Magazine: Metal Hammer / Italy
Article: Morte Di Un Tour

Written by: Buffo
Translated by: Vincenzo Chioccarelli
Published: May 1989

 
 

Death, an American heavy metal band, have recently played their first German concert in Dusseldorf. What we didn't know was that this concert will probably be the last, at least for the near future! The day after "Evil" Chuck Schuldiner and the rest of the gang were flying back home, what happened? The singer Chuck and the bass player Terry don't say too much about the unexpected cancellation of their tour.

 

 

We've known you had plenty of troubles with your tour promoter. What happened precisely?
Chuck answers, very disappointed: "There have been troubles with our tour manager since our arrival in Europe. Although the first ten shows in Belgium and Netherlands have been good, eight of them were sold out, in the end we found out nothing they promised us has been given to us yet. Beginning from the setting up and the instruments, everything went wrong in the hotel and the tour bus. We didn't travel five thousands miles to be treated like jerks. But we didn't want to come back home soon, 'cause our German fans have always been important for us, and was our dream to come to Europe. Yet the issue was that our situation was getting worse day by day and many of our fans had a bad impression of us. We're sorry for all the bands who worked for this promoter. Everything had to be the least expensive possible. It's silly 'cause you have to invest a certain amount to work professionally. And I really don't think our demands were too high. We expect people to respect advance agreements."

Maybe would the things have worked out better if you had played as supporter of Exodus and Nuclear Assault, something that would have been promoted in cities?
"There was a rumor about Exodus, nothing more. Many people took it too seriously and thought we would have opened their gigs in some cities. It's true they offered us to play with them, but we refused because we would have had just twenty to thirty minutes to show off. Because we were in Europe we wanted to play more than five or six songs. Our fans expected that from us, and so we chose to do a tour by ourselves."

I heard recently that you refuse to play as supporter of any band as a matter of principle. Is it true?
"No, it's just another rumor. Yet it's the first time we are in Europe and we thought it would have taken time before we could be back home. That's the reason why I thought it was obvious we would have played the longest possible. We got too many tunes our fans want to hear. Naturally to do a gig of Exodus would bring more people, but we didn't care at all. We meant to offer a good concert to the public, but this wouldn't be possible. We'd like to support Slayer or Kreator, but only in the right circumstances."

What are your projects for the next future?
"At the end of March we'll be touring the States with Dark Angel for 45 gigs and then we'll focus on our third album. We'll probably record it next summer."

The production of your latest album, 'Leprosy', was to say the very least, awesome. Do you think you're still gonna work with Dan Johnson in future or you think you can do better?
"We were very happy of Dan's production and we'll work with him again next time. I don't guess it'll be easy to do better than a record like that, but I think in some way we'll succeed. We'll have more money and this means we'll be able to spend more time in studio. The new material will definitely be better. We have already finished five songs and we will keep on writing as soon the tour with Dark Angel is over."

How are the new songs?
"The record will be more complex and various with many harmonies and tempo-changes. We are sick and tired of those people saying death metal bands don't know what they're doing. You'll hear it on next album even better than on 'Leprosy' and 'Scream Bloody Gore'. We'll put in it everything, speed rhythms, slow rhythms, half ways, everything."

And what about lyrics?
"Like what we've done on 'Leprosy', they'll be more realistic than on our debut album. I found it easier to write about real life and I think they appeal to a lot of people. In this world too many things happen that are worth being written about. All you need to do is to open a newspaper or turn the TV on."

 
 

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Translated by VC/MM for EmptyWords-Published on March 19 2003