Andrews’ band from day one. When we reformed in 2011 I called Bill. Bill is a good friend of mine still, I talk to him all the time, I told him what we wanted to do and he said, “Go for it, man. I give you my blessings”. Kam never called him and ask if he could do anything, he was just being arrogant and trying to start Massacre up again. So he can say anything, but if he tried to start that up again, it never would have happened.

Is your whole family – wife, children – into death metal?

Yeah,my wife, before I even met her, was into metal and death metal, and my kids, they are older, they are like into twenties, they are into death metal. I mean, they like it, they like all kinds of metal too, but they accept what I do and they like it, they have gone to a lot of my shows. And I have grandkids too and I’m kinda teaching them to play music. I’m not really playing death metal for them, I mean they hear it, but whatever.

Do they play some instrument?

I’m teaching my oldest grandson to play around on the bass. He’s only 5 years old, so there’s not a lot he’s gonna do, but just to get him used to the noise and the sound, the feel of it.

What’s your favourite food and drink?

Well, my favourite food overall – it’s probably Mexican food. I mean, Mexican food and Italian food to me are neck and neck. (laughs) And my favourite kind of drink is ice tea, sweetened ice tea. It’s like a Southern America thing, I was raised on that.

You are not into alcohol, are you?

Well, not much. I mean, I can drink a Margarita, tastes OK, or a Bloody Mary, but I really don’t drink much alcohol.

Same here.

I don’t like beer, it doesn’t taste to me. (laughs) I know I’m in a minority on that one, but…

Do you watch TV shows?

There’s a few series I can watch. “The Walking Dead”, there’s one called “Justified”, I really like it, “Bates Motel”… I’m into those kind of dramas, you know. I don’t watch much normal TV, I choose series like that.

What are your touring plans for the coming summer? Any chance of visiting Russia?

Well, for Massacre we’ve got a 10-day tour starting May 2 in Tilburg, Holland, playing some festivals and a few club dates. We are gonna try and get back for a full European tour sometime in October – November. Hopefully there is a Russian date. And for Obituary we’ve got some shows in April in South America, the festival dates are all in June and July and August in Europe. I think the closest I’m coming to Russia with Obituary is a festival in Romania.

Thank you Terry, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you. Any last words?

Thanks for the interview. Take care.

Massacre on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MassacreFlorida

Special thanks to Thomas Strimmer (Century Media) for arranging this interview

Richter
March 25, 2014
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